Issue 13

THE PIT STOP issue 13

q u a r t e r l y

m o t o r s p o r t

m a g a z i n e

IMAGE BY MATT WIDDOWSON

CONTENTS

8 18 36 56 70 IN SHORT

FROM F1 VETERAN TO WRC UPSTART Paul Hanaphy examines how Heikki Kovalainen has successfully transitioned from F1 to the WRC

MAKING AN IMPRESSION Examining Ferrari's instant impact upon its return to the World Endurance Championship

HIDDEN TALENT A deep dive into the surprisingly competitive Lancia LC2

MOVING FORWARD Ash Millar sits down with Caitlin Wood to look back on her career so far, and her future aspirations

F1'S TIGHTEST CHAMPIONSHIP A deep dive into the 1984 championship battle between Niki Lauda and Alain Prost

WHAT NEXT FOR ANDRETTI AFTER F1 REJECTION?

TAKING STOCK An in-depth chat with Australian driver Paul Stokell

THE MOVE NOBODY SAW COMING Taking a look at Lewis Hamilton's surprise move to Ferrari for the 2025 Formula 1 season

NEW RELATIONS Examining Pfaff Motorsports' new partnership with McLaren in IMSA

TOYOTA'S MOMENT IN THE SUN Paul Hanaphay reviews how Toyota took a dominant victory on home soil in the WRC for the first time

IS NASCAR TOO LATE TO THE NETFLIX TREND?

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THE ONE MAKE SERIES WITH A DIFFERENCE THE PIT STOP 5

TWISTS AND TURNS

W

e're barely a third of the way through 2024 and yet it already feels like so much has happened in the world of motorsport, a lot of which has caught many by surprise.

The biggest surprise of all so far this year was Lewis Hamilton's announcement that he'll be joining Ferrari in 2025 before the 2024 Formula 1 season even got underway.

There were very few people that saw that coming, with many people expecting Hamilton would see out his career with Mercedes. It's one of the biggest off-track stories to have hit F1 in recent years, and here at The Pit Stop, we couldn't let it pass by without mention and that's why we've included a story about that move in this issue.

But that's motorsport to a tee. Just when you think something is certain, something else comes along that flips everything back on its head. Nothing is ever guaranteed until it happens, and in many ways, that's the ethos behind our cover story, which details the 1984 Formula 1 season. That was a rollercoaster of a season, one that kept twisting and turning at every moment. It was magical, that's what racing is all about. It's why we love it so much.

But it's also what makes the sport so hard to predict at times.

That doesn't just go for team changes or establishing who's going to win a race or a championship. The same can be said for racing careers in general, and Paul Hanaphy's story on Heikki Kovalainen in this issue is the perfect example. Kovalainen, a driver that had a strong, if not incomplete F1 career could have gone on to win titles in sportscars after his F1 stint came to an end. But instead, he pivoted to an entirely new discipline and has slowly and impressively been working his way up the ladder. It goes to show that once a driver's career in one championship has ended, it doesn't mean their entire career is over unless that's what they want. They can adapt and excel in so many other areas of the industry, and sometimes those career changes can catch us off-guard.

Hopefully, this issue of The Pit Stop details the element of surprise and the twists and turns that go with it from all corners of the motorsport world. From F1 and the World Rally Championship, to IMSA and the World Endurance Championship.

We don't usually create our magazine with set themes in mind, sometimes it just happens organically, and this is certainly one of those occasions. But when it works, it works.

There's a lot of exciting changes to come in the world of motorsport in the next 12 months, and we can't wait to see how it all unfolds. But in the meantime, thank you once again for joining us for another year of incredible motorsport stories.

We're entering our fourth year now and we have even bigger plans on the horizon. And we simply couldn't do any of it without you, our readers. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you! You're responsible for The Pit Stop's success and we hope we can live up to it again throughout the next year.

Rob Hansford Editor

EDITORIAL Editor Rob Hansford Contributors Paul Hanaphy, Ash Millar Photography Contributors PHD Photo, Ed Waplington, Matt Widdowson, Grand Prix Photo, Rob Overy THANKS TO Matt Beer, Peter Nygaard, Roger Ormisher, Paul Hanaphy, Rob Overy, Kevin Ritson, Goodwood Estate, Caitlin Wood, Paul Stokell, Nick Padmore. Graham McCormick, COMMERCIAL ENQUIRIES Enquiries commercialenquiries@thepitstopmagazine.com 6 | THE PIT STOP

IMAGE BY PHD PHOTO

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F1 VETERAN TO WRC UPSTART WORDS BY PAUL HANAPHY IMAGES BY RED BULL / GRAND PRIX PHOTO / SKODA MOTORSPORT THE PIT STOP | 9

T

he 2007 Formula 1 season was an unmitigated disaster for McLaren Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso’s spat had handed Kimi Raikkonen the drivers’ title, while the ‘Spygate’ scandal had mired the outfit in controversy, and cost it the constructors’

crown.

Seeking to restore harmony in the aftermath, McLaren ejected Alonso, and turned to Renault to recruit his replacement: Heikki Kovalainen. Having narrowly missed out on the GP2 title in 2006, the 25-year-old showed huge potential at Renault in 2007, finishing a lofty seventh in his first full F1 season.

When he then signed for McLaren, it appeared the Finn was all set to follow in the footsteps of legendary compatriot, two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen. And things started well. Midway through 2008, soon-to-be boss Martin Whitmarsh hailed his pairing with Hamilton as “formidable” and his contract was soon extended to 2009.

Yet, despite picking up his first win at the next race in Hungary, he was ultimately unable to keep pace with Hamilton in a title-chasing McLaren. After a distant 12th place finish in the 2009 drivers’ standings, he was replaced by Jenson Button. Three difficult seasons at Lotus (later Caterham) then followed, before he lost his F1 seat altogether.

As McLaren tried rebuilding to fight Red Bull, Kovalainen sought pastures new. But where would this

take him? Would he end up like Juan Pablo Montoya in NASCAR? Maybe he’d ‘pull a Takuma Sato’ and head to Indy? Might he opt for Formula E like so many previous F1 stars? As it turned out, Kovalainen had lined up an even less well-trodden path.

GOING OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Following a BMW test in 2014, it looked like Kovalainen might end up in DTM, but instead the Finn gambled on a move to Japanese sportscar racing in Super GT… and what a gamble it proved to be. He won the drivers’ title in 2016, going on to pick up five wins and ten podiums while driving for the Toyota-affiliated SARD team.

When he rounded off all this circuit racing success at the end of 2021, you could’ve been forgiven for thinking Kovalainen’s time in top-level racing was also coming to an end. On the contrary, his career was on the brink of yet another seismic shift.

Alongside his Super GT exploits, Kovalainen had spent years competing in rally. After positive talks with Secto Rally and Toyota-backer Isilon, who he’d built bridges with during his time in Super GT, he then earned a full-time Japanese rally drive for 2021. From there, he excelled in the country’s top-level JN1 category, winning back-to-back titles.

But what prompted this dramatic change? Well, it turns out that before he’d even started watching F1, a young Kovalainen was glued to his TV watching the World Rally Championship. As such, his early memories

KOVALAINEN DRIVING FOR McLAREN IN 2007

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KOVALAINEN COMPETED ON RALLY JAPAN IN A SKODA RALLY2

are more of countrymen Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen competing for the likes of Audi and Peugeot during the emphatic Group B era, than the F1 stars of yesteryear. And his dream? To rally.

TAKING ON RALLYING'S BEST When he joined the Japanese rally circuit, Kovalainen found the rising level of competition provided the perfect “training ground” for honing his skills. So much so that he finished an impressive 10th on his Rally2 debut on 2022’s Rally Japan. The flying Finn was also on-course for a podium a year later, when his gearbox let go on SS14.

But these strong back-to-back showings on rallying’s biggest stage surely means his transition to full-time rally has been secured. At last year’s Rally Japan, Kovalainen used all his nous to navigate an extremely tricky day two – which even caught out more experienced rally drivers like Adrien Formaux and Dani Sordo – and nurse his ailing car through snow and hail.

According to the man himself, it’s that risk-reward balance that’s so appealing about the WRC. In this regard, he says competing in F1 and rally is like “night and day.’

“If you take a little risk in these kinds of conditions, you can win a lot of time,” Kovalainen explained to The Pit Stop at last year’s WRC event in Japan. “Rally is so cool in that way. If you’re brave, you can make a big difference.”

He has also found rallying’s ‘race on’ approach a refreshing change of pace from the cautious approach seen in circuit racing.

“In F1, they don’t race in very bad conditions,” he added. “Here, we can least get going. This is one of the most exciting, interesting parts of rallying. We don’t stop rolling when it gets rough. I like that.”

By his own admission, Kovalainen has a way to go before he’s mastered flat-out rallying, but he’s already relishing the idea of competing with WRC’s best. In Japan, he was particularly impressed with Takamoto Katsuta. Katsuta threw away a shot at victory with a

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KOVALAINEN THE JAPANESE STAGES IN 2023

"YOU ONLY LEARN TO DRIVE FAST BY DRIVING FASTER" - HEIKKI KOVALAINEN big moment in SS3, but Kovalainen described him as “the fastest driver in the rally.”

“I saw real progress,” said Kovalainen. “[If anything] I’d like to see him make more mistakes. You only learn to drive fast by driving faster. Yeah, you’re going to hit a tree now and then, but I think at this stage of his career, he should be giving his all.”

Even though Ott Tanak’s final weekend as an M-Sport driver was blighted by reliability issues, Kovalainen also holds the 2019 WRC champion in a very high regard. Interestingly, he even sees similarities in the frustrated comments Tanak made throughout the year, to those of other “special drivers” he competed with in F1.

“I’ve spoken to team principals, even in F1, about the very top drivers, and sometimes you get strange responses,” he revealed. “But you’ve got to live with them because you’ll also get the speed. They’ll win races and championships. That’s the gamble.”

MORE RALLY2 ON THE HORIZON? In true Finnish tradition, Kovalainen is refusing to get

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ahead of himself (or become too animated) in his quest for rally success. On his second Rally2 showing, he admitted to being “surprised at the big gap” to the Rally1 cars, and “not being brave enough” in wet conditions. But far from giving up, he’s chosen to double down on his ambitions.

Though not quite ready to compete in a full top-level campaign, Kovalainen is now lining up a seat in the European Rally Championship, planning more Rally2 appearances.

“I need a bit more time to do selected events, tarmac ones preferably. They’re easier for me than on gravel,” said Kovalainen. “Then we can add some ‘green’ items to the car, to promote sustainability.”

As well as advancing his blossoming rally career, Kovalainen’s Rally2 outings are designed to help drive Secto’s sustainability goals. In fact, that’s how he got the drives. He was playing golf at an event with fellow Finn Esapekka Lappi, when he met Secto boss Matias Hinkola. At that event, they started talking about green values, and things snowballed from there.

In 2023, Kovalainen’s Skoda Fabia Rally2 car ran on carbon-neutral petrol and lubricants. He’s now working

with Secto to see if future WRC2 cars can be fitted with eco-friendly tyres and body panels.

When it comes to Kovalainen’s WRC goals, he one day hopes to compete at his home event in Finland, but in advancing the sustainability of his childhood sport, perhaps he’s already ‘winning.’ Though this may not be the way his younger self cutting his teeth in F1 would’ve expected, he’s now realising his racing potential, and really starting to turn heads in Rally2.

He has also established ties with WRC’s reigning champions, Toyota. So who knows? One day he may even get another shot at a world drivers’ title. Not bad for a man who landed in McLaren at the wrong time.

But what’s even more impressive is the fact that Kovalainen has also become the latest F1 exile to show that there is life beyond single-seater circuit racing for the world’s best drivers.

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IMAGE BY MATT WIDDOWSON

THE WINGLESS PEUGEOT PEUGEOT TACKLED THE WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP'S HYPERCAR CLASS WITH A WINGLESS CAR IN 2023., BUT THE 9X8 DIDN'T PROVE AS COMPETITIVE AS THE FRENCH MARQUE HOPED. AND FOR 2024, IT'S EXPECTED PEUGEOT WILL DITCH ITS CURRENT APPROACH AND MOUNT A REAR WING TO ITS CHALLENGER.

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MAKING AN IMPRESSION WORDS BY ROB HANSFORD IMAGES BY PHD PHOTO

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A

nyone that knows the World Endurance Championship knows that one team has dominated it since 2018.

After Porsche decided to vacate the championship at the end of the 2017 season, it left Toyota as the only fully fledged car manufacturer in the series, and it used that advantage to go on a winning spree.

In 2018 Toyota won all but one of WEC’s eight rounds, with disqualification at Silverstone preventing

FERRARI LED THE FIELD AWAY AT THE START OF SEBRING

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it from getting a full house, but it was a feat Toyota accomplished in 2021.

With Hypercar regulations being introduced from 2021 onwards, the interest of new car manufacturers was piqued, and Alpine gave Toyota a harder time in 2022, claiming two victories, but it was a new entrant in 2023 that possibly gave Toyota its biggest wake up of all.

On paper Ferrari’s WEC record against Toyota doesn’t look quite as good as Alpine’s record against the Japanese firm in 2022. Alpine claimed two race wins, while Ferrari only managed one. But it isn’t the

number of times it beat Toyota that’s so impressive, it was the fact that Ferrari was consistently Toyota’s toughest thorn all year long.

And Ferrari made a statement of intent right from the off.

With the season starting in the United States for the 1000 miles of Sebring, the #50 Ferrari beat both Toyotas to pole position, beating the #8 Toyota by 0.214s.

It was the dream start to Ferrari’s debut weekend in the Hypercar class, suggesting that the season would be far more competitive than previous years.

Unfortunately for Ferrari, that stellar qualifying session was somewhat of a false start. Toyota took the lead after just the fifth lap and then both Ferraris lost time in traffic. The #51 car was then delayed during a refuelling stop, while the sister #50 car picked up a drive-through penalty and a five-second penalty for overtaking under the safety car and breaching a Full Course Yellow.

That meant when the 1000 miles were completed, it was Toyota standing on the top two steps of the podium, with the #50 car finishing third, two laps down.

It was disappointing, but it wasn’t a total disaster.

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FERRARI AND PENSKE PORSCHE BATTLING AT THE SPA 6 HOURS

THE #51 FERRARI TACKLING THE FIRST CORNER AT SPA

Ferrari were the new kids on the block, dropping themselves into Toyota’s territory, and it successfully ruffled some feathers at the first time of asking.

And rather than focusing on what might have been, Ferrari’s head of endurance Antonello Coletta saw plenty of positives in the performance.

“We surpassed the goals we had set ourselves, considering that we wanted a podium finish, and to this we added a splendid pole position,” Coletta said after the race.

“We are happy and at the same time aware that we have a long way to go. In the championship, we are up against some highly experienced and quick opponents and others who have recently entered the Hypercar scene, like us, but just as fast.

“We celebrate these results, thanking the entire

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team for the work carried out over the last eight months, which allowed us to race on a demanding track like Sebring with no reliability problems.”

Ferrari continued to show promise at the following event in Portugal for the six hours of Portimao, with the #50 car driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen finishing second, a lap down on the #8 Toyota.

The 6 Hours of Spa Francorchamps also added to that feeling that Ferrari was on the cusp of breaking its duck. It was unable to beat the Toyotas in the race, with the #51 car finishing third, just over a minute behind the winning #7 Toyota, but in qualifying it was very much on the pace, with both Ferrari’s qualifying within two tenths of the pacesetting time. And the #50 agonisingly missed out on another pole position by

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MECHANICS WORKING ON THE #50 FERRARI AT THE LE MANS 24 HOURS

0.024s.

Everyone could see Ferrari was gaining more and more momentum, beginning to realise its potential, and it was clearly Toyota’s closest rival. But few people expected Ferrari to pull out a performance in the way it did at Le Mans.

The Le Mans 24 Hours is endurance racing’s toughest race. No other race provides a challenge quite like it, and so it was expected that Toyota would likely come out on top given its experience compared to its rivals.

But right out of the blocks the Ferraris were on the pace. Both cars set the pace in qualifying, before destroying everyone in the Hyperpole session. The #50 car took pole position with a time of 3m22.982s, while the sister #51 car was eight tenths behind.

The #8 Toyota was the quickest machine for the Japanese manufacturer, but it was a surprising 1.4s off the pace.

When the lights went out at the start of the race, it was Toyota who quickly assumed the lead, and it felt like it was going to pan out the way everyone expected. But that couldn’t have been any further from the reality.

In the end, all five frontrunning teams had time in the lead of the race, with the majority of cars running into problems of having accidents. The order was shaken up quite significantly overnight as rain descended onto the circuit, but as the cars emerged from the sunrise on Sunday morning, it was clear that it was becoming a two-horse race between the #8 Toyota and #51 Ferrari.

