Motorsport News Issue 336 - May 24-June 6, 2006

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DRIVING BMW’S RACER THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS

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No.336 24 May-6June 2006

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motoisport news 4 Ratings

Inside V8's new mega TV deal

8 Kimi/Renault

Will the Iceman go Blue?

11 Missed it by...

Briscoe almost drove for Foyt!

12 Sibling rivalry 16 410inches

The Sieders Bros go into V8s

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I Knows

Issue 336 24 May - 6 June 2006

www.nwews.coni.au

melbourne

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The new wayfor Sprintcars

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COIW NAANpER 24 MotorMouth

The Seven...Samurai?

26 Box Seat

Fernando and Dani,together atlast Youlden and Ritter and TV

28 Opinion

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82 Talk Converter Less than 7letters about...Seven

feature 30 Five MinutesWith Todd Kelly 32 Five Minutes With Dean Canto 34 Sitting at the Captain^ Table A behind-the-scenes look at RogerPenske _ 38 Sand,some BMWs and moresand EXCLUSIVE: We track test a Formula BMW at V8 Supercar's nextnew racetrack, Bahrain

race 44 Mild mild West Barbagallo turned it... on, we guess.

Richo won, Todd and GT were fast. All the Perth action 54 Wake Up Jeff! A t last, a failsafe cure for insomnia (unless you are Fernando Alonso), the2006 Spanish GP 60 Simon Sez

All Hail the Evans family!

20 Stateside

62 Like Sardines

Loeb wins...somewhere,any where

60 Rallying 64 International 68 Speedway

trade 78 Race Shop

80 Classifieds

70 Drag Racing 72 NationalScene

national & international

who Talks, who walks?

SEVEN

The gig behind the mike is now one of the most sought-after positions in the sport WITH the news that Seven will take over the broadcasting of V8 Supercar events next season answering the question,"what?", the next query is"who?",as in 'Who will front the telecasts?"

The current Network 10 lineup looks set to, mainly, stay at the network. Neil Crompton looks set to continue with Ten's to-beexpanded coverage of Formula 1, while motorcycle racing and rallying remain in place, which would indicate that Greg Rust and Daryl Beattie will still have plenty to do.

The question mark that remains is Leigh Diffey, who returned to Ten at the start of last season after a stint overseas. He was unavailable for comment as MNews went to press but is highly-rated internationally, after working for such networks as Britain's BBC and Speed TV in the USA. It has been no secret in the sport that'Diff' has received a number of offers to return to the USA and it would be no surprise to us if he returns thereto a high-profile commentary role in a major North Americanbased championship in 2007.

On the Seven side of the fence, Matty White, who fronted the V8 SupercartelecastsonTen until he

Who goes where? Clockwise above left, Neil Crompton,Grant Denyer, Matty White and Mark Beretta.

SEVEN will merge AFL Football and V8 Supercars into a series of blockbuster Super Sundays from April to September. And expect live coverage of Saturday qualifying (and racing, where it applies).

That's the plan being outlined to MNews insiders as the sport asks'how can Seven cope with V8s and AFL?'lndeed,an impeccable MNews source told us on Monday that"there'll be more live V8 coverage than ever."

Given that major events such as the Clipsal 500(pre season) and races after and including Bathurst fall outside of the regular AFL season,just seven rounds including the Sandown 500 - fall within it.

While Sandown's date will no doubt be negotiated to avoid a clash with first round AFL finals, it is the other six - all currently three-race format events 4

moved to Seven at the start of 2004, looks to be the obvious choice to host the broadcasts. White has maintained his interest in the sport, and relationships with many in pit lane, has excelled in his role as the co-host of Sunday morning's Sportsworld and is an easy choice.

Sunrise and Dancing with the Stars personality Grant Denyer is another Seven name with V8 experience from his days with Ten, but his own racing program with Dick Johnson Racing may somewhat limit his actual involvement in the telecasts.

Fellow Sunrise man Mark Beretta has considerable motorsport experience, hosting much of Seven's somewhat limited motor racing telecasts since losing V8 Supercars to Ten, and had even done on-track TV hosting at events like the Bathurst 1000.

While that is a potentially strong lineup, it does leave at least one slot open for a specialist commentator,the role filled by Crompton at Ten.The network could leave the slot open, bring in a 'surprise'outsider or tempt Crompton back into the fold.

You can expect that Neils on Wheels has much to think about at the moment...

which are expected to make up Super Sundays.

The format is likely to see Race 1 (and qualifying) live on Saturday, with two possibilities for Super Sunday: Race 2 live around lunchtime. Football 25pm,Race 3 delayed (5-6pm); or the more appetising option of Races 2 and 3 live on Sunday afternoon, with Seven negotiating with the AFL for six Sundays of'twighlight'football, to fill the prime-time early evening slot.

MNews'sources suggest that the latter (twilight football) has been on Seven's agenda for some time and that discussion on it are well-advanced.

None of this is, of course, official until announced but, believe us, our sources are usually impeccable...

chris lambden & phil branagan

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ETWrORK7wilItake

over the broadcasting of V8 Supercars from the start of 2007 after blowing Network 10 out of the water with a $100 milliori7plus, seven-year package.

Seven's offer to V8 Supercars Australia works out at a million dollars per race.

Negotiations on the broadcast deal reached a crucial point last Friday, when Ten's deadline to match Seven's offer expired. Contracts are expected to be finalised between V8SA and Seven this week.

While all the major parties have gone to ground and aren't commenting - officially MNews insiders have confirmed that the new deal represents roughly a four-fold increase on the current $3.2 million annual

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TAKES V8S BROADCAST RIGHTS - 'V

Mega-buck deat will see V8 Supercars back on Seven until 2013 income generated by VSSA's current Network Ten TV deal.

Seven's stunning bid comes in at around $13 million per year.

At the same time, MNews understands that V8SA will, as part ofthe new deal, gain control of the production ofV8 broadcasts, which has for some time been an aspiration. While Seven will supply a Producer and the'talking heads', V8SA will co-ordinate and oversee the production,the costs of which will then be passed on to Seven.This, added to the annual broadcast fee,takes the overall package to more than $100 million, over

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an offer of approximately double its current commitment. Seven's bid, double again, is said to have stunned Ten management, who couldn't see any way of making

commercial ends meet at that figure. Last Friday's 3pm deadline for matching the bid thus came and went witK a dear"we're out" messagefrom Ten's btead of News and Sport, David White.

White was unavailable for comment on Monday,although we hear he has expressed disappointment that Ten's part in growing V8s over the past 10 years did not in the end count for an awful lot. At the same time.

MNews is aware that the working relationship between V8SA and “ten has not been at its bert most recently. Maybe it was,simply, time for a change... step^vyin thus be tn^ignmg of a formal contract betweer]j|^SA and Seven and an announcement, both of which wait on, the return to Australia of senior Seven Network executives.

While the deal is a huge success

for VSSA's marketing partner,SEL, already has a line-up,from its and a major- psychological'(as well internal staff, in mind.

So where does this leave as financidljboost for V8 Supercafs, a number of qu^ionsarejaelhg televised motorspOrt in Australia? asked about the effe^ ofthe' Wiffjjen having just signed changeover|See otherstories): ^ a!h^fiye-year FI TV deal,the -Seven is expected to host ’"|Ifutu^fdqinotorsport fans Sunday AFL as part of its new '-is, ijjiterms of major events at $740 million joint deal?»itb,; - ledsfeptdbably, rosy. Having ironically,Ten. How will V8s fit in nt^tedi^heavily. Seven will and around that?

3eideso^t^for its motorsport {6 sucra ;an'd:©te; while Ten -Whathappenslo (a|:then -%iil,W® championship round at Indy fmmping up its FI.# (which shares|he billing with ●coverall are to go. r, CharhpCar,currently bfo'a'dcast ItCouldTbg Wih,-wir^‘_ onTehj;and (b)the Grand Prix ■ thefuturefonithings such as support race? ^su^’pdtijdng; cat^pi|s^mains - Seven has an intimate WJjl'SBverf-ij^liatean RPMrelationship with interne^rand style show?^V\li¥8S^vyith the -'*'*● Yahoo - where to for Big Pond? ipfe'dudtTShi.iiigHfe, rerifember) While some of that is academic ' ^ptovidie suppfrt categoi^Tacing to the average race fan, interest ' ito other|i^’orks? ' does centre on who may or may ,.l|ier®^'ll C^^ih tdbe settled... n ot front Seven's telecasts. MNews Pi^ix^moii Se^ofsjoup, see Motor understands that the network j^otithffage^.

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MOR Hamilton change THERE has been a further adjustment to the proposed Hamilton street circuit in New Zealand. The track has been shortened by 600m (to 3.6km),taking out what would have been one very fast corner,for which suitable run-off could not be created. It also reduces the number of private residences affected by the race.

The Hamilton Council's application for 'Resource Consent' is set to be submitted next month.

For those of you who are after tickets for upcoming V8 Supercar events(and, who isn't?) don't forget that Ticketek is now the place to visit. General admission passes for the Ferodo Tasmanian Challenge start from just $15 while the two-day Saturday-Sunday pass starts from $63.

Three-day grandstand seating is available from $116.

If you are like us at MNews(ie, poor), why not take advantage of pre-purchase savings that can save you a whopping $15 per ticket? Get the good news on 132 849 or at ticketek.com.au. Go to the website v8supercar.com.au for all the latest event information.

Brisbane Lions AFL player Jason Akermanis has said that he'd like a career in V8 5upercars. The flamboyant footballer has reportedly been at sorts with Lions management, and is looking at alternate sports. Media speculation suggests he has received an offer from a UK-based soccer team, interest from America's NFL, and Akermanis himself floated the idea of racing a V8 in the future. In 2004, Akermanis drove Russell Ingail's Caitex Falcon at Queensland Raceway, and by all reports, wasn't too far off the pace (for someone who had never raced a motor car before).

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PART of the detail included in th'&js eenna Supercar TV hegoti^ons ^ blueprint for the futu^^hi^,we^'hear, includes more street¥0«nts.'

MNews understat^ds that both Townsville and Sydney are on the agenda, with a race at the northern Queensland city likely next year.

We also hear that progress is beiii^^Thade on Tony Cochrane's'dream'race -^street race in and around the Olympic stadium area of Western Sydney,Nothi.ng;fir.rnij^f, but significant progress,*?^ hear

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TEN may, may, get to retain one V8 Supercar event broadcast the support races at the Australian FI Grand Prix.

Negotiations continue between V8SA and the GP Corporation with regard to the appearance of theVSs in non-championship races at the event, but at issue now is the fact that Ten is the F1 host broadcaster, while Seven will have acquired exclusive broadcast rights.

There is an obvious precedent - back in the days when Nine had Formula 1, it broadcast V8 races when the main V8 TV deal was with Seven and, subsequently. Ten. But things, commercially, are a lot different now...

Bathurst 1000: Championship

SEVEN'S acquisition of V8 Supercar television rights won't re-ignite the old 'should Bathurst be part of the championship' debate.

Originally explained as "what the host broadcaster (Ten)

wanted", Bathurst's inclusion in theV8 Supercar championship has subsequently been enshrined in the V8 Supercar Association's contract with the Bathurst City Council.

Done deal. Not negotiable.

THERE'S NEVER BEEN WHY?

CI-IAMPCAR racing may well disappear from Network 10 as a result of the new V8 SupercarTV contract with Seven.

■OGtQber.'s.Gold Coast Indy has 'seen a switch of emphasis over recent years, with the V8s taking increased predominance over the USbased series. Seven will thus broadcast the Gold Coast show from 2007, leaving Ten with the difficult choice of continuing to broadcast the balance of the ChampCar series while missing out on the j'evyel,'’or simply walking away (Seven would then have the option of taking it up).

Initial reaction from a Ten spokesman was that it was 'business as usual."

In the end, however, pragmatism - one of Ten's strongest characteristics may dictate otherwise.

The network has, of course, recently re-committed to FI for five years, and WRC, MotoGP and WSBK are also likely to be unaffected.

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LIVE FROM THE STUDIOS OF CHANNEL THE new Seven deal presents V8 Supercars Australia with the perfect opportunity to become, in effect, its own television producer.

MNews understands that pivotal to the category's new TV rights deal is an arrangement , whereby V8SA will be responsible for all production of its telecasts, including all (currently 13) rounds of the V8SCS(including the Bathurst 1000)and Fujitsu V8 Series ' rounds. ^ What we believe could well happen is that V8SA will continue its relationship with many of its current television production personnel,overseen

by Mike Audcent.The vastly experienced producer who, ironically, oversaw Ten's entry into the category a decade ago, has been a consultant to AVESCO/V8SA for the last two years and has been instrumentai in the production of many ofthe class's high-profile events, most visibly the Shanghai round last year.

Also pivotal to the category's ' TV coverage is Redmax Entertainment,the specialist production house with offices i in Melbourne andi Sydney.

Redmax's Murray Lomax is the country's most experienced motor racing producer and has

all of the V8 races over recent years. Much of the current V8 production crew, while they may have been identified as Ten staff, arefreelancers working directly with Redmax.

It has even been suggested to MNews that V8SA may invest in its own outside broadcast facilities and provide its own hardware, leasing out the equipment to other producers when it is not in use covering events. No-one would comment on this and, while it is not completely out of the question, we doubt it will happen.

We believe that the new deal with Seven will thus see the network pay an additional fee to V8SA to cover the production costs,thereby freeing up its own production staff to work on other projects, notably AFL football.

WHILE the^TV deal is settled,if hot yet signed,V8 Supercars' internet presence appears likely

/i to stay with Telstra's BigPond.

MNews understands that the national ISP's deal to host V8 Supercars ends at the end of the year but that a new five-year deal is likely, starting in 2007, despite the fact that the Seven network had strong links with internet giant Yahoo!

The big incentive for V8SA to stay in the'Pond is a probable expansion into 3G mobile telephony.Telstra Is currently In the midst of a marketing blitz to encourage subscribers to update to video-capable 3G

phones and,thereafter, offer subscription to a selection of 'value added'content including, in all likelihood, coverage of V8 Supercar events, live on the phones themselves. Already, some major international , motorsport events (like MotoGP) 'are availablFffi6riTEuropean mobile carriers.

One usually well-informed telco source has even suggested, such Is the growth in internet and 3G (and,in.coming years, next-generation 5G) phones that the next broadcast rights may feature a bid that would involve Telstra itself, either Stand-alone or in partnership with a.teleYisiop network.

been Exectutive Producer of

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Senna/RBR linked THERE are rumours in FI circles that Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late Ayrton, will be seen testing later this year for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

The Brazilian is currently racing for Raikkonen Robertson Racing in British F3 and has won both races so far but has little experience beyond that. The whisper is that Gerhard Berger is pushing to get Senna into the Red Bull driver development programme.

The French media is getting excited about the idea that Sebastien Bourdais might be brought back from exile in the United States to drive for the Renault FI team,if the team does not sign a deal with Michael Schumacher or Kimi Raikkonen.

Bourdais would be both cheap and French, but his record with Flavio Briatore is not sparkling. Bourdais is well on his way to a third consecutive Champ Car title, which leaves him with little choice for the future other than FI. The problem is that FI teams do not currently have a very high opinion of the American series.

FLAY S LOOKING AHEAD FLAVIO Briatore has, predictably, started bleating about the 2007 tyre situation - insisting that Bridgestone be forced to change its tyre spec, so that existing Bridgestone teams don't have an advantage!

While a single control tyre isn't due in FI until 2008, Michelin's withdrawal at the end of this year will make 2007 a one-tyre formula.

A couple of teams,Williams and Toyota, decided to take a calculated risk and make the switch from Michelin to Bridgestone this year, copping the 'pain'of changeover nowand hoping to be in a better position for 2007. Fair enough.

The teams which remained on Michelin did so in the full knowledge that they would have to cope with the changeover in due course.

Predictably, however,they are now beginning to make noises suggesting that things will not be 'fair' in 2007 and that the FIA should legislate to avoid that situation.

While Renault boss Briatore and the FIA are a lot closer than they have been in the past, there is no reason to assume that the FIA will do such a thing...

-JOE SAWARD

WHILE much of the FI world is convinced that Kimi Raikkonen has signed for Ferrari for 2007,there appears to be a late offer from Renault on the table.

German magazine/Aufo/Motor und Sport has reported that Renault has offered the Finn a massive US$143 million over four years.

Certainly, Flavio Briatore met with Raikkonen at the recent Barcelona race.

With Michael Schumacher dithering (and Ferrari seemingly prepared to wait for his answer), the Renault option isn't an unrealistic one.

Certainly, Renault itself has expressed-its desire to have top name on board to replace Fernando Alonso and rumours that Michael Schumacher may be tempted are probably wide of the mark.

Flavio Briatore isn't interested in Juan Pablo Montoya -

Toyota has announced a new management structure following the departure of Mike Gascoyne. Pascal Vasselon and Luca Marmorini have been named senior general managers of chassis and engine respectively. The two men will report directly to Yoshiaki Kinoshita, the Executive Vice President of Toyota Motorsport.

Nigel Mansell has bought South West Racing. The team was formed at the start of 2004 and by the end of that year was established as a leading player in Formula BMW in the UK. The team expanded to four cars in 2005, fielding two cars in the National Class of the British Formula 3 Championship. At the end of last year the team signed Mansell's sons Greg and Leo. Eric Van de Poele has replaced Thierry Tassin as a commentator with the Belgian TV channel RTBF. Tassin has been dropped after being convicted of tax evasion charges recently in Brussels.

QThe MF1 team has hired Tony License to be one of its wind tunnel design engineers. License worked at Jordan for many years before moving to Williams to work on the team's new wind tunnel project but has now returned to his old team as it prepares to increase the size of the models used in the Brackley tunnel.

- JOE SAWARD

©

ir s luce n 2008 a the road to a Toyota' overheads. engiiie deal for 2007- probably The big questiorLiSr^whiclTy ^ " at the expense of MF1,which may well cross over on the _ ■ r^ngiaeftfrat wil F be? ' Doing_expensive"deals way to Cosworth -there are : Interesting vibes surrounding _ — with Fe'rrari makes little sense because the team cannot hope ' the two Red Bull teams, to win with the Italian engines particularly In the longer term.

- no Ferrari customer has ever Scuderia Toro Rosso will be won a World Championship race using Cosworth engines again in - and so Red Bull is on the look 2007, presumably upgrading to V8s from the current rev-limited out for a company to supply both teams.

VI Os, as there is no financial Buying Cosworth is an obvious reason why the team should be possibility that has aiready granted another year with the been aired, but that would old engines. With Red Bull using Ferrari V8s this will mean that involve considerable ongoing investment, unless Red Bull can the two teams will have to go find a manufacturer to badge their separate ways in terms of the engines. The alternative is to design for one more year. find a manufacturer capable of The long-term plan, however, is for the two teams to use building its own FI engines.

IS a

.retatigfisiTiDbetween!Fled-iuT^§l ■and the.Volkswa'gen group^Re^fl 'Bull is backing the VWTouaflg^J in Rally Raids, Skoda in the World Rally Championship,^^^^3 Seat in the World Touring Car Championship and Audi in PTF^B There is no doubt that the Ingolstadt company has the capability to do the job in FT.^^B The engine division at Audf^H Sport is headed by engineer Ulrich Baretzky, a BMW-trained^H engineer who worked for BMW ^ Motorsport between 1982 and 1986, ending up as the Project Leader in FI. He has been head of race engine design at Audi since 1993.

-JOE SAWARD

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therefore Raikkonen looms as a solution acceptable to both he team and the Renault board.

While the team had reportedly planned to promote Heikki Kovalainen into a race seat(Giancarlo Fisichella is likely to be dropped) there are promotional and other concerns in having two Finns in the same team.

If Raikkonen \were to accept a Renault deal, Kovalainen would most likely be loaned out elsewhere, leaving the second seat'in the market'.

And despite his recently reported desire to finish the job at Williams,there are more than a few observers hoping that it may Just be the niche for Mark Webber...

SO wHo^s pjuvmc? so where would Renault find $134 million over four years?

It is interesting to note that Renault's announcement of its decision to commit to FI was followed by widespread reports from Japan that Nissan is going to come into FI with rebadged Renault engines.

While Renault's company results are pretty unimpressive at the moment, Niissan is booming.The company announced a few days ago that it made ys$4.5:bn in

the year ending March 2006, a sixth consecutive record profit. Nissan continues to expand its international operations and now has sales of US$83bn.

Watch outforinfiniti FI ...

-JOiSAWARD

‘A Men’.eAes-iftew.

M©b\\®

DEALS DONE DRIVERS FOR SALE

But who's running the show?

THE future of Formula 1 is finally looking more settled following confirmation of a dollar deal between Bernie Ecclestone, the five manufacturer-supported GPMA teams and CVC Capital partners, the finance group which owns most of the shares in FI. The deal sees the teams double their percentage of FI's income, from 23 percent to 50 percent, with immediate effect.

While this improves the teams financially, they have on the other hand lost ground in the battle over who sets the agenda in a sporting sense.

The manufacturers have been pushing for more transparency in the governance of the sport and have enjoyed some concessions from the FIA but have suffered from Max Mosley's desire to win back more power for the FIA. This is not considered to be a vital element by the manufacturers - so long as they feel that the sport is being run in a fair and democratic manner.

That is likely to be tested following Max Mosley's recent 24 May 2006

challenge to proposals made by the new Formula 1 Sporting Working Group.

When Mosley published the 2008 Sporting Regulations he wrote to the teams saying that 'although the 2008 Sporting Regulations are now fixed, any element could be changed on proposal of a simple majority of the entered teams". However, that appears to have fallen at the first hurdle.

Under that guideline, the teams recently voted in favour of rejecting engine homologation, but Mosley responded last week by telling them that "the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship is a competition for cars with homologated engines"and that 'in the absence of acce'ptable proposals for improvement to the homologation regulations, the existing rule of total homologation for three years will stand".

The dollar deals may have been done, but the sporting direction is far from settled...

-JOESAWARD

MONACO this weekend looms as one of the las.t.chances for a number of established stars to stake a claim for a future in FI. '► i»t(.

Amid all the driver talk for 2007 two names - Juan Pablo Montoya and Giancarlo Fisichella - aren't getting a lot of air time. Both are out of contract at the end of the year and both have done little this year to guarantee retaining their existing spots.

While Fisichella did score a podium at Barcelona, it came after an unexplained 'off'and less than subtle comment from within about consistent pace. Over at McLaren, Montoya again failed, spinning on lap 19 of the race.The Colombian muttered something about traction control failure but, noticeably,this wasn't backed up to any degree by the team.

Formula 1 seems close to a major generational change, regardless of what Michael Schumacher may choose to do. Given the swift adaptation to FI byNico Rosberg, FI insiders are suggesting that the end of this year could well spell the end of the FI path for the pairand possibly Toyota's JarnoTrulli.

Interesting times.

Monte on the dirt FUJITSU V8 Supercar Series driver Tim Monte got some pre-Wakefield Park V8 miles under his belt in Queensland. No, he didn't take his Image-Jet Commodore up north.

The reigning Aussie Racing Car Champion got saddled up in a 410ci Sprintcar at Archerfield Raceway in Brisbane with local Sprintcar team Ausdeck Patios and Roofing Racing. Monte drove Stewart Craig's Sprintcar in the oneoff test before heading back down south for the second round of the Fujitsu V8 Series this weekend.

Former Rugby League star Jack cisegood competed in the Spa 1000 two weeks ago.The V8 Ute driver finished a creditable 25th outright in class at the famous circuit with the James Watt Automotive Team.

Elsegood, who currently sits second in the Utes series, was partnered with Briton Paul Daniels and last year's Le Mans Series 6T2 Champ Xavier Pompidou. The trio's Porsche was involved in a first-lap incident, which set them back early, but a big effort and a sterling job by the three drivers saw them finish the race.

Elsegood has plans to compete in more of these type of events, with the possibility of competing in Australia's local Carrera Cup championship in the future.

Business and finance publication BRW has published its annual Rich 200 list, with motorsports identities again figuring prominently.

Lindsay Fox again tops the list, topping the one billion dollar mark,the Phillip Island circuit owner sitting on a lazy $1.07 billion.

But if you wantto include Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes as a motorsport man, taking into consideration his latest coup, he comes in above Fox with $1.8 billion.

Oran Park owner Tony Perich and his family is next, his wealth estimation having increased $122 million to $637 million as the value of his land increases

FLYING^ THE FLAG MARCOS Ambrose will carry the colours of Team Australia for the remainder of his maiden season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Ambrose's #20 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford made its debut in green and gold last Friday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The Tasmanian qualified a brilliant third fastest, fastest Ford and fastest rookie but, while looking to drop back into clean air early in the race,found himself running high on lap 5.

His car hit the wall tail-first and, despite the efforts of his crew, he was out of the race.

"Securing a major Australian sponsor for the team is an extraordinary accomplishment and I applaud Craig Gore's initiative and his investment in the Team Australia concept and Australian Motorsport,"said Ambrose.

"I am truly proud to be part ofTeam Australia's effort to promote Australia to our great friends and partners here in the US and around the world."

The two-time V8 Supercar champion joins Will Power and AlexTagliani in the Team Australia Champ Carteam, and James Davison and Simon Pagenaud in Formula Atlantic.

Ambrose completed 130 trouble-free laps of testing at the track in his F-150 this week and has been cleared to compete by NASCAR officials, who needed to sign off an approval for him to race on the 1.5-mile(2.4km) high speed oval.

After his third successive DNF, he will now need to be cleared again before racing at the ultra-fast Texas Speedway next month.

THE Melbourne Tigers will be looking for a strong result at Winton next week,if Monday's testing was any indication.

Amid a flurry of pre-round activity at the Benalla circuit.

Tasman Motorsport's Jason Richards looked to be the quickest man in his Commodore.The Kiwi ran a number of sub-1 m23.5s laps. with a best of a 1 m23.30s. On a day when both the Holden Racing' Team and Toll HSV were running a car each, Richards reported that the car was"the best I have driven."

We did the time fairly easily," he said,"and I must say it was the most productive test I have done this year.'

with the rezoning of western Sydney.

Toll boss Paul Little($531 million), AGPC chairman Ron Walker($400 million), former Clipsal boss Rob Gerard ($341 million),former Porsche Cup champ Geoff Morgan ($298 million),father of Tony, John Longhurst($253 million),former Minardi FI owner Paul Stoddart($235 million),father of Paul, Terry Morris($184 million),former Carrera Cup runner Peter Hill($170 million) and WPS and Team Australia zsar Craig Gore($154 million) also featured.

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MURCHO'S BIC CHANCE CHRISTIAN Murchison was likely to get a taste of V8 Supercar power at Winton Raceway as MNews went to press.

Murchison was slated to get a handful of laps in one of Team BOC's Falcons at Winton during the Albury-based squads test on Tuesday.

Murcho's only V8 Supercar experience was with Larry Perkins in 2000, when he partnered Luke Youlden in the second Larry Perkins entry at the Queensland 500 and Bathurst. While the West Australian is highly-rated in the paddock,face opportunities have been slim at best in recent times. He was grateful to BJR for giving him the opportunity at Winton.

"I think it's a great opportunity and one that I won't take lightly," Murchison told MNews prior to the test.

"It's been frustrating sitting on the sidelines, especially watching the guys that I used to race against. It's interesting to see where everyone is at the moment.This sport offers no guarantees,so I want to make the most of any opportunities I get.'

Murchison has remained in the sport as a senior instructor for Brett Lupton's Fastlan^ Formula Ford^school in Western Australia.

- GRANT ROWLEY - n

V..

^ SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR Briscoe almo^lands a 500 drive, but looks ahead to the Glen

Tasman had an engine problem in its other car, which cut Andrew Jones's testing short, while HRT had a similar drama in its car while they worked on a fix to the gearbox problems that struck Todd Kelly in the west. Kelly had two gearboxes jam in third gear on three separate occasions in practice. Race 1 and Race 2, a most unusual problem on the normally-reliable Hollinger 'box.

Team BOC was due to test on Tuesday, with Christian Murchison joining the team (see separate story) and adding to the Ford flavour was Ford Performance Racing and Britek, each testing a single Falcon BA. Garry Rogers Motorsport was due at the track yesterday for a two-day test, running Lee Holdsworth on one of his two rookie days today.

24 May 2006

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RYAN Briscoe has narrowly missed a chance to start in the Indianapolis 500 ... but will race at Watkins Glen at the next round of the Grand Am Sportscars Series at Watkins Glen in two weeks.

Briscoe received an extremely late call-up from team owner AJ Foyt to drive the team's spare Panoz chassis in qualifying last weekend. Briscoe, who was at his Indianapolis home Watching the Champ Car race from Mexico, was called by the four-time Indy 500 winner at only 2pm,four hours before the end of qualifying.

"I knew there was a slight possibility and I had been to the Speedway having a talk to some people,"said Briscoe on Monday.

"I was ready to drive if the call came at the last second. I only had the call at two o'clock and you have until six to set a time. I had to have the medical examination with the Indy Racing League doctors before I could run and by the time everything was ready and I was at the car, it was too late.

"To be honest I'm not even that disappointed. I wasn't planning on doing anything but 1 knew there was a slight possibility. There just wasn't a whole lot of time when it came up.

"I'd been speaking to the

guys who were putting that car together and it was going to be a good car. With a race like that it is just so big that you have to try something when you get a call like that, but I'm fine that it didn't come off."

With Larry Foyt switching to the move-favoured Dallara chassis, the Panoz he drove earlier in May was available. Briscoe passed his IRL medical exam at 4.49pm, just moments after the #48 car was brought to the pit lane. But a crash by Marty Roth delayed proceedings enough to deny the Australian the chance to even turn a wheel.

Meanwhile, Briscoe will team up with Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli in the SunTrust Pontiac Riley Daytona Prototype at the six-hour event at Watkins Glen in two weeks time. Briscoe was to drive for the SunTrust team at the Daytona 24-hour earlier this year, but a crash put the car out of the race before he had the chance to drive.

Briscoe is currently working on his plans for 2007, as well as making arrangements for when he will get the chance to test for the Holden Racing Team in preparation for Sandown and Bathurst in V8 Supercars.

