Auto Action #1769

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COURTNEY’S BIG GAMBLE Holden hero in Sydney speculation

KELLY CONUNDRUM STAY NISSAN OR GO MUSTANG?

INSIDE HOLDEN’S ‘SECRET’ FACTORY TEAM

Issue #1769 Sept. 5th - Sept . 18th

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SUPERCARS SHAKE-UP

2020 CALENDAR CHANGES

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CRUNCH TIME FOR KELLYS Big decision looms on car, but no doubts about Heimgartner

BRUCE NEWTON reveals that struggling Nissan squad may switch to Ford Mustangs as it rejects a return to Holden KELLY RACING is four weeks away from deciding whether to stay with four Nissan Altimas for 2020 or swap to Ford Mustangs and potentially drop to two cars.

The Holden Commodore ZB has been definitively ruled out as a potential mount for the family owned team.

If KR does take up the Mustang option and pull back to two cars, the driver line-up is expected to be co-owner Rick Kelly and Andre Heimgartner, leaving out-of-contract Simona De Silvestro and rookie Garry Jacobson looking elsewhere – in the former’s case, potentially outside Australia.

The debate over which way the Kellys will go has been an ongoing saga since Nissan pulled the pin on its involvement at the end of 2018.

The team has been investigating both updating the Altima with fresh bodywork and swapping to a different brand.

While making a body swap to the Mustang would be relatively simple, having to invest in a whole new engine program would be a massive financial burden. At least initially, the team would have to negotiate a customer supply from an engine builder.

Team co-owner Todd Kelly confirmed the timing and the potential model choice to Auto Action. “It’s easy to stay with Nissan and other than an engine solution, it’s easy to go to another brand,� Kelly said. “We can finish building new cars quite easily over the break

Images: Ross Gibb/LAT

Is a swap to the pace setting Mustang too hard to resist for the Kelly

and if we want to reskin a couple of cars, it’s only a matter of a couple of weeks work to turn them into Mustangs. “The pressing one is what we do for an engine, which is going to dictate the deadline for making that decision. It will be pretty soon – in the next four weeks, probably.�

The KR management group has consistently cited 2020 changes to the technical regulations governing the cars as the reason it has hedged its bets so long over a decision on what to race.

Mooted changes include driveby-wire and detuning of engines, aerodynamic downforce reductions and the introduction of a control damper. “The aero we have a bit of an idea, but it has not been really finalised and communicated,�

Kelly explained. “The drive-by-wire testing is still happening and bits and pieces, and there are plenty of discussions happening on all that. “There’s a lot of verification pending on all that.�

Kelly ruled out the ZB Commodore for a number of reasons, including the centralised supply of parts from Triple Eight Race Engineering and the dominant number of Commodores on the grid. “The balance between the two manufacturers if Nissan wasn’t there wouldn’t be right (if KR went to Holden),� Kelly said. “That’s not to our benefit, but just to have a little bit of manufacturer parity in the field. “The other one is the accessibility and ease of putting the Mustang into the system compared with the ZB with how the whole thing has been tooled up and set up.�

Kelly conceded the speed of the Mustang in 2019 specification was also a factor in drawing a line through the Commodore as a potential choice.

He indicated the Mustang was an easier sell to potential commercial partners. “Even though there is going to be a fair bit of work to make sure

the parity is better next year, it’s certainly the perception that’s the car (Mustang) that you need to be in, certainly in a commercial sense,� he said. “It’s a lot easier discussion to try to renew (sponsors) when you are talking about a Mustang at the moment compared with a Holden.�

Kelly Racing has been a four-car squad since its inception in 2009.

It has been consistently rumoured along pit lane – and consistently rejected by the team – that it would race two cars in 2020.

Now, Kelly admits swapping to Mustangs would almost certainly make the contraction happen. “It all depends on whether we have to change brands or not,� he said. “It would be a lot easier to remain with four if we were still racing Altimas. “But it’s a little harder to convert and fund the conversion and engine situation, so that is going to dictate that a bit.�

Kelly Racing’s own engine shop developed the five-litre version of the VK56DE V8 that has powered the Altima since its 2013 introduction.

But it’s too late for the Kellys to take on an in-house Ford V8 development program for 2020. “Just through the fact that the time to R&D something to where everyone else is, even in the reliability sense, we would be forced to have to do an engine deal. “To be an engine customer is not a cheap exercise, certainly not to the level we are upgrading.�

ANDRE SET TO STAY

FLYING KIWI Andre Heimgartner looks certain to stay at Kelly Racing in 2020, with the team stating he is locked in.

While that view may not necessarily be shared by Heimgartner’s camp, there’s no doubt the 24-year old wants to extend his stay with the team.

Whatever the intricacies of contracts and options, the end result is looking more and more likely to be Heimgartner sharing one of two Ford Mustangs that Kelly Racing is increasingly likely to field next year.

Team co-owner and 2006 Supercars champion Rick Kelly is expected to occupy the other seat. “Andre’s contracted to us for next year,� team boss and co-owner Todd Kelly declared. “We have invested a lot into Andre to get the continuity and the miles, and to put everything around him to be able to get the results he needs to get. “So we would like to see a bit of a return on that investment.�

Heimgartner is the highest ranked Nissan Altima driver in the championship in 13th place and is the only one to snag a podium this year, finishing third at Phillip Island in race nine. “He’s not going to get any worse in the next few years, that’s for sure,� said Kelly, who actually retired to create the vacant seat Heimgartner stepped into in 2018. BN

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COURTNEY ROLLS FORMER CHAMP AT CENTRE OF SYDNEY SUPERCARS TEAM RUMOURS

MARK FOGARTY outlines how Walkinshaw reject is relying on his fading star power to save his career STYMIED STAR James Courtney has been linked with bold plans to set up a team in Sydney with big backing from Supercars.

Courtney, 39, has confirmed he is leaving Walkinshaw Andretti United at the end of the season, preempting his possible enforced departure.

Since his announcement, the 2010 Supercars champion has been at the centre of speculation about the establishment of a team in Sydney, where there hasn’t been a squad for more than a decade.

It has been suggested Supercars is offering up to $6 million – probably spread over two to three years – to a team to move from Melbourne or the Gold Coast to Sydney or to fund a start-up in Australia’s

biggest city.

Part of the deal is that the team would be based at Sydney Motorsport Park at a proposed NSW government backed ‘motor sport hub’ at the Eastern Creek site.

The Supercars fraternity is abuzz with rumours that Courtney will join either an existing team that is moving to the Harbour City or a new operation there built around him.

He has been variously linked with moving to a relocated Team 18 alongside Mark Winterbottom, a new Sydney based squad backed by Boost Mobile owner Peter Adderton or another new outfit backed by an anonymous Courtney supporter.

In all the conjectured scenarios, Courtney will be on the grid next year with Boost Mobile backing – currently with Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Boost boss Adderton is a big Courtney fan and has longstanding ties with him through the driver’s UK-based manager Alan Gow, who was a partner with Adderton in TOCA Australia in the mid-to-late 1990s.

They ran two-litre Super Touring in Australia, rivalling Supercars in 1997/98 with opposing Bathurst 1000s. The then V8 Supercars won the touring car civil war as Super Touring imploded worldwide due to staggering costs.

There have also been suggestions that Courtney is a candidate to replace Tim Slade at BJR, with his star status rescuing the Albury team’s tenuous Freightliner backing.

Courtney also has links with BJR through Gow’s longstanding friendship with team co-owner Brad Jones.

But the most consistent chat

THE DICE

is about Courtney joining Charlie Schwerkolt’s Irwin Racing in a second Commodore.

Schwerkolt is keen to expand to two cars because of economies of scale and, most crucially, because RECs are available at minimal or no cost.

Several sources suggest Supercars is willing to give away the two unused RECs it has to boost the field back to 26 cars.

Other RECs on the market – including Jason Bright’s leased licence to Matt Stone Racing – are available for a pittance or will be handed back at the end of this season.

Among the vulnerable entries are GRM’s, which are said to be in danger of being handed back if the team doesn’t have a major sponsor next year.

That is very possible as GRM’s fractious relationship with Boost Mobile deteriorates with continued poor results, set to trigger a performance clause break in the two-year deal.

Boost’s volatile boss Adderton has been linked with everything from

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backing a Courtney led two-car team out of Sydney, with favoured Richie Stanaway in the second car, to backing Courtney at Team 18 to returning to WAU as title sponsor.

But amid all the speculation, the consistent association is Courtney and Boost getting together somewhere.

Boost even figures in a left-field suggestion that a supposedly wealthy WAU supporter will fund Courtney in a Sydney based entry.

Much of the speculation has been fuelled by an intriguing line in Courtney’s pre-emptive announcement that he wouldn’t continue with WAU after nine largely fruitless years at the former Clayton supersquad.

“Courtney made the difficult decision to leave WAU when an exceptional new – yet-to-bedisclosed – opportunity was presented to him for the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and beyond,” the press release said.

Courtney was quoted as saying: “An exciting chance has presented itself, and it just couldn’t be ignored.”

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Having made his Supercars debut for the-then factory Holden Racing Team in 2005 in the endurance races, Courtney re-joined the Melbourne-based operation after defecting from DJR with his title in 2011.

Since then, Courtney has won seven races, including back-to-back Clipsal 500s in 2014/15, and visited the podium a further 27 times.

But generally his time at HRT/ Walkinshaw Racing/WAU has been disappointing. He was outperformed last year by teammate Scott Pye and has been lineball with him this year as WAU have lost their way again.

WAU’s follow up announcement of Courtney’s impending departure suggests it wasn’t his decision to break off renewal negotiations.

Both he and Pye were long shots to stay as WAU grabbed Chaz Mostert to lead a revived operation alongside either a low-cost young gun like Todd Hazelwood or an international from the WAU partners Andretti Autosport and United Autosports stables.

A Supercars team owner has confirmed that Supercars is offering

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big incentives for a team to set up in Sydney, claiming the subsidy is worth up to $6 million.

Supercars wants a team in Sydney with name drivers to help promote the series in the country’s major market. Without a team and drivers there, Supercars management believes the category has no traction in its biggest market.

Courtney, the eldest driver in Supercars despite his youthful charm, is looking to resurrect his flagging career with a new gig that may or may not involve a Sydney based operation.

Although past his best, he could still be an effective racer and potential occasional race-winner in the right car.

However, his full-time options are all mid-field at best, begging the question of why he isn’t pursuing a plum enduro co-driver role.

Courtney’s future is surrounded by intrigue and conjecture.

Something interesting is going on, but his more recent assertion that he has no signed deal for next year – which could just be a smoke screen – raises further questions.

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BIG CHANGES FOR SUPERCARS IN 2020

By MARK FOGARTY NEW SUPERSPRINT race formats, a revised Enduro Cup, the return of Triple Challenge car and bike events, and more night/twilight racing are the highlights of a reshuffled and reduced Supercars championship schedule in 2020.

Sydney Motorsport Park is back as Phillip Island and Queensland Raceway are dropped.

Surfers Paradise is planned to become the first night street race event, joining Image: LAT Wanneroo Barbagallo and Sydney Motorsport Park under lights.

Although reduced from 15 to 14 rounds, it is parc ferme lockdown. a longer series stretching from late February to Parc ferme will be enforced at Symmons early December featuring more regular spacing Plains, Wanneroo Barbagallo, Winton, SMP and between events and a five-week mid-season Sandown. break.

Top 10 Shootouts have been added at The The scheduling and format changes are on Bend, Gold Coast and Newcastle, joining top of planned technical revisions to the cars, Adelaide, Pukekohe, Townsville, Darwin and which will be announced later in the season.

Bathurst.

The Perth and returning Sydney SuperNight The pre-season test will move to The Bend meetings switch to a Saturday night race and a on February 18, with the official season launch twilight Sunday race combination. planned for the following day in Adelaide.

The change follows this year’s Perth twoAdelaide last hosted the season launch night experiment, with attendance and viewing in 2016, followed by Sydney in 2017 and figures confirming that racing on Saturday Melbourne last year. under lights was most popular.

Supercars is planning to make the Darwin The Gold Coast 600 will also be run under and Sydney rounds Triple Challenge events, lights in a similar format, with Queensland with drag racing contests and Superbike races government backing of floodlighting the Surfers joining the car racing.

Paradise street circuit.

If they happen, they will revive the popular The Adelaide 500’s first 250 km leg will Triple Challenge car and bike meetings at SMP continue as a late afternoon/early evening in the early 1990s. twilight Saturday race, while twilight racing is The Bend Motorsport Park joins a revised also on the cards for the rescheduled Auckland Enduro Cup with a 500 km two-driver enduro SuperSprint at Pukekohe Park Raceway. in mid-September, restoring the traditional preThe annual NZ visit moves forward from Bathurst 1000 warm-up.

September to the April 24-26 ANZAC Day Sandown stays in November, losing its longweekend. standing enduro status to become twin 200 km SuperSprint events will switch to twin 200 single-driver sprints. km, two pit stop races, replacing the 120/200 A reshuffle of the schedule moves Townsville km Saturday/Sunday format. forward and Darwin back, followed by a fiveAll the regular SuperSprints will feature the week winter break that avoids clashing with the successful three-part qualifying procedure, Tokyo Olympic Games. while five events will have the post-qualifying The longer mid-season holiday compensates

for the series beginning earlier in Adelaide and ending later in Newcastle.

The Gold Coast 600 is also a week later, avoiding a clash with the Phillip Island MotoGP. For most of the season, there are three weeks between each event, giving teams more time to prepare and/or recover while maintaining a consistent gap between rounds.

Phillip Island and Queensland Raceway were dropped to make room for SMP’s return with new permanent lighting and the teams’ demand to reduce the number of events.

Supercars supremo Sean Seamer acknowledged Phillip Island’s iconic circuit status and QR’s appeal to Brisbane/Gold Coast area fans and teams, leaving open the possibility of a return to both venues in the future.

New five-year deals from 2020-24 have been signed with Townsville and the Gold Coast, while Sandown is secured for another three years from 2020-22 following safety upgrades.

Supercars has also agreed a renewed fiveyear deal with control tyre supplier Dunlop through 2024, with branding set to switch to Goodyear, which is part of the same company in Australia.

Stadium Super Trucks will be on the support race program at up to eight rounds, including the Adelaide 500 and Gold Coast 600.

Despite the reduced calendar, total racing distance for next season will be slightly more at 6800 km.

2020 SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP Feb 18 Feb 19 Feb 20-23

Pre-season test, The Bend Season launch, Adelaide (TBC) Adelaide 500, Adelaide Parklands+ 2 x 250 km Mar 12-15 Melbourne 400, Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park 4 x 100 km April 3-5 Tasmania SuperSprint, Symmons Plains+ 2 x 200 km April 24-26 Auckland SuperSprint, Pukekohe 2 x 200 km May 15-17 Perth SuperNight, Wanneroo Barbagallo 2 x 200 km June 5-7 Winton SuperSprint, Winton 2 x 200 km June 26-28 Townsville 400, Reid Park+ 2 x 200 km July 17-19 Darwin Triple Crown, Hidden Valley 2 x 200 km Aug 28-30 Sydney SuperNight, Sydney Motorsport Park+ 2 x 200 km Sept 18-20 The Bend 500, Tailem Bend* 500 km Oct 8-11 Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama*+ 1000 km Oct 30-Nov 1 Gold Coast 600, Surfers Paradise* 2 x 300 km Nov 20-22 Sandown 400, Sandown+ 2 x 200 km Dec 4-6 Newcastle 500, Newcastle+ x 250 km + Also Super2 Series *Enduro Cup

SUPERCARS TO ALLOW SPLIT-SEASON DRIVERS

By MARK FOGARTY A MAJOR rule change next year will allow Supercars teams to run different drivers in split-season arrangements.

Auto Action has learned that drivers will be able to sign-up for partial seasons according to their budgets.

Now, nominated regular drivers are nominally committed for the whole season.

The existing rule requires a team to enter a driver for the full year, replaced during the championship only due to injury or a breach of contract.

Oddly, by all accounts, the change has not gone to the Supercars Commission and may just be allowed by osmosis.

There will just be an unofficial recognition that multiple drivers are allowed, as they are tacitly now.

The change has not gone to the Commission, but AA has heard from multiple Supercars sources that it will happen.

From next year, teams will be able to

6 AutoAction

nominate multiple drivers for a single entry, splitting events throughout the season.

This will allow promising young drivers with limited budgets to contest selected events according to their means, sharing the entry with other cash-strapped tyros.

The move could even allow experienced drivers with limited budgets to stay partially in the game or enhance their endurance race co-driver prospects.

The relaxation would be in addition to the wildcard system, which allows teams to field extra entries at selected rounds and the enduros.

The Supercars Commission is considering the rule change to help teams to fund a car by using multiple drivers with partial budgets when they struggle to finance a season-long entry for one driver.

It is not known how many teams are looking for this assistance, but there are obviously enough – and enough drivers with part-season budgets – to justify the multidriver approach.

Image: LAT

SVG AIMS FOR LE MANS 2020 Supercars calendar opens up to allow debut in iconic race

By BRUCE NEWTON INSATIABLE Racer Shane van Gisbergen has set his sights on making his Le Mans 24-hour debut in 2020.

For the first time in years the Supercars calendar doesn’t clash with the iconic enduro in 2020 and the multi-talented Kiwi will put out feelers for a drive.

Considering his past record and platinum status in sports car racing, the 2016 Bathurst 12-hour winner should have little drama picking up his preferred drive in a GTE car.

“I can drive anything, but I’d love to drive a GTE car and be quite competitive straight away in one of those,” van Gisbergen told Auto Action.

But the news keeps getting better for van Gisbergen, who says the calendar has also opened up to allow him to contest a series of American classics including the Daytona 24-hour and the Sebring 12-hour.

Contesting these races would be in addition to his duties with Triple Eight’s Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia campaign and, of course, his core Supercar duties in the Red Bull Holden Racing Team

Commodore ZB. “Next year I have already looked at the calendar and so many free races,” van Gisbergen enthusiastically told Auto Action.

“The last few years have been pretty rubbish, it’s like they have conflicted with every single race, but next year looks really good.

“I’d love to do Le Mans. It’s the first time in about five years it hasn’t conflicted. It’d be great to get a drive there.

“So start trying to find one and work out getting over there, because it’s definitely on my list.”

The 2020 Le Mans 24-hour will run June 13-14 with practice starting June 10. Van Gisbergen will have the Winton SuperSprint round the week before and the Townsville 400 two weeks after.

That means he could also be able to attend the pre-Le Mans test, usually held at the beginning of June, for his first taste of the 13.626km Circuit de la Sarthe.

“I haven’t seen the date for the test yet, so hopefully I can do that before I do the race,” said van Gisbergen.

Van Gisbergen has raced for a variety of

‘CUT US SOME SLACK!

By BRUCE NEWTON COPING WITH the sky-high expectations generated by an unprecedented run of success have proved an unexpected challenge for Scott McLaughlin to manage in 2019.

The DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang driver equalled Craig Lowndes 16-win record for a single season in race 22 at The Bend, extending his driver’s championship lead to 573 points.

He also claimed his 14th pole position of 2019 the same day, just two shy of his own record of 16 poles set in 2017.

McLaughlin has won his last three starts, but it’s the fourth place he scored immediately before that in race 19 on Saturday at Queensland Raceway that highlighted to him what people are thinking.

“When I got fourth at QR everyone was like ‘that was a pretty bad day’ and I am like ‘hang on’,” McLaughlin told Auto Action.

“I understand there’s the expectation from the media and team and sponsors and stuff, even the

Image: Ross Gibb

sports car teams in Europe and the USA, most notably winning the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2016 in a semifactory McLaren. But he’s been seen in a variety of other marques here and overseas.

He says there’s no limitations on what he might drive, as long as it doesn’t conflict with his Supercars racing.

“I race as much as I can, it’s not work, it’s fun. I love racing so I’ll be in a car every time I can when I,” he said. “And I drive better when I am in the car a lot.”

Van Gisbergen still has one Blancpain Asia outing to compete this year at Shanghai

McLaughlin calls for realistic expectations amid record-breaking run

fans at the autograph session were asking ‘oh are you going to bounce back today, it was a pretty tough result’.

“But come on, it’s a cool feeling to be told that, but also cut us a bit of slack.

“At the end of the day that’s what happens when we are the reigning champs, and the pressure that comes with that and the pressure that comes from leading.

“That’s what separates the good from the bad, being able to contend with that sort of stuff,. I guess I am getting used to that a bit more and coping with it.”

McLaughlin admits his own competitiveness stokes the fires because he is so clearly annoyed with himself when he doesn’t maximise an opportunity.

“I am certainly am my own harshest critic. I am pretty frustrated when I don’t do a good job,” he said.

“I finished fourth at QR and I wasn’t upset, but

in September. Closer to home he is taking part in the World Time Attack in Sydney in the drift class and contesting the Leadfoot Festival next February in New Zealand, which is a Goodwood-style event on legendary Kiwi racer Rod Millen’s driveway.

Of course, van Gisbergen will also be racing on home soil at Pukekohe in race 23 and 24 of the Supercars championship on September 13-15.

He is fourth in the title chase, 616 points behind runaway leader Scott McLaughlin, but only 43 points behind second placed Chaz Mostert.

Image: LAT

I was like ‘far out we were on pole’ and I was disappointed we couldn’t at least convert to a podium.

“It’s not a fact of getting ahead of yourself, but you do set goals and goals change. And when you start winning like we are then there’s always going to be ups and downs, but you just want to keep striving for better.

“I am definitely not taking the speed of the car for granted, so when I don’t do the best job and don’t put myself on the podium or score a pole when I should have I am pretty frustrated for sure.”

The New Zealander has the chance to set a new race-win record for Supercars on home soil at Pukekohe this month, before heading to Mount Panorama with his best chance yet of winning the Bathurst 1000.

If he leads the championship by more than 900 points at the end of the Great Race he will secure his second straight driver’s title.

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SIX-TIME BATHURST 1000 winner Craig Lowndes has extended his current Red Bull Holden Racing Team contract to remain with the team as a co-driver. The initial deal signed was for this season’s Pirtek Endurance Cup, but the new contract extends the partnership by a further two years until the end of the 2021 season. The three-time champion is hopeful of retaining both his Bathurst 1000 victory and Pirtek Enduro Cup crown in 2019.

THE 2020 Dunlop Super2 calendar has also been revealed and like 2018 will feature seven rounds. The second tier series will once again begin in Adelaide before traveling to Symmons Plains, Townsville, Sydney Motorsport Park, Bathurst, Sandown and Newcastle. Symmons Plains and Syndey Motorsport Park return to the calendar after a one and two year absence respectively. These two additions are at the expense of Perth and Queensland Raceway, the latter having been dropped from the 2020 Supercars schedule.

AMERICA HAS had its first taste of a Ford Mustang Supercar when former Australian IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe performed a special demonstration in front of the Virginia International Raceway crowd. The Shell liveried Ford Mustang is the former Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon driven by David Wall in 2014, the Supercar completed demo laps at the IMSA Sportscar event alongside a Ford GT and Mustang GT4.

AFTER THE Supercars Round at Tailem Bend concluded, Jamie Whincup drove ‘Kate’ his Bathurst 1000 and V8 Supercar championship winning car from 2012 around the circuit. The Vodafone sponsored Commodore was on display at The Bend Welcome Centre throughout the weekend.

The car which is now owned by Whincup was the last project blueprint championship winner and the most recent car that Jamie has won both the championship and the 1000 in.

8 AutoAction

SUPERCARS BATHURST BID DETAILS

By MARK FOGARTY A HILLCLIMB shoot-out and a half-day test featuring all V8 teams are part of the Supercars proposal for a fifth event at Bathurst’s Mount Panorama.

Supercars’ bid is for a three-day motoring and lifestyle festival featuring displays and demonstrations as well as the special V8 track appearances.

If successful, the annual event will be held from next September.

Regional food and wine activities and a cycling race around the Mount Panorama circuit are also included in the proposal.

Supercars is bidding against emerging rival Australian Racing Group for the rights to stage an additional full-track closure event at the track each year.

The peed and specialties weekend is pitched against ARG’s proposal for a new-look Bathurst 500 featuring a big international TCR field.

Both groups have made their final submissions to the Bathurst Regional Council, with a decision expected later this month.

BRG is restricted by legislation to running a maximum of five events involving the full closure of the Mount Panorama course.

The existing four annual meetings are the Bathurst 12 Hour, Bathurst 6 Hour, Bathurst 1000 and Challenge Bathurst.

The council has previously made it clear that the tender process has been for a potential fifth event, with no guarantee it will be allocated.

However, it is expected that either Supercars’ or ARG’s proposal will be strong enough to secure

the extra slot.

Auto Action has learned that Supercars’ proposal includes a hillclimb shoot-out involving all V8 teams.

It was originally proposed to run from The Chase up to McPhillamy Park, but safety concerns about barrier placement running in the ‘wrong’ direction nixed that idea.

It was changed to a standing start sprint from the bottom of the circuit, up Mountain Straight to McPhillamy Park.

The cars would sprint up the hill one at a time, culminating in a run-off for the top prize.

The full Supercars field would also participate in a half-day test utilising the full Mount Panorama circuit.

The Supercars track activities would be among the major attractions of a motoring and lifestyle festival.

AA understands the proposal includes displays and demonstrations of famous historic and modern racing cars from overseas.

Regional wines and cheeses, and other local produce, would also be featured at the likely threeday event.

An international cycling race around the testing 6.21 km hillside circuit, which has an elevation of 174 metres, is another proposed attraction.

The multi-attraction combination of cars and lifestyle format is consistent with Supercars supremo Sean Seamer’s declaration that a new event at Bathurst needed to be “something different”.

ARG’s pitch, which is in conjunction with CAMS, centres on a 500 km TCR enduro featuring an

international field of up to 50 cars.

Informed sources indicate that speculation the proposal includes a supporting WTCR sprint racing round is incorrect.

The new-look Bathurst 500 – reviving the name of the original Mount Panorama endurance touring car race, but with the distance in kilometres rather than miles – would be accompanied by supporting races for categories from ARG’s growing portfolio, including Touring Car Masters and TA2.

ARG is understood to be looking at a midDecember slot, while Supercars is believed to be more flexible.

Scheduling a fifth major event at Mount Panorama is challenging because it has to avoid being too close to the established meetings and winter, when Bathurst is bitterly cold.

The Bathurst 12 Hour is late January/early February; the Bathurst 6 Hour is at Easter; the Bathurst 1000 is in October; and Challenge Bathurst is in November.

The Supercars proposal is for early September, while ARG is pitching an end-of-season December date.

AA understands that while Supercars was looking at a 2021 start, BRG has stipulated the fifth event must be ready to go next year.

Supercars is looking to create a southern hemisphere version of Britain’s Goodwood Festival Of Speed, which has a garden party atmosphere and is as much a social occasion as a racing event.

A decision on the fifth event is likely to be announced during the October 10-13 Bathurst 1000.

RANDLE COULD BE POACHED RED-HOT rookie Thomas Randle could be lost by Tickford Racing to a rival Supercars team in 2020 if he continues his stellar wildcard form in the Pirtek Enduro Cup. Team boss Tim Edwards acknowledged that possibility after Randle’s brilliant Supercars championship debut at The Bend.

“He’ demonstrated not just to our team but to other teams he is going to be a star of the future,” Edwards told Auto Action.

That’s high praise considering the team has already fostered young talent including Chaz Mostert, Cam Waters and Jack Le Brocq.

Randle was confirmed as Lee Holdsworth’s co-driver in The Bottle-O Ford immediately after The Bend (see the Auto Action website for more details), where he showed impressive pace and maturity.

The Super2 driver leapt out of the blocks to be fastest in the additional driver session on Friday morning in the Scandia Mustang, then set 10th fastest

time in practice two to bypass the first stage of Saturday qualifying.

The 23-year old qualified 14th for the 120km outing, but only finished 17th after being caught up in a first corner fracas. He qualified 21st for Sunday’s 200km outing and then raced to 17th despite pit stop dramas.

“I was really pleased with how well he did, yes he got turned around in the first corner of his first race but he drove sensibly after that,” said Edwards.

“If you looked at his lap times for the last 10 laps of the race, he was one of

the fastest cars on the track. So it really bodes well for the enduros.

“He did a stellar job, I’m really pleased, he exceeded expectations.”

Tickford Racing potentially has two seats to fill in 2020 if Mostert does move to Walkinshaw Andretti United as expected. It also has an option on Holdsworth’s services for a second year but that has yet to be renewed.

Le Brocq is expected to rejoin the team he drove for in Super2 and the enduros, potentially leaving one seat free at the team for Randle to be promoted in to.

“Whether that (promotion) happens next year of the following year time will tell,” said Edwards. “But he did everything he needed to do to demonstrate to people he does deserve a seat on the grid.

“He certainly ticked a lot of boxes for us and himself at Tailem Bend.”

If that promotion to the main game doesn’t come at Tickford Racing in 2020, Randle could land a seat at one of several teams as there are so many potential vacancies in this volatile silly season.

“That’s always a worry,” conceded Edwards. “I can’t stop that, but certainly every other team in the category know it is a big step up going from Super2 to the main series.

“I am sure he caught the attention of other teams on the weekend, but time will tell whether its 2020 or 2021 when he gravitates to the main series.”