BUT FEW PEOPLE EXPECTED FERRARI TO PULL OUT A PERFORMANCE IN THE WAY IT DID AT LE MANS

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Both cars were on the same pitstop strategy, and it was an all-out fight to the end of the race. They kept swapping positions for the lead, but later into the race the Ferrari of Pier Guidi lost the lead to Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi, after needing to power cycle the #51 Ferrari as a result of a cockpit communications system failure. Guidi soon got the lead back though, passing Buemi on the outside as the pair lapped traffic into the second Mulsanne chicane.

Once back in the lead, the #51 Ferrari was then able to pull out a gap on the Toyota, and it looked like it was on course to make victory, that was until the final hour.

Coming in for its last pitstop, the #51 car had to go through another system reset. That allowed the Toyota to close the gap right down and put itself back in the hunt for victory in the dying minutes of the race.

But just as it looked like the #8 Toyota might make a charge for the lead, Ryo Hirakawa lost the car under braking coming into Arnage. Hirakawa managed to escape unscathed in his Toyota, but the fight for victory was firmly over.

In the end, the #51 Ferrari went on to win the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours, beating the Toyota by 1m21s. It was an incredible victory, one that

very quickly made everyone realise just how serious Ferrari is about its Hypercar programme.

Victory eluded Ferrari for the remainder of the season, but it went on to finish on the podium twice in the final three races. As the season drew to a close, Toyota secured yet another WEC manufacturers’ title with 217 points, but it was Ferrari who took second with 161 points.

And to demonstrate just how far off the pace everyone else was, Porsche ended the season third, on 99 points.

Given 2023 was Ferrari’s first time in the top tier of endurance racing since 1973, there’s no denying that it was an incredibly impressive returning season.

There was no experience for the team to rely on, it had to build itself from the ground up in a short space of time, and yet, despite its challenges it still managed to be competitive at every round it contested.

And that’s what makes the 2024 season so exciting.

If Ferrari was able to achieve what it did in 2023 with such limited experience, imagine what it can do now it has had the chance to iron kinks out of the car, and has data from each of the rounds it tackled last year.

Everyone talks about the impact of the Hypercar

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class and how it’s attracting new manufacturers to the championship, but it’s Ferrari that’s really helped to get the spotlight turning into WEC’s direction with its competitiveness.

It’s already proven that WEC is unlikely to be a one horse race for much longer. It’s now ready to join the

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party properly and mount a full title challenge.

And there’s no reason why that ambition cannot be fulfilled. Ferrari is retaining its 2023 lineup for 2024, and with the car largely remaining the same, continuity will really help in taking that challenge to Toyota.

It will also have an added benefit of having a

THE #51 FERRARI AT THE LE MANS 24 HOURS

customer team on the grid for the first time, by the way of AF Corse. That car will be piloted by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye, three drivers who possess plenty of pace and a lot of sportscar experience between them.

Obviously it’s possible that the likes of Porsche,

Alpine and Peugeot might join the party at the very front, and nobody really knows where BMW or Lamborghini will really stack up, but one thing is very likely certain: Ferrari is ready to take the fight to everyone, and there’s every chance 2024 could be the year it takes a first WEC crown.

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IMAGE BY ED WAPLINGTON

THE HURACAN THE LAMBORGHINI HURACAN IS PROVING TO BE A POPULAR AND COMPETITIVE CAR ACROSS THE SPORTSCAR LANDSCAPE. THE HURACAN FEATRUES IN BRITISH GT AND THE FANATAC GT WORLD CHALLENGE SERIES, AS WELL AS THE EUROPEAN EQUIVALENT. AND HERE, IT WAS RACING AT THE MASTERS GT TROPHY WHERE THE HURACAN CLAIMED A DOMINANT 1-2-3.

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HIDDEN 36 | THE PIT STOP

TALENT WORDS BY ROB HANSFORD IMAGES BY ROB OVERY THE PIT STOP | 37

I

f you were asked to guess a car based on a livery and you were told the colour scheme was made up of navy blue, light blue and red stripes on white bodywork, it’s more than likely the Lancia name would enter your mind.

The Martini colours have long been associated with the Italian car manufacturer, but when it comes to thinking of a specific Lancia, you’d be forgiven for dreaming about the Group B Delta Integrale that tackled the World Rally Championship. That is after all the domain where Lancia became so prominent in the world of motorsport.

But during the 1980s Lancia didn’t just go rallying.

It also went endurance racing, tackling the infamous Group C era with a car of its own - the Lancia LC2.

Lancia dipped its toe into the world of prototype endurance racing in 1982, entering the LC1 under Group 6 regulations. The car was built on a Dallara chassis and possessed a straight-four Lancia powerunit, and ran in the legendary Martini Racing colours. However, the LC1 was doomed as soon as it began competing.

Prior to the LC1’s debut the World Sportscar Championship organisers decided that Group 6 should be phased out and replaced with Group C. And in a bid to force manufacturers to adopt the new ruleset it declared that cars competing in other classes would not be eligible to earn points for the manufacturers’ championship.

As a result, development of the LC1 was quickly abandoned and attention switched to a new Group C prototype that ended up becoming the LC2.

Producing a car from the ground up was never going to be an easy task, especially when so many changes were required. The new ruleset dictated that teams must use coupe-style cars and the cars also had to meet a new fuel economy standard. As a result each car had to complete 100 kilometres using no more than 60 litres of fuel.

There was no way Lancia’s straight-four engine could meet the fuel economy demanded, and it had no engine in its existence capable of doing so, meaning the team was forced to look at third parties to provide a powerunit.

There was a saviour for Lancia though, in the name of Ferrari. Both companies were owned by the Fiat Group at the time, and so it made sense for the sister companies to work together, especially since Ferrari didn’t have a factory effort in the WSCC. Ferrari provided Lancia with its 308C engine, a twinturbo 2.6 litre V8 that had originally been designed for the Ferrari 308 GTB QV. Lancia also leaned heavily on Dallara again for development of the new chassis, with the Italian firm working in unison with Abarth to produce an aluminium monocoque coupled with kevlar and carbon fibre bodywork.

Taking inspiration from the LC1, the LC2 featured

a large intake for the radiators, positioned front and centre of the nose of the car, and the bodywork directed all of the air down the side of the car to providing air to the intercoolers.

The resulting creation was nothing short of a beautiful monster. Once again donned in the Martini colours, the LC2’s design was an elegant approach to the Group C regulations.

When the 1983 WSCC dawned, Lancia turned up to the opening round of the season at its home event, Monza with two LC2s in the hope it could make an instant impact.

Chassis 001 was to be driven by Percarlo Ghinzani and Two Fabi, while chassis 002 was piloted by F1 drivers Michele Alboreto and Riccardo Patrese.

Unfortunately the weekend didn’t get off to the greatest of starts for chassis 001, with Ghinzani crashing practice. That meant the pair switched to chassis 003 for the remainder of the weekend. But not all was lost, and when qualifying underway, Ghinzani and Fabi immediately displayed the LC2’s potential, putting their car on pole position, ahead of the Joest and two Rothmans Porsches. Meanwhile, Alboreto and Patrese qualified fourth after suffering with a misfire, proving the LC2 had the ultimate pace over a single lap.

It was a massive achievement, especially given the fact that the LC2 had such limited testing before the season began. Once the car had been produced, Lancia was only able to get in 900km of testing ahead of the seasonopener, and most of that was undertaken in the rain, meaning it was unable to get a full reflection of the LC2’s performance.

That qualifying performance created a buzz for the whole team, one that continued into Sunday when Ghinzani led the field away at the start of the race. And Ghinzani didn’t just lead, he romped away, with the Porsches behind unable to keep up with the LC2.

But nine laps in, Lancia’s afternoon came thundering down with a leash, when the left-rear tire on Ghinzani’s car burst as he flew past the pitlane. Ghinzani managed to wrestle the car back to the pits, but by the time he arrived there, the left-rear bodywork was in shreds, just like his race lead.

The mechanics immediately got to work on the car and managed to get it into a state that it was able to return to the race, but it didn’t stay out for long with the damage proving too much for the car to be competitive, forcing it into retirement.

The second Lancia of Alboreto and Patrese also had a difficult race, with it too picking up a puncture while travelling at high speed. That puncture didn’t send it into retirement, but a reoccurring misfire issue did prevent it from fighting the leaders and they brought the car home in a distant ninth position.

A similar fate was bestowed upon Lancia at the following race at Silverstone. Once again the LC2s were

THE RESULTING CREATION WAS NOTHING SHORT OF A BEAUTIFUL MONSTER

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fast in qualifying, lining up fourth and fifth on the grid, but both cars retired with overheating issues, despite having led at times throughout the race.

The Le Mans 24 Hours was the next event facing Lancia, and this time it decided to enter three cars in the hope it would get some sort of a result. As ever that season, the LC2 was sublime over a single lap, with chassis 002 taking second on the grid in the hands of Alboreto, Teo Fabi and Alessandro Nannini, while chassis 003 lined up fourth with Ghinzani Fabi and Hans Heyer behind the wheel. Chassis 001 had a tougher session with Nannini, Jean-Claude Andruet and Paolo Barilla lining up 13th on the grid.

There was every reason for some cautious optimism, but as the race went on, that faded. Chassis 002 retired just 27 laps into the race with a gearbox failure, while

chassis 003 retired after 121 laps with a fuel pressure issue. The 001 car then completed a trio of retirement just 14 laps later, when the turbocharger expired.

It was a bitterly disappointing result for Lancia, and It didn’t get too much better next time out at Spa, although at least this time, both cars that were entered finished the race. The 002 car managed to finish seventh, having started from fourth on the grid, while the 003 car ended up 11th after starting 10th.

Lancia skipped the penultimate round of the season at Fuji, but did return for the final race of the year at Kyalami, and the team proved to be reinvigorated by the break. Patrese and Nannini put their car sixth on the grid, while the second car of Ghinzani and Heyer lined up eighth.

Has had become customary in 1983, Porsche

AS EVER, THAT SEASON, THE LC2 WAS SUBLIME OVER A SINGLE LAP, WITH CHASSIS 002 TAKING SECOND ON THE GRID THE LC2 COMPETED AT LE MANS IN 1983

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claimed victory, leading the entire race, but although Ghinzani and Heyer crashed out on lap 164, Patrese and Nannini went on to fight their way up the grid to finish second, four laps down on victors Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell.

It meant that Lancia ended the year a distant second in the WSCC standings, but given the lack of development that went into the car prior to the season, it couldn’t be counted as a disappointing one.

And given the potential it showed on its debut season, Lancia decided to continue with the LC2 into the following season, where it immediately began to hit its stride.

The Porsches were once again the pacesetters in 1984, claiming a 1-2 in the opening round at Monza, but the new 006 chassis driven by Mauro Baldi and Barilla crossed the line in third position to claim the bottom step of the podium.

Baldi and Barillia then followed that result up with an impressive fourth at Silverstone, before victory agonisingly slipped through Lancia’s hands at Le Mans.

Lancia spectacularly dominated qualifying for the race, locking out the front row, and both its cars led the race well into the night, seemingly on top of its reliability niggles. But as the morning dawn broke, so did the LC2s. Bob Wollek and Nannini’s car lost

fifth gear at around 7am and it’s turbo also needed changing, causing the car to lose its lead. It managed to return to the race, but ended up crossing the line in eighth, 34 laps down on the winner.

Meanwhile, the car of Barilla, Heyer and Baldi retried after 11 hours after the engine expired.

It was a bitter blow to the team, especially as it was coming so close to getting a maiden Le Mans 24 Hours victory. Lancia did however return to the podium next time out in Germany, finishing third at the 1000km of Nurburgring, before taking a hiatus after Brands Hatch.

The team returned at Imola, and then skipped Fuji before returning again for the penultimate round of the season at Kyalami.

The race at Kyalami was an easier affair than it might have otherwise been, given that Porsche did not attend the race, and both chassis 005 and chassis 006 went on to secure a 1-2, beating the Nissan Skyline by over 40 laps.

1985 proved to be a much more positive start, with Lancia picking up podiums in the first three races. It also managed to bring both cars home at Le Mans, finishing sixth and seventh respectively and then returned to winning ways a few rounds later, picking up a victory in Belgium, with Baldi, Rollick and Patrese beating the Porsche of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Bell to

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the top step.

A podium at Brands Hatch then followed a few rounds later, but that would be the last time it would participate that year, and I would also be the last time Lancia fielded two LC2s in the championship.

In 1986, Lancia had a one car effort, taking second at Monza at the start of the year, but that’s as good as it would get. Reliability still plagued the team, and knowing that it was not going to be able to produce a car capable of beating Porsche regularly, it withdrew from the championship altogether at the end of the year, instead focusing solely on the WRC. It was a disappointing end to the LC2s time in the WSCC, but despite never having sustained success, it did prove that Lancia could produce a car capable

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of matching Porsche’s 956 when it was able to run without reliability issues.

The LC2 also ended up becoming one of the rarest manufacturer Group C cars, with just seven chassis ever being produced. And even in this day and age, it’s still a car that captures the imagination behind the wheel.

“For me, it was such an iconic car that I’ve followed for many, many years. I’ve always loved Group C, always wanted to race a Group C car,” historic racing driver Nick Padmore explained to The Pit Stop, who was asked last minute to drive the car at the Dubai Classic in January 2024.

“And when I was asked to drive in this [the Lancia LC2 chassis 001], I thought ‘oh my god, that’s just the ultimate, that car’. It’s so iconic that car, just look at it.

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MANSELL AT ESTORIL IN 1992. HE WENT ON TO WIN THE RACE BY 37.5 SECONDS

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THE LC2 TACKLING THE DUBAI CLASSIC IN THE HANDS OF NICK PADMORE

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It’s just beautiful.

“It was all a bit last minute. It was prepped, safety checked for Dubai and then it was shaken down on a runway and delivered straight to Dubai. And then literally, a week before the race, Simon Turner asked ‘can you drive this Lancia?’ I was like ‘err, yes!’

“So I got there, had a seat fitting. The car is completely original which is the cool thing. Everything is how it was, it’s not really been touched.”

However, in true Lancia fashion, Padmore’s experience with the car didn’t exactly go to plan.

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“The problem was, it had Le Mans gearing from period. And it was so disappointing because I jumped in, fired it up, went out and for two laps it was just unbelievable. It was so fast. When the power came in, it came in with a bang, it was really quick.

“For two laps it was great and then it started to get really choked up. The problem was, I was having to use first gear to get out of a lot of corners and it was choking the engine up and then boosting, and it was then flooding the engine.

“We tried everything to make it run, different boost

"THE THING I LIKE MOST, YOU SIT VERY LOW AND THE VISION WAS GREAT," - NICK PADMORE settings, different settings on the fuelling, but it just wasn’t happy.

“We did practice, we did quail, a couple of laps. We did the race. It was really good, and in race one we managed to get into third. I thought here we go, this is it, we’ve cracked it. And then coming on the back straight, it just lost power, and that was that.

“It was really frustrating because I was really looking forward to racing that car.”

But despite having limited time in the car, the time Padmore did spend driving it was a moment not to

forget.

“It was awesome! The thing I like the most, you sit very low and the vision was great. With all the F1 cars I’ve driven, I always go on about the cockpit view, and what I love about all these cars, I’m very lucky to drive so many cars, is what that car and what that driver saw in period.

“Mulsanne straight was clocked at a ridiculous speed, and it’s so physical to drive. But sitting inside, the dashboard is all period, the boost everything, and sitting inside all these things are adding up to make it a

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NICK PADMORE GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE LC2

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2023'S CENTRAL FEATURE FOR THE FESTIVAL OF SPEED

dream come true.

“But the drivability of the car was very odd. It had a very aggressive diff on, so on cold tyres it was ridiculous. You were turning into a corner and the front turns and the rear goes ‘nah, not today’, and it just pushes you straight on. So the first time I left the pitlane, I went off the track, on to the old Tarmac run-off and thank god, managed to get back on. It just didn’t want to turn.

“So it was quite funny, but then when the car got a bit warmer it got a lot nicer.”

And like the handling, the power delivery of the LC2 also took a bit of getting used to initially.

“There was a lot of lag, and then everything just comes alive. So it was like you’ve just been put in a cannon and someone’s just set fire to it and off you go.

It felt pretty heavy, but quite nimble as well because it is quite a small car. When you actually see it, it’s pretty small.

“But it’s pretty pointy, and as I say, once those fronts were warm and the diff relaxed a little bit, it was quite drivable. But once you’re up to speed.. Jesus. It’s next gear, next gear, next gear all the time.”

“It’s just a beautiful car. In that livery, when you’re in the car you look in the mirror, you see the stripes and everything. It’s just a proper bit of kit.”

Padmore’s not wrong. It might not stand on the same pedestal as the Porsche 956 or the Sauber C1, but the Lancia was a proper Group C machine. It didn’t just look the part, it acted it well too.

It’s easy to look at the list of retirements the cars had during the three year stint they competed, but it’s also easy to forget that there was nobody else really out there challenging Porsche on a regular basis.

The Lancias might not have always made it to the end of the race, but while they were racing, they pushed the Porsches hard, and when they did finish, more often than not, they were fully in the mix.