-CHRIS JORDAN

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MoreSuperer THE Super Aguri Formula 1 team, which is struggling with updated, Honda V8 powered Arrows chassis that are three years old, plans to have its own, new cars at the French Grand Prix in mid-July.

And, yes. Formula 1 really has gone mad. Bernie Ecclestone is reported to be evaluating the idea of a new race, called the Mediterranean Grand Prix, which would alternate between venues such as the new Greek circuit being built near Athens,the redeveloped Valencia track in Spain - and the Ecclestone-owned Paul Ricard High Technology Test Track in the south of France.

Ecclestone's circuit director, Philippe Gurdjian, commented;“Bernie will have the final decision, but this is the perfect place for a Grand Prix. It would only take a few minutes to get the track ready,so . why not?"

Well, how about the fact that the Paul Ricard HTTT has no spectator facilities whatsoever?

"We will run an FIA GT Championship race in August with no paying spectators.

For Formula 1, we would be happy with just Paddock Club guests and the media.

It is possible to make a Grand Prix without spectators. It would be a race for VIPs." The government in Saudi Arabia has embarked on a project to build motor racing circuits near both Riyadh and Jeddah. The nations of Bahrain, Dubai and Qatar already have international-standard venues In the Gulf region, built with state money.

Qfhe A1 Grand Prix organisation says that it has been approached by"more than a dozen" potential new franchise holders for the second season of its self-styled World Cup of Motorsport, which will begin at Zandvoort, Holland, on 1 October.

CEO Bruce Holmes said:"We're very pleased with the success we enjoyed in year one, while acknowledging that we experienced growing pains like any new series. We'll continue to make changes where needed."

A1GP, which had 25 national teams in its first season, is planning a series of new regulations and a different race format in an attempt to improve its show.

Holmes continued:"We're committed

HELL ON WHEELS The Sieders Brothers line up for action in V8Supercars

DAVID Sieders has been confirmed as Ford Performance Racing's test and development driver.

Sieders,22, has been employed by the team to develop his racing and car set-up skills, while assisting the factory Ford them in their push up the grid in 2006.

"I feel privileged to be selected by FPR,"the former Formula Ford front-runner said."This is a great starting point for my V8 Supercar career. I can't wait to get behind the wheel of the FPR Falcons and assist Jason (Bright) and Mark(Winterbottom)to further develop their cars during the season."

WHILE talking about all things Sieders, David's older brother Colin will make his V8 Supercar debut at Wakefield Park this weekend.

In doing do,Colin will become the first ~ handicapped driver to enter a V8 Supercar race.To assist him behind the wheel, Colin will use a hand-

clutch, as he only has 30 percent use of his left leg.

Flis hand clutch is also a first for'theVS category.

1-ti As a teenager, Colin, above, was involved as a passenger in a fatal road accident.To treat his serious injuries, he went through a massive amount of rehabilitation, which included time in a wheelchair. Nine years after his accident, Colin will race a V8 Supercar.

"I'm very excited about the racing at Wakefield," Colin said, who also drives In the NSW Formula Ford Championship.

"We've tested the car a couple of times and its gone pretty well. We know we aren't going to run right up the front, but that's not the aim of the exercise.

"The hand clutch won't be a problem. I don't really need it while I'm racing, but if I stalled the car on the track, I probably couldn't get the clutch engaged, and I don't want to risk that."

to providing a quality product. We expect at least 24 cars on the grid at Zandvoort and we will be announcing our dates and venues later this month."

-QUENTIN SPURRING

f0

motorsport news

news More Oomph atBIMF

MARTINiCETS SCHOLARSHIP A SilliiCliilS'group of CAMS Risings Star drivers will get the opportunity to test aJormuia;3ear at : Mallaia Motorsport Park before the next round ; of the Coldi Star series at the Adelaide track later next month.

JohnMartin will be thefirstin line to get a taste I offB^power.Marstiinrwililisteer o,neofieami;BiM?S Dallara F304s at the South AustralianiCircuit.

The test will come at a handy time for Martin.The Queensl'ander, who currently leads the Austra liian n Formula Ford‘Championship,is set to embark on a ; driving program ini the UiK :later this year:in ;Formu'la ; iFordi followed; by an assault on;eiither the ©ritishi F3 series or iuroFB in 2007.1 'T;Gou;l:din'tibeliewe it when they Ga'lied'and said' I'

was going to get a dpive!";Martin #XGlairmed. "ilit sfeoiiild be good,litGan't wait.'It will begoodf. ipractice for next year. I'm sure I'll be able to get something out of the test that will oome in handy in F3 next year."

As MNews went to press,ill was unclear which A of the other ®v;e CAMS Rising;Stars would partner iilartin;in the Mallaia testday.Theother Rising; Stars10 line to get a ChanGe:in the#3 test are Paul J iaskazeski,Joshua Scott, Kristian bindbom,Paul; .^ Pittam and Jake Williams.

Following the F3 test, all CAMS Rising;Star . -J imembePs wiU head'to Canberra's Australian Institute'l of Sport for an intense two-day training;camp.

J . =^(SRANf ROWtiey 1 J ..'t-:

EXPECT to see a lot more racing on next year's Bathurst International Motor Festival schedule.

According to event director James O'Brien,the Festival which debuted over the Easter weekend on the famous Mount Panorama circuit earlier this year - will definitely go ahead in 2007. O'Brien said that next year's Festival will include more racing categories to add to the other planned events on the mountain.

"The event will definitely be on next year,"O'Brien said."We have a lot to improve on from this year, and we acknowledge that.The thing that we have going for us is that we've put racing at Bathurst during Easter back on the map.

People know about it now,so we can build on it.

"The shape of next year's Festival will be determined soon and we expect to announce all our plans within the next few weeks."

One race that is currently being tabled is the return of a Bathurst 12 Flour. While the cars and category that would be eligible for such event is still being discussed, Australian GT, Performance and Production cars are the most likely classes.

"That's one of the things we are looking at,"O'Brien confirmed.

"I'm not committing to a 12 Flour yet, but it's been given a lot of consideration."

At the BIMF this year, Australian GT, Aussie Racing Cars, Historic Touring Cars and a'legends'VB Lite race were the only racing classes.

After speaking to drivers, teams and spectators, O'Brien confirmed that more racing classes is what people want.

- GRANT ROWLEY

FFOROS: UNBRAKABLE THE extra horsepower of Formula Ford's new Duratec engine has forced Australian Formula Ford teams to change the front brake set-up on their cars.

Both at the Clipsal 500 meeting and Barbagallo Raceway two weeks ago,almost all the teams suffered from excessive wear to the front rotors and pads due to the increased power that the 1.6 litre Ford Fiesta engine has 24 May 2006

given teams.

Brake components that once lasted half a season were being replaced between sessions.

In some cases, disks became so hot that they shattered.Teams quoted that the temperatures in the brake disks were as hot or hotter than what the V8 Supercars record.

While the lap times of the new Formula Fords were only a couple of tenths quicker than the

old engines at Barbagallo Raceway,the cars are coming out of the corners much quicker, meaning that when they get to the end of the straight,the brake application has increased significantly.

Formula Ford teams will now up-spec their equipment to larger rotors and thicker pads to cope with the extra stress.

-GRANT ROWLEY 13

The^Saidit

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if tKose numbers are true, this will be tbe Pentbouse or the Sbitbo use. jj

One V8 Supercar team principal comments on the $100m Seven television deal a

I finished everything in front of ever^bod^ here, in front of ' my people^ my I think it was supporters, the best feeling so far in Formula One,ecjual to the Grand Prix of 5razil, when I won the championship.

Fernando Alonso after winning his home Grand Prix

“1 knew I was goingto be n’t disappointedif I did win the pole.”

Sam Hornish following his domination of practice and qualifying at Indianapolis

Qualifying was great but the race was pretty shitty.

On the other hand, Marcos Ambrose was not happy after Q3 and a DNF/Crash at Charlotte \Nr\Xe to me! world Touring Car Champ Andy Priaulx, right, now has his own stamps!

motorsportnews

Ouch!Marcos Ambrose,left, wasjust trying to find some clean air at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Friday when the Team AustraiiaPNood Bros/JTG Racing Ford got into the wall at Turn 4. Martin D Clark We do not usually run static pitshots as the best ofthe last fortnight but this Tripie 8 pit lane shot from Perth, above, by John Morris wasJust too damn purdy...

WhatJimmie Johnson did when he won US$1 m atChariotte: He 86ed the drink!

sutton-images.com

14 24 May 2006

Gigi Gain didn't win in Sardinia, he didn't even finish but our favourite WRC driverJumped forJoy anyway,ieft.

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TIME

Reunited Masters

Chris Jordan

TWO of the Formula 1 veterans contesting the Grand Prix Masters series, Jan Lammers and Stefan Johansson, will be teamed together in next month's Le Mans 24 Hours.

Johansson, who won Le Mans in 1997, has accepted an invitation from 1988 winner Lammers to join his Racing for Holland team. RfH is converting its Dome LMP1 sports-prototype to take a Judd V10 instead of a Mugen V8. The third driver will be AlexYoong.

Q Mugen,the Honda-owned specialist competition engine manufacturer, wants build a hybrid Le Mans engine.

The Automobile Club de I'Ouest's regulations for the Le Mans 24 Hours already cater for hybrids, but Mugen's project would use regenerative braking systems to power electric motors on each wheel,supplementing the output of a conventional sportscar racing, petrol fuelled Mugen V8.

Technically, this would be four-wheeldrive, so Mugen will ask the ACO to allow it for hybrid powered cars.

Peugeot Sport hopes to complete its first turbodiesel Le Mans Prototype in December and to run it on-track before Christmas.

Peugeot first raced at Le Mans in 1991, and won the race in 1992 and 1993 before moving on to Formula 1 and then the World Rally Championship and touring car racing.The French company will return to the Circuit de la Sarthe in 2007 to challenge Audi, which will try next month to become the first manufacturer to win Le Mans with a diesel.'

Peugeot, which is expected to race a team of three cars in next year's 24 Hours, has recruited 1993 Le Mans winner Eric

THE OTHER CLAYTON TEAM CLAYTON Pyne will contest selected rounds of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series later this year.

The New South Welshman, who has previously competed in Formula Ford, has purchased a Holden Commodore VX recently campaigned by Aaron MacGill, above, in the Fujitsu Series.The Commodore will be based in Sydney and prepared by Pyne's family team (set to be called Accelerated Enterprise).

The team completed a hand-over day at Oran Park recently and Pyne was quick to find his feet in his new surroundings.

Pyne is likely to debut the ex-Perkins VX at the Oran Park round of the Fujitsu Series. Oran Park will also be the team's home track. It is expected that he will only enter two or three rounds this year, with a full program planned for 2007.

Of late, Pyne has not competed in any motorsport after he decided to concentrate on university studies and work commitments. Now with university out of the way, it is time to go racing again.

Besides his days in NSW state and national-level Formula Ford competition, Pyne had a limited tenure in European karting.

- GRANT ROWLEY

BIG HAPPY FAMILY T'ta

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Helary,a long-serving works driver, to shake down the new car.

Gordon Murray,the innovative former Brabham and McLaren Formula 1 designer, is working on a new Le Mans Prototype. Murray, who designed the McLaren FI that won Le Mans in 1995, left McLaren early last year to set up his own motorsport design company,and its first major project involves the design and buildofanLMPracecar.

Murray said;"We won't limit ourselves just to the design, we also want to produce it. We are also at the disposal of the big manufacturers that want to race at Le Mans."

- QUENTIN SPURRING

W

a77.

THE Australian Motor Racing Series has launched a new category to add its list of national championships.

The new category, known as Super Tin Tops caters for cars previously eligible to run as Saloon Cars, Improved Production, Sports Sedans and Commodore Cup cars.

"Super TT will provide a racing home for a diverse range machinery with nowhere else to race under current regulations," AMRS director Rod Dale said.

"There'll also be a class for Japanese turbo and non-turbo charged cars.That would allow the likes of Nissan Skyline GTRs,WRXs and thd like to run in SuperTT."

AUSTRALIAN Sprintcar racing will soon be at one again, with 41 Oci engines allowed to compete Australia-wide from 1 July 2007.

The news,which was due to be announced later this week, means that after years of segmentation and heated debate,the sport will again be unified on engine specification, ending the split that began when one of Australia's premier venues, Parramatta City Raceway in Sydney, broke away from convention and introduced the larger engines a few years ago.

The Sprintcar Control Council of Australia voted at a meeting last weekend to introduce 41 Os, the engine configuration used in both the United States and New Zealand.410-powered cars will have to carry an extra 50 pounds of weight for 12 months to aid parity with the 372ci units

PI:NoDeal TFIE need to improve circuit infrastructure in order to retain the MotoGP hasn't been enough to convince the Bass Coast Shire Council to back Lindsay Fox's plans for the tourism development alongside the Phillip Island circuit.

Linfox had applied for a rezoning of the circuit and its surrounds to'special use'In order to proceed with plans for a spectacular resort hotel and 18-hole golf course, but the Council has only approved the rezoning for the 90 hectares on which the circuit is located.

At this stage, it is uncertain whether the project will be altered or abandoned completely.There is also some possibility of appeal to higher authorities.

The current deal to host the MotoGP expires this year, and the development was seen as part of the means of raising the funds for circuit improvements.

Said Councillor Gareth Barlow to the Melbourne Age last week:"I just hope that council's decision has not affected Linfox's commitment to the Grand Prix, which is the lifeblood of the island."

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while teams upgrade,and the 372 engines will also be allowed 'down nozzles'to give them extra horsepower.

"It was a very productive meeting and while some will be disappointed,this will hopefully ensure that the sport continues to grow,"said SCCA President Peter Mitchell.

The news will almost certainly lead to World Series Sprintcars making its long awaited return to PCR, albeit not until the 2007/08 season.The 2007 Australian Sprintcar Title, to be held in Tasmania, will be the last run to the current 372ci engine configuration.

Another controversial rule change is the alteration to the lap car rule at restarts. In previous years the lap cars have been left in line, separating cars that are fighting for position. All lapped cars will now be sent to the back of the restart order.

CHINA ON THE OUTER V8 SUPERCARS may not go back to Shanghai to race but,at least, V8 Supercars Australia could be in good company.

Following the second MotoGP at the Shanghai International Circuit last week,category promoters Dorna are wondering whether it is a good idea to return to China any time in the future.The track fell about 198,000 spectators short of its total capacity of 200k when Dani Pedrosa broke through for his first'big bike'win last week and, while the heavens opened on race day in 2005 and the crowd was understandably small, this year's race had a decent lead-up and decent Sunday weatfier, no-one showed.

The event is co-promoted by the track and Dorna, and while the initial contract may have stated a sevenyear run, sources in Europe suggest both parties are looking at outs before another huge loss in 2007.

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24 May 2006

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Johnson,Lowe's and Hendrick sign untillOlO.

martin d dark

NASCAR points leader Jimmie Johnson has signed a three-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, committing him to the #48 Lowe's ride through the 2010 season.

DALE Jarrett will drive for Michael Waltrip Racing's fledgling Toyota Cup team next year.

Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR champion,announced his decision to switch to MWR earlier in the month.The move coincides with Toyota's debut season in the Nextel Cup Series. Jarrett's contract with Robert Yates Racing expires at season's end.

'It has nothing to do with anyone at Robert Yates Racing," said Jarrett, who will depart RYI^: after a 12-year stint.

'It's just a unique opportunity at the end of my career.'

One of the important factors of the deal is the position of longtime Jarrett sponsor UPS. An MWR team source told MNews that UPS

At the same time, loyal sponsor Lowe's also agreed to stay with the team through to 2010.

"Since I started in Nextel Cup racing, my association with Lowe's and Hendrick Motorsports has been absolutely incredible," Johnson said.

"I couldn't be more proud of this relationship and look forward to continuing what we've started with the No.48 Lowe's team."

QThe purse for this Sunday's CocaCola 600 at Charlotte(the longest race on the calendar)stands at a whopping $6.5 million, up $150,000from 2005.

-MARTINO CLARK/STAFF

FOR SALE «

'sa^ CHEAT RKORTS®GREAT RATES '0

DRIVER WANTED LEADING FUJITSU V8 SUPERCAR TEAM, HOWARD RACING, IS LOOKING FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FROM SUITABLE RACE DRIVERS FOR THE 2007 FUJITSU V8 SERIES.

CALL WARREN DAVIS 0414 646 873 18

f'* *

Ptr WONDEtl & BLUNDER MARTIN Truex Jr's Dale Earnhardt Inc.team won the indoor Nextel Pit Crew Chalienge at the Chariotte Arena on May 17.

The competiton saw the teams go through three rounds of pit stops.The teams had to push the cars 40 yards, with the Truex team recording a 25.44s stop to fuel, change four tyres and push.

They beat Kasey Kahne's Evernham crew at 26.71 s.

The Dale Earnhardt Jr. team showed up with a car less some inner drive train components to gain advantage in the push.

They were told to take the car away. DEI returned an hour later with a'real'car!

- MARTIN D CLARK

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JOINS TOYOT

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would follow Jarrett, although that has not been confirmed yet. It also appears possible that Waltrip could have a third car for his 2007 operation alongside himself and which has not been confirmed yet'DJ'in Cup. David Reutimann - third in Truck Series points for Darrell Wa[trip's Toyota team - is already confirmed for one of two Camry MWR Busch cars and could step up to Cup. Jarrett, 49, made it known earlier in the year he was hoping to stay with Yates through to his retirement, which he said would be at the end of 2009.

The veteran of 32 race wins(29 of those at RYR) might have been swung towards MWR by a possible management or

partnership role with Waltrip down the road.

Ford is apparently noneto-chuffed with the move, with Jarrett co-owning one of the country's largest Ford dealerships just outside Charlotte. Jarrett's dealership is complete with an in-house restaurant named after him.

While it seems that Jarrett has sealed his long-term future, his RYR crew chief Richard 'Slugger' Labbe was suspended for using an non-approved rear sway bar mounting in the #88 Ford at Richmond recently. Labbe will sit out three races(and the All-Star race in Charlotte) and was fined US$25,000. Jarrett was docked 25 series points.

Penske staying with Dodge PENSKE Racing South has dispelled pit lane rumours that the team will switch from Dodge to Toyota when the Japanese automotive giant enters the NASCAR Nextel Cup ranks in 2007.

Roger Penske, who is the largest Toyota dealer in the world, was thought to be a prime candidate to jump onto the Toyota/NASCAR ship after its defection from Ford to Dodge in 2003. However,the Mooresville-based team has squashed those rumours.

"We are commited to the Dodge people," president of Penske Performance Tim Cindirctold MNews.

"We've had a long-term agreement after our switch from Ford, you'll see us in Dodge next year."

Penske's best championship result in the NASCAR series was in 1993 with Rusty Wallace.

- MARY BIGNOTTI MENDEZ See page 34 for MNews's exclusive feature on Penske

1300 HQT LAP www.1300hotlap.com

Experience

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PKV HAS Les NASCARs du Montreal?

Management walkout at CCWS team

THE future of the Champ Car World Series round in Montreal appears in doubt after news broke that NASCAR is on the verge of signing a deal with Circuit Gilles Villeneuve promoter Normand Legault.

NASCAR is keen on sending its secondtier Busch Series race to the Canadian circuit, which also hosts the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix. If US-based openwheel series are to continue running at the lie Notre Dame circuit, it would seem that they will only do so if paired with the NASCAR event.

"We think that NASCAR could be as big as Formula One in Montreal, but with a totally different crowd," Legault told Canadian media.

Q Who would have thought Kenny Brack's life as a singer would bring him back to Indianapolis?

The 1999 Indy winner now fronts a rock band named 'Brack' and was spotted in Gasoline Alley filming a music video on May 15. The film clip will include footage from the Rahal Letterman Racing garage.

s

i CHAMP Car squad PKV Racing has had a gaping hole open up in its management structure following the resignation of General Manager Jim McGee and Team Manager Steve Krisiloff.

McGee, a veteran of US open-wheel racing with success at Penske and Rahal teams amoung others, was hired at the beginning of last year to take the team to the top level of Champ Car. McGee promptly hired Krisiloff as his right-hand man, but Krisiloff's harsh style did not go down well.

Two weeks ago McGee was allegedly told to sack Krisiloff, so in turn gave notice of his resignation, but agreed to stay on until a suitable replacement could be found.

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The traditional last minute race for seats in the Indianapolis 500 raged again this year, with 10 extra cars entering last week for'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing'.

The control Honda lease price dropped to US$115,000 for teams entering proceedings in the second week of action, prompting some of the smaller teams to wait.

Jon Herb and Jaques Lazier of Playa Del Racing, Thiago Medeiros of PDM Racing, Larry Foyt of AJ Foyt Racing, Max Papis of Cheever Racing, Arie Luyendyk Jr of Luyendyk Racing, Airton Dare of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Jeff Bucknam of Hemelgarn Racing and the Team Leader Motorsports pair of Stephan Gregoire and PJ Jones all took the 'cheaper'option.

Dodge has been appointed as the Official Cars Supplier to the 2006 FIA GT Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship. The deal coincides with the introduction of Dodge vehicles in the European market. Dodge will provide a fleet of six vehicles at each round: a Safety Car, a Pace Car, a Medical Car and three additional vehicles that will serve as shuttles. Nine of the 78 cars contesting the new-for-2006 GT3 series are Dodge Viper Competition Coupes, operated by French and Italian teams.

-STAFF/QUENTIN SPURRING

PT STAYS

THE strongest sign yet that a reunification of North American open-wheeler racing is close came two weeks ago when Paul Tracy signed a five-year deal to remain with Forsythe Championship Racing.

The former champion, now in his 16th season in the Champ Car series, looks to have put his NASCAR ambitions on hold, despite running a limited Busdi Cup program this year.

"This was actually a pretty easy decision for me,"Tracy said in a prepared statement.

"I've been checking out some other types of race series this year and that's been a great learning experience and a lot of fun, but at the end of the day

there's just nothing like Champ Car. "The depth of talent, the machinery, the challenge of driving all kinds of cTrcuits - plus the direction and growth of the series has everybody feeling very energised with where it's going over the next few years."

The Canadian's team owner Gerry Forsythe is a co-owner of the CCWS, which is thought to be’close to a settlement with IndyCar boss Tony George to combine to two series into one in 2007.

Tracy, 37, has won 30 races in his career (seventh all-time, one behind Al Unser Jr) and won the 2003 title.

-PHIL MORRIS

phil moms IT took a while, with all the rain and the wind and others distractions (like 30 other cars) but Team Penkse has bagged its much-anticipated 1-2 resuit in qualiying for the indianapolis 500.

Sam Hornish Jr will start the 90th Indiana classic from pole position after posting an average speed of 228.985mph for four laps around the historic 2.5-mile speedway to earn his first pole for the 500 race. He will start the race with team-mate and former 500 winner Helio Castroneves alongside.

Under the new qualifying format, which gives each driver three shots at a time, Hornish and Castroneves set their marks early and then waited for a response from the Ganassi drivers. But realising that the red and white jets were out of reach. Chip Ganassi ordered Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon to stay put.

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GIVES YOU THE EDGE

Miomishdiommamtm qualifying,Penske 1-2,Danica and veterans struggling

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90th Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

"They took a lot of pressure off us when they didn't run," said team owner Roger Penske. "That team has the capability to knock us off where we were. As things turned out, Helio was ready. We'd have pulled in iine right behind the two Ganassi cars."

Maybe, coulda, shoulda...

Tony Kanaan will start fifth, the fastest of the five Andretti Green drivers. Rookie Marco Andretti is ninth, with Dad Michael 13th and Bryan Herta and Dario Franchitti starting 16th and 17th.

"He's here to win the race,"said the teen later, "not take the pole."

Danica Patrick was the fastest of the three Rahal Letterman Racing entries and she will start 10th.

"The better your car is, the easier it is," said Patrick. "That run was easy. Probably some of the four easiest laps I've done this month."

24 May 2006

6 SamHornishJr 3T Helio Castroneves W Dan Wheldon 9 Scott Dixon 11 Tony Kanaan 4T VitorMeira 55 Kosuke Matsuura 8 Scott Sharp 9 26 Marco Andretti W 16T Danica Patrick 77 2 Tomas Scheckter 12 20 Ed Carpenter 13 1 Michael Andretti 14 1ST Buddy Rice IS 90 Townsend Beii 16 7 Bryan Herta 17 27 Dario Franchitti 18 52 MaxPapis 19 51 Eddie Cheever Jr 20 91 PJChesson 21 14 Felipe Giaffone 22 92 JeffBucknum 23 41 Larry Foyt 24 21 Jaques Lazier 25 5 Buddy Lazier 26 17T Jeff Simmons 27 31 AlUnserJr 28 12 Roger Yasukawa 29 88 Airton Dare 30 97 Stephan Gregoire 31 61 ArieLuyendykJr 32 98 PJJones 33 18 Thiago Mereiros

USA Bra GB NZ Bra Bra J USA USA USA RSA USA USA USA USA USA GB Ita USA USA Bra USA USA USA USA USA USA J Bra F USA USA Bra

Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Panoz G Force Dallara Dallara Dallara Panoz G Force Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Dallara Panoz G Force Dallara Panoz G Force Dallara Panoz G Force Panoz G Force Panoz G Force Panoz G Force Panoz G Force Panoz G Force

228.985 228.008 227.338 226.921 226.776 226.156 225.503 225.321 224.918 224.674 224.659 224.548 224.508 224.393 224.374 224.179 223.345 222.058 222.028 221.576 221.542 221.461 221.332 221.151 220.922 220.347 219.388 218.793 218.170 217.428 216.352 215.816 215.729

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21

Welcome to Skoda IN preparation for only his second event with the Red Bull Skoda team, Finnish driver Harri Rovanpera has destroyed the team's trial car in pre-event testing.

The Finn ran wide on corner, was caught out in the loose gravel and rolled the test car heavily off the road.

"I came too close to the outside(of the road).There was plenty of loose gravel but unfortunately also a rock which destroyed the rim.Then the car rolled rather violently," Rovanpera explained.

The car, reported to be a total write-off, wasn't one of the vehicles scheduled to be driven over the gravel stages of Sardinia.

However the damaged car will need a replacement chassis and shell - not the best way to start off with a new team.

The leading factory outfits contesting the ARC elected to run with proven componentry at last weekend's Forest Rally in Western Australia rather than risk their Championship aspirations on as yet unproven performance upgrades.

As it currently stands Ford has a far more powerful engine and transmission sitting in its workshop ready to bolt into Michael Guest's Focus, but team engineer Steven Hoinville is reluctant to wheel out more power until they have a structurally sound car.

"In Canberra we came away with a total revision of the rear differential components, so we came into this weekend eager to put some more kilometres on the board," Hoinville said.

"What we didn't want to do was put pressure on the team and driver with a brand-new engine inside a brandnew car and potentially run the risk of more problems than we could handle.

So we'll keep testing the engine to make sure it's reliable and hopefully fit It for Queensland."

While Ford Is developing more pace, Toyota is developing ways of going slower with a new brake upgrade. In line with the upgrades afforded to Mitsubishi and Subaru by the FIA for 2006, the Australian Rally Commission and CAMS allowed Toyota to fit equal brakes to their Corollas.

"We've still got some work to do on the new brakes before we're happy to fit them," explained Neal Bates, who expects the new units to be ready in time for the next round in Queensland.

"The brakes we've got have always been very good, but they are very heavy and the new ones will benefit us my providing a weight saving more than anything."

- RYAN LAHIFF

Rail OUT? \

OUR h^stefeen rife in recent weeks that Italian tyre giant Pirelli is^, > \considering pulling out of the World Rally Championship due to a lack '*● of results against their off-road rival BF Goodrich (formerly Michelin). * Pirelli;,whose sole supported team in 2006 is Subaru, denies that it is preparing to quit the sport, but rather are assessing options for the future.

■ "Our position iS that we are reviewing our involvement in the WRC, and on what baste we should-be involved, in light of the withdrawal of both Peugeot'and (Vlitsubishi and the changing value of the sport," commented Pirelli's faul Hembery.

"We have'shown substantial commitment to the sport this season with (Gigi) Gain and are working with our partner Subaru to maximise results.

There are many scenarios that may come through, only one of which

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* f^could involve leaving the WRC." Pirelli has been involved with the World Rally Championship for over 30 ' i ‘ years and remaiprthe longest running supplier of rally tyres.'to the series. ^ ■ RYANLAHIFF

ALL ON SORDO THE potential for a few sleepless nights lie ahead for Chris Atkinson, with Subaru World Rally Team Sporting Director Luis Moya making comments to the press in the past week that indicate the team has its eye on other drivers.

Moya, the former co-driver of WRC veteran Carlos Sainz, spoke candidly about the potential of young Spaniard Daniel Sordo following the Argentina Rally.

"I'd say Dani Sordo is a driver every team would like to have," Moya said.

"He is in our list and it would not do us any harm to include him in the Subaru World Rally Team sooner or later."

Atkinson shot to prominence last year in his debut season on the WRC stages, impressing team managers with his level headed approach, technical understanding and untapped speed, and while he managed some outstanding results (including third in Japan and fourth in Australia), he has largely been unable to recapture that form so far this season.

Sordo has been stellar during

the opening rounds of the 2006 Championship, and like .Atkinson before him, has stunned onlookers with his capabilities at the wheel of his Citroen Xsara despite never having competed in World Rally Car machinery.

"I could give some other names, but I just said Sordo because he combines extraordinary features," (Vloya continued.

"He is not 22 yet, he is already driving a World Rally Car full-time, he is the Junior world champion, he has not crashed in almost two seasons, he is hardly erratic and in only his sixth gravel event- he finished fourth in Mexico, not to mention his podium at his first asphalt rally at the wheel of the Xsara," Moya continued.

Worryingly for Atkinson, there is already a close bond between Sordo and Moya in the form of Sainz, who has taken Sordo under his wing in the WRC and will use all his star power to propel the young Spaniard into a factory drive. Moya's many years co driving alongside Sainz will also count for a lot if Subaru look to chase down Sordo.

