Auto Action #1775

WAU PLAN CHAZ MOVE CONFIRMED SINCE 1971

SCOTTY’S INDYCAR TEST!

INSIDE THE KELLY CORRAL

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How V8 champ beat Will Power

JLB TO TICKFORD

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E T U IB R T D N O M Y A R E IK M His last interview

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CHAZ KEY TO WAU PLAN

Mostert’s move is finally official Image: LAT

MARK FOGARTY outlines why Ford star is defecting to Holden in a risky alliance with Walkinshaw AFTER MONTHS of informed conjecture, Chaz Mostert has finally confirmed he is moving to Walkinshaw Andretti United next year.

As predicted by Auto Action in July, Mostert will join a fortified WAU operation as the cornerstone of the former Holden Racing Team’s latest – and most ambitious – plan to return to the top.

He will lead an all-new driver line-up, with newly crowned Super2 champion Bryce Fullwood set to take over the second seat.

Mostert replaces long-time Clayton incumbent James Courtney and Fullwood gets Scott Pye’s place.

As AA revealed four months ago, Mostert rejected a big offer from DJR Team Penske to partner Scott McLaughlin at the titlesweeping Ford team.

Along with attracting Mostert and signing young gun Fullwood, WAU is investing in increased engineering resources.

Acclaimed race engineer Adam de Borre will move from Tickford Racing to WAU to continue his successful partnership with the Gold Coast-based front-runner.

It has also been revealed that Tickford Racing waived its right to re-sign Mostert, based on a performance clause in his contract that was met, to allow the move.

Mostert, 27, will also compete in some American GT races with BMW, as well as the

Bathurst 12 Hour, and is also free to contest the TCR Australia Series, most likely with the HMO Hyundai team.

While Mostert acknowledges leaving his competitive Tickford Mustang drive is a risk, he is convinced the gamble will be worth it. “I’ve spent a lot of time racing with one team and I just think it’s time to try something a little bit different,� Mostert told AA. “You need to find the best environment for yourself to get the most out of you and that’s really what it comes down to. “At 27, it’s time to take a bit of a risk in my career and I’m happy with the direction I’ve chosen to go. “It’s the opportunity to try to build something. What was also very appealing to me was the involvement of Michael Andretti and Zak Brown, who are known as great operators. That really appealed to me because you’ve seen how Penske has come into the game and really upped the level and I think Walkinshaw has the same opportunity to try to do the same thing. “I feel like I’ve made the right decision at the right time to get on something that is on the way up. There’s no doubt there’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I think as a team we can work really well together and, hopefully, reach some of the goals we have. “There is always a risk factor in changing from something you already know to

something that’s a little bit unknown, but change is often good, especially as you get older.�

WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw explained that securing Mostert – the most highly prized driver coming out of contract at the end of this season – was a clear sign of the team’s determination to return to the top. “I think it is a fairly big statement from us,�

Walkinshaw told AA. “It’s a statement of intent that we want to go and compete at the top level of this sport. “We’re actively changing several areas of the team in order to try to improve results.

It’s fantastic we managed to get Chaz. We know that he was heavily sought after by top teams in Supercars and we’re very, very excited that we managed to get him on board. “It’s a real testament as well to our vision and how we’ve explained to him what we want to do with the team in the future and how we’re going to build a team around him, that was able to convince him that this was the right place to build on his future. “He knows what we’re looking at doing, he knows what we’re investing on in additional resource and investing in additional engineering. He sees the vision that Zak, Michael and myself want to achieve with this team and he wants to be a part of it. “The attraction for Chaz was that he sees

an exciting future here.�

Mobil 1 is set to continue its long association with the Clayton squad, joined by other major partners to fill the gap left by co-sponsor Mega Fuels’ collapse during the season.

While Tickford Racing boss Tim Edwards admitted Mostert’s departure was disappointing, he conceded there was no point in trying to hold him against his will. “You never want to lose somebody of that calibre, but you can only do so much,�

Edwards said. “Yes, I would’ve loved to have kept Chaz, but only if Chaz wanted to stay. “And that’s why we agreed to release him from the performance clause in his contract that could’ve triggered him staying, because it became apparent to us that it didn’t matter what we said or did, he kind of made that deep-down decision that he wanted to try something new. “So you have to respect that decision.

There’s no point in having some legal debate about it.�

Edwards also confirmed that de Borre was going to WAU – a key component of Mostert’s cross-town move to Clayton. “Those two have a very close relationship,� he said. “Chaz has had that relationship with Adam for a long time and they were always going to hold hands and run off into the sunset together.�

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SCOTTY’S SECRET INDYCAR TEST

MCLAUGHLIN BETTERS WILL POWER IN SIMULATOR SHOWDOWN! BRUCE NEWTON uncovers the clandestine trip to America that could change the direction of the Supercars champ’s career SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN has starred in a secret Team Penske IndyCar test in the USA. The back-to-back Supercars champion flew to the States between the Pukekohe and Bathurst events for the multi-day trial, which was conducted on an advanced threedimensional driving simulator.

No public announcements have been made about the tryout, which is the first concrete step taken to groom McLaughlin for his expected move to American racing in 2021.

He spent several days testing with engineering support from Team Penske across a number of different oval and road courses on a driving simulator that’s far more sophisticated than any owned by Supercar teams in Australia.

The driver sits inside a cockpit on a platform that can yaw, roll and pitch,

surrounded by a giant wraparound video screen.

These F1-level simulators are so advanced they replicate mechanical, aerodynamic and weather changes as well as tyre wear.

Incredibly, after some familiarisation, McLaughlin is understood to have bettered Team Penske IndyCar star Will Power’s best times on the road course he focussed on for most of the test.

Auto Action understands Power was in attendance for at least part of the test, in which McLaughlin drove a digital version of a DallaraChevrolet IndyCar. AA has not established the location of the test, but these simulators are few and far between. There are two located at Ford Performance in North Carolina, but the Blue Oval does not

have an IndyCar program.

It is understood the test was organised and funded by Team Penske rather than its Australian Supercars off-shoot, DJR Team Penske.

It reflects the regard in which the team and its owner Roger Penske

have for the 26-year old Brisbanebased Kiwi, who has won the 2018 and 2019 Supercars championships and the 2019 Bathurst 1000.

While the test was pitched as a reward for McLaughlin’s efforts in Supercars, it is also significant because it involved an IndyCar rather than a NASCAR racer.

He has long harboured a dream to race the American stock cars and Team Penske does have teams in both the main NASCAR Cup Series and second-level Xfinity Series.

But it’s understood Team Penske is concerned how many learning years McLaughlin would have to devote to getting up to speed in the unique oval-based series.

By contrast, a long line of international drivers have made the transition into IndyCar far more Scott McLaughlin used an advanced threedimensional driving simulator for his Indycar test. Images: Ross Gibb/Chevrolet Racing

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JLB REPLACES CHAZ Big shoes to fill at Tickford Racing

By MARK FOGARTY

WORLD EXC

LUSIVE!

successfully and quickly.

It is understood that following the test, McLaughlin’s focus has widened and he would be interested in racing in IndyCar or NASCAR for Penske.

At this stage, given existing contractual commitments, the earliest he could make the transition to American racing would be 2021.

If he stuck with the stock cars, he would most likely would have to serve an apprenticeship in Trucks, before progressing through the Xfinity series to the NASCAR Cup. But he could conceivably step straight into IndyCars backed up by the right test program.

In all this, the experience of double former Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose is relevant to consider.

He spent nine years in the USA racing on ovals, starting in trucks, then progressing to the Busch and Nationwide (predecessors of Xfinity) series, before stepping up to the Cup competition.

While a superstar on road courses,

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Ambrose was never a consistent contender on ovals, partly because he never raced for an A+ NASCAR team.

He drove for DJR Team Penske briefly when he returned to Australia. When it quickly became apparent he wasn’t continuing on, he nominated McLaughlin as a potential successor.

McLaughlin joined DJR Team Penske in 2017 and has since won over Roger Penske to the point that the legendary team owner has more than once made comparisons with one of his favourite drivers, four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears.

Asked during his visit to the Bathurst 1000 what would make McLaughlin a good NASCAR driver, Penske deflected a little in his reply, perhaps suggesting he has other potential roles in mind. As well as IndyCars and NASCAR, Team Penske also contests US sports car racing.

“Let’s call him a racing driver,” Penske said. “He’s a guy who knows how to win, knows how to go fast and he has a great commercial savvy, which is so important to us in today’s world.”

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STIFLED RISING star Jack Le Brocq will finally get his chance to shine next year, replacing Chaz Mostert at Tickford Racing.

Following two dispiriting seasons with Teckno Autosports, Le Brocq’s move to a front-running Ford Mustang has been confirmed.

Next year he will join Cam Waters, Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison in what is something of a homecoming.

Le Brocq was being groomed for stardom by Tickford – then Prodrive Racing – in 2016, when he finished runner-up to teammate Garry Jacobson in the Super2 title.

Circumstances left him out in the cold, with attempts to bring him back to Campbellfield in a main game seat failing in 2018 and again this year.

He was a candidate to steer the Tickford-run 23Red Racing entry, only to lose out to Will Davison, and was tabbed to replace Mark Winterbottom this year until Tekno enforced his contract.

Le Brocq survived a fractious season with Tekno in 2019, struggling at the back of the field in an uncompetitive car and enduring a mid-season contract dispute.

He is now set to make his mark in 2020, taking over the Supercheap Auto Racing Mustang from WAU-bound Mostert.

“Chaz has obviously done an amazing job there over the years and I’ll be trying to do an equally good job, if not better,’ Le Brocq told Auto Action. “I feel like I have a bit of a point to prove and show that I can do the job, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

“I want to be at the pointy end and run there consistently.”

Tickford Racing chief Tim Edwards explained that Le Brocq was a natural choice because of his prior Super2 experience with the squad, allied with his untapped potential.

“We know Jack from his time with the team a few years ago,” Edwards said.

“But it was also about building for the future as well. We felt that somebody that’s had a couple of years under their belt, albeit sort of school of hard knocks, hasn’t been a great couple of years for him, but he understands all the tracks and everything.

“We’d like to think Jack’s at the start of his career and will get better. We know he has the ability – we’ve seen that ourselves when he drove for us – and we believe we can extract a lot more from him.”

Edwards likened him to Mark Winterbottom, whom he signed in 2006 after a lacklustre season with Larkham Motorsport.

“He’s had a very similar path to Frosty,” he said. “It’s all too easy to just look at the

results. Yes, he finished 22nd, but why?

The reasons have nothing to do with his driving ability.”

He also confirmed he’d tried sign Le Brocq as Winterbottom’s replacement this year.

“It was unfortunate he ever left,” Edwards said. “He was absolutely an option for this year as well.”

Le Brocq also sees his opportunity as a long-overdue home coming.

“Most years we’ve been chatting about trying to get back there, so it’s great to be finally back,” he said. “It’s like we’re coming home. I loved working with the team in 2016 and I’m really hanging out to get back in there and get cracking for next year.”

He agreed that replacing Mostert a big break that will give him a shot at winning races and, ultimately, possibly contending for a Supercars title.

“Yeah, 100 per cent,” he said. “You could almost say we’ve done our apprenticeship the last couple of years and it’s pretty awesome to get this opportunity with Tickford and Supercheap Auto Racing.

“It’s massive for me and it’s awesome for all our partners and family and everyone who’s been on the ride. I’m stoked, I can’t wait to get into it.

“I’m looking forward to knuckling down and working with a top-notch team.”

With the support of Truck Assist, which stuck by him, Le Brocq survived the ordeal of uncompetitive equipment for the past two years and believes the experience will make him stronger in a fast car.

“The past couple of years have been tough,” he said. “It obviously hasn’t come together this year, but we’ve done the miles and learned a lot. Stepping into Tickford, especially how they’ve been going this year, is going to be pretty exciting.

“We’re all competitive, that’s why we’re in the sport. You want to be up the front; you want to be winning races. It’s been difficult. You never like seeing that you’re off the pace.

“But it’s been character-building and I’ve learned a lot from it. I’m just looking forward to next year. There are some amazing people there and they’re going to help me get up to speed.

“I’m sure that with all the work going on there, it’s going to be another amazing year for the team. It’s going to a big step up in terms of working with such a highlevel team and having that ability to work with teammates, which I haven’t had the past couple of years.

“It’s going to be cool to try to get on that podium and spray some champagne.”

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Crucial aero tests seeks 13 per cent cut in downforce

By BRUCE NEWTON CRITICAL VCAT aerodynamic testing of the Ford Mustang and the Holden Commodore for the 2020 Supercars season has begun.

Designed to reduce downforce (grip) by between 11-13 per cent and cut aerodynamic turbulence that has hindered overtaking, the VCAT – or Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Testing – follows a season of technical parity turmoil for the category.

The Mustang was homologated last summer alongside the Commodore and Nissan Altima after a VCAT process declared the closest ever.

But its early season dominance drove a series of changes, first to clips its wings and then to speed up its rivals. All these in-season updates were performed without a VCAT. Homologation teams DJR Team Penske (Ford) and Triple Eight Race Engineering (Holden) delivered the cars to be used in VCAT to the Supercars technical centre on the Gold Coast on Monday and Tuesday this week (November 25 and 26).

They have been scrutineered and were due to be shaken down as Auto Action hits the streets (Wednesday-Thursday November 27 and 28).

They will then be taken to Army Aviation Centre Oakey in south-eastern Queensland on Sunday (December 1), where Supercars will conduct the VCAT from Monday December 2 for a week.

While both cars will be under the supervision of Supercars throughout the process, six nominated representative of each homologation team will be allowed to attend the test.

Each homologation teams has provided prototype parts to be assessed at VCAT.

SUPERCARS AERO TEST UNDERWAY

Image: LAT

The Mustang and Commodore will be tested alongside Supercars’ own Ford Falcon FG X, which has served as a test-bed for developing the 2020 aero pack.

A new active-ride damper system is being employed by Supercars for this VCAT, combined with extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research completed in cooperation with UK-based engineering consultant D2H. The reduction in downforce is being limited to 11-13 per cent –around 30-40kg - to avoid the cost of body modifications, confirmed Supercars head of motorsport Adrian Burgess.

“We are still keeping the same front bar that we have currently got, we are still keeping the same rear wing and endplates that we have currently got,” he explained.

“But we are going to fit a packer or wedge in the undertray of the front bar to reduce the front

downforce and we will drop the rear wing five or six degrees.

“We didn’t want to do wholesale changes, we would like to go there in the future, maybe 150200kg reduction. But that would give the teams considerable cost year-on-year.”

The active-ride system will enable Supercars at a flick of a switch to test the cars in three different rake angles; nose-down, tail-down and neutral.

“Historically up to this year we have done it (VCAT) at one ride height and one rake and correctly people are now designing outside of that one ride height range we were measuring the car at,” said Burgess.

“The active system will enable us to measure the car at whatever ride height we choose and paritise for maximum downforce but equally, minimum drag.”

Burgess said the introduction of the Mustang

two-door had driven the further development of the VCAT process.

“We have always had a four-door sedan, it’s been very easy to keep the cars the same and they have behaved the same,” he explained.

“Now with the introduction of the two-door, the shape of the car is considerably different and it reacts differently.

“The testing process probably didn’t advance as quick as the shape of the car, given the areas we have had to look this year in greater detail.

“That is what we have been doing this year and that leads into why we are going to have another VCAT at the end of this year.”

The VCAT will continue to test in a straightline only. Burgess said real-world yaw – or cornering – testing was not necessary.

“The typical yaw of a Supercar is only four degrees and we can simulate that in CFD,” Burgess said.

Turn to Pages 16-17 for Adrian Burgess’s in-depth guide to VCAT.

NO TROPHIES FOR T8 Factory Holden team misses out for the first time since 2005 FOR THE first time since 2005, Triple Eight Race Engineering will not add a driver’s championship or teams’ championship winners silverware to its trophy cabinet at the end of a Supercars season.

Instead, arch-rival DJR Team Penske has swept the board for the first time since US racing tycoon Roger Penske assumed control in 2014.

Only the teams’ title remained in dispute entering the Newcastle 500 last weekend and DJRTP managed to extend its points advantage despite factory Holden drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup sharing the wins between them.

But Whincup’s braking error on Saturday and van Gisbergen’s poor qualifying on Sunday meant consistent top four finishes

by DJRTP’s Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard were enough to grab the title and secure the strategically significant first

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Image: Ross Gibb

garage at pitlane exit.

The weekend was an especially good one for Coulthard, who returned to the podium for the first time since Townsville and was the top individual points scorer at Newcastle.

Since it joined the Supercars championship in 2003, T8 has won the Bathurst 1000 six times, the driver’s title eight times and the teams’ titles nine times. It has twice swept all three in 2008 and 2012.

This year van Gisbergen and Whincup finished second and third in the driver’s

championship, while Whincup united with Craig Lowndes to win the Pirtek Enduro Cup. It is the fifth time in the seven years the miniseries has been run that T8 has won it.

T8 boss Roland Dane said he was “relaxed” about the result, citing the early season centre of gravity and aerodynamic advantage of the Ford Mustang.

“We gave it a good nudge once we got parity back on an even keel,” said Dane.

“We have finished first or second (in the driver’s championship) every year since

2005 up to now, so I am pretty happy with that because what we always promise ourselves and our sponsors and partners and co is that we will be in the hunt.”

He was fulsome in his praise of McLaughlin, who won Bathurst with Alex Premat and then wrapped the championship at the Sandown 500.

“Scotty deserves his title,” said Dane. “He did a ripper job this year and we would have had to work bloody hard to beat him anyway you look at it.

“I don’t begrudge him his title whatsoever.”

But Dane was far more reserved when it came to DJRTP because of the Bathurst safety car and illegal engine issues.

DJRTP was fined $250,000 ($100,000 suspended) and penalised 300 teams championship points for ordering Coulthard to slow down during a late-race safety car period at Bathurst. That action impacted the results of almost every team in the race and potentially handed Mclaughlin a late-race advantage.

McLaughlin was stripped of his Bathurst pole lap four weeks after the fact when the engine in his Mustang was found to be illegal.

“Not only me but a lot of people have lost a lot of respect (for DJRTP) over the multiple Bathurst issues,” said Dane. BN

“WE CAN DO BETTER” DJR Team Penske addresses process flaws exposed by Bathurst penalties

DJR TEAM Penske boss Ryan Story has refused to accept Scott Mclaughlin’s first Bathurst 1000 victory and second consecutive driver’s championship, as well as the teams’ title secured in Newcastle last weekend, have been tainted by the team’s Mount Panorama penalties.

But he conceded the controversies exposed shortcomings in the team’s process, structure and discipline that need to be addressed ahead of 2020.

“I would say we were appropriately punished for breaches of two rules in that instance and I have already gone on record as saying I take full responsibility for that as the team principal,” he told Auto Action.

“That’s my job first and foremost. When things don’t go right and things don’t go to plan and mistakes happen, I have to stand up and be accountable for them.

“I am not in the business of throwing people under the bus, I am not in the business of pointing over there. I am at the top of the tree and that’s how it works.”

Story instead highlighted the positives of the team’s 2019 achievements.

“In the Penske organisation they always talk about people capital and motorsport is like any other industry, you are only as good as the people that you have.

“We have some of the best people in the business; the best mechanics, the best

drivers, the best engineers, some of the best workforce.

“They deserve the success because they have worked harder for it than anyone else.”

DJRTP was fined $250,000 ($100,000 suspended) and penalised 300 teams championship points for ordering McLaughlin’s team-mate Fabian Coulthard to slow down during a laterace safety car period.

That action impacted the results of almost every team in the race and potentially handed Mclaughlin a strategic advantage.

McLaughlin was stripped of his Bathurst pole lap four weeks after the fact, when the engine in his Mustang was found to have illegal valvelift in five of eight cylinders.

But all that didn’t stop the factory Ford team from sweeping the triple crown of Supercars racing – Bathurst, the driver’s championship and teams’ championship – in the same year for the first time under US billionaire Roger Penske’s ownership.

In the process it denied arch-rival Triple Eight Race Engineering from collecting one of those three trophies for the first time since 2005.

Story agreed the penalties had exposed shortcomings in the team process.

Image: LAT

“Without a doubt,” he said. “It’s easy to forget we are still young in terms of our gestation as DJR Team Penske.

“We don’t have as many runs on the board as our neighbours (Triple Eight) have.

“We don’t have that longevity, we don’t have the experience, we don’t have all the process and structure and disciplines that are required to sustain the level of success we have been fortunate enough to encounter for the last three years or so.

CROWN LINKED TO TEAM SYDNEY

By BRUCE NEWTON CROWN CASINOS and telecommunications company Vodafone are the blue-chip sponsors being linked with the new Team Sydney Supercars team.

But with confusion continuing over just who is in control of Team Sydney and how it will operate, no sponsorship deals have as yet been done.

Originally, the Team Sydney plan brought together Steve and Jonathon Webb’s Tekno Autosports infrastructure with the capital of Sydney businessman and racer Rod Salmon.

But the collaboration was never formally sealed and they are now understood to be running on parallel tracks to set up Sydney-based Supercars organisations in 2020 and access the potential Crown and Vodafone deal and the millions of dollars that would come with it.

Crown is in the process of massively upgrading its presence in the Sydney gambling and hospitality market with its controversial Barangaroo project, while Vodafone is a long-term and existing Supercars sponsor.

As a current entity with a Bathurst-winning history in Supercars, the Webbs are understood to have the support of category bosses such as CEO Sean Seamer and strategy and product chief John Casey.

But Salmon is believed to be confident he has the legal upper-hand in terms of agreements with parties relevant to the deal.

Those parties include the NSW government – which is tipping in $33 million to develop a motorsport centre of excellence at Sydney Motorsport Park where the team will be based – the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) – which runs SMP – and the Confederation of Australian Motorsports (CAMS).

Auto Action has also been told a “major

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But who would the gambling giant spend its money with?

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sponsor” - presumably Crown – has done due diligence on both prospective Team Sydney operators and nominated Salmon as its preferred partner.

Whoever ends up being Team Sydney, Supercars is clear it must race two cars, meaning the Webbs have one REC and one car to secure and Salmon two RECs and two cars.

Supercars currently has three RECs on the shelf valued at about $200,000 each.

Securing cars is said to be more of a challenge, while the identity of a second driver remains unclear.

At its Bathurst announcement, Tekno Autosports boss Jonathan Webb was presented as the pointman for Team Sydney and James Courtney was announced as the first of its drivers.

But Salmon was never officially named as a partner or included in the announcement presentation.

Salmon has now been linked with several different teams as he investigates securing the

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infrastructure to build Team Sydney from the ground up.

Garry Rogers Motorsport, which officially ended its Supercars championship involvement at Newcastle last Sunday, is the latest team to have discussions with Salmon.

But team co-owner Barry Rogers quashed any chance of a comeback to the category by GRM in association with Salmon.

“There’s nothing happening there, I’ll guarantee that,” he said. “He might get some gear off us or something but there’s no real substance in it …

We’re not going into business with them.”

With Webb insisting in Newcastle that “nothing has changed since last we spoke” – a line he has stuck to since Bathurst – and Salmon keeping a low media profile, multiple rumours have filled the information void.

For instance, there is plenty of belief in Supercars pitlane that the team will now not happen until 2021 and that Tekno and Courtney will stay on the Gold Coast and run a single car in the

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“We still have much to learn and there are plenty of ways we can be better.”

Story says issues exposed at Bathurst - pace car management and engine preparation - are “absolutely” amongst the process improvements the team will make for 2020.

“That (process evolution) will never stop.

Even if we won every race and every trophy there would still be places to improve. We don’t take for granted the success we have had.” BN

championship in 2020.

By default, Seamer has emerged as the main spokesman for Team Sydney. It’s a role he is fulfilling somewhat grudgingly. While Supercars is intrinsic to the deal, it is up to the Webbs and/or Salmon to bring it to reality.

Asked what the relationship between Webb and Salmon now was and if they were working in parallel rather than together, Seamer said: “They are working through multiple permutations of the plan.

“We are in discussions with both Jonno (Webb) and Rod Salmon about what their plans are for Team Sydney,” he added.

“They are obviously working through their own business plans, staff plans, hardware, cars etcetera.”

Seamer confirmed the various parties were present at a meeting in Sydney shortly after the Sandown 500.

“We’ve reviewed all the plans and the key things that we are working on now is making sure the deliverables are in-place for engaging with the local community from a TAFE point of view, as well as local engineering and panel and paint.

“Giving back to the community out there (western Sydney) is a key stipulation from CAMS, the ARDC and the NSW government.”

Speaking in Newcastle after completing his final drive for Walkinshaw Andretti United, Courtney forecast a busy summer ahead.

“Everyone keeps telling there is a lot of mystery about it (Team Sydney). There is definitely still a bit to work out with personnel and that sort of stuff.

“That’s going to take up all of the off-season I reckon … I enjoy all the hustle of that side of things, the commercial aspect and working with people and getting people into places and employing people.”

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STILL LIVING THE DREAM TICKFORD RACING has confirmed that Bottle-O Racing driver Lee Holdsworth will remain with the team in a multi-year deal. The three-time race winner has been announced as the Tickford Racing Truck Assist sponsored driver. The Holdsworth announcement came off the back of the Sandown 500 in which Holdsworth scored his first podium since 2014 alongside his rookie co-driver Thomas Randle.

A $400,000 scholarship prize is on offer for the champion of the Super2 Series in 2020 and $100,000 for the Rookie of the Year. The 20th anniversary of the second-tier series will see the near half a million dollar prize help assist the series champion achieve a main game drive in 2021. The Rookie award winner will be on offer to drivers under 25 in their first year of the Super2 Series and will be available if they race on in the category.

THE EREBUS Academy is set to launch its Creating Pathways program which is a dedicated young racing driver program to provide young drivers with support to potentially reach the highest level of motorsport. A strategic partnership has been formed with Paul Morris and the Norwell Motorplex.

The program launches on December 4 when it hosts 86 Racing Series tryouts.

The last few weeks have been hard, but Mclaughlin still positive

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By BRUCE NEWTON TWO-TIME Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin insists he is still “living the dream” despite enduring some of the hardest weeks of his career as a professional racing driver.

The Ford Mustang driver, who sealed his second consecutive driver’s championship at the Sandown 500 and was officially crowned last weekend in Newcastle, has become the high-profile lightning rod for discontent among rivals and Supercars fans over DJR Team Penske’s dual Bathurst 1000 penalties.

McLaughlin has supplanted team-mate Fabian Coulthard in that unfortunate role. The Kiwi received social media death threats after slowing down under instruction from the team behind the pace car at Bathurst, while Mclaughlin’s qualifying disqualification for an illegal engine announced four weeks later at Sandown re-energised the drama.

McLaughlin’s disputes during the Newcastle 500 finales included social media spats and alleged confrontations with other drivers.

The Instagram argument with Scott Pye drew national media coverage. He objected to Mclaughlin’s criticism of his “peers” and then conflated the DJR Team Penske penalties with bicycling cheat Lance Armstrong.

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer then sent a letter out to all teams and drivers warning against “unfounded and malicious accusations” on social media.

Along with that there were various rumours and claims of nastiness circulating pitlane, not only relating to driver behaviours but dragging family members into the mix as well.

That was something McLaughlin acknowledged

Image: LAT

on Sunday night in Newcastle, as well as calling for better behaviour from drivers in 2020.

“It’s been hard for me because Mum and Dad, (fiancé) Karly and my sister, they probably feel the pain more than I do and that’s not on,” he said.

“For me, I feel like we did a really good job, I feel like I drove the best I ever have but sometimes you can’t win with some people and you have just got to accept that.

“Unfortunately it is how it is in this sport, you just get used to it, but I just hope next year that all of us come into the sport with a better perspective.

“I feel like we can be better role models.

“Banter is great, we all do it, but I just hope we can come with a better perspective and just be professional for not only our sport and the younger drivers coming through, but also for other sports and athletes around the world.”

There is no doubt the cheery personality that had earned McLaughlin the ‘new Lowndes’ moniker has been challenged this year, not only by these latest controversies but the ongoing debate over

STANAWAY RETIRES FROM RACING! ALL SUPERCARS SuperSprint events will be renamed Super400 events as part of an extended race format next season. Currently all SuperSprint events run a 120km race on Saturday and a 200km race on Sunday. Next year, however, the Saturday race will increase to 200km while Sunday will remain the same. The ‘International Super400’ event at New Zealand will run the 2x200km format while the other ‘International’ event at Albert Park will run four 100km races.

FORMER SUPERCARS champion Shane van Gisbergen is a confirmed starter at this weekend’s Challenge Bathurst event. The New Zealander will take to The Mountain driving a Triple Eight Race Engineering Australia Mercedes AMG GT3. The event has reached its full capacity and will see the likes of Steven Richards, Luke Youlden and both Sam and Yasser Shahin also take part.

8 AutoAction

SUPERCARS DRIVER Richie Stanaway announced shortly after the conclusion of the 2019 Supercars season that he had decided to retire from racing.

The announcement came after two disappointing full seasons in the Supercars Championship, firstly with Tickford Racing in 2018, then Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2019.

However, when GRM confirmed it would pull the pin at the end of the 2019 Supercars season he was left without a drive.

Stanaway made his announcement on Instagram on Sunday evening.

“After 23 years of strapping the helmet on, I feel like it’s time to finally call it a day. I never would have predicted my racing career would be so short and it’s not a

decision I’ve taken lightly but it is what it is. I got further than I could have ever dreamed of and I can’t thank everyone enough that has been a part of the journey. Time to start a new chapter.”

Before heading to Supercars, the New Zealander had a stellar international career winning the ADAC Formel Masters series and German Formula 3 Championship.

Stanaway also had race victories in GP2, the old second-tier series to Formula 1, which included a victory on the streets of Monte Carlo.

The 28-year old also claimed LMGTE Pro class wins in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin, while juggling Tickford Racing co-driving duties, winning the Sandown 500 with Cameron Waters in 2017.

Dan McCarthy

Image: Ross Gibb

the Mustang’s early-season dominance and the technical parity adjustments that reigned it in.

In the end, despite the negatives, Mclaughlin notched up a record 18 wins, 16 poles (matching his own 2017 record), won his first Bathurst 1000 and played a huge role in delivering DJRTP’s second teams’ title.

Asked if he was still living the dream he replied “absolutely”, but also conceded the toll recent times had taken.

“For me as a person it’s probably made me stronger I guess. The last three or four weeks and especially the last week has probably been amongst the hardest in my career just off-track wise.

“I am proud of getting through it, the person I have become through it – or tried to stay – and that’s the main thing.

“I am looking forward to the break moreso because I am getting married,” he added.

“I am excited to come back next year because I think we can really continue this trend and be at the front again.”

HAZELWOOD CONFIRMED AT BJR

Team Sydney is Tim Slade’s only chance of staying in Supercars full-time

AA’s picky pundit remembers the excitement of the Repco Reliability Trial, which is in stark contrast to the Supercars nanny state

TODD HAZELWOOD has been about its Supercar future. confronting that organisation – confirmed as Tim Slade’s But MSR has since confirmed it see our separate story – Slade replacement at Brad Jones is expanding to become two-car accepts his Supercars future Racing. team with Nissan refugee Garry might be as a co-driver. He is After graduating to the Supercars Jacobson expected to fill one also exploring opportunities in GT championship with Matt Stone seat while Zane Goddard and racing and other categories.

HARD TO imagine now,the but versus threehave Fordbeen Cortinas, Racing in 2018, he makes Kurt Kostecki tipped to “I have a fair idea of what it is 40 a race around spearheaded by race andin a shiftyears to theago, newly-expanded share the other Commodore going to happen, but when all Australia was a big rally star Colin Bond.

Albury team where he deal. will line up unique split-drive arrangement. that is signed off, I will be ready Nowadays, you can drive What we didn’t know – or alongside fellow South Australia MSR will announce its 2020 to announce what I am doing,” around the Macauley country in yourand acknowledge – was that Nick Percat, Jones make-up within weeks.

Slade said last Sunday night in SUV easily as driving to the Ford’s effort the was way late and Newcastle. rookieas Jack Smith.