The LC2 was a monster, it was a brute, and although it wasn’t flawless it still possessed plenty of talent. And although it might not share the same spotlight as some of its rivals today, it shouldn’t be forgotten just how impressive it was.

Lancia could go endurance racing just as well as it could go rallying, and the LC2 is its greatest evidence.

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IMAGE BY PHD PHOTO

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER AT THE AGE OF 77, RICK MORRIS IS STILL COMPETING IN FORMULA FORD, CONSISTENTLY CONTESTING THE LEGENDARY FORMULA FORD FESTIVAL. IN HIS HEYDAY, MORRIS WAS BATTLING WITH THE LIKES OF AYRTON SENNA, AND EVEN NOW, HE'S STILL NO SLOUCH.

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MOVING FORWARD WORDS BY ASH MILLAR IMAGES COURTESY OF CAITLIN WOOD 56 | THE PIT STOP

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T

he stifling humidity in the air, as the first foot is put to pavement, is absurd; the concrete car park, still emanating heat from the recently set sun adds to the thickness as my other foot joins the first and I step outside my car.

The sound of lorikeets still debating the last of their twilight arguments punctures the stillness, their shrill chatter adding almost as much colour to the early eve as their rainbow-coloured feathers. As my steps take me to an unfamiliar Guzman Y Gomez Mexican takeaway store in a familiar location in Warner, north Brisbane, two familiar faces are lit up under the coarse luminescence of the halogen lights on a table just outside the front entrance. Both of them smile broadly as I approach. One of them speaks.

“You took your bloody time mate! Matt’s already ordered!”

Met with a similarly jovial dig in response, this exchange with Caitlin Wood (now Tipping post marital activities with also-present husband Matthew) is standard for the now 27-year-old Maitland native.

However, the yellow-lit frontage of a Mexican takeaway in Australia is a far cry from the usual pit lane facades and globally-renowned circuits of the United Kingdom, our usual haunts. On this occasion though, as luck would transpire, our paths would cross as I was back in Brisbane visiting family for Christmas, as she was similarly with a drive up to local Lawnton from her native Sydney a day or so beforehand.

Although as far removed from the history-soaked tarmac of Brands Hatch or Silverstone as you possibly could be, the surroundings could well be mid-African safari or the Arctic circle - Caitlin remains the same relaxed, outgoing persona that has led her to become

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a popular figure among the at-times-too-serious paddocks of British motorsport. However, this calm exterior does well to deceive and distract from a ruthlessly determined, biltong-tough inner drive that’s propelled her into the successful international motorsport career she’s carved in the years since taking the plunge and moving halfway across the world.

“My brother was the one that was into it; he used to race karts and Formula Ford in the mid-2000’s, when I was about six or seven,” she reveals, as we pick our orders.

“It was always a case of my brother doing it, so I was next to do it, and I started on my seventh birthday when Dad took me out to Newcastle kart track to have a go.”

“I lasted one corner! There was a lot of running around for Dad in the early days rescuing me from the gravel. I wasn’t very good.”

From humble beginnings in the various gravel traps of Newcastle’s kart circuit, for years Caitlin turned her hand at gathering experience, speed and race craft as the landscape of mid-2000s Australian karting dealt every challenge it could afford to a young girl racer.

“My Dad was always of the opinion that to be the best, you have to be against the best. So a lot of the time, we’d be turning up to State or National Championships and I’d be seeing the circuits for the first time. It was ultra competitive; grids of 50 or so drivers, and because Australia is quite spread out, there’d only ever be one or two other girls around to compete.”

It was among the cream of Australian kart racing that Caitlin was first faced with the pushback that would be sadly commonplace for females in motorsport.

“It was where I learned you had to have a thick skin, and be tough. It wasn’t just the other competitors that made things difficult though - sometimes the parents

would be telling you to ‘go home’ and that you’re ‘wasting your time’ by being there, something that a young teenage girl never wanted to hear. But, I wanted to succeed, and I wanted to make it.”

These early years and challenges would go on to define the archetypical doggedness that characterises Caitlin in the present day, and as our Mexican burritos and bowls land in front of a collection of famished faces, we touch on the next phase of the story.

“We did multiple classes, always pushing upwards, and in 2010 we won the Australian National woman’s championships. We started to make good progress,” she says, stirring the food in front of her.

Working her way up through the ranks over eight years into Junior Rotax and Clubman classes, as Caitlin approached her 15th birthday the burning curiosity of what came next would take hold.

“We had Luke’s Formula Ford in the shed, in a million pieces because he’d had an accident at a street circuit somewhere and it’d just been left there for a few years.

I came up to Dad and asked when it was going to be my turn, as I always thought that was how it worked,

whatever Luke did I got to do next. I’m sure he was thinking ‘oh, God, here we go again!’

“He made an offer; if I wanted to go racing in 2014, I had to put the car back together myself. So over that year’s Christmas holidays, that’s what we did.”

The initial step into cars was a steep learning curve for the young hopeful; too young to even obtain her road licence, initial laps were through testing and familiarising herself with the machinery. However, becoming only the second ever Confederation of Australian Motorsport Women’s Junior Development Scholarship recipient at the end of 2013 meant the ball was already rolling.

“We ended up in third in that year’s [2014’s] State Formula Ford championship, but we’d done as much as we could running the car on our own to that point. It was a Spirit chassis from 2006, and we were up against 2014 spec cars, so the next logical step was to find a team and make the step into National Formula Ford.”

That step came thanks to Justin Cotter, Australian motorsport stalwart and Synergy Motorsport frontman, who put Caitlin in one of their Spectrum chassis at the

IT IS CAPTURING EVERYONE'S IMAGINATION AGAIN, AND NOT JUST THE CAR MANUFACTURERS

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WOOD SPENT TIME RACING IN FORMULA FORD

end of that year’s championship.

2015 brought a slew of top five results, stamping Caitlin out as one to watch amid a full grid of 24 drivers, and a final championship position just one slot behind experienced fellow female Leanne Tander raised eyebrows even further.

“We did a season and a half of Formula Ford before the budget ran out. If I were to pick a regret in racing, it would probably be not getting to finish that season, as I think it would have helped a lot with momentum.”

As it would eventuate, however, a deal with caravan company Jayco would thrust Caitlin into Australian Formula 4 for the final rounds of that year’s championship. Being her first foray into ‘slicks and wings’, and fighting against established runners, was another big challenge.

“I was thrown in the deep end again - pretty much the story of all my racing! - But we hit the ground running and ended up in sixth on debut. We only did one more round but, with that experience under the belt we thought we were at least looking better for the following year.”

Come season’s end, with no budget and no options on the horizon for 2016, Caitlin’s career prospects in racing looked challenging.

“That was when we got a call from a contact that had put us in touch with Reiter Engineering in Germany - they were running a scholarship for a fully funded drive in the BlancPain championship and offered a leg up to get started over there.”

This stroke of good fortune would transpire to become the pivotal point in the career of Caitlin Wood.

“Dad sat me down when the offer arose, and we talked about the future. He said that we’d gone as far as we could with his help, and this opportunity had presented itself. There was no harm in going for it - and

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if it didn’t work out, he said, I could come back, go to Uni, and be normal!”

So at 18 years old, Caitlin would move halfway across the world on her own to be part of the framework at Reiter Engineering, working for the team while campaigning in the European GT4 series with a KTM X-Bow GT4. It was while making waves in Germany that she would cross paths with a fellow female driver in the shape of Naomi Schiff; a now familiar face among F1 fans as a presenter for the Sky TV Formula 1 coverage and respected racer in her own right.

“We were both doing this kind of thing for the first time. I was initially over there couch surfing and working for the team, and after the first couple of rounds went back to Australia for a visit. Naomi was really kind, and we got on as team-mates, so hers was one of the couches I was staying on. When I returned back she suggested we just move into somewhere together and help each other out that way.”

The girls would get mixed results in a competitive grid, but Caitlin would walk away from a revitalised 2016 campaign with the laurels in the inaugural Reiter Young Stars Championship in GT4.

This wasn’t the only good piece of news to make its way into 2017, however - in addition to a 24 Hour endurance racing debut in the Dubai 24 Hour, a positive showing had clinched her Scholarship place on the BlancPain Endurance Series grid, campaigning Reiter’s own Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 R-EX. She would find strong team-mates in Finn Marko Helistekangas for her Sprint Series debut, and former F1 driver Tomáš Enge for the Endurance series.

“That was when things began to sink in a little; we had a podium in the Silver Cup category at Misano in the first round, and although the rest of the season

was up and down, it was the first time I thought ‘yeah, this is really cool’, even though I was under a lot of the pressure I was putting on myself, and it wasn’t fun all the time, it was definitely a ‘pinch yourself’ moment.”

Caitlin pauses for a moment on this point. The impact of having successfully made the transition to Europe at such a young age still flickers behind the eyes with a fleeting hint of inner pride.

“I look back now and think of how big that was. But at the end of that year the German Visa ran out, and I came back to Australia to have another think about where to go next.”

A call-up to race a familiar KTM X-Bow for M Motorsport came in time for the 2018 Bathurst 12-Hour alongside David Crampton, Tim Macrow and Justin McMillan, signalling Caitlin’s home-grown endurance racing debut and putting her stamp firmly on intentions for the upcoming year. However, it was further pastures that once again beckoned.

In the world of motorsport, especially as an Aussie, the promised land lay across the world among the British and European motorsport landscapes. With the spiritual home of global motorsport still residing among the vast multitude of competitive series in the region, the next decision was an easy one to make.

“I got in touch with some contacts in the UK who offered me a place to stay and a job. So for 2018, I made the move out to the UK, and arrived to find a job at Palmersport waiting for me.”

Palmersport, in the heart of Bedfordshire, has long been considered a breeding ground for up and coming talent, eager to nurture a competitive edge as a racing coach. For many it’s the first step into a world of making motorsport, and driving, a living - a one-of-akind location at the spearhead of dramatic corporate entertainment and driver training, where guests take their turn in driving seven different performance and race cars, pushed limitlessly by the assembled cohort of talented instructors. It’s often been said, both internally and externally, that if you swapped out a majority of the existing drivers in any given major championship with the instructors of Palmersport, you’d have a much more competitive grid.

Arriving in the UK, though, despite now speaking similar languages, it came with its own set of challenges.

“In motorsport generally, and especially when you’re coaching, being a female is a hurdle. It’s getting much better now, but there is still a stigma that makes gaining the trust, and respect, of your fellow colleagues a more drawn out process than I think it would usually take. You have to separate the racing and work sides, and the thick skin came in handy. Occasionally when you coach, you still get the odd person say that they don’t want the ‘woman instructor’, and at times like that you really have to avoid biting back! It’s getting better though.”

From the driving seat, however, a drive in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series with MTech kept Caitlin’s aspirations alive, and although strong results came frequently, an ankle injury kept her out of two rounds of the championship. After Round 5 at the Nurburgring, she was left with funding woes yet again, despite scoring her best result of the season.

“Coming into 2019 we got the chance to race at the Bathurst 12-Hour in the X-Bow again. We were really strong, and this time we had Trent Harrison in place of Justin. We were leading in GT4, and with just half an hour to go, the engine let go. That was a devastating turn. I feel like that race is something I’d like to go back and succeed in, a gap in the results I’d like to fill in one day.”

As had happened so often in Caitlin’s career, however, her hard work and persistence would again pay dividends.

Campaigning for more women in motorsport, the rumour mill turned truth when former F1 star David Coulthard, along with names like prodigious designer Adrian Newey, became shareholders in an all-female single seater race series under the moniker ‘W Series’, launching the campaign at the end of 2018.

The drivers would get fully subsidised drives in equal Taatus Alfa-Romeo T-318 chassis, with the selection process being a knockout-round competition to select the final grid. 55 hopefuls entered the selection rounds, and after being judged by Coulthard, fellow F1 driver

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Alexander Wurz and female ace Lyn St James, a grid of 18 full-time drivers would be chosen. A total prize pool of $1.5 million was on offer, with the champion taking home one-third of that total.

Caitlin was one of those final 18.

“It was another one of those moments where you think, just go for it, and see what happens. It was tough to get through the rounds but I was proud to be the only Australian in the series!”

Throughout 2019, Caitlin would battle against the likes of Marta Garcia, Sarah Moore and eventual series triple champion Jamie Chadwick, who all would go on to forge their own careers in other series.

“It was an awesome start to getting female drivers in the seat and out racing. The concept was great. For the drivers, too, it was a chance to earn a little from racing, which is what we all want to aim for. To become professionals.”

In 2019 Caitlin scored a best of fifth place in Assen, with her pace showing well against a talented grid.

However, mid season misfortune, getting caught up in others’ accidents and mechanical woes would see Caitlin miss out on an automatic 2020 grid slot by just a single point come season’s end.

2020, as those reading presently will know, turned out to be a non-starter, as covid swept through all realms of society. With motorsport being on the back burner, Caitlin quietly sat back and concentrated efforts on 2021, whilst continuing to forge forward in coaching.

“Not a lot happened in 2020. But it gave us a chance to reset and have a look at other options.”

Another chance meeting that would work in Caitlin’s favour around this time was an introduction to Tim Sugden, former touring car ace and prolific businessman. Introduced by friends, they hit it off immediately.

“Tim has been a great source of knowledge. He’s been there and done that, and he knows the landscape better than a lot of people. He talks straight, and we got on like a house on fire. His mentorship has been a really big influence on my career, and he was a great guy to call whenever I needed any advice. He’d look around and say ‘yes, do this’ or ‘no, don’t worry about that’, to keep on pushing towards staying on some grids.”

With 2020 written off, Caitlin made a return to the revitalised W Series for 2021, albeit as a spare driver.

This saw Caitlin join the Puma-backed team, and made appearances in Hungary, Spa, and Circuit of the America’s, as a support category on the F1 billing. It was a chance to showcase her undoubted grit and talent in front of the right crowd.

“That season was a fun one; we only did a few rounds but we were really strong. Qualifying third in the awful weather in Spa as a ‘spare’ driver was a highlight,

and we brought the car home in fifth for a really strong result. It was great to be back, but we knew that there was a little bit of trouble on the horizon.”

Indeed this would be Caitlin’s last single seater appearance to date, as the W Series began to face an uphill struggle. A demo run up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed would be another highlight in a largely sparse season. However, rumours of unsustainable funding for the series began to surface.

Caitlin sits forward as she reflects.

“It was a great concept. It really was the start for many of the girls who needed it, and it put us into a position to be able to justifiably make our dreams happen. Unfortunately, in my opinion, I think that while it was very sustainable for the drivers, it wasn’t for the series. The money had to come from somewhere.

“Added into the mix, I think the fans couldn’t see where the progression would lead to. As a series it was meant to catapult us onto the next thing, but having the same champion return multiple times went against that progression. I love Jamie, she’s doing amazing things now in America, but in my opinion, for the series, we probably should have had that champion go on to something else after winning.”

So, it was back to the drawing board for 2022.

A series of chats with multiple teams in multiple championships would commence, but it was Sugden who would be instrumental in pointing Caitlin towards the next phase of her story.

“We wanted to stay on the grid, any grid. Representation is everything in motorsport and just being on a grid is a huge part of continuing. So we looked elsewhere, and Tim suggested doing the NLS series in Germany, which we ended up doing, and took a BMW 3 Series around in selected races, and got my A Permit.”

This honour is not easy - to race at the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife, you must show you are able to tackle the 20.8 kilometre length of dangerous tarmac competently by completing a number of laps, and races, to just be able to qualify for more prestigious races.

2022 passed by with endurance racing back on the menu, and having made the cut at the Nurburgring, Caitlin was ready to tackle the famed circuit properly.

“I just wanted to stay current. The next season, 2023, we only did one or two races, but we won our class in the Nurburgring 24 Hour Qualifying Race - the first Aussie woman to win at the Nurburgring. That was a huge source of pride.”

The dangers of the Nurburgring, however, would present themselves to Caitlin - coming up to the Adenauer Forst section, an issue would toss the car into the barrier, ending up upside down at an alarming speed.

“This wasn’t the first accident I’d been in, but it was a bit of a shock. The impact wasn’t the issue - it was the

"THE FIRST AUSSIE WOMAN TO WIN AT THE NURBURGRING. THAT WAS A SOURCE OF PRIDE"

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WOOD'S SUCCESS AND DEDICATION EARNED HER A SEAT IN W SERIES

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fact that I couldn’t physically get out of the car. I saw some smoke and a lick of flame, and thought, ‘yeah, no, I don’t like this bit’.

“It isn’t the threat of hurting myself that I’m afraid of though - I don’t mind that. It’s the financial pain. I’d rather break my leg than have to pay for the excess on writing off or damaging a car! We just don’t have the funds for that and we’re running on a tight budget all the time.”

Along with activities behind the wheel, Caitlin successfully held a handful of female-only track days, pioneering the entry for more girls to make a start in motorsport and continue the legacy that she’s forged to date. Not one to sit still.