- RYAN LAHIFF

motorsportnews

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rallying FORD'S Michael Guest has called on the Australian Rally Championship to provide drivers and fans with longer, more tactical events as the trend for rally organisers worldwide continues to produce more compact rallies.

"If you look at the effort that goes into doing less than 100 kilometres a day, it's all pretty disappointing,"said Guest.

"When 1 started in the ARC,events were 300plus kilometres, and they were about tactics and skill rather than just flat-out driving."

In recent years rallying as whole, both

locally and internationally, has seen a dramatic step towards lower competitive kilometre events.

In a lot of cases event organisers have elected to re-use stages multiple times over a weekend, in some instances three or four times, in order to further minimise the logistics and manpower required to stage a rally.

However,Guest believes that the trend is sapping the soul out of rallying, which has evolved from a tactical game of man and machine versus the elements to a flat-out

sprint where, he suggests,luck plays too large a role.

"If you have the money to build an incredibly fast and reliable car, and you have the resources in terms of parts and mechanics to keep your car going,then of course you're going to do well in the current format of events,"Guest said.

"But I really feel that it's disadvantaging young drivers and their potential progression in the sport and for the drivers that are in the sport already the adventure has gone."

- RYAN LAHIFF D

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23

I

FI close my eyes and try really, really hard, I can almost forget about being at Bathurst with the Seven Network in 1999.

It was not a V8 Supercar event, to be sure, but rather Super Tourers, Bathurst Tourers and a bunch of support events. But what I most remember is standing in pit lane, mike in hand,soaked to the very marrow in one of Paddy Welsh's raincoats, while the rain pelted down and the field droned around and around behind the Safety Car. I have never been so wet and rarely so miserable.

The good parts of that scenario are returning. Seven, so long a cornerstone of motor racing in this country, has dug deep and will take over the broadcast rights to the V8s next season.The 10 Network, which emerged a decade ago to take the sport to a new level, will have to get by on the rest of its impressive motorsport portfolio.

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Since the news leaked out last Friday, there have been shouts ofjoys, predictions of doom and everything in between.

Even on the most shallow level, change is a good thing.

Things never get better unless they change and, with the AFL, Melbourne Cup Carnival and a little thing called the Olympics, V8 Supercars is now in company with some sporting product that one familiar voice may describe as"Special".[Note to V8 Supercars Australia: avoid scheduling any races between 8 and 24 August 2008, as your host broadcaster will be tied up in China.]

It is impossible to conceive that Seven will not do a good job with the sport.To start with,the network has a big pile of money to recoup and besides, many of the people working on the broadcasts will be the same as those on Ten now.The faces on the screen will change but much of the rest will be familiar.

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[Note to Seven: But not too familiar, if we see even one of those shocking old red blazers, we are turning the telly off.]

Under the new arrangements.

Seven will have the chance to go large on V8s and Ten can do likewise with Formula 1. By themselves,those things are good for our sport - a win/win. Short term,there will be some upset and disappointed people but they are professionals and will get over it.

So,to Seven, we can only say, welcome back,and go your hardest.To Ten, your broadcasts over the last 10 years have been first-class and we look forward to your continued efforts in other arenas of the sport. And to Paddy Welsh,thanks for the raincoat.

I

t seems like just last week that we welcomed Chris Jordan into the chaotic world that is Motorsport News's World HQ.

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OPERATIONS MANAGER Applications are invited for

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the position of Operations Manager with the

Bright-eyed and bushy-haired, and straight from the City of Churches,Jordan soon overcame the shock of witnessing his first deadline up-close and quickly became a valued member of the MNews team. Over the past two seasons, he has upped the pace and,as seems to happen in this caper,impressed The Right People.

So we are booting Jordan out the door with our best wishes, his iPod, a sandwich toaster and implicit orders to make it huge in the dog-eat-sirloin world of PR.The seat does not stay vacant though, as we have fooled Andrew Van Leeuwen, who is from even further west(Perth)than Chris and, annoyingly for me,even younger, intojoiningthefun.

Welcome aboard Van,au revolt Jordan and on with the craziness...

P039S8SS340 motorsport news

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PADDY’S COAT, A PRIME NUMBER & A BRAND NEW VAN Is impossible to conceive that Seven

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24 May 2006

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ESPRESSO, NAKED LADIES

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HAVE to say that I feel very sorry for all you people who live upside down in the Lucky Country when there is a dull Formula 1 race on TV.

For most of the fans in Europe, it is simply a case of snoozing on the sofa after a decent Sunday lunch but over there in Australia,you lot have to stay awake very late in order to fail asleep. I know exactly what it feels like as I often try to stay awake to watch Champ Car races and before I know it, I am fast asleep and wake up at some strange hour,to find that the TV screen has somehow been taken over by cavorting naked ladies.

We clever FI reporters have got the hang of this now,so just before the FI cars go out on the grid, we have a quick quadruple espresso and that pretty much guarantees that we will make it to the chequered finish without falling asleep at our desks and being photographed by the evil souls in the FI media.

T

here is much enthusiasm in Spain at the moment for Formula 1 but the race at Barcelona was dull and gave us clear evidence that the local authorities need to send in the

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*‘\Nhat Fomiulci 1 mwst remember is tiiot in addition to bemg a sport, it most also be an entertainment^^ bulldozers and do something to improve the place.

Ask around the paddock and everyone will tell you that the first corner is a disaster and there is plenty of room to do something about it, with a tight loop, such as they have at the Nurburgring with the circuit going to the right before the existing corner to,create a tight loop where overtaking would be possible.

This could use the existing track(but in reverse) in the section between the Seat and Wurth corners with a new section jinking left and going downhill to rejoin the track at Turn 2.

This would entail reprofiling the return section of the track but a short link could do the job and there might even be the chance to create a

second overtaking place.This would involve only three short pieces of new tarmac and might even help the track to develop more, as it would free up land which is currently wasted by the track looping back on itself.

There are some who would argue that changing the tracks is not the way to go and that, really, it is the cars that must be altered.

That argument does not seem to have worked at Barcelona where several generations of cars have failed to produce good races.

What Formula 1 must remember is that in addition to being a sport, it must also be an entertainment. And it is really just a question of how far that compromise is allowed to go.You do not have to have clowns and jugglers.

molorspoitnews

opinion

REDEFINING DUli

How to spice up a boring race: 1. Invite Flavio Briatore to rewrite the Sporting Regulations.

2. Dress pit crews in movie-themedpitstop attire (right).

3. Tell World Champions Fernando Alonso and Dani Pedrosa,above. that their respective Grands Prix are on the same weekend

Joe Saward

andjust watch the fun...

I

A lot of people think that GP2 is a good series and I must admit that it is usually fun to watch (although the second race in Spain was as dull as the FI event that would follow). GP2 has made itself more attractive by introducing compulsory pit stops and flipping the top eight places on the grid after the first race. I hate this because drivers who finish eighth in the first race often win the second race.The rules flatter drivers.

One other aspect where GP2 scores is that there are only about 10 good drivers and the rest have little or no idea.The pit stops mix things up and so there is plenty of action as real talents try to get through incompetents without making contact.That of course 24 May 2006

cannot happen in FI because the mere hint of incompetence from Yuji Ide resulted in him being sent back to Japan with a clip round the ear.

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ext week we go to Monaco and there we know that overtaking is slightly less likely than in Barcelona. Drivers occasional crash and there are lots of Safety Cars and we could easily end up with some good entertainment.

Going to Monaco is always one of the high points of the year because to watch these machines jinking through the streets is always an impressive sight.

And, you knovr what? I never get bored at a Grand Prix, whether the race itself is a

procession or not. Even after attending more than 300 Grands Prix, i stili think that one car going around by itself is sufficiently exciting to draw an audience. It is the nature of the beast; the power of the engines,the acceleration, the braking,the grip. All these are things that shock you when you have never seen an FI car on anything other than the television.

If FI wants to improve itself for a TV audience, we need better directors, better camera angles and more interesting television technologies.

That, of course, involves investment.

27

if was a very nme phoiie call

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1 Craig Denyer cailed me I j

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and asked ifi wanted:to replace Grant ©enyer iriii the t81 Dick Jshnson Saeing;-Falcon in the Fujitsu V8 Series at Wakefield Park. |i saidi'ii certainiy do!'

Dick's team is obwiousiy a pretty good outfit.They won the Development Series last year andThe car wlit be on the money because Grant was very quick at Clipsai.The only thing I'm concerned with is that don't get a test beforehand, and'theamount of practice before the race has been cut for this round,so we'll have to wait and see how that pans out. I'll have my work cut out to get my head around It all but It will be a quick car,for sure.

I'm doing the endurance races with Russell Ingall in the #1 Caltex Falcon,so when Craig called me, I quickly rang Ross Stone to get clearance. He was all for it, so I flew up to Dick Johnson Racing on Monday for a seat fitting. There was no problem,except that we had to move the seat back three feet!

The big thing for me is that I'm going to get V8 miles that I wouldn't usually get. I haven't sat in a V8 Supercar since a ride day with Stone Brothers in December. It's been a good five or six months. I'm sure this weekend will be a big benefit.

I actually raced a V8 Ute around Wakefield Park last year. I

V/ersatile race driver LUKE YOULDEN qualified on pole and won the first race, but got caught up in an incident there in the last race. Hopefully,this weekend ends up a little bit better. I also tested a Porsche at the track a little while ago, which is handy, because it's always nice to have recent miles around a track that you don't go to often.

I gig might have race thisnot year, buta Ifull-time kept myself busy In the New Zealand V8 Touring Car Championship. It's an extremely competitive series.

It's the same with our series over here. You don't have to be far off the mark to be down the order.

The cars are a bit off what we have here, both in terms of speed and technically.They are down 200 horsepower on V8 Supercars, and they are only four speeds,so you aren't changing gears as often, but they certainly

get up and go.They are much more of a standard spec-type car. Everyone has to run control shocks and other bits, which makes it an extremely costeffective championship.They do everything they can to reduce the costs, which makes it a pretty healthy series, although as you know,there were some technical Infringements at the end of the year. But if you look beyond that, there Is always 35 car grids and the progress the series is making doesn't look like its slowing down.

I heard a rumour that a few guys from Australia's V8 series are looking at crossing the Tasman Sea and racing over there.They are looking to do that championship to give them extra miles over the summer,and because it has a big following there now. It's very strong and I'm going to go back and do it again next year.

I DIDN'T expect too much on my return to karts last weekend because 1 haven't driven one for a while, but I finished 10th in the final in Leopard Light, which is around the mark.

There are some fairly reasonable operators in the Victorian Leopard Series so I am definitely up against it. It was wet all weekend so that was a shock to the system, as well.

It was a bit of fun to get back into it after so many years racing : cars. At this stage I'm just doing the Leopard series but I'll have to see what else comes along.

If something springs up in the meantime I'll definitely look at racing it, and I'm also talking to some teams about the endurance races back in V8 Supercars.

Roger (Polak)from Melbourne Kart Centre asked if I'd be interested in racing for him,and as I'm not doing anything, I thought it would be a great thing to do.The Australian Leopard Final meeting has a Toyota Yaris on offer for the winner,so that was also a bit of a calling card when the drive with MKC was offered to me.

Whether I'll be competitive or not

by November is another thing, but I'll definitely get better the more races I do as the years goes on.

The guys I am racing against in the Leopard series are very good, but as I have been out of it for a while I have not heard of a lot of the guys racing, but it's a seriously competitive field and the Leopard Light class had around 40 entries on the weekend.

motorsportnews

opinion

SHOW us THE RACING ifc.

FC/CH

Former Sandown 500 winner GREG RITTER I'd heard of guys like Matt Wall, Jordie and Jace Lindstrom and Justin Schneider, but I'm sure that I'll get to know the rest soon.

I'd never been to the Hamilton circuit before the weekend but it's a very good little track and it's quite flowing. Obviously the speeds were nothing like I am used to from V8 Supercars, but it was a fun place to try and get my head around driving a kart.

I've got my head still stuck in theV8 Supercar mentality of driving and I definitely need to use a different style in the kart.

THE Motorsport News office is a great place to work at. OK, there is a notable absence of young,attractive females,and there is never enough beer in the fridge, but besides that, I love coming to work.We get to talk about race cars all day,so I guess that's a pretty cool deal.

But like any workplace,there are some heated moments. If someone doesn't clean.the kitchen,Jordan has a hissy-fit.

If there is no milk in the fridge, Branagan will come at you with something hard and heavy. And ifV8 Supercar's'reverse grid' topic gets brought up, Lambden usually spends a few extra hours at work cleaning the blood off the walls.

There is a great divide in the MNews office between those who like the reverse format, and those who don't.

Myself, I will admit that I'm a fan of the concept.The two reverse races at Pukekohe

MNews National Editor GRANT ROWLEY and Barbagallo haven't given us a true indication of if they will or won't work, but I'm all for anything that is going to improve the'spectacle'. I want tp be entertained, and watching V8 Supercars pass and bump appeals to me much more than Glendenning doing a belly dance at lunch time. Don't get me wrong, MG can shake his booty, but watching Paul Radisich and Dean Canto take a race down to the last corner is more my style...

But one thing that disappointed me with the reverse race at Barbagallo was the fact that Network 10's television broadcast failed to show us the actual racing.The format was introduced to mix up the pack and allow cars to pass other cars. Did we see any ofthat on television? Jamie Whincup

was on course to threaten the leaders, but spun off while overdoing it. The first we saw of that was in a replay some ifive or so laps later.Then,a few laps , from horrie,'Radisich started to run out of gas and Canto and ^ Steven Richards almost clouted ( him. But again, we had to watch ‘j a replay because 10 were busy j showing us Mark Skaife dance on his pedals. It was very frustrating. , If we are going to have the field's position on the grid manipulated in an effort to enhance the racing,then let us see the'raoing.The likes of Skaife and Craig Lowndes always put on a good show, but so do the Valvolines, WPSs and Briteks of .■ the world. If the reverse grid format is ever going to work, then the racing is going to have' to take precedence over the network's popular personalities.

TOYOTA'S NEW V8 (No wonder we're not invited to Bathurst)

toyGta.eorri.au

24 May 2006

29

Five minutes with

TODD KELLY

The Man in car #2 looked like The Man at Barbagallo Raceway, until he was halted three times by gearbox problems. How do you cope with things like that? PHIL BRANAGAN asked MOTORSPORT NEWSrThat looked like as good a racecar as you have had during your time at the Holden RacIngTeam. Fair comment?

TODD KELLY:The car was good last year, at times. At China and Darwin, it was the best car around.

But this [Perth] wouid have to be in the top three,for the fastest cars I have had in the past two years. It is just a shame that the results were dead last, twice, and a fourth!

What made it so good? You and Garth Tander were clearly the class of the field.

We have done a lot of work over the break.The guys have designed basically a new suspension and we started the year with that.

My car, in particular, has been used for a lot of new damper development. It has been a lot of work but it is all starting to come together. it is starting to work with an absolute minimum oftesting. Is that difficult to get your head around?

It is. You have to go into unknown territory, into places at race meetings where you should not be going. But there is nothing you can do about it.

There used to be a set-up where, with damper adjustments, for instance, we knew exactly how far to go and what would do.

Now,it is more trial-and-error, and that is hard because we do not have a lot of time, once you get into qualifying and to think about it, once you are into the race meeting.

How does that leave your approach to Fridays? Is it all a list of brand new things to try?

We don't try to confuse ourselves too much, because of that reason.

We try to get to every track this season with a really good base set-up out of the truck, so we do not want to have to try too many 'guru'things in the two-hour sessions. We need to learn how to tune the car around what we have already.

30

was get out there and prove what kind of car speed we had.

And at that point, don't forget, we had absolutely nothing to lose. I had no Ideas of being conservative, I went out and had a good hard crack at it. It was one of the most satisfying and enjoyable races I have done.

"Everything we can control we did without a single error. None" - Todd sees the positives from Barbagailo

Do you need to consider what Toll Racing is doing, now that the two teams are grouped?

Yes, but not that much.You would be surprised how much,or actually, how little ...

To actually put'their'settings on 'our'cars, the cars would have to be absolutely identical. When we make the same change that they do, it would not really work with our cars, if it has different springs, bars and roll centres, and so on.

We learned that two years ago, with Skaifey; we need to go our own way and not concentrate on what anyone else is doing. When we do that, we tend to go a little better than we might otherwise.

If we are lost, yes, we can look at what Skaifey and the others are up to. But we prefer to do all our own engineering.The day you start copying what other people are doing, you are in it, in it deep.

The gearbox problem -for the record, the same problem all three times?

Yes,the exact same problem. It was stuck in third gear; I have been saying it was fourth but it wasn't, it was stuck in third, getting stuck on the fourth to fifth change.

How do you put something like that in the background, when you have the same problem three times in one weekend?

We have a few things to try in testing,some things we have done with the gearbox. It should not happen again.

It was pretty difficult in the last race, on every gear change, I was waiting for it to happen again.

While you were waiting, you were going like an absolute blur. How did it feel to go from dead last to nearly the front?

It was great. I had built up a bit of steam, which I had to get rid of after the first two races, and I was obviously a little bit angry having the speed we did and not being able to use It. So all I wanted to do

Is it liberating when you can, as you say, drive like that with nothing to lose?

As far as the weekend was concerned, it made the weekend a success. Everything we can control - the car set-up, race strategy, my driving - we did without a single error. None. Judging our performance,the weekend was a success.The gearbox thing was out of our control. If it [last to fourth] had not happened in the final race, it would have been an average weekend,at best.

Two bad rounds, does that'release' you to blaze out there for the rest of the year?

From Adelaide,from qualifying on the Friday, we knew that we had good cars. I am not stressing, thinking that the championship is over, by any means.

I am 13th and it is early days.

I have been in worse positions; I have been 25th later than this and finished up fourth in the championship. We are chasing a championship and, with the car we have, I reckon it is still within reach.

You do not want to be that far back, sure, but for me, 1 reckon it is a good thing. I have been in positions where I was first, second or third and I was going into each round conservatively. I do not race very well, conservatively.That is when you get involved in all the crap that happens around you.

I want to go and race from behind.This is not all bad, we are not fussed about where we are.

The mindset is better; i operate better on the "let's go and get'em" approach to motor racing.That works better for me.

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DEAN CANT

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After his reverse grid race win at Barbagallo, qualifying speed is all Dean Canto needs to threaten the leaders on a regular basis. GRANT ROWLEY asked how he Is going to do it MOTORSPORT NEWS:You take the wins when you can, but did the reverse grid format take any shine off your win at Barbagallo last weekend?

DEAN CANTO: I guess that depends who is looking at it.

You're obviously starting up further than you were in the first race, and you've got guys in front who are a bit slower, but it's still a fair effort.

We passed (Greg) Murphy, Steven Richards was behind me and (Paul) Radisich is no slug. I think we did pretty good in the company that we were in. I didn't expect there to be such a big gap between us and the next group of cars. We were a good margin in front of them.

It's still great to get a win, both for myself and the team. It's been a while for GRM,so it was nice to give the boys that.

It's tricky.The win is obviously something that you work for, regardless of the situation. You take them when you can get them. Our lap times during the race were really good. It was just our qualifying performance that put us towards the back. If we had started where I should have qualified, then the result of the weekend would have been totally different. We'll take the win and move on.

It's not that we have to find a lot of speed, but a tenth here and a tenth there makes a big difference over a race distance. It can be the difference between 20th and 10th.

Does a result like this give yourself and the team a bit more confidence?

Yes. We've had good pace this year. Adelaide was a strong showing for us,the New Zealand round wasn't, but that was due to the reverse grid race.

We've been working pretty hard after test days and between rounds. We've had new components going on the cars, and we've tried more things during our tests[ED: Canto and Holdsworth tested their GRM Commodores at Winton on Monday and Tuesday].The guys are working pretty hard in a lot of areas and spending more money than they have in the past.

You've been associated with a few teams now.What are,some of the strengths and weaknesses of GRM? They are a very close-knit team,their pit stops are great and everyone gets along really well.They build a reliable car.

Mechanical problems don't seem to happen at all.

I don't think they have too many weak points.They don't have the budget of some of the other outfits. As far as technology goes,they are stepping that up at the moment. I wouldn't say there are any weak spots. We obviously have to go a bit faster in qualifying, but we are working on it.

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Qualifying is something that we really need to concentrate on.

We have to push, push, push. I'm pretty sure the results will improve from there.

"The guys are working pretty hard & spending more money them they have in the past**

- Dean Canto is confident that GRM can turn a reverse grid race win into outright speed

I FORb e^ FORD

Marshall Cass

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As you say, the cars are showing good race pace, but both yourself and Holdsworth are outside the top 20 in the series. Has that shifted your expectations for the rest of the year?

It's hard to make up the ground that we've lost. Adelaide hurt us.

We were looking good to come away from therewith a top 10.The New Zealand crash was no fault of our own,and again I was turned around at Barbagallo. We've been unlucky so far, and I hope all our bad luck is out of our system.

What are the problems you are having in qualifying?

We need to find a bit more out of our'green'tyres. We don't seem to get the green tyre advantage that everyone else gets. And I'm still getting used to the vehicle. 1 haven't driven a Holden in a while and its taken a bit of a new driving style to get the most out of it.

Another thing you've had to adjust to is that last year, you won five of the seven rounds in the Development Series. Now you are playing in a different league, how have you dealt with that adjustment?

I knew what to expect in the main series. I've been here before and I know what its like. We've had a couple of disappointing results, but I'm just going to cop it on the chin and press on.

Have you come back to the main series as a better driver?

Yeah, definitely. I was probably a little reckless in my first year. I made a couple of errors back then.

Every move I make these days is a lot more calculated.

motorsportnews

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The name Tenske' has the same kind of resonance in the US that Ferrari enjoys in Formula One, and never moreso than during May: Indy month. MARY BIGNOTTI MENDEZ explores one of motorsport’s greatest teams

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HE name Penske is synonymous with perfection, precision,and preparation. It is the team to beat. Penske is the most feared name by its rivals, and yet it's the team everyone else tries to emulate.

Known as'The Captain', Roger Penske is in his 39th indy car racing season, having amassed 126 victories (including 13 at the famed Indy 500), 11 National Championships and 156 pole positions to date. Penske's IndyCar team is by far the most successful in US open-wheel history.

"Roger expects perfection," explained Rusty Wallace, who recently retired after 15 seasons and 37 victories with Penske's NASCAR Cup team.

"He's a wonderful man to bounce ideas off of. You look at the finish of his cars.The final product is so precise, the sanding of the paint,the colors, the rivets are totally flush. Everything is perfect, it's that last little two or three percent which makes the difference."

Ohio-born Penske,69,competed professionally as a road racer at from 1958 until 1965. In 1960, Penske was voted Sports Illustrated magazine's Driver of the Year. Upon his professional driving retirement in 1966 to focus on developing business interests,Team Penske was launched. Penske found success with driver Mark Donohue,competing in the USRRC,Can-Am and Trans-Am series, culminating in a number of championships. In 1969,Penske entered Donohue in its first Indy 500 event and developed a love for the month long Indianapolis Motor Speedway challenge "Winning the Indy 500 is the ultimate for me,"said Penske, in spite of his team's varied history in ALMS, FI, FIA/Endurance, F5000 and NASCAR. "This is the greatest race in the world. I look forward to it every year and set my schedule around Indy.There are always questions, answers, and decisions to be made on the spot rather than wait two to three hours or even a day."

Penske never underestimates the competition, especially at Indy, where this year all drivers will have the same Honda engine.Teams must plan carefully to utilise only two engines, one practice and qualifying engine capable of 1200 miles and a fresh engine for the 500 mile race.

"In the old days we had turbines, V8s,four or five different chassis manufacturers,"explains Penske.

"Now,the rules require everyone to run the same engine,gearbox, we have two chassis, and you're limited to what you can do to your wings (aerodynamically). We can't be innovative. What they've done to reduce cost is to reduce creativity, which drives the competition closer and closer."

Just as savvy as a businessman, Penske's enviable success has resulted in a corporate empire from his humble beginnings as the owner of a Philadelphia Chevrolet dealership. Eventually, he founded the Penske Corporation, a diversified transportation services company which currently employs 34,000 people worldwide and exceeds US $17B in revenues. It's subsidiaries include UnitedAuto Group(277 automobile franchises - 172 U.S. based),Penske Automotive Group (six specialty retailers in California including Longo Toyota,the largest U.S. dealership with 25,000 annual vehicles sales), Penske Truck Leasing (over 200,000 vehicles in Europe, North, and South America), Penske Logistics and Penske Performance, Inc. Today, Penske Performance, Inc. comprises three motorsport

operations, competing in the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series, the American Le Mans Series(LMP2 class) and both the NASCAR Cup and Busch series.

When the timehecame Penske to the hand over the keysbuilder to his racing operations, hiredfor Tim Cindric, son of engine Carl Cindric, to become President of Penske Performance, Inc. in 2000.

The tall, baby-faced Cindric forfeited a potential basketball scholarship when he missed his high school's state tournament due to an ankle injury. Without basketball in his future, Cindric aimed at a career in racing by obtaining a mechanical engineering degree from Indiana's RoseHulman Institute.

He started atTruesports(CART race team owned by Jim Trueman) in 1992, which was soon purchased by Bobby Rahal and Carl Hogan.Cindric was promoted to Team Manager in 1994 and had some interaction with Penske when Rahal's team loaned Penske cars to qualifying on the second weekend for the 1995 Indy 500.

"My goal even as a kid was to work for Roger Penske,"Cindric explained.

"During my childhood, I spent the month of May sitting in the Tower Terrace(grandstands)at the Speedway. Roger looked a lot like my father, but what I really remember is the way his teams were presented. Roger had no idea I had always wanted to work forTeam Penske."

Penske called Cindric at home on a weeknight in 1999 stating what he had in mind to revamp his team and asked if Cindric was interested in running his organisation. Cindric flew to New York to meet Penske the next day, and they continued to meet late at night at Roger's hotel during race weekends to see if there was a good fit.

I was happy where I was, but this was something I wanted to try,"said Cindric. . ^ n "I wanted to truly contribute to the organisation and notjust be Penske's voice, like a puppet. Although I haven't done a lot of engineering, I speak the language. I always wanted to be a race engineer or a team mainager by the time I was 35.1 was a team manager by 26

"I learned very early on that you don't say'y@ can’t' or 'it caifll be done to Penske^ -Penske Performance president Tim Cindric

and I advanced to what I feel is the best racing organisation in the world by 35. 1 have been very fortunate to have great mentors. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't in racing."

"I learned very early on that you don't say'you can't','we can't', or 'it can't be done'to Penske.I've learned to think way outside the box. Everything is possible.

What do we need, no matter how outlandish the answer? If someone tells Roger 'it can't be done', he'll drop everything he's doing to show it can be done."

Being younger, there were Penske employees skeptical of their new boss.

Cindric had to convince them he wasn't trying to do their jobs, but to better enable them.

"I'm trying to contribute beyond what existed before,to give direction without waiting. I have to know when to pick up the phone to call Roger and when to handle it myself.

Cindric was promoted at the end of 2005 to oversee all of Penske's racing operations,the IndyCar team, ALMS and NASCAR, which will all be based in the Mooresville, North Carolina facility this spring with the closing of the Reading, Pennsylvania open-wheel operation.

"Communication is the key to any good organisation,"explained Cindric. m trying to learn now how to communicate to 300 employees from 60. Roger has over 30,000 employees,so he doesn't understand my apprehensions.

"The biggest motivator of people is to know you have a chance to win and be successful. Finding the right people, what Roger calls'human capital', is your biggest asset. I like to find people with the right attitude and some common skills. We can teach them the rest. We like to make the Penske organisation very difficult to get into as well as difficult to leave."

Cindric relishes the accomplishment of winning the Indy 500 in 2001 with a 12 finish, in what was Penske's first year back after missing the race in 1995. As an engine builder, his father never achieved a 500 victory from 1969 to 1991. But Cindric's most emotional moment was Penske's 100th win in Nazareth in 2000.

"Although it was my first win with the team,the one thing that was so great, was seeing Roger spray champagne in Victory Circle and how much fun he had. continued on page 36

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"Retirement is not a word Roger understands.

Racing is Roger's passion; it's his golf game."

PENSKE SOUTH & THE TJU MJiHJiL ALWAYS planning far,far ahead,Penske purchased 105 acres that once housed Matsushita Compressor Corp. of America,in Mooresville, North Carolina,for US$7m.

The two buildings on the site total 424,697 sq.ft.The teams and administrative offices occupy 240,781 sq.ft.That's eight acres under one roof.The other building houses the wind tunnel facility. The original buildings were gutted, with crews working in two shifts seven days a week.

"This facility is much more than a race shop,"said Penske Racing South President Don Miller.

"It is a factory that is as functional as it is beautiful. It's a structural work of art."

Penske Racing South has over 8700 sq. ft. in its engineering department, 17 surface plates, three paint booths,three body prep stations, a rapid prototyping department,and an aero scale model shop. Designed to be fan-friendly, a 330 foot Fan Walk provides the opportunity to view race car preparations, see the team's history displayed, and visit the 4986 sq.ft. gift shop. Joining Penske Technology Group,the wind tunnel facility in the smaller building is Penske Cars, Ltd. Although currently located in Poole, England, Penske Cars - a stand alone facility which can design and build a complete race car with the latest composite technology - is moving to Penske South, bringing all racing operations into one location.

This state-of-the-art facility provides efficiencies of scale, allowing integration of efforts, and the understanding as to how others do business.The Reading, Pennsylvania-based IndyCarteam with its 75 employees is closing at the end of the 2006 racing season and moving to Penske South to join the NASCAR and ALMS teams.

On the Nextei Cup side, Penske has picked up Kurt Busch - already a Cup and IROC champion - a year ahead of his originally-scheduled arrival date of 2007 after coming to 'undisclosed terms' with Roush Racing to release the 27-year-old early as a replacement for the retiring Rusty Wallace.

He joined team-mate Ryan Newman,28, who has already racked up 12 Cup wins in just over four seasons.

