Motorsport eNews Issue 227 - October 18-24, 2011

THE WORLD OF MOTORSPORT DIRECTLY TO YOUR DESKTOP

Issue No. 227 October 18 - 24 2011

DAN WHELDON 1978 – 2011

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Get on board for the ride of your life!

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Issue No. 227 | 18-24 Oct 2011

news 4

VALE: Dan Wheldon Motorsport loses a star 6 Surfers shuffles The latest on the GC line-up 8 Surface tension Phillip Island to get new tarmac 10 United States of Rally ARC squad goes global 17 Oh Quelle Sensation Toyota back to Le Mans

chat 22 Five Minutes With ...

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opinion 24 Branagan: Dan feature 26 The Gold Coast Internationals race 30 Formula 1 34 MotoGP 38 NASCAR 42 WSBK 44 CIK Stars of Karting

trade 51 Classifieds 3

MOTOR RACING COMMUNIT SHOCKED BY WHELDON’S D

T

INDYCAR

HE motor racing community has reacted with great sadness to the death of Dan Wheldon in the final race of the 2011 Indycar Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Wheldon, 33, was caught up in a 15-car pileup on lap 11 of the race after starting from the rear of the grid. His car appeared to strike the rear of Paul Tracy’s and take off and hit a debris fence in Turn 2.

The race was red-flagged immediately and officials were

on the scene rapidly. It was quickly apparent that the twotime Indianapolis 500 winner, who won this year’s race, was the driver in most need of medical attention. He was quickly moved to nearby University Medical Center and treated in the trauma department, but it was soon apparent that his injuries would be fatal.

His wife Susie, with whom he had two sons, and other members of the his family were present when he was pronounced dead by attending physicians.

Will Power, JR Hildebrand and

Pippa Mann were also treated at UMC. Power was treated for a relatively minor back injury and released, while the Mann is being treated for a burn on her hand. She and Hildebrand are expected to be released on Monday, US time.

“I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Penske driver Ryan Briscoe, who was due to be Wheldon’s Holden Racing Team team-mate at the Gold Coast this weekend.

“The debris we all had to drive through the lap later looked like a war scene from Terminator or something. I mean, there

were just pieces of metal and car on fire in the middle of the track with no car attached to it and just debris everywhere.

So it was scary, and your first thoughts are hoping that no one is hurt because there’s just stuff everywhere. Crazy.”

Ten minutes after Wheldon’s death was confirmed by Indycar CEO Randy Bernard, drivers lined up in formation and drove five laps of the 1.5-mile oval, at Pace Car speed and in radio silence.

As crews from rival teams embraced and sobbed together as the drivers lapped the track, Wheldon’s number #77

VALE: DAN WHELDON IF you were ever going to cast as actor to portray a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, chances are you would want to find someone like Daniel Clive Wheldon.

With a flashing smile, wavy hair and charm that would melt the heart of any leading lady, Wheldon was blessed with what people might describe as the X-factor; in his presence, women swooned, and American men wanted to be like the fast Limey in the Indycar.

But the sponsor-friendly façade hid a focused and hungry racing driver. Never was this more aptly displayed than in the final laps of May’s Indy 500. While JR Hildbrand had what looked like an insurmountable lead, Wheldon put his head down and chased for all he was worth. With no fuel conservation issues to worry him, he wrung every gram of speed out of his Hondapowered Dallara, adjusting the 4

weight jacker for every corner.

Later he admitted that twice he nearly crashed the car. Of course, history now records that it was Hildebrand who crashed, at the final corner of the race, leaving Wheldon to take an emotional and almost unbelievable win.

After a stellar early racing career at home, Wheldon crossed the Atlantic in 1999 to compete in Formula 2000, Indy Lights and, by 2002, Indycar.

After two races with Panther, he was chosen by Michael Andretti as his own replacement the following season, when Andretti stepped out of the cockpit in his own team.

After Rookie of the Year honours in his first full season, he won his first race, in Japan, in 2004. By now it was apparent that despite his road racing pedigree, his prowess on America’s speedways was the ace up his sleeve. In 2005, he won the 500 for the first time, passing Danica Patrick for

the lead, becoming the first Englishman to drink the milk since Graham Hill. That year, he also won the Indycar title, with five wins.

Wheldon was approached by Sauber to try its Formula 1 car, but declined the opportunity, preferring a program with Ganassi to a chance in GP racing. In 2006, he tied with Sam Hornish Jr for the title, the American winning on a tiebreaker, but when his contract with Ganassi ended in 2008, he lost his seat to Dario Franchitti.

He returned to Panther, giving the team second at Indy, but otherwise remained winless.

When Hildebrand joined the team, Wheldon teamed up with Bryan Herta for a one-race deal – which gave them the 2011 Indy 500 victory.

When Wheldon and Herta signed on to develop the new 2012 Indycar, Dan kept busy with the commitments associated with being a 500

winner, and made three appearances as a guest TV commentator at the races, proving to be exceptional at the task. In the meantime, of course, he signed to join the Holden Racing Team for this week’s Gold Coast 600.

“It is a race I was desperate to be a part of, and I am feeling great to be a part of it now,” he told eNews in August. “But to join what I consider to be the best team in the series, that makes it even more exciting for me.”

Typically, his enthusiasm for the one-off Indycar drive at Las Vegas knew no bounds. With the chance to win $2.5m for himself and a fan, even from the back of the grid, he had someone tweet ‘Green!’ on his account at the start of the race.

Wheldon married his longtime PA, Susie Behm, in 2008.

They had two young sons, Sebastian and Oliver, and he doted on his family life in St Petersburg in Florida. motorsport news

NEWS

TY DEATH was illuminated on the track’s scoreboard and the song ‘Danny Boy’ played on the track’s public address system.

The race, red-flagged immediately after the crash, was not restarted and will go down in the record books as a no-race.

Wheldon’s death is the first in Indycar racing since Paul Dana was killed in a crash at Homestead in 2006.

Dario Franchitti, who came to Nevada with an 18-point lead over Power in the championship, emerged from the wreckage unscathed and therefore won the title.

Wheldon had something of a reputation of being difficult to deal with, but those who worked closely with him described him as focused on the task at hand – and great company out of the car.

Certainly, the level of success he attained in the sport made him an easy target, but his popularity was never higher than it has been during the last year.

The sport has lost a great driver, a fine ambassador and missed out on what appeared to be a second phase of his career, with his move to Andretti in 2012 expected to be confirmed in the next few days. That is a great loss, but pales alongside the loss his wife and sons, extended family and many friends are feeling at this time.

To all, and to the many fans of Dan Wheldon, Motorsport News extends its deepest condolences at a loss of a fine man we will all feel for a long time to come. www.mnews.com.au

5

Dirk Klynsmith

CONFUSION REIGNS OVER GOLD COAST GRID Rule change allows Lyons to race for FPR, but there are still holes to fill V8 SUPERCARS THE final makeup of the international drivers’ component of this weekend’s Gold Coast 600 is up in the air, in the shadow of the tragic accident at Las Vegas that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon.

The Holden Racing Team, for which the two-time Indy 500 winner was to drive this weekend, had its plans still up in the air as this edition of eNews went live on Monday evening.

Meanwhile, Will Power’s back injury has prompted Ford Performance Racing to replace him with Richard Lyons, who raced Jono Webb’s Ford at Bathurst last week.

V8 Supercars has waived its previous

rule to stop international drivers from competing at both Bathurst and on the GC. “On behalf of everyone at Ford Performance Racing I would like to pass on our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Dan Wheldon,” FPR Principal Tim Edwards said.

“It was a terrible accident and our thoughts are with them. Our thoughts are also with Will Power at this tough time and we are just thankful he has escaped without any serious injury.

“I’d also like to thank Richard Lyons for stepping in at such short notice in place of Will. I have known him since my Formula 1 days and he has always impressed me so I am sure he will adapt quickly to our car and

the Surfers Paradise track.”

The possibility exists that the other Indycar regulars who were entered for the event – Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Alex Tagliani – may now not come because of the aftermath of the accident.

Cochrane said that should drivers choose to stay in the USA, they would be released from their obligations.

“We fully appreciate and understand their position now,” he said.

“We are totally respectful of whatever they decide and what they wish to do and we will cross those bridges and worry about that when we absorb the initial shock of all of this and deal with it in due course.”

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NEWS

SKAIFE CHOOSES THE COMMISSION OVER RACING V8 SUPERCARS

Andrew Hall

IT’S official – Mark Skaife has stepped down from V8 Supercar driving duties to take his role as the chairman of the V8 Supercar Commission.

Skaife was set to hold a press conference on the Gold Coast yesterday (Monday), but chose to call it off in the wake of Dan Wheldon’s death in the United States. Instead, a statement was issued to the media, confirming that Skaife will not race a V8 Supercar for at least the next two years, the length of his initial term.

“This is one of the biggest decisions of my life,” said Skaife.

“I have got to say, it’s a decision that’s a bit more of my head and not my heart.

Driving a V8 Supercar and racing at Bathurst has been a big part of my life for the last 25 years.

“I can’t drive forever. I’ve really only got a two or three year window at the highest level, and on the other side I have an opportunity which has probably got a longer tenure and a modern career path.

The biggest thing is saying my heart is still in love with driving racecars, but my

head tells me that this is too good of an opportunity for me to pass up.”

V8 Supercars Australia chairman Tony Cochrane added that he was happy with Skaife’s decision to put the commission before his driving career.

“I know exactly how hard this decision has been for Mark, and how much thought he has put into making the right call,” Cochrane said.

“Mark is a man who always makes the right decision. I believe this is fantastic for him and even better for the sport to have a man of his great experience in our business plan for at least next two years.

