Velocity Issue 9

VELOCITY

ISSUE 9 - JUNE 2015

MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE

: M O T T O B R INTE S C AR

W AN BE CHAMP IN THI IC

S E L A T S N A M E L T S E T A PLUS: GRE RG E B N E K L U NICO H R A T S 1 F E H IS T T? BURNED OU

ELL S S U R N E AAR M A E T L L A SM S BIG DREAM

COLUMN / FEATURE / REPORT

FROSTY: I CAN BE CHAMP

UNFULFILLED PROMISE

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He burst onto the scenes in 2010 and looked every bit a superstar in waiting. But five years on, and with a new generation of drivers making their mark on the sport, has Nico Hulkenberg’s time come and gone?

MYSTIQUE OF LE MANS

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Along with the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 and Daytona, the 24 Hours of Le Mans stands as one of the world’s premier motorsport events.

We delve into the history books and discover some of the unique stories behind the event.

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AAREN RUSSELL Running a small family team is hard, but somehow Aaren Russell is able to make it work. With a full time job and a motorsport career beginning to flourish, Russell is one of the up and coming drivers trying to carve out a career in motorsport.

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VELOCITY

COLUMN / FEATURE / REPORT

THE REGULARS

EDITORIAL

MAT COCH

The boss is angry - very angry with Formula One. Following a meeting of the Strategy Group, Mat reckons the sport is reacting to a problem that doesn’t exist.

MIKE LAWRENCE

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Once, pitstops were needed because cars couldn’t carry all the fuel they needed, writes Mike. Now he believes they’re just there for the show.

NUTS & BOLTS V8 SUPERCARS 64 Winton FORMULA ONE 70 Monaco Grand Prix Spanish Grand Prix FORMULA E 82 Berlin ePrix Monaco ePrix MOTOGP 90 Grand Prix of Italy Grand Prix of France WORLD SUPERBIKES 98 United Kingdom Italy WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 102 Rally Portugal INDYCAR 104 Duel in Detroit Indianapolis 500 Grand Prix of Indianapolis NASCAR 112 Monthly Wrap SHANNONS NATIONALS 114 Phillip Island STATE RACING 126

VELOCITY

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Editor Mat Coch Photographer John Morris EDITORIAL CONTACTS Telephone 0414 197 588 Website www.vmag.com.au Email editor@velocityemag.com PRODUCTION Publisher Grand Prix Media SOCIAL MEDIA

@VelocityEmag

facebook.com/ velocitymagazine ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Chris Balfe, Tim Brook, Ken Collier, Russell Colvin, Richard Craill, Olivia Hill, Nico Hulkenberg, Mike Lawrence, John Morris, Dean Perkins, William Reid, Aaren Russell, Mark Winterbottom COPYRIGHT All rights are reserved to Grand Prix Media and associated entities.

Reproduction in whole or in part of any photograph, text or illustration without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

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COLUMN / FEATURE / REPORT

FASTER DOESN’T ALWAYS M

OPINION

F

MAT COCH

ollowing the Spanish Grand Prix there was an important meeting in the Formula One world.

The sport’s top people gathered together and took a look at where the sport is going beyond the current set of regulations - regulations that were only 6

introduced last year.

The problem, they say, is that the sport isn’t fast enough. It’s not a sprint anymore but a case of managing tyres, engines, gearboxes, fuel and so on. It’s just so bland, they think, and so decided then and there that bringing back refueling was the golden bullet.

It probably wasn’t quite that simple but from the outside that’s how it seems. It also completely and utterly misses the point.

The reintroduction

of refueling is meant to spice up racing by giving drivers an opportunity to push on each and every lap. But we’ve been there before and the racing was bloody awful. If you don’t believe me pick any race from 1994 until 2010 and watch it from start to finish, paying special attention to the number of on-track passes. You won’t even need to take your socks off to keep count because there were bugger all. The racing was terrible. It was fast but dull.

VELOCITY

COLUMN / FEATURE / REPORT

MEAN BETTER

Given the choice I’d much rather watch good racing than fast cars.

All refueling will achieve is moving the racing from the track to the pitlane because it’s easier and far less risky to pass a car that’s not on the track. It creates interesting strategies maybe but would you rather watch chess or two cars glued together on track? I just don’t get it.

What I also don’t understand is why there is a need to change the regulations. What we’ve VELOCITY

got now is pretty good and to think otherwise is simply a matter of looking back with rose tinted glasses. Remember Bahrain last season when Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton battled for the lead? That was as good, if not better, than the Rene Arnoux versus Gilles Villeneuve dice at Dijon in 1979 (check it out on YouTube, you won’t be disappointed).

That battle was achieved because both drivers were at different stages in their strategies and that created a delta in

their performance. Without strategy options it left the racing to be done on track, where racing should be done.

The notion that the sport needs to be faster to be better is shortsighted in my opinion.

Let’s enjoy what we’ve got, identify the weaknesses and fix them (the noise, for example) rather than messing about with fundamental regulations that will change the very dynamic of the sport.

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COLUMN / FEATURE / REPORT

EVOLUTION

Image: Sutton’s

OPINION

T

MIKE LAWRENCE

yres have always played a huge part in both motor racing and everyday driving. Every dynamic of every car, even of every bicycle, relies on friction between the small contact patch 8

of the tyre and the road. In countries with ice-bound winters, motorists have two sets of wheels, one equipped with Winter tyres.

Grand Prix cars were required to have an onboard mechanic until the end of 1924, when the riding mechanic was banned, and his main job was to help change wheels. Two seats were required until 1927 and then came, gradually, the age of the

single-seater.

Tyre technology improved greatly but when a Grand Prix was 500 miles long, they had to be reliable only for as long as the periods between fuel stops.

A supercharged Grand Prix car could use up to three quarters of a ton of fuel during a race (1951 Alfa Romeo T159) and so needed fuel stops. Since these were done with churns and funnels, they were lengthy. Wheels were VELOCITY

COLUMN / FEATURE / REPORT

changed at the same time as a precaution.

It was fuel consumption which caused Enzo Ferrari to commission a normally aspirated engine, with which Ferrari won its first World Championship event in 1951.

From 1952, for 30 years, there were no scheduled pit stops, save on one occasion.

Cars could carry enough fuel and tyres could last the distance. The one exception was the 1957 VELOCITY

German GP when the works Maseratis started on half-full tanks and came in for a refuelling stop and a change of rear tyres. It was a strategy which led to Fangio clinching his fifth World title with a drive widely regarded as his greatest.

During the turbo era in the 1980s, some teams calculated that it was better to run lighter and to refuel during a race.

By then, Formula One had a global TV audience and fans at home liked the sight of a pit stop. The people who run the sport decided to incorporate pit stops as part of the action. It was not in order to improve the racing, but to add zest to the show.

Formula One is funded by commercial sponsors and every team has someone who analyses the television footage to tall each sponsor how much air time they received. TV air time has a value which depends on the size of the audience. There is no way that wings will ever be banned because they are too valuable as billboards. The top of the rear wing of a car is especially prized because of pit stops.

The FIA banned refuelling in 2010 because of safety concerns. That left tyres. Pirelli could make

a tyre to last an entire race. There is a simple equation, the softer, or grippier, the tyre, the less long it lasts at racing speeds. You or I would be well displeased if the tyres on our road car lasted only fifty miles, or five thousand come to that.

The FIA has decreed that the contracted tyre supplier shall make two compounds for each race, one which gives maximum performance for so many miles, the other which is more durable. Each driver must use both during the course of a race and therefore must make at least one pit stop.

Seeing a set of wheels changed in under three seconds is an impressive sight and one which emphasises the team aspect of the sport, it is not all about drivers. It is another matter as to whether a sticking wheel nut should decide a race.

Tyre stops are for the show and now there is a proposal to reintroduce fuel stops, though how the safety issues have been resolved has not been vouchsafed. This is for the show yet time was when part of the driver’s art was how he used his tyres and fuel.

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FROSTY’S FASTEST FALCON

ACCORDING TO MARK WINTERBOTTOM, THE FG X IS THE CAR TO DELIVER FORD THE CHAMPIONSHIP. MAT COCH CAUGHT UP WITH THE FORD STAR TO FIND OUT WHY.

T

o the untrained eye the latest Falcon V8 Supercar looks much like the old one, with one glaring exception. Adorning the front of the car is Ford’s new ‘world car’ grille, but that is not where the secret to the blue oval’s 2015 pace has come from. It’s not even close.

Making its debut this year, the Falcon FG X is the last Ford V8 Supercar. From the glory days of Dick Johnson and John Bowe in the Australian Touring Car Championship, to Stone Brothers Racing taking the title in the early 2000s, Ford has always held up its side of the Australian motor racing arm wrestle admirably. But in recent years it’s been forced to play second fiddle by Holden and at Bathurst last year dropped the bombshell that it was giving up on racing in Australia.

It’s ironic then that the newest Falcon is fast. Very fast.

Under the skin it’s identical to its predecessor. It has the same chassis, the same shock absorbers, the same running gear and the same lumpy V8 engine as the old car. The secret has nothing to do with what’s on the inside; the latest Falcon’s beauty is only skin deep.

“The shape of the car externally is quite a lot different,” Mark Winterbottom points out. It’s a bit of an exaggeration but for one so intimately familiar with the cars it’s perhaps understandable.

Away from the grille and the lights, the most visible differences between the old car and the new, there are noticeable changes to the rear wing and, if one

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looks carefully, the wheel arches look to have pulled the 70’s flares out of the wardrobe. They’re subtle changes, but in a series where positions are frequently measured in hundredths of seconds they combine to make a world of difference.

“Aerodynamics is a massive part of it,” Winterbottom agrees. “Previously we struggled with rear grip and the new aero package has given us a lot more rear grip and a lot more tune-ability.”

On the right track and on the right day the old car was a race winner, but it had a narrow operating band. It needed fast circuits where it’s handling flaws, deliberately dialled into the car to make it driveable, could be masked.

“It’s all mainly because of the rear of the car,” reasons Frosty.

“When you’re struggling for rear downforce the car moves around a lot.

“You effectively de-tune it a bit to make it more stable. Instead of having rear grip and then being aggressive in setup we were trying to make the car, dull; make it lazy. By doing that it makes it good at the high speed joints but we always struggled on tight street circuits because you need an aggressive car.

