REVVED UP ROLAND THE MAN WITH A PLAN
CHEV COMEBACK FIFTY YEARS
SINCE BOB’S BEST JOB
CAMARO CELEBRATION
PAST & FUTURE OF MUSTANG SLAYER
BROWN SUGAR F5000 STAR’S SWEET SUCCESS
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SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP driver Cameron Waters is expanding his Sprint Car racing operation for the 2021/22 speedway season, building a second car to increase his involvement. The Tickford Racing man is in the process of building a second Maxim chassis for the upcoming season, giving his team more flexibility to enter more events than previously. Waters has been competing for Sprint Car team Chief Racing between Supercars events, contesting nine so far in 2021. JN
MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA has announced that the Australian Rally Championship rounds scheduled for Adelaide and Coffs Coast have been cancelled. Ongoing COVID-related border restrictions have derailed the rounds, scheduled for October 22-24 and November 26-28. The state components of the events have also been abandoned. A new event in December is now being finally, the date and location currently unknown. JN
TCR AUSTRALIA driver James Moffat has jumped behind the wheel of a Garry Rogers Motorsportprepared S5000 machine during testing at Winton Raceway this week. The two-time Supercars Championship race winner swapped his LMCT+ Renault Megane RS for a Rogers AF01/V8 after 15 years out of open wheel racers. This year the Victorian has been mentoring GRM driver Nathan Herne from pitlane, supporting him on the way to a sixth-place finish in the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship. JN
TCR AUSTRALIA privateer Michael Clemente has announced that he intends to remain in the turbocharged front-wheel-drive series for the long term. The Victorian is contesting his debut season in the category, racing a former Wall Racing Honda Civic Type-R for his own Michael Clemente Motorsport outfit. Notably Clemente scored a season best fifth at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and sits 17th in the series. DM BRODIE KOSTECKI has taken the championship lead in Supercars Eseries after he won his second consecutive Supercars ESeries round at a virtual Monza Circuit. The Erebus Motorsport man was dominant in Italy, putting in a lights to flag performance. Newly signed Grove Racing driver Matthew Payne finished second, ahead of two-time race winner Richie Stanaway. Cameron Waters is now second in the overall standings, ahead of Stanaway with two rounds remaining. JN
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GOLD COAST CANCELLED, HUB TO FINISH SUPERCARS SEASON SUPERCARS IS planning an AFL/ NRL-style hotel hub in southeast Queensland to ensure the season is completed after the Gold Coast 500 was cancelled. This is the second year in a row that the popular seaside circuit will not host a round of the Supercars Championship. Southern teams will instead quarantine in a Gold Coast ‘bubble’ for 14 days before racing resumes with back-to-back events at Queensland Raceway in early November. All the teams would then move to NSW for another double-header at Sydney Motorsport Park before the Bathurst 1000, which is to be rescheduled as the season finale at the start of December. Supercars is understood to be negotiating with the Queensland government to allow team personnel and series staff from VIC and NSW to isolate in a hotel or resort on the Gold Coast for two weeks. “They’re going to do a quarantine hotel for all the team and Supercars personnel from Victoria for 14 days,” a southern squad insider revealed. “That’s the smart way of doing it. After completing quarantine, they would be free to join the QLD-based teams and Supercars officials to compete on consecutive weekends at QR. The deal is due to be finalised within days, along with the latest revision of the COVID-disrupted calendar for the final five events. As outlined to the teams, all interstaters would isolate in a dedicated hotel that would be turned into a Supercars ‘bubble’. They’d have freedom of movement within the facility rather than be restricted to their rooms, with access to dining areas, gym, swimming pool and other outside facilities
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The arrangement will be similar to the hotel/resort ‘bubbles’ employed by the NRL, which relocated its competition to QLD, and the AFL’s finals mini-hubs in Adelaide and Perth. Finalisation of the Gold Coast hub is part of the delay in announcing the new schedule of events, which has been postponed at least twice since late last week. COVID uncertainties have already claimed next month’s proposed returns to Winton and Phillip Island, plus the Gold Coast 500 in December. Supercars is planning back-to-back events at QR and then SMP in November before the Bathurst 1000, delayed again to replace the GC500 on the December 4-5 weekend as the season-ender. The Bathurst 1000 is set to be combined with ARG’s Bathurst International to create an almost week-long racing festival at Mount Panorama from
November 30-December 5. ARG’s TCR, S5000, TCM and Trans Am will join Supercars’ full roster of main game, Super2, Porsche Carrera Cup and Toyota 86 Series, culminating in the 1000 km classic. Supercars’ last-ditch effort to fulfill its contractual obligations to complete a 12-event season depend on lockdown restrictions being eased in NSW by mid-November and no deterioration in QLD. After the two-week quarantine from late October and 10 days in Ipswich, it is understood that all the teams will be allowed to enter NSW from QLD without isolating. More problematic may be the teams’ returns home after the Bathurst 1000. But they are all prepared to quarantine for two weeks – hopefully, at home rather than hotels – afterwards to ensure the season is completed. Josh Nevett/Mark Fogarty
