Motorsport eNews Issue 153 - May 4-10, 2010

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Issue No. 153 May 04 - May 10 2010

In The Hunt COURTNEY DOMINATES AS RIVALS CRUMBLE IN QUEENSLAND

EXCLUSIVE:

MINI MAYHEM

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Issue No. 153 | 4 May - 10 May 2010

news 4

Blue rays Ford predicts V8 fightback 6 Mayhem, mayhem, mayhem MINI carnage at QR 8 Wild things FV8 teams eye wildcards 14 Fancy seeing you here Owen set for full season

chat 22 Five Minutes With ...

Chief Executive Officer, David Gardiner Commercial Director, Bruce Duncan Motorsport eNews is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 5, 55 Chandos St, St Leonards NSW 2065 © 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this emagazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher.. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage.

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Chris Styring

comment 24 Magro & Morris Two sides of the story

race 26 V8 Supercars 44 Shannons Nationals 48 Targa Tasmania 50 Drag Racing

trade 58 Classifieds

THE OVAL RACER RETU

Ford Racing boss predicts more wins after Courtney domin V8 SUPERCARS

FORD’S fightback in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series is no flash in the pan, and not temporary.

Ford’s Motorsport boss Chris Styring has stated that while he is not getting ahead of himself, the Blue Oval’s first two wins of the season have marked James Courtney as the man to lead the Falcon effort.

“James did a great job, he is knocking on the door of Jamie Whincup,” he said on Monday.

“He is right there from a speed point of view and it will be interesting to see what happens at Winton. He is not far away.”

JBR had a great weekend in the north, finishing Sunday’s race first, fifth (Steve Johnson) and ninth (Jonathan Webb) to justify Ford’s decision to fund the team after more than a year with no official financial backing.

As well, Shane van Gisbergen took two podium finishes for Stone Brothers Racing.

“We reconnected with Jim Beam Racing and we showed

them that we had some faith in what they were doing,” String says. We got very good signs from Charlie [Schwerkolt] and Dick [Johnson], and decided that we were going to invest, and give it another shot.

“That team dominated the weekend, and right now, we would say, money well spent.”

While Courtney was banking a maximum score of 300 points, his title rivals wilted. Jamie Whincup had a rare DNF with a broken rocker in his engine, while Mark Winterbottom

did not make it to the first corner, after contact with Lee Holdsworth sent him into the wall.

Courtney closed the gap on the former runaway leader of the series to 24 points with two emphatic victories at QR, and said that he has “never been so excited about going to Winton, and I have never said that before.”

Ford and Holden both have six drivers in the top 12 in points, despite Holden’s dominant numerical advantage,

“The Team dominated on the weekend and right now, we would say, money well spent” Chris Styring

Phil Williams

motorsport news

news

URNS

nates at QR

Clay Cross

but Styring does not see the need to expand the numbers on Ford’s side of the sport.

“We do not need more money, we just need to spend it smarter.

Even a couple of years back, I think it was 2006, we were spending about $10 million and that is not the case any more.

Whatever we are spending now, we need to do it smarter. It is not just a case of buying more cars, more teams, certainly not.”

– PHIL BRANAGAN For more with Styring, see 5 Minutes, page 24

FPR: Number 5 is Alive!

Team will rebuild Frosty’s crashed car for Winton V8 SUPERCARS FORD Performance Racing is aiming to get Mark Winterbottom’s crashed racecar back to race trim at Winton.

The Falcon suffered contact with Lee Holdsworth at the start of Sunday’s race and snapped into the wall, suffering significant damage.

Winterbottom was not hurt in

the crash, and team principal Tim Edwards was waiting until the team’s transporter returned to home base before declaring his ultimate plans.

“It’s better than I expected,” he said on Monday, “or, less bad than I thought when I saw it on the television.

“We should be able to repair it. We have the fabs [fabricators] working hard at it, but time will tell. We

will have a better idea when we pull the car apart on Wednesday morning.”

Edwards suspected that the car’s motor may have suffered damage in the impact, but in any case, the team has Winterbottom’s 2009 racecar, which is the same spec as his new car, in near-ready to race condition, should it be required for Winton.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

It’s Racing, as it happens QUEENSLAND Raceway marked the debut of our new Live Updates service.

Motorsport News Live will be in action at major events throughout the year, namely V8 Supercar rounds, where our team will be bringing you up-to-the-minute updates.

You’ve got a couple of different options to utilise it.

If you’re a Twitter-type, you can follow @mnewsupdates, or you can watch it all unfold through the link on the front page of www.mnews.com.au.

It’s just the latest way Motorsport News brings you the key information first. www.mnews.com.au

Magro Walks Away $80K shunt puts cloud over Townsville MINI CHALLENGE MINI Challenge competitor Kain Magro is facing a challenge to find $80,000 after his massive accident at Queensland Raceway.

Magro’s MINI rolled over a protective barrier and into a crowd at Turn 6 on Lap 9 of the first MINI Challenge event on Saturday. Two spectators who were near the fence were struck, and the race was immediately halted.

Both spectators, a 59-yearold with a cut to the forehead, and a 60-year-old who suffered mild concussion, remained conscious at the scene, and were transported along with Magro by ambulance to the Ipswich Base Hospital, where they underwent precautionary CT scans.

“We’d leased the car from MINI, but it looks like it’ll be a write-off,” Magro said.

“Because there were injuries

in the crash, the car has been impounded by police, and it’s going to be two weeks before can get it back anyway.

Importing a new car from England will cost about 20,000 pounds.

“My sponsors have been really understanding about what happened, I’m looking forward to hopefully being out there at Townsville.”

Magro was unhurt in the accident while two spectators escaped with remarkably minor injuries.

The incident happened after a clash with fellow newcomers Sarah Harley, who had a massive accident at the corner of here own in Race 3, but was unharmed after being taken to hospital for observation.

“That was a really big hit this morning and it is a testament to the MINI and its strength that I walked away with just a bit of whiplash,” Harley said.

– MITCHELL ADAM

MNews’ acclaimed ‘Shunt Magnet’ photographer John Morris was the man on the spot when Kain Magro vaulted into the national news and the spectator area at QR on Saturday (above and right), while long-time snapper Marshall Cass caught the aftermath of Sunday’s effort by Sarah Harley (below). Mini-mania ...

No Safety Issue QR MINI shunt a freak accident, says promoter MINI CHALLENGE THE three MINI Challenge incidents at Queensland Raceway were not a factor that was down to any lack of safety at the circuit, according to track promoter John Tetley.

There was a major incident on each of the days, the worst of which involved two spectators when Kain Margo’s car barrel-rolled over a sandtrap and landed in the spectator area at Turn 6. The spectators, and Magro, were

taken to Ipswich Base Hospital with minor injuries.

“That was a freak accident,” said Tetley, responding to newspaper criticism of the track from Dick Johnson and Jason Richards.

“Had the car not gone endover-end, it would not have cleared the tyre barrier.

“It did not breach the first line of defence so much as jump OVER the first line of defence.

In all the years that the circuit has been in operation, and all the millions of laps that have been completed over that

time, we have never had a car breach the first line of defence, ever.”

Tetley confirmed to eNews that the circuit was inspected and licenced in accordance with the processes instigated

by CAMS. “That trap, and the others, was inspected. It was turned over and has been maintained, and the stones were replaced, to a depth of 350mm.

But that would not matter much in this instance, because the car went over the trap.”

Tetley illustrated his point

with the Sunday incident involving Sarah Harley, who ironically was involved in the Magro shunt on Saturday.

Harley’s MINI failed to slow at the same point, Turn 6, and struck the tyre barrier at speed.

“In the incident with Sarah, the first line of defence did its job,” he said.

“Everything worked as it should, and she was extracted from the car, taken to hospital for a check and was back at the track, ready to go again, in the afternoon.” motorsport news

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QR V8 Future in doubt V8 SUPERCARS THE future of V8 Supercars at Queensland Raceway is up in the air, with V8 Supercars Australia insisting on improvements being made to the facility.

V8 Supercars Australian conducted its first event at The Paperclip, but stands by its earlier comments that the track will need work.

“We are clearly on the public record as offering Queensland Raceway a 12month lifeline to commit to improving the facility to meet V8 Supercars’ and www.mnews.com.au

general public standards,” said V8 Supercars Events Shane Howard.

“Until such time as that commitment is met and satisfactory upgrades take place, we will not be returning to Queensland Raceway.”

The promoter of the circuit, John Tetley, was in the unusual position of watching at the weekend, but he would love to see V8 Supercars back at the circuit, which has hosted at least one V8 Supercar Championship Series round since 1999.

“That’s up to them,” he said. “They were great to work with, and they were a

pleasure to have there. There are some things that they would like to have in place, but I hope that they come back.”

Some of the drivers suggested that they expected not to be returning to the track in the future, and even double QR race-winner James Courtney fell short of backing the track, saying “as long as there is a race in the south-east corner of Queensland, that is important.”

In the meantime, Tetley and his team are pressing ahead with commitments for both QR and Lakeside, with an expected 440 days’ bookings for 2010.

Lowndes in for Safari start with PWR

It’s GisbergMac

SAFARI

John Morris

CRAIG Lowndes is set to make his off-road debut in the Australian Safari in September.

The TeamVodafone driver is close to finalising arrangements to drive the Holden Colorado used by Paul and Kees Weel in the 2009 event.

“It’s something we’ve been working towards and by the looks of things it’s going to happen; I’m excited, I’m looking forward to it,” Lowndes said.

“We’re just trying to put everything together at the moment with sponsors and everything else. The car’s there, it’s just getting all of the ducks in a row.

“I’ve been wanting to do it forever, I’m delighted I’ve finally now got an opportunity.

I haven’t been able to do it in the past and Kees is happy to give me an opportunity to drive their Colorado, which will be interesting.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

V8 SUPERCARS JOHN McIntyre has been confirmed as Shane van Gisbergen’s co-driver for all three 2010 enduros.

McIntyre will run with SBR for the secondstraight year, and he also drove with van Gisbergen in 2007 at Sandown and Bathurst with Team Kiwi.

“This drive with SBR is something I have been working on for four or five years really, I have stayed in regular contact with Ross [Stone] a lot,” the two-time NZ V8 Champ said.

“Obviously last year getting the drive in the #4 car was a real vote of confidence from SBR

and getting to lead that car gave me a lot of experience. Finally all the stars have aligned and I am in the seat I want to be in!”

McIntyre turned laps in van Gisbergen’s SP Tools Falcon in Queensland Raceway’s two Friday practice sessions, where teams could run an endurance driver or fulltime driver outside of the Top 15 in the championship. McIntyre topped Practice 1, with his time the fastest of any enduro pilot across the two sessions.

A total of 20 non-fulltime drivers turned laps, with all them signed on for the endurance races except for Jonny Reid. The Kiwi got a late call-up to drive Todd Kelly’s VE, ahead of his expected enduro role with the Kellys.

The Chase is on for enduro wildcards V8 SUPERCARS FUJITSU Series outfits Greg Murphy Racing and Matthew White Motorsport have put their hands up to run as wildcards in this year’s V8 Supercar endurance races.

The teams were among three outfits to race at the L&H 500 and Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 last year as the first wildcards. GMR ran a VE Commodore for Sam Walter and Taz Douglas and have since upgraded to last year’s Sprint Gas Commodores and would like to utilise them both.

“We’re looking to get a

wildcard entry, we’d like two, actually,” GMR owner Kevin Murphy told eNews.

“Both of our cars should’ve finished on the podium at Bathurst last year, and one of them was second in 2008.

So the pedigree of them at Bathurst is top notch.”

MWM fielded a BF Falcon for Brad Lowe and Damian Assaillit.

Ant Pedersen has expressed an interest in being one of the drivers.

“We’d like to do it, we’ve got everything we need,” Matthew White said.

Sonic Motor Racing, which was granted a wildcard for

last year’s races but elected to withdraw, have said running as a wildcard wasn’t on their radar.

“Unless we can go and do it at 100 percent with all of the right things in place, we’re not going to do it,” team boss Michael Ritter said.

“That time will come, but we’re not going to force it.”

Meanwhile, Triple F Racing considered applying for a wildcard this year for Todd and Paul Fiore. The pair are currently sharing the ex-PMM Commodore Dean raced in last year’s Main Game.

However, in their first year of racing a Supercar, the team

has opted not to apply, but will instead aim to field both in that round of the Fujitsu Series.

“We looked at it, and initially I was all for it, but then we had a think about it and decided against it,” Dean Fiore said.

“They’ve never raced at Bathurst, let alone in a V8 Supercar. Bathurst is a daunting place, surviving a session in practice is an accomplishment.

“So we’ll try and field two cars in the Fujitsu races at Bathurst, the VE and the BF, and the early thinking is that we’ll look at getting a wildcard next year.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

news

And the Logie goes to ...

HRT: It’s too much

V8 SUPERCARS

Phil Williams

Return to Spender: Cam McConville was at HRT 11 years ago as a sub for Craig Lowndes. Now, he’s back.

V8 SUPERCARS THE new-for-2010 rule that will stop V8 Supercar drivers teaming up for the endurance races will cost the teams as much a $30,000 a race, according to the Holden Racing Team.

Cameron McConville will take part in his first Fujitsu Series races at Winton Motor

www.mnews.com.au

Raceway, and that is what the bill will be, according to HRT’s Rob Crawford.

“Splitting the drivers means that, to get your co-driver up to speed, you will need to run them in the Development Series,” Crawford told eNews at Queensland Raceway.