Randle currently lies fourth in the Dunlop Super2 title chase in the Skye Sands Ford Falcon FG X, trailing runaway leader Bryce Fullwood by 381 points. BN

RACE-WINNING HERITAGE QUALITY VALUE & SUPPORT

GIBSON FIRST CONFIRMED S5000 FULL SERIES ENTRY MELBOURNE DRIVER Michael Gibson has confirmed his entry for the opening races of the new S5000 category.

Gibson, from a well-known Australian motorsport family, and with a background including Sports 2000 and touring cars, is also a motorsport engineer – tending the cars owned by Melbourne racer, Apex Steel’s Joe Calleja.

Gibson’s S5000 programme, initially to contest the two 2019 launch events, comes courtesy of former Formula Holden racer Albert Callegher (ACM Finance), and sponsors WM Waste and Apex.

“As a former team owner and driver in Formula Brabham/Holden, I’m looking forward to backing Michael, with a view to growing a team much the same as I operated in the 90s – only this time as a team owner,” said Callegher.

“Having watched S5000 evolve, and with my love of open-wheelers all the way up to F1, what has been created is a practical race car, economical to run, yet very fast – and with all the sound and looks of an F1 car to the average spectator and the corporate partners proposing to join us.”

Gibson comes from a broad

motorsport family background. His father was a well-known sports car racer. Bevan Gibson, an uncle, was tragically killed at Bathurst back in 1969, age 23, while driving an Elfin 400, which flipped on the main straight, while two other uncles raced sports cars and F2, and spent time in F1 as race mechanics.

“This entry represents one of the things we hoped to achieve with S5000,” said category manager Chris Lambden. “Knowing Michael had the basics of a budget, and the motivation to get involved, and on the other hand Albert – a former racer with the desire and capability to create a team – we simply brought the two of them together.

They met for the first time a couple of weeks back and now we have a complete entry.

“People who can remember back that far will recall that legendary F5000 champion in the 70s, Warwick Brown, got his start because his neighbor wanted to go racing … it’s great that we are able to put something like that together today.”

Thanks to his position with Joe Calleja’s race team, Gibson also has the advice and support of John

Bowe: “Michael’s family are long-time motorsport people – they’re Benalla people and his grandfather, Hoot Gibson, co-drove with Lex Davison in the Armstrong 500 and was prominent among the group that built Winton.

So I’ve known Michael for a long time. He’s done a lot of driving in various cars, sports cars, several historics, and he’s a good driver.

It’s great that he’s getting the opportunity to race in this fantastic new category …”

For Michael Gibson himself, the opportunity to race S5000 is a dream come true: “Since I was 16 I’ve been trying to put together a deal to race at a decent level – the fact that it is now happening, especially in something as awesome as S5000, is a bit surreal.

I’m incredibly thankful and grateful that Albert, Mark Jeffs (WM Waste), Joe, and others have combined to make this happen. We’ll be giving it our best shot …”

The team will take delivery of a brand new S5000 car shortly, to be based at Apex Racing’s facility in Melbourne, and prepared for the lead-in test day at Phillip Island in two weeks’ time.

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TCR T ITLE STILL ON THE LINE T

BOTH CARSALES TCR Australia title contenders Will Brown and Dylan O’Keeffe believe the title is up for grabs despite a 116-point margin to be bridged with two rounds remaining and 264-points up for grabs.

As much as Winton was a Hyundai circuit, the Alfa Romeo is expected to be well suited to the long straights of Sandown leaving O’Keeffe quietly confident of replicating his Ipswich form.

“I’m confident of having another dominating weekend at Sandown I hope to keep the title alive, not only for myself, but for the fans because it would make it interesting,” he said after a disappointing day on Sunday.

“I’d love to be right in contention. It’s a bit of a long shot, but if we keep on going about our business, we have a good package. At Sandown, if we can try and qualify on that front-row to hopefully drive away.”

Saturday’s third place result came after the Alfa Romeo had a long brake pedal for the duration of the race, failing to give O’Keeffe confidence. Positive changes had been made ahead of Race 2, but tyre damage due to dropping a wheel off a kerb led to a slow leak and an excursion on the grass at Turn 4.

O’Keeffe’s day only marginally improved as traffic hampered his charge through the grid in Race 3, though after battles with Alexandra Whitley and Leanne Tander, eighth was the best he could muster.

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“It was enjoyable, but the gearing of the Alfa doesn’t suit the second gear corners at Winton,” O’Keeffe reflected.

“It’s good in qualifying because you can carry higher mid-corner speed and keep the momentum, but when drivers park it at the corner it makes it really difficult to

get a run.”

Brown on the other hand, had a dream weekend making up for his misfire at Queensland Raceway. But, he is worried about the Balance of Performance measures that will hamper his i30 N TCR at Sandown.

“I think probably the last two rounds are where you have to maybe look more at the championship, Sandown is going to be a bit like Ipswich it has some really long straights, which we’re a little bit BoP’d that just affects it a bit there,” Brown explained.

“If we can get a top five and still have a good championship lead heading to The Bend, we showed we were quite quick there so we’ll see what happens. There are still six races to go and you can get taken out quite easily so you’re just not sure.”

Brown will complete double duty, recently confirming his participation in S5000, but is undaunted by the challenge.

“Not concerned at all, just excited. This is like 2016 on steroids; I ran Toyota 86 and Formula 4 there, now it’s TCR and S5000, so it’s pretty cool,” Brown enthused. “As I found that year, you jump in a completely different car, it’s a tin top with a roof and all that, just my mind switches over generally.” HM

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LATEST NEWS

MATTHEW BRABHAM grandson of the late three-time Formula 1 world champion Jack Brabham and son of Le Mans 24 Hours winner Geoff Brabham has been announced as the second driver to race in the inaugural round of S5000. Brabham a former Pro Mazda and U.S. F2000 champion is no stranger to open wheel cars and will line up Formula 1’s most experienced driver Rubens Barrichello later this month at Sandown Raceway.

IT HAS been confirmed that the Stadium Super Trucks will make their highly anticipated return Australian shores. It was first announced that the series would race at the 2020 Adelaide 500 as a support category to Supercars at the start of next year. However since then the series announced a deal to support the Supercars at the Gold Coast 600 in October later this year.

BATHURST 12 Hour organisers have announced the delay of proposed changes to the sporting regulations for 2020. Following entrants and fan feedback the organisers decided to put on hold the introduction of the controversial mandatory pit stop times, stint length, joker pit stops and technical pit stops for 2020. While it was set to be introduced to bring it in line with other Intercontinental GT Challenge rounds it did not sit well with fans and competitors.

NEW ZEALAND Rally driver Hayden Paddon has announced his plans to build the world’s first electric rally car. Developed by the Alternative Energy Motorsport Division of the Paddon Rallysport Group, the EV project will be based on the Hyundai Kona and built with the support of Hyundai New Zealand, the University of Canterbury and Stohl Advanced Research and Development. Australia season.

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PIT STOP KINGS HIT BY CHANGES

By BRUCE NEWTON THE 2020 Supercars formats means Brad Jones Racing will have less chances to show off its slick pit stop abilities, but it’s a trade-off team boss Brad Jones is willing to take.

BJR has consistently demonstrated the ability to make super-fast pit stops in SuperSprint 120km races when two tyres are often the only requirement.

It’s also been a star in the Pirtek pit stop and occupies two of the top four slots ahead of the finale at Bathurst in October. The finalists for that competition are determined by who can change two tyres fastest in pit stops at designated races.

But with the Saturday SuperSprint

outings going to 200km and a minimum 120 litre fuel drop, refuelling will be a part of more stops than ever across the 28-race 2020 structure.

The only races where refuelling won’t be required are the four 100km sprints at the Formula One Grand Prix, where only tyre changes are specified.

“I liked the pit stop competition and that sort of thing,” Jones explained.

“It’s a race for the crew and you can’t do that in the 200km race because fuel is the governing factor.

“But it is what it is. I am not too bothered about that.”

But Jones, who is also a Supercars board member and commissioner,

BJR DECISION ON SLADE SOON SOUTH AUSTRALIAN Tim Slade could leave Brad Jones Racing at the end of the current Supercars season.

The driver of the #14 Brad Jones Racing Commodore has had a season to forget, failing to score a top 10 finish since the Phillip Island round of the series in April, while his teammate Nick Percat is having his best season in the category.

Auto Action believes the resigning of the two-time race winner hinges on the renewal of naming rights sponsors Freightliner and Alliance Truck Parts.

When AA asked team founder and principal Brad Jones about continuing with Slade, he

hesitantly said that it is something that is currently being discussed.

“It is something Timmy and I are working through and we will sort it out in due course,” he said.

Percat currently sits eighth in the standings and over a round clear of Slade who has been looking for answers in the #14 car. The pair switched cars at a Supercars ride day to see if Slade could find something but to no avail.

When asked if he wanted Slade to remain at the team in 2020 Jones cagily and reflectively replied.

“I want my cars to have the best drivers in them and get to the best results possible and you know Tim has done a great job for us,” Jones told AA. Dan McCarthy

says the trade-off is worth making.

The 200km race on Saturdays at SuperSprints adds value while allowing the championship to shrink from 15 to 14 rounds.

“I don’t really like that (change to 200km),” Jones. “But we’ve done it to ensure we get the same amount of airtime on television despite dropping an event.

“I think it’s a really good calendar.

The gaps between the races are even so I feel it’s very consistent and that means we can really plan the time between the events.

“I am okay with dropping an event.

For us it’s a financial consideration and necessary in the current climate.”

MAPPING FIRES HARD TO DOUSE TICKFORD RACING has revealed recently revised engine mapping has triggered a spate of airbox fires.

But the issue, which potentially cost Will Davison a win at The Bend, is proving hard to track down because of its random nature.

The team is also conscious it needs to find a solution without affecting engine performance the mapping delivers.

“It’s something we have induced lately from the way we have been mapping the engines,” confirmed team boss Tim Edwards.

“We have got to get on top of it.”

“We will just make little tweaks.

We don’t want to make wholesale changes and cost ourselves drivability. We just have to make subtle changes until we don’t have it again.”

While the fires have flared up ontrack and in pitlane, the team now believes it has resolved the former scenario.

But it continues to occur while the team’s Ford Mustangs are running on the pitlane speed limiter.

It happened during the second stop for both Davison and team-mate Lee Holdsworth during the 200km Sunday

race 22 at The Bend.

It cost Davison 1.2 seconds and potentially the race win in his 23Red Ford, as Scott McLaughlin undercut him in his DJR Team Penske Mustang.

“It’s one of those things,” said Edwards. “It’s as you come into pitlane and you’re banging on the limiter.

“It goes from flat chat full throttle out on track and as soon as you get on the limiter and you are knocking spark out to achieve pitlane speed it has a hiccup.

“There’s a lot of fuel mists and fuel in the airboxes and for whatever

reason it is igniting.

“But it is a difficult thing. You go through all practice no problem, you go through the first day no problem and then you have it in the race.”

Airbox fires are nothing new in Supercars or at Tickford. Former team driver David Reynolds reminisced on a recent podcast about encountering them in 2012.

“It’s a trait of Supercar engines and the way we achieve the pitlane speed limit; popping and banging and all that,” said Edwards.

Tickford has found the issue almost impossible to replicate on the dyno

and difficult to fix via experimentation at the limited test days or in practice sessions at events.

“In practice sessions you literally have half-an-hour and you can try and make some changes in the two or three runs you make for that session,” said Edwards.

“But you have such little track time and so limited opportunities and because it happens so randomly … it’s a hard one to diagnose.

“The team is going through everything but it is so hard to replicate. It is proving a little challenge for them.” BN

NISSAN AERO IMPROVED AERODYNAMIC CHANGES made to the Nissan Altima ahead of the Supercars championship event at The Bend have been given a cautious thumbs up by Kelly Racing.

The Nissans fronted in South Australia with trimmed front undertrays and a taller bootlid gurney flap in the latest round of aerodynamic parity adjustments to hit the Supercars field in the wake of the Ford Mustang’s introduction.

The competitive debut at The Bend came after 1200km of testing at Winton involving all four team drivers and their Pirtek Enduro Cup co-drivers.

At The Bend Andre Heimgartner was the sole Altima to qualify or finish in the top 10 with a 6-5 result in Saturday’s 120km race. But Simona De Silvestro posted her

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career-best Supercars qualifying with 13th on Saturday and followed that up with 14th on Sunday.

Last year Michael Caruso scored two third places and Kelly a third and fourth at the Bend in one of the Altimas strongest showings of the year.

“The drivers were a lot more content with the balance of the car,” team co-owner Todd Kelly told Auto Action after The Bend. “How they are to drive is an improvement.

“But we went well at that track last year so we really need to go to one or two more circuits and see how they compare to the Holden and Ford. But just from the driving standpoint they are happy with them.”

Kelly said reducing the size of the undertray had resulted in the cars becoming less pitch sensitive.

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“Every time it pitched you either had a heap of downforce at the front or none and how that changed from braking, to turning to mid-corner was massive.

‘That’s been dulled right down so now it’s drivable.”

The Altima had received splitter and gurney flap modifications via the Supercars VCAT

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test last December that set the aero parity with the Mustang and Holden Commodore ZB. The purpose of the recent changes was to tilt the aerodynamic balance of the Altima more rearward and make it more easily tunable. The Commodore went through a similar evolution in June. BN

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LATEST NEWS

THE ADELAIDE built Brabham BT62 Supercar will make its racing debut later this year in a twilight Britcar race at Brands Hatch on November 9-10. The car will have to be slightly altered to meet the GT3 regulations as the car would have been around five seconds a lap faster. The Brabham car is expected to join the World Endurance Championship in 2022 but the team is yet to decide if that will be in the Hypercar class or GTE Pro.

TWO-TIME Formula 1 Champion and two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Fernando Alonso will extend his relationship with Toyota as he works towards an attempt at the next Dakar Rally. Toyota Gazoo Racing confirmed that Alonso would complete a testing program over the next five months as part of their Dakar Rally preparations, undergoing an intensive training programme in the Toyota Hilux across Europe, Africa and the Middle East to familiarise himself with the challenging rigours of rally raid.

Porsche has launched its debut Formula E car in a very unique way. The drivers Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer had to locate the new 99X Electric at the Porsche Digital GmbH premises in Ludswigburg, Germany using instructions from the gaming community to unveil their new ride for 2019. The German manufacturer has been hard at work developing the powertrain for its new contender, which is mated to the standardised chassis and battery.

MICHELLE HALDER has become the first lady to take a race win in the ADAC TCR Germany series as she claimed a light to flag victory at Zandvoort in a Honda Civic TCR car and was joined on the podium by her brother Mike. At the following round at the Nurburgring World Rally Championship star Thierry Neuville made a wildcard appearance in the series and claimed a pole, fastest lap and race victory in his debut circuit race and backed it up with another solid sixth position, the Belgian has since said he is open to a wildcard opportunity in WTCR.

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PENSKE NOT CONSIDERING SUPER2 TEAM DJR TEAM Penske team principal Ryan Story has told Auto Action that the team has no interest in starting up a squad in the Dunlop Super2 Series.

Garry Rogers Motorsport, Matt Stone Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Erebus Motorsport ,Tickford Racing and championship rivals Triple Eight Race Engineering as they attempt to bring through young drivers to race in the Supercars Championship.

However Ryan Story feels that although DJR Team Penske have the resources to enter cars in the second tier series, it is not something that the squad is looking at doing.

“We have a two car team in the main game

and that is our focus, our focus is to try and win races and championships in Supercars,” Story told AA. “We never rule anything out, we’ve certainly got the hardware to do it but it is not something that we have actively considered or thought about.”

Tickford Racing and GRM are well known for bringing up junior drivers from their Super2 teams to the main game. Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters both came through the Tickford Super2 team and have forged very successful careers in the Tickford main game team.

Thomas Randle is the current Super2 Tickford

driver knocking on the door of a seat in the main team next year.

Story felt the concept made sense but admitted that unless circumstances worked out it is not something the team would do currently.

“If we had the right stars align with the mixture of staff and drivers who we could potentially bring up through the mix it would make sense, but it is not something on our radar at the moment.”

This means it will be unlikely that we will be seeing young hotshots such as an Anton de Pasquale or Todd Hazelwood make their Supercars debut in the famous Ford squad.

Dan McCarthy

AGI SPORT TO BE ON S5000 GRID AT SANDOWN FORMULA 4 team AGI Sport are hopeful of fielding two cars in the inaugural round of the S5000 series at Sandown Raceway next month.

Two teams have already announced entries into the series so far, Formula 4 rivals Team BRM and Super2 squad Eggleston Motorsport will be joined by AGI Sport as founder and team principal Adam Gotch told Auto Action.

“We are certainly aiming to run two cars at Sandown, and we would love to have a two-car team for next year so we are

working towards that for sure,” Gotch said.

Gotch a former Williams Formula 1 mechanic and manager of Team Australia in A1 GP was interested in the series from the moment he first heard Chris Lambden’s idea and hopes that the spectators will also get behind the series.

“When Chris Lambden first floated the idea S5000 in the media a couple of years ago, I thought ‘geez that is interesting’, I’ve got a real soft spot for a V8 open wheeler,” Gotch explained.

“I’ve had the opportunity to

work in a number of V8 powered open-wheel series such as A1 GP and F1.

“I thought this could be a really nice concept in Australia and potentially our version of IndyCar. I hope the Motorsport community gets behind it, so far I think the reception has been really, really positive which bodes well for the future.”

At the S5000 test and evaluation day which took place at Phillip Island AGI Sport ran two cars, one driven by the team’s reigning Formula 4 champion Luis Leeds and TCR Australia

driver and international open-wheel pilot John Martin.

Gotch felt that the test went well despite it being called early due to heavy rain.

“This morning was really productive I’m really glad we made the effort to come down to touch and feel an S5000 for the first time,” Gotch told AA at the conclusion of the Phillip Island test.

“We got a lot out of this morning in the dry running, we are very happy with that.”

It expected the team will take delivery of the two-cars this week.

DM

BRIGHT FORM RETURNS UPON DISCOVERY VETERAN JASON Bright is confident an issue found just last week in preparation for this weekend’s TCR Australia round at Winton will reverse his recent downturn of form, having kicked the weekend off with victory in Race 1 yesterday.

The inaugural TCR Australia race winner has not visited the podium since that day in May at Sydney Motorsport Park and although he had a strong showing at Phillip Island a collision while battling for second diminished his results not only for the rest of that weekend, but throughout the mid-portion of the season.

“We qualified third at Phillip Island and I was pretty happy with that at a circuit that suited us, then when I was battling with Andre [Heimgartner] for second,” Bright explained.

“We obviously came together and coped some damage from that, then carried it the last three rounds.

“It was only found a week ago.”

The damage has since proven to be quite integral to the handling of his ex-Asian TCR Volkswagen Golf TCR and the dividends of the repair has proven its worth already.

“It cracked a crossmember mount and where the bottom arm mounts on, it was cracked as well,” he described.

“When you look at it you go ‘could that be all it was?’ but

because it’s front-wheel drive there is a lot of load that goes with it, which sort of explains the issues and inconsistencies we were having. But the trouble was The Bend was half wet, we thought maybe that’s why we didn’t have any pace there, then we changed set-up at Queensland Raceway and didn’t do anything there.

“As soon as we drove out here, the car was back.”

Bright is confident that his Matt Stone Racing-prepared Golf will be a contender for victories over the course of the final eight races of the season although he is out of title contention.

“I hope so,” Bright enthused.

“Here [Winton] I feel like we’re in the top four and I’m having fun racing at the front.”

Bright followed up with second in Race 2, while a stall in the final ended his run of podiums. Heath McAlpine

PEDAL DOWN. PERFORMANCE UP.

S5000 BUILDING MOMENTUM S5000 IS gaining momentum as we quickly approach the inaugural round of the new V8 powered wings and slicks category set for Sandown later this month.

The S5000 test and evaluation day at Phillip Island on the 28th of August ran relatively trouble free but was called early due to heavy rain. Three of the five S5000 cars were brand new and had not been on a circuit prior to the test.

Barry Rogers has overseen the build of the S5000 cars in his Garry Rogers Motorsport workshop and told AA the original car had an issue.

“From the original car we still had an old component, an oil cooler failed on that car which we had previous issues with, PWR have made a renewed batch which are in the others cars which are 100%,” Barry Rogers said.

Some well-known names attended the test, Supercars driver James Golding, TCR race winner and former A1 GP driver John Martin, reigning Formula

4 champion Luis Leeds, European Le Mans race winner Ricky Capo and Australian Superbike rider Beau Beaton.

Two teams have confirmed entry into the series, Team BRM has been involved in many Australian open wheel categories over decades and will field a car for Rubens Barrichello. Eggleston Motorsport have also confirmed entry with TCR Australia Series leader Brown.

Auto Action revealed that Australian Formula 4 team AGI Sport were hopeful of running two cars at Sandown and throughout 2020, the team attended the test with Leeds and Martin.

“I pooped my pants at the start because I wasn’t ready for how much power it had,” Leeds recalled to Auto Action.

“To experience the g-forces and the power, there isn’t much grip, you’re just constantly searching for the edge and it is by far the most fun I’ve ever had in a

car,” he said.

Martin found it very different to any open wheel car he had previously driven.

“It’s quite different, the acceleration side of it,” Martin told AA. “Power, it has got a fair bit of that, similar to the A1 GP car but it hasn’t got much downforce, you can’t carry the same corner speed as you could in them.

It’s a halfway house like a really high powered Formula Ford,” Martin said.

Confirmed drivers to join Barrichello are Brown, Matthew Brabham who is a former Pro Mazda champion and U.S. F2000 series winner and son of the late Sir Jack and Michael Gibson who also comes from a well-known Australian motorsport family. Dan McCarthy

QUEST FOR SAFETY CONTINUES MOTOR RACING will never be completely safe, but the tragic accident at Spa which resulted in Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert losing his life stresses the point that the sport can always be made safer.

The FIA is going through the process of conducting a full and complete investigation, just as it does with all serious incidents in all motor sports “From our end there was an investigation that started on Saturday (after the accident occurred), and it will go from here,” Australia’s Michael Masi, the FIA race director, said when Auto Action asked him what the procedure was for investigating the F2 accident to improve overall safety.

“Our technical, safety and all of the various departments within the FIA commenced an investigation immediately,” he added. “The FIA together with the RACB, the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, will work together with the authorities and the investigation will go on and we will go from there.”

The massive multi-car pileup on the second lap of the Formula 2 race during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend happened on the high-speed 270kph uphill Eau Rouge/Raidillon

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complex of corners that lead onto the Kemmel Straight.

Giuliano Alesi’s spinning car forced Hubert to take evasive action that sent his own car out of control. Juan Manuel Correa then slammed into Hubert.

A pall drifted over the circuit as the rumours turned into tragic facts. The accident happened at 5:07 p.m. local time, and Hubert passed away at 6:35 p.m. in the track medical centre.

Correa suffered fractures to both his legs plus a minor spinal injury. His team said in a statement that he was in stable condition and resting in the intensive care unit in a hospital in Liège.

One of the reasons that both race fans and those in the team paddocks at the circuit were so stunned was because racing driver deaths are a rare thing these days.

The last driver to die as the result of an accident during a top-level international race weekend sanctioned by the FIA was Jules Bianchi. He suffered head injuries in a crash during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix in October and passed away the following July.

The last drivers to die in accidents during an

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F1 weekend were Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

“With time you tend to forget things,” Daniel Ricciardo said. “With Jules it is quite a few years ago now, and time moves on and safety moves on, and you think okay that was the last time. And when it happens again you are harshly reminded that the risk is still there. It makes you question is it really worth it?

“Is it worth everything that you are chasing?

But when you get back in the car it does seem worth it, it does feel like it is what we are supposed to do. So even though today (race day) was not particularly fun racing so soon after, part of it actually felt right that we would be out there and competing.”

The F2 race scheduled for Sunday was canceled. Prior to both the F3 and F1 races there was a minute of silence in remembrance of Hubert. Dan Knutson

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TAYLOR’S APETITE WHETTED FORMER AUSTRALIAN Rally champion Molly Taylor is keen to give TCR another go after bidding farewell to the series at Winton.

The Subaru factory rally driver cannot participate in the final two rounds due to clashes with the Australian Rally Championship, but has reflected fondly on her time in circuit racing.

“Obviously not great to have an issue at every race weekend, but for me it was just about learning and just jumping into the deep end with something completely new,” Taylor reflected to Auto Action.

“For me to progress in every round and every race, and getting kilometres, I feel learnt so much out of this experience. This experience was never about the results, it’s not how you want to finish, but it wasn’t what I was also aiming for.”

Taylor used her teammates Supercars driver

Andre Heimgartner and for the last round Super2 leader Bryce Fullwood as guides to her progress during the series and she is pleased by the advancement over the course of the season.

“It’s good to have drivers like Bryce [Fullwood] in there, so today I could get within a second of his time and I look at that marker and you just use that as a benchmark,” Taylor said.

“It obviously means there is still work to do and

be better, but I’m not a million miles away. It’s encouraging enough to know that given this is the first time doing anything like this. You can see where you’re at and where you need to improve.”

Reliable issues hampered Taylor’s season and didn’t relent at Winton as broken axles, then a fuel pressure issue ended her campaign, but she is keen to continue next year although her plans are still unknown.

“I’d like to give this another crack,” she enthused. “I’ve definitely learnt a lot and it’s helped my rally stuff out as well, just with seat time and every time you go out working with different teams you learn something.”

Taylor will contest the Adelaide Hills Rally on September 20-22.

EVANS TAKES FIRST SUPERCUP PODIUM

ROBOTHAM TAKES TA2 IN THAILAND VICTORIAN JAYLYN Robotham has taken a double victory contesting the TA2 Asia Series in Bangsaen Circuit, Thailand.

Sharing with experienced Kiwi Paul Manuell, the 16-year-old backed up their strong result at the last round at Buriram where a second and first were the result in the two races.

In separate qualifying sessions Manuell scored pole, while Robotham third. The start was perfect from the Kiwi, but due to 20s being added due to the Toyota 86 driver’s silver-tiered rating he emerged in third. He pushed to grab the lead before a safety car was called leaving only three green flag laps to go.

Withstanding intense pressure from fellow Aussie Steve Owen, he took a narrow victory.

“It was such an incredible feeling to take the win”, said Robotham.

“I was mindful that I had Steve (Owen) chasing hard behind me and I’m just glad that I was able to hold him off and bring it home for the team.

“Paul and the crew did a mega job!”

After starting the second race third, a safety car was

14 AutoAction

called, which meant Robotham failed to improve on his qualifying position over the course of his stint. The team gambled on strategy, bringing in Robotham a lap later than the other frontrunners.

This set up a charge from Manuell, which delivered victory after a late race pass on Craig Corliss.

“It was an amazing feeling to come away with both of the wins,” said the 16-year old.

“It was the first time the Series raced around Bangsean Circuit, which was quite a difficult track, so to claim a double podium like that is just awesome. There were some pretty big names there on the weekend too; so, I’m pretty stoked that we were able to hold them off and bring home the results.

“A big thanks to all my sponsors and fans for their on-going support and also to the crew, Paul Forgie and teammate, Paul Manuell for all their hard work over the weekend. The car was awesome fun to drive and I can’t wait to get back there at the end of this month and hopefully do it all again!”

The next round of TA2 Asia is at the Bira Race Circuit on September 28-29.

REIGNING AUSTRALIAN Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series winner Jaxon Evans recorded his first podium in the Porsche Supercup Series at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Kiwi qualified fourth but made a terrific start taking third before the cars entered La Source.

Evans in the Fach Auto Tech Porsche got a great run through Eau Rouge and up over Raidillon, the New Zealander was forced to go the long way around Ayhancan Guven at Le Combes but couldn’t quite make the move stick.

Dylan Pereira led the first lap but came under increasing pressure from both Guven and Evans as the laps went by. Shortly after the halfway stage of the 11 lap race Evans began to drop back off the leading pair unable to match their speed consistently.

A great final lap tussle for the lead allowed Evans to close up to the

leading pair but he ran out of laps finishing with the fastest lap right behind winner Pereira and Guven.

“I’m really thrilled. My start was great and I managed to beat Larry ten Voorde in the sprint to the first corner,” Evans said.

The four Australians also had a good run, Joey Mawson made up places in the opening lap to find himself in 10th, the former GP3 driver could not hold back Mikkel Pedersen who demoted Mawson to 11th but second in rookie class.

Brenton and Stephen Grove became the first father and son pairing to compete in the same Porsche Supercup race. Brenton on debut briefly sat 19th, but brought the car home in 20th after picking up three positions from where he started.

Father Stephen finished fourth in the Pro-Am classification and 29th overall with the final Aussie Marc Cini in 31st.

PIASTRI DOMINATES EUROCUP AT THE NURBURGRING OSCAR PIASTRI won both races in the sixth round of the Formula Renault Eurocup Series at the Nurburgring.

The victories have allowed the Australian take a commanding lead in the championship heading into the remaining four rounds of the 2019 series.

Piastri started the weekend strong by grabbing pole position for Race 1 by over half a second, however it was the second placed car of Patrik Pasma who led into Turn 1, out dragging Piastri at the start.

An early safety car bunched up the field and after the restart Piastri was able to stay close to the leader, the R-ace GP driver attempted multiple overtakes before finally getting the job done on lap 14 and

went on to win comfortably by just under 3s.

“My start was far from ideal, but I held second place and tried to pass Patrik whenever there was a gap,” Piastri said. “It was a good battle, but I hope I can have a much calmer day in the lead tomorrow.”