“It wasn’t balanced like the FG X is.

“That’s made us completely revamp out setups and change our whole direction on where we go.”

The new car still lacks some mid-corner rotation, particularly in the slow speed corners, which is an area Winterbottom has highlighted as something that needs to improve.

“The new aero package has given us a lot more rear grip and a lot more tune-ability.”

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Image: Race Shots

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“Then we’ll be competitive everywhere,” he says. “But saying there’s a weakness we still qualified on the front row with both cars. As a driver you get really picky sometimes but there is still improvement in the car for sure.

“The car is pretty good, definitely one of the best cars I’ve driven,” he adds. “I think we’ve got something that makes the most sense out of any car we’ve ever had but we’ve still got to make sure that we use it. That’s probably the hardest part.”

For Winterbottom, the FG X hasn’t been a revolution but a stepped evolution over the previous car. It’s addressed the weaknesses and while it’s still not perfect it has undeniably moved the Falcon forward.

Between he and team-mate Chaz

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Mostert, Prodrive Racing Australia dominated the non-championship round at the Grand Prix. It backed that up with an equally dominant performance at Barbagallo and another strong showing at Winton - a circuit Winterbottom wasn’t enthusiastic about heading into the weekend.

“But then in motorsport you always get a reality check.”

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In Perth that came courtesy of an illtimed safety car and a risky strategy that saw both Winterbottom and Mostert struggle in the closing stages with poor tyres. Without that it’s likely it would have been a Ford clean sweep, as it was in Winton.

The key to the upturn in the team’s performance has been the cars single lap pace. Without a pole position in 2014, between Winterbottom and Mostert,

Ford has held a monopoly on the top spot since Perth.

“Going into qualifying, when you haven’t had a pole position, there is that little bit of doubt,” says Winterbottom. “That’s what we don’t have now. We go in now knowing we can get a pole position. That’s probably the biggest thing from ‘14 to ‘15 that’s changed.

“That’s giving the most confidence as opposed to race results because if you start at the front there’s a chance you’re going to win the race... That’s what we need to win the championship; qualifying speed.”

Though he claimed the championship lead following Winton the challenge for Winterbottom is to improve his consistency.

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“We’ve always been able to win races but our bad days were really bad. This year we seem to have a bad day and still be in the top ten and still get a lot of points, so consistency is there and that’s what you need to win the championship.

“We’ve got a good chance for sure but there’s so many good cars and teams.

“If we’d had this car two years ago we would have won the championship, but everyone has moved forward and they’re all improving.

“We’ve got a good chance. We’re in a good spot and if we get it right we’ve definitely got the package to win it.”

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“If we’d had this car two years ago we would have won the championship...”

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FADING STAR Nico Hulkenberg’s Formula One career has never really got going.

Now it risks burning out entirely.

Image: Sutton’s

Image: Sutton’s

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Words By Mat Coch

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ere walks a fallen star. A man who once had the world at his feet but whose time has passed well before his ability has. He is a man that could have been but, ultimately, never was.

Exactly where Nico Hulkenberg’s Formula One career faltered is near impossible to tell but the reasons for it are not. The most troubling part is none of them were in his control.

He joined Williams at the lowest point in its history. The heady days of championship glory were a fading memory replaced with the confronting realisation that it balanced precariously close to death. It lacked pace and belief but, far more importantly, it lacked money. At the end of his debut season in 2010 Hulkenberg was out of the job, replaced by the bulging bank balance of Pastor Maldonado. Williams extended Hulkenberg an olive branch, a long term deal that would have put him at HRT for 2011, which he turned down.

And so the man who took pole in the unfancied Williams at Interlagos, by more than a second, sat on the sidelines at Force India, biding his time until getting his chance to race once

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more in 2012. He showed well, leading the Brazilian Grand Prix but it wasn’t enough to see his career really take off.

and on track Hulkenberg did all the right things, but regulation changes foiled the prospective move.

In need of a replacement for the Mercedes-bound Lewis Hamilton, the German was on McLaren’s shopping list for 2013. Then team boss Martin Whitmarsh made all the right noises,

At more than six feet tall, Hulkenberg towers over many of his peers. It’s not an advantage in motorsport where size has a direct correlation to ultimately performance. With a premium put on

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weight for 2013 it was Hulkenberg’s height which ultimately ruled him out of contention for a seat in a front line team.

Instead Sergio Perez got the nod and endured a tough season. The car was not as competitive as it had been the year before. Hulkenberg meanwhile

jumped the fence to take Perez’s old seat at Sauber and, like the Mexican, had a particularly unsuccessful campaign. But still Hulkenberg’s star shone, despite having some of the worst machinery Sauber has produced.

By the Hungarian Grand Prix there was a contract on the table from Maranello, 29

With the door closed at Maranello another opened at Enstone with Lotus boss Eric Boullier waxing lyrical about the German. But Lotus was not the team it had been when Kimi Raikkonen was there winning races.

Financially it was struggling with rumours of staff not being paid and Raikkonen himself admitting he’d not received a cent in 2013. Its outlook was bleak and so it was perhaps a blessing that he was looked over again in favour of the cashed-up Maldonado.

Image: Sutton’s

needing only to be signed by Ferrari boss Luca Di Montezemolo to confirm Hulkenberg for 2014. Negotiations had lasted two months but came to an abrupt end on the Monday following the Hungarian Grand Prix when Stefano Domenicali sent Hulkenberg’s manager a text message confirming it had signed Kimi Raikkonen with Alonso staying put for another year.

Another chance had gone begging.

“I was disappointed,” Hulkenberg said. “Who in our job doesn’t dream of driving for Ferrari?

“The opportunity was very real, but the negotiations came suddenly to a halt and I got over it relatively quickly.”

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Hulkenberg’s career is now at a cross-road. A new generation of fast, talented and well backed youngsters are flooding the grid, taking opportunities that would have once fallen to Hulkenberg.

The door at Red Bull is closed while McLaren has a surplus of drivers. Ferrari’s attentions have turned to Valtteri Bottas, who played the waiting game with Williams and has emerged the other side as a man tipped to be world champion. Much like Hulkenberg once was.

Image: Sutton’s

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Image: Sutton’s

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In the near future a decision will need to be made.

How long does Hulkenberg remain in Formula One knowing his time has passed? How long will it be before his competitive urges take him elsewhere, or will he cling onto the dream and let his star burned out? Michele Alboreto was once one of the brightest prospects in Formula One, only to struggle to the end of his Formula One career in uncompetitive cars that belied the talents he’d once possessed.

For Alberto there was a silver lining. A move to endurance racing saw him showcase his talents again, winning Le Mans before his untimely death in 2001. Away from Formula One, he was a star again.

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Endurance racing then was not what it is now. In recent years the quality of the field has improved immeasurably and the level of competition exponentially. It is emerging as a genuine threat to Formula One as the pinnacle of motorsport.

Hulkenberg has already had a taste.

He’s raced for Porsche, in the sister car to Mark Webber, and this month will race at Le Mans for the first time. Porsche is a race winner.

Still in the early stages of its return to endurance racing there are opportunities to grow with the team, help steer 34

its direction and be part of what will almost certainly be a successful outfit in years to come. Hulkenberg is already halfway there.

But the pull of Formula One is strong.

The glamour; the prestige; it trumps what the WEC has to offer in those respects but in so many others F1 falls short. In Formula One money, not talent, dictate one’s career.

Hulkenberg’s chances in Formula One have come and gone, but should he make the right decision he could still become the star he should have always been.

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TALL TALES Since 1923 the Le Mans 24 Hours has been the ultimate test of man and machine.

Image: Sutton’s

Image: Sutton’s

Words By Mat Coch

S

teeped in history, shrouded with mystique, littered with tragedy.

There is nothing that quite rivals the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It’s the ultimate test of endurance and perseverance, a public test bed for the future of the automotive industry as manufacturers strive for innovation and efficiency in their quest for success.

Down bumpy, narrow public roads modern day chariots charge at unabashed pace. It’s a challenge that has not changed since the first event was held in 1923, even if most everything has.

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Image: Sutton’s

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Motor racing in the early 1900s was predominantly a showcase of speed - races from point to point or around a circuit for a few hundred kilometres - they were not a measure of endurance but performance.

That changed with the inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans as the event focussed not only on speed but also reliability.

The original circuit was 17.2 kilometres long, an abridged version of the circuit used for the 1913 French Grand Prix and not entirely unrecognisable to that used today. From the start-finish straight, which has remained in the same place throughout the event’s history, the circuit raced into the town of Le Mans before rounding a right hand hairpin which led drivers onto an extraordinarily long Mulsanne Straight. From there the circuit was much as it is today; turning right off the Mulsanne back towards Arnage and Indianapolis and returning to the pit straight.

The long sprint into Le Mans itself was first shortened in 1929 and cut out altogether in 1932 to leave what was fundamentally the circuit used to this day. It saw the introduction of the Dunlop Curve and Esses, which headed into Tetra Rouge, shortening Mulsanne to ‘just’ six kilometres.

The most recent changes saw the Ford chicanes added at the end of the lap in the late 1960s while in 1990 chicanes were introduced on the famous Mulsanne straight after the FIA, the sports governing body, introduced new regulations stating no straight could be longer than two kilometres. That came in

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Image: Sutton’s

response to the 1988 race when Roger Dorchy was clocked at 405kph in his WM P88-Peugeot.

The race has always been about drama. Until the late 1960s it started with a running race across the start finish straight.

The unique starting procedure saw

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cars lined up along the pit wall with drivers standing on the opposite side of the road before running to their cars as the flag dropped. It was chaotic, theatrical and, as it turned out, more than a little dangerous.

Prior to 1963 cars lined up based on engine capacity before qualifying times were used to line the cars up in

an effort to ease some of the congestion and danger.

The unique departure encouraged many to develop innovative ways to shave seconds off their start as they leapt into the car. Stirling Moss found that by leaving his car in gear when he started it he could effectively bump start the car which was faster than

starting it normally. Porsche fitted a right hand ignition for its left hand drive cars so it could be started as the driver closed the door.

By far the most dangerous development however was the introduction of safety belts. With pressure on drivers to get away well at the start the temptation for many was too great and they

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either fitted them poorly or not at all - with tragic consequences.