After joining championship local shops. underfunded compared “I have known Todd since he in 2009 with Paul Morris with Slade’s announcement he But in 1979, Holden’s all-out assault. his I was was “unemployed” shortly after was a junior go-karter and I have Motorsport, Slade achieved circumnavigating as guilty as anyone in of thefifth watched him developthe over the best championship finish finishing third in the final race of mainland continent by road media for bigging up the last 10 years,” team co-owner in 2012 with Stone Brothers Ford the year in Newcastle caught BJR was greatsaid adventure.

The vs Holden clash,one penning Brad aJones in an official team Racing.

He stayed year at by surprise, but there seemed road across the Nullarbor was a piece for long-gone statement.

Erebus Motorsport racingThe a no malice in it. Instead, he was still gravel and Outback tracks Bulletin news magazine to to Image: LAT “I’m excited at the prospect of Mercedes-Benz, before moving fulsome in his praise of Jones and were horror stretches. that effect. Racing. He has raced the team, with which he scored him joining BJR, he is a Super2 Walkinshaw Which isand why the Repco blaze of publicity Champion heading into his forBut BJRthe since 2016. his only two Supercars wins at Action, Slade has struggled to 10 finishes on both days in Reliability Trial was a genuine worked.

The Repco third year in the main game.

The 34-year old’s onlygot logical Winton in 2016. consistently find car speed in the Newcastle. torture test.weCars were extensive and breathless “I feel like will be in abetter good opportunity to continue as a “My best memories have been BJR Holden Commodore ZBs “It’s been a very frustrating,” and tougher, roads coverage – especially from position to fightbut for the podiums full-time Supercars racer in 2020 with BJR. I have a really, really since Tailem Bend in 2018. admitted Slade. Image: Ian Smith off the beaten News Limited tabloid tsar moving forward.”track were seems at Team Sydney. good relationship with Brad,” But a teardown of the car by “I guess, pre-Bathurst it’s been perilous.

Back then, the Wayne Webster – all along the Slade where my parents were living engineer what was Australia’s and Flauntinglast the12poster Hazelwood won the development Slade has had discussions with said.

Tony Woodward–between aappalling. very, very frustrating Birdsville Track was deathway.

– and on to the UK, Holland perhaps the world’s – last on the podium was out series in 2017 and has finished the project’s public pointman “He’s an awesome person and Pukekohe and Bathurst had months, just in the sense thatof defying.

Webster came up with one and Italy. great road rally. order. really made sense, with 26th and 18th in the driver’s Jonathon Webb and James I think we’re both pretty similar revealed a potential issue. nothing’s Now, these days you could of the greatest story leads Seriously, we flogged that specifically banned championship in 2018 and 2019 Courtney, who was confirmed as people. I got my first wins with From Bathurst onwards Slade theIt’s exception of maybe one ortotwo do it without raising a sweat in POSTERGATE ever in his desperation to 1.1 litre for all it was worth.

We protect the rights of Supercars with MSR. He was advised earlier a driver when Team Sydney was Brad and there’s an awesome qualified in the top 10 four times weekends. your Mazda 3. enliven the final stages of even slept in it in Amsterdam. sponsors.

But in the So Scott McLaughlin is fined this year to hunt for another drive announced at Bathurst in October. team of guys and girls there.” out of six (including the Sandown “It’s probably been the hardest Repco the Trial organiser the Not ideal for two six-foot plus circumstances, a BN bit of leeway $10,000 for brandishing because team was uncertain ButCommodore considering theconquest. issues As previously reported

by Auto 500 as a whole) and got top a period in my career.”

Stewart McLeod, rest his soul, His story of that memorable blokes… wouldn’t have hurt.

“Mustang Wins Title” poster found the toughest, potentially yarn is part of our extensive The Repco finished on a Equally, DJR Team Penske on the podium at QR. Plus car-killing tracks available. His Repco Reliability Trial 40th Brock high, with Australia’s and Ford could have three grand for an illicit Image: Ross Gibb original route was even more anniversary tribute, starting on racing darling trumping the contained the poster display burnout. merciless, but event director page 24. established dirt devils. Under to the pit lane without sanction Supercars people, make and rally legend Frank Kilfoyle Unusually, I didn’t cover the two months later, Brock and widespread exposure. up your minds!

You either and is satisfied the final product is a

By MARK FOGARTY replacement industry sources have ensured a modicum of sanity Repco.

I was at the start at the completed the greatest Penalising McLaughlin want your stars to celebrate strong product, as well as saving teams SUPERCARS’ NEW control dampers nominated SupaShock as the supplier by deleting the real horror Melbourne Showgrounds, but crushing at Bathurst, winning for lighting it up was also success and display their will be branded by a major after-market and Pedder’s as the branding in what’s money. sections. before it finished back there, I by six laps in his Torana A9X disingenuous.

The crowd personalities or not. automotive suspension supplier. believed to be a five-year deal.

According to Supercars’ own websitem, The event captured the was off to Europe on my first and setting the fastest lap on loved it and Supercars The fines were levied by The set-spec shock absorbers will be Supercars chief executive Sean Seamer both Walkinshaw Andretti United drivers public imagination because at overseas adventure. hiscontrol final tour Scott of thePye Mountain. promoted it, so what’s the CAMS,trialled but according to supplied

by South Australian specialist confirmed to Auto Action that the and James Courtney the the end of the free-wheeling I went with my broadcasting But it is his Around Australia harm?

Supercars rules.

SupaShock, but in a major commercial shock absorbers would have third-party 2020 control dampers at the Newcastle ’70s, driving around – much mate Steve Blanda – he of a conquest that he always Yes, ideally, tyre-shredding Sure, DJR Team Penske/ deal will be labelled Pedder’s Suspension. commercial branding.

500. less racing around – Australia record number of radio news regarded as his greatest displays should be contained Ford knew they’d be fined Supercars sources confirm the supply Supercars’ technical department is AA understands the control shocks will was still a risky endeavour. presenting awards – and we victory.

It proved his versatility to donuts in a designated for the poster and decided it cost under half current prices per damper of control dampers has been awarded and understood to have whittled the supply It was also, on the surface, went to the Dutch Grand Prix and virtuosity behind the area.

But if a bloke cuts loose was cheap for the exposure.

– around $2000, down from $4000-4500 specifications have been decided. contenders from initial submissions from aWith big-budget battle between at Zandvoort and the Italian wheel. to entertain the crowd, should Which Supercars aided by each. an announcement of the six damper makers to three and then Holden and Ford, which ruled GP at Monza.

For so many reasons, we it be a stiff fine? highlighting it on its web site.

Teams will be allocated three sets of commercial branding not due until following final submissions, decided on more than 50 per cent ofnor the and either side, will never seedampers the likes of each the – thatSupercars Either ban burnouts all also milked SupaShock.

– 12 will be sealed, February, neither Supercars Pedder’sIn between car market back then.

Three we wore out a brand-new Repco Reliability Trial again. together or celebrate them.

Scotty’s tyre-smoking display allowing only external service by the is confirming the arrangement.

Supercars has been testing the spec Holden Commodores, led Ford Fiesta, caning it from So we pay tribute to the One or the other, not some on all its digital outlets. supplier.

However, racing and suspension four-way adjustable dampers this season by racing hero Peter Brock, Germany to Switzerland – adventurers who contested The inconsistency was unsatisfactory halfway house.

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LATEST NEWS

FOR 2020 the Super3 Series will revert back to its original name of V8 Touring Cars after Supercars attempted to merge its second and third tier categories together. As a result the V8 Touring Car Series has formed a strategic partnership with the Australian Racing Group (ARG). Kumho has also announced it will continue to support the series as the naming rights and tyre supplier, while the five round calendar has also been announced and will see the series travel to two Supercars events and three Shannons Nationals events.

Image: Ross Gibb

THE SECOND-TIER Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge will be known as the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge from next year, this is to align itself with the global rebranding of the second tier category by Porsche AG. French tyre manufacturer Michelin also announced that it will continue to sponsor the category into a new era.

THE AUSTRALIAN Motor Racing Series has announced its expanded seven round calendar which will start at Winton Raceway in February before travelling to Morgan Park, The Bend Motorsport Park, back to Winton, Queensland Raceway, Sydney Motorsport Park and concluding at Wakefield Park in mid-November.

PORSCHE HAS announced that they will give one lucky driver in Australian Carrera Cup the opportunity to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours event as part of the combined Carrera Cup Germany and France grid. A draw will occur at the Australian Grand Prix weekend to determine the winner, to be in the running to win the prize, a driver must compete in the first two round of the 2020 season.

AMRS has announced its second attempt to start its own production car based series titled the Production Cars Australia Championship. The series plans to run at five rounds and will contain a mixture of sprint and endurance races to cater for a one or two driver entry.

No control tyre will be used instead there is a list of optional tyres choices, a five-round calendar has also been announced.

10 AutoAction

NO EXTRA FREE LIVE TV IN 2020

By MARK FOGARTY SUPERCARS HAS shut down speculation that at least one race of all of next year’s events will be shown live on free-to-air TV. While there was a move to show the Sunday race of all sprint rounds live on Network 10, in addition to major events, it’s not happening.

Auto Action revealed last month that FTA broadcasts of at least one race at every round were on the agenda.

But since then, it has been confirmed that Channel 10 and regional affiliate WIN will continue with live coverage of only selected major events.

More free live events on 10/WIN are a major negotiating point for the new broadcast deal from 2021.

Supercars is in active discussions with Fox Sports for a multi-year renewal.

In the existing six-year $241 million broadcast rights deal, which runs until the end of next season, Fox Sports on-sells the secondary rights to 10 with restrictions.

AA understands that despite entreaties from

Supercars, Fox Sports rejected more live 10/ WIN coverage in the final year of the current rights arrangement.

More free to air coverage, as demanded by the teams, is a prerequisite of the 2021+ broadcast rights deal.

Be in no doubt, there was a serious push from Supercars to have more live coverage on 10/WIN in 2020.

According to AA sources, it was shot down

by Fox Sports, which naturally protected its rights under the current agreement.

The only way 10 would have been allowed more live races was if the American-owned network paid more, which it can’t – or is unwilling to – afford.

Channel 10 splashed out on grabbing the Melbourne Cup horse racing carnival from Seven, but the huge multi-year spend was not a ratings success.

Supercars’ head of television and content Nathan Predergast confirmed there would not be extra live coverage on 10 next year.

“Our existing broadcast agreement is in its final year (in 2020) and does not allow for

further (live) free-to-air races,” Prendergast said. “Next year’s Network 10 broadcasts will feature three days of live coverage from the opening round in Adelaide, continuing at the Australian Grand Prix, Townsville 400, Bathurst 1000, Gold Coast 600, Sandown 400 and Newcastle 500.

“Combined with highlight packages from every other championship race, Supercars is available free on Network 10 to all of our fans.”

Prendergast added that there will be more hours of racing shown next year.

“We’re excited about the prospect of an even stronger 2020, with three night race events and extended racing hours to broadcast to our growing fan base,” he said. “We’re constantly working closely with our broadcast partners to ensure our fans have access via live or delayed highlights to Australia’s fastest sport and deliver the world’s best practice in coverage and production.”

It is not clear whether the Saturday night races in Perth and Sydney will be shown live in prime time on 10/WIN.

FIFTH BATHURST EVENT DETAILS REVEALED THE EVENT title and race categories have been revealed for the fifth Bathurst event set to take place late next year.

The Bathurst International is a joint venture between the Australian Racing Group, CAMS and the Bathurst Regional Council.

At this stage the inaugural event does not have a confirmed date but will be run in late November/early December 2020.

The event will be highlighted by a 500km, two driver, TCR endurance race when Australian teams could be joined by high-level international entries and drivers such as multiple World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx.

“It will be fantastic to drive there in a TCR car that will perform really well over the top. I have very fond memories of my previous experiences on the circuit and I am sure that the TCR race will provide a

very exciting show,” said Priaulx.

TCR cars will be supported by four categories, each one of which will also be bolstered by both Kiwi and international entries.

The thunderous open-wheel wings and slicks category, S5000 will be racing at The Mountain for the first time. TCR Australia and S5000 driver Will Brown is excited to see which international drivers will be on the grid

and is hopeful of being on it himself.

“I was fortunate to drive the S5000 car at Sandown and Tailem Bend, and that was really cool. They are going to be unbelievable at Bathurst and I really hope that I can be a part of that as well,” Brown said.

The Australian Trans Am 2 (TA2) muscle car series featuring Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers will take to The Mountain. This

category is expected to see large entries from both the American and Asian series’ joining the Aussies.

TA2 is not the only muscle car series at the Bathurst International, the heritage muscle car series will add a bit of history to the brand new event. The bulk of the field will be built up of Australia’s home-grown Touring Car Masters category and will be joined by similar entries from New Zealand and the United States of America.

While the heritage muscle cars bring history to the mountain the LMP3 sports car series will bring high tech modern technology to the Bathurst circuit. As with the other categories the class is open to all LMP3 entries from around the world.

All of the categories competing at the Bathurst International will be nonpoints paying races as drivers aim to win the round in their respective championships. DM

EXCLUSIVE: GLOBAL TCR FOCUS FOR GRM

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Image: TCR Australia-Daniel Kalisz

A NEW technical alliance between Vukovic Motorsport and Garry Rogers Motorsport has the potential to hit the WTCR grid.

As reported by autoaction.com.au, the Swiss-based operation headed

by Milenko Vukovic will collaborate in developing the new Evo version of the Renault Megane RS TCR with the ultimate goal being to enter as a wildcard at a WTCR race weekend.

GRM Director Barry Rogers told Auto Action that a potential WTCR entry was in the pipeline once the new Megane Evo was fully developed, which includes addressing the reliability problems that has afflicted the model this season.

“The number one thing is to get a really competitive package and not only competitive, but even more so a reliable package,” Rogers said.

“If you get to that level, WTCR is the pinnacle of TCR so you have to have that target to where you want to get to and that’s certainly something that together we can get to that level.

“If we ran a wildcard and are successful there, you never know might happen.”

The new Renault Megane Evo TCR

is currently undergoing the final stages of completion, GRM has designed and produced parts for the upgraded frontend, while Vukovic is excited by the new venture and it comes at the perfect time with the Swiss-based team developing an upgraded version of the Megane RS for next year’s campaigns.

“GRM will help build the Renault Megane for TCR worldwide,” Vukovic told Auto Action.

“I support GRM here because it’s a very serious, competitive and it has lots of experience in Supercars and S5000 racing. The team has a good engineering background because it has stopped activity in Supercars, it has more time and more capacity.”

“Vukovic Motorsport has developed a new car with new homologation through the Renault Megane RS Evo including a new engine and front axle, which is being developed by GRM. This is the partnership between Vukovic Motorsport and GRM, but we’ll stay the homologated builder.”

Vukovic was in attendance at the TCR Finale held at The Bend where both

Renault Megane RS TCRs driven by Chris Pither and James Moffat finished on the podium over the three-race weekend.

Rogers lauded the work Vukovic had completed on the Megane already and told Auto Action his engineering team were excited by the new enterprise amid it’s pull out from Supercars.

“I think we proved through that Volvoera, when we’re given a project, we can have a bit of control over we can get the results,” Rogers reflected.

“At GRM, there are a great group of engineers and they like the challenge of being involved in projects like this.

Milenko’s done a really good job to get this to the stage where he has, basically by himself. We got involved with him and we’re happy with the relationship.

“The good part is Renault Australia support the program strongly, in 2020 we believe the Renault will be one of the frontrunning cars.”

It is also expected the team will gain extra support from Renault Australia to become GRM Team Renault in 2020, while becoming the distributor of the Megane RS TCR on behalf of Vukovic Motorsport. Heath McAlpine

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LATEST PORSCHE SHOOTOUT CONTENDER PORSCHE CARRERA Cup Australia series winner Jordan Love experienced the opportunity of a lifetime when he undertook the Porsche Junior Shootout held at Algarve in Portugal.

It was an intense two-days of competition with the results expected to be announced at the Porsche Prizegiving Ceremony in early December. Love was joined by 11 fellow young Porsche drivers from across the world for a series of tests to determine, who follows in the footsteps of previous winners Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans.

“The track was mega,” Love told Auto Action. “None of us had ever been to the track before, which was obviously a good thing coming from Australia you expect to be one of the only ones not have been there.”

It is a notoriously rigorous competition, which as Love discovered met every part of the criteria to becoming a professional driver within the three-day shootout.

“The first day is out of car activities, I had some medical checks, reaction tests and a few little mental checks, which entails completing quizzes and looking at patterns,” he explained.

“This is followed by interviews and the photo shoot, then a one-on-one interview with two of Porsche’s leaders from the Junior Program, which is pretty daunting.”

The on-track component was spread over the remaining two-days, Love particularly found this section of the shootout nerve-racking due to the uncertainty of the results, which are not revealed over the course of the weekend.

“The first day is two 30-minute practice sessions, then

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the day after that is a qualifying and race simulation,” said Love. “You get a warm up of four laps ahead of qualifying like you would normally get on a green set, then the race was 10-laps.

“I had people come up and do interviews with cameras, so you basically treat it like a weekend. You still work with an engineer after each session, so it is just a race weekend simulated over two days.”

Love’s Sonic Motor Racing Services team manager Mick Ritter was one of a number of mentors to give the 20-year-old advice before he jetted off.

“Mick advised me to go and enjoy it, just do what you’ve been doing, but enjoy it,” Love reflected. “Don’t put to much pressure on yourself.

“It was actually Alex Davison, who told me you get caught up in trying to impress people, you get caught up and trying to do the best job you can that you don’t step back to reflect on how cool this opportunity is.”

The current roster of Porsche works and Professional Young Drivers include nine that are successful recipients of the Porsche Junior Scholarship program, which includes support for a year of Supercup and mentorship with the aim of becoming a professional driver.

Heath McAlpine

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PYE AIMS FOR TOP 10

Schwerkolt’s new recruit has podiums on his mind

By BRUCE NEWTON VARIOUSLY IN hospital, in trouble and in the top five in his final drive for Walkinshaw Andretti United at the Newcastle 500, Scott Pye and new boss Charlie Schwerkolt are united in aiming for a top 10 finish in the 2020 Supercars driver’s championship.

Pye joins newly expanded Team 18 alongside Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom, after spending his last three seasons at Walkinshaw Andretti United and its predecessor Walkinshaw Racing.

The 29-year old South Australian, who competed in his 100th Supercars event at Sandown, scored his first win and seventh place in the championship in 2018, but slid down the order again in 2019 as WAU struggled for consistent car pace.

He and Warren Luff shone some light on the year with third overall in the Pirtek Enduro Cup, but Pye ended the season in 12th place overall after a Newcastle 500 that included a social media spat with Scott McLaughlin, a Friday visit to hospital with a stomach bug, a Saturday qualifying crash, a drive from 24th to sixth and a Sunday fifth. Phew!

“Top 10 in the championship next year is my target and from there the next season be top five in the championship and be regularly battling for podiums,” Pye told Auto Action.

“But it’s so difficult,” he admitted. “They are pretty wide expectations. For me the main thing is every time we turn up next year we do a better job than the weekend before.”

Schwerkolt told Auto Action that Pye’s experience was decisive in signing him ahead of several funded rookies who have been looking for rides.

“I have an exciting new partner coming onboard and I want to hit the ground running,” said Schwerkolt.

“So I don’t want to spend two to three years bringing someone through and all that.

“So we chose Scotty and I think he is going to be a

MARK WINTERBOTTOM has welcomed the expansion of Team 18 to two cars in 2020.

“It’s going to be really good,” said the 2015 Supercars champion. “You can try things on one car and other things on the other so you halve your test time.

“Plus you can employ more engineers.

We are a team of three engineers trying to tackle what some teams do with eight to 10 engineers.”

Winterbottom says this year transition from Tickford Racing where he was part of a four-driver set-up to Team 18 had

been “tough”.

“I’ve really enjoyed it but you’re driving the team yourself in terms of the direction you want ... It’s just tough.”

Winterbottom finished 13th in the 2019 title chase in the Irwin ZB Commodore. BN

YOULDEN RETIRES FROM SUPERCARS BATHURST 1000 winner Luke Youlden has called time on his Supercars racing career, stressing the decision was his alone and not triggered by a tough 2019 Pirtek Enduro Cup campaign.

The 41-year old, who won at the mountain in 2017 with David Reynolds, will be retained by Erebus Motorsport as a coach and mentor for young drivers at its burgeoning academy.

“I can’t thank Erebus enough,” said Youlden. “I was never going to drive anywhere else after driving here.”

The team has secured his replacement and is scheduled to announce its 2020 co-driver line-up within weeks.

“This team is fighting for race wins and Bathurst wins and I feel they need someone who can match Dave (Reynolds),” said Youlden.

“Just looking at it from a team perspective, I don’t want to be selfish and take that spot up.”

Nicknamed 11-10ths for his press-on style, the Gold Coast-based Victorian has a unique record in Supercars racing, competing in 20 Bathurst 1000s

without ever starting a sprint round.

Youlden recorded podiums at Mount Panorama, in the Sandown 500, the Phillip Island 500 and the Gold Coast 600.

He started in Supercars at Perkins Motorsport in 2000, then moved to Steven Ellery Racing, Stone Brothers Racing, Ford Performance Racing, Brad Jones Racing, DJR Team Penske and Erebus.

He has shared cars with such notables as Russell Ingall, Will Davison, Mark Winterbottom, Shane van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard and Reynolds.

Youlden’s 2019 Pirtek Enduro Cup was highlighted by third place on Sunday at the Gold Coast, but he and Reynolds had dramas in the other races including a Bathurst practice crash.

Youlden revealed to Auto Action he had been considering his Supercars racing future even as the endurance season began.

“It’s getting increasingly difficult to just turn up off the couch and race at the top level for three races and then jump back on the couch and not race one of these things for eight months,” said Youlden.

great team-mate for Frosty … I think we can get Scott in the 10 and build the program.”

Schwerkolt said he had wanted to expand from a single-car operation to two cars for some years and locked in the decision around July-August this year.

“Supercars is a two-car model, one boom for two cars,” he said. “I have always wanted to do it and pairing with four different teams [for pit stops] in the last four years, you have to look at it.

“So I thought ‘let’s try and put it together’.”

Schwerkolt has bought a REC from Kelly Racing to underpin his second entry. He has also purchased the Triple Eight Holden Commodore ZB currently being raced by factory driver Shane van Gisbergen.

He estimates staff at the team’s Glen Waverley workshop will expand from 14 to 20, with key players including technical director Phil Keed expected to stay in place.

Since debuting in 2013, Pye has raced for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, Dick Johnson Racing, DJR Team Penske and the two iterations of the Clayton-based Walkinshaw team But he says the shift to Team 18 is the first he has made in a calculated way.

“I feel very confident in my decision this time,” he said. “I did my homework and my success last year probably put me in a better position than I’ve probably ever been coming into driver negotiations.

“I was able to have multiple offers and then make the best decision based on the information I have at the time.

“Hopefully I got it right and I really think I have.

Charlie’s putting all the things in the right place and he’s got the right attitude about it as well.

“He is super-motivated, he knows what he wants to achieve and that lines up with me. I want to win plenty of races.”

“I’ve basically done that for 20 years and I think I have done a pretty good job of just turning up and doing it with basically no miles.

“I am pretty proud of that fact that I have been able to hang in there so long without really any backing behind me.”

He informed Erebus owner Betty Klimenko, team boss Barry Ryan, Reynolds and chief engineer Alistair McVean of his decision a few days after Sandown.

“I got some fantastic messages back from all of them,” Youlden said.

Unsurprisingly, he nominated the Bathurst win as the highlight of his career. It was something that has helped him come to terms with stepping back.

“I have achieved what I desperately wanted to achieve,” he said. “It definitely changes your life.”

Youlden will continue racing in the GT category with his plans set to be revealed shortly. A father of two young kids, he also has an expanding role at Porsche Track Experience as Tomas Mezera’s deputy and ongoing media commitments as a high-performance

road tester for carsales.com.au.

“My life outside Supercars is hectic and busy and that is where my future is,” he said.

“I’ll miss it for sure, it’s been a huge part of my life for 20 years.”

Ryan praised Youlden for his contribution to the team.

“What Luke has done for us is incredible, and we all have so much respect for him as a driver and as a person,” he said.

“We’ve always said he is the ‘baseline’ for who we want all of our drivers to be; he’s always organised, respectful, fast, great with fans and media, and most of all a top bloke.”

“What guys like Luke bring to an organisation is invaluable and the entire team love having him around.”

“He is a great support to Dave and Anton (De Pasquale) and our young drivers as he has walked in their shoes, and with the Erebus Academy as well as other initiatives moving forward, Luke will be an integral part of that.” BN

PEDAL DOWN. PERFORMANCE UP.

CITROEN QUITS WRC CAUSING A MAMMOTH SILLY SEASON FRENCH CAR manufacturer Citroen has decided to leave the FIA World Rally Championship with immediate effect while pointing blame at star driver Sebastien Ogier.

The Citroen departure comes after six-time WRC champion Ogier confirmed his departure from the French squad next season. Despite having oneyear remaining on his contract a lacklustre 2019 campaign for Citroen resulted in only three victories for Ogier, while the French squad finished third in the Manufacturers Championship.

In a statement Citroen confirmed its departure from the WRC: “Following the decision of Sebastien Ogier to leave Citroen Racing after 2019 WRC season, Citroen decided to withdraw from its World Rally Championship programme in 2020 due to the absence of a first-class driver available for 2020 season.”

In leaving the WRC Citroen has cut short its own two year-commitment with its C3 World Rally Car, which was due to run until the end of 2020.

The French brand has been a feature of the WRC since 2001, winning eight teams’ championships and nine straight drivers’ titles with Sebastien Loeb between

2004 and 2012.

Ogier is expected to be announced as lead driver at Toyota, replacing departed reigning champion Ott Tanak, who made the shock move to Hyundai.

Welshman Elfyn Evans and WRC2 Pro Champion Kalle Rovenpera are both set to depart their respective teams to join Toyota alongside Ogier, potentially leaving both Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala without a seat for next season.

The second Citroen driver, Finnish youngster Esapekka Lappi has been left in the lurch and is also searching for a seat.

Throw into the mix Andreas Mikkelsen who has been replaced at Hyundai by Tanak, along with Mads Ostberg, Craig Breen and Hayden Paddon who are all wanting to return to the WRC in 2020.

This leaves seven drivers gunning for the remaining M-Sport Ford seat alongside Teemu Suninen, who was expected to remain with the team in 2020. However, with this strong calibre of drivers on the market this may no longer be the case.

One thing is for sure, decisions need to be made soon as the 2020 WRC season begins on January 23.

Dan McCarthy

STANDALONE START TO APCS NEXT YEAR NEXT YEAR the MRF Tyres Australian Production Car Series with begin with a standalone event before joining the Shannons Nationals in an extended season.

While two venues were yet to be confirmed at the time of going to press, the series will be contested over six rounds, one more than in past years, and will kick off at Sydney Motorsport Park on March 6-8.

The standalone Production Car Nationals will be run by Ontic Sports, the company behind the national series. It will feature the APC Sydney 240 with four one-hour races and host the opening round of the NSW Production Touring Cars Championship, the NSW Production Sports Cars, the Australian Pulsar Racing Association and the Australian Prototype Series.

Organisers are in final discussions with two further categories to join the program. The event will also feature the MRF Tyres Invitational, the handicap race will pit the top

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three cars of each class in the APCS, the state series as well as the top ten Pulsars against each other in a 15-lap sprint.

Round 2 will be at Tailem Bend with the Shannons Nationals on June 12-14 running two 300km races, as will the third round which will be in Queensland on July 3-5, the venue of which is yet to be announced.

Rounds 4 and 5 will be in Victoria at Phillip Island (August 21-23) and Sandown Raceway (September 11-

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13) utilising the four-race format.

“2020 is looking very exciting for the MRF Tyres Australian Production Cars,” said category manager, Iain Sherrin.

“We have a fantastic mix of events at some of the best race tracks in the country. While we can’t unveil a date or venue for what is going to be an epic grand finale just yet, I can tell you that this event will also include a very exciting ‘standalone’ event concept!” Garry O’Brien

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JONES TAKES NEXT STEP FRENCH MANUFACTURER Peugeot has announced that it will be joining the FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 class from the 2022-23 season. By then the top-tier WEC class will have made the switch to the hypercar regulations in which Peugeot will join with a yet to be revealed hybrid powered hypercar. The automotive giant has had endurance racing success, previously winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2009.

WORLD RALLY Championship round winner Hayden Paddon has confirmed that he will compete in the inaugural TCR New Zealand Series. The 2016 Rally Argentina winner will enter at least the first three rounds of the five event series in a second-hand Hyundai i30 N TCR sourced from Italy and prepared by his own Paddon Rallysport Group team.

RECENTLY CROWNED Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge winner Harri Jones is set to follow the pathway successfully taken by Matt Campbell and Jaxon Evans when he makes the jump into Porsche Carrera Cup Australia next season.

Amazingly enough, Jones is the first driver to win the title for renowned Porsche development team McElrea Racing meaning he is already one step ahead of Campbell and Evans.

The 20-year-old Queenslander is eager to advance next year after he took part in the final round of this year’s Carrera Cup on the Gold Coast where he finished a best of ninth in the final race of the weekend.

“We’re locked in, so we’re going to do Carrera Cup in 2020 and 2021, It will be a good two years,” Jones confirmed to Auto Action.

“We did the final round of the series on the Gold Coast a couple of weeks ago, which was an eye-opener. The walls at the Gold Coast are so close and we definitely dove in the deep end with that one.”

Jones will complete a testing program during summer to gain further experience with the current specification 991 GT3 Cup Car after learning about the car over the course of the Gold Coast weekend.

“I’m looking forward to doing more testing,

Image: Insyde Media

obviously the Gold Coast has been the only time that I’ve really driven the new generation car,” said Jones. “We’ll do some thorough testing because the new Cup Car is a bit different to the model I have been driving this year.”

Carrera Cup’s young star this year was debutant Cooper Murray, who finished runner up in last year’s GT3 Cup Challenge. He enjoyed a successful season consisting of a breakthrough round win at Townsville, spurring Jones on in his aims for next season.

“Having Cooper Murray as my teammate next year is going to be awesome, at the Gold Coast we worked really well together,” Jones explained. “I’m looking forward to continuing

that partnership with him, learning from what he does in Carrera Cup and follow in his footsteps, as well as those of Campbell and Evans.”

The Porsche Motorsport Pyramid has been a successful fosterer of young talent and Jones believes is the best pathway to follow to become a professional driver.

“There’s such a clear pathway for young drivers like myself to follow and Porsche are providing so many opportunities to chase their dreams to ultimately make a career out of this sport,” Jones said.

“Hopefully I can build the relationship with Porsche and head to that shootout in a couple of years’ time.” HM

BRITISH TOURING Car Championship team Excelr8 has announced that it will be competing in an all new Hyundai I30 Fastback N Performance in 2020.

The team will design and build the cars, dispencing with the MG6s that it has previously maintained.

Next year will mark the first time that Korean brand Hyundai will feature on a BTCC grid.

Image: LAT

CAMERON TO TEST BTCC HONDA NASCAR LEGEND Jimmie Johnson emotionally announced that 2020 will be his final full-time year of competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Since debuting in 2001 Johnson has spent his entire career with the Hendrick Motorsports in the #48 Chevrolet. Since then, the now 44-year-old has collected seven Cup Series titles, tied for the most with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, and has taken an incredible 83 race victories.

SPENCER PIGOT has been replaced at Ed Carpenter Racing for the 2020 season after three-and-and-ahalf years with the team. In Pigot’s place the team has hired 19-year-old Rinus VeeKay, who finished second in this year’s Indy Lights championship.

VeeKay will make his debut in IndyCar alongside veteran team owner Ed Carpenter, who will be driving in his 18th season.

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TCR AUSTRALIA driver Aaron Cameron has been given an opportunity to test a British Touring Car this week at Silverstone.

The Victorian, who finished third in the inaugural series and won the Michelin Cup for non-professional drivers will pilot a factory Honda Civic Type R run by Team Dynamics as he aims to broaden his touring car experience looking beyond 2020.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time in TCR Australia this year. It has given me a lot of opportunities to see what else is out there,” said Cameron.

“My plans for 2020 aren’t locked in yet. I’d like to do another season in TCR Australia, but a test like this will give me a good understanding

of what else is available and where I can start to look into the future.”