Another pole position was to come ahead of Race 2, and despite being challenged at the first corner

by Alex Quinn, Piastri held on and never looked back. Winning the final race by an incredible 14s to cement his place at the top of the championship.

“The car was pretty spot on all weekend, the guys at R-ace GP

did a fantastic job,” Piastri said.

“There’s a quick turnaround now before we get back on track in Hungary where I’ll be trying to build on this advantage in the championship.”

Piastri now leads the series by 40 points over Victor Martins as

MCELREA SIMPLY UNTOUCHABLE IN PORTLAND IT WAS utter domination for Hunter McElrea during the penultimate round of the USF2000 series event at Portland International Raceway.

The New Zealander claimed two race wins to take the lead in the championship heading into the final round of the season.

McElrea put his car on pole for Race 1 ahead of his closest championship rival Braden Eves, who made a bold attempt to take the lead at

Turn 1.

After that McElrea was in unchallenged and in complete control, gradually building a gap during

the championship heads to the Hungaroring from September 7-8.

FORMULA RENAULT EUROCUP STANDINGS: Piastri 197, Victor Martins 157, Aleksandr Smolyar 153, Lorenzo Colombo 140, Caio Collet 122

the rest of the race, beating Eves by nearly 5s.

The same was to come in Race 2, with McElrea again putting himself on pole ahead of Eves.

Once again McElrea could not be touched, running away from the chasing pack to comfortably take the win by over 5s.

The second victory has left McElrea with a six point lead heading into the final round of the championship at Laguna Seca in three weeks time. If victorious the New Zealander will take home a $300,000 scholarship to compete in the Indy Pro 2000 championship in 2020.

FOR SALE As raced successfully raced by Eddie Abelnica of Melbourne’s Cheapest Cars in the Touring Car Masters Series with multiple race wins and many podiums.

The car was built by Marty Brant and maintained by Scott Owens in collaboration with Glenn Seton.

This vehicle is in immaculate condition and is race ready for Sandown and Bathurst.

JOSH SMITH returned to the South East Asian F4 Championship with great success, winning one of the four races at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia and finishing the round second overall.

Smith opened his weekend account with a solid second position in the opening race, Race 2 was a reverse grid race in which the Australian started 10th and made his way up to fourth. The car lacked pace in the second reverse grid race and Smith could only move up one spot from where he started to finish sixth. In the final race Smith and Hadrien David fought hard for the race victory with the Victorian coming out on top to take his third race victory of the season. “Race 4 I was in the right headspace, I didn’t have to think much of it, just took each corner as it came, made no mistakes and managed to do it pretty easily,” Smith told Auto Action. “It was a relief, it was exciting to know I can match a good driver like Hadrien.” DM IT WAS a weekend to forget for Alex Peroni in Formula 3 with the Australian involved in two incidents in the rounds two races at SpaFrancorchamps. After qualifying 11th for Race 1 Peroni came to grief at Bruxelles on the opening lap, making contact with Devlin DeFrancesco, the damage resulted him hitting the wall at the very next corner. A more serious incident was to come in Race 2 as Peroni tangled with Simo Laaksonen at Blanchimont. Laaksonen ended up buried deep in the tyre wall which brought out the safety car for an extended period, Peroni finished the race 15th.

Eddie Abelnica offers his Ford XB Falcon V8 GT Coupe T.C.M Series race car for sale.

FEATURES INCLUDE: KRE Race Engine 5800cc - 700 HP engine with dyno sheets, Triple plate carbon clutch, stainless custom exhaust, PWR radiators, and oil coolers, MoTeC data logging dash, G-Force Gear box, Modina/ True Track differential.

A huge spares package is included with the sale of the car, including rebuilt G-Force dogbox, brake rotors, callipers, shocks, wheels, tyres, suspension, body panels etc.

Additional spare KRE race engine, gearboxes and complete differentials also available by negotiation.

All log books and data etc, are available detailing all competition.

With current 2017 Bathurst set up in car, this car lapped Bathurst 2.18.00’s

FOR FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT BARRY HODSON 0419 930 993 AutoAction 15

s w e n e n O Formula FORMULA 1 has released videos and photos of a wind tunnel test featuring a 2021 Formula 1 concept car and showing what it believes the car will look like when the new major regulation changes are introduced. Formula 1 and the FIA, completed much research and development using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to make the 2021 concept. Tests were completed to see if the information researched matched up in the wind tunnel.

THE SPANISH Grand Prix is the latest Formula 1 race to sign a contract, which will see racing remain at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2020. Next year the circuit will mark the 30th consecutive year that the Spanish Grand Prix has been held at the circuit in Montmelo just a short distance from Barcelona. A total of 510,556 have attended the race in the last three years.

FORMULA 1 teams have agreed to a reduction in pre-season testing for next season due to the the addition of the 22nd race in 2020. Testing will be reduced by two days from two four day tests to two three day tests. It also appears that testing will continue at the Circuit de BarcelonaCatalunya and are expected to take place on February 19-21 and 26-28. The in season tests will also be scrapped and replaced with a post-season tyre test in Abu Dhabi.

RICCIARDO CONSIDERED NOT RACING AUSSIE F1 ace Daniel Ricciardo seriously pondered if he wanted to race in the Belgian Grand Prix the day after Anthoine Hubert was killed in a Formula 2 accident at the same Spa-Francorchamps circuit. He did race, of course, and finished 14th in his Renault that had been damaged in a first lap scrape with Lance Stroll.

Auto Action was there to hear what Ricciardo had to say after the grand prix. He was asked if there was a point where he thought he did not want to race.

“Last night absolutely,” he replied candidly. “You question is it really worth it? At the end of the day it is a simple question but a pretty honest one as well. It is our job and profession and our life, but also it is still just racing cars around in circles. So it gets to a point where you actually question it when you are reminded of these things – is it worth it?

“I certainly questioned it last night, but have a sleep and then seeing some of his family here today, that is what gave me more strength than anything else. How they could be here…I could not imagine being in their position, and I felt that they were a lot stronger than any of us today.”

Was it more sadness than fear for Ricciardo?

“Yes,” he said. “If you drive with fear then it’s best not to race. On the warm up laps that everyone does half an hour before the race, if I felt fear then I would not want to race. But it is just a sadness.”

“I’m glad that today is over,” Ricciardo added that Sunday evening. “I’m glad that the race is over. I know that weirdly enough the best way we can show our respect was to race today. But I don’t think that any of us actually wanted to be here or race.

“I am speaking for myself. But I’m sure I’m not the only one. It was certainly tough to be here and try and put on a brave face for everyone.

A lot of people in the paddock are hurting after yesterday. Everyone is relieved that it is done. We move on from here and hopefully it is the last time that this stuff happens.”

THE SEVEN OPEN SEATS OPEN FOR 2020 HAAS TEAM principal Guenther Steiner has said that the American team is unlikely to take a chance on a rookie in 2020 following the difficult season the team has had.

The contracts of both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean come to an end at conclusion of the 2019 season but Steiner feels that a rookie would not help assist the car development. The current Haas test driver Pietro Fittipaldi the grandson of twotime Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi hasn’t taken part in a practice session this season, as Steiner says that the team have more pressing priorities.

16 AutoAction

SEVEN FORMULA 1 seats remain open for next year following the raft of driver confirmations for 2020 during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

To sum up the revelations at SpaFrancorchamps: Mercedes renewed Valtteri Bottas’ contract for another year; Renault will replace Nico Hülkenberg with Esteban Ocon; and Sergio Pérez signed a new three-year deal with Racing Point.

The possible open rides are: two at Toro Rosso, and one each at Ferrari, Red Bull, Haas, Alfa Romeo and Williams.

This is how things stand with the 2020 team lineups as of now.

Renault: Aussie Daniel Ricciardo returns next year and will have Ocon as his new teammate.

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton and Bottas remain as teammates.

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc stays. Sebastian Vettel’s contract expires at the end of 2020, but

he might leave a year earlier.

Red Bull: Max Verstappen has a contract for 2020, but the team has yet to decide who his teammate will be. It could be Alex Albon, Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly, another young driver from the Red Bull programme, or perhaps a driver from outside the Red Bull family.

Haas: Kevin Magnussen is under contract, but Romain Grosjean is not. Hülkenberg and Grosjean are the top two candidates for the seat in 2020.

McLaren: The team got out of the Silly Season business early in July by confirming that Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris aren’t going anywhere.

Racing Point: It’s long-term for

both drivers. Pérez has his new three-year commitment. Lance Stroll’s billionaire father Lawrence Stroll is part of the consortium that owns the team.

Alfa Romeo: Kimi Räikkönen signed for 2019 and 2020. Things are far less certain for Antonio Giovinazzi who has had mixed results this season and might not be invited back.

Toro Rosso: Red Bull will play musical chairs with its two seats along with the open one at Red Bull. So Kvyat, Albon and Gasly are in limbo.

Williams: George Russell has had a really good rookie season masked by a very uncompetitive Williams. But he will stay with the team in 2020.

Having been out of F1 since his rally accident in February 2011, Robert Kubica’s fairytale return to F1 has been stained by the Williams’ lack of potential. But, still, compared to Russell he has not performed well, and that could spell the end of Kubica’s second F1 career.

2020 A RECORD 22 RACES

Images: LAT

THE FIRST Formula 1 world championship season in 1950 was comprised of a mere seven races between May and September, and until 1973 no season had more than 13 events. The first 20-race season was in 2012. And now there will be a record 22 races in 2020 in a season that begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 15 March and ends with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 29 November.

Next year’s provisional calendar includes the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix and the return of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Hanoi has a very tight building schedule to have the facility ready by early April.

The Italian race still needs to have its commercial contract confirmed with Monza. Germany is the only 2019 race not on the 2020 schedule.

In order to reduce some of the strain and stress on the teams’ traveling crews, preseason testing will be reduced from eight to six days, and the four days of inseason testing might be dropped. But the test after the final race expands from two to three days.

“As drivers we are at the lucky end,” said Sebastian Vettel. “For the teams it is quite a big stress, for the mechanics its going to be hard work. It is a big circus so a lot of stuff needs to be put up in advance, and for all the guys it will be even tougher than it was before.

“But I am not running the sport, and I guess they make more money the more races they do, so that is what is behind it.

Personally I would like to go back to 16

races, that’s how I grew up. It would give the drivers the flexibility to do something else.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says 22 races create more work for the crews.

“We knew it was coming,” he said.

“How they packaged the calendar is pretty good in my opinion. At the beginning we get rid of some back to backs straight away; we do them when we are at our freshest.”

The provisional 2020 calendar is as follows:

15 March – Australia – Melbourne 22 March – Bahrain – Sakhir 5 April – Vietnam – Hanoi 19 April – China – Shanghai 3 May – Netherlands – Zandvoort 10 May – Spain – Barcelona 24 May – Monaco – Monaco 7 June – Azerbaijan – Baku 14 June – Canada – Montreal 28 June – France – Le Castellet 5 July – Austria – Spielberg 19 July – Great Britain – Silverstone 2 August – Hungary – Budapest 30 August – Belgium – Spa 6 September – Italy – Monza 20 September – Singapore – Singapore 27 September – Russia – Sochi 11 October – Japan – Suzuka 25 October – United States – Austin 1 November – Mexico – Mexico City 15 November – Brazil – Sao Paulo 29 November – Abu Dhabi – Abu Dhabi.

BRAWN SAYS ‘SHAKE IT UP’ F1 FORMULA 1 needs to shake things up – that’s what Ross Brawn, the managing director of motor sports for Liberty Media’s Formula 1 branch, wants to do.

The weekend routine has been the same in F1 for many years now.

While that’s fine with many fans, others are tuning out. Plus the sport is missing the opportunity to attract new fans who don’t want to wade through hours and hours of watching cars droning around.

Brawn wants F1 to experiment with some different formats next year prior to the major regulation changes coming in 2021.

“In ’20 we’ve got a stable platform in terms of the cars,” he told Sky TV. “So ’20 could be a good opportunity perhaps for one or two races to try some variations.

“I don’t see any other way that we logically progress the race format. The basic race format is good, but would a sprint race be interesting, or would some changes to qualifying be interesting? I think the teams are up for doing some variations during a Saturday to see if we can touch on a better solution.”

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost states that the best way to improve

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the show is to have close racing by equalizing the competition level between the teams.

Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul notes: “We need to probably adapt slightly the format to the new audience, to the way that sport is being consumed. People are not really interested in sitting for two hours in front of the TV on Sundays.”

The teams also have concerns.

“What we need to look at is that by changing the format the costs don’t go up,” said Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.

Brawn also wants to reduce the time teams have to spend at the track.

“We want the cars to run on a Friday,” he said, “but is there a way of shortening the weekend from an operational point of view for the teams, because they all turn up on a Tuesday, or even a Monday to get ready.

“If we could restrict that, had a tighter parc fermé and controlled the time that a team was at the circuit, then we could shorten the operational weekend for them and turn it into a three-day weekend.

“We remember when you would turn up on a Thursday afternoon, put the cars in the garage, and go racing. Now they turn up two or three

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days earlier because they want to get everything ready.

“Fridays are important for the promoters; it starts the weekend off, but could we have two sessions on a Friday afternoon for instance? Maybe slightly shorter sessions, and then that means the teams can prepare on a Friday morning.”

The teams and Formula 1 will have more discussions. One thing that is certain is that the more things don’t change, the more they will stay the same.

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17

F1 INSIDER

w

with Dan Knutson

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS “I HATE them all!” Daniel Ricciardo joked when I asked him about teammates and Esteban Ocon who will be his teammate at Renault next year. “It is easier like that, so just death stare. I’ll see, I might say hi to Esteban, maybe.”

“I like it,” the Aussie, getting serious, added. “It is a good opportunity basically to learn more – each driver might have some little habits or different style here or there.

In F1, or at least in motor racing, you are never perfect.

It is a sport where you are always learning or growing.

The cars always change so you are always adapting. I’m sure there will be things he will do that I can learn from.

The more drivers I get to see and compete against is an opportunity for me to learn more and become a better driver.”

This was on the Thursday afternoon of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, and Ricciardo was chatting with journalists in the Renault hospitality unit in the paddock of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Renault had announced just a couple hours earlier that Ocon would replace Nico Hülkenberg in 2020. And shortly before that Mercedes revealed that Valtteri Bottas was staying with the team next year,

which ended the hopes of Ocon who was the other candidate for the seat.

The paddock was buzzing with the news. A year ago it was Ricciardo who was the centre of attention at Spa following his decision to switch from Red Bull to Renault in 2019.

“No bombshells from me this year,” he said.

The folks in the paddock were also all talking about “recharged batteries” of the human kind after the annual F1 August shutdown. A total of 24 days had passed between the Monday after the Hungarian Grand Prix and this Thursday at Spa. Having been at home just six days in the six weeks leading up to the break, I had also enjoyed the respite from traveling.

As for the driver announcements at Spa this year, I believe that Mercedes made a wise decision to retain Bottas for a fourth season as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate. Bottas is a known quality. He wins races. He finishes on the podium. He qualifies well. He doesn’t make many mistakes. He gets along with Hamilton on and off the track. He doesn’t play mind or political games.

While Mercedes is eventually going to have to find a driver

to replace Hamilton or Bottas, the latter is the best fit for the team right now.

Ocon, 22, meanwhile, is a gamble. He is fast for sure, but I wonder how he will meld into the team and with Ricciardo.

There are no games or BS between Ricciardo, 30, and Hülkenberg, 32, on or off the track. They are both seasoned pros who know that the best the way to make the car go faster is by working together with the team. But will Ocon be as patient as those two?

When Ocon and Sergio Pérez were teammates at Force India, now Racing Point, in 2017 and 2018 they

had some clashes out on the track as both thought they had the right to be in front of the other. In 2017, just metres from where Ricciardo was talking now, the duo bashed and slashed at each other on the track where it plunges down to the Eau Rouge corner.

Team principal Cyril Abiteboul says one of the reasons Renault signed Ocon is that he is starved for racing after being on a sabbatical this year. Abiteboul also talked about Ocon’s longterm future with the team, thus hinting but not saying that Ricciardo could leave for greener pastures in 2021.

Ocon will have a lot to

prove, and what better way to do that than beating Ricciardo who is a proven race winner?

Ricciardo went up against Max Verstappen at Red Bull, so he won’t be bothered by the challenge of another young charger. Ricciardo is also so laidback that he won’t be flustered by any games Ocon might play.

But I just hope that Ocon tries to learn from Ricciardo, just as Ricciardo is learning from Ocon, so that the dynamics within Renault don’t cause the entire team to spiral downwards.

On the other hand, they might form the Dynamic Duo that makes Renault a winning team again.

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An Auto Action subscription comes in either print or our newly launched digital format.

An Auto Action yearly print subscription includes 25 issues featuring the latest news, previews, analysis, features and results across international, national and state competitions. The improved mailing service means the magazine is well protected from the elements straight to your doorstep for $199.00AUD, a saving of more than $30.

Also Auto Action has recently released its new digital issue on issuu.com/me8674 with subscriptions priced at $112.50AUD. For our Kiwi friends we also offer both subscriptions at the price of $237.50AUD and internationally at $275.00.

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OPINION WHY OUR HISTORY IS SO IMPORTANT

BY HEATH MCALPINE

Publisher

Bruce Williams 0418 349 555 Associate Publisher Mike Imrie Editor-At-Large

Mark Fogarty

Deputy Editor

Deputy Editor

MOTOR SPORT has an incredible history, one that is currently celebrated by a number of publications (including ours), events and documentaries that are freely available on Youtube.

The key question is however, do the younger generation really care?

Let me start off by saying that I am part of this next generation and it appears I am one of the few that love digging through the photo archives or listening to the stories from the past provided by the other members of the Auto Action team (looking at you Foges, GOB and Bruce).

But, it appears fans of my type are few and far between, for example even though we lost Peter Brock 10 years ago, many of the younger members of the motor sport industry have no knowledge of the great man’s feats. Even fewer I bet know that he went to Europe numerous times to contest the Le Mans 24 Hour, Spa 24 Hour and a number of European Touring Car Championship races.

Scarily, many don’t even know who he is!

It also poses the question, do the younger generation respect the history?

My answer is no.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a dinner to celebrate a history of a certain motor sport discipline and was lucky to sit next to a couple of feature stars, however while the presentations were happening, a phone was being used consistently. Not a way

Creative Director/ Production

Heath McAlpine Jason Crowe

Special Contributor Bruce Newton Staff Journalist National Editor Online Editor

Dan McCarthy Garry O’Brien Rhys Vandersyde

Contributing Writers Australia Garry O’Brien, Mark Fogarty, Bruce Newton, David Hassall, Bob Watson F1 Dan Knutson Speedway Geoff Rounds Photographers Australia Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyde International LAT Images

to respect the forefathers that paved the way for them and their careers.

In the current format of fastpaced news and the advent of the internet, history is classed as what was posted two hours ago rather than when publications such as this very one came out fortnightly where readers eagerly awaited to catch up on the latest news and results.

The changing face of news and the spike in social media use hasn’t aided history either as many stories are muddied and false truths are being traded of as gospel. In saying this though, social media such as Facebook has been great in collating old images and stories from the movers and shakers of the past to try and right the wrongs, twigging memories.

However, this doesn’t help in preserving history because when these people fall off the perch, who is going to preserve

the history?

If today’s youth aren’t interested in doing it then the near 60-year history of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Bathurst 500/1000 and many other national titles from the past might as well have not existed, which would be a disappointing outcome.

History is also key for the future of our sport, just look at S5000. A modernised version of a leading formula that dominated the 1970s or Formula Ford that continues to run strong after 50 years.

Production Cars are another, while Formula Vee can trace its roots to the early-1960s.

What I am getting at here is that many categories can be traced to the past and are more refined to meet the modern standards.

It also crucial we celebrate the contribution that drivers such as John McCormack,

George Fury, Allan Moffat, Dick Johnson, Peter Brock, Colin Bond, Kevin Bartlett, Jack Brabham, Alan Jones and many others either have made or continue to make in the current motor sport landscape.

Also remember what can be learnt from fan interaction from the old days when crowds were at there biggest and the sport dragged many, many thousands to circuits including Sandown, Oran Park, Lakeside, Adelaide International Raceway and Wanneroo. Packed grandstands and grassy knolls provided the backdrop to many images of the 1970s and 1980s – something that can’t be said now.

Is there a fix for this? Probably not. But there is hope, the young man that works in the office with me is the next generation and understands the importance of history. I’m afraid though, this attitude is a dwindling one. .

Advertising Manager Bruce Williams All Advertising enquiries bruce@overdrivemedia.com.au (0418) 349 555 Editorial contributions may be sent to Auto Action. No responsibility will be accepted for their safety. If you require the return of any sent item or items, please attach a separate, stamped and fully addressed envelope

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We take a look back at what was making news 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago 1979: THE TRADITIONAL Sandown warm up for Bathurst took centre stage in 1979 as Peter Brock guided his Holden Dealer Team A9X Torana to a fifth Hang Ten 400 victory. In a form finish, loyal lieutenant John Harvey finished a lap behind in what was a race of attrition. Larry Perkins and Peter Janson took third. Johnnie Walker clinched the Australian Drivers’ Championship as he finished second to Alfredo Costanzo at the final also held at Sandown.

1989: AFTER A controversial lead up to the event, the .05 500 was taken out by a surprise entry, which moved into Bathurst contention.

Jim Richards may have qualified fifth, but he and Mark Skaife gave the HR31 its first endurance victory and moved from outside winners, to contenders. Despite Ford Sierras dominating qualifying, reliability issues plagued the cars. Juha Kankkunen won the second Rally Australia WRC event for Toyota.

11999: FORMER SPORTS Sedan racer JJohn Briggs confirmed he had purchased the th Perth-based CAT Racing team in which w John Bowe had joined at the start st of the year. Already a V8 Supercar privateer p running with SuperCheap Auto sponsorship. sp It was Paul Morris that snatched sn the Super Touring title from Jim Richards’ Ri grasp at Calder Park, despite the Volvo Vo driver clean-sweeping the round.

2009: FORD PERFORMANCE Racing were w after a new title sponsor after Castrol decided not to continue as the primary d brand on the team’s second entry. The pull b out o is as a result of an impasse over livery c colours, but has led to a number of teams ta targeting the lubricants giant support for 2 2010.

Mikko Hirvonen took the honours in R Australia on the New South Wales Rally N Northern Beaches.

No part of this magazine’s content may be reproduced, retransmitted or rebroadcast without the express written permission of the Publisher and Action Media Partners.

Printed by Fairfax Media Distributed by Gordon & Gotch INSIDE Holden Dealer Team 50th anniversar

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SINCE 1971

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COURTNEY’S BIG GAMBLE Holden hero in Sydney speculation

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INSIDE HOLDEN’S ‘SECRET’ FACTORY TEAM

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SUPERCARS SHAKE-UP

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Cover images LAT, Ross Gibb, AA archives

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d e m r fo s a w m a e t y tor c fa e in t s e d n la c ’s n e How Hold

I

Images: AA Archive/autopics.com.au

On the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Holden Dealer Team, MARK FOGARTY talks to key figures behind the covert operation

Harry Firth mastermined HDT’s early success in rallying as well as racing.

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N THE 1960s and throughout the ’70s, Holden was banned from officially competing in motor racing as part of General Motors’ worldwide policy against direct participation.

The ban was a legacy of GM’s adherence to a 1950s agreement between Detroit’s Big Three to stop their racing arms race. Ford and Chrysler ignored the agreement in the early ’60s to openly return to track competition, while GM divisions Chevrolet and Pontiac undertook covert programs.

But on the surface, GM maintained its official public stance of not being involved in racing, with the policy also applying to overseas subsidiaries like Holden in Australia, Vauxhall in Britain and Opel in continental Europe.

Oddly, the ban didn’t apply to rallying or other off-road racing.

The corporate prohibition lasted well into

Peter Brock and Des West were one of the pairings that formed HDT’s initial attack at Bathurst.

the 1980s and it wasn’t until the Holden Racing Team was formed in 1990 that Fishermans Bend openly fielded a factory backed team. That direct support continues today with the Triple Eight-run Red Bull Holden Racing Team.

It was 50 years ago this month that the Holden factory made its racing debut at the Sandown Three Hour (forerunner of the Sandown 500, being run for the last time in November). HDT was a thinly disguised factory team that started Holden’s continuous halfcentury involvement in racing.

The direct lineage between HDT and HRT will be acknowledged by Holden with a celebration at next month’s Bathurst 1000, which also marks the golden jubilee of HDT’s victory on debut at Mount Panorama with Colin Bond and Tony Roberts.

HDT was supposedly funded by Holden dealers, with support from the likes of Castrol, but nobody was fooled. While the management of what was then General Motors-Holden’s steadfastly maintained no official involvement in the team, the hand of Holden was all over the operation,

especially with the development of homologation specials for racing.

It was also telling that in 1969, Holden appointed an in-house motor sport manager. For the next 10 years, former engineer Joe Felice was the very public go between, handling the ‘slush fund’ to finance HDT’s operations and liaising with the engineering department.

HDT was run by leading driver and team manager Harry Firth, who had switched to Holden after falling out with Ford. Firth was brilliant, but set in his ways and famously dictatorial. He was pragmatic and parsimonious, with results – not presentation – his priority.

He called everyone ‘cock’, which was a country colloquialism equivalent to ‘mate’ rather than what we regard now as a pejorative term or sexual slang.

HDT was run out of one side of Firth’s automotive service business in a back street of the inner eastern Melbourne suburb of Auburn. The pokey premises in Queens Avenue was a Mecca of race and rally car preparation, but the site was no showpiece. His practical approach was reflected in early HDT machinery, which ignored aesthetics.

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Colin Bond won on HDT’s Bathurst debut debut, delighting team boss Harry Firth Firth.

Firth became his former s employer’s nemesis in what became a David versus Goliath battle in the very early ’70s. Six-cylinder Toranas against V8 Falcons marked the golden age of series production racing.

Initially, though, Firth took over the already developed HT Monaro GTS 350, which upgraded to a 5.7-litre version of Chevrolet’s V8, replacing the HK GTS 327 that triumphed in privateer Bruce McPhee’s hands in the ’68 Bathurst 500.

The genesis of HDT was the Holden Dealer Racing Team, sanctioned and assisted by GM-H. HDRT was run out of Sydney by former leading driver and established team owner David McKay, who was also a leading motoring writer.

Poor showings at Bathurst and in the London To Sydney Marathon in ’68 doomed the alliance.

“Holden’s arrangement with McKay did not work out,” Felice recalled. “He was a bloody prima donna, quite frankly. Hard to get on with.

“In ’69, Ford got rid of Harry Firth as

their competitions manager and replaced him with Al Turner. Harry never forgot or forgave anybody and was determined to show Ford that they’d made a big mistake getting rid of him and let it be known to Holden that he was interested in moving across.

“A deal was done between Holden and Harry Firth for his operation to prepare our race and rally cars. At the same time, a decision was made that GM-H would start up its own in-house motor sport program and directly control the motor sport activities rather than using a third party – while still giving the corporation the appearance that it was a dealer-owned concern because of GM’s worldwide nonmotor racing policy.”

The catalyst for the change was the

Peter Brock celebrates another victory flanked by Ian Tate and Harry Firth.

Des West powers the HDT entry through Murray’s Corner at Bathurst in 1969. appointment of colourful executive John Bagshaw as Holden’s sales director.

“John was a pretty dynamic sort of a guy and he wanted to change the image of the company,” Felice said. “He was very motor sport orientated.”

Felice, 71, has been in demand in recent years to recall those early days of HDT, giving regular talks at Holden club gatherings and special events. He was among the Bagshaw-appointed cadre of insiders who orchestrated Holden’s ‘secret’ racing program.

Another key figure was Peter LewisWilliams, a handy amateur racer who

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worked in the sales promotion wo department. He later became senior de executive at GM-H’s advertising ex agency George Patterson, through ag which much of the racing funding was w channelled. ch In fact, it was the ad agency which ccame up with the name Holden Dealer Team to distance it from the D ffactory and differentiate it from HDRT. “It was a fairly clandestine operation,” Felice said. “We had various opera sponsors, but a big chunk of GM-H spon money was put in. The story we all stuck to was that GM-H money was only being used for rallying and rallycross, which was allowed under the corporate policy.

“The circuit racing was supposedly paid for by the sponsors and dealers.

Of course, it was just a smoke screen.

There was just one pot of money and everything came out of that. It was purely funded by GM-H.” The series production race cars were registered in the names of supportive dealers, but they were owned by Holden.

HDT’s racing debut at Sandown on September 14, 1969 was ignominious.

Just one Monaro 350 was entered for open-wheel aces Spencer Martin and Kevin Bartlett, and their race ended early when brake failure sent the car off at the end of the main straight, erupting into

Joe Felice was the liaison between Holden and HDT, seen here with then team owner John Sheppard at Bathurst.

THE RBHRT’s RBHRT’ LINEAGE STARTED WITH THE HDT

flames.

A few weeks later, Firth took three Monaros to Bathurst. Martin was sidelined by injuries sustained in a road car crash and Bartlett returned to Alec Mildren’s Alfa Romeo team.

Rising race and rally star Colin Bond was paired with Holden engineer and experienced racer Tony Roberts; single-seater ‘young guns’ Peter Macrow and Henk Woelders were in the second car; and rookie Peter Brock was paired with veteran Des West.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Falcon GT-HOs fell to troubles with their racing tyres and, brake problems solved, Bond and Roberts went on to win in their road radial-shod Monaro.