For a moment the conversation breaks; the store

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is closing soon and Matt and Caitlin have a bit of shopping to grab from the Woolworths nearby. We elevate out of our seats, and make our way across the tepid concrete to the sound of flip-flops flapping in unison. Australian summer is a different vibe.

We continue to discuss the upcoming year.

“For 2024, there’s a few things in the pipeline but nothing that’s confirmed as yet. I’m excited about a few of the things that we can’t announce as yet but, I will say, keep an eye out for something a bit different.

“Whatever happens though, I just want to go into the new season, and the future, representing myself and my country well as a professional athlete and sportswoman. I’ve been over here a few years now, and it’s a shame that the Australian coverage of

FERRARI AND PORSCHE BATTLING HARD

overseas motorsport, and especially the Aussies racing elsewhere, is a bit sparse. We tend to have an F1 and V8 centric motorsport ecosystem, and other series overseas don’t really get a look in. Sometimes it twinges a bit when I’m written down as a Brit and not an Aussie in some articles over here! I’m still a very proud Aussie, and just want to represent all girls who have a dream, to know that they can do it. Nothing is out of reach. That’s really all I hope for the upcoming season, and reach my ultimate goal of racing in the Le Mans 24 Hour.

She pauses a beat before continuing, pensive.

“Since doing endurance racing I’ve fallen in love with it, and the idea of doing Le Mans, even more than I had done previously. I’d love to be the first Aussie female to win there, so that would be one of the major

goals going forward. Oh - and of course to have fun and enjoy it along the way!”

With that in mind, the conversation switches to the old days of racing, and the battles had.

“Beitske Visser, in W series, was probably my most challenging competitor. We had a lot of respect, clean and hard racing, and we always had a lot of respect for each other on the track. Jamie, too, was always hard but fair. They were probably my more potent rivals.

“Tom Randle (current V8 Supercar Driver) was a formidable team mate when I was in Formula 4, and as well as being a great guy, the family were too. You learn a lot from your team-mates and as much as you don’t want to get beaten by them, you’re interested to see how they work to pick up and improve your own skills.”

She pauses as we stop to pick up ginger beer, as Matt has recommended a particular good one.

“When you were in W Series, that was a really great learning curve as you were all effectively team mates.

You could pick things up from any one on the grid and the information was free flowing most of the time.”

With a career already as decorated and illustrious as Caitlin’s, it baffles the mind that her story hasn’t been widely told on a larger scale. The passion, grit, determination and dogged single-mindedness has elevated Caitlin onto the global stage, not only doing it for Australia, but for all the girls.

Of all the places, races, cars and series that Caitlin has graced, what was her favourite memory thus far?

Where it all began, in Australian Formula Ford, and a particular race at Melbourne’s Phillip Island.

“We were fighting for the lower spots, maybe 12th or 13th place, but there were 5 or 6 of us. I can’t remember who it was specifically but, Formula Ford is all about the slipstreaming, and we were all stuck together in an epic fight. None of us gave an inch but everyone was fair, three wide into corners, and in the end it was probably the first time I really ‘got it’ with racing, and what it’s really about.

“I was beaming when I came into the pits after the race. It was so much fun. My Dad said ‘well, that was a bit of a rubbish result’ but I didn’t see it like that, it was the most fun I ever had in a car and what I think racing is really about.”

Ginger beer in hand, we head back out into the thick evening heat to begin travelling to our respective homes. Caitlin and Matt will hang out in Queensland for a few more days before heading back down to Sydney, while I make plans to spend Christmas with family in Brisbane for the first time in many years.

We say our goodbyes, and thanks, as we make our way onwards. The next time we catch up will be in the cold and damp of an English winter, a far cry from the car parks and shops of Warner. When that day dawns however, you can be sure that Caitlin Wood will be headlong into her next phase of her so far incredible, and mostly untold, career.

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IMAGE BY MATT WIDDOWSON

THE MONSTER THE GARAGE 56 NASCAR IS A LE MANS CAR LIKE NO OTHER. IT WAS BIG, IT WAS A BEAST, AND ALTHOUGH IT WASN'T THE FASTEST, IT MADE A HUGE IMPRESSION. AND IT'S LIKELY ITS PARTICIPATION IN THE RACE HAS EARNED ITSELF AN ICONIC STATUS IN YEARS TO COME.

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F1'S TIGHTEST CHAMPIONSHIP WORDS BY ROB HANSFORD IMAGES BY GRAND PRIX PHOTO / PHD PHOTO 70 | THE PIT STOP

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ver the course of the last 75 years since Formula 1’s inception, there have been some very close championship battles that went right down to the wire.

In 1976 James Hunt beat Niki Lauda by a single point, and the same thing happened in 1994 when Michael Schumacher beat Damon Hill to championship glory, albeit in controversial circumstances. In 2007, just one point separated three drivers, with Kimi Raikkonen emerging victorious to beat Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who were tied for second.

But none of these were as close as 1984’s world championship, when Lauda and Alain Prost ended the season separated by a mere half a point.

There was plenty of change within F1 coming into the 1984 season. Several drivers had moved around the grid, including Eddie Cheever and Riccardo Patrese, who left Renault and Brabham respectively to join Alfa Romeo. Ayrton Senna joined Toleman for his debut season, while Senna’s defeated British Formula 3 title rival Martin Brundle also made his debut with Tyrrell, and Patrick Tambay vacated Ferrari (where he was replaced by Michele Alboreto), and headed to Renault, to drive alongside another new recruit Derek Warwick.

Warwick himself had replaced Prost, who was fired

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by Renault, and he decided to dive into the unknown, returning to McLaren for the following season, partnering Lauda.

A ban on refuelling was also introduced, meaning there were plenty of question marks going into the new season, especially at McLaren.

McLaren’s 1983 season had been somewhat of a disaster, with the Ford Cosworth DFV engine proving to be outdated and uncompetitive, as its rivals all began to switch to turbocharged engines. And although John Watson secured victory at Long Beach in the second race of the season, with Lauda making it a 1-2 for McLaren, that was as good as it got.

A change was already coming but with Lauda pushing hard for a new power unit, the decision was made to introduce that new car - featuring an all-new TAG-Porsche turbocharged engine - in the latter half of 1983.

Success was never really the goal in the final four races with the new engine, it was all about understanding it ahead of the 1984 season. And it was a good job too. Watson stuck with his MP4/1C for the race in Netherlands, grabbing a podium for the final time that year, while Lauda retired with a brake failure.

Watson switched to the new car for the Italian Grand Prix, but both cars retired from that race, and the following grand prix at Brands Hatch.

LAUDA IN THE PITS AT THE EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX IN 1984

There was a glimpse of promise at the final race of the season, though. Lauda was on course to take a podium at Kyalami until six laps from the end, when his engine failed after an electronics problem.

It meant that going into 1984, while McLaren had arguably the strongest lineup on the grid, nobody knew exactly how it would stack up when the racing got underway in March in Brazil.

But when the weekend did finally get underway, the team quickly started to show what potential it had in its new MP4/2.

Lotus proved to have the ultimate pace in qualifying, with Elio de Angelis claiming pole position, but Prost and Lauda lined up fourth and sixth respectively.

Looking at the timesheet alone, that didn’t make for the most promising reading, but Prost was on course to put his McLaren on the front row before he had a moment with the Lotus of Nigel Mansell.

Race day was very different though. A poor getaway from Prost dropped him down the order, but it wasn’t long before he and Lauda began to carve their way through. On Lap 12, Lauda took the lead of the race,

after Alboreto ran off the track, and a further 12 laps later, Prost had got himself back up into second from ninth.

Both McLarens pushed on, in total control of the race, but on lap 40 disaster struck for Lauda when he started to slow down, having lost power. It transpired he’d been hit with an electronics issue, forcing him to retire from the race, and handing the lead to team-mate Prost.

From there, Prost never looked back and went on to take victory, beating the Williams of Keke Rosberg by 40.5 seconds.

A statement had been made.

McLaren was back to its best, was going to be a real championship contender, and Prost and Lauda were clearly going to be fighting each other hard all year long.

Those assumptions were quickly confirmed at the following race in South Africa. Once again, the McLaren didn’t have the outright pace over a single lap, with Prost and Lauda lining up fifth and eighth on the grid. But when the race got going, those two were in a league of their own.

A STATEMENT HAD BEEN MADE. MCLAREN WAS BACK TO ITS BEST

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LAUDA AND PROST ON THE PODIUM WITH DEREK WARWICK AT THE SOUTH AFRICAN GRAND PRIX

Both cars finished at Kyalami, but this time it was Lauda who emerged victorious beating Prost by over a minute. What was more telling though, what the fact that both cars finished a lap ahead of the next closest challenger, Renault’s Warwick.

Nothing is ever perfect though, especially in the world of F1, and at the following race in Belgium, both McLaren’s retired.

Lauda retired for the second consecutive race at Imola, while Prost got back to winning ways, meaning his advantage in the championship had grown considerably. Leaving that race weekend, Prost was championship leader with 24 points, while Warwick was second on 13, with Rene Arnoux and de Angelis tied for third on 10 points.

Lauda was never one to take defeat lying down though, and although he struggled in qualifying at Dijon for the French Grand Prix, putting his McLaren ninth on the grid, four places behind Prost, he did go on to win the race, bringing himself back into the title hunt, with Prost crossing the line in seventh.

For the sixth race of the 16 round season, the drivers and teams headed to Monaco, and that year’s grand

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prix proved to be one of the most dramatic races in F1 history.

Prost had a great qualifying session, claiming his first pole position of the year, edging the Lotus of Mansell by just 0.091s. Lauda struggled for similar pace though, and was down in eighth, 1.225s slower than Prost’s benchmark effort.

A Prost and Mansell battle looked set for Sunday, especially in dry conditions, but when Sunday morning came around, it was anything but dry.

The rain was pouring down, with only the tunnel providing solace from the water, that was until marshals were sent down there to spray water across the track to ensure conditions were the same all around the circuit.

When the lights went out, Prost took to the lead, ahead of Mansell, while carnage ensued behind, with Warwick, Tambay and Andrea de Cesaris all crashing into each other at the first corner.

Conditions were appalling. There was standing water covering every inch of the circuit, but being out front, Prost as able to control the race from the front, with Mansell in hot pursuit. That was until lap 11, when Mansell managed to scythe past Prost for the lead

when the pair were lapping Alboreto.

Meanwhile, further down the order, Lauda - who had made his way up form eighth - was battling the Ferrari of Arnoux for third, and eventually made his way past the Ferrari up the hill towards Casino Square, having got a better exit out of the first corner.

Things then got even better for both McLarens on lap 16 when Mansell crashed out of the lead of the race after dropping a wheel on to the white markings just after Set Devote. Mansell’s retirement promoted Prost back into the lead and Lauda up to second.

Although the weather conditions remained awful, it looked as though McLaren would be able to control the remainder of the race to grab another 1-2 finish but a rookie by the name of Senna had other ideas.

The Toleman driver had revelled in the treacherous conditions, carving his way up the order from 13th on the grid, and on lap 19 he passed Lauda to impressively move into second position.

His work wasn’t done there though. Having far more confidence in the wet conditions, and with Prost’s brakes suffering an imbalance due to the fact he couldn’t get enough heat into them, Senna quickly closed in on the leader.

Lauda had the same issue as his team-mate, spinning at Casino Square before subsequently stalling

his car, sending him out of the race on lap 23. But unlike Lauda, Prost was able to keep the McLaren on the road - just.

With Senna breathing down his neck, Prost began waving out of the cockpit, calling for the race to be red flagged due to the conditions. He first waved on lap 29, and then again as he passed the start/finish line on lap 31.

Prost did eventually get his wish a lap later, with the red flag coming out at the end of lap 32. And with Prost seeing the flag in the distance down the pit straight, he began to slow, allowing Senna to pass and cross the line first.

As the cars returned to the pits, both drivers thought they had won, but the stewards declared that the end of the race would be counted at the end of lap 31, the last time all cars completed a lap.

It meant Senna was denied an incredible first victory, but also meant that Prost extended his lead further in the championship, albeit not by as much as he would have wanted. With the race being declared over before drivers had reached the halfway point, half points were awarded.

As a result, that meant Prost left Monaco with 28.5 points in the championship, with Lauda in second on 18, and Arnoux in third on 14.5.

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Lauda managed to reduce Prost’s points advantage to eight and a half at the following race of the year in Canada, taking second behind the Brabham of Piquet, while Prost finished third. But Prost responded in Detroit, picking up fourth while Lauda retired.

Both McLarens retired in Dallas, with Prost crashing out of the lead when he hit the wall on lap 57, while Lauda also spun off six laps later. It meant that with seven rounds remaining, Prost’s grip on the title was getting firmer, having collected 11.5 points more than his team-mate. But when the racing returned to Brands Hatch for the British Grand Prix, the momentum shifted

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again in Lauda’s favour.

Both McLarens were in strong form in qualifying, with Prost and Lauda claiming second and third on the grid, behind the Brabham of Piquet. Piquet kept the lead after a clean start from the grid, with Prost in hot pursuit, but Lauda lost a spot, demoting him to third, and handing yet another advantage to his team-mate.

Lauda refused to give up though, and swiftly got himself back into third, and joined Prost in hot pursuit of Piquet. The pair worked together to stay on Piquet’s heels and on lap 12, Prost finally managed to pass him for the lead going into Paddock Hill Bend, with Lauda

following suit up the hill to next corner, Druids.

With both McLarens left to their own devices at the front, it looked like the British crowd were set for a blockbuster battle, but no sooner had Lauda passed Piquet, the race was halted due to a clash on the pit straight.

Jonathan Palmer, who was running 17th at the time, ran his RAM car wide coming out of the final corner, went on to the grass and hit the barrier hard. The car bounced back onto the track, and although Palmer escaped unhurt, the stricken car laying in the track meant it was not safe to continue.

With countback in play again, it meant the grid for the restart would be based on the positions the cars were in on lap 11. That reinstated Piquet to pole position, meaning both McLarens had to try to repeat their hard work from earlier in the afternoon.

However, when the race did eventually get going again, Prost wasted no time in getting himself back to the front. He had a great start off the line, immediately passing Piquet for the lead, with Lauda remaining stuck in third.

Lauda did eventually make his way past Piquet on Lap 29 to reclaim second, but by that time, he wasn’t in

JONES WAS VICTORIOUS AT THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX

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PROST AT THE DUTCH GRAND PRIX

JONES LEADING PIRONI AND PIQUET DURING THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX

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a position to fight Prost for the win.

However, on lap 38, Lauda’s championship was given a massive lifeline. Prost dramatically began to slow right down, allowing Lauda to catch and pass his team-mate for the lead. Prost’s McLaren picked up a gearbox issue and was forced to retire from the race.

All Lauda now needed to do was finish, and that he did. He crossed the line 42.123s ahead of the Renault of Warwick in second to close Prost’s championship lead right down to just 1.5 points.

The battle was firmly on, and that continued into the following race weekend in Germany. Prost edged de Angelis for pole position on Saturday, with Lauda down in seventh, but on race day, the pair were once again in a league of their own, despite Prost having engine issues before the race, forcing him to switch to the T-car.

By the 22nd lap of the race, Prost and Lauda were running first and second respectively, and although they remained within close proximity of each other all race long, that’s how the positions remained, with Prost beating his team-mate by a mere three seconds.

That victory eked Prost’s advantage out once again, but a retirement for Prost in Austria, coupled with victory for Lauda at his home grand prix, dramatically catapulted Lauda into the championship lead.

It was the first time Lauda had led the championship all year, and with four races remaining, he had a four and a half point advantage.

Prost immediately bounced back though, beating Lauda to victory in the Dutch Grand Prix to bring the championship gap down to one and a half points. But at the following outing in Italy, it looked like Lauda might have all but sealed up the title.

As had been the custom all year long, Prost qualified ahead of Lauda at Monza, lining up second, two places ahead of his championship rival. But on the fourth lap of the race, he was forced to retire after his engine blew up.

Lauda took full advantage of his team-mate’s misery, winning the race by 24.249s, and importantly, extending his overall championship lead to 10.5 points.

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LAUDA CHASING THE RENAULT'S OF DEREK WARWICK AND PATRICK TAMBAY AT THE 1984 DUTCH GRAND PRIX THE PIT STOP | 85

certain that another championship title was heading the Austrian’s way. But Prost hadn’t given up the fight just yet.

At the penultimate race of the season, Prost bounced back to win the race, while Lauda could do no better than fourth. It meant that the pair went into the final race of the year separated by just three and a half

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points.

The final race of the season was the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, and it was Prost that drew first blood.

Piquet took pole position for the season’s final race, but Prost wasn’t far behind, qualifying just 0.071s slower to put his McLaren second on the grid. Meanwhile,

THE START OF THE RACE AT THE EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX

Lauda had a torrid session, qualifying a lowly 11th for the race.