Both car and engines are built in-house at Penske Racing South.

Each driver runs Busch races in addition to their Cup program since there is less testing allowed and the cars are very similar.The Busch Grand National program also serves to develop personnel and new sponsors.

"We build the cars, so there are templates we have to deal with,"said Penske.

"Our motor program is as good or better than anyone's over the last four or five years. We've had a tough time getting some of the aerodynamics right, but we've certainly been competitive. We had two cars in the Chase last year.This year, you're going to see a lot more out of the two drivers we have. We won six Busch races last year; two races this year, one Busch and a Cup race. I would say a lot of guys would like to be in our position."

Although rumours have circulated that Toyota will be in Penske's Cup cars in 2007, likely because Penske owns the largest Toyota dealership in the U.S., Cindric set the record straight.

"We are committed to the Dodge people," he said.

"We've had a long-term agreement after our switch from Ford.You'll see us in a Dodge next year."

- MARY BIGNOTTI MENDEZ 36

Cindric with his boss, below, who is apparently in no hurry to quit

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continued from page 35 With almost 700 hours of combined crew experience, drivers have every confidence driving for Marlboro Team Penske.

"I have a fantastic team behind me that I can trust and know that we have all the resources to win,"said two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.

"Marlboro Team Penske is the winningest team at the Indy 500 and ; in IndyCar racing,"stated Sam Hornish,two-time IRL champion before joining Team Penske."The cars have been bullet-proof over the past three years. As far as ovals go, we've been perfect. But we can't get over confident because at Indy, anything can happen."

"We go into every race thinking that we should win if we execute,"said Cindric."And,that's not because we're overconfident, but because Roger gives us the resources and we have the top drivers."

Regarding the possibility of Penske retiring, Cindric says,"Retirement is not a word Roger understands. Roger feels if he can get there, then he'll be there. Racing is Roger's passion; it's his golf game. I handle the details so that he can enjoy the participation and the stage."

Roger Penske has helped make many drivers household names: Mark Donohue, Emerson Fittipaldi, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, and Al, Bobby and Al Unser Jr. And,on the business side, his name commands respect, serving on a number of corporate boards. Penske became chairman of Superbowl XL held in Detroit last January where,in spite of doubts,the city not only received a facelift but crime was significantly reduced.

Although Penske is said to have the 'unfair advantage', he makes that advantage himself,following his father's motto,"Effort Equals Results".

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PENSKE’S PORSCHES

PORSCHE formed an alliance with Team Penske to develop reliability and contest the 2006 ALMS LMP2 class, with plans to sell cars to other competitors next year.

Penske Racing debuted its Porsche RS Spyder at the October 2005 Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway (California) event, capturing the LMP2 class pole and victory in its maiden effort. But to date,teething problems followed at both events in 2006, including electrical, gearbox, drive-line failures.

Full season drivers are Germany's Sasha Maassen and Lucas Luhr in the #6 and Porsche factory drivers Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, below, in the #7 cars.

"It's been great working with Roger Penske and Tim Cindric,"said American Patrick Long,the 2005 ALMS GT2 Champion, who competes for Penske at the longer events.

"They are so hands-on and great guys.

They're actually heroes of mine because I grew up watching them at Indy.They have been so successful in what they've done."

The 10-race American Le Mans Series is a North American (U.S. and Canada) series based on its roots from the revered 24 Hours of Le Mans(racing under the rules of the Automobile Club de I'Ouest)

with a unique format of four sports car classes competing head to head. Entries require two drivers (three drivers for longer events)to help each other in and out of the car during pit stops as well as securing their safety belts.

Within the race an added dimension of difficulty is that the drivers must navigate past other sports car classes with varying top speeds in races from 2 hours 45 min, 1000 miles, or a 12 hour event.

The LMP1 (Le Mans Prototype) class is a prototype with a minimum weight of 925 kg and capable of speeds greater than 320kmh from engines producing 600700 hp such as the Audi R10.The LMP2 class prototypes have a minimum weight of 775 kg, speeds 180 - 200 mph from 500-550 hp.

The GT1 (Grand Touring) class is a highly modified, production-based car with 600 -650 hp, minimum weight of 1125 kg, and speeds from 310-315 kmh, including Aston Martin, Corvette, Ferrari 550,and Maserati.

The GT2 production based sports cars are have the same minimum weight requirement with 450-500 hp, reaching speeds up to 180 mph in BMW M3, Ferrari 430. Panoz Esperanto, and Porsche 911.

- MARY BIGNOTTI MENDEZ

Located at our-impressive new facility in Campbellfieid, FORD PERFORMANCE RACING ("FPR") has three (3) vacancies.

These key roles will suit those who seek <ra challenge and strive for excellence in their field, producing highly competitive cars for the team's V8 Supercar program.

SENIOR DESIGN ENGINEER - Ref No; FPR 02 This position will be a key role to progress our in-house car development program.

The successful candidate must be CAD literate, preferably in IDEAS VI0 and highly experienced in motorsport. An understanding of vehicle dynamics & previous experience in trackside engineering would be an advantage.

Sound knowledge of materials, tolerances, drawing practice, welding, fabrication & heat & surface treatment processes are also required.

Tertiary qualifications will be favourable.

RACE ENGINE BUILDER/ DEVELOPMENT TECHNICIAN - Ref No: FPR 04 FPR requires an experienced Race Engine Builder for our expanding engine program. The right person will have the "will to win" & be part of a highly motivated team that is moving to the front of the V8 Supercar field.

The successful applicant will enjoy a very competitive salary package whilst working from:one of the best equipped race shops in the country. The position requires you to be familiar with V8 engines & be able to work to exacting tolerances, follow direction & attend race meetings as required.

Experience operating & servicing an Engine Dynomometer & tuning using MoTec M48 ECU would be a distinct advantage.

FABRICATOR -Ref No: FPR 05

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FPR requires a highly skilled fabricator. You will need a minimum of 2 years experience in the manufacture of motorsport products. You must have trade qualifications & TIG welding certificates.

Light engineering/sheet metal, chassis/roll cage preparation experience preferred but not essential.

As a fabricator you will be responsible for the fabrication of chassis, as well as suspension & cooling system components.

All candidates must be flexible, enthusiastic & eager to work in the demanding motorsport industry.

If you want to be part of one of the best race teams in Australia, please apply in writing quoting the position reference numbers, stating all relevant qualifications & experience via email to; nkeith@fpr.com.au orfax:-F6l (0)3 9300 7336 24 May 2006

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It wasa normalday like any other- untilan invitation to fly to Bahrain to testa Formula BMWand an array ofBMWroad cars appeared on the desk.Hey it would have been rude to say no.

ByMARKGLENDENNING

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H, brilliant. I feel like my collarbones have been broken. It's hard to breathe. And I haven't even started the engine yet.

Mike Strotmann, BMW driving instructor and head of the BMW driving centre in Valencia, is straddling the nose of the Formula BMW FB02 that I'm sitting in'. Car #3,just like Dale Earnhardt, Kimi Raikkonen and Jason Richards.

Strotmann grabs the two straps sitting over my shoulders and gives them a hard yank.Then he does it again. He's a strong guy, and every time he does it I feel like I am trying to give a fat person a piggy-back.

"OK?" he asks. I can't answer because the sudden tightening of the belts has momentarily forced all of the air out of my lungs,so I give him the thumbs up and he wanders off to inflict similar pain on the GerrnanTV presenter sitting in the car behind me.

The sensation passes quickly, but that could be because 1 have been distracted by a new discomfort. It's hot. Really hot.The ambient temperature is 38 degrees centigrade,just as it had been for the past two days.

There's a cool, gentle breeze blowing in from the sea,just 3km away, but the gigantic grandstand is buffering it nicely. And at any rate, even if the stands weren't there the wind would have to get through a carbon-fibre monocoque, a Sparco racesuit, a fireproof balaclava and a helmet to get to me. It doesn't stand a chance.

I'm still pondering this when Strotmann reappears and twirls his index finger in the air. It's game time..

Firing a Formula BMW up is relatively simple - there are three switches to the left of the steering wheel, and when you flick them all on,things start getting noisy. It's pretty much fool-proof.There is a fourth button, a big, invitinglooking red one, but that activates the fire extinguishers.

Mechanics hate it when people who are not on fire press that button.

With three flicks of the switches, I pop the car into first, add a bit of throttle, ease off the clutch - and stall.

Mercifully, Formula BMWs are very forgiving things, so if you just stay on the clutch and push the ignition button

38

again, chances are you'll be on your way.This time, it worked,and I rolled away with 5.42km of the Bahrain International Circuit stretched out ahead of me, waiting to be my own little playground.

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s well as hosting the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix and, later this year, the first Middle Eastern round of the V8 Supercar series, the Bahrain International Circuit is home to one of two BMW Racing Centres (the other being the aforementioned facility in Valencia). Under the same roof is a BMW DriverTraining Centre. My brief was pretty simple: I had two days to sample both,so go and grab a car and get started.

Overseeing the whole thing is Paul Spooner, an expat Brit who now co-ordinates Bahrain's BMW Performance Centre, with assistance from fellow instructors Mike, a UK-based Canadian, andTariq, a Bahraini with a clipped English accent and racing CV that suggests a fair bit of time spent elsewhere.

It's kind of hard to concentrate when you're sitting in a room with a world-leading race circuit expanding out into the desertjust outside the window and a garage full of race cars under your feet, but before we are allowed anywhere near those, we've got a day in an assortment of BMW 3 Series,5 Series and - thank you, God - a shoal of M3s, complete with FI-style paddle-shifters behind the steering wheel.

Yet even those are off-limits to begin with.The Driving Centre is a school first and foremost,so the day starts in the classroom.

Spooner has quite a diverse bunch of students to work with.There are about a dozen of us, and almost the entire group are German.

Sprinkled amongst the motoring journalists are a few radio and TV presenters, and a German model who raises eyebrows for all sorts of reasons, not least because she initially seemed hell-bent on driving in a pair of six-inch heels.(She swapped shoes, and later had the last laugh when she hosed us all in a steering drill).

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We start off with a quick theory session focusing on braking, and then we're led out to try putting what we've just learned into action.

It's not until you start exploring the full capacity of the brakes in a road car that you realise how rarely you actually get a chance to use them in that way - which is probably a good thing, when you think about it.

We start off fairly simply by slamming on the anchors at a set spot from increasingly high speeds, and over the course of the day additional elements are introduced to involve steering. We also make regular rotations through the various models of car that we have available to that we can see for ourselves how different, say, a 5 Series and a M3 are under braking.

Our cars are fitted with a decent arsenal of driver aids.The ABS is de rigeur on high-end cars these days, but we've also got BMW's DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) and traction control systems to play with.

It was pretty much impossible to spin the car.

The morning ended with a few timed runs through a slalom course, where I managed a modest finish somewhere around the midfield.

That's OK. I was saving myselffor the afternoon. As soon as we got lunch out of the way, we were going onto the racetrack.

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ven in a standard-sized road car like an M3,sitting on the grid at Bahrain feels like you've parked in a canyon.The track is wide - really, really wide - and you've got the grandstands rearing up over you to the left, and the pit complex doing the same thing on the right. Even in mid-afternoon, most of that part of the track is in shadow.

Once again, we begin gently. Spooner and Co seem to think that it is a good idea that everyone knows how to take a corner before the let us loose in race cars, so we're drilled through a series of runs through turn one, with instructors stationed inside the apex taking note of what we're all doing.

Getting through the corner is not in itself a problem -from a standing start on pole position, the cars never get a chance to reach anything close to their top speed before they get to turn one,and with all the electronics that they have on board, you'd need to do something fairly dramatic to get out of shape.

Getting through the corner on the correct line is another thing altogether, and for the first few runs I seem hell-bent on going 24 May 2006

through too wide before finally I manage to tighten things up and get the car positioned somewhere close to where it should be.

From there, there's only one thing left to do - get rid of the cones that have been placed across the track at turn two,and send us out onto the full circuit. In part, this is meant to be our chance to put everything that we've learned into practice.

But it's more than that. It's reconnaissance. Next time we drive on this bit of tarmac, we'll be in open-wheelers.

Regrettably, it's soon time to call it across a day. We say of goodbye to oursuites road cars in pitlane, and walkthrough to one the paddock where we're confronted by a small room packed to the rafters with racesuits, helmets, gloves and shoes. A couple of cheerful hours spent hammering around the track had already left everyone in a pretty good mood, but things turn up a further notch when it's time to get kitted up.

After half an hour or so, everyone has managed to find a set of gear that fits. If you can ignore a couple of slightly rotund bellies, we all look like racing drivers. At last, we are led back across to the pits and into a garage to be introduced to the BMW FB02, The first meeting is fairly cordial.The cars have all been loosely set up according to different driver sizes, so to begin with it is simply a matter of finding a car that is comfortable, and then working out whether you need any extra foam inserts to make it a little more snug. A few of my colleagues find themselves wielding three or four pieces offoam, but I get off fairly lightly - one thin piece slipped down the back is fine, although if I had my time again I probably would have asked for something to be put behind the small of my back. Oh well, you live and learn.

If we are going to drive the earthen it is probably helpful to know how to get in and out of it. Flappily, this is fairly straightforward.You need to remove the steering wheel, which is a simple matter of pulling a release catch, and then you Just kind of wriggle down. I'm not the world's most graceful person,so I am terrified that I won't be capable of swinging my leg over the sidepod without kicking a mirror or the windscreen into the next garage. But the Gods are smiling on me,and I swing myself into the car with an elegance that would have done Nureyev proud.

At this point, with the car sitting quietly in a garage, it was easy to look like I knew what I was doing.Tomorrow would be different. continued on page 40 39

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BREMKIHC GROUND MOTORSPORT NEWS:Can you talk me through the pros and cons of running a driving and racing school in a place \with no motor racing background?

PAUL SPOONER: I think the pluses way out-weigh the negatives.

We're on the ground, and we're the first people in the region that are training drivers, both for safety and for motorsport.

And that's an incredible challenge. You get to try to lead a whole culture, and a whole sport, and try to get them to do it the right way. And the goal is that at some point in the coming years hopefully sooner rather than later - we produce more and more Arab champions,and hopefully get guys into the operational arms of motor racing as well.

The challenge is that you are the first person to do it.'Why do I need to be a safer road driver? What's this all about? What's the fun in driving around a race track?'That's the challenge, the education of the market.

IVIN: Given that this is happening right across this part of the world, I guess Bahrain's central location within the Gulf is an advantage to you?

PS: Fifty percent of our clients are Saudi.That is a huge market. For one thing,the causeway is there. But I think it's something like 70 percent of the Saudi population is males aged 18-30. It's a huge percentage. It's ridiculous. It's a very young country; it's not like Europe where the populations are getting much older.

There is wealth, and there is a huge interest in cars. And in Saudi, they are pretty restricted in the things they can do - there are shopping malls that you and I can't go to. You're not allowed in unless you are with your wife or family. Not even your girlfriend, because that wouldn't happen in public anyway.So there are familyonly shopping centres.There are so many things you can't do. Ladies are not allowed to drive on the road.

But it is seen that cars and motorsport are not taboo things, so it is something that they can get into and enjoy and have fun with. It's not seen as a negative.

MN:You've already had some success in farming young Bahrainis out into the wider motorsport world ...

PS: For the first Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004,1 was asked to find three Bahraini to put into the Formula BMW Asia Championship because that was going to be the first round of the championship for Asia, and a support for the Formula One Grand Prix. So for the first race, they wanted to have three Bahraini race drivers.

But I only got asked a couple of weeks before the race! So I spoke to some people and found some of the best young karters, and we did something on the little kart track - it's not very nice, but we figured out who might have some ability. We rushed them off to Spain and spent five days in Valencia with them and then rushed back.

We arrived back late on the Thursday night,fitted them to cars, made seats and everything else, and the next day, they went motor racing. And they didn't finish last!They did alright for their first race.

By the end of that year, two of those gentlemen were scoring podiums. One didn't continue last year through family commitments and his job,though he wanted to. But of the other two,one won the Formula BMW Asia championship and the other guy was third.

This year, the gentleman that didn't continue came back and is now doing Formula BMW Asia.The one that finished third, Hamid Al Fardan, is doing the Formula Renault V6 series in Asia, and the Champion,Salman Bin Rashid Al Khalifa, is doing the Formula Renault Euro Series and French Series.

40

continued from page 39 (didn't spin,in thank God. When was sitting the FB02 waitingI to go out onto the Bahrain International Circuit for the first time,that was the thing that I had been most worried about.

Prior to Bahrain I had driven two other open-wheelers in my life - a F4000 at Winton,and a Formula Ford at Calder. And on both occasions, I looped it.This time, it looks like the two days of training had paid dividends. I still wasn't close to being a real race driver, but at the very least I had some idea of how to drive the thing in and out of a corner.

But,just as the previous day in the road cars, it was a slow - build to get to that point.There was a wildly disparate range of experience and ability across the group of drivers, and the instructors had to find a way of making sure that everybody was at a relatively similar level before we were let loose.

The only way to do that was to start from zero. Luckily, Formula BMWs are fairly easy things to get your head around. Gears are selected sequentially with a n thumb-sized lever down by your right knee, and there are nice big rev lights across the top of the steering wheel to tell you when to do it. LED readouts on the

wheel tell you which of the six gears you're currently in and how fast you're going, and you get full steering lock at 180 degrees.

Getting neutral is slightly trickier, and requires downshifting from first while pulling a lever buried down on the left side of the cockpit. Downshift once more from there and you'll find reverse, but thankfully I never needed to try that out.

The brakes are fantastic, although with none of the electronic aids that we had on the road cars, both they and the throttle require a slightly more deft touch.

The cars also have a 2D data system on board that registers pretty much everything that the car and driver does. I only learned at the end of the day that these were being monitered, which was a bit of a bummer as 1 thought I had gotten away with grabbing fourth instead of second at turn 7 without anyone noticing ...

So once again we were eased into things,starting with a small loop that took in the main straight, turn one,and then a U-turn to take you back down pitlane in the wrong direction to set you up for another U-turn onto the straight continued on page 42

motorsport news

future

OVER

YOU

BOTH the BMW Driver Training Centre and the Formula BMW Racing Centre in Bahrain are open to anybody who fancies a steer around the Sakhir circuit.

The things you find on a desertisland: Glendenning adjusts to life on the other side ofthepitlane control line, above, but not before he has put a few ofBMW's roadies through their paces, below and left.

The Driving Centre essentially offers customised programs on an individual basis, depending upon the size of the group and the kinds of things that they want to cover. About the only restriction is that the group sizes are capped at 18.

The Racing Centre, meanwhile, offers one of the very few genuine bargains in motorsport.To turn up and drive a car for a weekend costs just 300 Bahraini dinar.That's just under $1100. And no, we haven't left a zero off. Obviously,some cost-cutting measures have been taken -the engines are rev-limited,the tyres are new-ish rather than new,cars are shared and there are penalties for spinning. But on the flipside, you are given constant coaching and feedback.

I'll save you from doing the maths. At $1100 a pop,a young driver could fly to Bahrain and pay for a couple of nights accomodation three or four times in a year, and pay the same as they would for one round of open-wheel racing in Australia.

If I was a karter looking at stepping up, I'd be looking at this very closely...

Check www.bmw-performance-bahrain.com for further information.

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24 May 2006

CENTRE

Beneath The Skin The FB02 at a glance Engine: Model 123EA (based on BMW K Fornui 1200 RS motorcycle engine)

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Gearbox: Hewland FTR 200 Tyres: Michelin Wheels:OZ Racing,front 8"x13", rear 10"13' , Shocks:Sachs SP3 Suspension:Individual via double wishbone with pushrod Length:3975mm

I Width:1740mm

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n / TJ.ll I Jf

Height980mm Front Track 1537mm Rear Track 146mm Weight:455kg

continued from page 40 I COULD sit here and describe what a FBMW feels like around Bahrain - or, I could get someone who knows what they're doing to do it for me.

Aussie BMW Development driver.Michael Patrizi is currently racing in the Formula BMW UK Championship, but last year he finished third at Bahrain as a rookie in the Formula BMW Asia series. Here's the car and track from his perspective: "it is a car that weighs about 520kg and has about 140 bhp, so the power-to-weight is pretty good",said Patrizi, above.

"The lower-end and mid range speed is really good; the car picks up speed really quickly.The top speed plateaus out though - they've kept the speed down for the young drivers that are coming in.

"The car is a lot like an F3 car with less power but more mechanical grip. Actually, the car is probably over-gripped, and the reason BMW has done 42

that is to make it easy for drivers to adaptfrom karting.They can jump in and get used to the car quickly.

"The cars need a smooth driving style, because you have so much grip.The power is not as great as it could be,so you need to go really hard under brakes, release early, the car will roll through the corner, and then because you have so much grip available you just use one throttle application to power away, "in terms of the track, Bahrain is funny - in some ways it is an easy circuit, but it is also a ballsy circuit.The track is really wide, but you have to push yourself, you have to have the confidence to use it all.

"Actually, the best advice I'd give about Bahrain is not to use the whole circuit, because it's so wide. You can make up a lot of time just by not using the full width of the track, in a car like a Formula BMW,the Bahrain track feels like it goes forever."

for a chat with an instructor before beginning another run.

This was one of those moments that highlighted the difference between learning from books and learning from experience. I knew all about the heel-and-toe technique that you use when downshifting.(Just as you press the clutch and push the gear lever forward, you twist your foot slightly so that it tags the throttle, momentarily blipping the engine as you grab the lower gear). But I had never actually tried to do it before, and to begin with, it wasn't pretty.

I'm not going to pretend that my downchanges ever reached a point where I'd have described them as'smooth', but they did become considerably smoother. Oddly,they seemed to get better the less I thought about them, which was nice, as it gave me the freedom to concentrate on screwing up something different.

Finally, after lots and lots of drills and a few exploratory laps behind an instructor in a road car, we were uncorked.The engines, which had previously been wound down to 7000rpm, were turned up to 8000(400 less than the Driving Centre cars at Bahrain normally run, and 1000 lower than the Formula BMW Championship cars).

There was just one rule - overtaking was not allowed except under acceleration, and only on the straights. No diving in under brakes.

Spooner checked one last time that we were all clear on this. We nodded.

A twirl of the finger, a flick of the switch, a burst of noise and then, if you managed not to stall it, a burst of acceleration.This is what we came here for.

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Formula BMW has tiny wings, but it generates a massive amount of mechanical grip.The more you lean on it, the more it gives you. For the uninitiated such as myself,the biggest thrill over the first few laps came from pushing the car through one of the quick sweeping sections

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feature I W

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flOlDN GLOVES

PRICES START AS LOW AS S69

after turns four and 11, and feeling it dig in.

I almost managed to take the sequence between turns 11 and 13 flat, but I was too tight through turn 12 and ended up running slightly wide over the top of the hill, easing the car back to where it should be just before I hit the ripple strip.

Slowly, lap after lap, the track began to change from a series of independent corners connected by quick squirts on the throttle to something resembling a single,flowing line, it wasn't perfect, but it was close enough to give me an appreciation of what it must feel like when you know what you're doing.

Getting the sequence leading into turn 10 right is especially satisfyting. although it took me a while to get to that point.There are a few different lines that you can use as you slam down the hill and prepare for the hard left onto the back straight, and I think I tried all of them - not neccessarily intentionally. Still, it's probably the best part of the circuit. but the V8 Supercars will never get a chance to find out as they have opted to chop that bit out when they visit in November. i'd been swooping around swapping the lead with a German guy when,sadly, the chequer came out. With no visible means of driving the car out of the circuit and escaping with it undetected, I coasted back to the pits and got out for the last time.

But I still had one lasttasteof the FI lifestyle ahead. Most of my colleagues were flying back to Europe later that evening, but I had a lot further to go, and was leaving in Just a couple of hours.

While it meant that I would miss out on a last meal with everyone else at the frankly stunning Ritz-Carlton Hotel, I did get to perform the trick of leaping out of the car, throwing on a set of civvies, shaking hands with everyone - the team did a greatjob - and running downstairs, where a luxurious 7 Series driven by a guy who called me Mr Mark was waiting to glide me to the airport.

Bahrain is a hell of a long way to go for a weekend. But if it means doing this all over again, then I'll be back in a heartbeat.

24 May 2006

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AUTIOUS and calculated tactics were standard practice in the third round oftheVS Supercar Championship Series at Barbagallo Raceway, so it came as a surprise that the round was ultimately won by an aggressive and brave reverse grid strategy by Steven Richards and his Jack Daniel's team.

Richards scored his second win in-a-row at Barbagallo Raceway, the fifth of his career, despite not actually winning a race at the West Australian venue.

His Race 2 performance was clearly the catalyst for his round success. Richards stayed out longer than any other front runner, risking the chance of Safety Car

v8 supercars which everyone thought would be inevitable. With clean air and a fast car, Richo eventually finished the race in second place. Even though the reverse gridder is only worth half points,the gamble had paid off.

"We had already shown a little bit ofform earlier this year at the Grand Prix but it's always nice to cap off a championship round win.

They are the important ones," he said after the race.

"It would have been nice to have a win, but you take what you can get."

Most of the winning was left to Mark Skaife.The Flolden Racing Team star was denied a recordbreaking 38th career win (he still sits equal with Peter Brock

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on 37). Skaife qualified second but scorched to a superb top 10 shootout pole, which set him up for victory in a processional Race 1. Lack of grip in Race 2 didn't give him a chance to make progress during the reverse grid Race 2, which put him many points down on Richards. Victory in Race 3 gave him second for the round,and on adjusted championship points, is right up the front again.

Craig Lowndes took third place, which was tainted by a Race 3 incident with Garth Tander and Greg Murphy.The stewards post race investigation found that Lowndes was not at fault, and his third place stood firm.

The two fastest cars at the

track,though, did not figure on the podium.Tander kept finding things to thwart his progress, and Todd Kelly suffered three gearbox problems - two of which were in Races 1 and 2.The only solace that can be taken from their weekends was the Tander moved to second in the championship. Kelly, on the other hand,can now only dream of being in the top two ...

Fast pitstops were also an easy ticket to leapfrogging rivals-just ask MarkWinterbottom. The Ford Performance Racing star was fast on the track, but the team were faster in the pits.The BroadlP Falcon was only stationary for 3.4s in Race 1, which helped him along to fifth overall for the weekend.

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The pointscore system, not the reverse grid race,came under scrutiny at Wanneroo after a weekend that was not one that will go down as a classic. At the best of times, Barbagallo Raceway is a hard place to pass a rival, and add to that the damage that scoring no points in Race 1 does to your weekend,everyone was being ultra-cautious.

The above statement is justified by the lack of Safety Cars.There was just one SC period in WA (surely some sort of record), and even that was just a token appearance.James Courtney lunched an engine in the last race and his Jeld-Wen seized to a stop in front of the pit lane entrance.

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STEVEN RICHARDS WAS IN WINNING MODE AT BARBAGALLO RACEWAY - IT WAS JUST A PITY HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY WIN A RACE. GRANT ROWLEY WATCHED AN INTERESTING PROCESSION UNFOLD

STRIKES BACK Qualifying ONE-two-three-four.

Walkinshaw Performance was on top at Barbagallo Raceway after the top 10 Shootout on Saturday afternoon.

Greg Murphy was the only non-Tom driver to upset the awesome foursome in qualifying proper, but when it came to the shootout, a tiny mistake by the Supercheap star dropped him down the order, which gave HRT and Toll HSV the top four spots on the grid.

Skaife's pole lap was simply scintillating, considering an earlier issue in qualifying when a starter motor failed.

Triple 8 and FPR were the only Fords that looked capable of taking the fight to the hot Holdens, although Steven Johnson made an impression by getting into the shootout.

He bolted new rubber on and bumped team-mate Will Davison out of the 10.

The two and a half hour practice session was all about finding the right car balance for the grip available on the slippery surface. Compared to 2005,the track had lost a full second.Some won the set-up battle, most lost.

Steven Richards and Jason Bright were two that struggled in the practice and wece-forced to enter the top 10 via the bottom 50 percent qualifying s.e-ssion.

V8SUPERCAR QUALIFYING POS NO DRIVER 1 16 2 2

Garth Tander MarkSkaife

3 4 5 6 7 8

Todd Kelly Greg Murphy Rick Kelly Craig Lowndes MarkWInterbottom Steven Richards

22 51 15 888 5 7

9 6 10 17 11 18 12 11 13 8

Jason Bright StevenJohnson Will Davison Paul Dumbrell Max Wilson

14 4 15 50 16 67

James Courtney Cameron McConville Paul Morris

17 1 18 55 19 021 20 3 21 88 22 34 23 23 24 12

Russell Ingall Steve Owen Paul Radisich Jason Richards Jamie Whincup Dean Canto Andrew Jones John Bowe

25 10 26 25 27 39 28 33 29 14 30 20

Jason Bargwanna Warren Luff AlanGurr LeeHoldsworth BradJones Marcus Marshall

31 26

Tony Ricciardello

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Skaife Tander

TEAM CAR

TIME

Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VZ Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ Holden Racing Team Commodore VZ Super Cheap Auto Racing Commodore VZ Toll HSV Dealer Team Commodore VZ Team Betta Electrical falcon BA Ford Performance Racing Falcon BA Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VZ Ford Performance Racing Falcon BA FirstRock Mortgage Centre falcon BA V8 Telecom Falcon BA Jack Daniel's Racing Commodore VZ WPS Racing Falcon BA Jeld-Wen Motorsport Falcon BA Super Cheap Auto Racing Commodore VZ Team SIrromet Wines Commodore VZ Caltex Racing Falcon BA Autobarn Racing Commodore VZ Team Kiwi Racing Commodore VZ Tasman Motorsport Commodore VZ Team Betta Electrical Falcon BA Repco Valvoline Cummins Commodore VZ Tasman Motorsport Commodore VZ Team BOC Falcon BA WPS Racing Falcon BA Fujitsu Racing Falcon BA Team SIrromet Wines Commodore VZ Repco Valvoline Cummins Commodore VZ Team BOC Falcon BA Glenfords - AEG Racing Falcon BA Fujitsu Racing Falcon BA

TOP10SHOOTOUT

9 10

T Kelly R Kelly Lowndes 5 Richards Murphy Bright Winterbottom Johnson

24.9002 24.9075 25.0411 25.0279 25.0350 25.1059 25.2360 25.1404 25.3113 25.2491

42.7835 42.8359 43.0184 43.3602 43.1025 43.2534 43.3602 43.3010 43.4192 43.5419

55.8667 55.9271 ' 56.1979 56.5541 56.2743 56.5151 56.5541 56.5685 56.6936 56.7210

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56.0401 56.1893 56.2275 56.3707 56.4030 56.4489 56.4632 56.4749 56.4942 56.4967 56.5148 56.5157 56.5786 56.6241 56.6477 56.6910 56.7287 56.7762 56.8034 56.8341 56.8562 56.9097 56.9781 57.0516 57.0879 57.0961 57.3465 57.4198 57.5090 57.5194 57.8527

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Fast pit stops were keyinto making ground ofthe those front in Race 1. In fact, it was the only way to actually pass someone.