Brock co-drove West to third ahead of the GT-HO of Allan Moffat and Alan Hamilton.

Thus began the glorious early era of the Holden Dealer Team, which went on to win the Bathurst 500 with Brock in 1972 and the 1974 ATCC with Bond, who also won three Australian rally championships under Firth, as well as many other major race wins.

Crucial to the Bathurst ’69 win was rapid remedial action to fix the Monaro GTS 350’s braking issues. Remember, way back then, the 130 mph (210

km/h) Monaro V8 still had rear drum brakes.

Firth’s right-hand man at HDT was master mechanic and engine-builder Ian Tate, who followed him from the Ford operation.

“If we hadn’t had the brake problem at Sandown, we wouldn’t have won Bathurst,” Tate declared.

Martin’s fiery crash at Sandown was caused by the brake fluid boiling.

When the car was recovered, it had full pedal pressure.

Improved brake pads and brake fluid were quickly sourced for Bathurst, as well as air cooling slots under the front bumper bar and a return to the Monaro GTS 327’s slotted steel wheels for better brake cooling.

Brake supplier PBR also came up with a tool to make brake pad changes quicker.

And, of course, Firth stuck with buffed road radials in what would be the last time a street tyre-equipped car would win Bathurst.

“Harry was a Michelin man,” Tate recalled. “He swore by the Michelin XAS steel belted radials.”

Interestingly, the winning Bond/ Roberts car was on Michelins, while the other two were on potentially faster Firestones.

Tate has fond memories of the Monaro: “It was a good thing at the time. But the writing was on the wall. It had the same size brakes as a Torana XU-1 – very small brakes – and it was pretty heavy and it didn’t handle that well. But it had plenty of grunt and a strong gearbox and a strong diff.”

In fact, the Monaro was already doomed as Holden’s racing weapon of choice, as GM cracked down on Holden’s support of racing.

“We were coming under pressure from GM,” Felice said. “Bags (John Bagshaw) got the message from Detroit that the Monaro was identified as a race car and that we were flaunting the company policy. They saw straight through what we were doing.

“So we made the decision to make the Torana the competition car. No one thought the small six-cylinder Torana was going to compete with a 351 V8 Falcon on the racetrack.

“But history proves it wasn’t a bad decision.”

HDT switched to the 186 cubic inch (three litres) six-powered LC Torana GTR XU-1 in 1970. It became the 202 ci (3.3-litre) LJ XU-1 in ’72, when Brock scored his first Bathurst victory.

A planned XU-1 V8 was cancelled in

IT MAY now be a diminished brand, but the Holden Racing Team exists – and the Lion brand is still in racing – because of the Holden Dealer Team.

From 1969-86, HDT was Holden’s racing brand and Fishermans Bend’s official factory involvement ‘came out’ before the cataclysmic fall-out with Peter Brock in early ’87.

When Holden Racing Team was created in 1990, following Tom Walkinshaw’s insertion as Holden’s performance partner with HSV, it marked the factory’s official, unvarnished involvement in racing, which continues today.

Until at least the end of 2021, the existing extent of Holden’s backing of Triple Eight’s Red Bull HRT. HDT went through many phases after winning Bathurst at its first attempt in ’69.

It became the Marlboro Holden Dealer Team in ’72, followed by the switch from the XU-1 to the V8 L34 Torana in ’74 and then the supreme A9X in ’78.

In between, Harry Firth was ousted as team boss

by John Sheppard in ’78, then Peter Brock took over the team in ’80 with backing from a consortium of Holden dealers, creating HDT Special Vehicles as the hot Holden off-shoot.

Post-Brock, HDT became HRT and HDTSV became HSV. All very tumultuous, but the clear links remain.

HDT won Bathurst eight times, the ATCC four times and also four Australian rally championships, plus the 1979 Repco Reliability Trial.

HDT switched from six-cylinder Torana XU-1s to V8 LH Toranas in 1974 with the L34, which featured what was virtually a detuned version of Repco’s F5000 five-litre engine.

The L34 evolved into the A9X in ’78, fixing all the L34’s problems as in hatchback form it made HDT and Brock supreme again.

The A9X had a new rear end, complete with stronger axles, Salisbury differential and disc brakes, plus a dry sump to cure the L34’s chronic oil surge problem.

The option of the hatchback variation also allowed the fitment of bigger rear tyres.

“One of my greatest coups was to homologate the A9X as an evolution of the L34,” former Holden motor sport manager Joe Felice said. “It fixed all the problems. The A9X was a wonderful car.”

The Marlboro Holden Dealer Team continued under Brock until 1985, when title sponsorship in the new Group A era switched to Mobil.

Brock officially returned to the Holden fold – for the second time – in 1994, joining HRT and bringing his Mobil backing with him.

He retired – for the first time – at the end of the ’97 season, having won three rounds over four years.

In its diminished form as Red Bull Holden Racing Team since 2017, the link back to the Holden Dealer Team remains alive and will be celebrated by Holden at Bathurst next month.

Holden will acknowledge 50 years of unofficial and official involvement in Australian touring car racing, spanning Monaro, Torana and Commodore, which next year will mark its 30th anniversary in racing. MF

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HDT made its racing debut at Sandown in 1969, but the race ended badly with brake failure.

the wake of the ‘Supercar’ scandal.

HDT received a major boost in funding and promotional backing when Philip Morris cigarette brand Marlboro became the major team sponsor in ’72, creating the Marlboro Holden Dealer that lasted until the mid-1980s.

However, according to Felice, this new commercial sponsorship era was the beginning of the end for Firth as boss of HDT. The Marlboro backing was brokered by wheeler-dealer privateer Peter Janson.

“It was a lot of money,” Felice said.

“But it also forced a new level of professionalism on the team.”

Holden’s styling department came up with a new MHDT livery, but Firth’s poor

presentation remained a sore point.

“I had a lot of battles with Harry,” Felice said. “He would say ‘Listen, cock, do you want to win motor races or do you want to win beauty contests?’ He didn’t give a shit what the cars looked like.”

By 1977, following Ford’s rout, Firth was encouraged to ‘retire’ by Holden.

“He was brilliant in his day, but his time had passed,” Felice reminisced. “We negotiated his ‘retirement’. Management wanted me to get rid of Harry, but I respected the guy for what he’d done for our product and I wanted to make sure he left with dignity.

“I convinced him to retire rather than us sacking him. He eventually agreed.”

Felice revealed that among the several applicants to take over the running of HDT from Firth, it came down to renowned race car preparer John Sheppard and returned international star Frank Gardner.

“There was nothing between them, but Frank Gardner wanted to operate out of Sydney and Sheppo was in Melbourne,” Felice said. “The feeling was we wanted to keep the team Melbourne-based, hence Sheppo got it.”

Sheppard took over in ’78, coincident with the arrival of the Torana A9X and the return of Brock, who had fallen out with Holden at the end of ’74.

“What a difference!” Felice exclaimed.

“The cars looked magic and still won

Privateer Bruce McPhee was the first to take a Holden victory on The Mountain in 1968, but defected to Ford the next year due to a lack of support from the lion.

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all the races, anyway.

And you could eat your lunch off the workshop floor.”

Tate, who left HDT at the end of ’75, remembers Firth as a hard taskmaster.

“You couldn’t tell Harry anything,” he said. “You had to suggest it in a way that it became his idea. He rarely listened to the drivers. It was Harry’s way or the highway.

“He was a very clever guy in his era.

In his day, he was very smart – certainly smarter than the people Ford put in his place, that’s for sure.”

The late Harry Firth’s memory will live on as the architect of Holden’s uninterrupted legacy in racing for 50 years.

Firth was irascible, uncompromising and vengeful. But he was a superstar in his day as both a driver and team boss.

He also gave us Peter Brock as a racing hero. For that alone, the ‘Silver Fox’ deserves his Supercars Hall Of Fame status as one of the founders of V8 racing as we know it today.

OIL-COOLED STOPPERS How Holden tried to beat Bathurst brake fade

Former Holden engineer turned rally champion BOB WATSON recalls the bold braking innovation planned for the Monaro GTS 350.

IN THE late 1960s when the Bathurst 500 started getting the public’s attention, the race was on between Ford and Holden to build faster and faster cars for The Great Race. The answer from both camps was to take existing models and fit more powerful V8 engines – 289, 302 and finally 351 cubic inches for the Falcon GTs and GT-HOs, and 327 and then 350 cubes for the Monaro GTSs. Both companies realised the secret of winning at the Mountain was to get to the top quicker.

The performance gains were great and it was relatively easy to tune the suspension for better handling. The major area that was left behind in the development race was the brakes. Both the Falcon GT and the Monaro had adequate – but not brilliant – brakes for normal motoring, but not for stopping a vehicle repeatedly at racing speeds.

The problem with brakes is related to wheel size. Both cars ran 14-inch wheels which had to be retained under the race rules.

This in turn limited the diameter of the brake rotor, which restricted the engineers to improvements in brake pad material and better ducting of cooling air to the front brakes, which are doing 60 percent or more of the work.

Ford had a slight advantage as their front brake calliper was the sliding type which gave slightly larger pad area, whereas the Monaro had a fixed twin piston calliper with smaller pad area.

When Holden planned to shift from the 327

T Tony R Robert b t and dB Bob bW Watson t won Monaro’s first-ever race, at the Sandown Three Hour but were not as successful at Bathurst.

as we approached the skid pan, which required a severe stop from 120 mph (193 km/h), the brake pedal went straight to the floor with no warning.

We careered on over the skid pan and straight through a thicket of trees (luckily, not very big). Eventually we came to rest.

The cooling oil had boiled and the clutch pack linings got so hot The oil-cooled braking system Bob Watson developed for Bathurst was abandoned after testing problems, that the linings all came off. After but later made its public debut on the Holden Hurricane concept car. Images: AA Archive/BW Archive a small silence, in which Don and I thanked our respective ci (5.3 litres) Chev V8 to the 350 brakes to a Monaro. The system Monaro GTS 327. lucky stars, I turned to him and ci (5.7 litres) version for the ’69 consisted of a die cast housing We strapped Bert into a GTS said “How were the temperatures Monaro Bathurst challenge, which enclosed an automatic 327 and I took him for a few quick on the last run, mate?” He there was much head scratching transmission clutch pack splined laps, explaining the problems actually laughed. at Fishermans Bend to find to the hub. This was actuated by with the current brakes. When we On reviewing the situation, improvements to the already a large diameter piston through got back to the garage, he looked it was evident that a lot more woefully inadequate front brakes. the normal brake hydraulic decidedly unwell and made a bee development was required to Apart from a slightly thicker rotor system. The housing had inlet line for the toilet. improve the cooling of the oil. (increased from half an inch and outlet for cooling oil, which Next day, we were advised With Bathurst looming ever to five eighths of an inch) and was circulated by a rotor splined that Bert Heck had returned to closer, management decided that removing the dust shields to to the hub. A cooling tank cooled the USA overnight. Apparently, the risk was too great and the allow more air to the brakes, not the oil before it was recirculated he thought we were a group of project was abandoned. Well, not much else could be done. through the system. madmen. We never heard from quite.

Then out of left field came a It sounds complicated, but him again.

When the Holden Hurricane suggestion: why not use the it worked. There was even a With time pressing, testing concept car was built, it was fitted oil-cooled brake system that possibility of being able to do proceeded. Our GTS 327 test car with the same oil cooled brakes had been developed for heavy away with the normal vacuum was fully instrumented to check as a technical feature, and as duty applications like garbage brake booster – a significant oil temperatures, line pressures far as I am aware, performed trucks and forklifts that stopped weight saving to offset the extra and other relevant parameters. satisfactorily. In fact, the system frequently but could not afford to mass of the oil system. A GTS Some preliminary testing was was rebuilt recently by Howard be off the road for frequent brake 327 Monaro was fitted with the done, a few minor problems Reynolds at Race Brakes when replacements. These brakes did parts and a GM engineer, Bert sorted and then it was time for a the Hurricane was restored. not fade and lasted for hundreds Heck, was sent out to assist. serious test.

I am convinced that with more of thousands of kilometres – just Bert was a conservative guy I had a technician, Don development, particularly good what was needed for Bathurst! from the American Mid-West.

Horsburgh, sitting in the rear oil cooling, the package could My then boss in the Holden He had no experience of motor seat of the Monaro reading have succeeded functionally. chassis design group, Jack racing and clearly did not temperatures while I did laps at However, putting the system into Rawnsley, gave me the oil-cooled understand what we were trying racing speed. We did 15 or so production, with the ever-present brake project. Woo hoo! to do, so I thought I should take laps and things were looking danger of oil leaks (something With about nine months to go him out in a Monaro around the good, much better than the new car buyers abhorred), could to the next Bathurst race, Lang Lang proving ground ride standard system. The brakes have been another can of worms. and handling track, where we were strong, no fade, no other Anyway, it was fun while it parts were hastily made adapt the oil-cooled had done the development of the problems. Then on the next lap lasted. to ad

The first Before Brock, there was Bond, Colin Bond Race and rally legend Colin Bond tells MARK FOGARTY how he won the 1969 Bathurst 500 and became a national star Images: autopics.com.au

EVERYTHING CHANGED so much.

The Bathurst 500 in 1969 was the real awakening of Australia’s interest in touring car racing, establishing long-lasting rivalries and new stars.

It was the first Bathurst enduro televised live all day, exposing the drama and track tribal warfare between Holden and Ford to a huge national audience.

In the year of the first Lunar landing, motor racing in Australia changed forever.

Not that we knew it at the time, but the seventh annual production car derby at Mount Panorama began the ultimate Peter Brock versus Allan Moffat rivalry.

Supercars’ foundations are built on this very foundation.

Bathurst ’69 was the first really serious Ford vs Holden confrontation at Bathurst.

Broadmeadows had developed the GTHO as an homologation special, while Holden armed up with the Monaro GTS 350.

Ford went in all guns ablaze with XW GT-HOs for Moffat/Alan Hamilton, Ian/Leo Geoghegan and Fred Gibson/Barry Seton.

Back in the day, it was an all-star line-up – plus Al Turner’s ‘secret weapon’ Goodyear racing tyres.

On the red side, new Holden Dealer Team boss Harry Firth – ex-Ford – ranged Colin Bond and Tony Roberts, Peter Macrow and Henk Woedlers, and Des West/Peter Brock in HT Monaro GTS 350s.

A classic blend of experience and youth.

But Firth’s choices were less than conventional. Bond was a rally ace not known for his circuit expertise and Brock was a complete rookie.

The end result justified his choices, with Bond and Tony Roberts winning. West and Brock finished a strong third, and Macrow/Woelders came home sixth as the Falcons collapsed amid tyre troubles.

The result made Bond a touring car legend whose fame persists today, more than 20 years after his retirement from racing.

He got the job because Firth had competed against him in rallies.

“We used to compete in rallies against Harry, of course, when we drove the Mitsubishi Colt,” Bond recalled. “So he knew of me and then he relalised that I’d also done quite a lot of racing.”

Bond was also starring in his

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supercharged Lynx Peugeot openwheeler, which threatened the 2.5-litre ANF1 cars of the day.

Firth wanted him to drive with star signing Spencer Martin at HDT’s debut at the Sandown Three Hour, but Bond wasn’t available because he was already committed to a rally in Papua New Guinea.

As Bond recalls, Sandown was “a disaster” as Martin suffered a fiery crash due to brake failure.

But by Bathurst a few weeks later, the Monaro’s braking problems had been resolved.

Bond and Roberts just circulated at Bathurst 1969 looking after the brakes and then took the lead when the faster Fords fell out.

Bond was encouraged by a pre-Bathurst test at Amaroo Park, where he was quickest.

But he didn’t get to drive his Bathurst mount until practice on the Saturday, after the trio of race Monaros had been driven up – and run in – from Melbourne.

He qualified seventh on the grid and avoided the first-lap mayhem at the top of the mountain, and as the factory Falcons

faltered, he never looked back.

“We just circulated around and around and around, the Fords fell out and we easily got into the lead and just held it to the end,” Bond recalled. “Our mission was to look after the brakes, so it was just a matter of driving smoothly and keeping the opposition at bay.

“To me, it was a pretty easy race. I started and finished, and Tony did the bit

in the middle. We changed brake pads once and that was it.

“I really liked driving the Monaro. It was an easy car to drive. You used the torque of the motor, which allowed you to run in a higher gear in the corners.

“It was pretty relaxed by today’s standards. We were kind of just loafing along.”

Bond points out that his Bathurst

AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST SUPPLIER OF HIGH PERFORMANCE ENGINE PARTS! Colin Bond and Tony Roberts celebrate their historic 1969 Bathurst victory, orchestrated by HDT boss Harry Firth (behind on left).

Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx Xxxx

success wasn’t a flash in the pan. He won the following threerace Lakeside 1500 and then the Surfers Paradise 12 Hour with Roberts, plus the South Pacific touring car series that ran concurrently with the Australian leg of the Tasman Cup championship in early 1970.

Bond, 77, acknowledges that the victory launched his career as a touring car star in the 1970s, as well as that of teammate Brock, whom he didn’t know at all.

“Obviously, when Harry looked at the times everyone was doing, he was quite pleased with mine and he was quite pleased with Peter’s,” Bond said. “We ended up being the two that stayed on with the team and the others didn’t.”

Bond was partnered with Brock until the end of ’74, becoming overshadowed. But he never felt outclassed.

“We were always close on speed,” he declared.

Under Harry Firth, apart from the big events, Bond and Brock stuck to their territories, winning in NSW/Queensland and Victoria/South Australia respectively.

Bond was never happy with Firth’s financial arrangements, but respected the old master at his 1960s peak.

“Harry was a brilliant engineer in his early days, but I think technology caught up with him in the end,” Bond reflected.

“You had to kid him into thinking that trying something different was his idea. He never made a mistake. It was always the drivers or the mechanics that were the problem.”

Bond started out as HDT’s uncontested lead driver, but Brock’s growing ability and fan-friendliness started to tip the balance with Holden and Firth in late 1971.

“Bondy was a good all-around driver,” faithful Firth lieutenant Ian Tate recalled. “Bondy was the lead driver in 1970, no doubt about it. We used to call him ‘Goldie’.

“He was Harry’s golden-haired boy. And Bondy was quicker than Peter, don’t worry about that. He was also easier on the car.

“His gearbox would last two or three meetings. We had to change Brock’s gearbox after every meeting. He just crashed through the gears, trying to get the lap times.

“But that changed in ’71/72 – they changed around.

Of course, Brock became renowned for his mechanical sympathy.”

Brock left HDT at the end of

1974 after falling out with Holden over his management. Or so the story went.

Bond offers a more contentious explanation: “I think he wanted to run the team and went to Marlboro and said ‘Give me the money, don’t give it to Harry’, but Bags (Holden sales director and racing patron John Bagshaw) found out and they pissed him off, basically.”

Controversially, Bond defected from Holden to Ford in 1977, joining Moffat’s all-conquering team that swept to a famous Bathurst 1000 1-2.

His decision was simple: “Well, only because Moffat was going to pay me more. He came up with a better deal, including a percentage of the prizemoney for both cars, and he had (American racing guru) Carroll Smith running the show.

“It was much more professional.”

Bond has fond memories of his eight years with HDT, but doesn’t bemoan his move to Ford, with which he became synonymous into the early ’80s.

“It was a great time,” he said.

“I’d do it all again. But I never regretted moving to Ford. I had some really good years there, especially with the Escort BDA rally cars.

“I had a great 30-year career.”

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Rivalry for the ages began at Bathurst in ’69 A young Allan Moffat celebrates his 1969 Sandown 250 victory, while Peter Brock makes his debut for HDT at Bathurst in 1969 (above) sharing with Des West (right).

Images: autopics.com.au

FIFTY YEARS ago, Peter Brock was a relatively unknown and Allan Moffat was a foreign interloper.

Little did we know that they would become the greatest rivals in Australian touring car racing history.

Both made their big-stage debuts at Bathurst in 1969. They were Mount Panorama rookies driving for the Holden and Ford factory teams respectively.

Brock co-drove veteran Des West to third in an HDT Monaro, while Moffat was fourth after a late – and unnecessary – tyre-scare pit stop in his Falcon GT-HO. They weren’t direct rivals on the day, but they came to define the Ford versus Holden war.

Pin-up boy Brock became the fan-favourite as recalcitrant Canadian Moffat adopted the anti-hero persona.

The new Holden Dealer Team was

run by wily veteran Harry Firth, who saw potential in the unproven lad from Melbourne’s semi-rural outer north.

On top of third in his Bathurst debut, Brock would go on to be d Moffat’s nemesis.

M Fifth’s decision to sign tthe unruly 24-year-old was prescient, launching w th the professional career of A Australia’s most celebrated d domestic driver.

He took a shine to the then bearded Brock, who stood out in his homebuilt Holden-powered Austin A30 in sports sedans.

“Harry liked what he saw,” former Firth lieutenant Ian Tate remembered. “He wasn’t the Brock we knew later on. He was a diamond in the rough.”

According to Tate, Brock was compliant in his Bathurst debut.

“He was very quiet at Bathurst, as I remember, did what he was told,” he said.

“Des was a good operator, had his runs on the board as a driver. Harry put Peter in with

“He’d sit in the car jacked up with no wheels or engine and gearbox in it for days, focusing on how he’d drive.”

Des to learn from him.”

Tate added: “Brock did a very good job, nothing stupid, just went around and gave the car back in one piece. At that stage, he was quiet and not very outgoing.”

Then Holden motor sport manager Joe Felice recalled that Brock justified Firth’s trust in the untried rookie at Bathurst in ’69.

“Harry had a lot of faith in Peter,” Felice said. “Peter did a good job. He did what Harry told him to do.”

As Brock’s personality developed along with his driving, so did his popularity.

“Peter had a magnetic charm,” Felice said. “He really identified with the fans. And that’s why we were so keen on Peter. The fans loved him because, unlike Allan Moffat, who would never talk to the fans at the racetrack, he had all the time in the world for them – too much, sometimes. He was a great people person.”

According to Tate, by 1972, Brock had added a new level of dedication to his driving.

“Brock was so focused by the that stage,” he said. “He came into the shop every day.

That was good and bad. Harry told us not to waste our time talking to him, but he had a lot of good ideas.

“He’d sit in the car jacked up with no wheels or engine and gearbox in it for days, focusing on how he’d drive.”

Despite winning the 1974 ATCC, Brock fell out with Holden – for the first time – in a dispute over his management.

“It got to the stage when we just couldn’t work with it,” Felice said “If he wasn’t prepared to get rid of this manager, we were going to have to part company.

“So we let him go. Peter and I got on very well – and we still did even after the split.”

Brock went out on his own in ’75 and

Where it all began for Peter Brock ... Harry Firth watched him racing to many successes in his unlikely Holden-powered Austin A30. scored his second Bathurst victory, driving for Norm Gown and Bruce Hindhaugh in a Torana L34 with some backdoor assistance from Firth. He remained an assisted privateer with his own team until returning to MHDT under John Sheppard in 1978.

“Brock was a thorn in the Dealer Team’s side,” Tate said of the ’75 campaign, even though Bond won the ATCC. “The factory team looked like a pack of dickheads.”

Firth had a soft spot for his former protégé

and continued helping him.

“Harry always liked Peter,” Tate confirmed.

“He was the other son he never had.”

Brock and Moffat would maintain their on-track rivalry throughout the ’70s and early ’80s before becoming friends and teammates at what had become the Mobil Holden Dealer Team in the mid-80s.

They stayed close friends until Brock’s death, the 13th anniversary of which is on September 8. Mark Fogarty

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S ’ N E R A McL M U T N E M O M Y R E RECOV

After years of being in a performance slump, McLaren has finally turned the corner and can now claim to be the fourth best team in Formula 1.

DAN KNUTSON charts the team’s turnaround.

Images: LAT

A HARSH reality check for McLaren came in 2018 when the team switched to Renault engines, after using Hondas power during the three previous years.

The belief inside the team had been that the chassis was outstanding but that the Honda engine was fully to blame for its overall poor performance.

Indeed, Honda had underestimated the challenges of the new turbo hybrid era when it made its return to F1 in 2015.

It is only now in 2019 that Honda is finally producing engines capable of challenging Ferrari and Mercedes.

On the other hand, McLaren set up

30 AutoAction

its cars with a lot of aero downforce, so they were planted in the corners and slow on the straights, though the team blamed Honda for the latter.

But, after McLaren broke ties with Honda and hooked its chassis to the Renault power unit, the team discovered the harsh reality that its chassis was, well, pretty dreadful.

McLaren was no match for Red Bull or Renault in 2018 despite using the same power unit.

The team’s turnaround in 2019 has been remarkable. This year’s McLaren MCL34, driven by Carlos Sainz, now in his fifth F1 season and his first at McLaren, and rookie Lando Norris has

put the team solidly ahead of the rest of the midfield.

McLaren had 82 points in the constructors’ championship after 12 races, while Toro Rosso-Honda was in fifth place with just 43 points.

McLaren’s championship place and progress are exactly where the factory Renault team with Aussie Daniel Ricciardo and Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg hoped to be this season.

Instead, Renault was back in sixth place with 39 points.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

MCLAREN HAS undergone major changes on the personnel front and as

a result there are a lot of new faces in senior leadership roles.

Ron Dennis not only saved McLaren – the F1 team founded by Kiwi Bruce McLaren in 1966 – from the depths it had plummeted to by 1980, but he also helped steer the team to multiple world championships. But after 35 years at the helm, he was ousted in November 2016 in a power struggle with the team’s other main shareholders Mumtalakat, the Bahrain sovereign investment fund, and Mansour Ojjeh.

Zak Brown was named the new executive director of McLaren Technology Group in 2016 and the

Change ange has been the key to McLaren’s recovery since R Ron Dennis was ousted

by Mansour Ojjeh in 2016.

Andreas Seidl and Zac Brown (above, right) are two of the new faces.

Andrea Stella has recently been elevated to performance director and identified key issues in the design of the chassis.

CEO of McLaren Racing in 2018.

Brown then set about changing the guard at the team.

Technical director Tim Goss and engineering director Matt Morris resigned in 2018, as did racing director Eric Boullier. McLaren did not directly replace Boullier but instead promoted Andrea Stella from head of race operations to performance director.

Former IndyCar racer Gil de Ferran was appointed as McLaren’s sporting director in July 2018. James Key left Toro Rosso to become McLaren’s technical director on 25 March of this year.

Andreas Seidl, the former team principal of Porsche’s LMP1 program, started work as the team principal at McLaren in May of this year.

McLaren’s engineering director Pat Fry was put on “gardening leave” in July, and it is believed he will eventually join Williams.

“Given the importance Pat had inside the team, I simply had to make the decision to also put him on gardening leave to protect the IP inside the team,” Seidl says.

It was all change on the driver front as well.

Fed up with four seasons in an uncompetitive car, Fernando Alonso

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left the McLaren F1 team and F1 altogether at the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, the team decided that Stoffel Vandoorne would not be invited back – bad luck on his part to spend two years there while the squad was in a slump.

Replacements Sainz and Norris have pretty much seamlessly slipped into their roles.

CHANGES AHEAD

IS MCLAREN still looking for more key people Auto Action asked Brown.

“Andreas Seidl is now running the racing team,” Brown said. “He and James Key are settled in and leading the charge. We are happy with the structure that we have and the senior leadership we have.

“But grand prix teams, especially with the new rules coming up in 2021, are going to have a certain element of reinventing how we go motor racing.

You are never sitting still, but from my standpoint I have the leadership I want to have in place. Now it’s over to Andreas to fine tune the racing team as he sees fit.”

Besides the new wind tunnel that’s being constructed, does McLaren need any other facilities?

“We’ll continue to invest,” Brown says. “We need to see what the final 2021 outcomes are to make sure we are investing in the right areas. The wind tunnel was certainly something we had been behind on for some time, so that was an investment we knew we needed to make. We’ll make other cap-ex as we see fit as we get

more visibility on what the future of the sport looks like.”

Auto Action asked Seidl if he has made any changes to the team.

“I am still in the period of observing and analysis in detail how I want to approach the future with the team,” he replied. “Obviously the 2021 regulations play an important role in that. But there is a short-term initiative which was obvious in terms of deficits which we saw straight from the beginning.

“One topic was the wind tunnel which we announced. There is more to come but it is still early days, and I am still working through this in more detail.”

A lot of the success of the current McLaren must be credited to the old guard or those who came in early during the transition phase. The full impact of the contributions of Key and Seidl will not be apparent until 2020.

A SLOW WEAKNESS

THE MCL34 started the season with a weakness: it was slow in slow corners. That was one of the first problems Key looked into when he joined the team, just after the Australian Grand Prix.

In recent years the team might have got lost trying to solve such a challenge. That’s what happened in 2018 when, according to Stella: “We’d embedded some aero issues in the car, creating a bottleneck, making development of the car very difficult.”

As a result, McLaren worked itself into a corner.

“We’d embedded some aero issues in the car, creating a bottleneck, making development of the car very difficult.”

32 AutoAction

WIND TUNNEL CRUCIAL

McLaren’s rise to fourth in the constructors’ standings has been in parallel with the development of drivers Carlos Sainz and rookie Lando Norris, below.

But this season, using long-term analysis, the team did things right.

The car still suffers somewhat from the glitch, but Sainz finished sixth in Monaco and fifth in Hungary, on two circuits jammed with slow corners.