ANDRE SIGNS MULTI-YEAR DEAL WITH BJR BRAD JONES Racing has signed up the services of New Zealand driver Andre Heimgartner for the 2022 Supercars Championship season and beyond. The 26-year-old Kiwi has raced in Supercars for several seasons, notably breaking through to take his maiden championship victory at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia earlier this year. Heimgartner has been with Kelly Racing, renamed as Kelly Grove Racing since 2018, however for 2022 will make the move to the Albury based BJR outfit. The two parties have previous history, with Heimgartner getting an enduro gig with the team in 2017 where he scored a famous podium finish with Tim Slade. “I’m extremely excited to announce my new long-term signing with BJR,” Heimgartner confirmed. “BJR was a big part of my resurgence back onto the Supercars scene, with a last-minute call up to replace the injured Ash Walsh in 2017 that resulted in a podium at the Gold Coast 600 with Tim Slade. “To be joining such a legendary team with such great people, is an amazing opportunity and challenge I am
really looking forward to. “I can’t wait for the years ahead and much more success to come.” To this point in his Supercars career Heimgartner has notched up 171 Supercars Championship race starts, five podium finishes (including the race win at The Bend) and two pole positions. Team owner and founder of BJR, Brad Jones is delighted to have signed up Heimgartner. “Andre is a familiar face with the BJR team and I’m extremely excited to have him on board, full-time, for the 2022 season and beyond,” Jones said. “I’ve watched him develop over the last few years and see a lot of potential in him. “I think he’ll fit right in with our team and partners. I feel like we’ll be in a good position to fight for wins and podiums moving forward.” After Auto Action broke the news, Nick Percat has officially announced he will depart BJR at the end of the season. AA understands that Percat is pursuing the second seat at Walkinshaw Andretti United.
SIX DAY BATHURST FESTIVAL MT PANORAMA ENDS 2021 SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP IT’S OFFICIAL the Bathurst 1000 will run as a six-day event, featuring 10 of the most popular categories in the Australian motorsport landscape from Tuesday, November 30 – Sunday, December 5. Supercars has confirmed the Bathurst 1000, like it did last year, will act as the finale of the 2021 championship after it was announced the Gold Coast 500 had to be cancelled for a second straight year. The ARG run Bathurst International originally scheduled from November 26-28 has been cancelled as all categories from that event join the support bill of the Bathurst 1000 a week later. The 1000 will see Supercars and Australian Racing Group categories come together and race at Mount Panorama on the same program for the very first time, in what will be one of the biggest motorsport events the country has ever seen. The Bathurst event is set to be a spectacle with 10 high quality categories racing over the six days. The lead category will be the Supercars Championship finale, the Bathurst 1000. Its regular support categories, the second tier Super2 Series, one-make Porsche Carrera Cup, the popular Toyota Gazoo Racing 86 Series and V8 Superutes will all feature. Five ARG categories will also be at the event, the pocket rocket TCR Australia Series, the S5000 open-wheel monsters, the National Trans Am Series, the ever-popular retro Touring Car Casters and modern GT World Challenge Australia categories.
Image: Motorsport Images Supercars CEO, Sean Seamer is thankful that this event has come to fruition and thinks it will be great for motorsport fans around the nation. “I would like to thank the Bathurst Mayor Ian North, Rob Cameron at Repco and John McMellan at ARG for their collaboration over the past few weeks to put together what might be known as the best ever Repco Bathurst 1000,” Seamer said. “It’s been a tough year for motorsport fans but we’re confident this is the recipe for the best possible end to the 2021 season.” ARG Chairman John McMellan is happy that everyone has come together to achieve this common goal in such tough times. “It is very pleasing when everyone has the same goal which was to make the sport the priority and work collaboratively to deliver something special,” McMellan said. “We need to acknowledge the role that all of our respective sponsors
T8 DRIVER CHOICE By Paul Gover
CHAZ MOSTERT and Earl Bamber headline the list of high-profile candidates who were considered to replace Jamie Whincup at Red Bull Ampol Racing. The Bathurst champion and Le Mans winner were both identified by Roland Dane when he began the search in 2019. But they were not alone, as the Triple Eight Engineering boss cast a wide net before focussing on Broc Feeney for the future. Speaking exclusively to Auto Action about the background to Feeney’s promotion from Super2 to the Supercars ‘main game’, Dane reveals that finding the right replacement for Whincup took more than two years. “We looked at a number of drivers, not necessarily in the past year, but over the last couple of years, to see where they were at,” says Dane. “We certainly thought about who else was out there. And considered people who were active at the moment.