“That means we need an extra four blokes to run that car, and that will cost the team

about $30,000.”

McConville drove in Friday’s co-driver session at QR, but said that he feels like he needs to be race-sharp before heading to Phillip Islabnd, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

Crawford did acknowledge that there may be a boost for the second-tier serier, but added, “apart from that, I do not see an upside.”

THE Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 has won the Logie Award for the Most Outstanding Sports Coverage of 2009.

The race won the award ahead of the AFL Grand Final (Seven), NRL Grand Final (Nine), Women’s Australian Open Golf (ABC) and the Emirates Melbourne Cup Carnival (Seven). It was the race’s sixth Logie in the last 11 years.

Seven commentator Matt White accepted the award, while Mark Beretta made it to the Melbourne presentation, by helicopter from Queensland Raceway and by jet to Tullamarine. It was worth it, as Beretts was sitting opposite Jennifer Hawkins on one of Seven’s tables ...

Furore over bar-code

smokescreen FORMULA 1

While the Australian government moves to ban logos and brandings on cigarette packets, in Europe a storm has broken out over suggestions that the ‘bar-code’ livery on the engine cover sections of Ferrari’s Formula 1 cars is a form of subliminal advertising for Marlboro.

Medical figures in Europe have called on the British and Spanish governments to conduct an investigation into the relationship between Marlboro parent company Philip Morris and Ferrari, according to a report in the The Times newspaper last week.

In a statement published on its website, Ferrari has flatly denied

the ‘subliminal’ claim.

“These reports are based on two suppositions,” the statement read: “That part of the graphics featured on the Formula 1 cars are reminiscent of the Marlboro logo and even that the red colour which is a traditional feature of our cars is a form of tobacco publicity.

“Neither of these arguments have any scientific basis, as they rely on some alleged studies which have never been published in academic journals.

But more importantly, they do not correspond to the truth. The so called barcode is an integral part of the livery of the car and of all images coordinated by the Scuderia, as can be seen from the fact it is modified every year and, occasionally even during the

season. Furthermore, if it was a case of advertising branding, Philip Morris would have to own a legal copyright on it.”

According to the statement, the partnership between Ferrari and Philip Morris was only exploited now in peripheral areas such as factory visits, driver meeting and merchandising products.

Philip Morris has been a long-time sponsor of the Ferrari F1 team. The sponsorship was renewed in 2005 for a further six years. However, the Marlboro logos were not carried on the racing cars beyond 2008, despite cigarette sport sponsorship not being illegal in all the countries visited by the World Drivers’ Championship.

Michael guarded despite new car FORMULA 1 Amid increasing media speculation that Michael Schumacher’s comeback has already been proven a failure, Schumacher himself says fans should not expect too much from Mercedes at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix despite a series of technical upgrades, and indeed an entirely new chassis for Michael, set to be introduced at Catalunya.

“I see a lot of potential here especially as our team has been reacting very well over the past four races,” Schumacher 10

said. “We have worked on general improvements to the car, as well as specific developments in downforce and efficiency, and I am confident that we have room to make further progress in the future.

“Our step forward in Barcelona will be bigger than you can make at each race during the flyaways but it would not be realistic to expect us to suddenly be competing right at the front.”

But the other step forward he will be looking to make is to bridge the performance gap between himself and team-mate Nico Rosberg. The latter has

been consistently the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers and after four grands prix is placed second in the World Drivers’ Championship, 50 points clear of 10thplaced Schumacher.

“I am hoping for a better race in Barcelona than I had in China and of course I would not mind having had better results so far,” Schumacher continued. “However the good news is that after three years away, I am feeling extremely motivated. So I am clearly ready to take this challenge.”

motorsport news

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Turbos set for F1 return FORMULA 1

AS the FIA looks to formulate the Formula 1 engine regs for 2013 and beyond, the sport could be set to go full circle with current thinking leaning towards a small capacity turbocharged engine – similar to the formula that reigned in the 1980s but was phased out on the grounds of spiralling costs (and power outputs).

A quarter of a century later and the world and F1 are both very different places.

According to Gilles Simon, the FIA’s new director of powertrain and electronics, the plan would call for a smaller capacity turbo with the emphasis on efficiency and economy rather than power outputs.

The new engine would be accompanied by the reintroduction of KERS.

“We have to try and push forward with fuel efficiency,” Simon was quoted in the FIA In Motion magazine. “If, as an engine engineer, I am given a maximum fuel load, I will try to give the driver the maximum horsepower possible, building the most efficient engine I can.

“It is a technical competition and as efficiency is obviously good for road cars, that could be good for them as well. So we want to try to adapt the rules we have in the run-up to the new engine formula.

“Ideally, we would like to understand where road cars will be in five to 10 years.

We would then create regulations for three years from now to anticipate this.

This is the most difficult route because we don’t want to impose our own views. We need to have a proper view of where the manufacturers will be.

“After that, we will do what is logical for

the different championships. I think that could actually add to the show because with reduced displacement engines and lower torque, you could use additional electrical torque to differentiate between the cars, while at the same time developing and showcasing hybrid technology and performance that will be used in passenger cars.”

Gilles Simon has a lengthy background in motorsport and took on the technical role at the FIA at the request of new FIA president Jean Todt. Simon was a design engineer on the Le Mans-winning Peugeots of the early ’90s. He joined Todt at Ferrari in 1994, where he remained until taking up the FIA post. It was Simon who developed Ferrari’s KERS system for the ’09 season.

The FIA hopes to finalise the 2013 F1 engine rules at the end of this year.

Pirelli’s last minute F1 bid FORMULA 1 NOT long ago the main concern over the supply of Formula 1 tyres in 2011 appeared to be the actual supply itself – that there might not be any tyre manufacturers stepping into the replace Bridgestone, which takes its leave at the end of the season.

Now, though, it’s a virtual bidding war with the news that Pirelli has thrown its hat into the ring with Avon and Michelin as tyre companies looking to become the sole supplier of F1 rubber in 2011 and beyond.

Pirelli will formally present its case to the FIA at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Pirelli’s announcement was somewhat unexpected, with Williams technical director Sam Michael previously indicating that it was now a matter of a choice between Avon and Michelin.

Avon’s a lot cheaper,” he told Reuters last week, “but it’s a less proven product although they’ve done plenty of highly competitive tyres.”

“They (Avon) are a bigger unknown than Michelin because Michelin did it (F1) very recently. But there is a significant difference in cost and you are probably talking over three times the difference in cost to the teams. So that’s what’s being debated at the moment.”

While Avon was only a peripheral player in F1 in the 1980s, Michelin’s last spell was between 2001 and 2006. In those six years the French tyre maker won 43 Grands Prix and four world titles, but also endured the embarrassment of the 2005 US Grand Prix in which its tyres were found incapable of handling the Indianapolis banking safely.

All Michelin runners were withdrawn, leaving a six-car Bridgestone-shod race.

Pirelli’s was last in F1 in 1991, departing after a three-year spell.

For full F1/MotoGP/WRC coverage/news, CLICK HERE to get to GPWeek magazine - www.gpweek.com www.mnews.com.au

11

INDYCAR media

Drivers see Blue over

blocking backmarkers INDYCAR LEADING IZOD IndyCar drivers have urged officials to make changes to the procedures concerning lapped cars on oval courses. Their concerns arose after the Kansas round of the Series which saw a number of incidents between the leader and lapped traffic.

During the race the 1.5-mile Kansas tri-oval had only two viable lanes as bits of rubber built up on the high side, preventing three-wide racing. Even cleaning the track mid-race didn’t prevent the backmarkers from interfering with the lead lap cars, and ultimately it ended up robbing the fans of an exciting finish after a late race caution.

“The backmarkers were a real issue because they would race side by side, leaving the lead-lap cars no where to go,” explained Dario Franchitti, who finished second to his dominant team-mate, Scott Dixon. “They’d run us up into the gray (marbles). If I’m a lap down, I’d try to give the right-of-way to the lead-lap cars, especially with three laps to go. Are they going to get their lap back and finish in the top five? I don’t quite understand their thinking. It’s almost a respect thing.

We’ve seen two or three times this year the backmarkers causing big problems.

The rookies did a good job but not some of the veterans. It’s up to the officials to keep them in position and police them.”

One driver already a lap down was

Danica Patrick, who worked hard at keeping Helio Castroneves from passing her, despite being shown multiple blue ‘move-over’ courtesy flags. Had Castroneves been able to pass her in the middle stages of the race, he might have been able to challenge Dixon before the New Zealander gained a full straightaway advantage.

“I think it is up to the League,” agreed Tony Kanaan, who finished third at Kansas. “When it’s three laps to go, you know exactly where you are. You know the second, third, and fourth place guys are directly behind you and you’re not fighting for position. So why are you fighting us?”

– Mary MENDEZ

INDYCAR media

12

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Road vs oval:

Separate Indy titles announced INDYCAR INDYCAR media

IN IndyCar racing there are drivers who do well on ovals and there are those who go better on road courses. There are also those who are fast no matter what the race track – and they are generally the ones that end up fighting for victory in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

However, when it comes to the distinction between road racing and ovals, the Indy Racing League has decided it’s time to formally recognise excellence across the two different disciplines with the announcement that there will be separate titles awarded for the best oval course driver and best road course driver in 2010.

The two new ‘championships’ will use the existing point system IZOD IndyCar Series championship, which itself remains unchanged as the major IndyCar championship.

The IZOD IndyCar 17-race season is comprised of four road courses followed by four ovals and then five road courses. At the end of the ninth road course, held at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, the best road course driver will be honoured. Following Infineon, at the third of four ovals at the Motegi, Japan race, the best oval driver will be recognised. And, finally, the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be reserved to honour the overall IZOD IndyCar Series champion.

Trophies for each discipline will be named after racing legends to be decided by fan votes and the prizes for these two titles will be announced later.

“The IZOD IndyCar Series offers one of the most challenging

and diverse schedules in all of motorsports,” said Randy Bernard, Chief Executive Officer of the Indy Racing League. “We want to recognise the drivers that master the disciplines that make up this sport as they pursue the ultimate prize - the IZOD IndyCar Series championship. We feel this platform will give added value to events on our schedule and creates more momentum behind the drivers and teams that excel at ovals and road races.”

Driver response to the novel concept of the two additional driver titles has been mixed.

“It all depends on how they promote it,” three-time Indy 500 winner, Helio Castroneves said. “The real champion won’t just shine from either the road courses or oval but be good at both.

I’m focused on the big championship, the season title. No one will remember who won the road course section or the oval section.”

“It’s great to highlight the fact that we do have two completely different disciplines of racing within one series,” explained Ryan Hunter-Reay. “The IZOD IndyCar Series is the only racing series in the world that races on street courses, road courses, mile-and-ahalf super speedways, and short ovals. While it’s great to highlight that and give some recognition, what really matters is winning the Indy 500 and the series championship.”

– Mary MENDEZ

Andretti Autosport Signs Carroll INDYCAR

www.mnews.com.au

Suttons

ADAM Carroll has secured a ride with Andretti Autosport in the second half of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar season. The car and races have yet to be determined.

The 27-year-old Portadown, Ireland, native competed against Team USA owned by Andretti, earning five victories, six poles, and eight podiums in seven rounds on his way to winning the 2008-2009 A1GP World title for Team Ireland.

“I’m very excited to be joining the driver lineup at Andretti Autosport,” said Carroll. “It is gratifying to know that the success I’ve enjoyed so far in my career has drawn the attention of a team owner like Michael Andretti. The IZOD IndyCar Series is clearly one of the most competitive formulas in the world right now and I’m looking forward to being

introduced into the field later this year.”

“We’re very excited that Adam is on board,” said Michael Andretti. “He is a special talent and someone who we believe will have a bright future with us at Andretti Autosport. It was important for us to give him an opportunity this year and start building for the years to come.”

The question being asked is if Adam

Carroll will step into the #37 car to replace Ryan Hunter-Reay, who has IZOD funding through to Texas only. HunterReay admitted recently that he needs about US $4million, the equivalent of about $400,000 per race, to finish the final 10 events and that his IZOD sponsorship ends with Texas that follows the Indy 500.

“We have the capacity to run five cars,” explained Kyle Moyer, Andretti Autosport team manager. “We’ve added John Andretti here at Kansas and will run him at Indy, so we already have five driver/crews combinations. If needed, we can draw upon the support of our Firestone Indy Lights team. We’re hoping to expand our team, running both Ryan Hunter-Reay and Adam Carroll. Only in the worse case scenario would Carroll replace Hunter-Reay.”

– Mary MENDEZ 13

VY & BA comeback FUJITSU SERIES

FUJITSU SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP leader Steve Owen is now set to do the full Fujitsu Series season.

Owen was drafted in as a one-off at the Clipsal 500’s season opener by Greg Murphy Racing and won both races, and picked up another round win at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

With GMR eyeing a title, he’ll now be back for Winton and likely the balance of the season.

“We’ve got every intention

of finishing the season with Steve,” team owner Kevin Murphy told eNews.

“We’ll need to get a little bit more financial assistance for it to happen, but I’m 95% sure we’ll make that happen. We’ve won titles in other classes, we want to win the Fujitsu Series this year with Steve. He’s been a great fit with the team, he’s been great to work with.”

GMR will expand to two cars at Winton, with New Zealander Daniel Jilesen to make his debut in Greg Murphy’s 2009 Sprint Gas

JOHN MORRIS / MPIX

Owen to stick around, and get team-mate Commodore.