“It is also sad that he won’t be in the driver’s seat for the time being whilst he is in this role. There are few people if any that have put their heart and soul into V8 Supercars like Mark.”

While Skaife will step down from driving, he won’t be taking a back seat in terms of his television commitments, and will call his first Bathurst on Seven in 2012.

“As yet I’ve never been involved in the telecast of Bathurst,” he said.

“It’s important to me also that I put my full effort into the broadcast.”

DE FERRAN A LATE SUB FOR GC600 V8 SUPERCARS IN a late substitution for the Gold Coast 600, IndyCar great Gil de Ferran will replace fellow Brazilian Lucas di Grassi in Jonathon Webb’s Mother Energy Drinks Falcon.

It will be the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner de Ferran’s eighth visit to the Gold Coast, and his first since 2001, when he

wrapped up the CART title in Queensland.

The current de Ferran Motorsports team manager hung up the helmet in 2003 after five years in CART and IndyCars with Team Penske, starting up his own sportscar team in 2008.

De Ferran also shares a fond history with Webb’s team manager Bruce Jenkins. The two worked together to win the British Formula 3 title in 1992.

“I have always enjoyed Surfers Paradise, it was the scene of my last championship victory and I will enjoy catching up and racing with a load of friends and feeling the adrenalin again,” said de Ferran.

“There is a great mix of drivers here from a range of backgrounds so the racing should be brilliant. I am looking forward the challenge and currently getting myself physically prepared.”

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

7

NEW SURFACE FOR PHILLIP ISLAND V8 SUPERCARS PHILLIP Island Grand Prix Circuit is to undergo a significant upgrade, include a new racing surface.

Track owners Linfox Property Group has confirmed that the 4.4km track will be resurfaced in time for the 2013 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. The announcement was made at the weekend, after meetings with MotoGP organisers DORNA.

“Linfox is committed to a continuing program of investment and upgrades to maintain Phillip Island Circuit as a venue that meets the highest international standards,” said Andrew Fox, Linfox Property Group Managing Director.

“This upgrade has been in the planning process for six months and is part of a program to ensure Phillip Island is rated as a premier world championship circuit, both for racing and safety. Apart from our

own plans we will assess the latest paving technology that was recently used to upgrade the Mugello circuit which hosts the Italian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

“I’m confident that the outcome will be the smoothest and fastest race track on the MotoGP calendar.”

The circuit will be closed for all track activity between early December 2012 to late January 2013 to allow the completion of the work.

John Morris/Mpix

DRIVERS DOCKED POINTS POST-BATHURST V8 SUPERCARS EIGHT drivers have been docked championship points in post-race penalties applied from the Bathurst 1000.

Sitting third in the championship, Shane van Gisbergen was penalised following the contact made with the Bottle-O Falcon of Paul Dumbrell and Dean Canto late in the race. Both van Gisbergen and John McIntyre were relieved of 25 points.

8

The stewards found the Jack Daniel’s entry of Rick Kelly and Owen Kelly guilty of causing the Falcon of Tim Slade and Daniel Gaunt to spin off at the chase on Lap 56.

The Kellys were also docked 25 points each.

Russell Ingall and Jack Perkins lost 25 for exceeding the maximum allowance of six garages driving alongside another car in pit-lane.

And the GRM Commodore of Michael Caruso and Marcus Marshall was found to

have breeched the rules twice. Both drivers were subsequently penalised a total of 50 points for careless driving on the van Gisbergen/McIntyre entry, along with the VIP Petfoods Commodore of Steve Owen and Paul Morris.

An investigation into an incident involving the Tony D’Alberto/Dale Wood Falcon and the Alex Davison/David Brabham SBR Falcon deemed that no regulations had been breached. motorsport news

NEWS

NOW ON DVD UNINTERRUPTED! BATHURST HIGHLIGHTS

DTM TYRES FOR NZ SUPERTOURERS NZV8s NEW Zealand’s new-for-2012 V8 SuperTourer series will use DTM-spec Hankook tyres.

Hankook and the SuperTourers have agreed to a three-year deal for control tyres, with the Ventus F200 slicks and Ventus Z207 wet weather tyres to be used by all cars. They are the same construction and compound as used in Germany’s DTM series.

With the deal coming off the back of an extensive testing program, Paul Ceprnich, V8SuperTourer designer and engineer, was impressed with how the tyres worked.

“Hampton Downs is very hard on the left-hand rear tyre, and with the torque of the sevenlitre V8, the rear tyres are pushed quite hard,” Ceprnich said.

“The Hankook tyres performed well, but it was their durability that really impressed. We tested the medium compound, and we were able to test on one set of tyres all day.

“Our testing was in probably the toughest conditions the cars will face, and the Hankook tyres passed with flying colours, showing excellent consistency.”

The series will debut at Hampton Downs near Auckland next February.

OPEN-WHEELERS BACK ON THE GOLD COAST V8 SUPERCARS A FORMULA 1 car will for the first time turn laps of the Gold Coast street circuit at this weekend’s Armor All Gold Coast 600.

Australian entrepreneur Paul Stoddart will take his two-seater Minardi to the Queensland event, where Cameron McConville will take the reigns of the 700-horsepower, Cosworth-powered F1 car.

McConville tested a Honda Formula 1 car at Japan’s Motegi Circuit back in 2008, and usually steers the Minardi two-seater F1 car at the Australian Grand Prix.

Also racing in the Auto One V8 Ute Series on the same weekend, McConville is looking forward to www.mnews.com.au

hearing the distinctive sound of the Cosworth V10 once again.

“Formula 1 engines have such a unique sound and any time you get to hear one in full flight it is an awesome experience,” said McConville “I’ll go one better and be actually driving it around the Gold Coast. I think it’s probably a world first – there wouldn’t be too many people that have driven a Ute and an F1 car in the same weekend!

“I’ve driven a Honda Formula 1 car before and this two-seater, but never on a circuit like this.

“I’ll be giving my passengers the ultimate F1 experience – but ensuring that they are kept safe at the same time – I want to bring the car home in one piece.”

Features the best of the best racing, Top Ten Shootout, drivers, teams, cars and much more!

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NEWS

RALLYING

AUSTRALIAN outfit Summit Rally Team will launch a bold American campaign next year.

The team had planned to contest next year’s Bosch Australian Rally Championship with a pair of Nissan Silvias, but will instead tackle at least three rounds of the Rally America Series, the legendary Pikes Peak and possibly even some X Games events.

As part of an American push by sponsor Summit Innovations, drivers Will Orders and Ross Allan will be based in the USA for five months for the program. In their two-wheeldrive Silvias, the pair will contest rounds of the Rally America Series in Portland, Wellsboro and Newry between May and July, and possibly the season finale in Seattle in September.

“Summit Innovations does a lot of fastfood software; they’ve been doing some testing

over the last 12 months with Burger King in the States, and they’ll be going pretty hard on the marketing and everything in the US next year,” Orders said.

“We’ll be there for probably five months, living there. We leave in April and we’ll be back in August some time, all going well. We might do the last round as well, depending on how we go in the first couple of rounds.

“We’re also trying to get something happening in the X Games as well, it’s pretty busy.”

Orders, the 2WD winner in the 2011 rallyschool.com.au Australian Junior Challenge, will be the sole car at Pikes Peak, which he says is the realisation of a longheld ambition.

“It’s a childhood dream,” he enthused.

“I remember watching Ari Vatanen set the world record for Pikes Peak in the Peugeot back in the day, it’s been a dream ever since

Michael Vettas

LAW & ORDERS: USA

to be there. To get there next year, it’ll be pretty special.

“We’ve never been there before, only seen it on television and it’s probably like Bathurst – you just don’t know the gradients of the hill until you get there and stand on it. We’ll go there, learn our wares and potentially go back there in the years to come.”

The team aims to contest Rally Calder, the opening round of the 2012 Australian Rally Championship, in March before heading for America.

“We’re definitely hoping to, because we think it’s going to change Australian rallying substantially and we’d like to be a part of it,” Orders said.

“But it will depend on when the container leaves. The cars have to be in America in early April – it’s going to be a tight squeeze with a 28-day transit time.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

SIMON & SUE GET MAZDA GIG TARMAC RALLYING THE Evans name will soon be back in competitive Rally competition, with Simon and Sue jumping on board a factory-prepared Mazda3 MPS at next month’s Targa High Country in the Victorian Alpine Region.

Currently on a one-year sabbatical from the Australian Rally Championship, the Evans’ are relishing the opportunity to 10

steer the 190kW Mazda around Mt Buller, with regular Mazda factory driver, Brendan Reeves, unable to start this year’s Targa due to his international commitments. Reeves was leading last year’s Showroom Prize, but crashed out of the event following contact with a stranded competitor.

The Evans couple will be taking the event one corner at a time, but Simon reckons his 16-year long strong marriage with Sue will enable them to power through to take the

Showroom prize category, despite piloting unfamiliar machinery.

“We work harder than most to get it right,” said Evans.

“We have a trust level that enables us to get on with our individual tasks without questioning each other.”

Targa High Country is made up of 16 stages over 217km of running. The event gets underway in Mansfield on November 4. 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

AT RACE

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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FORMULA 1

PETROV DOWN FORMULA 1 VITALY Petrov has been handed a five-place grid penalty for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

While dicing with Fernando Alonso on Lap 16 of Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix, the Renault driver overshot the run into Turn 3 and ploughed into the back of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes, ending both drivers races. Race stewards found Petrov at fault, and docked him five grid places for the October 30 race.

Meanwhile, Hispania Racing Team was fine 5,000 Euros for an unsafe release of Daniel Ricciardo’s car from a pitstop.

VERGNE IN FORMULA 1 JAIME Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi are back to sharing their Toro Rossos on Fridays.