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“Anton De Pasquale. Todd Hazelwood. Chaz, of course. Nick Percat.” But the talent search did not stop in Supercars, or in Australia. “We also had to consider whether it would be the right thing to do to try and entice somebody who was overseas. Like an Earl Bamber or a Matt Campbell. “But, in the end, we didn’t talk to either of them.” Typically, Dane is not giving up much detail on the drivers and is not discussing
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played in assisting to make this happen which is reflective of their passion for the sport. “This event will be a great opportunity to grab the family, go camping in the fresh rural air of Bathurst whilst being entertained by a truly dynamic range of motorsport.” Supercars and ARG have said they will be working closely with NSW health authorities around COVID-safe measures and Public Health Order requirements to ensure the safety of all staff and patrons at the event. The reason for the date change is to ensure that more people can attend the event, as it is very likely that New South Wales will have hit its 80 per cent double vaccine target. “We are all eager to get back to enjoying incredible sports events across NSW, which is why it’s so important that our community keeps pushing forward with our outstanding vaccination effort,” said NSW Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and
Western Sydney Stuart Ayres. “Motorsport has a spiritual home in Bathurst and there’s no doubt that fans love to watch racing unfold at Mount Panorama, be it in person or on the national broadcast.” Supercars and Ticketek will provide ticketing information to current ticket holders over the coming days. The 2021 Great Race weekend takes place when the Gold Coast 500 was originally scheduled. Supercars are currently in discussions with various stakeholders on the four other events that are due to feature on the calendar prior to the Bathurst 1000 which AA understands to be a Queensland Raceway doubleheader followed by two events at Sydney Motorsport Park. Anyone who purchased a ticket or campsite to the Bathurst International will receive a full refund, which will be processed by event ticketing providers within the next 14 days. Dan McCarthy
the strengths or weaknesses of potential candidates. But he is clear on the direction that led to Feeney. “Just, for a variety of reasons, we felt that timing was right to take a different direction from that of just taking on somebody who was already established, at whatever level,” he says. “And wanting to, in some way, follow the same sort of path as we had with Jamie in 2006 when he joined us.” Dane says he sees the same sort of potential in Feeney that he identified in Whincup, who he picked up when he was shopping for a team-mate for Craig Lowndes at T8 and Whincup was nearly on the Supercars scrap heap after a tough time with Garry Rogers Motorsport. He picked up the signals when Feeney, who is well connected with the motorsport heavyweights on the Gold Coast - including Paul and Terry Morris, as well as Mick Doohan - showed the same sort of speed and commitment his father Paul had used to become a factory Kawasaki superbike racer in the 1980s.
“He is fast,” Dane says bluntly. “I see him having the potential to be a top-line supercars driver. What happens after that remains to be seen.” He then provides a little extra detail on the grooming of Feeney. “We started to really consider him hard at the back end of last year. And then worked to see how he fitted in around us. And see how he fitted into the team.” Dane admits that he was the one who chose Feeney, even though he will be racing for T8 beyond his retirement and under a new management structure from 2022. “I put it to the other shareholders as my desire. And they all agreed. If they wanted to do something else they could have.” Like all young drivers, Feeney has had financial backers on his rise - led by his father, a successful Gold Coast businessman - but Dane says his promotion has nothing to do with bringing money to the team. “I think the commercial arrangements around him are all are for us, not anyone else. The fact is he will be paid next year and he’s a professional motor racing driver.”
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AORC CANCELS CHAMPIONSHIP ROUNDS
THE MOTORSPORT Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) has been cancelled, the remaining two rounds will now be run as cups due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cancellation of the outstanding rounds comes as ongoing state border closures continue to hamper competitors plans to travel interstate in time. As they did in 2020, the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race will be run as the Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup – West, while the Can-Am Loveday 400 will be known as the Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup – Central. The Motorsport Australia Director of Motorsport & Commercial Operations Michael Smith is gutted to cancel the
championship but expressed that it was a decision that had to be made. “There have obviously been a lot of disruptions to motorsport over the past two years and unfortunately the AORC has been another victim of the current climate we find ourselves in where competitors simply can’t get to enough events for us to justify awarding a Championship,” Smith said. “It’s quite disheartening that we have had to cancel the season again this year, especially after we had two really successful rounds completed in the first half of the year. “However, with the current situation of border closures and restrictions not looking to be eased until at least the end of October at the earliest,
it’s just not possible to run a national championship at this point, alongside the fact that Finke was not open to all competitors from around Australia. “Luckily, we have events like Kalgoorlie and Loveday that can take place as standalone and which still attract large fields as state run events, as we saw in 2020 and in previous years before they joined the AORC. These events will see Cups awarded, thanks to BFGoodrich. “I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the event promoters for supporting this decision, as hard as it has been to make, and to all the competitors, officials and fans who have been patient with us for the past 18 months. “We look forward to a big 2022 where
we should hopefully be able to run all rounds of the championship and get back to a bit of normality, with more rounds than in recent years expected to make up the calendar.” With two rounds already run in 2021, the Cobb & Co Hotel St George 399 will be now be marked as the Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup – East, while the Tatts Finke Desert Race ends the year as a standalone event. The dates for the Kalgoorlie Desert Race and Can-Am Loveday 400 will remain as they are currently scheduled with the Kalgoorlie event on 21-24 October, and Loveday a week later from October 28-31. Dan McCarthy
BRABHAM BT63 GT2 CONCEPT COMPLETES QUEENSLAND RACEWAY TEST THE BRABHAM BT63 GT2 Concept has tested successfully in Australia in the lead up to its competitive debut in the final round of the 2021 GT2 season at Circuit Paul Ricard. Australian Supercars driver and winner of the 2017 Bathurst 1000 Luke Youlden conducted the test at Queensland Raceway, in preparation for the October 1-3 event. Youlden has driven Brabham machines in the past, he piloted the Brabham BT62 to a closed-wheel
record at Mount Panorama in 2019. Brabham Automotive Director and Chief Executive Officer Dan Marks confirmed that Brabham had achieved all of its objectives for the shakedown program. “We are really pleased at how well the BT63 GT2 Concept has come together,” Marks said. “We had a goal of testing the new brake package, speed differentials due to aero changes and fine-tuning the setup for racing. “The car was immediately within
the desired performance envelope. We’re very excited to see what it will do at Paul Ricard next month.” Youlden was also impressed with the package during testing. “It was great to be back in a Brabham again,” Youlden said. “It’s been a couple of years but it’s one of my favourite cars to drive and the way this BT63 GT2 Concept has come together is a credit to Brabham Automotive and the guys at Pace Innovations, who set up the car for this session.
