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LATEST NEWS
THE FINKE IS BACK ON THE AUTO (Car) section of the 2023 Finke Desert Race will go ahead after Motorsport Australia issued a permit, but with significant new safety measures in place. The Bikes category of the famous race held in the Outback was not in doubt, but the presence of four wheels at the event was.
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This was due to the recent conclusion of the coronial inquest into the death of a spectator at the 2021 event where there was damning evidence against both Motorsport Australia and the Finke Committee regarding their efforts to maximise or, even act on, extreme safety
concerns prior to the incident. As a result, the Auto section of the race will go ahead, but only after a MSA permit, plus the creation of three major safety measures that will impact the fan experience. Spectators will be allowed no closer than 30m from the track. The minimum distance renders previously popular camping areas along the track off limits. Landing zones, crests and rises will also have significant restrictions, while spectator exclusion zones will be set up at “high risk” corners. The measures were outlined in a Finke Desert Race media release, which explained why they have been taken with a “zero tolerance” approach to be taken. “The Finke Desert Race Committee has received confirmation that Motorsport Australia (MSA) will issue a permit for the Auto (car) section of the 2023 Tatts Finke Desert Race,” it read. “The Finke Desert Race Committee takes seriously the safety of spectators and competitors, and will implement a host of specific safety measures that will enhance
the safety of all attendees at the 2023 Tatts Finke Desert Race. “This means the spectator experience at the 2023 Tatts Finke Desert Race will be different to previous years. “Spectator safety marshals will be stationed along the length of the track to monitor spectators’ compliance with the new safety measures. “Spectators have a significant role to play to ensure a smooth and safe running of the 2023 Tatts Finke Desert Race, and there will be a zero tolerance approach to spectators who fail to follow the new safety measures or instructions of marshals, officials, event staff and NT Police. “The Finke Desert Race Committee once again thanks all competitors, crews, sponsors, volunteers, contractors and the Alice Springs community for their continued patience and support in the implementation of the new safety measures. “The Finke Desert Race Committee would also like to commend the Northern Territory Government for its support of the event. “The Finke Desert Race Committee looks forward to welcoming all attendees for a safe and successful running of the 47th Finke Desert Race, held from 9-12 June 2023 in Alice Springs.” Thomas Miles
DRAG RACING
2023/24 NATIONAL DRAG RACING CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR ROUND 1 – THE BEND DRAGWAY Featuring Top Fuel, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock Motorcycle, plus Sportsman Western Conference racing. .....................................21-22 October 2023
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NEW ERA OF DRAG RACING READY FOR ACTION THE NATIONAL Drag Racing Championship will be born at The Bend Motorsport Park this October ahead of a huge maiden 2023/24 season with “unprecedented levels of broadcast exposure”. The new unified season will be staged across 11 rounds, starting in South Australia on October 21-22 and wrapping up with the Winternationals Grand Final at Willowbank Raceway in June 6-9, 2024. Between times, the National Drag Racing Championship will criss-cross the country with either the Burson Auto Parts Top Fuel Championship or Nitro Funny Car series in the Group One spotlight alongside four of Top Fuel motorbikes, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock Motorcycle, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Mod and Western and Eastern conference Sportsmans as supports. The season concludes with a “mega” Grand Final featuring both Top Fuel and Funny Cars at the Willowbank Winternationals. All 11 rounds will be broadcast live and free on streaming service 7Plus, while 7mate will also broadcast post-produced highlight packages. National Drag Racing Championship copromoter Andy Lopez said the 11-round season is the perfect launching pad for the new era. “We’re really proud of this calendar,” he said. “There are 11 amazing events at Australia’s premier drag racing facilities, headlined by either the Burson Top Fuel Championship or the Nitro Funny Car Championship. “For competitors, this means a true national championship and a unified sport. For race fans, it means unbeatable shows with the best Australian drag racing has to offer. “The NDRC’s motto is ‘One Way, Forward.’ We all race in the same direction, for the same reason, and it is
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our hope that with the NDRC having unified this great sport, we can bring it the attention and respect it deserves.” One of the big factors behind the National Drag Racing Championship is an “unprecedented” TV package for the sport with the Seven Network. NDRC co-promotor and head of TV Nathan Prendergast said the deal presents a massive opportunity for the sport. “Taking it all up a notch is the fact that these 11 NDRC Group One events will benefit from unprecedented levels of broadcast exposure thanks to the NDRC’s landmark deal with Australia’s home of motorsport, the Seven Network,” he said. “Never before has Australian drag racing benefited from this kind of coverage – this is truly a new era for the sport.” It comes off the back of Channel Seven’s recent coverage of the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship, which Prendergast believes was a key part of the continual growth. “We’ve delivered 13 high-quality broadcast events in the past 18 months with the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship,” he said. “That’s given Seven the confidence to get behind Australian drag racing and take these next steps with us to bring the sport to a whole new audience.” A major part of the National Drag Racing Championship calendar is the Sportsman’s titles which will be split
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across Eastern and Western conferences. Rounds held in SA and WA will stage the Western conference, while NSW and Queensland races will make up the Eastern series. National Drag Racing Championship communications manager Adrian Hodgson confirmed the Summit Series will also make up part of the Eastern series with a Victorian round also in the works. “The full Aeroflow Sportsman Championship calendar is well advanced,” he said “There is Sportsman Championship racing at most NDRC Group 1 events and we’re in discussions with venues in Victoria and QLD to round out the Eastern Conference. “I can confirm that the Summit Series already committed to by ANDRA until December 31 will be recognised as part of this year’s Western Conference, and that the series will continue as the Aeroflow Championship Western Conference from January 1, 2024. “The complete Aeroflow Sportsman Championship calendar will be announced on June 14, including how racers qualify for the National Grand Final at The Bend.” The National Drag Racing Championship aims to unify the sport and bring it back to its heyday, with packed grandstands enjoying the action. “It is a bloody great sport, so we want to simplify the message about what is drag racing so that non-traditional fans will watch and want to come back,” Lopez said. “Experiencing the event live is always amazing. You can see the start and finish line easily from your seat and there is a result happening every couple of minutes. It also looks fantastic on TV. “Our mission is to make drag racing Australia’s favourite motorsport.” Thomas Miles
ROUND 2 – SYDNEY DRAGWAY Featuring Nitro Funny Car, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock and Pro Mod, plus Sportsman Eastern Conference racing. .....................................27-28 October 2023 ROUND 3 – PERTH MOTORPLEX (Goldenstates) Featuring Nitro Funny Car, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Top Doorslammer, Pro Alcohol, plus Sportsman Western Conference racing. ................................24-25 November 2023 ROUND 4 – WILLOWBANK RACEWAY Featuring Top Fuel, Pro Alcohol, Pro Mod, plus Sportsman Eastern Conference racing + QDRC Final. ..................................... 1-2 December 2023 ROUND 5 – THE BEND DRAGWAY Featuring Nitro Funny Car, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Top Doorslammer, Pro Alcohol, plus Sportsman Western Conference racing. .......................................13-14 January 2024 ROUND 6 – SYDNEY DRAGWAY Featuring Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, plus Sportsman Eastern Conference racing. ..................................... 26-27 January 2024 ROUND 7 – WILLOWBANK RACEWAY Featuring Nitro Funny Car, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Pro Stock Motorcycle, plus Sportsman Eastern Conference racing. .................................... 16-17 February 2024 ROUND 8 – PERTH MOTORPLEX (Westernationals) – featuring Top Fuel, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Top Doorslammer plus Sportsman Western Conference racing..................................2-3 March 2024 ROUND 9 – THE BEND DRAGWAY Featuring Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock, plus the Sportsman National Grand Final......... 6-7 April 2024 ROUND 10 – SYDNEY DRAGWAY – (Nitro Champs) – featuring Top Fuel, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Pro Stock Motorcycle, plus Sportsman Eastern Conference racing..............3-4 May 2024 ROUND 11 (GRAND FINAL) – WILLOWBANK RACEWAY (Winternationals) – featuring Top Fuel, Nitro Funny Car, Top Fuel Motorcycle, Top Doorslammer, Pro Alcohol, Pro Stock, Pro Mod, Pro Stock Motorcycle, plus Sportsman Eastern Conference racing.................................... 6-9 June 2024
