Motorsport eNews Issue 226 - October 11-17, 2011

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Issue No. 226 October 11 - 17 2011

D E N W O R C STHURST, VETTEL IN JAPAN N PRICO CHAAM ND PE AT AT BA TANDER

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HOLDEN HT MONARO 1972 SANDOWN 3RD PLACE

LIMITED PRODUCTION OF 1500 PIECES WORLDWIDE

Photogra ph of actu al model

Item #18154

The 1st Round of the 1972 ATCC season was held at Symmons Plains. This would be the first of many reliability issues for Norm Beechey in his ageing HT Monaro. Beechey blew an engine during practice and would then go on to blow the spare engine while racing for position with Bob Jane in his Camaro. Beechey would suffer retirements in Rounds 2 and 3.

The 4th Round was at Sandown with Beechey finishing a credible third. This was the first time for the season that the HT Monaro was able to make it to the finish line in one piece.

The 5th Round held at the Adelaide International Raceway saw Beechey blow an engine in practise forcing him to miss the race. This would be repeated in Round 7 at Surfers Paradise.

With Beechey finishing one race for the season, he only managed 13th in the Championship.

Available 4th Quarter 2011

The engine bay includes air baffle and Weber carburettors. The Bonnet is raised at the rear edge for air flow through the engine bay.

Beechey retired from racing at the end of the 1972 season having competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) since 1963.

The interior includes roll cage, racing seats, full instrument detail, hand throttle on the gear lever and leather steering wheel cover.

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You’d be forgiven for thinking this pic was from a 24hr Australian GT race at Bathurst ...

Issue No. 226 | 11-17 Oct 2011

news 5

Macauboys Could V8s race in Macau in ‘12?

6 Time to Surface Bathurst eyes new tarmac 9 FPR finally get four Two FV8 entries in ‘13 13 Dani’s Dheli Drive-by Ricciardo wows Indians 16 Best. Schedule. Ever CupCar says ‘12 is its best

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25 Adam: The Schedule

race 26 Bathurst 1000 42 Fujitsu Series 46 Carrera Cup 50 Utes 52 Touring Car Masters 54 Australian GT 56 Formula 1 60 NASCAR

trade 66 Classifieds

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2012: 16 RACES, 1 TBA V8 SUPERCARS SIXTEEN events will make up the 2012 V8 Supercars calendar.

As we reported last week, the series will race at Abu Dhabi as a support race for the Formula 1 Grand Prix in November, and Adelaide will return to its traditional role of opening the season. The first of the season’s endurance races will revert to Sandown, which hosted the traditional Bathurst preview race between 1964 and 2007.

Spring promises to be a busy period for the championship, with the traditional Bathurst-two-weeks-Surfers swing followed by two international events on successive weekends, at Abu Dhabi and a venue TBA. V8 Supercars Chairman, Tony Cochrane

said that he was confident of locking in the new events, which he would only confirm as “east of Turkey”.

“Have we absolutely, 100 percent finalised it? No we have not,” he said.

“Do I believe that it will be 100 percent absolutely finalise? Yes I do.”

The Melbourne Racing Club, which oversees the Sandown facility, has committed to a seven-year deal and the Melbourne venue will feature extensive upgrades, claimed to be as much as $3.6m.

The return of Adelaide to the first event was due to the “overwhelming demand of fans”, according to Cochrane. The Abu Dhabi event, which previously had its status as the first race of the year included in its contract, is subject to a new “long-term” deal, and the

races will be held in daylight hours, prior to the Grand Prix cars racing under lights.

The calendar will also feature the final appearance of the V8 Supercars at Hamilton, after an agreement to terminate the deal to run the event a year earlier than planned; the 50th anniversary of the Bathurst event, with extra activities planned for the October classic; and the movement of events within the calendar, with Symmons Plains moving from November to March and PI changing from Spring (September) to Autumn (May).

A pre-season test day will be announced at a later date, but it will not return to Eastern Creek, where it was held this year. Race formats and television arrangements will be announced prior to the Sydney 500 at Homebush.

V8 SUPERCARS CONFIDENT OF NZ FUTURE V8 SUPERCARS V8 SUPERCARS is working on a New Zealand round of the V8 Supercar Championship for 2013 – but any potential venue remains a mystery.

V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane would only confirm 4

that the country’s north island was the desired venue for an NZ event, after the series travels to Hamilton for the last time next April, a year earlier than originally planned.

Recent reports have suggested that the RNZAF Air Base at Whenuapai, 15km north

of Auckland, is a possible venue for an event.

“I think you can safely assume that we will be running in New Zealand for many, many years to come,” said Cochrane at Bathurst.

“New Zealand is a great market for us, the Kiwis love us, we love the Kiwis.”

Whatever NZ event follows Hamilton, if any, it is unlikely to be run on the traditional lateApril date, as Phillip Island will move into that period in 2013 and it is “likely”, according to Cochrane, that the Austin Texas event will feature in that period in 2013 and beyond. motorsport news

NEWS

TBA: What if ... ?

V8 SUPERCARS

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THE venue of V8 Supercars’ 2012 TBA event remains a mystery – but there could be a tempting location in consideration, for the series to visit for the first time.

With an Asian stop on the return journey from Yas Marina the most likely scenario for the race, the track that has been most mentioned for a 2012 date is Clark International Speedway, near Manila in the Philippines. The circuit is currently at 3.5km length and there are plans for continued expansion – a process that could be accelerated by securing a major event like V8 Supercars.

But that November date is close to that of another high-profile event, in the same region. V8 Supercars’ TBA date is the weekend prior to the Macau Grand Prix meeting, which features the famed Guia Touring Car event alongside the Formula 3 GP. The date is already listed on the World Touring Car Championship calendar, but the current, fairly hum-drum state of the WTCC must lead some to speculate whether adding V8s to the program – and possibly even replacing WTCC as a long-term category for the event – is a prospect that has some potential.

Running on the Macau weekend would mean that the cars and teams would have to be housed somewhere during a ‘down’ week, but that would be a relatively small hurdle to overcome, should V8 Supercars be tempted by the idea of having its championship visit such a famous and prestigious event.

VETTEL DOUBLE THE CHAMPION FORMULA 1 SEBASTIAN Vettel is officially the youngest ever Double World Champion, after wrapping up the 2011 Formula 1 title in Japan yesterday (Sunday).

The 24-year-old German could only manage third place at Suzuka, but even with Jenson Button winning the race, Vettel’s points haul was enough the put the title beyond doubt – with four races remaining.

But while the title win, much like many of Vettel’s race wins this season, was emphatic, he was quick to point out that 2011 hasn’t been an easy season.

“I think that it’s very likely for people to

draw the wrong conclusion, to say that we had a very easy run this year,” he said.

“Things like this, they happen for a reason; I strongly believe that, not because things were easy for us. We had a very, very good car, no doubt, but we had an even stronger team, and as I said, a couple of times already, I think the car this year was less dominant than the car last year.

“Last year we had so many races where sometimes you may say we were unlucky, but we made stupid mistakes as well.

We did things that cost us a lot of time and cost us a lot of points in the end. A championship is not one race, it’s a lot of races pulled together and I think that’s where the difference came from this year. “

2012 V8 SUPERCARS CALENDAR

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1 Adelaide 500 NC Albert Park 2 Symmons Plains 3 Hamilton 4 Barbagallo 5 Phillip Island 6 Hidden Valley 7 Reid Park

Adelaide Melbourne Vic Launceston Tas Hamilton NZ Perth WA PI Vic Darwin NT Townsville Qld

Mar 1-4 Mar 15-18 Mar 30-Apr 1 April 20-22 May 4-6 May 18-20 June 15-17 July 6-8

8 Queensland R’way Ipswich Qld 9 Winton Benalla Vic 10 Sandown 500 Melbourne Vic 11 Bathurst 1000 Bathurst NSW 12 Gold Coast 600 GC, Qld 13 Yas Marina Abu Dhabi 14 TBA TBA 15 Sydney Homebush NSW

Aug 3-5 Aug 24-26 Sept 14-16 Oct 4-7 Oct 19-21 Nov 2-4 Nov 9-11 Nov 30-Dec 2

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BATHURST TO GRIP UP CIRCUIT NEWS LAP records are set to tumble at Mount Panorama, with a plan to resurface the iconic circuit before next year’s 50th running of the Great Race. eNews has learned that the Bathurst City Council is applying for funding to have the entire 6.02 kilometre circuit resurfaced in time for the 2012 Bathurst 1000. Phillip Island is also considering a resurface,

while new bitumen will start going down at Queensland Raceway a week after the international drivers test day, which will be held the Wednesday before the Gold Coast 600 later this month.

The last time the Bathurst circuit was resurfaced was right before the 2003 Bathurst 1000 weekend, where Greg Murphy set his record Shootout lap that wasn’t bettered until last year, when Craig Lowndes went faster in practice.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

ALEX TO GET COOL? V8 SUPERCARS

Dirk Klynsmith

MOFF’S FUTURE SECURED

ALEX Davison continues to look at options for 2012 – and one of them could be Garry Rogers Motorsport.

The always-cagey team owner said at Bathurst that he was talking to “a number” of drivers, but admitted that he had had dialogue with Davison about the seat in the #33 Commodore – which is being vacated by the man replacing Davison at Stone Brothers Racing, Lee Holdsworth.

“The next race [after the end of the season] is not until March,” Rogers said.

“I don’t NEED anyone until then but ideally, I would much prefer to get something in place soon. Obviously, Lee is going, but there is no hurry to do anything at all.”

The other wrinkle is that with international drivers of the calibre of Max Papis and Marino Franchitti checking out the Bathurst landscape, Rogers is not ruling out signing an international driver.

“I want someone with a good history as a driver,” he said, “and a good history of fitting in to a team. There are a number of blokes who do that, some from this series and some from overseas.”

Rogers has also confirmed that he has re-signed his major sponsor, Fujitsu General, for a further two years.

V8 SUPERCARS

6

Peter Bury

JAMES Moffat will be a Dick Johnson Racing driver in 2012, but not necessarily a Jim Beam Racing driver.

Moffat joined the Queensland squad at the start of the season, graduating from the Fujitsu Series on a one-year deal, and currently sits 21st in the standings. eNews understands contract negotiations are complete and Moffat will stay with the squad next year.

However the team’s commercial line-up is set to change, with the team to run separate naming rights sponsors on Moffat’s #18 Falcon to Steven Johnson’s #17. Jim Beam will continue to back the team, having joined DJR in 2007, aboard Johnson’s car, but internet security giant Symantec poised take over Moffat’s car.

Symantec’s support of Moffat started midway through 2009, and he spent the balance of his time in the Fujitsu Series aboard a Norton 360-backed Falcon. This year with DJR, Moffat has worn a Norton-branded racesuit, pictured.

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

NEWS

V8 SUPERCARS PAUL Morris has nominated David Russell and Jack Perkins as the front-runners to fill the vacancy at the Gold Coast-based team in 2012.

With Russell Ingall set to move on to Walkinshaw Racing, taking the SuperCheap Auto sponsorship with him, the Fujitsu Series front-runners are bestplaced to take over, if hey can find their own backing.

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“We’ve been talking to Dave Russell a lot, and you’d put Jack and Dave Russell on the top of that list for sure,” said Morris.

While the veteran has had plenty of opportunity to survey the candidates, having raced against both in the secondtier V8 Supercars series, and run Perkins as a co-driver to Ingall at this year’s enduros, finances remain a sticking point.

“I know how good a driver Jack is. I just raced nose-to-tail with him in the Fujitsu race, and he’s definitely capable of doing

Dirk Klynsmith

MORRIS: JACK AND DAVE IN THE FRAME that job, for sure. It’s just a matter of building the commercial money around someone, that’s the big thing,” he said.

“It’s just a matter of opening that door and getting one of those young guys in there, and I’m sure they’d do a good job.”

Conjecture remains about the future of Morris’ team and its two RECs. eNews believes that Morris will make a final decision on whether he will sell or retain his RECs by the end of this month.

– DANIEL HERRERO

7

FV8 ON FILM FUJITSU SERIES BIG Brother is now keeping a closer eye on the Fujitsu Series.

Drivers raced with identical, incar cameras for the first time at Bathurst, to aid officials when investigating racing incidents. Similar to the Main Game’s standard ‘TEGA’ cameras, the GoPro units were installed for Saturday’s second race and will be trialled in the category for the balance of the year under evaluation for 2012.

SEVEN AGAIN IN ‘12 FUJITSU SERIES THE Fujitsu Series will run over seven rounds in 2012.

The series will start and finish in the first and last V8 Supercar Championship Series, and largely mirrors the 2011 calendar. The major change is that Winton will host a round next season, a replacement for next month’s Sandown event.

2012 FUJITSU SERIES CALENDAR 1. Adelaide 500, Adelaide 2. Barbagallo, Perth 3. Reid Park, Townsville 4. Queensland Raceway, Ipswich 5. Winton, Benalla 6. Bathurst 100, Bathurst 7. Sydney, Homebush

JAMES, TIM & LUCKY V8 SUPERCARS IT’LL be status quo for Stone Brothers Racing’s #47 entry next year.

REC holder James Rosenberg and Tim Slade have inked new, two-year deals to run with the team, taking the arrangement through until the end of 2013, while Lucky7 will continue as the car’s major sponsor in 2012.