While Key has improved the 2019 car, he could not change the fundamentals. But for next year’s car ar he has overseen its design almost from the beginning.

“As you get to mid-season you have ave e to decide when to crossover,” Keyss says of switching his full attention to the 2020 car. “That depends on where you are – if you are in a tight fight or trying to catch up – and it depends on how stable the regulations are. We are still working ng on this year’s car. We have more developments coming later in the season. Small bits and bigger bits. But we are looking at next year’s car as well.”

NO MAGIC STEP

“I DON’T think we’re going to be able to break out of the midfield in the second half of the season,” Carlos Sainz said.

“We might bring a few tenths to the car which would be great, but everyone is going to bring upgrades so we need to be careful. The main target for the second half of the season: learn about this car to make sure we put all the things in the right place for next year’s car.”

McLaren began looking at the initial concepts of it 2020 car just after preseason ason testing and even before the team arrived in Melbourne for the first race off 2019.

“With the technical regulations staying the same,” Seidl says, “for us next year it will be more an evolution than a revolution, because we have a good base now. We learned a lot so far with this car; we know what the weaknesses are and that’s obviously something we want to address for next year.”

Right now the McLaren is between one and 1.5 seconds slower than the leading cars. The goal is to split that difference in 2020.

“We still need to be realistic,” Seidl said.

“There is no magic and the gap to the front is still huge, but obviously the aim is

to get somewhere in between next year.” that the radical McLaren hopes th regulations changes coming in 2021 will give it the opportunity to break into the top three teams. All the teams, of course, are thinking the same thing. Furthermore, there will be the natural ebb and flow between the teams, including Renault, that should rebound from its current ups and downs.

Given the momentum it has had since it finally came out of its slump, McLaren should be the leading contender to break free of the midfield teams.

But, crucially, the harsh reality of the lessons McLaren endured from 2013 through to 2018 prove that nothing can be taken for granted.

ONE OF the critical elements to McLaren’s recovery – building a new wind tunnel on the grounds of the McLaren Technology Centre, located southwest of London and home of the F1 team – will take about two years to complete.

“When (team principal) Andreas (Seidl) and I joined, it was one of the big projects that was on the table,” technical director James Key said of the wind tunnel, “but it needed to be rationalised and discussed, and that is exactly what we did with positive support from our shareholders.”

Construction on the McLaren Technology Centre began in 1999 and it became operational in 2003. It included a wind tunnel, but because it was embedded so deep in the building there was no space to expand and update it when that time inevitably arrived.

For the past 10 years McLaren has been using Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany, which of course creates logistical challenges that will now be erased by having a wind tunnel right next door. It will also be used by McLaren’s road car division.

Furthermore, Toyota’s once state-of-art tunnel is now aging compared to the new ones now being used by some of the F1 teams.

“The technology that is in a modern F1 wind tunnel is outstanding,” Key said. “It is one of those secrets that gets hidden away, but there is a huge amount of techniques and methodologies surrounding the way you now wind tunnel test. To take the team forward we had to match the competition in that respect, and the most logical option was to build a new facility at our premises in Woking.”

The FIA already restricts the amount of time the teams can spend in the wind tunnel or using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and more restrictions are on the way. So building a new tunnel now seems counterintuitive, but the rules will actually make it even more important to have a state-of-the-art tunnel in a team’s control.

“To try to make genuine progress in the future we needed something so critical to our performance,” Key declared.

“We needed to update. CFD and wind tunnels complement each other very well, particularly in motor racing where it is very chaotic surrounding our very transient thing – a car that is weaving all over the place – and has rotating tyres in the airstream. There is a lot of complexity there.

“CFD does increasingly a great job of understanding on how all those flows are working, and demonstrating to us as engineers what is going on. But they can’t do that live in multiple conditions in the space of 10 minutes, and a wind tunnel can with the molecular resolution that we have with real air. Although CFD will get there eventually, and be able to replay exactly what a wind tunnel can do, it is still some way off.”

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Formula One

Round 13 Belgian GP

RACING FOR ANTHOINE

During a weekend oof deeply mixed emotions Charles Leclerc won his first F1 race the day after his good mate A Anthoine Hubert died in an accident during an F2 race at the same track.

RACE REPORT: DAN KNUTSON KN IMAGES: LAT

AFTER HE won the Belgian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc climbed out of his Ferrari and pointed to a sticker on the side of the car whic which said: RACING FOR ANTHOINE #19.

France’s Anthoine Hubert had been killed in a multi-car sshunt on the second lap of the Formula 2 race the day before.

“Very difficult to enjoy en this first win with the situation we hav have had yesterday, but overall it is just a dream come true,” said the 21-year-old Monégasque driver.

“Since I was a child child, I’ve been looking up to Formula 1, dre dreaming to be first a Formula 1 driver, wh which happened last year, and then drivin driving for Ferrari this year win today. and then the first wi “It’s a good day but bu on the other hand losing Anthoine Anthoin yesterday brings me back to 2005, my first ever French championship.

There cha was him, Esteban (Ocon), Pierre Es (Gasly), myself, and we were my four kids that were dreaming of Formula Form 1. We’ve grown up together in karting for tog many, many many years and to lose him yesterday was a big shock for me, and obvi obviously for everyone of mot motorsport.

“It was a very sad day.

Very difficult to enjoy it fully today, but hopefully in two or three weeks I will realise what happened today.”

That mood permeated the racing paddocks at the SpaFrancorchamps circuits and the spectator areas. All 20 F1 cars carried the “Racing for Anthoine #19” sticker, and on the 19th lap of the grand prix the fans stood up around the track to pay tribute to Hubert who drove car #19.

Leclerc would have won in Bahrain earlier this year but his Ferrari engine faded. He might have won in Austria but his tyres faded. But it all came together in Belgium where he started from the pole and won in his 34th F1 start.

This marked Ferrari’s first F1 victory since Sebastian Vettel won at the same track a year ago. While he led four laps this year, high tyre degradation sent Vettel to fourth place.

For a change this season Ferrari was faster than Mercedes. Still, Lewis Hamilton finished a close second behind Leclerc.

“It’s been a very difficult weekend for everyone in motorsport,” Hamilton said, “and today I raced with Anthoine in my

Lewis Hamilton couldn’t stop Charles Leclerc from taking an emotional victory.

thoughts. In general, it’s been a wobbly weekend but to have a solid qualifying and then a solid race today, I’m really happy.

“Of course, you always want to win on a race day, but I gave it absolutely everything I had. Ferrari were a very strong force, but for us to be that close at the end means there are plenty of positives to take.”

Valtteri Bottas wound up third in the other Mercedes.

“It’s been a tough weekend for everyone after yesterday’s sad news,” Bottas said. “I was trying as hard as I could out there but not many opportunities came my way. The race pace felt okay, but Ferrari were stronger on the straights as we expected.”

It was chaos at the start, a poor get away by Max Verstappen led to a charge down the inside, but unfortunately for the Dutchman, Kimi Raikkonen didn’t see him.

As a result, Verstappen crashed at Eau Rouge with a broken track rod, Aussie Daniel Ricciardo’s luck didn’t change after tangling with Lance Stroll. Alex Albon was the comeback kid, finishing fifth from 17th.

Like many of the drivers, Daniel Ricciardo had a mixed emotions weekend. He qualified his Renault sixth and started 10th because of a penalty for getting a new engine. The Aussie was also feeling down following Hubert’s accident, and gave some thought the night before to not racing.

Ricciardo’s race was ruined just after start when he tangled with Lance Stroll.

“The right side of the floor on my car was pretty much missing, not damaged, it was nonexistent,” Ricciardo said.

He pitted at the end of lap one for a set of Pirelli’s medium compound slicks, rejoined the race in 17th place, and made his way up the ranks.

“It didn’t seem that the pace of the others was that strong,” he said. “So we were like let’s keep going and see what happens. We held on to seventh for a while. I couldn’t really believe it, but I was like maybe we are going to get some points out of this.

“Eau Rouge is pretty easy full these days, but every lap through there is I was full I was holding my breath. Otherwise I was lifting. It was a handful. I was pretty proud that we held on that long, but in the end, we couldn’t do anymore.”

With his tyres now worn out, Ricciardo was passed by one car after another, and he finished 14th.

“I am glad it is over,” Ricciardo

said of the sad weekend. “I didn’t really want to be here today.”

Some 90,000 fans were there on race day.

Many of them were Dutch and supporting Max Verstappen, but they didn’t get to see their hero race after Verstappen retired after just a few hundred metres after tangling with Kimi Räikkönen just after the start.

“It was of course not a great end to the weekend, but it’s not the worst thing that can happen in life as we have seen yesterday,” said Verstappen who was also a friend of Hubert’s.

The F1 circus had to pack up quickly after the race at Spa as it was due to set up camp in just a few more days at another classic circuit – Monza – for the Italian Grand Prix, home race for F1’s most recent winning team Ferrari.

Sergio Perez had one of his best runs for of the year in sixth.

RESULTS ROUND 13: BELGIAN GRAND PRIX Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DNF DNF

Driver Charles Leclerc Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas Sebastian Vettel Alexander Albon Sergio Perez Daniil Kvyat Nico Hulkenberg Pierre Gasly Lance Stroll Lando Norris Kevin Magnussen Romain Grosjean Daniel Ricciardo George Russell Kimi Raikkonen Robert Kubica Antonio Giovinazzi Carlos Sainz Jr. Max Verstappen

Car Ferrari Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari Red Bull/Honda Racing Point/Mercedes Toro Rosso/Honda Renault Toro Rosso/Honda Racing Point/Mercedes McLaren/Renault Haas/Ferrari Haas/Ferrari Renault Williams/Mercedes Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Williams/Mercedes Alfa Romeo/Ferrari McLaren/Renault Red Bull/Honda

Laps 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 43 43 43 43 43 43 43 42 1 0

Gap 1h23m45.710s 0.981s 12.585s 26.422s 1m21.325s 1m24.448s 1m29.657s 1m46.639s 1m49.168s 1m49.838s Not running 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap 1 Lap Spun off Power Unit Collision

Points: Hamilton 268, Bottas 203, Verstappen 181, Vettel 169, Leclerc 157, Gasly 65, Sainz 58, Kvyat 33, Raikkonen 31, Albon 26, Norris 24 Ricciardo 22 Perez 21, Hulkenberg 21, Stroll 19, Magnussen 18, Grosjean 8, Giovinazzi 1, Kubica 1.

Constructors’: Mercedes 471, Ferrari 326, Red Bull-Honda 254, McLaren-Renault 82, Toro Rosso-Honda 51, Renault 43, Racing Point-Mercedes 40, Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 32, Haas-Ferrari 26, Williams-Mercedes 1.

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POWER GRABS ANOTHER WIN Australian Will Power took his second race victory of the season (above). While Alexander Rossi kept his title hopes alive.

INDYCAR AUSTRALIAN WILL Power bounced back from the heartbreak of crashing out at Gateway to win the Grand Prix of Portland.

The race victory is the 37th of his IndyCar career which moves him up to joint sixth place in the list of all time IndyCar wins with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais.

Power took his second victory in three races beating Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist by 2.7s, title contender Alexander Rossi rounded out the podium in third.

Another title contender New Zealander Scott Dixon held a commanding lead mid-way through the race but a battery issue cost the five-time IndyCar champion dear, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver falling to 16th and finishing three laps down.

This left Power in control and cruising to victory,

BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR TOYOTA

THE OPENING round of the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship season at Silverstone was won by the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose-Maria Lopez.

The trio finished just 1.9s ahead of the sister #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and new Toyota driver Brendon Hartley after 4 Hours of hard fought racing in mixed conditions.

The two Japanese cars switched positions multiple times throughout the race but the #7 team came out on top to give Conway his first WEC win on home soil.

The #3 Rebellion Racing R13 with Nathanael Berthon, Pipo Derani and Loic Duval at the wheel rounded out the podium one lap off the lead. The #1 Rebellion racing car finished fifth mostly due to a puncture allowing on debut the Team LNT Ginetta’s to finish in fourth and sixth.

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All images: LAT a late race safety car however threw a spanner in the works. As the race went back to green with four laps remaining Power pulled out a small gap which was enough to avoid any challenge Rosenqvist could throw at him.

The Team Penske driver held off the Swede who equalled his best IndyCar result of second, Rossi moved from third back into second in the standings with his third place finish.

“It was a pretty tough race for the Verizon Chevy, Rosenqvist caused some pressure. At the end, we could slowly pull away,” Power said.

“We will just race right now how we will race next year, it is so good to go into next year with a couple of wins.”

After being shuffled down the pack in the opening lap pole sitter Colton Herta was still able

WEC

Four new teams lined up in the always competitive LMP2 class and it was one of these teams Cool Racing who won the category on debut. The day before one of its drivers Alexandre Coigny was injured in a previous day crash in the Europen Le Mans Series and was forced to sit out the WEC race.

to finish the race fourth ahead of championship leader and Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden, the American battled his way through from a lowly 13th on the grid to limit the damage by rounding out the top five.

His teammate and reigning Indy 500 champion Simon Pagenaud also struggled in qualifying, the Frenchman started 18th but worked his way up to finish in seventh behind Spencer Pigot. Matheus Leist, Bourdais and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top 10.

The previous week at Gateway was a memorable IndyCar race in which Takuma Sato came out on in a thrilling battle to beat Ed Carpenter and Tony Kaanan who scored his first podium of the season. Santino Ferrucci and Newgarden nearly got together at the final turn, Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga were unfazed and brought the #42 car home 49.3s clear of the second placed #36 Signatech Alpine Elf car driven by Thomas Laurent, Andre Negrao and Pierre Ragues.

The Racing Team Nederland trio of Frits Van Eerd, Giedo Van Der Garde and Job Van Uitert finished just 2.4s further back.

The Porsche GTE Pro team recorded a 1-2 victory in class, Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz in the #91 car leading home Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR. The Aston Martin in the very capable hands of Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin took advantage of a penalty to pinch third off the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi. The pair led the race early but had to make an unscheduled pitstop due to a puncture and was then hit with the penalty but still finished fourth.

Ferrari however did win in GTE AM with the AF Corse trio of Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Nicklas Nielsen at the wheel despite serving a drive through penalty for not slowing sufficiently under full course yellow. Australian Matt Campbell finish fifth in class in the #77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche.

Ferrucci finished fourth while Newgarden spun and finished seventh. The other championship contenders also struggled, both Power and Dixon retired from the race. Rossi trailing home a disappointed 13th and Pagenaud could only manage fifth.

With one round and 100 points up for grabs at Laguna Seca four drivers still have a mathematical chance of winning the championship. Josef Newgarden leads the series with a 41 point buffer over Rossi and a 42 point advantage over Pagenaud. Dixon remains an outside chance but needs things to fall his way as he sits 85 points adrift, while Power has dropped just outside the title hunt and can no longer take the title.

The final round of the 2019 IndyCar series takes place at Laguna Seca on September 22.

TOYOTA WRC SUPREMACY

WRC ESTONIAN OTT Tanak has staked his claim for a maiden World Rally Championship after heading a Toyota 1-2-3 at Rallye Deutschland on August 23-25.

Despite brake problems stifling his push in the Power Stage, Tanak had enough margin in hand to defeat teammates Kris Meeke by 20.8s and Jari-Matti Latvala by a further 15.2s.

From the very start, Toyota’s

PORSCHE WINS AGAIN IN IMSA

DTM DTM TWO HORSE RACE THE MOST recent round of the DTM Championship at the Lausitzring was a perfect weekend for Audi who won both races with Nico Muller and Rene Rast taking a win a piece and also claimed the manufacturers title.

Championship leader Rast led the opening race from pole and was steadily extending his lead until a mechanical issue forced the German into retirement on lap 7.

From there Nico Muller controlled the race to record his second win of the season, with fellow Audi Robin Frijns and Mike Rockenfeller locking out the podium.

Rast fought back from Saturday’s heart-break to win the historic 500th DTM race on Sunday. Starting from fourth the 2017 DTM champion shot

leading contender demonstrated his ascendency on the opening day where he won four of the six stages to lead the day by 2.8s over Hyundai rival Thierry Neuville.

In hot conditions, the lead duo traded the lead early, before Tanak took the advantage as behind reigning champion Sebastien Ogier struggled in third driving his Citroen. The understeering C3 put

up into second place immediately, while Muller dropped to 10th on the opening lap due to a clutch issue.

On lap 4 Rast took the lead off teammate Jamie Green and stayed up front for the remainder of the race. Muller drove well to recover to second scoring his sixth straight podium ahead of Rockenfeller.

“That was a really perfect race, fitting for the DTM’s historic 500th race,” Rast said. “The car was faultless, my mechanics were working on it all night, and did a perfect job.”

Rast now leads Muller in the Championship by 20 points with four races to go, the penultimate round is at the Nurburgring on September 14-15.

the Frenchman into a field, though a stall failed to aid his charge.

Meeke and Dani Sordo battled for fourth until the latter had his i20 gearbox jam in first gear on the final stage of the day, dropping to ninth.

Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen was another battling understeer in sixth ahead of Esapakka Lappi, who spun on his way to seventh.

The battle at the head of the field continued to be hard fought between Tanak and Neuville, until the Hyundai driver punctured a tyre during the marathon 41.17km Panzerplatte stage, losing 90s.

This left Tanak to comfortably finish the day as the leader ahead of teammates Meeke and Latvala, after both overhauled Ogier on the same marathon stage. As did Sordo, recovering from the previous day’s gearbox issue he snatched fourth as Neuville continued to struggle, spinning and in the midst of his recovery he deactivated the gearchange system in the Hyundai when he accidentally

The DPI and LMP2 classes did not attend the 10th round of the IMSA Series at Virginia Raceway. GTLM was once again dominated by the Porsche GT Team, with Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy leading home teammates Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor.

Pilet and Tandy in the #911 car recorded their third race victory of the season and the sixth class victory for Porsche. The win allowed the pair to close the championship margin to Bamber and Vanthoor who finished just 0.737s behind. Pilet and Tandy now sit just 11 points off the #911 Porsche.

Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia rounded out the podium ahead of fellow Corvette pair Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin.

A safety car was called with 21 minutes of the 2h

40m race remaining, with the race going back to green with nine minutes remaining. Tandy managed to keep his fellow Le Mans winning teammate Bamber at bay to for the remainder of the race.

“It’s a perfect day,” Pilet said. “We have a great car.

The guys make an excellent job. All the Michelin tires were working perfectly on our car this weekend.”

In GTD the Mercedes AMG GT3 pair of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating took not only their first win of the season but their first podium after running a slightly different strategy. Class series leaders Mario Farnbacher and Trent Hindman finished the race in second ahead of Toni Vilander and Cooper MacNeil.

The penultimate round of the IMSA Series is at Laguna Seca on September 15th.

AUSSIES ON SUZUKA 10 HOURS PODIUM The 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours was dominated by the #25 Audi Sport WRT Team driven by Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde and Frederic Vervisch.

The trio led three-quarters of the race and crossed the line a comfortable 40s clear of the defending race winners Maximilian Buhk, Maro Engel and Raffaele Marciello in their Mercedes GT3 AMG. Reigning Bathurst 12 Hours race winners Dennis Olsen, Dirk Werner and Australian Matt Campbell rounded out the podium, their first since the opening round at ‘The Mountain,’ the Porsche trio coming home only 3.4s behind the Mercedes.

Another Aussuie Josh Burdon in the KCMG Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 car finished the race in a very respectable sixth position and within a minute of the race winners.

The Wall Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 car driven by the experienced trio of Cameron McConville, Tony D’Alberto and Adrian Dietz had a challenging day. Early in the race the car suffered rear damage which forced them to make an unscheduled stop,

IMSA

SUZUKA from there they continued to circulate and came home in 30th position outright and third in the Silver class.

The AMAC Motorsport team with Australians Andrew Macpherson, Ben Porter and Brad Shiels struck trouble early in the race when they made contact with another car but finished in 31st.

The #27 HubAuto Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 car driven by Australian Nick Foster, former Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen and Kiwi Nick Cassidy were involved in a couple of incidents. Most notably a big off into the tyre wall at the famous 130R turn, miraculously the trio did make the finish albeit 76 laps down in 32nd position.

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen made a return to racing in a McLaren 720S GT3, the McLaren star and his two teammates brought the car home in 22nd.

The 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge series will conclude with the Kyalami 9 Hours in South Africa on the 23rd of November.

Toyota driver hit an in-car button.

Ott Tanak After dropping back behind extended his the Toyotas, there was further championship pain for Ogier when he also lead. had a puncture through the last test and dropped to eighth.

The final day proved to be an anti-climax as all three Toyota men safely guided their Yaris WRCs through the final four stages to take a stellar result for the Japanese manufacturer.

“We started to have some issues in the previous stage so I couldn’t push. We only had one brake at the front.

I’m not really happy about that but we’re here and I am happy about that. The team has missed out on a 1-2-3 a few times so it is good to do that same with Lappi, elevating Ogier up finally,” Tanak said. a spot.

Behind, Hyundai played tactics There is a sizeable 32-point as Sordo left final service place, margin between Tanak and his two incurring a penalty to allow Neuville pursuers heading to Rally Turkey on into fourth, Citroen also did the September 12-15.

WRC Points: Tanak 205, Neuville 172, Ogier 165, Meeke 80, Mikkelsen 79, Evans 78, Latvala 74, Suninen 70, Sordo 62, Lappi 62

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RACE REPORT

The Bend Motorsport Park Races 21 & 22

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN Report: Heath McAlpine Photos: LAT/Dirk Klynsmith/Ross Gibb/Insyde Media

THREE WEEKS ago it appeared the Red Bull Holden Racing Team and Tickford Racing had closed the gap to Scott McLaughlin and DJR Team Penske, but the results at The Bend Motorsport Park suggested otherwise.

Although he may not have clean-swept the weekend through qualifying and the races, McLaughlin still came out on top in another dominating display. Even when challenged it was a matter of when not if the Kiwi was going to snatch the lead. Once he was in front, McLaughlin was unstoppable and has made it a very hard equation to be defeated for the championship title.

DJR Team Penske had a miss at this round last year with the drop gear incident, but put those memories behind it to hold off the growing challenge of Chaz Mostert and

Tickford to conquer The Bend.

Just as McLaughlin fails to do wrong, many other contenders were left scratching their heads after disappointing performances, none more so than David Reynolds. Two dud qualifying performances and a pair of scrappy races means he is well off the pace in championship terms, on a weekend when teammate Anton De Pasquale yet again impressed.

After practice action had concluded on Saturday morning, the RBHRT were shocked as both its ZB Commodores were well down the field. But as great teams do, it rallied and limited the potential damage. These could be crucial results just prior to the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

In saying all this, it wasn’t all rainbows and lollipops for DJR Team Penske as Fabian Coulthard had a shocker and lost second in the title race to Mostert.

But there were plenty of impressive performances over the course of the weekend, namely from Nick Percat who continues to uphold the Brad Jones racing honour through his consistency and fourth was just reward after a string of top 10 finishes. Another was wildcard Thomas Randle, who was straight on the pace and finished the second practice session on Friday in the 10.

And what about the Nissans? The new aero tweak may have worked, but a costly mistake in Race 22 punished Andre

Heimgartner just as he was set to replicate his top five result from the previous day.

However, the Mustangs continue to be the class of the field and that was emphasised by the front-row of both races. Mostert pipped

Chaz Mostert was on pole, but it didn’t take long for Scott McLaughlin to seize the ascendency.

McLaughlin zoomed off the start and after going defensive held off Mostert’s counter challenge

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Will Davison was a victim of the opening lap scuffles. A spin left him a sitting duck at Turn 6.

Although stalling during his pit stop, Anton De Pasquale still held on to a podium finish, outshining David Reynolds.

It appears Nissan’s aero adjustments worked as Heimgartner yet again scored an impressive top five result, although a mistake on Sunday soured his weekend. Mark Winterbottom also had a good Saturday.

McLaughlin for pole in Race 21 qualifying, but it was the championship leader that made the best getaway on the clean side of the circuit.

He quickly moved across and covered going into Turn 1 and was able to combat Mostert’s challenge on the outside.

Behind the lead duo, there was pandemonium as 26 Supercars threaded through the tight opening sequence of corners. Shane van Gisbergen was forced wide, but recovered, though behind Macauley Jones and wildcard Randle weren’t as lucky.

The two faced the wrong way once the dust had lifted at Turn 1.

There was further action at Turn 6 when Rick Kelly squeezed Tim Slade just as Will Davison was placed around the outside, with inevitable, but slight contact made. The 23Red Mustang was a sitting duck at the exit and was collected by an unsighted Simona De Silvestro, who in turn was hit heavily in the rear by Todd Hazelwood. All three were scratched from the remainder of the race.

In front, McLaughlin held a slender advantage from Mostert, while De Pasquale had jumped Mark Winterbottom off the start to be third and within striking distance of the two leading Mustangs.

Whincup had struggled during practice and qualifying, continuing the trend during the early stages of the race as he made a mistake at Turn 1, turning his RBHRT ZB Commodore into an expensive lawnmower, before being the first to pit on lap 6.

Mostert and Adam De Borre were the first of the leaders to blink on lap 8, hoping for an undercut as tyre wear was again not proving to be a factor at Australia’s newest circuit. By this stage the Mustangs had gapped De Pasquale marginally, making it a battle between Mclaughlin and Mostert for the lead.

Mostert changed all tyres except for the right-front, but a slow right-rear tyre change negated much of the advantage his strategy would have handed him, as McLaughlin came in the next lap and emerged with ahead of the Andre Heimgartner failed to replicate his fifth place from Race 21. A pit stop mistake dropped him back.

Tickford driver, but with his margin halved to 0.8s.

Whincup was showing pace in clean air and was a precursor to what times were going to be set up front.

De Pasquale led, but stalled in pit lane ending any chance he had of catching the lead two. He still held third and a second beckoned.

The lead fluctuated within a second before McLaughlin began to eek out a gap that grew out to a comfortable 7.1s by the flag.

Behind De Pasquale, Winterbottom held firm for the last stint of the race to finish fourth ahead of Heimgartner, van Gisbergen, Reynolds, Percat, Cam Waters and James Courtney, in what had been a dirty weekend

up to that point for Walkinshaw Andretti United.

For Race 22 Mustangs again representing the Tickford camp and DJR Team Penske locked out the front-row, though it was the title leader on pole ahead of the rejuvenated Davison, putting the dismay of Race 21 behind him.

The start was a replica of the previous day, although it was McLaughlin that failed to make the jump as he not only fell behind Davison, but also Whincup off the second row and was soon putting pressure on his good mate in the lead.

Winterbottom was a concertina victim at turn 2 as Waters and Tim Slade squeezed the Team 18 Commodore onto the grass and to the back of the field.

An amazing recovery from Red Bull Holden Racing Team turned a potential disaster into credible results.

Davison held onto an early lead, but an airbox fire cost him the lead, passing it on to McLaughlin

As his teammate charged to another top 10 result, Reynolds was languishing in the midpack.

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RACE REPORT

The Bend Motorsport Park Races 21 & 22

Davison led at the start of Race 22, but a pitstop delay dropped him to second at the flag. Post-race he was congratulated by his father and teammate Mostert.

Coulthard’s struggle was emphasised when he qualified a lowly 11th then dropped two positions after the start, which he failed to recover from.

The Davison-Whincup battle up front was heating up; McLaughlin lurked patiently and was rewarded when a failed dive at Turn 4 by Whincup slowed his exit. The DJR Team Penske driver was able to hold the outside line through Turn 5, completing the pass at Turn 6 and turning his attention to the red and white Mustang out front.

Or so he thought. Whincup challenged during the back half of the lap, bringing Mostert along for the fun as well. In fact, a small concertina caused the Tickford Racing Mustang to tap the rear of the RBHRTT Commodore, nothing too severe though.

Davison was not pulling away however as McLaughlin began to break free from Whincup and Mostert. This occurred just as the RBHRT driver set the fastest lap of the race up to that point, a 1m 50.44s on lap 5.

The next lap, pit stops commenced. Heimgartner was one of the first to take service, but it proved disastrous when the car was lowered, while the fuel coupling was still attached. A pit lane penalty soon followed.

Davison had been handling the pressure well, but McLaughlin had the blowtorch on and was ranging up on the rear of the 23Red Mustang. This was made easier by a slight error from the 300-race veteran when he locked up and missed the apex. There were no visible effects from the mistake as Davison again extended the lead to 0.5s heading towards his first pit stop.

McLaughlin was first in on lap 9, taking on 36L of fuel.

Next was Davison to combat the undercut, putting 31L in to maintain his lead.

Whincup and Mostert were still pushing, so much so that both had begun to catch the leaders before they pitted. Now fighting for the lead on-track, the fight was set to continue after the stops. It wasn’t to be. A small mistake from Whincup at Turn 14 gave Mostert the perfect opportunity to attack as the RBHRT Commodore’s rear slid on the exit of Turn 13, allowing Mostert down the inside.

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RACE RESULTS RACE 21 24 LAPS

Whincup pitted the next lap, then Mostert a lap later, emerging behind the seven-time champion again. This didn’t last long, Mostert snatching the position back under brakes at Turn 1.

The next round of pit stops began on lap 15, but the crucial stops were started on lap 19 when McLaughlin pitted. It was disaster for Davison, an airbox fire slowing his approach to the pit boom and it was all the Kiwi needed to leapfrog into the lead with a 1.5s margin. A Tickford missed opportunity.

From then on, the fire went out of the race as McLaughlin soon skipped ahead to a 5s advantage and in the end comfortably took a 2s victory ahead of Davison and Mostert.