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LATEST NEWS
FORD MUST WIN IN SUPERCARS THE HEAD of Ford Performance, Mark Rushbrook, has spoken on the Supercars parity debate, with having the “opportunity for Ford to win” a key ingredient. The Global Director of Motorsports for the “Blue Oval” addressed the media at Walkinshaw’s Clayton factory ahead of the Ford Ranger Raptor’s Finke campaign, but most of the chat circulated on Supercars. Ever since the roll out of Gen3 at the Sydney Motorsport Park test in February, parity has been the biggest talking point and that has not changed after four one-sided rounds of action. Officially the scoreline is 11-1 in Chevrolet’s favour, but in reality the Mustang is yet to win a single race on the track in the Gen3 era. The only Ford driver to possess a winner’s trophy in 2023 is Cameron Waters, who was also the most outspoken during the recent Tasmania SuperSprint. On Saturday in Symmons Plains Waters was the only Mustang to qualify in the top 10, while Ford also trialled some engine map changes throughout the weekend. Rushbrook has confirmed Ford “will continue to experiment with
ending mapping” during the array of tests scheduled this Wednesday and Thursday. The head of Ford Performance motorsports said the parity debate can only be settled once Supercars has full data transparency, which he claims is something the sport is currently lacking. “We need to look at the data for technical parity and that is where we continue to work with Supercars,” he said. “We are in favour of transparently sharing that data, so we can form conclusions on technical parity and in absence of that we all struggle to do so. “In every racing series outside Supercars we have full transparency into the data. “To be honest with you we can make observations based upon what we see on track and what data is available from our teams, but until there is data transparency we cannot draw clear conclusions of engine parity or anything else.” “We know what we are doing relative to our competitors on track, so we know where we as a manufacturer may be falling short or succeeding. The exact cause of the apparent lack
of parity, now seems unclear as some commentators are suggesting that it goes beyond just a lack of engine performance parity. With suggestions that the chassis (which are all the same) is lacking. This cannot be a genuine issue unless it is in the aero package which Supercars and both Ford and Chevrolet signed off on after rigorous VCAT testing which took place just before the first championship race at Newcastle. Despite the clear concerns about the parity between the KRE Race Engines produced Chevrolet Racing 5.7L V8 engine and the Herrod developed 5.4L Coyote Ford power plant, Rushbrook has full faith in his team. “I have utmost confidence in what the hardware is capable of with the Coyote engine, the software that controls it and the people that are working on it,” he said. “We have got great partners in Australian Supercars with our homologation team and our engine partner Herrod. “Just like we have great partners around the world, we have been able to race Coyote based engines competitively in other series and do great things with it.
“I have confidence in that, but ultimately it is the technical part of the process that determines whether that engine hardware and those great people are capable of delivering.” When quizzed on Ford’s long-term commitment to Supercars, Rushbrook said it all depends on having the “opportunity to win” and not “tarnish our brand”. “Anywhere we race, we race for the same reasons and that is to win races and championships that matter,” he said. “We need the opportunity to win because it is important to our brand and if we are not able to win or have the opportunity to win, there is the risk of tarnishing our brand. “We need to race where we have the opportunity to market our product appropriately tied back to winning and provide pride and satisfaction for our world wide staff and dealer network. “If we are not meeting those pillars, then there is a consideration as we look at our future racing motorsport cycle plan.” The next time the Fords will race the Chevrolets will be at the Darwin Triple Crown on June 16-18. Thomas Miles
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BRAD JONES RACING READY FOR ‘VITAL’ GEN3 TEST
BRAD JONES Racing will embark on a “vital” test day at Winton where it hopes to discover the intricacies of Gen3. BJR is just one of many teams conducting test sessions this week and the four Albury based Camaro’s will be driving around their home track, Winton, today. All the main game drivers Andre Heimgartner, Bryce Fullwood, Jack Smith and Macauley Jones will be on show, plus three of their respective codrivers. Only Jaxon Evans will not be in action, while BJR will be joined by Walkinshaw Andretti United, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing and Erebus Motorsport, but the latter will only conduct an evaluation day compared to the full-scale test session. Despite four rounds already flying by, both Macauley Jones and his engineer Andrew Donnelly have stated the importance of gathering further data in taming the Gen3 beast at the upcoming test session. Jones stressed how imperative the ontrack time will be ahead of the Darwin Triple Crown. “This one’s a pretty important one,” he said on the BJR RunDown Podcast. “We’re four rounds in and we still have a lot to learn. “You get such an opportunity at a test day to be able to do some bigger changes, find a direction and be able to try a different philosophy and do eight changes and just continually change them back-to-back. ‘Yes, no, this worked, this didn’t work, why didn’t it work?’ “It’s pretty vital to have these days to be able to go okay, this is what went well, this is what we didn’t really like, this did this. “Because we’re probably finding some of the changes that we make on the Gen3 isn’t the same read as what you get on the Gen2, so that’s going to be pretty important to try and figure out those different things.” In addition to coming to grips with the Gen3 Camaro, it will be important for the #96 crew to bounce back from a “disappointing” Tasmania SuperSprint. Jones could only manage a top result of P19 across the three races and established braking confidence as the root cause of the battles at a track where braking stability is key. “I didn’t have a great weekend,” he said. “I feel like I struggled a lot with confidence in braking there, and braking is just about everything at that place. “So we didn’t quite piece it together for that one, which was a little bit disappointing, but we are hustling in the background. “The test day will be handy to implement some things there.” Thomas Miles
FORD RANGER RAPTOR READY FOR FINKE CHALLENGE FORD PERFORMANCE is ready to take on the Finke Desert Race next month, with its new Ford Ranger Raptor. The “Blue Oval” is best known in Australia for chasing success at tracks such as Bathurst and Adelaide in the Supercars arena, but in June it is heading to the red centre for a different challenge. After collecting a class win at the Baja 1000 in Mexico, Ford Performance, Walkinshaw and Kelly Racing have teamed up again to set their sights on Finke. The countdown is on for the famous race to be held on June 9-12 and the new car has been unveiled at Walkinshaw’s Clayton based factory. With the car being built by Kelly Racing, it is now truely on Australian soil and is ready to race. Behind the wheel will be father-son duo Brad and Byam Lovell in the Production 4WD Class of the Finke Desert Race. Ford Performance Motorsports Global Director Mark Rushbrook said the company is buzzing to see the Ranger
Raptor racing on the Northern Territory dirt following successful stints in America. “We are excited about racing with the Ranger Raptor at Finke,” he said. “We have a great commitment to racing and there is more and more of an interest in the off road racing space. “We were certainly excited by what we were able to do with the Ranger Raptor program in Baja with a great group of people. “It had great success there and now the same truck is going back to Australia for the Finke Desert race.” The new Ford Ranger Raptor is powered by a 3.0L twin-turbo V6 engine and is equated with the largest permissible wheels in the class of 35 inches. Rushbrook further explained that the reason behind the Finke program was to put the Ranger Raptor to the ultimate test. “We have done this to show the great products we have and put them into some of the world’s most toughest tests like Baja and Finke to show what they are capable of,” he said.