Slade and Rosenberg joined the team in 2010, after Slade’s rookie season with Paul Morris Motorsports in 2009.

“We’re all pretty happy with that, Tim’s happy with that,” Rosenberg said of the

extended deal.

“Tim’s his own man, he can do what he likes, but he chooses to stay at Stones because it’s a good fit. He’s still making good progress; he’s had his ups and downs, but he’s had three podiums and a lot of drivers haven’t had three podiums. And there’ll be more to come.

“With Stones, there’s been a big turnaround with their cars this year; it’s not perfect but certainly a big turnaround.

This will get us through the first year of Car of the Future, which will be good, these guys will build a good Car of the Future.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

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NEWS

FPR TO FV8, BUT NOT JUST YET FUJITSU SERIES

Andrew Hall

FORD Performance Racing will field two cars in the Fujitsu Series in 2013.

The Melbourne-based squad will use the introduction of Car of the Future as a way to re-enter the Fujitsu Series, with a two-car team using cars from their pool of currentspecification FG Falcons.

They last ran in the Fujitsu Series in 2010 with James Moffat.

“I’ve made no secret that I’m a big supporter of the Fujitsu Series,” said team boss Tim Edwards.

“It’s not just about developing drivers; Grant McPherson is a great example of how well the Fujitsu Series works for developing mechanics and engineers. He started as the engineer on the Fujitsu Series car [in 2010], and now he’s Will [Davison’s] engineer. You can’t just throw these guys in the deep end, they need to learn

how to work on the radio and so on. “[So] it’s about a lot more than just drivers.”

While FPR will keep two of its current-spec Falcons, it will still have as many as three cars on the market come the end of next season.

“I’ve got five cars, so I’ll still be selling cars,” Edwards added.

“But our intention is certainly to keep a couple of cars to run ourselves.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Y7 STAY ON

John Morris / Mpix

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Mad Max seeking V8 ride V8 SUPERCARS

SUTTON-IMAGES.COM

MAX Papis has set his sights on a V8 Supercar drive – and he is willing to move to Australia to do it.

Papis, who currently lives in North Carolina, flew to Australia with his wife to take in his first Bathurst 1000. He spent time with a number of teams, including the Holden Racing Team and Stone Brothers Racing, and is clearly looking for a seat in the series.

“I am here to see what the opportunities are,” said the 42year-old Italian. “If there was an offer of a full-time ride, I would take that into consideration, in a heartbeat! Living in Australia?

Are you KIDDING me? I would love that!”

Papis has been one of the most versatile drivers of the last 20 years. He made seven Grand Prix starts, all with Footwork, in 1995, and raced in CART or Indycar for 10 seasons, taking three wins for Team Rahal. Alongside various part-time programs in NASCAR, he has become an accomplished GT endurance driver.

“I always followed Bathurst, and it has been one of my dreams to

race at Bathurst,” he said. “This year at Daytona, it will be my number 24, 24-Hour race, and Bathurst, together with the Nurburgring and Le Mans, is an EVENT! So I decided to come over here and have a look.

“I wanted to be here on a weekend when I am not racing, just to see how everything works.

I cannot run the Gold Coast race, because I am racing at Talladega that weekend [Ed: in a NASCAR Truck race]. I am looking forward to racing at Talladega, just like Ricky Bobby!

I have seen a lot of races, and as I walk around here, and I am really impressed. The quality of the services at the track, the atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the people … you cannot buy that! You go up on the mountain, and see the people who have been camping up there. I like that. People say that they are crazy, but I like it. I like the emotion, and the cars are a great compromise between a GT car and a Stock Car.” Papis is married to Tatiana, whose father is two-time World champion, Emerson Fittipaldi.

They have two sons, Marco and Matteo.

Stanaway makes it two Kiwis at Macau GP FORMULA 3

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I’m aiming to finish the GP on the podium. But with the nature of the event it’s difficult to know what to expect.”

Evans, meanwhile, will drive for Double R Racing, the same team that he made his British F3 debut for last weekend at Silverstone. Before that, the GP3 race winner last raced F3 in the Australian series in 2010.

Other notable entrants for Macau include Carlos Sainz Jr – son of the double World Rally Champion of the same name – who comes from running Formula Renault 2.0, as well as 2007 British F3 Champ Marko Asmer and GP3 Champ Valtteri Bottas.

SUTTON-IMAGES.COM

MITCH Evans will not be the only flying Kiwi to race at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix next month.

Evans and Richie Stanaway will be part of the 30-car field that will tackle the demanding street circuit on the island near Hong Kong. Stanaway will be looking to cap off a stellar year, which has seen him win the German Formula 3 Championship in emphatic style, as well as taking a debut race win in the GP3 Series at Spa in Belgium, having joined the series seven rounds in.

He will race at Macau for Dutch squad Van Amersfoot

Racing, the same team that took him to the German F3 title this year.

“I’m incredibly excited to have the opportunity to drive in Macau for many reasons,” Stanaway told eNews.

“First of all, it will no doubt be the most competitive field of drivers I’ve ever competed against. Also, to go there with my own team from the German F3 Championship will be a nice challenge, and I’m happy to be able to go there with them.

“Last but not least, the circuit, country and atmosphere of the event; I’m sure it will be great. I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got to have a good result there, and

motorsport news

RACING

V8 SUPERCARS

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JENSON FONE HOME Button set to finish his career at McLaren FORMULA 1

Dan Kalisz, Genius by sutton-images.

JENSON Button has signed a new multi-year deal with McLaren, which may well take him to the end of his Formula 1 career.

While the exact length of the contract has not been revealed, the team has confirmed that the 2009 World Champion will be a McLaren driver for the foreseeable future, adding another dimension to the standout season that sees Button second in the World Championship, behind Sebastian Vettel.

“I’ve never felt more at home at a team than I do at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” said Button.

“I’ve won four of the greatest races of my life here, I’m currently lying second in the World Championship, and I feel that I’m driving better than ever. You can only achieve that with the right level of support – and I truly believe that the passion and determination to win are stronger here at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes than anywhere else.

“As a Grand Prix driver, those are incredibly powerful feelings to share and

be part of, and they’ve only reinforced my desire to commit my long-term future to this team. I’ve made no secret of my ambition to continue winning races and world championships, and I fully believe this is the place where I can achieve those aims.”

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh added that the re-signing of Button means that McLaren has – in his opinion – the strongest driver line-up in Formula 1.

“Jenson is a great driver and a great guy,” he said.

“In fact, I can safely say that he’s one of the most capable and respected drivers we’ve ever had, and I’m therefore absolutely delighted that he’ll continue to work with us into the future.

“I think he and Lewis [Hamilton] say it better than anyone. Their comments show just how much they respect and trust each other, and they once again continue to prove what we as a team have always known; that Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has the very best driver line-up in all of Formula 1.”

PIRELLI MAKES ITS CHOICES FORMULA 1

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12

PIRELLI has revealed the two compounds it will take to the final three Grands Prix of the year in India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

The Italian tyremaker has gone extreme for the Indian Grand Prix, nominating the Soft and Hard compounds for the race, as well as taking the unusual step of making the softer of the two compounds the Prime.

That means teams will have more Soft compound tyres to play with in practice.

In Abu Dhabi and Brazil, a more conventional approach will be taken, with the Soft and Medium compounds being allocated for both events.

“India is a big unknown for all the teams and ourselves, so we will also be taking the most durable hard tyre in order to cover every base,” said Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembrey.

“Abu Dhabi is much more familiar territory for us, where we know that the medium and the soft tyre will suit the circuit well. As for Interlagos, we’re aiming to end the season on a high.

“The combination of medium and soft rubber has given us some close racing in the past, lots of overtaking and provided some good opportunities for interesting pit stop strategies.”

The Supersoft and Soft tyres will be used at Korea this weekend. motorsport news

NEWS

DAN R OUT OF THE GAR RAJ

FORMULA 1 DANIEL Ricciardo has got a head start on the field ahead of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, driving a Red Bull Racing showcar in India late last week.

The Hispania Racing Team driver took to the streets of New Dehli in front of 60,000

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fans, racing up and down the iconic Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard for the Republic of India.

“It was a proud moment for me to be the first F1 driver to race down the Rajpath,” the West Aussie said.

“Today’s drive was truly exhilarating, especially with legions of cheering fans

lining the road. I’ve never seen anything like this before, but I’m sure that Red Bull has set millions of pulses racing as India waits for the lights to turn green at the Grand Prix later this month.”

A video of Ricciardo in action down the Rajpath can be seen at www.redbullracing. com

13

CHEVY’S PANTHER DIVISION Indycar Media

INDYCARS

14

Indycar Media

CHEVROLET has signed its next Indycar team – Panther Racing.

The two-time IndyCar champions announced the union late last week.

“I just couldn’t be more excited that Chevrolet has decided to return to IndyCar racing and obviously it’s a natural fit for Panther to have Chevrolet powering our cars once again,” said Panther Racing Managing Partner and CEO John Barnes.

“We’ve got a long list of race wins and championships together and we’re looking forward to continuing our successful partnership starting in 2012. I take a lot of pride in Panther being an all-American team with the National Guard as a sponsor, JR Hildebrand as our driver and now Chevrolet as our engine supplier. Chevy races to win, and so do we, so we’re ready to get to work and pick up right where we left off.”

Panther won the 2001 and ‘02 titles, with driver Sam Hornish Jr. All of its wins came with Chevys, and it was the only team to run Chevy power in the marque’s final year in the series in 2005.

TWO DRIVERS, ONLY ONE HISTORY BOOK INDYCARS WHOEVER wins the battle for the 2011 Indycar title at Las Vegas this week will have to create history to do it.

Dario Franchitti leads Will Power by 18 points heading to the final race of the season, on the 1.5-mile oval outside the leisure capital of the USA. The Scot took the points lead

at Kentucky, and that was the sixth time that the two drivers have swapped the lead this year.

Power has won six times this year, one on ovals, and Franchitti has won four times, twice on ovals.

Neither man has raced on the track before, but the odds appear to be with the Ganassi driver, who clinched his 2007 and 2009 titles at the final round of the year.

The race features a massive 34 entries, a record for any oval event other than the Indianapolis 500, with the most high-profile entry that of Dan Wheldon. The Indy 500 winner can win US$2.5m for himself and the Bryan Herta Autosport team, and the same amount for a registered Indycar fan, if he manages to win the race from the rear of the grid. motorsport news

NEWS

Waltrip gets its Bowy NASCAR

Less RFR: What now for Ragan?

NASCAR ONE of NASCAR’s powerhouse teams, Roush Fenway Racing, may be downsizing to three cars in 2012.

Team boss Jack Roush said last week that the hunt for sponsorship for the team’s #6 entry, driven at present by David Ragan, was ongoing and it appears to be an uphill battle.

“We’re looking for a sponsor for #6-David (Ragan), but right now I can’t tell you who that’s gonna be,” Roush told SiriusXM Radio.

“I’ll say that I’m not real close on it. So David has not been encouraged to not talk to other teams going forward for things that they might have or an interest because right now I don’t see how I’m gonna run the fourth car unless things turn dramatically.”

CUDLIN TO ASPAR MOTOGP

Ragan says he’s focused on 2011.

“Right now I am not focused on 2012 just yet,” Ragan told MikeMulhearn.net. “I think it’s important for us to finish this season strong. And the stronger we can finish 2011, that will only help our chances of finding a sponsor and a package to go racing next year.

“Everyone at Roush Fenway is working hard at selling sponsors for us and for Matt [Kenseth]. They have to sell some sponsorships for us to go racing next year. Jack has always done a good job of selling our racecars. Even though it’s come to the last minute, we have confidence we’ll be out on the track racing [next season]. And hopefully we can find a partner we can announce, sooner rather than later.”

FOR the second race in a row, Damian Cudlin will race in a MotoGP – but the Aussie has ‘switched’ teams.

After subbing for Loris Capirossi at Pramac Ducati at Motegi, Cudlin will take the seat on the Mapfre Aspar Ducati at Phillip Island. Regular rider Hector Barbera will miss the race, after suffering multiple fractures

to his right collarbone in Japan.

“This is a great surprise,” Cudlin told GPOne.com. “Barely a week after the Japanese Grand Prix I’ll be on the Ducati again. I quickly became familiar with the new bike and track at Motegi so I’m looking forward to it.”

Cudlin will be looking for his maiden finish in the premier class, after he crashed out at Motegi just past mid-race, when running 12th.

KTM lives the single life MOTOGP KTM has commenced bench testing of its new Moto3 engine.

The new motor, developed in conjunction with KALEX Engineering in Germany, started its dyno work on the motor in late August.

Like all motors in the class, the 250cc, fuel-injected fourstroke single-cylinder engine will be subject to a ‘claim’ rule, which will allow competitors to claim an engine from a team by paying 12,000 euros.

KTM already has won a Manufacturer’s World title in road racing, and riders such as Casey Stoner, Mika Kallio, Hiroshi Aoyama and Marc Marquez all raced for the KTM factory team.

KTM Raing

NASCAR Media

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Pramac Ducati

NASCAR Media

CLINT Bowyer is confident that he can take Michael Waltrip Racing into Victory Lane.

MWR announced that it had signed Bowyer to a threeyear deal to drive its #15 Toyota next season.