“We managed to tick a lot of boxes during this program. The brake balance and performance, the aero setup, the engine performance – everything came together quickly based on good engineering and decision-making. “The BT63 is a precision instrument. It’s both exhilarating to drive and predictable – you get great feedback from your inputs, and you always get a great response from any changes you make.” The Brabham BT63 GT2 Concept has slightly less power from its 5.2 litre, naturally aspirated V8 than the BT62, while carrying more weight in line with GT2 power-to-weight regulations. Now that testing has concluded, the car will journey to France ahead of its first race start. The Circuit Paul Ricard race is in advance of a full season’s competition in the SRO GT2 class in 2022. Details of the team and drivers are expected shortly. Josh Nevett
WHITMARSH JOINS ASTON MARTIN
2021 AUSTRALIAN OFF ROAD CALENDAR: ROUND 1: Cobb & Co. St George 399 – Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup – East ROUND 2: Tatts Finke Desert Race – standalone event Events remaining in 2021: ROUND 3: Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race – Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup – West (22-24 October) ROUND 4: Can-Am Loveday 400 – Motorsport Australia Off Road Cup – Central (29-31 October)
FORMER MCLAREN Racing team boss Martin Whitmarsh will join Aston Martin in the CEO of Aston Martin Performance Technologies role. After working at McLaren for 25 years between 1989 and 2014, including a spell as CEO and Team Principal from 2008-2014, Whitmarsh will join Aston Martin from October 1. The 63-year-old will be responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, as well as establishing a new division at the brand to provide engineering and manufacturing services. In the Aston Martin Performance Technologies role, Whitmarsh will be in direct competition with the McLaren Applied Technologies program that he was involved in launching. Aston Martin Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll believed the appointment would assist the organisational goal of winning an F1 World Championship. “Martin will enjoy senior leadership responsibility and will assist and support me in setting the new strategic direction for Aston Martin Performance Technologies and its subsidiaries,” Stroll said. “Including the crucial objective of leading the transformation of Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team into a Formula One World Championship-winning organisation within the next four to five years and evolving it into a £1 billion business over a similar time period. “Martin has enjoyed a long, successful and high-profile career, spanning the motorsport, automotive, aerospace, marine
and renewable-energy sectors. “Moreover, he is a proven winner in Formula One. He is therefore the ideal person for the job of working with me and our senior management team to lead and inspire our workforce to future success both on and off track.” Speaking on his appointment, Whitmarsh was looking forward to propelling Aston Martin to greater heights. “I am delighted to have been appointed by Lawrence to the position of Group Chief Executive Officer of the new Aston Martin Performance Technologies,” Whitmarsh said. “I have known and admired Lawrence for many years, and I have always been extremely impressed by his formidable business acumen and his seemingly inexhaustible ambition. “Equally, I have always respected ‘Team Silverstone’, if I can call it that, which has often punched
TCR PASSES MAJOR MILESTONE
TCR RACING Racing globally has passed a major milestone, with more than 1000 cars having now been produced for the category. According to official data competing manufacturers have supplied to TCR rights holders WSC, a total of 1060 TCR cars across 20 models from 15 manufacturers have been produced since TCR’s inception in 2015. “We are obviously very proud of the achievement of the 1000-car total,” said Marcello Lotti, president of WSC. “It has been an impressive result in less than seven seasons of exciting competition. This proves that when a racing category is affordable, it becomes successful.” Australian Racing Group first brought the series to Australia in 2019, and there are now 32 of the under two-litre turbocharged race cars in the country. A total of 35 TCR cars have been imported into the country, but the
ex-Kelly Racing Subaru Impreza WRX TCRs and maiden racewinning Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR have found a new home to race in the UK next season. Melbourne Performance Centre have already confirmed that at least one more TCR car will be brought into Australia when they enter at least one of the newest model Audi RS 3 LMS into next year’s Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series. While more cars and manufacturers are expected to join the series globally. Toyota will be the next manufacturer to enter TCR after it announced earlier this year through its Gazoo Racing Argentina arm the development of the Corolla sedan for the touring car class. “It’s a fact that the success of TCR is not fading yet and we are pleased to see that, despite the pandemic and a troubled 2020 season, numbers are getting back to the pre-Covid times,” said Lotti.