“Finke is another proving ground, especially with the way the product has developed. “It is another opportunity to race it at an important market like Australia, which is a tough proving ground to see what it is capable of.” Rushbrook also said taking on the Finke Desert Race for the first time is another example of the brand’s commitment to the “important” Australian market. “It (Australia) is still an important footprint for us in terms of our employees, development work and sales and services,” he said. “We have a lot of employees here that are important to us and part of the mission of Ford Performance is employee pride, so we want to show a racing product in front of them. “We are a global company committed to racing around the world and Australia is still a very important market for us.” The Ford Ranger Raptor will be seen at the Finke Desert Race from June 9-12. Thomas Miles
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MCLAREN RAID RED BULL WITH BIG APPOINTMENT THE MCLAREN F1 team has continued with its fundamental restructuring by obtaining Red Bull’s head of engineering, Rob Marshall. Marshall spent nearly 20 years behind the scenes at the Milton Keynes factory, and will now join the Woking based McLaren group at the start of January, and has been stood down from his role at Red Bull effective immediately. He’ll join the papaya technical executive team as technical director, replacing James Key, and will work alongside Peter Prodromou and David Sanchez, reporting directly to team principal Andrea Stella. Along with Stella replacing Andreas Seidl, Sanchez was also a new addition to the team after leaving Ferrari as its head of vehicle concept. Marshall will have his work cut out in helping to turn McLaren back into an F1 powerhouse, but all the right puzzle pieces are being put into place, which includes the talented young driving line-up of Australia’s Oscar Piastri and Brit Lando Norris. Alongside Adrian Newey, Marshall has been a key figure in driving the Red Bull success story, and Stella is delighted to
have him help shape McLaren’s future, as Marshall arrives with a big arsenal of knowledge. “I am delighted to welcome Rob to McLaren, with more than 25 years of experience in motorsport, he will arrive with an excellent technical background and a lot of experience,” Stella said. “His career and his track record at Red Bull speak for themselves, and this appointment is one of the fundamental steps in the
restructuring of McLaren. “He is an essential addition to allow us to find the outposts. Our ambition is to compete in the championships, but recent seasons have not translated into enough progress on the track. “For several months we have been working hard to reverse the trend through a global approach and the recruitment of highly qualified people. Rob’s arrival is part of this approach and will strengthen it.”
Despite what would be the tense nature of events behind the scenes at Milton Keynes with his immediate resignation, Red Bull boss Christian Horner thanked Marshall publicly for his contribution. “We would like to thank Rob for everything he has done for the team over the past 17 years,” Horner said. “His work on the generation of cars that gave us four incredible championship one-twos between 2010 and 2013 was truly remarkable. “In the years since he has continued to be a key figure in the team and in 2016 he took on the wider role of Director of Engineering which saw him involved in other projects in the company. “We will miss his influence, but once again we thank him for all he has done and wish him the best in his new role.” The F1 season resumes this weekend in Barcelona, Spain, on June 2-4, as Piastri and Norris hope to capitalise on their double point haul at Monaco where they achieved a P9-P10 finish. TW Neal
ALPINE WEC HYPERCAR TO BE REVEALED AT LE MANS THE 2024 Alpine A110 R Le Mans Hypercar that will compete in next year’s WEC will be revealed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans centennial on June 9. Alpine competed between 2021-2022 with the Alpine A480, which was essentially a re-badged version of the R13 LMP1, which was allowed to compete as the new era LMH and LMDh models made their way into reality in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The French brand always had an eye on sitting out 2023 when the automotive giants of Porsche, Ferrari, BMW and Cadillac were making their way into IMSA and the WEC, with Peugeot having joined in 2022. It adds some more behind the scenes hype to an already huge occasion, as the automotive industry celebrates the centennial running of one of its most celebrated events, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which across the century has been one of the focal driving points of Sportscar development and excellence. Unlike the rest of the current WEC field, the A110 R will be based upon the LMDh ruleset, which doesn’t allow the manufacturer as much design freedom as the LMH ruleset, with the chassis choice limited to either Oreca, Dallara, Ligier, or Multimatic. The French manufacturers elected to go with the Oreca chassis, and as per ruleset regulations will have a Bosch hybrid system, with the power management and
energy storage system made by Williams Advanced Engineering (limited to front wheel energy distribution only). With some distinct branding and design elements free for manufacturer expression, such as elements of the body work and aero, the new hypercar is thematically based off Alpine’s 2022 concept car, the Alpenglow, and as engine choice is free under the regulations, it will feature an in-house Alpine engine which will not be the brands F1 engine as the base of its powertrain - as initially speculated. After just one year out of WEC hypercar action, the Alpine Elf Team will return to Le Mans next year to try and win its first outright since 1978, when Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Didier Pironi took the V6powered A442B to victory. Also set to be unveiled at the historical event is Lamborghini’s 2024 entry, which will also be made to LMDh specs, but will be competing at both the IMSA and WEC endurance championships. Lamborghini has already announced that former F1 and current IndyCar driver Romain Grosjean will be driving one of
the new Lamborghini hypercars, with IMSA being the likely choice as he’s already based in North America. Alongside its Ligier choice of Chassis, the twin-turbo V8 engine has also been built entirely in-house by the Squadra Corse team in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy. And
although there has only been a sneak peak, it is said to be similar in design to the Cadillac V-Series R LMDh hypercar. The 2023 24 Hour of Le Mans will take place on Sunday June 11 at its traditional home on the Circuit de la Sarthe track. TW Neal
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EMOTIONAL BLANEY GIVES PENSKE MAIDEN INDY/CHARLOTTE DOUBLE RYAN BLANEY was on the verge of tears after driving Penske to a second big win in as many days at the Coca-Cola 600. On Sunday Josef Newgarden scored a breakthrough Indianapolis 500 victory, and at Charlotte on Memorial Day it was Blaney’s turn to deliver Roger Penske more success. The Penske team has achieved a lot in motorsport, but 2023 is the first time the heavyweight has won the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same weekend. The 2023 running of the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 was postponed 24 hours due to Sunday showers, but it was worth the wait for the patient Blaney. The Penske driver overcame the third most cautions (16) in event history to snap a 59-race winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series and struggled to contain his emotions as the crowd chanted “Blaney,
Blaney, Blaney”. “I might shed a tear,” he said in the post-race interview after delivering Team Penske a third Coca-Cola 600 triumph. “This has been a cool weekend obviously being Memorial Day. I grew up watching dad run this race for a long time and it is cool just to be a part of it, let alone win it. “I was able to get the lead on the restart and our car is so good that I could bide my time a little bit. “I knew we could do it, but I was just hoping there was not another restart because you never know what could happen. “When you don’t win in a while, you start to feel like you cannot win anymore. “It was getting hard, so I am just super thankful for the #12 cars for believing in me.”
Blaney prevailed after a crazy 600 mile race around the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway, which contained no less than 16 caution flags. Only the 2005 and 2022 runnings of the race had more interruptions. When the red flag arrived early in the race, Aric Almirola and Bubba Wallace took the opportunity to have a verbal and physical spat after side to side contact when racing. Denny Hamlin was wiped out after a big smash at Turn 4, while Kevin Harvick also came unstuck at the same corner. William Byron controlled the first stage, but both he and Blaney lost ground in the second stage fronted by five Fords led by Chris Buescher. However, the final half of the race was dominated by Blaney, who led the third and fourth stages.