“Daniel has been racing in New Zealand Formula Ford and the Toyota Racing Series, he was Mitch Evans’ teammate,” Murphy said.

“He seems like a sensible young guy, and he’ll probably do two or three rounds this year. Winton will be an introductory weekend, like an extended test session, but he’ll have Steve there as his team-mate.

“If all goes well, hopefully he’ll do the full season in 2011.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

VY Commodores and BA Falcons will return to the Fujitsu Series at Winton.

The models are also eligible for the third-tier Shannons V8 Touring Car Series, however must be de-registered as a Supercar and log-booked as a V8 Touring Car to run in that series. V8 Supercars has put measures in place to accommodate cars which have been de-registered and will assess entries on a case by case basis. Terry Wyhoon, who leads the SV8TC in a BA, is in full support of the idea “I think it’s great,” he said.

“There’s still some detail we’re waiting on technical and tyre regs, but we’re looking at running at Winton in the BA if we can find a little bit of money in the next couple of days.

“I’ve been talking to a guy from the UK who wants to run V8s, and I’m looking at getting another BF. If we can put it back to a BA and have the car eligible for both series, it’s for the better.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

NO JOY FOR CLASSIC ADELAIDE CREDITORS RALLY CREDITORS of failed rally promotion Silverstone Events, responsible for Classic Adelaide, received no good news in a creditors meeting last week.

One creditor told eNews the 60-minute meeting in Adelaide was a ‘waste of time’.

The company was placed in receivership three weeks ago with debts of at least $1.1 million, which has since risen to $1.5 million and is expected to rise further.

“It is possible that the company traded insolvent for possibly the past two years,” 14

Allan Scott from liquidators BRI Ferrier explained.

“Approximately two to three million dollars has passed through the company in that time but we have no idea where any of it has gone.”

Silverstone Events has few physical assets of worth, and the ‘Classic Adelaide Rally’ brand – valued at approximately $500,000 – is owned by a separate company within the Silverstone Events stable, Silverstone Advisory Company.

Over 80 entities are owed money, including $170,000 to former employees, Workcover (owed $230,000), CAMS

($156,000) the Australian Tax Office ($150,000) and Clerk of Course, Ivar Stanelis’, company Rally One ($150,000).

Approximately $150,000 in entry fees for the 2010 event had already been paid by 17 competitors, while a number of competitors cheques received by the administrators have been returned.

This year’s event is in jeopardy, however several entities have expressed interest in taking it over. At the meeting, Scott hinted one was linked to the running of the Australian Grand Prix when it was in Adelaide, with former CEO of the Adelaide

race and Adelaide 36ers NBL team owner Mal Hemmerling speculated as being that person.

Liquidators have been unable to contact Silverstone Events figurehead David Edwards since an initial meeting on April 13 where the company was placed into liquidation.

It was suggested at the meeting that Edwards was in Queensland, however the writer of this article saw him lunching in an Adelaide café on the day after the meeting.

Edwards refused to comment when approached.

– PHIL WILLIAMS motorsport news

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15

BRIEFLY... n Gavin Bullas will start to use #1 in the Touring Car Masters presented

by Autobarn in the series’ next round at Winton in a fortnight.

The two-time champion had stuck with his trusty #16 for the last 18 months since winning the 2008 title, but will make the switch.

“Everyone had been asking why I wasn’t running the number one and I didn’t really have a good reason,” he said.

“My number is a bit sentimental - 16 is my lucky number and also running cars 16 and 17 with Drew [Marget] was significant for me, but now that Drew has retired I guess there’s no reason not to switch to number one. It’s time.”

Tony Ricciardello became a father just a day before leaving Perth for the Queensland Raceway round. Ricciardello’s wife Carla gave birth to baby Orlando last Wednesday morning. Congratulations from everyone at eNews! n

n Formula Ford will get more airtime through its 2010 TV package.

The series will be shown on Channel 7’s digital channel, 7TWO, throughout the year. It will kick off with a one-hour show combining the Queensland Raceway and Winton rounds on May 29.

Each subsequent round will get a standalone 30minute show. n Former GTPerformance Car racer Barrie Nesbitt will debut a new Corvette in the VodkaO Australian GT Championship’s GT Production Class in the series’ next round at Eastern Creek at the end of the month.

16

DTM three-way as BMW returns DTM

GERMANY’s DTM series is set to have a third manufacturer, with BMW planning a comeback for season 2012.

As part of a restructured motorsport programme in the carmaker’s post-Formula 1 era, BMW has announced that it will return to the series after an 18-year absence, providing certain prerequisites are met as the series faces a technical evolution. Mercedes-Benz and Audi are currently the only manufacturers racing in the DTM. “The newly aligned programme offers us many important stages on which to demonstrate the sporting gene present in BMW vehicles,” said BMW Motorsport

Director Mario Theissen.

“The planned return to the DTM is an exciting challenge for our team. Over the coming months we will be making all the necessary technical preparations that should allow us to be competitive right from the start, should we join the series in 2012.

“Thanks to its great tradition in production car racing, the BMW M3 is predestined to be used as the basic car. In 2011 we will oncet again be lining up with our BMW M3 GT2 (above), which is contesting its debut season in Europe this year.”

BMW is also developing a new 1.6-litre, turbocharged engine to be used in its Super 2000-spec Touring Cars. BMW has not committed to the World Touring Car Championship beyond 2010, however.

Get well, Keith GENERAL

THE Keith Evers Recovery Fund auction at Queensland Raceway raised $28,750.

Evers, a long-time member of the Australian motorsport community, has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and in true Australian spirit, the community rallied, creating a massive memorabilia store and auction. The auction alone almost raised $30,000, with three of the 22 items passed and will available in a separate auction on eBay.com.au.

The three items that remain available include a TeamVodafone ‘pink’ front guard, signed by

Craig Lowndes that the team used at the Sydney Telstra 500, a Formula Ford test with the factory Spectrum race team and a Versace Bowl signed by five-time Australian touring car champions Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife.

Two items sold for $3500, including a trip for two to the Sydney Telstra 500 from the Orrcon Steel corporate facility, including flights and accommodation and a V8 Supercar wheel and tyre, signed by all 29 V8 drivers.

The helmet of Australian IndyCar driver Will Power was sold for $3100, while two Dick Johnson Racing race suits were picked up by a phone bidder for $3000. motorsport news

news

Header NZ getsHere RWC, but loses WRC WRC

Richard Craill

Australian

Six Hour is go have a very good chance of winning the race,” Tulloch said.

“Rod and I get on very well THE Australian Six Hour and we drove together in the event was officially launched Bathurst 12 Hour, so it would at Phillip Island on the certainly make sense for us to weekend, with a number of team up.” teams already considering Meanwhile, Steve Briffa is their driver combinations. jumping back into his HSV Garry Holt has sold his Clubsport R8 for the Six Hour two-time Bathurst 12 Hourafter driving one of Allan winning BMW 335i to Shephard’s BMWs in the Peter O’Donnell, but Holt is Bathurst 12 Hour. Briffa will expected to be a starter in the be joined by Commodore Cup event. racer Christian D’Agostin.

Holt still plans to contest Another car with an the Australian Manufacturers interesting driver line-up Championship and wants to remain involved in motorsport, will be the Richard Gartnerowned Renault Clio. Gartner but is focusing on lease drives will be partnered by GT rather than preparing his own Championship driver Mark car.

Eddy and Supersports racer “I’m probably going to race Francois Jouy.

Ryan McLeod’s Astra in the The race will take place Australian Creek Six-Hour and at Eastern Creek on July I might lease a Mitsubishi Evo 18, part of Round 6 of the X for a couple of rounds as Shannons Nationals. With well, depending on how I go,” next year’s Bathurst 12 he said.

Hour to be contested by Inky Tulloch is likely to be GT Championship cars, the joined by Rod Salmon in his Eastern Creek enduro is now Evo X Lancer. the premier production car “It’s not confirmed yet, but event on the calendar.

Rod is pretty keen to drive – LACHLAN MANSELL with me and I think we should

PRODUCTION CARS

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THE organisers of Rally New Zealand have already conceded that the event will not have World Rally Championship status in 2011.

Rally NZ is the next round of the 2010 World Rally Championship, but with the WRC’s rotation system set to be dropped from next year onwards, the event may struggle to regain its place on the WRC schedule. While this fact is not lost on organisers, next year’s Rugby World Cup has made it too difficult for a WRC round to be incorporated.

“Since it was announced that there was a risk Rally New Zealand was to be deleted permanently from the WRC calendar,” said Chris Carr, chairman of the Rally New Zealand board, “we have been working to ensure that this was not the case.

“We were allocated a date for 2011, but it was right in the period of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, so that was not feasible.

“The WRC calendar is heavily influenced by the logistics of moving all of the teams and equipment around the world, and a significant portion of the equipment is shipped by sea. The shipping schedules dictated an event in September or October 2011. We had no desire to conflict with the RWC and had to decline those dates.”

While New Zealand is in great danger of permanently losing its WRC status, Australia has been included on a 13-round schedule for 2011, while Monte Carlo is still absent from the schedule, for a third consecutive year.

17

Phil Williams

Evans eyeing festival season FORMULA FORD AUSTRALIAN Formula Ford outfit Evans Motorsport has set its sights on competing in this year’s British Formula Ford Festival.

The Victorian-based squad runs Adam Graham, pictured, and Andre Borrell in the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship

and Mathew Hart and Andre Heimgartner in Victorian Formula Ford.

Should the plans come to fruition, the team would race in the October event at Brands Hatch, with Graham and Borrell in leased Mygales.

“We’re talking about it at the moment,” team owner Joshua Evans told eNews.

“We’ve seen how well guys

like Tim Blanchard and Nick Percat have gone in the last couple of the years, and know that the Australians are quite competitive.

“Adam and Andre are both keen to do it and Andre pretty much has his budget sorted, we’d lease some cars over there.”

The Festival could be just the start for the team, with Evans seeing a future for

the team in Europe.

“Long-term, the goal for the team is to compete in British Formula Ford,” he said.

“It’s still a few years down the track, but that would let us bring young drivers through state Formula Ford here, into the National series and then to England, which would make the transition a lot easier.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

DASH FOR CASH FUJITSU SERIES

Dirk Klynsmith

18

WINTON is currently the last confirmed start for Tim Blanchard and Nick Percat in the Fujitsu Series.

The Formula Ford Champs have started the season with deals for the opening three rounds. Blanchard is second in the standings in his largelyunsponsored Sonic Falcon, with Percat fourth in the Sip ‘n’ Save Commodore for Jay Motorsport.

Beyond Winton, they’ve got two months to secure backing for Round 4 at Townsville, with a further three months before Round 5 at Bathurst.

“At the moment we’re locked in for Winton,” Blanchard, left, told eNews.

“From then on, it’s a round-byround basis to see what we can

piece together to get to the next round. We’ve got a bit of time on our side, but as anyone in pitlane will tell you, it’s tough to get sponsors.

“It’s a steep road ahead of us to get through the year, but if we can get some more good results we might have to and use.”

Kiwi rookie Ant Pedersen, third in the series, is in a similar boat, after support from VIP Petfoods got him on the grid at Queensland Raceway. However, while Blanchard and Percat are in for Winton, Pedersen still has some work to do.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be there,” he said.

“But I’m confident of getting something together, so we’ll go home and plug away.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

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19

Luke Nieuwhof

Whiteside’s new power DRAG RACING WESTERN Australian drag racer Matt Whiteside took his Holden HR ute off the track for some time to turn it into what is, basically, a totally different car, making the switch from Super Street to Supercharged Outlaws.

The car now has a supercharger to provide more power and has a new rear end suspension set up designed to put that power to the ground.

Whiteside admits he did not know what to expect taking the car to the track for the first time.

“I was a bit worried about how it was going to react, it’s

pretty much a whole new car,” he said.

“The rear end has been done and the supercharged deal is a real learning curve.”

That learning curve showed in the car’s first event when it blew a gearbox and also torched a cylinder head.

Supercharged motors do not tolerate bad tune-ups well, and Whiteside said it was a case of taking it easy to begin with and building from there.

“Good data is everything, sneaking up on tune-ups is important because an engine like this is not very forgiving,” he said.

So far the car has run a best of 9.01s. Whiteside hopes

the performances of the car will eventually reach the seven second zone and he has aspirations to chase Pro Street records, an unofficial set of times kept among racers with wild sedans.

So far the times of the ute have been limited by a misfire in the second half of the track.

“A mag wire was loose coming into the points box, so we are hoping that was the problem,” Whiteside said.

“I really want to have a crack at the Pro Street record at some point, but I’m not saying how quick I want it to go, however it goes is however it goes.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Bray DRAG RACING VICTOR Bray is well-known as one of the legends of drag racing, but for the man often regarded as the father of Top Doorslammer racing in Australia, it has been lean times as far as results go.

His last few seasons have seen the famous Castrol 57 Chev struggling to qualify and not appearing in many final rounds.

The path to redemption has been a long one, but Bray hopes the team has turned a corner.

“We had some issues going

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20

motorsport news

news

Luke Nieuwhof

plugging away on in the workshop, it’s just a matter of getting the right parts in it and then starting to hopefully get on track,” he said.

While his own car has been stuck in the 6.0s zone, he has been able to watch his son Ben and team-mate Matt Abel both descend into five second passes.

Surprisingly that is a mark that Victor has yet to reach. Each car is its own temperamental beast and Bray has been patient in his racing. He has some new parts to start his own program, though he can always move

his car to become more similar to Ben’s.