“TCR cars are currently eligible to compete in WSC-sanctioned series all over the world and the total of the races will reach 320 by the end of the season. “The number of drivers is also growing again, but more than the
above its weight under its various previous incarnations, and which now has the weight with which to punch harder than ever before. “Lawrence intends Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team to win Formula One World Championships, plain and simple, and I would not have joined him in that endeavour unless I was utterly convinced that it was an entirely achievable aim. “I know what it takes to win in Formula One, and, inspired by Lawrence’s leadership and backed by the skill, passion and resolve of the workforce, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure that our team becomes the winning operation that Lawrence is determined that it should be.” Aston Martin sit seventh in the 2021 Constructors’ Championship standings, with a total of 59 points. Sebastian Vettel is the highest ranked team driver, placed 12th on 35 points. Josh Nevett
overall total it is worth to point out that 146 of them have scored victories driving thirteen different models. This is more evidence of how TCR offers equal opportunities to the competitors.” Rhys Vandersyde
NOT THE ‘R’ WORD The Banyo base of Triple Eight Race Engineering is, quite literally, a wall-to-wall trophy cabinet with hundreds of cups and plaques and Gold Coast surfboards. PAUL GOVER says each one is a tribute to the top man at T8, Roland Dane.
HE IS the most driven character in Supercars, even if he leaves the actual driving to Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen and the rest of the aces who have raced in the name of T8 and its various partners – from Vodafone and Red Bull, to both Ford and Holden. Dane is a master tactician, a planner and a schemer, a politician, a brilliant businessman and, at all times, focussed and relentless. He is a racer who always has his eyes on the prize. And yet he is about to walk away from Triple Eight, which is more like his child than a racing team, for a quieter life where he will split his time between Brisbane and Britain. His plan is to spend more time with his family, reconnecting with friends including his great mate and former F1 racer Derek Warwick, and indulging his passions for everything from high-speed motorcycles to art and fine dining. Dane has been developing and then working through his transition plan for more than five years and is finally ready to talk, although actual use of the R-word is tough for him. “I’m not sure I’ve said I’m retiring,” Dane begins, while sitting with a cup of tea on the balcony at his expansive home in Brisbane’s riverside inner-city. It’s a typical reply from a motorsport chess master who likes to stay one move ahead, and usually has no trouble maintaining his edge. “What I’ve said is that I’m eligible for a bus pass in a few weeks time,” he adds, as he opens the door to Auto Action for some rare insights. That is British code for his 65th birthday, the age in Britain when Seniors get a free ride on public transport. Not that Dane needs buses,
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with an electric Mini and a Porsche in the garage now that his ties to Holden have been officially terminated. Then he begins to relax and the chat is wide and varied, starting with the future of T8 “It’s time to hand over the running of Triple Eight to the next generation,” Dane says. That means everything from Jamie Whincup’s future role as team boss, the massive ownership stake he sold to businessman-racer Tony Quinn, and the role of his daughter Jessica at Banyo. “What it does do, hopefully, is free me up so that I’m not bound by the Supercars calendar and feel obliged to be in a certain place on a certain day. So, if I want to spend a couple of months of the year in Europe, in their summer, I can. “I’m retiring from running Tripe Eight.
That I’m doing.” So there it is, the confirmation, as he moves on to his future role. “I think the shareholders want me to stay on for a year as Chairman, in a part-time role. I certainly don’t want to tread on people’s toes and I don’t want to out-stay my welcome.” But will he be lurking at the back of the garage, as he has done since passing the pivot point in the Red Bull Ampol Racing garage, standing between the two race engineers, to Mark Dutton? Or dropping into Banyo every day? “I might come in and have a look, but there is an awful lot of the business that is being run today by the people who are there. And with far less involvement on my part than there has ever been.” Dane stresses that the change has been part of a long-term plan and he is
comfortable, and happy, with the way it is going. “The strategy is more about trying to empower who is there, those people, to do their jobs and gradually allow them to get on with it.” At the top, that means Jamie Whincup and Dane’s daughter, Jessica, who relocated from the UK to join the family business and is now also studying for a law degree. “Jamie had talked about wanting to get involved. What he wanted to do. And then he said he would like to prove the point by buying into the business, three years ago.
Triple Eight’s first-ever race in Australia, the 2 litre Bathurst 1000 in 1998. Peter Brock and Derek Warwick shared the Vauxhall Vectra. It followed the team’s highlysuccesful British Touring Car campaign.