It was by no means over for Lauda, though. Second place would be enough to secure him the title if Prost were to emerge victorious, and although that was a tough ask from 11th, it was not completely out of the question.

But when the lights went out, it wasn’t Prost that took the lead into the first corner. Instead, it was the Williams of Rosberg who’d got the leap on everyone, while Mansell had got past Prost to slot into second.

Mansell soon went wide though, enabling Prost to move into second, while Lauda was still trying to find his way up the order.

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THE START OF THE RACE AT THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

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LAUDA IN THE EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX

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PROST AND LAUDA WITH SENNA AFTER LAUDA WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN PORTUGAL

And on the eighth lap, Prost achieved his goal. He passed Rosberg coming down the pit straight, into the first corner, and from there he never looked like losing the lead. It meant that all of the pressure was now on Lauda.

On lap 28 Lauda was up to fifth and a lap later he managed to pass Tambay four fifth down the start/ finish straight. The hunt was now on, and three laps later he had Rosberg in his sights.

The McLaren was clearly a faster car than the Williams, and coming down into the first corner he made an easy move to get himself into fourth.

Beating Prost for the win was completely off the cards though, unless Prost hit trouble. As Lauda passed Rosberg, his deficit to Prost was 42.7 seconds. There was no way he’d gain that much time on Prost, and so his target had to be Mansell in second place.

On lap 33 Lauda had his next victim in his sights.

Coming out of the final corner, he had nailed his McLaren right onto the gearbox of Senna’s Toleman, and passed the rookie for second before they reached the first corner.

It meant only one driver was now stopping him from winning the championship - Mansell.

As the race developed, it looked less and less likely that Mansell would concede second to Lauda. The Lotus driver was running a great race, but on lap 53 everything changed.

Coming into the final stages of the lap, Mansell’s brakes failed. He didn’t crash, instead cruising to the pit

entry, but that failure allowed Lauda to assume second place.

It meant the championship advantage had swung back into Lauda’s favour, and although Prost did everything he could by winning the race, nothing was stopping Lauda from crossing the line in second, to win his third F1 championship title by a mere half a point.

It was a fitting way to end that year’s season.

A great fight, right down to the wire, and also synonymous with the fact that Lauda won the title despite finishing behind Prost.

So often that year Prost had qualified higher up the grid, but Lauda’s nous often allowed him to recover positions during the race to make the ground back.

That season would go on to be Lauda’s last successful one in F1. He remained with McLaren for one more year, ending up 10th in the standings, and added just one more victory to his tally at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Prost meanwhile would go on to win four championship titles, and endure one of the greatest F1 rivalries of all-time against Senna. But despite the intensity of those championship fights, none came as close as the one he had with Lauda.

It was a championship of the ages. One that sometimes gets overlooked, but one that oozed grit and determination from both protagonists. And 40 years on, it’s a record nobody has ever been able to match.

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IMAGE BY MATT WIDDOWSON

ALL ACTION IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN THE RACE, PITSTOPS ARE HECTIC, EVEN IF THEY ONLY LAST A FEW SECONDS. AND UNDER THE LIGHTS IN THE DARK, THEY LOOK EVEN MORE DRAMATIC.

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TAKING

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STOCK WORDS BY ASH MILLAR IMAGES COURTESY OF PAUL STOKELL

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T

he warm afternoon sun floods through the glass frontage of The Beach House bar and Grill at the Logan Hyperdome, south of Brisbane; the heat is a welcome change after an increasingly bitter winter was setting in across the other side of the world in the UK. The nachos I accidentally ordered sit half eaten next to a pint of ginger beer in front of me. As I pick at the remains, a figure breezes through the entrance, slightly sun-kissed, but the familiar quick-gated strides could only be one figure in this part of the world.

An outstretched hand and a hardy hug greets me as I ask Paul Stokell what he’ll have to drink. “A pint please mate, and a water, this heat’s been brutal!”

It’s a greeting many in motorsport will be familiar with - since the mid 1980s, the name Stokell has been synonymous with motorsport success in Australia. But since beginning his career in Formula Vee, his talent behind the wheel has taken him all the way to the giddy heights of European F3000, where if not for a run of ill fortune, a distinctive blue-and-yellow helmet should have been duelling it out with the German colours of Schumacher and shades of Hakkinen blue.

The pints arrive, along with the water, and in between sporadic munches of picked-at nachos, the story begins to flow.

“People would often ask how I got into racing, but it's a funny story - my parents had no interest in motorsport, or even understood it whatsoever.”Stokell explained to The Pit Stop. “Coming from Hobart, Tasmania, it was a little bit quiet when it comes to racing and motorsport down there. But I went to go watch at a circuit called Baskerville close by with my Uncle and my Mum, and as early as I can remember I just watched and thought, ‘that’s what I want to do’”.

Faced with the burning desire to race, a young Paul approached his family with his future aspirations.

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“My parents spoke about kart racing and said well, if you can save up for one, you can have one. So at seven years old, I had all the neighbours collecting beer bottles, and my Dad would take them up to the brewery and we’d get 60 cents for a dozen. So he’d come back with about $70, and we’d just keep saving that way. So by the time I was 13, I had my first go kart.

“Mum and dad would put in what they could to keep me going. In those days you could just run what you had, and I had the same chassis and engine for a number of years, which is unheard of now. I knew I was going to be good at it though; my first ever race was the State Titles, where I got third, and over the years I started winning in Juniors, got better equipment, and won a few state championships as we went into Seniors. So at 17, I’d won a few titles, and because my parents didn’t really know much about motor racing the challenge was finding out what to do next.

“When I was really getting into it as a kid, I used to read the Grand Prix International magazines. From that moment on, all I could think about was being an F1 driver. I used to pour over those magazines and still have them to this day. But I didn’t know how to do it out of karts.”

For the meantime, Paul worked as a diesel mechanic to keep money coming in, all while saving up to fund the next part of his motorsport venture.

“I went to a motorsport shop, called Autosport, that was in Hobart. I went up to the guy that owned the shop, knowing he’d raced Formula Two years ago, and said I was thinking about getting one.

“He looked at me as if I was mad. He’d followed my career a little, and said if you want to get into it you need to do Formula Ford, and before that, Formula Vee, so let’s get you into that.”

With that advice, an old 1965 Formula Vee was purchased. A complete rebuild in the hands of Paul followed, and with the help of Autosport and

associated friends, Paul hit the grid against the cream of Tasmanian competition.

“It was a big peanut-looking heavy old thing, not very aerodynamic and older than I was, but we still managed to win the State Titles against guys who had been around for years on a competitive grid. From there we went into Formula Ford, still with the same bunch of people supporting and still on a really tight budget but I just wanted to keep progressing.”

The car, an older chassis but with a trick Steve Weisner-build engine and engineered by the same Wally Storey that would go on to Holden Racing Team fame, would appear in the hands of Paul at the prestigious Coca-Cola Trophy race, held at Amaroo Park.

“We had a really good crew of people. The car suited that track, and after some good testing managed to stick it on pole for my first ever race, at the Driver to Europe series, in front of names like Russell Ingall and Mark Larkham (who would both go on to forge successful V8 Supercar careers) who were in the latest kit.”

In front of a wealth of talent and experience, Stokell would land at the top of the standings for his very first preliminary race start in Formula Ford, and follow that up with a runners-up spot in the main race after missing the start.

“So, my first ever National race, I won. I guess that’s what really kicked on my career because people started talking like, ‘who the hell is this kid and where’s he from?’ We did a couple more rounds of the Coke series in a different car, staying consistent but not quite up with winning again.

“As luck would have it though, after a handful of Formula Ford races, the guy in Tasmania that had been helping me, was put in touch with a contact from the Gold Coast who deal with an exotic car dealer in the UK; this guy had the largest collection of Ferraris in the UK, and all sorts as a very well connected person. He, as it turned out, was also part owner of Reynard race cars, and even though I had limited experience, the contact on the Gold Coast just kept nagging him saying this kid is the real deal and wants to do F1.

“Eventually he gave in and said, ‘great, send him over for a test.’”

That test would be Stokell’s first steps towards an International career; after only a few races in Formula Ford, Stokell was put into a test with a European F3000 Reynard 90D car at Snetterton, run by the famed Mansell Madgwick team.

“I did 65 laps around Snetterton, and my neck gave up eventually. It was the old Snetterton, fast and pretty

"EVENTUALLY HE GAVE IN AND SAID, 'GREAT, SEND HIM OVER FOR A TEST.'"

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STOKELL AT HIS TEST WITH MANSELL MADGWICK

dangerous so I wasn’t willing to push much harder but, when the test was done, I was told I got within half a second of the times in that car, even though we were running maximum downforce and everything. That was enough to walk away from that test, with a letter from Robert Synge from Mansell Madgwick saying ‘this kid is the best thing we’ve seen since Senna came through, and we want him to take up the opportunity to do the rest of the British Championship, followed by the European Championship the next year.”

That meteoric rise through to the upper echelons of motorsport, however, is something that Paul believes perhaps worked against him.

“The guy that funded that test had enough budget to take me all the way. To my knowledge, he funded Julian Bailey all the way to F1 previously, but I think he perhaps thought, ‘who is this kid that’s just rocked up to England?’

“Added to that, I wasn’t exactly a bristling personality. I’m still not really, but back then I was really shy, so I don’t think that helped. I was left to my own devices a bit, and been guided up to that point but then had to come back to Australia and try and find the money, which was especially tough in the early 1990s.

He had committed half the budget, about £700,000, which was still a lot of money in those days, but we needed double that to do what we were talking about.

I was always terrible at talking to sponsors, and you’d

hear of people that would talk their way into getting sponsored and I was just never that good at that. I was the exact opposite, I was good at driving but so nervous at talking because my career depended on money. A few benefactors would send a bit here and there to keep me alive but there was no money anywhere. This was the latter end of 1990, things were a bit rubbish financially around the world, so timing might have had a bit to do with it. For 1991 though, I just packed up my stuff and headed to the UK, to turn up on his doorstep and see what he would say!

“We had a meeting, which I still remember clearly, with Robert Synge and Peter, the guy funding it all, and I just didn’t know what to say. I think they came out of the meeting thinking ‘well this kid is fast but he doesn’t know how to conduct himself’.

“My only regret from my career is that I needed management sitting beside me that day, in that meeting. I think if the right things had been said, and we could have covered return on investment and all that, I honestly think we could have done the F3000 championship. Whether that would have led to F1, I don’t know, but it was certainly a foot in the door, and closer than a lot of people had gotten up to that stage.”

For the remainder of 1990, Stokell contested the Australian Formula Ford Championship for Reynard’s Phoenix Motorsport. With just two rounds to go, and

"FOR 1991 THOUGH, I JUST PACKED UP MY STUFF AND HEADED TO THE UK, TO TURN UP ON HIS DOORSTEP AND SEE WHAT HE WOULD SAY!"

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budget at its’ limit, it was game over for the Reynard drive.

“With two rounds to go I was broke, which upset a lot of people in the team, and I missed a round. It was then that Mick Kouros reached out and said, ‘come and drive one of my cars for the last round, you can still get second in the championship’ (behind eventual winner, and Formula Ford Festival victor in 1988 Russell Ingall).

So I did the last round for him and won; that year I won a round in a Reynard and a round in a Swift. So Mick wrote me a letter to take to Mike Baker, of Swift UK, and said ‘take that to him and see how you go’.

“I was so broke at the end of 1990, I couldn’t afford to do anything but then I packed up and went to England anyway, which was probably stupid but I was so desperate to make something happen!”

So it was back to the UK once again for Stokell, and upon meeting Baker, was offered a test at Silverstone in one of the factory-backed cars.

“We did the test and he came up and went, ‘wow!

That was amazing, you’ve got the drive…but, we’ll need some money though’! I had about £500 in my bank, and loans still to pay off in Australia with no income, so that was a bit tricky. He ended up giving me one drive for free, and they offered me a full year for about £15,000 - the going rate was about £60,000 that year, so it was a huge discount. But it was for Swift, and the connection I had over there was with Reynard, so it wasn’t going to go anywhere, and as much as they tried to help, I didn’t end up doing that.

“A heap of people tried to help me; Ann Neal and Rod Barrett, who she was married to at the time, they took me under their wing and got me working at Brands Hatch Leisure, and tried to help with Formula Ford drives which I probably didn’t take because I was focused on the Reynard connection at the time.

Reynard actually offered me a job, sweeping the floors

for £4 an hour, to which I politely declined!”

The luckless Stokell hung around the UK for a little longer, and was introduced to the inaugural Formula Vauxhall Junior championship, just in time for his 1991 campaign. However, once again, bad luck and circumstance would scupper any hopes of a European career.

“It was arranged that I drive a Formula Vauxhall Junior car for First Time Racing that season. We arrived at the first round, just as it was about to start at Silverstone, and just as we were signing on Jim Russell, who I think was in charge back then, said ‘you’ve got an international licence…you can’t race this category if you’ve held an international licence’. I had it upgraded because I thought I’d need an international licence to race overseas, but it wasn’t allowed and I was kicked out!

“That was pretty much it for me in the UK. I headed back to Australia with no money, and sulked for six months. A lot transpired in the meantime; Paul Warwick (late brother to Formula One driver Derek) got the drive I was meant to have, and when he was killed at Oulton Park, there was talk of me coming over and replacing him, but none of that ever eventuated.”

It would be during this time off that esteemed Australian motorsport legend, John Bowe, would put him in touch with Malcolm Ramsay, who was in charge of Birrana Race Cars in South Australia, who had just taken delivery of some Reynard F3000 chassis to race Formula Holden.

“It worked out quite well, because they needed a driver and I worked for the team. I didn’t pay to drive but I’d work on the cars after hours and I was also a sales rep for them in the mining industry as a diesel mechanic trained under Caterpillar. In some ways I think that helped me to get the drive. He was a fairly hard task master but man, he ran a good team. Nothing

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was left to chance and from the offset we dominated three years of Formula Holden, with team-mates like Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Mark Webber, and I managed to beat them all fairly regularly.”

It was New Zealand-born Murphy, of the plethora of drivers Stokell would go wheel-to-wheel with, that would stand out as the most formidable competitor.

“We had mechanical failures in the first two rounds of that year’s championship. He was in a Mark Adderton-backed Lola and I was in a Reynard, he won the first two rounds. I was way behind. So I just chipped away every race, and we got to the last round at Oran Park. I had to beat him to win the championship - and I did! He was always a bloody tough competitor, so of all the feelings of euphoria to cross the line among that competition was special, and stands out.

“Around this era as well, the other one that stands out is the last ever running of the Lady Wigram Trophy on the old Wigram Airfield in New Zealand. I was on pole, we were milliseconds apart, and as we were lining up on the grid it bucketed down. This was an event held on an airfield with tractor tyres at each end of the runway. The apex of one of the corners was the steps to one of the officers' buildings. One guy went through the hanger door when he crashed, so it was bloody dangerous, and had been like that for years. Murph decided it was too dangerous, so elected to start from the back, to which I was pleased with, because it meant I had less pressure. But I got to turn one in the race and looped it!

“Everyone missed me and I went to the back of the field, which consisted of Formula Holden and Formula Pacific cars. Michael Graff, tennis ace Steffi Graf’s brother, was racing. It was raining that hard you couldn’t see anything, so down the straight I just hung to the left, worried about head-butting a tractor tyre. The spray died down, Murph spun off, and I made up the spots one at a time. One lap from the end I overtook Michael, who was leading, and won the race, so that was spectacular. That trophy is pretty special - I was in New Zealand not that long ago, and they had a plaque on the wall and my name was the last one on it, among names like Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart. That was pretty cool.”

It was during this time that an inking of a V8 Supercar drive flickered in the background, with connections to Holden and former colleagues now involved - but touring cars was a long way from Paul’s mind.

“I was never really interested in V8s. I wanted to stay in singleseaters, and maybe I wasn’t interested enough or pushed hard enough but I didn’t have much opportunity to go that route apart from the endurance races.”

For the remainder of the 1990s Stokell would dominate the Formula Holden championship against his famous aforementioned team-mates, and a touring car drive would eventually come at Bathurst in 1998, where he campaigned the Coca Cola Holden

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Commodore for childhood hero, Wayne Gardiner. A test for Peter Brock’s Mobil Sierra team was also on offer, but was knocked back by the Formula One-focused Stokell. Years later, it would also come to light from old friend Wally Storey that his management at the time had received interest in Stokell for a drive in the Holden Racing Team, a memo that was missed by Paul himself and whose offer would eventually be given to a young hot shoe named Craig Lowndes.

“We could have had a different career, and a bit of a different story, had we taken up some of those options but we were so focused on F1 at the time I wasn’t affording the distraction. I didn’t do a very good job with that if I’m honest and I could have been on a different career path. I’ve never driven one of the modern cars, but I did a handful of Bathursts and a round of the V8s, and to be honest, they were pretty hard cars to drive - with no grip, which was completely the opposite of what I wanted to race.