The Italian squad will again be used to give a Red Bull junior laps in Free Practice 1, with 2010 British F3 Champion Jean-Eric Vergne getting the late-season opportunity. Daniel Ricciardo started the year in the role, before his elevation to a fulltime drive with HRT. Vergne drove Alguersuari’s car in the first of his three outings in Korea, setting the 13th fastest time. He’ll sit on the sidelines in India, to give Alguersuari and Buemi maximum running on the new circuit, and then drive Buemi’s car in Abu Dhabi. The driver with the least points heading to the season finale will then give up his seat in FP1 in Brazil.

FOR the second time in as many Mondays, Red Bull Racing team members will have woken up in Asia with sore heads.

After Sebastian Vettel wrapped up the Drivers’ World Championship last weekend in Japan, Sunday’s 1-3 finish in Korea saw the team seal backto-back Constructors’ titles with three races to go. t was a far cry from F1’s first visit to Yeongam in 2010, in which Mark Webber crashed and Vettel suffered an engine failure, letting Fernando Alonso back into the title fight.

“It absolutely makes up for last year and our disappointment here and it was a fantastic race in the end,” team principal Christian Horner said.

“Sebastian did everything right – he had a good start, made a bold move up the inside into Turn 4 and then controlled the race. It was a World Champion’s drive.

“All credit must go to Mark Webber as well who tried everything to pass Lewis who in fairness defended very well and despite being considerably quicker, we couldn’t get into the right place entering the DRS zone to make it a onetwo. However, to retain the Constructors’ with a one-three finish is very special for the team.

RBR GET

“It’s a day that every single team member and all the people associat with the team should be very proud Also in Korea, RBR announced tha relationship with Japanese manufac

M

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NEWS

TS BACK-TO-BACK DOUBLES

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ted d of.” at their cturer

Infiniti will grow. Infiniti joined the squad at the start of the year, and the technical collaboration between the two entities will grow with the new deal.

“In the short time we have been involved

with Infiniti it has become clear that the closer we work together the more performance advantages can be gained by both sides,” Horner said.

“It has been a phenomenally successful

first season to date, and deepening our partnership further provides us even more scope to share knowledge and expertise, leading to mutual benefits on the track and the road.”

MORE FORCE FOR FORCE INDIA FORMULA 1

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SAHARA India Pariwar has become a part owner of Force India.

The sports promotion group will invest approximately $100 million into the team for a 42.5 percent share, equal with team principal Dr Vijay Mallya, with the Mol family to control the remaining 15 percent.

Purchased by Mallya and the Mol family in 2007, the team will be renamed Sahara Force India.

“India is reaching new heights

in all spheres, including sports,” Subrata Roy Sahara, managing worker and chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, said.

“Formula One has always remained a bastion of the western world. The advent of India in this exciting sport has remained a matter of pride for all our countrymen.

“I feel doubly proud that Sahara is the co-owner of India’s only F1 team and I am sure that we will together bring pride and laurels to our beloved nation.”

13

Joey turns yellow NASCAR

INDYCAR INDYCAR’S success story of 2011, the Baltimore Grand Prix,

will return on the USA’s Labor Day weekend next year.

That is one of the few confirmed events, after

Sunday’s tragic Las Vegas crash prompted Indycar officials to postpone the announcement of the series’ 2012 calendar.

HONDA Racing media

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HONDA Racing media

Indycar back to Baltimore

NASCAR media

JOEY Logano is going from orange to yellow for some of next season.

The former teen phenomenon will wear the colours of Dollar General next season, the car rental company parting ways with both Turner Motorsports, which ran Reed Sorenson in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and Indycar’s Sarah Fisher Racing.

DG will back Logano in between 10 and 12 races next season, and back JGR’s #11 Nationwide Series entry, driven by Brian Scott. In the Camping World Truck Series, it will return for 10 races with Kyle Busch’s #18 truck.

“Baltimore was a big win this season for a business like ours,” said Terry Angstadt, president of the IndyCar Series commercial division. “The entire city was behind it, from the mayor’s office to the fans.

The grandstands were full with happy, engaged people. When that happens, we’re winners.”

Indycars will race on Sunday, September 2. The main support event, the American Le Mans Series, will have its race on Saturday. Other supports are expected to be Firestone Indy Lights USF2000 and Star Mazda. motorsport news

NEWS

Childress goes fourth

Second AJ Indy team INDYCAR AJ ALLMENDINGER is to become a team owner – in Indycar.

Allmendinger is one of the partners in a new IndyCar team, with Michael Shank of Michael Shank Racing and

NASCAR

businessman Brian Bailey.

MSR, based in Columbus, Ohio, fields a Daytona Prototype effort in the GrandAm Rolex Sport Club Series (below) and Allmendinger is expected to drive in the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

GRAND-AM media

RICHARD Childress expects to run three NASCAR Sprint Cup entries next season and has not ruled out an occasional fourth entry.

“Right now we’re looking at three Cup cars with an occasional Cup race,” the RCR team owner said at Charlotte.

“Who knows what may come up between now and then?

I’ve had offers to race people and race drivers and had another full sponsorship with a driver; I just want to make sure it’s the right move when

we make it. So we’re still, as of right now, we’re three Cup teams.”

Childress would not rule out putting his grandson Austin Dillon, who is driving in the Truck Series, in a Cup car for limited races.

“I’m sure if we don’t have a team we may stick Austin in another car one or two times. We’ve got a couple of other people that said ‘hey, we want to run’. If we see it’s the right opportunity for a change that we can test something or look at a driver or something we may do that.”

Sponsor decals gone but no Matt finish NASCAR

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plenty of space to be sold on his car and that of David Ragan, who faces a less certain future with the loss of UPS. “We do need a sponsor for the #17 car, I didn’t hear that but that’s a fact,” team boss Jack Roush said in Charlotte.

“The 17 car is secure in Roush Fenway’s livery. We will run it

with or without a sponsor next year but it will be a shame if we are not able to attract sponsorship.

“We are talking to people with some interest, but this is my 24th year of being in the business and this is the most difficult time I’ve had.”

NASCAR media

MATT Kenseth’s post-race celebrations included a plea for a sponsor for 2012.

Kenseth will lose Crown Royal from the flanks of the #17 Ford next season and used the opportunity to visit Victory Lane at Charlotte to get in a

plug for a replacement.

“It’s not too late to come back,” he smiled to CR management watching on TV. “We don’t have any sponsors coming back for next year.”

Kenseth’s ride is not in danger, as Roush Fenway Racing is hardly short of cash reserves, but there is still

15

TOYOTA BACK TO LE MANS LE MANS TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH will compete at the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours.

The carmaker is building an LMP1-spec racer at its motorsport headquarters in Cologne, Germany, which will be powered by a petrol-hybrid powertrain. The team will also compete in several other rounds of the World Endurance Championship.

“Toyota Motor Corporation has entered Le Mans before, but by using our hybrid technology this time will be a completely new challenge,” Tadashi Yamashina, Toyota

Motor Corporation senior managing officer and TMG chairman.

“We want to write a new page in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as in the FIA World Endurance Championship, through our use of hybrid technology.

“In addition, we aim to learn from the experience of competing in such a

challenging motorsport environment to enhance our production car technology.

“Le Mans is a legendary race and I would like to thank the ACO and the FIA for their constructive and positive cooperation over the last few months.”

The car will be finished by New Year, with testing to begin straight away.

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE ... OH SUPERLEAGUE AUSTRALIA has won the 2011 Superleague Formula title, after the series pulled the pin on its remaining three races.

John Martin led the series after the second round at Zolder in Belgium, and with upcoming races in Beijing, Shanghai and South Korea being cancelled, Martin and Australia are unofficially the champions.

Series organisers have blamed a breakdown in negotiations with the local

authorities in the Asian countries for the cancellations, and are remaining bullish about the series’ future.

“While everyone at Superleague Formula recognises this is an unsatisfactory outcome for the thousands of fans, it was simply not possible to travel to China with certain details still to be agreed,” said competitions director Robin Webb.

“That this announcement has come so close to the first scheduled event is testament to the championship’s tireless attempts to stage the races as planned,

especially after the warm welcome we received in China last season.

“Naturally, I am as frustrated as anyone that the championship will not be visiting Asia this year. I would like to reassure fans, however, that plans are already well advanced in putting together a much-improved package for 2012, announcements on which will be made in due course.”

The news comes just days after Superleague Formula announced that it is looking to move to a Lola chassis in 2013.

BEZZY’S A UTE MAN V8 UTES DAVID Besnard will get straight back on the horse after his Bathurst accident, lining up at the AutoOne Wildcard in this weekend’s Gold Coast V8 Ute round.

While Besnard has already experienced the Gold Coast street circuit in a wide variety of cars – including a Champ Car in 2004 – it will be his Ute debut.

“My back is a bit stiff, nothing too major though,” Besnard said of his Bathurst recovery.

“I’m feeling pretty good and looking forward to racing a Ute. I’m there to have fun 16

and enjoy it but I’m also very competitive and would love to be up the pointy end.”

The Gold Coast resident will be the sixth driver to steer the Auto One Wild Card entry, but Besnard isn’t too worried despite having no experience on the new short track.

“I haven’t raced for a few years on the Gold Coast, and have no experience on the short track. It’s all the same though, just shorter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Gray has sold his Falcon to Rod Dawson, with debutant Tim Boyle to race it for the balance of the season.

Graham Edwards returns to the series at Surfers, along with Dennis Cribbin.

From the other Surfers support categories, Andre Borell will return to the Australian Formula Ford Championship, while last-start winner Glenn Seton will miss this weekend’s penultimate round of the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn.