“The first thing about Ben’s car is that he drives it the way he has to drive it, and he makes his own car,” he said.

“I’ve been using mine as a test bed. We have the best of everything, it is a matter of finding the combination now.”

Ahead of the Nitro Champs, Bray got some parts imported from the USA to help force the 57 down Sydney Dragway quicker, though he played his cards close to his chest on what new parts he has.

“We’ve got some chassis and suspension bits, clutch, new

ANDRA Pro Series on

engine parts,” he said.

“It’s mainly the clutch and the fuel system, it will be steady as she goes.”

The price of running a car as a test bed is that you can wander away from a reliable tune up and also risk carnage, something Bray has experienced too much of.

“There’s some new stuff on every meeting, we’re playing with it, it is a little confusing in some areas,” he said.

“We’ve had a couple of big engine malfunctions with our new gear, we’re hoping we can get to the bottom of that, I still have a season old engine,

Ben has the new stuff.”

Abel’s car is the oldest one in the stable, the Karcher machine amazing many people when it ran a five second pass. Victor has watched on as Abel refines the combination and also pushes the boundaries.

“When we first put Matt’s car together it had a similar set up to Ben’s,” he said.

“Matt’s been doing some R&D himself with a new clutch. You have to have a plan and head down that track – you just have to hope you can get to the end.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Tuesday May 6, 4:30pm Top Alcohol & Top Bike Willowbank Raceway

Next ANDRA Pro Series Round: Castrol EDGE Winternationals, Willowbank Raceway, June 10-13 www.mnews.com.au

21

Five Minutes with ...

CHRIS STYRING James Courtney didn’t just break Ford’s 2010 drought at Queensland Raceway, he smashed it. Ford’s Racing boss was a happy man when he spoke to PHIL BRANAGAN MOTORSPORT NEWS: Was the QR result what you had in mind when you made changes at the start of the season?

CHRIS STYRING: It was, it was a positive.

We reconnected with Jim Beam Racing and we showed them that we had some faith in what they were doing. We got very good signs from Charlie [Schwerkolt] and Dick [Johnson], and decided that we were going to invest and give it another shot.

I think that James [Courtney] is suited to V8 Supercars right down to t he ground.

Steve Johnson has done a great job, and Jonathan Webb did a fantastic job over the weekend. That team dominated the weekend – and so right now, we would say, money well spent.

Do you consider this to be a flash in the pan?

No, definitely not. I knew James when he was with Jaguar, testing in Formula 1, and he was a good driver then, and I was aware of his capabilities. He is well-suited to this formula and he showed that on the weekend. This is the start of things to come.

I had a good chat with Jonathan and his father yesterday and he was delighted as well. They are doing all the right things, as are Stone Brothers. Shane van Gisbergen has come out of that rut that he was in, in New Zealand, and he is working at getting over the notion of working under pressure.

He will get better and stronger week after week, and he is proving that. He let cars pass him on the weekend and he waited, and he worked with his tyres and he got the results.

only be good for all of the Ford teams. We encourage that.

With the new program from V8 Supercars to reduce teams’ costs, is the next step going to be, more cars out there, to redress the imbalance that exists between the makes?

Not necessarily. I said on Day 1, we do not need more money – we just need to spend it smarter.

Even a couple of years back, I think it was 2006, we were spending about $10 million and that is not the case any more.

Whatever we are spending now, we need to do it smarter. It is not just a case of buying more cars, more teams, certainly not.

Is that philosophy backed up by having six Ford drivers in the top 12 in the points at the moment?

Absolutely. To reiterate with the first point, Jim Beam Racing had first, fifth and ninth in the Sunday race, which is pretty impressive.

Too early to start thinking ‘championship’?

I would say it is a little bit early.

James did a great job, he is knocking on the door of Jamie Whincup. As you know, he is right there from a speed point of view and it will be interesting to see what happens at Winton. He is not far away.

No, to answer your question, you do not want to get ahead of yourself and say that the championship is within our grasp. That is inappropriate, but I will see how Winton goes, and if the momentum is maintained, I might be able to answer that question afterwards.

Do you have Ford flags ready, just in case?

It would be good top see Ford flags flying at Winton. But again, anything can happen in this sport over a week or two, or race to race.

The guys at Holden are making some significant changes over the next few weeks and that may put them in a better position. I don’t think that it would be very smart to say that we will run away with Winton, or with any other race. We will have to wait and see whether the form of the van Gisbergens, the Courtneys and the Johnsons continue.

There has been some information exchange between the teams, has that played a big role in picking up the performance of the teams?

I would like to think so. Ultimately, I would like to have all the Ford teams working together as closely as possible. Working together is the ideal, that is our primary outcome. We share information as much as we can, but the teams are competitors.

Sharing information, within reason, can 22

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23

MINI Challenge driver Kain Magro

I

T was a quick, and frightenting, experience.

I went off earlier in the race, from seventh trying to overtake sixth. I rejoined in second-last and for two laps I was trying to overtake the car in-front of me [Sarah Harley].

Coming into Turn 6, I tried to overtake her and got level with her, but as soon as I touched the brakes, we both hit. I went up on my wheels, then on the roof and then onto the gravel trap.

As soon as I hit the gravel trap, everything went black. I knew what was happening, but everything was black and I was in a really violent roll. That went on for two or three seconds, maybe more.

As soon as I landed, someone had opened the door and told me to get out. I got out pretty quickly because they told me the car was on fire.

I got out, walked away probably four or five steps and then realised I was actually in the crowd. I was just shocked that I was actually in the crowd. When I looked at the car, seeing people all around the car, I freaked out. I thought it was a marshal who’d opened the door.

I was in total shock when I saw there were people around me and people were on the ground in total shock. I’m just glad everyone was OK; that was my main worry. As soon as I saw I was in the crowd, I was just worried about everyone else, I wasn’t worried about myself.

As soon as I got back from the track, I jumped straight into Johnny’s [brother John Magro, who was also racing in the MINI Challenge] car and drove it over to the marshals to get it weighed. I was keen to get back in the car and I’m looking forward to Townsville. Hopefully with the help of my sponsors, Unit, NQ Smash Repair and Just 4WD, we can get back out there. They were all really understanding about what happened.

I was surprised that the MINI held up, it’s a credit to them and how they built it. I’m just really happy that everyone’s OK and it wasn’t worse than it was. It’s been weird to see the picture on the front page of the paper and the TV replays. I’m just glad it’s all over and I can get back on getting things organised for Townsville.

24

What happens when the unthinkable happen car takes off and crashes into a spectator area behind the wheel and the man behind the len

WHEN A LITTLE CAR

A BIG IMP

motorsport news

comment

ns – when a racing a? We asked the man ns

R MAKES

PACT

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MNews photographer John Morris

I

T started simply enough, two cars fighting for the same piece of track ... then the car of Kain Magro took flight.

The replays I have seen since were so fast, the whole thing over in a matter of seconds.

At the time it felt like minutes, I even had time to move and refocus as the car initially disappeared from view and I realised that it was heading over the fence, then reappeared like a great white shark breeching from the sea.

Eventually the car came to rest on its wheels and for a moment all was still. Then I could hear people calling for medical help.

I looked around the car, relieved to see no-one trapped underneath. I could see two people injured – thankfully they were both moving as the medical team assessed their condition. I could see someone being comforted and knew it was not the place to stay with a camera in my hand. Taking pictures of an accident is one thing; photographing the pain of injury is something else, and not my cup of tea. I went back to the Media Centre and waited to hear of the condition of those injured. I made it a policy years ago to not release my pictures until I knew that those involved were going to be okay.

A call to the Sydney office of News Limited to explain the situation soon brought me into the world of the reluctant celebrity. News Limited snapped up the pictures and sent them nationwide. Some 15 minutes later and I was taking calls from the Courier-Mail wanting further information. A reporter from the ABC overheard the conversation and wanted me to give an interview.

Next thing I knew, I had a two cameras pointed at me and a microphones shoved in my face, asking me to answer some ‘simple’ questions. It was then I first realised how little I really did know.

“Were people screaming?” they asked.

I thought for a moment. Were people screaming? I didn’t remember it, in fact I couldn’t remember hearing any sounds at all.

I must have been concentrating so intently at the time. Though I did recall people yelling for first aid afterward.

“Was it spectacular?” they asked.

Well yes, it was fairly spectacular. A car had just rolled, sideways, end over end, bounced and flown over a tyre barrier and bounced 10

metres into a spectator area.

“Yes it was spectacular, the car rolled and rolled”, I replied.

Over my right shoulder I could see editor Branagan with a smile as wide as the Cheshire cat as I stumbled over a series of inane answers.

The final insult came when he pulled out his camera to photograph my interview. I really shouldn’t be doing this, I thought. There were spectators who had been centimetres away who would have had a better story to tell.

Once the ordeal had ended, I went to my camera to have another look at the pictures.

I was shocked at what I saw. As the car leapt over the fence, most people had hardly moved, in fact very few people had moved at all. There was a couple running towards the camera, the man leading his partner away and in the background was a lady holding her hands to her face. On the left side of the image was a teenager about to lose his bucket of hot chips as he looked up to be confronted by a flying car. Either side of the broken fence there were spectators just looking at the car as it flew by.

Even the couple stopped and looked back, once out of the direct path. In the foreground was a teenager looking quite pleased at the spectacle. It was as if everyone had simply made way for the car.

My phone continued to ring throughout the evening and into Sunday. I had newspapers in Brisbane and Cairns wanting pictures, then came a further request for a radio interview with Southern Cross Media and the ‘Talking Back The Night’ show with Christain Argenti.

I had suddenly become a motorsport expert and was asked to respond to comments made by Dick Johnson regarding the safety of Ipswich Raceway.

The whole situation really needed a reality check. I know a bit about motorsport, and have been around it as an official, competitor and a photographer, though I was not an expert, simply a photographer with an eye for a crash ... and a big mouth! I did the interview.

I was asked “Motorsport tickets come with a disclaimer on the back, so it is dangerous isn’t it?”

“Evidently not as perilous as installing ceiling insulation,” came my reply.

I offered my thoughts and prayers to the injured and wished them a full recovery as my last interview drew to a close.

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V8 SUPERCARS RACES 9-10, QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

1-SIERRA TANGO

Dick Johnson had a birthday and his team had an anniversary but James Courtney got all the presents – and all the wins – at Queensland Raceway.

By PHIL BRANAGAN

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motorsport news

race

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

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T

HERE were so many theories about how to make two sets of Dunlop Sprint tyres last 38 laps around Queensland Raceway.

You could do like Garth Tander – pit early and take the reverse pit window, and do your best at the end of the race. Or, you could take the Shane van Gisbergen route and run out the window up front, have grip to burn at the end of the race and burn it, as you chase down the leaders.

Or, you could do what James Courtney did on Saturday; drive away from the field, and just keep on going.

He did just that, after sneaking past Garth Tander and tearing off into the distance at a rate of 0.7-0.8s a lap. At one stage, he led by more than 16s; at the end of the 38 laps, he was 13.44s clear.

“It was flawless, right from 28

the start,” Courtney said after his win, the 75th for Dick Johnson Racing.

“He [Tander] was going a bit slower than I thought that we should be, so I just got past him.”

Which is a fairly accurate summary of about how it happened.

“This is probably the sweetest [win],” Courtney continued.

“It was a dominating performance from the team. I didn’t conserve anything, but I was just cruising around.”

Craig Lowndes was, as usual, Lowndes; spooky-fast on tyres that, in terms of speed, appear better-suited to ensuring that boats did not damage themselves while docking than at permitting a 650 horsepower racing car to go fast. So quick was he that Whincup and Tander were literally defenceless and the #888 VE steamed past on its

way to second.I It is rare to see such a disparity in speed – which is, of course, what it is all about on the Sprint tyres.

“We used everything up in the middle, to get past Stevie J [Johnson], Jamie [Whincup] and Tander,” he admitted.

Lowndes started well and conserved when he had to, whereas at the other end of the TeamVodafone garage, tweaks on Whincup’s car did him no favours. By the end, he was fifth, having ceded positions rather obviously to his team-mate and Shane van Gisbergen.

The Kiwi youngster followed a different plan. The Giz’s strategy was hatched on Friday and was pretty obvious to those who were watching.

He reeled off a high-nine and then kept going on a 20lap practice stint, with times falling off to a consistent but not alarming speed.

“We did a pretty long run

GT racer: Tander won the start, but Courtney was quickly past.

Michael Caruso had a wild ride when a tyre blew – his Sunday would be a massive contrast – while Lowndes and Johnson fought it out, Greg Murphy struggled.

and that gave us an idea of a target lap time,” he admitted.

“We needed another four laps, or something. It was sure fun at the end there, passing them like they were standing still.”

It was a good plan, made better by the notion that if the conditions had been like during Friday’s practice, he may have won. But the strategy worked; his gain on Courtney during the pit cycle alone was 10s, and he gained another 6s in the last 10 laps of the race. motorsport news

race

Race 9

Dirk Klynsmith Dirk Klynsmith Dirk Klynsmith

Dirk Klynsmith

Dirk Klynsmith

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Best and Rest: Jamie Whincup was way, way too good in Race 7 at Hamilton, left. James Courtney came from nowhere to pluck a result, top, while Shane van Gisbergen’s failings, above, left Jason Richards, below, the best of the Kiwis.