At the start of the 1969 race John Woolfe was killed on the opening lap when he lost control of his Porsche 917 at the very fast Maison Blanche corner. Having started in a hurry, and not done his belts up, Woolfe was thrown from the car and died instantly.

Ironically, Jackie Ickx had strolled to his car at the beginning of that year’s event in protest against what he saw as an unecessarily dangerous starting procedure. Ickx went on to win the race while the dash was done away with for 1970 and a rolling start introduced from 1971.

Death and injury in the French classic has never been far away. Allan Simonsen was the most recent driver to have lost his life at La Sarthe in 2013; the 22nd driver to be killed at the event, which has also claimed the lives of spectators.

Image: Sutton’s

Most famous was the 1955 event which saw Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes fly into the crowd, killing him along with scores of spectators.

Levegh and Mike Hawthorn had been duelling as they approached the pit straight, with Hawthorn slowing to take service. With the lapped Lawrence Macklin also in the mix, Levegh was unsighted as Hawthorn swung off towards his pit. With nowhere to go he collided with the back of Macklin’s Austin Healy, launching his Mercedes into the crowd with the debris killing Levegh and 83 spectators.

The speed differential between the two cars had been astronomic, a fact which has remained throughout the event’s history. It was in reaction to the incredibly high top speeds acheived down the Mulsanne that it was broken up with chicanes. The six kilometre flat-out blast had cost many drivers their lives.

Image: Sutton’s

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Image: Sutton’s

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Frenchman Marius Mestivier was the first to be killed when he left the Mulsanne Straight in the 1925 event. Reports claimed he suffered a tyre failure while others claim he struck a bird, knocking him unconciouss before ploughing into a ditch.

At the 1969 event, which was particularly tragic, Lucien Bianchi (the brother of Jules Bianchi’s grandfather) was killed when his Alfa Romeo 33/3 suffered a mechanical problem ands truck a telegraph pole.

Further around the lap closing speeds also caused problems. In 1971 former Formula One race winner Jo Bonnier was killed when he collided with a slower Ferrari.

“He passed me at the end of the Mulsanne Straight,” recalled Vic Elford. “I followed him as we accelerated out of the corner as we closed on a privately entered Ferrari sedan.

We were heading towards two corners on the back side of the course that were taken flat out at about 180mph.

“At the enterance ot the second bend I watched as Jo pulled to the right and started to pass the Ferrari. Then, at the last moment, he seemed to realise he was making a mistake.”

Seeing the crash, Elford stopped on track and rushed to the burning Ferrari only to find the cockpit empty - its driver having already stepped out of the car and crossed the track.

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Image: Sutton’s

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Image: Sutton’s

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“Jo’s car was nowhere to be seen,” Elford tells.

“The last I’d seen of Jo’s car it had been spinning into the air like a helicopter but now I could see the wreckage back in the wood.

“It hurts when you lose a friend and Sunday morning, we lost Jo.” There have been scores of near misses too, Mark Webber lucky to escape his Mercedes when it flipped twice at the 1999 event.

Aerodynamic instabilities in the Mercedes CLK saw its front wheels lose contact with the ground before the air caught the underneath of the car and sent it skywards. The first such incident

was hushed up as there was no footage of the incident however a second on the Saturday morning was captured by a photographer and television cameras showed Webber’s upsidedown car at the end of the Mulsanne Straight.

In response, Mercedes fitted turning vanes on the front of the car to give it more downforce ahead of the race. It didn’t work. Peter Dumbreck suffered the same fate as Webber.

Dumbreck flew off the road, landing outside the circuit in a field that had recently been cleared of trees and was inaccessible to spectators. Ironically, as his car landed outside the circuit, it was treated as an ordinary road accident by local police, who breathalised Dumbreck while Mercedes called its remaining cars into the pits to retire 49

them.

Another of the events anomolies was the fact that, until the early 1970s, when rolling starts were introduced, the winner was decided not on who crossed the line first but who completed the greatest distance.

It was an idiosyncracy that caught out the Ford factory team in 1966 when its two cars circulated together on the final lap to bring home a 1-2 result for the American manufacturer. But as they crossed the line side by side it was the second placed car, driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, that was actually declared the winner. The New Zealand pair had started further back on the grid and, given they’d crossed the line abreast of the sister car, were ruled to have completed eight metres more and handed the win.

Ford’s win came as a result of a spat with Enzo Ferrari. Well before the Audi versus the world rivalry it was Ford versus Ferrari when the American giant used the race as a way to get its own back over the Commandatore.

Henry Ford II had attempted to buy the Italian marque only to be rebuffed by its founder. Ford had wanted to go GT racing an reasoned the simplest way to do it would be to buy in the know-how and facilities. Ferrari was the ideal target.

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Image: Sutton’s

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Image: Sutton’s

Early negotiations went well, even going so far as to having new emblems sketched by Ferrari himself, but talks broke down when the racing team was discussed. Ford’s association with Shelby in the US proved a key sticking point and Ferrari eventually pulled the plug on the prospective deal, setting in motion one of the biggest rivalries in Le Mans history.

Ford instead set up shop with Lola, using its Mk6 as a base for development of the GT40 which went on to win Le Mans on four consecutive occasions from 1966 to ‘69.

Image: Sutton’s

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Book covers not contractual

M A E T L L A M S

M A E R D BIG t Coch

By Ma Words

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H

e’s one of the sport’s good guys. A battler working seven days a week in the family business hoping to scratch out a living that will keep food on the table and a car on the racetrack.

Aaren Russell learned long ago that nothing comes easy in motorsport.

At Queensland Raceway last year he burst into the headlines with a podium, but it had been a long time coming.

“It just took one, that’s all it took for us,” says Russell. “The team were always there it’s just we needed everything to come together and Queensland was the place that it came together.”

Russell entered the Development series in 2010, a season where Steve Owen, Tim Blanchard, James Moffat, Nick Percat and David Reynolds shared the spoils. Results in those early years were tough. It wasn’t until the penultimate round of 2012 that Russell finally broke into the top ten and it was another two years before that podium in Queensland.

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“It’s been a big roller coaster for me as a driver,” Russell says of his career to date. “I’ve learnt a lot over the past 12 months, [more] than I have over the past five years.”

Russell’s upturn in performance has coincided with a linkup with Bathurst winner Paul Morris. Not only has it helped with car preparation, much of which the Novacastrian does himself, but it also gave him the confidence he needed to run at the front.

Results though are still not easy to find. A podium at the season opening round in Clipsal was quickly a distant memory when a tough Perth and then Winton gave the small team a reality check.

“I think it just makes us more focussed and determined to get back up there,” he responds when asked about those difficult weekends.

“Our pace has been there. It’s just been those little one [percent] things that have wrecked the weekend.

“We know we’re fast, there’s no doubting that. We keep working hard, we keep preparing the car as normal.

It just makes us more determined and more hungry to get back up there.”

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Russell’s performances have caught the eye of a number of main game teams, though hopes have faded of an endurance call up. “Everyone says we’d love to have you but you don’t have the experience, which is a bit of a shame because you turn around and ask yourself how you actually get the experience that you need to run the enduros,” he bemoans.

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The sad fact is that, despite having shown increased form, he’ll likely never reach the top level of Australian motorsport. The introduction of the Car of the Future into the Development Series from next season has forced Russell to question his priorities.

“It’s just way out of our budget,” he admits when asked if he’ll be switching

into the newer machinery. “We’re at our limits as it is just running the car and just trying to prepare a competitive car for the year.”

The small glimmer of hope at the moment is that it remains to be seen whether the Car of the Future in Development Series spec will be any better than what the category currently runs.

“It may be faster, it may not,” agrees Russell. “It depends what freedom our [current] cars are allowed and not allowed. I don’t think anyone will actually be able to tell until we stick two cars on the track - car of the future and the old car - to see where everyone’s at.”

Until that is known teams and drivers 61

like Russell face an uncertain future.

“I’m under the assumption that we won’t be running next year,” he reveals solemly. “It’s a lot of money to gamble on if you can’t be anywhere near the front.”

That’s still six months away though, and a lot can happen between now and then. In the meanwhile Russell continues working seven days a week to chase his dream.

“At the moment it’s back to usual at work,” he explains. “I work seven days a week up until Townsville.

“It is non-stop but it’s the only way that it can be done with our budget. Work is what makes the world go round for us. Not only does it help with the racing but it pays the bills, so we’ve got to make sure we look after that first and foremost.

Race cars come second unfortunately.”

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FORMULA ONE | V8 SUPERCARS | SHANNONS NATIONALS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS, EXPERT ANALYSIS

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V8 SUPERCARS

WINTON SUPERSPRINT

CHAZ LOST IT

T

he 2015 V8 Supercar season is beginning to look like a Ford benefit. In Perth the weekend was dominated by Mark Winterbottom and Chaz Mostert, only for a poorly timed safety car in the final race to rob them of a clean sweep, while at Winton they were more dominant. If that’s even possible.

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It goes to show the fine margins which separate the teams in V8 Supercars. Some comparatively minor aerodynamic changes have revolutionised the car and turned it into the absolute pick of the bunch. Just look at qualifying; three Prodrive Racing Australia cars headed the field and Scott Pye was much

further up in his DJR Team Penkse FG X than he’s been all season.

It’s possible Winton was a false picture because the usual suspects weren’t at the front. Craig Lowndes was there for a time but Jamie Whincup was so uncompetitive he may as well have been running around in an old generation Falcon. He VELOCITY

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salvaged some points from the weeeknd but never figured at the front and was well off the pace of Lowndes, who was the championship leader heading in.

Leaving the Victorian circuit though it was Mark Winterbottom who topped the title table. Since the opening round of the championship he’s made up an VELOCITY

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enormous amount of ground, most of it in the last two rounds, to bring himself back into championship contention. He currently stands as favourite for the championship simply because the Ford has such good pace and momentum while Chaz Mostert’s inconsistency has kept him down the order.

There seems little doubt that of the two Prodrive pilots it is Mostert who is fastest. The problem has been that with the car so good Winterbottom is almost always second best, and given he’s better at the start it means the veteran is able to get the jump and score the big points.