“Due to starting with the category late in the season after extensive work on the XB, it’s been difficult to setup a commercial partner,” car owner Jim Morton said of Seton’s program.

“We hope to be back and running for Homebush and will continue to work towards investments and our commitment to racing.” motorsport news

NEWS

MELLOW YELLOW FORMULA 3 MAT Sofi will return to contest the final two rounds of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship.

Sofi raced fulltime in the championship between 2007 and 2009, but has only made selected appearances since then, winning all three races in his sole 2011 outing at Eastern Creek in July. He’ll be back in the Astuti Motorsport-prepared Dallara for the final two rounds – at Phillip Island with the Shannons Nationals and Symmons Plains a week later on the V8 Supercar program –

with a new livery and backing from wine makers [yellow tail].

“It came out of nowhere,” Sofi said of the sponsorship.

“Sam Astuti’s been talking to them for a while, I hadn’t really had too much to do with it, then he gave me a call and asked if I was interested in doing the last two rounds.

“The thing that was going to burn me was not being able to do Phillip Island. We’ve always been quick but so unlucky, so to get another crack at it’s going to be unreal. I can’t wait.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

OVERSEAS TEAMS EYEING 12 HOUR BATHURST 12 HOUR ORGANISERS of the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour are hoping strong international interest translates into entries for next February’s race.

The 2012 race will be the first run with input from Dutch entity Creventic, who promote a number of long-distance races globally.

While not lodged entries, Creventic has a list of 11 international cars on a preliminary list, who are working towards heading to

Bathurst.

Among the recent additions, Liqui Moly Team Engstler from Germany is listed with a GT3-spec BMW Z4, while English outfit Motionsport is aiming to bring a pair of Lotus Evora GT4 racers.

“Creventic are confident that they’ll have a number of competitors coming out to the race next year,” 12 Hour promoter James O’Brien said.

“Obviously they’ve got a number of firm expressions of interest and a number of potential expressions of interest and we’re

hoping that pretty soon that will translate into firm entries for the race.

“We’ve got a good relationship with Creventic, obviously it only commenced earlier this year, but they’re very keen to bring cars to The Mountain, to experience The Mountain, and we’re very keen to have them here.

“So far, so good. We’re hoping it translates into at least half a dozen entries from the Creventic database, for want of a better word.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

Andrew Hall

www.mnews.com.au

17

MOTOGP JORGE Lorenzo is expected to make a full recovery from his hand injury he suffered at Phillip Island – but not in time for the Malaysian GP. The Spaniard virtually conceded any hopes he had of defending his title when he fell heavily in the Sunday warmup and jammed a finger under the bike. With the top of his left ring finger torn off, he was immediately treated at the circuit and underwent surgery in Melbourne on Sunday night.

He is not expected to suffer any loss of function.

His team-mate Ben Spies also missed the PI race after cracking a rib in a qualifying fall. He is expected to at least practice at Sepang.

Yamaha Racing

LORENZO: NO SEPANG BUT HE WILL BE OK Corser calls time on WSBK WORLD SUPERBIKE TROY Corser’s 20year Superbike World Championship came to an end in Portugal at the weekend.

The two-time World Champion, running a special ‘crocodile’ livery on his BMW, right, announced his retirement at Portimao.

“I have been racing for a long time and the day had to come, and although it is a sad day for a lot of people it had to come at some stage,” said Corser, who won the 1996 and 2005 titles.

“I think it is time to do it right

now. We have brought the bike on well, and I think Leon [Haslam] and Marco [Melandri] will do a fantastic job with the bike in 2012.

“For me it is an honour to

stay on with BMW as an ambassador, and there are lots of different areas where I will still be involved with the development, PR and so on. So I am not disappearing, I will still be around at the tracks.”

Corser, who turns 40 next month, has scored a WSBK record 43 pole positions, with 33 wins and 130 podiums in 377 races.

After making his WSBK debut as a wildcard at Phillip Island in 1992, he has raced for Ducati, Petronas, Suzuki, Yamaha and BMW, with a break when he raced 500cc GPs in 1997.

Checa staying put at Althea Ducati WORLD SUPERBIKE THE World Superbike grid will look much different next season – but Carlos Checa is not moving.

Between Sunday’s races, the World Champion, Althea Racing and Ducati came to an agreement and the Spaniard will continue in 2012.

“I am over the moon to hear that I can stay 18

with my team and with my bike again next year,” said Checa. “We have built something very special here and to leave would have been heartbreaking. More than a win, today has been a moral victory – in the space of two days I have lost, and thankfully regained my team.”

Checa had been linked with both Aprilia and BMW. The former has recruited Eugene Laverty for its World Superbike squad and

the Irishman, who finished tied with Max Biaggi on points this season, is expected to ride a factory-supported bike for the PATA team for the next two seasons. Leon Camier has departed Aprilia’s factory team but could be Laverty’s team-mate.

Hiroshi Aoyama is moving to Ten Kate Honda from MotoGP, while Michel Fabrizio moving to BMW Italia to replace James Toseland. motorsport news

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NEWS

LE BROCQ AND REEVES NOMINATED FOR ACADEMY AUSSIES OVERSEAS AUSTRALIAN rally hopeful Brendan Reeves and current CAMS Rising Star Jack Le Brocq have both been nominated by CAMS to be considered for the second intake of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.

Currently third in the Australian Formula Ford Championship, Le Brocq recently trekked to the UK in preparation for the

Silverstone rounds of the British Formula Ford Championship, before racing at the famed Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.

Meanwhile, Victorian Reeves sits fifth in the World Rally Championship Academy Series in his promising debut International season.

“The number of high-quality applications we received is a testament to the depth of young Australian motorsport talent in this country,” said David Morgan, Chief Executive of CAMS.

“It is also an indication of the regard with which these positions are held within the motor sport community – to be trained for a career in motor sport by the FIA itself is a significant opportunity.

“With the results that Brendan and Jack have already achieved – as well as the undoubted talent that they have shown in their young careers – we are confident that they will be excellent ambassadors for Australian motorsport.”

John Morris/Mpix

BORG AND STANKOVIC TAKE SUPPORT WINS KARTING LAST weekend’s final round of the CIK Stars of Karting Series also incorporated the final round of the Yamaha Challenge categories, with Aaron Borg and Stefan Stankovic taking the championship honors.

CRG driver Brett Robinson started well in the Clubman class, claiming pole in qualifying before taking out the opening heat, Heat 2 and the pre-final. However, he was challenged all weekend by Harrington Doyle driver James Greenwood.

Greenwood joined Robinson on the 20

front row for all five races, and took out Heat 2 before ultimately winning the final over Robinson, with Bryce Davidson showing good speed in the final to score third.

The battle for the championship, however, was back in the pack, with Borg and Lydon Dodge going wheel-towheel for the entire race, at one stage making contact that hampered both drivers.

In the end, Borg took fourth place over Nathan Tigani and Dodge, which ensured Borg won the title by a mere two points, and also the top prize – a trip to Japan

to compete in the All Japan Yamaha Championship next month.

A calculated drive by Stefan Stankovic in the Junior National ranks across the weekend secured him the Junior National crown in the Yamaha Challenge, and with it a new Yamaha engine.

James Duckworth qualified fastest and won two of the three heats, but had to settle for second behind final winner James Abela. Stankovic did all that was needed crossing the line third while Reece Davidson and Gus Flynn rounded out the Top 5.

– PAUL CARRUTHERS motorsport news

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FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

SCOTT PRUETT At 51 years of age, Scott Pruett is still the man to beat in Grand Am racing. He’s also a master winemaker, and has played a big part in developing Lexus’ LFA supercar. ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN caught up with him at Sandown last week MOTORSPORT NEWS: This isn’t motor racing as such, but it’s a very fast car, at a race track ... in Australia! It’s a pretty good life you’re leading at the moment, isn’t it Scott.

SCOTT PRUETT: It’s an incredible life! With the racing side and driving fast racecars, the winery – I have a vineyard and make wine – and being involved with Lexus, it’s awesome.

And now I’m not just working with the Lexus ISF, but the LFA, which is a true supercar.

I mean, it doesn’t get any better than this.

On the racing side of things, another fantastic year for you and another Grand Am title. Talk us through it.

22

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Apex, diffuser, Nürburgring – these are all words that at attached to the LFA. It oozes motor racing. As someone who is a proper racing car driver, where does this car sit in the scheme of racing cars?

It’s the closest thing from a production car that I’ve ever been in. It feels like a proper racecar. The braking is phenomenal, the nimbleness, the reaction time, how it upshifts, how it downshifts; it’s absolutely been incredible.

I’ve done, probably, 10 or 11 thousand miles in the LFA, across four different development stages, and it keeps getting better and better and better.

It’s quite unbelievable. We’ve got a street car, that’s turning 9500 revs all day long, and we’ve had no dramas with it. There’s no issues with transmission, no engine problems, and that’s even on the prototypes.

This is turning the corner, in terms of supercars that people can actually drive everyday.

Its been exciting for me personally to see the transformation of Lexus. I’ve been involved with Toyota – and I’m going to date myself here – since about 1983, and then with IndyCar in ’99, and then forward from then. Lexus was more my dad’s car, and now its something that I want to go and buy! The LFA is fun, it’s fast, and when you take it to a race track it performs like a thoroughbred.

It’s been incredible. Last year, we won nine of 12 races, this year we won five of 12 – and back-to-back championships. We just finished up a few weeks ago at Mid-Ohio, and we won the drivers championship, the teams championship and the manufacturers championship. It’s just been incredible.

I mean, here we are going up against young kids who are trying to get my job (laughs), and that’s a fun aspect for me personally. I love that I’m still racing at this level and still having this success so late in my career.