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Dirk Klynsmith

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N the Good Old Days, the Australian Touring Car Championship was pretty straightforward; show up, do your best and watch Dick Johnson Racing smash everyone into the ground.

Old-timers will remember the red Sierras of Johnson and John Bowe which, as it turned out, were the fastest Group A cars in the world between 1988 and, probably, 1990.

James Courtney evoked memories of that on Sunday. After blasting the field on Saturday, Sunday’s race was a bit more of a job for the man in #18. With 20 laps of the race remaining, Courtney had former team-mate Russell Ingall on his tail, 1.5s behind, almost a full tank and four cold tyres. But Courtney set his sails, and drove away at about 0.3s, the same pace at which he led Craig Lowndes in the middle part of the race.

“I didn’t win the start, but that was about it,” said Courtney after his second 10-plus second victory of the weekend.

Tander was second, a great turnaround in a car that went backwards the day before.

“I think James was pretty strong today,” said GT. “That was a big improvement.”

In many ways, the longer race resembled Saturday’s sprint. Shane van Gisbergen chased hard and got onto the podium, but this time, the Holden in the gunsights of the Kiwi youngster was Garth Tander, not Craig Lowndes.

The HRT man led briefly, but Courtney soon asserted his authority, and the SBR Ford was again in stealth mode early in its tyre cycle before The Giz got on with The Charge.

The other man who stood out was Ingall, who made remarkable ground by tweaking the car and saving himself an extra set of Sprint tyres for Sunday.

If there was even better news for Courtney, it was that his main title rivals were in all sorts of trouble. Jamie Whincup righted the ship with pole position after what was, by his standards, a bad Saturday, but a rare engine failure (a broken rocker roller) meant that Whincup’s points lead is, suddenly, marginal rather than dominant.

Worse befell Mark Winterbottom (see breakout) a nd the race for the title is now well and truly joined, with three drivers within one race (150 points) of the title lead.

The irony, of course, is that Courtney has the momentum, in JBR’s Triple Eight-built Falcon, with a KRE-built motor. The customer may always be right, but the people who build the hardware are making life hard for themselves right now.

“I have never been so excited about going to Winton,” he grinned.

He is now within two dozen points of leader Whincup, and the Holden whitewash that started the 2010 season is well and truly a memory. motorsport news

race

Race 10

Dirk Klynsmith

Howzat: While Courtney celebrated, van Gisbergen ‘used’ his tyres later than Russell Ingall used his to get onto the podium. It was a bad day for Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom, respectively.

Phil Williams

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

31

WINNERS JAMES COURTNEY: Superman. No pole, but he did everything else right in a Jim Beam Jet Car. JIM BEAM RACING: At the moment, Ford’s best team. Stevie J was right there in the fight as well.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: More podiums ... and that first win is getting closer, surely.

RUSSELL INGALL: There’s life in the, um, experienced dog yet.

BENALLA AUTO CLUB: It’s going to be standing room only on the Hume.

FORD: It was looking shaky at the start of the year – and DJR is back in the fold now, too.

LOSERS FORD PERFORMANCE RACING: More disasters on both days.

A glimmer of light for Richo but, at this level, a factorybacked team must be expecting more than that.

THE DAVISONS: Both brothers were completely left behind by their team-mates. Lots of head scratching going on at Yatala and Clayton.

JAMIE WHINCUP: Starting from pole, JDub would have expected, at worst, a podium. Then, his engine broke.

GREG MURPHY: Was last year’s car so bad?

Whatever the T8 VE is doing, it’s not telling its driver.

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THE QUIET MAN While HRT and the Stones made changes on the run, the Beams polished their car – and that’s all they did

YOU do not often hear a driver say that he did nothing to his car over the course of a weekend.

But James Courtney did say that. There were no tweaks to be had inside car #18; “No bar, no brake balance, nothing overnight,” he confirmed after his two wins.

At the other end of the scale,

HRT did “something big” to Tander’s car (his words) which team boss Rob Crawford says will translate to a gain at Winton; “I assume it will!’”

At SBR, Vab Gisbergen’s car was tweaked “a wee bit” but, realistically, nobody had much of a show against Courtney on this day.

But the transformation

of the DJR cars has been remarkable. The team has worked hard on shockers, and the cars’ bugbear, fuel consumption, is now a thing of the past.

“I will be interesting to put some pressure on Jamie to see how he reacts,” said Courtney after his best weekend in V8 Supercar racing.

Qld Teams rule, but the Vic gets the next Home Game OVER recent years, the concept of teams dominating at their home, test tracks have been put to rest. At QR, it came back into vogue.

Part of the reason behind the change may have lain with the weather. On Friday, it was hot; on Saturday, it was hot too, but the differences lay in at what time it was hot, and at what time the cars ran. On Friday, all four sessions were over by 4pm; on Saturday, that was when the cars were about the start the race.

At the start of Friday’s fourth practice session, the track was at 36 degrees, and it stayed there. At the start of Race 9, the track was 23, and it dropped to 22 at the end.

“We know the place pretty well,” admitted Lowndes, after the locals swept the podium positions.

Changes in temperature, humidity and cloud cover can make a huge difference in conditions at QR. The locals managed to stay one step ahead of the Victorian infidels – this time. motorsport news

race

When Grip means GRIP QLD Tyre Talk, with Dunlop’s V8 Operations Manager KEVIN FITZIMMONS WE saw a different podium at QR – I don’t know whether that’s a plus or a minus, but there were a couple of other teams up there who haven’t necessarily been consistently up there before; Jim Beam were up there and Stone Brothers were there, so that side of it was pretty good.

There were a few daring moves during the race and guys were on it. Maybe this wasn’t the circuit the Sprint tyre was ideally suited to, but it spiced it up and towards the end of the race we were going to have someone trying to get to the front with a late run, which is what Shane did, so that was encouraging.

In general, from our point of view, we had no real issues. The performance was pretty good, on par with where I thought it was going to be, and it was just a matter of drivers treating their tyres kindly enough and picking a pace and sticking to it, so they had something left at the end to have a go at someone.

I’m hoping it looked good for TV, but it was good to see some different guys on the podium. A lot of guys will have

www.mnews.com.au

a look at how it all went before Winton, but certainly, from our point of view, we’re happy with how it all went.

The strategies were about what we expected. We’ve all been around long enough to know about dividing the race up into 20-lap segments, then trying to go 22 laps to take a shorter fuel and get the tyres.

That was all about where we thought it was going to be.

The different weather from Saturday to Sunday had an impact. This place does change with the ultraviolet – whenever the cloud cover comes over or whatever, the grip level changes. The chatter on the radio from teams getting guys to tune their cars was a lot more than we usually hear.

But that also comes from the soft tyres – whether they were starting to degrade or trying to look after them to be stronger for two, three or four laps longer than someone else.

I think Winton will really show where we’re at, with what sort of show it puts on for the public, because this tyre will suit there a lot better than it suited here, but I’m pretty encouraged by it all.

FROM THE COUCH with CHRIS LAMBDEN IT can take an intruder to paint the bigger picture sometimes.

TV sports coverage in particular comes under microscopic examination in Australia – we are, after all, a sports-mad nation – and there is often a degree of petty criticism.

I have had a mate from the UK out for a few weeks and his perspective is enlightening: “You don’t know how lucky you are,” he sums up.

“Compared to some of the crap we get – and even F1 – your TV stands up. It’s terrific.

I don’t know what they’re on about.”

And he’s right.

This week’s new angles included Rick K’s rear suspension and – unplanned – a brief dive into the rocker cover area of Jamie Whincup’s hobbled V8. Would you get either in F1? Hell, no. NASCAR even? Probably not. I must admit, some of the other international stuff that pops

up on Fox or OneHD falls well short on the commentary front.

Having former racers in the box has always been a preference of mine – Skaife and Crompton are thus observant in ways non-racers can’t be (if just a little too pally at times); Larko is technically astute (while proving, strapped into a car, that blokes can’t drive and talk – sensibly – at the same time); and Noonan, while not a racer, has lived motorsport since his early teens (and, of course, we started him off here at MN!).

Networks feel the need to have a regular in there, and Beretta fills that role better than many would.

Yup, my pommy mate is right.

You sometimes don’t know how well off you are.

In the end, the test is whether you feel you’ve come out of the broadcast knowing more or less what went on.

This week the key aspect was the Sprint tyre tactics and the crew was on top of it.

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Dirk Klynsmith

Results :: Race 9 – Queensland Raceway

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Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

18 888 9 1 2 17 33 15 5 19 3 24 14 39 22 47 30 12 11 10 55 8 51 21 34 16 6 4 7

James Courtney Craig Lowndes Shane Van Gisbergen Jamie Whincup Garth Tander Steven Johnson Lee Holdsworth Rick Kelly Mark Winterbottom Jonathon Webb Tony D’Alberto Fabian Coulthard Jason Bright Russell Ingall Will Davison Tim Slade Daniel Gaunt Dean Fiore Jason Bargwanna Andrew Thompson Paul Dumbrell Jason Richards Greg Murphy Karl Reindler Michael Caruso Tony Ricciardello Steven Richards Alex Davison Todd Kelly

Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG TeamVodafone Commodore VE SP Tools Racing Falcon FG TeamVodafone Commodore VE Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG Fujitsu Racing / GRM Commodore VE Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Falcon FG Dick Johnson Racing Falcon FG Centaur Racing Commodore VE Bundaberg Red Racing Team Commodore VE Trading Post Racing Commodore VE Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE Wilson Security Racing Falcon FG Gulf Western Oil Racing Commodore VE Triple F Racing Falcon FG Rock Racing Commodore VE Bundaberg Red Racing Team Commodore VE The Bottle-O Racing Team Falcon FG Team BOC Commodore VE Castrol Edge Racing Commodore VE Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore VE Stratco Racing Commodore VE Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon FG Irwin Racing Falcon FG Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE

2 8 3 12 1 5 6 11 4 13 18 20 9 24 7 25 21 10 28 28 22 23 16 26 19 29 15 14 17

Fujitsu Cool: Michael Caruso’s Sunday Fujitsu Cool: Michael Caruso’s Sunday charge gained him 21 places and was charge gained him 21 places and was one of the highlights of the weekend. one of the highlights of the weekend. motorsport news

race

Gripping Yarns Remember last year, when David Reynolds made great gains once the Sprint tyre was introduced? Same thing this year, with Dean Fiore. Maybe, here’s why THE rise of Dean Fiore during Saturday’s qualifying wasn’t lost on the Seven commentators, but the reason for it was.

Mark Larkham suggested that the soft tyre might have masked some set-up issues for some of the other teams, but within seconds of that comment Jamie Whincup was blaming set-up for his missing out on the Shoot-Out. Crompton’s theory was that the soft tyre is more userfriendly compared to the fickle

control tyre, which would help drivers with less miles in the cars. A good point, but it still missed a vital link to Fiore.

Fiore honed his craft with three years in the Carrera Cup, which ran on very soft Michelin slicks. Remember last year that David Reynolds was one of the soft tyre guns? Well, he is a Porsche graduate too.

“The Sprint Tyre is heaps closer to the Michelins,” Fiore said.

“I spent three years driving them in Carrera Cup. It gives you more confidence, and it’s got a lot more of the traits of the Porsche. You can turn and brake at the same time and it hooks in a lot better.”

Fiore, who finished 18th on Saturday and 15th on Sunday, said he felt the use of the soft rubber was good for the show.

“I think it gives us better racing, go you can go for a dive

and you’ve got the grip to get out on the exit,” he said.

“In Saturday’s race, I was trying to look after it too much, I was driving like a girl. Last year, you had to manage them a lot more, but this weekend, we’re not tip-toeing around.

“You know you can bolt on another set in the pitstops, whereas last year you only had one set of them to use.”

– VAN LEEUWEN/ADAM

Top 10 Points: Whincup 1191, Courtney 1167, Van Gisbergen 984, Tander 972, Lowndes 969, R. Kelly 908, Holdsworth 903, Winterbottom 894, Caruso 834, Johnson 749.

Results :: Race 10 – Queensland Raceway

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF

18 2 9 39 888 34 15 17 6 3 14 19 8 7 12 22 47 30 55 24 4 16 33 21 10 1 11 51 5

James Courtney Garth Tander Shane van Gisbergen Russell Ingall Craig Lowndes Michael Caruso Rick Kelly Steven Johnson Steven Richards Tony D’Alberto Jason Bright Jonathon Webb Jason Richards Todd Kelly Dean Fiore Will Davison Tim Slade Daniel Gaunt Paul Dumbrell Fabian Coulthard Alex Davison Tony Ricciardello Lee Holdsworth Karl Reindler Andrew Thompson Jamie Whincup Jason Bargwanna Greg Murphy Mark Winterbottom

Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE SP Tools Racing Falcon FG Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE TeamVodafone Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore VE Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE Jim Beam Racing Falcon FG Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon FG Centaur Racing Commodore VE Trading Post Racing Commodore VE Dick Johnson Racing Falcon FG Team BOC Commodore VE Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore VE Triple F Racing Falcon FG Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore VE Wilson Security Racing Falcon FG Gulf Western Oil Racing Commodore VE The Bottle-O Racing Team Falcon FG Bundaberg Red Racing Team Commodore VE Irwin Racing Falcon FG Stratco Racing Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore VE Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Commodore VE Bundaberg Red Racing Team Commodore VE TeamVodafone Commodore VE Rock Racing Commodore VE Castrol Edge Racing Commodore VE Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Falcon FG

2 8 4 6 3 27 11 7 10 14 16 9 15 12 20 24 19 23 18 13 25 29 5 22 28 1 21 26 17 35

FUJITSU SERIES ROUND 2, QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

Red Alert

Steve Owen was in the Fujitsu Series field again at QR and he won – again. But it wasn’t as straight-forward as his domination of Adelaide, as MITCHELL ADAM reports

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motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

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Phil Williams Phil Williams

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on that I’d saved all weekend that we would win the last one, the one that mattered.”