Team orders probably 65

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have something to do with that given we’ve seen when Mostert gets ahead he’s typically able to pull out almost at will.

The problem for Mostert is he’s not yet the final, polished article.

He threw away victory in Sunday’s 200km race in Winton when he had it pretty much in the bag. All he neded to do was keep going and even with safety cars he had the pace to win the race on merit. In time those rough edges will be buffed out but for now it is that rawness that will keep him out of a serious championship bid. He’s also a long way down the order and even with strong points finishes, which he’s likely to get, he needs Winterbottom to suffer misfortune. That’s unliekly as Frosty has begun making a habit of carrying an armful of trophies home from each round.

Also in Ford’s favour is that its Holden rivals have been inconsistent. HRT may as well have not turned up on Saturday afternoon when James Courtney took Garth Tander out, and Lee Holdsworth for good measure, while Fabian Coulthard was busy bashing doors with BJR team-mate 66

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Dale Wood and qualifying at the back of the grid. More than capitalising on the good days, it’s mitigating the bad days that will be crucial in stringing a championship tilt together, and the GM boys have not done that well enough.

To its credit, Nissan showed well. Michael Caruso should have been second in the opening race had he pulled left at the start to block Winterbottom’s progress while Rick Kelly managed to split the Fords in the second race. There are still things to work on at Nissan, they’ve a new header coming in time for the endurance rounds it hopes (probably Bathurst) but on Winton’s form it needs only a small improvement to be a genuine contender.

Not like Volvo. Whatever it had last season that saw it run at the front as often as not has been well and truly lost. Neither David Wall nor Scott McLaughlin featured heavily throughout the weekend - McLaughlin getting turned around while battling with Wood for next to last emphasised just how far it has fallen. The worst thing is there’s seemingly no improvement in sight.

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DOMINATION DEVELOPMENT SERIES

B

arring something particularly out of the ordinary, Cameron Waters will be the Development Series champion in 2015.

The Prodrive junior driver, who will join Chaz Mostert for Bathurst, holds a commanding 118 point lead at the head of the championship. He’s won seven races so far in 2015 and, perhaps most worrying of all, the last six of them have come in succession.

Waters remained firmly at the head of the pack in all three races at Winton, just as he’d done in 68

Perth, leaving everyone else to squabble over next best. Waters was simply on another level.

He may as well have been driving a different category.

Andrew Jones tried to keep him honest in the first race but it was never what you could call a battle for the lead.

Jones proved next best at Winton though at times found himself fending off reigning champ Paul Dumbrell’s advances. The top three remained the same all weekend, only Jack Le Brocq and Chris Pither changing spots for fouth

and fifth disrupted that symmetry.

Further back a power steering pump failure for Aaren Russell saw the Clipsal podium winner start at the rear of the grid. He would climb to seventh by the end of the weekend but headed home on Sunday night disappointed he didn’t acheive more.

Waters now sits comfortably at the head of the championship over the consistent but not terribly fast of late Paul Dumbrell. Jack Le Brocq remains third while Andrew Jones climbed to fifth.

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TORANA TRECHERY TOURING CAR MASTERS

J

ohn Bowe won in a Holden. The long time Ford man jumped the fence from blue to red and motored home to win for the first time at the wheel of a Holden. Something about that just seems wrong.

The Gary O’Brien owned Torana was a debutant over the weekend. Asked to drive it, Bowe promptly went fastest in qualifying to give Holdn its first Touring Car Masters pole position. Ever.

Not prepared to stop there, Bowe went on to win all three races across the weekend to VELOCITY

knotch up his first round win of the season and his first ever win at the wheel of a Holden.

It’s worrying, really. The car might have taken more than two years to develop but the very fact it went out and won on debut, against a number of leading drivers with established cars, is ominous. The Torana will only get faster as its secrets are uncovered, raising the game for everyone else.

That includes Bowe, whose own Mustang Sally had won last time out in Tasmania with Steve Johnson.

Gavin Bullas pushed

Bowe throughout the three races but one got the feeling there was plenty in reserve for Bowe should he have needed it.

His almost rock solid 1.5 second lead was comfortable enough, there was no need to stress the brand new car more than was necessary on its first outing.

Bullas claimed the championship lead over the weekend while Bowe moved up to eighth. On current form he’ll likely climb higher too, provided he chooses the race track over the Fijian beaches.

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MONACO GRAND PRIX

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY

T

he Monaco Grand Prix belonged to Lewis Hamilton, right up to the point Mercedes decided he didn’t deserve it.

Having controlled the race with ease throughout the Englishman looked a certain victor. So why the hell did Mercedes decide to stop him under the Max Verstappen safety car?

He had track position, 70

fresher tyres than those behind and a rear gunner in Nico Rosberg. The official version goes that the decision was made because he had enough time to stop and get fresh tyres and cover off anyone else who pitted behind. Mercedes got its sums wrong, it claims. But was it really that simple?

The whole reason the safety car came out

was because Verstappen, on much fresher tyres, couldn’t find a way by Romain Grosjean. Behind Hamilton, Robserg was not going to stop so there was no immediate threat.

Sebastian Vettel in third didn’t have the gap to stop without losing track position to Daniil Kvyat so there was no pressure there. It would have only been VELOCITY

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someone well down the order taking a punt.

Mercedes explanation is as poor as its decision to stop Hamilton.

Still, at least it won the race. The only problem is it cost itself a nearcertain 1-2 finish.

For a time at the start of the race Mercedes was under pressure.

Hamilton held a two second lead over Rosberg in second, himself VELOCITY

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with a two second advantage over Vettel.

The warmer conditions helped the Ferrari remain in contact. But like a cat playing with a mouse, when the time came the two Mercedes drivers pulled away.

Hamilton benefitted from traffic before his first stop, extending his lead out to more than eight seconds before Sebastian Vettel dived

into the lane. He was close enough to force Mercedes to react on the following lap to ensure the status-quo remained. There was no need to react with Hamilton, he was well clear.

He remained clear until well clear until the safety car emerged in the wake of Vestappen’s heavy crash. The Toro Rosso had been moving well through the field 71

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thanks to fresher tyres than those ahead. He’d been allowed through

by Carlos Sainz and was tucked underneath Vettel’s rear wing, a lap down but using the Ferrari like a snow plough.

Grosjean was onto the rouse when Vettel cruised up behind the Lotus driver. With Verstappen tight in behind Vettel, Grosjean placed his car to perfection on the inside of the station hairpin, allowing the Ferrari through while holding Verstappen at bay.

The Toro Rosso clearly had more pace and swarmed all over the back of the Lotus but there was no way through. His best opportunity came heading into Ste Devote only for the teenager to misjudge the move. He lost his front left wheel as he pulled out from behind Grosjean too late, sliding heavily into the barrier. He was later labelled dangerous by Felipe Massa but Verstappen insists Grosjean had brake tested him.

By that stage Vettel was no threat to either Mercedes. He’d fallen off the back of Robserg enough to allow him breathing space. That had not been the case earlier in the race, Vettel had even looked underneath VELOCITY

Rosberg at the start but ran out of room. Vettel’s first corner move boxed Daniel Ricciardo out and in the process opened the door for the second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat to sneak underneath.

The Australian fell to sixth midway through the race when Kimi Raikkonen used the undercut to gain track position.

Red Bull had better pace in Monaco, a circuit where engine performance is less important than most circuits. Both Ricciardo and Kvyat had shown pace in qualifying and Ricciardo was disappointed not to have been third. The warmer race conditions did not favour them though, and on balance the Ferrari’s were quicker, at least that of Vettel was.

Late in the race Ricciardo was able to put a slide job on Raikkonen, a move more akin to the speedway than the streets of Monaco. The two touched heading into Mirabeau, upsetting Raikkonen but giving Ricciardo the place.

The move was reminiscent of Fernando Alonso’s move on Nico Hulkenberg on the opening lap. In that instance the Force India found the barrier on the outside of the corner for 73

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which Alonso was given a five second penalty.

In the chaos of the opening lap contact was all but inevitable at some point but in Ricciardo’s case it was entirely avoidable. Typically stewards turn a blind eye to contact on the opening lap, so it was curious that it felt no need to do so in Monaco. Of course 74

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it was unfortunate for Hulkenberg, who found himself in the wall, but that is how racing goes sometimes.

Williams’ lack of pace was a bonus for McLaren as Jenson Button scored his first points of the season – and the first points of the year for McLaren.

In ordinary circumstances both Williams

cars would be in the points but without them towards the front the door opened for the likes of McLaren.

The lack of pace at Williams and upturn in performance for McLaren are, in the bigger picture of the season, comparatively meaningless. The unique requirements of the Monaco circuit, VELOCITY

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and the importance it places on qualifying, always create anomalies. Behind Ferrari it remains almost certain that Williams is still third fastest. Red Bull is unlikely to have made much ground since Spain but that will only become truly evident once the circus reaches Canada.

Before then Mercedes VELOCITY

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will be conducting an autopsy to understand how, for the second time this season, it has cost one of its drivers a race win.

This time at least it was the second Mercedes which took the spoils but the fact is the Mercedes pit wall has proved itself to be easily flustered and prone to mistakes under

pressure. It’s a significant problem for the team, one which it will need to find a solution to quickly as it will not enjoy the car advantage which currently covers that weakness forever - and Canada last year exposed just how marginal it was on brakes.

Read the full Monaco Grand Prix report on the Velocity website.

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Image: Sutton’s

SPANISH GRAND PRIX

ROSBERG RUNS RIOT A

slow start for Lewis Hamilton all but gifted the Spanish Grand Prix to Nico Rosberg. Caught behing Sebastian Vettel in third place for much of the race, and with overtaking at a premium around the Barcelona circuit, Rosberg’s lead was never 76

under threat.

The German had set himself up for a strong race throughout the weekend. He was fast in opening practice and on Saturday morning was quickest again while Hamilton spun. It was harmless enough but gave the impression he was pushing hard

to get the better of his team-mate, but on this weekend it wasn’t to be.

The disappointment for Hamilton continued in qualifying when Rosberg beat him to pole position, ending Hamilton’s run of five consecutive poles, but the real damage was done in the first fifty VELOCITY

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metres of the race itself.