The 2018 KZ2 Australian karting champion previously worked with Team Dynamics competing with the squad in a one-off race at the Dubai 24 Hours.

Cameron was excited and thankful for the opportunity which was provided due to a connection within the team through Ryan McLeod.

“He (McLeod) was the one who linked me with Team Dynamics to drive the Audi TCR car in Dubai, and now it has progressed to this BTCC test, so I can’t thank him enough,” Cameron said.

“I’m very excited to drive a BTCC Honda for the first time at an iconic circuit like Silverstone. It’s the first time that I’ll have the chance to drive at Silverstone.

“Team Dynamics has allocated me a considerable amount of laps in the car, so it will give me a good chance to get a feel for the car.”

Steve Neal the chairman of Team Dynamics Motorsport has been impressed by Cameron’s performances this year.

“We have been keeping track of his progress in TCR Australia, and for a young driver, Aaron has been doing extremely well against some established drivers in good cars,” said Neal.

“The step from a TCR car to a BTCC car will be no problem for him, it’s a bit more physical but similar to a TCR in lap time and performance. We’ve allocated enough track time that he’ll get a good idea of what the cars are like and we feel that he’ll adapt to it quickly.” DM

MORE PEUGEOTS FOR AUSTRALIAN TCR PEUGEOT MADE a fraught debut at the TCR Australia finale, but will be a feature on the grid next year after Garry Rogers Motorsport struck a deal to add the brand to its growing TCR customer racing program.

“We got approached by them [Peugeot] and were asked if we could help assist in running a car at Tailem Bend,” GRM director Barry Rogers told Auto Action.

“Discussions started then and from there we formed the relationship that we have some cars coming to Australia. It’s probably more on a customer base type situation from our point of view.”

Rogers confirmed that at least two cars will be on Australian shores, including the car that is at the Bend, but is eager to lock out the five slots that allowable for each brand in TCR Australia. The construction of the

car has impressed Rogers after viewing the car for the first time at The Bend.

“We have this one, another coming and we’re talking about the potential to bring another three in,” Rogers continued.

“It’s a real credit to the Peugeot factory. That car and we’ve been involved with a number of TCR cars, but the build quality of that car is top notch.

“I know they had some issues at The Bend with the wiring loom this, which is a shame, but it’s a real professional operation.

“We’re really pleased to have them here.”

Peugeot has been a successful marque with its 308 TCR across Europe having taken three wins during this year’s TCR Europe season. HM

PEDAL DOWN. PERFORMANCE UP.

RANDLE EYEING S5000 AUS GP OUTING FORMER OVERSEAS openwheeler ace turned Super2 frontrunner Thomas Randle is keen to have more starts in S5000 after tasting the category for the first time at The Bend Motorsport Park this weekend at the Shannons Nationals finale.

Randle demonstrated Image: Daniel Kalisz impressive speed throughout at the Grand Prix is going to be a the weekend culminating in a maiden win in the first race, sixth in serious spectacle.”

He also added that competing in the second, which inverted the top a full S5000 campaign wasn’t out eight and a close second to John of the question as he continues to Martin in the Feature Race. aim for a Supercars seat in the near Auto Action believes that six future. further tubs have been ordered “Yes, eventually,” Randle from Onroak-Ligier in preparation said. “If you look at for example for a 20-car grid at the Australian Heimgartner, he’s doing the whole Grand Prix with the rising star keen Supercars Championship and he’s to make on the grid, which is likely going very well in that, then he’s to feature the return of ex-Formula doing TCR so I don’t see why you 1 ace Rubens Barrichello. couldn’t. “This car actually feels “Yes,” Randle told Auto Action. very similar to drive to my dad’s “Yes I am. I think 20 of these cars

[Sports Sedan champion Dean Randle] sports sedan. At the end of the day, anytime you get your bum in a seat, not just for testing, but actually racing you practice all those procedures, your reflexes to the lights going out, safety car, just general race craft, it’s stuff you miss out on when you go testing.”

Randle also raised the similarities between the S5000 and his normal steed, the Tickford Racing Ford Falcon he utilises in Super2 believing the two aren’t as dissimilar as they appear.

“It is a V8-powered, rearwheel-drive car with brakes that are similar to a Supercar,” he explained. I mean we’re not braking much later, probably 10-20m later, it’s a low aero car, you have to man up and hustle the thing.”

“I’m using areas of my muscles that I haven’t used in some time.”

HM

TCR NEWCOMERS CONFIRMED FOR 2020 TWO RISING stars of the sport will be on the TCR Australia grid in 2020 after confirming deals to contest the second running of series.

Former Toyota 86 racer Liam McAdam and Victorian Image: Daniel Kalisz Excel competitor Michael working with them on the technical Clemente are the first two confirm their aspects of the car because the team TCR Australia plans for next year. is more experienced with that and is McAdam made his TCR debut at should get us up to speed a lot quicker.”

Winton and has contested each round Liam McAdam Motorsport ran three since after purchasing the Melbourne Toyota 86 entries in the one-make Performance Centre Audi RS3 LMS series this season, but will now turns its TCR with his family-run team taking over preparations of the car for next attention to TCR as McAdam believes year. he has successfully adapted to his new “We’ve bought that car from MPC and machine. will run it next year with our own team, “We’ll get out of the 86s for now and doing it all ourselves,” McAdam told focus on TCR,” McAdam said.

Auto Action.

“It’s definitely doable to jump into one “We’ll have a technical alliance with of these after 86s, the TCR cars have a lot more power, front-wheel-drive, MPC, we’ll be sharing some data and

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slicks, which I have found is one of the biggest differences.”

Clemente has also purchased a car, the ex-Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R that Nestor Girolami drove to a cleansweep at Sandown in September. He tested the car at Winton as part of the TCR evaluation day, which made the decision to join TCR that much easier.

“The TCR Australia Series has taken off this year and the amount of support on offer from Wall Racing made the decision easy,” Clemente said.

“While the step to TCR is pretty daunting, there is lots to look forward to and I am really excited to get into the season.”

Clemente will run the Honda through his family-backed operation with support from Wall Racing. HM

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13

LATEST NEWS

ADOPTED AUSTRALIAN James Winslow has confirmed that he will take part in the 2019/2020 Asian Le Mans series, which includes a round in Australia at The Bend Motorsport Park. The 36-year-old will drive alongside Mathias Beche and Kuba Smiechowski for Inter Europol Competition, the team with which he entered this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. Also in Asian Le Mans two Aussies, Aiden Read and Nick Foster, will be joined at Eurasia Motorsport by former Formula 1 driver Roberto Mehri.

OLSEN TAKES SURPRISE INTERCONTINENTAL GT HONOURS AFTER STARTING with the Bathurst 12 Hour the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge concluded in South Africa with the Kyalami 9 Hour.

Australia’s own Matt Campbell was a mathematical change of winning the series with Porsche, but it was his Bathurst winning co-driver Dennis Olsen who took the title after a very dramatic conclusion the season.

It had been 37 years since the last Kyalami 9 Hour, the 2019 edition started under clear blue

sky but sadly the race spent two hours behind the safety car due to very heavy rain.

In the end it was Olsen, teamed up with Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet who won not only the race, but the manufacturer’s title and the fastest lap on the way to giving Olsen the driver’s crown.

Championship leader Maxi Buhk in his Mercedes AMG GT3 retired on lap 1 with an engine issue and left the door open for his title

rivals to take the title.

Matt Campbell was one of those who could pinch the title with the help of his teammates Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber. However the Dinamic Motorsport trio had a challenging race in their Porsche 911 GT3 R coming home in eighth, 41s behind the race winners.

The other Aussie Joshua Burdon in the #35 KCMG Nissan GT-R finished the race 8 laps down in 19th place. DM

JARVIS’S SOLID DAYTONA OUTING

AUSSIE JACKSON Walls will return to New Zealand for his second season in the Toyota Racing Series. Once again Walls will drive for the mtec team now known as mtec Motorsport Engineered by R-Ace GP. Walls competed in the series last season, driving from the second round onwards as he was too young to compete in the first event. As well as his Australian F4 duties in 2019 he competed in the Asian Formula 3 championship.

THE AUSTRALIAN built Brabham BT62 sports car made its debut at Brands Hatch for the final round of the Britcar Endurance Championship in the hands of 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours winner David Brabham and co-driver Will Powell. Brabham took pole position by 2s but it was Powell who started the night race in tricky wet conditions. Almost straight away Powell suffered with the car fogging up but was still able to see out of a little strip down the bottom of the window. He handed the car over to Brabham, who kept it out of trouble and incredibly the pair took a victory on debut. The following day did not run so smoothly for the BT62 pairing, Brabham coming to a halt with an electrical failure on the third lap.

SEVERAL AUSSIES travelled to the UK to contest the legendary Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. Richard Davison and Peter Lucas both competed in the festival, Lucas crashing in Semi-Final 2 and unable to be repair for the final, while Davison progressed and finished fourth in the Historic Final.

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ROOKIE F3 VICTOR AT MACAU IN THE 2019 FIA Formula 3 World Cup it was Richard Verschoor who claimed an unlikely victory on the tight streets of Macau.

The Dutchman held his nerve to keep Juri Vips at bay in the closing laps to take a famous victory on debut, with Logan Sargeant and Christian Lundgaard rounding out the top four.

At the start of the feature race pole sitter Vips got away well while the man starting alongside, Prema Powerteam’s 2019 F3 champion Robert Shwartzman, came under instant pressure from Lundgaard and Verschoor.

On the approach to Turn 2 Verschoor slipstreamed past the pair into second place, while Shwartzman and Lundgaard made contact. Lundgaard was able to continue but Shwartzman was out of the race with a damaged front wing.

Later in the race Ferdinand Habsburg suffered a big crash, firing heavily into the outside wall.

On the restart Verschoor got in the slipstream of Vips into Turn 3. Vips went defensive and the Dutchman pulled off a superb late braking move around the outside to take the lead.

Verschoor held on to become the first rookie winner since 2008 and also gave MP Motorsport its first win at the Guia Circuit. Vips came home second ahead of Logan Sargeant, Lundgaard and Alessio Lorandi. Liam Lawson won a thrilling all-Kiwi battle for seventh, beating home Marcus Armstrong.

In the GT World Cup Raffaele Marciello held off a pair of Rowe Racing Porsches in both the qualification race and the feature race. DM

AUSSIE ASHLEY Jarvis came away content after competing in the American TA2 season finale at Daytona International Speedway despite not finishing.

Driving a Stevens Miller Racing Chev Camaro, Jarvis was running fifth in the 29-car field when he was turned around with nine of the 28 laps to go, and was unable to continue.

Jarvis’ journey to the US to race at the iconic circuit on November 14-16 was presented to him for winning the Performax TA2 Muscle Car Series last year. It follows 2017 champion Russell Wright’s venture to the penultimate round of the US series at the Circuit of the Americas last year.

The drive, partially funded by the Australian series, was to join the professional arrive and drive outfit to practice, qualify and race in 70-minute event on the Florida road course. The layout is the same as the one used for the 24 Hours of Daytona, taking in all four corners of the tri-oval as well as an infield section.

After practice, Jarvis qualified 13th. In a stellar drive he worked his way to fifth before being taken out. “That part was disappointing. I had a good start, raced hard, and was getting faster every lap,” he commented later as his fastest race lap was 1.5s quicker than his qualifying time.

“It was only a light spin, but when the car stopped, the brakes seized shut and I couldn’t get the car rolling again. It ended our race,” he said.

Despite the end result, Jarvis was really happy with his performance.

“The banking of Daytona was difficult to get used to, but a lot of fun once I had it sorted – the speeds were 170mph (274kmh) plus and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge,” he added.

The Queenslander started his career in Midget Speedcars, raced statelevel Gemini and the national Saloon Car Series. He has completed his second year of racing TA2, finishing third behind Aaron Seton and George Miedecke and contested most rounds of the Australian Production Car Series in a BMW M3 alongside Brad Carr. GOB

NEW NAME, NEW HEADQUARTERS FOR MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA THE NEW Motorsport Australia headquarters was opened on the November 20 with more than 100 special guests in attendance. The 275 Canterbury Road, Canterbury address in Victoria features the new Motorsport Australia branding, which CAMS will be renamed to in 2020.

The building includes a new area for the Australia Motorsport Hall of Fame for the 84 inductees and three legends that have been honoured across the different disciplines of motorsport.

Australian Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones attended the event and donated his world championship winning trophy, which can be seen as part of the Hall of Fame display.

“Motorsport has been growing and growing in recent years, and this building is a wonderful testament to that,” Jones said.

“Donating the trophy was a simple decision really. It was at home and people don’t get to see it at my home. I thought it would be better here on display at the home of Australian

motorsport where people could come in and see what a Formula 1 World Championship trophy looks like.

“There are a lot of countries around the world that have a Hall of Fame and it’s fantastic that Australia now has one.” The building will be known as Motorsport Australia House and is home to all Melbourne staff.

CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos felt the new building combined with the upcoming rebrand to Motorsport Australia, signified an exciting period for the sport in Australia.

“Since 1953, CAMS has been the peak body for motorsport and this change to Motorsport Australia, along with the opening of Motorsport Australia House only further highlights that role to a growing participation base,” Papadopoulos said.“Today marks a brand-new chapter for motorsport in this country as we officially open our new headquarters and prepare for the upcoming rebrand to Motorsport Australia.” DM

AA’s pointed pundit reflects on a soured Supercars season and rejoices in punting an unlikely Lambo around Phillip Island A SEASON to remember, a year to forget. Those are the mixed emotions of the Supercars championship just gone, which was racked with controversy and dissent from start to finish.

If it wasn’t parity arguments and adjustments, it was rule breaches and inadequate procedures, as well as sledging at a new level.

The latter spoiled what would have been an otherwise uncontentious finish to the series in Newcastle. With Scott McLaughlin already crowned, the interest was on the down-to-thewire teams’ title battle between DJR Team Penske and Triple Eight.

It was a tight tussle until Jamie Whincup miscued in the Saturday race. While he recovered masterfully to win on Sunday, Saturday winner Shane van Gisbergen’s final qualifying fail handed the pit lane priority back to DJRTP. But all of this was largely overshadowed by an outbreak of social media wars, with Scott Pye and then Nick Percat piling in on McLaughlin.

Then a newspaper group belatedly jumped on rumours that a team owner had sent McLaughlin a distasteful text on the Sunday night of Sandown.

The scurrilous gossip, as well as claims of McLaughlin firing an invective at James Courtney in reaction to the Pye slagging, created a distasteful background to what should have been just racing and a celebration of the title winners.

The allegations of verbal and SMS foul play were dismissed by all concerned as misunderstandings or misinterpretations. Without hard

evidence, we have to accept those explanations.

But the fact remains that the sniping all became sordid, prompting Supercars to issue an edict to the teams that future personal attacks on social media or elsewhere may be subject to sanction.

Essentially, the warning was enough is enough. Drivers and team bosses are encouraged to speak their minds, but not to be defamatory or personally hurtful.

It’s time to ease up on Scott McLaughlin. He deserves his second straight V8 crown. He drove masterfully and dominantly irrespective of his team’s transgressions.

Hammer DJRTP and Ford Performance for pushing the legal limits of the rules, and castigate the team for compromising his Bathurst success, but don’t blame him.

Best driver in the best car run by the (mostly) best team.

McLaughlin, unfortunately, is tarnished by his team’s inclination to push the limits – a philosophy that comes from Team Penske in the USA. Scotty is a worthy champion who doesn’t deserved to be pilloried.

The on-going controversy soured him as the season went on and make him increasingly sensitive and prickly.

It’s not the Scotty who so endeared us in his Volvo years and until this season. Hopefully, after getting married and the summer break, he’ll come back next year as the infectious personality who charmed the sport and won such fan support.

Of course, all the season’s technical controversies also took

the edge off the entry of the Ford Mustang, which injected much-needed new interest. Attendances and viewing figures indicate the Mustang – and Ford’s returnn to Supercars – is the car the category needed.

Hopefully, the new VCAT test, more rigid application of the rules, rigorous reviews of this year’s procedural miscues and less sniping behind the play will make Supercars a happier place next year.

ISLAND INDULGENCE E

IT DOESN’T get much better than this. Pounding around the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Lamborghinis is the stuff of a car enthusiast’s dreams.

The only downside: It’s wet, windy and oh-so-cold. A slick Island circuit mutes the excitement of getting behind the wheel of the low-slug Lambos waiting in the pit lane.

Thanks to Pirelli, a small group of media get to thrash Aventadors and Huricans around one of the world’s great tracks. In the worst conditions for such formidable machines.

Nervousness overtook anticipation. Screaming V12 and V10 mid-engined supercars let loose in the wet? Gulp.

Also on hand were examples of the Urus, Lamborghini’s supersporty take on a large luxury SUV. The lumbering Lambo was looking like the safe bet for the high-speed slosh.

In all my years of automotive journalism, I’ve never driven a Lamborghini. Ferraris, yes, but the other Italian stallions, no. So I was

all-in, especially at Island Phillip Island.

The occasion was linked – if tenuously – to the launch of Pirelli P-Zero World in the northern Melbourne suburb of Preston, just the fifth of its kind in the world. Melbourne, apparently, is Australia’s capital of highperformance/prestige tyre buyers.

All the Lambos at the Island were, of course, shod with Pirellis, which designs rubber especially for the marque – and many other supercars makers.

The sodden session was organised by local trackday specialist Luke O’Neal’s Longroup, in association with Lamborghini Squadra Corse Asia-Pacific.

O’Neal provided the drivers who led us around – GT racers Nathan Antunes and Dominic Storey – and LSC the cars.

As well as a reminder of just how great the high-speed, flowing Island layout is – truly, one of the top four racetracks in the world – the exercise resulted in a revelation for a hardened enthusiast driver.

The Aventator – although cramped for a tall driver like me –

was awesome in semi-slick conditions, while the Huracan was roomy but a lot twitchier.

The stunning surprise was the Erus. In heavy rain, and with Antunes setting a sportive pace, the V8 SUV bellowed and bored its way around with alarming alacrity.

Four-wheel drive and meaty Pirelli all-season tyres provided amazing grip while allowing entertaining oversteer. You just wouldn’t credit that a such a big beast would be so potent and controllable.

If there’s a point to this – other than self-indulgent fun – it’s that our perceptions of performance and what a performance car is must change.

Pirelli, by the way, are actively involved in racing all over the world, supplying several categories from Formula 1 down and supplying tyres for more than 300 events a year.

Its Asia-Pacific division keeps a watchful eye on Supercars – it had bid for the control tyre deal previously – but is shut out for the next five years by Dunlop’s renewal.

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News EXTRA

!

E V I S U L EXC

THE VCAT PRIMER TESTING TIMES A BALANCED OUTCOME

After a season of turbulence Supercars has started crucial VCAT parity testing to resest the aerodynamic balance between the Ford Mustang and Holden Commodore for 2020. Supercars’ Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess explains to BRUCE NEWTON what’s involved in VCAT, why it’s happening this year and what the outcome is intended to be.

What does VCAT stand for?

Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Testing. It’s a mouthful isn’t it.

What is it?

It’s the Supercars process to equalise the drag and downforce generated by each of the cars represented on the race-track.

Historically up to this year we have done it at one ride height and one rake and correctly people are now designing outside of that one ride height range we were measuring the car at.

So one of the big changes for this year is we have developed an active-ride set of dampers that can adjust the car one millimetre in 150 milli-seconds, which is fairly quick.

So we will be able to run the car down the runway and on the same pass with the flick of a rotary switch be able to run the car in three different rake configurations.

And those three configurations basically represent the car when it’s in its braking phase, when it’s got a low front and a high rear; in its normal mid-corner phase and its traction phase and its low drag phase, when the front of the car is high and the rear of the car is low.

The differences we have seen this year is people are optimising outside the standard VCAT ride height configuration and thus are outside of that envelope that we used to measure. And that’s where we have had the job of trying to equalise everybody across that this year, but without doing a VCAT. The active system will enable us to measure the car at whatever ride height we choose and paritise for maximum downforce but equally, minimum drag.

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How 2019 started, Mustangs to the fore. They were reigned in bit by bit as the season went on.

Isn’t ride height something teams have always played with?

They have always played with it, but we are now in a phase where we have completely different shapes of car.

We have always had a four-door sedan, it’s been very easy to keep the cars the same and they have behaved the same.

Now with the introduction of the two-door, the shape of the car is considerably different and it reacts differently.

The testing process probably didn’t advance as quick as the shape of the car, given the areas we have had to look this year in greater detail. That is what we have been doing this year and that leads into why we are going to have another VCAT at the end of this year.

But it’s not primarily about that; equally as a series, a bit like Formula One, we know and we feel the racing has become a little bit hard for the drivers to overtake. We have got too much downforce, so a good few months ago we decided to take downforce off the cars for next year, but in a way where we

weren’t enforcing a lot of cost on the teams.

We are still keeping the same front bar that we have currently got, we are still keeping the same rear wing and endplates that we have currently got. But we are going to fit a packer or wedge in the undertray of the front bar to reduce the front downforce and we will drop the rear wing five or six degrees - we will get to the runway and see exactly what we have.

We have been doing a lot of work in CFD (Computational Flow Dynamics – essentially a digital wind tunnel) with our partners in England (engineering consultants D2H) this year preparing for this.

We didn’t want to do wholesale changes, we would like to go there in the future, maybe 150200kg reduction. But that would give the teams considerable cost year-on-year.

How does the testing process work?

It’s a big process and it takes a lot of time.

Fundamentally, there is a 55 page document that gives the teams all of the parameters. Everything,

from the radiator to the temperatures that we run at, what brakes are on the car, the position geometrywise front and rear.

Supercars owns three sets of Mk IV front uprights.

They have all been serviced and handed out to the teams, so the teams aren’t left to build their own uprights and build a set with more friction than the other guy.

We go through the whole car front to back and laser ping every single measurement and make sure it’s exactly where we want it; bump steer, ride height, camber gain. Everything you can imagine geometrywise.

We then scan the outside of the car with a 3D laser scanner and we know every single dimension – bodywork width, roof height, outer guards, inner guards. We scan within 0.1mm every dimension of the car.

Both of the (homologation) teams present their cars and we scan them, we make sure they are as the handbook we have asked them to present the car at. Once we are happy with that then we go to the runway.

We know the car they have got and then we will run through a whole list of changes; ride heights, wing sweeps and devices we have got we’ve run in CFD to paritise the drag and downforce number.

In parallel to the race season we have been running our own Ford Falcon FG X with a 2020 level aero package on it to make sure the active-ride system and the calibration of the load cells and the accuracy of the load cells is acceptable and repeatable.

We have been doing those tests going alongside racing, so we already have a target. We gave the teams a while back the CFD and the CAD of what we call “our ruler” and we have said to those guys ‘this is the ruler, this is what you need to be measuring against, bring your car aiming at these figures’.

We have done that already in CFD so we pretty much know where they are going to present and then

we will run all three cars in parallel on the runway.

We have a set tolerance we will be happy with and we go through the process with the actual car.

So just to clarify, Triple Eight as the Holden homologation team and DJR Team Penske as the Ford homologation team supply cars for that process.

Yes, we have been with them through the build phase, we gave them all the hardware a couple of weeks ago, all the active ride actuators and all these things.

They are all sealed, they can’t get in there, they don’t have access to the code that controls them so there is no way they can interfere with them whatsoever and they wouldn’t even attempt to.

We’ve been with them through the build phase of their car, we’ve been up there measuring the pick-up points and the bodywork, just in preparation.

Those cars will be presented to us Monday morning and Tuesday morning this week (November 25 and 26) and then stay under our control for the next two weeks.

And through that point we are measuring and checking everything again. So we know exactly where that car is, making sure they haven’t left panel gaps that are bigger than you’d normally race at, all the silly little fudge factors that happened years ago.

I’ve been very clear with Roland Dane (Triple Eight) and Ryan Story (DJRTP) that they present the car exactly how they are going to present the car on the grid in Adelaide, because if they present something to VCAT with great big gaps all over it I am going to make them race that in Adelaide next year.

Now with the level of scanning and 3D imagery we can create we can hold them to that and say ‘no we VCATed your car with a 15mm gap there, we want the 15mm gap on your race car’.

In years gone by when technology wasn’t as good as it is then these games were all played. It’s not an issue, everyone’s done it, that’s the way it was.

But performance is increasing year-by-year, the goalposts are being moved year-by-year and the technical department has upscaled its resource and our technology to make sure we are one step in front of these guys.

They are doing everything right, they are racers.

I love it, because I’ve been that side of it and I understand what they are doing and why they are doing it and now my role and all my team’s role is to make sure we are harder on those guys. So what they present we are going to paritise but then they are going to be forced to go and race that.

There are all sorts of lurks that you hear about.

Heavier engine for instance to create more friction and slow the car in a straight line.

Gearbox oil would have been thicker so there would have been more drag. We have had the three gearboxes serviced under our supervision and we provide the oil .. honestly, the level of detail that is put into it is huge. And it needs to be because these guys are racing for sheep stations.

It’s not a fun process but it is a rewarding process as you go through it and you feel you have done the right job.

In the past, yes, we didn’t get the result with the Mustang that we hoped. We didn’t have the racing we wanted at the start of the year and we were forced to make some changes.

Who is present at the runway test and where are they from?

There are only six team people from each team allowed to come and that’s up to them who they want to bring. The majority of them are engineers and then there will be a couple of mechanics to

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make the changes on the car we require.

Everyone comes from the Supercars technical department because we are running our own car, but also because we are doing all the processing and post-processing of all the data that comes from the car.

The data comes to us first and we distribute that to the teams, so my whole department will be there, both operational and technical. And the cars are always kept under our supervision. We’ll have Darren Davies, an engineer from D2H in the UK there. They have been assisting us greatly with all the CFD research that goes into the program.

Remember all these parts that they (homologation teams) want to try have been submitted to us. There is a timeline in place they that have to submit the CAD (Computer Aided Design) of any new part they want to put on the car and then we will receive the CAD and go and do the CFD of that part on their car.

So we will understand the changes they present to be able to use, have to be signed off by us. The majority of the changes we allow them to bring, but equally this year there have been changes put forward and we have said ‘no we don’t like it, we don’t want you to present that’ and we turn them down.

We are very much in control of what can go on the car and what can’t go on the car and that’s been happening for the previous three or four months.

Have you got a target percentage or kilo reduction figure, or will it be an outcome of testing?

It’s going to be an outcome. The overall downforce number is not irrelevant, but if you run at Sale or Temora or Oakey with the same car you will get three different numbers, because of the air density and altitude you are running at.

So the number itself isn’t important, what’s important is on the day is you have the same number between the cars. It doesn’t matter what it is but as a rough guide we will be aiming at somewhere between 11 and 13 per cent reduction year-on-year. We’d like to get more, but we can’t really do that without inflicting cost on the teams.

How many days will all this take?

Too many! Basically as soon as we come out of here (Newcastle 500) we are all on it. Everyone will be at the tech centre Monday and Tuesday to receive their cars.

Our car is already there.

Then we will go through all the calibration of the active system, all the measuring of the car, checking everything has been done as we require.

There will be a full week of system checks and scrutineering of the cars, including shake downs of their cars on Wednesday and Thursday.

Then, Supercars will arrive at Army Aviation Centre Oakey on Sunday afternoon ready to run on Monday and we will run for a week.

Can I ask how much all that costs?

No! Would it be helpful to test in a wind tunnel?

Yes it would be helpful, of course it would. But is it practical, is it feasible? Unfortunately not in Australia.

We don’t have the level and sophistication of wind tunnel in Australia you need to do the job solely in a wind tunnel.

We have looked at Monash (University) and we have used Monash over the years to try certain things. It’s good to a degree but not to the level we need to ensure parity.

I went and visited both Windshear and Aerodyn (wind tunnels in the USA) in August, just to do some research, and whilst we could do it there but the problem is just

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Initial VCAT testing at the end of the 2018 season was done with this prototype Mustang. Images: LAT/Supercars

the cost, it’s prohibitive.

You can do a runway test very, very accurately … the one benefit of the wind tunnel is yaw, but the typical yaw of a Supercar is only four degrees and we can simulate that in CFD. Everyone bangs on about yaw and if I was running a NASCAR team then yaw would be a big thing because you are constantly turning left all day long. But Supercars are not in a corner phase that long, so in our opinion and the advice of our experts is yes it’s a factor but it’s a much smaller factor than people want to talk about or want to believe.

We are confident the work we are doing in CFD will get us more than close enough to understand the yaw effect on the car.

But you’ve said with adaptive dampers you’re able to simulate the cornering phase?

Statically yeah, but we can’t yaw the car in a straight line. When you consider the cross-sectional area of both the cars, yes the Mustang has a big rear wing on it but when you look at it from the side it’s a lot smaller than the ZB anyway, so when you consider the whole picture – not just the rear wing endplate but the whole cross-sectional area of the car is a factor – it’s not the be-all and end-all.

The bigger thing we’ve all experienced this year and understood this year is the rear wing stability is far more important than yaw.

What do you mean by that?

How effective the rear main-plane is and how attached that main-plane is at different ride heights and different wing settings.

The two cars react differently because of the shape of the endplate and drinks tray and one area that has been improved on the ZB this year is the stability of the rear wing.

How long into the new season before you know the summer testing has achieved the objectives?

You will need to go to a variety of circuits to see if any one particular car will have an advantage. The aero requirement for Adelaide will be completely different to the grand prix. You’ll get an indicator, you’ll get a hunch, but you won’t really be able to act on anything until you get proper data.

You need to put the car through various different types of race-tracks and equally, everyone forgets there’s a sporting parity here as well. It’s been pretty clear to see over the years some teams are good on certain types of tracks and not on others.

It’s not because the car is different, it’s how the team operates that’s involved.

That’s the complicated thing people don’t understand with what we are trying to do here. We are trying to address and ensure technical parity.

There’s a sporting parity between the quickest ZB and the slowest ZB, they both have the same car it’s how they use it.

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You don’t want to keep firing the gun willy-nilly. you’ve got to understand as drivers, as engineers, the way the teams use the cars; that’s sporting parity and we don’t want to paritise that.

So you’d need to view the car on the results over a few different types of race circuit before you’d ever really make a change.

There’s a lot of work, effort and research that’s gone into every change that we have ever made. And we are always trying to do it separating sporting parity from technical parity.

What sort of measuring process is in place to keep track of relative aero performance?

We have a lot of CFD capability, a lot of simulation and mathematics. We have all the timing data so it’s fairly easy for good engineering departments and ourselves to isolate through the timing sectors what attribute a car needs to be quick in one sector or another sector, whether it’s engine power, whether it’s braking stability, whether it’s downforce, whether it’s lateral roll, whether it’s weight distribution.

You can cut a circuit up into a multitude of sectors and determine which attribute will give you the best lap time.

You can isolate drag from downforce clearly and traction from braking clearly.

After you have been to a few different tracks you will be able to build a picture of whether someone is dominant in downforce or braking grip, or engine power. You can split it down into fine compartments of what you need to be quick in that sector. A lot of it is mathematics.

We at Supercars have access to everyone’s data. When we scrutineer the cars people are talking about how many checks that are going on. We are measuring everyone’s riding ride heights, everyone’s cambers, we know everyone’s tyre pressures. And we feed that into our own simulation we do on the Gold Coast but equally in England with D2H. So we can very quickly understand where a team’s performance is coming from and how they are achieving what they are achieving.

Whilst it’s hard for the layman to understand it, there is a lot of technology going on in the background to accurately make any decision we need to make and understand before we make it why and how and what we are trying to address.

The point is you want to avoid making a sporting parity adjustment.

That’s the thing, you trying to dissect how good the driver is, how much influence the driver is putting into this and how much he isn’t.

We don’t want to cross the line, we don’t want to be a category that adds 10kg of success ballast to someone’s weight when they win a race. We are not here for that.

We want to try and have everyone with equal equipment and then it’s down to the engineer, the driver that combination and the team.

It’s a team sport and that’s what we are trying to achieve. It’s not easy and it will become harder when you add different shaped cars. It’s a fact.