“I see their performance improving week-in and weekout. I had to work my butt off to make sure I was on top

of them,” the current Richard Childress Racing driver said in a news conference at Kansas Speedway. “I see this as a wonderful opportunity for me to prove myself.”

Bowyer will be joined in the move to MWR by Scott Miller, who has filled the role of RCR’s director of competition since 2003.

14,000 revs, 12,000 euros: KTM’s new single Moto3 engine has started its test program.

15

WHEN MARCUS MET MARCOS AUSSIES OVERSEAS

Dirk DirkKlynsmith Klynsmith

MARCUS Zukanovic will make it a pair of Australians at Marcos Ambrose Motorsport in an upcoming round of the UARA Stars Late Model Series.

The Fujitsu Series driver will fly to America on Wednesday, to take part in a round of the series in Tennessee alongside George Miedecke on October 22, and test an ARCA stock car. Zukanovic has been to the States to explore Late Model racing before, testing in a 2009 foray.

“I’m having a run in a Late Model and an ARCA car with Marcos Ambrose Motorsport,” Zukanovic said.

“It’s going to be very different. I’ve had one attempt,

obviously, back in 2009, so I’m really looking forward to the opportunity again and seeing what it brings, maybe. I’ve just got one race pencilled in at the moment, that’s in Newport in Tennessee. George reckons it’s going to be quite a tough race, so it’ll be an interesting first race off the bat in a Late Model.

“I’m not going in there with too high expectations, I just want to circulate, see what it’s all about and get a feel for what it’s like over in that part of the world. It’ll definitely be a good experience, I think. We’ll see where it ends up at the end of it.”

Zukanovic is keeping his options open beyond the trip, admitting a shift to America is a possibility.

“It’s on the cards, I can’t knock it back totally,” he said.

“It’s really just a matter of how this test goes as to whether we look at something like that. I

do love the Fujitsu Series and I do love V8 Supercars, so it’s all experience, I guess. We’ll see what happens.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

Dirk Klynsmith

MORE FOR PORSCHES IN 2012 CARRERA CUP THE Porsche City Index Carrera Cup has revealed an eightround calendar for 2012.

The series will visit the same seven circuits that it raced at this year, with the addition of the V8 Supercar season-opener at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide next March, subject to final confirmation.

According to Porsche Cars Australia’s motorsport manager 16

Jamey Blaikie, the 2012 schedule is the best the series has ever seen.

“It’s always important for our brand, sponsors and teams that we are showcased at the best events in Australian motorsport,” said Blaikie.

“We achieved that objective this year, with the exception of the Clipsal 500 event.

“Our 2012 calendar is by far the best compilation of events that the championship

has ever seen. We believe our participation at the Clipsal 500 event will be confirmed in the coming weeks, so with its inclusion, the category will feature at all of V8 Supercars’ marquee events in Australia, as well as the Australian Grand Prix.

“With the strong support of our existing competitor base for the new calendar and the increase in car numbers for 2012, I believe we are close to

2012 CARRERA CUP CALENDAR 1. Clipsal 500, Adelaide 2. Australian GP, Albert Park 3. Barbagallo Raceway, Perth 4. Phillip Island, Victoria 5. Townsville, Queensland 6. Bathurst, New South Wales 7. Gold Coast 600, Gold Coast 8. Sydney 500, Sydney the right formula for the longterm success and sustainability of the category in Australia.” motorsport news

NEWS

AUSTRALIAN GT MERCEDES-BENZ’S presence in Australian GT racing looks set to grow in the coming months.

Following the debut of Peter Hackett’s SLS AMG GT3 in the VodkaO Australian GT Championship in May, two representatives from AMG attended Bathurst’s round of the championship last weekend.

As previously reported, Hackett’s Erebus Racing is working to put together a program for next year’s Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, and the car could be joined by sister cars

from European outfits.

“When you buy an SLS GT3, the factory will support you for one round,” Hackett said.

“Obviously when we took delivery of the car, it was the middle of the FIA GT3 Championship, the VLN and ADAC Masters ... we probably could’ve had them out here, and they volunteered to jump on a plane, but we wanted to show them Bathurst with a bigger picture in mind to expose them to what Australian motorsport was all about.

“If we could get a 12 Hour gig together, we wanted them to

have some thoughts on that as well It’s good. The guys are really impressed with the team, they’re really impressed with the facilities and what Australian motorsport can provide. We’re getting closer to having at least one car on the grid and depending on the messages they take back and tell the European teams, maybe we’ll have more.”

And a second SLS – and possibly even more – could join Hackett in Australian GT next season, with crunchtime looming.

“We are still working for

Dirk Klynsmith

THIRSTY FOR MERCS

a second car to be on the Australian GT grid,” Hackett said.

“We’re in the process with our colleagues of ordering that car, we’re a long way down the track, and we have actually been approached by a number of drivers to try and get it. Erebus Racing expects next year to run two cars, but I also expect that we’ll have some satellite cars associated with us.

“We’ll need to order a car at Sandown (Ed: GT season finale in November) if we want it here for next year, so we’ll have more by then.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

NATIONALS AND INTERNATIONAL FOR AUS GT AUSTRALIAN GT NEXT year’s VodkaO Australian GT Championship will be run at a combination of V8 Supercar and Shannons Nationals events – and possibly even in New Zealand.

Five of this year’s seven rounds will be held on the V8 program, along with two standalone events. The standalone events have been scrapped for 2012, as previously reported, but GT will return to the Shannons www.mnews.com.au

Nationals card – likely to be a 50/50 split with V8 events – to accommodate a move towards holding a pair of one-hour races at more rounds.

Australian GT has also been approached to be a part of a sportscar meeting at Hampton Downs, which is under consideration.

“With the idea of going down the path of two, one-hour race formats, we’re looking for programs that can offer us the tracktime, so we envisage we’re

going to have a combination of Shannons Nationals events as well as some high-profile V8 Supercar events, such as the Clipsal 500,” category administer Craig Nayda said.

In July, organisers announced a move to simplify regulations by moving to running the preceding year’s FIA GT3 technical regulations. Existing cars not meeting FIA GT3 specifications will be given a honeymoon period of three years, and superseded

models will remain eligible for two years before moving to the GT Challenge Class. At Bathurst, a third class was announced, named GT Sports, to accommodate cars meeting FIA GT4 regulations.

The first of the new model Audi R8 LMSs has now landed in Australia, and is expected to be joined by new GT3 machinery including Ferrari’s 458, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP600, Ford GT40, Nissan GT-R and Porsche GT3-R on the 2012 grid.

17

NEWS

V8 UTES RYAL Harris is already looking to 2013, and a potential switch to the Fujitsu Series or Carrera Cup. The Queenslander is likely to remain in the AutoOne V8 Ute Racing Series next year with Big Gun Racing, but has his eye on a move in 2013, when the present stock of Supercars will be

John Morris / Mpix

HARRIS LOOKS TO FUTURE

replaced by the Car of the Future and go onto the Fujitsu Series market.

“I really want to do Carrera Cup or Fujitsu but it’s just a matter of finding the money,” Harris, the Utes’ latest round winner said.

“I think once the Car of the Future comes in, Fujitsu’s going to be a lot cheaper, so I might bide my time and wait.”

– DANIEL HERRERO

FG GOES OK V8 UTES GARY Carson has given a strong endorsement of his new FG Falcon Ute, as the model Ford made its competition debut at Bathurst on the weekend.

“It’s good. [Category engine builder] Craigsted’s done a great engine, but now we’ve just got to work on the front end,” explained Carson.

“It’s great in low-speed corners, but in high-speed stuff, which is all

across the top of the mountain, the initial turn’s not there.”

However, by the end of the weekend, Carson reported that the problem had largely been rectified, and that the car was “great in that third race.”

The promising debut will come as welcome news to V8 Utes administrators, who are aiming to have all Ford drivers in the Falcon’s latest incarnation for the opening round at Adelaide next year.

– DANIEL HERRERO

Dirk Klynsmith

18

motorsport news

BATHURST AND BEYOND

in the latest issue of motorsport news, craig lowndes talks exclusively about the title, winning another bathurst 1000 and his future plus: our car-by-car bathurst preview, a look back at bathursts past, inside the life of wrc star petter solberg, will power on his indycar title tilt, and a first person account of the us drag racing nationals. and a whole lot more!

SPECIAL

BATHURST

PREVIEW

EDITION

THE GRE

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AN IN-DEP TH LOOK AT THE BATHURS T 1000 FI ELD, CAR-BY-C AR

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AUSSIE AC

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NEWS

TARGA’S SWITCH TARMAC RALLY OCTAGON’S tarmac rallies will be sanctioned by CAMS from now on.

Having run with the AASA for the last four years, Octagon returned to CAMS for the recent running of the Classic Targa Adelaide event in South Australia. With the event running to plan, the Tasmania-based company has decided to return to CAMS,

with all four events to be run under the CAMS banner in 2012. “[Adelaide] was actually our first Targa event back with CAMS in four years and it was great to chalk up it up with the lowest incident rate Targa event ever,” said Stuart Benson, Octagon’s sporting director.

“Supaloc Classic Targa Adelaide (Round 1), Targa High Country (R2), Targa Wrest Point (R3) and Targa Tasmania (R4) are all CAMS

events now, and form the CAMS Australian Targa Championship.

“A great thing for competitors to come out of our realignment with CAMS is that talks have now begun to create a common set of tarmac rally eligibility rules, with the country’s other tarmac rallies now looking to adopt the CAMS Australian Targa Championship technical regulations developed by Octagon.”

second car to be driven by students over the course of the season.

“My wife used to race go-karts as a kid, and she had a hard time as a girl in a maledominated sport,” Kalaitzidis said.

“For the past few years I’ve thought long and hard about her experience and those of other young women just like her, so I

thought it was time to try and improve things.

“There are some fast and talented girls out there, but for one reason or another they just don’t seem to get the breaks or have the connections to succeed in what is a very demanding sport on all levels – physical, technical and political.”

LA NEW INITIATIVE V8 SUPERCARS A NEW academy for female race drivers will field a pair of cars in next year’s Aussie Racing Car Super Series.

Launched at Bathurst, the La Femme Academy of Motorsport aims to provide guidance and a pathway for females between 16 and 24 years of age. The program has been founded by racer Kosi Kalaitzidis and will run for 18 months, with two primary courses on offer, one each for driver and team development. Academy members will complete work on a number of areas, including racecraft, engineering, fitness, media and commercial aspects of the sport.

The Academy will have an on-track presence, with Lauren Gray to lead the Aussie Racing Car program, joined by a 20

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21 *See www.mymagazines.com.au for the latest offer.

FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

GARTH TANDER and NICK PERCAT The HRT pair became, respectively, a three-time Bathurst winner and the first man to win on debut in more than 30 years. They were pretty happy men ...

QUESTION: Garth, which charm is luckier? Your daughter Scarlett, or Nick?

GARTH TANDER: Probably both!

Both races that they’ve both been to, we’ve gone pretty well.

I think they’re both gaining in luck, because it was pit-lane to fourth in the last one, and ninth to first in this one.

Nick, your genuine feelings going through those last five laps?

NICK PERCAT: Ah, do you want the truth? I had to find a seat in the garage to sit down. I had Dad there holding on to me, apparently he went a bit white.

It was a credit to [Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife] to come from where they did. But GT just ... I don’t know how he did it. I know what the car was like at the end [of a stint], and he went further, so it was awesome.

Garth, Nick gave the car a bit of a rub up at Griffins; can you give us a percentage on how good it was when you got back in?

GT: It was fine. The car was fine mechanically.

The car was very good for the majority of the day, except for that last stint, really. We made a change for the second-last stint, and the car was good all the way through the stint. We pulled a gap on Jamie [Whincup], actually. We made another change [at the last stop], and then the conditions changed with the cloud cover, and the car wasn’t quite as nice.

22

In the end we got to the end first, and that’s all that matter.

It was a great job by the boys all day. They got us to the lead when it counted and we weren’t going to give it up.

Garth, you had a five-times Bathurst champion looming in your mirrors with two laps to go; what were your thoughts?

GT: He’s not coming past!

Obviously I was making sure we were faster in the key areas of the track so that Craig couldn’t have a go at us.

I thought their car was quite good on the straights, so I had to get a good run onto Mountain Straight, and then a good run out of Turn 2 up to The Cutting. Then it was a matter of getting across the top, and getting out of The Elbow as cleanly as possible.

GT: No it’s not complete; there’s still a lot of stuff we need to do to improve within the team, and we know what those areas are.

What this will do is give the team a lot of belief that we’re heading in the right direction.

Phillip Island proved that we are heading in the right direction, and we’ve continued on from that this weekend. The win this weekend is fantastic for the team, and we want to dedicate this one to Tom [Walkinshaw].

To win [Bathurst] straight after his passing is very special for the team.

We’ll get a lot from this, but we’ve still got work to do.

You have a keen sense of history, and your own history; would you say that’s the drive of your life?

GT: At the moment it is, yeah. I was in a similar situation in 2000, Paul Radisich was coming up on us right at the end of the race, and that was a close finish as well. I’ve been there before.

Nick, when did you get the feeling that you were a serious chance to win? There must have come a point where you thought ‘shit, I could win this’ ...

NP: It was about the stage when I saw [Garth] pulling away from Jamie. The weather seemed to work for us, the sun came out, we made a change, and the thing was quite fast. The times Garth was doing were in the nines, and I thought ‘wow, that’s a lot quicker than what we’ve been doing’.