So there’s still a few more years left in you then?

I keep saying that every year, and every year I come back and win another championship!

I’m continually breaking records; this Rolex Grand Am championship is my 10th major Sportscar championship.

Are these records you dwell on now, or will that be for sitting back at the winery one day?

This is for sitting back (laughs). It’s definitely a down the road, looking back sort of

moment. Right now, I’m focused on the racing. I’ve just re-signed with the team, so we’ll be doing the same thing next year with Ganassi and Telmex, and in the mean time Lexus has me busy both here in Australia and in The States.

Speaking of the winery, what’s shaping up as the best grape for you guys this season?

Well, we’re just releasing our 2009s. Syrah is our mainstream wine.

That’s Shiraz down here ...

Shiraz, that’s right! I love Australian Shiraz.

I’ve been coming to Australia since the 1990s with IndyCar, that’s when I was first exposed to Australian Shiraz, and I loved it.

When we planted our vineyard at house, we had Grenache, Sangiovese and Syrah, and Syrah was, hands down, the best.

So our wines are getting better and better. We’ve just got some great reviews from Wine Spectator – I’m not sure if you have that here or not – but it’s a global magazine that rates wines, and they gave us a 90 point on our first line. That was exciting. motorsport news

CHAT

www.mnews.com.au

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COMMENT

THE DAY WE LOST DAN OPINION Phil Branagan – Executive Editor

I

PROMISE that I will give a damn about motor racing tomorrow. But right now, I don’t.

I have just had a great weekend, challenging and difficult but fun, at Phillip Island, and I had a good idea for a column in my head when I was driving to work this morning. There was much to look forward to today; the news about Mark Skaife’s immediate future, any last-minute info about the Gold Coast V8 Supercar races this weekend and the usual stuff that comes out of a weekend full of Formula 1, MotoGP, NASCAR and Indycar.

You will find much of that in this edition but, speaking for myself, I wrote on remote control today, with no enthusiasm. I am too sad at the news of Dan Wheldon’s death. He was going to be on the Gold Coast this week, and high on my to-do list was to make the acquaintance of the two-time Indy 500 winner.

Not that I had before, but I had the pleasure of talking to him on the phone when news of his Holden Racing Team gig broke. We talked of the usual things, and he made all the right comments, but then asked me to promise that I would come and see him when I was at the GC race.

That is not always the case for visiting racing drivers. In the course of the last few months, what became apparent was that colleagues were nothing but enthusiastic about Dan, rating his company as highly as they rated his ability behind the wheel.

There is an air of disbelief when something like this happens. The safety features of racing cars have become so highly-developed that death is unexpected, and a shock. It is not like motorcycle racing, where coping with the injuries associated with crashing at astronomical speeds are part and parcel of the business.

Of course, I am not dismissive of the fact that other drivers were involved in this terrible incident and came away with relatively light injuries, or not injured at all. I thank the racing gods that it was not worse.

But, this is a massive blow. Wheldon did not have to be in Vegas, doing this race. He wanted to race, of course, and he generated much publicity for Indycar’s $5m bounty, split with a fan, if he was to win the race from the back of the grid.

Yes, this was something of a gimmick, but it was a gimmick that put him in a car, on the grid, with a chance of winning, so that seemed to be fine with him.

We all lost today. The sport lost today. I lost today. I am going to get up tomorrow, clear my head, and get to work on finishing the next edition of Motorsport News. Before that, tonight, I am going to go home, hug my wife and sons, pour a glass of red wine and raise a toast to Dan Wheldon and hope for the very best for his wife and family.

But until then, if it’s OK with you, I am going to do something I have never done before. For the next few hours, I am going to hate this damned sport. www.mnews.com.au

25

GOLD COAST 600, V2

With the Gold Coast event just days away, ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN takes a look at the form of the overseas stars

Ryan Briscoe (AUS) #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE2 Sharing with Garth Tander eNews Says: Briscoe has done a heck of a lot of V8 Supercar racing in comparison to the rest of the ‘internationals’, and #2 did win on the Gold Coast last year. If these two can cope with the whopping height difference, they could be a force.

Tonio Liuzzi (ITA) #3 Wilson Security Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Tony D’Alberto eNews Says: For the first time in the event’s very short history, the Gold Coast 600 has a current Formula 1 driver on the list. It’s a big coup for D’Alberto, although don’t 26

necessarily expect Liuzzi to be as quick as the Sportscar and Touring Car guys. Still, a major PR win for D’Alberto and the event.

Marc Lieb (DE) #4 Stone Brothers Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Alex Davison eNews Says: The lessons learnt from last year suggest that the Porsche drivers make good V8 Supercar drivers (think Patrick Long), so Lieb could be a surprise package. He might be little known Down Under, but has a good rep in Europe and a good relationship with A Davo. If it gels as well as we think it will, this could be a handy combo.

Richard Lyons (NIR) #5 Ford Performance Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Mark Winterbottom eNews Says: With Will

Power out injured after the horrific crash in Las Vegas, Richard Lyons has been called up for the seat alongside Winterbottom. Lyons won’t be the quickest out there, but he did finish fifth at Bathurst once. Good get under tough circumstances.

Mika Salo (FIN) #6 Ford Performance Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Will Davison eNews Says: The former F1 pilot didn’t exactly stand out while driving the fourth Walkinshaw Racing entry last year, but he didn’t do anything stupid, either. With his 2010 experience, and a handy rig under him, he has a chance to stand out this time.

Richard Westbrook (ENG) #7 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE2 motorsport news

NEWS

Dirk Klynsmith

Sharing with Todd Kelly eNews Says: Westbrook is a jack of all trades in the US and Europe, constantly starring in tin tops. He’s the exact sort of low profile driver that could really surprise on the Gold Coast.

Stephane Sarrazin (FRA) #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Jason Bright eNews Says: Like Westbrook, Sarrazin has pretty much done it all. Unlike Westbrook, the Frenchman hasn’t only done tin tops ... he’s done LMP1 Le Mans racers, Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship. The F1 thing never took off, but Sarrazin has never really looked slow in anything, either. Good get for Brighty.

Emanuele Pirro (ITA) #9 Stone Brothers www.mnews.com.au

Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Shane van Gisbergen eNews Says: Will Pirro be the Super Sub? He’s got a gig with SBR thanks to Scott Dixon’s wife giving birth to the couple’s first child, and with five Le Mans wins, his credentials are good. An interesting choice, but will be good to watch.

Oliver Gavin (ENG) #11 Kelly Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Greg Murphy eNews Says: Who? 12 months ago we might have canned this signing as a waste of time, but ... yep, Patrick Long. After his exploits on the Gold Coast last year, we won’t write anyone off. Gavin is a Sportscar and GT gun, so he may be well suited.

Gianni Morbidelli (ITA) #12 Triple F Racing Falcon FG

Sharing with Dean Fiore eNews Says: Morbidelli didn’t quite live up to our high expectations last year, but like Salo, he didn’t do anything silly either. He obviously did enough to earn another trip Down Under with Team Fiore, and he’s a good fit there.

Tony Kanaan (BRA) #14 Brad Jones Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Jason Bargwanna eNews Says: A newbie for the Gold Coast 600, and a good get for the team and the event. Without much recent tin top experience, its very hard to tell if he’ll go any good in a V8 Supercar – but TK doesn’t seem to do much without flare, so it will be fun to watch, no matter what happens.

CONTINUED OVER THE PAGE 27

Dirk Klynsmith

Jorg Bergmeister (DE) #15 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Rick Kelly eNews Says: Another one for the Who? files, but another driver capable of surprising. He’s a factory Porsche driver in America and Europe – something that doesn’t happen by accident – and KR wouldn’t be putting him in their lead entry unless they saw some real potential.

Alex Tagliani (CAN) #16 Kelly Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with David Reynolds eNews Says: Tag has done his fair share of V8 Supercar driving now, and regardless of whether he is fast or slow, he is always a heck of a lot of fun to have around. No surprise that the Kellys have invited him back again.

Dirk Muller (DE) #17 Dick Johnson Racing Falcon FG 28

Sharing with Steven Johnson eNews Says: Once again, he might not be a household name in Australia, but Muller could go well. He’s a factory BMW driver in the American Le Mans Series, and that says volumes – including the fact that he knows how to drive a rear-wheel-drive tin top.

Joey Hand (USA) #18 Dick Johnson Racing Falcon FG Sharing with James Moffat eNews Says: We wouldn’t mind taking some credit for this one. Motorsport News published a feature on Joey Hand back February, with the idea to create some interest in the versatile, although little known, American Down Under. It worked, with DJR snapping him up to partner Moffat.

Okay, Joey ... we’ve done our bit, now don’t let us down!

Gil de Ferran (BRA) #19 Tekno Autosport Falcon FG Sharing with Jonathon Webb eNews Says: With Lucas di

Grassi pulling the pin late in the piece for unspecified reasons, fellow Brazilian Gil de Ferran has taken his place. de Ferran is the ultimate pro, an Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champ, and even if he’s not the quickest, he’ll be somewhere near the pace.

Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) #21 Brad Jones Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Karl Reindler eNews Says: Gio was pretty quiet on the Gold Coast last year, but when eNews spoke to Reindler straight after the 2010 event, he raved about the Italian’s professionalism and ability. With Reindler and BJR in good form, Gio has another chance to impress in 2011.

Marino Franchitti (GBR) #30 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Commodore VE2 Sharing with Warren Luff eNews Says: The other Franchitti was on the Gold Coast last year to watch his brother motorsport news

NEWS Dario in action, and made no secret that he planned to return as a driver in 2011. He’s got his wish, and while he might not be as well known as his brother, Marino is very versatile.