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RED BULL RACING confirmed that British-born Thai driver Alex Albon will remain in the second Red Bull Racing seat alongside Dutchman Max Verstappen for the 2020 Formula 1 season. Albon jumped up mid-season into the Red Bull Racing squad, directly swapping with Pierre Gasly who was struggling to perform in the spotlight of the senior team. ESTEBAN

OCON confirmed that he will become an official Renault driver on December 2. This means that he will begin preparation for the 2020 season at the post-race Abu Dhabi test. During the test around the Yas Marina Circuit the former GP3 champion will drive the Renault on both days.

IT HAS been announced that the current Toro Rosso line up of Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat will remain the same in 2020, when it is renamed AlphaTauri.

Gasly began the year at the senior Red Bull team but like Kvyat previously, found himself demoted back to the junior Toro Rosso team mid-season. This season both Gasly and Kvyat have scored podiums for Toro Rosso, Gasly most recently at the last F1 race in Brazil.

FORMULA 1 has announced a sustainability plan to have a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030. The initiative will include both the Formula 1’s on-track activity and the rest of the operations of the sport.

Carbon reduction projects will begin immediately, to start the journey of becoming a more sustainable sport and by 2025 F1 will also ensure all of its events are sustainable.

HAAS F1 is waiting for Robert Kubica to make a decision regarding the offered test and simulator role at the team in 2020. Kubica has already made the announcement that at the end of the season he will depart the Williams team. The one-time Grand Prix winner will be racing in DTM next season and is likely to also take on the Haas simulator duties also.

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JUST LIKE a couple l off misbehaving school kids ordered to go and see the principal, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were summoned to Niki Lauda’s office at the Mercedes F1 team’s UK headquarters in Brackley. It was several days after the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, when the two drivers had ignored the cardinal rule of “never crash with your teammate” and knocked each other out of the race on the first lap of the race. The drivers arrived on time, and then stewed outside the closed door of the office for a long, long time before Lauda let them in and admonished them. The misbehaving duo also had to face the wrath of team boss Toto Wolff.

Just what happened in the meeting in Maranello between misbehaving Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc – who collided during the closing laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix – and mild-mannered Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is not yet known. Several hours after ter the race Binotto held a debrief attended by Auto Action ction during which he said he e would take no action against gainst the drivers until he had reviewed entire ad re revi view ewed ed tthe he e ntir nt ire e situation tuation and then met with them em back at the team’s headquarters eadquarters in Maranello. ““II don’t know what Toto (Wolff) Wolff) did,” Binotto said when hen asked about the similarities mila mi lari riti ties es to to the the 20 2016 16 incident. cident. “I don’t want to judge. dge. I’m not interested ass well. But certainly we need eed to clarify with who is in the team what is silly and

A SILLY SITUATION what’s not.

“We are at the limit of the actions. But when you crash, something have ha ve a c rash ra sh, so some meth thin ing g was wrong. When you’re free to fight, you’re free to fight and it’s only a driving matter how much you can take as a risk. But certainly

here the risk was not necessary.”

Binotto correctly pointed Ferrari has been outt th ou that at F erra er rari ri h as b een ee n criticized this year for issuing team orders.

And now, after the team has clinched second place in the constructors’

championship, it let its drivers fight it out with dire consequences. stewards The Th e st stew ewar ards ds rruled uled ul ed tthat hatt ha the drivers equally shared the blame, but video footage does show Vettel drifting to his left and into Leclerc’s path.

BACKWARDS STEP IMPROVES GASLY’S F1 FUTURE DEMOTING PIERRE Gasly back to Toro Rosso has made him as better driver. That is the opinion of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

Gasly, a Toro Rosso driver in 2018, was promoted to Red Bull when Aussie Daniel Ricciardo decided to move to Renault in 2019.

But Gasly struggled this season, especially when compared to his ace teammate Max Verstappen.

So, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August, Gasly was sent back to Toro Rosso and Alex Albon was moved up to Red Bull.

Gasly finished second in the Brazilian Grand Prix, fending off Lewis Hamilton at the finish line.

“I think he’s doing a very good job,” Horner said of Gasly. “Removing him from the pressured environment here and putting him back into the slightly less pressured environment at Toro Rosso, perhaps in a car that is slightly easier to drive, his confidence has been recovering and recovering.

He has put in some great performances, and that’s why we took up the option on him again for

2020. It’s great to see him get his first podium.

Hopefully that confidence will only continue to grow.”

Is Horner surprised that Gasly bounced back so quick after his demotion to Toro Rosso?

“He had two choices,” Horner said. “He could either get depressed about it or be grateful for the fact he was still involved in F1 and Red Bull still believed in him. He embraced it rather than got dejected by it. I think there was almost a slight relief as well, because the pressure only mounts. He came into the season after two crashes and there were some really tough races for him. It was the right thing to remove him from that pressure and it’s

been good to see him really find his confidence at Toro Rosso.”

Gasly’s ride with Toro Rosso in 2020 alongside Daniil Kvyat has been confirmed. And Albon will be back at Red Bull next year. But, given the way things work at Red Bull, Gasly could again drive for the senior team if Albon does not perform to the required standards.

SHOTS IN THE DARK

All of this is just the tip of Ferrari’s iceberg problem. It’s just like what happened at McLaren in 2007 with the established world champion star Fernando Alonso having to deal with a

very fast newcomer Lewis Hamilton.

McLaren mismanaged that situation and as a result Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen won the world championship by a single point over the McLaren duo.

Just how Ferrari deals with its misbehaving kids – and if that solves the problem and what is silly and what’s not – will be interesting to see. At stake are race wins and the world championship itself.

FERRARI IS not, repeat not, bending the rules.

That was the firm message from the Scuderia in Brazil despite the fact that for the second race in a row the Ferraris did not have the pace it demonstrated with three consecutive wins (in Belgium, Italy and Singapore) and six consecutive poles prior to the races in the U.S. and Brazil.

At the former event the FIA issued a technical directive regarding fuel flow, and in the latter it issued another technical directive regarding oil seeping into the engine’s combustion chambers.

“Probably the only thing that you could stand back from a distance and say is that it’s two races on the trot where it hasn’t been pole position for a Ferrari,” mused Mercedes technical director James Allison. “And they sort of had a reasonably comfortable margin (prior to that). So it’s an interesting thing, but not anything you could draw any solid conclusions from that.”

Ferrari closely examined the technical directives and determined its power units are legal.

“We didn’t change our operations, our way of using the engines,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto told Sky TV. “And that is since the start of the season.”

Binotto maintains that in these last two races Ferrari had sacrificed straight line speed for more downforce in the corners.

Red Bull Honda driver Max Verstappen said that Ferrari was slower in Austin because of the “piece of paper,” referring to the technical directive. After Verstappen won the pole in Brazil, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel took a sly dig at his opponent during a press conference.

“It was a bit of a surprise, not to see them (Red Bull) that quick, but to see them that quick on the straights,” Vettel said with a smile. “So, a little bit suspicious.”

Verstappen shot back: “For once it’s you, then!”

Actually, the Honda power unit is improving. Plus the Red Bull’s superb aerodynamics gives the car a performance boost at high altitude circuits such as Mexico, Austria and Brazil.

There is a good chance that Ferrari has found a secret performance enhancer, and that neither the FIA nor rival teams have figured it out. So they are taking shots in the dark with technical directives and finger pointing to try and find out what is going on. And now they have just one race left in the 2019 season to do just that.

BUSY SILLY SEASON LOOMS FOR 2021 AND THEN there were none – as in F1 race seats available in 2020.

The silly season music has stopped now that Red Bull has confirmed that Alex Albon will be back to partner Max Verstappen next year, and that Toro Rosso will retain Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly. Antonio Giovinazzi gets a second season with Kimi Räikkönen at Alfa Romeo.

Actually, Williams has yet to officially confirm that F2 driver Nicolas Latifi (and some of his father’s millions) will be there alongside George Russell, but that is just a formality.

But all this does is briefly calm the waters before the next silly season kicks off regarding 2021.

Left without F1 racing seats in 2020 are Nico Hülkenberg and Robert Kubica. Auto Action asked both of them about their plans for next year.

“Time is running but I’m pretty confident things are looking good,” Kubica said.

Kubica will race in Germany’s DTM series next year. Haas and Racing Point are both vying for his services as a F1 test and development driver, and is what is being sorted out now.

Hülkenberg’s plans are more fluid.

“My state of mind is pretty relaxed,” he said. “I want to finish the season as successful as possible. And after that rewind a little bit, take a moment or two or three for myself, see what I want to do, see what

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seems of interest. I am certainly not having the feeling that I want to rush into something just to race.”

The contracts of most of the drivers expire at the end of 2020, including: Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel, Carlos Sainz, Giovinazzi, Räikkönen, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Russell.

Will Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen remain with their teams in 2021? Hamilton is already gearing up for new contract negotiations, but has also said he might not stick around if his friend Toto Wolff decides not to continue as team boss.

Vettel has nowhere to go but Ferrari, but how much longer can he tolerate the rising star of his teammate Charles Leclerc? Their collision in Brazil won’t be their last clash, and Ferrari’s future is firmly focused on Leclerc.

Not that there is room for Verstappen at Ferrari, but he certainly burned some bridges by saying that the Scuderia had been breaking the engine rules. Honda’s increasing performance will certainly entice Verstappen to stay at Red Bull. But Mercedes might offer him a deal because the team sooner or later will need someone to succeed

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Hamilton whose seasons are numbered. Guys like Russell and Norris are good prospects, but they are not proven race winners like Verstappen.

Valtteri Bottas will need to win more while avoiding lackluster performances like he had in Brazil to insure his long-term future at Mercedes.

All in all, the next silly season will be a very busy one indeed.

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F1 INSIDER

w

with Dan Knutson

RUMOURS RIFE WITH TOTO WOLFF’S ABSENCE THE RUMOUR mill was working overtime in the Interlagos paddock.

Now that Mercedes has clinched both the constructors’ and drivers’ world championship, team principal Toto Wolff did not attend the Brazilian Grand Prix. The amiable Austrian has been to every F1 race since he became executive director of the Mercedes team in January 2013.

“With both championships secured, it gives me more time in Europe to focus on other open topics,” he said.

So what was so important that it kept Wolff away?

The answer to that was “confidential” said a team spokesperson. And not knowing what Wolff was doing was a perfect generator to rev up the rumour mill.

Truth be told, if members of the F1 circus could pick a race to miss, then Brazil – with its traffic and crime – would certainly at the top or near the top of their list. And those that can, do. Many of the regulars were missing from the press room this year.

Where was Wolff? One theory is that he was in a series of meetings with Ola Källenius, the new CEO of Daimler and Mercedes-Benz, and other company brass, to discuss the company’s future in F1.

Having won so many races and championships has to have created a case now that

Image: LAT

if Mercedes wins more, then the public thinks “ho-hum, just another win,” and if it loses then the public thinks “Mercedes is losing its edge.”

And just how relevant will F1 be for Mercedes in the future, as the company focuses on its new Formula E programme, and on the overall electrification of its vehicles?

Another related theory is that Wolff and the brass were carefully going through the provisions and proposals of the new Concorde Agreement – which lays out how the sport and business of F1 are run – that will come into effect in 2021. And, specifically,

what are the commercial terms being offered by Liberty Media?

Yet another rumor is that Mercedes is preparing to sell its F1 team either to Wolff, or perhaps even Roger Penske!

As he has just bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series, you’d think though, that Penske has enough on his racing plate right now.

Speaking of the Concorde Agreement, I hear that Liberty has already reached an agreement with Ferrari which maintains the Scuderia’s exclusive annual five per cent cut off the top of the commercial income. That’s

about US$70 million that only Ferrari receives, as it is the oldest team in F1.

If this has happened, then Liberty boss Chase Carey has taken a page from Bernie Ecclestone’s playbook for negotiating with the teams.

Divide and conquer by getting Ferrari onboard in a separate deal. Then the other teams have no choice but to follow.

So far none of the teams or the engine manufacturers have officially committed to F1 for 2021 and beyond.

There is no doubt that the stalwarts like Williams, McLaren and Racing Point will stay in F1, but there are question marks over

Honda, Red Bull, Renault and Mercedes.

The teams get about twothirds of the commercial profits generated by F1 from things such as TV fees, race hosting fees, hospitality and track advertising income.

I hear that Saudi Arabia has offered US$100 million annually to be able to host an F1 race. Other tracks (Monaco and Brazil excepted) pay somewhere between US$17 and US$60 million, so the Saudi money would increase the team’s income. But I wonder what the situation would be for the growing number of women working in F1, who would have to attend that event.

One of the last “deals” Ecclestone made while he was still running F1 was to give Sao Paulo’s Interlagos track the Brazilian Grand Prix for free. It pays no race hosting fees. However, Interlagos has to contribute a majority of its ticket sales income to the Formula One Group and the teams.

Interlagos has one year left in its contract, and it is already bickering with Rio de Janeiro, which has no track (yet) but wants to host the Brazilian Grand Prix starting in 2021.

With this year’s Brazil race (sans Wolff) in the books, there is only one GP left in 2019, but the rumour mill and the business of F1 will continue unabated during the off-season.

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Why not get that special someone a subscription to Australia’s number one motorsport magazine?

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.

For more information on subscriptions, please contact Heath on (03) 9563 2107 or heath@autoaction.com.au and he will guide you through the subscription process.

OPINION AUTO ACTION WINS MAJOR MEDIA AWARDS

BY MARK FOGARTY Editor at Large AUTO ACTION’S commitment to comprehensive coverage has earned major media awards in both Supercars and TCR. AA was among the winners in the annual Supercars Media Awards and also recognised in the inaugural TCR Australia Series Awards.

In the Supercars Media Awards, AA was named “Best Publication” of 2019, one of the most prestigious honours.

The prize was in recognition of the title’s outstanding coverage of Supercars, as voted by independent judges.

The Supercars trophy is the second major award AA has received so far this year, joining the TCR Australia Media Award.

Auto Action won the “Best Publication” award for its unique combination of major news stories, informed analysis and comment, in-depth features and interviews, and extensive race reports.

Supported by Hino and Castrol, the Supercars Media Awards were presented at a trackside function at the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 attended by leading journalists, photographers, PRs and broadcast representatives.

Auto Action’s “Best Publication” award was accepted by Editor-AtLarge Mark Fogarty, who paid tribute to the editorial team.

“This is a reward for everyone at AA,” said Fogarty. “It is a tribute to the tight-knit team, led by publisher Bruce Williams, who have worked so hard for nearly two years now to re-establish the title as a credible, agenda-setting force in the Australian motor sport media.

“The award, won against stern digital opposition, is proof that AA is great again.”

Publisher Williams added: “I couldn’t be prouder. Auto Action is an icon.

The editorial team, headed by Foges and Bruce Newton, along with Heath McAlpine and Dan McCarthy, online editor Rhys Vandersyde, have worked

Publisher

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

Mark Fogarty Heath McAlpine

Creative Director/ Production

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

their guts out to deliver great content.

“We continue to set the news and opinion agenda in Supercars against 24/7 web sites. This award is validation of our commitment to provide print and digital readers with informed, deeply credible coverage of Supercars.”

AA writers finished in the top three of voting for the Journalist Of The Year, Best News Story and Best Feature Story awards.

One of our lead photographers, Ross Gibb, shared the Best Photo award for his graphic shot of Nick Percat’s BJR Commodore engulfed in flames in a pit stop conflagration.

Other major award winners included popular pit lane TV analyst Mark Larkham, voted “Broadcaster Of The Year”.

Founding AA editor and long-time ace lensman Ian Smith was inducted into the Supercars Media Hall Of Fame, along with veteran journo Paul Gover.

Meanwhile, Auto Action’s outstanding coverage of the inaugural season of the TCR

Australia Series was acknowledged in the new category’s end-of-season prizes.

AA won the Media Award, presented at the TCR Australia awards gala in Adelaide

following the final round at Thee Bend Motorsport Park.

The accolade was among several handed out, honouring drivers, teams and organisations associated with the successful launch of TCR in Australia this year. Auto Action received the Media Award for “its dedication to the new class, routinely breaking good quality news stories and offering its readers in-depth features”.

AA has been a supporter of TCR and Australian Racing Group stablemate

S5000 since their announcements, providing regular and in-depth coverage.

The award was accepted by publisher Bruce Williams, who praised ARG for its initiative. “ARG is a gamechanger, adding muchneeded competition to the Australian motor racing landscape,” Williams said. “Auto W Action is often accused of A being Supercars-centric, b but b we have been all over TCR T – and also S5000 – from fro the beginning.

“TCR is a big part of Australia’s motor racing future and AA will ra endeavour to continue to en provide the yardstick coverage that earned this award.”

Among the other major TCR Australia honours was the Media Choice Award, presented to the person who, in the media’s eyes, made a positive difference to the new series and showed outstanding commitment.

The gong went to Daniel Kalisz, the category’s official photographer, whose creative efforts were applauded by the judges.

We take a look back at what was making news 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago 1979: IT WAS an end of an era for the Holden Dealer Team at Baskerville Raceway, but the factory team did it in style. Peter Brock won two of the three heats in the season ending Winfield 25 Series, while loyal lieutenant John Harvey finished equal second with Garry Rogers all in A9X Toranas. In a thrilling finish to the Australian Sports Car Championship the Ford-powered Bolwell of airline pilot Ross Mathieson won by a single point over Porsche driver Peter Fitzgerald.

1989: WIN PERCY was announced as the head of Tom Walkinshaw’s factory Holden Racing Team. The Brit was earlier confirmed as the lead driver, but Percy was also annointed as team manager with work beginning on the team’s 1990 campaign immediately. Percy was confident the team would be at Amaroo Park for the opening round as a competitive prospect.

1 1999: A LATE Bathurst 1000 was one that was filled with a variety of storylines. It was an w uunderdog victory for the semi-Holden backed G Gibson Motorsport team with superior fuel ec economy delivering Steve Richards and Greg M Murphy a Bathurst win. It was a back-to-back vic victory for Richards, becoming the first person to complete the feat in a Ford and a Holden. In his final start Dick Johnson finished fourth, but it wa was heartbreak for teammates Paul Radisich and Ste Steve Ellery.

2009: THE CAR of The Future was all the talk, four years before it was actually introduced. There was much scepticism surrounding the new regulations from teams, but CoTF creator Mark Skaife moved to debunk all those fears. Current Australian Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo continued his march towards the sport’s top tier with a test confirmed, while recently crowned Driver’s Champion Jenson Button was potentially on the move.

Photographers Australia Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyde International LAT Images

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His big chance to shine

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TRIBUTE MIKE RAYMONDview His last inter

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In an extended interview recorded before his death, legendary ry commentator Mike Raymond looked back on his long and colourfull career in broadcasting and speedway promotion FOR NEARLY two decades, Mike Raymond was the voice of Australian touring car racing and for half a century his rapid-fire delivery was synonymous with speedway.

From the late 1970s into the mid-‘90s, Raymond was at the forefront of the revolution in motor sport TV coverage with the Seven Network and his catchcry “Be There!” – delivered with gusto as “Beee Therrre!”

– remained a staple of speedway and motor racing TV and radio ads to this day, long after his retirement from commentary in 1996.

Raymond, who died earlier this month aged 76, was best known as a colourful race caller, but he was also a significant figure in the development of touring car racing, helping restore Ford versus Holden V8 racing that became Supercars.

He brought a cavalcade of racing superstars to Australia – most notably IndyCar legends AJ Foyt and Johnny Rutherford – and was instrumental in the internationalisation and global recognition of the Bathurst 1000.

A member of the Supercars and Australian Motor Sport Halls Of Fame, he was also the country’s most innovative motor sport promoter at Liverpool Speedway – later to become Liverpool City Raceway

22 AutoAction

– in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He was a jack of all media trades and a master of many.

Raymond’s influence peaked in the late ‘80s and early ’90s, when he was the director of sport at Channel 7 in Sydney, and one of the faces and voices of the Seven Sport around the country.

Among his discoveries were Neil Crompton, the modern day voice of Supercars, and former Olympic swimmer Johanna Griggs, who became a mainstream TV celebrity.

Weeks before his death, I visited Raymond at his upper north shore home in Sydney to record his recollections of his colourful career. He and his wife Carol – his constant companion in life and in racing – were charming hosts and Mike, always a big man, was hale and hearty.

It was always planned that the interview would be run over two issues starting in this edition, but it took on extra – if unanticipated – poignancy following his untimely demise.

We present this expansive and entertaining conversation, which concludes next issue, as a tribute to Mike Raymond, a legend of broadcasting and a racing raconteur. For his many friends and fans, it is a fitting farewell.

I would suggest that you revolutionised motor racing TV commentary in Australia.

That’s very kind of you. It’s not for me to say that.

Don’t you think you did? You introduced exciting, colourful commentary.

Well, that was at a price because when I walked into it – and Geoff Healy (legendary Seven Sydney director of engineering behind the many innovations of the Bathurst telecasts in the 1970s and ’80s) was the one who invited me – I did some stuff that today I just shake my head. That was to add a bit more oomph to it, which was everything I’d ever learned out of my speedway days, when you had huge crowds at the Sydney Showground and they had to be entertained. I actually did my first telecast for Seven of stock car races called the Pepsi Cup Series from Westmead Speedway in 1959. We started showing speedway regularly on television in 1965 on Channel 10 and then finally I started doing Bathurst as a producer, doing all the highlights for the BBC, in 1970. I joined the Bathurst 1000 commentary team in 1977.

Your style of commentary seemed to be very heavily influenced by American broadcasting.

I guess in the presentation of what we did, there was a touch more American influence than European.

In my early years in television doing Bathurst, I was at the bottom of the ranks. There was Evan Green and Will Hagon, and the commentary was very subdued.

Then Geoff brought in Peter Wherrett, who had finished doing Torque,

Raymond started in Seven commentary with Evan Green (centre) and Garry Wilkinson before leading a team of red jackets including a young Neil Crompton (second far left). Images: 7 Sport and there was a production meeting before he came in and it was only then that we discovered that he and Evan did not get on. They disliked each other enormously. So you have to learn to be the bottom peg on the ladder and I went and did some other things. We did rallycross at Catalina Park in Katoomba for Seven. I was here one morning and (Seven Sydney production executive) Phil Berry rang and said “Quick, quick, quick, come with me”. And I said “What are we doing?” and he said “We’re doing rallycross”. I said “What the bloody hell is that? Why did you call me?”

So, anyway, we did rallycross in the mist at Katoomba. But it was all grounding. Once you do enough of it, you learn to adapt.

So, you joined the Bathurst commentary team in 1977 and co then in ’78 you organised to th bring Chris Economaki out to br work the pit lane. What was wo your idea there? yo Geoff (Healy) had been to the Ge States and thought that Chris Sta Economaki, through his contacts Eco there, would be an asset to the the telecast. Chris was a wonderful tele commentator who could always com perceive things, but he sounded perc braaash with that New Jersey braa accent, which upset a lot of acce people. But Geoff thought that peop having Chris Economaki would havi show the Australian commentators like Evan, Wilko (long time Seven sports commentator Gary Seve Wilkinson) or myself the way to Wilk perc perceive that there was a story behi behind everyone. And that’s what we d did and that’s what we learned from Chris. Rather than talking abou about how much fuel is going into

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“Could’ve been ‘Get there!’ ... could’ve been anything.” I came up with ‘Be there!’ and it stuck.” a car, there has to be a personal side of it as well to interest the viewers at home, who only know so much about car racing.

He asked very simple questions that got revealing answers, like when he famously asked Mario Andretti “What’s it like out there?”

That’s right. “What are you doing here?” I remember he said to Allan Grice “You’re the best dressed driver I’ve ever seen – who’s you tailor?”

Was it part of a deliberate effort to get more exposure overseas, especially in the USA? Was that you getting involved with your promoter hat on?

A little bit of that. But Geoff had set up the BBC – they were showing a 90-minute highlights package a week after the race for the Grandstand program – and that really caught the attention of everyone. As far as the Americans were concerned, Chris helped us to get it on ESPN and it all sort of worked. It drew attention to the race, which we needed – it had to become an international event.

We had some very good American drivers come here and they went back telling the story of how good the race was or how bad the safety was at Mount Panorama, which I think Janet Guthrie led the charge on.

The most famous, if least successful, American pairing

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was Johnny Rutherford and Janet Guthrie.

Johnny Rutherford was treated like a pariah. No one wanted to talk to him. He was regarded as one of these snobby, big-mouthed Yanks that Raymond had brought out.

He was just the opposite. He was a marvellous guy. In the promo for the race, Seven flew him up to Bathurst, put him in a mock car and he scorched around the place in February, doing everything we asked him to do. Geoff had convinced Ron Hodgson to give him the second Torana – and make no mistake, the second car was not as good as the (Bob Morris/John Fitzpatrick) lead car.

He and Janet struggled. Among the other Americans we brought out were Dick Barbour and Sam Posey, but there were more Europeans. The Americans added colour. The Europeans were lovely guys, but not very interesting personalities.

You earlier had a go at getting AJ Foyt out for Bathurst, didn’t you?

I was so distraught that the Foyt thing never came off. That was my greatest disappointment. We had him all lined up! He’d raced at Liverpool City Raceway in 1975 and ’76, and I’d spoken to him at length about doing Bathurst and he said “Yeah, OK, that sounds good – can you get me one of these Torana things to the States?”

And I said “Well, you could drive

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23

for the Holden Dealer Team, I can ask them” and he said “I don’t want anything to do with that. I want to make sure that my people prepare the car”. The deal was that Harry Firth was going organise, through General Motors, to have a Torana L34 delivered to his Houston workshop. Never happened. Foyt rang me and said “Mike, I’d love to do it for you, but I can’t do it”. He was going to be paired with John Harvey. But Foyt wanted to do the car prep himself. He’d won at Daytona and Le Mans, so he was a pretty dab hand at anything he drove. I think GM was very peeved about it all, but Harry didn’t want to be shown up, I think.

As you mentioned, you brought Foyt out for the Australian Speedcar Grand Prix in 1975 and again in ’76.

That was a huge coup. How did you manage that?

Well, I got together with a promoter in New Zealand, George Tervit (Auckland’s Western Springs Speedway), on that. We had to do a deal with another car-owner/driver, Mel Kenyon, to bring two cars to Australia and NZ, with one of them for Foyt.

He was originally supposed to race at Western Springs first and then run in Sydney the next week. As it turned out, the meeting in NZ got washed out, so we had to bundle everything onto a plane that night and have him here to do a Sunday night meeting. It worked, he won. He hadn’t driven a midget for 10 years or something. It was outstanding. He was the easiest bloke in the world to deal with. We never had a problem. He came back and did the following year, and won again. Then Rutherford came and he was a great personality as well. Those guys were very easy to talk to and do deals with – and the deal in those days was the handshake. Today there’s 27 pages of legal jargon, but it was all verbal with them. So in ’75 we had Foyt, Mel Kenyon, Larry Rice and Garry Patterson – four Americans on the same night to run the grand prix – and

Raymond was behind bringing Johnny Rutherford and Janet Guthrie to Bathurst. His flair as a promoter included getting Allan Moffat to appear with Grand National sedan star Barry Graham at Liverpool (right). Images: autopics.com.au Kenyon wanted to beat Foyt. It was legit, too. He just drove the wheels off the thing.

It was back in those days that you started what became your catchphrase, “Be there!” And it still works. I hear it in Melbourne on TV ads for Avalon Raceway. You were always very fast on your feet with quips and colourful expressions, so was it one of those?

I did come up with a lot of them on the spot, but originally when I started doing voiceovers as part of making commercials and I went to Liverpool Speedway (later LCR) from the Sydney Showground in 1968, the track owner was one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met, Frank Oliveri. We started doing television spots, which no one had done for speedway in Sydney. I’d tried to talk them into it at the Showground, but they were very conservative and stuck with small ads in the newspapers and a couple of radio spots on 2GB.

When I went to Liverpool, I decided we’d change all that and we did ads on Channel Nine and radio stations galore. The place just got packed straight away. The promoters at the Showground were lovely guys, but old guys. They’d go to lunch at the Royal Automobile Club – every day. They used to have announcers from the ABC there. Puts on a plummy accent “First, so and so. Second, so and so.” Once Steve (his later-famous broadcaster brother) and I started, we’d work the crowd up, which was very easy to do with 20,000 people. They went there for a night of excitement that was helped by the trackside announcers.

It was entertainment and I always felt that worked. I’ve been to motor racing venues all around the world and some of the commentary would put you to sleep.

You wore so many hats back in the Liverpool City Raceway days – promoter, organiser, publicist and commentator. How did you become this all-singing, all-dancing dynamo?

I think you just fall into it. The Showground was a good training ground, seeing what could be done if a little more showbiz and a bit more flair were put into it. I transferred that to Liverpool. I convinced Frank to pave the track and bank it, and he was already building a grandstand and other stuff, so it was well ahead of its time. But because we spent a lot of time on the design of the banked pavement track, that worked. Highbanked track, cars running around in 11-12 seconds and then we brought out the American sedan team. It went on and on – Garry Patterson and sprintcars and everything else. It all

24 AutoAction

seemed to just happen. I don’t sit back and say “Oh, I did this”. No, it’s just part of my life. It’s what I was chosen to do, I guess.

What you were doing at LCR was revolutionary for speedway in this country, taking it from filthy, dirty sideways racing to something that was fast, action-packed and respectable.

Well, we were filthy, dirty sideways when I went there and we brought out the world’s best solo bike riders – and they were just sensational. Ole Olsson, Ivan Mauger, all those blokes.

And then we decided we wanted to do something different, and I’d been to the States and looked at San Jose, and I thought what a beaut track.

They run up into the corner and dive off underneath each other. So that’s what we did and that started a whole new era. American sedan teams led by ‘Big Ed’ Wilbur and the local stars like Brian Callaghan and Barry Graham, plus the speedcars starring characters like ‘Gorgeous George’ Tatnell. We brought the first sprintcar from America and introduced sprintcar racing to Australia, back in 1972 with American John Anderson. That just revolutionised everything. I had the local (Super Modified) drivers all up in arms; they weren’t going to race because this thing was so much better.

So the deal with Anderson was, he started at the back in all the races and he put on a show up around the fence.

Then we went pavement in ’74 until ’85 and then we tried clay. We brought out Steve Kinser and all those guys, the best American sprintcar blokes. So it evolved. You can’t get too set in your ways.

“Johnny Rutherford was treated like a pariah.

No one wanted to talk to him. He was regarded as one of these snobby, big-mouthed Yanks that Raymond had brought out. He was just the opposite. He was a marvellous guy.”

a significant figure in the post-war era of Mount Panorama). I said to him that I’d really like to see the place getting up and going. Mind you, I was only 16, but I somehow convinced him. I was with my brother Steve and I said to him “Look, we can come and revolutionise your trackside announcing, but it’s going to upset the ABC types that you have doing it.”

Anyway, we started and brought some razzmatazz and a bit of presentation to it. We got the drivers out of T-shirts and into uniforms, and all that sort of stuff. The old Showground started to really kick along. We introduced a 100-lap midget race with pit stops.

Bob Jane was sitting in the open stand and there were 30,000 there.

Bob said “How long’s this been going on?” So it worked.

So you became the director of sport at Seven in Sydney, presenting sport on the evening news, the

Let’s move on to the motor Le racing ra commentators you mentored, particularly me Neil Ne Crompton. Surely, he was wa your most successful protégé? pro

So you were still running LCR well into your Seven touring car commentary career?

Yes. They accepted that. They wanted me to bring my speedway razzmatazz to touring cars. We had d an arrangement that when I got out of speedway entirely, my first priority – not that it wasn’t already – would be Seven and that’s what happened.

He was the only one. Neil came cam along and he wanted to get g involved. He was doing motocross racing through his mot bike shop in Ballarat and he came cam and saw me and I said “Yes, “Yes I’ll give you a go”. He was a gentleman – a young guy who gen was keen and willing to learn, but k he didn’t need much teaching. He di was excellent.

He wasn’t political e and he h was a stickler for being on top of his game all the time. To this day, I have enormous respect for him. He’s H a good friend and I think he’s the th reason Fox Sports has done so s well with their coverage of Supercars.

Superc

Before we go on, you didn’t explain how you came up with “Be there!”

Initially, the voiceovers for the television commercials were done by (Sydney radio legend) Phil Haldeman and one time I tried to get him to do something, but he didn’t have time and he said “Why don’t you do it yourself? Have your own inflection on stuff and come up with h your own catchphrase, something people will remember”. And that’s how it happened. Could’ve been “Get there!”, could’ve been anything. I came up with “Be there!” and it stuck.

