Motorsport eNews Issue 206 - May 24-30, 2011

THE WORLD OF MOTORSPORT DIRECTLY TO YOUR DESKTOP

Issue No. 206 May 24 - May 30 2011

SOLD: BEHIND THE SALE OF V8 SUPERCARS

WHO GETS WHAT? WHAT DO THE TEAM OWNERS THINK? WHO WANTS TO EXPAND? INGALL FIRES UP OVER DRIVERS MISSING OUT

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Issue No. 206 | May 24 – 30 2011

news 4

The Price Was Right Inside V8s’ biggest-ever deal 6 FPR, 1, 2, 3 ... 4?

Factory squad eyes growth 8 Let’s unite!

Ingall wants Driver’s Assoc.

13 What just happened?

Ferrari puzzled by Barcelona 16 Highcroft out of Le Mans ...

What about Brabs!?!?!?!

chat 24 Five Minutes With ...

David Brabham 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 e-magazine 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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comment 26 AVL: Science of Speed 27 Branagan: Brabs Jnr

race 28 V8 Supercars 38 Formula 1 42 Winton Supports 50 Indy 500 Qualifying 54 NASCAR 58 GP2 and GP3

trade 62 Classifieds 3

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ARCHER CAPITAL TAKES V8 SUPERCARS

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Dirk Klynsmith

HE decisions that influence the future of V8 Supercars are to be split between two bodies, a Board and a V8 Supercars Commission.

The announcement last week that Sydney-based Archer Capital, via a newly-created entity, Australian Motor Racing Partners (AMRP), would become a 60 percent stakeholder, ended months of speculation about the ownership of the category. The teams’ group will reduce its stake in the category from the current 75 percent to 40 percent while SEL, which has held a 25 percent stake, will sell its share and end its direct involvement in the category.

Holders of a Racing Entitlements Contract, the ‘entry ticket’ onto the grid in the V8 Supercars Championship, are expected to receive close to $4 million for their shareholding sold to AMRP. The payments are expected to be delivered by the end of this month.

According to V8 Supercars, the benefits to REC holders from the new structure will be; “Facilitates move to CoTF [Car of The Future] – which gives improved safety and a more serviceable car – giving long-term benefits to the sport and REC holders; “CoTF has an approximate 30 percent cost reduction (and assuming the car and car components are 30 percent of a team’s budget) in initial rolling chassis build cost and teams benefit from a roll on reduction in components costs for normal servicing and accident repair; “Teams as significant shareholders will benefit from improved business governance (board/commission/experience etc) that will come from the Archer’s unquestioned expertise; “Ability for any teams carrying any debt to reduce/remove that with consequent improvement in budget available for racing should they so wish; “Ability for medium-sized and small teams to carry more inventory – spare cars and/or parts – that will improve their ability to turn cars around between races without over-burdening their staff, also increasing the chance of being as competitive as possible.”

As V8 Supercars Events is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the main business, Archer also becomes a stakeholder in the events conducted under that wing, including the Bathurst 1000, which last year had its future guaranteed by a 20year extension of its deal with the Bathurst Regional Council.

The V8 Supercar Board will consist of Tony Cochrane, who remains as Chairman, AMRP’s Andrew Grey and Brad Lancken and two member representing the teams, TeamVodafone’s Roland Dane and BJR’s Brad Jones.

Both team owners are in their first year of a two-year term on the Board.

Details of the makeup, structure and remit of the V8 Supercars Commission will be the subject of an announcement in June. It is anticipated that, in a manner similar to a number of other sports, the Commission will assume responsibility for the sporting activities of the category, including the technical and judicial regulations and their implementation, and the Board will focus on the category’s business activities.

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We sought comments from some of the current teams and REC owners in the pitlane, and one who left some time ago …

Lucas Dumbrell (Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport) “I thinks it’s great. It shows the strength of the series, not just now but over the last 16 or so years. They have turned the category into a strong series.”

What does this mean for you in particular?

“I get to pay back my father for the money that helped start this [team], first of all. I am definitely starting to spend some of the money, I have hired someone new already this week. We are already reinvesting in the team.”

Have you had any thoughts of taking advantage of the windfall and moving out of the sport?