A lot of people have spent much of the year trying to write off the team, you’ve been doing your best to disprove them, and this is the best answer you could give them. In the big scheme of things, is the turnaround complete?

Garth, with what transpired in the Shootout on Saturday, what goals did you set yourself for the first stint?

GT: Definitely to get through the first lap without bending anything, and then settle into a routine and just try and pick a few off and get as close front.

That was it. We managed that.

From there you can look after the car a little bit. You have fresh air, you don’t have to worry about hot air going up the brake ducts.

We did toy with doing an early stop, an earlier stop, but in the end when we did stop it was good, and it was good to get Nick in the car early in the race and get him comfortable and get him in the groove. It was good to shake the cobwebs out early in the day.

Nick, what you’ve done hasn’t been done for 30 years (ED: Win Bathurst on debut, a matter of some contention).

Do you think, now, that you’re one step closer to being in the main game?

NP: I think I was one step closer at Phillip Island, and this definitely helps.

I’ve still got a lot to learn, there’s no doubt about that. Like the mistake I made when Craig was going past; I thought we could easily run side-by-side.

There’s a still a lot to learn, pitstops and everything, there’s a lot going on that we don’t have in DVS. We’ll see where I end up at the end of the year. There’s plenty going on, I’ll just take it one step at a time and continue my learning process.

Is there anything in the pipeline?

NP: There’s always something in the pipeline.

GT: Driving my car next year in the enduros! motorsport news

CHAT

Peter Bury

www.mnews.com.au

23

Dirk Klynsmith

I

T was an amazing week to come to our first Bathurst 1000.

It was special to be in Australia with Leigh Diffey, who is a very close friend – he has been talking about the series for so long. It was great to be able to see it first-hand.

Coming to Australia, to not only see V8 Supercars but to see them race on this track, was the icing on the cake. When you dive over the hills for the first time and you see the words on the Mountain was something else. I am not sure there is any other piece of motor racing real estate that lets you do that when are heading there; it is very, very cool.

The series is great. The level of preparation, and the depth of the field, and the talent of the drivers and the people behind the scenes is first class. It rivals any touring car or GT series around the world.

On top of that, we got great weather for the race itself, and it was a great race. The broadcast worked really well, all things considered.

It was a new team for us, in terms of gelling quickly, and it is a series that we are all not that familiar with. With all those things in mind, I think it was a very good broadcast.

And the race? I can only say it was phenomenal. A 1000 km race with two boys fighting it out at the last corner is more than we could have hoped for. Hopefully the audience enjoyed it as much as we did!

24

OPINION Calvin Fish – SPEED TV Commentator This is the end of a very long season for us. We all get a little bit burned out at the end of the year, obviously being at it had all year, but I think everyone was up for the challenge. I think that we had a tremendous resource, in terms of the assistance we got and the introductions to all the drivers, and all the teams were very helpful with their information. It was good to connect with some of the drivers and get that familiarity; it is difficult to do that in a few days.

You want to out your best foot forward, and start the race ready to go. With all the procedures and rules, and to identify all the teams and their people, is a challenge.

It was good to be in pitlane. Leigh and I have not done that for a couple of seasons. For the US viewer, I think it was a very strong introduction and a tune-up of what to expect when the V8 Supercars get to Austin Texas in 2013.

I can’t wait for the Gold Coast! motorsport news

COMMENT

OPINION Mitchell Adam – National Editor

P

UTTING together a calendar for a race series is a tough job.

I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve spoken to plenty of people over the years who have, or were in the process of, and it’s one hell of a juggling act.

And they’re never perfect. People will always find a reason or a way to have a crack at something they don’t think is quite right. Like me, now, about the 2012 V8 Supercar calendar, which was announced on Saturday.

On the whole, I don’t mind it. The later start – and the fact it’ll kick off in Australia – is a pro. Ditto the more condensed calendar and moving the ’500 back to Sandown – it never really worked at Phillip Island. It lacked a vibe and convincing Melbourne people to drive for two hours to watch something other than AFL finals during the AFL finals series is a big ask. The finals will still be there against next year’s Sandown 500, but Springvale is more likely to draw a crowd than PI. The biggest concern I have is the fact that two of the last three events are going to be offshore. The championship will get plenty of attention for Bathurst, then Surfers will retain a bit of that, but then the show will be put on a plane to race in Abu Dhabi and TBA (my favourite of the acronym countries).

To me, that’s a not ideal. The footy codes will be finished, there’ll be plenty of buzz about V8s after Bathurst, and then they spend November racing on the other side of the world in the middle of the night. Imagine if the champion is crowned in Abu Dhabi in the middle of the night – will anyone outside of the industry and its fans care? Sure, Symmons and Sandown (as it is this year) aren’t MAJOR events, but at least it gives V8s a chance to steal some extra casual fans between footy and cricket by being there.

That situation has come about due to a pro. Running at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is better than flying solo, in front of nobody, but it removes V8SA’s ability to schedule the round. Bernie will look after that.

And I acknowledge that there are a heap of other factors to consider. For climatic reasons, you probably couldn’t go and run at Abu Dhabi (ignoring the GP date for a minute) in, say, June and being away at the start of the season probably isn’t much better.

Then you have fixed dates like Bathurst, not wanting to push Homebush back any later and completely arbitrary factors, like the fact you can’t really push Surfers back because of Schoolies. Hence why it’s such a tough job.

The other cons – from my selfish viewpoint – are the new dates for Symmons, PI and Winton. I’ve been at events at those circuits on similar dates and encountered everything from sideways rain and single degree temperatures to sideways rain and single degree temperatures. If anyone wants to knit me the world’s thickest and most waterproof jumper, I’d really appreciate it.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated matter, how rad was Bathurst?

You could schedule a race like that any time you wanted ...

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

25

V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUND 20 – BATHURST, NSW

THE GREAT, GREAT RACE As far as The Great Race goes, the 2011 version was, well, great.

PHIL BRANAGAN reports on a weird, and epic, weekend at Mount Panorama

26

motorsport news

RACE

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

27

THE BUILDUP – THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

BRIGHT’S A WHEEL MAN, WHINCUP’

T

HERE was a certain symmetry about Friday at Bathurst, 2011, and comparing the day with the same in the 2010 Great Race.

The most obvious comparison to be made was that the day featured a bent TeamVodafone Commodore – Jamie Whincup’s – and a bent Brad Jones Racing example. But while Jason Richards was the man in the wall last year, this time the Bargwanna version of the Jasonhood was the man who came unstuck.

With due respect to the 2000 Bathurst victor, Whincup’s shunt was more newsworthy. This time, it was the ‘entrance’ to the Mountain, The Cutting, where he crashed, rather than the ‘exit’, Forrest’s Elbow, which was the scene of the crime a year ago.

“Going hard, that’s all it was,” he rued.

28

“I was on the third lap on green tyres, and they only last two laps. I should have got out of it.”

Which, as the session had been flagged, it a reasonable opinion.

“I hit Larry Perkins’s Gate [Ed: the spot where Perkins crashed in 2003], and there was a bit of damage.”

His fear was that he would miss qualifying.

Into the #88 car went a new front subframe, a new rear end and some alignment. After testing the car early in the session (“I was a bit soft on the first lap”) he got down to business and the result was third.

The leading Commodore was that of Garth Tander. That was a considerable effort; having a new front end at the start of the season and a new rear end a few events later meant that this is much different beastie to

the car that the team raced the doors off – literally – a year ago.

“The car is very quick,” he said.

“It is good to get some dry running in. I was actually surprised by the lack of speed in the qualifying session. It is the best car I have had here.”

The longhand version of that was that Tander felt #2 was well-balanced on new tyres, old tyres and on wets. Tander was looking confident; in light of what was heading his way 24 hours hence, it was an ominous sign for Sunday.

Mark Winterbottom, a man intimately familiar with the front row at Bathurst, was second, a looked a little nonplussed to be there. Frosty was up on the pole lap at the second sector twice, but the Orrcon Steel car lacked a little pizazz down the hill. motorsport news

RACE

Andrew Hall

Deja Vu: For the second year in a row Jamie Whincup’s car spent part of Friday on a flat-bed, left. Meanwhile, NASCAR Darrell Waltrip was taught a lesson in physics by Jason Bright, above, and Garth Tander dragged a lap time, seemingly his his teeth, out of the HRT Commodore, below.

Dirk Klynsmith

“We will try to tune it,” he said.

“It felt good but when you are doing a 7.7, it does not feel that the car is fast. But when first is a 7.6, it looks better than it feels.”

Best stories of the day came from two men who avoided shunts. As Whincup thoughtfully mentioned, Greg Murphy had a great escape in practice, gathering up the Pepsi Commodore when it looked like driving off the Mountain, backwards, “You should have seen Cameron Waters’s [spin],” Murph downplayed later.

“You are pushing the envelope a bit, and it got a high on the kerb.”

It was not quite a great escape, but it looked like an escape. But that was nowhere near as entertaining as the show put on by Fabian Coulthard. With the anniversary of his seen-around-the-world www.mnews.com.au

barrel roll looming, he warmed up with a 360-degree effort OVER SKYLINE. Fabe may not have a secure seat for 2012 but clearly, there is talent (and basketball-sized, um, balls) there.

If they were some of the pluses, there were also minuses. The reliveried Beams looked brilliant but were, generally, diabolical.

Neither Steve Johnson nor James Moffat looked vaguely like a threat to anyone in the top 10. After a bad Phillip Island 500, many were looking forward to a better performance at the Mountain but at the end of the session, Johnson just shrugged his shoulders with the lack of speed.

“I just don’t know,” he admitted, though as he shrugged, the crew were getting to work on a damper to see if there was some internal part that was not performing up to standard.

Dirk Klynsmith

’S A WALL MAN

The other notable crashee, Bargs, was in no danger of missing anything important but there was a list of things that the Alburys woulds rather be doing after a session than repairing a car.

And, the cause of Bargwanna’s crash? Did something break?

“Eventually,” he said, after a pause.

But here was the rub; it was a dull session.

Until GT lit the afterburners, it was … boring is a tough word to use when 29 V8 Supercars are fired up, at BATHURST, but it was not far from the truth. The first two days of the 2011 Great Race lacked drama and excitement, which is great for the teams but a little subtle for the fans, and a hard sell for the media. Roll on the resurfacing of the track (see news pages) and more sixes, fives of even … fours?

29

THE BUILDUP – THURSDAY AND FRIDAY

BARGS: Andrew Hall

WET, WET, WET A TYRE supply issue was what kept the V8 Supercars off the track at Bathurst on Thursday afternoon.

Under leaden skies, the cars stayed firmly in the pits when the 3:05pm start time of the session ticked by. And there they returned after a single sighting lap.

A V8 Supercars spokesperson reported that the problem was one with the slippery white lines at the top of the circuit, which was at the time covered in low cloud. But the problem that concerned the teams was that there were different batches of wet tyres with what some teams claimed was a marked difference in performance.

The tyres from the older batch ‘ZD’ were made in January 2011, and were reckoned, again by some teams, to be slower than the newer ‘PV’ 30

LAPS are important at Bathurst, even for guys who have seen and done it all before – just ask Jason Bargwanna.

Bargs binned his Jana Living-backed Commodore in qualifying on Friday, and while he was willing to put his hand

REYNOL

rubber by as much as four seconds.

With a weather forecast for rain over the course of the weekend, “There is five months’ difference in the batches,” explained Dunlop Motorsport’s Kevin Fitzsimons.

“It’s the way it goes. Who knew what would happen? We have about 400 PVs from the July build and 190 from January. Last year, we sold 290 wets, for the whole season.”

Late on Thursday, the teams relinquished their tyres to Dunlop for marking, and they were reallocated, and on early Friday morning, more tyres were delivered to the track. As such, all the teams had sufficient tyres should they be needed in the race but it only rained, lightly, twice during the race and no car turned any laps on wets. motorsport news

RACE

LACK OF LAPS CAUSED SHUNT up and admit fault, he did point to a lack running heading into the session. He had a right to grizzle – between cancelled sessions, a lack of wet weather tyres and an engine problem on Friday morning, the 2000 Great Race winner went into

the session having only done two laps all weekend.

“It was my first run in the car all weekend, because we lost the engine [on Friday] morning,” he confirmed to eNews.

“So I was trying to feel my way and push hard at the

same time.

“We made a change, and the car was really fast across the top. We’d struggled to make the car turn, but the change we made gave the car turn. So I hooked it in, and I just kissed the wall … and that was the

end of that.

“We were headed for an 8.2 there. We were eight-tenths up on the 9.1 at that point, so there is no doubt we were on for a low eight. But I took one millimetre too many.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

LDS: BEST LAP OF MY LIFE

John Morris/Mpix

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DAVID Reynolds actually had to do two balls-out laps in a row to secure fourth in the 40-minute qualifying session on Friday.

The one that everyone saw was the 2:07.8371s stonker that rocketed Reynolds from nowhere into the Shootout … after the session had ended. But just to put himself in a position to have that last-ditch crack at a lap-time Reynolds had to push, straight out of the pits on his out-lap. And he did all of that having lost a lot of running on Friday morning when the Kelly Racing crew had to change car #16’s engine.

“The team put a set of tyres on pretty late, and they told me that I’d have to go pretty hard on the out-lap to make it around before the chequered flag came out,” he said.