How did you become director of sport at ATN-7 in Sydney?

Well, I was doing stuff at Seven in ’85 and Rick Jameson, who was the director of sport then, asked me to come on board full-time, producing and doing voiceovers as well as the motor racing commentary. So I did that from ’85-87, by which time Rick had left and then so did his replacement. They came to me and asked me if I’d take it over. I accepted because it was a challenge. I still had the speedway going in ’87 and ’88, but I knew Frank wanted to sell

it’s enormous. If anything ever breaks down, you need someone here to try to link from one to the other. People want to set their careers by doing the Olympics – I didn’t need to do that. As it turned out, I was asleep one Sunday morning, and the phone rang and it was Channel Seven. They said “Mike, we have a huge problem – we’ve lost the link to Barcelona, can you get up here quickly to front it?” So I got up there and, luckily, I’d already pre-prepared a whole bunch of stuff that we rolled out one after the other.

It turned out it was a problem with a repeater link in Western Australia in a field that a cow had knocked over.

It was as simple as that. (Legendary sports commentator) Bruce McAvaney said to me “Oh, Mike, I’m so happy you’re there. The women’s marathon is on shortly and I just know you’ll be able to handle it”. And I said “In your arse, Bruce”. I had no idea who w anybody was.

LCR because homes were getting too close to the track.

So I said to him “You make your own arrangements and don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” We always had a gentlemen’s’ agreement in the 20 years I worked there. So that left me completely free run sport at Seven in Sydney. I’ve enjoyed being my career from every angle. I’ve enjoyed being the radio broadcaster; I’ve enjoyed being the journo; I loved the television side of it; and I loved the speedway promotion side of it. OK, a little unique, but I enjoyed every day of it.

You started at the Sydney Showground. How did you inveigle your way in there?

It was 1958. I’d gone to see John Sherwood, who was the promoter there – a very military type (and also

Sunday sport show and motor racing. That would’ve extended to overseeing Seven’s coverage the Olympic Games as well, wouldn’t it?

Yes, I did. We produced the announcement (in September 1993) of Sydney winning the Olympics in 2000. We had cameras all around Australia with reporters getting reaction from athletes and people involved with all sorts of sports. We had something like 40 cameras around Australia covering the reaction. But before that, they asked me to be one of the commentators at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. I told them I wasn’t going to Barcelona.

I told them “You’re going to need someone back in Australia with a handle on this whole thing because

Well, he’s the voice of the V8s, h isn’t he?

Well, he is, but he can do a lot more than that. He could call anything if he put his mind to it. It concerned me to learn that he had retired from the Supercars Commission. He’d be the first one I’d have on the Commission and he’d be the last one I’d let leave.

I don’t know the reasons for it and I haven’t spoken with him about it, he has a feel for the category, he has a feel for television, he has a feel for sponsorship and how that all works, and he’s probably making a good quid out of it – and good luck to him.

Next issue: Mike Raymond on his key role in bringing back the V8s, what he thought of Tony Cochrane and how he viewed modern Supercars

AutoAction

25

MUSTANG

EXPRESS

A new journey has begun for Kelly Racing. The Melbourne-based team is switching from the Nissan Altima to the Ford Mustang for 2020 and Auto Action is tracking the 85-day mission to make the transition in time for the Adelaide 500. It’s going to be a hectic ride.

EARLIER THIS year, Kelly Racing confirmed it was making the switch from running four Nissan Altimas to two Ford Performance Mustang GTs for the 2020 season.

The Kellys have been the manufacturer homologation team for Nissan since 2013, when the Car of the Future was introduced.

The Altimas were designed, built and developed in-house at Kelly Racing’s Braeside factory across 19 different departments, including the team’s own engine shop responsible for the R&D required to have Nissan’s DOHC Patrol V8 turned into a 5.0-litre capable of competing in Supercars.

While next year will see the team scale back to two main-game Supercars and no longer be a homologating team, the Kelly’s

are proud of their staff and know-how and in 2020 will continue to retain much of the Mustang build and development in-house.

Auto Action has been given exclusive behind the scenes access to the design, development and build processes now unfolding at Kelly Racing’s Braeside HQ, to provide our readers with a front-row look inside Kelly Racing’s preparation for the 2020 season.

Since confirming the switch to Mustangs just after Bathurst, a lot of work has already gone on behind the scenes. A brand-new chassis was already in the build in the background during the 2019 season, and is now nearing completion and expected to be the first new Mustang off the KR production line.

“There’s around 900 hours of manual labour involved in turning the flat pack of chromemolly tube that we receive, into a completed chassis ready to have body work and all of the suspension and drive-line added to it. You can do it in about half the time with a MIG weld rather than the TIG we use (but) TIG as the welds end up lighter and neater,” said team owner Todd Kelly.

This new-chassis car will be Rick Kelly’s 2020 Castrol Racing Mustang Supercar and is Kelly Racing’s chassis number 11.

It currently needs only its driver’s side intrusion bars and a few small pieces before completion, and already has a couple of all-important panels welded to it, confirming

it as a Mustang Supercar such as the lower windscreen support panel and the wiper location.

The second Kelly Racing Mustang is commencing build and will be a converted Altima. The converted car is expected to be Garry Jacobson’s chassis, as it is currently the

COUNTDOWN - DAYS REMAINING: 85

Part One

Ke Racing’s biggest Mustang challenge will be to build its own Ford V8 engines in a Kelly m matter of just months. It has purchased a 2012-spec SBR unit as a base line to kick off th development process. the tea team’s newest racing chassis and André Heimgartner will pilot it next year as a He Mustang.

Mu K Kellys’ remaining Altimas are expected to compete in Super2.

A third Mustang chassis – to become the team’s spare car - is also currently in the build process. Based on chassis number 10, which was originally built as an Altima, all of its Nissan-specific under panels and the composite body panels have been removed, to make way for the new Mustang components. It will go back into the paint shop along with Rick’s brand new

chassis in a few weeks, before the car build commences on all three Mustangs.

So that’s where the chassis is at, but how is Kelly Racing travelling with its new Ford engine program?

Yes, that’s right Kelly Racing is also designing and developing its own Ford V8 racing engine rather than purchasing off another team.

Auto Action understands that DJRTP has an exclusivity agreement with its engine supplier, so that was never an option, and Tickford would have needed to expand its engine operations to be able to build and maintenance Kelly Racing’s engines.

“While taking on the engine ourselves is a big job, we have all of the staff and resources here to do the engine ourselves, so it made the most sense to do that rather than get Tickford involved,” said Todd.

Kelly Racing has acquired a 2012-spec Stone Brothers engine to use as a baseline test engine, and to experiment with different exhaust and intake systems.

Obviously, there are a lot of differences between a current unit and a pre-Car of the Future engine such as mounting in the chassis, the SBR engine’s old-fashioned distributor ignition system, the oiling system and the spec of the engine itself.

Unfortunately for the Kellys, there are virtually no carryover parts from either the SBR engine or Kelly’s current Nissan V8, aside from some small things like the throttle assemblies. Everything else will need to be made from scratch.

“We’ve learnt a lot in building and developing the package we currently have, so we’ll be using that knowledge to develop our own cylinder heads, intake manifold, airbox inta and exhaust system to suit the Ford motor,” Kelly explained. exp “The good thing is “T there are some parts the which we can buy off wh the shelf like the control camshaft which we never ca had before – it’s a big ha exercise to build the Ford ex engine but nowhere near en as big as the Nissan pr program was.

CAD design has been utilised to modify what was the Kelly R Racing Nissan Altima chassis to the Mustang.

Kelly Racing has had a new chassis in build all year and this is now being adapted to become its first Ford Mustang Supercars racer.

“Having said that, there’s a lot of parts that we’ve already started designing and producing. Our engineering department is nearing completion on the designs for sumps, pistons, bellhousings, water pumps and all of the pulley system on the front of the engine.

“With the time constraints that we have there is a lot of pressure to get these parts right the first time ,because we honestly won’t have time to go back and have another crack at our race-spec engine once we have everything together.”

The Kelly Racing engine shop has already stripped down the old SBR engine and given it a refresh, so that it will hold up for their dyno testing, which Auto Action will report on in the next issue.

“So right now, we have the build of Rick’s chassis and the spare well underway.

We’re just waiting on some of the Mustang

specific steel body panels to arrive, (and) we’ve already taken delivery of most of the composite parts like bumpers, doors, bonnets and roof,” Kelly continued.

“The SBR test engine is about to hit the dyno and we’ll work out what works best in terms of exhaust and intake systems, while the machine shop starts receiving all of the CAD designs from engineering for water pumps, sumps and all of the pulley stacks to build our actual Kelly Racing 2020-spec engine.

“Once we’re settled after Newcastle, things will really shift into high gear and our focus will be entirely on these new Mustangs. It’s an extremely exciting period.”

Auto Action through its magazine and online mediums will detail the entire build process from bare shell to race day in Adelaide, during the coming months.

AutoAction

27

In the first instalment of Auto Action’s new regular Young Guns feature, HEATH McALPINE sat down with recently crowned TA2 winner Aaron Seton to discuss his ability to adapt to any race car and his Penske links Images: Insyde Media/TCR Australia/ Daniel Kalisz/TA2 Australia/Dewi Jones

BURSTING ONTO the national scene in 2016 through the Toyota 86 Race Series, Aaron Seton was identified as an early title contender, but luck always appeared to desert him at critical moments.

Three years on, the third-generation racer has now dabbled in three national classes with success, demonstrating his versatility.

Seton’s latest achievement is winning the Australian TA2 Series, edging out the experienced George Miedecke to seal the title at the Ipswich Classic meeting held at Queensland Raceway.

Driving the Craig Harris-owned Ford Mustang, he overcame an incident in Race 1 which heavily damaged the car, to come back the next day and clinch his first national title.

His journey in TA2 began after having not driven a race car for an extended period, having pulled out of the Toyota series at the end of the 2017 season.

Debuting at Winton, Seton was immediately on the pace in TA2 and had become one of the drivers who has been part of the category’s rapid growth in Australia.

“I started my first round and my first impressions were, ‘Wow, what an

28 AutoAction

Aaron Seton has a great mentor in the form of dual-ATCC winning father Glenn. amazing car and series’,” Seton told Auto Action.

“It’s a very enjoyable series and I really enjoy driving that style of car. I can’t thank Craig Harris enough, it’s definitely been good for my driving.

I’ve improved a lot since I joined the category. For example, if you look back at my qualifying last year compared to this year, I’m 0.5s faster at Queensland

Raceway.

“It was a good series for me after jumping out of Toyotas. I spent a couple of years there racing at Supercars meetings, which was good. But I was ready for a change, thankfully the TA2 opportunity came along and it’s more similar to a Supercars style race car. It’s been very good for me.”

Seton was forced to adjust his driving

style to suit the bulky and powerful TA2 machine, but the biggest change was the tyres, which are nothing like he had used before.

“Definitely over a race distance you had to look after the rear tyre a bit more in TA2,” Seton explained. “Obviously, they have a bit more horsepower, a little bit more weight and a different tyre, a crossply, which is a bit old school.

“That was definitely the biggest difference. A TA2 seems to be very good for three laps. The tyres would slowly start to drop off (after that), but it’s the same for everyone. You certainly learn the basics from the 86s, but it’s been very good to go deeper with the TA2.”

For Seton this appears to have worked.

Despite missing the opening two rounds of Touring Car Masters, Seton finished a close second in the Pro-Am points driving the Leo Tobin-owned 1969 Ford Mustang.

It was an impressive display that also included two outright victories against the likes of John Bowe and Steve Johnson.

“It’s completely different to any other car I’ve driven before,” Seton emphasised. “It has plenty of old school technology with that leaf spring rear-end, high horsepower and it’s quite heavy. It helps so much to adapt, making you better and a more complete driver.

“I really enjoyed the challenge and for

Seton has had a busy year behind the wheel, winning the TA2 Series, taking runner up honours in the Touring Car Masters ProAm standings and being a surprised starter in the TCR Australia round at Queensland Raceway.

Leo Tobin to give me the opportunity with this car has been incredible and I look forward to seeing what happens next year.”

Also competing this season in TCR came as a bit of a surprise.

Seton filled in for Jean-Karl Vernay at Queensland Raceway after the Frenchman was unable to take his place in the driver’s seat on the Sunday.

After a mad scramble to gather equipment and with just a picture of his licence, Seton was given the go ahead to compete. He finished the day with credible times in what was a very rushed opportunity.

“Being thrown into the deep end at Queensland Raceway for TCR was a challenge, but it was very, cool for me,” Seton reflected.

“I was lucky I had a photo of my licence and borrowed a lot of equipment from a lot of people, especially Tony D [Tony D’Alberto]. I was fortunate to make the grid. It was very different for me because I’d never driven a front-wheel-drive car before, so it was a completely different style to get used to. Either (you had) to be on the brake or on the throttle a lot, otherwise the rear would want to come around.

“I was practicing in the public’s eye, (so) the first race was a bit difficult,

but (I) definitely improved a lot for the second one. Hopefully, I can get another opportunity driving TCR in the near-future.”

The 21-year-old has one of the best mentors in the business in father Glenn - a multiple Australian Touring Car champion – but also has a loyal band of supporters who enable Seton to compete at the pointy end of the field.

“I’m very luckily to have, firstly, the father I have,” said Seton.

“The experience he brings is incredible and the achievements he’s had are very impressive. I can’t learn enough off him. He’s very good at setting up the car and that’s why I was at the front in TA2, due to his engineering skills. Add in Chris Topp too (and) it was a special team we had between us three, plus the Harris family, Dom Domitriades, Mick Benton and everyone else involved that support me.”

But Seton’s race winning formula doesn’t end there.

His day job is inside DJR Team Penske where he works on Fabian Coulthard’s car as number three mechanic, a workshopbased role that allows him to compete for himself on the weekends. It’s these environments that have enhanced Seton’s experience and expertise.

“I’ve been working at DJR Team Penske for two years now. I was very lucky at the time I came in,” Seton explained. “They’re a very special group of guys that take the time out to teach you what you need to know. I’ve certainly learnt a lot and developed as a driver on the technical side since I’ve been there, which transfers back to your driving.”

Next year, Aaron Seton is eager for more opportunities but budget is a big constraint.

He would love to create a combined program of TA2 and TCM, though is open to other opportunities, like the entry into the TA2 Series in America which was part of his prize for winning in Australia.

“Whatever opportunities come up, everything’s going to come down to budget as it always does these days, but it’s the same boat for everyone,” concluded Seton.

“Hopefully we can get the budget together to run TA2 again next year and maybe TCM as well.”

AutoAction

29

UNDER THE SKIN

Kalisz Images: Insyde Media/TCR Australia/Daniel

Honda was one of the first brands represented on the TCR grid through the team’s long-time collaborator, Italianbased team JAS Motorsport. The latest generation of the Civic Type R TCR has been a race winner across the world and HEATH McALPINE discovers why.

THE GROWTH of TCR is illustrated through the development of the various models that compete in the series such as the Honda Civic, which is proof of just how far the class has advanced since its infancy in 2014.

Italy's JAS Motorsport is well versed in developing Honda touring cars, having a long history of being the Japanese manufacturer’s go-to team for touring car racing.

JAS began preparing and developing the Accord Super Tourer in the late1990s contesting the ADAC STW in Germany, the British Touring Car Championship and the European Super Touring Championship, all on behalf of Honda.

Following on from that,JAS became a privateer team in the reborn World Touring Car Championship in 2005 with its S2000-spec Accord Euro R, and experienced moderate success despite running on a shoestring budget.

The latest racer to be developed

by JAS is based around the hugely popular Honda Civic Type R, an already aggressive-styled model to start with. It

30 AutoAction

is the Italian team’s second generation TCR model after the first was based on the previous FK2 Civic, which kicked off the latest successful collaboration between JAS and Honda.

With the arrival of the FK8 Civic Type R in 2017 came the updated TCR variant, which has hit Australian shores this year with the support of Wall Racing, headed by Porsche Carrera Cup Australia winner David Wall.

Honda Australia announced it was supporting the program as a toe-in-water exercise through driver Tony D’Alberto, partnered by former international openwheel ace John Martin. Having originally began the season with two-cars, the team expanded to three at Queensland Raceway as Kiwi driver Jordan Michels debuted in the series before Tim Brook and factory Honda WTCR driver Nestor Girolami shared the drive at the next two drives.

Girolami starred in his guest drive at Sandown, while D’Alberto took one pole position on his way to second in the inaugural TCR Australia title. Martin has been plagued with bad luck, but did take

victory at The Bend Motorsport Park in June.

June Amazingly, many components are shared between the road-going and TCR-specification Honda Civic Type Rs starting with the heart, the Japanese manufacturer’s world famous VTEC in-line four-cylinder engine.

This is lightly modified to cope with the stresses of racing, as David Wall explained to Auto Action.

“It’s a road car engine that has a head gasket changed,” Wall said. “Honda is obviously more than confident with its product.”

The transversally mounted K20C1 VTEC engine is turbocharged, features two

overhead camshafts and 16 valves, valves which delivers a maximum power of 253kW and 420Nm of torque. The engine is sealed at JAS Motorsport’s Milan factory, with Wall Racing allowed only to complete basic servicing in its workshop.

A wet sump provides the lubrication and cooling is provided by two intercoolers installed in a v-mount configuration at the front of the Type R TCR. To ease accessibility, the whole front section of the car is one piece, allowing the Wall Racing crew to take out the intercooler, heat exchanger, brake ducting and the aluminium extrusion bar as one piece.

MoTeC provides the Civic Type R TCRs

brain in the form of its advanced M142 ECU, which can be installed in a road car, again demonstrating how close TCRspecification models are to the road-going variants.

Mated to the VTEC engine is a six-speed sequential SADEV gearbox with paddleshift, sending power through a twin-plate sintered-metallic clutch to the driveshafts and mechanical limited slip diff, all items manufactured by JAS Motorsport.

“It runs a SADEV dogbox, which is a very good box and is quite user friendly for the boys to work on. It has good adjustability as far as the diff side of things, which is an important part of these cars,” Wall said. “The halfshafts or the driveshafts are manufactured for these cars by JAS.” Wall further elaborated on the function of the paddleshift.

“There is a sequential pneumatic airshifter fired by a trigger by the driver. The paddleshift has a compressor that runs the actuator that fires the gear into the box,” Wall explained.

Suspension-wise, the TCR-specification Honda Civic Type R TCR is distanced from its street counterpart by running gas-filled Ohlins TTX shock absorbers all round, partnered with a homologated range of springs. The package is completed by an adjustable three position anti-roll bar at the front.

A multilink axle at the rear combines with the homologated spring range and an antiroll bar which is positional to three settings, just like up front. JAS manufacturers all

www.autoaction.com.au

Though it bristles with the latest technology, the Honda Civic TRC racer is built from the road car shell and adapted to suit. Like all TCR racers, it's left hand drive. the uprights and arms in-house, providing a sweet handling package with a distinct window it operates well in.

“Like any race car, it has its sweet spot depending on where you are,” said Wall.

“We have homologated springs that we’re allowed to work within and those springs vary from event to event.”

Steering is an electric power assisted rack and pinion system.

A JAS-branded brake package comprises of 380mm steel ventilated discs with sixpiston monolithic calipers at the front, while the rear features two-piston monolithic calipers and 258mm steel discs. Inside the Type R TCR, there is remote brake bias and AP brake pressure limiter controlled by the driver, while a ‘rally-style’ handbrake complements the package.

Specially-designed OZ 18”x 10” rims are wrapped in the Michelin S9 hard compound tyres, which took Wall Racing some time to get familiar with due to the various tyre brands that TCR categories run worldwide.

“The Michelin S9 has proven to be very good. It was very different at the start of the season because these cars run on other tyres across the world, so there was an exercise there to make those work,” Wall disclosed.

A standard five-door Honda Civic FK8 Type R is used as the basis to construct the race car, then has an MSA-certified TIG-

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UNDER THE SKIN

A JAS-branded brake package comprises 380mm steel ventilated discs up front mated with six-piston monolithic calipers, while the rear features a two-piston monolithic caliper and 258mm steel discs. welded, chrome-moly roll cage installed.

A custom designed composite body kit is added, consisting of a front bar, rear bar, wing and a portion of the rear door, which is grafted to the original item.

The big rear wing adds further downforce while the aerodynamic features also extend to a small diffuser at the rear.

“The rear decklid and bonnet are a manufactured from the standard items, then fabricated to suit the outcome of what the car needs,” Wall said.

Inside, MoTeC instruments greet the driver with a PDM30 power box partnered by a C127 instrument panel, tunnel mounted switch panel and a suede covered quick release steering wheel, which features further instrumentation including the radio, headlights and indicators.

An adjustable Tilton 800 series pedal box rests at the feet of the driver, while the seating position has been moved slightly to the centre of the interior to aid weight distribution.

“It’s very user friendly,” Wall said of the interior. “Adjustable pedal box, adjustable steering column - up-down, in-and-out - then the seating position is a little in-board, but has movement forwards and backwards. Your runners as such are gone, so it’s a bolted in an homologated bracket and seat.”

The seat is OMP and is combined with a six-point safety harness, while other

32 AutoAction

safety items include an automatic fire extinguisher system and, behind the driver where the rear seats are normally located, sits a 100-litre FTR bladder fuel tank.

Balance of Performance for the Honda remains 100 per cent engine performance, 20kg ballast and ride height is at 80mm.

According to Wall, JAS Motorsport’s support of the continually growing TCR Australia Series has been incredibly enthusiastic, with technicians aiding Wall Racing at most rounds thanks to the New South Wales-based team’s role as JAS Motorsport agents for Australian and New Zealand.

This means Wall Racing is the onestop shop when it comes to technical support, spare parts and anything else related to the Honda brand racing in Australia.

“We manage all those things on its behalf, if you like, as well as running some cars on top of that,” Wall explained.

“The relationship is very good with JAS, we basically talk to them through our technical alliance as JAS also run cars overseas constantly in most countries.

So we can get live information from those guys if there are any questions or problems that may arise during a weekend.

“Between race weekends, they’re more than ready to help us in anything we

need to do to fix anything from our end down here.

“JAS want to see everything go well out here as much as we want it to, so it’s in its' best interests to be able to help out with some technicians and help during race weekends to fast track our side of it. Then to once again we’re getting 100 per cent from the package we’ve got and most times when the technicians have come out we’ve been able to do that.

“Moving forward, it’s a good relationship and it’s still continuing to grow. We feel like we’ll have more support from JAS Motorsport’s side of things. More than likely having those technicians come out and help will be a

regular occurrence.”

This is the fourth version of a TCR variant Auto Action has featured in its Under The Skin feature series.

The Honda is very similar to the factory developed Audi and Hyundai when compared to the privately backed Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR. The Honda sits in the middle as a factory backed project built by an outside source.

It just highlights how competitive the TCR category is as all four of these racers visited the winner's circle in Australia this year.

With a year’s Honda experience under the belt, Wall Racing will be eager to go one step better in 2020.

Honda's transversally mounted K20C1 VTEC engine is turbocharged, features two overhead camshafts and 16 valves.

It produces 253kW and 420Nm and is sealed at JAS Motorsport’s Milan factory, with Wall Racing only allowed basic servicing in its workshop.

HONDA CIVIC TYPE R TCR BODY

Modified factory bodyshell Composite wide body for Honda Civic FK8 Hatchback, 5 doors

ENGINE

CYLINDERS/CAPACITY: 4 cyl/2000 cc turbocharged DISPLACEMENT: 1998.2 cc BORE x STROKE: 86 x 86 mm MAXIMUM OUTPUT: 253kW @ 6200 rpm MAXIMUM TORQUE: 420Nm @ 3800 rpm LUBRICATION: wet sump COOLING: Plastic duct for engine water radiator and intercooler ECU: MoTeC M142 EXHAUST: 3-inch stainless steel 310 - silenced

TRANSMISSION

Front-wheel-drive GEARBOX: 6-speed sequential – SADEV with Paddle shift GEARBOX OPTION: 6-speed sequential – XTRAC with Paddle shift CLUTCH: multi-plate sintered-metallic DRIVELINE: Tripod-CV joint heavy duty DIFFERENTIAL: Limited slip differential

ELECTRONICS

DISPLAY/LOGGER: MoTeC C127 POWER BOX: MoTeC PDM30

SUSPENSION

MORE USED to high-powered open-wheelers and aero-dependant GT sports cars, John Martin was impressed by the Honda upon his first outing.

“Right from the very test day, I was actually surprised,” Martin enthused. “I thought it wouldn’t be that good, but I was surprised by how good they are. It has so much grip and I think that’s what makes the racing so great (though) obviously they don’t have too much aero.”

Despite being a vastly experienced driver, Martin was thrown in at the deep end adapting to front-wheel-drive and found that setting up the Civic Type R is completely different to what he was used to, voicing some doubts about the direction made.

“It was totally new to me as it was for most people in the category. I look back at the seven rounds and I’ve learnt so much about how a front-wheel-drive touring car works,” Martin explained.

“It took a while to get my head around it and I reckon I’m still getting my head around it. Little things like how you drive them, how you set them up as well, how you explain stuff to an engineer

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with what the car is doing and changes you might want to make.”

Driving a TCR race car is a punishing affair, one minor slip up or exceeding the limit by a miniscule amount can have dire consequences.

“You just have to drive them really loose on the way in to get the mid-corner rotation, well you do in the Honda anyway,” Martin told Auto Action.

“I hate entry oversteer, so I’ve had to live with that, but I reckon going forward driving one has definitely helped me as a driver in every other aspect. I don’t mind backing the thing in, it’s just a fine line of just how much you have with how much grip when you get off the brake, there’s always a very fine line.

“They’re cool little things, they’re challenging. Certainly, during a race I had the front tyres going away. You want to throw the rear around a bit more but you can back it in to a certain extent, but anything more than 5-10 per cent it just snaps straight away then you sail straight off. It’s very difficult and very easy to make a mistake when it’s like that too.”

It goes without saying that setting up the Civic Type R TCR makes communication extremely important between driver and engineer. Luckily, team boss David Wall is able to be the middleman to help translate what the driver wants and how the engineers find a solution.

“I wouldn’t say it's easy. There are a lot of things I’d suggest like a spring or bar or something like this and I’ve gone back to say if it was a normal car I’d like this,” Martin said. “It’s good to have Wallee there too because he understands what that feeling is and what I want for it. He has a fair idea, then the engineers translate that into front-wheel-drive language.

“As we go on further and further, I can say, ‘I think it needs this, I think it needs that’, because we’ve tried it already whereas at the start we hadn’t done anything and I suggested some things that I thought ‘There’s no way I’m going to make it out of pit lane, I’ll spin leaving the box, no way it’s going to work’ then to my surprise I’m eating humble pie.

“You go out and actually that was pretty good.”

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FRONT: McPherson strut, coil springs, adjustable anti-roll bar 3 positions REAR: Multilink, coil springs, adjustable anti-roll bar 3 positions SHOCK ABSORBERS: Front: Gas-filled Ohlins TTX McPherson strut Rear: Gas-filled Ohlins S46 eye-eye - TTX36 ILX (OPTION)

BRAKES

Dual circuit hydraulic system FRONT: 6 piston monolitic calipers - 380 mm steel ventilated discs REAR: 2 piston monolitic calipers - 258mm steel discs PEDAL BOX: Tilton 800 Series floor mount with remote bias and la ever-type proportioning valve

STEERING

Electrical power assisted rack and pinion

WHEELS AND TYRES 18x10inch O.Z. Racing

FUEL SYSTEM

100-litre FTR bladder fuel tank dry break fillers

INTERIOR

OMP composite HTE seat, automatic extinguisher ROLLCAGE MSA certified welded cage with lifting devices

DIMENSIONS WEIGHT WIDTH LENGTH WHEELBASE

1265 kg 1950 mm 4549 mm 2700 mm

BALANCE OF PERFORMANCE ENGINE PERFORMANCE LEVELS: 100% BALLAST: +20kg RIDE HEIGHT: 80mm

AutoAction

33

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Formula One

Round 19 Brazilian Grand Prix

BULLS CHARGE IN BRAZIL Max Verstappen wins while rivals crash away any chance of challenging him

Race Report: Dan Knutson Images: LAT MAX VERSTAPPEN and Red Bull had a winning combination around the undulating Interlagos circuit in Brazil last year, until a tangle with Esteban Ocon who was a lap down in his Force India.

Thanks to the aerodynamic package created by Adrian Newey’s design team, the Red Bulls always perform well on high altitude tracks like

Max Verstappen made a daring move on Lewis Hamilton to take the lead during the closing stages. those Mexico in Brazil, M Austria, and in City and Austria package Brazil this year the pa – this time with the Honda replacing re the Renault power unit – was almost untouchable. meanwhile, Verstappen’s main rivals, m helped him out by crashing, spinning or breaking down. weekend His closest challenger all we was Lewis Hamilton who kept kep the pressure on and in front of the th Red Bull twice during the race’s pit p stop sequences. the world “If you can battle against th champion it’s always better than t battling someone for P10 or whatever,” w

Verstappen said after his third win of the season and the eighth of his career. “It was a good battle and we gave each other enough room, just enough, but I think it was cool.”

Now that he has clinched the world championship, Hamilton was willing to take more risks. But after a late-race restart he made a rare mistake and punted Alex Albon, who was heading for second place in his Red Bull, into a spin. Then, on the last lap, Hamilton, in third, battled wheel-to-wheel with Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly, who beat him by 0.062 of a second.

“It’s just the best day of my life!”

Gasly said. “I knew Lewis would try something. It was quite an intense

finish and just incredible to get my first podium in F1.”

Hamilton, third, celebrated on the podium but was later demoted to seventh place with a five-second penalty for colliding with Albon. This moved Carlos Sainz, who had started at the back of the grid because of an engine penalty, up to third place. It was his first podium and the first for McLaren since 2014, and he and the team had a private podium celebration later that evening.

“It was a very eventful race,” Sainz said, “and I think I was the only car to do a one-stop strategy. It was really difficult to hold the other midfield cars behind after the two safety car restarts, but I managed to defend my position well and took advantage of what happened at the front of the race.”

So Gasly, Sainz and Albon (almost) were in the top three.

“It’s inevitable that the youngsters are going to come through,” said Hamilton. “There’s often a wave of young talent that manages to make its way through to F1. I think F1 has got a lot of new young blood with a lot of potential, and they really are the future of the sport. I feel like I’m able to still kick it with these guys, and so I’m excited for the future racing with these guys. If we can get these teams to be closer, then we’re going to see more awesome battles like today.”

Valtteri Bottas was never a contender in Brazil, but when his Mercedes rolled to a halt with an oil consumption problem, it triggered a safety car which bunched up the field.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel led twice during the pitstop sequences, but neither he nor teammate Charles Leclerc were contenders for the win.

But they did manage to knock each other out of the race on lap 66 of 71 while disputing fourth place. That triggered the second safety car, which

After a difficult start to his season at Red Bull, Pierre Gasly took a maiden podium with Toro Rosso in Brazil, helped by another collision between the two Ferrari teammates (below left).

again bunched up the field and led to the Hamilton/Albon collision and the Gasly/ Hamilton duel to the finish line.

“It has been a very small crash with a big consequence, but still that sort of thing should not happen,” said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto, who ordered his drivers back to Maranello for a meeting.

“They were free to fight. (That) doesn’t mean to do silly actions, especially between the two teammates and the two Ferraris.”

Aussie Daniel Ricciardo had his own eventful race. He started 11th in his Renault, dropped to 13th on lap one, collided with Kevin Magnussen on lap eight, dropped to the back of the field with a pit stop and a five second time penalty, and then worked his way up to seventh.

And then moved up to sixth because of Hamilton’s penalty.

Was Ricciardo happy to come through the field or frustrated because of the

opportunities lost due to his clash with Magnussen.

“Mixed,” Ricciardo replied. “Because without the penalty and the front wing (damage) we could have been further up.

I don’t how much further because with the medium tyre we didn’t have a good balance at the beginning. We did not have the pace that we showed later in the race. But sure we could have got a few more points.

“But in the penultimate restart I made three positions on that opening lap. That is what I am really happy with. What I lost in the beginning I got back then. So I am somewhere in the middle. But I leave here, sure part of me is a little bit sad and empty, but part is also fulfilled with a good recovery.”