“No not at all. I am planning on being here for the next 30 years, or for as long as I can keep doing this.”

James Rosenberg (Lucky 7 Racing) “I bought my REC at the right time! That [the likelihood of the sale] was part of the decision process, but that was not the only reason.

“This is not so much about people like me. It allows people like the Stones to have processes in place now, to prepare for the Car of the Future.”

Any thoughts about moving on at the end of the year?

“The deal we have with SBR now lasts until the end of the year, but I am sure that it will go past this year. The situation will not change, I would not think.”

Trevor Ashby (Owner, Lansvale Smash Repairs Racing) “It was always going to happen, wasn’t it? They have done a great job of managing the business, and the sale. All the teams will benefit.”

Does he regret getting out?

“Not at all. We have been out of it since 2001 – 10 years.

Our core business is Lansvale Smash Repairs, and we could not do both the repairs shop and the race team properly.”

Rob Lang

Ross Stone (Stone Brothers Racing) “It gives everyone the opportunity with the Car of The Future coming on to hit the reset button and be prepared for that. It think it’s good for the Car of The Future. In a year’s time, you would want to be getting your [COTF] cars near completion. But otherwise, it is business as usual.”

EDWARDS: NEW COMMISSION IS CRUCIAL V8 SUPERCARS

V8 SUPERCAR board member Tim Edwards is expecting the instigation of a new commission to have a positive effect on V8 Supercar racing.

As part of Archer Capital’s recent purchase of V8 Supercars, the current board structure will effectively be scrapped, with the board to be reduced from eight members to five, and a separate eight-man commission added to deal with sporting and technical issues. The new board will be made up of Tony Cochrane, Brad Jones, Roland Dane, with Andrew Gray and Brad Lancken representing the new shareholders.

According to Edwards, who was on the existing board, the consolidation of focus on particular areas of the sport and business will be a big step forward for V8 Supercar racing.

“For me, one thing that is positive is the whole restructuring of the board and the addition of the commission,”

he told eNews.

“Because now, the board doesn’t have to devote half a day to debating whether or not we should run square tyres, they can concentrate on running the business. The commission can handle the technical and sporting regulations.

“To me, out of the ownership change, that restructuring is going to serve us well going into the future.”

The make-up of the board will become clearer in the wake of a scheduled board meeting, which was due to be held yesterday (Monday).

As for Edwards himself, he is unsure where he will end up in the scheme of the commission.

“Well I’m not on the board, so time will tell where I end up,” he added.

“Obviously, the reason Brad and Roland are on the board is because they were only elected last October, and Ross [Stone] and myself had been there for three and a half years.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

nracegear.com.au www.mnews.com.au

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FILMING STARTS ON REALITY TV SHOW

Fast femmes likely to play a part in Supercar Showdown V8 SUPERCARS LOOK for some female racers to become involved in the new reality TV series, Supercar Showdown.

A list of potential drivers to be involved in the series is being assembled and

eNews sources report that the finalists are likely to include at least two lady drivers.

The winner, who will be chosen after an elimination process, will share a Kelly Racing-prepared entry at Bathurst.

Details of the program are starting to emerge, and Rick and Todd Kelly spent

much of the Winton weekend getting on with their racing in the glare of a TV crew and lights. The series will begin to air in June, on Seven’s digital channel, 7mate, with 11 30-minute episodes set to air. The final episode looks set to go to air the week prior to the Bathurst 1000 in October.

V8 SUPERCARS

THE dramatic drop in price for a Racing Entitlement Contract could see Ford Performance Racing expand to four cars in the near future.

Team boss Tim Edwards confirmed to eNews at Winton that the concept of a four-car team remains in the squad’s future plans, and with the price of a REC set to halve following the Archer Capital’s 60 percent acquisition of the sport, the timing for expansion couldn’t be better.

“We’re always on the lookout for an opportunity [to expand],” Edwards told eNews.

“We’re just waiting for the right one, whether it’s buying a license, or something similar to what we were looking at with Charlie last year. Nothing has really changed since last time I commented on it. We’re only going to do it when it’s the right time opportunity.