“So I was trying pretty hard.

“The actual lap was all or nothing. I got a

good run onto Mountain Straight, I got it into The Cutting really well, I had an okay run across the top – although not overly quick. I threw it down the hill, stomped it out of The Dipper, stomped it out onto Conrod Straight, braked as late as I could into The Chase – and then I was a little bit soft into the last corner! I probably dropped a tenth and a half.”

Okay, by his own admission he played it a little cool into the last corner … but even though he tapered back the commitment in the last few metres of the lap, Reynolds was happy to announce that it was, to that point, the best he’d ever done.

“That was, 100 percent, the best lap I’ve ever done around Bathurst,” he added.

“It brings tears to your eyes, doing laps like that. That’s so cool.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 31

THE SHOOTOUT – SATURDAY

LAP OF THE ODDS

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REG Murphy wrote his name into Bathurst history with a stunning pole lap – eight years ago.

In 2011, he did it again, but in a manner nobody – probably including the man himself – expected.

Murph was the sixth man out in the Shoot-out, and pipped the first man to run, Will Davison, by 0.08s. That in itself was a surprise, as Davo had set the 11th fastest time in qualifying and only got the invite to dust off his driving shoes on Saturday arvo when Lee Holdsworth missed a call to have his GRM Commodore weighed after his Q lap. In a trice, Lethal was out of the Hero Session and Davo was in.

So the first man out would end up second, and the only many who bested his time was Murphy. When drizzle wet the track with three drivers, Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Garth Tander already bolted into their cars, the NZ legend had his first pole at Bathurst in eight years and his

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first V8 Supercars pole anywhere in six.

“It was a very interesting session,” the polesitter understated – or overstated, depending on from where you watched it.

“I was surprised to see the number come up on the dash and I knew what Will had done. I thought that the guys coming afterwards would have a better chance [to beat it].”

It was a fascinating battle. Murphy set the fastest opening sector with a 52.3577s effort, but by the time he had completed the second sector, he was only a tenth ‘ahead’ of the Trading Post car. In the middle, twistingand-dipping run from Reid Park to Forrest’s Elbow, Will was more than two-tenths quicker – in the context of the closeness of qualifying, a fair old margin. With a tailwind pushing the cars comfortably onto the rev limiter on Conrod, the final sector was fairly even, leaving Murphy with a margin of just over the tenth.

Such was the state of the track, dry but

with rubber a bit scarce from with less dry lappery than in any Bathurst in recent times, that Greg’s Lap of the Gods, all of eight years ago now, was virtually 2s quicker than his the Pepsi Max car managed this time around.

Sometimes, numbers do not justice to what happens behind the scenes.

So it is. Davison was “not embarrassed” with second, when he should have been nine spots worse off. His Falcon was not looking that happy on Friday but after “quite a bit” of change, was more competitive when it counted. Craig Lowndes was third, which does not sound brilliant but it about par for what he usually does at Bathurst. Part of the Lowndes conundrum is that as great as his Bathurst record is, and as sharp as his qualifying performances have been of late, he has not quite managed to get those two facets mesh in the same place at the same time to take a pole. A mistake at McPhillamy (“my issue, not a car issue”) did not aid the cause. motorsport news

RACE

Dirk Klynsmith

WHEN BATHURST BECOMES UN-AUSTRALIAN

Dirk Klynsmith

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Racing Commodore … ironically, one of the years that the 2011 polesitter Greg Murphy won the race.

Overseas combos on pole at Bathurst 2011 Greg Murphy (NZ)/Allan Simonsen (DEN) 2004 Steven Richards (NZ)/Jim Richards (NZ) 1998 Jim Richards (NZ)/Rickard Rydell (SWE) 1990 Klaus Niedzwiedz (DE)/Frank Biela (DE) 1987 Klaus Niedzwiedz (DE)/Klaus Ludwig (DE) 1985 Tom Walkinshaw(GB)/Win Percy (GB) 1972/71/70 Allan Moffat (CAN)

Phil Williams

Apart from the rain, the other story of the session was that of David Reynolds.

His car was a jet in S2, only two-tenths slower than Davison, suggesting that he could have qualified on the second row.

But it was a dog on the straights and the smoke in the cockpit was a clue. The car had a diff problem; the burning oil was causing drag, and the suspect unit came out of the car after the session.

“It’s a shame because the car was really good across the top,” said Reynolds.

“Every time I got off the brakes there was smoke coming into the car. It cost us a lot of time on the straights.”

In the immortal words of William Shakespeare, bugger. Seventh was his reward, faster only than the drizzle-ees, but it could have been two Kelly Racers on the front two rows – not a bad fillip for a team run by two Bathurst-winning brothers who, ironically, failed to make the top 10 in their Jack Daniel’s cars.

A KIWI and a Dane on pole for the Bathurst 1000. Who would have thunk it?

In this V8 Supercar era, with no pesky Group A or Super Touring regulations to give the interlopers a chance, us Aussies have a mortgage on the top spots at Mount Panorama. So when was the last time two drivers born outside Australia were on pole at The Mountain? It must have been ages okay, right?

Nope. It was in 2004, when Steven and Jim Richards took the pole in the Castrol Perkins

FROSTY’S UNWANTED LAP RECORD MARK Winterbottom can lay claim to being the slowest Top 10 Shootout driver of the last decade.

Obviously, it wasn’t his fault. The rain shower that skittled any chance of cars #88, #1 and #5 taking pole position hit Winterbottom hardest, with the Ford Performance Racing driver tip-toeing his way to 2:52.0682s time, some 43s slower than Greg Murphy’s pole time.

The lap was just faster than Garth Tander’s efforts in a rain-affected Shootout in 2000 – the year he and Jason Bargwanna won the Great Race – which was a 2:55.7286s lap, good enough, obviously, for 10th on the grid.

Before that, you have to go back to 1990, when Alan Jones had a gearbox problem in the Benson and Hedges Sierra, limping around to a 3:21.93s lap.

While it wasn’t the record Winterbottom went to Mount Panorama looking to set, he was able to see the lighter side of the situation.

“The reason I went so slow is obviously because I was on slicks in the wet, but the slower I went, the more TV coverage we got for Orrcon,” he joked.

“I should be pretty happy with nearly three minutes of TV time! These other guys are kidding themselves doing 2:08s laps. They just robbed themselves of 50 seconds of TV coverage.

“Seriously, you can’t do much about it. You get pumped for a big lap, and then it rains and you’re on slick tyres. I didn’t want to bend it trying to get ninth position … it was what it was.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 33

THE BATHURST 1000 – SUNDAY

THE GREAT CHASE

Dirk Klynsmith

The Pits: Car #888 lost out everytime there was a Safety Car, forced to queue behind #88, which had track position, above. In the closing stages of the race, Tander went within inches of throwing the win away while trying to push at The Chase, right.

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Dirk Klynsmith John Morris/Mpix

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HE 2011 edition of the Bathurst 2011 had something for everyone, varying conditions, cars that looked like winners, successes, failures and two deserving winners; Garth Tander and Nick Percat.

Actually, one could quietly fairly add Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife to make that a quartet, such was the quality of the driving and the determination of the teams to bounce back from setbacks, to set up an epic finish that will be talked about for years to come.

Tander and Lowndes, two of the best finishers in the race’s history, fought out a gripping battle on the track while off it, the most experienced co-driver in the race, Skaife, and the least, Percat, could only watch and wait for the race to run to its final chapter.

“Everyone told me I would get slower as a dad,” grinned Tander, while wife Leanne and daughter Scarlett beamed not far away.

“I think I am getting faster!”

Percat looked far more subdued, and fairly shocked, and added, “It was all a bit intense for me!”

The race hinged, largely, on a strategy decision made by TeamVodafone.

Three times the #888 car had to queue behind the #88 and wait for service. During one of those waits, Lowndes dropped four positions, from second to sixth, and it took him 20 laps regain the positions – only for another Safety Car to emerge and restart the process all over again. It was a stalemate.

So the Eights did something that they never usually do; they gave up track position to separate the cars. On lap 97, three laps short of his minimum laps, Skaifey headed in, was refuelled and re-brake padded and he came back, in the ruck in P18. He had a lot of work to do, but there was only one full fuel stop and a half-stop to the end of the race.

But a crash made that call irrevelant. David Besnard’s impact with the barriers at Griffin’s Bend, and a subsequent fire, brought out the yellows, and Skaife came in and queued behind Andrew Thompson for the third time. By the time the race went green again, Lowndes was only 4s behind Whincup, but there were five cars separating them.

And then, Tander got a ‘free’ stop. When Whincup’s dream of another win went sour, along with the electrical system (an alternator had been playing up for much of the race) the yellows came out. With some of the cars unable to pass the struggling VE, Tander, Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Mark Winterbottom, and others, got a ‘free’ pitstop. They emerged with track position and Lowndes would need to don the Superman cape to run down the leaders.

The irony of that was that Murphy and

Allan Simonsen had lost time consistently in the pitlane all day, and Tander found himself trapped behind a Vodafone car earlier, when the team separated their cars on the way in for a ‘yellow’ pitstop.

Not that Tander complained.

“All fair in love and war,” he said. “That happens; it is part of the game.”

The strategy call, Whincup’s alternatordriven woes and the queuing in pitlane were all part of an uncharacteristically bad day for the team. At one point, Skaife had to override a call to go from a pitstop; if he had not done so, he would have hit James Moffat’s car, probably have earned a drive-through penalty and shot the team’s winning chances to pieces.

He may have been beaten by a rookie on the day, but his experience was worth its weight in gold at that moment.

It may sound odd to suggest surprise that the car that started the 1000 kms from pole finished it on the podium, but the fact was that the Pepsi car lacked the pace to win the race on outright speed.

Mark Winterbottom took fourth, a great comeback by himself and Steven Richards after the latter settled the car mid-pack at the start, while Bright was fifth, less than the team would have wanted but a solid effort after struggling for speed all day. Shane van Gibergen/John McIntyre had speed, but there were ups and downs all day that saw their winning chances ebb and flow.

Besnard was a shaken man after his escape, which put paid to a brave chase from the Jim Beam cars. In the first half of the race, the #17 was 2s off the leaders’ pace; by the second half, they claimed half that back and were in the hunt for what looked like an impossibility when they started from the pit exit.

The debate whether Percat becomes the first rookie to win the race since Jacky Ickx did so in 1977 continues, as Tomas Mezera’s status when he won the race in 1988 is not crystal clear – and he had technically not driven a lap in anger when the car in which he was entered expired before he climbed aboard. In any event, with those names, and that of first-time 1966 winner Rauno Aaltonen, Percat finds himself in distinguished company.

But, after his third Bathurst win, and certainly his closest (0.3s) Tander perhaps best summed up whose win this really was.

“We want to dedicate this win to Tom [Walkinshaw],” he said. “He was all about this place.”

At the back of the room, Martine Walkinshaw and her son, HRT’s new leader Ryan, looked on with obvious pride, and no little emotion. The two 23-year-olds had won the biggest race on the calendar. It would appear that the chalice has truly been passed.

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THE BATHURST 1000 – SUNDAY

WINNERS GARTH TANDER: GT drove the #2 to within an inch of its life on Sunday afternoon; it was literally smouldering in pit-lane as he climbed on the bonnest post-race.

NICK PERCAT: He’s 23-years-old and a Bathurst Champion. ‘Nuff said.

CRAIG LOWNDES: How good is this guy? His drive in the last stint was epic, and it shows how good Garth is that he was able to hold him off. Impressive stuff.

GREG MURPHY: Murph really does step things up at Bathurst. He can star at a circuit where the driver can make a difference.

SPEED TV VIEWERS: What a race for the Yanks to see live.

LOSERS LUKE YOULDEN: Harsh, but this is a tough game, and a mistake from Luke cost #6 any chance of a result.

JOHN McINTYRE: Only a loser because he was turned around late in the race. Up until then he did and A+ job. A real under the radar style co-driver.

DAVID BESNARD: No radio equals big fireball!

36

FABIAN Coulthard has an eagle eye.

During Saturday’s Australian GT race, Fabs uploaded a picture on Twitter, along with a message – “Are my eyes playing tricks on me ... What’s not there in real life that’s now in the shot?”

The picture was of a frame on the side of the track on the way into The Cutting, running across the track with Norton signage attached to it. Several metres later there was a Bigpond sign. So what? Both V8 Supercar sponsors, both expected to have a hefty presence at the biggest

V8 Supercar race of the year.

But, in the non-TV world, the signs didn’t exist.

They were in fact a digital allusion, cleverly put in place by V8 Supercars Television. And it wasn’t just the signage itself that was digital – everything down to the supporting frame that shot up from the ground was post-production.

It was an effective piece of trick videography.

In fact, if you didn’t drive around the track like Fabian Coulthard, you’d probably never had spotted it …

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

BEZZY’S GREAT ESCAPE DAVID Besnard can count himself a lucky man.

As he started the second last stint of the race, the Dick Johnson Racing driver arrived at Griffen’s Bend with a fresh set of pads, and no instructions from his crew to pump up the brakes, thanks to a faulty radio. When he hit the skids to slow the car after the long run up Mountain Straight, nothing happened. Realising what was going on, Besnard hurriedly tried to get some brake pressure, but it was too late. He backed it into the wall, split the fuel cell in the rear of the car, and the fireworks began.