All in all, the Brazilian Grand Prix was chaotic and entertaining race, and it was refreshing to see new faces fighting for the podium. The 2019 season will now wind up with the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi.

Daniel Ricciardo scored points but wasn’t a factor.

Carlos Sainz was another to benefit from late race incidents/penalties, stepping onto a Formula 1 podium for the first time in his career (above, middle). Kimi Raikkonen (above right) finished just shy of the podium.

RESULTS ROUND 19: BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 -

Max Verstappen Pierre Gasly Carlos Sainz Jr. Kimi Raikkonen Antonio Giovinazzi Daniel Ricciardo Lewis Hamilton Lando Norris Sergio Perez Daniil Kvyat Kevin Magnussen George Russell Romain Grosjean Alexander Albon Nico Hulkenberg Robert Kubica Sebastian Vettel Charles Leclerc Lance Stroll Valtteri Bottas

Red Bull/Honda Toro Rosso/Honda McLaren/Renault Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Alfa Romeo/Ferrari Renault Mercedes McLaren/Renault Racing Point/Mercedes Toro Rosso/Honda Haas/Ferrari Williams/Mercedes Haas/Ferrari Red Bull/Honda Renault Williams/Mercedes Ferrari Ferrari Racing Point/Mercedes Mercedes

71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 70 65 65 65 51

1h33m14.678s 6.077s 8.896s 9.452s 10.201s 10.541s 11.139s 11.204s 11.529s 11.931s 12.732s 13.599s 14.247s 14.927s 18.059s 1 Lap Collision Collision Accident Power Unit

Points: Hamilton 387, Bottas 314, Verstappen 260, Leclerc 249, Vettel 230, Gasly 95, Sainz 95, Albon 84, Ricciardo 54, Perez 46, Norris 45, Raikkonen 43, Hulkenberg 37, Kvyat 35, Stroll 21, Magnussen 20, Giovinazzi 14, Grosjean 8, Kubica 1.

Constructors’: Mercedes 701, Ferrari 479, Red Bull-Honda 391, McLarenRenault 140, Renault 91, Toro Rosso-Honda 83, Racing Point-Mercedes 67, Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 57, Haas-Ferrari 28, Williams-Mercedes 1.

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RACE REPORT

Newcastle Races 31 & 32

DOMINANT BUT DEFEATED

Red Bull Holden Racing Team dominated the winner’s circle both days, Shane van Gisbergen on Saturday and Jamie Whincup (left) on Sunday.

Report: Heath McAlpine Photos: LAT/Dirk Klynsmith/Ross Gibb/Insyde Media

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN must have felt different heading to Newcastle in 2019.

The last two seasons he has had the weight of an unfinished championship on his shoulders, but there were none of those worries this year. The title was wrapped up and he could enjoy the celebrations. Perhaps not completely, becauase the Team’s Championship was still up for grabs as Triple Eight was just as eager to retain that piece of silverware.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team was coming off a hot streak, reminiscent of the one from McLaughlin earlier in the season that almost put the title beyond doubt from there.

Since Bathurst, the RBHRT had been undefeated as the Commodores only lost one race since the last round of parity adjustments just prior to Pukekohe, though it was the biggest one, Bathurst.

Tickford Racing was aiming to cap off a season where it returned to form and give departing star Chaz Mostert one last victory. Erebus Motorsport had surprisingly failed to win all year but David Reynolds had form on his side, having won the final race in Newcastle last year.

Mostert wasn’t the only goodbye in Newcastle.

Walkinshaw Andretti United bid farewell to its two drivers, Kelly Racing ended its seven-year Nissan journey and Garry Rogers Motorsport left the Supercars grid for the final time, after 24 years.

But it was the two teams that are retaining its drivers for next season that remained on top.

The RBHRT continued to hold an advantage through Friday practice as Jamie Whincup topped that. Then, in a complete shock, Shane van Gisbergen almost failed to make the Top 10 Shoot Out, only a last-ditch effort getting him in.

But then, in something that hasn’t happened since 2009, van Gisbergen then delivered a stunning lap in the Shoot Out that remained unbettered to take the penultimate pole position of the year ahead of McLaughlin, a noted Shoot Out hot shoe.

The team’s battle looked well in hand for the RBHRT with Whincup lining up in third, which at the start of Race 31 was the perfect place for the seven-time champion to attack.

The second last start of the year saw van Gisbergen make a great jump.

McLaughlin had better drive away but was out of position and he was eased wide, allowing the other RBHRT ZB Commodore into second, further After a costly mistake on Saturday, Jamie Whincup made amends on Sunday.

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Scott Pye bid farewell to Walkinshaw Andretti United with a strong weekend.

DJR Team Penske never really looked like losing the Teams’ title.

Saturday’s start was tight as ever (top) with van Gisbergen getting to the front ... Erebus had a tough weekend with both cars delayed by incidents (above) ... Cam Waters was quick for Tickford, leading Sunday’s race initially (right).

improving the team’s hopes of team title success.

By the conclusion of the opening lap van Gisbergen held a 0.275s advantage over his teammate, while McLaughlin could do nothing more than follow around the difficult-to-pass Newcastle circuit.

There were early incidents including one for Jack Le Brocq, who could have an early shower after contact with James Golding pitched him into the fence at Turn 7, causing big damage including the roof.

The first pit stops began early for some.

Andre Heimgartner was first within a handful of laps on the board after qualifying poorly and a disappointing Pirtek Enduro Cup campaign.

Lee Holdsworth was another to pit early but he was severely held up by drivers out of sequence, which put paid to a good result.

McLaughlin also had a short first stint, trying an undercut strategy, but he had no new tyres after using a considerable amount of his tyre bank in qualifying.

Reynolds’ Erebus Commodore was fourth on Saturday but forced into the tyres at turn one on Sunday.

Behind the champion-elect were the two Erebus Motorsport Commodores, though Reynolds was hampered by his junior teammate in front until his pit stop.

By lap 17, clear air was clearly working with James Courtney and Reynolds the fastest cars on track, while at the same time it affected the lead battle as Shane van Gisbergen could only manage seventh on Sunday after starting near the back.

Whincup emerged behind the earlierstopping McLaughlin to take second during the middle stint.

Nick Percat was struggling. It has been an impressive season for the Brad Jones Racing driver, who has been under the radar but become a steady top 10 finisher.

The Newcastle streets weren’t kind in qualifying and the Saturday race didn’t go much better, as the combination of dirty track and cold tyres meant he lost out in a battle with Lee Holdsworth, taking a trip up the escape road.

Still sitting in fourth, De Pasquale had a problem. Smoke began billowing from the rear of his car with power steering issues. As it turned out, it was only a clamp but it meant a great result went begging.

The lead RBHRT of van Gisbergen was on a late pit strategy and when he exited on lap 33, he emerged behind the championship leader, though this was only temporary. The two RBHRT Commodores were ranging up on the lead DJR Team Penske Mustang, but could do nothing due to the limited overtaking opportunities on this tight street circuit.

Lap 47 was the critical lap to get home with one final fill and McLaughlin was in two laps later. Whincup responded the very next circuit, while van Gisbergen, on his longer strategy, did so on lap 64.

After the final pit sequence, it was an RBHRT 1-2 and appeared it would be that way until the end of the race.

But no.

Trailing his teammate by 4.1s, Whincup made a minor mistake at Turn 1, locking up slightly, but the unforgiving nature of the Newcastle street circuit required him to recover down the escape road.

Whincup tried to flick spin but struggled to get a gear, returning to the track in eighth.

The result was a 60-point turnaround in Teams’ Championship standings.

It had been a clinical display from van Gisbergen as he added another win to his tally, while McLaughlin finished second and crucially, Whincup’s mistake elevated Fabian Coulthard onto the podium.

Drive of the race was from Scott Pye, who recovered from a qualifying incident to climb 18 positions to be sixth at the finish.

Sunday’s final race of the year begun with Whincup on pole alongside this season’s resurgent Cam Waters. It was the former who made the best start, though approaching Turn 1 there was contact between the duo. Both continued unaffected with Whincup eager to make up from his mistake the previous day.

Tim Slade capped off his full time Supercars career with a podium.

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39

RACE REPORT X

GRM has its final Supercar weekend ... for now. Here James Golding leads Macauley Jones (above). Tim Slade raced for BJR for the last time, finishing with a podium on Sunday.

There was to be no repeat of last year’s final race victory for Reynolds, as he was eased into the tyre wall by James Courtney and then hit in the rear heavily by an innocent Holdsworth.

Both Reynolds and Holdsworth struggled back to the pits and continued after long stops to finish the season off in lowly positions.

Whincup held a significant 0.7s advantage ahead of Waters after the opening lap, but where was his teammate? The second RBHRT Commodore of van Gisbergen was in 15th. Saturday’s winner had clawed his way back from 21st after he was penalised in qualifying for impeding Will Davison.

His charge stagnated and a three-stop strategy enabled van Gisbergen to jump into the top 10 in the closing stages. But it also effectively ended the RBHRT’s tilt at the Team’s title.

Waters pitted early, hoping to make use of the clear air that aided so many drivers the previous day, but it was a strategy that came unstuck. McLaughlin also pitted on lap 15 and emerged behind Waters, but then came a

40 AutoAction

RACE 31 RESULTS 95 LAPS

safety car.

An argument between Courtney and De Pasquale exiting Turn 2 ended in contact as they interlocked wheels, pitching the Erebus Commodore into the wall and damaging its steering.

Both received punctures, but De Pasquale failed to make it to the pits and dug into the tyre wall bringing out the first and only safety car of the weekend.

This severely hurt the drivers who had already pitted, headed by Waters.

Courtney was penalised, not for the De Pasquale contact but for an unsafe release, which resulted in a clash with Mostert. Strangely, Tickford’s number one was having an off weekend. It was just lucky Reynolds was also having a poor

weekend as well, so that Mostert’s top five position in the title was never under threat.

Whincup still led, but was coming under increasing pressure from Coulthard and Tim Slade, in his final drive for BJR. The final round of pit stops still left the RBHRT driver in the lead, just ahead of Coulthard, while Slade had jumped McLaughlin to take third.

Another safety car appeared to be on the cards when Golding dug into the tyre wall, but he extricated the GRM Commodore as Whincup guided his RBHRT Commodore to victory, 2.2s clear of Coulthard, while Slade retained third ahead of the back-to-back champion McLaughlin.

The three-stop strategy only allowed van Gisbergen to climb to seventh after a close and thrilling dice with Waters in the closing laps.

Another year in the books. It has been one of the most controversial in recent times, but McLaughlin completed his too do list this season.

Just like last year, the RBHRT came with a late rush but this time too late.

Will any other team emerge from the wilderness to rival these two superpowers of the sport?

Maybe. Adelaide is only a couple months away.

1 Shane van Gisbergen 70 laps 2 Scott McLaughlin +10.527s 3 Fabian Coulthard +12.038s 4 David Reynolds +15.324s 5 Cameron Waters +22.958s 6 Scott Pye +23.718s 7 James Courtney +29. 651s 8 Jamie Whincup +29.919s 9 Tim Slade +30.653s 10 Mark Winterbottom +35.378s 11 Chaz Mostert +41.404s 12 Lee Holdsworth +49.549s 13 Rick Kelly +58.515s 14 Nick Percat +60.942s 15 Will Davison +62.616s 16 Richie Stanaway +70.639s 17 Macauley Jones +70.753s 18 Todd Hazelwood 94 laps 19 Simona De Silvestro 94 laps 20 Garry Jacobson 94 laps 21 Andre Heimgartner 94 laps 22 James Golding 94 laps 23 Anton De Pasquale 91 laps NC Jack Le Brocq 2 laps FASTEST LAP James Courtney 1m 10.8854s

0 0 ▲3 ▲3 ▼1 ▲ 18 ▲1 ▼5 0 ▲1 ▲5 ▼2 ▼1 0 0 ▲6 0 ▼5 ▲1 up 1 ▼3 ▲1 ▼ 18 ▼5

H F F H F H H H H F F N H F H H H N N N H H H

RACE RESULTS 32 93 LAPS 1 Jamie Whincup 93 laps 0 2 Fabian Coulthard +2.125s ▲1 3 Tim Slade +3.803s ▲5 4 Scott McLaughlin +5.297s 0 5 Scott Pye +6.253s 0 6 Chaz Mostert +11.670s ▲ 5 7 Shane van Gisbergen +18.640s ▲ 14 8 Cameron Waters +19.322s ▼ 6 9 Nick Percat +19.716s ▲ 6 10 Todd Hazelwood +23.730s ▲ 3 11 James Courtney +24.606s ▼ 1 12 Andre Heimgartner +31.783s 0 13 Will Davison +35.977s ▲ 7 14 Mark Winterbottom +38.791s ▲ 1 15 Richie Stanaway +40.814s ▲ 3 16 David Reynolds +42.970s ▼ 9 17 Jack Le Brocq +50.640s ▲ 5 18 Simona De Silvestro +64.211s ▲ 1 19 Rick Kelly +69.661s ▼ 5 20 James Golding 92 laps ▲2 21 Macauley Jones 92 laps ▼5 22 Garry Jacobson 92 laps ▲2 23 Lee Holdsworth 83 laps ▼ 14 24 Anton De Pasquale 22 laps ▼ 18 FASTEST LAP James Courtney 1m 10.7377s Points: McLaughlin 3872, van Gisbergen 3310, Whincup 3208, Coulthard 3058, Mostert 2879, Reynolds 2694, Waters 2588, Davison 2495, Percat 2445, Holdsworth 2428, Courtney 2275, Pye 2193, Winterbottom 2092, De Pasquale 2015, Slade 1940, Heimgartner 1875, Kelly 1820, Hazelwood 1609, De Silvestro 1564, Golding 1521, Jones 1314, Le Brocq 1277, Jacobson 1176, Stanaway 1146, Randle 742, Caruso 643, Pither 507, Blanchard 499, Smith 461

Newcastle Round 7 Super2

FULLWOOD CAPS OFF TITLE SEASON Race Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Insyde Media BRYCE FULLWOOD capped off an impressive 2019 Super2 campaign with another round victory in Newcastle.

The MW Motorsport driver, who wrapped up the Super2 Series during the penultimate round at Sandown Raceway, arrived in New South Wales with no pressure on his shoulders and then proceeded to collect the Super2 Pole Position award, a race victory and the round honours.

Image Racing’s Jordan Boys also continued his impressive run of form to take his second Super2 career race victory and his first round podium ahead of Thomas Randle, who stood on the bottom step.

It was the Tickford Racing driver Randle who started from pole position for the opening race of the weekend with Fullwood alongside.

Randle slightly bobbled away from the line and it was enough for the Nissan Altima driver to snatch the lead on the approach to Turn 1.

Further back there was a lot of contact out of Turn 1 and on the approach to Turn 2, surprisingly though everyone escaped relatively unscathed.

Towards the midway point Jack Perkins started to suffer big from front locking issues, firstly at Turn 1 on lap 10, then he ran down the escape road at Turn 2 a lap later. This dropped the Eggleston Motorsport driver from fifth to 12th.

At the halfway stage the top three of Fullwood, Randle and Boys had pulled a considerable lead on the rest of the field. But in the closing stages of the 20 lap race Boys closed the gap to Randle, however he was just out range to put the Sandown 500 podium place getter under pressure.

Fullwood took the race victory by 2.9s from Randle who held off the charge of Boys by 0.9s.

Ashley Walsh finished fourth ahead of Kurt Kostecki, Will Brown and Dylan O’Keeffe, who made

W a race and the round win, 2019 Super2 series With Ch Champion Bryce Fullwood finished his title season str strongly. Jordan Boys won the year’s last race (b (below), his second in as many rounds.

it sseven different teams in the top seven.

It was an incredibly tight Sunday qualifying ses session with the top three separated by 0.08 and the top five by less than 0.2s.

0.08s It was Fullwood who took pole position and with it the $2500 cheque for the most poles pole during the course of the season. Boys started start the Sunday race from second, ahead Kostecki, Randle and Zane Goddard. of Ko Once again Fullwood was peerless away On from the line and led into Turn 1 ahead of Boys.

Randle overtook Kostecki on the outside of Turn 1 for third place, while further back Goddard dropped from fifth to seventh behind the Eggleston Motorsport pair of Perkins and Brown.

On lap 2 however Brown tried to hand back sixth to Goddard when he slapped the outside tyre barrier at Turn 1. Goddard got a good run onto the straight but Brown defended the place into Turn 2.

During lap 6 going into Turn 7, on the down change, the rears locked and Brown slid into the wall, his season over.

Approaching the halfway stage Boys began to hone in on the series winner and race leader. On lap 9 Fullwood cracked, making a rare mistake, locking up and running wide at Turn 11, handing the lead to Boys who put his head down and edged away.

Things calmed down from there. On the penultimate lap Jack Smith attempted a move on Chadha at Turn 11, locking up and clouting the side of the Ford Falcon, breaking Chanda’s steering.

Smith was handed a post-race 25s penalty for the incident.

Boys brought his Image Racing Commodore home to take his second win in as many rounds, while Fullwood finished second ahead of Randle who made it three brands in the top three.

Points: Fullwood 1924, K. Kostecki 1502, Randle 1396, Goddard 1347, O’Keeffe 1142

Bryce Fullwood (centre) had a difficult round but still wrapped up the 2019 title.

SUPPORTS Newcastle

TRESEDER RULES NEWCASTLE

Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Insyde Media

KEL TRESEDER did as much as he could by taking the final round of the Aussie Racing Cars Series on the streets of Newcastle, however it couldn’t stop Justin Ruggier from winning his first title in the category.

In Qualifying it was out going champion Joel Heinrich who qualified on pole with Ruggier alongside, while Treseder started from fourth.

In Race 1 Heinrich led Ruggier off the line while Treseder immediately demoted Joshua Anderson to fourth.

On lap 5 Treseder overtook his championship rival and caught leader Heinrich with three laps to go.

Despite Treseder’s best efforts he could not get past the South Australian, Heinrich taking the victory from Treseder and Ruggier.

At the start of a frantic Race 2 Treseder from second on the grid made a better start and was able to snatch the lead off Heinrich around the outside at Turn 1. Also on the opening lap Nick Simmons demoted Ruggier down into fourth position.

As the laps ticked by the top four sat line astern until lap 5, when Simmons made his way past Heinrich at Turn 11 for second. Simmons briefly lost the position

Kel Treseder was the form man at Newcastle, winning the round but not the title. Here fights Justin Ruggier for the lead heading into turn one (left).

after a mistake but regained it on lap 8 and ranged onto the tail of Treseder in the closing laps.

On the penultimate lap Ruggier also made his way through on Heinrich, and then the defending champion’s day quickly got worse when he came to a sudden stop at Turn 11. Treseder held on to take the victory from Simmonds and Ruggier.

The third race was the traditional reverse top 10 grid race but it only took three laps for Ruggier and Treseder to find their way to the front.

Treseder breezed past Ruggier to take the lead just before the safety car was deployed on lap 6, when Troy Jones heavily hit the wall at Turn 9.

From the restart Treseder pulled away to take another victory ahead of Ruggier and Kody Garland.

The final race of the season was interrupted by a number of incidents firstly by Garland who, after taking fourth place on the opening lap, hit the tyre barrier at Turn 1 and resulted in the

deployment of the safety car.

On the restart it became a two horse race between Treseder and Simmonds, but the latter could not get close enough to make a successful move.

The chequered flag was brought out early when Ian Chivas tripped over the Turn 2 kerb and landed on his side, fortunately without injury.

Treseder took the race win from Simmonds, but it was Ruggier who in finishing third did enough to claim the 2019 Aussie Racing Cars title. Treseder took the round from Ruggier and Simmonds.

KING CLEAN SWEEPS TOYOTAS Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Insyde Media

THE CONCLUDING round of the 2019 Toyota 86 Racing Series on the streets of Newcastle was won by Luke King.

However it was Aaron Borg who overcame immense competition to claim his first title in the one make series.

Heading into the final round, 10 drivers were in mathematical contention to win the series, but realistically it was a fight between Borg and Tim Brook, who were separated by only 20 points with 300 up for grabs over the final three races.

It was Brook who claimed pole for the opening race while Borg found himself on the fourth row in seventh.

Off the line Luke King, who started second, made a good gataway but Brook held onto the lead around Turn 1. Into Turn 2 the leader ran a defensive line and missed his braking point, hitting the tyre barrier on the outside. The impact bounced the #1 car back into the path of Dylan Thomas, Luke van Herwaarde and Jarrod Whitty, and all four cars suffered a lot of damage with the result that the safety car was called.

King led Borg and Morse on the restart, with Morse applying pressure to the series leader from the word go. With the race was shortened to a nine lap encounter, King took the victory from Borg, who was able to keep Morse at bay.

The second race of the weekend took place on a wet track and threw up a couple of surprises. From

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fourth position George Gutierrez looked to have been shot out of a gun, taking Morse off the line and then overtaking Borg at Turn 8 on lap 2.

Morse replicated the Turn 8 move on Borg the following lap to take third position on the road, while the championship leader continued to struggle and loose more places as the track dried.

On lap 9 Morse caught and repassed Gutierrez, who began to fade late in the race.

King again greeted the chequered flag ahead of Morse and Gutierrez, while championship leader Borg came home in sixth position which was enough to win the 2019 Toyota 86 Series.

At the start of the final race Morse made the best start but was unable to take the lead off King at Turn 1. On lap 3 at Turn 2 Brook tapped former V8 Ute driver David Sieders into a spin, which resulted in a multiple car incident and a lengthy safety car period.

Brook was handed a drive-through penalty for the collision. Luke King was unthreatened from there and took the race and round win ahead of Morse. Declan Fraser finished the race third but it was Gutierrez who finished third for the round.

ALEXANDER GREAT UTE WIN Report: Gary O’Brien Images: Insyde Media

TOM ALEXANDER confirmed his series win in the ECB SuperUtes with the round eight victory on the streets of Newcastle.

The New Zealander was fastest in qualifying and won the opening race. Carnage in race two decimated the number of finishers where he was second and he followed that up with another runner spot in the last.

Qualifying finished with an accident involving Ben Falk with his Mazda BT50 on its side after riding the tyre bundle at turn 9. Alexander (Isuzu D-MAX) stretched his points margin with five added for taking pole before, holding off Cameron Crick (Mitsubishi Triton) through race one. Ryal Harris (Mazda BT50) placed third after losing out to Crick early on.

Craig Woods (Toyota Hilux) was sent into concrete barrier after a clash with Elliott Barbour (Triton). Woods retired to the pits while Barbour received a 15s penalty which didn’t affect his fifth

place behind Ben Walsh (Triton).

Race two was the reverse grid event where early leader Craig Thompson (Toyota Hilux) yielded to Elliot Barbour (Mitsubishi Triton) and Harris at the end of the opening lap. Then Barbour went into the tyre barrier at turn 1, bounced back out into the path of Harris. Thompson ploughed into Barbour and was subsequently hit by Walsh.

After the safety car and clean up, Craig Woods (Hilux) went on to win ahead of Alexander (Isuzu D-MAX), Cameron Crick (Triton), Chris Formosa (Ford Ranger) and Layton Barker (Hilux).

Of the four involved in the accident, only Harris made it out for race three, where Crick who finished second in the series, won. Harris was first across the line but was penalised 15s for a clash that turned Alexander around when he was leading. Alexander resumed in fourth which became third when he passed Woods on the final lap.

NASCAR KYLE BUSCH TAKES HIS SECOND NASCAR TITLE KYLE BUSCH has taken his second NASCAR Cup Series title after winning the deciding Championship 4 race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Up against Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., it was a quality trio that Busch overcame to win the 2019 series.

Busch’s #18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew decided on a clever pit strategy and when the sun set the car came alive, resulting in an unstoppable force which took the race win.

“We have a great race team and a great

owner,” said Busch.

“Everybody always says you never give up and we’re no different, sometimes we may not be the best, sometimes we may not have the right track position. Today we had a really good car and I could race around and move around.”

The 2019 season for Kyle Busch has been another series in which Busch has been in the headlines for his amazing victories, collisions and his infamous outbursts.

However the 34-year-old was on the pace all season claiming the regular season after

FORMULA E

become unbalanced and Truex fell to as low as 13th, one lap down.

The 2017 champion recovered to be in contention come the final laps, but he was no match for his teammate finishing 4.5s behind Busch in second.

Hamilin looked set to perform a late race surge but had to make an unscheduled stop due to an overheating engine with 45 laps to go.

The sole non-JBR Toyota of Denny Hamilin finished in fourth place to claim third in the title for Stewart-Haas Racing.

WTCR

SIMS EMERGES AS EARLY FORMULA E FAVOURITE SEASON SIX of Formula E kicked off with a bang on the streets of Saudi Arabia with the opening two races throwing up shocks and surprises at every turn.

Customer Audi team Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird won the opening race, with Alexander Sims taking his debut Formula E win in Race 2.

In Race 1 BMW I Andretti Motorsport driver Sims who took pole position and led the opening laps from Stoffel Vandoorne, driving for the new Mercedes Formula E team.

The first half of the race was very calm and saw Sims lead Vandoorne, Nyck de Vries, Bird, Mortara and Andre Lotterer.

With 17 minutes of the race to go Bird activated his final Attack Mode and breezed by de Vries.

The following lap Vandoorne was forced to defend from Bird; in an attempt to keep the British driver behind he fired up the inside of race leader Sims. The aggressive move resulted in Vandoorne and Bird both overtaking Sims.

With 10 minutes to go Bird made a successful move to take the lead away from Vandoorne.

Bird took the win ahead of Porsche driver Lotterer and Vandoorne in the Mercedes,

taking four wins.

The 2015 Cup Series champion was there or thereabouts in the playoffs in which he claimed enough points to qualify for the Championship 4 decider, his fifth in succession. However he had not taken a race victory since early June, this was until the final race.

Early in the race Truex dominated leading 98 of the first 120 laps before a pit stop blunder at the end of Stage 2 meant that the left wheels ended up on the right and the right on the left, this caused the car to

who each gave their respective German marques a debut podium.

Pandemonium best describes the second race of the weekend. From pole Sims took the win but behind it was chaos.

Early on Sims led Sebastien Buemi, Lucas di Grassi and Antonio Felix da Costa, who was on a charge. The Portuguese driver overtook di Grassi, before tapping Buemi into a spin for which he received a drivethrough penalty.

In an attempt to overtake di Grassi, Race 1 winner Bird found himself on the outside and was tapped by Jaguar’s Mitch Evans, before Pascal Wehrlein hit the Briton a second time, the impact putting Bird in the wall and out of the race. Evans received a drive-through penalty for the initial contact.

Di Grassi temporarily fell to fourth when he activated Attack Mode before blasting back past Vandoorne.

Sims took the race victory, while behind the Brazilian still with attack mode was unable to get through on Sims’ BMW teammate Maximilian Guenther, who held onto second position.

Points: Sims 35, Vandoorne 30, Bird 26, Rowland 22, di Grassi 18, Lotterer 18, Mortara 18, Frijns 10, de Vries 8, Abt 8

MULLER ROMPS INTO CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION IN 2019 WTCR TITLE THE PENULTIMATE round of the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) on the legendary streets of Macau closed the championship fight up even further.

Yvan Muller took two race victories in his Lynk and Co to catapult himself right into championship contention, while his brand mate Andy Priaulx took the final race win.

In the opening race off the weekend Muller converted his pole position to victory beating home Norbert Michelisz who re-took the series lead as a result.

Muller made a good getaway from the line and was never seriously pressured by the Hyundai of Michelisz throughout the encounter.

Lynk and Co drivers Priaulx and Yann Ehrlacher worked together to push fourth placed starter Ceccon down to fifth while their teammate Thed

Bjork, who sat third in the standings dropped to seventh place in the race behind Rob Huff.

Ehrlacher sacrificed his race for Bjork and Priaulx followed dropping from third out of the penultimate corner.

Muller took the win from Michelisz but further back it was Ceccon who emerged in third ahead of Huff, Bjork, Priaulx and Frederic Vervisch took a seventh ahead off Ehrlacher.

Muller claimed Race 2 after more Lynk and Co team orders were deployed to propel the Frenchman closer to the series lead.

From the front row Bjork and Ehrlacher made good starts while Muller shot up from fifth into third passing title contender Guerrieri and third placed Ceccon. Before the first lap had been completed both Bjork and Ehrlacher stepped aside to let the four-time World

Touring Car Champion into the lead.

At the conclusion of the race Muller beat home Bjork, Ceccon, Guerrieri and Johan Kristoffersson.

It was an intense final race in which Briton Priaulx took his first WTCR victory after holding back long-time rival Rob Huff.

“It was a tough race,” said Priaulx. “Huffy was on my back all the way and didn’t give me any breathing space. It’s good to be back where I used to be. I respect the team for letting me push for the win.”

The final round takes place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on December 15th.

Standings: Michelisz 316, Guerrieri 307, Muller 305, Bjork 288, Ehrlacher 209, Tarquini 205, Azcona 199, Girolami 198, Huff 197, Vernay 196

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S5000 Round 2 The Bend

MARTIN RISES TO THE TOP Report: Heath McAlpine Images: S5000/Dan Kalisz

COMING OFF a successful debut for Australia’s newest category at Sandown in September, where 13-cars debuted and former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello praised the concept, at the second event at The Bend Motorsport Park the field was down to 10.

But while that was disappointing, the quality of the field certainly wasn’t.

Young Supercars star Anton De Pasquale returned to his open-wheeler roots, which had taken him to success in Europe, and he was joined by recent Sandown podium winner Thomas Randle. He had also been one of many ex-pats trying to forge a path to Formula 1 before budget shortfalls forced him to focus on a Supercars career at home.

Randle had won the Toyota Racing Series in 2017 and was a multiple race winner in British F3, culminating in an invitation to be a BRDC Rising Star.

Sports car ace James Winslow was another addition to the S5000 field at The Bend, driving the chassis Alex Davison had crashed at Sandown, while Braydan Willmington was a wide-eyed debutant with a speedway background who continued a family legacy led by his father, former touring car driver Garry.

Returning drivers John Martin, Will Brown, James Golding, Ricky Capo, Tim Macrow and Michael Gibson were all keen to impress after jumping into the deep end at Sandown.

It was the two newbies, however, in the form of Randle and De Pasquale who went toe-to-toe in qualifying with a mistake from Tickford’s Super2 driver deciding the result.

On everyone’s mind was the lap

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John Martin greeted the flag first in the Feature Race (above) while Supercars young guns Thomas Randle and Anton de Pasquale lit up the circuit on Saturday (below).

record. Could it fall just like it had done at Sandown? The mark, set earlier this year

by John Magro in the Australia Formula 3 Series, was a 1m 40.062s but the S5000s remained 1s off that pace.

Qualifying was exciting. Randle set the bar at a 1m 41.674s, before Martin lowered it to a 1m 41.628s, then the mark was eclipsed by the former TRS winner to the tune of 0.3s. De Pasquale left his run until the very end as the session, which was interrupted by a red flag for Macrow after he went off at a dust covered Turn 13.

It was De Pasquale who lowered the benchmark to a 1m 41.273s but Randle was going quicker, before a mistake during his middle sector ruined the lap, leaving his Team BRM cohort pole.

Saturday’s opening qualifying heat saw drama even before the start when Randle jammed his finger in a door while look at a TCR car, leaving it needing ice. However he was right to go an hour later when the race began, as he lit off the line to take the

lead.

De Pasquale alongside struggled and had to defend from Martin, leaving Randle to create a comfortable gap.

TCR Australia series winner Brown was in trouble on cold tyres, quick reflexes catching a loose exiting Turn 13, holding onto fifth.

De Pasquale had broken away from Martin, though the AGI Sport driver began reeling him in before Randle took a 9.8s victory ahead of De Pasquale, Martin and a fast closing Golding.

After winning a race at Sandown, Macrow struggled with an electronics bug in eighth.

For the second qualifying heat he had pole and the fault was rectified for Sunday’s action.

Will Brown and Tim Macrow battled for most of the weekend.

Winslow started alongside former Gold Star winner Macrow on the front row but Macrow made the perfect jump to lead into Turn 1. Golding’s start was even better and he leapt from Row 3 to second ahead of Winslow by the time the field arrived at the hairpin.