Images: Motorsport Images/Ross Gibb Photography/AA Archive Roland Dane with the next generation, Jamie Whincup and daughter Jessica Dane (opposite, left). Dane pictured at right with long-time friend and one-time Triple Eight partner, Derek Warwick. Early days for Triple Eight in Australia (above), Craig Lowndes on his way to Bathurst victory.
“He was drawing a line in the sand to say ‘I am serious’. And then I knew what the direction could be.” Jessica, who has famously said “I’m a Dane, we don’t smile”, is also pivotal. “Her role for the next period, whether you call it three years or five years or whatever, is really to try to provide the administrative backbone for the business, for Jamie to be able to operate. So looking after the HR side, overlooking policy, overlooking contractual issues, to empower Jamie and empower the other people there to allow them to do their day-to-day jobs. That is really her role, to try and ensure that the administrative side of the business is being executed properly.” So there will be another Dane at the top of T8, but it’s not just family succession. “If I didn’t have her then I would have to try and find someone like her. Operating a business with 50, 60 people, or whatever, in Australia today, is increasingly onerous. “She has been around the business for a long time and she has an understanding of motor sport that goes beyond just Triple Eight. She’s a bit like Shane (van Gisbergen), in that she just soaks up a hell of a lot of what is going on around the world. Not just from the perspective of females in motor sport, but from an overall perspective in what’s going on in sports cars, what’s going on in F1 or MotoGP. She takes a keen interest in it. “She has got her own level of contacts now that she uses to keep herself up with what is going on. To
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be honest, sometimes at a better level than me these days. She is connected with a different generation to me.” But there was also a time when Dane’s daughter could have been running a satellite Supercars team with Simona de Silvestro driving and a mostly female crew. “We had a plan that would have been good to have been able to execute properly. But, in the end, it didn’t happen, because I was very insistent that it had to be funded properly and it was taking too long to put all those pieces into place. “In the end it didn’t happen and that’s one of the reasons Jessica said ‘If I’m not going to be doing that, what will I do to improve myself?’. So she went off, literally shortly afterwards, to do the law degree to give herself another set of tools.” Even though the Simona plan failed, Dane was a surprising fan of the Swiss
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miss. “It would have been good to have Simona. I think she was potentially better than she was showing, and it would have been good to have helped her show that.” Dane is so committed to T8 that he became an Australian citizen, like his daughter, and has developed a multifaceted business that is much more than just a Supercars racing team with a new manufacturing operation at a fresh factory on the same street in Banyo. “Hopefully, just having a number of different legs to the business means that we’re more resourceful, means that we’ve got different sources of income, and can spread our risk, and allow us – as the Supercars become very standardised in the Gen3 car – to have the ability to have an engineering backbone. “It doesn’t matter if we’re doing
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Super2, or GTs, or manufacturing, it is one thing. If you’re just relying on Supercars, and it’s your only sphere of operation, you’re not going to be able to justify having the sort of engineering expertise that Triple Eight has always had.” That approach explains why Dane’s company, tracking back to its foundation days in Super Touring in the UK, has always been called Triple Eight Race Engineering. “If I go back to the name of the business, it came through a conversation between Ian Harrison – who had worked at Williams - and myself back in the mid-90s. Having Race Engineering came out of Williams being called Williams Grand Prix Engineering. The engineering side is what made Williams the force it was through the ‘80s and the first half of the ‘90s.” Apart from racing, Dane has been a successful businessman with
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INTERNATIONAL
PALOU REBOUNDS TO WIN IN PORTLAND ALEX PALOU recovered from first corner chaos to win the IndyCar Series round at Portland, leaving as the series points leader. After falling back in the order early, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver executed an effective pitstop strategy to climb back through the field and take victory. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi challenged Palou for the win after the final two safety car restarts but could not reel in the Spaniard. Scott Dixon put in his own spirited recovery to take the final spot on the podium. Starting from pole position, Palou was caught out when Felix Rosenqvist collected him and Kiwi teammate Dixon under braking for Turn 1 on the opening lap. All three drivers had to divert through the runoff area, tumbling down the order, while the field checked up behind. Aussie Will Power, Romain Grosjean, Oliver Askew, James Hinchcliffe and Helio Castroneves were all involved in incidents at the
Image: Motorsport Images first chicane and had to return to the pits for repairs. After the first of four safety car interruptions, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward led the field until his first pitstop. It was the pitstop periods that proved the difference in the race, as O’Ward gave way to Palou who climbed from 16th position to the
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THEN THERE WERE 12 KYLE LARSON celebrated a NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, as the playoffs Round of 12 qualifiers were decided. Larson moved into the lead on lap 397 of 400 and held off the competition to seal his sixth NASCAR victory of the season. The news was not so good for Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, Kurt Busch and Michael McDowell, who were eliminated from the playoffs in the final race of the Round of 16. William Byron overcame the second-largest points deficit in elimination-era history to advance, finishing the race third behind Larson and Kevin Harvick. Ryan Blaney finished fourth and Alex Bowman fifth in the Bristol event. Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jnr, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10. Both Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell had to deal with punctures to secure their places in the next playoff round. Of the remaining playoffs qualifiers, Hendrick Motorsports has the greatest representation with four drivers (Elliot, Larson, Byron and Bowman). Joe Gibbs Racing also has four left in the running, namely Busch, Hamlin, Truex Jnr. and Bell. Keselowski, Joey Logano and Blaney will fly the flag for Team Penske, while Harvick is the only driver from Stewart-Haas Racing to advance to the Round of 12. Truex Jnr. won the previous race at Richmond Raceway in Virginia on September 11. JN
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lead on Lap 86. From there it was the Honda driver’s race, clinched in unlikely circumstances. Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey crossed the line fourth ahead of Josef Newgarden, the lead Team Penske entry, in fifth. Rosenqvist salvaged sixth ahead of Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta.