While Rosberg got away well, Hamilton was swallowed up by the field. Vettel eased his way by around the outside while Valtteri Bottas tried to elbow the Mercedes out of the way on the apex of turn one. Hamilton was having none of it and VELOCITY

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slotted into third behind Vettel but by the time they’d completed the first lap Rosberg had already shut up shop.

Perhaps if Mercedes had done a better job of Hamilton’s first pit stop he’d have had a shot at Rosberg, who wasn’t miles away at that point, but a slow

left rear allowed Vettel to stay ahead. Unable to overtake around the Barcelona circuit, Hamilton pleaded with his team to find another solution to move him into second place.

And so it was that he was switched onto a three stop strategy and pulled back into the pits 77

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Image: Sutton’s

Image: Sutton’s

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FORMULA ONE

after a short second stint. The reigning world champion then went like the clappers on fresh rubber. He had to; to make his strategy work he needed to not only claw back the gap to Vettel but build enough margin that he could remain ahead when he stopped for the final time. Ferrari could have reacted. It could have hauled Vettel in at the same time and mirrored Mercedes strategy and provide a rather tougher challenge, but instead the Maranello pit wall left the German on track and on his original twostop strategy.

Without Vettel ahead, Hamilton was able to run at this own pace and it soon became apparent he’d pass the Ferrari with ease. He even had a pop at the race win in the closing stages, though by that stage Rosberg had extended a pit stop advantage and even using his fresher tyres Hamilton had no chance of catching him in the final laps.

Mercedes then won with a comfortable 1-2, far more comfortable that it might have been but importantly more comfortable than it has been at any point since Australia. The return to Europe has VELOCITY

not gone well for Ferrari as Mercedes opened the advantage at the head of the field while Williams looks to have closed in. Comparatively, Ferrari has gone backwards.

Elsewhere it’s becoming somewhat predictable that McLaren will show well in practice only to struggle in qualifying and the race. Throughout the opening day there was potential again on display but when it came to the sessions that counted it magically disappeared. The most worrying thing to come out of the weekend though was that the ceaseless optimism emanating from the team all season finally disappeared. The car is good, we’ve been told so many times our ears ring, and as soon as the little bumps in the engine are ironed out we’ll see McLaren at the front of the field again.

Then of course you’ve got Jenson Button who described his opening stint as the most frightening 30 laps of his life, and suggests points are out of reach in 2015. So much for the car being any good then.

Even Fernando Alonso struggled. For just the second time in his career he retired from 79

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Image: Sutton’s

his home race with brake failure. The team claimed a visor tear-off went into a brake duct which caused it to overheat and fail, but with both front wheels locked as he slid through the pit box as he retired it’s a difficult line to believe.

Instead it looked all the world like an MGU-K failure, but that can’t be the case because McLaren doesn’t lie to the press.

There are greater problems in the sport though as Red Bull begins to 80

throw its toys out of the pram. Having won more by luck than anything else in 2014 there is no hiding from the fact that it’s 2015 car is a pig.

Outwardly it is blaming the Renault engine, and while that’s clearly not the powerhouse the Mercedes or Ferrari is it’s not the sole reason Red Bull is struggling.

The team itself, and Adrian Newey’s design team, has to shoulder some of that blame.

How else does one explain the Toro Rosso’s

- both of them - outqualifying the two Red Bulls? There was more embarassment in the race too as Carlos Sainz edged Daniil Kvyat out of ninth place.

In reaction to the current situation Red Bull has been nothing short of childish in threatening to leave the sport.

If it’s not winning it’s not playing; hardly the attitude of a world class team. Williams, McLaren and Ferrari have all endured dry spells indeed most of Ferrari’s VELOCITY

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FORMULA ONE

Image: Sutton’s

involvement in the sport has been pretty barren and yet it continues to plug away and eventually the sands of time blow in its favour. The leadership at Red Bull has, in contrast, been absolutely pathetic.

That’s an accurate description of Pastor Maldonado’s season too. Time after time he’s found himself in a position to score good points only to find a hedge to stuff his Lotus into. If he wasn’t so valuable to the team VELOCITY

he’d have been dumped long ago and yet he continues to chalk up retirements in a car that should have scored more points that Red Bull. Romain Grosjean hasn’t got the best out of it either. It may not have the ultimate single lap speed of the Red Bull but it does have a reliable Mercedes engine. As those around them beginning to struggle with unreliability - it’s only a matter of time before Daniel Ricciardo takes

a grid penalty for an engine change - Lotus should find itself a clear fourth best team behind Williams but because neither Maldonado nor Grosjean has strung consecutive error free grands prix together it’s languishing in sixth place behind even Sauber.

There is no doubting Mercedes is the class of the field and, judging by Spain, has only extended its advantage.

Read the full report on the Velocity website.

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FORMULA E

BERLIN EPRIX

WINNING AND LOSING

O

ne of the advantages of racing on a street circuit is that it gives the host city an opportunity to show itself off to the world. That doesn’t really work when you’re racing around an old airport.

The Berlin street circuit may as well have been held in a carpark as a result. The circuit was uninspiring and failed to show off anything of the city. There were no 82

landmarks, nothing of any real substance to give the circuit and the racing context. It was confusing to watch as a result.

Television coverage also made the mistake of using wide angled shots which highlighted just how slow the cars were. As far as the racing goes the speed of the cars is irrelevant but when trying to attract new viewers it’s important the coverage shows

off the categories best.

The Berlin ePrix failed to do that with both the circuit and the television coverage.

The racing was also rather more subdued than it has been in recent races. Lucas Di Grassi got into the lead on the opening lap and checked out only to have the win stripped from him postrace. His front wing had been modified the stewards said, the team VELOCITY

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responding by claiming it wasn’t performance enhancing and was the result of repaired crash damage from an earlier race. Whatever the case the decision to exclude the Brazilian stood meaning far from heading Nelson Piquet by more than a race win he instead trails the former Renault Formula One driver by ten points.

Quite what happened to Jarno Trulli is a mystery. The Formula One VELOCITY

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veteran hadn’t really shown any pace in the season to date but somehow cropped up on pole come the race.

His advantage lasted just a single corner as a mistake at the second saw the Italian run wide and open the door for Di Grassi to cruise by. For a few laps he held station towards the front of the race but ultimately dropped like a rock through the field.

He would do well to

study Piquet’s technique. The China Racing driver is clearly the best in the field at managing his energy and effort in the race. During the first half of the race in Berlin he conserved his energy, saving enough power to go a lap longer. It sounds insignificant but it meant he changed into his second car, which had 100% battery, at a time his rivals had more like 90% power remaining.

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FORMULA E

His efforts in the opening half essentially gave him a 10% advantage in the final half of the race. He used it well, moving through the field to sit fourth on the road where he became stuck behind Sebastien Buemi. He inherited third when Di Grassi was thrown out.

There are still three races left, and with no clear favourite having emerged thus far there is no reason to think that trend will change when Formula E reaches Moscow.

Di Grassi will need to bridge the points gap if he’s to head to the final round in London – which is a double round with two races instead of the usual one – with any chance of championship glory.

With Piquet, he has been been the most consistent throughout the season whereas others have run into trouble. Sam Bird led the title for a time but has faded as the season progressed. So too has Nico Prost, though if he’d been rather less desperate at the final corner at the opening round perhaps he’d still be in contention.

Read the full Berlin ePrix race report on the Velocity website.

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FORMULA E

MONACO EPRIX

STREETS AHEAD

R

acing around Monaco doesn’t have to be dull and processional. Lively racing doesn’t need a sudden downpour or something unusual.

What Formula E did around the streets of the Principality proved that, though difficult, racing in Monaco is 86

possible.

Overtaking remained at a premium as you’d expect but without the aero wash to disturb the cars they were able to run in close proximity and genuinely pressure one another. What has been missing in Monaco for decades is the ability to push a rival into a

mistake an capitalise on it, typically because the driver behind is simply too far back. Formula E ran nose to tail, and while the passing was far from abundant it made each and every driver race as hard as they ever have.

The series has come on well from it’s opening VELOCITY

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round. There were some serious problems which have been addressed and while there are still some that remain they offer benefits because of it. The pace of the cars, for example, is dismal but because of that the influence of the aerodynamics is essentially nil and that allows VELOCITY

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the sort of close racing we’ve come to see.

The abridged version of the Monaco circuit did lend itself to better racing that the full grand prix course. Rather than climbing the hill out of Ste Devote the circuit instead headed downhill towards the harbour front chicane.

That had two benefits; it made Ste Devout a tighter corner needing a wider entry which made it a more atttractive overtaking place while the chicane effecvtively became a hairpin which created another opportunity. The remainder of the circuit was unchanged and did little 87

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but encourage processional racing.

The new run down to the harbour hairpin was narrow, more so than the rest of the narrow street circuit, and a crash on the opening lap did block the track. It’s not unusual at Moanco but perhaps for future seasons it is something that needs to be addressed. The 88

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exit of Ste Devote had a dogleg and it was that which caught the pack out; there is no reason the apex for Ste Deveout couldn’t be moved to make it a more straight-forward corner, though that would perhaps take away an overtaking opportunity.

What has become apparent is teams are

now familiar with how to race their electric cars and are beginning to employ strategy to gain an advantage.

Early on they simply circulated and did the racing on track but now they understand the nuances and are willing to gamble. Nelson Piquet was being held up so stopped to change car despite having 10% VELOCITY

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battery charge remaining. He put in a couple of fast laps in his second car on a free track and gained an advantage as a result and while he drifted back into the clutches of those behind around the tight Monaco streets he had the crucial track position advantage.

It’s also become clear who the strong drivers VELOCITY

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are and who are there more or less making up the numbers. e.DAMS is strong China Racing’s Nelson Piquet is formiddable. In normal circumstances one could throw Sam Bird into the mix too but a tough weekend in Monaco meant his race was not worth writing home about.

There are a number of

positives in Formula E. The trick for the series now is to continue producing good racing while looking to break down the barrier people have against the notion of electric car racing.

The foundations of something great have been laid. What comes next is the challenge of continuing its solid early work.

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MOTOGP

GRAND PRIX OF ITALY

MOMENTUM

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he Spanish Grand Prix started something for Jorge Lorenzo as ever since he’s been unbeatable.

He dominated that weekend as he did the next in France. What 90

he managed in Italy was nothing short of remarkable.