“Timing at this stage in my career was probably another disadvantage, and even if my management cracked on with V8s, when I was looking initially when I was younger they were after experience, yet when I was a bit older and a bit more experienced they were looking for young guns!

“It was about this time that I moved from Adelaide to Melbourne, and was given a test in a Lotus by the importers here in Australia, in a Sports 300 Esprit at Lakeside. I was far quicker than the regular driver. So they said, come and drive for us.

“There wasn’t really a car to drive when I got there!

There were a few things in Targa Tasmania, which I did a couple of times for them, and eventually got the chance to race a Sport 190 Elise in the Australian GT Production Car Championship.”

In a class dominated by Ferraris and Porsches, the little series one Elise was often out-gunned, but still placed sixth in the championship. However, much more exciting machinery was on its way into Australian motorsport.

“Previous links with Lamborghini came through when they allowed the Lamborghini Diablo into GT racing, in what was called Nations Cup. The guys in Melbourne were also the importers for Lamborghini, so they were waiting for the chance to bring that in, and I was in the right place at the right time there.”

The formidable Lamborghini Diablo SVR would first burst onto the scene in 2000, garnering fourth place outright in Nations Cup, and in 2001 finished second, sandwiched by the Porsches of Jim Richards and Peter Fitzgerald. Running a menacing black livery and carrying the number ‘666’, it quickly became a cult classic of Australian motorsport, and helped elevate Stokell’s stock among Australian drivers. 2000 also saw Stokell take two further starts in V8 Supercars, running with Steve Ellery Racing in two of that year’s endurance rounds in the not-so-popular Ford Falcon AU. Over the following three seasons, the Lamborghini would again be a front running force. Sealing the

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Nations Cup Championship in 2003 and 2004, Stokell would beat such names and Allan Simonsen, John Bowe, Peter Brock and Peter Hackett to the laurels, and bringing unmatched Australian success to Lamborghini’s door.

“There was talk at this stage of Lamborghini wanting to do the Murcialago GT1 team and things around then, but nothing came to fruition. As excited as I got about it, I went across to the factory in Bologna a number of times but they were concerned what would happen if I crashed the car, and who would pay for it. I think someone stung them in the past and they were a lot more wary about putting someone in the car when I got over there without backing.”

One anecdote that prompted a near spit-take was upon Stokell’s first visit to the Lamborghini factory.

“When Lamborghini launched the GTR, they only had about 30 GTR race cars built, of which two made it to Australia, and 50 road cars. When I rocked up for the first time with the manager of Lamborghini Australia, he said, ‘will you join us for dinner in Florence tonight, and can you bring one of my cars?’. He was stood next to a bright yellow GTR, and he just threw me the keys and said ‘see you up there!’. So I went up the motorway after him at 200kph, but didn’t really know where I was going or where I was. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I pulled over and asked someone, ‘G’day mate you don’t know where this address is do you?’, while there were people falling off scooters around me trying to get a look at this aggressive GTR. “We used to send customers over there, and they used to be taken out with Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni. He was a person I’d never get in with; he was a lunatic. There’s a great photo of him,

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sitting on the underside of an upside-down Countach in a ditch, with a fag hanging out of his gob. He set the precedent. So I took solace in the fact that when I was driving the GTR, the Italian police used to be lenient towards Lamborghinis with factory plates on them as they did most of their testing on the open road, and just let them go. I was offered a chance to be a test driver for them, but when I found out you had to wind the windows up and down 5000 times as well as drive them, I thought no thanks! It might have been a cool direction to take the career, but I was focused on racing.”

Moving back to racing, a sterling sixth place in the Bathurst 24 Hour event in 2003, campaigning the Diablo with Simonsen, Hackett and Luke Youlden, would pitch the famous car even higher into the public domain within Australian motorsport.

Further appearances in V8 Supercar endurance rounds would also supplement the calendar during those years, at Queensland Raceway, Bathurst and Sandown, with drives for Dick Johnson Racing, Toll Racing and Team Dynamic filling up the rest of the calendar.

Paul would also campaign for Lamborghini in the Targa Tasmania, this time in the Gallardo.

“Targa was one of those strange things that, as a Tasmanian, I knew about but I’d never really looked into properly. With the Lamborghini we were doing really well, and we were leading…until I crashed. I did it a few more times but the ultimate result eluded me.

“When I did it for the first time, it was bizarre. I drove off the ferry to meet my navigator for the first time.

He directed me to Launceston for the start, but we ran out of fuel on the way! We were a laughing stock

but it got better from there. The first occasion was in a Series 1 Elise, and we ended up third outright on the first attempt, back before the Lamborghini stuff. I just fell in love with it though, it was so cool, driving flat out down public roads, and I just loved it. So I had it in the back of my mind that one day I’d love to win the Targa. It just didn’t happen for me though, in those early years.”

The high success of the Lamborghini era in Nations Cup, and coupled with a drive in the GTP category in a Volkswagen Golf R32 in 2004, Paul set his sights on pastures new.

“We’d won what we could with what we had, and that era just reached its natural end. I got a bit bored, and there wasn’t much money, so I got an offer to move to Queensland with Sherrin Motorsport in 2007. They were looking for someone to run their track days and do their driver coaching; they had a one stop shop for motorsport equipment and workshops and events.

My first job was actually doing the coaching for the celebrity race for the Australian Grand Prix in BMW’s.

“In amongst that I met someone who wanted me to co-drive with them for an endurance race in the Porsche Carrera Cup car they were running at Queensland Raceway. So I had a go at that, and put it on pole ahead of Craig Baird, and the other formidable drivers that year, so they offered me half a season in 2008 in the Carrera Cup as well for them.”

One win was all that came Stokell’s way in Porsche’s,

but before development could continue, Sherrin Motorsport would fold. The plethora of contacts made during this stint, however, would help secure a drive in the Mini Challenge for 2008 with Decorug Racing, and at the same time, Stokell himself set up Stokell Driving Events, to pick up where Sherrin had left a gap in the market.

Success in the Mini Challenge would follow, as runner up spots in 2008 and 2010 were superseded by a Championship victory in 2009, claiming yet another National title.

“After setting up Stokell Driving Events, we’ve done a lot of driver training, working with Lotus and Radical providing race setup and driver training, as well as a Wolf Tornado. There’s been some drives in there scattered around.

“One guy that we were thrilled to discover through these events was Matty Campbell (factory Porsche driver) - I did his race licence test, and we went around Morgan Park in a road car. He just HAD it; I’d never sat next to someone with so much natural talent. He understood weight transfer and just effortlessly guided the car around, so well that when we got out of the car I went straight over to his Grandad and told him straight he was sitting on a once in a generation talent.

It was remarkable. And look where he’s ended up!”

As the 2020’s approached, and Stokell approached a spritely 50 years of age, drives began to slow down.

STOKELL RACING HIS MINI CLUBMAN

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However, over the last few years since turning 50, a miraculous set of circumstances occurred.

“I was looking at winding down, but, as I turned 50, my FIA categorisation went down to a Bronze. All of a sudden, my phone was ringing hot, and for the last few seasons I’ve been driving in GT World Challenge Australia for Team KFC in their Audi R8 alongside Garry Higgon and Matt Soupas. Since I’ve been a Bronze driver I haven’t not had a drive, it’s a bit ridiculous!”

In his typically understated manner, that ‘drive’ netted Paul Stokell his ninth National title, as Team KFC took home the honours in 2022, ahead of such names as David Reynolds, Sam Brabham, Chaz Mostert, Shane Van Gisbergen and Garth Tander.

“The first year was a learning year in 2021, but we took home the AM Championship in 2022 and got second in 2023, but we won the Bathurst 12 Hour the latter of those, so you could say that it’s still going alright!”

For 2024, there’s no sign of slowing down - although KFC have pulled out of the championship, another option for the new season has presented itself. A cryptic Paul isn’t giving anything away however.

“It looks like there’s something coming up. I wasn’t going to be doing anything but an opportunity came up…it’s going to be interesting. When you realise who it is, you’ll know why! The goal will be to win a race, I don’t think we’ll be championship contenders, but we’ll see!

“One thing I’d love to loop back to, actually, and something I’ve missed really talking about that I’d love

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to cover is Targa.

“I bought a written-off Lotus Exige back in 2017, and made it into a Targa car. They’d just introduced a Targa Championship in 2018, so we entered the Targa car in Targa Tasmania in 2017 and came 3rd outright. For 2018 they had the Targa Championship, and we (codrivers Erin Kelly and Malcolm Read) won the inaugural championship against the Viper and the Porsche through consistency more than outright pace as we never won a round all year.”

2019, however, would net the Tasmanian one of his most memorable wins. At the golden age of 51, Paul Stokell not only sealed another national title by taking the Targa Championship once again, but finally laid hands on the outright victory at the esteemed Targa Tasmania. Alongside experienced co-driver Kate Catford, the pairing also sealed the GT2 Class win; Stokell’s first ever Targa rally win, and Lotus’ first ever outright win in 28 years of the event.

“That was special, and I feel like I’ve ticked a major box in motorsport now that was missing for a number of years. I think I’m too old to be entering any more though; we do tours down to the event now but not to enter. I’ll stick with circuit racing from now on.”

“All these years later, I still love driving. I don’t love the other bullshit that goes with it though, the travel, the talking, the politics, the interviews, the publicity. It never did anything for me and it's never been anything I’ve been interested in. All I care about is sitting in a race car and going really fast! Still to this day, that’s still ingrained in my head. It’s very hard to retire when

you’re wired a certain way.”

With motorsport increasingly becoming a wealthy man’s game, stories like Paul Stokell’s are few and far between among the current generation of drivers. Big backers, family money and connections thrust new talent onwards, when driving ability comes second to who will fund the racing.

“The ‘Lucky Sperm Club’ still exists, just more prevalent these days. The kind of money it costs to go karting now I’ve never seen in my entire career. Even my parents didn’t know I borrowed money from the bank, I had guarantors for that. For the grafters like us, we just have to figure out other ways to do it.

“I watch racing now, and thinking about what we used to do, especially things like the Lady Wigram Trophy where the cars were taking off over culverts and skipping over things, and these days it just seems so sterile. It’d cost a fortune to have events like that these days. Safety is of course important but we didn’t know any different. Even things like Targa Tasmania, some people won’t even step into cars like they used to be anymore. But at the end of the day they’re the ones driving, if they fire it off into trees, it's only as dangerous as you make it. If you go up to the edge of the road and go over it, you crash. There’s no real punishment for mistakes anymore so some of that real grittiness is a bit lost.”

“I think I would have loved to have raced in the 1960’s or 1970s. They had a fair turnover of drivers back then so I would have had more of a chance! One of my customers had a McLaren M8E Can Am car that he

let me steer. That was mind blowing. You sit in it with a half-inch steel frame around you, 800hp behind you, and zero protection. My toes just made it under the steering rack, my knees just under the middle bulkhead, and that was it. You’re sitting between the fuel tanks, just sliding the thing about. I kept looking at the end of the back straight at Queensland Raceway hitting 260 kph before braking, hoping it’d pull up because if it didn’t I’d have been part of the furniture. I think I would have loved to be racing then, you’d have had such an awesome sense of occasion and such respect for your fellow racer. I still feel like I caught the end of it in the 1990s, so I’m thankful to still have been in the end of that era. I’d never say no to putting my hand up for a drive in something at the Goodwood Revival!”

As the sun began to crest a little lower, and another pint found its way towards our livers, the progression into early evening signalled a return to our homes. With stories swapped, it was a genuine pleasure to hear the story of Paul Stokell; a story which, having been given my first proper coaching job in Australia 12 years prior with Stokell Driving Events, I had yet to hear in its’ entirety.

A story of an unsung talent, unheard of by the motorsport masses - until now. Nine Australian titles, and multiple lap records that still stand later, few could avoid imagining just how many of those would be international, had things worked out a little differently one murky day in a meeting with two influential men in England in 1990.

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IMAGE BY ED WAPLINGTON

THE NSX THE HONDA NSX RETURNED TO SPORTSCAR RACING IN 2023, WITH NOVA RACING FIELDING TWO CARS IN THE FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE.

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THE MOVE NOBODY SAW COMING WORDS BY ROB HANSFORD IMAGES BY MERCEDES / FERRARI THE PIT STOP | 111

T

hursday February 1, 2024. It’s a date that will now live long in the memory of Formula 1 fans worldwide.

Waking up on that dreary Thursday morning, there was nothing that suggested it would be as remarkable a day as it ended up being. It was just any

other day.

But before breakfast had barely been consumed, rumours about Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari began to emerge.

The rumours almost caused this writer to scoff on his cereal. Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari? Don’t be absurd, there’s no way that could become a reality.

Hamilton is the face of Mercedes’ Formula 1 team.

He’s been with the team since the very early stages of its F1 project and has had almost all of his success with the German manufacturer.

He’s only won a single title outside of the Mercedes team, his first with McLaren in 2008, but even then McLaren was essentially a works Mercedes team.

Mercedes has been prominent all throughout Hamilton’s career, even through the junior categories.

Hamilton and Mercedes go hand-in-hand. They’ve almost become one and the same, in similar fashion to Michael Schumacher’s time at Ferrari.

It never seemed a realistic prospect that Hamilton would ever look to move away from Mercedes. He’d pretty much been guaranteed a lifetime ambassadorial role, making him almost the new Stirling Moss. The Mercedes golden boy, living a lifelong affiliation that would be hugely profitable and beneficial for both parties for decades to come.

Put those elements together, and it’s easy to see why people quickly dismissed those rumours as exactly that - rumours.

BLUNDELL'S FIRST DRIVE AT LE MANS CAME WITH NISSAN

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HAMILTON AT THE ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX

Normally rumours of this nature fizzle out pretty quickly, especially when there’s little evidence for them to be based on. But on this occasion the rumours kept coming, and they didn’t stop.

What started off with a few smaller outlets speculating a move, larger and larger players started to release information. But they weren’t just repeating the gossip. They were stating that they had individually corroborated the rumours.

It still seemed all hugely wide of the mark, but the rumours just kept gaining momentum, continually building until there was so much evidence that the lightbulb moment struck - this is actually happening.

Not only were the world’s biggest media outlets now confirming that they knew this move was happening, but the likes of Sky Sports began to make its way

to the Mercedes factory in Brackley, waiting for any information it could get its hands on from any of its employees willing to talk.

The clearest signs that this was becoming a reality hit around lunchtime.

The media got wind that Mercedes employees were being called to a meeting at the factory, and at 2pm that afternoon they were advised that Hamilton would be leaving the team at the end of 2024.

That news was immediately reported back to the world, cementing the fact that Hamilton will soon be on his way to Maranello, but one vital piece of the puzzle was missing - official confirmation.

Given the timing of Mercedes’ meeting, many expected that an official release would soon follow

THE CLEAREST SIGNS THAT THIS WAS BECOMING A REALITY HIT AROUND LUNCHTIME

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within the hour. But it never arrived.

Everyone kept watching, glued to screens waiting for the news to be officially confirmed. 3pm rolled by, then 4pm and then 5pm. Was this news actually going to be announced by the teams today?

And just as everyone started to give up hope that the news would be coming out on Thursday, at 7pm UK time Ferrari confirmed that Hamilton would be joining the team on a multi-year deal from 2025, replacing Carlos Sainz.

Even though everyone knew the news would be coming after all of the gossip all day long, confirmation still came as somewhat of a shock.

Hamilton racing in F1 will become a reality. It was something that a lot of people had dreamed of seeing, but thought would never happen. And now it will.

This announcement wasn’t just news. It was huge, about as big as it gets, and it’s one of the biggest shock driver moves in F1 history.

The level of excitement, anticipation and drama created a buzz at a level that doesn’t come around all too often in Formula 1. And it’s not just the move itself that fuelled the drama, it’s also the fact that the news seemed to catch Mercedes off guard as well.

Speaking in the days after the announcement, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff declared that he only found out about Hamilton’s decision the day before the news was made public.

Up until that point he had no inkling that Hamilton

had signed a deal to join Ferrari, and it was over breakfast at Wolff’s home that the seven-time world champion declared he’d be leaving for ventures new at the end of the year.

But why has Hamilton decided to leave a huge legacy in waiting behind at Mercedes to join Ferrari, especially this late on his F1 career?

Well there in part could lie the answer.

Over the course of his racing career, Hamilton has never been afraid to hide his admiration of Ferrari, previously highlighting on several occasions that it is a racing driver’s dream to race for the Scuderia.

Few drivers ever get an opportunity to race the scarlet red clad car donning the iconic racing horse logo. It’s a special team with incredible history.

And so with Hamilton’s career shifting into its twilight, you can understand why Hamilton has decided the time is right to realise his dream. After all, it’s not exactly like he’s got anything left to prove in F1.

That aspect also probably made his decision easier than it might have otherwise been. Having won more grands prix than anyone else in history, and having amassed seven world championship titles, nobody can deny that Hamilton is one of the greatest F1 drivers to have competed - ever.

Even if his move to Ferrari doesn’t pan out as he hopes, it won’t take anything away from his achievements, and it won’t suddenly create a situation where people start questioning his ability.