Simon Pagenaud (FRA) #33 Fujitsu Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Lee Holdsworth eNews Says: Knows the Gold Coast track from his Team Australia Champ Car days, and he’s very versatile. He may not have V8 experience, but Pagenaud is a solid driver and is very likely to do a good job.

Nice get by Garry, the same man who found Patrick Long.

play on, in both open-wheelers and tin tops, having raced everything from Formula 1 to CART to NASCAR to Touring Cars to Le Mans. He currently drives with Oliver Gavin for Corvette in the American Le Mans Series, which should provide good grounding for V8 Supercars.

Helio Castroneves (BRA) #47 James Rosenberg Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Tim Slade eNews Says: Having an Indy 500 winner with a personality as large as Helio’s is always going to be a good thing for the event, so well done to Rosenberg for getting the deal done again. Castroneves was quite quick last year as well, so a good combo.

Augusto Farfus (BRA) #34 Fujitsu Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Michael Caruso eNews Says: The young Brazilian has burst onto the international Touring Car scene in a pretty big way in the last few years, so its no surprise that someone has picked him up for this event. He’ll adapt and our pick is that he’ll be fast.

Boris Said (USA) #49 Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore VE2 Sharing with Steve Owen eNews Says: The big fella has some V8 Supercar experience now, and he’s a NASCAR road racing specialist, so no excuses if he is slow. Should – should – be one of the fastest, but ... well lets just wait and see.

Jan Magnussen (DEN) #39 Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore VE2 Sharing with Russell Ingall eNews Says: Plenty of experience to

Christian Klein (AUT) #55 Rod Nash Racing Falcon FG Sharing with Paul Dumbrell eNews Says: While the Austrian hasn’t done a lot of racing in the

Patrick Long (USA) #61 Walkinshaw Racing Commodore VE2 Sharing with Fabian Coulthard eNews Says: WR’s third entry is a long way down the list, but Long has already had a few mentions so far.

Why? Because we didn’t know who he was before the event last year, and he blew us all away. Long’s out-of-the-blue signing set the scene for the 2011 event, and he’ll be fast, without doubt. The question we have is ... why didn’t HRT put him in car #1 or #2? Big win for Fabian.

Andy Priaulx (GBR) #88 TeamVodafone Commodore VE2 Sharing with Jamie Whincup eNews Says: V8 Supercar experience to burn, and, as expected, one of the stand outs from 2010. He returns in the same team – the best team in V8 Supercars – and the results will be the same as well. Could be a winning combo!

Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) #888 TeamVodafone Commodore VE2 Sharing with Craig Lowndes eNews Says: While Long got all the headlines after the 2010 event, Bourdais was our star. He looked so comfortable, and fast, during the races last year, to the point where if you had a vacancy on a full-time basis, you’d be making calls to France. No surprise that The ‘Fones snapped him up so quickly.

Peter Bury

www.mnews.com.au

last couple of years, he did race in Formula 1 as recently as last season, and that’s a pretty handy stat. He’s also had some Le Mans experience of late, and that bit of versatility won’t hurt at all. Interesting choice.

NOTE: THIS LIST WAS CORRECT AS OF MONDAY OCTOBER 17, AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. 29

FORMULA 1 ROUND 16 - YONGAM, KOREA

NO POINT STOPPING NOW ...

HE’S ALREADY WRAPPED UP THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, BUT SEBASTIAN VETTEL SHOWS NO SIGN OF SLOWING DOWN – TAKING A DOMINANT 10TH WIN OF 2011 IN KOREA

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OST drivers don’t win 10 Formula 1 Grands Prix in their career, let alone a single season, but Sebastian Vettel cracked double figures for 2011 in Korea.

Having sealed back-to-back World Championships last week in Japan, Vettel was running free and easy at Yongam.

Lewis Hamilton pipped him to grab pole position on Saturday, but

by Turn 4 on the opening lap, Vettel was in the lead.

A Safety Car period, called after Vitaly Petrov escorted Michael Schumacher from the race on Lap 16, negated Vettel’s early advantage, but he quickly restored the gap and went on to secure his 10th win from 16 races by 11 seconds.

“In terms of preparation it wasn’t ideal, as I think most of us were a bit tipsy after the last race after the Sunday night,” Vettel admitted.

“Now to come here and after a tough Friday and tough Saturday morning to come back in qualifying and then in the race, the car was fantastic. It was so much fun to drive.

“The car was getting quicker and quicker. When the Safety Car came I didn’t really need that to be honest. Lewis came closer again and I was struggling a little bit with the tyres but then the car seemed to stabilise and come back and I was able to open a gap just before we had the second pit-stop and then to the end it was just fantastic.”

Behind Vettel, Hamilton and Mark Webber played out a fierce battle for second. The McLaren driver had the upperhand for the first half of the race, before Webber closed in. They ended up making

their second pitstop on the same lap, robbing Webber of a golden chance to get ahead, and ran side-by-side several times. The Aussie poached the place at Turn 1 with five laps to go, but only briefly, with Hamilton getting back past at Turn 3. And that was how they finished, with Webber’s third wrapping up the teams title for Red Bull.

“I think that the McLaren was very strong off the corners, it had very good bottom end and midrange and this made it a little bit more difficult to pull the move off,” Webber said.

“In the end, I tried to mix it up a little bit by passing him into turn one and then tried to get a bit more of a tow on the straight and then create some more pressure later in the lap. But in the end, I think the second ... or the last pit stop was really what snookered us, I suppose.

“I was informing the team that my tyres were still good, but we still pitted. Yeah, that was a bit disappointing to do the same thing as Lewis because we should have done something different.”

After finishing first and second at Suzuka seven days earlier, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso could do no better than fourth and fifth, albeit only two seconds behind Hamilton and Webber at the chequered flag. Felipe Massa was sixth, while Jaime Alguersuari snatched seventh on the final lap from Nico Rosberg.

Further down the order, Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen beat home both Saubers to finish 14th, while Daniel Ricciardo had another solid showing in the HRT. He was 19th, just one lap down and ahead of the Virgin of Jerome d’Ambrosio and team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi. motorsport news

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Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, above, fought hard for second, which eventually went to the McLaren driver. Vitaly Petrov took the ‘over’ part of overtake a little too literally on Michael Schumacher, below.

Results :: Korean 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 DNF DNF DNF

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

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

Qual.

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

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Top 10 Points: Vettel 349, Button 222, Alonso 212,

Webber 209, Hamilton 196, Massa 98, Rosberg 67, Schumacher 60, Petrov 36, Heidfeld 34.

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MOTOGP ROUND 15 PHILLIP ISLAND, AUS

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NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

Casey Stoner came to Phillip Island needing to beat Jorge Lorenzo by three places to take the title. Once Lorenzo was out after a warmup crash, a win was unnecessary. But he won, anyway.

By PHIL BRANAGAN

JOHN MORRIS

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I

F MotoGP’s four leading riders – Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner – are known as The Aliens, we are going to have to come up with a different nickname for the Aussie.

Stoner was in untouchable form at Phillip Island, his ninth win of the season (and fifth straight at the track) delivering the best 26th birthday present imaginable. Stoner’s second MotoGP title was an appropriate reward after a weekend during which he was, quite literally, out of the reach of anyone who may have held (deluded) winning hopes on their own.

Any likelihood of real opposition came crashing to the ground, literally, in the Sunday warmup. A podium finish for Jorge Lorenzo would have required Stoner to take the fight to Sepang, but when the Yamaha bit the tarmac and Lorenzo’s finger did likewise, he was out of the race. So too was Ben Spies, the Texan diagnosed with a concussion after a nasty qualifying crash on Saturday.

“This weekend has been amazing,” said Stoner, who qualified on pole position by 0.4s. “Everything went almost perfectly.”

“The race threw a few curved balls in. Being in the lead, I was the one having to test all

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the conditions first, and you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen there.

“It wasn’t the way I wanted to do the race. I hoped it would go a lot more smoothly, but we managed to bring it home for the win.

Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now.”

Stoner’s lead after a single lap was just under a second; from there it grew and grew, until he cried enough at about 6s. But that was not the end of his concerns; the white flag, signifying to the riders that they could pit to trade their ‘dry’ bikes for ‘wet’ ones, flew on lap 10. It rained, not hard, and after the leaders dropped their lap times by a second, the weather seemed to stabilise – then it rained, harder, on half the circuit with four laps remaining.

As the teams hurried to warm up the ‘wet’ bikes, Cal Crutchlow and Hiroshi Aoyama dropped their bikes, and then Alvaro Bautista fell at MG with three laps to go.

With not much of anything to lose, Nicky Hayden (who gave the Red Army something to smile about, leaping into second at the start) was the first man to pit from fifth position while Stoner skated around on slicks, followed shortly after by Loris Capirossi.

Then it stopped raining.

“The race threw a few curved balls in,” said

Stoner. “Being in the lead, I was the one having to test all the conditions first, and you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen there.”

On slicks, Dovizioso looked much more comfortable in the conditions than did Simoncelli, the two fighting out a great finish, which went to the way of Dovi.

Valentino Rossi’s annus horrilus continued.

He made it up to fifth but dumped his Ducati immediately after having taken that place from Bautista.

With the two works Yamahas sidelined, and Damien Cudlin’s practice highside ruling him out, only 14 bikes made the race, and the Island seemed a pretty lonely place as a result. In that regard, 2012 – and a grid expanded by the new 1-litre works and Claiming Rule bikes – cannot come fast enough.

Not that any technical change seems likely to stop Casey Stoner winning next year, for the sixth time at the track ...

THE 125 riders got the worst of the weather, but that did not stop Sandro Cortese taking his second win of 2011.