Coming into the weekend, Morris offered anyone who beat him a test in one of his cars. On Saturday afternoon, it looked like no-one would get a pedal, after the team owner cruised to victory in the first race by 4s.

He was one of the drivers delayed by the Race 2 startline incident, and had to fight back to seventh, before grabbing third in the final.

One of the quiet achievers during the weekend was Blanchard. He was fifth in Race 1, got back up to ninth in Race 2 after taking evasive action to miss McLaughlin and was fourth in the final. It saw him leave the weekend second in the series, ahead of Ant Pedersen, who was second in Race 2, and Nick Percat, who was fifth for the weekend.

The trio displaced Moffat, who, simply, had a dog of a weekend. His Falcon wasn’t there on setup, he was turned around on the first lap of Race 1, right, and then ran out of fuel on the last lap of Race 3, and is now almost 200 points behind Owen.

David Russell, like Moffat had a tough weekend. He was on the pace early and took third in Race 1, but was delayed with Blanchard and Morris in Race 2, before his weekend ended in the pits in Race 3.

Before frying the clutch on the grid for Race 2, McLaughlin was having a solid debut weekend. The 16-year-old qualified sixth and ended up ninth in the opening race after missing the start.

The stall in Race 2 ended his weekend when he was collected by Owen Kelly, right.

In Kelly Racing’s maiden Fujitsu Series start, Kelly racked up some extra miles ahead of the enduros and was fifth in the final race.

Dirk Klynsmith

AT the opening round of the 2010 Fujitsu Series in Adelaide, in what was to have been a one-off, Steve Owen scored a pair of dominant race wins to win the round. Two months later at Queensland Raceway, he was back and won the round again, but the races were a different story.

Owen’s Greg Murphy Racing VE couldn’t match the Paul Morris Motorsport-built machines of one-off drivers Paul Morris and Jack Perkins, settling in behind them in Races 1 and 3 respectively.

In the Reverse Grid Race 2, though, he lucked in to starting on the right side of the track when debutant Scott McLaughlin stalled. It gave him some spots early, and he continued his charge to win ahead of Ant Pedersen.

The results, combined with a shocker of a weekend for James Moffat means Owen now leads the points by 141 – almost half a round – after two events.

“It’s coming along well in the overall scheme of things,” he said.

“This weekend, we certainly didn’t have the car pass like we did in Adelaide and obviously had a bit more competition from the local boys, but it was probably a really good result in the end from what was a pretty tough weekend.”

In his first V8 Supercar meeting in a car not built by Perkins Engineering, Perkins was fourth in Race 1 and third in Race 2, before scoring a dominant 9s win in the final.

“I really didn’t know what to expect when I came here, but when I came here with proper tyres, I was top two all Friday, qualified third and quickly realised that car was pretty good,” he said.

“It’s probably the best V8 Supercar I’ve ever driven, the engine and chassis were just awesome and I know that once we had the better tyres

motorsport news

race Blanchard, left, moved into second in the standings.

Perkins, right, and Morris, bottom right, each picked up a race win in their PMM-built VEs.

Dirk Klynsmith Dirk Klynsmith

Results :: Round 2 – Queensland Raceway Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

R1

R2

R3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

45 78 67 999 222 777 26 77 58 71 48 28 021 59 95 96 99 32 93 86 66

Steve Owen Jack Perkins Paul Morris Tim Blanchard Nick Percat Rodney Jane Ant Pedersen Owen Kelly Drew Russell Marcus Zukanovic Geoff Emery David Russell Matthew Hamilton Aaren Russell Nathan Vince Ryan Hansford James Moffat Todd Fiore Scott McLaughlin Wayne Miles Phil Foster

Earthex Racing Commodore VE Supercheap Auto Commodore VE Dudes Race Shop Commodore VE Sonic Motor Racing Services Falcon BF Sip’N Save Commodore VZ Bob Jane T-Marts Falcon BF MW Motorsport Falcon BF Kelly Racing Commodore VE Go Karts Go / Zemana.com.au Falcon BF Action Racing Commodore VZ National Directory Dist Commodore VZ Team Jayco Falcon BF Team Kiwi Racing Falcon BF Go Karts Go / Zemana.com.au Falcon BF Batavia Coast Motorsport Falcon BF V8 Race Experience Falcon BF Norton 360 Ford Rising Stars Falcon BF Flexi Staff Commodore VE Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF East Coast Traffic Control Falcon BF Roadwise Racing Commodore VZ

1 3 2 4 10 8 13 9 12 15 11 6 14 17 20 18 5 16 7 21 19

2 4 1 5 8 6 10 7 11 14 12 3 13 18 19 16 15 17 9 21 20

1 3 7 10 4 5 2 DNF 6 13 14 6 11 15 16 DNF 9 12 DNF 17 DNS

2 1 3 4 7 10 11 5 9 6 8 DNF 12 13 14 15 DNF DNF DNS DNF DNS

Top 10 Points: Owen 580, Blanchard 439, Pedersen 397, Percat 395, Moffat 358, Jane 356, Emery 337, Zukanovic 333, David Russell 331, Perkins 268

www.mnews.com.au

39

FORMULA FORD ROUND 2, QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

FOR a while, it almost looked like there was some sort of curse on those in contention to win Round 2 of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship.

A number of front-runners al had their time in the sun tempered by misfortune. In the end, though, it was Nick Foster who won his first two Formula Ford races and his maiden round.

It wasn’t smooth sailing, though. He spun and finished ninth in Race 1, inset, before making stealthy progress to sit third late in Race 2. That 40

then became the lead and win, after Adam Graham and Ryan Simpson clashed on the final lap.

Simpson had led the race after winning the opener, but lost the lead to Graham at a restart and then made contact with the rear of his car at Turn 4.

He ended up 19th and was later penalised five championship points.

The win was Foster’s first in the category and he shared the front-row of the grid with team-mate Geoff Uhrhane for the final. Uhrhane, who was leading the round after

John Morris / Mpix

Lots of people could have won Formula Ford at QR, but Nick Foster left with the Lots of people could have wonMITCHELL Formula his first race and round wins, Ford atreports QR, but Nick Foster left with the ADAM his first race and round wins, MITCHELL ADAM reports

Dirk Klynsmith

h g u o r h t k a e Br third in Race 1 and second in Race 2, got the jump and led the first lap, but then pulled of after completing it with a mechanical problem.

From there, Foster saw off a mid-race challenge from Ben Jurczak to go on and win the race and round and take the championship lead.

“It’s good to get them on the same weekend and early in the season,” Foster said of his breakthrough wins.

“We had a bit of an unfortunate day yesterday [Saturday] with both qualifying and Race 1, but we picked

everything back up and pushed on. The Sonic boys did a good job and we just pushed up towards the front.

“We started in P8 and we had to push our way through in Race 2. It was a good race, 14 laps was a good chance to do it and that’s what we did.

“We pushed our way through the pack, got up to the front and there was some misfortune for the other guys which worked out well for us.”

Jurczak was arguably the find of the weekend. Sure, some of the regular guns had problems, but his pace was strong and motorsport news

race

John Morris / Mpix

Ben Jurczak, above, took an impressive second for the weekend.

Chaz Mostert, right, Ryan Simpson, below right, and Geoff Uhrhane all had the pace, but also had dramas.

Phil Williams Dirk Klynsmith

he held his own in just his fifth meeting in a Formula Ford and second national round.

“I’m absolutely rapt,” the Queenslander said.

“I didn’t have any home track experience, so to come up here in my fifth-ever race meeting in a Formula Ford and be on the podium is amazing.

“I was expecting maybe to be in the Top 10, I would’ve been pleased with that, but we’ve been up in the Top 5 all weekend and we’ve finished up on the podium. The pace was there all weekend, I just happened to be the one to www.mnews.com.au

stay out of trouble and bring it home in a good position.”

He was sixth in Race 1, fifth in Race 2, and challenged Foster for a period in the final.

Graham eventually finished fourth in Race 2, and backed it up with second in Race 3 after passing Jurczak.

“As a driver, you want to go out and win every race, or at least win the round, and I thought we were in a good position to do that,” Graham said.

“Unfortunately it didn’t happen in the end. To come back up to second after the

second race and get some more championship points, I’m pretty happy with that.”

Having led the championship to Queensland, Chaz Mostert showed strong form early. He was second in Race 1, but a spin in Race 2 saw him finish 16th, while he got up back up to fourth in the final.

Ash Walsh had an up and down weekend. He could only manage 11th in qualifying but working up the order in the races to be fourth in Race 2, before his weekend ended with a spin in Race 3.

Andre Borell had a consistent

weekend on home turf, finishing with a sixth and a pair of fifths. Martin Short was a strong fourth in the opener, but his weekend went downhill from there, including a clash with Jack LeBrocq in Race 2.

The Turn 2 incident left LeBrocq stuck in the gravel, and his car was further damaged when it dug into the gravel and rolled on its side while recovery crews were trying to extract it.

Points: Foster 58, Mostert 49, Graham 42, Jurczak 38, Simpson 36, Nathan Morcom 32, Borell 32, Uhrhane 31, Walsh 28, Tom Williamson 8 41

AUSSIE RACING CARS & MINI CHALLENGE ROUNDS 3, QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

42

Consi pays o Marshall Cass

KYLE Clews extended his lead of the Aussie Racing Car Super Series, after taking out Round 3 at Queensland Raceway.

Clews won two of the four races in the first of series’ two rounds at the Ipswich circuit this year. The wins bookended the weekend, with sixth in Race 2 and second in Race 3 enough to secure the round honours.

The finish of Race 2 saw a pack of five cars fighting for the win at the final corner, with 2009 Champ Adam Gowans taking the win. Gowans had a consistent weekend, finishing third in the three other races, while Brad Ward had three second-place finishes and a fourth.

After failing to finish Race 1, Jack Perkins fought back throughout the remaining

Marshall Cass

No QR blues for Clews

three races. On double duty with his Fujitsu Series drive, Perkins got up to 12th in Race 2, and stormed to victory in Race 3, edging out Clews by just 0.0143s.

Perkins, inset, rounded out his weekend with fourth in the final, ahead of Steven Smith, Peter Carr, James Ward, Adrian Cottrell, Darren Chamberlin and Phil Ward. motorsport news

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istency off for Luff

Phil Williams

www.mnews.com.au

CHRIS Alajajian may have won three of the four races, but Warren Luff left Queensland Raceway as the round winner, in his Hertz MINI Challenge debut.

Series leader Alajajian’s, left, fate was secured in qualifying.

He was sent to the rear of grid for Race 1, after a postqualifying infringement and didn’t score any points. He got up to sixth in the opening race and won the next three, in the series’ first fourrace weekend. Third overall, though, was enough to maintain his lead of the series over Paul Stokell.

Luff didn’t win a race, but pole, three seconds and a third were enough to claim the round win over Stokell, who followed his Race 1 win with a second and two thirds.

“It was great fun racing the MINIs this weekend at

Queensland Raceway and I was a bit surprised I won the round but it helps that in this series full points are on offer for qualifying so that helped as we picked up pole,” Luff said.

Another newcomer to the class, Luke Youlden was fourth for the weekend after picking up two fourths, a fifth and a ninth.

His fellow V8 enduro driver and business partner Dean Canto didn’t fare as well, his weekend ending with a clash with Sean Carter at Turn 3 in Race 3.

Driving the Uber Star Car, Steven Bradbury improved during the weekend, eventually finishing seventh in the final race.

Points: Alajajian 397, Stokell 355, Peter McNiven 326, Carter 318, Gavin Yortt 269, Canto 203 – MITCHELL ADAM 43

James Smith

SHANNONS NATIONALS ROUND 3, PHILLIP ISLAND

He’s back ...

After missing Round 2, Mitch Evans returned to F3 as though he’d never left, winning all three races at Phillip Island. LACHLAN MANSELL was there FORMULA 3 MITCH Evans has put his Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship campaign back on track with another clean sweep in Round 3 of the series at Phillip Island.

The 15-year-old Kiwi qualified on pole position and although he was beaten off the start by championship leader Tom Tweedie in Saturday afternoon’s first race, he recaptured the ascendancy on the second lap and was never challenged from there.

Wet weather for the second race on the Sunday morning added an extra challenge for Evans, but he responded to the challenge by putting on a mature and skilful display of driving, which included a brilliant move around the outside of both Kristian 44

Lindbom and Tom Tweedie at the hairpin to take the lead after being shuffled back to third in the race’s early stages.

Evans sealed his perfect weekend in Race 3 when his main challenger, Ben Barker, was penalised for jumping the start. Evan’s dominance has moved him to within eight points of the championship lead, even though he missed the previous round of the series at Symmons Plains.

“Given we missed Round 2, this is the weekend we were looking for,” Evans said.

Tom Tweedie finished second in the feature race as well as the opening sprint race, but struggled in the second sprint race, a spin dropping him to fifth position.

“I just tried to accelerate too hard in the wet weather and spun out,” Tweedie said.

“It was good to come back to second in the feature race though, and good to still be leading the championship.”