Kiwi Scott McLaughlin led the race briefly before his final stop. The Team Penske rookie crossed the line ninth ahead of Graham Rahal. Power was able to recover to 13th just ahead of O’Ward in the final standings. Josh Nevett Points: Palou 477, O’Ward 452, Newgarden 443, Dixon 428, Ericsson 402
Herta dominates Laguna IndyCar COLTON HERTA dominated the penultimate IndyCar championship round at Laguna Seca Monday morning Aussie time, while second-place finisher Alex Palou moved closer to wrapping up his first championship. Andretti Autosport driver Herta led almost all the way to win from pole position, while Ganassi Racing’s Palou quickly moved forward from fourth on the grid to shadow him for much of the race . Palou needs only to finish 11th next weekend to wrap up his first IndyCar title. “It was an amazing day for us, I was really surprised we were so competitive in comparison to qualifying with Herta,” said the Spaniard. “We did the most we could for the win.” Pato O’Ward is now the only driver with a realistic chance of challenging Palou for the title at Long Beach next week. The Arrow McLaren SP driver converted sixth place on the grid to fifth at the finish, to trail by 35 points. Penske’s Josef Newgarden is mathematically still in with a chance, 48 points off the pace after rising from 17th on the grid to seventh. But Ganassi duo Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon were eliminated from contention after respectively finishing sixth and 13th. Dixon’s chances were hindered badly when he couldn’t avoid Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Takuma Sato rolling off the track after a spin the corkscrew and suffered damage. Palou’s path forward was aided
Image: Motorsport Images by front-row qualifier Alex Rossi spinning off while challenging Herta for the lead on lap two. Third-place qualifier, Penske’s Will Power, suffered engine issues early and finished 26th two laps down. Third place from 13th on the grid for Frenchman Romain Grosjean in his Laguna debut re-ignited the Rookie of the year fight with triple Supercars champion Scott Mclaughlin, the Penske driver only able to finish 13th. The gap is now just 20 points. The highlight for the Kiwi was setting fastest time in free practice two on Saturday, but a miscommunication during qualifying meant he pitted rather than go for a final hot lap. “Overall for me and the broad scheme of things this is probably a real good character-building weekend for me,” said McLaughlin. “I passed probably the most cars I ever have, I gained like seven spots on the start and I was having a lot of fun and then a couple of strategy calls didn’t go our way. “But then I made complete balls-up into the pits and slid
through the box and cost us three or four spots. “We were realistically eight or ninth today and we finished 12th. Onwards and upwards.” Grosjean enlivened the end of the race, charging home on much fresher tyres, closing to within less than two seconds of Palou by the chequered flag. Grosjean’s charge appeared over when he locked the rears and clattered into Jimmie Johnson while lapping the NASCAR champ at the corkscrew, launching into the air in the process. “It’s been a great day, amazing,” said Grosjean. “I am sorry to Jimmie for the contact out there. I think he was trying a little bit to protect [team-mate] Alex [Palou} and I wanted to go and chase Alex. “Laguna Seca I love you! That’s all I can say.” Herta’s win continued a family tradition as his father Bryan – who calls the shots for him from the pitwall - is also a two-time IndyCar winner at Laguna in 1998 and 1999. “This place is so awesome, it’s my favourite track in North America by far,” Colton Herta said. “Winning here means so much.” Bruce Newton
ROVANPERA DOUBLES HIS TALLY IN GREECE KALLE ROVANPERA claimed his second World Rally Championship win in the Acropolis Rally Greece, continuing his rise to stardom. The 20-year-old Finn led for nearly the entire distance across four days, achieving a final margin of 42.1s over Ott Tanak. Rovanpera wrote his name in the history books as the youngest WRC winner, in Estonia just two months ago, and two events on has doubled his tally in a Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris. Championship leader Sebastien Ogier extended his points lead to 44 after a third-place result, finishing a further 29.2s back in his Yaris. After an eight-year spell between Greek events, it was Rovanpera who started best on the first day. The young talent took the lead on Stage 3 and did not look back thereafter, establish a 3.9s lead over Hyundai driver Tanak by the close of the day. Ogier was just 0.2s behind, completing a tightly bunched top three. Title challenger Elfyn Evans suffered severe gearbox issues in his Yaris before Stage 3, having to make do with the use of just a couple of operational gears and falling back in the pack as a result. Thierry Neuville also had mechanical troubles, his power steering failed in Stage 4 and required a DIY fix that managed to get him back on the road. On Day 2, Rovanpera took his driving up a gear to achieve four
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Image: Red Bull Content Pool straight stage wins and a 40s lead. The order of competitors did not change at the close of the second day, Tanak and Ogier still trailing the leader. That pattern held throughout the final morning as only Gus Greensmith’s move into fifth disrupted an otherwise stable top five. In the final stage of the Rally, Rovanpera scored maximum bonus points for winning the Power Stage, rounding off a perfect weekend. Rovanpera was thrilled with his second victory. “I was not maybe the most comfortable coming here, but it just shows that now everything is going well for us and we can push hard,” said Rovanpera.