To their absolute credit, the marshals played a blinder. They were quickly down on the hot surface, spraying the stricken Falcon and the puddles of fuel around it with foam. They couldn’t stop the inevitable fire – a heart stopping moment before Besnard appeared from the car – but their quick work limited the damage.

“Other than a bit of the fire extinguisher stuff in my eyes which is stinging a bit, I’m fine – it probably looked worse than what it was,” Besnard said straight after the crash.

“I’ve had some big accidents, but I’ve never had flames; that was no fun.

Dirk Klynsmith

WHINNERS AND THOMMO: If it wasn’t for that alternator problem, these guys could well be Bathurst Champions, so they can count themselves genuinely unlucky. Thommo did everything he had to do; he supported Whincup well.

SIGN OF THE TIMES

“I think [the marshals] thought I was on fire – I’m covered in [extinguisher foam]. But I’d rather have a bit of that over me than flames.”

As for DJR, they now have a new race to worry about – the race to get a spare shell prepped for the Gold Coast 600 in less than two weeks time … motorsport news

RACE

John Morris/Mpix

REINDLER MISSES OUT ... AGAIN! FOR the second year in a row, a Top 10 result went begging for Karl Reindler and David Wall.

Last year, it was incorrect tyre pressures that cost the Brad Jones Racing Commodore a result. This year, it was an oil slick big enough to stir Greenpeace into action, following the final Safety Car period.

Reindler had found himself inside the Top 5, thanks to the confusion caused by Jamie Whincup’s embattled Commodore limping around the circuit. But as quickly as he was up the front, he was back in the mid-field, after running off and losing a bunch of time and places.

I am a little tired of it. It’s frustrating,” said Reindler.

“We were there when we needed to be. They guys did an awesome job with strategy. I couldn’t believe it when I pulled in behind the Safety Car. I thought ‘I’m either a lap down, or in the Top 5’.

“There was a lot of oil on the racing line.

There really wasn’t much to do about it. I went through The Chase as I usually would, got on the brakes as I usually would, and straight away I locked the front right.

Usually you can release it and get the wheel turning again, but on the oil it was so slick. I had the wheel locked for about 150 metres, went off, and lost about seven seconds.

“Because of the flat spot, every time I needed to lean on the brakes it would pinch the front right, so I just couldn’t defend in the braking zones. I felt like I could have defended enough to stay in the Top 10, had it not been for the flat spot.

There are so many braking zones, so you can’t get away with it.”

Even though the Reindler/Wall entry finished 14th, it was quite a good result given that they started 27th.

“This morning Jason Richards gave me

the best advice I’ve ever received; just sneak up on it,” explained Reindler.

“I was comfortable all day long, we were just honing in on what we wanted out of the car. We still weren’t totally happy at the end, we had similar problems to what we had early on, we just numbed them a little bit. It wasn’t the best racecar, it didn’t look after its tyres that well.”

There was one other issue for Reindler.

During the race, the television screens showed a helicopter dipping very low on Conrod Straight. Reindler was next in line, and the low-level flying wasn’t lost on him.

“I remember seeing a chopper really low. We have Westrac signage across the windscreen, so you can only see so much, but I was trying to look up. It was seriously low, I just went underneath it. What’s the story with that? Crashing into a chopper; that would have made headlines!”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

D’ALBERTO PLAYS THE PERFECT LONG GAME

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

TONY D’Alberto has a habit of sneaking up on results at Bathurst.

A number of times now in his relatively young career D’Alberto has found himself in the Top 10 at the end of a day’s running at Mount Panorama, with typical underthe-radar performances. 2011 was a perfect example, with D’Alberto recovering from front downforce issues at the start of the weekend to finishing ninth with Dale Wood at the end of it.

“It was a tough start to the weekend with our splitter

dramas, which we only got on top of [on Saturday],” he said.

“We found a cracked rail, the chassis rail was bending.

“Today, I was happy that the car was strong. The first stint, the track was in bad nick and it was a real handful. [When] the rubber came up, it really suited our car.

“We tried to tune our car for the end of the race, and thankfully it worked. At the end we had genuine pace.

“I think we got stuffed over every time the Safety Car came out, but everybody probably

has those stories. I’m pretty rapt after such a horrid year.”

With so little dry running during the weekend leading into the race, D’Alberto admitted that there was a little bit of guestimation on race day when it came to car set-up.

“I mean, it was guess work, but we’d like to think it was an educated guess. It was difficult, because we did such limited [dry] running. We did have to tune it up during the day, and like I said as the rubber came up, it suited our car.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 37

THE BATHURST 1000 – RESULTS

Dirk Klynsmith

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motorsport news

RACE

Top 10 Points: Lowndes 2329, Whincup 2229, van Gisbergen 1920, Tander 1848, Winterbottom 1687, R Kelly 1663, W Davison 1646, Bright 1502, A Davison 1448, Johnson 1411.

Results :: Race 20 – Mount Panorama, NSW

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Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

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

2 888 11 5 8 9 1 200 3 34 49 47 19 21 30 4 33 6 16 12 88 15 14 7 18 55 17 77 61

G.Tander/N.Percat C.Lowndes/M.Skaife G.Murphy/A.Simonsen M.Winterbottom/S.Richards J.Bright/A.Jones S.van Gisbergen/J.McIntyre J.Courtney/C.McConville R.Ingall/J.Perkins T.D’Alberto/D.Wood M.Caruso/M.Marshall S.Owen/P.Morris T.Slade/D.Gaunt J.Webb/R.Lyons K.Reindler/D.Wall W.Luff/N.Pretty A.Davison/D.Brabham L.Holdsworth/G.Ritter W.Davison/L.Youlden D.Reynolds/T.Blanchard D.Fiore/M.Patrizi J.Whincup/A.Thompson R.Kelly/O.Kelly J.Bargwanna/S.Price T.Kelly/David Russell J.Moffat/M.Halliday P.Dumbrell/D.Canto S.Johnson/D.Besnard G.Denyer/C.Waters F.Coulthard/C.Baird

Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE2 TeamVodafone Commodore VE2 Pepsi Max Crew Commodore VE2 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon FG Team Boc Commodore VE2 SP Tools Racing Falcon FG Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE2 Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE2 Wilson Security Team McGrath Falcon FG Fujitsu Racing GRM Commodore VE2 VIP Petfoods Commodore VE2 Lucky 7 Racing Falcon FG Mother Energy Falcon FG Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Commodore VE2 Gulf Western Oil Racing Commodore VE2 Irwin Racing Falcon FG Fujitsu Racing GRM Commodore VE2 Trading Post FPR Falcon FG Stratco Racing Commodore VE2 Triple F Racing Falcon FG TeamVodafone Commodore VE2 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE2 Jana Living Racing Commodore VE2 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE2 Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG The Bottle-O Racing Team Falcon FG Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG Shannons Mars Racing Commodore VE2 Bundaberg Racing Commodore VE2

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

39

THE BATHURST 1000 – SNAPSHOT

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41

FUJITSU V8 SUPERCAR SERIES ROUND 5 - BATHURST, NSW

ON THE DOUBLE

ANDREW THOMPSON AND HIS TRIPLE EIGHT COMMODORE WERE THE CLASS OF THE FUJITSU SERIES FIELD AGAIN AT BATHURST, WINNING BOTH RACES TO MOVE TO FOUR WINS FROM FIVE ROUNDS IN 2011. MITCHELL ADAM WAS THERE 42

motorsport news

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Phil Williams

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43

T

HERE’S not really a lot to say about the actual battle for victory in Round 5 of the Fujitsu Series at Bathurst.

Andrew Thompson took his fourth round win of the year and it was fairly straight-forward.

The Triple Eight driver nabbed a late pole in qualifying, got the jump in Race 1 and went on to win the uneventful 14-lapper by three seconds. There was a bit more drama in the second, with contact between David Russell, Thompson and Nick Percat into Turn 1, and then Thompson and Percat exiting, with Russell taking the lead.

Thompson grabbed it back at an early Safety Car restart, though, and he went on to make it two from two.

“It was a bit wild,” Thompson said of the Race 2 start.

“David got a better start than me, so I had to drop behind him, Percat got a good start as well and tried to go around the outside at [Turn] 1, so I think he dropped his wheel onto the kerb on the outside which was a bit wet and he came straight into my door.

“We had a really strong car this weekend, we had really good drive and good power up Mountain Straight and down, so we just settled into trying to get David. Dave pushed us hard all weekend, but we had a really strong car.”

Russell was again Thompson’s closest challenger in his ex-FPR BF, grabbing second in each race ahead of Jack Perkins, the pair rounding out the weekend podium. Thompson’s advantage over Russell in the standings is now 178 with two rounds to go, while Perkins moves up into third in the standings. Paul Morris grabbed fourth for the weekend.

“I got caught out on the restart a little bit, on the first restart, I just got a bit of understeer and that stuffed my run onto the straight,” Russell admitted.

“From there, it was a hard slog.

Jack was coming pretty hard towards the end and I had to make sure I pushed in the areas 44

where I could and try to hold him out, which I could.”

“I’m no good off the line, which cost me [in Race 1] a decent result, we did well to get back to third, we had great pace,” Perkins said.

“Today, we just really struggled at Forrest’s Elbow, we had no turn, we were quick everywhere else, but I spent the whole race catching up what I lost there.”

After the sedate Race 1, the second kicked off with drama.

Tim Blanchard got away from the line slowly, dropping to 15th before recovering to sixth, where he started. The top three tried to squeeze into room for twoand-a-half cars, making light contact, and exiting Turn 1, Percat was hung out to dry and the wet verge of the circuit spat his Commodore into Thompson’s.

The Walkinshaw Racing driver fell to 18th before he got back to eighth to secure fifth for the weekend.

Later in the race, Rodney Jane and Chaz Mostert had a similar incident, which ended Jane’s weekend and saw Mostert penalised 40 championship points. Mostert was generally in the thick of it over the weekend.

He topped the wet practice session, but copped a 25 point deduction on Friday for a Race 1 run-in with Daniel Jilesen, and clashed with Tom Tweedie earlier in Race 2. Team-mate Ash Walsh had a horror weekend, a broken rain light costing him any running in practice, before crashing on the first lap of qualifying.

Scott McLaughlin had a quiet weekend, finishing ninth and fifth in the races. In the opener, he finished behind David Wall and Marcus Zukanovic, who were both on for double Top 10s, before glancing the walls at the top of the Mountain in Race 2.

As it was, Geoff Emery and Jilesen snuck into the Top 10 in Race 2, ahead of the Russell brothers, Aaren and Drew, the latter having missed the opening race after a qualifying crash.

Former Touring Car Masters champ Gavin Bullas was due to make his debut in the series, but a practice crash ended his weekend.

It was close at the start of Race 2, top, before David Russell grabbed the and Jack Perkins, below, rounded out the weekend podium.

Chaz Mostert and Rodney Jane tangled exiting Turn 1 in Race 2, ending

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Phil Williams

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Results :: Round 5, MOUNT PANORAMA

Peter Bury

e early lead, above. Russell

g Jane’s weekend, top right.

Peter Bury

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

# 80 28 999 67 222 27 93 10 48 59 45 73 23 75 777 83 71 51 58 26 86 24 25 62 13 50 90 92

Driver Andrew Thompson David Russell Jack Perkins Paul Morris Nick Percat Tim Blanchard Scott McLaughlin Chaz Mostert Geoff Emery Aaren Russell James Brock Brett Stewart Todd Fiore Aaron McGill Rodney Jane David Wall Marcus Zukanovic Daniel Jilesen Drew Russell Tom Tweedie Robert Cregan Tony Bates Paul Freestone Adam Wallis Colin Sieders Steve Voight Ashley Walsh Taz Douglas

Top 10 Points:

Team/Car Qual Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore VE 1 Team Jayco Falcon BF 3 Supercheap / Bob Jane T Marts Falcon BF 2 Sargent Security Racing Commodore VE 5 Coates Hire Racing Commodore VE 4 Team Jayco Falcon BF 7 Fujitsu Falcon BF 9 Simpro Software/Master Elect. Falcon BF 10 ACDelco/Simworx/NDD Commodore VE 14 CEG Rentals/Go Karts Go Falcon BF 18 Drill Pro Services/EarthEx Commodore VE 17 Formula Tech/Interquip Racing Commodore VE 25 Flexi Staff Falcon BF 24 SOLO / NCSS Falcon BF 21 Bob Jane T-Marts Falcon FG 6 Wilson Security Team McGrath Commodore VE 11 Midway Concrete&Garden Supply Commodore VE13 R&J Batteries/EarthEx/KingGee Commodore VE 8 Carrington Eq/Go Karts Go Falcon BF 27 GARMIN Falcon BF 16 Mad Croc Energy Falcon BF 15 Favourit.com / AFS Commodore VE 20 Freestones Roadhaven Falcon BF 22 Warrin Mining Volvo Const Eq. Commodore VE 19 Bisley Workwear Falcon BF 23 Voight Constructing Commodore VE 26 Simpro Software/Master Elect. Falcon BF 28 Fastaz Motorsport Commodore VZ 12

R1 1 2 3 5 4 6 10 11 14 13 15 22 21 20 7 8 9 DNF DNS 12 DNF 16 17 18 19 DNF DNS DNS

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

Thompson 1355, David Russell 1177, Perkins 1087, McLaughlin 1078, Blanchard 938, Percat 878, Mostert 770, Morris 739, Jilesen 671, Jane 664 45

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP ROUND 5 - BATHURST, NSW

ON THE BOARD MICHAEL PATRIZI JOINED THE LIST OF 2011 CARRERA CUP WINNERS AT BATHURST, GRABBING HIS MAIDEN RACE AND ROUND VICTORIES. MITCHELL ADAM REVIEWS THE ACTION

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motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

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47

T

HROUGHOUT the opening four rounds of the 2011 Porsche City Index Carrera Cup, Michael Patrizi had been a mainstay in the lead pack, but a race win eluded him. At Bathurst, though, he changed all of that.