The race was, put simply, a bore.

Once the pit stop shuffle had been run and won after lap 15, it was line-astern stuff. This is partly due to the'hard-to-pass'nature of the track, and the new-for-2006 race and points format, where much of the weekend's outcomes are determined by your Race 1 result, as Race 2's reverse grid race only carries half-points. Make a mistake in this one and you can kiss a top result goodbye.

It was clear that almost the whole field were cautious of throwing the car into the sand.

Has the reverse grid race format had the opposite effect and sanitised the first race? Winton may give a clearer indication.

Anyway,the race at the front was highlighted by the pitstops.

The teams in the leading pack (HRT, HSV,T8, FPR and Perkins's mob)all did stops under four seconds - which might be some sort of record if anyone cares to

motorsport news

1^8 supercars

check. Changing only the rear tyres was the common strategy.

Skaife's stop was probably the least perfect of front-runners when he didn't pull into his pit box as well as he needed to, but the Red Leader had created a handyenough gap on the track to allow some breathing space when he resumed in front.

Skaife stayed in the lead. eventually ahead of Steven Richards, Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander and Jason Bright.

The only time Skaife was not the leader was when Tander initially jumped him at the start.

(Skaife later said that he elected not to force the issue into turn one, as he remembered a similar situation he was involved in last year with a guy who now resides in America ...).

Tander's early lead was thrown away when he made an error on the exit of Kolb Corner on the second lap.The local hero was quickly gobbled up by Skaife and the Kelly Brothers, and due to the hard-to-pass nature of the track, could not recapture the ground he lost. After the pit stop shuffle, Tander was fifth, but he passed Bright on lap 40. it was the only position changed between the leading six post half-race distance.

24 May 2006

Flash work:FPR was one ofthe fast stoppers in the first race.

Mark Winterbottom was the big winner from the compulsory pit stops.The Pukekohe podium man was stationary for just 3.4s, which helped him leap ofTander during the stop.That alone allowed Frosty to rejoin in second place.That position didn't last, though. He flatspotted a front tyre and he nursed his Falcon home to sixth.

Lowndes's race position was compromised when Winterbottom rejoined the circuit. The Ford pair ran side-by-side through turn one, until Lowndes missed a gear, allowing Winterbottom through.

While It was glory for Skaife up front, his team-mate Todd Kelly was fuming. For the second time over the weekend,#22 was in pit lane for number of laps having its gearbox fixed.

The only real racing interest came from a tight group, which included Max Wilson, Steven Johnson, Russell Ingall, Paul Dumbrell and James Courtney.

Wilson held the pack at bay. despite Johnson's persistent pressure.

The race ran without a Safety Car, but it wasn't without its spinners. Jamie Whincup spun on the first lap. He fought back to 21 St. Supercheap Auto star Greg Murphy took too much kerb on lap six at turn four and spun to the back of the field. He pitted immediately and recovered to 14th, one place behind his team mate Cameron McConville.

Team Kiwi's Paul Radisich led for most of the race while he ran long before pitting for the compulsory stop. He returned to the track well down,and fell right to the back with brake problems. Still, Radisich finished, giving him pole for Race 2...

continued on page 48

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V8SUPERCAR RESULTS

RACE 1(50LAPS) DRIVER

RACE TIME

FLAP ON

1 Skaife 49:00.3114 57.7526 8 2 S Richards 49:00.7723 57.7247 9 49:00.9924 57.6069 24 3 Lowndes 49:01.4237 57.5268 8 4 Tander 49:01.7900 57.6085 10 5 Bright 6 Winterbottom 49:06.5507 57.5788 9 49:07.7419 57.8762 4 7 R Kelly 8 Wilson 49:21.5113 58.1369 32 49:21.7530 58.1623 25 9 Johnson 49:21.7676 57.8628 10 10 Ingall 11 Dumbrell 49:22.1367 58.0991 15 49:22.8533 57.9803 15 12 Courtney 13 McConville 49:23.0086 58.1729 12 49:25.7123 58.0106 10 14 Murphy 15 Bargwanna 49:26.4672 57.9985 8 49:26.8587 58.2308 19 16 Davison 49:27.1918 58.0440 21 17 Owen 49:27.8382 58.1868 22 18 J Richards 49:28.7234 57.9890 15 19 Morris 49:31.5543 58.1971 19 20 A Jones 49:32.9646 57.8793 35 21 Whincup 49:35.8632 58.1685 28 22 Canto 49:42.1879 58.1141 21 23 Luff 24 Holdsworth 49:48.1540 58.2113 9 49:52.1236 58.5223 22 25 Bowe 49:54.0384 58.5517 25 26 Gurr 27 BJones 49 laps 58.4233 49 28 Marshall 49 laps 58.4951 21 29 Ricciardello 49 laps 58.7703 20 45 laps 57.5198 14* 30 T Kelly 31 Radisich 45 laps 58.1646 30 47

f1

Trouble in paradise(well, there's lots ofsand anyway):Ricciardello did his best to let the pack through, but gave Skaife this nudge,above. Bright had brake troubles in Race 2, below left, and Team BOC were in all sorts ofhurt.

Some ofthis worked into the hands ofDean Canto, main right, who took his first V8 Supercar main series victory.

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Jack Danieiv

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THE track surface at Barbagallo Raceway has worn its way into a one-lane race circuit.

We don't need to tell you that the competition in V8 Supercar is close, and unless you've been hiding behind a very large sand dune,then you'd know that Barbagallo Raceway is a hard place to pass anyway. But in 2006, it was harder than ever before.

Even the Formula Ford guys were struggling to get in front of their rivals.

Before the 2004 event,the Wanneroo track was resurfaced, at the expense of the West Australian government via the WA Sporting Car Club. Back then, Barbagallo Raceway was black,fast and racey.

Two years later, the track surface is noticeably greyer,slower and very slippery.

48

"The surface has degraded,"Supercfieap Autos Greg Murphy told MNews.

"The hotmix has worn away between the stones.

There's just no grip on line."

The surface at Barbagallo is more susceptible to wear and tear as well, thanks to the west's climate, and the amount of sand around the track. It placed a heap of emphasis on Friday practice, and made car set-up absolutely vital. Any car that was even slightly off the optimum balance was visibly struggling.

We don't ask for much here at MNews, but for the sake of good racing at Barbagallo, it needs to be resurfaced once a year, please.

- GRANT ROWLEY

teven Richards and the Jack Daniel's crew were the undoubted stars of the reverse grid race.The Perkins team risked Richo's race by keeping him out until lap 22. If a Safety Car had appeared, he was a goner, but instead, he had clean air, a fast car and a weekend-winning result.

The only car on the track that was faster than Richo was Todd Kelly. Kelly started off the front row, battled with Radisich in the early laps and, surely, would have won the race, only for the same gearbox malfunction to return.

Once back out on the track, he set the nine fastest laps of the race.

Speed was clearly not the reason for his poor round result.

The one thing that the reverse grid did was allow teams who wouldn't otherwise be up the front to take some of the spotlight (if Network 10 would show them). Radisich held the lead, but fuel problems with four laps to go forced him to switch to the reserve tanks. Dean Canto and Richards were lucky to avoid Radisich when he dramatically

moiorsportnews

v8 supercars and speared off, handing the lead to Skaife and Lowndes.The former team-mates remained in those positions for the rest of the race.

After spearing into the scrub momentarily, Richards didn't have the pace that he showed in the first two events.The team brought Richo in early for his compulsory stop and took seventh placeenough for the round win.

"The guys radioed to me and told me there was sand at the top," he said."It was just everywhere. If I'd jumped on the brakes, I would have been hit from behind. It was one of those situations that whatever you did would have been the wrong thing.

In regard to their strategy, Richards complemented his team.

"In this game you have to think on your feet," Richo acknowledged.

"Sometimes you have to gamble when you've got car speed and take calculated risks. We did that pretty well today."

Tander's frustrating home round continued when he was touched

slowed at turn two and three.

Worse was to come,though, when he had no fuel on the exit of the last corner of the last lap. Canto had little time to lift and tagged the back of the black Commodore, spinning it in front of Richards, who was fortunate to avoid any further contact.

"I wasn't expecting him to slow," . Canto said."I wanted to get a good run on the straight and try to pass him on the exit, but I could do nothing. He just slowed out of the blue."

"I thought I was going to hit him," Richards said."I was hard on the brakes. It must have been a cushion of air that pushed him around. It was very, very close."

The win went to Canto from Richards, Murphy, Whincup, Courtney (his best Supercar result to date) and a recovering Radisich.

Whincup was a likely race winner, but the Clipsal 500 star suffered his second spin for the weekend at turn four.

Along with S Richards,the only other top runner from Race 1 to make an impression was Bright.

The CAT driver sat in the top six, but a brake problem in the pedal box sent him hard into the Kolb Corner wall and out of the race with only four laps remaining.

Of the other fast men,Skaife 24 May 2006

struggled for grip on his oldest, dirtiest tyres; Lowndes couldn't get a break;Tander just made the top 10; and his team-mate Kelly followed him there.

Paul Cruickshank Racing's Marcus Marshall had a clash with the consistent Steve Owen.

Marshall broke a front upright and couldn't steer the Glenfords Falcon into pit lane, while Owen pressed on for 15th.

Both Team BOC Falcons were in the wars. John Bowe pulled into pit lane before the start with differential problems, while Brad Jones blew a clutch at the start.

!

Race 3-58 laps

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he final race proved to be the most exciting, and the most unpredictable. Hey,Todd Kelly finished the race without his car jammed in fourth gear,so that was a surprise in itself!

From pole, Richards and Tander led the field, but it wasn't to last.

Britek's Warren Luff was involved in a first lap clash,cut a tyre and fired off at turn four. As he came back on the track, he unknowingly dumped a spoiler-load of sand on the apex of turn five. Unsighted, Richards and Tander hit the sand

off by Lowndes on the exit of the last turn.The #16Toll machine was forced wide and lost a couple of spots, which ultimate cost him a shot at the podium.The pair had different views.

"The podium didn't elude me, it was taken off me by getting punted off the circuit," he roared post-race."We proved we probably had the fastest car here, we just didn't get a result through one reason or another."

Lowndes countered; "Garth clearly had me down the inside and I tried the switch back, and my belief is that Garth held us up in the mid section of the corner.

He knew we were all on the switch back, and I tried to sneak the nose back and there was contact."

More trouble for Lowndes was around at the next corner. Murphy took advantage of theTander/ Lowndes biff, and nearly passed them all down the front straight.

Murphy squeezed Lowndes to the inside at turn one, but Lowndes held his ground. Contact saw the Supercheap car visit the sand and fall to the back. Murph's championship chances now lie in ruins after three horror rounds.

Winterbottom impressed by running a close second to Skaife until a small mistake gave Lowndes his place.Third in the race and fifth overall has put Frosty well and truly on the map.

"I used my tyres to catch Skaife, but he was very hard to pass," Winterbottom said."It was just like

continued on page 50

W V8SUPERCAR RESULTS RACE2(58LAPS) DRIVER

RACE TIME

FLAP ON

1 Canto ! 2 S Richards 3 Murphy

57:13.4263 57.8161 24 57:14.8926 57.8028 19 57:16.0753 57.8843 20 57:16.1912 57.8534 20; I 4 Whincup 57:19.5969 57.9814 8 S Courtney 57:21.7307 58.1219 23 i 6 Radisich 7 A Jones 57:25.0429 58.2054 7 57:26.3092 58.1991 8 I 8 Ingall 9 J Richards 57:27.0953 58.1399 20 !!1' 10 Tander 57:27.7511 57.7708 11; 57:28.0779 57.6633 9 11 R Kelly 12 Holdsworth 57:29.5103 58.2701 18 13 Winterbottom 57:29.5808 57.9202 9 14 Lowndes 57:29.9640 57.9630 12 15 Owen 57:34.3806 58.2299 23 57:36.0514 58.2209 1l' 16 Bargwanna 17 Johnson 57:36.6657 58.3563 12 n 18 Skaife 57:37.0458 57.9798 12 19 Wilson 57:41.2822 58.2230 10

20.DumbrpIL, ,,,57:41.67^3 21 Morris "57:41.9407 22 Davison 57:45.0566 23 Gurr 57:48.3746 24 BJones 57:50.7002 25 McConville 57:52.1061 57 laps I 26 Luff 27 Ricciardello 57 laps ' 28 T Kelly 56 laps DNF Bright DNF Bowe DNF Mars”hall

58.2127 18' 58.2313''5(W 58.0144 17, 58.5403 9 58.0930 20’ 58.0853 9 58.4736 19 59.3934 8 57.4096 17‘

52 laps 57.7618 9; 43 laps 58.3550 16 28 laps 58.3647 4

RACE3(58LAPS) 58:24.7679 1 Skaife 58:25.4331 2 Lowndes 3 Winterbottom 58:27.4734 58:28.0506 4 T Kelly 58:28.3312 5 Tander 58:34.8207 6 Ingall 58:35.2860 7 S Richards 58:37.4045 8 J Richards 58:38.5404 9 Whincup 58:39.3283 10 Johnson 58:39.3489 11 McConville 58:41.4105 12 Dumbrell 58:43.0418 13 Owen 58:43.7909 14 R Kelly 58:47.7656 15 Radisich 58:48.0181 16 Davison 58:51.1316 17 Gurr 58:51.8571 18 A Jones 58:55.0794 19 Murphy 58:58.7018 20 Bargwanna 58:58.9443 21 Bowe 58:59.4931 22 Canto 59:17.1712 23 BJones 24 Holdsworth 57 laps 25 Morris 57 laps 26 Marshall 57 laps 27 Luff 57 laps 55 laps 28 Bright DNF Courtney DNF Ricciardello DNF Wilson

57.7299 15 57.6743 17 57.5046 9 57.6142 21 57.2925 24* 57.8978 9 57.8771 16 57.9925 10 58.1064 27, 58.0756 54 58.1407 11 57.7419 15 57.9477 20 57.5816 12 58.2407 23 57.7137 11 58.2024 16 57.9558 17 57.7239 17 58.1951 16 58.1251 11 58.2654 17 58.3599 23 58.2791 16 58.0493 12 58.4817 20 58.1662 40 57.9179 13

29 laps 57.7482 22 19 laps 59.1116 12 18 laps 57.9737 12 49

continued from page 49

WINIilRS ; i i ; :

SliVEN RICHARDS: Super strategy by the JD crew in Race 2 nailed^ the win,but it couldn't have been done without Rieho's brilliant pace.

They didn't have the speed in Race 3,but d'idi enough for I the round. ; MARK W/fNTERBOfTOM: ; : I I ;

I nspired by Pufce'kohe performance, Frosty li's hot stuff at the moment,©oesn't have raceawinning’speed‘ yet, but it's notfar off.

I j I i !

THE SAFETY CAR DRWiR: Easy weekend at the office, One appearance,pst two laps completed. Surely a Barbagallo record:...

; ; ; : i i

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Garth fander-fast, sorry, make that very fast.Hlis championship ipositioniloOks good,too. Mark Skaife - back to his best.

V a

I n !

TODD KILLY;above: Threegearbox failures. Ali the same proibi'emi(stuck in. feuirthi).!Wey Todd,ask for Skaifey's units.They work a treat...

± : : i

Calm before the storm:Skaife and Winterbottom lead, but the interest was behind. Tander passed Lowndes,above, but CL wanted the traditional last turn switch back. They made contact, which angered Tander.

Pukekohe again - being the meat in the sandwich between Skaife and Lowndes, except that i made a mistake at the first turn that let Lowndes through this time."

T Kelly stormed from the back to take fourth in the race ahead of Tander, who picked up a final place by passing his team-mate Kelly. Rick suffered from excessive rear tyre wear all weekend,and had earlier performed a drivethrough penalty for colliding with Jason Richards exiting pit lane.

Russell Ingall was uninspiring, but consistent. He out-raced Richo for sixth in the final race and bagged another healthy bunch of points to extend his lead in the championship.

"We didn't have the car to fight for the win,"the reigning Champ said."The next best thing was to finish in front of our championship contenders and we were able to do that."

Dumbrell was a victim of the first corner and dropped a heap of places. His fightback to 12th proved the speed that Perkins crew have at Barbagallo.

WPS Racing was consistent if unspectacular. Max Wilson broke a front upright in the last race after a strong start to the weekend, while Paul Morris launched across the back of Jason Bargwanna.

Autobarn steerer Steve Owen improved in each race, eventually taking 13th in the final.

Tasman Motorsport looked off its best, and the team agreed. J Richards finished both Race 2 and 3 in the top 10 and claimed ninth overall.

RACE FANS: Boring races. Race T was woefui and:Race 2 wasn't much better. For ali those fans who watched'both Barbagallo and Barceiona FI, we hope you enjoyed watching the back of your eye lids.

JASON BRIGHT: While Winterbottom shines.

Bright is dull.The Ford man can't take a trick, and his own team (Britek) is in all sorts of hurt as well.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Paul Dumbrell and Will Davison - too much contact; Paul Morris launching over Bargwanna wasn't a good look.

50

motorsport news

v8 supercars i<Krt-ccr Visit the new online hotline ^

Click onto the new ACL Race Series Performance Website.

See the latest on performance parts.

Catch up with the latest racing news and technical advice.

’QCastroi m

falcon

Search through the electronic parts catalogue.

-c.'ir- s

www.aclperformance.com.au

Front-runners: Winterbottom,above,continued his rise to prominence.

Lowndes, below, wasn't the fastest, but scored valuable points.

If you place demands on ynur engine, put your foot down and demand the Dost!

DEMAND ACL RACE SERIES The next round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series heads from the heat of the west to wintery Winton. As long as it's not raining, or muddy,or windy ... or anything that usually typifies Winton,then it should be a round worth watching. Remember,this is the test track for most of the Victorian-based teams. As they say in the classics ... Game on.

^V8SCSPOINTS-RD3 Ingall 790,Tander 776,S Richards 772, R Kelly 763, Lowndes 710,Johnson 695, Winterbotom 68^ Whincup 676, Dumbrell 662,Skaife 598, Morris 514, McConville 507,T Kelly 500, Davison 483, J Richards 461, Bright 460,Wilson 446, A Jones 444, Murphy 440, Bargwanna 436, Radisich 413, Holdsworth 392, Canto 384, Courtney 370, Luff 329,Bowe 309,Owen 276, B Jones 251,Gurr 227, Marshall 173, Fernandez 150,Coulthard 86, Porter 76,Ricciardello 28.

CLOSE, BUT SO FAR PAUL Radisich will not associate any happy emotions with his Barbagallo's V8 round in 2006.

Less than a front straight away from Team Kiwi Racing's first victory in V8 Supercar competition,'The Rat'was touched and turned by Dean Canto on the exit of the last corner of the race.

"Four laps from the end,the fuel pump packed up," Radisich said.

"I flicked to reserve, but coming onto the front straight, there was no fuel in the engine. It coughed and spluttered and that was that. So close yet so far, really. I would have loved to have won it, but that's the way it is."

That was just the icing on the cake for Radisich. Brake problems and alternator issues in Race 1 held him back, and even worse, a rib injury from a celebrity speedway race in New Zealand a few weeks ago was making life inside the black Commodore unpleasant.

"It was pretty uncomfortable," he said."With an injury like that, you end up overcompensating with your arms and your shoulders,so it takes it out of you. Most of all, though, it makes it hard to breathe.

That hurts more than anything."

- GRANT ROWLEY

24 May 2006

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1/8 supercars^ fwE

UF Al R If

1CLASSK

\

EET Barry Ryan,Steven Richards’s race-winning engineer. After the Barbagallo round, Ryan> Rkho and the Jack Daniel's team were all smiles, but earlier in the weekend's qualifying sessions,the defending Barbagallo Champions were in a spot of bother.

"We knew we haditobe in the top three rows here;"Ryan totdi MNews.

'T'he practice sessioni put us back the most.We had the slightest drama that lost us some time and we were forced to go back to a,set-up from the mid;part of the session,ilihat ultimately cost us.Youicanft afford to'lose a ny practice time. As soon,as you,let the teams ahead'of you catch: up> yobrebehind,and it can really bite.Iwoi years ago you'could' afford it, butlits too,difficult'now.

"We initially used last year's set up,and lit was close,but not right.

It ca usedi US a d'ra ma toi sta rt with> but we got over it pretty quick. We did n't q uaiify as we wouid have liked, and that was due to issues in practice.That put us out of the top 50 percent qualifying session.

That hurt, because you can't afford to not put the best time on the board.The top 50 is always better because the track is usually faster.

We had to use all our sets of tyres to get up there, and we paid the price in the Shoot-out because we didn't have green tyres, "in the end,it was OK, because we were in the top 10, which is where you need to be.We ended up with a better race car than a qualifying car.

"This year,the track was a bit slower than it has been for the past two years. A bit like Pukekohe.

The grip has gone out of the asphalt.The race pace has clearly dropped.We did a few 56s lap times last year, and I don't think anyone did a 56s. We were almost a second off, and that was one of

m

Vir

^J/VCK DANlFtS l

/

Pace Yourself.

the things we had to deal with, when we first got here for practice.'

So, what is the secret that ' Petikins IMotorsport ihas around:C Barbaga'llo? Richo should have" won in 2004 untiihe was touched off the track. Me won in 2005 and again thisyear, but Ryan keeps all ihis.secrets close to..hiis chest.

'Thereb no real secret," he grinned."Since they resurfaced this place in 2004, we were able to hit the sweet spot early and Ithink 'itscOntinuedionifrom,there.We've Come here each year with new ideas because we were close,and that makes a big difference when you are close, because you always have something,tO'fall back onto.

We did'a,similar thingi last year by using,the previous years set up and based it on that. It's really handy to have a starting point."

With,the round win in sight. Race 3 presented the #7 Com modore with the smaIlest problem. Even:Ryan was scratching his head.

Race 3 was strange. We made a Change that we usually would: be TOO percent confident would work, and it didn't work. Sometimes that happens. It was only a minor change, but it's so easy to get it wrong now. It's probably easier to get it wrong than it is to get it right.'

So, with a round win now under their belts, and a championship top three, all looks promising, even if they still do things differently at Team Perkins.

"We still class ourselves as a small team, really," Ryan said."We've haven't got two full-time race engineers. But we work different to some teams.I'm Richo's race engineer at the track, and chief race engineer in the workshop, but at the track, Pete Smith runs Dumbrell's car and he's basically a part-timer. It all works pretty good.

Obviously enough to get a round win here and there!"

- GRANT ROWLEY

Drink Responsibly.

XourxlC PlaxPAiklta

Winners and qrinners:Barry Ryan,above,and Steven Richards, beiow.

formula ford

LOCAL YOKELS Todd Fiore won his home round, hut Ash Walsh gave the front-runners a scare

T

ODD Fiore looked right at home at the second round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Barbagallo Raceway,taking round ho'nours ●- ahead of fellow West Aussie Nathan Caratti two weeks ago.

Fiore's weekend started in unspectacular style.The Sonic Motor Racing driver rounded out the two practice sessions ninth and sixth respectively. It wasn't until qualifying that Fiore started to show any real pace, setting the fourth fastest time with a 59.921 s, just over 0.3s behind pole man Ashley Walsh.

From there Fiore could do no wrong. His third pigce in the opening encounter came thanks to an over-ambitious passing attempt by John Martin late in the race, which allowed Fiore to sneak through for the final podium spot on the last corner. Ahead of him was Caratti, who had a storming run from sixth on the grid to finish second, and runaway race winner Walsh.

While Fiore amd Caratti bickered Over second spot at the start of Race 2, Ashley Walsh simply Heft the pair behind. Walsh's

the stewards handed him a drivethrough penalty for jumping the start, however the young Queenslander proved his speed by setting a new lap record with a 59.741s before serving the penalty.

Out front, Caratti and Fiore's battle for second became a battle for the lead, and on the third lap Fiore snuck through at CAT Corner to head the field, only to have Caratti retake the lead with a carbon-copy move two laps later.

On lap six, the pair were at it again, with Fiore sneaking past Caratti into Barbagallo's final turn, before revoking the lead again heading into CAT. The final lead change occurred on lap seven, when Fiore dived past Gatiatiti 'underbrakes into turn seven. Froiri ther^ore managed

national championship victory.

Fiore's Race 3 victory seemed never to be in doubt. After making a solid start, Fiore quickly shook off' Caratti and built a healthy lead.

The Race 3 win handed the round to Fiore, breaking Fastlane Racing's two year home track winning streak.

"It's awesome,"said Fiore."It's not just my first national round win, but my first national race win too.

Itjust feels great."

"Everything just worked this weekend. I made up a few spots from qualifying, and went from there. It sets us up well for the year. I was fifth and now I'm up to second in the poit^H^Mully we can keep the speed going in^ the Queensiand i®und,^hich isfl

Caratti had his hands full with Tim Blanchard and Martin making it a three-way battle for second place. On lap eight Martin began to challenge Blanchard, allowing Caratti to break away. A lap later Martin passed Blanchard into CAT to steal third place.

Unluckiest driver of the weekend was Tim Slade. After qualifying third, he made a blinding start to race one to pass Martin into the first corner. By the end of the opening lap Slade was challenging Walsh fo.r.thp le.ad,,hovyever an ultra-defensive move by Walsh into turn seven's braking zone forced Slade into the dirt and out of contention. Slade recovered to finish the first race with the fastest lap, and by the end of race three Slade was back up to fifth position.

After two rounds of the championship, Martin continues to head the points score with Fiore moving from fifth to second and Caratti jumping up to third. The next round of the championship’ist ‘ - ANDREW'VAN LEEUW.EN^ Peensland Raceway induly.

Igints: Martin 90, Fiore |^lEarattR2?

- ^ ft

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motorsportnews

formula 7

IN gpodiFnemories of 14 May 2006.He won the Spanish Grand Prix in an F:ERNA'NDO Alonso willclimbed always have imperjaiifashiOn and onto the ipo:dium>to/be greeted by wildly celebrating %anish fans.iKing Juan Carlos was there to shakeihisihand.

Itjfea'bo.ut as good as it gets for a man of 24, i:he!S0iftofthing one dreams about in boyhood ^ ]iegrraifeibgo’ksi j 'i^ldjireelndt’dnliy w.on but also humiliated the i .J!|gendary.:o1d star if R1:, MiGhaej Schumacher. ^^^i^eb5)^halJ)hadihappened in qualifying,this t^T^Siaibig!Suiipriisei lit . the days before the ^^an#^tGfahd ,Priix'was all about politics TOfl^Spo^abo.dt^commercial deals and ^^^ra[®o.upsvand,flexible aerodynamic te^^^a’srbQt'ifhudh talkabouttyres and [Bm^WyjHtns#.as;a?niiista ke i beca useIn>the ^^d^gs^^^^^kirb.uind tu bbetth i n gs that hfedlaMlpa^^.ltijejthejBerrariswere.qGod ^jjl^^^^obdBidns on:Saturday,as thepmpeptore^^s^dvdunnqfthe-weekend so SiH^reKOl?ngeTronffM i*:he I i n; ^MisigBeH&Thavrng'TQhelp him B^m^was:able,to,win therace ^m^cher,adhiitted that,he 5epp H^WthMiancarlO'ih the early

is

m ^yejage/iifithettruth be told.

ilM^pbSIliAfbnsbmUstihave ^^MeqyjwjthlMichaefand if fdm^^^.'racesiThe Renault could have iCTbm^^^er?theiCase;:it'was !testjJap5fln1tnfeifiteb:T'6that |^^|Gt|wuntiliatbund

gU|feiprbgtess ,li!iaffib:nwp|ree^tQP, jepwkm^tfer^TTipre!

TO

lii

Second will have to do:Michael Schumacher pushed hard but the World Charhpldnwasjtistfoo* fast. Felipe Massa,following, was fourth and setfastestlap. He is becoming the new Rubeh^...^ and Michael was going to win or the opposite was the case.

The answer came with each passing lap: lap 36,lap 37, Alonso was still staying out, lap 38.We knew that lap 40 was the start of the window for those who could make it all the way to the flag without stopping again. At the end of lap 39, Alonso went past the pit entry again and the realisation dawned that we had ail been conned into thinking the wrong things.

Perhaps if he had known Michael could have pushed harder. We will never know.There was justthe vain hope that Alonso might have to do a last-minute splash-and-daslrbutthe numbers said that was not going to happen. Alosno was in no hurry. Schumacher had accepted defeat.

Fisichella was third and really should have done better than that. Either the car was not right or Fisichella cannot extract the same kind of performance from a car as Alonso.

What was interesting was that when the numbers were all published after the race the Ferraris were still fastestthrough all the speed traps. Felipe Massa set the fastest lap of the race, although this was only a tiny margin faster than Alonso's best.The two were nearly 0.3s ahead of Michael and there was then a tenth br sp to Fisichella.There was a gap of 0.3s back to Raikkonen, Button and Barrichello and then half a second before a Williams.The implication in all'of this was that if the Ferrari was slower

than the Renault in the cpfrra down to the effectiveneKiofiJl that the recent races have's.hoSjmgongio! that the Ferrari has very efficiB^^^^ Schumacher is always diplofn^^^g moments,saying that he was ng^^reW was to blame but one had only tojloS^ performance of the Williams andiToyo^ to know that this was really a tyre'ir^^ obvious explanation was thatthe.telii^^ratur^^M was higher. At the start of the year tyres were better when the temperatUr|^|j||^H rose but in Spain the opposite was triue^a^B^^H indication that FI these days is a story constant flat-out development from aH:thd,5^^^H involved.