The last caution arrived with 26 laps to go when contenders Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, Aric Almirola and Christopher Bell were wiped out by a big smash caused by Larson, who lost control when his Chevy front end “snapped” at Turn 2. Whilst the chaos unfolded behind, a major moment in the race also occurred up front with Blaney edging his front end slightly ahead of the 24 at the final scoring loop before the yellow arrived. This allowed the Penske driver to take control of the restart, hold off Byron and lead the field home to the chequered flag. Blaney is now the 10th winner from the first 14 races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, which resumes at World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Illinois on June 4. Thomas Miles
EREBUS SUPER2 YOUNGSTERS TO ENJOY EXTRA GEN3 LAPS SUPER2 YOUNGSTERS Jay Hanson and Cooper Murray will enjoy some memorable laps behind the championship leading Erebus Gen3 Supercar this Wednesday. The pair will jump behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Camaro in an Erebus Motorsport evaluation day at Winton Motor Raceway. Being an evaluation day, the session will not swallow up one of Erebus’ crucial official Gen3 test days. The #9 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Will Brown will be the car in the spotlight while the four-time Supercars race winner will also be on hand to provide support and guidance to Hanson and Murray. It is no surprise to see Hanson given the opportunity being a member of the Erebus Academy and currently racing for Image Racing which has a close association with the championship-leading Supercars team. However, it is noteworthy Erebus has its eye on Murray, who has impressed, having not raced at all in 2022 and only returned to a full time seat this year.
But he showed no signs of rust, winning as early as the first race of the 2023 Dunlop Series at Newcastle for Eggleston Motorsport. Murray backed that performance up with a P3 in the second and final race at Perth to sit second in the championship. Now he has been rewarded by Erebus Motorsport, with CEO Barry Ryan believing the youngsters will be good
enough to provide the championship leaders with a better understanding of the Gen3 machines. “We’re glad to have the opportunity to give Jay and Cooper the chance to test these new cars,” Ryan said. “We’ve run these evaluation days in the past and they’ve been really beneficial with the right drivers and we believe that Jay and Cooper are at the right point in their careers to show us what they’re capable of and we’ll be trusting their feedback. “It gives us the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the Gen3 cars away from the race meetings.” Ryan said Erebus plans on saving its rare test days for later in the year to maximise their chances of success in the enduros. “Our intention for our two remaining test days is to do them closer to the enduro events,” Ryan said. “It’s important heading into Sandown and Bathurst to really focus on the co-drivers and maximise their seat time closer to those race meetings.” Thomas Miles
PEREZ MUST BE “PERFECT” AFTER “SAD” MONACO DEFENCE AFTER HIS 2023 Formula 1 title hopes took a further big hit at Monaco, Sergio Perez must be “perfect” in Spain this weekend. Perez entered Monaco full of hope of scoring back-to-back triumphs at the Principality, but left downhearted after a disappointing P16 finish. In a distinct contrast to last year’s wet Monaco Grand Prix, the Mexican finished two laps adrift of his victorious teammate Max Verstappen in the 80th running of the famous street race. Perez put himself on the back foot by crashing hard at Saint Devote in the early stages of qualifying. This meant the 2022 Monaco race winner had to somehow defend his crown from last on the grid and struggled to regain ground despite driving the superior RB19, unlike his comeback effort to fifth from theback in Australia. Perez had a scratchy race which included a scary moment hitting the barrier at the swimming pool chicane and collecting George Russell’s Mercedes when the rain started to fall. Reflecting on his weekend, “Checo” said he was “really sad” with his performance where “everything went wrong”. “It was the worst weekend I can remember in a while,” Perez said. “Everything went wrong and we paid the price for a poor mistake from myself in qualifying.
“I’m really sad about the performance across the whole weekend. “I knew Saturday would be extremely costly and ultimately it was 25 points. “The conditions were tricky out there and there was some hope that when it started raining we could get things right, but we didn’t. It was a shame. “I don’t think there was much we could have done differently; all the damage was done in qualifying.”
The first pointless race of the year for Perez has allowed Verstappen to extend his championship lead to a commanding 39 points. Soon “Checo” might need to start looking over his shoulder with Fernando Alonso now just 12 points away. Looking ahead, Perez knows he has to compile a “perfect” performance in Spain to get his title attack back on track. “I only want to move on from this race
because it was a terrible weekend,” he said. “I still have hope in the Championship, but I know I cannot afford another zero in a race, so I really hope I can be back to my normal level in Barcelona. “I need to be perfect in the next few races to get victories and get them soon. “I’m happy we are racing again in a few days.” Thomas Miles
ALONSO DEFENDS COSTLY ASTON MARTIN STRATEGY FERNANDO ALONSO might have scored his first P2 in 3,227 days, but some thought a tyre change cost him shot at aiming even higher in Monaco. Alonso finished 27s behind winner Max Verstappen in the 80th running of the Monaco Grand Prix characterised by a late downpour. Before the first round of stops, car #14 was just 8s behind car #1 as the threat of rain started to arrive. Although sections of the track around the Lowes Hairpin and Portier started to get wet and some competitors bolted on the intermediate tyres, Aston Martin stayed with slicks. Alonso changed from Hards to Mediums, but only lasted on the yellow-walled tyres for two laps before returning to the lane. In the short space of time the track had already become so wet it was close to undriveable on slicks. This left Alonso with no choice, but to immediately return to the lane and bolt on the Intermediates. Despite the extra trip to the pits, Alonso’s grip on second spot was never under threat, but with Verstappen switching straight from slicks to inters, the faint hopes of catching the Red Bull had
disappeared. Verstappen more than doubled his lead and cruised to a second Monaco triumph. Although Alonso scored his first P2 since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix and best Monaco result in 12 years, Aston Martin’s extra stop came under criticism. However, the Spaniard defended his team’s costly call, stating that he believed the track was “99 percent dry”. “I was surprised a little bit,” Alonso said.
“For me, it was very clear that the track on that lap we stopped was completely dry apart from Turns 7 and 8, so how will we put on the Inters? “It was completely dry, 99 per cent of the track, so, I stopped for dries. “The weather forecast was small shower and small quantity of rain as well. “But in the minute and a half that it took to go through Turns 5, 6, 7 and 8 again, it changed completely.
“So the out-lap on the dry tyres, it was very wet when I go to those corners, but the lap that we stopped, it was completely dry.” In terms of the dream of ending his decade-long wait for win #33, Alonso said he had “no chance” against the relentless pace of Verstappen. “I think we didn’t have a chance, to be honest,” the two-time world champion said. “I think we were brave on the strategy: it’s not normal that you start on the first row of the grid and you choose the Hard tyre, trying to do the opposite of the leaders. “We knew that it had some downside that the strategy we could have ended-up maybe P5, P6 or something like that, out of the podium. “But this morning, we discussed it and we said we’ve had couple of podiums this year so we go for all or nothing, we start on the Hard tyre and we didn’t have the pace. “We were hoping for more graining or bigger degradation and Max was able to drive 50 laps on an amazing pace. “That was the reason why he won the race, not because the strategy. He was just faster than us.” Thomas Miles
Teacher and pupil (above) during Gen3 testing. Below, top to bottom: The Family Feeney. Leading in Super3 at Sandown. Taking the Sunday win, at Perth ...