Lorenzo decimated the Italian Grand Prix. He rode to the front and while for a lap or two the hard charging Marc

Marquez clung on to his tail pipes ultimately Lorenzo was just far too strong. For everyone. He opened his lead at the better part of a second a lap and then simply cruised around VELOCITY

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for the rest of the race, presumably doing a spot of bird watching or filing his tax return.

Conversely, Marquez looks a broken man.

He’s no longer the double world champion, VELOCITY

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class of the field. He’s mortal. He has also developed a taste for asphalt. He crashed out of the lead battle in Argentina while at Mugello he threw away another solid haul

of points. It’s not yet impossible for the Spaniard to defend his world championship crown but it is getting ever more difficult.

That’s because he has to beat both Yamaha 91

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riders as Valentino Rossi has the spring back in his step. Lorenzo may have won the last three grands prix at a canter but Rossi has also won two this season.

Yamaha, who most thought would be third 92

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best this season, is dominating.

Honda’s only hope is Marquez. Pedrosa has returned from injury and is on the pace but having sat the early season out the championship is beyond him.

The two Ducati’s are fast but sooner or later the team will have to throw its support behind one or the other if it wants to compete for the championship. With two fast Yamaha’s, Ducati VELOCITY

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can’t afford to allow its riders to squabble and take points from one another. Andrea Dovizioso is currently 35 points behind Rossi at the head of the championship while team-mate Andrea Iannone is just VELOCITY

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two points further back.

Marquez meanwhile is almost two full races behind the championship leader; 49 points down after six rounds.

He needs to outscore Rossi by more than 4 points for everyone

one of the remaining rounds if he’s to defend his crown. All the while Lorezno is charging up the championship table like a freight train.

Read the full Italian Grand Prix report on the Velocity website.

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MOTOGP

GRAND PRIX OF FRANCE

UNSTOPPABLE M

arc Marquez, the rider who has dominated MotoGP for the last two years, doesn’t appear to be racing this season. Sure, his name is out there and someone who looks remarkably like him climbs aboard a Honda for the races, but the performances just 94

aren’t there.

He was caught out in the season opener and while he struck back in the United States it’s about the only glimpse of the two-time world champion we’ve had.

Everything else has been pretty sub-par.

If one can call sitting fourth in the world

championship sub-par.

In France, Marquez started well but was elbowed aside by Andrea Iannone in the run down to the first corner. That led to a desperate move under brakes at the Dunlop Chicane which saw the Honda rider run wide and drop down the VELOCITY

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order. From there his race was about recovery rather than victory.

Jorge Lorenzo ultimately won the race with comparative ease, but early doors it looked as though we’d see a tense battle between he and Andrea Dovizioso as the two squabbled among themselves.

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But eventually Lorenzo broke the neck of that challenge and eased clear, stringing together a series of quick laps as he’s become famous for.

After starting on the third row, Valentino Rossi got all he could out of the race with second place. He charged late in the race and

caught Dovizioso who posed a problem for a while before the ninetime world champion gained the upper hand to give Yamaha a 1-2 finish.

Dovizioso hung on to third for Ducati while Marquez managed to climb back up to fourth, helped by an injured 95

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MOTOGP

Iannone who fell off the pace dramatically midway through. It’s not easy to ride with a dislocated shoulder, as Iannone demonstrated, but he was still a challenge for Marquez who didn’t have the raw pace we’re so used to seeing from him.

For a time Marquez looked more likely to fall victim to Braldey Smith than catch Iannone but gathered himself sufficiently by the end to take fourth place. A distant fouth place, it must be said.

Dani Pedrosa crashed out on his return. The Spaniard had sat three races out following surgery on his arm and soon found himself on the floor. He remounted, had the bike checked and used the remainder of the race as a test session to see how his body would hold up.

Lorenzo’s win, his second in a row, moved him into second in the championship, 15 points behind team-mate Rossi. Dovizioso sits third, just as he finished in Le Mans with Marquez a whopping 33 points off Rossi’s pace and has a mountain to climb to defend his title.

96

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97

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WORLD SUPERBIKES

GREAT BRITAIN

DAMAGE LIMITATION A

round Donington Park Tom Sykes is unbeatable.

He’s won six consecutive races at the circuit but while his was an impressive weekend the efforts of Jonathan Rea deserve more than a passing comment.

Rea and Sykes were evenly matched in the first race at Donington.

It was the first opportunity the two had really had to race one another hard. The chasing pack hung on for 98

a time but ultimately the two Kawasaki riders pulled clear and squabbled among themselves. They passed and repassed and it was only when the two bashed farings that Rea, with the championship firmly in mind, hoisted the white flag and allowed Sykes to race clear. Rea conceded the battle in a hope that he would win the war.

It was a smart move.

Sykes trails by more than 100 points in the

championship and it is more prudent for Rea to gain points than win races. Sykes meanwhile has to win if he’s any hope of catching Rea. That attitude from both riders was particularly evident in the second race when Sykes sprung clear of the pack early to race clear in the most dominant win of the season. He enjoyed a nine second lead by the end of the race, heading home his teammate once again to chip away VELOCITY

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slightly at his championship deficit, but in the grand scheme of things it probably won’t matter.

If Rea wins the championship he can look back at the Donington round and say that it is there where he confirmed his credentials. Specifically, at Coppice on the second lap of the second race where by rights he should have been catapulted off his bike.

Somehow he wrestled it back under control and VELOCITY

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while he lost places he stayed in touch. He fell to seventh as a result of the moment but clawed his way back to second in one of the most impressive rides of the season. He’s won races, dominated them, but it was Rea’s fighting spirit and determination that saw him continue his unbeaten run of top two finishes this season.

Donington was a case of damage limitation in many respects. Sykes was clearly the faster of

the two Kawasaki riders, and unless your bike was green you didn’t have a chance. Rea was in no mood to risk his points advantage and rode intelligently as a result. He had a moment but he fought back to protect his championship lead.

Have gave Sykes points, but Sykes could have taken far more.

The season isn’t even halfway down and already Rea has the title in his grasp.

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WORLD SUPERBIKES

ITALY

DOING IT HIS REA T

wo more wins for Jonathan Rea in Imola should all but cement his World Superbike Championship this year. The Englishman holds a commanding 87 point lead over Leon Haslam while team-mate Tom Sykes is 112 points adrift.

Sykes could have won in Imola. Indeed, he 100

should have won in Imola but mistakes and untimely red flags cost him. He led the opening race when the red flag was shown for David Salom’s crash before sprinting off at the head of the pack when racing resumed. But a mistake at Aqua Minerale cost the Kawasaki rider, opening the door for Rea to motor by and

take the race win by less than half a second in what was effectively a six lap sprint.

Helping Rea was the fact Chaz Davies retired from the race with an electrical problem, the start of a dismal day for the Ducati rider who failed to finish the second race too when his engine cried enough. He left Imola pointless.

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The positive sign for those chasing Rea is that he was again pushed hard. Davide Giugliano got the best start in the opening race and held top spot until Sykes made a bold move around the outside at turn one and began pulling away.

That encouraged Rea to have a go too before setting off in pursuit VELOCITY

WORLD SUPERBIKES

of Sykes at the front with 10 laps remaining.

That would only last a lap before Salom fell off and Sykes’ mistake gifted Rea the win.

It wasn’t as straight forward as many of Rea’s wins have been, and that is a positive.

The only problem was the second race was one of those typical races where Rea rides

off into the sunset as the director rolls the credits. Sykes couldn’t keep pace in what was a processional race making for an easy victory for Rea. Giugliano, for what it was worth, finished third.

Read the full race reports from races one and two from Imola on the Velocity Website.

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WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE RALLY OF PORTUGAL

Image: Sutton’s

S

ebastian Ogier almost pulled off the impossible in Portugal. The championship leader was second at the end of the rally, but even finishing that high is something to be proud of.

Jari-Matti Latvala won the rally. It was his first victory of the season, coming after crashing 102

out of the last three rallies.

Latvala held a slender 8.5 second advantage heading into the final day and won by just 9.2s over Ogier at the finish.

Ensuring it was an allVolkswagen podium, Andreas Mikkelsen was third. It was a strong bounceback from a poor

Rally Argentina for the German marque.

Mikkelsen benefitted from Chris Meeke struggling through the final day with a broken rear roll bar. The Rally Argentina winner limped his Citroen home, but was no match for Mikkelsen as he fell off the podium in the final three stages.

Ogier found himself VELOCITY

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sixth after the opening loop. He’d gambled on tyres and punctured on the opening stage, forcing him to run a mix of compounds for the remainder of the day.

He fell 30 seconds off the leaders time.

It was Mikkelsen who led after the first stage but he was soon knocked out of top spot VELOCITY

WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

by Dani Sordo in the Hyundai. His charge wouldn’t last and dropped through the field as the rally wore on with Latvala taking control midway through the opening day.

Ogier’s recovery from the early puncture moved him back into contention on the second day, closing more

than 20 seconds to set up a tense final loop.

He won the opening stage of the day to narrow the gap to 7.8s only to lose time to Latvala on the penultimate stage. It left a 10.4s deficit heading into the power stage, which Ogier duly won though fell short of Latvala by rally’s end.

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INDYCAR

RAIN ON THE PARADE DUAL IN DETROIT

O

ne of the biggest problems with American racing is that the entertainment factor overrules the sporting side of things. Freak results are comparatively common, and while the best still inevitably float to the top there are frequent anomolies. Carlos Munoz winning in Belle Isle, for example.

There is no way Munoz was among the fastest 104

or the best on the day, but he happened to roll the dice at the right time. And that’s what it was, a gamble, there is no way he or the team could have known that the race would be red flagged and then cancelled. They’d gambled to gain track position.

It was a smart move, there’s no denying that, but the victory was the result of pure luck. How is that sporting?

The problem is the safety car periods which bunch the field, penalising those who are strong. Juan-Pablo Montoya and Will Power were the best across the weekend yet on Saturday barely featured despite dominating the early part of the race.

Thankfully the correct order was established on Sunday when Montoya almost won. The Columbian was the best VELOCITY

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on track all weekend.

Belle Isle is bumpy, narrow in places and tree lined. It means when it rains not only does the mist stay in the air but some sections dry faster than others and there is little room for error. It’s also concrete in large parts, giving up almost no grip.