McLaughlin’s victory equals the record for most wins in a season, 16, set by Craig Lowndes in 1996.

In turn, his series lead has now increased to 573-points approaching Pukekohe.

Another error from Whincup at Turn 9 on lap 35 gifted Percat his best result of the season, while the RBHRT duo had to be content with fifth and sixth, van Gisbergen trailing his teammate home.

A dirty day for Heimgartner was made worse after he spun teammate De Silvestro late in the race, leading to a post-race closed-door discussion. Team owner Rick Kelly finished the day best Nissan in 11th, ahead of Reynolds. It was a poor day for the Erebus star, 13th after an off late in the race.

Macauley Jones and Thomas Randle had an argument at turn 1.

1 Scott McLaughlin 24 laps 2 Chaz Mostert +7.074s 3 Anton De Pasquale +25.107s 4 Mark Winterbottom +29.458s 5 Andre Heimgartner +29.727s 6 Shane van Gisbergen +30.455s 7 David Reynolds +30.837s 8 Nick Percat +31.092s 9 Cameron Waters +33.690s 10 James Courtney +34.901s 11 Jamie Whincup +36.757s 12 Fabian Coulthard +37.522s 13 Lee Holdsworth +37.823s 14 Tim Slade +38.352s 15 Scott Pye +42.918s 16 Richie Stanaway +44.010s 17 Thomas Randle +45.555s 18 James Golding +50.584s 19 Macauley Jones +54.735s 20 Garry Jacobson +57.773s 21 Jack Le Brocq +64.081s 22 Jack Smith +69.048s 23 Rick Kelly +106.900s NC Simona De Silvestro 1 lap NC Will Davison 1 lap NC Todd Hazelwood 1 lap FASTEST LAP David Reynolds 1m 49.4042s

▲1 ▼1 ▲1 ▼1 ▲1 ▲2 ▲5 ▲ 11 ▼4 ▲5 ▼2 ▼5 ▼2 ▲3 ▲6 ▲7 ▼3 ▲4 ▼1 ▲5 ▲3 ▲4 ▼8 ▼ 11 ▼ 15 ▼6

RACE RESULTS RACE 22 41 LAPS 1 Scott McLaughlin 41 laps 0 2 Will Davison +2.469s 0 3 Chaz Mostert +3.628s 0 4 Nick Percat +14.460s ▲ 2 5 Jamie Whincup +16.326s ▼ 1 6 Shane van Gisbergen +20.476s ▲ 10 7 Anton De Pasquale +26.912s 0 8 Cameron Waters +28.784s ▼ 3 9 Lee Holdsworth +29.196s ▼ 1 10 Fabian Coulthard +31.837s ▲ 1 11 Rick Kelly +33.552s ▲ 7 12 Tim Slade +38.215s ▼ 2 13 David Reynolds +44.300 ▲ 2 14 Todd Hazelwood +46.227s ▲ 8 15 James Courtney +49.915s ▼ 2 16 Scott Pye +52.022s ▲ 4 17 Thomas Randle +52.283s ▲ 4 18 James Golding +54.917s ▲ 1 19 Garry Jacobson +59.031s ▼ 2 20 Andre Heimgartner +62.384s ▼ 8 21 Macauley Jones +64.169s ▲ 5 22 Simona De Silvestro +72.095s ▼ 8 23 Mark Winterbottom +75.103s ▼ 14 24 Richie Stanaway +78.616s ▲ 1 25 Jack Le Brocq +79.180s ▼ 1 26 Jack Smith +107.027s ▼ 3 FASTEST LAP Cameron Waters 1m 49.4054s Points: McLaughlin 2738, Mostert 2165, Coulthard 2152, van Gisbergen 2122, Whincup 1981, Reynolds 1922, Waters 1774, Percat 1705, Davison 1661, De Pasquale 1560, Holdsworth 1533, Courtney 1402, Heimgartner 1388, Winterbottom 1387, Slade 1335, Pye 1192, Kelly 1182, Hazelwood 1117, Golding 1103, De Silvestro 976, Le Brocq 814, Jones 807, Jacobson 761, Stanaway 572, Smith 285, Caruso 222, Pither 159, Randle 108, Blanchard 93.

Carrera Cup Round 6 The Bend Motorsport Park

LOVE KEEPS SERIES HOPES ALIVE

Jordan Love was unstoppable at The Bend. Thomas Maxwell qualified well, but found trouble in Race 1.

Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Insyde Media/Ross Gibb

DESPITE A clean-sweep for Jordan Love, it was an intriguing round of Porsche Carrera Cup Australia as young guns shone and amateurs scored podiums, while the championship leader had his margin halved in a disastrous weekend.

Series leader Dale Wood came into the weekend with a 201-point gap over Warren Luff, but after the three races held at The Bend Motorsport Park had it significantly cut, reigniting the title fight.

Young guns outshone the experienced runners in qualifying, Jordan Love sat on pole alongside series rookie Thomas Maxwell, as behind Cameron Hill and Cooper Murray started on the second row. Wood had a disappointing session and started Race 1 from 13th.

Love made a better jump than Maxwell and led into Turn 1, the Territorian coming under pressure from a faststarting Murray. The two made contact after Murray made a bold move around the outside, Adrian Flack stayed out of the carnage and was rewarded with an outright podium.

which in turn forced Michael Almond off in avoidance.

Murray spun and contacted Maxwell again, damaging the latter’s suspension forcing an early retirement. Murray and Almond were lucky to continue, but were well down the order.

Hill slid down the inside of Love at the final turn approaching the completion of the second lap, but this slowed the pair entering the front-straight. Pro Am leader Liam Talbot made the best of the opportunity, passing both and snatching the lead. This was only momentary as he ran slightly wide at the first turn, which compromised Hill and allowed Love to sweep back through to retake the lead.

Title leader Wood was in trouble early, pitting for what he thought was a puncture on lap 3, then again a few laps later, but differing rear tyre pressures was the cause for the driver’s confusion.

On lap 7 Hill was able to take second position off Talbot, but victory was not on the cards as Love checked out, cruising to a 6.1s victory from Hill, while Talbot won the Pro-Am by finishing on the final step of the outright podium.

The start to the mini endurance race on Sunday was tough for Love. First Hill, then McBride overtook the previous race winner, but Hill went from hero to zero a lap later at Turn 1, locking up and flying over the gravel. This lost him lead and second-place before his lap was made worse when he made an error and went off the track, taking an innocent Luff with him. Hill was forced to enter pit lane for

repairs.

Maxwell’s weekend went from bad to worse as he was t-boned by Sam Shahin after a failed move on Roger Lago went awry, eliminating both from the race.

The battle for the lead was heating up during the closing stages, Love had caught McBride and preceded to pass him on lap 9. From there, Love was never headed as the scrap for the final podium positions had only just begun.

McBride went on to struggle for the duration of the race, leaving Wall and Pro-Am competitor Adrian Flack to complete the podium. McBride held onto fifth, behind Murray, though the pair was aided by a spin from Talbot at Turn 9 whilst in fourth.

Things settled down in the final event as Love jumped well at the start to head Wall, who was then demoted to third by Murray at Turn 5. The young Victorian began to zone in on Love, but a mistake at Turn 13 lost him time and second place to Wall.

Murray caught back up to Wall on the penultimate lap but was unable to get through on the 2017 series winner. Love took the win by more than 6s and along with it the round, ahead of Wall, who held off a spirited charge by Murray.

Flack finished fourth in the final race, which was enough for him to take the final step on the outright podium and Pro-Am honours.

Love now moves into second, 90-points behind Wood, ahead of the next round at Mount Panorama Bathurst on October 11-13.

STANDINGS: Wood 841, Love 751, Wall 687, Luff 658, McBride 654 PRO AM: Lago 796, Talbot 722, Flack 668, Shahin 625, Anthony Gilbertson 610.

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SUPPORTS The Bend Motorsport Park

OJEDA PIPS FEENEY TO ROUND WIN

Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Insyde Media

THERE WAS plenty of wheel-to-wheel action during Super3’s fourth round at The Bend Motorsport Park, but it was Anderson Feeney and Ribarits battled all weekend.

Motorsport’s Jayden Ojeda that creept closer to the series lead by taking out the get past. The Queenslander did so weekend. on lap 3 and set about catching the Matt White Motorsport has been leader by re-setting the lap record on dominant team so far and Hamish multiple times, but it came to nought Ribarits added another pole position, as Ojeda held on by 0.12s to take the but lost the start to Race 1. Ojeda championship lead. Ribarits finished made a cracker from fourth and led third ahead of a recovering teammate exiting Turn 1. The two tussled during Best. the opening lap, but it was Ojeda that A clash with Feeney in the final race held on. prevented an Ojeda clean-sweep.

Ribarits fell back as mistakes at After making another strong start, the Turns 1 and 6 allowed series leader reigning Formula 4 Champion blocked Broc Feeney into second, before a aggressively at Turn 17 as Feeney tried Safety Car was required to clean up an to slide down the inside, however both engine failure for leading Kumho Cup toured the grass, handing Ribarits the contender Jim Pollicina. lead.

The race restarted with four laps The drama didn’t end there as the to go as Feeney immediately forced new race leader was handed a 5s Ojeda to defend, though the series post-race penalty for creeping at the leader made a move at Turn 5. This start, but a series of misdemeanours compromised the next segment of the led to Ribarits dropping to fourth and complex as Feeney ran wide, which well out of contention. allowed Ojeda and Ribarits back Best remained the last one standing through. and took the final win of the weekend, Ojeda took victory ahead of Ribarits 2s ahead of Feeney and Carroll, while and Feeney, while the battle for fourth Ojeda finished fourth to due to the raged between Nic Carroll, Zak Best penalty placed on Ribarits, and it was and Jon McCorkindale. It ended enough for him to win the round. in tears as all three went off track, Feeney managed to snatch back the McCorkindale emerged in fourth as title lead as one of four drivers can Carroll and Best finished 13th and 16th take the Super3 crown at Sandown respectively. next month.

In a suspenseful Race 2, Ojeda made another perfect start ahead of POINTS: Feeney 446, Ojeda 435, Ribarits, who had Feeney eager to Ribarits 388, Best 373, Carroll 303 Ribarits led his two MW Motorsport teammates during the early stages of the final race.

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DOUBLING THE DIVIDEND

Report: Garry O’Brien Images: Insyde Media

FOR THE second year Joel Heinrich won The Bend round of the Aussie Racing Cars Series and used his double points Joker to gain maximum points.

Series leader Justin Ruggier finished second and extended his points advantage. Third place went to Luke Fraser and also using his Joker, Josh Anderson finished the weekend fourth.

The first race was won by Heinrich (Aurion) after he grabbed the lead off Ruggier (Mustang) on the second lap. It was just before a safety car, brought about by debutant Ollie Shannon’s Camaro having an engine detonation and erupting in flames.

Fraser (Camaro) finished third, reclaiming it from Kel Treseder (Camaro) in the later stages, while Anderson (Camaro) relegated Paul Morris (Altima) to sixth. Reece Chapman (Camaro) followed ahead of Kyle Honour (Camaro), who lost places when he miscued on the opening lap.

Ruggier was the early leader of race two until passed by Heinrich and Treseder, and finished fourth when passed by Fraser. The four finished nose-to-tail with Treseder the winner from Heinrich.

Anderson edged out Morris and Leigh Bowler (Camaro) for fifth with Chapman next ahead of Blake Sciberras, who started last after gearbox issues ruled his Mustang out of Race 1.

Treseder edged round winner Heinrich in Race 2.

Ruggier still holds a commanding series lead.

Race 3 was as the re reverse erse top 10 where here Adam Clarke (Camaro) led away. After that Ruggier went ahead until he was passed by winner Heinrich. Ruggier held off Fraser for second while Anderson and Bowler were line astern for fourth and fifth.

Morris was next, slowed by a guard rubbing a tyre. Sciberras was in the mix before being turned around. Yet he still recovered for seventh. A failed universal joint put Treseder out on the sight lap.

Following Heinrich certainly benefitted Ruggier who took out race four after dicing with him and Fraser. Treseder also joined in from well back, but was edged out (0.04s) of second by Heinrich after Fraser spun on the final lap.

Bowler was next, triumphing over Anderson and Fraser recovered for sixth ahead of Honour. Morris was next before a 10s penalty for turning Chapman around on lap 1.

POINTS: Ruggier 306, Treseder 293, Bowler 274, Anderson 235, Clark 231

Round 5 Touring Car Masters

The night racing was spectacular, as round winner Ryal Harris demonstrated.

HARRIS TAKES MAIDEN IN MASTER BLAST Report: Garry O’Brien Images: Insyde Media/Ross Gibb/ Riccardo Benvenuti

AT THE Sydney MasterBlast, the Paynter Dixon Touring Car Masters had their most ambitious and exciting event to date with Ryal Harris emerging as the round winner after five races.

Harris (Chev Camaro) posted a third, a win and a second in the three important sprint races to take the fifth round ahead of Aaron Seton (Ford Mustang) and Ryan Hansford (Holden Torana A9X).

Returning to the Sydney Motorsport Park for the first time since 2015, the round also included an exciting night race (with separate qualifying) on the north circuit run for starting and finishing points only.

The round started with the Dometic Trophy event where the top half of qualifying was flipped and put to the back of the grid.

Points were awarded for starting and finishing points only.

Pole position starter Bruce Williams (Torana) was beaten away

by Cam Tilley (Valiant Pacer) before the two vied for the lead over the opening lap. Back in the pack there was a melee involving Jim Pollicina (A9X), Al Boughen (Mercury Comet), Jamie Tilley (Mustang) and particular, Rob Hackwood and Adam Bressington (Camaro) who both copped damage.

At Turn 1 on lap 2, Williams was

It was a hungry pack of TCM cars that returned to Sydney Motorsport Park for the first time since 2015.

John Bowe broke his winless streak at MasterBlast, while series leader Johnson has been slowed down with penalties.

Aaron Seton continued his strong form with more wins at MasterBlast. forced to brake to avoid contact with the Valiant and speared off.

Cam Mason (Mustang) moved to second and after half distance had caught and passed Tilley.

John Bowe (A9X) came from the back of the grid, passing Tilley late in the race to take second while Harris was fourth in front of Marcus Zukanovic (Ford Falcon XD) and the recovering Williams.

The first of the sprint races (race 13 of the season) was also the 300th for the category and finished behind a safety car. Bowe had pole as he was fastest in qualifying, but was penalised two grid spots for pit indiscretions started third behind the Mustangs of Seton and Steve Johnson.

Off the start it was a three-way tussle between Seton, Johnson and Harris for the lead, which settled into that order. Andrew Fisher was put onto the grass crossing the

tunnel as a result of contact with the Tilley Valiant and crashed at Turn 4. It was a lengthy recovery due to broken steering and other damage inflicted on the Ford Falcon GTHO. With the field coasting to end the race, Bowe was fourth ahead Hansford and Pollicina.

Seton took out the night race, but not before an intense struggle to hold the leading spot from Harris and then Hansford. The latter spun at the top of the circuit, leaving Seton clearly in front as Harris fended off Johnson for the duration.

Following them were Bressington just in front of Mason, Hackwood and Williams. Bowe was a nonstarter, pulling to pits at the end of the out-lap with a broken rocker.

Harris held off the fast-finishing Bowe in the first of the Sunday outings (Race 14) where Hansford was third. Seton looked to have the race in his keeping until a

glitch on the final lap allowed his rivals through. He finished fourth in front of series leader Johnson, Hackwood, Bressington, Cam Tilley, Zukanovic and Williams.

Jamie Tilley was the only DNF with a badly damaged front to his Mustang following contact with a wayward Pollicina on the second lap.

It was a thrilling finish in the last, Race 15 where Bowe came from fourth at the end of the penultimate lap, to take an unlikely victory.

Harris had wrestled the lead away from Seton early but the latter hit back to get ahead at the start of lap 5. Hansford was trailing in a close third as Bowe started picking off Bressington and Johnson.

On the last lap Bowe passed Hansford and was destined for third until the charge to the line where he nabbed both the front runners.

Bowe, the most prolific winner in

TCM, broke a winless streak of 22 races with the victory. Harris had regathered to second as Hansford also slipped by, relegating Seton to fourth. Johnson was next from Bressington and Pollicina.

Zukanovic pipped Tilley for eighth with Williams shadowing the pair to the chequered flag. Aaron McGill (Falcon XW GT) edged Mason for 11th, and they were clear of Tony Karanfilovski in his Mustang.

Hackwood had the throttle cable break at the start and he coast to a halt after Turn 3, forcing a safety car to get recovered.

TCM POINTS AFTER ROUND 5

Johnson 785, Bowe 725, Harris 718, Bressington 668, Pollicina 624, Hansford 555, Williams 520, Seton 488, Zukanovic 458, Mason 444

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MASTERBLAST

ICONIC EVENT’S LIGHTS UP Report: Garry O’Brien Images: Insyde Media/Ross Gibb/Riccardo Benvenuti

Night racing was spectacular as part of MasterBlast, while Porsches dominated Group S.

A NEW name and a revamp of the program, heralded the Paynter Dixon Sydney MasterBlast on Father’s Day weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Formerly known as the Muscle Car Masters, the SMB was more about the racing rather than the nostalgia with added categories and some spectacular racing under lights. The crowds may not have been as big as the halcyon days but the competitor entries were huge.

Besides national rounds for Sports Sedans and Superkarts, the A big field of Production Touring Cars

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NSW Production Car Championship was decided.

By the same token the traditional categories were not forgotten either with Heritage Touring Cars, Historic Touring Cars and Historic Production Sports Cars participating.

In the opening Production Touring race, Tony Virag (HSV GTS) was a clear leader until the engine cried enough. That left Anthony Soole (BMW M4) to take the win ahead of Jimmy Vernon and Michael King in their Mitsubishi EVOs with the HSV Clubsports driven by Matthew Holt and Jacques Oosthuizen next.

Vernon had the early running over Soole in Race 2 before a safety car was deployed when Gavin Holland (EVO) and Scott Sullivan (Commodore) clashed at Turn 4. After the restart Soole passed King and challenged Vernon for the lead. They swapped places twice on the final lap and Soole edged out the EVO driver at the flag. Behind King, Trevor Symonds (HSV) won the three-way scrap over Tom Muller (BMW 1M) and Holt.

The night race was a thriller between Soole and early leader Vernon. In the end, despite getting caught

up behind a lapped car, it was Soole with the superior speed on the straight that proved the difference.

Switching to another GTS, Virag came in third ahead of the Jacques Oosthuizen (Clubsport), Holt and Muller.

Race 4 featured another great dice between Soole and Vernon which ultimately went to the Mitsubishi EVO pilot when Soole pulled off with a right front puncture. King crossed the line second with Symonds holding off Holt for third.

Just behind them came Darren Herbert (EVO) and Muller. Vernon carried the good form through to the last, taking a comfortable win over King with Holt third ahead of Oosthuizen and Muller. It was the title deciding round and Geoff Kite (Holden Commodore SSV) snagged the championship.

Initially the Heritage Touring Cars’ night race was dominated by Tony Karanfilovski (ex-Glenn Seton Ford Sierra RS500) after major rival Chris Stillwell (ex-Colin Sierra) didn’t start and Terry Lawlor (ex-Dick Johnson Sierra) was an early retiree with a power steering failure.

Karanfilovski won ahead of Adrian Allisey (Walkinshaw VL Commodore) while Neil Schembri (Walkinshaw) was a likely third until passed by Greg Keam (Ford Mustang) on the final lap. Just behind came Rick Allen (BMW M3) ahead of Craig Neilson (Mitsubishi Starion). Best of the Group C runners was Dean Howe in his ex-JPS BMW 635csi.

Prior to that the two

groups ran separately with Karanfilovski holding off Lawlor in Group A while Stillwell was pressured all the way by Allisey.

Group C honours went to Frank Binding (ex-Army Reserve Ford Falcon) where he held off How and Lindsay Woollard (ex-ReCar Commodore). Lawlor took out the first Sunday race ahead of Stillwell and Allisey.

The next race was a splitgrid with the Group C cars starting a minute ahead of Group A. Binding was the winner ahead of How and Woollard. Lawlor and Stillwell headed the Group A contingent in fourth and fifth. In the last it was Stillwell ahead of Keam with Peter Jones (BMW) third ahead of Brian Henderson in his Nissan Skyline.

Porsches ruled in the Group S Historic Production Sports Cars with Wayne Seabrook leading throughout three races.

Only in the last did he trail in second, but only for a few laps before nabbing his fourth victory. Stan Adler was second in each and had a brief spell in the lead of race three.

Terry Lawlor (Shelby GT350) stopped a Stuttgart trifecta by relegating Doug Barbour to fourth in races one, two and three. With no Lawlor in race four, Barbour consolidated third in the race and overall.

Aaron Smith (Datsun 280Z) put in a good performance in race three to beat the Porsches driven by CalvertJones, David Cunneen and Kevin Luke, with the menacing Damien Meyer

RICCIARDELLO CLOSES ON NUMBER 11

(MG Midget) just behind.

Luke beat Smith for fourth in the last as Calvert-Jones and Cunneen saw off the challenge of Meyer.

Likewise, Historic Touring Cars was a Ford Mustang domination. Brad Tilley was clearly superior in all outings, although he had to settle for second in the last after an alleged jump start. Second went to Adam Anthony Soole used the BMW’s superior top end horsepower to take victory at night in Walton in the opening two Production Touring. Tony Karanfilovski used the ex-Peter Jackson Sierra to win Group A. races, and he copped a 5s penalty in Race 3 before picking up the Race 4 win.

Ben Wilkinson was third in the opener ahead of Bill Attard (Mazda RX2) but the Mustang driver was pipped at the flag in the second

by Aldo De Paoli (Chev Camaro). Race three was held in the dark with De Paoli holding third despite a start line 5s penalty.

There was no Wilkinson for the last where Dale Perry (Mustang) was third in front of Peter Baguley (Holden Brad Tilley wrestled his Mustang to three victories at SMP.

WITH FOUR wins at round four of the DEA Performance National Sports Sedan Series, Tony Ricciardello (Alfa/Chev) is very close to taking his 11th title. At Sydney Motorsport Park he won ahead of Jordan Caruso (Audi/Chev) with Steve Tamasi (Calibra/Chev) third in each race.

Ricciardello now holds a 106-point lead with one round remaining. Caruso is second in the title hunt and Shane Woodman (BMW/Chev) third a further 59 points adrift. Reigning title holder Tamasi holds down fourth, having missed the third round.

Caruso was the fastest qualifier by 0.24s and took the initial lead in race one. On lap two, Ricciardello went ahead for the first of two Saturday victories. Caruso scored a pair of second places. Tamasi was third while Shane Woodman had two stirring dices with Michael Robinson (Monaro/Chev) for a pair of fourths.

Not far away, Alex Williams (Mazda RX7) was sixth in race one, ahead of Phil Crompton (Ford Mustang Trans Am). Scott Reed (Mustang) held off Colin Smith (Monaro/Chev) for ninth.

Crompton had the better of Williams in race two, so too Smith over Reed.

Ricciardello led all the way in race three, but lost out to Caruso at the start of the last which was also the Des Wall Trophy event.

On lap two the Audi driver appeared to have a gear shift issue out of turn 8 and Ricciardello was able to blast past.

“I almost ran into the back of him and actually the front splitter touch the back of the Audi as I swerved around it,” said Riccardello.

Behind Tamasi there was an intense dice for fourth in race three where Woodman held off Crompton and Williams.

Robinson managed to get by Reed on the final lap after a racelong dice.

Williams came through to fourth in the last race, ahead of Woodman and the fast-finishing Birol Cetin (Camaro) from the back of the grid. This time Reed eclipsed Robinson to take seventh. GOB

CHAMPIONSHIP DECIDER AT MASTER BLAST

CELEGRATING AFTER the final round of the Superkart Australia Championship were Ilya Harpas, John Dunn and Aaron Cogger, the respective 250 International, 250 National and 125 National champions of 2019 as the series concluded at Sydney Motorsport Park.

In all four of their races, Ilya Harps (Anderson Maverick) crossed the line first but was relegated in the first with a 30s penalty for going too early at a restart after a safety car. That gave Jordan Ford (Anderson) a narrow victory over Gary Pegoraro (Anderson) with Anton Stevens ART-PVP), Sam Rose (PVP/DEA) and Matt Bass (Anderson) next.

Ford led the second race at the start before Harpas stormed past and won legitimately. Ford was second while Stevens held off Bass in a tight contest for third. In the next two race, Harpas won comfortably ahead of Stevens and Pegoraro Anderson) in race three before second and third were reversed in race four.

Meanwhile John Dunn (Anderson) was the best in the single cylinder 250 Nationals, winning immediately in race won as rival John Pellicano (Avoig Elise) had an engine failure. The latter came back for a race two victory as Dunn had dramas and retired. Dunn won the other two from Josh Miller (Stockman) with Pellicano again striking dramas.

Numbers were with the 125 Nationals where Nick Schembri (Anderson) was the pacesetter, scoring three wins and only denied a fourth with a loose water pipe. Schembri tied with Paul Campbell (Avoig) for the round win with Schembri taking the honours on a countback. Campbell was also tied for the championship honours but lost that one too, to Cogger (Avoig).

GOB

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TCR Round 5 WINTON

BROWN’S WINTON

Two out of three ain’t bad. Will Brown dominated the Sunday action at Winton.

Report: Heath McAlpine Images: TCR Australia/Daniel Kalisz

A POOR round at Queensland Raceway left Will Brown with a greatly reduced margin in his pursuit of the inaugural Carsales TCR Australia Series, but that was reversed at Winton.

Brown dominated Sunday’s action after scoring second behind veteran Jason Bright, two dominating victories enhanced his title credentials as did Dylan O’Keeffe’s luck. The Ash Seward Motorsport driver struggled all weekend with first brake, then tyre and finally traffic to compound another disappointing event.

Although the series lead is an imposing 116-points, the round at Sandown is expected to suit the Alfa Romeo of O’Keeffe, much like Queensland Raceway did. Third in the series is the consistent Tony D’Alberto, but he heads an extremely close battle for the final podium made up of Nathan Morcom and form driver Aaron Cameron.

It didn’t appear that on Saturday morning after a mistake by Cameron led to a spectacular jump through the infield for his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. He wasn’t the only

one as series debutant Bryce Fullwood and O’Keeffe caused red flags by spinning off, while many others pushed at the sweeper and ended on the grass.

Brown started the weekend off best by taking his maiden TCR pole and the two-points that went along with it, O’Keeffe was fourth. Between the duo, Andre Heimgartner proved the work Kelly racing had completed on the Holden Astra TCRs had paid dividends with second and John Martin demonstrated the pace of the Honda Civic Type R TCR in third. The top six contained five different brands.

The race had a delayed start as fuel pressure issues for James Moffat caused him to head off track at Turn 7. Miraculously he restarted, however his Renault Megane TCR wasn’t the only one to strike trouble, teammate Chris Pither was also in the lane with brake issues.

The field were given a second warm up lap, which didn’t aid in heating the tyres and further to this were delayed at the start. This played into Heimgartner’s hands when his

jump was much better than Brown’s as the Hyundai dropped to fourth after contact with the Astra.

Bright made a blistering start from sixth and was third, witnessing Martin make an aggressive move into Turn 9 ahead to take the lead off Heimgartner, who then began to fall back. Brown disposed of Bright and Heimgartner in quick succession, but Martin had already broken away to the tune of 1.5s.

Fullwood’s debut run failed to last a lap as

Melbourne Performance Centre duo Aaron Cameron and Russell Ingall added to the team’s trophy cabinet by finishing Sunday’s race 3 on the podium.

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the driveshaft in his Subaru Impreza WRX TCR gave up the ghost, the Kelly Racing crew did manage to replace the component in three laps to get the Super2 leader out there for points.

Brown began reeling in Martin, while Heimgartner led an angry train of TCR cars led by Bright, O’Keeffe and D’Alberto. The flood gates did eventually open.

Bright and O’Keeffe made short work of the Astra and preceded to slash Brown’s margin, which was made easier when the two leaders clashed. Martin and Brown had contacted each other at Queensland Raceway, but did so again at Turn 10 at Winton.

Brown went off track, but Martin sustained slight damage and began falling through the field. This was all good for Bright as he snatched the lead and signalled a return to form by scoring a comfortable victory. Brown took second, crucially ahead of title rival O’Keeffe.

Martin’s race went from bad to worse as a clash with the second Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce driven by Jordan Cox left the Honda to limp around with a flat tyre. Heimgartner’s

Andre heimgartner showed the improved form of the Astra to sit alongside Brown on the front-row for Saturday’s event.

GRM’s Renaults had a tough weekend, Chris Pither crashed out of Sunday’s Race 2. Jordan Cox had an eventful second run in the Alfa Romeo. Liam McAdam impressed although a mistake curtailed his Race 3.

strong run also came to an end with a spin at Turn 6 and Cameron dropped a position after going off at the penultimate corner of the final lap.

Bright started on pole for the second race due to the progressive grid, but revealed that cracked front-end components that had been damaged at Phillip Island was the cause of his form slump after taking victory in the inaugural race at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Drama started even before the second race began as series debutant Liam McAdam toured the dirt in the Audi RS3 TCR that Garth Tander and Jean-Karl Vernay have taken to victory this season.

Brown started alongside, but both made a good jump with the Golf just edging ahead.