Ben Crighton finished third overall after a consistent weekend, moving him back up to fourth in the standings after he missed the second round in a similar fashion to Evans.

Other drivers in the thick of the battle for the lead were Chris Gilmour and Kristian Lindbom. Gilmour thoroughly enjoyed getting behind the wheel of his newly-purchased F307, and finished fourth in all three races. Meanwhile, Lindbom had a weekend that could best be described as ‘eventful’.

An excursion into the graveltrap during the second stage of qualifying for the top six cars was not an auspicious start, but he fought back to run amongst

the front-runners in the races.

However, the main hard-luck story of the weekend came from Ben Barker. After finishing third and second in the two sprint races, the British driver looked to be the man most likely to challenge Mitch Evans in the feature event.

However, a drive-through penalty for jumping the start relegated Barker to the rear of the field, and he collided heavily with Graeme Holmes at Turn 4 while trying to recapture the lost positions. Barker and Holmes were both eliminated on the spot.

Tom Drewer took a brief break from his American racing exploits to drive the R-Tek Motorsport F307, finishing seventh for the weekend after battling with Chinese driver Zhang Shan Qi throughout the three races. motorsport news

race

James Smith James Smith

Top: Evans made this stick around the outside of Tweedie and Lindbom Above: Barker was quick but unlucky while Tweedie, right leading Gilmour, maintained second in the championship

James Smith

www.mnews.com.au

45

Kostera, Parker, Jamieson and Pegoraro in the winner’s circle at PI SHANNONS NATIONALS STUART Kostera took the round-win in the Australian Manufacturers Championship at Phillip Island after winning the first one-hour encounter on Saturday afternoon.

Kostera’s main challenge came from his Mitsubishi Evo X counterpart Inky Tulloch, but Tulloch’s challenge evaporated when his tyre delaminated in Race 1, and things went from bad to worse when he was penalised two laps for missing the compulsory pit-stop window.

In Race 2, it was Kostera who experienced tyre problems, but he still brought his car home in fifth to clinch the round win. Tulloch again had tyre dramas, but held out the fast-finishing Subaru WRX of Lee Castle and Kurt Wimmer to win and take third for the round behind the consistently-driven Garry Holt / Ryan McLeod BMW 335i.

Other drivers suffered tyre failures as well, including the HSV Clubsport R8 of Steve Briffa, while Lauren Gray 46

made an unscheduled pitstop in Race 1, declaring the setup in her Toyota Corolla ‘horrible’.

Nick Parker continued his strong Phillip Island Commodore Cup form with overall honours in Round 2 of the series at Phillip Island, notching up two race wins. After qualifying fourth, Parker took advantage of the wet conditions to charge swiftly into the lead in Race 1, winning from Adam Lloyd and pole-sitter Scott Andrews.

In Race 2, Parker finished third behind Andrews and Adam Beechey, and in Race 3, he came out on top in a massive stoush with Andrews for the race and round win, with Beechey coming home third in the race and the round. Parker’s round win has moved him to second in the series standings behind Andrews, while Beechey is well in touch, third in the series standings.

Former Fujitsu V8 Supercar racer Tony Bates endured a shocking weekend, including exclusion from the weekend’s

first qualifying session when his car was found to be underweight, and separate incidents in the first two races.

Chris Stevenson also found trouble, spinning off the circuit in Race 2 and making heavy contact with the tyre wall in the final corner.

Amazingly, Stevenson was able to continue to the finish.

Tim Rowse won the first Saloon Car race on a damp track, but reigning champion Shawn Jamieson’s Commodore improved when the track dried out for Races 2 and 3 – he subsequently won both races as well as the round. Local driver Simon Tabinor had a consistent weekend, notching up a trio of fourth places for third overall, while Andrew Nowland was the best of the Ford drivers in fourth overall.

Ryan McLeod made a cameo appearance in a Commodore and ran strongly in Race 2, finishing third, before dropping down through the field in the final with spins on consecutive laps at MG corner. John Goodacre

James Smith

Kost effective

also showed plenty of pace in Race 1, finishing third, but failed to finish Race 2 with mechanical problems. He charged back to fifth in Race 3.

Alf Kuusela’s EA Falcon was the best of the older-model Saloon Cars in 17th overall, while Matt Davidson showed plenty of wet-weather pace in his ex-Bruce Heinrich Commodore but suffered a variety of mechanical problems and incidents in the races.

Gary Pegoraro took out the Superkart round by winning two of the weekend’s four races. Darren Hossack and Warren McIlveen were the winners of the other two races, with Hossack finishing second for the round ahead of 1995 World Superkart Champion Trevor Roberts, from Northern Ireland.

The other Superkart World Champion in the field, Danish driver Poul Petersen, struggled with mechanical problems over the course of the weekend, achieving a best result of 14th in Race 1.

– LACHLAN MANSELL motorsport news

race

James Smith

James Smith

James Smith

Tulloch, top left, made it an Evo win each day at PI after holding out the Subaru of WImmer and Castle, top right, on Sunday.

Parker, above, was on top in Commodore Cup, ditto Pegoraro, right, in Superkarts.

Bottom: Rowse (left) won the opening Saloon Car race, before reigning champ Jamieson (right) took over.

James Smith James Smith

www.mnews.com.au

47

TARGA TASMANIA 2010

White-Wash

THROUGH almost every imaginable weather condition across the six days and 200-plus kilometres of the 2010 Targa, Jason and John White emerged triumphant in their Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Strada.

FOR a while the volcanic eruption in Iceland looked set to foil the Targa plans of Jason and John White. The ensuing European air traffic chaos seriously delayed the delivery of parts for the planned upgrade of their Lamborghini Gallardo to Super Trofeo Strada specs – it was a race against time simply to get the car to the start.

But once things got under way, cool heads prevailed and the White Hot Motorsport team, fresh from victory in Targa Wrest Point in January, was dominant from start to finish. White built on his lead throughout the event, eventually taking victory by a minute and three seconds.

It was the pair’s second Targa Tasmania win, the Whites having shared a Nissan GTR to victory in 2005.

“To get it this far has been extremely satisfying,” White said. “To be involved in

building the car and then to have a result like this is amazing. We’ve got our name on the trophy twice now, but others have got it there eight times, so we’re not going to rest at this. There’s a record out there that we’d like to chase after.”

Second place went to the Skelta of Ray Vandersee and Cameron Reeves, while Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillett rounded out the podium in their Nissan GT-R. The Classic Outright competition was won convincingly by the last-minute entry of Victorians Rex Broadbent and Chris Randell in a 1974 Porsche 911 RS, giving them back-to-back victories in the category. The Melbournian son/father combination of Paul and Mike Batten would take second place in the Classic Outright competition and also secure the Classic Handicap title with a superb performance in their 1961 Volvo PV544.

Tasmanian Tony Warren was the

dominant force in the Showroom competition, leading all the way from the prologue in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Fresh from victory in the 2009 T arga Tasmania Rookie Rallye, Andrew Richmond and Chris Thomson took out the Early Modern category in their Nissan GT-R, while Tasmanian Wayne Clark’s 1938 Dodge Speedster Special won the Vintage category.

Victorians Adam Newton and Daniel Lemish were victorious in the Modern section of the Targa Tasmania Rookie Rallye in their 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV RS, with the Rookie Rallye for Classic cars being taken out by Victorian driver Stephen Barrand and Tasmanian codriver, Tim Manion, in a 1981 Volvo 242GT. Targa Tasmania will return to the streets and roads of Tasmania in April 2011 for the 20th anniversary event.

REBECCA WYATT

Joel Strickland

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motorsport news

race White Hot: The Iceland volcano couldn’t stop it, and nor could anyone in the Targa Tasmania get in the way of the Whites’ Lambo, below left. Jason and John White celebrate, flanked by the remaining podium placed crews, below.

Queensland-built Skelta of Ray Vandersee and Cameron Reeves was second outright, ahead of the Tony Quinn/Naomi Tillett Nissan GT-R, below centre. Tour de Targa:

Final Results :: Targa Tasmania 2010 PURE TASMANIA MODERN COMPETITION 1. Jason White (TAS) / John White (TAS), 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo Strada 2. Ray Vandersee (QLD) / Cameron Reeves (QLD), 2009 Skelta G-Force S/C Spec A 3. Tony Quinn (QLD) / Naomi Tillett (SA), 2009 Nissan GT-R

PURE TASMANIA SHOWROOM COMPETITION 1. Tony Warren (TAS) / Natasha Deniese (VIC), 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 2. Brendan Reeves (VIC) / Rhianon Smyth (VIC), 2009 Mazda3 MPS 3. Dean Evans (NSW) / Simone Bachmann (VIC), 2008 TMR Evolution X Club Spec

Joel Strickland

SHANNONS CLASSIC OUTRIGHT 1. Rex Broadbent (VIC) / Chris Randell (VIC), 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2. Paul Batten (VIC) / Mike Batten (NSW), 1961 Volvo PV544 3. Barry Faux (ACT) / Therezia Mihajlovic (ACT), 1979 Mazda RX-7

SHANNONS CLASSIC HANDICAP

Joel Strickland

1. Paul Batten (VIC) / Mike Batten (NSW), 1961 Volvo PV544 2. Peter Ullrich (NSW) / Sari Ullrich (NSW), 1963 Jensen CV8 3. John Ireland (NSW) / Michael Ribot (NSW), 1977 Porsche 911 RS

SHANNONS VINTAGE RALLYE 1. Wayne Clark (TAS) / Roger Richardson (TAS), 1938 Dodge Speedster Special 2. John Felder (VIC) / Craig De Somerville (VIC), 1930 Oakland 8-101

PURE TASMANIA EARLY MODERN

Justin Collins

1. Andrew Richmond (VIC) / Chris Thomson (VIC), 2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II N1 2. Brendan Manion (TAS) / Travis Dean, 1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec N1 3. Jeff Beable (VIC) / Nerida Beable (VIC), 2000 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec N1

PURE TASMANIA ROOKIE RALLYE MODERN 1. Adam Newton (VIC) / Daniel Lemish (VIC), 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV RS 2. Stephen Spada (NSW) / Christine Condon (NSW), 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX RS 3. Stewart Liddle (WA) / Michael Lloyd (WA), 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX STi

PURE TASMANIA ROOKIE RALLYE CLASSIC Justin Collins

www.mnews.com.au

1. Stephen Barrand (VIC) / Tim Manion (TAS), 1981 Volvo 242GT 2. Michael Lamprell (SA) / Tania Wearing (SA), 1966 Ford Mustang 3. Simon Duff (NSW) / Shaun Dudley (NSW), 1980 Lancia Beta

49

2010 NITRO CHAMPS SYDNEY DRAGWAY

Nitro Nirvana

The 2010 Nitro Champs was more than just a drag racing event. There was agony and ecstasy, good luck and bad luck, and the best Group One racing seen at the Sydney facility for quite some time, as JON VAN DAAL reports.

THE Nitro Champs got off to a shaky start on Friday with the first session of the night being cancelled. Aside from the track being almost impossible to get down in the dewy conditions, it was a major oil down by Bob Shepherd that ultimately ended the night.

In Top Fuel on Saturday there were two night qualifiers, with only one good run in each session – a top qualifying 4.66/323 for Darren Morgan in the first and a 4.73/309 for Phil Read in the second.

Again the cold conditions caught out most.

An added bonus for Morgan was the Louie Rapisarda Memorial trophy awarded to the fastest Top Fuel qualifier. Louie lost his life in a racing accident at Willowbank some 20 years ago and father Santo has ensured his name will live on.

Sunday saw some great racing, including a classic match in the semis between

50

Morgan and Mark Mariani. This saw both His 4.97 just pipped Read’s 5.04 for cars on fire, literally, with Morgan squeezing what was Mariani’s first Top Fuel win. out a head gasket early, as he later “It was great to win it for Santo,” he said. explained: Other brackets saw incredibly close “I think a lifter got burned up and it racing – Maurice Fabietti came back popped the rocker cover up and caught fire. from a massive crash at Mildura to It was still pulling hard so I kept on it ...” win Top Doorslammer over the more Mariani had a later fire in his run, favoured John Zappia. but with more momentum took a close Top Alky racer Wayne Newby’s dragster 4.80s to 4.84s win. took out Gary Phillips’ Funny Car in the In the final Mariani faced Phil Read – bracket final – 5.63 to 5.73. and again fire was involved. Read took Aaron Tremayne beat Dave Newcombe the lead off the line and as they closed on a holeshot to win in Pro Stock 7.119 to on the finish-line both were ablaze. a 7.118.

“I knew it was on fire but it was still pulling The Pro Bike final saw an all South so I stayed with it,” Mariani explained.

Australian affair when John Badcock beat “Once it went across the Phil Howard – 7.44 to 7.53 – while in Top finish-line I had some trouble stopping Bike Chris Matherson just toyed with as the fire had burned up the chutes, so his opponents, buttoning off each time I had to really stand on the brakes to pull he had a good lead. Chris Porter fell to it up before the sand.” him in their final.

motorsport news

race

John Morris

51

Main and left JohnBosher

John Morris

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Fire Starters: Fiery engine failures dogged the Top Fuel bracket at the Nitro Champs, above, below. Chris Matherson was unstoppable in Top Bikes, left. Maurice Fabietti was back in Top Doorslammers, returning after his Mildura crash to take the victory, centre.

INDYCAR ROUND 5 – KANSAS CITY, KA

Scott beats Scot

Ganassi is back in the business of winning IndyCar races, with Scott Dixon heading home Dario Franchitti in Kansas.