Much development is going on now into.,' flexible wings as this is clearly where big, advantages can be gained.The scrutineers hay.e)'33 thus far taken no action despite what seems to be strong evidence that certain teams are usings T bendy wings.The result of this is that the other teams are now looking at the risks of doing the same thing.They have no choice.

Perhaps the scrutineers will start to take notice in the next few weeks. Perhaps not.

Formula 1 does not need a scandal right now.

What it needs is good races - and try as we might, it is hard to describe Barcelona as being that.

©

GENTLEMEN,LOVE YO

The fight for pole position was all about iVlichelin versus Bridgestone WE have seen many times this year that temperature is a crucial element in the performance of the 2006 Formula 1 tyres.

The tyres need love and attention.They need to be hotted up lovingly and kept simmering until they are needed. Let them cool for a moment or two and they lose interest and then the driver has a headache. If the temperatures are too low or the cars do not have the right settings the tyres may never get up to speed.

And things change dramatically from one track to the next. One day Michelin will be dominant, the next Bridgestone will be on top.The thing that makes it all very difficult to understand is that there are other variables involved with different fuel loads and, of course,these mysterious things called flexible wings that the scrutineers now seem to have accepted because all the cars do fine when they are tested in the

scrutineering bay.

This mystical world is not a simple one because wings can flex in many different ways.The rear wing may drop down slightly at a certain speed,thus reducing the drag of the car and, in effect, giving it a burst of turbo-like acceleration. Similarly, the gaps between planes on the wings can close up, making the wings much more effective.

One can crunch numbers all day long but none of it really proves anything and now teams are beginning to realise that they must venture into this dangerous territory if they are to remain competitive. If the FIA is not taking action,then they must get in there and play the game.This may help to explain the sudden changes in performance we have seen this year.

After the Ferrari domination at the Nurburgring we expected to see the red cars at the front in Spain but that perception went up

in smoke on Saturday as Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella hurtled to the front row.The times were impressive enough with Fernando getting down to 1 ml4.648s and Fisichella was right with him in a 1 ml4.709s.The pair were 0.2s ahead of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari but there was then a gap of almost half a second back to Felipe Massa.

Ferrari was beaten but looking at Michael Schumacher after the session you would not have known it. He talked of making a sacrifice in qualifying so that he would be more competitive in the race and most of the engineers up and down the pitlane did their calculations and reckoned that Michael would walk to victory in the race, even if Fisichella did get in his way.The word was that the harder Bridgestone compound was the tyre to have.

The slightly worrying thing was that if one took Massa out of the equation,there was a gap

between the two Renault and Schumacher of almost a second before the next car.This was a Honda driven, unusually, by Rubens Barrichello. Given recent form of the Honda FI team one had to say that Honda looked to be in trouble and one was led to the conclusion that Bridgestone had got it right and that Renault had decided to run very light hoping to use Fisichella as the tortoise while Alonso played the hare.There was even the possibility that Alonso might be on a rather desperate three-stop strategy, a high-risk plan unless you have a very good package.

The one thing that everyone knew was that Barcelona rarely offers any chance for a driver to overtake another in the race, unless that manouevre is done when the two men are going in and out of the pits. That has not mattered in recent races because of the titanic tactical fights between Alonso and Schumacher that have kept observers on the edge of their seats.

What was unusual was that McLaren was nowhere (another hint of Michelin trouble). Juan Pablo Montoya had dramas of his own (see breakout) and Kimi Raikkonen seemed somewhat disaffected with his car and with the world in general.The car lacked speed and even then slower cars were in his way.

"We are not where we want to be,' he said, adding that he hoped the race pace would be better than in qualifying.

Toyota seemed a little better than is usually the case but as the team has a penchance for light fuel-loads and two drivers who redefine the term "inconsistent", they are never much of a guide.

And that is how we do that: Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher have been playing ducks and drakes for some months in qualifying and at home, the locals had a lot to cheer about.

motorsportnews

●7.

formula 1

UR TYRES

POS NO DRIVER 1 2 3

TYRES

TIME

M M B B M B B M M

1:15.816 1:16.046 1:16.049 1:16.359 1:16.266 1:16.234 1:16.174 1:16.054 1:16.613 1:16.322 1:16.685

1 Fernando Alonso ESP 2 Giancarlo Fisichella ITA 5 Michael Schumacher GER BRA 4 6 Felipe Massa 5 11 Rubens Barrichello BRA 6 7 RaifSchumacher GER 7 8 JarnoTrulli ITA 8 12 Jenson Button GBR 9 3 Kimi Raikkbnen FIN 10 16 Nick Heidfeld GER 11 9 Mark Webber AUS

ToyotaTF106 Toyota TF106 HondaRAl06 McLaren Mercedes MP4/21 BMWSauber F1.06 Williams Cosworth FW28

12 4 13 10 14 17 15 15 16 20 17 21

McLaren Mercedes MP4/21 Williams Cosworth FW28 BMWSauberF1.06 Red Bull Ferrari RB2 Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso

Juan Pablo Montoya NicoRosberg Jacques Villeneuve Christian Klien Vitantonio Liuzzi

Scott Speed 18 18 Tiago Monteiro 19 19 Christijan Albers 20 22 Takuma Sato 21 23 Franck Montagny 22 14 David Coulthard

(

FORMULA 1 QUALIFYING

COUNTRY TEAM

COL GER CAN AUT ITA USA

Renault R26 Renault R26 Ferrari 248 FI Ferrari 248 FI HondaRA106

POR MF1 Toyota Ml6 NED MF1 Toyota M16 JPN Super Aguri Honda SA05 FRA , Super Aguri Honda SA05 GBR Red BullRadriq RB2' "

B M

1:16.195 1:17.213 1:16.066 1:16.627 1:17.105 1:17.361 1:17.702 1:18.024 1:18.920 1:20.763 No Time.'

PUEUSH THiMCS

IT cannot be easy being Juan Pablo Montoya at anytime but,just at the minute, it's really, really tough.

Sure, the Colombian has the trappings of success, like trophies for 1 the indy 500 and Champ Car World Series, plus money, a loving family, etcetera.The problem is that, while everyone seems to be talking 1 about where the sport's big guns will drive next year - and they are using first names only, like Michael, Kimi and (darn it) Lewis - no-one is mentioning Juan.

Well, JPM needed a hug after qualifying. Not only was the stubborn I i McLaren-Mercedes outside the top 10, he was sent into battle with everything he needed,except fuel. For the second 'session'Juan had fresh rubber but just enough Mobil to get the car out on the track and back again before he lurched back into pitlane.

The men in silver admitted there had been an error, but that mistake cost the team a set of tyres. Would Montoya have made the top 10? Probably not. Will he drive at McLaren next season? Definitely not. Will he drive in Formula 1 next season? Stay tuned ...

JACQUES STUCK IN A BOX JACQUES Villeneuve needs some good results this year to convince BMW that he is a good bet for the future, particularly as Robert Kubica,the team's test driver, has been doing a very good Job this year.

Jacques was less than happy therefore when the BMW Sauber team told him that he would be taking a 10-slot penalty on the grid because someone had dropped his engine in transportation between the Nurburgring

24 May 2006

and Barcelona.The incident worried the team sufficiently for them to ask the FIA if they could open the engine to see if there was any damage inside.

The FIA said no,so the BMW men had to make a decision over whether to take a risk, and suffer a failure or take a penalty and try to collect some points, a virtually impossible task at a track like Barcelona.

In these days of two-race engines such

decisions are quite complicated as Villeneuve will now go to Monaco with a'second-race' engine and will have to go to Montreal with an engine that was raced in Britain, Jacques was not very keen on that idea but the upside, if there is one, is that he can still get a new engine for his home race in Canada - but only if he blows up in one of the next few races.

Funny thing can happen in Formula 1 ...

-JOESAWARD

57

S'.

CONSTANT CRAVING [FOR SPEED]

FI TechnicalEditorPAOLO FILISETTlspied manysmallchanges to the cars in Spain NO track hosts more Formula 1 testing than the Circuit de Catalunya at Barcelona but, while one may think that there is little new to see at the track, there was a lot to take in at the Spanish GP. With many eyes on Ferrari's rear wing, Renault's R26 had changes to its elements, with a slightly shorter flap and main profile, with a higher central section.The aim of the changes is to maintain downforce and reduce drag, an area critical on the track's long straight.The Renaults were down on speed to the Ferraris but the cars made up for that, and more, in the high-speed corners.

Plenty of teams tinkered with barge boards for the race. At Williams, new vertical shields at the level of the lower wishbone were on display, the idea being to 'funnel'dirty air away from behind the front wheels.Toyota's variant on the same idea was to double the vertical fins in front of the horizontal turning vanes. Again, this is designed to'clean'the air at high speed, before it passes under the wider part of the chassis.

As ever, Ferrari led the way, with new barge boards of its own,featuring a'double saw tooth'leading edge.There also have much to do with 'cleaning' the airflow to the rest of the car.

The 248F1S also featured revised airboxes with a narrow and 'pinched'top section, and small 'shark fin'covers atop the gearbox.

There cleverly hide the very long torsion bars in the rear suspension.

In the area,the car follows the standard layout the team's

A

designers established three years ago,featuring rotational dampers affixed to the bars at one end and the carbon fibre gearbox casing at the other.The longer-thannormal bars increase the stiffness

of the springing and allow a softer damping-rebound set-up, which place different demands on the tyres. Hence, Ferrari's particularly close relationship with Bridgestone is critical to the car's set-up, right

from the design stage.

The challenge is in packaging the system but, as Ferrari has shown, constant refinements mean that the system is worth all the hours spent in the wind tunnel.

1 1

icarir^jg^feme-based satellite ^^rtdjt'sjhSt^^^xpensive as you might think! ●V.

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Filidnfluding qualifying) can be accessed iive via sateiiite, from free-to-air sfafions overseas - pius many other cuitural channels.

Packages from just $800(including instailation) - avaiiabie aii states P 0408 351100 guidoc@netspace.net.au moiorsportnews

formula 1 SPANISH GP

CAR NINE Mark Webber had a long afternoon

_f 4,

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CIRCUIT DE CATALUNYA 66 LAPS

DRIVER

RACETIME FLAP

1 Alonso 1:26:21.759 2 M Schumacher 1:26:40.261 3 Fisichella 1:26:45.710 4 Massa 1:26:51.618 5 Raikkonen 1:27:18.634 6 Button 1:27:20.106 7 Barrichello 65 laps 8 Heidfeld 65 laps 9 Webber 65 laps 10 Trulli 65 laps 11 Rosberg 65 laps 12 Villeneuve 65 laps 13 Klien 65 laps 14 Coulthard 65 laps 15 Liuzzi 63 laps 16 Monteiro 63 laps 17 Sato 62 laps

ON

1:16.723 39 1:16.922 43 1:17.083 38 1:16.648 42 1:17.357 40 1:17.367 40 1:17.399 40 1:17.869 49 1:17.900 61 11.18.465 42 1:17.861 51 1:18.050 62 1:18.516 59 1:17.862 55 1:18.488 52 1:19.265 28 1:20.411 42

DNF Albers 48 laps 1:1 9.532 28 DNF Speed 47 laps 1:18.541 41 DNF R Schumacher 31 laps 1:18.621 24 DNF Montoya 17 laps 1:19.482 17 DNF Montagny 10 laps 1:22.389 9 Fastest lap: Massa, on lap 42,1:16.648

V

FI POINTS

Drivers' Points: Alonso 54, M Schumacher 39, Raikkonen 27, Fisichella 24, Massa 20, Button 16, Montoya 15, Barrichello B, R Schumacher 6, Heidfeld, Webber and Villeneuve 6, Rosberg 4, Coulthard and Klien 1.

Constructors' Points: Renault 78, Ferrari 59, McLaren Mercedes 42, Honda 24, BMW Sauber 12, WilliamsCosworth 10, Toyota 7, Red Bull Racing 2.

THE very nature of the Barcelona track, plus the fact that a lot of FI testing takes place there, makes it a clear-cut race track.

There is nowhere to hide. The teams with the best packages, particularly aero, win, Any shortcoming, and it shows very, very clearly.

So it was for Mark Webber and Williams. Despite making progress on a race-by-race basis, the reality at Barcelona was stark - the Williams is nearly a second a lap away from being a race win contender.

"We had a faultless weekend, with no real issues, other than some difficulty getting a good balance/'Webbertold MNews, "but as we saw in Qualifying 2 (the second low-fuel run) we simply don't have the ultimate speed to challenge at the front, in qualifying at least."

If the omens weren't good for Williams, they were equally dire for McLaren, the silver cars lining up on grids nine and 12, sandwiching Webber in 11th missing the top 10 for the first time this year.

"Again we hadn't been able to make the softer Bridgestone work over the longer runs, so we went for the slightly harder one - as did most of the Bridgestone teams - which looked good for the race."

The race itself provided little gain.

"I lost a spot to Juan Pablo Montoya off the start, but got it

back when he beached the car on the kerbs on lap 18.

"I was stuck behind Jarno for the second stint, but we were able to jump him by stopping a lap later at the second stop... and that was about it!"

On a clear road, the Williams began to reel in eighth-placed Nick Heidfeld, but fell a few laps short - not that passing the BMW. Sauber would have been an option on the Barcelona layout.

"Occasional points-scoring isn't enough,"Webber concluded.

"We're too inconsistent and have to work on our weak spots."

Those became clear at Barcelona. With the key Bridgestoine runners on the same tyres, and Ferrari/Gosworth engine performance reputedly very close, the difference Webber was lapped by Michael Schumacher's runner-up Ferrari - clearly lay within the car itself; aero, aero balance and aero efficiency.

In this context, speed trap readings from qualifying among the Bridgestone runners make interesting reading: Massa 319kmh; Schumacher (M) 314; Schumacher (R)/Trulli 307; Rosberg 303; Webber 301. Maybe it's those controversial 'flexible' wings... who knows.

The good news is that Monaco is next. Mechanical grip is the key here and, as with last year, it may be the team's best chance.

The team tested at the small Vallelunga circuit last week in preparation.

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L i^RNA'NPO ALONSO, y,; g ^laet,ariysne S;panisfei|:?\A/as I a-lt)ig week rorOaifii Pedrosa* I Rafapl. Nadal* iFG iBarGelona a,n^l. Kl"n,gi J'uani Gadbs;as-.« y'Gari anyone halt the Catalan / winning streak?

I iWIGHAELSCHUMAGNp i ■■A great,dl!i,ve,fror|['the>igtieat man,'who'still:looks as . motiwated'as ever. Stop all! .. theiretirennent chatter!;

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24 May 2006

4jsE!SIJ|E»AMA ' At ibhe 'Star,t.of the seasornihe ldoked.prdirnary'but'here, he was fourth-, only1|Ts behirid' iM-ikey,..aliid;set the race's

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Seems odd to bagaiibldke on the podium but Fi|r. . was 24 seconds behinci' --4 his team-mate at.the '~end:-after running) off^e^ . track alliiby ihimself. WoM' Ghampionship: material?

You have tobe joking.

MCLAREN Okay, we know that Kimi dragged some pace out of his car but Juan Montoya was nowhere, though the Quallyfuel SNAFU hardly helped matters.

WILLIAMS FI On similar Bridgestones, the FW28s were a full second behind the Ferraris.The motor is fine, but the rest...

ANYONE WHO WATGHED Barcelona: marvellous city, great people, stunning food ... lousy racetrack. The place needs changing; get those bulldozers going, and soon.

59

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OH,WHAT A FEE

TRD pair SimoM and Sye Evans steamrolled all comers at last weekend's Forest Rally, with Neal Bates finishing second for a Toyota 1-2. RYAISI LAHIFF reports from WA

W

ITH an eight week break between rounds, the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship travelled across the Nullabor for the Quit Forest Rally, based in the Margaret River region and staged in the logging forests surrounding Nannup.

After Toyota dominated the opening round in Canberra it was expected that the factory teams of Mitsubishi and Ford, as well as the raft of leading privateers, would provide a challenge to the Corollas.

However, at the end of two hard-fought days the re-branded Toyotas, now running under the Toyota Racing Developments (TRD)insignia, led by Simon Evans and Neal Bates had swept through the field, decimating their competition and leaving their rivals in tatters.

Heat One

eo

The event opened withSuper the nowtraditional Busselton Stages, two runs around the short tarmac stage on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Reverting to his prior circuit racing expertise Neal Bates once again proved unstoppable, taking both stage , wins to open an early lead over team-mate Evans.

Once out into the forests though, the name on the top of the leaderboard changed but the vehicle make didn't. Simon Evans blasted ahead to turn the overnight deficit into an immediate 21s advantage, "i don't think I'm doing anything special at all," remarked Evans at the first service, puzzled more by his rivals' lack of pace rather than his obviously exceptional stage times.

Bates reverted to a backup role, admitting without prompt that the unique Forest Rally roads are his least favourite in the series, and instead turned his attention to keeping third-placed local Dean Herridge at bay.

Herridge, meanwhile, had had an unexpected scare when a sizable branch lodged itself through the headlight of his Impreza and burled Itself deep into the engine bay.

"It's Incredible, it's missed

everything in its path through the engine bay when it could quite easily have hit something major and probably destroyed the engine!" he said.

Fortrailing factory drivers Scott Redder (Mitsubishi) and Michael Guest(Ford),the morning turned from bad to worse. Redder, who was buoyed prior to the event by the installation of a brand-new brake package on his Mitsubishi Lancer,found out a moment too late that they have a unique amount of rear brake bias as he corrected a slide and found himself spearing off the road.

At Ford, Guest's mechanical troubles from Canberra were continuing, and this time,the fledgling rear-wheel drive Focus had developed a rather noisy problem; a broken exhaust manifold.

"It was so loud I literally couldn't hear Mark Stacey calling the pace notes!"exclaimed Guest.

As the day drew on, Evans continued to build on his lead and by midday the margin to Bates was out to 33s. But the day wasn't progressing as smoothly for leading privateers Darren Windus, who plowed through a dirt bank and caused front-end damage to his impreza, and fellow self-funded driver Kevin Shaw, who was forced to stand back and watch as his Group A Mitsubishi Lancer burned to the ground.

"I had a totally wrong pace note," said Shaw."i came into a corner way too fast and we barrel rolled off the course and into a field.

We must have broken a fuel line, because it was already on fire by the time the car came to a rest, i'm not worried about the car, i'm just glad we were able to walk away from an accident that big!"

Shaw and co-driver John Allen were checked by medical staff at the scene, and both were cleared with nothing more serious than bruising, although Allen taken to the local hospital for additional precautionary checks after complaining of sore ribs.

With the remaining stages dwindling, Evans cruised to the Heat win ahead of Bates who weathered a late but ultimately Ineffective charge by Herridge, who was forced to settle for third.

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LING

2006 AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

"The car is just so easy to drive and I feel like 1 can get it to do anything I want," Evans said.

"I've probably been driving at about nine-tenths all day, because I feel that if i pushed it any harder I might have gone off. A onetwo forToyota is a great result, especially when I'm one and Neal (Bates) is two!"

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Heat Two ith Scott Pedder's Lancer returning to action, albeit slightly worse for wear after its off-road excursion, the intent was clear from the outset, with competitors willing to risk it all to put a dent in the seemingly unbeatable Corollas.

Both Redder and Herridge made early gains, although each admitted at the first service break that they were pushing hard just to maintain a level footing with the Toyotas. Evans was content to take a lower-key approach to the day's action, but still managed to leap to an immediate lead.

"I don't think there is anything any of us can do to match Simon this weekend,"admitted Herridge.

Entering the second half of the day Bates came under sudden pressure from a determined Herridge, who was being urged on by a large contingent of friends and family to get ahead of the Toyota driver to grab second.

Herridge managed to grab second by 0.2s on the third last stage, but the plan backfired in

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ROUND 2 FOREST RALLY Pos 1 2 3 4

a dramatic way. Bates pulled out all the stops on the penultimate stage and moved back into second while Redder, who'd made significant suspension adjustments to his Lancer, blitzed even Evans to take two stage wins and steal third from Herridge.

"I shouldn't feel as disappointed as I am right now,"said Herridge."After all, we proved our pace against the factory Toyotas, but it would have been really nice to get second today in front of our supporters hereon our home event."

It was a weekend for Toyota, though. Evans had been unmatchable at every turn, and Bates had played the perfect support role to net the manufacturer maximum points.

"A great result forToyota and

something that we all hope we can continue throughout the year," said Bates."Rersonally I'm happy to have secured second from Dean (Herridge) after we fought a really tight battle with him all day."

The win was a just reward for Evans, who claimed his first round victory since the 2004 Forest Rally.

"It's an incredible feeling actually,' he grinned. "It feels like when I took my first win in Melbourne.

I had to ask Sue before we crossed the ramp if it was all actually happening, it's almost like this weekend has been too trouble-free."

The Championship now has a four week break before resuming on the Sunshine Coast for the Coates Rally Queensland on June 16th-18th.

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5 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Leg 1 Saturday

Driver Simon Evans/Sue Evans IhOOm 19.6s ● - Toyota Corolla Neal Bates/Coral Taylor Ih01m l2.4s Subaru Impreza Dean Herridge/Bill Hayes 1h01m 21.6s Subaru Impreza Darren Windus/Jonathon Mortimer Ih02m 39.1s Subaru Impreza Lang Xu/Dale Moscdtt Mitsubishi Lancer 1h03m 37.6s Roman Watkins/Paul Flintoff 1h03m 49.8s Subaru Impreza Stewart Reid/Anthony McLoughlln Ih04m 01.2s Toyota Corolla Chris Anderson/Joel Lithgo 1h05m 01.2s ^baru Impreza

Leg 2 Sunday Simon Evans/Sue Evans 57m 35.6s Toyota Corolla Neal Bates/Coral Taylor 57m 52.2s Toyota Corolla Scott Pedder/Glen Weston Mitsubishi Lancer 58m 03.9s Dean Herridge/Biil Hayes 58m l2.4s Subaru Impreza Darren Windus/Jonathon Mortimer 59m 02.6s Subaru Impreza Stewart Reid/Anthony McLoughlin Ih00m l5.4s Toyota Corolla Chris Anderson/Joel Lithgo 1hOOm 55.7s Subaru Impreza Roman Watkins/Paul Flintoff 1h01m 03.9s Subaru impreza

Points: Evans 73, Bates 68, Herridge 56, Redder 41, WindusBO

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Something, someday might be able to stop Sebastien Loeb.

We'll let you know when it happens. In the meantime, he dodged another bullet and trounced everyone at Rally D’ltalla in Sardinia

I

MAGINE a rock. Got that?

Right. Now,imagine a WRC car hitting that rock.

Then,imagine another WRC car, travelling at similar speed, .hitting exactly the same rock a couple of minutes later.

It would be entirely reasonable for you to expect both impacts to have similar results - if the rock was big enough then both cars would be damaged;if not, both cars would bounce cheerfully down the road.

Not when Sebastien Loeb is involved.The Frenchman was in the unfamiliar role of playing second fiddle to the Ford of Marcus Gronholm at last weekend's Rally d'ltalia in Sardinia until the Finn slammed into a rock half-way through the second day,destroying the sump.The car was so badly damaged that it was unable to restart under SuperRally rules on Sunday.

Gronhom's retirement donated the lead to Loeb, however the Citroen hit the same rock.This time, however,the Xsara dusted itself off and pressed on without missing a beat. By the end of the day, Loeb had a gap of more than two minutes over Mikko Hirvonen, a lead that had stretched out to more than three minutes by the time the rally had ended. As well as pushing his Championship lead out even further,the win marked navigator Daniel Elena's 25th victory in the passenger seat, moving him to the top of the alltime WRC co-driver win list.

"A big impact with a rock embedded in the road surface hit the front of the car,"said Loeb.

"It made me think briefly of the two incidents in 2004 that had forced me into retirement. But I also remembered that compared to those two occasions,the impact had been on the'good' side of the car - the bit under the gearbox rather than the engine.

"The handling didn't seem to be affected, so I continued to push.

At the end of the stage I examined 62

the car carefully, but there was no real damage.The Xsara is certainly tough!"

Meanwhile, having watched another opportunity vanish into thin air, Gronholm must have been wondering what he has to do to break Loeb's streak "Everything was going fine as we approached a left corner just before a hairpin right,"he shrugged.

"I even braked early because I wasn't in a hurry and there was no pressure. But there was a big stone on the line and I hit it under braking."

Hirvonen's performance underlined both his own improving form and the quality of the Focus RS. Hirvonen was essentially out on his own for the entire rally, and had the luxury of being able to drive without taking unnecessary risks.

"I Just have one more step to reach the top level of the podium!'

Hirvonen grinned.

To find any sort of battle, you had to look to third place.

Henning Solberg was elevated onto the lowest step of the podium when Gronholm retired, but he hit a tree and holed his radiator at the end of the second day,opening the door to a titanic battle between Daniel Sordo's Citroen and the privateer Peugeot of Gigi Gain.The young chargers swapped places four times before Sordo finally managed to squeeze out a 1.3s advantage, but it all became academic when Galli was forced to retire with engine problems.

Elsewhere in the fieldtothere were plenty with stories tell, and none moreso than Chris Atkinson.

Having sat briefly in second place at the start of the first day, Atkinson had settled back into a comfortable fifth when he made an attempt on the Subaru vertical leap record at the famous Mickey's Jump on the second day.

The car landed awkwardly and

fast on Leg 2,climbing from 14th damaged its radiator and steering, to eighth,and both cars set fastest causing Atko to lose time while stage times over the course of the the damage was repaired.

Nevertheless, he was still well rally.The Impreza may still not be in the class of Citroen and Ford, but on target for fifth on the final it is not as far off as it looked a few l day, and even set a fastest stage weeks ago. time. But then,on the final stage, Sardinia was not kind to Skoda, he crashed under braking and which lost both cars on the opening damaged a wheel. He failed to make the finish, but was still day. Hard Rovanpera departed after suffering a broken driveshaft, credited with 10th place. and team-mate Jan Kopecky had a "Overall I'm happy with how I've driven on this rally,"said Atkinson. : crankshaft sensor problem.

The disasters plaguing the works "Before the last stage we had teams opened the door for some gone consistently all weekend, made no mistakes and had minnows to have a field day. Xavier Pons was fourth in the Kronos kept a good pace. Obviously to Citroen, leading Jussi Valimaki's end the rally like we did is very Mitsubishi, Kristian Sohiberg in disappointing, but there was a sixth (his best-ever result in the lot of dust coming into the car WRC), Manfred Stohl in seventh and I got distracted. We will be and Francois Duval eighth. targeting a better finish next month in Greece."

From the sandy gravel of Sardinia,the series now looks Team-mate Petter Solberg ahead to the rugged,car-killing was having a similarly stressful roads of the Acropolis Rally in weekend.The former world Greece. Managing tyres is the champion's weekend started main key, but even if you get that badly with a spin and string of right then there are rocks by the punctures,and ended with a bent dozen waiting to punch a hole steering arm.Some weekends,it in something important. Will doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Sebastien Loeb finally be proven At least there were some a mortal? encouraging signs for Subaru amid Only one way to find out... all the headaches.Solberg was

moiorsportnews

wrc

RALLY D'lTALIA Pos Driver

Nat Car/Time

1. Sebastien Loeb Daniel Elena Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen Daniel Sordo Marc Marti Xavier Pons Carlos de Barrio Jussi Valimaki

Fra Mon Fin Fin E E l E E Fin

Citroen Xsara 3h54m18.9s Ford Focus RS 3hS7nn00.3s Citroen Xsara 3h57m46.6s Citroen Xsara 3h59m47.2s Mitsubishi 4h01m27.7s

Jarkko Kalliolepo Fin Kristian Sohiberg Fin Subaru impreza .TomiTuominen. Fin 4h01mS5.8s Manfred Stohl Aut Peugeot 307 Ilka Minor Aut 4h02m37.3s B. Francois Duval B Skoda Fabia Patrick Pivato Fra 4h17m25.9s Driver's points; Loeb 66,Gronholm 35,Sordo 30,P. Solberg 21,Stohl 20,

Hirvonen 15,Gain 11 (Atkinson 8).

24 May 2006

$1,000,000.'^ I Jimmie Johnson DOiURS Million and °°/ioo

Sprint > >

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TOM ON TOP TOM Kristensen has taken the DTM series lead after winning the third round at Oschersleben last weekend.

The Dane took control of the race early, his lead only threatened during a mid-race brush with lapped traffic. A swift second pit-stop by the Audi team cleared the traffic allowing Kristensen to take his second career victory.

"It was a tough race,"said Kristensen."It was a genius move from the team to bring me into the pits early."

Bruno Spengler made his first visit to the DTM podium with second, while Brit Jamie Green made it two Mercedes drivers on the podium with third.

The result moves Kristensen to the top of the points score ahead of Bernd Schneider and Spengler.

Points; Kristensen 26,Schneider 24, Spengier 12, Green 11, Frentzen 11.

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SEAT may have scored a 1-23 in the opening race at last weekend's World Touring Car Championship round three at Brands Hatch, but Chevrolet stole the show when Alain Menu took its maiden win in Race 2.

Menu made the most of a mistake by BMW UK's Andy

HOME RACE HERO

JIMMIE Johnson may as well take possession to the lease at his sponsor's track, Lowe's Motor Speedway,Charlotte.

He has now won a total of seven races,five points events and on Saturday night the Hendrick driver captured his second non-points Nextel All Star race by bagging a cool one million bucks in what turned out to be little more than a rain delayed wreck-fest.

"We had a good race car,"said Johnson."It's a shame some good cars were taken out. Our other car for this week's 600 is apparently better than this one, but Chad (Knaus-crew chief) is going to have to put his salesman's hat on to convince me otherwise."