“We’re not in the business of running extra cars just to generate cash. We run the car for Rod [Nash] as if it were one of our own, because we want to run three competitive cars.”

FPR has come close to expanding to four cars in the past, first with a planned ‘Ford Dealer Team’ for the 2009 season, and then another failed attempt with a REC owned by former Dick Johnson Racing owner Charlie Schwerkolt at the end of last year.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 6

Tristan Murray

FPR still wants four cars

QLD RACEWAY DEBUT FOR FPR CARS V8 SUPERCARS EXPECT to see Ford Performance Racing’s new cars debut at the Queensland Raceway round of the 2011 V8 Supercar Championship.

FPR is currently working on two brand new FG Falcons, which will be become Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison’s cars when completed. While there is no hard and fast timeline on debuting the new cars, FPR boss Tim Edwards told eNews at Winton that he’d like to see them on track at Queensland Raceway, to give them some miles before the two endurance races at Phillip Island, Bathurst and the Gold Coast.

“There’s nothing set in stone,” said Edwards, “but if everything goes to plan, Queensland Raceway would be the ideal place to roll out the new cars.”

While Winterbottom and Davison are due to get new cars, expect to see Paul Dumbrell stay in the same chassis he is currently driving for the remainder of the season.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN motorsport news

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DANE: NO IMMEDIATE EXPANSION V8 SUPERCARS

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering is not setting out to become a four-car V8 Supercar team – at least, not right now.

Team owner Roland Dane was not at Winton on the weekend but the subject of much paddock chat, with suggestions that the cost of RECs would fall in line with the smaller stake in V8 Supercars held by the team and, hence, reduced revenue in the shortterm. There are opinions that now would be the time that T8, already the categories biggest supplier of components to teams, might look at expansion.

“We have three-car teams,

but not in one team,” said Dane on Monday.

“For sure I think that there is the possibility of running four cars out of the one facility, as the Kellys do now.”

But, does he want to take the step in the near future?

“I haven’t decided yet. We have had numerous offers before but I have always said that we would not want to look at it until we are properly on top of our game.”

Quite what “on top of our game” might mean, in light of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes running 1-2 in the V8 Supercar Championship and Andrew Thompson leading the Fujitsu Series, we don’t know.

But Dane points out that there are reasons for things to

stay as they current are.

“One of the things that I hope for when we set out on this journey was that we could still offer the opportunity to young people to come in,” he said. “The reality is that we have been so successful in the marketplace, in terms both of

the sale and the attractiveness of the sport to sponsors who want to come in and invest.”

So, no extra RECs for the team?

“If I was trying to buy them, I would not be trying to talk up their value, would I?” – PHIL BRANAGAN

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INGALL SPEAKS OUT V8 SUPERCARS RUSSELL Ingall has called for the formation of a Drivers’ Association in V8 Supercars, to represent the drivers and, perhaps, take a bigger stake in the sport.

The veteran Supercheap Autos driver said at Winton that the announcement of the sale of a stake in V8 Supercars was an opportunity lost for the drivers, and he wanted to see them have a bigger say in the future happening in the category.

“I think it’s a shame that the face of the sport has again been left out,” he said at Friday’s post-practice press conference.

“We’ve got ourselves to blame a lot for that; a driver’s association should have been going years ago, considering a lot of the personalities, faces, drivers, are a lot to do with this category.

“If you look at something like the AFL, they’ve just renegotiated their TV rights deal, and they’re all getting a cut of the action, it’s a shame the drivers didn’t get some exposure to that. It does surprise me, but then again it doesn’t surprise me. This should be a clear pointer to the drivers that we do need some sort of association going forward, so this doesn’t happen. That’s the driver’s side of it.

“From the category’s point of view, I think, and I hope, it will be good. I’ve got a lot of opinions about Tony [Cochrane] and the way he does stuff, but he usually pulls of good deals, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t going to benefit the sport – I’m sure it benefited him as well. That’s no secret. From what I read on the background of these people [Archer Capital, the new majority stakeholder of V8 Supercars], they seem to know what they’re doing.”