At times driving standards were well below what one should expect from a top flight racing VELOCITY

INDYCAR

series. Sage Karam, who blasted Takuma Sato at Indianapolis after their first corner crash, needs to go and sit in a dark room and think about life. He caused the same crash twice, while his vigorous defense at times stepped well beyond ridiculous.

It was a shame because at the top end of Indycar there is a huge pool of talent. And wet racing

enabled them to compete. Belle Isle was one of the best races of the season (both of them) but the fact is the result was spoiled by the red flag and the lottery created by the safety car.

Sebastien Bourdais earned his race win on Sunday afternoon. Carlos Munoz had his gifted to him which robbed us all of watching something rather more special.

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INDYCAR

LONG TIME BETWEEN DRINK INDIANAPOLIS 500

F

ifteen years after his first Indy 500 win, Juan-Pablo Montoya claimed his second victory in America’s biggest race.

It’s been a long time between drinks for the Columbian who has enjoyed a successful Formula One career and a brief foray into 106

NASCAR in the years in between.

Montoya raced from 30th place in the opening laps to win a race that was comparatively trouble free. There were caution periods but they were interspersed with long green flag runs.

It meant to be in contention Montoya had

to race his way to the front; there were no free tickets.

Simona De Silvestro did her best to eliminate Montoya early. Quite what she was doing tagging the back of the Penske drivers car under caution is anyone’s guess. The caution had been for a first VELOCITY

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INDYCAR

KS

corner crash between Sage Karam and Takuma Sato, Karam pointing the finger at the Japanese driver despite squeezing him into the wall. Karam could have left more room, but by the same token Sato could have backed out of it. There was a long race ahead, after all.

VELOCITY

Montoya needed a new rear wing following De Silvestro’s tap. It broke away the bumper behind his right rear wheel, a piece connected to the rear wing.

Though he was able to pit and have it changed without losing a lap it did drop him to last.

The race was

dominated by Chevrolet powered cars.

Between them, Penske and Chip Ganassi led all the meaningful running without anyone else really capable of challenging. Even with skinny wings and slipstreaming, the Chevy cars pulled clear.

Overtaking was still 107

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difficult despite the long straights and huge slipstream effect. Early on drivers were able to easily defend their positions by simply taking a lower line, forcing the car behind to fall in or take greater risk and go around the outside. As 108

the race wore on more did just that and passing around the outside became common. Highlighting the difficulty drivers had passing, moves were late and typically required participation from the driver being passed.

INDYCAR

Of course there were crashes, though none as spectacular as those seen during practice and qualifying that left three cars upside down and James Hinchcliffe in intensive care. Tony Kanaan was the biggest victim in the race.

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Having trimmed out his car in an attempt to move forward he lost the back end before chasing it up the hill and into the wall.

Will Power too took some wing off in the closing stages and while it saw him move VELOCITY

forward also left the Australian with too much understeer to make progress beyond Montoya once he’d ceded top spot with three laps to go.

And so Montoya came from the rear of the field to win the Indianapolis

INDYCAR

500 for the second time, shattering the record for the longest break between wins in the process.

Read the full Indianapolis 500 report on the Velocity website.

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INDYCAR

PENSKE POWER GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS

I

t’s strange to see any Indycar race down the front straight at Indianapolis. Usually they go the other way.

But then the circuit needs to find a use for the white elephant that is the dreadful infield circuit it built for Formula One and since modified for MotoGP and now Indycar.

The circuit takes in much of what was the Formula One layout, darting onto the back straight after the first few corners rather than taking the long left hander. Thankfully they 110

cut the two hairpins towards the end of the lap too. There is a new chicane at the final corner too which seems a little silly given the cars are perfectly capable of using the banking. The changes mean there is almost no possible comparison that can be drawn between Indycar and Formula One since every sector of the circuit is different.

The first turn though is largely unchanged, and that proved to be as much a challenge for the Indycar field as it did the Formula One

fraternity. Bunching up towards the apex on the first lap a chain reaction knocked Josef Newgarden out of serious contention while there was a sympathy crash further back. Naturally the yellow was brought out as track workers restarted Newgarden and Jack Hawksworth who’d both stalled in the melee. Scott Dixon had been involved but pulled the clutch quickly enough to keep going under his own steam, though did need a new rear wing.

It’s a positive that track VELOCITY

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officials are able to restart cars. Had they been in a European series that would have been the end of the day for Newgarden and Hawksworth but instead they were able to rejoin the race and give fans the opportunity to see a full grid of cars. It gave the drivers a chance to compete too, though as things turned out without another yellow they were consigned to the also-rans.

As a spectacle, the race wasn’t one. As has been the way with Indycar this season VELOCITY

INDYCAR

overtaking proved near impossible as the cars simply can’t follow each other closely enough to make a difference.

There were a few looks but again nothing one can really consider racing, which is a problem given the Indianapolis road course has a long straight into a slow corner; the perfect combination to promote passing.

Instead Will Power got into the lead and romped away. He was unchallenged and despite Graham Rahal closing the gap in the

final laps there was never any serious threat to the Australian who has found form since Long Beach.

Team-mate Juan-Pablo Montoya also bounced back after a tough race at Barber Motorsport Park to emphasise the fact that it is Penske’s championship to lose.

Between Montoya and Power the team has arguably the strongest two drivers on the grid, meaning if anyone else gets a look in at the end of the year the Captain will have every right to be very, very angry.

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NASCAR

MONTHLY WRAP

TWO FROM THREE

J

immie Johnson opened the month as he closed it, with another NASCAR victory.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver rolled the dice towards the end of the Kansas race, which had run well into the night following a two hour rain delay. With a handful of laps remaining a final caution saw 112

teams forced to make a call; to stop or not to stop.

Race leader Kevin Harvick did call in. Johnson didn’t. Even with his two fresh tyres, Harvick wasn’t able to make the ground up in the closing laps to hand Johnson his third victory of the season.

At Charlotte it was an unlikely win for Carl

Edwards, a victory that should all but assure him of a spot in the Chase at the end of the seaosn. The Toyota driver hadn’t been a contender throughout the race but in the final stint, when fuel strategy was all important, Edwards emerged at the front.

He beat hom Martin Truex Jnr, who now VELOCITY

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sits a stunning second in points behind Harvick despite the driving for one of the smallest teams in the field. Truex led 131 laps to finish fifth while Greg Biffle, on a similar fuel strategy to Edwards, rolled across the line second out of gas in second.

It left Dover to round out the month, a track Johnson always seems VELOCITY

NASCAR

to do well at. Victory there was the tenth at the venue in his career.

But it was far from a dominant race, the six-time champ only coming to the fore in the final twenty or so laps when he beat Harvick at a restart.

Despite that, even two late race cautions couldn’t shake Johnson’s strangehold on

the track. He headed the field after a caution with 17 laps to run and held off the pack in the two lap sprint to the finish following another late yellow. Harvick was second while Truex recorded a solid sixth place.

Johnson now sits seventh on the all time winners list, two wins behind Dale Earnhardt.

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

AUSTRALIAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP

MIES MASTERS THE ISLAND

A

fter going almost a lap down, Christopher Mies and Greg Crick stormed back through the field to take a dramatic Australian GT race win at the Phillip Island 101.

The race finished in near darkness. After starting late, and given 114

a rare extension to 5:15pm, the race ended after 88 laps with Mies holding off the hardcharging Garth Tander in a McLaren 650S GT3 by little more than a second.

Mies had been caught in the pit lane following a mid-race safety car,

dropping him the better part of a lap behind race leader Graeme Smyth. Though he had good pace, Mies’ plight looked hopeless until a safety car with half an hour remaining, brought about by John Bowe spinning his Bentley Continental into the VELOCITY

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

D

gravel. It bunched the field once more and moved Mies back into contention. It also set up a 25-minute dash to the flag.

The earlier safety car had benefitted the the Smyth/Jono Lester Ferrari as they made it out of the pits ahead of the VELOCITY

safety car train. Geoff Emery moved into the head of the field before Smyth soon found a way by and opened a sizable lead in the final hour.

Starring in the first hour, Matt Campbell had started from the pit lane when his Ginetta

suffered a fluid leak leaving the pits for the dummy grid. He took the start some thirty seconds behind the field but found himself leading shortly after the first hour mark. His race though would be compromised when the fluid leak returned at his first 115

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

stop, the car held in the pits until the crew could clean it.

Smyth looked to have the race in the bag even allowing for the final safety car. The Ferrari driver opened a small lead over the field before dropping almost 20 seconds on lap 74. It handed the lead to Mies who was being pushed hard by Tander to set up a grandstand finish.

Smyth eventually crossed the line third but was relegated to fifth post-race after picking up a 30 second penalty for passing under yellow flags. It meant the Maranello Motorsports Ferrari 458 GT3 of Tony D’Alberto and Grant Denyer finished third behind the Mies/Crick Audi and the Tander/Tony Quinn McLaren.

The Barton Mawer/ Greg Taylor Audi R8 was the leading Trophy Class car, heading the Theo Koundouris and Steve Owen Porsche.

Mark Griffith and Daniel Gaunt completed the podium while while Michael O’Donnell and Michael Almond took out the Challenger Class over Brendan Cook and Matt Kingsley.

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTUERS CHAMPIONSHIP

THREE-PEAT

T

he Bates-Seton combination claimed a threepeat at the Great Southern 4 Hour, though with a different driver lineup in 2015.

Previously, Rick Bates and Glen Seton had shared the car to victory but this year it was Aaron Seton joining 118

Bates behind the wheel of the Mitisubishi Evo 10.

The pair had been engaged with a battle for the lead with the Grant and Iain Sherrin BMW 135i and only gained the upper hand late in the race. Both cars had led at various stages, Seton finally

opening a lead following the final pit stops.

That advantage soon evaporated however when Matt Mackeldon crashed heavily at the first corner, prompting a lengthy safety car as track workers set about repairing the barrier and tyre wall.

When racing resumed VELOCITY

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there was just 12 minutes left on the clock, enough time for Seton to open a 3.1 second lead over the Sherrin car in second place, which was good enough for Class B honours.

The father-son pair Shane and Rob Marhsall brought their Mitsubishi Evo 10 home third.