eventually win championships,” he says of replacing Whincup and racing with van Gisbergen. “I know I was in the right spot, but I took an approach where I had a learning mentality, and I’m still in that actually, where I just try and gather as much information as I can from the guys around me. “They’re the best in the business for a reason, and I’ve been fortunate to learn from them and to race with Shane. You can look at it in many different ways, but I thought what a great opportunity to be so fresh-minded and come in with the guys that are so dominant in the sport. “The best thing about my relationship with Jamie is that he’d just stepped out of the main game as a driver. He’d never really had the opportunity to pass his knowledge on to anyone. As a driver, he’s reasonably selfish, we all are, but he’s been there to help me out quite a lot – and it’s not just the on-track stuff,
The Super2 season with Triple Eight laid the foundations for the move into Supercars. Image: LOU MARTIN
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but what goes on behind the scenes; what goes on during the week, and making sure you’re best prepared. “The bonus to that is that I get to co-drive with him, and we get to spend a few months working really hard together. It’s been a great opportunity for me.” Feeney is confident without being cocky, which is a risk in Australia that doesn’t occur in other parts of the world. He knows what he wants to do and where he wants to be, which logically is the top of the sport or why bother at all, and he knew the quickest and best way there was to be in the best team. What he didn’t know at the time was how much Gen3 was actually going to shake the sport. Feeney, Kostecki and Brown were sixth, seventh and 14th in the series last year with the only win between them being the Adelaide victory by Feeney. This year they have won eight of the 12 races so far with 22 of the 36 podiums to date. They also have eight pole positions too. Feeney’s 2023 ledger stands at three wins, five podiums and two poles and he hasn’t even done 50 races yet. “I knew where I wanted to be, and thankfully the team saw something in me and gave me an opportunity. I want to be fighting for wins and championships, and I knew there was no better place to be than Red Bull Ampol Racing, and I think this year we’re showing that. We’re in the mix a lot and winning races.” After that early podium last year, it was easy to shift expectations and end up saying the mid-part of the season was a plateau of sorts. I did. But he was there or thereabouts for most of the time. Being taken out of the qualifying seat at Bathurst could have been devastating for a young driver. It could have been confidencesnapping, but the team knew what it was doing – it collectively wrapped its arms around Feeney who accepted it was the right thing to do for the outcome of the race, and he quickly moved on. “It was just a building thing. Everyone obviously sees when you stand up on the podium with the trophy, but we had a really consistent year last year, and I think obviously now I look back on it I’m very proud of what we achieved in a rookie season.
“To get the win at the end of the year was the highlight, but maybe people looked at it differently because I got to the podium so early in the year and my next one wasn’t till Sandown. From that mid-part of the year, from just after Townsville with Sandown and New Zealand we were in the top 10. “I think if you look at my results last year, we were quite consistent. We just didn’t have those extra couple of tenths to be contesting for podiums all the time. But the trophy cabinet still had three trophies, and that was pretty cool for a rookie season. “I probably learnt a lot more from having a tough race than I did just running around by myself up front.” The win, he says, helped his confidence and allowed him to step up in 2023. “I didn’t really think about that too much at the time, but I think it has helped. I came into this year knowing that I can win races, and when I get in that position now, I feel comfortable. Even before Adelaide, I felt comfortable out front and leading races, but to do it against these guys probably just gave me that little bit of a boost. “It wasn’t a given win either – we did have to earn it. The big thing was that coming into this year it was the new cars and a new challenge, and I think that’s been good for me.”
Left: Bathurst 2020 with James Courtney/Tickford. Above: SVG says congrats after last November’s Adelaide win. Below: Bathurst wildcard 2021. Right: Where it started – karting and Toyota 86s ...
And the Bathurst qualifying snub? “That was about 8 months ago, so I don’t really think about it too much. It was the right choice to make; Jamie was faster than me, so we put him in for qualifying. I wanted to win the race, and he was quite a bit faster. “I had a lot of support from that. A lot of people reached out and made sure I was okay, and I appreciated that, but for me, I wanted to do the best that I could in that event. At the time, it seemed like the right decision to make, and I was for it. I wasn’t questioning the decision.” Feeney’s path to Supercars began on two wheels with his father, Paul who was a factory Kawasaki Superbike rider in the 1980s who raced against Mick Doohan. It was a family holiday to Thailand that added the extra two wheels, and the rest is history as they say. “I was much more interested in motorbike racing when I was younger. My dad used to race Superbikes back in the day and then went into the business of importing and distributing motorcycles. So, I grew up racing bikes from the age of three and did that for six or so years. “I was about nine years old when we went on a holiday to Thailand, and I went to the hire kart track with my brother and pretty much never left. When we came home, I got into karts. We’re very close friends with Mick
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I probably learnt a lot more from having a tough race than I did just running around by myself up front ...
and Jack Doohan, and we went and watched a few of his [Jack] races and thought it was awesome. “That’s pretty much how it started, and very quickly, I swapped to four wheels and the bike stayed in the shed.” He ran karts for six years, racked up the wins and won a few titles. An Australian champion in 2017, he went overseas and finished fifth in the ROK Cup in 2017 and put up some other good results too against the likes of Oscar Piastri. Europe was a possibility for a while, but the family took a realistic look at it and chose a local path with the Supercars goal. The Toyota 86 Series was next with some Aussie Racing cars and the Queensland Excel Cup. It was about getting racing kilometres and every lap counted. He won the Super3 title in 2019 and joined Tickford for 2020 in the COVID-abbreviated Super2 season. He made his Bathurst debut with James Courtney and then Roland Dane jumped. Dane knew he had to replace Whincup some time soon, and he wanted to go young. Now a Triple Eight driver, he won the Super2 Series
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and ran in the Supercheap wildcard entry at Bathurst with Russell Ingall. Even though he crashed in the race, he was good that day and his path was settled. “I learnt heaps from the 86s. I was fresh out of karting and we were able to do some testing because there were no restrictions. We had a couple of wins and podiums, but I wasn’t thinking about putting myself on the map by any means, but you do get to race in front of the Supercars guys and race at those tracks. “For me, it seemed like the perfect step coming out of the karts. We still ran it ourselves as a family operation with my kart mechanic, and we’d fly in an engineer on the weekend. It was some of the most fun that we’ve had going away racing. “Going into Triple Eight in 2021, I knew what was at stake. I knew that, if I could do a good job, there was a chance to replace Jamie. It was sort of the plan all along, but to be able to go in and have a year like we did, yeah; I think we won four races and about the same amount of pole positions and a few second places.” In that season, he missed the podium only once, and that was because of a penalty. He dominated the season with four wins and four second places that could
have been five but for the penalty. “It was a really solid year, and I think it was announced in August that I’d be replacing Jamie. So, that was a massive year for me, and I’m still here today. 2021 was certainly one of the biggest years of my career.” It was more than just the right timing, right place. Feeney was chosen, plucked and trained by Triple Eight, and now the rewards are flowing. He never had any doubts about stepping into #88 and he believes he can keep winning races and start winning titles. “I don’t want to come off the wrong way, but I was confident that I’d be able to come into the environment and learn. I knew the team, and they didn’t expect me to go out and win the championship in my first year. “I said, ‘Okay, what can I do? I can learn from Shane. I can learn from all the guys around me, and build on the Super2 year with the team.’ It was about being consistent and finishing races. After a year of learning, you really want to be able to step up and be in the mix. “I was confident that I had the right people around me, but I suppose the biggest thing for me was that the people that I lean on a lot, made sure that I was ready for this. People like Paul Morris and Roland, and if those guys put their trust in me, I’ve got full faith that we can go and do the job. “It has been a really good start to the year, and I suppose to have a win in the last three rounds has been awesome. It’s been a good step up from last year. I think Gen3 has been good to me, and it’s a fresh start for everyone. “It’s great to have a few more wins under our belt and a podium, but as I said, we want to keep working towards and keep climbing up that championship order.” Belying his light demeanour when he talks to you, he says there’s enough mongrel in him to run with the best. He’s not going to take any backward steps and he’s not planning on finishing second to anyone this year. Broc Feeney is coming, and he is part of the changing face of Supercars.
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Supercars RACE REPORT Round 4 – TASMANIA
The Matt Stone Racing duo had another strong weekeknd. Here Hill and Le Brocq run together, with Feeney as company ... Right: The Coke boys took out all three pole positions. Below: Feeney into the hairpin during his Sunday runaway win.
getting the gap to under a second with seven laps to race, but the #9 had the answers. Waters faded fast in the closing stages, as SVG stormed through and took the inside line on Turn 6 to relegate him into P4. Pye claimed P5 over Slade, with Le Brocq, Hill, Percat and Randle filling the top 10.
