VOLUME 4 - ISSUE 15
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21st AUGUST 2014
CASTROL CREWS HEAD TO SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK FOR V8 SHOWDOWN Castrol crews will head to Sydney Motorsport Park to race for the first time in the new regulation V8 Supercar this weekend. Castrol-oiled Ford Pepsi Max Crew driver Mark Winterbottom sits second in the V8 Supercars standings and will be looking for a strong result to jump back to the top in what is his ‘hometown’ event.
company Symantec represented down the flanks of the Altima, aimed at building exposure for the company’s new ‘Backup Exec 2014’ backup and recovery solution. James Moffat’s #360 will retain the popular yellow colour scheme that has
adorned his Norton Hornet in 2014, with a subtle change to the branding on the bonnet. Moffat will help promote Norton’s famous ‘Norton 360 MultiDevice’ security. The different liveries will be on the Norton Hornets for the Sydney Motorsport Park event as well as the
Teammate Chaz Mostert is looking forward to competing at the track for the first time in a V8 Supercar. Mostert is coming of the back of solid results from the previous round at Queensland Raceway where he secured two podium finishes for the weekend. Castrol-backed Nissan Motorsport’s Norton V8 Supercars will take a fresh new look into Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend as the team looks to build on its upward momentum. Michael Caruso’s #36 Norton Nissan Altima will compete in an ‘inverted’ yellow/black livery, with Norton’s parent
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Sandown 500 in September. At the most recent event at Queensland Raceway, Caruso qualified second and was in contention for a win on Saturday before an incident. On Sunday, Moffat took his maiden career pole position before finishing a fighting fifth after a late lunge at a podium finish. Jack Daniel’s Nissan driver Rick Kelly also scored a top five result at Queensland Raceway (Saturday’s second race), and both Rick and his brother Todd will be looking to snag a top result at the Sydney circuit. Saturday’s race format is compact and busy, with a pair of 30 minute practice sessions and 10 minute qualifying sessions ahead of twin 100km races. Sunday’s schedule features a 20 minute qualifying session and a 200km race.
Championship Points POS
DRIVER
POINTS
1
Jamie Whincup
1790
2
Mark Winterbottom
1775
3
Craig Lowndes
1628
4
James Courtney
1598
5
Fabian Coulthard
1535
6
Shane Van Gisbergen
1532
7
Scott McLaughlin
1347
8
Chaz Mostert
1322
9
Garth Tander
1309
10
David Reynolds
1201
11
Jason Bright
1125
12
Michael Caruso
1059
13
Scott Pye
1058
14
Will Davison
1043
15
James Moffat
1017
16
Rick Kelly
1005
17
Lee Holdsworth
982
18
Nick Percat
968
19
Russell Ingall
963
20
Tim Slade
936
21
David Wall
855
22
Dale Wood
731
23
Jack Perkins
679
24
Todd Kelly
662
25
Robert Dahlgren
531
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CASTROL-BACKED WITTMANN CLAIMS FOURTH WIN OF THE SEASON Castrol-backed BMW driver Marco Wittmann took full advantage of his pole position at the Nürburgring, producing an outstanding performance over 49 laps to secure his fourth win of the current DTM season. Wittmann held onto the lead at the start, and gradually pulled away from his rivals over the following laps. After the mandatory pit stop, during which he switched from prime to option tyres, the young German re-joined the race at the head of the field in the Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM.
“That was another sensational race from Marco Wittmann. He once again produced a flawless display at the wheel of the heaviest car in the field,” said Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director). “The fourth pole position of the season yesterday, followed by win number four today: Marco and the BMW M4 DTM are the perfect package at the
moment. I am very proud of him. After the disappointing qualifying result on Saturday, a couple of our other drivers also picked up points. “We witnessed fantastic, exciting fightbacks from Maxime Martin and Martin Tomczyk. Although it is looking very good for Marco in the Drivers’
Wittmann went on to claim the 63rd DTM win for BMW Motorsport and the manufacturer’s 15th since returning to the DTM in 2012. The 24-year-old also clocked the fastest lap time of 1:23.175 minutes en route to presenting BMW Team RMG with its fifth win in the seventh race of the year – and at the team’s home race in the Eifel Mountains.