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Early leaders Jim Pollicina and Dean Little failed to finish when a hole in the HSV GTS’s exhaust saw them pull in to the pits after 63 laps. The car had led the opening eight laps before Bates found a way through, and also managed to set a new lap record before its

retirement.

Surviving a tyre delamination, Jake Camilleri and Scott Nicholas won Class C by finishing fifth overall in their Mazda 3 MPS, less than three seconds ahead of the only Class D entrant of Grant Philips and Andrew Turpie.

119

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

CARRERA CUP

PRO-AM CHAMPIONS CROW S

hane Smollen and Nick Percat were crowned Carrera Cup Pro-Am champions after winning the first race and finishing second in race two at Phillip Island.

Starting from pole, Percat moved into the lead from the start. He was soon joined by fellow 120

V8 Supercar driver Scott McLaughlin with the two dicing for top spot until the pitstops seperated them.

Changing drivers, Smollen stepped in to replace Percat and promptly opened an 11 second lead. That was helped by Stephen Grove, who’d replaced

McLaughlin in the second placed car, having problems with the pit lane limiter not switching off.

The win saw the Smollen/Percat pairing repeat their victory in the same race twelve months ago while Cameron McConville and John Goodacre were third.

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

WNED A jump start from Smollen in the second race saw a five-second penalty applied post race but ultimately failed to change their position.

Grove also struck trouble early with a spin dropping him to the rear of the field.

The Adrian VELOCITY

Mastronardo and Tim Slade car was out front following the mid-race stops, though was soon chased down by Dylan Thomas.

Having stepped into the car at the stops, the team running a contra strategy to most, Percat was charging late in the race. He ran nose-to-tail

with Thomas in the final lap but was ultimately unable to find a way through, trailing Thomas across the line by three tenths - a gap that ultimately became 5.3s once Smollen’s penalty was applied.

Richard Muscat and Sam Walter were third.

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

FORMULA FORD

MORINA LEADS

C

hristian Morina and Luis Leeds emegered victorious following the second round of the Australian Formula Ford Series at Phillip Island.

Starting on the front row, Morina moved into an early lead in race one before becoming embroiled in a slipstreaming battle with William Brown. Constantly swapping the lead throughout the final laps, Morina held on to win by just 0.05 of a second, the pair comfortably ahead of third placed finisher Thomas Maxwell who, despite 122

setting a lap record, was unable to run with the leaders.

Morina won the second race with far more ease, opening a two second advantage over Leeds.

Morina was able to escape because of the squabbling for second place; Leeds and Maxwell separated by just 0.04s at the end of the eight lap race.

Shuffled back in the final race, Morina could do no better than eighth in the final race, though did lower the lap record as he went side-by-side across the line with Mitch Martin.

Leeds held on at the head of the race, a tenth of a second up over Cameron Hill while Jake Spencer led a quartet of cars seperated by just half a second to finish third.

Leanne Tander was sixth in the final race.

Having finished eighth in the opening two races it was a competitive return to the series for the former winner.

Morina now leads the championship over Spencer by 11 points with Hill third. Martin is the first non-Mygale driver in fourth, 29 points off Morina.

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SHANNONS NATIONALS

FORMULA 3

COLLINS’ MAIDEN WIN

J

on Collians claimed his maidem Formula 3 round win win victory in all three races at Phillip Island.

Collins was forced to fend off a stirring challenge from Ricky Capo in the opening race, the pair tied together in the final three laps after a mid-race safety car bunched the field.

Try as he might, Capo was unable to find a way through and eventually crossed the line just a tenth behind VELOCITY

Collins in second. Luke Spalding completed the podium, the first National class car home.

Race two was much of the same. Collins lead the race but was pursued by Capo throughout. This time though Collins got the upperhand sufficiently to win by a more comfortable 1.6s while Spalding was a distant third.

The podium places remained the same in an uneventful final race.

Collins won by almost

nine seconds from Capo with Spalding more than 30 seconds further back.

It was a disappointing weekend for Formula 3, coming just days after CAMS announced it would not award the Gold Star to the championship winner.

Grid numbers were also well down, just seven cars taking part and, outside Capo and Collins, none coming anywhere close to challengeing for victory.

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FORMULA VEE

FORMULA VEE AUSTRALIA SERIES

BROOK TAKES OPENEING RO

Image: Race Shots

R

eigning Formula Vee Australia champion Tim Brook opened his 2015 season with victory in the first round of the 2015 series.

Brook won the final race of the weekend having finished second to Michael Kinsella in the opener. With two wins and a second 124

place, Kinsella heads the championship after the opening round despite sitting out the second race of the weekend with a valve problem.

Kinsella and Brook pulled away from the field in the opening race before the race ended under safety car. Kinsella though wouldn’t

emerge for the second race, a valve spring problem on the dummy grid making him a non-starter.

The leading group ran nose-to-tail for much of the second race, a late move on Mitch Quiddington from Brook costing him second place as Kieran Glover snuck through leaving VELOCITY

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FORMULA VEE

OUND

Quiddington to go on and claim victory.

Back for the third race, Kinsella charged from the rear of the field to take a stunning victory.

Making eight places on the opening lap his cause was helped when Mitch Quiddington, Ash Quiddington and Matt Stumbbs came together midway round the VELOCITY

opening lap. Stubbs had suffered steering failure, eliminating all three and triggering the safety car, bunching the field and allowing Kinsella to find his way to the front on the penultimate lap. Local Blaine Grills was second with James Dean third. Brook struggled home fourth.

Reverting to an older

setup, Brook was again competitive in the final race, pulling clear with Kinsella at the head of the race in the early stages. A spin from Kinsella handed Brook an unrivalled lead, the Jacer driver managing the pace to the finish while Kinsella recovered to second ahead of Dean.

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VICTORIA

VICTORIAN STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

LEEDS ON FORM

Image: William Reid

I

t was a near perfect weekend for Luis Leeds at the second round of the Victorian State Championship at Sandown Park.

The Mygale driver, who is also competing in the Australian Formula Ford Series as well as crossing the border to race in New South Wales, won the opening two 126

races with comparative ease. In the opening encounter he held off James Crozier to win by more than two seconds, Crozier and Nick Ellen embroiled in a private battle for second place.

Ryan Pike was second in race two, finishing within two seconds of Leeds leaving William Brown more than four

seconds adrift in third.

The final race however was far more closely contested with Jayden Ojeda, Leeds and Pike all battling for the lead.

In the end it was Ojeda who gained the upper hand, holding off Leeds by just a tenth of a second with Pike half a second further back.

Two second place VELOCITY

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finishes and a win over the weekend saw Timothy Rowse take the Saloon Car round. Travis Lindorff had emerged victorious form the opening race ahead of Rowse with Andrew Nowland third, Rowse then reversing the order in race two with Harley Phelan second. Noland claimed the final race of VELOCITY

VICTORIA

the wekeend ahead of Rowse with Phelan third once again.

In the Porsche 944 races it was Brent Rose and Cameron Beller sharing the spoils. Beller won the opening race ahead of Chris Lewis-Williams and Adam Mills before Rose went on to win both of Sunday’s races with

Beller second. LewisWilliams was third in race two while Lee Partridge claimed the final podium spot for race three.

It was a clean sweep for Glen Wood in his MGC in the MG & Invited British Sports Cars races. Wood dominated the weekend to take all three wins with 127

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VICTORIA

Image: William Reid

Richard Milligan and Phil Chester completing the podium throughout the weekend.

Formula Vee was rather less predictable with different winners in each of the three races. Matt Stubbs won the opening race ahead of Mitch Quiddington and Matt Holmes only for Holmes to take top spot in race two. Quiddington was again second with 128

Stubbs third before Holmes ensured he was on every step of the podium with a second place behind Quiddington in the final race.

James Dean completed the top three.

Paul Rule and Damien Milano shared the Improved Production honours. Milano won the opening race over Rule and David Cocks before Rule won races

two and three over Cocks and Tony Groves.

Sports Sedan bragging rights were shared beteen Dean Camm and Chas Talbot; Camm taking races one and three with Talbot winning race two. Third place went to Terry Hamilton in races two and three and Cowley in the opener.

It was an all Darren affair in the Historic Touring Cars with VELOCITY

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VICTORIA

Image: William Reid

Image: William Reid

Darren Collins winning all three races ahead of Darren Smith. Daniel Van Stokrom was third in the first two races but was beated by Chris Ralph in the final.

Jarrdo Tonks dominated the Excels, beating home Adam Bywater across all three races.

Third place was shared between Gavin Dunn and Neville Blight.

Two wins and a second VELOCITY

for Tony DeFelice saw the Ferrari driver take out the round over Jamie Augustine, who was second in the opening two races before piloting his Daytona Coupe to victory in the final race of the weekend. Rick Mensa was third in race one while Steve McLaughlan took third place in the final two races.

Winning races one and

three, Rodney Earsman took out the HQs. Heading Andrew McLeod and Kenneth Wright in the opening race, McLeod went one better in the second race to demote Earsman to second ahead of Perry Bekkers.

McLeod was then second behind Earsman in the final with Wright third in a repeat of the opening race.

129

Image: Sutton’s

COMING ATTRACTIONS JUNE 4 - 7 FORMULA ONE Canadian Grand Prix

JUNE 13 & 14 SHANNONS NATIONALS Winton

JUNE 6 FORMULA E Moscow ePrix

WORLD ENDURANCE C’SHIP 24 Hours of Le Mans

INDYCAR Firestone 600 JUNE 7 NASCAR Pocono WORLD SUPERBIKES Portugal JUNE 11 - 15 WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP Rally Italy

Image: Sutton’s

QLD STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Morgan Park JUNE 14 INDYCAR Toronto MOTOGP Grand Prix of Catalunya NASCAR Michigan

JUNE 18 - 21 FORMULA ONE Austrian Grand Prix

JUNE 27 MOTOGP Assen TT

JUNE 19 - 21 V8 SUPERCARS Hidden Valley

INDYCAR Fontata

JUNE 20 & 21 NSW STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Wakefield Park JUNE 21 WORLD SUPERBIKES Riviera di Rimini JUNE 27 & 28 FORMULA E London ePrix

JUNE 28 WA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP Barbagallo NASCAR Sonoma