Kasey Kahne and his Evernham Dodge crew posted the fastest qualifying effort for the threelap four-tyre pit stop format over Johnson and

Priaulx to take the Chevrolet's first-ever championship race win. Priaulx had been in control of the race, but slipped off the road during a restart following a safety car period.

"It's been a fantastic weekend," said Menu after the maiden win.

'On Friday I wasn't happy with the car but we improved it over

Kurt Busch, Kahne lead early but it was Kyle Busch who went on to win the first 40-lapper as a strong looking Kurt retired with an expired Penske Dodge engine.

TWO weeks ago Greg Biffle grabbed his first win of the year and second in succession at Darlington, holding off a late-race charge from six-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon.

Never a factor early, Gordon past Matt Kenseth for second with 22 laps to run, Kenseth held on to third after starting 31 st on a track he's never faired well at.

- MARTIN D CLARK Points: Johnson 1686,Stewart 1593, Kenseth 1592, Martin 1487, Earnhardt 1460,J Gordon 1391, Kyle Busch 1388, Kahne 1379, Harvick 1365, Burton 1295.

the three days, we even made changes between the two races."

"When Andy (Priaulx) went wide I knew I had to stay focused and finish. This year our aim was a race win and now we have done it. I have won many races here at Brands Hatch but I have to say that was the best ever."

Menu was followed home by SEAT drivers Rickard Rydell and James Thompson.

Race 1 was an even better result for SEAT, with factory drivers securing the top three finishing positions.

The trio was fronted by Yvan Muller, who inherited the championship lead thanks to the win. PeterTerting and James Thompson were second and third.

"It was helpful that I knew the track but a lot of the drivers did," said Muller "What is key is that I regained the lead of the championship because that was the target."

Points: Muller 32, Thompson 25, Tarquini 24, Priaulx 23, Rydell 21, Menu 18, D.Muller 18, J.Muller 16, Terting 15.

64

motorsportnews

international

BIG START

KARL Reindler kicked off his 2006 British Formula 3 campaign in promising style with a top-six finish at Donnington Park last weekend.

Having never raced at Donnington Park before, Reindler took a conservative approach to Race 1 finishing sixteenth.

Despite not having a chance to test his ADR Dallara before the race meeting, Reindler, below, proved himself competitive by driving from sixteenth to sixth in the rain soaked Race 2.

"1 just wanted to stay out of trouble and finish the first race,"

said Reindler "The second race I was able to

pick off a few people.There was a safety car half way through, and a couple of people fell off but I made up most of my positions from passing."

"I'm still not completely comfortable in the car and I haven't raced for four months,so to go out and get in the top six isn't too bad."

Team-mates Bruno Senna and Mike Conway shared the race wins.

Points: Senna 72, Conway 44, Engel 33, Jarvis 32,Jelley 30, Buurman 29, Bakkerud 21,Walker 15, Hall 9, Retera 8

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QRAHAMRahal hasibe^me-the young6st.ever£hamp.^'pi; AtlantiGiro.und‘winner with victory at Monterrey last weekend Rahai, 1i7, Led.every lap of the Mexican race to become the yiuingest winner.iiitthe category's SS-yeefrifffsfipy?**' l ' team.Australia's Sinnon.'PagenaLidiifb,un^!the,podium,with. ;● secondiplace, whil'e Monterrey local David. Martinet was thirdly Barton Mawer was twentieth, one spot ahead of Jarnes.Oavisofir.. . .

A fortnight ago, Andreas Wirth made it two in. a row. at the ' - 1 second round; of .the Champ Car Atlantic series at'IH'ouston;, Raphael Matos and Graham Rahali dicedfor thed’ead early before tangling oh the wayiih'tOlurhipne 0h1l'ap!|^^^^^^ Lead andthe win .toWirth.^ ■ T irench rookie Simon Pagenau'dliirnproMedidniihisjifd.uiith fridr.- 4^ spotto finish second. James,DaMisoniinilhediitenth'., T- v

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Points: Wirth 84, Pagenaud79*IRahai:6ir,IHincfrdHfif||§;Bbmarito<49i;MarJinez49; ^ Dirani47,Sciuto47,Matos4t,Maia3-7^ ' . -

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FIRST OF MANY

THE opposition needed a miracle to beat Valentino Rossi at the French MotoGP, and it came in the form of a mechanical gremlin that left the Italian's Yamaha stranded on lap 21.

From seventh on the grid, Rossi wasted no time in the race, taking the lead on lap four. But just when he seemed to have the upper hand in the battle for the lead, the Yamaha developed an engine problem and rolled to a stop.

"Of course 1 am very disappointed,"said Rossi."A bike stopping on me like this has only happened to me a couple of times in my career.

Three laps after Rossi's demise, Marco Melandri hit the lead and stayed there.

Casey Stoner maintained his consistent debut MotoGP season, finishing fourth behind Loris Capirossi and Pedrosa, who slipped back to third.

Nicky Hayden's nine-race string of podium finishes was broken when the American finished fifth, however the Honda rider continues to lead the championship from Melandri and Caparossi.

The previous weekend in China, Honda's works team scored a rare 1-2 when Pedrosa scored his maiden MotoGP win, left.

The Spaniard slipped to a pole position in wet qualifying, and became the second 20-year-old to win in the top category after Freddie Spencer.

At the finish Hayden was 1.5s behind with Texan Colin Edwards salvaging some pride for Yamaha with 24 May 2006

third place. John Hopkins (Suzuki) was a career-best fourth ahead of Stoner.

Points: Hayden 83, MelandrI 79, CapIrossI 79, Pedrosa 73, Stoner 65, Edwards 45, Ellas 44, Rossi 40, GIbernau 33, Tamada 33

JUST 0.1s separated YukiTakahashi and Andrea Dovisioso at the finish of the French 250 GP. The Humangest team-mates duked it out throughout the race,Takahashi denying Dovisioso his maiden 250cc win with a move on the final lap.

Shuhei Aoyama was third, while Ant West finished eleventh.

Hector Barbara won the Shanghai event. Ahead of Andrea Dovizioso after a tough battle from start to finish. Barbara was just 0.2s ahead at the finish with Hiroshi Aoyama third.

Points: Dovisioso 92, Barbara 78, H.Aoyama 75, TakahashI 67, Lorenzo 63, Locatelli 57, Guintoli 38, De Angelis 35, Simoncelli 31.

REIGNING 125cc champ Thomas Luthi found the podium for the first time this year with victory in the French 125 GP. Luthi braved the damp conditions to lead home Mika Kallio and Fabrizio Lai. In Shanghai, Mika Kallio played a waiting game and pulled-off a remarkable victory ahead of Mattia Pasini, with Alvaro Bautista third.

Points: Bautista 99, Kallio 78, Faubel 56, Gadea 54, Pasini 49, Pesek 39, Luthi 37, Corsi 37, Simon 37, Talmacsi 36

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FERNANDO Alonso was not the only local hero at Barcelona, with Spaniard Ernesto Viso taking his second GP2 win of 2006.

Viso started from pole position, courtesy of his Race 1 result, and blasted off into the lead. With overtaking impossible at the track, he drove the iSport entry around 26 times to take a narrow win.

Nelson Piquet Jr was second from Alexandre Premat, Lewis Hamilton andTristian Gommendy.

The big loser was Xandi Negrao, who stalled away his front row starting position.

"The car was good,"smiled Viso after the race,"I drove very well I think. I'm very happy with the team and the guys are doing a really good job, and I think we can do a really good job for the rest of the season."

Piquet summed up the feeling of many about the track: "It was not safe to overtake,so I kept it safe and finished second.

The fight between Lewis and me is going to be very interesting, and it will be very strong throughout the year."

Piquet maintains the series lead, assisted by the fact that Hamilton had his best(and pole) lap in qualifying disallowed because, with five other drivers, he ignored yellow flags.

PRICHT MICH1L. POR MJiReOS MARCOS Ambrose rode the highs and lows at the sixth round of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte North Carolina today.

The two-time V8 Supercar champion qualified a brilliant third for his first race at the 1.5-mile Superspeedway and his aim was to stay out of^ trouble, but he was unable to get to the inside groove. On lap 5, with Mark Martin to his inside, his Team Australia Ford F-150 drifted high off the racing line and hammered the Turn 4 wall.The Wood Bros/ JTG Racing team tried to repair the truck but it was too badly damaged to return to the race.

"Qualifying was great,"said Ambrose, but the race was pretty shitty.

"I was just trying to keep out of the way. I was stuck on the high line. I'm not sure what happened, she just went around on me."

Nextel Cup interloper and defending race winner Kyle Busch went on to win the event in his Chevy from Terry Cook's Ford and Todd Bodine's Toyota.

Ambrose will next race on May 27 at Mansfield Speedway, but his debut at the high speed Texas Motor Speedway on June 9 hangs in the balance after his third DNF. NASCAR must makes a decision on whether he's approved to race on 1.5 milespeedways after the Mansfield and Dover events.

- MARTIN D CLARK

Points: Piquet 39, Hamilton 37,Premat 27, Viso 26, Lapierre25.

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Bored, Eh?

SEBASTIEN Bourdais completed a Champcar World Series hat-trick with victory at Monterrey last weekend.

Bourdais drove away from pole position to lead the opening 25 laps of the race, before slotting in behind Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger following the first round of pit stops.The trio remained in that order until the second stops, when Bourdais leapfrogged the two RuSPORT drivers and retook the lead.

From there it was a case of managing the lapped traffic, which Bourdais did sublimely while taking his third race win in as many rounds. Wilson and Allmendinger rounded out the podium. Will Power finished 11th.

A fortnight ago,Sebastien Bourdais won his second Champcar World Series round in a row in Houston, despite starting the race from fifth on the grid.

It took the back-to-back reigning Champion just 10 laps to make up the first four places, before slipping past Mario Dominguez's Lola and taking his 18th career victory. Bourdais did slip back to second thanks to a mid-race problem in the pits, but took advantage of Dominguez mistake to reclaim the lead.

Paul Tracy mounted a late charge for the race win,finishing just 1.2s behind Bourdais. Dominguez recovered to finish third.

AlexTagliani's had a horror finish to his weekend, when a stuck throttle sent him flying into the wall.TheTeam Australia driver was sent to Hermann Hospital for xrays, and was released the following Monday.

Power had a strong run to seventh, despite completing a drive-through penalty for his part in a clash with Charles Zwolsman.

Points: Bourdais 102, Wiison 77, Dominguez 69, Ranger 58,Tagiiani 56,Tracy 54, Da Matta 47, Allmendinger 45,Power 40,Phillipe 35.

Some good,some badforAussies in FBMW

MICHAEL Patrizi endured a tough time at Rounds 7 and 8 of the Formula BMW UK Series at Brand Hatch last weekend.

The West Aussie struggled with the wet weather,finishing the meeting with just a single point thanks to a storming drive from last to 10th in Race 1.

Patrizi was caught out by the wet track during Friday's practice, clipping a kerb and launching his car into the wall. The impact destroyed his racecar,forcing him qualify the spare.

"It was a massive impact,"said Patrizi."We were always going to be behind the eight ball after the

accident and having to switch to the spare car."

The previous two rounds at Oulton Park a fortnight ago reaped better results for Patrizi, with a sixth and a seventh place finish netting valuable points.

Points; Breen 91,Curnow89, Hankey 81, Oakes 78, Meadows 72,Patrizi 41.

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PENSKE Racing has made history by becoming the first LMP2 team to record a 1-2 finish in the American Le Mans Series.

The Penske Porsches dominated proceedings at ■ Mid Ohio last weekend, with Remain Dumas and ' Timo Bernhard leading Sascha Maassen and Lucas i Luhr to the finish.

I David Brabham and Scott Maxwell were second in I class and 13th outright.

24 May 2006

The Mid Ohio results bettered those of Brabham and Maxwell from Houston a fortnight ago, where the pair endured a suspension failure to finish sixth in class and 18th outright. Audi drivers Rinaldo Capello and Alan McNish won the Houston event outright.

Points; McNish tS^apeWo 66, Weaver 54, Leitzinger 54, 'KRstensen 26, Wailace 22, Dyson 13, Lewis IS^mith 13, McMurry13. ^ ^ k

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EARL Bamber was too good at rounds three,four and five of the Formula BMW Asia series at Sepang a fortnight ago.

The Kiwi continued his stellar debut Formula BMW season with pole position and three easy wins from the three races. He also set the fastest lap in two of the races.

Bamber, 15, kicked the weekend off with a lights-to-flag victory, leading his team-mate, Brit James Grunwell, home by 5.53s. Australian Sam Abay was third.

The trio were unchanged in Race 2, Bamber easing the winning margin out to 5.8s. Abay was lucky to hold third after his BMW engine lost power on lap six but it lasted to the flag before a quick engine swap for Race 3.

Grunwell jumped into the lead at the start of the third race, until a lap five spin allowed Bamber to take his win #3. Abay and Ricciardo made it two Australians on the podium with second and third respectively while Bamber now heads both the outright and rookie standings.

The next three rounds of the championship are scheduled at Goldenport, Beijing, on the June 10.

Points; Bamber 85, Abay 67, Grunweli 60, Ricciardo 48, Al Farden 40, Storey 38, Aii 26, Lim18.

67

Brooke wins again BROOKE Tatneli has won his third Driver of the Year award in the annual Australian Sprintcar Poll conducted by the Knoxville Hall of Fame.Tatnell's third award brings him closer to Max Dumesny and Skip Jackson's four awards each.

Tatneli was a clear winner in the poll, with American Donny Schatz second, by virtue of his blistering form in Parramatta City Raceway's international season.

Dumesny was third, ahead of Robbie Farr, American Jason Johnson, PCR Track Champ Trevor Green and Ryan Farrell.

John Cooley of Cool Chassis won his third Manufacturer of the Year award, while 16-year-old Northern Territory talent James McFadden won Rookie of the Year and the Wildcard Award. Darren

TATNELL WINS BROOKE Tatneli has hit form in the 2006 World of Outlaws Championship, winning his fourth World of Outlaws feature two weeks ago and retiring while leading another feature last week.

The reigning Australian and World Series Champion beat Terry McCarl to victory at Huset's Speedway on May 7.Tatneli, below inside of McCarl, started from the pole in the feature and led every

lap to cap an unforgettable weekend for the New South Welshman and his Rush Racing team. One night earlier on Saturday night,Tatneli and his team ventured to Knoxville Raceway after the Outlaws show at Wichita was rained out and proceeded to break the lap record in qualifying at the prestigious venue with a 14.407s lap.

"We were on a winless run for a while, since Princeton last year actually,"said Tatneli."This whole team has been working together. We just needed something to pick You just have to keep plugging away at the whole thing and let's

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Shaddock ofsprintcarworld.com.au won the Media Award, Kwinana Motorplex in WA the Promoter of the Year and veteran WA speedway journalist Ken Brown the Outstanding Contribution award.

Australians have had mixed fortunes at the latest round of the Knoxville Track Championship on May 13.

Kerry Madsen was running up with the leaders in the A-Main until mechanical troubles forced him out, while Trevor Green's run ended with a ninth place in the B-Main. While Kaley Gharst took out his first Knoxville win from Danny Lasoski and Brian Brown, it was again Lynton Jeffrey who was the best placed Australian with in fifth in the feature after time trialling sixth fastest. Skip Jackson was 20th.

Eldora Speedway owner and NASCAR Cup Champion Tony Stewart is again holding a mid-week Late Model race for his NASCAR buddies on the Wednesday night between the World of Outlaws Sprintcar Bass Pro Shops Shootout on June 3 at Eldora and the US$100,000-to-win Eldora Dream for Late Models on June 9-10.

Stewart will, of course, enter the race, which has been billed Eldora's Nextel Prelude To The Dream.Stewart will be joined by NASCAR drivers Matt Kenseth, Elliot Sadler, Robby Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Mike Wallace, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Kenny Wallace (winner of last year's Prelude race), Kenny Schrader, Dave Blaney, JJ Yeley, Kyle Petty and Denny Hamlin. And for something different, NHRA Funny Car driver Ron Capps will also compete.

Stewart has also stated that if he wins this year's Crown Royal IROC Championship, he win commit the one million dollars

CRUMP STILL ON TOP five races unbeaten. But in the JASON Crump won his second Grand Prix of the season and the Final, as in the previous round in Poland, Crump prevailed.

14th of his career in great style "Jason seems to save his best last weekend to cement his lead , for the last race,"admitted at the top of the 2006 World Hancock afterwards, but he Championship table. was still delighted with another In the three meetings so far in outstanding performance. the series. Crump has won two "I think I am riding better than and was runner-up in the other.

He entered the semi-final second for a long time,"said Hancock, "and there is still a long way to go." on points to American Greg Crump dropped two points Hancock after the qualifying heats, in the qualifying heats and had the American going through his

choice of gates in his semi, but he could not find a way past Denmark's Nicki Pedersen.

In the Final, however,the battling Pedersen, winner of the first Grand Prix this year in Slovenia,found himself bunched out on the first corner and he had to be content with fourth place.

It was enough to keep him in second place overall, now 15 points behind Crump, with Hancock a further ten in arrears.

Gessner loses ride CAMERON Gessner will no longer drive the Lusty Loadersbacked #6 Performance Wholesale Motorsport Maxim.

Gessner, left, and team owner Bill Mann have amicably split as Gessner recovers from neck injuries sustained in a crash that prematurely ended his season. Garry Brazier filled the vacant drive for the Easter SprintcarTrail and Australian Sprintcar Open,and as one of the premier drivers in Australian speedway, becomes an obvious candidate for the drive. But as one of the most professional teams on the World Series Sprintcars circuit, Mann is said to be considering several driver options, both Australian and American.

Gessner will continue working at Performance Wholesale in the engine development and dynometer department.

"Cameron and I had a long talk and we both agree that even though we've have had some good results, we both believe it's time for a change,"said Mann.

prizemoney to a Late Model race at Eldora.

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just hope we can get on a roll.

We've been hit and miss. We just have to get the program and stay there now."

Then last week on May 16 at Grandview Speedway,Tatnell again started from pole in the feature and was streaking away in the lead when on lap seven, he pulled out with mechanical problems.Tatnell's loss was Australian-owned Titan Racing's gain, leaving Titan driver Daryn Pittman to battle with series leader Donny Schatz, with Schatz eventually winning.

Both Pittman and Tatnell both remain within 100 points of Schatz in the championship, ieaving bofh »- in striking distance of the title as it enters a busy time with a series of races in Pennsylvania, where the tough local teams and drivers known as the Pennsylvania Posse are thrown into the mix.

speedway

WORLD SERIES MAKES BIC PLANS WORLD Series Sprintcars team owners have left the annual Teams Conference buoyed, with plans for the future structure of the series taking shape.

MNews understands that former V8 Supercar team owner Tony Noske was at the meeting and gave information regarding

the team iicence system used in V8 Supercar racing, with a positive response forthcoming, issues such as next season's schedule were also discussed, with the successful Tasmanian rounds to return, and mooted races in Western Australia and at Parramatta City Raceway

aiso considered, with the former more likely than the latter, although we hear that WSS and PCR are keen to stage a round at the venue in season 2007//08, when 41 Oci engines are introduced Australia-wide, see front news pages.

-CHRIS JORDAN

-fiichmond Darwlrtion & S?J

The latest round last Sunday again sawTatneli shine when he finished a close second to Jac Haudenschild at Sharon Speedway after qualifying fastest.

A SURE THING ANDREW Scheuerle has won Queensland's Comp Cams Sprintcar Series after finishing fourth in the series final at Brisbane International Speedway two weeks ago.

Robbie Farr was the winner of the final feature of the series in his new Aceways Transport-backed

Mildura's Leigh Adams again reached the semi-finals, but couldn't go one step further and although sixth, he is already a long way behind his fellow Aussie.

-TONY MILLARD Points:Crump 70,Pedersen 55, Hancock 45, Gollob 45,Zagar 31, Adams 28, Hampel 28, Rickardsson 26.

Hoosler Tire Australia Australian Distributors for

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For moreinfo on Hoosier Drag &Speedway Tyres call:

NSW: 0296791990 VIC: 0393316477 SA: 0883320800 24 May 2006

WORLD OF OUTLAWS 2006 CHAMPIONSHIP Sharon Speedway

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ride, but it was Scheuerle that was happiest,just pipping Richard Morgan to the title.

Scheuerle had to finish no more than one place behind Morgan to grab the crown and did just that when he came home in fourth,one spot behind Morgan.

"It's fantastic to win this series,"said Scheuerle, who won the title without scoring a feature win all series."We've worked really hard this year and it's a credit to the team."

Arguably the drive of the night went to livewire Drew Kruck in the Titan'Pirate'car. Kruck transferred to the feature via the B-Main and drove from'a starting position of 13th to finish second.

Terry Bracken's chances at the title evaporated early in the night when he clashed with Kruck in a heat, breaking the front end on the Cresta car and putting Bracken out of the heat and out of contention for the title despite being a six-time feature winner this season.

Standings:20th May

BUCK MNO BOXIMC Putting a Capps in his own ass

AN incident involving Ron Capps and fellow Funny Car team-mate and competitor Whit Bazemore on Saturday . ofthe Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta has cost Ron Capps a monetary fine of US$TO,000.

Capps and Bazemore were involved in a physical altercation two weeks ago. Capps is required to pay the monetary fine prior to reinstatement of participant privileges.

Torco Racing fuels, a leading manufacturer of high performance fuels, has signed a multi-year agreement with NHRA to become the title sponsor of Virginia's return to the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. The NHRA returns to Virginia Motorsports Park near Richmond.

The venue has not held a meeting since the 2000 season.

The inaugural Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals, October 6-8,2006, is the 21st of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Don Schumacher Racing has added veteran technician Terry Adams as assistant crew chief on his two-car Mopar-backed Pro Stock operation that competes in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

Adams will join newly-appointed crew chief David Nickens on the Team Mopar/ Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T driven by Richie Stevens Jr. and the Team Mopar/SRT Dodge Stratus R/T piloted by Shaun Carlson in the Pro Stock class.

Tuttle Motorsports has announced that Skull Shine and Torco Racing Fuels have become the team's primary sponsor which will enable driver JR Todd to

Boxing Day Bonanza will return this year, and there’s a big name coming Down Under ...

THE Boxing Day drag racing event that debuted at the Western Sydney International Dragv\/ay last year is set to return to the Sydney circuit this year.

After a popular debut in 2005, the Boxing Day Bonanza will again see Australia take on the USA in Top Fuel, with at least one front-running American coming back to Australia to compete in the second running of the event.

Last year,'Aussie'Dave Grubnic

and Scott Kalitta took on the local Top Fuel competitors. WSID CEO and former Australian champion Jim Read said the event's inital success has promted the NSW government and the stars of America's Top Fuel class to come back for another run.

"The event is definitely going ahead again," he told MNews.

"It was an outstanding success.

We had a lot of media support, and this year's event will be even better."

While Read wouldn't be drawn on which American racer would appear at WSID on Boxing Day, he did say that the person in question was currently "inside the top eight"of the NHRATop Fuel Championship.

Read's tease means that the driver in question could be either MelanieTroxel, Doug Kalitta, Grubnic, Rod Fuller, Brandon Bernstein, Larry Dixon, Morgan Lucus or former champion Tony Schumacher.

NSW V VK IN DID

THE Australian Top Fuel Championship will go down to the wire at Willowbank Raceway's Castrol Edge Winternationals in two weeks time.

The Top Fuel showdown will be a stateverses-state affair, to be held on neutral ground.

New South Wales driver Phil Read and Victoria's Darren Morgan are locked on points, meaning whoever finishes in front will take the prestigious title.

Willowbank Raceway General Manager Steve Bettes is bracing his crew for an expected crowd of over 45,000 for the weekend.

"Genuine interest from spectators has come from throughout Australia, New Zealand and even the United States," Bettes said. "We are in for one huge weekend.

"Both Phil Read and Darren Morgan can cover the quarter mile in a little over four and a half seconds and each has done that consistently this season."

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On top of the Top Fuel showdown, competitors in Jack Daniel's Top Doorslammer have also been ruffling the record sheets this year.

Western Australia's John Zappia became the world's fir^t five-second marker in the bracket, while more recently.i n' Brisbane's Aaron Lynch surpassed the long held milestone of fastest Top Doorslammer, a record previously held

by Victor Bray. Lynch's 5.97s pass at an amazing 245.77mph during Willowbank's QTTin Top Titles in April. It meant he

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was only the second driver in the world (behind Zappia) to secure a sub six second pass in the category. He also

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became the first to perform the feat at Willowbank Raceway.

Other categories at the season-finale Winternationals will be the Deno's Cranes Top Alcohol, TravelaireTours Pro Stock, Morgan & WackerTop Bike, QT Pro Stock Motorcycle and other Group 2,3 and 4 classes.

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compete at all ofthe remaining events in the NHRA Series.

Brad Personett ran the fastest speed ever in NHRA Xpidd Sport Compact Racing Series history at the Northeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals at Atco Raceway.

Personett, driving a Scion tC, ran a speed of 220.15 mph in the third round of qualifying to the top qualifying spot. His time of 6.44 is also the quickest run in the history ofthe Pro RWD class.

- DAVID OSTASZESKI

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ainiia w Vale Scott Geoffrion TWO-TIME NHRA Pro Stock runner-up Scott Geoffrion died on May 8 of a heart attack in Southern California.

He was 40.

Geoffrion was hospitalised Sunday night for observation with breathing problems and a fever stemming from ulcers in his esophagus and died the following day.

Geoffrion drove for Warren Johnson from 1987 through 1991 before joining David Hutchens'team with Darrell Alderman.They reached the final round 28 times in a career that spanned more than 200 races from 1987 through 2004. He didn't score his first of nine victories until his 10th final round,in Memphis in 1993, where he defeated Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden. His most recent win was in 1997 in Topeka.

Geoffrion logged six top 10 points finishes, including world championship runnerup finishes in 1992 and 1994.

He scored a career-high six victories in 1994, yet finished second to Alderman. He finished third in 1993 and fourth in 1991.

Geoffrion sat out the 2001 season after being released from the Dodge camp following three lackluster seasons, but resurfaced in a Ford with new team owner Hurley Blakeney and scored his final top 10 finish in 2003.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI 24 May 2006

BRANDON BURNING NHRA points score hots up at Columbas BRANDON Bernstein jumped into second place in the NHRA POWERadeTop Fuel championship points chase with victory last Sunday at the 42nd annual Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals in Columbas.

In the final, Bernstein and opponent Cory McClenathan left together, but McClenathan banged the blower around 400 feet out and coasted on through while Bernstein clocked his quickest pass of the weekend at 4.53s/329mph. Bernstein has almost been unstoppable when he gets into the final round, as he has collected 10 wins in 11 final round appearances.

In earlier rounds; Bernstein's Budweiser dragster used a trio of 4.55s/327mph,4.57s/328mph and 4.54s/329mph wins over David Baca, Luigi Novelli, and brewery wars rival Larry Dixon.

McClenathan, driving a special Jeg's-themed paint scheme,stopped Doug Herbert, points leader MelanieTroxel and David Grubnic en route to the final.

Tony Pedregon raced to his 31st Funny Cartriumph, and second in a row, despite encountering engine problems in every round. Pedregon was able to advance through eliminations and defeated Whit Bazemore, who lost power at half-track In the final and watched Pedregon win with a slowing 4.92s at 313mph in the Q Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Qualifying third at 4.72s, Pedregon slowed to mid4.8s runs, but took win lights against Tim Wilkerson, Gary Sceizi and Tommy Johnson Jr. Pedregon's two consecutive wins have lifted him from 12th to sixth place in the standings.

Whit Bazemore raced to his first final of the year with round victories over Bob Gilbertson, Del Worsham and Eric Medlen.

Jim Yates snapped a three-and-a-half year winless streak, as the two-time Pro Stock champion used a huge holeshot to steal his 25th career trophy from final round opponent Vieri Gaines in a 6.72s/205mph to 6.68s/206mph victory.

Piloting his SeaRay Boats Pontiac GTO,Yates clocked 6.67s,6.69mph, and 6.70s passes to trailer

Our Bud:Bernstein won Top Fuel at Columbas.

Dave Howard, Larry Morgan and Jason Line. With the victory, Yates'became the eighth Pro Stock winner in as many races in the highly-competitive Pro Stock class. The win helped him move around Erica Enders and into third place in the rankings,48 behind points leader Greg Anderson.

Gaines looked like the favorite heading into the final, never leaving the 6.6s range in early wins over Rickie Smith, Ron Krisher, and low qualifier Allen Johnson.

Angelle Sampey saved her best pass for last as she rode her U.S. Army Suzuki to her quickest run of the weekend at 7.04sh 88mph to stop the 7.12s/185mph of Matt Smith and collect her third Pro Stock Motorcycle win of the year.

In advancing to the final round,Sampey eliminated the Harley-Buell-powered motorcycles of Marco Andreano,low qualifier Chip Ellis and Matt Guidera.

She also regained the points lead that she held after the first two events.

- DAVID OSTASZEWSKI Points:Top FueLTroxel 744, Bernstein 627, Grubnic578.

Funny Car: Capps 698,Force 612, Medlen 555.

Pro Stock:Yates 626, Anderson 610,Line 603.

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Justlike Murph V8 UTES and Commodore Cup front runner Marcus Zukanovic recently took up football as part of his fitness program.

Unfortunately for the young Victorian he injured his ankle in his last game,swelling his right foot to the extent that he cannot 'heel-toe'downshift.

Making the best of the situation, Zukanovic took up left-foot braking for the first time in his Commodore Cup car at .Phillip Island, learning the technique on the run as he took pole position and the overall round victory.

POWLES TO SUZUKA

Speaking of Utes, Zukanovic will be a part of a full grid at Wakefieid Park this weekend for the third round of the Yokohama V8 Ute Series, appearing with Fujitsu V8s and WPS Carrera Cup. The charge will be headed by series leaders Grant Johnson and Jack Elsegood, the latter having just returned from a Le Mans Series Porsche drive in Belgium.