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Championship, we will remain fully focussed. There are still three races to come, with 75 points up for grabs. In the name of the BMW Motorsport family, I would like to dedicate this victory on this special weekend to Dieter Lamm.” In the Drivers’ Championship, Wittmann has now pulled 64 points clear of his closest rivals with 120 points to his name. BMW Team RMG has now amassed 159 points, thanks to Wittmann’s win and seventh place for Maxime Martin (SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM), and now leads the team competition by 67 points. BMW also tops the standings in the Manufacturers’ Championship with 302 points.
BMW M4 DTM) and Joey Hand (Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M4 DTM). They narrowly missed out on a top-ten finish, coming home 12th, 13th and 14th. Timo Glock fell well down the field after an early collision with Gary Paffett (Mercedes), leaving him no chance of a points finish in the DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM. He eventually had to settle for 17th. Augusto Farfus (Castrol EDGE BMW M4 DTM) lost valuable ground through a collision with Jamie Green (Audi) and ultimately retired after 36 laps.
2014 DTM Standings Pos
Driver
Total
1
Marco Wittmann
120
2
Mattias Ekström
56
3
Edoardo Mortara
56
4
Mike Rockenfeller
53
5
Bruno Spengler
42
6
Christian Vietoris
41
7
Maxime Martin
39
8
Adrien Tambay
36
9
Augusto Farfus Jr.
33
10
Timo Glock
33
As well as the two BMW Team RMG drivers, Martin Tomczyk also finished in the points in the BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM. Unlike Wittmann and Martin, the BMW Team Schnitzer driver started on option tyres and then worked his way through the field into eighth place in the second half of the race. The same tactic did not quite come off for Bruno Spengler (BMW Bank M4 DTM), António Félix da Costa (Red Bull
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CASTROL SHOW SUPPORT TO ULTRATUNE VICTORIA Castrol came to the party to support Ultratune Victoria and their state meeting by providing a rather unique location in the form of the Ford Performance Racing workshop in Melbourne.
Rod Crowe (technical) presented on the advances in synthetic lubricants and ATFs, as well as explaining the OEMs’ drive for fuel efficiency.
More than 50 people attended the event, including Ultratune head office staff, franchisees and technicians representing 25 workshops.
Of key note was the message driven home that “one product cannot cover all vehicles”.
Attendees enjoyed a tour of the FPR facility by two of the drivers in David Reynolds and Jack Perkins.
This was followed by a brief presentation by Michael Inserra on the new Castrol Professional 20 Litre Drumstand.
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CASTROL EDGE-OILED INDYCAR RACER SECURES TOP-10 IN MILWAUKEE Jack Hawksworth and the Castrol EDGE-backed #98 team were able to turn around their 2014 Indycar season with a 10th place finish in the ABC Supply 250 in Milwaukee. Hawksworth started 17th and was able to work his way through the field and complete his first oval top 10 of the season.
ten after a quick team pit stop on lap 57. Race strategy became an important factor around the half-way point on lap 132 with the race’s only caution. The field then fell into two different pit strategies as half the field and Hawksworth decided to pit while the rest stayed out.
“Good Day! We started 17th and the car was good,” said Hawksworth. “I was able to come through and get a top 10 after where we started this weekend and not having been able to test here. I think it’s a really good job and is the first time in a while we have been able to be competitive, so it was a good uplifting result for everyone and the team.”
“Just delighted for Jack and the guys today,” said Team Owner, Bryan Herta. “We have had a rough go on the ovals this year and he was very very competitive all race long. Certainly a big step forward for our whole program and looking ahead. Even though a top 10 isn’t the best result we can hope for I think it shows a tremendous amount of progress on part of Jack and the team.”
Hawksworth maintained consistency picking off positions for the first part of the race, where he advanced to top
races of the 2014 Verizon Indy Car Series Season. Aussie Will Power currently leads the Indycar standings with two races remaining in 2014.
Indy Car returns next week in Sonoma Aug 23-24 for the first of the final two
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CASTROL-OILED BMW BACK ON THE USSC PODIUM Dirk Müller secured the Castrol-oiled BMW Team RLL’s first podium finish in four United SportsCar Championship races after an excellent closing stint assured he and with John Edwards second in the race at Road America. Müller had taken over the number 56 car after only eight laps of the 61-lap race from polesitter Edwards, who brought it in with damage to the front left after he saved the day by deftly avoiding the race’s first accident. In the final minutes of the race the German was chasing the winning Ferrari, while at the same time being hounded from behind by a Viper. The sister car of Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx finished eighth. “After lap two or three the day did not look like it was going to be a good one,”
siad Bobby Rahal (Team Principal BMW Team RLL). “The number 56 car was wounded aerodynamically and that slowed us a little bit on the straights. Dirk did a great job and he was able to hold off the Viper at the end. The Ferrari was able to pull away from us on the long straights. Congratulations to them for the win. We are really pleased with second place. We’re back on the podium.”
Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer. In the GTD class, the Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GTD, driven by Dane Cameron and Marcus Palttala, won the team’s third victory of the season.
Auberlen started in the number 55 car and handed it over to Priaulx for the remainder of the race at the end of lap 24. At his only stop, Priaulx fell back two positions following a delay so he did not run over an errant air hose and incur a penalty. He lost two more positions during late race restarts. The class was won by the
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CASTROL-BACKED JFR RACING WITH FINALS RESULT AT BRAINERD John Force and his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang will have to wait two weeks to see if he will claim his fourth win of the season and his 142nd career victory with persistent rain showers postponing the final Funny Car round for the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals. John Force will face rival and friend Ron Capps in Indianapolis to determine the winner of the weekend’s race. “The fans really hung with us today which made it special. I have won this race 11 times and we are going to have to run it off in Indy,” said Force. “I’ll be racing a great friend of mine Ron Capps. We were both excited. DeJoria did a great job running that 3.99. She and DeLago have a great thing going.My car ran in the threes but I keep cheating that light and
trying to make sure I get those wins. I am excited and I want to thank all the people that spent time with me this weekend,” said Force, the 11-time Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals winner.” Force also retook the Mello Yello points lead passing teammate Robert Hight when he took out Tommy Johnson Jr. in the semi-finals. Courtney Force bowed out of eliminations on Sunday when her Traxxas Ford mustang went up in smoke in the first round. She tried to pedal the car to recover, but it was too late and Alexis DeJoria got the win. Force has raced DeJoria six times before, but this was the first time the pair have met this season. Force is now 5-2 to the Patron XO Café driver in eliminations.
“Race day today didn’t go as well as we had hoped. I got strapped in the car two times ready for round one. We had so many rain delays, but we finally got into the lanes and I had a pretty good car. It didn’t hook up as well as we had hoped and it smoked the tires. I pedaled it, but I just got outrun by Alexis who had a pretty stout run. It was tough to beat,” said Force. “The good news is, we did clinch a spot in the Countdown to the Championship. I’m just so proud of my team and my crew chiefs and the entire John Force Racing team. I’m excited going into Indy. I hope we can move forward and stay positive and go some rounds at the U.S. Nationals.” Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford team had the longest wait of the day.
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As HIght and his first round opponent pulled up to stage a light rain began to fall again. NHRA official starter Mark Lyle instructed both drivers to shut off their Funny Cars. After another lengthy delay Hight was upset as his Auto Club Ford Mustang hazed the tires briefly. Hight expertly regained control of his Funny Car and continued to power down the track. Unfortunately it was just the opening his opponent needed to defeat the Mello Yello points leader.
to get that first win. I am so pumped about Indy and the Countdown. This Castrol EDGE team will keep working together,” said Force. The Castrol EDGE team will get the weekend off from the NHRA races and return to their home base in Brownsburg, Indiana before heading to the 60th
annual NHRA U.S. Nationals. Having the weekend off before heading to the most prestigious drag race of the season will give Brittany Force and the Castrol EDGE Team a chance to recharge their batteries and come out hitting on all eight in pursuit of a first Top Fuel win for Castrol EDGE and John Force Racing.
“The delays really just take a lot out of you. I was ready to race and I had a great race car. We will head to Indy and be ready for the U.S. Nationals and the Traxxas Shootout. It was a tricky weekend all around but I am not making excuses. We have five wins this season and we will be focused and ready to roll in two weeks. We’ll be testing in Indy this week as well so I’ll be back in the seat in no time,” said Hight. Brittany Force and the Castrol EDGE team were hoping to rounds today at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals, but the 2013 NHRA Auto Club Rookie of the Year was stopped in the opening round when she faced Larry Dixon. Despite Brittany’s early exit today, she reached a major milestone in her Top Fuel career by claiming a playoff berth in the all-important NHRA Countdown to the Championship. “I was so excited when they told me at the top end. This was huge. One of our goals was to get in the Countdown and
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