Behind, Moffat was off after he was squeezed between Cox and Hamish Ribarits guesting in the second Astra vacated by Alex Rullo.

Brown had a tailgunner in third, Morcom progressing early to place in the final podium position giving his teammate confidence to attack Bright, which he did at Turn 11.

This failed, but a more conclusive pass was executed at Turn 3 and Brown bridged a comfortable margin quickly, pushing hard.

O’Keeffe could make no impression up front and cruising in fourth, Morcom was doing the opposite as he attacked Bright by dipping, diving and flashing his headlights to no avail.

Russell Ingall had progressed through the field to be placed seventh, but a mistake approaching Turn 1 where he dropped two tyres into the dirt dropped him back to ninth.

Teammate Cameron was starting to wage into the battle for fourth with O’Keeffe, but a slow leak in his right-front tyre turned into a puncture and he was off at Turn 4.

As if GRM’s weekend couldn’t get any worse

CARSALES TCR AUSTRALIA POINTS AFTER ROUND 5

Brown 538, O’Keeffe 422, D’Alberto 393, Morcom 386, Cameron 379.

Jason Bright retuned to form, taking the first race at Winton.

it did as Pither hit the Turn 2 outside wall, damaging the ever-improving Megane, but still no safety car.

Brown by now had the race sewn up, 6.571s was the margin back to Bright, but the battle for third was heating up between Morcom and Cameron. The battle fell the way of the MPC driver after a successful pass at Turn 11 on the penultimate lap.

Brown’s commanding victory, 7.905s in fact headed Bright, Cameron, Morcom and a charging Ingall.

Moffat’s weekend continued to be eventful, spinning at Turn 6 on the warm up lap, but this set up a charge to seventh early on. There were further dramas when the lights went out, Bright failed to jump and luckily the field avoided him.

It shook up the field, Martin was the big

loser, taking to the grass to avoid the drama ahead, though Ingall was the opposite, progressing to third behind the two duelling leaders, Brown and Cameron.

The 2005 V8 Supercars champion wasn’t the only to rapidly move forward, Cox was another and challenged D’Alberto for fourth, but came off second best in a coming together with the Honda at Turn 1.

Brown defended strongly from Cameron, but was soon replicating what he had done in the previous race and started to bridge a gap, running at close to qualifying pace.

This was all bad news for O’Keeffe, the Alfa Romeo driver was 12th and struggling to charge his way through the field. Eighth was the final result, but resistance came from Ribarits, Alexandra Whitley and Leanne Tander.

Another to advance through the field was McAdam, but it didn’t last as pressure from Morcom forced the Toyota 86 runner into a mistake entering the front straight, running wide and colliding with the pit wall. He did continue, but finished the last of the runners in 15th.

Morcom was hungry for another position and passed D’Alberto for fourth in an aggressive move at Turn 1, but there was no time left to catch Ingall.

Brown had checked out, a 10.740s margin was the result at the conclusion of the race from Cameron and a fast closing Ingall.

Sandown will be an interesting round, it should suit the Alfa Romeo, but the unknown quantity of the Cupra joins the series and the BoP will come into play for the Hyundai. The title ain’t over until the final flag falls.

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ARC Round 4

Ballarat

ADVANTAGE BATES Report: R t H Heath th M McAlpine Al i Al Images: CAMS/Wishart Media

HARRY BATES and John McCarthy continue their domination of this year’s Australian Rally Championship by taking victory at the fourth round of the title, the Eureka Rush Rally in Ballarat on August 24-25.

The Victorian goldfields hosted a dramatic rally of attrition, but Bates and McCarthy extended their winning streak to four having won each of this year’s ARC events driving the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Toyota Yaris AP4.

The event doubled as a round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship’s Asia Pacific Cup, which welcomed the addition of Hayden Paddon to the field driving the Walkem Motorsport Hyundai i20 R5.

Although not contesting the event as an ARC entry, Paddon was impressive and led the rally by 10s after two runs through the Ballarat Super Special Stage on Saturday night, heading Bates.

Bates was also cross-entered in the Asia Pacific Cup, but in the ARC section of the rally he held a 6s lead ahead of the Les Walkden Rallying duo of Simon Evans and Bernie Webb contesting their second event in the Tasmanian team’s Subaru Impreza WRX STI Group N. The second Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Yaris driven by the younger Bates sibling Lewis and co-driver Anthony McLoughlin, took third ahead of Subaru do Motorsport’s Molly Taylor and Malcolm Read in a disappointing result for the Impreza WRX STI duo.

Moving to the gravel of Beaufort to contest the two heats on Sunday, a number of frontrunners encountered trouble. Taylor was pushing the Bates brothers, though heavy contact with a tree on Special Stage 4 ended her charge and partially blocked the stage for the teams behind.

Despite severe damage to the front-end, Orange Motorsport Engineering completed the repairs to enable Taylor to pick what could be crucial championship points.

Another team to strike trouble was AGI Sport’s Luke Anear and Andy Sarandis, but a rollover also in Special Stage 4 ended the pair’s rally with the pair’s Ford Fiesta R5 sustaining too much damage to continue.

Up front, Bates continued his run towards the ARC title by closing out both heats, heading four-time champion Evans in both. Heat 1 was

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Simon Evans continued his hot form by splitting the Bates brothers to take second. Molly Taylor hit a tree stump, but struggled on. Haydon Paddon also had a troublesome rally.

dominated by Bates as he extended his lead on each stage bar the last with Evans spoiling a potential clean-sweep for the Toyota driver on the last stage.

Heat 2 was much the same as Bates powered his way to another heat victory and made the task of defeating him for the title very difficult.

“It was really tough conditions here at the Eureka Rush but I am very, very happy with our day and completely stoked to have taken most stage wins and to be here on top of the podium.” Bates said post-event.

EUREKA RALLY RESULTS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

H. Bates/McCarthy Evans/Webb L. Bates/McLoughlin O’Dowd/Feaver Hatton/Preston

ASIA PACIFIC CUP 1st 2nd 3rd

H. Bates/McCarthy L. Bates/McLoughlin Paddon/Gray

After returning to the ARC at the last round in Tasmania, Evans was pleased to split the two Toyotas to finish second.

“The stages are just incredibly challenging.

You just have to be really smart and I called on my experience a lot to get through and we actually recorded reasonable times.” Evans reflected.

Third was the younger Bates, while international rally star Paddon had a mixed event, though still managed to finish third in the Asia Pacific Cup behind the Toyota duo.

He and co-driver Samantha Gray were another to strike trouble on Special Stage 4, but returned for Heat 2 to take a number of stage wins.

Bates takes a 61-point lead into the final round of the ARC held in the Adelaide hills next month.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Les Walkden Racing Toyota Gazoo Racing Truck Wholesale WA J Sport

Toyota Yaris AP4 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Toyota Yaris AP4 Skoda Fabia R5 Hyundai i20 G4

Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia Toyota Gazoo Racing Walkem Motorsport

Toyota Yaris AP4 Toyota Yaris AP4 Hyundai i20 R5

Points: H. Bates/McCarthy 223, Taylor/Read 162, L. Bates/McLoughlin 132, Anear 113, O’Dowd/Feaver 84.

s w e n Y A D E SPE CAREY WINS THE DUEL

Image: Richard Hathaway

Pics NAKITA POLLOCK

JAMES MCFADDEN has returned to the USA to continue driving the neat looking #9 Sprintcar for Kasey Kahne Racing. He will begin another stint that is set to be mainly in Pennsylvania from September 5. The successful pairing has already seen wins in the final of the 360ci Knoxville Nationals and a top 10 finish at the 410 Nationals during August.

POPULAR VICTORIAN Sprintcar driver Jack Lee will have to sit out of racing until near the end of 2019 after breaking his collarbone. Lee was racing for position during lap four of the opening night of the Chariots of Thunder at Darwin when he and fellow Victorian Rusty Lee collided. Lee had surgery in Melbourne and is now recovering back at his family’s dairy farm in Western Victoria. He has set December 4 as his comeback race, when the racing career of motorsport legend Max Dumesny will be celebrated at Premier Speedway.

ONE OF the most refreshing aspects to this year’s Chariots racing was the addition of former racer and team boss Adam Currie to the professionalism of the on-track commentary team. Currie on the microphone for the very first time provided sound analysis and expert car knowledge mainly the pit area and his expertise added to three of the country’s best callers Gavin White, Bennie Bishop and Teagan Peck.

Image: Geoff Rounds

NIGHT FOUR of the Chariots series proved as harsh as the other three nights. Many of the 40 drivers that contested the four rounds of racing either found some mechanical fault or the racy Northline surface stopped them in their tracks. Of those was Ryan Jones, whose chances of overall victory came to a halt when he had a wild wreck and rolled in his opening heat after challenging for the lead. In a very rare situation the bottom frame rails were torn out of his car and the dangling rear-end was disassembled on track before it could be removed. Another was Jason Pryde of Western Australia who was on his third chassis by the final night.

AMERICAN LEGEND Craig Dollansky has hinted that he is looking to race in Australia and New Zealand this summer. In a press release he said “(he) is also working on putting together a schedule to race in New Zealand and Australia over the offseason.” Known as The Crowd Pleaser, Dollansky, a 66-time World of Outlaws winner, competed at last month’s Knoxville Nationals and wowed Aussie crowds during the last decade with his incredible talent and also high car speed.

JESSIE ATTARD is continuing his long American tour and is in the middle of a hectic 10 night racing schedule mainly in California. The Sydney driver was just back in Australia preparing for his national season and has is in now in the World of Outlaws swing that will finish on September 15. “I’m excited to get back to America and compete with the Outlaws on the East Coast. I am really looking forward to pushing myself to learn as much as I can. It’s going to be a great way Image: Lee Greenawalt

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TROY CAREY made the long drive from central west New South Wales to Darwin and it was well worth it, taking out the 2019 Duel In The North Wingless Speedweek.

For four nights at Darwin’s Northline Speedway Carey was the class act. He won two A-Mains and recorded a number of top three finishes and was also rewarded with victory in the Hard Charger Award, having passed the most cars of the series.

“The racing format is different to what we are used to, we raced two 25-lap feature races per night, Carey said.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better start and I managed to work my way to the front with the help of some luck with other drivers making mistakes and having a few restarts and capitalising on them.

“I was quietly confident that I had the track worked out for the night and I couldn’t have asked for a better car and we just couldn’t catch Travis in that final race. It’s been great fun up here in Darwin and great to win.”

He was hard pressed by Victoria’s Travis Millar who finished second overall and his Maxim chassis that got quicker and quicker and he led home Carey in the final feature race.

Cobden rookie and future star racer Blake Walsh, in just his sixth ever outing in the class, finished third in a classy drive and was fourth in the series.

“The racing side of things went better than I ever expected. To finish the final night in third was bloody amazing on an awesome track,” Walsh said.

Fourth home in the final feature was Western Australia’s Tommy Britton and he finished third overall in the series.

He suffered bad luck in the opening two rounds but pulled in some solid results late in the tournament.

Carey is now likely to contest the recently announced 2021 Australian Wingless Sprints Championship at Murray Bridge Speedway from February 25 for three days.

Speedway manager Darren Shaddock is thrilled to secure

the title to the popular Wingless Sprints venue.

“The Wingless Sprint class is an important category for Australian Speedway. The car

count is tremendous throughout the country. We have some tremendous drivers in South Australia and we can’t wait to host the title,” Shaddock said.

VEAL’S CHARIOTS VICTORIES Pics NAKITA POLLOCK

JAMIE VEAL has begun the 201920 season in fine style adding the Chariots of Thunder Sprintcar Series to his impressive mantle of wins.

The fast Warrnambool driver won two of the four nights and placed in another at Darwin’s Northline Speedway. His win added to his victories in the World Series Sprintcars, Ultimate Sprintcar Championship and numerous state aggregates and titles.

In a repeat of the 2018 Chariots final, Veal topped the overall points and took on the Pope 65 Challenge, giving up his pole position to start from position 20, in the hope of winning an additional $25,000.

He came desperately close but would finish in second place and his stunning drive helped him win the series by 143 points from James McFadden and Steven Lines.

“Once I got going the car felt pretty good. The guys gave me a great car and the cautions helped me too. The best bet was to pass cars straight after the cautions. We tried our hardest and it’s been a great seven races we’ve had here,” Veal said.

Current World Series Sprintcars champion Lines was brilliant in winning the opening round but it was Jackson Delamont who produced the drive of the night. He raced from eighth in the B-Main to become the first reserve for the feature, getting a

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start, and then storming through the field to finish an incredible second with Darwin favourite Danny Reidy third.

Veal took advantage of a position two start on the second night and made up for his opening night DNF with a comfortable win from South Australians Matt Egel and a steady Ryan Jones.

The most exciting finish of the Series came in round three when Veal led home McFadden, who flew from 17th and Lines in a last lap belter that saw all three drivers pass race leader Robbie Farr on the final lap, relegating the tough driver to fourth.

McFadden, fresh from an extensive USA campaign with Kasey Kahne Racing and a top 10 Knoxville Nationals finish, used his front row start to grab a thrilling victory albeit unchallenged until the final lap.

Veal lunged late at McFadden and lost by just

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a car length on the finish line while polesitter and future champion Rusty Hickman finished third and also took out the award for the Young Gun Award for the Series.

McFadden admitted he was glad to see the finish line and the chequered flag after a brutal two weeks of racing in Australia’s Top End. “I was actually struggling a lot. It happened last year with the yellow coming out too. We just had to hit our marks and try not to crash. I was just trying to get around and wait for the chequer to drop. This is a completely different package that we have. We started off pretty ordinary and have got it to where we were reasonably decent,” McFadden said.

CHARIOTS OF THUNDER FINAL STANDINGS: Veal 1151, McFadden 1008, Lines 998, Farr 951, Reidy 906.5, Hickman 906, Wormall 876, Egel 858, Sutherland 854, Hallett 850.

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p ra w S L A NATION

compiled by garry o’brien

WILLIAMS MAKES TORANA WINNER HOLDEN TORANA XU-1 driver Andrew Williams was the outright winner of the Nissan Navara Challenge for Historic Touring Cars at The Bend Motorsport Park’s OTR SuperSprint.

He didn’t have the power and pace of Aldo De Paoli and his Chev Camaro, but Williams had reliability on his side for one race win and two second places.

Missing was Darryl Hansen in his Mustang after he and Neil Oatway (Ford Falcon XY GT) came into contact in practice one and crashed.

De Paoli dominated race one while behind Williams, Craig Allan (Torana) was third ahead of Ian Mewett (Ford Mustang), Graeme Woolhouse (Mustang) and the battling Fords driven by Tony Gilfuis (Capri) and Josh Axford (Escort RS1600).

Aldo had rear brake issues from the start of race two. He was

BELLER IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN

slow away and retired early as Mewett led. Allan had second ahead of Williams who found a way past as Allan lost his clutch and spun. Williams then closed on, and passed Mewett for the win.

Woolhouse was third as Axford pipped Gilfuis for fourth. Next came Kirk Davis (Mazda RX2) ahead of the Toranas piloted by Mark Blyfield and Brett Munns with Harrison Draper (Datsun 1600) shadowing them.

Woolhouse was the early leader or race three and Mewett briefly had second before being sidelined. Williams took over the front running until passed by De Paoli from the rear of the field. Allan finished third in front of Woolhouse, Gilfuis and Axford. Among the non-finishers was Chris Cotton who rolled his Morris Cooper S at turn 15 yet was able to drive it back to the pits. GOB

Race Report: Dan McCarthy Image: Insyde Media

CAMERON BELLER cleaned up all the points paying races in the Victorian 944 Championship races during the Shannons Nationals event at Winton.

The Victorian took out all of the three nine lap point scoring races by over 8s, Adam Brewer finished the round in second after stringing together three strong finishes. Michael Westaway stayed out of trouble in the three races and was rewarded with a top three finish in the round.

Beller dominated the opening race pulling out a comfortable lead early on and did not relent taking the win by 8.7s ahead of Adam Brewer and Brad Winter.

In the second race Beller again took the race victory this time by 11.2s. Ken Rowland sat third at the start of the last lap but slowed out of Turn 10 before Michael Westaway went off at the following turn after inheriting the place. Robert Holding finished second ahead of Brewer.

In the final points race Beller won by an even more impressive 11.9s from Michael Westaway. Mark Taubitz sat third on the last lap but the #3 car flew off the road at Turn 10 promoting Michael Westaway’s brother Anthony onto the podium.

The final 944 event of the weekend was a handicap race which featured a number of different names towards the front. Pedr James took the win holding off Taubitz and Anthony Westaway on the final lap, Beller ended the race fifth after starting from the rear.

Image: Insyde Media

RADICAL RACE BETWEEN TEAM MATES THE FIFTH round the Radical Australia Cup went to Aaron Love but really the focus was on the series points where Chris Perini edged ahead of Peter Paddon in the title chase at The Bend.

Arise Racing’s Love was fastest in qualifying and the winner of the first 50-minute race. He erred early in the race, dropping to fourth before gaining the ascendancy during the mandatory pitstops.

Paddon finished second, only just in front of his Garth Walden Racing team mate Perini who was equal on points coming into the round. Paul Braico was fourth giving the GWR three of the four top positions as Adam Lisle and

Image: Insyde Media

BD Soutar-Dawson shared the drive for fifth place.

BRM’s Brenton Grigoul was next with Brad Neilson seventh ahead of Greg Kenny, Bill Medland and Rowan Ross.

Third in the series Mitch Neilson was an early retirement with an engine mapping issue.

Heading into race two, Perini trailed Paddon by five points,

but struck back to take the win and a very narrow lead before the final round in October.

Love came off a second row start to be the pace setter, leading ahead of Paddon, Perini and Mitch Neilson. The compulsory pitstops with their varying times put Perini in front of Neilson with Love third and Paddon fourth.

Lap records were broken on a succession of laps between the leading three with Perini ultimately winning ahead of Love after Neilson had a moment less than six minutes before the end. He managed to hold on to third ahead of Paddon with Braico grabbing fifth after passing Kostinken Pohorukov. GOB

GONZALEZ BREAKS THROUGH Race Report: Dan McCarthy Image: Insyde Media

IN AN incredibly tight round of the Australian Prototype Series round at Winton Raceway it was Daniel Gonzalez who edged out Paul Trengove and John-Paul Drake to take his first round win in the series.

The opening race of the weekend was won by Paul Trengove after three of the leading contenders dropped off the road.

Drake led from pole while Trengove dropped back from second to fourth. David Barram jumped

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up to second and attempted to take the lead off Drake at the penultimate turn resulting in both cars falling off the road.

This promoted Gonzalez to the lead until he too ran off the road handing the victory to Trengove, Gonzalez came home second ahead of Barram.

In Race 2 Gonzalez bounced back from his mistake in the opening race to win when both Barram and Trengove flew off the road early in the race, Drake finished the race 5.5s back ahead of

Barram.

The non-championship points paying third race did not feature Trengove, Barram or previous race winner Gonzalez. The race for a $150 spa voucher and some delicious Haighs chocolates was dominated by Drake. Phillip Hughes finished second ahead of Glen Stallbaum, Mark Lauche

was involved in a great scrap for second with Hughes but spun and finished sixth near the race end.

In the final race of the weekend Gonzalez led Drake until he was forced to serve a drive through penalty at the end of lap 2, this left Drake to take the win ahead of Trengove and Barram, Gonzalez greeting the chequered flag fourth.

This all meant that Gonzalez won the round by two points over Trengove and three points over Drake.

Image: WAOCC-Peregrine

LAST LAP GUNDY GLORY IT WAS a very close finish at the Albins ARB Goondiwindi 400, round two of the ARB Australian Off Road Racing Championship, held on August 17-18.

Bryce Chapman and Mitch Warren (Unlimited Jimco Champion/Chev LS2) trailed Jason and Kristy Richards (Class 1 Chenoweth Millennium/Nissan V6 Twin Turbo) by 6s going into the final section. Chapman charged home to win by just 2.99s while 1min 40s adrift were Aaron and Liz Haby (Unlimited Element Off Road Prodigy/Toyota TT) in third.

The event attracted 91 competitors where Talbot Cox and Craig King (Racer

Engineering Carbon, Toyota V8) were fastest over the 8km prologue ahead of Troy Duff and Kevy Nott (Class 1 Jimco 2000 Series/Nissan) and Aaron James and Peter Luckraft (Alumi Craft/ Ford Ecoboost V6 TT). While Cox held position in the Top Ten Shootout, James pipped Duff for second.

Seventy-six completed day one’s first section with Cox first almost 2mins clear. James had a torque convertor issue, Duff lost a rear wheel and both were out of the event. Michael Marson and Chris Colborne (Unlimited Racer

Engineering Carbon/Ford Windsor V8) charged from 11th to second ahead of Richards. They were ahead of Chapman and Mitch and Jae Collins (Chenowth Millennium 2/Subaru WRX T).

Drama on Sunday’s first lap put Cox out of winning contention, also Marson who hit a tree and the Collins’ with a gate post altercation.

Finishing fourth was Daniel Wells in his Class 10 Tatum Motorsports AusSpec/ Honda, ahead of Terry and Lucy Molloy (Class 9 Element Prodigy/Nissan T), Luke Ayres/Brenton Thompson (Tatum/ Chev), and the first of the Class 4 runners, Brent Smoothy and Robert Plant (Geiser Bross Trophy Truck/ Chev).

Completing the top ten were Dean Meginley and Dean Demarco (Class 10 Tatum/Honda), Jamie and Symon Knight (Class 4 Chev C20) and Cox who still hold a slender one-point series lead.

Class 2 honours went with Rhett Standen/Ben Langford (Hunter Rivmasta/ Toyota), Taylor and Anita Teichmann (Southern Cross/Suzuki) topped Class 3, and Class 6 was topped by Sybrand and Marina De Klerk (Can-Am Maverick/ Rotax Turbo).

In their Holden-engined Nissan Patrol, Christian Trusz and Shane Harris bested Class 8, and Chris Land and Tanya Gaudry (Yamaha 1000R) took out Class 66. Matt Jillett/Brett Thorpe (Ultra4/ Chev) were handed Class 11 after Michael Hayes/Aaron Williams (Ultra4/ Chev) were penalised for late arrival at Park Ferme. GOB

Image: Old Mate Photography Image: JS Motorsport Photography

Image: Randall Kilner

FIRST CAPER TO MCCLELLAND AND HICKEY THE INAUGURAL Camel’s Capers Enduro August 25 at Pier Millan, north of Sea Lake, was won by Cameron McClelland and Tyson Hickey.

They won the ninth round of the Victorian Off Road Club Shield in their Class 1 Jimco/Nissan V6 and were 47s clear of Tanner James (Class 10 Alumi Craft/GM Ecotec) with Brett and Melinda Plant placed third in their Class 1 Southern Cross/Nissan.

The event had 28 entrants where Justin Anderson and Ben Robinson (Unlimited Tatum/Nissan Twin Turbo) led the first lap, followed by Kieran and Zac Kelly (Unlimited Chenoweth Millennium 2/Chev) and McClelland.

After Anderson passed Kelly, Anderson slowed with a blown head gasket and McClelland took the lead with James moving to second and Plant to third. The Kellys went out too, failing to finish the second lap.

Venue landowner Chris Martin (Class 6 Can-Am 7THB Rotax Turbo)

was up to fourth outright after the first two laps and handed over to son Zac to do the second half. The latter lost ten minutes with a roll-over and then broke an axle.

James closed on McClelland in the final two laps, but McClelland with first time navigator Hickey held on.

Behind the husband and wife Plant team, Peter Luckraft was fourth outright in his first run in his new homemade Class 10 single seater, followed by class rival David Vallance (Hurricane A-Arm/Toyota).

Class 6 went to sixth placed Daniel and Tim Carrison (Can-Am Maverick Rotax Turbo) ahead of Class 2 victors Dion Duvoisin and Natasha GillSymons (Raptor/Toyota). Eighth went to Rachel and Matt Bolton (Unlimited Bazco/Chev) in front of Ken and Jeremy Holt (Class 10 Raptor) and Rowan and Todd Frankling (Can-Am).

In finishing 13th Craig and Adam Button won Class 4 in their CBR/ Holden V8. GOB

PRICE TOPS AT SXS RETURNING TO the SXS Australian Championship for round three was a rewarding one for the versatile Toby Price with victory at the Monza Park Ballarat event on August 24.

Taking the opportunity to do practice laps his SXS Turbo class Can-Am at the Finke Desert Race this year, also proved beneficial as he qualified quickest for the finals.

Price used his Joker Lane on the second last lap of his semi to win.

With a good Grand Final starting position he made a lightning start to grab second immediately. Ewan McClue (Can-Am) had lead until hit by third placed Simon Evans (Polaris Turbo S) who had the brake pedal go to the floor heading to turn 2.

The buggies were locked together, the track was blocked and Price had clear track and drove off clearly out in front. McClue finally broke away from Evans and chased Price but with substantial damage to the rear suspension, had no hope of making up the gap but finished second.

There would be further drama later when SXS Turbo class points leader James Shipp (Polaris) had a brief cut-out and stopped in the middle of a corner. He was hit

by Jackson Evans (Polaris) who in turn, was hit by Mitch Keyte (Polaris).

Tim Liston (Yamaha) won the SXS Sport class for the third round in a row ahead of Robert Gussenhoven (Polaris). GOB

UREN HUSTLES THROUGH EGANU SINGLE HANDIDLY Harleigh Uren piloted his Extreme 2WD Chev V8-powered SS Racetech Hustler to victory in the August 17-18 Cochranes Transport Mid-West Challenge, round four of the WA Off Road Racing Championship.

Uren won the 240km three-section event at Eganu, around 295km north of Perth, by 1min 7.6s over Steven Phillips and Mark Jarrett (Pro Buggy Aceco Twin Turbo V8). Third was points leader Mat Birnie along with Rochelle Funneman (SXS Turbo Can-Am X3 Turbo) almost 24mins adrift and surviving two failed CV joints and one flat tyre.

Now in its third year, the event attracted 23 competitors, and is regarded as one of the toughest on the state calendar with its tight scrubby sections of bush and short straights. Off track there were many tree stumps and rocks.

Uren was quickest in each two-lap section, leading overnight ahead of Darren Agrela and Ryan Barton in their Jimco/ Nissan V6 Twin Turbo with Phillips holding third spot.

Agrela had issues on the third section the next day and would ultimately finish eighth.

SXS Turbo class cars filled fourth to seventh with Sean Fitzpatrick/Brett Funneman and Colin Bevan/ Robert Grundy in their CanAms ahead of the Polaris Turbos piloted by Ben Hodge/Trent Slatter and Ash Sudholz/Simon Cain.

Ninth was Simon Clifford and Chris Fitzgerald (Polaris) while tenth were ProLite winners Michael Davis and Andy Kingscott (Southern Cross/Toyota).

Eleventh went to Peer Horn and Callum Elson in their Extreme 4WD Mercedes G Wagon. GOB

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

TA2 CHAMPION OF WINTON TWO WINS and two second places enabled George Miedecke to win round four of the TA2 Muscle Cars Series at Winton Motor Raceway on August 17-18.

The Ford Mustang driver won overall by a single point over series leader Aaron Seton (Mustang), while reigning title holder Ashley Jarvis (Camaro) was third. TA2 were racing at the non-AMRS Champion of Winton meeting as the feature category with 25 entries.

Seton led all the way in the first race, fighting off Nathan Herne (Dodge Challenger) in the closing laps. The race finished under safety car, deployed when Tim Tritton spun into the tyre wall at turn 2.

George Miedecke (Challenger) was third ahead of Russell Wright (Mustang) and Jarvis.

For race two, Seton and Herne were relegated five grid places for breaching Parc Ferme rules.

George Miedecke won from Jarvis by 0.3s after a race-long battle. Andrew Miedecke was third from Seton and Wright. Herne charged forward early before being sidelined with a clutch failure.

Moving to second in race three, Seton couldn’t get past Miedecke who defended first place to the flag. Chasing the duo were Jarvis, Wright and Andrew Miedecke, while Herne came through from sixth.

Seton won the 25-lap feature race four, comfortably accounting for George Miedecke who diced with Herne until a clash at turn 3.

Herne then had further dramas at turn 1 when he ran off and damaged his front splitter and radiator.

Jarvis was third ahead of Andrew Miedecke and Simon Tabinor (Mustang). Wright spun on the opening lap and recovered for ninth behind

Hugh McAlister (Mustang), Michael Coulter (Mustang) and Murray Kent (Camaro).

EXCEL TROPHY SERIES

SHARING THE victories at round four were Adam Bywater and Nathan Blight with the latter taking the overall honours due to his rival’s infringement.

In the first of four outings, Bywater jumped ahead of Cooper Webster, holding he and Blight off as Aaron Hindle and John Thorn crossed fourth and fifth. Blight led race two before Webster took the lead. The latter he lost a wheel at turn 2 and had contact with a wall. Bywater was first across the line but incurred a 5s start line penalty which dropped him to eighth. Blight won ahead of Thorn, Daniel Webster and Donald Young.

In race three, Blight led all the way with Bywater getting through to second ahead of Thorn. Young won a four-way battle for fourth over Callum Potter, Daniel Webster and Hindle. Cooper Webster came from the back for 12th. Bywater wrestled the lead off Blight to race four where Hindle was fourth ahead of Daniel and Cooper Webster.

EXCEL MASTERS SERIES

THERE WERE two wins apiece for the over-40’s series leader Brendan Avard and Boyd Simpson.