SUNDAY Q2/Q3
SUNDAY’S BACK-to-back qualifying for Races 11 and 12 saw the championship leader stand tall and take a dominant double pole. Both sessions would be highlighted by heavy traffic in the desperate dash for late flyers and a tow down the back straight in Turn 6 which saw a strong headwind. Drama would ensue between Waters and the two DJRs as a result of the heavy traffic in both sessions, with contact to the #11 in the first, and the #17 in the second. MSR continued its weekend of top-10s, with both drivers doubling up. In the first session, Kostecki and Waters exchanged early fire in the lead up to the scramble, with Randle then topping the timesheet into the final minutes. The congested finish was highlighted with Waters going purple through the first sector before making contact with De Pasquale at Turn 6, relegating him to a P10 start. Kostecki’s lap of 50.833 gave him pole by 0.002s over Feeney, as Brown and Le Brocq took the second row with Hill in P5 next to Golding, whilst Davison took P7 with Randle and Reynolds in tow. The second session was once again highlighted by late traffic and a dominant Erebus, who locked out the front row for the third time this season.
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The #99’s 50.621s would get it done by 0.018s over his teammate, whilst Le Brocq would make it to the second row again with a P4 behind Waters. Though Waters would start behind Kostecki he might well have claimed pole, with the Tickford driver having to contend with DJR’s Davison into Turn 6, with the two making door-to-door contact as the faster #6 wasn’t afraid to get his elbows out against the slower Mustang who got in the way of another purple sector lap after the chequered flag had dropped. Randle again placed well heading into the final minute, but couldn’t hold off the charging pack, with Slade and Feeney on the third row, over Hill, Randle, SVG, and Winterbottom, with just 0.699s splitting the field.
RACE 11 - MR SUNDAY
BROC FEENEY took his third Sunday victory of the season from P2, with a great strategy based win over Kostecki, with Erebus also taking another double podium. The #87 Red Bull youngster had good lap pace on fresh tyres out of the pits to gradually pull away over 20 laps from the #99, taking his third win for 2023, meanwhile, his teammate was absent after a lap one tussle with Reynolds. Waters challenged the podium but Brown made it another double podium for the Melbourne based team. At the flag Kostecki hung on into Turn 2, with Brown at first jumping Feeney, whilst drama ensued for van Gisbergen. SVG speared off into the tyre wall after contact with Reynolds at Turn 6, limping back into pit lane with plenty of right-side damage.
QUALIFYING RACE 10 Pos Driver 1 Will Brown 2 Jack Le Brocq 3 Cam Waters 4 Brodie Kostecki 5 Andre Heimgartner 6 Broc Feeney 7 Cameron Hill 8 James Golding 9 Shane van Gisbergen 10 Scott Pye 11 Chaz Mostert 12 Tim Slade 13 Nick Percat 14 Mark Winterbottom 15 James Courtney 16 Will Davison 17 Matt Payne 18 Thomas Randle 19 Todd Hazelwood 20 Jack Smith 21 Bryce Fullwood 22 Anton De Pasquale 23 David Reynolds 24 Declan Fraser 25 Macauley Jones
RESULTS RACE 10 42 LAPS Time 50.878 +0.198 +0.202 +0.206 +0.228 +0.266 +0.356 +0.380 +0.450 +0.496 +0.3069 +0.3957 +0.3986 +0.4004 +0.4557 +0.4644 +0.5413 +0.5467 +0.5896 +0.6537 +0.6149 +0.6857 +0.8046 +0.9021 +0.9613
Pos Drivers 1 Will Brown 2 Andre Heimgartner 3 Shane van Gisbergen 4 Cam Waters 5 Scott Pye 6 Tim Slade 7 Jack Le Brocq 8 Cameron Hill 9 Nick Percat 10 Thomas Randle 11 Will Davison 12 Mark Winterbottom 13 Anton De Pasquale 14 James Golding 15 Matt Payne 16 David Reynolds 17 Jack Smith 18 Broc Feeney 19 Bryce Fullwood 20 Todd Hazelwood 21 Declan Fraser 22 Macauley Jones 23 Brodie Kostecki 24 James Courtney DNF Chaz Mostert
Laps Race time 42 00:37.15 42 +0.685 42 +4.788 42 +5.375 42 +14.779 42 +19.223 42 +19.598 42 +19.997 42 +21.745 42 +23.113 42 +23.255 42 +23.457 42 +25.547 42 +25.930 42 +29.240 42 +30.045 42 +30.380 42 +30.729 42 +33.029 42 +33.056 42 +34.922 42 +35.133 36 +6 Laps 35 +7 Laps 2
s3 s6 t1 s5 s6 t5 t1 s4 s7 s9 s2 s9 t6 s1 s7 s2 t12 s2 t2 s3 s3 t19 t9 t14
Cam Waters took two P3s in qualifying, a best of fourth over a race distance. Right: It used to be T8, now it’s Erebus blasting off the front tow ... Hill jumped his teammate into P3 with Feeney in P5 as Reynolds also went to pit lane with flat after the unavoidable collision with SVG. Brown took the lead on lap four with a great pass on Kostecki at the hairpin, with the top six staying close. Le Brocq dropped into P6 with the #87 and #17 moving through as Hill did his best to hang onto the back of the two Erebus Camaros as they broke away. Brown went wide at the hairpin on Lap 16 allowing Kostecki to retake the lead, as Hill pitted which put Feeney in P3, with Brown following suit on lap 18 to emerge as the highest pitter. Brown looked to have the advantage, but Kostecki pitted at the halfway mark to come out in front. A sensational T8 over-cut pit from Feeney then saw him hit the front out of nowhere, with a good battle emerging on relatively even tyres. Kostecki tried to keep with Feeney as they gapped Brown and Davison with Waters looming large with a gap to Hill who was dropping off. Waters and Davison made contact again, with the Tickford racer getting the best of the hairpin and looking a danger to Brown with six laps to run. He resisted the challenge however, and the #9 even closed on his teammate as Feeney stayed solid out front
with a 2s margin at the chequered flag. With Waters in P4, Davison and Mostert followed suit, with Slade, Le Brocq, Golding and Percat filling the 10.
RACE 12 - BROWN TO THE DOUBLE
ONCE AGAIN, Brown showed what he can do out front in clean air, taking an assured win to create a 79-point break over Mostert in the championship in second, as well as pulling to within 87 points of Kostecki. It was an untroubled run to take a third win from the last two rounds, cementing his status as a challenger. It was looking like another 1-2 from Erebus early, but ‘Mr Sunday’ put in another good stint for a fine P2 over Kostecki, who was left to resume his battles with SVG for the final step. Brown got the jump he needed into Turn 2, whilst Waters seemed to kick his podium chances by dropping into P6, promoting Feeney and Slade. A four-Camaro battle developed out front between the two Erebus cars, Le Brocq and Feeney, whilst a bit of action unfolded at the back with both Fraser and Heimgartner getting pushed off track at 6 and 2. Feeney pushed into P3 by Lap 10 as the leaders pushed the gap out to 1.5s advantage. In Percat’s 300th race, a loose brake pedal pad brought
The Nulon PremiAir duo are regular top 10 qualifiers and runners now. Here Golding heads Slade, who was unlucky to go out of Sunday’s final race when running strongly in fifth before an engine issue intervened.