For the two pacesetters from the previous day, it was a struggle.

Randle engaged in an entertaining battle with Capo after changes overnight improved the Garry Rogers Motorsport-run machine, while De Pasquale tore an end wing plate off, compromising his race.

Golding was locked onto the rear of Macrow and attempted a pass at Turn 3. For mere moments the Garry Rogers Motorsport driver held the lead, but he ran wide and the latter was able to consolidate victory to the tune of 1.16s.

Winslow was running a strong third but spun off at Turn 9, handing Martin the final podium slot behind Golding.

The final 16-lap Feature Race was held in hot conditions, which was not so good for Martin and Brown as both had jumped straight out of their TCR machines into the S5000s.

Action started early when De Pasquale jumped the start, later having 10s added to his race time. An incident with Randle also

dropped him from a likely win to fourth. His opening race sparring partner Randle fared not much better when he ran wide at Turn 1, dropping to sixth.

The safety car was soon needed when Golding and Macrow tangled at the hairpin in attempted pass by the GRM driver, causing enough damage to put both cars out of the race.

De Pasqaule led but his 10s penalty left second placed Martin in the effective lead ahead of Brown and a recovering Randle.

The challenge for De Pasquale was to create a margin to retain his race win but it went unrealised as the margin was just over 4s.

The battle was hot behind, with Martin, Brown and Randle duking it out for the win.

The first mistake was made by Brown when he ran wide at the hairpin, allowing Randle through, then only a matter of half a lap later he almost took the lead.

Martin was twitchy through Turn 16 every lap and Randle decided to take advantage when the AGI Sport S5000 ran wide, but a move around the outside at the penultimate corner failed to come off and Martin held on for victory by just 0.714s ahead of Randle, Brown and De Pasquale.

After a competitive showing at Sandown, Martin won the weekend thanks to his Feature Race win.

Thomas Randle (above) took out second in the Feature Race, also enjoying a spirited battle with Ricky Capo (below) during the second qualifying heat on Sunday. Capo finished fifth in the Feature.

RESULTS: 1 Martin,

2 Randle, 3 Brown, 4 De Pasquale, 5 Capo

TCR Round 7 The Bend

ACTION PACKED TCR FINALE Report: Heath McAlpine Images: TCR Australia/Daniel Kalisz

ALTHOUGH THE TCR Australia title had already been decided in the favour of Will Brown and the HMO Customer Racing team, the battle for second was a four-way fight, which see-sawed dramatically throughout the TCR finale weekend.

There was added interest too with two new models adding intrigue at The Bend, though both were hampered by gremlins not sorted until Sunday.

Direct from France, the Peugeot 308 TCR was an exciting addition to the field and with factory driver Aurelien Comte behind the wheel, it was expected to shake up the front runners. But a problem with the wiring loom necessitated a replacement flown in direct from France, which only arrived on Saturday night.

Returnee Tim Brook had tasted TCR at Winton in the third Wall Racing Honda Civic Type R, but at The Bend he arrived in something different, the Garage1 prepared Cupra Leon TCR. The Cupra had fuel problems that only allowed four or five laps to be completed before it stopped, but this was cured by Sunday thanks to a replacement fuel system.

The durability of the TCR machinery was tested early at the final round, when the Garry Rogers Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR of Jordan Cox had a gear linkage break, while former GT Academy winner Matt Simmons broke a driveshaft in the Milldun Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX TCR, and Tony D’Alberto’s fight for second in the series ended when

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Nathan Morcom (top) and Aaron Cameron (below) each took their maiden TCR Australia victories on Sunday. The Peugeot 308 TCR had a troubled debut at The Bend.

he stopped on track during the two practice sessions held on Friday.

The ever-improving Kelly Racing Holden Astra TCR of Andre Heimgartner topped the day, but in Saturday’s qualifying things returned to the status quo.

Brown and MPC Volkswagen Golf TCR driver Aaron Cameron set the pace early as the two GRM Renault Megane RS TCRs struck trouble. A broken engine mount sidelined James Moffat and after setting the fastest first sector Chris Pither spun, then brake failure curtailed his later running.

Although his Ash Seward Motorsport Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR was suffering from power steering gremlins, Dylan O’Keeffe snagged pole position with a 1m 55.621s. However, he didn’t take up his place on the grid as the team had to replace the faulty engine,

Jordan Cox again impressed in the Alfa Romeo (above), while Tim Brook finished in the top 10 driving the Cupra (below left ) and Chris Pither charged on Sunday (below) in the Renault. Will Brown and HMO Customer Racing enjoyed the spoils of victory.

POINTS: Brown leaving Brown by himself on the front row for race 1.

ASM also had troubles with its new Giulietta Veloce TCR driven by sports car driver James Allen, when he failed to leave the grid on the warm up lap.

The start to Race 1 was poor for Brown and the series winner was forced to defend from a hungry pack behind heading into Turn 1. The fight for second in the series was down to three due to O’Keeffe’s problem, but the remaining three contenders were on-track with D’Alberto holding out Cameron and Nathan Morcom in the second HMO Customer Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR. The opening lap was a flurry of activities, but ended under safety car when the MPC Audi RS3 LMS driven

by Liam McAdam hit the dirt and collided heavily with the passenger side of Chelsea Angelo’s Kelly Racing Holden Astra TCR, while her teammate Heimgartner also spun in avoidance.

The biggest winners of all this were Moffat and Wall Racing’s John Martin, who both started well back, but were now in the top 10.

Brown led off at the restart and nobody had an answer for him as the i30N TCR skipped to a 2.2s advantage.

Teammate Morcom then had a wheel fall off, leaving D’Alberto and Cameron not only battling for second in the race, but also in the title.

Cameron had pace over the DJR Team Penske endurance driver and passed him at Turn 18, as he started to eat into Brown’s advantage. D’Alberto

733, D’Alberto 557, Cameron 546, Morcom 500, O’Keeffe 483

was in trouble but Pither behind was as well, with an engine problem negated his attack as he had to settle for fourth.

The order stayed that way until the flag.

Sunday was a new day and for Pither an engine change was completed overnight, dropping him to the very back of the grid.

There were some big names joining him there including O’Keeffe, Allen, Comte and Morcom, all with a tale of woe, leading to some big comebacks.

Brown made a better jump at the start of Race 2, leading Cameron and D’Alberto, though the second Honda of Martin ran wide at Turn 1 in a race where the Type Rs struggled on a full fuel load.

The two new marques made steady progress from the back with Comte 13th and Brook 10th, while Pither struggled to make inroads and was

14th.

There was major pressure at the front as Cameron eyed a maiden race win, but Brown was still in his way and Cox was also starting to enter calculations after disposing of D’Alberto, as was Moffat in the lead Renault.

Cameron took his chance at Turn 11 as Brown made a mistake and ran wide, quickly establishing a 1.9s gap.

As if O’Keeffe’s weekend couldn’t get worse, a suspension failure dropped him not only out of the race but the rest of the day’s running as the stricken Alfa Romeo arrived back at the garage too late to execute the repairs needed.

Brown wasn’t comfortable and was coming under increased heat from Cox and Moffat, but it was the series leader who took second, 7.97s behind Cameron as Cox completed the podium.

Cox led into Turn 1 after making a demon start in the final race of the season. He won a tough opening corner, four-wide on approach.

Cameron dropped to fifth in the exchange after having excessive wheelspin off the line, but a turbo problem began to hamper his race and left D’Alberto the last man standing in the battle for second in the points.

After starting the day at the back, Pither was now a superb fifth and Comte was eighth in the Peugeot.

The fight at the front was between two GRM drivers in different marques of car, Cox holding his own despite Moffat’s pressure, while Morcom had also made a big comeback to be making an impression on the leaders, leaving Brown in fourth.

Then attrition started to play its part.

First Russell Ingall dropped out of the 10 with a driveline problem, then Moffat broke an engine mount out on the Elfin Straight at the back of the circuit and pulled off.

The very next lap Cox broke a driveshaft, leaving Morcom in the lead to fend off a rapidly closing Pither, which is the way it stayed to the flag with Brown edging Heimgartner for fourth.

After all its problems, Brook gave the Cupra a top 10 finish, overtaking a struggling Cameron right on the line.

With promises of more marques and star drivers for 2020, TCR Australia looks set to build on this momentum when it kicks off again at the Australian Grand Prix in March.

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NATIONALS wrap n en rie bri ry o’b rry arr gar ga y g by d b ed ile pil omp com co c

JONES WRAPS UP GT3 CUP TITLE Race Report: Garry O’Brien Image: Insyde Media

SHERRIN WINS OUTRIGHT APSC TITLE FIGHT Race Report: Garry O’Brien Image: Insyde Media

OUT OF the four teams in contention, it was Iain Sherrin who was able to clinch the outright win in the MRF Tyres Australian Production Car Series at The Bend on November 16-17.

Lindsay Kearns and Coleby Cowhan were the respective winners of the first two one-hour races in the A2 class Ford Mustang GT they shared. They moved to second place, a mere 16 points behind series leader Chris Lillis in the AM1 class HSV Clubsport VF he shared with Nathan Callaghan.

Kearns made a slow start to race one, before storming through to the lead and winning by 6s. Second went to Dimitri Agathos (B1 Subaru Imprezza WRX STi) with Brad Carr (A2 BMW M3) third. Mark Eddy (A2 Audi TT RS) finished fourth but a blown clutch ended his weekend.

Lillis was fifth ahead of Duane West (HSV GTS) as Grant Sherrin (BMW M4) battled a broken control arm for seventh.

In race two it was again the Mustang, this time with Cowhan driving. Callaghan was second with Carr third. Matt Boylan took over the WRX for fourth. In the last two minutes, West was able to wrestle the A1 and fifth outright off Iain Sherrin, the M4 having dramas with a broken shock.

Behind a clear-cut victory by Grant Sherrin in race three, Kearns finished second ahead of Boylan, Car and Kaden Olsen (Hyundai i30N). Lillis finished 10th after taking an extra (besides the compulsory) pitstop to replace a buckled wheel.

Race four went to Carr ahead of Iain Sherrin and Agathos. Over the second half, Callaghan tenaciously held onto the lead until a puncture deflated his victory chance, thus Lillis had to settle for the outright runner-up spot while Agathos was third. A broken rear hub for Cowhan extinguished his and Kearns’ title chase and left them fourth overall.

Fourth in the final race was West ahead of Iain Salteri (Volkswagen Golf Type R) which earned him and team mate Cem Yucel the teams’ award.

Besides Iain Sherrin, Lillis, Kearns/ Cowhan and Agathos/Boylan, other class winners were Darren Forrest/Paul Razum (AM2, Holden Commodore), Frank Mammarella and Olsen (C1), Kyle Gurton (C2, Toyota 86), and Tom Needham (D, Mazda 3 SP23).

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IT TOOK just the first two races and two fourth spots at the sixth and final round for Harri Jones to wrap up the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Australia Series at The Bend.

He consolidated his season victory over Aaron Love, with Max Vidau third. Sam Shahin overcame early difficulties to secure the TAG Heuer Pro Am title, ahead of Brett Boulton while David Grieg won Class B ahead of Andrew Goldie.

Love won the start of race one to lead Vidau for the first five laps. The latter mounted a challenge at turn 1 the next time through and held on to the lead for the duration, as Ryan Suhle maintained third ahead of Jones and Christian Pancione.

Tom Taplin was next across the line but was later disqualified, leaving Brett Boulton fifth and first in Pro Am. Ollie Shannon followed ahead of Ross McGregor, who was second in Pro Am ahead of Michael Loccisano.

Class leader Shahin suffered a fried clutch on the start line and was a long last before working his way through to 10th and fourth in class.

Next was David Greig, who was the Class B winner after Goldie went off track on lap 5.

Vidau was the early leader of race two, ahead of Love, Suhle, Jones and Pancione. Vidau continued to lead until he slipped off the track at turn 13 halfway through the race, resuming in fourth spot.

Love won from Suhle while Vidau

Aaron Love won the weekend, while Brett Boulton was a Pro Am front runner.

relegated Jones at turn 1 on lap 8. Pancione was next and there was a long gap to Shahin, who made a brilliant recovery to head

Taplin, Boulton Boulton, Shannon and home Taplin Loccisano. It was tight in Class B where Goldie was just 0.34s ahead of Greig.

W With the series decided in Pro and Pr Pro Am, race three went to Love who le led all the way. Suhle was second in initially but was passed by Vidau bbefore the end of the first lap and fi finished third.

Shahin was fourth for the opening two t laps but could not hold off Jones or Pancione, who ultimately J finished fourth ahead of the title f winner. Shannon was next in front of Boulton. Grant Williams finished ninth nin after McGregor and Loccisano clashed at turn 1. Goldie again headed Greig as they tailed 10th placed Rob Woods to the flag.

Harri Jones became the first winner of the GT3 Cup Challenge from McElrea Racing.

SECONDS SECURE SERIES TWO SECOND-PLACE finishes for Queenslander David Barram were enough for him to secure the Australian Prototype Series over the two race winners at round five at The Bend, Mark Laucke and JohnPaul Drake.

After qualifying fastest, Laucke (Wolf Tornado) appeared set to take race one after grabbing the early race lead ahead of Barram (Chiron LMP3-004).

Daniel Gonzalez (Tornado) was a close third before mounting a successful challenge on Barram entering turn 1 on lap 5. However, he contacted Laucke at the corner and effectively put both of them out.

Barram checked up and allowed Drake (Wolf G808CN) through to a lead he wouldn’t lose.

Race Report: Garry O’Brien Image: Insyde Media

Third was Andreas Laskaratos (G808CN) ahead of the similarly mounted Glen Stallbaum, Carmelo Bonaventura (Radical SR3), Ian Eldridge (Stohr WF1), Phil Hughes (SR3) and Michael Naguib (West WR1000).

Barram grabbed the race two lead from the outset.

Drake held second until challenged by Laucke at turn 17. There was contact between the pair with Drake suffering radiator damage as Laucke spun and resumed in last spot.

Meanwhile the G808CNs piloted by Stallbaum and Laskaratos jumped to second and third respectively.

But Laucke was on the charge through the field. He was up to second by lap 6 but then spun back to

fourth at turn 18.

Again, he set out to track down those ahead, eventually taking the lead and winning ahead of Barram, Stallbaum, Laskaratos, Eldridge and Hughes.

The latter came out the winner in a three-way dice with Bonaventura and Naguib.

Naguib spun at turn 17 and retired with front spoiler damage from a bump from Hughes, who had nowhere to go. Bonaventura benefitted but had a radiator hose come adrift and pulled to the pits at the same time.

The win for Laucke elevated him to second overall in the series at the expense of Drake who, despite not finishing, held onto third.

GRIPPING AMRS FINALE

Race Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Neil Hammond

THE CONCLUDING round of the Australian Motor Racing Series was held at Winton Motor Raceway on November 16-17, with a thrilling finish to the GT-1 Australia season.

GT1 Australia

THE THRILLING title battle went down to the wire between Matt Stoupas in an Audi R8 and John Morriss in a Porsche 911 GT3 R. In staying out of trouble and collecting three solid finishes, Morriss scored enough points to win the title.

In qualifying Morriss pipped Stoupas by 0.09s however it was the Audi driver who went on to take the victory in the first race by only 0.4s, with Geoff Taunton rounding out the top three just 0.6s behind the winner.

As a result of finishing first and second in the opening encounter, Stoupas and Morriss had to sit stationary longest during the compulsory pit stops in Race 2. The lengthy stops demoted them to the back of the field as the clock ticked down late in the second race.

Both made their way forward at a rate of knots, however the KFC sponsored car of Stoupas then tangled with the Marc of Geoff Taunton at Turn 1, resulting in both spinning off the road.

Stoupas suffered damage but he managed to limp to the finish in ninth.

Rod Salmon took victory but was handedd a 15s penalty giving Hadrian Morrall the win from Adam Hargraves and John Morriss, who in finishing third pulled out a big championship lead heading into the final race.

As a result of finishing last in the second race, Stoupas had a much shorter pit stop for the final race and took full advantage, taking the win

J Morriss finished on top after a thrilling John finale to GT1 (above). Rohan Little and Sven BBurchartz finished on level points, but it was the fformer that was victorious due to winning the final race.

C Chilby in his Legend car.

Cotton recovered from the Race 1 heartbreak, q quickly jumping from fourth into the lead and o obliterating the field, winning by 10.5s. He then w convincingly in Race 3 by 5s. won In the reverse grid race Cotton charged through t field to take the race victory ahead of White, the w by finishing second took the series victory. who With the pressure off in the final race White w still unable to touch Cotton, who went onto was w by 4.7s with Boyd once again rounding out win t podium. the by a comfortable 12.5s. A cautious Morriss came home second to wrap up not only the round but more importantly the title. Jake Camilleri rounded out the season with a top three in his Marc car.

Porsche IROC / Group S

BOTH ROHAN Little and Sven Burchartz finished equal on points in the Porsche IROC class but

Little took the honours by winning the final race. Andrew Whiteside rounded out the podium.

In Group S Doug Barbour clean-swept the round with three victories, Alexander Webster was second and David Cunneen third.

Stockcars

IN THE Stockcars Stephen Chilby won all four races to comfortably take the round. A second and three thirds was enough for David Hender to claim second in the round with Robert Marchese third. Brett Mitchell finished second in three of the four races, but a DNF in Race 2 cost him dear and as a result he finished in fifth place for the round.

Stephen Chilby dominated in Stockcars.

Miniature Race Cars

CRAIG WHITE may have lost the round battle but he won the war by taking the 2019 Miniature Race Cars series ahead of Craig Cotton.

In the opening race of the weekend Cotton led most of the way but a mechanical issue on the final lap saw him drop out of the lead and down to fourth position. This gave White the win from Jack Boyd in his Aussie Racing Car and Stephen

T Thunder Sports/Aussie Racing Utes R

THE THUNDER Sports series was won by Mark Tracey in his BMW E36 but he was kept honest throughout by Cory Gillett in his Nissan Silvia.

The opening race of the weekend was controlled by Matt Sears in his BMW M3. Tracey finished 1.6s behind but he was able to edge further ahead of championship rival Gillett, who finished in third.

The trio finished in the same order in the second and third races and this set up a title deciding final race.

The final race was full of twists and turns which saw Sears fail to make the start with brake troubles. Tracey made a good start and at one stage held a 15s lead, however in two laps this was whittled down to just 4s. Tracey picked the pace back up and went on to win the race, round and championship, while Gillett came home second.

Brent Edwards finished third in the race but Sears, with his three wins, stood on the final step of the round podium.

In the Aussie Racing Utes, Glenn Hancox took the round win with three race victories ahead of Gerard Maggs and Clint Henderson.

“Coming up at the nation’s action and spectator tracks” Wakefield Park

www.wakefieldpark.com.au November 30 Revolution Motorsport December 1 WPM Trackschool Track Day December 5 PR tech December 6 Speed Off The Street/Test & Tune December 11 GEAR

Winton

www.wintonraceway.com.au November 29 Winton Enduro Testing Only November 30-December 1 Winton Enduro Decmeber 2 BJR December 5-9 SAE December 12 Tickford Racing

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s w e n Y A SPEEDW

50 AutoAction FEATURE

SWEET OUTLAW SERIES BRAD SWEET is Australia bound after being officially crowned the 2019 World of Outlaws Sprintcar Series winner and pocketing US$150,000 for his efforts.

He narrowly beat Donny Schatz, who is also heading for our shores, by four points for the title after 72 races in the closest points battle in the Series’ history. It delivered Kasey Kahne Racing its second World of Outlaws championship.

The KKR team won its first Outlaws title in 2013 with Daryn Pittman, who also edged out Schatz for the title by 14 points.

“It’s a dream come true to win a World of Outlaws championship,” said Sweet, who hits Valvoline Raceway in Sydney from Boxing Day. “Every time I thought we had a good points cushion, Donny would come back up and pass us. As much as I hated running against him because he is just so damn good, he actually made me better as a driver. A 10 time Series Champion is not going down that easily.”

It’s been a remarkable year for the Californian-born Sweet, who also captured the $150,000 to win Kings Royal at Eldora, along with 15 other trips to Victory Lane in 2019.

Image: Richard Hathaway

His crew chief Eric Prutzman was named Crew Chief of the Year. KKR’s chassis builder, Maxim Racing, won the Chassis Builder of the Year Award and the team’s engine builder, Cappetta Engines, won the Engine Builder of the Year Award.

Australian Carson Macedo was officially named the 2019 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year.

For Schatz, a 10-time Series champion,

MITCHELL BROOME added to his father’s 50th birthday celebrations with his fourth win of the season, stamping himself as one of the current and in-form drivers in Australia.

The likable 22-year-old tyre technician, who hails from Mount Gambier, is sweeping all before him and his very impressive season now sees him with three wins and a second place from just four starts.

His victories have been at Bordertown, Murray Bridge and Avalon speedways, where he won the annual Avalon Invitational for Wingless Sprints.

It was his first feature win at Avalon Raceway, after previously grabbing two podium finishes there.

“I’m just really confident in the car at the moment,” Broome told Auto Action.

“Last year I ran third in the Invitational and we got invited back and I hadn’t won in Victoria last year, now I have cemented myself into it for next year.”

He puts his purple patch of success down to some work on the car and that extra confidence from winning.

“My dad (Andrew) turned 50 the day after winning at Tolmer Speedway (Bordertown, SA), so that will always be a memorable win for us all.

“It’s good to drive, it’s a real credit to my dad and my team, that’s’ really been a key to things already this season.

“The lowest I have started this year is fourth and I have not finished worse than second. I just hope that it all continues, but as we know Motorsport can bite back.”

Broome is aiming at the South Australian and Victorian state titles and the tough Super Series across southern Australia, and is also eyeing off a trip to Kalgoorlie for the national championships in March.

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it was his 14th consecutive year finishing either first or second in the Series standings.

He will begin his Australian campaign at Brisbane’s Archerfield Speedway from December 26.

The 2020 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprintcar Series will commence on February 7 at the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida.

2019 FINAL STANDINGS: Brad Sweet 9998, Donny Schatz 9994, David Gravel 9916, Daryn Pittman 9652, Logan Schuchart 9646, Carson Macedo 9308, Sheldon Haudenschild 9184, Ian Madsen 9180, Shane Stewart 9154, Brent Marks 8870. 14th Kerry Madsen 4750, 24th James McFadden 2624, 41st Lynton Jeffrey 1312, 48th Jessie Attard 1162.

BROOME SWEEPING AUSTRALIA

Image: Ray Ritter

Image: Geoff Rounds

AUSSIES FOR NZ SERIES TWO OF Australia’s best drivers will represent Australia in New Zealand early next month, for the 15th running of the International Sprintcar Series.

Fresh from his maiden win in the Victorian Sprintcar Championship Jamie Veal and two-time national champion David Murcott will race against American and New Zealand competitors beginning in Auckland from December 7 for a week.

“I’ll be going back again with Murcy (Murcott) as a teammate, it should be good,” Veal told Auto Action.

“I like racing there and this will be my fourth trip across the ditch and we’re looking to fly the flag for Australia against some of the best that are coming.”

Veal of Warrnambool and Murcott, who also lives in the Speedway-mad

Image: Richard Hathaway

region, both started on the front row for the 52nd running, 30-lap feature, a race victory that had eluded the star 31-year-old driver.

Victoria’s number one is also a title his father Ken had won back in 1991 and now the Veal household can lay claim to having two Victorian champions - a first in the state titles.

Murcott eventually had to settle for second place while Darren

Mollenoyux, who started the A-main in sixth, was not far behind him in third.

A relieved Veal said it was “good to finally get one back on the old bloke (his father).

“I’m really happy to get it (the Victorian Title),” he said.

“I have been second a fair few times and I have been following Murcott over the line the last couple of years, so to beat him is pretty cool.”

BEN ELLEMENT had a near perfect run to be crowned the 38th winner of the annual Western Australian sprintcar King of Wings and has given himself a realistic chance at becoming season champion. He hardly put a foot wrong at the Perth Motorplex and recorded his first win in the Muir Motorsports #53 machine with a 13.975 second lap good enough to claim the overall Quick Time award. From there he took a second and a fourth in the heats and started on pole for the 40-lap feature race, that featured a mid-race infield pit stop, and he went on to win the event from an in-form Callum Williamson and Daniel Harding.

Image: Gary Reid

SYDNEY SPEEDWAY STILL IN LIMBO

SIX WEEKS in and it appears no closer to Sydney getting a new Speedway.

Australian speedway has been in shock since the news that current venue at Granville will be demolished to make way for the new Sydney Metro West’s stabling and maintenance facility.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said construction work will begin mid next year, commencing at the Bays Precinct, to prepare the site for major tunneling works.

A recent meeting organised by the State Government with the Western Sydney Motorsport Park has indicated that the only parcel of land available within the SMSP would be at the bottom end of the Sydney Dragway.

Image: Gary Reid This is just half of what is currently used in Granville and appears not to be workable. In a release issued by Sydney Parklands Trust by December 1, 2019 then it will not Valvoline Speedway it has said: “We have a great site that for meet the September 2021 deadline for a seamless transition.

“This may require the Speedway community to take all intents and purposes is ready to go. We are seeking an more drastic measures to show the Government what this urgent meeting with the Minister and Sydney Metro to attempt closure would mean for us and take our transporters to NSW to let common sense prevail.”

Parliament House.”

If no suitable parcel of land is located within the Western

RANKIN WINS WILLSHER CUP AN OLD, cheap chassis has helped propel Tim Rankin to a dominant victory in one of Australia’s most prestigious races in the Formula 500 division.

Driving a 2015 model chassis he bought for just $100, Rankin led from startto-finish in the annual 20-lap Jack Willsher Cup at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool.

From pole position the 31-year-old stormed to victory ahead of Australian champion Buckingham and Jordan Rae, Image: Geoff Rounds in his comeback to the sport.

Rankin said car problems and didn’t have it all night. It was encountered during the night made a fault in the power steering unit the victory all the sweeter. somewhere and it was noticeable.

“I’m buggered and the old arms We just had to rely on human power are sore,” the Simpson-based racer steering. said.

“We had problems all night but you “I had no power steering in it are always going to have them first

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night out. It’s one of those things where you can hit the sweet-spot and the car is good.”

The former dairy farmer, who now works for a fertilizer company, rated it among one of his best wins in the sport.

“It’s pretty well up there, especially with the calibre of cars these days,” he said.

“Everything is that even today, so it just comes down to a bit of driver ability and a lot of setting up.”

The former Sprintcar driver is aiming at a major tilt in the national championships from December 20 at his home track.

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RYAN JONES found some early season form and won the Bill Wigzell Memorial that doubled as round three of the Ultimate Speedway Challenge at Murray Bridge Speedway. After qualifying second in his heat group, and a third and fourth in qualifying races, Jones locked in for ninth in the feature. The benefit of cautions and one lucky escape saw Jones reel in race leader Jamie Veal and he went on to win with Veal in second and Andrew Scheuerle was third.

A TOUGH battle with the weather at Nyora Raceway saw a superb effort by officials and teams to complete 45 of 48 races on their schedule. Jamie Paull won the Sports Sedan Showdown while brothers Linken and River Paterson won the SSA Junior Sedan Cup for Top Stars and New Stars. Father and son combination Jeff and Mitch Blencowe won the Standard Saloon 20/20.

JAMES MCFADDEN showed all his driving class to win the 2019 $10,000-to-win Sprintcar Jackpot Invitational at Avalon Raceway. He was forced to work hard for the win after Brock Hallett passed him for the lead mid-race, but McFadden quickly responded and eventually grabbed the lead back until Hallett’s chase for first ended against the wall just one corner shy of a solid runner-up finish. Jock Goodyer grabbed second after working his way through some solid opposition, with Corey McCullagh completing the podium.

Image: Richard Hathaway POPULAR AMERICAN sprint car racer McKenna Haase is headed Down Under to race in the Ultimate Sydney Speedweek at Valvoline Raceway Parramatta from December 26. “I’m really excited to make my first trip to Australia. I think it’s every driver’s dream to race down there and I can’t wait to line up with Brad (Sweet), Aaron (Reutzel) and Carson (Macedo) for Sydney Speedweek,” Haase said. She will pilot the Maxim chassis #U55 for car-owners Matt and Sharmane Thomas, and has made a name for herself for many reasons including becoming the first woman to win an A-Main at the famed Knoxville Raceway.

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p ra w S L A NATION

compiled by garry o’brien

ISLAND THRILS AND SPILLS BEAUTIFUL WEATHER conditions blessed the annual Island Magic event at Phillip Island across the November 2324 weekend. While the usual 50K Plate for Sport Sedans was the headline act, there were sensational storylines across all categories and a spectacular accident during Saturday’s Sports Car race.

SPORTS CARS

WHAT WAS set for 2 x 1-hour races was marred by a high speed accident and a number of badly wounded race cars.

Race 1 went under Safety Car on lap 1

SUPERSPRINTS CLOSE OUT SEASON THE WARWICK District Sporting Car Club hosted the 2019 Super Sprint State Championship at Morgan Park on the November 16-17 and was won by Jason Hore driving his Dallara Formula 3.

Unfortunately, Queensland’s severe bushfire situation and the closure of some roads deterred a number of competitors from participating in the event. In sweltering conditions Saturday’s three runs were completed using the K configuration of the Morgan Park circuit.

The adverse weather conditions ended the weekend for many drivers and teams, forcing early retirements. The Top 10 Shootout held on Saturday afternoon was an exciting new initiative, ten competitors were drawn from a hat and were each given a one lap dash using a handicap system to even

52 AutoAction

after Michael Garner spun his Porsche and was T-boned by Lachlan Harburg’s 997 GT3. Just 20 minutes had elapsed when Gary Higgon’s Audi and Brad Schumacher’s Porsche came together at pit lane entry, sending the latter into a frightening series of barrel rolls before coming to rest on the outside of Turn 12.

The race was declared a non-event.

Despite another safety car after just 5 minutes for Nick Kelly’s badly damaged Porsche, it was another Porsche of J. Martin and Aaron Tebb that saluted in Race 2 ahead of Andrew Macpherson and Ben Porter’s GT3R, with Gary

Higgon and Dean Canto’s Audi fading to third after suffering a deflating tyre on the last lap while challenging for the lead.

SPORTS SEDANS

IT APPEARED that Alex Williams’ Mazda RX-7 would take it up to Daniel Tamasi’s Calibra Chev if qualifying was anything to go by. But the RX7 wouldn’t take any further part after mechanical gremlins struck the Tasmanian’s car.

Tamasi was brutally uncompromising in Race 1’s 8-lapper, winning by almost 26 seconds. Michael Robinson stormed

through the field to finish third - less than a 10th behind Dean Camm in second.

Robinson fought back for a hardearned Race 2 victory over Camm and Richard Newman, with Tamasi finishing 8th after starting from the pit lane.

The stage was set for a cracking 50K Plate race. Several non-starters at the front of the grid allowed Tamasi to blitz his way to the lead in the early laps and build a seven second gap over Robinson which he never surrendered, with Camm a further 4 seconds back. The result meant the #9 Calibra Chev won for the

Drawn from a hat, the contenders for the Top 10 Shootout line up under a blazing sun on Saturday afternoon.

second year running in the hands of a different driver both years.

FORMULA VEE

WITH DEFENDING 2018 winner Jake Rowe a notable absentee, the race for the Phillip Island Formula Vee Trophy was wide open.

Reef McCarthy took his first ever pole in Formula Vee and led home Heath Collinson and Adam Slattery in Race 1.

Race 2 saw McCarthy start poorly, but still come out on top by 0.0055 after a fast five lap sprint from Nick Jones and Heath Collinson.

But it was the final race that delivered the entertainment with any one of seven drivers in contention right to the end.

The timing screen ruled a 0.0045 win to McCarthy over Davin Field with Jones in third, but the video review ruled the race a dead heat and thus McCarthy and Field shared the trophy – the first ever dead heat result for any category at Island Magic.

FORMULA FORD

QUALIFYING AND all three races were dominated by Cody Donald’s Spectrum 014b, winning all three races and leading home Kyle Gurton and Ben Bargwanna in the final race of the weekend.

The 1600 class win went to Richard Davison after Luke Ellery became a nonstarter for the final event, with Mark Sampson and Malcolm Coleman completing the podium.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS

AMERICAN MUSCLE dominated the weekend with Darren Collins (Camaro) taking pole ahead of Andy Clempson’s and Michael Micelli’s Mustangs.