The latter led race one from Neil Haesler, who went off at the sweeper. Simpson won ahead of Avard, Peter Van Waart, Wayne Milburn and Trent Brinsley.

Avard led all the way in race two while an error from Simpson enabled Van Waart and Brinsley

Image: Neil Hammond

through to secure second and third.

There was an early safety car in race three when Emma Clark was turned around at turn 3 and created a melee that involved Jason Orchard, Mark Garner, Mandy McRae, Belinda East, Ed Narkiewicz, Jo Pesavento and Michael Jeffs.

After the resumption Avard broke away while Van Waart edged out Simpson and Haesler for second. The last was led by Avard before Simpson went ahead. On the final lap Van Waart pulled off a pass on Avard for second as Dylan Innes shadowed clear of Haesler, Wayne Milburn and Aaron Hie.

MINIATURE RACE CARS

FUTURE RACE driver Craig White was the round three winner ahead of Shan Burns and Dean Michalik in Aussie Racing Cars.

Luke Bergenns won the first encounter ahead of Chad Cotton, had a DNF in race two and was a

non-starter after that. White won the second race where Jack Boyd was second and Cotton was a retiree. Cotton took the next two encounters for fourth overall, initially ahead of White and then Matt Thewlis. Garry Roberts was fifth overall while Boyd was sixth after having a driveshaft failure in race three.

TIN TOPS

A 30-LAP enduro completed weekend where after winning the lead-up races Peter Ryder (Nissan S13 V8) was a clear winner over Paul Cornell (Subaru Impreza WRX) and Daniel Van Der Heyden (Holden Commodore).

Earlier, Ross Wood (Nissan Skyline) held off Jordan Boys (Ford Falcon Ute) for second in race one and John Hickey (Commodore) did the same in race two. Boys atoned for a clear second over Wood and Hickey in the third outing.

GOB

WINTER WONDERFUL WINS

OASTLER RUNS RINGS AROUND RINGWOOD PARK

DAVID MAHON remained unbeaten in this year’s Winter Cup Hillclimb Series, after winning the fourth and final round at Collingrove on August 10.

Mahon won the previous two rounds after round one was cancelled.

Image: Bob Taylor At the wheel of his Dallara F394 open wheeler, Mahon only needed three The next three places went to runs, with a best of 30.69s to Subaru Imprezas with Gary Donald consolidate the victory, 2.68s and (WRX), Brenton Byfield (WRX station comfortably ahead of Gavin Farley in wagon) and Jake Zuppa (WRX). his 4WD Mitsubishi EVO 7 tin top.

Then followed David Whiteside Third spot went to Roy Michie in his (Cheap BOSS), Tom Ferguson Cheap BOSS open wheeler special, (Datsun 240Z), Alex Wilson (Audi featuring an old Formula 1 rear end A4 Quattro) and Sean Hayter (Chev with transaxle gearbox, and powered Corvette) ahead of a further 53 by a Mazda V6 twin turbo powerplant. entries. GOB

AT RINGWOOD Park’s round seven on August 17-18, Malcolm Oastler scored his sixth win in the 2019 Mantic Clutch NSW Hillclimb Championship, securing his third title with a round remaining.

On the Raymond Terrace venue’s longest 1.33km course, Oastler’s best time was 61.99s in his turbocharged Hayabusa-powered OMS 28. The run was a massive 6.09s faster than second placed Ron Hay (Synergy Dallara), who was also in the Formula Libre over 2.0-litre class.

In finishing third outright Neville Shears, in his Time

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Image: Jason Gregory

Attack Nissan Skyline GTR R35, was the best of the Tin Tops. Two 2A/2C U2L Open and Closed Sports finished fourth and fifth, with Raymond Bromley (Locost 7 Replica) ahead of Christian Thompson (JB Clubman).

Sixth overall was Allan Barnes (Toyota Celica V8) in front of 3D Sports Sedan O3.0L class rival Wayne Penrose (VW Beetle), with just 0.34s between them. It was also tight between the top three in Sports U1.6L with just 0.19s covering Peter Turnbull (Turnham Mako), Kevin Akers (Carroll Clubman) and Greg Jones (Locost GSL) as they completed the top 10 of 57 competitors.

By the end of the round, all class winners had set new benchmarks after several incidents on day one.

About 20 cars ran straight ahead at the hairpin. Wayne Gosser (Falcon) was one of them, and had a huge shunt into the tyre wall. Two also went the wrong way on the track’s cross over on their first runs. Bill Pearson

TWO RECORDS FOR WARREN FORMER SPORTS GTA champion Tony Warren now holds the lap record for his class at both Symmons Plains and Pepsi Max Baskerville Raceways after the fourth round of the Tasmanian Circuit Racing Championships at Baskerville on August 25.

The veteran came out of retirement with his wickedly quick Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 to run on the support programme at the Tasmanian Supercars round at Symmons Plains, establishing a new lap record in the process.

Keen to get both Tasmanian lap records next to his name, Warren made his intentions clear at Baskerville from the outset, breaking the class lap record on only the second lap of the first heat and setting a new mark of 54.15s.

With the cool conditions suiting his turbo-charged Evo, Warren spent the rest of the day trying to see how low he could take the fastest lap time, posting a 54.01 new record in heat two, and smashing it again in heat three with a 53.58 sec flyer.

Needless to say, Warren was untouchable all day – until the double points final. Having tuned his mount to within an inch of its life, it gave out four laps into the final, trailing a plume of smoke which looked suspiciously like a turbo or engine failure.

Series leader Stephen Noble (Nissan 350Z) and Layton Barker (Holden Commodore) battled on gamely in the background, with Barker winning

Image: Trapnell Creations

AMOS HITS SIX AT LEYBURN Images: Angryman Photography

the final after Warren’s demise and Noble claiming second and extending his title lead.

Back in the pack, Jason House (BMW E30) dominated Sports GTB racing, with Honi Pitt (Lotus Exige) finishing third overall ahead of Adrian Martin (Toyota Supra) to maintain his narrow series lead.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

WITH BASKERVILLE hosting the nationals in November, the meeting attracted the biggest field of IP cars in Tasmania for some time in a final hit-out.

Matthew Grace (Nissan 200ZX) won the day after some great battles with Brad Chick (Holden GTS Commodore), to take the lead in the championship.

Series leader and reigning multiple Tasmanian champion Leigh Forrest struck troubles in his Toyota Celica Turbo in the third heat, putting him out for the rest of the day.

FORMULA VEES

CATEGORY ROOKIES showed their more experienced rivals the way, with Callum Bishop (Gerbert) displaying plenty of pace, only to be hobbled in the double-points final by a suspected fractured stub axle.

Bishop limped home in a bid to salvage some points, but

unfortunately fell short of being classified a finisher by half a lap.

Series leader Justin Murphy (Polar) won the final and the round to increase his lead, while veteran Darren Easterbrook (Bee Cee) advanced to third in the championship with some consistent results.

Rookie Chris Neil (Hepburn Spectre) also impressed to finish second overall.

HYUNDAI EXCELS

YOUNG GUN and championship leader Josh Webster again turned the tables on two-times state champion Peter Kemp to lead all day and win his second round of the championship. Using experienced gained at a recent visit to Tailem Bend, Webster was simply too fast for Kemp, with Callum Mitchell claiming third overall, but keeping Kemp honest with some solid driving.

HQ HOLDENS

FORMER STATE champions Andrew Toth and Andrew Bird entertained with some close racing all day, with Toth taking the honours to advance to fourth in the championship after missing the first round. Series leader Otis Cordwell drove consistently back in the field to retain his title lead.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

HOLDEN TORANA XU-1 driver Scott Cordwell continued his domination, clean sweeping the results for the third consecutive round to extend his already big lead and keep his unbeaten record this season in every race intact. Martin Agatyn

AT THE 24th running of the Historic Leyburn Sprints on August 17-18, Dean Amos was not only the quickest for the six time in a row, but also broke through the sub 40-second bracket for the first time.

Driving his 485kW McLaren-Nicholson V8-powered 450kg Gould GR55B, Amos ran the 1.0-kilometre street course in a best time of 39.794s on the Saturday of two-day event. A couple of niggling problems prevented him going faster on Sunday, but he was confident that the car is capable of a sub-39.

In taking the Col Furness Memorial Trophy, he was 1.4s faster than the second placed Warwick Hutchinson in his turbocharged OMS 28 RPV03. Formula Libre Racing Cars filled the top four places with Michael Von Rappard and Steven Woodbridge next in their respective Dallara F392 and F304 F3 cars.

Over 200 drivers in historic, classic and performance cars along with over 15,500 spectators that included many former racing greats attended. Guests included Dick Johnson, Kevin Bartlett, Colin Bond, Bob Holden, John French and Fred Gibson, who helped celebrate the 70th anniversary of the running of the Australian Grand Prix on a former wartime aerodrome circuit nearby.

Fifth outright went to Phil Heafey (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6) as the best of the tin tops and running in the Special Interest 4WD category. Sixth overall was Neil Lewis (Fly 1 Racing Cars) ahead of Paul Stokell (Lotus Exige) who won Group 2B - Marque Sports Cars Over 2.0-litre class, Daniel Duffield (RPV 01-B Racing Cars), Marque Sports O2L winner Mark Crespan (Ford Cobra) and Nicholas Contojohn 10th in his Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Keith Carling (1984 Tiga Sports Car) set a fastest time in the Historic classes. Sixteen-year-old Tom Brelsford won the Ann Collins Junior Memorial Trophy for competitors aged 14-17 at the wheel of a Ford Escort.

An auction of donated goods, raffles for racing car rides and other activities raised $9500 for the community-run beneficiary, the 49-student Wheatvale State School. GOB

FOURTH RACING LEGENDS GATHERING RECENTLY MANY of the greatest names in motorsport gathered on the Gold Coast for the fourth annual Motorsport Legends Reunion, organised by Ian and Val Maudsley.

From Australian Touring Car Champions to Bathurst winners, and many greats who cut their teeth in open wheelers, the meet-up was all inclusive with rally and off road not forgotten.

The guest list from which around 120 attended also included those that promoted, managed, engineered and built race machinery, and those that wrote and photographed the sport in some capacity.

While it was informal, Will Hagon did have several chats to the assembled.

But as Maudsley, above, stated: “These reunions are more about those that raced, catching up with their mates, previous rivals, team personnel and reliving their racing days.”

The event is a private, invite-only

affair, and has grown in attendance over the four years as Maudsley finds more Legends to invite. Several stayed on to attend the following weekend’s Historic Leyburn Sprints.

The oldest attendee was Charlie Smith at 91 with John French not far behind, turning 89 this year. The latter was one of seven former Bathurst winners there and included Bob Holden, Fred Gibson, Kevin Bartlett, Allan Moffat and Colin Bond who teamed up for the famous ’77 Ford one-two, and three time winner Dick Johnson.

Bartlett previously raced in open wheelers along with Spencer Martin, Bruce Allison and Charlie O’Brien. On the mechanical side there were the

John French reunited with 1981 Bathurst co-winner Dick Johnson. Images: Peter Schell

likes of Mick Webb, Ralph Bellamy, Ron Gillard, Ron Harrop, Pat Purcell and Ron Missen.

Female drivers were well represented with Karen McPherson, New Zealander

Heather Spurle and Christine Gibson (nee Cole) who said she was never about making a statement for women, she just wanted to compete and win.

GOB

“Coming up at the nation’s action and spectator tracks” Wakefield Park

www.wakefieldpark.com.au Sep 6-8 NSW CAMS Motor Race Championships Rd 6 Sep 9 PCYC Driver Training Sep 10 PR Tech Sep 11 Speed Off The Street/Test & Tune sep 14 Speed Off The Streets/Test & Tune Track Day

Winton

www.wintonraceway.com.au Sep 6-8 Australian Superbike Championship Round 5 Sep 12 Test & Tune – Car & Open Wheelers Sep 13 Test & Tune – Supertrucks Categories Only Sep 14-15 Supertrucks

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55

NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

ONE DAY WINTER FINISH THE WEST Australian State Racing Championships returned to the one-day format for round seven at Barbagallo on August 18.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

WITHOUT THE presence of Matt Cherry (Holden Monaro) it was between Nik Mitic (BMW M3) and Michael Sciorio (Subaru Impreza WRX STi). The latter won the first race start and held out his rival for the duration where Glen Melling (Holden Commodore) was third.

Reuben Romkes (Commodore) led race two until lap 4 where he was slowed due to gear selection problems, ultimately finishing fourth behind Mitic, Sciorio and Grant Gellan (Ford Escort). Sciorio had the jump in the last and opened a good lead. Mitic was second from Gellan with Melling fourth.

EXCEL CUP

THE ROUND went to Dean Hill who was chased by Nik Mitic and Robert Landsmeer in race one until the last lap where Landsmeer dropped down the order and allowed Cooper Smart to take third. It didn’t take long for the fast drivers to work through the reverse grid race two where Mitic grabbed the lead ahead of Hill as Landsmeer finished third.

In the third the three vied for the lead and the race was only decided on the last lap where Mitic and Landsmeer went wide at turn 1 and Hill swept through to win with Landsmeer recovering to take second from Mitic.

FORMULA FORD

THREE RACES, three wins for Thomas Hamlett (Stealth) who showed the way in the opener, ahead of fellow Stealth drivers Braeden Bowra and Joshua Matthews. Bowra got the jump on Hamlett in the second before the latter found a way by.

After several positional changes Simon Ridgewell (Van Diemen) won out over Matthews for third.

Race three saw both Hamlett and Bowra in the lead early but once Hamlett eventually won from Bowra while Ridgewell edged out Matthews for third.

SALOON CARS

PRO CLASS’ Grant Johnson (Commodore VT) dominated. In race one he and team mate Matt Martin lead the Boley son and father until the last turn where Brad Boley (VT) clipped and spun Martin. Boley copped a 30s penalty and Brock Boley picked up second ahead of Brandon Sharpe (VT). Behind Johnson in race two, Sharpe scored over Brock Boley who was second in the last ahead of Martin.

In Pro Am, race one was a fight between Falcon EA drivers Nick Hanlon and Carl Fanderlinden with the former taking the honours with Chris Kneafsey (Commodore VN) third. Fanderlinden hit back to take race two but a 5s penalty relegated him to 11th. Marc Watkins (EA) picked up second ahead of Brock Ralph (Commodore). Kneafsey was first in the last from Ralph and Watkins.

FORMULA CLASSICS

OVER THE three races Michael Henderson (Ralt RT4) was unbeaten, on each occasion heading

Nik Mitic’s BMW leads Michael Sciorio’s Subaru. Images: Mick Oliver

FINALS TIME IS UPON US ROUND 3 of the Warwick District Sporting Car Club Supersprints C Series was held on the August 24-25 at Morgan Park Raceway in near perfect conditions for competition There were the usual minor break downs and incidents throughout the weekend. Allan Wheeler’s Commodore decided it didn’t want to be out done by Greg Bell’s spectacular engine failure during the last round of the B Series by letting go while hammering down the straight. A big thank you to the clean-up crew.

A strong number of juniors and first-timers competed at a track that is very unforgiving when mistakes are made, though the run off is generous with Hayley King

Stealth racers Hamlett, Bowra and Matthews battle it out in Formula Ford.

Simon Alderson (Van Diemen RF88 FF2000) and David Turner (RT4). Harvey Leys (Chevron B19) was fourth in race one but didn’t score anything in the later races. Craig Thompson (RF82 FF2000) was the reverse and scored fourths in races two and three.

HQ HOLDENS

STARTING A perfect day, Marc Watkins took out the first from Michael Howlett and Brian Pangler. Michael Woodbridge who qualified poorly managed fifth and in the reverse grid second race, had the lead by the end of the first lap followed by Chris Ainscough and Stuart Kenny. Watkins moved through to lead by mid-race as Woodbridge filled second with Darren Peat third. Watkins took the last with Woodbridge holding off Howlett for second.

SPORTS SEDANS/STREET CARS/ SPORTS CARS

IN A Ford Falcon BF, Grant Hill took out the combined classes, although second behind Ron Moller (Chev Camaro) and ahead of early leader Brett Niall (MARC Focus V8) in race one.

Race two was a reverse grid where three Street Cars came together off the start.

At the restart Brett Stewart (Holden Commodore VF) led until passed by Hill. Moller progressed to second but then retired, leaving Ryan Humfrey (Falcon/Chev) second ahead of Niall and Stewart. Hill led the third throughout, winning ahead of Niall and Moller.

In Street Cars Andrew Stevens (Nissan

180SX) led the first from start to finish with Denver Parker (Nissan Skyline) and Craig Maloney (Subaru Impreza WRX) following. After Jordon Malatesta (Skyline), Peter Robertson (Nissan 300ZX) and Maloney fell victim to the concrete wall and Philip Crouse (VW Polo) retired, only three cars finished race two.

Stevens was first, Parker second and Chris Cheverall (BMW M3) third, and similarly so in race three.

FORMULA VEES

WHILST WINNING all three races, David Campbell (Jacer) had to work for the victories.

Rod Lisson (Sabre) had the early race one lead before Campbell slipped past after several exchanges. Meanwhile Lachlan Beresford, Mark Horan and Danny Cerro were fighting over third with Beresford winning out. Challenges from Lisson and Horan in race two failed with both retiring and leaving Campbell ahead of Beresford and Cerro. Behind Campbell and Beresford in the race three, Lisson came through for third.

After a poor start Brett Scarey (CD-Vee) won the 1200cc class opener. Early leader Jack Sheldon (Polar) placed second with Franz Esterbauer (Ribuck) third. The three diced in the second race where Scarey reigned over Esterbauer. Sheldon dropped off and just held off Kathy Lisson (Sabre). Sheldon was able to manoeuvre past second placed Sheldon and eventually class leader Esterbauer for the race three honours. Mick Oliver

Casey Spingate threw the Commodore

Adam Baguley found trouble.

Paul Spiteri pushed hard with threewheels on the deck.

being the best of the juniors, improving her times with every round.

All of the 2019 Super Sprint Series are now down to their final rounds, so the competition is expected to heat up. Who will be the 2019 champions?

Once again, a great big thank you to all the volunteers who helped over the weekend. Next up on the sprint calendar is Round 4 of the B series on September 14-15.For more information and for what events are coming up, visit www. morganparkraceway.com.au

CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE 1st Phil Sutcliffe 88 1st Matt O’Brien 78 3rd Peter Endacott 76 4th Gerry White 72 5th Nick Ashwin 71 6th Brad Stehr 66 7th Gavin Taylor 63 8th Ben Van Wegan 62 9th Nick Tomkinson 60 10th Darryl Watson 59

Proudly presented by Warwick District Sporting Car Club Inc for more information visit www.morganparkraceway.com.au

Next Round: Round 4 B Series September 14-15

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racefuels.com.au

McMahon and Sharples in Monaros do battle.

GEAR TAKES IN THREE TRACKS THE TOP Gear race meeting at Queensland Raceway was a one-day event which gave many competitors the chance to race on all three track configurations – the Clubman, Sprint and National layouts.

QLD PRODUCTION CARS

OVER THE three races, Beric Lynton (BMW M3) was in a league of his own. He won the first easily over John Harris (Mitsubishi EVO) who grabbed second just before half distance when Daniel Clift (Holden Commodore) dropped places and finished fifth behind Gerry Murphy and Ashley Hooper in their Commodores.

Behind Lynton in race two, Hooper was second initially before Harris passed him. Then the latter lost places on the penultimate lap and finished sixth. Murphy finished behind Hooper and in front of Dylan Cothill (Ford Focus RS) and Mitchell Maddren (Toyota 86).

While Lynton scored his third win, Hooper was second throughout. Murphy was third at the start, and briefly lost out to Harris before Cliff gazumped both. Harris ultimately took fourth in front of Murphy by just 0.011s with a gap to Cothill and James Hay (VW Scirocco R).

QLD TOURING CARS GROUP A1/A2

TWO VICTORIES and a very close second gave the overall honours to Chris Sharples over Steve Hay and Chris Brown. But it was not a good day for David Oberhofer, whose Commodore went up in a fireball.

Bailey Hall (Commodore) shot away at the start of race one, leaving Steve Hay second ahead of Dean McMahon and Sharples in their Monaros to decide third. However Hall faded in the second Garry Hook’s Sabre leads the Formula Vee pack. Images: MTR Images

half, finishing eighth while Hay also lost places.

Sharples eventually gained the upper hand for the victory ahead of McMahon, Brown (Commodore) and Piers Harrex (BMW E30).

Sharples led the second race throughout with McMahon second. Hay was a close third, having passed Brown on the second lap. Hall progressed to fourth before he parked. Hay won the last but only just, having to fend off Sharples while Harrex foraged out third in what was a multi-car scrap ahead of Brown.

Among the Group A2s, Matt Haak (Commodore) was just ahead of Lance Jurgeleit (BMW E36) in race one. In race two it was Lange (BMW) the winner over Haak before Mitchell Wooller was the best in the last ahead of Jurgeleit.

QLD TOURING CARS GROUP B

ROUND WINNER Steven Harper (Falcon AU) resisted the early challenge of Gerard O’Flynn and Chris Holdt in their VZ Commodores to win race one. O’Flynn faulted at turn 3 on lap two and John Swarbrooke (BMW) challenged Holdt before both fell down the order, as Mark Giorgio (Falcon EL) held off Scott Kelly (BMW) to be runner up.

Harper crossed the line first in race two, ahead of Holdt but both were relegated down the official order. Behind Giorgio and Kelly were fighting it out until the Falcon driver spun out with a tyre failure. In the last Giorgio spun at turn one as Ricky McDougall (Commodore VC) led. Holdt went ahead later and held off Harper’s every attempt to get by.

FORMULA VEES

WITH THE races all on the National circuit, Garry

Hook (Sabre) won each, leading every lap apart from the opener to the last. There it was interstate visitor Luke Collett (Polar) who had the front running but as he did in the previous two outings, finishing second.

Third in all three was Ken Taylor (Jacer), finishing ahead of Bruce Acheson (Manta), and Luke Turner (Stinger) in the initial outing. Gerrit Van De Pol (Elfin) was fifth in the other two, as a broken gear lever ended Turner’s day.

Scott Andrew broke his Rapier’s gearbox in qualifying. Alex Hedemann (Rapier) didn’t get to finish a race due to mechanical dramas, and Bernie Cashin’s day ended with his Nimbus ailing in the last.

QR SPORTS & SEDANS

HAVING QUALIFIED fastest, Sam Collins (Nissan Nivara V8) won the first race clear of Tony Saint (V8 Mazda RX7) who had to work hard to get past Lachlan Gardner in his first outing in his OzTruck Tundra.

Saint was able to challenge Collins sooner in the second and did make a dive for the lead at turn 3, only to run wide. That allowed Collins to regather for a narrow victory. In the last Saint grabbed the lead from the outset and Gardner, seemingly with more pace on the National circuit, was able to pass Collins for second place.

Overall it was Collins from Saint, Gardner, Tim Jordan (BMW E30 V8), Scott McLennan in his Mitsubishi Mirage and Brett Silverado a nonfinisher in race one. Three of the Sedans (Ken Fazakerley’s Subaru Impreza, Owen Timm’s Datsun 1600 and Bailey Hall’s Commodore VE) didn’t get past qualifying, and Haydn Nethery (Datsun 1600) DNF’d in race one. GOB

Saloon Car Nationals, Commodore Cup Enduro, Hidden Valley NT, Sep 06-08 Pittsworth Sprints, Pittsworth Industrial Area, Pittsworth QLD, Sep 06-08 State Motor Race Championship Rd6, Formula Ford Series Rd5, Wakefield Park NSW, Sep 07-08 Club One-Car Sprint, 45 Albertson Road Barnawartha North VIC, Sep 07 State Off Road Club Shield Rd4, Avalon VIC, Sep 07 State Rallysprint Championship Rd6, Coffs Harbour NSW, Sep 07 State Circuit Racing Championship Rd8, Barbagallo WA, Sep 07 Club Autocross, Carnell Raceway QLD, Sep 07 Club Hillclimb, Collingrove Hillclimb SA, Sep 07 Club Twilight Autocross/Motorkhana, Bagshot Motorsports Complex VIC, Sep 07 Multi Club Khanacross, Hampton Motorsport Park NSW, Sep 07 Multi Club Supersprint, Broadford Road Circuit VIC, Sep 07 State Off Road Series Rd6, Mannum SA, Sep 07-08 Club Hillclimb, One Tree Hill VIC, Sep 07-08 Multi Club Khanacross, Benaraby Motor Sport Complex QLD, Sep 07-08 September Sprint with Vic Superkarts, Phillip Island VIC, Sep 07-08 State Hillclimb Series Rd5, Mt Cotton QLD, Sep 07-08 Clive Dubios Memorial Short Course Off Road, Mannum SA, Sep 07-08 Multi Club Motorkhana, Raleigh Raceway NSW, Sep 08 Multi Club Hillclimb, Bryant Park VIC, Sep 08 Club Supersprint, Sandown Raceway VIC, Sep 08 Multi Club Girl Power Khanacross, Alcheringa Drive near Buronga NSW, Sep 08 Superkart Races/Modern Regularity, Mallala Motorsport Park SA, Sep 08 Multi Club Hillclimb, Ringwood Park, Sep 08 Multi Club Khanacross, EP Autosport Park Port Lincoln SA, Sep 08 Multi Club Motorkhana, The Quarry College Road Bathurst, Sep 08 State Motorkhana Championship Rd4, Tiger Kart Club Freemantle WA, Sep 08 State Multi Club Hillclimb Rd4, Collingrove SA, Sep 08 ITM Auckland Supersprint, Supercars Championship Races 23 & 24, Pukekohe NZ, Sep 13-15 Sunraysia Safari Rally, Wentworth/Balranald/Pooncarie Regions SA, Sep 11-14 State Rally Championship Rd4, Hinterland Rally, Imbil QLD, Sep 14 State Rally Championship Rd5, Darling 200 WA, Sep 14 Multi Club Khanacross, Canberra Greyhound Racing Club ACT, Sep 14 Day/Night Dirt + Tar Multi Club Khanacross, Ringwood Motorsport Complex NSW, Sep 14 State Motorkhana Championship Rd5, Symmons Plains Raceway TAS, Sep 14 Multi Club Skid Pan Motorkhana, Sydney Motorsport Park NSW, Sep 14 Super Trucks Rd3, Winton Motor Raceway VIC, Sep 14-15 State Motor Racing Championship Rd4, The Bend Motorsport Par SA, Sep 14-15 Multi Club Two Day Gravel Khanacross, Tonker Park Whitsundays QLD, Sep 14-15 QR Drivers Championship Rd5, Formula Vee Nationals, Queensland Raceway QLD, Sep 14-15 Cambridge 300 Multi Club Long Course Off Road, Cambridge TAS, Sep 14-15 Nth Qld Off Road Series Rd4, Retreat Station QLD, Sep 14-15 NT Titles Off Road Rd5, Mt Ooraminna NT, Sep 14-15

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57

THOUSANDS OF spectators attended the three day Supercar meeting at The Bend Motorsport Park and during the weekend Tickford Racing driver Chaz Mostert was lucky enough to meet his furriest and many would argue cutest fan.

The 2014 Bathurst 1000

MOSTERT’S BIGGEST FAN champion is certainly no stranger to taking selfies and signing autographs for fans, whether that be a cap, t-shirt, poster or maybe even a scale model Supercar, but nothing could prepare him for what he signed at The Bend.

This four legged companion, clearly a fan of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, attended The Bend excited

the moon with Mostert’s pole position and two podium finishes over the weekend.

This unique Tickford Racing fan has not been seen at a Supercars event previously but knew what to expect, bringing along a pair of ear muffs to protect it from the loud banging 5.0 litre V8 Supercar engines.

Hopefully, the now nationally famous dog gets to make a return to the Supercars paddock in the future. DM

about the weekend’s action.

Dressed in a Mostert Super Cheap Auto t-shirt, there is no doubting this dog’s allegiance to the blue oval.

It was even caught on the Fox Sports coverage from The Bend getting the signature of idol Chaz Mostert, who signed the t-shirt of his biggest fan who surprisingly did not ask for a selfie.

There is no doubt that the dog would have been over

HDT history crossword

How much do you know about the Holden Dealer Team?

Across

3. What brand became the team’s major sponsor in 1985?

5. What model of Holden was used to win the Bathurst 1000 in 1980?

7. Who made his only appearance for the team at Surfers Paradise in 1974? (surname only) 11. With what number did Peter Brock win the 1972 Bathurst 500?

13. What model of Holden did Colin Bond drive in the 1976 Sports Sedan Series?

14. In 1969 HDT took its first victory at ‘The Mountain’. Who co-drove

alongside Colin Bond? (surname only)

Down

1. HDT made its debut at Sandown in 1969 but what model of car did Kevin Bartlett and Spencer Martin drive?

2. By how many laps did Peter Brock and Jim Richards win the Bathurst 1000 in 1979?

4. Who took ownership of the team in 1978? (full name) 6. Who drove to victory

58 AutoAction

with Peter Brock in the 1986 Wellington 500?(surname only) 8. Who won the Calder Rallycross Championship three years running for the team? (full name) 9. Who created the team after leaving Ford? (surname only) 10. Who did not get to drive in the #25 HDT car in the 1983 Bathurst 1000? (full name) 12. Who claimed the first Australian Rally Championship for the team in 1970? (surname only) 15. How many Bathurst 1000 victories did Larry Perkins win with the team?

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