Rugby Union star Ben Dunn will make his second V8 Ute appearance aboard a Falcon, while ex-AUSCAR champ Marshall Brewer is also a starter.

Other potential front-runners include Kerry Wade and James Small.

The NSW Road Racing Club held its annual'Do It In The Dark'day/night race meeting at Oran Park Raceway on Saturday May 13.

Toranas reigned supreme in the Historic Group N & S races. Greg Smith won the Trophy Race,following the demise of Vince Macri, who won the opening two races.

Despite a spin in the Trophy Race, Scott Button shone under the lights, winning all three Combined Touring Cars and Improved Production outings. Jason Walsh and Graeme Shea completed the Trophy Race podium.

Sports Sedan pilot Bill Harris blitzed the Sports Sedans, HQ's and Kingwoods ranks.

Pedro Marusic and Garry Pilkington topped the Kingswood and HQ's respectively in the Trophy Race.

Of the day races, Ryan Simpson and Ian Chivas battled it out at the head of the Formula Vee field. Simpson won three of the four races, with Chivas taking the other.

In the AF2 Supersports and invited Formula Fords, Richard Crawshay won each race. Greg Hunter was second in the opening two races, but didn't finish the final after a clash with Crawshay.

A spin cost Peter Bryant a clean sweep of the Superkart races, with Ron Ping taking the Trophy Race win.

-MITCHELL ADAM

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GLENN Powles will be the sole Australian competing in the CIKFIA Asia-Pacific Championships at Suzuka,Japan this weekend.

He will compete in the lOOcc Intercontinental A class with the MBA Karts team.

The 21-year old, above, recently landed what is essentially a works drive for the event with the Italian manufacturer.The team will use TM engines and Dunlop tyres.

Initial dealings were through local MBA importer Giuseppe Cantanese, who put Powles in contact with the factory in Italy.

"It's pretty much a full factory drive," he told MNews."Enzo (Beneventi, MBA owner) asked me to make a list of all the equipment I'd require to race in Japan and he's taken care of it. I've just got to get myself over there."

While Powles had been looking at another team, he said the offer from MBA was'irrefusable'.

"I think we've got a good package

and a very good chance. We've got our knowledge from when we were there last, the kart is fantastic and Enzo has hadTM prepare three factory engines for me."

Suzuka is noted as a Dunlopfriendly surface for ICA and only one driver in the class is not on its rubber(one of the local Tony Kart drivers will use Bridgestone).

"I must say that Dunlop Australia has been fantastic in terms of testing tyres and organising our race tyres for Japan,"said Powles.

This will be Powles's first CIKstyle event since he competed in ICA at Eastern Creek in May last year, but Powles is still confident that he will be up to speed.

"It is a little bit of a disadvantage, but having raced Formula 100 and Clubman this year, I feel quite sharp in my driving and I've been in the kart a fair bit since the Nationals doing testing(MBA flew out another chassis for him to use here)."

Powles will continue to drive MBA locally for the rest of the year and there's a real chance the team

will do the Macau International Kart Prix in December, with a definite program for 2006 still to be finalised.

"We'll try and do the bigger meetings and there's the Formula 100 Titan Series in Victoria".

The prestigious Suzuka event, which doubles as the CIK-FIA World Cup for the premier Formula A class, has been a happy hunting ground for Australian karters with dozens of our best drivers having competed there over a 15-year period.

Powles himself raced there in 2003 with Trulli Kart,finishing third.

Two Aussies have taken victory Darrell Smith (Formula A, 1991) and Ben Horstman (ICA, 1993).

Other Australians to get on the podium include James Courtney (second in FA, 1997), Neil McFadyen (third in ICA, 1999), Jason Hryniuk (third in ICA, 2000) and Michael Patrizi (second in ICA, 2002). Kiwi Wade Cunningham won ICA in 2002 while Jarno Trulli, Tonio Liuzzi and Dan Wheldon are all Suzuka winners.

motorspoitnews

national

RinER COMEBACK Sundown 500 winner lands Tecno seat in MKC karting teamfor Leopard Series

THREE-time Australian karting champion and 2004 Sandown 500 winner Greg Ritter is returning to karting.

Ritter has been signed up by the Melbourne Kart Centre team to drive the latest model Tecno chassis in the Victorian Toyota Leopard Series.

"Dad (Graham) does some of the engine work for MKC and they asked him what I was up to and he said 'nothing"'Ritter explained."So it was offered to me,and I'm not doing anything,so I thought'why not?"'

The 1999 Formula Ford champion competed in the opening round of the Victorian series at Hamilton on the weekend. He had his first run in the machine Just days prior to the round in a private test at Oakleigh. it was his first time behind the wheel of a competition kart for close to 12 years and his first taste of the 125cc Leopard engine.

'I was certainly not expecting too much

this weekend, but I think I'll be pretty competitive by the end of the series,"said Ritter.

Ritter wili team up with last year's Leopard Final winner James Sera plus up-and-coming Melbourne driver Adam Hughes, both of whom will drive Monaco karts.

The 33-year old started racing karts when he was seven and enjoyed an illustrious karting career spanning 16 years. In that time he won three National championships;junior National ('87), Class Australia ('91) and Reed Light ('94).

The Toyota-backed Leopard class holds five-round series in each state, where drivers attempt to qualify for a National final at the Puckapunyal circuit in Victoria on November S.The winner of both the Light and Heavy divisions at the final wins a Toyota Yaris each, valued at over $30,000.

-MARK WICKS/STAFF

SUCCESSFUL RETUrtN CLINT Harvey made the most of a one off return to the Western Australian Saloon Car scene by winning the exhibition round at the Perth V8 400.

Harvey, who is currently leading the Australian Saloon Car Championship, led the massive 35car field to win two of the three races.

Both Paul Fiore and Harvey completed only four laps in qualifying, with Fiore grabbing pole by just five hundredths of a second. Fiore's team-mate Tony James qualified third.

While Fiore headed the fieid at the start of Race 1, Harvey dived into the lead on lap four and stayed there. Race 2 was much the same, with Fiore jumping from the second grid spot into the lead before being passed by Harvey on the third lap.

While Harvey continued to dominate in the third race, Fiore's fortunes changed when he suffered a gearbox gremlin and slipped down the order. Grant Johnson moved into second.

Johnson's weekend got even better in the final race, leading the race from lap one. Fiore made a strong recovery to finish second, with Harvey slipping back to third.

-ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN 24 May 2006

aprcson.com

TREVOR Talbot reminded spectators at Barbagallo of theTorana XU-l’s.giant-killing abilities by taking victory in Round 2 of the Biante Historic Touring Car Series two weeks ago.

A fourth and two seconds were enough for the Victorian to claim the round as his more fancied V8 rivals fell to mechanical issues and incidents.

Local Camaro hero Paul Stubber grabbed pole and took out Race 1 from Eddie Abelnica (Boss Mustang)and Steve Mason (Camaro) while Drew Marget(Mustang)suffered a broken crank.

Handling problems and a determined Abelnica meant Stubber was under real pressure in Race 2, until the Mustangs brakes disappeared at the bottom of the hill, the Camaro copping a whack in the door and both cars ending up stranded in the sand trap, above. Mason swept through to win from Talbot and Gavin Bullas (Boss Mustang).The same sand trap also claimed Alastair MacLean (ex-Mason Camaro)and Daniel Dragojevich (HQ Monaro), who missed them all and drove out.

V8 Supercar team boss Garry Rogers snared sixth in his recently acquired HQ Monaro,this being his first meeting in the Biante Series.

Abelnica (engine dramas) and Rogers (brakes) did not return for Race 3 while Mason fell from the

lead after slipping into the notorious Kolb Corner sand trap. Stubber, coming from the rear, grabbed the win from Talbot and Simon Phillips (Torana), who just beat home Bullas and Andrew Williams (Torana).

A special non-points race closed the round,the fastest 15 qualifiers starting order reversed and sent to the back of the grid. Local Darryl Hansen (ex-Chris Stillwell Mustang) had a big moment entering Kolb,throwing sand everywhere and forcing the following pack into the trap (including the luckless Mason).

Stubber closed up under the Safety Car and then blasted away at the restart to win,leading the field in a three abreast formation on the slow down lap as a tribute to Biante founder Trevor Young, who died earlier this year.

Points: Stubber 100,Talbot 85, Mason 84, Abelnica 62, Williams 55.

73

RACE FOR THE CAR Junior to Portugal THE winner of Formula JMA (Junior Rotax)at Newcastle's Rotax Nationals on September 3 will earn an entry to the Rotax World Finals in Portugal later this year. The prize includes two economy class return airfares, accommodation and supply of kart, engines,tyres and fuel for the event. □ Richard Erdmann has resigned the . Presidency of the Australian Karting Association. It is currently unclear whether nominations will be called to fill the vacancy or whether Vice President Ian Mooney will continue as acting President until the AKA's AGM in August. Erdmann's resignation on May 5 came just days after National Technical Adviser Kevin McKinnon also resigned.

The AIDKA South Australian Dirt Titles at Roxby Downs earlier this month hosted 165 entries. Michael Burford and Ben Brown won the 200cc and lOOcc Open titles while some-time tar racer Keke Falland picked up the 125cc Heavy win.

Daniel Oliverstri beat Todd Hazelwood to the Junior crown.

G.J. Gardner Homes has taken over the naming rights sponsorship of the annual Junior Sprint Classic at Puckapunyal. Formerly backed by Jayair, this year's event will be the 26th running of the Juniors-only meeting.

Mitch Cunningham has continued his improvement on the world karting stage by making it through to the finals in the opening round of the European CIK Championships at La Conca, Italy, on May 7.

Cunningham (CRG/Maxter) carded 15th in Final One of Formula A but experienced a problem and was classified 23rd in Final Two. He had earlier qualified 23rd in a field of 57 and placed 8th, 14th and 9th in his heats. Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart) and Armand Convers (PCR) won the two FA finals. Ardigo leads Alonso Kart driver Riki Christodoulou in the championship.

Roberto Toninelli (BRM) and Alessandro Piccini (Intrepid) won the Super-ICC finals The Victorian Karting Association held two 5enior Development Days earlier this month. The training was available free of charge to karters and followed a similar format to the hugely successful Junior days. Groups of karters assembled at Puckapunyal and Morwell to learn about race lines, set-ups and race strategy.

-MARKWICK5

THE 2006 Toyota Leopard Series kicked off in both Victoria and Queensland last weekend.

In Victoria the Leopard Light class at Hamilton was huge oversubscribed and boasting a field worthy of a State Title.The class was split into two divisions for the heat racing before the top 28 point-scorers transferred to the final.

After the heats, Jace Lindstrom (Trulli) headed Troy Woolston (Arrow), Kevin Millard (Trulli) and Justin Schneider (Arrow). On a cold and wet track, Lindstrom pulled away before Millard caught in the closing laps and went for the lead at the last corner.The two Trulli kart drivers ran side-by-side to the line in a controversial photo finish.

With just millimetres separating them, Millard, right, was awarded the win ahead of Lindstrom.

Woolston was third and Jordie Lindstrom (Monaco)fourth. On his return to karts, Greg Ritter (Tecno) did a commendable job, nursing sore ribs to knock on the door of the top 10.

Jeremy Anderson headed National champ Rick Pringle in Heavy at the start. These two drove away from the field, Pringle (Arrow) getting by in the latter stages and opening a gap.

Anderson (Monaco) was second ahead of Jason Stania (Phoenix).

Meanwhile in Queensland, Kel Tresseder and Leon Evans were staking their claim on Round 1 honours at the Toowoomba circuit.

Treseder (Top Kart) started from grid two for the Heavy final but was freight trained back to third at the start. He soon picked off Matthew Greenbury (Intrepid) and set out after Paul Vuichoud (Arrow), getting by with six laps to

go. Vuichoud held on for second ahead of Greenbury and Ryan Fulcher. Leon Evans (Arrow) won Light over David Lawrence and Andre Borell.

-MARK WICKS

PREMIER STATE MUMS

FLOWERS were handed out to competitors and officials at the conclusion of the drivers' briefing atthe second round of the NSW Premier State Cup at Wakefield Park recently.

The organising committee had arranged for these to celebrate Mother's Day in a sport where mums have a significant, if often unseen and overlooked, role.

Close finishes were common, Hayden McBride pipping Jason Hryniuk by 0.009s to win Rotax Light while Jason Burns edged out Daniel Erickson in Clubman Light.

TheTaG class made its PSC debut, Hryniuk beating Luke Wood in th'e Medium division while Darren Chamberlain was too good for the Heavies, "vm Tom Williamson and Aaron Salter were unbeaten in Rotax Heavy and Senior National Heavy respectively. Wins also went to Josh Hunter (Rookies), Dylan Higgins (Midgets), Luke Oxford (SNL), Peter Lawler (Clubman Heavy) and Matthew Waters (JNH). No results have been awarded for Junior Clubman or Junior National Light, pending official hearings.

-MARK WICKS

REAR GUARD ACTION First look at the new CIK rear bumpers

PICTURED here is the new rear bumper bodywork that the CIK has mandated as compulsory for international CIK-FIA class competition from this season.

The plastic bumper, pictured below on the 2006-model CRG kart, is the latest safety improvement from the worldwide body as it readies for the new 125cc CIK regulations in 2007.

The bumper mounting brackets anchor to the traditional rear bar attachment on the end of the chassis rails. All homologated bumpers have been crash-tested for deformity and feature holes to allow air to run through the extra bodywork to aviod a 'parachute' effect.

motorsportnews

national ROUND 2 of the Aussie Racing Cars Series was held at Hobart's Baskerville Raceway last weekend,and the pocket rockets were the feature category of the event that thrilled one of the biggest crowds seen at the circuit since its heyday of the 70s.

Nick Simmons,left, scored his second round victory on Tasmanian soil after first winning the final round of 2005 at Symmons Plains last November and now winning the'Aussie Invasion'at Baskerville last weekend.

Adding to the regular favourites of Paul Kemal,James Ward and Simmons was local Tasmanian Formula Vee driver Kieran Glover, who stepped up to the class as a one-off drive at his home circuit.

Glover, bottom left, was the surprise packet of the weekend when he qualified fourth in his first drive in the category and went on to start from grid three for the final, only to run off the end of the back straight late in the race while contesting for a podium finish.

"It is not the way I wanted to end the weekend,"said Glover.

"But I have had an awesome time driving something quite different to my Formula Vee this weekend. It is not often that you get a power oversteer in the Formula Vee, and the Aussies are always hanging the back out."

Normally running as a support to the V8 Supercars,the Aussie Racing Cars had the opportunity to add some interesting elements to the meeting such as a handicap race at the end of the weekend and running split heats to cater for the 37-car track capacity.

The 39-car field was split into two groups after qualifying to contest the heats and win a place in the 37-car final.

The top 20 qualifiers raced as Group A with the bottom 19 racing as Group B. After the first round,the top three place getters of Group B transferred to Group A making a 23 car race, with Group B reduced to 16 cars.

The system continued in the third round where 26 cars contested the Group A race with 13 contesting Group B.The final race was then made up of the top 37 cars.

The weekend was fought out between Kemal,James Ward and Simmons,each taking a win apiece in the heats.

Ward took the win in the final after swapping the lead with Simmons twice every lap on average in a crowd-thrilling performance, with Brad Ward coming home third. Kemal was in close tow when he suffered a suspected broken axle, putting him out of the race.

"This is an awesome win,"said Simmons.

"That race was just amazing, it was real'racing for sheep stations' stuff out there. I needed a win this weekend to make up some lost ground in the series points."

A broken throttle cable relegated Ward to position 20 in heat 2, effectively ending any chance of the round win.

The top trio of the two Ward brothers,James and Brad, along with Simmons thrilled the crowd by performing burnouts and doughnuts in front of the various spectator mounds.

The reverse grid handicap race was won by Stewart Craig in a closely fought battle with Simon Smith and Nugget Campbell.

"It is a thrill to win my first race in this category," Craig said.

"I think it is a lot less nervewracking to follow than lead, but victory is so sweet."

Hey chief: Category manager Phil Ward got a frightfrom young gun Tobia Kipper, but was no doubt pleased with the Baskerville event.

75

IN trying conditions the Commodore Cup Series captivated spectators with three eight-lap stunners at Philip Island last weekend.

Polesitter Marcus Zukanovic, right, claimed a lap record and victory in the opening race from Brett Holdsworth.Tony Bates had an off at Honda hairpin but quickly rejoined and fought his way back to fifth in the only dry race.

Nick Parker started race two from the rear after a fire in his Commodore prevented him from racing in the first. He made amends driving from 19th to ninth by the first corner on the opening lap. Geoff Fontaine also started at the rear and managed to set aside mechanical gremlins to finish seventh.

A raging battle for fourth emerged between Daniel Orr, Christian D'Agostin, Bates, Fontaine and Parker where every corner presented an overtaking manoeuvre on the inside or even round the outside.

Daniel Richert, right, went onto to win the race after an impressive get away on the line from Zukanovic and Holdsworth.

CLOSE RUN CUP Rain started to fail as the last race begun and it wasn't long before we had a safety car period with a beached car at Siberia.

When racing resumed the gloves were off as Bates squeezed Richert onto the grass entering turn one,then came sideways out of the hairpin almost collecting Richert with Zukanovic right in front of the battling duo.

Although Richert managed

the find the lead and went on to win. Bates tried a desperate move down into MG hindering the hard charging Stephen White who had started last. Richert won from Zukanovic, Bates, White and Parker who had recovered from an early spin.

- AARON SHAW

NOT even a drive-through penalty could stop Allan Simonsen from winning the fourth round of the Australian GT Championship at Phillip Island last weekend.

The Dane relished the wintry conditions to record three top five finishes and secure round honours in his Ferrari 360GT. The opening race was a processional affair, Simonsen completing a start-to-finish victory ahead of Crick. By the end of the race there was six seconds between Simonsen and Crick, with a further eight seconds back to third piaced James Koundouris.

Race 2 started in bizarre circumstances, with three

retirements before the actual event start. Neil Bryson and David Wall clashed on the warm up lap, while D'Arcy Russell's Viper rolled to a stop just before the race start.

The race was made even stranger on lap three when Simonsen was handed a drivethrough penalty for jumping the rolling start.

This allowed John Teulan to take the lead,and give a debut victory to the new Ferrari 430 Challenge race car, while Stuart Kostera capped off a solid return to the national racing scene with second in the PHR GT3. Simonsen recovered to finish fifth and set the fastest lap of the race.

Points: Richert 409, D'Agostin 396, Zukanovic 372,Gittus 328, Holdsworth 317,Bates311,Cooper 277.

Supetfast TME 230 kph 250CC International Superkarts : took to Phillip Island last weekend with the CAMS National Series with exciting results.

A blistered right rear tyre i was the only evident problem for Warren Mcllveen, who claimed pole and two wins : over the weekend. But Mcllveen struggled in the wet, leaving John Pellicano to storm to win race two from Rod Prickett. ' Sam Zavaglia, driving a new 2S0ce International I Superkart,found himself in a n similar situation going from second to fourth when the : track turned wet.Zavaglia had : brand new wets on for the third race and managed to blitz the field by 10 seconds, making it three different ! winners from three races.

I Mcllveen was second with Ralf i Rupprecht right on his rear n wing in third.

Mcllveen wrapped up the final race from Zavaglia in a ' closely matched affair with : Anton Stevens third.

-AARON SHAW

7e

Simonsen was back out front in the final race, leading until lap seven when a hard-charging Russell took over out front.

Russell held on to win the race ahead of Simonsen, with David Stevens rounding out a great debut for the Ferrari 430 with third.

"It was great,"said Simonsen after the final race."There was no point arguing about the penalty, so it's really good to come away with the round win."

Crick continues to lead the championship.The next round is scheduled for Mallala Motorsports Park on June 23.

-ANDREWVAN LEEUWEN Points:Crick 333,Washington 280, Koundouris 254,Teulan 216,Simonsen 200.

motorsportnews

national

CLUCAS SMASHES ’EM AT THE ISLAND BEN Clucas destroyed the opposition at Round 3 of the Kumho Australian Formula 3 Championship at Phillip Island last weekend.

Clucas proved unstoppable and now commands a 28-point advantage in the chase for the Gold Star.

"It was a perfect weekend,although tricky conditions throughout,"said Clucas.

"I made a bad start in the second race, managed to recover, and in the last few laps I just tried to keep it steady - keep the lap times down and stay reasonably quick."

In mesmerising fashion, poiesitterCiucas

used wet weather experience to his advantage to win Race 1 despite having to serve a drivethrough penalty for a jumped start.The drivethrough dropped him back to fifth, but he quickiy picked off rivals to be third when a Safety Car was caiied to retrieve Brian Sampson.

With oniy one iap after the restart, Clucas quickly passed Tim Macrow and was alongside Michael Trimble as the cars approached the chequered flag. Despite the Astuti Motorsport driver squeezing the John Deere/Team BRM car all the way to the pit wail, below, Clucas grabbed a stunning win by 0.0031s with a fastest lap 5s faster than anyone else.

Clucas again took victory in Race 2,this time by the more comfortabie margin of 1.5 seconds, butTrimbie showed a iiking to the drier track to set the fastest iap. Greasy conditions and an imperfect start putTrimble on the back foot early in the second race.

where he fought tooth and naii with feilow Victorian Macrow throughout, with second place clinched into Turn 3 at a restart Still recovering from a coid, Macrow put in a competitive performance in his older model car. Locked in combat with Trimble for both events,Trimble had the better traction throughout the circuit and Macrow finished the weekend with two third places, and a third in the championship with 62 points.

The top five was closed out on each occasion

by LeanneTander in fourth and Chris Gilmour, who snatched a surprise lead into the first corner in the second race, in fifth.

A sixth in the opening race, with a seventh in the second event was enough to give Ricky Occhipinti a win in the National Class.

- STEWART BELL Points: Clucas 120,Trimble 92, Macrow 62, Alajajian 52, Tander 50, Gilmour 45.

¥ ti f o

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3- l

SAABTOWN SAAB Sports Sedans had mixed fortunes at Phillip Island last weekend,with Dean Randle and Darren Hossack both experiencing fluctuating fortunes.

On the opening lap of the last race, Hossack, Daniel Tamasi and Randle, below, went into the Honda Hairpin'three-wide in

24 May 2006

slippery conditions.Tamasi got sideways mid-corner and drifted onto the,kerbing whilst Randle was on his inside with- Hossack slightly ahead.

Tamasi got momentarily straight exiting the hairpin, but when he applied throttle the Holden Calibra speared into Randle's left tear sending him into a sickening

roll-over onto the infield and over the embankment.This tore off every visible body part of the Saab in the process. Unfortunately there was no restart.

Saturday afternoon hosted the first race, where Tony Ricciardello could have considered it an eight lap dash as he dominated in the dry conditions. Darren Hossack was never too far away although the top speed of Ricciardello down the main straight proved to make the difference. Randle was 10 seconds down the road in third.

Local Dean Camm had a wiring loom issue and retired due to the electrical gremlins.

Hossack welcomed the wet weather for the second and ultimately final race as Ricciardello struggled to get the power down in his Alfa Romeo. Although an ailing clutch destroyed Hossack's hopes as he lost drive out of MG on the final lap leaving Randle to skip past and take the victory after Hossack had led all race.Tamasi edged out Glen Hastings for third.

- AARON SHAW

vee Team TWO wins for current Queensland Formula Vee Championship leader Shane Hart and a win and two second places for New South Wales competitor Adam Proctor were the highlights of Round 4 of the 2006 CAMS National Series at Phillip Island on the weekend.

A field comprising of over 30 entrants made for excellent racing all the way through the field, as the inclement weather throughout the weekend made for unpredictable outcomes however, it was Hart and Proctor that proved reliably quick as they retained their positions at the front in both Race 1 and 3.

Hart's scratching from Race 2 allowed Proctor to race at the front unhindered. Strong performances were also seen throughout the weekend by Victorian racers Mai Asker and Daniel Reinhardt, as well as NSW charger Ryan Simpson.

- STEWART BELL

77

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EA Falcon Saloon car/Combined Tourer.only 11 races old and only 3 races since complete professional rebuild,! race since full respray,car has never had panel damage.

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87

tcrik comerter Seven move is bad #1

Channel Nine next year, where does this leave Sunday afternoon

Well the worst possible news has just been announced for V8 Supercar fans - the TV rights have been sold to Channel Seven from next year.

It looks like the attraction of

4

%

the almighty dollar has taken Editorial Editor: Phil Branagan

edltoriji)mnews.com.au

Deputy Editor; Mark Glendenning markifflmnews.com.au National Editor; Grant Rowley grant@mnews.com.au Staff Journalist: Andrew van Leeuwen andrew@mnews.com.au i- ■SA' Production Graphic Design & Web: Jason Freeman design@mnews.com.au Ad vertising Brendon Sheridan - PR Driven P 03 9877 7271 F 03 9877 7207 M 0407 007 286 ads@mn ews.com.au Administration 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East Vic 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 admin@mnews.com.au Managing Director/Publisher: Chris Lambden publisher@mnews.com.au □ Contributors FI: Joe Saward, Adam Cooper, Paolo Filisetti furope; Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin 0. Clark, Phil Morris Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton, Tony Millard (UK) Rally: Ryan Lahiff Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Mitchell Adam, Andrew van Leeuwen

were only providing a very basic coverage and very rarely were its telecasts live.

Channel Ten has developed an excellent range of motorsport programs to complement its coverage of V8 Supercar races. You wonder whether this will now be scaled back because they have lost the rights to cover the most popular series.

What sort of coverage will Channel Seven be committing to, based on them taking back AFL football from next year? I can bet that motorsport will be treated as secondary to AFL. Country areas have really been sold short as we may not even get coverage at all. In regional SA, we only have access to WIN Ten and WIN Nine, so there goes our coverage.This decision has put motorsport coverage back 10 years!

Paul Winter

Seven move is bad #2

Motorsport News is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55125120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Printed by: Offset Alpine Printing Pty Ltd, Lidcombe, NSW. Distributed by: NDD Ltd Material published by MOTORSPORT NEWS is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Freelance contributions ate welcome, and while all care will be taken. Australasian Motorsport News does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted.

‘Opinions expressed in Motorsport News are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

They spent more time talking to Channel Seven'celebrities'(I

years ago. Channel Seven had lost

Loxton, South Australia

Photographers: Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/ Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, CBR Photographies, Paris Charles, Bob Potts, Neil Hammond, Justin Collins, Mike Patrick (UK)

god forbid, Doug Mulray? Anyone recall the last three or four V8 Bathursts Channel Seven did?

preference over any common sense in this decision. Motorsport fans have never had it better since Channel Ten took over motorsort interest, and apart from Bathurst,

I and a lot of other people I have spoken to were shocked to hear Channel Seven will be host broadcaster of the V8 Supercars from 2007.

We ask has Mr Cochrane and theV8SA Board lost their minds? Obviously they do.not recall post-1997, if they had they would remember at Channel Seven, it placed the V8s in the back seat to everything else on its programming. Packaged highlights at all hours of the night, it was a disgrace!

Send us your thoughts; PO Box 7072, Brighton,VIC 3186 mnews@mnews.conrt.au

MNews readers, who do you think Channel Seven will get for expert comments, Johanna Griggs?

Why not, Johanna knows everything about everything else or maybe they might be able to get Doug Mulray back!

I watched Sportsworld on Sunday so I could hear them brag about stealing the rights from

1 year $148.50

Prepare to say goodbye to decent coverage of the V8 Supercars as we know it from 2007 onwards.

It would appear that V8 Supercars Australia has signed off on a deal for Channel Seven to cover the V8 series from next year.

Anyone who can remember back 10 years ago and loves their V8 racing should be very worried.

You have to wonder if Seven is going to be showing Friday and Sunday games for AFL in place of

j---

store for next year and beyond.

Drawing grid positions out of a

sprint races each round as well.

That way Seven can have an edited package on air at 12am but off by 12.30am so the Home Shopping Show isn't affected.

I know thatV8 Supercars Australia is after the best deal and the most money they can get for the series but at ultimately what cost?

Jason Beck jacebeck@ozemail.com.au

, ^^mnews piaituifDytfifD

poll results

POST cheque/money order to the address above FAX credit card details (VISA or Mastercard) to 03 9596 5030 (int'l +613 9596 5030) EMAILtosubs@mnews.com.au or PAY ONLINE at;

Sandown 500 date change: ij Doesn't affect me: 76%

8 WEEK TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION AVAILABLE NOW

m

the sport in the last 10 years. It would not be incorrect to say that Seven's lack of interest in covering the V8s properly in the early 90s still has a lot to do with its lack of

hat?"Live"(I use that word loosely too) races at 12am? Hell, why not even revert to three 20 minute

A$390 A$495

Includes access to MNews Platinum!

minute (which has incidentally won the last three Logies in its category).

I honestly cannot believe it... I honestly thought those in charge of making these decisions for the V8s would've seen the light and seen what Ten has done for

Seven move is bad #3

2 years $285

from as little as $25 (online payment only).

See website for full details.

next year I'll be travelling to the mountain because I suppose we can kiss goodbye the excellent three-day coverage of the race weekend we get from Ten at the

mainstream promotion these days ... and to think I was worried by earlier reports of Nine going in to get it and Darrell Eastlake doing commentary.

Well here's to a great 2006.

Make the most of it boys and girls because God knows what's in

■)

A$210 A$270

use the term loosely) in the pits than covering the race. I reckon

Channel Ten, who unquestionably deserve to keep them, an hour and a half passed with no comment, perhaps a sign of things to come?

I Just hope and pray that all of this is a really, really just a bad nightmare, then I will wake up to Crompton and the crew on Channel Ten. Paul O'Brien Email withheld

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Australia (incGST) Overseas (airmaiii; New Zealand & Asia Rest of the World

coverage of the V8 rounds during the AFL season? Midnight again?

Moreover, does it mean having to put up with Mike Raymond, Allan Moffat, Gary Wilkinson or

I'm keeping my racesuit - Bathurst here we come Ricko! MNews readers have had a lot to say about Seven's new deal to broadcast V8 Supercars.

Not good: 16% Worked out well: 8% Not sure: 0% motorsport news

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