After qualifying second to Craig Baird, Patrizi elected to focus the best of his rubber on the opening two races, and it paid off – winning by over a second each time.

“At the start of the weekend I set a goal for six wins in the remaining nine races for the year,” he said. “I’m not racing for a podium anymore; I’m racing for the win.”

In the final, Patrizi got the jump again, but was out of grip, falling to finish fourth as Craig Baird won the race, but he’d secured the round honours, becoming the fourth different round winner in five events.

“We put our best foot forward in both races yesterday and we knew today was going to be a little bit of a struggle with the tyres that we had,” the West Aussie said.

“I locked a tyre early in today’s race when I was in the lead so I nursed it, and then I had a massive lock up after that. My engineer told me I had to finish seventh or better to win the round so I buttoned off and brought it home.”

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After a relatively quiet round at Phillip Island, Steven Richards was in the thick of it, grabbing a second and a pair of thirds to be second for the weekend, ahead of Baird. While he has moved into the lead of the championship, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Baird, penalised for jumping the start in the opener. In a revision to series rules since Phillip Island, Baird was given a five-second time penalty rather than a drive-through, demoting him from third to fourth.

Ben Barker was fourth for the weekend, but it could’ve been even better. After finishing third and second in the first two races, he lined up on the front row for the final, but overshot it at Turn 1 and eventually finished eighth.

Heading to Bathurst with two straight round wins, Daniel Gaunt had a quiet weekend, finishing fifth in all three starts. Fellow Kiwi and championship contender Jonny Reid lost ground in the opener through a first corner clash with Matthew Coleman and returnee Tim Leahey, finishing 13th. He made further ground to be sixth in Race 2, before finishing second to Baird in the final.

In the Elite Class, Max Twigg extended his points lead with victories in the opening two races, before Shane Smollen claimed the final.

Points: Baird 710, Reid 693, Gaunt 683, Richards 667 motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith John Morris / Mpix

Rob Lang

Michael Patrizi, above, picked up his first Porsche wins, while Craig Baird, top right, won the final.

James Smith

Steven Richards, above right, returned to form with second for the round, and Ben Barker, right, was also speedy, but a mistake in the final hurt his chances.

Damien Flack found the wall in qualifying.

John Morris / Mpix

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V8 UTE RACING SERIES ROUND 5 - BATHURST, NSW

A VERY IMPORTANT

AS THE 2011 V8 UTE SEASON APPROACHES ITS CLIMAX, RYAL HARRIS PICKED A PRET

R

YAL Harris and David Sieders have closed the gap at the top of the championship standings, as the former took out Round 5 of the V8 Utes Series at Mount Panorama.

Harris scored his first overall win of 2011 courtesy of victories in the second and third races of the weekend, the latter of which he won by 5.7s. Earlier, however, the VIP Petfoods driver had a high-speed off at The Chase in Race 1, outbraking himself after running around the outside of Charlie O’Brien at the right-hander, and had to fight vigorously with Cameron McConville for the first half of Race 2.

“It’s amazing – first round win, and to do it here, you couldn’t really ask for anything better,” enthused Harris.

“The only thing better would be winning at home in a couple of weeks, which I’m going to do, hopefully.”

David Sieders, who held off Nathan Pretty for victory in Race 1, was left to lament the Utes’ race format after he could only manage a third and an eighth in the next two races, placing runner-up for the round.

“We’ve by far had one of the quickest cars for the whole year, we’ve been on the front row three out of five times, and qualified on two poles,” explained the Australian Industrial Supplies driver.

“I haven’t been past the second row of qualifying, the car’s been a jet all year, I’ve by far been the most consistent in that area, and the only thing that keeps beating me is the reverse grid [race].”

Pretty continued the strong form of Monster-backed Commodores at Bathurst with his second podium in his first full season of V8 Utes, but was unlucky not to win the opening race, having really hassled Sieders late in the piece, after a Safety Car period restricted green flag running to only four laps.

“It was a very strong showing, the guys have done an amazing job,” said Pretty. “We were the fastest Holden, and it’s good to be on the podium.”

The Chase was carnage central for much of the weekend, hosting two separate, major incidents on Lap 3 of Race 1. Brad Patton found the wall just before the bridge with a sickening hit in after tangling with Craig Dontas on the exit of The Chase, and was nearly collected by both Warren Millett and Gary Carson as his Falcon was flung back onto the middle of the track.

“Craig tapped me and I’ve never had anything that big,” said Patton later that afternoon, when Dontas was demoted to last by officials, in spite of arguing that Patton had simply not seen him on the outside.

Meanwhile, seconds later, Patton’s boss Peter Burnitt was T-boned at high speed by Yanis Derums at the left-hander, after Derums was punted by Jake McNally in the braking zone. Burnitt, however, made it to the grid for Races 2 and 3, in a badly bent CNW Electrical machine.

Jack Elsegood and O’Brien had a lucky escape in Race 2, the former flying across the track backwards and missing the latter by millimetres, after the Cooper’s Falcon was run wide by O’Brien and onto the grass at the kink.

Fourth for the weekend, Chris Pither continues to lead the championship, which resumes in a fortnight on the Gold Coast.

Points: Pither 609, Johnson 592, Harris 592, Sieders 578, Pretty 547, Jane 509 50

motorsport news

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PERFORMANCE

TTY GOOD TIME TO RECORD HIS MAIDEN ROUND WIN, DANIEL HERRERO REPORTS

Phil Williams

John Morris /Mpix

Dirk Klynsmith

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Ryal Harris, top, and David Sieders, left, were the big Bathurst winners. There was plenty of action at The Chase over the course of the weekend, including this near miss for Jack Elsegood and Charlie O’Brien in Race 2.

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TOURING CAR MASTERS ROUND 5 - BATHURST, NSW

BETTER LATE THAN

SURE, IT WASN’T IN THE 1000, BUT GLENN SETON FINALLY HAS A WIN AT BATHU LACHLAN MANSELL WATCHED HIS TOURING CAR MASTERS BREAKTHROUGH

G

LENN Seton has finally taken victory at Mount Panorama, winning the Touring Car Masters round on the weekend.

The man regarded by many as the best driver never to win the Bathurst 1000 finished third in Race 1 behind John Bowe and Andrew Miedecke, second in Race 2 behind Jim Richards, and won Race 3 in his Falcon XB Coupe, built by Ford Performance Racing.

“Anytime you have the opportunity to stand on top of the podium at Bathurst is a very special moment,” Seton said.

“This place is so legendary because of the history, this place really created motor sport in Australia in the hearts of minds of so many people.

“To achieve the first win in an icon car after Moffat and Geoghegan won back in 1983 in the XA of the same shape, and to do it on the Sunday morning of the big race, there’s no doubt it’s a great time to win.

“I’ve stood on second three times, stood on third, and now I can finally say I’ve done it, today we achieved the top step.”

John Bowe finished second overall, with victory in Race 1 after an intense battle with Miedecke. Bowe drove his Mustang through to

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fourth in the second, Top 10 reverse-grid race, before finishing third in Race 3.

Rounding out a sentimentally satisfying podium was Jason Richards, behind the wheel of Tony Hunter’s HQ Monaro. Richards finished fifth in Race 1 and third in Race 2, before a well-judged diff ratio change resulted in a new lap record en-route to second in the final race.

While Race 1 was a relatively straightforward affair, Races 2 and 3 were much more eventful. In Race 2, John Bowe and Brett Youlden made contact at Forrest’s Elbow, with Youlden coming off worse for wear in his HQ Monaro. Miedecke tried to squeeze around the outside of Bowe and Youlden, but ran out of room and brushed the wall on the exit of the corner.

Meanwhile, a headlight from Bowe’s car became dislodged on Con-rod Straight, and was flicked up by Bill Pye’s Camaro, into the windscreen of Gary O’Brien’s HQ Holden, causing it to shatter.

“I lifted off a little bit and the windscreen was OK, so I sped up a bit and the thing was fine,” O’Brien said. “The vision wasn’t 100 per cent but we got around it.”

Pye and O’Brien contributed to more chaos on the final lap of the

motorsport news

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N NEVER

URST TO HIS NAME.

Dirk Klynsmith

race, when the engine in Pye’s Camaro expired spectacularly on the final lap at Murray’s Corner, dumping a large quantity of oil on the circuit. A number of drivers ran wide on the oil, including the Camaro of Bernie Stack, but O’Brien was the worst affected, spearing into the gravel trap.

“We were lucky enough to end up in the sand trap and get away with it,” O’Brien said.

In Race 3, Seton worked his way into the lead off the line, with Jason Richards overtaking Bowe to move up into second place and all three drivers lapping at record pace.

However, the race was red flagged with a lap remaining when Andrew Whiteside experienced a sickening crash exiting The Chase in his Mustang. Whiteside had been avoiding an incident between two other competitors and was lightly tagged, sending him into the barriers protecting the pedestrian bridge. He slammed into the wall and spun back across the circuit, and while he was fortunately not injured, the incident necessitated a lengthy clean-up.

Points: Class C: Miedecke 1021, Bowe 1014, Richards 993 Class B: O’Brien 773, McAlister 729, Whiteside 728 Class A: Keene 914, Sparks 890, Nelson 824

Jason Richards, above, claimed a popular podium in his TCM cameo. Bill Pye, below, lost an engine, while Andrew Whiteside had a major accident exiting The Chase, bottom.

Herb Powell Phil Williams

John Morris / Mpix

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AUSTRALIAN GT C’SHIP ROUND 5 - BATHURST, NSW

BACK IN THE HUNT

PHILLIP ISLAND WASN’T KIND TO KLARK QUINN, BUT HE RESPONDED IN THE BEST POSSIBLE FASHION AS AUSTRALIAN GT HIT BATHURST, LACHLAN MANSELL REPORTS

B

OUNCING back from losing his championship lead at Phillip Island last month, Klark Quinn has emerged on top after an enthralling Round 6 of the VodkaO Australian GT Championship at Mount Panorama.

Quinn qualified second and finished second in both halfhour races to claim the overall honours by just a single point from Mark Eddy. Both races were held on a damp but drying track, adding a strategic element to the racing as drivers had to 54

decide whether to use wet or slick tyres.

In Race 1, pole-sitter Greg Crick took the brave gamble of starting on slick tyres. Crick rapidly drifted backwards on the opening lap, but worse was to come when he spun his Dodge Viper at the top of the mountain and was collected by the hapless Peter Boylan. The collision ended both drivers’ weekends on the spot, and put a severe dent in Boylan’s Challenge Class title hopes.

The Safety Car was deployed while the damaged cars were recovered, but when the race

restarted, Kevin Weeks, also on slick tyres, speared into the gravel trap at Murray’s Corner.

The Safety Car was called once again, and the race restarted in time for four final laps. Peter Hackett streaked away in his Mercedes SLS, taking victory from Klark and Tony Quinn.

Mark Eddy finished fourth, having changed from slick to wet tyres under the Safety Car, while Mark O’Connor was the best of the Challenge Class cars, taking advantage of the greasy conditions to finish a fine fifth outright in his Lotus.

There was a distinct, dry grove

at the bottom of the mountain in Race 2, and several competitors, including Eddy, the Quinns and Ash Samadi, had initially chosen wet tyres, but upon completing the formation lap, they realised the track was dry enough for slicks and elected to change tyres and start from pitlane.

Others, such as Hackett and Ian Palmer decided to stick with wets, while Weeks had fitted slick tyres to his Lamborghini before the start.

When the race commenced, it was clear that slick tyres were the way to go, with Weeks powering his way into the lead motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

forced his way into the lead with an aggressive move into The Cutting on the very last lap, enabling him to claim the round victory by a single point.

“When I got out of the car I went straight over to Weeksy and had a chat and he was fine, but that was honestly one of the best races I have ever been involved in,” Quinn said.

“It was so frustrating to watch him walk away from me on the straights, but I just had to bide my time and eventually my opportunity came and I took it.”

Points: Eddy 671, Quinn 625, Crick 548, Samadi 545, Hackett 464

Peter Hackett, top, and Mark Eddy, above, split the race wins, but Klark Quinn secured the round honours with a last-lap pass for Kevin Weeks, below, to grab second in Race 2.

Peter Bury

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Rob Lang

Phil Williams

at Hell Corner at the start of Lap 3, as Hackett’s tyres started to deteriorate. Weeks established a healthy lead, but Eddy started producing extremely fast lap times as his fresh tyres came into play, and he passed Weeks on Lap 7. Meanwhile, Hackett eventually gave up on his wet tyres and pitted for a tyre change, losing a lap to the leaders.

“We took a gamble that it was going to rain during the race, and for the early part of it I thought we had it right,” he said.