QUALIFYING RACE 11 Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Broc Feeney 3 Will Brown 4 Jack Le Brocq 5 Cameron Hill 6 James Golding 7 Will Davison 8 Thomas Randle 9 David Reynolds 10 Cameron Waters 11 Shane van Gisbergen 12 Tim Slade 13 Chaz Mostert 14 Bryce Fullwood 15 Mark Winterbottom 16 Nick Percat 17 James Courtney 18 Matthew Payne 19 Anton De Pasquale 20 Jack Smith 21 Andre Heimgartner 22 Todd Hazelwood 23 Declan Fraser 24 Macauley Jones 25 Scott Pye
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RESULTS RACE 11 42 LAPS Time 50.833 +0.002 +0.062 +0.130 +0.150 +0.174 +0.210 +0.221 +0.239 +0.240 +0.255 +0.311 +0.329 +0.365 +0.400 +0.440 +0.443 +0.456 +0.562 +0.565 +0.565 +0.568 +0.604 +0.648 +0.662
Pos Drivers 1 Broc Feeney 2 Brodie Kostecki 3 Will Brown 4 Cameron Waters 5 Will Davison 6 Chaz Mostert 7 Tim Slade 8 Jack Le Brocq 9 James Golding 10 Nick Percat 11 Cameron Hill 12 Andre Heimgartner 13 Mark Winterbottom 14 Anton De Pasquale 15 Matthew Payne 16 James Courtney 17 Bryce Fullwood 18 Jack Smith 19 Todd Hazelwood 20 Scott Pye 21 Macauley Jones 22 Thomas Randle 23 David Reynolds NC Declan Fraser NC Shane van Gisbergen
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QUALIFYING RACE 12 Laps Race time 42 37:25.5846 42 +1.7244 42 +3.3921 42 +3.5441 42 +4.2250 42 +4.4571 42 +8.0620 42 +9.4276 42 +10.6106 42 +12.0816 42 +14.6018 42 +15.3316 42 +16.2830 42 +16.5753 42 +19.8982 42 +21.3964 42 +21.8069 42 + 22.6978 42 +33.2086 42 +35.7761 42 +36.2152 42 +1:00.2131 40 26 +16 Laps 0 0 Laps
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Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Will Brown 3 Cameron Waters 4 Jack Le Brocq 5 Tim Slade 6 Broc Feeney 7 Cameron Hill 8 Thomas Randle 9 Shane van Gisbergen 10 Mark Winterbottom 11 Chaz Mostert 12 Matthew Payne 13 Bryce Fullwood 14 Nick Percat 15 Andre Heimgartner 16 James Golding 17 Anton De Pasquale 18 David Reynolds 19 James Courtney 20 Macauley Jones 21 Scott Pye 22 Todd Hazelwood 23 Declan Fraser 24 Will Davison 25 Jack Smith
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him unstuck, whilst SVG went for the first undercut on Lap 12. Kostecki pitted from P2 on lap 20, causing a chain of stops, whilst Le Brocq took a cheeky whack from SVG at the hairpin as the #97 moved into P4 to mount a podium challenge. After Brown pitted and re-entered with a comfortable lead from his teammate, Slade dropped out of the top-10 with engine issues to run last in the #23 Camaro, as Waters also battled with smoke coming from his front right. With 10 laps to run, Feeney closed on Kostecki at the hairpin, whilst SVG also moved up on Turn 6 to displace the #99 from P3. With Kostecki looking down and out, he found something in reserve, reclaiming P3 at the same turn with three laps to go. Unlike Perth, SVG had lost his tyres, with the #99 holding him off to claim a sixth double podium for Erebus, with Brown topping Feeney by a healthy 3.99s. Le Brocq made it three top-10s for the weekend with a P5, with Mostert, Waters, Winterbottom, De Pasquale, and Fullwood all rounded out the ten. SUPERCARS NEXT head for a fourth straight SuperSprint round at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway for the Triple Crown. The schedule returns to a three-day weekend, with two practice sessions on Friday, then an identical qualifying and race format for the three 35 lap outings over Saturday and Sunday. Over a longer track, tyre degradation will be more of a factor as teams face another round of Super Softs, but this time, they’ll have higher track temperature to contend with. Despite another barren weekend of podiums for the Mustang drivers, the new engine mapping surprisingly saw them as the faster machine down the straights at Symmons Plains. The worry however, is that the Ford’s tyre life seems to drop off a lot faster than the Chevrolets, and if that was happening at the low deg Tassie track, Hidden Valley could provide yet another Camaro dominated show.
RESULTS RACE 12 42 LAPS Time 50.621 +0.018 +0.031 +0.054 +0.115 +0.122 +0.148 +0.220 +0.230 +0.283 +0.312 +0.315 +0.397 +0.413 +0.416 +0.440 +0.448 +0.471 +0.495 +0.503 +0.529 +0.599 +0.602 +0.617 +0.699
Pos Drivers 1 Will Brown 2 Broc Feeney 3 Brodie Kostecki 4 Shane van Gisbergen 5 Jack Le Brocq 6 Chaz Mostert 7 Cameron Waters 8 Mark Winterbottom 9 Anton De Pasquale 10 Bryce Fullwood 11 Cameron Hill 12 David Reynolds 13 Will Davison 14 Thomas Randle 15 Scott Pye 16 James Golding 17 Andre Heimgartner 18 Jack Smith 19 Macauley Jones 20 Declan Fraser 21 Matthew Payne 22 James Courtney 23 Nick Percat 24 Todd Hazelwood 25 Tim Slade
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER ROUND 4 Laps 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 38
Race time 37:15.8755 +3.9921 +8.7320 +9.8944 +10.4953 +10.6245 +14.5238 +15.8103 +16.7574 +18.1779 +19.5841 +21.1187 +22.8498 +23.4593 +23.7824 +24.6497 +25.8734 +33.6318 +36.5656 +37.7718 +39.4164 +40.6039 +44.8143 +48.9424 +4 Laps
s1 s4 t3 s5 t1 s5 t4 s2 s8 s3 t4 s6 s11 t6 s6 t2 s7 s1 s3 t9 t3 t9 t2 t20
Pos Driver 1 Brodie Kostecki 2 Will Brown 3 Chaz Mostert 4 Shane van Gisbergen 5 Broc Feeney 6 Cameron Waters 7 Andre Heimgartner 8 David Reynolds 9 Will Davison 10 Jack Le Brocq 11 Tim Slade 12 James Golding 13 Scott Pye 14 Bryce Fullwood 15 Mark Winterbottom 16 Matt Payne 17 Todd Hazelwood 18 Anton De Pasquale 19 Thomas Randle 20 James Courtney 21 Cameron Hill 22 Macauley Jones 23 Jack Smith 24 Nick Percat 25 Declan Fraser
Points 986 899 820 814 795 757 666 641 634 631 551 540 522 519 517 513 492 491 462 453 407 384 370 361 317
s2 t1 t1 s1 s1 t2 s3 s1 s3 s1 s3 t4 t6 s1 s1 t3 s3 t1 t1 s1 t2
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SUPERCUP AND NASCAR
LARSON’S TRIPLE ALL-STAR MILLIONS KYLE LARSON dominated NASCAR’s non-championship All-Star Race at the revitalised Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina on May 21 ahead of the Coca-Cola 600. The 2021 champion took it by 4.537s over Toyota pair Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick. In the 200 lap race at the 1km oval, the winning move was essentially made on Lap 18 when he pitted early under a caution for fresh tyres. Despite incurring a speed penalty in pit lane, he chopped through the field to run down Daniel Suarez by Lap 55 and that was game, set and match for his third All-Star win, making him the first driver to take the Million dollar race at three different venues. “I can’t even tell you what it means, this is my third All-Star win and my third different track. In a historical place like that, this weekend was so awesome. We could feel the atmosphere all weekend,” Larson said. “So much fun there. That was an oldschool (insert expletive) whipping, for sure, and we had a great car on the long run there and was just thinking for sure there was going to be a caution. “I got out to a big lead, and I could see everybody’s cars were driving like (insert 2nd expletive) in front of me, but I can’t thank the team enough.” Larson led 145 laps to Suarez’s 55, with the #5 Hendricks Camaro driver only losing the lead under a caution after his initial pass. (Note: at the time of publication, tlast weekend’s NASCAR round, the Coca Cola 600, was postponed after inclement weather in North Carolina. The Coca Cola 600 review will feature in issue #1863) TW Neal
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Harry King heads for victory (above), while Harri Jones earned a Rookie P3 podium (below).