Luis Salom beat Johann Zarco for second, but Zarco was not happy that the race was stopped by rain with two laps to go, feeling he could have taken second.

motorsport news

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Alex wins, Marquez stars

Honda Pro Images

ALEX de Angelis won his second straight Moto2 race at Phillip Island but the story of the race was Marc Marquez.

After starting from the rear of the grid (a penalty for causing a practice crash), the Spanish prodigy finished a staggering third.

Better still, title rival Stefan Bradl was second – and that seemed a fortunate result, after he and de Angelis collided on the final lap.

The German heads to Malaysia with a three-point championship lead.

Results :: Iveco Australian MotoGP Pos. # Rider Make Team 1 27 Casey Stoner Aus Honda/HRC 2 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ita Honda/HRC 3 58 Marco Simoncelli Ita Honda/Gresini 4 26 Dani Pedrosa Esp Honda/HRC 5 5 Colin Edwards USA Yamaha/Tech 3 6 14 Randy de Puniet Fr Ducati/Pramac 7 69 Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Corse 8 24 Toni Elias Esp Honda LCR 9 65 Loris Capirossi Ita Ducati/Pramac 10 17 Karel Abraham Cz Ducati/Cardion Fastest lap: Stoner on lap 3, 1:30.629 (176.7kmh).

Sponsor Result Qual Repsol 42:02.425s 1 Repsol +2.210s 5 San Carlo +2.454s 3 Repsol +13.160s 8 Monster +30.886s 9 Pramac +48.800s 11 Ducati +1:16.314s 6 Givi +1 lap 16 Pramac +1 lap 10 AB +2 laps 15

Top 10 Points:Stoner 325, Lorenzo 260, Dovizioso 212, Pedrosa 208, Spies 156, Rossi/Simoncelli 139, Hayden 132, Edwards 109, Aoyama 94.

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NASCAR ROUND 31 - CHARLOTTE, NC

Matt Finish

Matt Kenseth was the best man at the end of Charlotte’s Chase round and is now right in contention for the title. MARTIN D CLARK was there The Chase is on: Matt Kenseth took first salvo in the Championship Chase that will determine the NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, main, insets.

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Martin D Clark

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ATT Kenseth has put the spring back in his Sprint Cup step, winning a tense race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kenseth saved the best for last, passing second-half race dominator Kyle Busch with 24 laps to run to take the win on Saturday night.

“It was an awesome win for us,” remarked Kenseth. “I thought we had a car that if we could get to the front we would have a chance to win. It was tough getting by Kyle, but I’m glad we

could make it happen.”

With the win Kenseth moved to third in the title chase just seven points behind leader Carl Edwards who finished third and Kevin Harvick who is second in the standings and finished sixth in the race.

Jimmie Johnson’s bid for a six consecutive title took a dive when he slammed the wall with 17 laps to run.

Johnson was racing under Ryan Newman when his Hendrick Chevrolet broke loose, Johnson overcorrected and he hit the backstretch wall head

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on extremely hard. Johnson dropped five spots in the chase to eighth, 35 points in arrears of Edwards.

Busch, who started at the rear following an engine change lead a race high 111 laps and was cornered in his car by Edwards post race, who told Kyle he didn’t appreciate being raced the way he was in the closing laps. Both drivers appeared to brush it off so any repercussions seem unlikely.

Marcos Ambrose ran strong all night, finishing a solid fifth, his third consecutive top 10 result.

Ambrose showed some muscle in the process, especially with Denny Hamlin in the closing quarters of the race.

“You’re racing around those Chase guys,” said Ambrose, “and you have to do the right thing.

I got into Carl Edwards on pit road and I feel really bad about that because it could have

ruined his night. So it was a delicate night out there, but we had a really great race car.”

Pole sitter Tony Stewart headed the first 50 laps before fifth qualifier Greg Biffle took to the front in a strong looking Roush Fenway Ford. Stewart went down a lap when he pitted just before a caution aired and would later benefit from a free pass.

A lap 293 restart saw action exiting turn two when seventh running David Ragan slid up into Kasey Kahne and Kahne tagged Jeff Gordon who had finally hit the top 10. Ragan and Kahne were able to able to recover and stay on the lead lap with Kahne coming home fourth, but Gordon lost a lap.

Following a lap-298 restart Stewart forced Biffle wide off turn four, ‘The Biff’ retaliated with a bump to Stewarts right rear quarter. That bump

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

RACE

Results :: Bank of America 500, CHARLOTTE NC Pos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. Driver Make 17 Matt Kenseth 18 Kyle Busch 99 Carl Edwards 4 Kasey Kahne 9 Marcos Ambrose 29 Kevin Harvick 43 A.J. Allmendinger 4 Tony Stewart 11 Denny Hamlin 39 Ryan Newman

Team Ford Toyota Ford Toyota Ford Chevy Ford Chevy Toyota Chevy

Sponsor Roush-Fenway Joe Gibbs Roush-Fenway Red Bull Petty Childress Petty Stewart-Haas Joe Gibbs Stewart-Haas

Fluidmaster M&Ms Aflac Red Bull Stanley Jimmy John’s Best Buy Mobil 1 FedEx Express Cookies for Kids

Qual.

2 25 3 8 12 14 4 11 17 6

Points: Edwards 2203, Harvick 2198, Kenseth 2196, Ky Busch 2185, Stewart 2179, Keselowski 2178,

Ku Busch 2176, Johnson 2168, Earnhardt 2143, Newman 2142, Gordon 2137, Hamlin 2117.

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Bank on America: The iconic Charlotte speedway kicked off the NASCAR Championship Chase for 2011, top left. Kyle Busch heads winner Kenseth, top right; Marcos Ambrose ran strongly into fourth place, above right. Leonard Wood, Trevor Bayne, Eddie Wood, Len Wood, Delano Wood and Glen Wood pose with the Glen Wood Hall of Fame bonnet on Bayne’s car, inset, far right. Carl Edwards leads David Regan, right. Jimmie Johnson’s night ended with heavy contact with the wall, left.

Martin D Clark

appeared to be enough to cut Biffle’s left front tyre and he side impacted the wall hard to air the seventh caution.

After running consistently in the top 10 in the Wood Brothers Ford, Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne ran dry of fuel, prompting caution four on lap 239 in a great looking car dedicated to 61 years of Ford and the Wood Brothers.

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WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 13, PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL

Checa and Melandri end 2011 season in style

HONOURS SHARED IN FIN

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Gee Bee Images

NALE

BeeCee

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HE men who made the 2011 World Superbike Championship their own were the headline acts at the final round of the series in Portugal.

Carlos Checa won the first race, Marco Melandri won the second and Max Biaggi came back to play a supporting role. Checa celebrated his title in style, stalking his way through the first race from fifth on the opening lap, but a change of tyre did not help the cause in Race 2.

“It was not easy at all,” said the Spanish veteran, “at the beginning I was struggling because we made a difficult choice about the hard tyre. We knew we would be more consistent at the end, but it was also difficult to overtake Marco and then Johnny, and to catch Guintoli was not easy at all.”

In fact, Melandri led a Yamaha 1-2 in the Italian team’s last race in its current guise – and Eugene Laverty’s points tied in the series with Biaggi, whom he joins on an Aprilia next year. It could have been better, but Laverty was 19th in the opening race after steering damper broke.

Beyond Blue: Yamaha Italia ended its factory Superbike program with a 12 finish at Portimao, Marco Melandri leading home Eugene Laverty. Carlos Checa had to fight for the Race 1 win, while Troy Corser lined up for his final WSBK races with his wife Sam and a special ‘crocodiled’ BMW.

Jonny Rea continued Honda’s lateseason resurgence with third, after qualifying fastest on the Ten Kate bike.

Points: Checa 505, Melandri 395, Biaggi 303/Laverty 303, Haslam 224, Guintoli 210, Camier 208, Haga 176, Rea 170, Badovini 165.

CHAZ Davies celebrated his Supersport title with his sixth win of the season at Portimao.

David Salom was second for Kawasaki, with James Ellison third ahead of Luca Scassa. Broc Parkes missed out after colliding with Gino Rea.

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CIK STARS OF KARTING ROUND 5 – NEWCASTLE, NSW

Paul Carruthers

GREENBURY SNATCHES THE TITLE

A

FTER five gruelling rounds, the Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of Karting Series went down to the wire in all three pro categories, with Tyler Greenbury, Jake Spencer and Pierce Lehane being crowned the champions for 2011.

Greenbury, from Toowoomba in Queensland, had his work cut out for him entering the two finals, with CRG driver Kel Treseder ahead on the points table and showing great speed after qualifying on pole. Treseder went on to win the opening final, however was later given a 10-second penalty for jumping the start (along with Arrow driver David Sera), handing the victory to Greenbury.

The 18-year-old Intrepid driver then took control early in Final 2, however couldn’t withstand the pressure a pair of CRG’s with Jason Pringle and Treseder finding their way through with Pringle going on to claim his first victory of the year.

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Treseder crossed the line a close second with Greenbury holding on for third to secure the title.

“At the start of the race, I felt I had a bit on the guys behind me, then they caught me up when I started to struggle with the setup of the kart,” said Greenbury.

“I thought it was Kel behind me but then Pringle surprised me first. I knew to win the championship I had to finish one or two places behind Kel, so I made sure I did that.”

Following his domination of the previous round at Newcastle, Cian Fothergill was the favourite to snare the title this weekend from Spencer’s grasp. Entering the final race today the pair were separated by a mere seven points. Unfortunately for Fothergill, he was unable to defeat Spencer in the final encounter, and had to settle for the runnerup placing in the championship.

The victory in the final race of the year, however, went to Tony Kart driver Aidan

Wright, with CRG’s Jason Hryniuk and Kosmic pilot Adam Hughes third.