LAWSON RACES INTO DTM LEAD A PAIR of podium finishes at Circuit Assen has sent Kiwi Liam Lawson to the top of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) standings. The junior Red Bull AF Corse driver followed up a third-place effort in Race 1 with a runner-up result in Race 2 to usurp Kelvin van der Linde, who fell to third overall. Marco Wittman was also a beneficiary of van der Linde’s stumble, slotting in behind Lawson after finishing first and third in respective races. Van der Linde was 12th in Race 1, before recovering to cross the line fourth in the second outing. Austrian Lucas Auer was the other driver to triumph in Round
“We had a perfect car and also a rough rally and it was running without issues all the time.” Jonne Halttunen joined Rovanpera to celebrate the victory, as Tanak and Ogier held their podium positions. Behind them were Dani Sordo and Greensmith, who completed the top five. Evans salvaged sixth after his opening day transmission troubles, in front of Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux. Neuville could only managed eighth after losing time on Day 1, while WRC2 winner Andreas Mikkelsen and Marco Bulacia rounded out the top 10. JN Points: Ogier 180, Evans 136, Neuville 130, Rovanpera 129, Tanak 106
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6, claiming maximum points to close out the weekend in the Netherlands. Italian guest driver Mirko Bortolotti was the other standout performer, driving his way to second for a Race 1 podium. JN Points: Lawson 175, Wittman 165, van der Linde 160, Gotz 155
BTCC LEADERS CHALLENGED AT CROFT THE CHAMPIONSHIP leaders did not have it all their own way in the latest British Touring Car Championship round, when three separate drivers triumphed at Croft Circuit. Aiden Moffat, Jake Hill and Colin Turkington took out race honours in Race 1-3 respectively, boosting their championship positions. Reigning champion and title frontrunner Ashley Sutton maintained a 29-point lead over Jake Hill after a consistent round of results, which saw him finish sixth, fifth and third. Hill was the big winner of the weekend in his #24 Ford Focus ST, jumping to second place in the
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Image: Motorsport Images standings due mainly to a P2, P1 double in the first two races. A final race victory also promoted Turkington up the rankings into third,
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after he began the weekend fifth. Moffat had by far his best round of the season, overcoming the likes of Tom Ingram and Josh Cook to record a race victory in Race 1 and runner-up result in Race 2. After starting the round second overall, Ingram plummeted to fifth overall despite a pair of fourth-placed finishes. Cook had a consistent round but could only register one podium, sandwiching his Race 2 result with fifth-place performances. JN Points: Sutton 247, Hill 218, Turkington 212, Cook 211, Ingram 210
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ALBUQUERQUE & TAYLOR EXTEND LEAD
RICKY TAYLOR and Filipe Albuquerque overcame mechanical adversity to win the IMSA SportsCar Championship round at Laguna Seca. The pair extended their DPi championship lead to 100 points in the #10 Acura, taking race honours over Renger van der Zande and co-driver Kevin Magnussen. Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr finished third in the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac, maintaining slim hopes of a title win with just two races remaining in the 2021 season. Pla finished fourth in the #60 with co-driver Dane Cameron. In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Ben Keating and Mikkel Jensen won to increase their title gap over Tristan Nunez and Steven Thomas. Jensen’s #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA finished a lap ahead of second-placed Gabriel Aubry in the #8 Tower Motorsport ORECA he co-drove with John Farano. Championship rivals Nunez and Thomas finished third in class in the #11 WIN Autosport ORECA. Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy collected their first full-points victory of the season in GT Le Mans (GTLM), winning the class in the #4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Corvette teammates Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia were second, despite leading the race for 68 laps. The #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 shared by Cooper MacNeil and Aussie Matt Campbell finished third. In GT Daytona (GTD), Zacharie Robichon and Laurens Vanthoor won for the second race in a row in their #9 Plaid Porsche 911 GT3R. JN
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