52

motorsport news

race

Honda Racing Media Honda Racing Media Honda Racing Media

AUSTRALIAN Ryan Briscoe may have taken pole, his car. By the end, he was 12th, a result that, at least, and led early, but when he slid wide, Franchitti took salvages him some points. over and it was not long before Dixon shot past as There was an entertaining battle for Japanese well. Just to add to Briscoe’s misery, he lost a wheel honours, with Hideki Mutoh (Newman/Haas) and when the field was under a yellow flag. From there, Takuma Sato (KV) turning it on for sixth place. The sixth place was a good result for a fightback effort. two made contact with each other, and Sato’s oval “Team Target has had a slow start to the season, but debut was particularly exciting, after he clashed with this is what we need and jump back into points table,” Milka Duno in the pitlane. One expects the South a happy Dixon said after the win.

American glamour girl to be a moving chicane on the track, but in the pitlane, it is a bit much.

“It’s certainly good to get that momentum going to Indy. I just hope we can carry it through.”

The other good result was ninth for John Andretti.

Michael’s cousin was using the race as a tune-up One of the stories of the race was traffic, with for the Indy 500, and after starting 17th, he looked tailenders looking like they were driving in their comfortable during the race. He finished well ahead own race as the leaders closed in. Franchitti was of nephew Marco who, together with Dan Wheldon, particularly critical, but he also had set-up problems was forced to start from the back of the grid, after with his Dallara-Honda. officials deemed that both crossed the while line on “The last few laps, the car was really oversteering,” the bottom of the track during their qualifying runs. said the Scot, “but I kept it flat and managed to jump him. I think second was a fair result for us.”

Helio Castroneves had looked a chance to gate– crash the Ganassi party, splitting the Target cars until Great Scotts: Kiwi Scott Dixon (opposite) headed first Franchitti and then Tony Kanaan put him aside, home Scott Dario Franchitti at Kansas, top. Dixon as Dixon used traffic to his advantage to seal the deal. and Franchitti on the podium, with third-placed Tony Best of Michael Andretti’s drivers was Ryan Hunter Kanaan, above left. Danica Patrick heads Will Power Reay, the Long Beach winner making great progress on a day that didn’t go well for either driver, centre. after a bad qualifying to be fifth at the end.

John Andretti was back in an IndyCar in preparation Will Power had a bad weekend. The points leader for the Indy 500, below left. Takuma Sato had an missed his pitbox on his first stop, and lost nearly a eventful oval debut, clashing with Hideki Mutoh on lap as his crew struggled to get fuel and tyres into the track, and with Milka Duno in pitlane, bottom.

Results :: Road Runner Turbo 300, Kansas City, KA Honda Racing Media Honda Racing Media

www.mnews.com.au

Pos.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. 9 10 11 3 37 6 32 77 43 14

Driver

Scott Dixon Dario Franchitti Tony Kanaan Helio Castroneves Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Briscoe Mario Moraes Alex Tagliani John Andretti Vitor Meira

Nat. NZ GB Br Br USA Aus Br Can USA Br

Sponsor Ganassi Ganassi Andretti Penske Andretti Penske KV Fazzt Andretti Foyt

Team

Target Target 7 Eleven Penske Izod Penske Azul Tequila B&W Windows World ABC Supply Co

Qual.

2 3 15 8 22 1 12 5 17 6

Top 10 Points: Power 190, Dixon 164, Castroneves 162, Hunter-Reay 159, Franchitti 152, Wilson 137, Briscoe 132, Kanaan 129, Meira 101, Matos/Wheldon 98.

53

INDYCAR ROUND 5 – KANSAS CITY, KA

Drought

Breaker

A hard–won victory at Richmond for Kyle Busch broke a 22-race Sprint Cup victory drought for Kyle Busch.

NASCAR Media

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motorsport news

race

KYLE Busch was the man to beat in the Sprint Cup race at Richmond, but it took a pretty forceful move on Jeff Gordon at the final restart for the Toyota driver to get the job done on the small Virginia track.

Busch qualified on pole (he did that for the Nationwide race, too) but Gordon was not to be trifled with. Busch headed for the bottom of the track, threw in the car and held on. Once he was in front, he was away, and the deal was done.

“I just drove it down into turn one and hoped it stuck,” said Busch, he ended a drought of 22 Cup races. “I drove it too far, and I got it pointed just in time. I knew I had to get a good launch off turn four.

I finally got to clear Jeff and got to the bottom and set sail from there.”

Busch was the dominant driver, leading the first 140 laps of the 300-lap race. In total, he led 221; any result other than a Busch win would have been a travesty. Gordon did have a lead of 2.5s when Elliott Sadler caused a caution, but Gordon was one of five drivers who chose to stay out on their tyres, while the rest of the field pitted.

“Kyle was really good on restarts and his car was really strong tonight,” said Gordon. “You didn’t want to have to race him on a shootout like that.

We came out second. I had a great race with Harvick,

all the guys really all night.”

Problem is, he is coming out second quite a bit ...

Kevin Harvick was third, the man putting together a remarkably consistent season – particularly considering he is in the top five in points in Cup, Nationwide AND Trucks. Harvick was just clear of Jeff Burton, who likewise is showing consistent form as the season gets into its late-spring run.

Carl Edwards put what appears to have been a horror stretch behind him in fifth, the best result of the season for the man in the Roush Fenway Fusion, while the other man who looked racy, but who is still to register his maiden win on an oval, was Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian was strong all day and his Chevy looked to be one of the only cars in the race to challenge’s Busch’s Gibbs Toyota for speed, but he was too far back at the end for his four fresh tyres to carry him much beyond sixth.

Jimmie Johnson did not have much fun, crossing the finish line pointing any which way but straight after contact on the final corner with Clint Bowyer.

Johnson was 10th, one spot behind Marcos Ambrose, who hung in with the lead group for most of the day and made the most ground he could on four fresh tyres at the end.

Results :: Road Runner Turbo 300, Kansas City, KA Kyle Uncorked: At Kansas Kyle Busch broke through for his first Sprint Cup win in 22 races, left.

Ambusched: it was at the final restart that Busch was able to do the job on Jeff Gordon.

Short Course: Kansas’ Virginia Speedway is one of the fastest short ovals on the Sprint Cup calendar, centre.

www.mnews.com.au

Pos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. 18 24 29 31 99 42 56 39 47 48

Driver Kyle Busch Jeff Gordon Kevin Harvick Jeff Burton Carl Edwards Juan Montoya Martin Truex Jr Ryan Newman Marcos Ambrose Jimmie Johnson

Make Toyota Chevy Chevy Chevy Ford Chevy Toyota Chevy Toyota Chevy

Team Gibbs Hendrick Childress Childress Roush Fenway Earnhardt Ganassi Earnhardt Ganassi Stewart Haas JTG Daugherty Hendrick

Sponsor M&Ms DuPont Shell Pennzoil Caterpillar Scotts Target Bass Pro Shops US Army Bush’s Best Lowe’s

Qual.

1 4 7 17 28 19 26 5 20 3

Top 10 Points: Harvick 1467, Johnson 1457, Ky Busch 1358, Kenseth 1348, Biffle 1334, Gordon 1305, Hamlin 1268, Ku Busch 1255, Burton 1247, Martin 1242.

55

John Morris / Mpix

LP-GEE WHIZ IN BTCC BTCC

NEW OLD SCHOOL HISTORICS THE HSRCA of NSW held its Autumn meeting at Eastern Creek last weekend with more than 120 entries received for the event.

These included two ‘new’ Group R Racing cars; John Gale’s 1972 T59B F1 Surtees and the Al Unser Jnr 1986

Domino Pizza Lola T8600, above, driven by Jason Clements. Over the course of the weekend, both cars ran with the leaders in Groups Q and R Sports and Racing Car, Clements challenging the Ferrari of Guido BelgiornoNettis for the lead in each race and winning the last event as the Ferrari suffered a DNF.

The Surtees ran reliably to take second place in the last heat.

Other winners over the weekend included Bob Cox in Group Nd and NC, Les Wright in Group M and O Sports Racing and Geoff Morgan in Group Sc Production Sports Cars.

– JOHN MORRIS

Porter on song

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Steve Atkinson

56

NEW South Welshman Ben Porter dominated the Formula Vee proceedings in Round 2 of the SA State Series at Mallala.

Porter won all four races ahead of Daniel Reynolds in a round of the Formula Vee National Series.

IT was a wet weekend of first in Round 3 of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch.

Tom Chilton took out the opening race of the weekend, the first by an LPG-powered car in the championship and Ford’s first for 10 years.

Chilton led home Gordon Shelton by 5.78s while his team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole was third.

Chilton made it two from two in the second race, winning by 4.93s over OnslowCole. However, Chilton was later excluded from the race for a technical infringement.

From the rear of grid, he got up to sixth in the final after a clash with Alex MacDowall.

Tyre selection played a massive role in the race, with Mat Jackson taking the win after starting on full wets, while Onslow-Cole opted for slicks and finished 10th.

It was Jackson’s first win of the season in his BMW, holding out Matt Neal, running a mixed combination of wets and slicks, by 0.469s, with Steven Kane third.

motorsport news

race

Tough weekend for Ricciardo in Spa F-RENAULT 3.5 DANIEL Erickson has relinquished the lead of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in the second round at Spa. Erickson crashed in qualifying and was left in 23rd on the grid. He improved throughout the race to finish 13th, but Mikhail Aleshin took

the win and points lead.

“It wasn’t a particularly great race to be honest, I made up some places but unfortunately didn’t manage to get into the top ten,” Ricciardo said.

Aleshin had earlier been battling with Kiwi, and Ricciardo’s team-mate, Brendan Hartley for the lead, before Hartley struck mechanical

problems. It saw Stan Pentus take second ahead of Stefano Coletti and Greg Mansell.

Sunday was a mixed day for Ricciardo, who qualified third. Just before the start of his team was among a number to change to wet tyres on the grid, after the three-minute board had been displayed.

Ricciardo moved up to

second before he was among the 10 cars handed drivethroughs for the late tyre change.

He rejoined and eventually finished fifth, one spot behind Aleshin who now leads by 10 points, and one spot ahead of Hartley. Esteban Guerrieri came from 12th to win from Daniel Zampieri and Coletti.

Mayhem in Morocco WTCC

sutton-images.com

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GABRIELE Tarquini and Andy Priaulx shared the wins in an accident-marred second round of the World Touring Car Championship at the Marrakech street circuit in Morocco.

The real winner, though, was the Safety Car, which spent more time at the head of the field than anyone. After three attempts at getting the rolling start right, Tarquini took the lead early in Race 1, and led the opening six laps before a Safety Car period which lasted until the end of the race. Rob Huff was second,

from Tiago Monteiro.

Crucially, Priaulx, left, finished eight, which became pole for the Reverse Top 8 Race 2. He had it even less racing, with a first-corner accident bringing out a Safety Car period. When racing resumed, an incident brought the Safety Car out again. Eventually, there was a restart for a final-lap dash.

Priaulx saw out Yvan Muller, Tom Coronel and Montiero to win, while Tarquini maintains his championship lead with sixth.

There were just as many incidents in the Formula 2 races, which were won by Dean Stoneman and Phillipp Eng.

57

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Ferrari 360 Challenge

Toyota Sprinter AE86

Ferrari 360 Challenge ready to race at the Australian Grand Prix. Very competitive car with a number of podium finishes in 2009 with amateur driver. Near new engine with less than 10,000kms. Internal air jacks. Auto fire bomb kit. Ohlin shocks. Best car available for GT Challenge series. $153,000 ONO. Andrew Barlow +61398675500.

1983 PRC Production Rally Car. Excellent Condition. Now dismantling. Call or email for price list. Perth, WA. Call Tom Van Kann 0417939070.

www.my105.com/73364

www.my105.com/58058

GT3 Dodge Viper

Farrelll Clubman 1972 Group Q Farrell Clubman 1300cc Datsun, Current cod Immac condition, Very Quick Front Running car, extensive spares package inc panels, Moulds, Jigs, G/Box, Engine Spares Well sorted nothing to spend Fully enclosed Trailer included. $36,000 Luke 0429981452.

2008 Dodge Viper GT3 race car in excellent condition. A current posistion in the Australian Gt championship and is a front running car. It is the newest of all the five Vipers currently runing in the Aust. It is a one owner car with full history and data. Must go to make way for new arrival. $335,000.00. Jocaro Motors 03 9587 5664.

www.my105.com/58123

www.my105.com/55669

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motorsport news

rear of grid

THIS week, all the talk in the MN office was about racetracks.

Okay, that is a lie; we usually talk about food, or women, or cars, or food, or wine, or food.

But there are times when the conversation turns to tracks.

We mention this because the above image is the latest incarnation of Silverstone. The Arena Grand Prix circuit was opened last Thursday, with no less than Royal patronage. HRH Prince Andrew attended and was even chauffeured around the track by BRDC President, Damon Hill. It does not hurt a bit when the president of the club has a medal for winning the World Drivers’ Championship.

The layout looks good, and will guarantee a home for the British GP for years to come.

Look at that; a racetrack, and www.mnews.com.au

not a temporary grandstand in sight.

On the other hand, the houses are closing in on what

used to be Oran Park. The new estate, Oran Park Town, is serving the housing needs of the growing population of

sutton-images.com

The New and the Old Western Sydney. We believe that the word ‘progress’ has been used to describe the entire process.

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