Pierce Lehane started his Pro Junior KF3 title defence in perfect fashion, qualifying his CRG fastest before winning all three heats. However, come finals time, it was all Top Kart pilot Joseph Mawson.

Mawson showed superior pace in both finals, winning the second by over the length of the straight to take the round victory. However Lehane did enough to become only the third driver to claim a second Pro Junior title, with Mawson having to settle for second in the championship.

Finishing third behind Lehane for the round was Jake Coleman, followed by Brock Plumb and Joseph Burton-Harris.

As a part of their prize for winning the championships, each driver will also receive $10,000 for them to compete in an overseas CIK-FIA accredited event.

– PAUL CARRUTHERS

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Paul Carruthers

Winners are Grinners: Pierce Lehane took three heat wins on his way to the KF3 title, above, while Jake Spencer held on to his KF1 points lead to snare the silverware, below.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 5 of 5 Pro Gearbox (KZ2) 1. Tyler Greenbury 302 2. Kel Treseder 296 3. Jason Pringle 295 4. Matthew Wall 277 5. Scott Taylor 270 Pro Light (KF1) 1. Jake Spencer 329 2. Cian Fothergill 318 3. Matthew Waters 284 4. Grant Smith 279 5. Adam Hughes 261

Paul Carruthers

Pro Junior (KF3) 1. Pierce Lehane 372 2 Joseph Mawson 354 3. Jake Klarich 319 4. Jake Coleman 306 5. Brock Plumb 299

OUTSTANDING PIT DISPLAYS BY OCTANORM MANY OTHER DISPLAY OPTIONS AVAILABLE PLEASE CALL US TO DISCUSS REQUIREMENTS

SYDNEY (02) 9556 6012 MELBOURNE (03) 9394 3150

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NEAL CLINCHES THIRD BTCC BTCC MATT Neal has clinched his third BTCC title at Silverstone on the weekend.

The Honda Racing driver defeated his team-mate

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Gordon Shedden to take the crown after a season in which the turbocharged Hondas were often the fleetest cars.

Race 1 was won by Neal from Shedden, who lucked into second place after

Neal’s main race-rival, Mat Jackson (Ford Focus) suffered a puncture. Neal’s other key rival for the crown, Jason Plato (Chevrolet Cruze) also suffered a puncture and dropped away from Neal in

the title fight.

Shedden won Race 2 to move to within six-points of Neal, but it all came down to the third race of the day.

Tom Chilton (Ford Focus) won the race while Neal stayed

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AUSSIES TACKLE THE FESTIVAL BRITISH FFORD NO less than four drivers represented Australia in the famous Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch on the weekend.

Current CAMS Rising Star Jack Le Brocq, Nick McBride, Geoff Uhrhane and Richard “Spike” Goddard all took part in the event, with solid results across the board for the visitors.

Season-long British Formula Ford leader Scott Malvern took the overall win at the festival for his Jamun team.

Le Brocq took victory in his opening heat in his Jamun prepared Mygale, ahead of a consistent McBride who managed to finish second after coming together with Uhrhane, who was running in third at the time of the accident.

Goddard came through to finish second in Heat 2, while country man Le Brocq had a DNF. By the end of the weekend, McBride was the best placed Australian in third overall, followed by Uhrhane in second position, and Goddard in 15th. Le Brocq was of course out of the mix with a DNF.

NEEDHAM, KING OF THE SKIDS SPEEDWAY TWENTY-year old Daniel Needham has scored the biggest win of his career by taking out last Saturday night’s Tyrepower Sydney Speedway Skidz 4 Kids season opener Sprintcar A Main feature.

Entry to the Skidz 4 Kidz meeting needed only a gold coin donation to the Westmead Children’s Hospital where the biggest crowd seen in 10 years was treated to six divisions of TSS racing.

Third generation racer Needham was on a mission all weekend starting out of pole position.

Needham held out current TSS track champ Ben Atkinson to win his maiden sprintcar victory, while an impressive Grant Tunks was third with James Thomson, Ian Loudoun and Matt Young completing the top six finishers.

But it was Needham who was the star, jumping into an immediate lead with Atkinson powering

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TITLE ahead of Shedden to take the crown by eight-points from the Scotsman. Plato finished the year third in the championship, ahead of Mat Jackson.

– DAVID ADDISON

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from position six to second early in the 25-lap affair. Atkinson now racing for David Doherty’s Active Power Steering team did hit the race lead twice but a fast Needham regained control to take the victory over Atkinson.

“It was interesting, we knew we had a good car, just kept our head and picked up the win,” Needham said of the race.

The biggest mover through the field was Ian Loudoun from starting out of position 21.

Loudoun forged forward and was looking like he might score a podium finish but was slowed late in the race, consolidating a creditable fifth placing.

The biggest incident saw young Jimmy Matchett flipping over at Turn 2 early in the race.

Sprintcars return this Saturday night with Sprintcars, Wingless Sprints, Litre Cars and Lade Model Sedans sharing the program.

– GREG BOSCATO

GILBERT QUICK IN FR UK FINAL FORMULA RENAULT AUSTRALIAN racing driver Mitchell Gilbert rounded off his 2011 season with a brace of second places finishes in the final rounds of the Certina Formula Renault UK Championship at Silverstone.

Delayed by a gearbox problem off the line, he managed to finish sixth in the opener. Drama ahead of him at the start of Race 2 allowed him to nip by a handful of cars as he

grabbed second place to chase the race leader Oliver Rowland, but he didn’t have the pace to stay with the British driver.

“At the start of the second race I just couldn’t get the power down like the guys on the other side of the track,” said Gilbert after the race.

“But we know that might happen. I got out-dragged into the first corner but when they two of them made contact I thought my luck might be in!” he said.

“One of them spun back down the order and I had a few attempts at finding a way to the front.

“But, as the race went on I couldn’t match the pace at the front and I lost ground. It was disappointing as I really wanted to end the year with at least one race win, we’ve been so close.

“I’m happy with my speed and driving though and I’m not complaining,” he added.

– DAVID ADDISON 47

ALL SEASONS FOR HISTORICS HISTORICS THE weather threw everything at competitors this weekend for the Third annual MG Car Club (of Tasmania) Baskerville Historic weekend in Tasmania.

There really was weather for all sorts at Baskerville, with gleaming sunshine and warmth on Friday, to sleet, rain and icy winds on Saturday and Sunday.

This did not dampen the enthusiasm of those in attendance however as the events were closely contested. In a weekend packed with 32 events over two days and a myriad of racing vehicles from yesteryear, spectators were kept

entertained. Names like Brabham, Lola, Reynard, Holdens and Fords to name a few.

The feature race of the weekend was the John Zeigler Memorial Regularity Event, in memory of Tasmanian Historic Touring car driver John Zeigler who passed away in February after a long battle with Cancer.

The regularity was open to Holden (GM) vehicles only as a mark of John’s love of the brand and predominantly racing in GM vehicles. Trevor Grace took out the event in his FJ Holden after completing the four laps, whilst still having 20 points to his name.

Other highlights over the weekend

included the return of John Bowe to race in the Group N and Invited over 3L class where he raced Mark Johnson’s Porsche 911. Bowe once again took a clean sweep of his four races.

Jim Richards was in attendance as part of the Shannons Insurance sponsorship of the event. Driving duties for Richards were confined to a Ford Anglia Super that Shannons had dolled up to replicate his first race car and a Ford Galaxy during the parade laps over the two days.

This event has grown since its inception in 2009 and the planning process for a bigger and better event next year has already begun.

– DAVID CLIFFORD

David Clifford

48

motorsport news

RACE

Serge Mironenko

REYNOLDS JUNIOR LEADS THE VEES IN PERTH WA STATE CANBERRA based racer Daniel Reynolds has convincingly taken out the CAMS Formula Vee Nationals at Barbagallo in Perth on the weekend.

Despite having never turned a lap of the Wanneroo circuit before the weekend, Reynolds ensured that the huge 4000Km trek across the Nullarbor was well worth the effort as he took his Sabre 02 all the way to three convincing wins from four starts.

Given the huge work-load to transport his car to the west, Reynolds was even more so elated about the win. www.mnews.com.au

“We’re absolutely rapt to take the win,” said Daniel.

“The Vintage Vee Dub Sabre 02 was fantastic all weekend and I want to thank my folks for the great preparation and the huge effort to get me over here for the event.”

Vee stalwart Ben Porter meanwhile was ever menacing in his unique Checkmate chassis, taking out second for the weekend with a win in Race 3. Dylan Thomas was also right in the mix, settling for third overall after a string of second places earlier in the weekend.

Father of Reynolds junior, Chris Reynolds took home the trophy for the best presented Vee. 49

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motorsport news

rear of grid

HRT on Wheldon AS this edition of Motorsport eNews went live, the Holden Racing Team was still considering its options for this weekend’s Gold Coast 600.

But the team had made comments about the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas, and how the team would remember him for this weekend’s races.

“We want to pay an approproate tribute to Dan,” said HRT spokesman Gerald McDornan.

“He had not driven for the Toll Holden Racing Team but he was proud to wear a team uniform at Indy in August [Ed; when this picture was taken]. In spite of the fact that he had not raced one of the team’s Commodores, he was already a member of the team and will always be considered as one of our team-mates.”

ON THIS DAY 16 OCTOBER 1981

IT is 30 years since Alan Jones won his last Grand Prix – in the carpark at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Carlos Reutemann and Nelson Piquet had a World Championship to settle, but that did not hamper AJ, who dominated the race. He scampered away from the front row to win from Alain Prost (Renault) and Bruno Giacomelli (Alfa Romeo). With Reutemann surging backwards to eighth, Piquet won the title with a lacklustre drive to fifth.

sutton-images.com

www.mnews.com.au

51