The top three qualifiers would finish where they started in Race 1, but disaster struck Collins in Race 2 – stalling on the start line

Darren Collins won the first historic Touring Car race in his immaculate Camaro. Brad Schumacher had a massive accident after an altercation at pit lane entry (left). Images: Rebecca Hind/Sarita McCabe.

and handing the podium positions to Clempson, Micelli and John Mann (Camaro). Clempson would retire from the trophy race on lap 7 allowing Micelli to cruise home by 18 seconds from a hardcharging Collins (who started last) and Mann’s Camaro.

NS NSW’s Lachlan McBrien (BMW E4 E46) and QLD’s Drew Lawrence (N (Nissan 200SX)

PORSCHE 944 P CHALLENGE CH

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

THE ABSENCE of defending winner Ray Hislop meant a new name on the Matthew Flinders Plate was in order for the first time in 5 years.

Adam Poole’s Monaro was a heavy favourite and posted an impressive pole time, but a pit lane speeding penalty earned him a twoplace grid penalty, dropping him to third. His weekend would only get worse: black flagged for a restart infringement in Race 1, recovering from 22nd to 5th in Race 2, and blowing an

engine in the final race.

SA compatriot Scott Cook (Nissan Silvia) headed Keven Stoopman (Mitsubishi Evo) and Andrew Butcher (BMW E36) in the opening two races, but a delaminating tyre ended his Race 3 charge on lap nine of 10, leaving Butcher to take a maiden plate win ahead of

DESPITE TAKING an expected D pol pole, Beller was under constant sieg siege from John Kennedy, James We Westaway and Richard Howe in Race 1, and eventually it was Howe Rac who came home just ahead of Beller and Westaway at the end of eight laps.Beller returned serve in Race 2 laps best Howe and Kennedy by almost to be two seconds in a hotly contested five-lapper.

The Endeavour Cup race was a four-way fight to the very end, with John Kennedy ultimately prevailing by five seconds over Richard Howe, with Anthony Westaway getting the better of Beller on the last lap to steal third place by the chequered flag. Steven Devries

OUTRIGHT RESULTS Jason Hore was crowned Qld State Super Sprint Champion his his Dallara. Images: Trapnell Creations out the contestants. The inaugural winner was junior competitor Jett Graham driving a Hyundai Excel.

The E configuration layout was utilised for Sunday’s running, a shorter and more technical layout than the previous day’s K arrangement. The weather remained warm for the second day of competition as haze and smoke from the bushfire-affected areas

continued to sweep over the circuit. It was predicted the V8-powered cars would lose out to the nimbler rivals.

After two days of solid running, Hore was crowned Queensland State Super Sprint champion, pipping Steven Woodbridge and Vikki Paxton. Awards were also handed out for the fastest three drivers in each class over the course of the weekend.

The Warwick District Sporting Car Club would like to thank all the volunteers and staff as well as the competitors who helped make the 2019 State Championship such a great year and look forward to seeing you all again in 2020.

For more information and for what events are coming up, visit www. morganparkraceway.com.au

Jason Hore Steven Woodbridge Vikki Paxton William Norman Bruce McKenzie Jae Collins Steven Faulks Dan McCarthy Mark Wright Saxon Moyes

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

QRDC FINALE BACK AT LAKESIDE RETURNING TO Lakeside Park following noise issues for the end-of-season sixth round of the QR Drivers Championships, was undertaken with a one-day format on November 17, and limited categories. A thunderstorm in the afternoon was another element to deal with.

Lakeside returned to racing action and with it came a wide variety of conditions. Images: MTR Images

SPORTS & SEDANS/ITALIAN CHALLENGE

THESE COMBINED categories also included several QTCC runners and while Grant Elliott won the four races in his LS1-powered BMW E36 M3, Steve Hay (Holden Commodore) was second on a couple of occasions. Many had dramas, but Elliott ran faultlessly.

Likewise QR Sports & Sedans champion Lachlan Gardner in his Tundra OzTruck notched up a couple of seconds, finishing ahead of Shane Plohl (Eunos Roadster), Scott McLennan (Mitsubishi Mirage) and Sam Collins (Nissan Collins), who would have finished further up if he had taken in the wet third race.

QTCC champ Chris Sharples (Holden Monaro) was fourth outright in race one but

his day was over after that, following a DNF in race two. Second best of the Sedans behind Hay was Adrian Blackwell, despite also not getting a result in race two. Third in the class overall went to Angus Saunders (Alfa Romeo 75).

PRODUCTION UTES/SALOON CARS

AN INVITATION to join the utes was taken up by three of the comparable six cylinder sedans with Brock Mitchell (Ford Falcon AU) leading

the way, taking three race wins. He only missed out in the wet of race three, finishing third behind the utes of series winner Scott Tamati and Brendan Exner, both in Falcon BAs. Gary Beggs (Holden Commodore VT) and Ramon Connell (AU) made it a Saloon Car trifecta in race one. The latter looked a likely race two winner until the tail shaft exploded.

After another second, Beggs DNF’d race three before a second in the last.

Tamati was unbeaten in the utes ahead of Daniel Ford (BA), finishing ahead of Exner overall with Peter Clarke (AU) next. Stephen Cook (VY) was fifth of the utes ahead of fellow Commodore driver John Young (VZ) who missed the opener.

SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP

AT THE sixth and final round Matt Vandeburg (Class 3, Minetti ZZ1) took the outright championship. Coming into race day, the series points system had Vandeburg in a tussle with Class 4’s Ross Rundle (Minetti SSV1) and Class 2’s Class B Leader Chris Purvis (West WX-10). Vandeburg capped off his year with three results just outside the top three.

The three drivers won their classes but on the day in outright results, Simon Cilento (Radical SR8) won the two opening races over David Rodgie (West WR1000). However he was a non-starter in the last two, having wrapped up Class 1. Rodgie took out races three and four while Adam Gino Beesley and Grant Green were the next best placed, sharing placings in their SR3s. GOB

HOT HALF DAY IN THE WEST

Supercars’ Nick Percat was also an early casualty, the Stohr failing to get through race one.

EXCEL CUP

THE FINAL race meeting of the year at Barbagallo on November 16, in 40C+, was shortened to a half-day event with the scheduled enduro merged into one.

WA SPORTING CAR CLUB ENDURO 100

THE SALOON Car-dominated race was taken out by Brendon and Travis Sharpe, sharing a Holden Commodore VT. They were just in front of the Clint Harvey and Brett Niall (Ford Falcon AU) when the race was declared.

The pacesetter was Neville Stewart in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup Car leading up to the compulsory pitstops, and then regaining the lead once they were done despite having a braking issue.

Eventually he speared off at turn 6 on lap 39. Rather than throw out a safety car, the race was called.

Adrian Stefan (BMW 335i E92) was also prominent early, second on the road until a long pitstop dropped him to 11th. He made his CPS after the

Brendan and Travis Sharpe took victory in the enduro, Stuart Kostera clean-swept F1000. Images Mick Oliver window had closed, ultimately finishing seventh but was relegated to ninth.

The heat was suspected of putting several others out as Michael Bond and Grant Johnson (VT) combined to finish third ahead of the Commodores piloted by Stephen and Matt Martin, and Reg Ralph and Alan Letcher, all on the lead lap.

Two five-lap heats proceeded the enduro and were dominated by Stewart from Stefan and Peter Callo (Chev Corvette). Johnson was the best of the Saloon Cars in race one, and Harvey in Race 2.

F1000

BY LUNCHTIME Stuart Kostera was crowned the series champion, having taken out the three races in a Stohr.

In each he showed the way to fellow Stohr driver Clint Watts. Stewart Burns (Phoenix F1K) was third in each ahead of

Keith Bolwell (Stohr).

Fifth was Andrew Malkin and the best placed of the Radical SR3s across the day. Max McRae (SR3), the son of Alister McRae, was second in class in race one but DNF’d out of the next where Elliott Schuttle (SR3) took over.

AT THE seventh round it was Dean Hill and Robert Landsmeer vying for victory while the championship was finalised with Carlos Ambrosio winning from Jake Passaris and Cam Atkins.

Hill led all the way in race one as Landsmeer followed closely throughout. The race for third was close with Cooper Smart holding off Brock Kelly, Mason Harvey and Ambrosio.

The second race was a reverse grid where on the first lap, Ambrosio and Harvey had a coming together through turn 4. Both limped back to the pits with Harvey retiring and Ambrosio returning two laps down.

Landsmeer was the most successful, making his way through the traffic to win from Smart and Kelly. Hill crossed the line third before being relegated to fourth with a 5s penalty.

Landsmeer jumped ahead of Hill in race three, but on lap 2 Hill took the lead, leaving Landsmeer chasing closely for the duration.

Kelly got the better of Smart on the last lap for third. Mick Oliver

GRICE TAKES EXCELS CROWN AFTER TAKING out all three heats at The Bend Motorsport Park, Ben Grice went on to win the one that counted, the 2019 Misch’s Mechanical Hyundai Excels Nationals on November 17.

The scheduled 15 lapper was not the easy encounter he would have expected after never being headed in the lead-up races.

Daniel Errigo took the fight right up to him, even taking the lead for a brief period. But Grice snatched it back and began to draw away.

Errigo ultimately had a drama and had to park his car on lap 11. That left Asher Johnson and reigning title holder Michael Clemente to fight over second spot which, after a couple of position changes, went

54 AutoAction

the way of the former. Clemente missed qualifying due to exams and began his race weekend off the back of the 42-car first race grid, ultimately working his way to sixth for the start of the final.

The race finished behind safety car which was brought about when Boyd Simpson crashed on lap 12.

Cooper Webster crossed the line fourth, fighting back after being bumped off at turn 17 on lap five. He managed to get ahead of Arron Hindle and Joel Johnson before the full course yellow.

Andrew Hobby was on his won in eighth for much of the race but DNF’d while the safety car was out. Starting last, Liam Gretgrix came through to head Thomas Benford until

Images: Insyde Media

slapped with a 20s post-race penalty and relegated to 29th.

Two-time Nationals winner Cam Wilson also started well back, having DNF’d the previous race and worked his way to finally place eighth ahead of Jayden Wanzek and

Jackson Faulkner.

Just outside the top 10 were Aaron Oliver and Brock Giblin. The latter was a casualty of race one, spun out at turn 6 and tagged by an unlucky Adam Bywater, an eventual 14th place finisher behind Nick Scaife. GOB

THERE WEREN’T many surprises at the fifth and final round of the Sporting Car Club of SA Motoring Racing Championships at Mallala on November 9, with most of the class winners having already been decided.

TITLES DONE AND WON BY FINALE

CIRCUIT EXCELS

GREAT EIGHT FOR HISLOP

RAY HISLOP dominated the Yokohama Improved Production Nationals at Pepsi Max Baskerville Raceway on October 16-17. The Tasmanian qualified on pole, won his three heats and led the final throughout, to clock up his fifth title in a row and eighth overall.

Hislop (Ford Falcon BF V8) won the action-packed final by 3.2s over 18-year-old Queenslander Zac Hudson (Mazda RX7). Matthew Grace (Nissan 200SX) finished a distant third, despite dropping to fifth in the opening stages after starting on the front row.

Hislop set a new lap record in his first heat, winning it comfortably ahead of Hudson with Trevan Spiteri (Mitsubishi EVO 6) third. A wet second heat caught some out, including Tony Marinelli (Nissan 200SX). Grace won ahead of Nathan Robinson (BMW M3) and Leigh Forrest (Toyota Celica Turbo).

Heat three saw Hislop clear out ahead of Grace and Kyle OrganMoore (Holden Commodore VS), with Marinelli recovering from near the rear for sixth. The fourth heat was won by Hudson from Adam Williams (Holden Torana A9X) and Robinson. Spiteri broke through in heat five, hitting the lead two laps from the flag, to lead home Williams, Grace and Marinelli.

Hudson led for four laps before an engine problem sidelined him.

His crew then changed the engine in the three and a half hours before the final. Hislop secured pole for the final with yet another dominant display in the sixth heat, with Robinson and Forrest following.

In the final, the defending champion started strongly to lead Grace, Williams and Spiteri, with Hudson coming from the sixth row.

By the fifth lap Hudson was third, before a crash at the top of Killick Hill, involving Williams and Spiteri, forced a safety car. Spiteri’s Evo was significantly damaged while Williams was able to re-start.

The safety car played into Hudson’s hands and he quickly blasted by Grace after the re-start.

The youngster continued to close on Hislop, until another two-car incident. That forced a yellow flag at the end of the back straight, limiting Hudson’s overtaking opportunities.

Lapped traffic then helped Hislop to sneak away from Hudson in the end.

Martin Agatyn

WITH MICHAEL Clemente a no show due to giving priority to his final year exams, it was left to Asher Johnston to show the rest of the field how it was done. James Benford looked to be Johnston’s closest challenger until copping a 30s penalty for exceeding track limits in race two, which made it a struggle to move forward in the remaining races. Danny Errigo rounded out the day second with Thomas Benford a distant third.

Nicholas Paul dominated the sports cars field and Adam Newton did likewise in Formula Vee. Images: Bob Taylor as Sam Woodland (Van Dieman RF06) was the best of the rest.

SPORTS CARS/HISTORIC TOURING CARS

IMPROVED PRODUCTION

IN A small field, Adam Allan (Datsun Bluebird) came out on top, helped by the demise of Brenton Faggotter who didn’t start the last race. Michael Reimann (Mazda 808) clawed his way up to second after being pinged 5s for jumping the start in race one, while Clint Sharp (Toyota Corolla) grabbed third having suffered the same fate as Reimann in race two.

FORMULA VEES

SWEEPING ALL before him in the 1600s, Adam Newton (Sabre 02) left Joel Oliver (Jacer V2K) and Peter Hood (Jacer V2K) trailing in his wake. Rod Kowald (Elfin NG) had to work hard for his 1200 win

with Matthew Bialek (Spectre) pushing him all the way, with the pair taking two wins each. Frank Chessell (Elfin Crusader) cruised to third after Rob Surman (Stag) had a troubled day only running two races.

SALOON CARS/HQ HOLDENS

THE WIN for Joel Heinrich (Ford Falcon AU) among the Saloon Cars wasn’t quite as easy as it looked, though early pacesetter Wayne King (Commodore VT) was unable to start race three. King had to settle for second while Jayden Jamieson (Commodore VT) inherited third after Peter

Holmes (Commodore VT) went off in the final race, bringing the safety car out for two laps.

Bruce Heinrich was unstoppable in HQs, outscoring Darren Jenkins by a big margin. David Smith was a close third but things might have a bit different if Keven Stoopman hadn’t broken the shifter in race three, putting him out for the rest of the day.

RACING CARS

IN A class of their own, Andrew Ford (Birrana 274) and Jim Doig (Motorlab Asp) finishing first and second in all races

TWISTS IN TAS CHAMP FINALS THE TASMANIAN championships’ focus at its final round on October 16-17 was on the Sports GTB, Formula Vee and HQ Holden categories at Baskerville.

SPORTS GTB + GTA

THE FIRST drama saw Sports GTB championship leader David Wrigley (Ford Mustang) involved in a highspeed crash at the end of the back straight in his second heat.

At the start of the day, he led Honni Pitt (Lotus Exige) by four points from Adrian Martin (Toyota Supra) by 12 points, in a tight title battle. The Mustang driver won the first race, but the second heat incident, which also involved Edrei Stanton (Mitsubishi EVO 5), resulted in substantial damage to both.

Pitt managed to stay in front of Martin for the next four heats and held a 27-point lead heading into the double-points final, meaning all she had to do was finish to claim her first state championship.

A nervous start from Pitt in the final allowed Martin to get away with Dennis Howard (Nissan 350Z), also leading Pitt, who seemed content to drive conservatively.

Meanwhile at the pointy end of the field, where the Sports GTA championship had already been decided, Liam Hooper blew his

AMONG THE Sports Cars the battle was over who would be second, as Nicholas Paul (Porsche 991 GT3) won at will.

Kevin Chapley (Porsche GT3) was the early favourite for the spot but a late charge by Paul Mitolo (Ferrari 458 Challenge) pushed Chapley to the bottom step on the podium.

Historic Touring cars was an epic seesawing battle between Brett Munns (Holden Torana XU-1) and Josh Axford (Ford Escort T/C), which had them tied on points at the end of the day. The joker in the pack had been third placed Adam Smith (Ford Falcon XW GT) who won the final race, leaving the frontrunners in deadlock. David Batchelor

INCIDENT INVESTIGATED

Image: Angryman Photography

opposition away in his Subaru Impreza WRX. After a slow start to the season, the development late in the year to Hooper’s WRX indicated he will be a real force in next year’s GTA championship.

FORMULA VEES

HEADING INTO the final round, Justin Murphy (Polar) held a 67-point lead over teenager Callum Bishop (Gerbert), and just needed to finish to wrap up his first title.

Murphy started with a solid second behind Bishop in the first heat.

But it all went downhill from there.

A stub axle drama in the second heat saw Murphy fail to finish, while a steering issue in another heat resulted in yet another DNF. Despite the dramas eroding his points lead, Murphy needed to finish the final.

However in a cruel blow, he failed to get off the line with a gearbox failure, handing the title to Bishop.

HQ HOLDENS

THE CHAMPIONSHIP wasn’t decided until the final race. Otis Cordwell led the title chase before the final round, ahead of Joe Rattray and former champ Andrew

Toth. Queenslander Scott Andriske dominated with Toth shadowing him. Cordwell and Rattray shared third and fourth places in the heats, with Cordwell making good in the double points final with a second place.

The racing format in HQs differs from other championships with the penultimate round race a double points event, and the last race a handicap, where Cordwell started alongside Rattray and Toth behind.

Cordwell led the trio through the backmarkers to finish sixth ahead of Toth and Rattray, which was the same order in which they finished the championship.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS/ HYUNDAI EXCELS

OTIS CORDWELL’S father Scott, had already wrapped up the Group N title, resulting in a Tasmanian first with a father and son winning state titles in the same year, in different categories. But at this round, his Holden Torana XU-1 was an early casualty. Apart from losing out to John Douglas in race one, Michael Cross headed his Torana rival in the other races. Martin Agatyn

A POST race incident between Improved Production drivers Trevan Spiteri and Adam Williams is being investigated

by CAMS stewards, after the final of the Yokohama Australian Improved Production Championship at Pepsi Max Raceway, near Hobart, on November 17.

NSW’s Spiteri qualified his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 on grid three for the 25-lap final and five laps into the journey he was scrapping with Tasmanian Williams (Holden Torana A9X) for third place, when the pair came together at the top of Killick Hill, causing a safety car period.

Spiteri’s Evo sustained severe damage, ending his championship, and although the left hand side of Williams’ Torana was also badly damaged, he was able to rejoin the field for the re-start.

After the race an alledged melee ensued in the pits, which is now the subject of a CAMS’ steward’s investigation.

According to eye witnesses, pit crews, family and supporters also involved in the incident.

Race officials called police, who attended 30 minutes later.

Tasmania Police has since confirmed officers had been called to the track at the request of race officials in relation to an alleged altercation.

Police said no formal compliant had been received at this stage and there were no charges pending.

The CAMS investigation is on-going.

Martin Agatyn

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NATIONALS wrap n compiled by garry o’brie

WHITE COVERS MT BULLER, CHAMPIONSHIP TO STOKELL A TOUGH 10th Anniversary Targa High Country was won by Jason and John White ahead of Paul Stokell and Kate Catford, who took out the Australian Targa Championship on November 8-10.

Heavy snow on the opening stages and thick fog delayed the start after which the Whites led from start to finish in their Dodge Viper ACR Extreme. They won 13 of the 15 stages on days one and two, before comfortably taking two stage on the final day. It was their third event win for the year after a failure at Targa Tasmania.

Only needing to finish to take out the championship for the second time in a row, Stokell and Catford (Lotus Exige 350) still managed three stage wins and finished behind the Whites, who also took out the GT2 class.

Third place went to Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey (Viper), taking one stage victory and finished ahead of the Viper piloted by John Ireland and Janet Binns, and Matt Close and Cameron Reeves (Porsche GT3 RS).

Tony Quinn and Samantha Gray (Nissan Skyline GT-R

Mick Downey won the Classic GT class in his Holden Commodore on Mt Buller (above) while the event was dominated by Jason White’s Dodge Viper (right) but the Targa title went to Paul Stokell (below). Images: Angryman Photography.

R35) finished sixth outright and also led all the way to take out the GT4 honours. Behind them it were class rivals Luke Anear and Alan Stephensen

(Subaru Impreza WRX STi), then Peter Nunn/Keith Johnstone (Porsche 996 Turbo), Liam and Harry Howarth (Skyline GT-R), and Audi TT RS’ in the hands of Barrie Smith/Dale Moscatt, and Max Williams/Bruce Bush.

Mick Downey and Jarrod Akker (Holden Commodore Group C) won the Classic GT class. The handicap Classic class went to Nik Prieston/Stephane Esterbauer (Fiat 131 Abarth Rallye) and Early Modern to Nunn/Johnstone.

The GT Sports Trophy was taken by Mitchell Ringuet/ Darryl Ringuet (Exige), Thoroughbred Trophy by Jack Waldron/Vin Gregory (Mitsubishi Sigma) and TSD Trophy was collected by Peter Taylor/Tristan Taylor (Lotus Elise).

GOB

SNOOKS SNARE A WIN COLD, WET conditions and even snow could not stop Darryn and Stuart Snooks from winning the George Derrick Rally, the final outing for the 2019 Victorian Club Rally Series which was run out of Heyfield on November 9.

Meanwhile, with the best five results counting, Cody Richards and Matt Dillon scored enough points to take the drivers’ and navigators’ title in their Ford Escort MkII. Getting a finish was pleasing but a win even more so for the Snooks. They won the event by 2mins 23s in their Datsun Stanza over Brad Till and Mitch Garrad (Subaru Impreza WRX STi), their first podium result together, with Andrew and Laurie White (Nissan Silvia S13) coming in third a further 1min 4s behind.

The first of eight stages was won by the Snooks, over

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Alan Friend and Michelle Canning (Silvia) and White. In the second it was Snooks with White ahead of Friend. After two dry stages it was snowing on the third, which White won ahead of Snooks and Friend. Despite another second on stage 4, Snooks led the event at the halfway point by 20s over White and Friend, who won the stage.

That lead increased over the next two stages where Snooks was quickest. Friend was out with electrical dramas.

Meanwhile two stage seconds moved Till to third behind White, who was 13th on the sixth stage.

Till jumped ahead of White on stage 7 where they were third and fifth respectively.

The stage was won by

Image: John Doutch B Team Rally Media

Stephen Raymond and Graham Redcliffe (Subaru Impreza RS) from Snooks.

Raymond followed up with a win on the last stage, with eventual fourth place overall

Ryan Humphreys and Steve Kenway (Toyota Sprinter) second. Snooks and Till couldn’t be split for third on the final leg.

Fifth place overall went to

Joel Wald and Kim Begelhole (Stanza) ahead of Richards, James and Mark Leoncini (Toyota Corolla) and Aidan O’Halloran/Stuart Armstrong (Mitsubishi EVO III). GOB

RURAL CIRCUIT HITS SILVER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago Wakefield Park opened.

Located a few minutes from Goulburn, one hour from Canberra and about two hours south of Sydney, the racetrack which is located on the side of a windswept hill in a former sheep paddock was intended mostly for club and historic racing.

Except that today it’s an annual stop for the Shannons Nationals and about half of the NSW State Championship race meetings are held there.

Wakefield has become a busy place, with events virtually every weekend and lots of weekday bookings.

To celebrate this success, a 25th Anniversary Meeting featuring historic cars took place on November 16-17.

A number of the original competitors and officials were on hand to re-enact the official opening of the circuit, which was done by John Fahey, then the local member and NSW Premier.

With three racing groups based on the cars’ age and engine location, the on-track action was always interesting and varied. Everyone got the opportunity of five races, with Supersprints and Regularity events thrown in as well. Some fields were amalgamated, as numbers dwindled over the meeting.

Production Sports Cars was melded with touring cars – David Stone’s Mustang, anyway. Stone won four of the five races. Michael Byrne took his Lotus

Brought to you by:

racefuels.com.au Wakefield Park’s official opening was reenacted, 25 years on. Images: Bruce Moxon

Super 7 to the first win and second in the next race, before parking for the rest of the meeting.

Jac Cousin (Jaguar E-Type V12) kept Stone honest the rest of the weekend, taking three second places. Some of the best racing was in this class, with Tony Daines (Triumph TR6), Andre Breit (Datsun Fairlady), Stephen Dunne-Contan (MGB) and Jason Thomas (Sprite) putting on some spirited battles over the minor placings.

This class also had Ernie Nagamatsu, over from Hollywood running his 1958 Porsche Speedster.

TThis car raced continuously until 1996 with plenty of success at SCCA meetings in the USA. But tthis weekend it was giving trouble, “very tailly” according to Ernie.

The three races for Early Racing & Sports Cars w went to Geoff Fry (Vulcan Sportsman), Ray Lewis w won the second and third (Simpson Holden Special). Other place getters were Brian Parkinson (Wolsley Hornet), John Murn (Decca Major) and Ken Reidy and Keiran Laurent in Austin Specials.

Les Wright won the first race for ‘50s and ‘60s Sports & Racing Cars in his Dalro Jaguar. Mal Brewster won (HDL Holden Special) the second and Rex Robinson (Mallock Clubman) the last two.

These races saw some close racing, particularly involving Brewster. Bruce Moxon

Image: Elgee

Image: Bruce Moxon

HEAPHY BACK ON TOP ROB ROY CLASSIC AND VINTAGE HILLCLIMB DARREN VISSER took the outright win at the annual Rob Roy Classic and Vintage Hillclimb in his tiny 750cc Bates Cyclo on November 10. Visser was a late entry and only snatched victory on his final run of 22.49s, which also gained him the VHRR Fastest Air-Cooled Trophy.

After a close battle with Visser and Col Hunter (Subaru Impreza WRX), the youngest competitor, 16-year-old Daniel Leitner (WRX), took second outright which saw his name added to the coveted Tony Gaze Trophy for fastest Invited Sports.

Hunter finished third ahead of Laura Hunter, who also took the Diana Davison Gaze Plate for Fastest Female. Paul Slawinski put on a great performance in his first outing with his new Audi TTRS to take fourth outright while Cameron Male finished 10th outright in the same car.

Also debuting a new car were Daryl Coon and his son Andrew, sharing a new Hyundai I30N Fastback, with the pair finishing eighth and ninth outright respectively.

David Bell was not competing but attended to continue the work his late father and more recently his mother did in promoting older drivers and old race cars.

The Le Trophee de Conducteurs Anciennes is awarded to the driver over 65 years who achieves the best index of performance. That is worked out by adding the age of the driver to the age of the car and dividing by their best time up the hill.

This year out of 25 entrants it went to Ray Sprague who finished 25th outright in his 1947 Solar Midget speedway car. Gary Hill

PHIL HEAPHY and Brendan Dick dominated the second round of the Whiteline Tarmac Rallysprint series on November 19 at Sydney Dragway. After their disappointment with a driveshaft failure at round one, Heaphy was back on top form in his Mitsubishi EVO 6.

Very high temperatures early lowered grip levels and times were a little off. Heaphy started with a fastest time. Indeed, he was fastest on every run. There were many delays with barriers being displaced and needing to be put back. This put the timetable back a bit and the finish was late, but all five planned runs took place, with the best three for each car to count.

Second early on were Michael Caine and Tom Vadoukis (Mazda RX7), but they faded to finish fourth and first 2WD, 13.9s behind Heaphy. Michael Harding and Christopher Darling (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) finished second, backing up from winning the first round. They were fifth on the first run then second on each of the next three, taking them to 8.8s adrift of the leader.

Third went to Jake and Ian Lambie (EVO 5). After a consistent start, they took a string of good times – three thirds and a second on the final run, finishing just 2.4s adrift of second. David Isaacs and Aeron Napper (EVO 6) were next, then John and Jack Hills (EVO9) and Troy Nicholson and Peter Griffin in their HSV Coupe4.

Brendan Reeves and Aaron Wishart snared an excellent top 10 finish in the Hyundai i30N. Mark Caine left his Ferrari 575 at home this time, running instead in a Tesla Model S. Despite only being the 2WD version, the big heavy car almost made the top 20 and points to an interesting future.

Best Junior driver was Tom Donohue, navigated by the very experienced Fro Horobin in an EVO 10 and took an excellent 23rd, maybe he’s going to be one to watch. Bruce Moxon

Challenge Bathurst, Mt Panorama NSW, Nov 28-Dec 01 Alpine Rally of East Gippsland, Lakes Entrance, Nov 29-Dec 01 Club Motorkhana, Tonker Park Whitsundays QLD, Nov 30 Club One-Car Sprint, Motorsports Training Australia Wodonga VIC, Nov 30 Multi Club Khanacross, Benaraby Motorsport Complex QLD, Nov 30-Dec 01 HSRCA Historic, Sydney Motorsport Park NSW, Nov 30-Dec 01 Vintage Stampede, Multi Club Regularity, Barbagallo Raceway WA, Dec 01 Multi Club Hillclimb, Willunga SA, Dec 01 CAMS Club Challenge Australia, Multi Club Hillclimb, Collie Motorplex WA, Dec 01 Multi Club Khanacross, Reef and Rainforest Track QLD, Dec 01 State Khanacross Championships, Heywood Football Grounds VIC, Dec 01 Club Autocross, Jack Chisholm Reserve Swan Hill VIC, Dec 02 Shannons Adelaide Rally, Adelaide Hills/McLaren Vale/Barossa/ Murray Mallee, Dec 04-07 Twilight Rallysprint Series Rd3, Sydney Dragway NSW, Dec 05 Shannons Targa Rallysprint Series Rd2, Perth Motorplex Kwinana WA, Dec 05 Formula SAE-A 2019, Winton Raceway VIC, Dec 05-08 Multi Club Supersprint, Phillip Island VIC, Dec 07 Club Motorkhana, Mafeking Rover Park VIC, Dec 07 Top End Mud Racing Series Rd7, Hidden Valley NT, Dec 07 Multi Club Twilight Hillclimb, Bryant Park VIC, Dec 07 Club Autocross, Nabiac Motorsport Complex NSW, Dec 07-08 The Bend Classic, The Bend Motorsport Park SA, Dec 07-08 Khanacross Summer Series Rd2, Baskerville Raceway TAS, Dec 07-08 Multi Club Supersprint, Phillip Island VIC, Dec 08 Summer Autocross Series Rd2, Perth Motorplex Kwinana WA, Dec 11 Multi Club Khanacross, Powranna Dragway Complex TAS, Dec 14 State Hillclimb Championship, Highclere TAS, Dec 14 Multi Club Khanacross, Bryant Park VIC, Dec 15 Club Motorkhana, Sandown Raceway, Dec 22

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TICKFORD MAKES SPECIAL DELIVERY

HIDDEN AMONG the championship celebrations and farewells, Tickford Racing played a cheeky trick on driver Chaz Mostert after the conclusion of Race 32 in Newcastle.

After much discussion about his future, which has gone on for much of the year, the Tickford Racing crew taped Chaz Mostert onto a trolley and pushed him down to the team he is set to join next year, Walkinshaw Andretti Racing.

This unofficial delivery is the clearest indication yet ahead of the official confirmation that Mostert will join WAU, wjile Jack Le Brocq appears certain to replace him at the Campbellfield-based squad.

Mostert was still not able to let slip about his future in a post-race interview with Neil Crompton, playing his cards close to his chest.

It is believed Mostert will be joined at Clayton by recently crowned Super2 Series winner Bryce Fullwood. The destination of the two current drivers at WAU has already been confirmed, with James Courtney joining Team Sydney and Scott Pye announced as part of Charlie Schwerkolt’s expanded Team 18 operation. HM

1774 Retro Crossword Answers 1; down – Cleland 2; across – McLaughlin 3; down – Craig Lowndes 4; down – twelve 5; down – four 6; down – NASCAR 7; across – Paul Morris 8; down – JPS 9; down – Calder Park 10; across – David Russell 11; down – Coca Cola 12; across – thirty two 12; down – two 13; across – Brock 13 down; - Bond

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