HAMILTON WILL MOVE TO FERRARI FOR THE 2025 F1 SEASON

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So in that respect he has nothing to lose.

It’s also been suggested that Ferrari were willing to offer terms that Mercedes simply weren’t. Hamilton’s contract extension with Mercedes last year was a one year deal, plus an option for another year. Hamilton wanted a two year deal cast in stone, but Mercedes wouldn’t agree to those terms.

Ferrari clearly saw things differently, and were more than willing to give Hamilton the terms and security he was clearly craving. And that appeared to be enough

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to get the world champion over the line.

And despite the fact that Hamilton is yet to step foot inside the Maranello factory, let alone drive the car, the amount of interest this move has generated throughout international media has only raised Hamilton and Ferrari’s stature even further.

In Ferrari’s case, its shares soared upon news of the deal, adding over $4 billion to its value on that day alone. That shows just how big a move this is for both parties financially.

But while getting Hamilton in its overalls is inevitably a financial play for Ferrari, for Hamilton’s it’s clearly a different story.

He would have been just as well off remaining with Mercedes if he was thinking long term about his financial health, given he had a role for life with the team. There’s unlikely to be that level of commitment from Ferrari.

Instead, he’s gone with his heart. He wants to scratch that itch, live out the dream and see if it lives up to expectation. And be honest, who can blame him?

We only have one shot in this world, and so it’s better to try and fail than never try at all.

Hamilton could have played it safe and remained loyal to Mercedes, but he’d have then spent the rest of his life wondering what it would have been like racing for Ferrari.

Now, whether it’s successful or not, he will have that answer.

And it’s not like Ferrari is a team flailing at the back of the grid. At the back end of 2023, it was almost as fast as the Red Bull and in qualifying trim, Charles Leclerc was on occasion faster than Max Verstappen.

If Ferrari was in a bad way performance wise, Hamilton wouldn’t have made the move, but the fact is, it’s not. In team principal Fred Vasseur, Ferrari has

a level-headed leader who is helping them set the foundations for the future.

And it’s Vasseur’s presence that likely played a part in Hamilton’s decision making, since they get on well, having worked successfully together in the past in junior categories.

All of the pieces of the puzzle have come together at the right time.

We still have over 12 months to find out whether Hamilton’s decision is the right one or not, but for now, who cares?

The drama, excitement and buzz that unfolded on February 1 was F1 at its best. It captured the imagination of not just F1 fans, but even the wider general public worldwide. That’s how great F1 can be.

We might have to wait just over a year to see it, but in the meantime we’ll all spend the next 12 months dreaming about Hamilton turning the wheel of a Ferrari for the first time.

And while most of us will remember February 1, 2024 for that announcement, we’ll all remember the day he first drives for the Scuderia.

It’s not often that legends and icons of the sport come together, but when they do it’s an occasion to remember. And the is the biggest moment of all.

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IMAGE BY ED WAPLINGTON

WINTER STAGES MICHAEL IGOE AND WILL ATKINS TACKLED THE BRANDS HATCH WINTER STAGES IN JANUARY 2024, AND WON THE EVENT OUTRIGHT IN THE CITROEN C3 RALLY2.

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NEW WORDS BY ROB HANSFORD IMAGES BY PFAFF MOTORSPORTS

RELATIONS

I

t’s never easy for a team to switch to a new manufacturer. It’s not just about getting used to a new car, but also a new way of working and dealing with a new partner who might go about things very differently. And it’s even harder to make that switch when your team has become synonymous with one particular automotive manufacturer.

And yet, that’s exactly what Pfaff Motorsports decided to do ahead of the 2024 IMSA season, leaving behind its long term allegiance with Porsche to race a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Pfaff spent the last five years tackling the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Porsche’s 911 GT3 R. The two brands became synonymous with each other in North America, with the iconic red and silver livery, but in the latter part of 2023 Pfaff announced that it would tackle the 2024 IMSA season with McLaren.

That news caught many off guard, but once you understand the detail, you quickly realise that Pfaff’s decision to race with McLaren isn’t quite as surprising as you might initially think.

“Pfaff’s motorsport team was part of Pfaff’s automotive retail network. So Pfaff automotive partners was, up until the end of 2023, the agency of record importing McLaren cars into Canada. So we were McLaren Canada for want of a better term,” explained Pfaff Motorsports general manager Steve Bortolotti to The Pit Stop. “We were there from day one with the launch of the MP4-12C. “So all the way during that time we were still Pfaff Motorsports racing Porsches mainly because there was a single make championship in Canada that was extremely competitive. So a lot of drivers that went on to have incredibly successful careers came through that programme. So there was really no reason to look elsewhere.

“Then we started our journey in 2018 in the GT3 ranks, effectively with Porsche, but every year we had a conversation with the folks at McLaren. We had a relationship with them because Chris Pfaff would go lapping in a MP4-12C GT sprint car that he used to use for lapping days and trackdays and stuff. So we always had a bit of a relationship with the brand.

“When the 570S GT4 came out, we sponsored

STEVE BORTOLOTTI, PFAFF MOTORSPORTS' GENRAL MANAGER

one of our employees who’s our general manager of the McLaren Toronto dealership, Chris Green. We sponsored him and while we didn’t formally race one until much later, it was a brand we always tried to have a relationship with on the motorsport side.

“In 2022 we ran a 570S GT4 in our local Canadian championship with a young and up and coming driver.

Won a championship there and that effectively spurred the conversation about us working together, starting in 2024.”

Conversations with McLaren began at the back end of the 2022 season, but the timing of those discussions meant that there wasn’t enough time for Pfaff to run McLarens in 2023. Therefore the decision was made to move the plans back a year, giving both Pfaff and McLaren time to work out what would be the right direction for both parties to go in.

“We wanted enough runway to be able to do it right,” explained Bortolotti. “Commercially for us, we needed some questions answered by the folks at McLaren as to where our programme would fit within their ecosystem and what our role could be if we made the switch.

“As you can hopefully understand, the clout - for lack of a better word - we had with Porsche was substantial, and we were going to walk away from that because as much as Porsche is a very mature company, it’s kind of like a cult, right?

“So we chose to reset ourselves with McLaren, but with the onus of us being a flagship programme that could be that connective tissue between the automotive retail network for McLaren cars and road cars. And also what’s going on in the racing landscape because while the Formula 1 and IndyCar programmes here in North America are those flagship programmes, the dealerships don’t really get that much involvement with them.

“So now, our hope and our goal is to build a relationship with the retail network here in North America to get behind a pro level programme that looks and feels McLaren, and looks like something that the dealerships are trying to sell. And I can say proudly that we’ve had a lot of success in the first half of the year.

“McLaren Orlando came onboard, it was not a Pfaff dealership. They came onboard for Daytona and they’re going to come onboard again for Sebring. So we’re seeing a lot of success and we’re seeing success in markets where IndyCar was racing.

“So that’s where we hope to be, that kind of connective tissue on the automotive side to show that the cars that look like what we’re selling in the dealerships are racing competitively at a very high level here in North America. And I don’t know if there’s a GT3 championship globally that’s as competitive as IMSA, especially now with Ford and GM going head-to-

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THE PFAFF MOTORSPORTS MCLAREN DEBUTED AT THE DAYTONA 24 HOURS

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head.”

Timing is everything in the world, in motorsport especially, and in Pfaff’s case, switching to McLaren for 2024 couldn’t have worked out better.

McLaren is proving to be having something of a resurgence in sportscar racing. Having previously competed well with teams in British GT and IMSA’s GT4 category, McLaren is taking a step further into the sportscar domain for 2024, entering not only GT3 cars in IMSA, with one being run by Pfaff, but also a GT3 car with United Autosports in the World Endurance Championship.

It means that for the first time since 1997, a McLaren will be present on the grid at the Le Mans 24 Hours.

McLaren’s return to WEC has naturally increased excitement among McLaren fans, and so Pfaff’s new endeavours with McLaren in IMSA’s GT3 class couldn’t have been timed any better.

“Timing is everything in this sport, right?” Said Bortolotti. “That timing for us is perfect because we want to be part of their growth as an automotive business, and then on the racing side, they want to sell more race cars. We want to help them sell more race cars in this market. There’s only really been two teams running a GT3 McLaren in this market with any sort of success.

“So if we can get to a point where we can help them grow and sell more cars is in this market, hopefully there’s more business opportunities that come for Pfaff Motorsports, whether that be technical support, part support, helping them get their programmes off the

ground.

“With McLaren, we have the opportunity to be a little more part of their DNA and their growth in this market.”

And it was that aspect that really attracted Pfaff to McLaren. While there were no issues with the cars Porsche provided, Pfaff knew it would only ever be another customer to the brand. But with McLaren, Bortolotti sees how there’s potential for Pfaff to be tied much closer with the brand in the future.

“We want to be embedded with McLaren, and we want that Pfaff name, you know the same way for so many years people associated it with Porsche. Our goal is that, that switches to McLaren when people think of McLaren. We really want that.

Often, getting used to a whole new brand and car can be a real challenge for teams to get to grips with. It’s not like it’s a few single elements that are different, everything is entirely new. That’s been no different for Pfaff, but Bortolotti has been surprised how swiftly the team has been able to adapt to the change.

“I have to say, the change has been a lot smoother than I honestly expected. I don’t mean that in a negative way towards McLaren, I mean it as a compliment. They’ve been very transparent, and have been from the start. So when we did this deal with them in September, they were fully transparent as to when we were going to receive our car. Well the date they told me in September, they actually beat that delivery date by two days.

"WITH McLAREN, WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE A LITTLE MORE PART OF THEIR DNA, AND THEIR GROWTH IN THIS MARKET."

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DESPITE CARRYING DAMAGE, VETTEL STILL FINISHED THE RACE IN SIXTH

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“They’ve been really fantastic at setting expectations with us and I would say their selfawareness has been a very refreshing thing to deal with because they know as a company they’re not Porsche.

They know where they are a lot better than Porsche because they are smaller and more agile, they can make decisions quicker and things can happen quicker.

They know that, and they are self-aware of that. And they also know that when it comes to other areas where bigger companies might be better like dealing with third party suppliers, McLaren is self-aware enough to know that.

“They definitely have that self-awareness, and that doesn’t mean the Porsche way, bigger is better, it just means we know what we’re getting. Every day I pick up the phone, I call someone from McLaren, I know they’re going to answer, I know if they don’t know the answer they’ll just tell me they don’t know the answer. And if they tell me they’ll get back to me by a certain date, I always hear from them on that date.

“That is so refreshing in the sport of motorsport because there’s a lack of customer service in racing in

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general.

“With McLaren, you always get acknowledged, there’s always that basic customer service skills with everybody you deal with at McLaren.”

Customer service might be one thing, but Pfaff wouldn’t have decided to work with McLaren if its 720S GT3 was not up to scratch. And again, while Bortolotti knew the car would be good, it also caught him by surprise when it first arrived at the factory.

“The setup window is a lot bigger than we expected it to be. Coming from racing Porsches for so long, the setup window was always quite small. You always had to get it right, there’s so much engineering that went into making that car perform extremely well. The amazing part with McLaren is that it’s such a good base to start with.

“The setup window becomes a bit like a garage door. The car has never really been that bad. I mean for sure, race drivers are always going to have balance complaints. But I mean, first time on the track, Marvin [Kirchhoefer] got out of the car and said ‘yeah, that’s pretty good’.

THE ARTURA HAS BEEN HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL IN BRITISH GT

“We were like ‘what do you mean? We didn’t do anything!’ We just put it on the track the way we got it. And yeah, we made a few minor changes here and there, but the setup window is massive.

“For the mechanics, yeah it’s been a big adjustment, bluntly. Turbocharged cars just have more complexity to them than a naturally aspirated car, but that’s natural. So that’s been the biggest workload for the team, just wrapping their heads around what needs to be maintained, how often. McLaren does a great job providing us with that information, but then knowing where to look for potential issues because the unknown is the toughest part, and going into something where we don’t know what we don’t know is never fun.

“I think unfortunately we saw a little bit of that in Daytona, with the issues we had during the race. But we live and learn, move on and our team will be better for it.”

Pfaff’s competitive debut with the 720S GT3 was at IMSA’s season-opening Daytona 24 Hours in January 2024. And given the fact that Pfaff did not receive the car until the middle of December 2023, it didn’t exactly have long to get the car prepared and ready for the legendary event.

That lack of preparation time did show that weekend, with the team suffering a few reliability issues, which ended up with the car retiring late on into the race. But despite the ultimate result, Bortolotti was impressed by the car’s overall pace, and its showing at Daytona proved the 720S has plenty of potential for the team to exploit of the remainder of the season.

“The car was fantastic. We started P16 of all the GT cars and we were leading by the end of hour one.

Like the car is on it. The car is fast, the setup window is massive. It’s thirsty when it comes to fuel, but you can

save fuel with it which is nice. So when you’re running it in anger, that delta between running it in anger and saving fuel is massive, which from a strategy standpoint is only going to help us over the course of the season.

“Everything about just the general architecture of the car, and it’s better in almost every conceivable way than where we came from. It’s just new. So it’s all positive.”

The first impressions of the 720S in race mode were so impressive, that Bortolotti believes that Pfaff should be competing for the championship title.

“If we can get to Road Atlanta, the final race of the season with a mathematical chance of the championship, no matter how long a shot that is, that would be a success to me. I don’t like saying I want to win a championship this year because then you just set yourself up for disappointment. But giving a broad view of it, I want to make sure we are consistent enough over the course of the season, finish every lap of every race with a brand new car to us is an accomplishment.

“That’s not a knock on McLaren, that’s a team comment. So if we can get through, no penalties, just run the Pfaff Motorsports way, with clean execution, I honestly think that’s a very achievable goal for us. If that means that we finish second nine times and we don’t get a win, that’s OK.” Time will tell whether a maiden victory with McLaren will come Pfaff’s way this year, but given all the signs so far considering the limited time Pfaff has had with its 720S, there’s no reason why that could not become a reality.

And as partnerships go, there’s every reason to believe Pfaff and McLaren could become one of the most formidable in North America if their partnership continues as well as it’s started.

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Fuel consumption combined: 12.2 l/100km | CO2 emissions combined: 276 g/km.

BENCHMARK. BEATEN. More power, more control, more confidence, more exhilaration. You can feel it. Hear it. Sense it.

Every moment you’re behind the wheel.

Countless enhancements, innovations, refinements.

One incredible ambition: to raise the bar in supercar performance and engagement. To a brand new level.

THE NEW McL AREN 750S SPIDER.

TOYOTA'S IN THE

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MOMENT SUN

WORDS BY PAUL HANAPHY IMAGES BY RED BULL CONTENT POOL THE PIT STOP | 139

W

herever you look in the world of motorsport, Japan has had a major impact in one way or another. In MotoGP, you could point to Suzuki or Yamaha, in Formula 1, Honda, and the World Rally Championship has witnessed a whole host of household names competing for glory.

Not too long ago, Mitsubishi and Subaru graced the rallying world with absolutely iconic machinery for world champions like Colin McRae, Tommi Makinen and Petter Solberg. Sadly, the cost of competing has driven these great teams from the series. But Toyota still flies the Japanese flag high in WRC and the country’s

THE CROWD GATHERING AROUND THE CARS AT THE START OF RALLY JAPAN

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racing fans are as fanatical as ever.

Without setting foot in Japan, supporters around the world will know that too. Each time F1 arrives in Suzuka, TV coverage is filled with excited fans decked out in all the merchandise you can buy (and a few homemade bits of their own). Alongside the novelties of Japan, this liveliness has always made the race especially appealing - that is, speaking as a Westerner.

But is this an enthusiasm for motorsport or just an F1 phenomenon?

With 2023’s event being moved from Hokkaido to Toyota City, home of WRC’s champions, it seemed like the perfect time to find out.

12 months on from Thierry Neuville’s victory on the 2022 edition of Rally Japan, the pressure all seemed

to be on Toyota. Once again, the team achieved a clean sweep of WRC’s biggest prizes in 2023, yet it was Hyundai that appeared to have a spring in its step.

In a crowded press pen surrounded by fans, I asked Neuville if the team was planning to “spoil Toyota’s party again”, his answer? A resounding “Yes, absolutely.” Hyundai boss Cyril Abiteboul was more diplomatic, saying his team just “want to be invited to the party” that Toyota has drummed up. But the signal was clear: they were here to win.

As night fell over the opening ceremony, a bizarre series of brass band pop covers broke out, culminating in a rousing rendition of Don’t You Want Me. Somehow, this complete misuse of a Human League classic just seems suitably surreal, leaving us in no doubt that we

were in Japan, while drawing the supporters in a halffull stadium to applause.

When a polite midweek crowd settled down, the light show began, and WRC action commenced.

Suddenly, the stadium echoed with the sound of engines firing up, exhausts crackling and tyres screeching. With most of the rally to come, drivers took few risks, and there was an air of anticipation that the ‘real’ contest would begin the next morning.