JONES’ MOBIL 1 ROOKIE PODIUM AUSTRALIA’S REIGNING Carrera Cup champion Harri Jones got to climb a podium on the streets of Monaco at the first round of the Mobil 1 Supercup. After the world’s premier Porsche onemake series had to delay its opening round at Imola, Jones got to have a dream debut at the legendary circuit. Driving for the championship winning BWT Lechner Racing team in a 992 GT3 Cup Car, Jones finished P9 in the Formula 1 lead-in race, which netted him a P3 rookie podium. It was the Queenslanders second straight international podium after also climbing the rookie steps in the German Carrera Cup. “It was an awesome race,I’m really happy with the result,” Jones said. “We could have fought further forward if we had a few more laps but the Safety Car came out towards the end and we ended up finishing behind it. “The Lechner Racing Team gave me a really good car this weekend. They ended up finishing P1 outright and P3 so they had a double podium so I’m really proud of the team and looking forward to Round 2 at the Red Bull Ring.” Jones started out the weekend by placing as the highest rookie at opening practice (P9), before qualifying in P12 for the season opener, just one second from the benchmark.
In the desperate bid for early spots on the hard-to-pass track, he slipped back two spots on the first lap. He worked his way back however, with his race being highlighted by a strong pass at Beau Rivage on Supercup veteran Jaap van Lagen, which put him in P9 before the yellow dropped with a few laps remaining. It was a good day for the Lechner team, with Harri’s teammate, Harry King, taking P1 over two-time series champion Larry ten Voorde, with fellow BWT racer Bastian Buus rounding out
the podium. For Jones, it’s a great start to what’s been a meteoric rise into the international ranks after the 23-yearold did the one-make double on home shores with the 2019 Sprint Challenge, then last year’s Carrera Cup. Jones’ next three outings see him going to Hockenheim (June 9-11) and Zandvoort (June 23-25) in the German Carrera Cup, before taking on the Red Bull Ring in Austria for round two of the F1 exclusive Mobil 1 Supercup. TW Neal
F2 AND F3
Vesti took the Feature race points in a straightforward race, albeit red-flagged for some time thanks to Doohan’s big shunt. Images: MOTORSPORT IMAGES
MORE DOOHAN PAIN IN MONACO THERE WAS more pain for Jack Doohan as Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vesti shared the wins in Formula 2’s trip to the streets of Monte Carlo. As always Monaco claimed its victims, and one of the most notable was Australia’s Doohan in the red-flagged Feature race. Buoyed by a strong recent Spanish test, Doohan hoped for a strong result and sat a solid fourth for the first half of the Feature race before a heavy shunt at Massenet sparked both flames and the red flag. Although the rear end of the Virtuosi car was badly damaged from the incident and fire, fortunately the 20-year-old walked away, but the impact on his championship hopes were clear, dropping to 14th in the standings. The man leading the way is Vesti, whose Feature race win saw him jump Iwasa and Theo Pourchaire and take a five-point lead into Spain. The Dane, racing for Prema, made his intentions clear by snatching pole on the
split qualifying session. To avoid congestion around the tight 3.3km layout, the cars were split into two groups of 11 cars. Despite both groups being interrupted by late red flags caused by incidents, Vesti held off Pourchaire for pole position. The Prema racer recorded a 1:21.053 to take top spot, 0.053s ahead of his French ART rival, while the top Group A qualifier was Victor Martins in third. Doohan impressed to be the second fastest in Group A and fourth overall. But before Vesti could do his thing on Sunday to take control of the championship, the points lead was initially held by Iwasa. The DAMS driver took the championship ascendancy by dominating the Saturday Sprint race, winning by 6.6s over Jehan Daruvala. Iwasa only held second during the early laps, but was gifted P1 by Isack Hadjar’s mechanical troubles, which saw him retire. Once in front, Iwasa was never troubled
despite two Safety Car interruptions throughout the 30-lap race. The first was a big tangle at the Nouvelle Chicane where Clement Novalak struck the battling Kush Maini and Amaury Cordeel, while Arthur Leclerc, Dennis Hauger Roy Nissan and Ralph Novalak were also caught up in the near traffic jam. The race resumed on Lap 6, but another Safety Car returned four laps later when Cordeel hit the wall at Mirabeau after contact with Juan Manuel Correa. After the crazy opening, the final two thirds of the race were trouble free with Iwasa leading home Daruvala and Jack Crawford, while Doohan was sixth. Despite a red flag stoppage, the feature race was less eventful with Vesti in cruise control. Vesti took command from the start ahead of Pourchaire, who was on the defence from a fast-starting Doohan. The Prema driver opened up a 3s gap until the race came to a sudden halt on Lap 22 due to Doohan’s Virtuosi bursting
into flames after a heavy rear-end smash at Massenet. The Aussie had earlier clipped the wall at the Swimming Pool Chicane which led to the more spectacular smash five corners later. After a 20-minute delay, racing resumed and Vesti was never troubled on his way to a 2.5s win over Pourchaire. Zane Maloney of Barbados joined them on the podium, while Iwasa could only manage 10th and Ralph Boschung, Cordeel, Enzo Fittipaldi, and Leclerc joined Doohan as non-finishers. The next Formula 2 round is Spain this weekend. Thomas Miles FORMULA 2 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6 1 F. Vesti 89 2 T. Pourchaire 84 3 A. Iwasa 69 4 K. Maini 49 5 D. Hauger 48
MINI AND MARTI MASTER MONACO GABRIELE MINI (right) has made some small inroads into Gabriel Bortoleto’s championship lead after emerging victorious in Formula 3’s first visit to Monaco in more than a decade. The last time the junior series raced around the Principality was in 2012 when the series was in the middle of its GP3 days. Drivers immediately took a liking to the daunting challenge of the famous street circuit, but the one, who extracted the most time was Mini. As in F2, qualifying was balloted into split groups and no-one could get close to the French Hitech driver, Mini’s 1:23.278 six-tenths better than next best Dino Beganovic. The first F3 race at Monaco in 11 years was a rather sedate affair with Pepe Marti taking a lights to flag Sprint race triumph. The Campos Racing driver started on reverse grid pole and never came under threat, beating Leonardo Fornaroli by 8s despite an early Safety Car caused by Jonny Edgar. Australia’s Tommy Smith found himself momentarily up on two wheels after Oliver Goethe bumped him into the wall on the exit of Portier. Despite the moment, Smith was only one spot behind
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half a second at the chequered flag. Another early Safety Car was required when Ido Cohen crashed at Tabac, but it did not break Mini’s rhythm as he re-established his lead. Behind Sebastian Montoya’s and Caio Collet’s battle for the lead got aggressive when they came together on lap 18, forcing the latter to go off at Massenet. As the chequered flag approached, Beganovic cut Mini’s lead down from 1.4s to 0.4, but he could not stop the Frenchman from scoring a memorable win. Championship leader Bortoleto had to settle for fifth, while Smith scored a solid P15 with Mansell and Barter in 17th and 26th respectively. The Formula 3 drivers have less than a week to get ready for Spain on June 2-4. Thomas Miles
the highest placed Australian, Christian Mansell, who was 20th, while Campos Racing teammate Hugh Barter battled to 25th. The Feature race was highlighted by a tense battle between Mini and Beganovic where the former prevailed. Despite Mini taking the honours with a lights-to-flag win, he had to earn it with Beganovic trailing him by less than
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FORMULA 3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4 1 G. Bortoleto 73 2 G. Mini 56 3 G. Saucy 47 4 D. Beganovic 46 5 P. Aron 38
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