Klark Quinn also caught Weeks, and Weeks defended the position before Quinn

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FORMULA 1 ROUND 15 - SUZUKA, JAPAN

New Schu: Sebastian Vettel still needs five more titles to match Michael Schumacher, but Michael would have been proud of the way he edged out Jenson Button at the start in Japan, main. Button is happy, below left, but the new world champion is even happier.

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motorsport news

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MAKING A

POINT SUTTONS Images

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He only needed one more point, but the way Sebastian Vettel bullied Jenson Button out of the lead at the start in Japan showed the German had rather a different point to make in Japan.

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I

T should have been the perfect day for Jenson Button.

Racing in Japan, a nation he proudly calls his second home thanks to his partner, Japanese model Jessica Michibata, Button took a stunning win at Suzuka. He survived an ambitious attempt to be run off the road from Sebastian Vettel at the start, he played the conservation game with his Pirelli tyres perfectly, and he staved off a late challenge from Fernando Alonso, with barely enough fuel left get to the finish line. And, it was Button’s first win for McLaren in entirely dry conditions.

It should have been the story of the day; but it wasn’t.

While Button was busy winning the race, Vettel kept his cool to bring his Red Bull RB7 home in third place … enough to lock up the 2011 World Championship. It wasn’t the way Vettel wanted to seal the deal, staring at the rear wings of Button and Alonso – something evident by the way he tried to force the fast-starting Button off the road into Turn 1 – but points are points, and Vettel was elated to become the youngest ever double World Champion at just 24 years of age.

“I wasn’t targeting one point,” said Vettel.

“If we targeted one point, I think the race would have been a bit different, but we targeted to do our optimum, which in a way today was third place, and that’s what we got.

“But to win the championship here is pretty special, and a bit funny at the same time, because it’s as confusing as the first one. I think it will surely take a little bit of time, but the season has been fantastic.”

Button, meanwhile, said that losing the title despite winning the race was hardly a shock, so Vettel’s success didn’t water down his race win.

“It was a great race,” he said.

“The start was very good, maybe too good, and I ended up on the grass, which lost me a bit of time. Very interesting race, as tyre wear was massive.

It was a very exciting race and it wasn’t just down to being quick over one lap. You really had to think through the race. I really enjoyed it out there.

“It is always a very special place to race, Suzuka, a fast, flowing circuit and it is unforgiving, so one little mistake and it is game over. This is one of the most perfect circuits in Grand Prix racing and also with one of the most special crowds as well.”

Alonso’s second place was even more overshadowed that Button’s win, with Vettel taking over the mantle as the youngest ever two-time Champ from the Spaniard. But it was actually a good result for Ferrari, even if Alonso knew he couldn’t genuinely challenge for the win.

“In the race, I never thought about victory, if I’m completely honest with you,” he said.

“I only had a small possibility, maybe five or six laps from the end, when Jenson was dropping

back a little bit and we closed the gap. Then I thought maybe if we were close enough maybe two laps or one lap from the end I could use the DRS and maybe have a chance, but I knew that it was difficult.

“But during the race, no, no time to think.”

Mark Webber had a quiet day to finish fourth, having qualified a disappointing sixth, while Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa crashed into each other … again! This time it was at the chicane at the end of the lap, with Hamilton falling behind Massa as a result, but reclaiming fifth from him later in the race.

Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher led a GP for the first time since his comeback with a long third stint, and finished sixth ahead of Massa, while Sergio Perez and Vitaly Petrov used two-stop strategies to come home eighth and ninth respectively. Nico Rosberg rounded out the top 10.

Felipe is faster than you: Felipe Massa seemed to have the measure of team-mate Fernando Alonso, until it was time for Massa’s Ferrari to get hit by Lewis Hamilton again, right. Third place was more than enough for Vettel, above. Sergio Perez set second fastest lap, top right. Sebastien Buemi lost a wheel after a pitstop, below left. Jenson Button won in the dry, below.

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SUTTONS Images

Results :: Japanese Grand Prix

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

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

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

Qual.

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

Top 10 Points: Vettel 324, Button 210, Alonso 202,

Webber 194, Hamilton 178, Massa 90, Rosberg 63, Schumacher 60, Petrov 36, Heidfeld 34.

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NASCAR ROUND 30 - KANSAS CITY, KS

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motorsport news

RACE

HERE COMES

JIMMIE Five times champion Jimmie Johnson turned in dominant performance at Kansas Speedway, leading 197 of 272 laps, to move up to an ominous third in the Sprint Cup standings with six races left to run.

NASCAR Media

Highs and Lowe’s: It’s been a tough season thus far for Jimmie Johnson but victory in Kansas vaults the five-time champ back into serious title contention, main, right.

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H

green-white-chequer finished bunched the field for a flattering finale.

The news was not all good for Hendrick. That final yellow was caused by an engine explosion in the sister car of Jeff Gordon, who now appears to be out of the Chase entirely. He is 11th and looks to have no hope of salvaging a decent position in the remaining events.

Kahne looked solid in second ahead of Brad Keselowski, who led the race with 27 laps to go, and who remains in title contention. Matt Kenseth was the best of the Fords in fourth, ahead of Roush Fenway team-mate Carl Edwards, who complained that his car was not free enough to challenge for the win.

“It all comes back to having a good team,” Keselowski said.

“Good teams have good cars, they’re the best at the end, the fastest at the end, they have good pit strategy and they’re strong through adversity, and I just have a really good team.”

Perhaps the man who could have really challenged Johnson for the W was Tony Stewart.

Smoke had speed, but he chose to take two tyres at the final stop. When he overshot his pit box, his crew had to push him back, and he finished 15th as a result. That puts him eighth in the Chase points, with Charlotte – home ground for just about everyone – this weekend.

Marcos Ambrose had a solid weekend, finishing ninth, to move him back into the top 20 in the championship.

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ERE he comes, folks.

The ominous footsteps of Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick Motorsports title machine were large and loud at Kansas Speedway, the fivetime Champion showing that he intends to start wearing his titleist’s rings on more than one hand at the end of the year.

Johnson’s win was only the second of this season, and he is not leading the points in NASCAR’s Chase. But Johnson was in a class of his own and if any win this year looked like a formality, this was it.

It took an overtime finish, and Johnson having to fight off the Reb Bull Toyota of soonto-be-team-mate Kasey Kahne, but Johnson’s win was never in doubt.

“We have a strong group of guys,” Johnson said. “We’ve been knocking on the door all year long. We’re doing the right things. This is a huge, huge step in the right direction, but a lot can happen, so I don’t want to get over-excited.”

No, he wants to be calm and have every other drive in the field worry …

The race was sorted out by a caution with 60 laps remaining in the race. After leading twothirds of the first 200 laps, the field resumed to save fuel to the flag – only for another yellow soon after. A number of the leaders pitted, Johnson chose to take on fuel only and led them back onto the track, and dictated the race from there.

His lead was as big as 2s as the race unwound, but a

to advertise in Raceshop call us now Oriana Ruffini 0422 624 349 or Luke Finn 0423 665 384 motorsport news

RACE

Results :: Hollywood Casino 400, KANSAS CITY KS Pos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. 48 4 2 17 99 29 33 16 9 5

Driver Jimmie Johnson Kasey Kahne Brad Keselowski Matt Kenseth Carl Edwards Kevin Harvick Clint Bowyer Greg Biffle Marcos Ambrose Mark Martin

Make Chevy Toyota Dodge Ford Ford Chevy Chevy Ford Ford Chevy

Team Hendrick Red Bull Penske Roush Fenway Roush Fenway Childress Childress Roush Fenway Richard Petty Hendrick

Sponsor Lowe’s Red Bull Miller Lite Crown Royal Aflac Budweiser Cheerios Sherwin-Williams DeWalt Carquest

Qual.

19 5 12 4 2 14 24 24 21 9

Top 10 Points: Edwards 2161, Harvick 2160, Johnson 2157, Keselowski 2150, Kenseth 2149, Kurt Busch 2145, Stewart 2142, Kyle Busch 2141, Earnhardt 2118, Gordon 2114, Hamlin 2082.

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Hollywood numbers: Ninth place for the nine of Marcos Ambrose, while the 99 of Carl Edwards was fifth, below.

Second place for Kasey Kahne’s Camry, centre. Denny Hamlin runs low on Brad Keselowski and Edwards, below left. David Reutimann pitstop, centre left. Greg Biffle leads at a restart, left.

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WICKED WICKENS WINS! FR 3.5

CANADIAN racer Robert Wickens has taken out the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Championship after a dominant win, and a dramatic DNF at Barcelona on the weekend.

The opening race was won by Wickens, who absolutely decimated his rivals from pole position. The win banked the Canadian an extended nine-point advantage over main rival and teammate Jean-Eric Vergne,

setting up a grandstand finish heading into the finale. Vergne finished the opening race in second position ahead of Daniil Move in third.

A season finale marred with drama dominated the headlines at the Catalan circuit. Both of Carlin’s title hopefuls, Wickens and Vergne, made contact with eachother in the opening corners of the first lap after battling for the same piece of real estate. After Wickens’ front wing collided with Vergne’s rear wheel, Vergne was able

to resume, but Wickens’ final race was over with suspension damage.

After a Safety Car however, Vergne needed only a fifth to overhaul his Carlin teammate.

This however, proved to be too tough for the Frenchman, after his initial contact with Wickens put him some way off his usual pace, eventually retiring in the sand following a collision with Fairuz Fauzy.

This gifted Wickens the title after being one of the dominant forces in the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Championship.

Renault Sport Media

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motorsport news

RACE

BF3 ROUNDS UP IN SILVERSTONE BRITISH F3

KEVIN Magnussen, Alexander Sims and Carlos Huertas all shared the spoils in the British Formula 3 championship at Silverstone on the weekend, while Australia’s Scott Pye continued to show promise in his improving end of season form.

The opening account was a rather quiet one for the F3s.

Magnussen led the race from pole where he would continue to dominate with an eventual eight-second win over a deserving Pye in second place. Felipe Nasr rounded out the podium in his Carlin Dallara.

Stepping back into an F3 Dallara following a season in GP3 was Sims, who was too strong for his rivals in drying conditions. Sims

made the correct call to run on wet tyres, along with Lucas Foresti who finished seven-seconds behind in second, and Pietro Fantin in third.

The last race of the British F3 season proved to be an epic after it was taken out by Columbian, Huertas. A race long battle with teammate Magnussen entertained onlookers as the duo traded times and tenths throughout the race. After the hard, steady fight, Huertas was the victor over Magnussen by no less than half a second.

New Zealand’s Mitch Evans was also another GP3 regular to step back into an F3 car at Silverstone. The 2010 Australian F3 runnerup had a weekend best finish of fourth following an troubled weekend with the adverse conditions.

TAKING THE MIKKELSEN IRC

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IRC Media

AFTER several unsuccessful attempts, Andreas Mikkelsen has at last broken through for his maiden win in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in Scotland at the weekend.

Having narrowly lost out to Thierry Neuville at the last round in San Remo, Mikkelsen defended his lead through the final stages of the rally to win ahead of second placed Juho Hanninen, despite suffering from a puncture endured at the mid-point of the rally.

Hanninen would have to settle for second by a massive 26.4 seconds, after continuing set up problems in Scotland left him frustrated. After some “radical” changes to his Skoda, Hanninen would eventually finish ahead of third placed Bryan Bouffier, who was once again the leading Peugeot behind the dominating Skodas.

Absent from the front was Jan Kopecky who struggled all weekend to finish no higher than fifth.

Kopecky however still holds a six-point buffer over teammate Hanninen heading into the final round at Cyprus in November.

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09 Maxim 87/40 Raised Rail, Ex Mc Carl /Big Game Car, Heaps of Tie, All the Best Gear, 372 shaver, 6 shows since major freshen, complete car ready to race, last time this car was on the track it won the Aust Day WSS round. Comes with 5 sets of gears, 2 spare ladders, Conroy Bleed Offs, $28,500.00.

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motorsport news

rear of grid

ODD SPOT!

BLIND DETERMINATION RONNIE Presnell gets our award this week for the most determined driver.

Presnell, a retired Mecklenburg County sheriff’s deputy, took to Charlotte Motor Speedway last week, driving the legendary oval track for the first time. He completed a number of laps driving his restored 1968 Chevrolet Camaro, with NASCAR driver

and SPEED personality Kenny Wallace alongside for guidance.

The remarkable part of this is that Presnell lost his sight in a car crash in 1998.

After the crash, he was in a coma for six weeks, and shortly after he awoke his wife told him he was completely blind. Apart from working on his Camaro, he builds

birdhouses, and recently built a 2m by 3m shed for a mate.

“I always sat in the grandstands and wondered what it would be like to do that,” said Presenell, 62, “and now that I’m blind, I’m more determined than ever and that’s why I’m here today.”

Hero. This. Man.

NASCAR Media

NASCAR Media

ON THIS DAY 10 OCTOBER 1961

FIFTY years ago, Wolfgang von Trips was killed at the Italian Grand Prix. Third place would have secured the German the title, but his Ferrari clashed with Jim Clark’s Lotus at the end of lap 2 and the airborne car crashed over a barrier, killing 14 spectators. The Monza banking was never used in a GP again. Von Trips, 33, had another lasting effect on the sport; his karting track in Kerpen was eventually bought by former bricklayer Rolf Schumacher, whose sons Michael and Ralf learned to race there.

Suttonimages.com

www.mnews.com.au

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