On a tumultuous Friday, that proved to be 100% correct. Fans were out in force, bringing Japan’s famed monsoon weather conditions with them. The result?

Carnage. Fan favourite Takamoto Katsuta was setting the pace in the splits, but a huge SS2 moment led to him clattering a tree, a corner that also claimed

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Dani Sordo and Adrien Fourmaux. Katsuta nursed his stricken car with water from a nearby stream, but any hopes of a home victory seemed in tatters.

With the heavens opening and visibility close to zero, leading Toyota Kalle Rovanpera also had to back right off, leaving him vulnerable to his rivals. Luckily, team-mates Elfyn Evans and Sebastien Ogier were on hand to pick up the pieces.

They raced to the top of the timesheets, but Thierry Neuville was hot on their heels, keeping the battle for victory alive.

As everyone arrived back at the service area, it was clear the drivers were just happy to have survived the day. There was no room for Colin McRae’s ‘when in doubt, flat out’ mantra. Their skills, both as drivers and mechanics, had been severely tested. Without air conditioning, 2019 champion Ott Tanak was left scrubbing at his windscreen. Neuville later said he was “scared” by the

conditions, while Ogier claimed the red flag should’ve come sooner. But that is why they’re some of the best drivers in the world.

Amid all the chaos, Evans was having a stormer of a rally. Low-key Ogier was too, though the spectre of Neuville continued to lurk over any prospect of a Toyota win.

With the weather finally easing, bringing light relief, the fans settled down, expecting an afternoon scrap for the lead. Instead, Neuville ruined any hopes of a multi-team scrap, after he slid straight off at the first turn of SS6, handing the home team a clear shot at victory.

As soon as Neuville went off you could feel the absolute dismay among the media. A hush descended over the press pit as everyone came to terms with Toyota’s main challengers seemingly stepping aside.

AS SOON AS NEUVILLE WENT OFF, YOU COULD FEEL THE ABSOLUTE DISMAY AMONG THE MEDIA

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DANI SORDO AND ADRIEN FOURMAUX CRASHED IN THE SAME SPOT

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TOYOTA DOMINATED ITS HOME EVENT IN 2023

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However, the next day, Japan had yet another trick up its sleeve. As Evans led the field out on SS14, the heavens opened again, only this time with snow.

Suddenly, more jeopardy seemed imminent, with many drivers sliding around on dry or mixed tyre sets, tiptoeing to the finish.

Somehow, all the remaining drivers managed to make it through the snowstorm to the press conference.

But even when they arrive there, the challenge wasn’t completely over. It was cold, bitterly cold. As I went to record their responses to our questions, I was kindly asked to stop shaking from the cold by a media colleague, whose mic boom I was wobbling. Esapekka Lappi joked that he thought someone had thrown flour on the course while Rovanpera used more colourful language.

But relief was etched across each driver’s face. While there was a lot of talk from Evans, Ogier, and a now third-placed Rovanpera about not getting ahead of themselves, it was also clear that Toyota were inching towards something special: a historic 1-2-3. Heading back to the fan park, I was suddenly swamped. With my all-access pass no longer living up to its name, I

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accepted my fate, and began chatting to the thronging locals.

Though typically polite, their reactions to the day’s events were not what I expected. Yes, there was a man with a Toyota WRC car on his hat (updated from last year I’m reliably told) and lots of merch on display, but their support wasn’t conditional on home success.

Drivers like Richard Burns and Sebastian Loeb kept coming up, as did Subaru and Mitsubishi.

Whole families turned up to get the next generation involved too. Suddenly it was clear that Japan’s buzz around motorsport isn’t tied to F1 or WRC, it’s an automotive infatuation. In recent times, the vibe at Monza or Silverstone has been determined by Ferrari or Lewis Hamilton’s success, but things are different here.

Many had turned up to witness Japan’s automotive prowess, and by nightfall, the stadium area was abuzz with the country’s fans.

A once-packed fanstore lay virtually empty as they streamed into the stadium. But not to worry, those without the event’s signature baseball-style shirt were quickly handed colourful flags to wave inside. Any sign of WRC merch was immediately greeted with cheers,

not for Toyota or Katsuta, just in celebration of the occasion.

This time, as the engines fired up, the crowd was at fever pitch. You could sense the relief of the rally’s organisers a mile off. After all of the build up, the allnew Rally Japan had finally arrived, and it had brought Japanese supporters with it.

Even after Katsuta’s father Norihiko Katsuta made a mess in the stadium, hitting some bollards with his Yaris, nothing could dampen Toyota’s spirits, and as Sunday dawned it seemed on a collision course with victory. Strangely, this gave way to a sombre-ish vibe, as if fans were disappointed that Hyundai couldn’t put up a fight for longer.

None of this complacency seeped through to the drivers, however, and Ogier and Rovanpera were quick to brush off any chances of a push for victory. As the afternoon wore on, spirits began to rise around the stadium, with Toyota’s coronation beckoning. Neuville and Katsuta exchanged stage wins but it was clearly Evans’ and his team’s afternoon.

Toyota’s heroes of the day eased over the finish line and the team’s redemption was complete. 2022’s missed

opportunity was a distant memory as the bubbles flowed. Chairman Akio Toyoda even joined in the celebrations as his company celebrated their first-ever home win.

With Tanak on his way back to Hyundai and Rovanpera prophetically refusing to comment on 2024, journalists were left wondering if a sea change was in the air. Absolutely soaked in champagne, Evans gave his final interviews leant against a wall. It was a rewarding finish to a tricky year for the Welshman. Will he ever be the bride and not the bridesmaid?

But outside the media centre, the mood was that of quiet jubilation. There’s not much of an afterparty.

As many fans made their way back to the bustle of Nagoya city, event staff were already tidying the ticker tape away. There was little in the way of cheering, chanting, or even loud chatter either. Just thousands of satisfied supporters marching to the local station, proud that their countryfolk have once again lived up to their glowing reputation.

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IMAGE BY PHD MATTPHOTO WIDDOWSON

THE JUNIORS GOING BACK IN TIME THERE'S SOMETHING RATHER SPECIAL ABOUT THE GOODWOOD REVIVAL. YOU ALWAYS FEEL LIKE YOU'VE JUMPED INTO A TIME MACHINE, AS YOU CAN TELL FROM THIS IMAGE ABOVE.

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IN SHORT

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Image credit: Grand Prix Photo

WHAT NEXT FOR ANDRETTI AFTER F1 REJECTION?

BY PAUL HANAPHAY

It’s official. Formula 1 has rejected Michael Andretti’s bid to start an 11th team, on the basis that it “would not on its own add value.” With his dreams of returning the Andretti name to F1 in tatters, it appears the son of 1978 world champion Mario will have to turn elsewhere. That said he’s still flying the family name high in other series, so he’s got plenty to get on with.

Under Andretti Global, his teams compete on multiple fronts.

In signing ex-F1 star Marcus Ericsson for 2024, Andretti has boosted its bid for IndyCar glory, and it continues to battle for EV supremacy in Extreme E and Formula E. When you factor in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, his outfit (and the Andretti name) retains a substantial on-track presence.

But what of a revived F1 entry? Joining in time for the 2026 rule change is now off the table. Given that the overhaul centres on eco-fuels, an area Andretti’s green racing background could’ve given it an advantage, this is a huge blow. When you consider Mercedes’ gains over the last major eco-shake-up in 2014, it’s a particularly bitter pill to swallow.

If Andretti does pursue a later entry, it’s understood that its success will hinge on the team’s collaboration with General Motors. This is because F1 also shot down the team’s original bid over a perceived lack of competitiveness. When news broke of the rejection, Andretti Sr. said he was “devastated,” adding that he “strongly disagreed.”

But there’s little doubt that an in-house developed GM engine would put Andretti on a more competitive footing than if it raced as a power unit customer. While the team applied with a Renault engine, GM brand Chevrolet has committed to building an alternative by 2028. All this leaves the door open to a renewed Andretti F1 bid that year.

There are also clues in the wording of F1’s findings that point to GM’s involvement being a deal-breaker. If the US automotive giant were to fully commit by building a power unit, F1 itself has said this would introduce “additional factors” around “the value it would bring to the championship.”

Another factor worth considering is the sport’s viewership, which has boomed under owner Liberty Media, making it a more lucrative marketing tool. This has been reflected in Audi’s

impending Sauber takeover, Ford’s upcoming Red Bull deal, and Honda’s U-turn on a protracted exit. With F1’s popularity going through the roof, now is a great time to get involved. Yet, it’s these rising revenues that are also making it difficult for new teams to join.

When the existing F1 teams signed the last Concorde Agreement, keeping them in the sport, a $200 million ‘dilution fee’ was agreed. Designed to be paid by new outfits, to compensate existing teams for losing a small amount of the overall prize pot, it’s now thought this should be closer to $600 million. Naturally, that sort of fee is putting off potential applicants.

So what if defensive posturing means Andretti gets rejected again? The team’s bid gained FIA approval in late 2023, but tensions seem to be rising with the governing body FOM. Andretti could try taking FOM to court over its performance claims, although this would likely do more damage to its F1 chances than good.

Alternatively, Andretti could just try to buy its way in. It’s public knowledge that the Haas and Visa Cash App RB teams are struggling for funding and looking for a buyer, respectively. Just looking at the latter’s new name gives that away. But the market for F1 teams is hot right now, with the likes of Rodin and Porsche said to be weighing up takeovers.

All this means there are still hurdles for the Andretti bid to overcome, but these aren’t insurmountable. Agreeing a deal with the potential to bring GM into F1 has given Michael Andretti an ace card that could yet get him that last ride he’s been dreaming of. On the flipside, if he does miss out, it’s not the end of the world.

His family’s on-track achievements mean the Andretti name will live long in the memory of F1 fans everywhere.

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IS NASCAR TOO LATE TO THE NETFLIX TREND?

Image credit: NASCAR

BY PAUL HANAPHAY

There’s a scene near the start of Netflix’s new NASCAR series that really recaptures the F1: Drive to Survive (DTS) magic. After a sub-par qualifying, self-professed NASCAR: Full Speed villain Denny Hamlin is confronted by his mother, who accuses him of backing off.

In that moment, it’s clear that Hamlin had the will to win ingrained into him from a young age, and even after winning 51 races, he still operates in a tense, high-octane environment. Fast forward to the end, and (no spoilers), we get up close with the contenders as the season comes to a climax - thrills, spills, and tears included.

No doubt this all makes for compelling viewing, but there’s equally no doubt that we’ve seen this formula before. While there is plenty of American ‘yee-haw’ to be had in Netflix’s latest series, its predecessor set the standard for this kind of show back in 2019. From the ‘foksmashing’ of Guenther Steiner’s door to the Red Bull - Renault rivalry, DTS has brought fans closer to F1 than ever before and worked wonders for its popularity.

Indeed, the sport has become so popular, that teams have started blocking others from joining *coughs in Andretti* to maintain their share of a burgeoning prize pot. DTS’ success is much-heralded, its draw for US audiences in particular, but therein lies the issue: NASCAR is trying to achieve the opposite and bring European fans to the US. Beyond the obvious differences between circuit and oval racing, this continues to be an issue for several reasons. Last year, Jenson Button (on his own NASCAR-F1 crossover) said circuit racing fans are likely confused about ‘tap tactics’ in the US, where there are “no rules on how aggressive you can be.” Then there’s start times. Accustomed to afternoon races, F1-centric Europe often bulks at the thought of NASCAR at daybreak.

Even if you look past the hurdles NASCAR has yet to tackle on this front, there are issues with adopting the DTS model in 2024. F1’s hype series is also starting to lose some of its appeal.

Not only has Steiner been shown the exit at Haas, robbing the show of its main character, but its format has become stale in recent seasons.

Early episodes brought new fans onboard, laying out the basics, while giving lifelong supporters something they’d not 152 THE PIT STOP

seen before. Since then, the editing has gotten out of hand, with soundbites being misused to create drama where it doesn’t exist.

DTS has even invented driver rivalries. Who can forget when the show tried to portray Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris’ bromance as a bitter fight? Painful stuff.

NASCAR isn’t the only series trying to feed off the DTS hype either. The renaissance of the automotive TV show and feature film is seeing stories from the worlds of IndyCar, WRC, and Super GT celebrated in spectacular style. On the one hand, Audi and Lancia’s epic 1983 4WD vs 2WD battle being immortalised on the silver screen, is great news for racing fans everywhere. On the other, NASCAR is clearly jostling with other series for exposure.

NASCAR: Full Speed arrives at a time when F1 support is booming, but that’s not to say that getting your motorsport onto TV is a guarantee it’ll go viral. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a petrolhead, so you might just watch all of the above.

However, DTS is praised for making waves with a different audience: the Twitterverse.

What wins these fans over? Characters that develop across a series, and frankly, memeable moments. Despite all their success, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are not DTS’ main characters. It’s when the drivers and bosses lower down the grid leave their media personas behind that we get the drama and laughs we tune in for.

So far, NASCAR’s Netflix show has only had a short run, so it may gather momentum over time. But series one lacked the dramatics and silliness that initially made DTS so special. Maybe its best meme potential is yet to come, but this better arrive soon if NASCAR is to ride on F1’s coattails and get the European publicity boost it so desperately desires.

Image credit: McLaren

THE ONE MAKE SERIES WITH A DIFFERENCE

BY ROB HANSFORD

There’s a saying you’ll often hear in motorsport - “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday”. Customers want to be buying cars that they’ve seen winning. It’s what makes them the ‘best’. That’s why so many manufacturers enter global championships. Being visible in those categories helps those companies sell cars to the general public.

Increasingly, manufacturers are launching their own championships, filling grids with their cars, showcasing just how competitive they are. And now McLaren has entered the fray, with its McLaren Trophy launching in 2023. But McLaren is going about things a little differently from other single make series.

“The way we positioned it in order to differentiate it from some of the other single make championships out there, is that McLaren Trophy is very much targeted around the Bronze driver,” McLaren Trophy championship manager Darioush Gheissari explained to The Pit Stop. “So while it’s a ProAm championship, the whole focus has been built from the ground up with the Bronze driver in mind.

“What that means is, whereas say Lamborghini Trofeo and the Carrera Cups have categories for Am drivers as well as Pro drivers, it means that the Pro drivers are effectively the star of the show. You can be an Am driver racing in those championships, and have your best performance ever, but the reality is you’ll still be 15th, 16th or 17th overall. That means that the young Pros, who are winning the championship outright, they’re the ones who the TV cameras are getting fixated on.

“With McLaren Trophy, if you’re a Bronze driver, you can turn up and if you’re the best, you are the star of the show. You are the one who will take the chequered flag first. The TV cameras are on you, you are the main event. So we used that basis to really build the championship.”

Often, Pro drivers are the ones consistently winning these championships because they have the time to dedicate to training, ensuring they are the fastest. McLaren is fully aware of that, knowing that Bronze drivers have other commitments that prevent them from spending quite as much time on track. And so to accommodate that, McLaren has restricted the Trophy season to five weekends. But that’s not all.

With it consisting of only five race weekends, McLaren has designed its Trophy championship so that when it is a race weekend, drivers spend as much time on track as possible, with

track time over the course of a weekend totalling 480 minutes.

The McLaren Trophy will form part of the GT World Challenge Europe calendar in 2024, acting as a support series. And with the Trophy centered around the McLaren Artura GT4 (albeit the Artura is unleashed from its GT4 restrictions, putting it almost on par with a GT3 car), it provides teams and drivers with a clear career path, if moving up the racing ladder is something they desire.

“The idea is we take Bronze drivers who ideally have a year or two experience under their belts, usually racing something like GT4, and then they can step up into McLaren Trophy, into a much faster race car, and you can get some good race experience on some of the most iconic circuits in Europe.

“For many of them, that may be the pinnacle of their racing career, but there will also be some who use it as a stepping stone up to GT3. Hence why we took the decision for the championship to be ProAm, to get that experience working with a Pro driver, doing the driver changes in the race and everything that goes with it that are really the core skills they need if they want to go further and go GT3 racing at some point.”

It’s not just the career path that being part of the GT World Challenge Europe series offers either. It’s also the fact, it provides McLaren’s competitors with the full racing experience at every level.

“For us as a manufacturer and for the drivers, it brings a huge amount of benefits. We race in front of tens of thousands of people every weekend. I think on average, most weekends they have around 20,000 spectators there. Then of course, the blue ribbon event is the Spa 24 Hours, which last year had 84,000.

So for our drivers to be able to race in front of those packed grandstands, it’s brilliant. Then for us as McLaren, we want to be able to showcase the capabilities of our cars, and to be able to do that in front of such a massive audience is fantastic. Then on top of that, it means that all of our races are televised and produced at an extremely high level, so it’s a lot of fun.”

It’s not often that single make championships are successful out of the box, but McLaren is already proving that a different approach can pay dividends. And with the way it’s structured it doesn’t really matter where you finish the race, everyone leaves a winner.

THE PIT STOP 153

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