“Going back to the driver’s side, I just hope they don’t 8

forget that there are a lot of drivers who have been in the sport for a lot of years, there are new drivers, there’s drivers that have been around and know the ropes, and I hope that they at least go around and get some opinions and ask some questions to those drivers about what they think should happen in the future of the sport, and not just leave it up to the team owners and the rest of it.

“No doubt team owners have plenty to say, I’m sure they’re doing the right thing, but again, these faces are the ones that the punters see. I just hope that they get involved a little bit more, especially on the racing side of it, and not just leave it up to people who supposedly know what they’re doing.”

Here’s what was said ...

Q: What percentage are the drivers worth?

RI: Well, it’s hard to put a figure on, isn’t it? I think what the AFL do is very good. I think they look after their players very well indeed.

I think that role model would be very good, so you’d have to jump on their website and see what they’re lobbying for as a cut from this one billion plus TV rights deal. I’m sure that’s along the lines of what we should have been following. Should of. Obviously it’s too late now, then again, the TV deal will be negotiated pretty soon. Like I said, when you turn on the TV, yeah you see the cars, but you also see our lovely faces as well.

That’s just my opinion.

And I’m not saying this for me, because I will be gone before these things happen. I’m just saying this to these guys, and the guys coming up through the ranks. It’s up to the drivers to drive the thing.

Q: Would you be prepared to stand right now as the president of the driver’s

association?

Hell yeah. The problem we had last time is that we only had, like, 60 percent [support]. Then there were team owners that said to the their drivers ‘no you can’t join, we won’t allow you to do it’, and all of this sort of crap.

Q: When was the last time you tried to do it?

CRAIG LOWNDES: Phillip Island we had meetings, four or five years ago.

RI: We had a fund and everything. The drivers all paid $1000 each. We had to have a fund to start it, we had a constitution, everything was there.

In the end, because no one would commit to it, we ended up donating all of that money to Jason Richards, just recently. It had been sitting there for years in an account, so we donated all of it. There was about $16,000 to Jason Richards, which was great.

“At least it went to a good cause. In saying that, it should have been used for what it was originally meant for. The lack of enthusiasm was disappointing.

Q: Would this have been for safety issues?

This is what it was for. Look, I’m harping on one thing, but this was across the board. This was to go to tracks and say ‘hey boys, this is a bit dangerous, someone could burn to death here’.

This was across the board issues, as well as being a self run, self managed thing. It was quite well planned out, but again, you need the support.

Q: Are you talking about collective bargaining?

RI: No, you’re talking about a much smaller group, so I don’t think you could. The group is smaller. You’d have to allow that freedom. We’re talking about everything else around that makes the category work.

I’m not talking about things we’re not part of it, I’m not being greedy, I’m just talking about things we are apart of.

Q: Would you have included Fujitsu drivers?

RI: I think they’d have to be [included], absolutely. These are the guys that will be coming into our category, so I think you have to intro them along the way.

Q: Image licensing?

RI: That’s all progression steps.

That’s stuff you can work out.

It’s like what V8 Supercars did; when the band rolled into town and took over running the show, they started of here, and now it’s … here.

Q: Is the time right to get an association going?

RI: No, the time was right four years ago. They blew it.

Q: Is what’s just happened going to give it some impetus to kick off again?

RI: What we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks, I don’t think we’ll see for a long time again!

Q: Safety doesn’t go away RI: True point. A lot of things we do for V8 Supercars Australia, some are good, and some of the drivers thing ‘that’s a waste of time’.

We could go to these guys and say ‘hey, we think this would be better doing it this way’, and give them a bit of help in the promotion of the sport as well. It’s also giving back. We’re always getting told, and not often asked.

Q: Do you guys have an official voice at the moment?

RI: No. There was myself, Greg Murphy, Glenn Seton and Steve Richards, we were the four committee members that were voted in originally, so we had a committee. The pieces were all there, it’s just a shame it didn’t kick on. motorsport news

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See you at Bathurst 2034 V8 SUPERCARS THE future of V8 Supercars at Bathurst is secure until at least 2034.

A 20-year contract extension to V8 Supercars’ contract with the Bathurst Regional Council has been announced, with the current

deal for the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama to expire in 2014.

“This is an outstanding result for the Bathurst Region and reaffirms Mount Panorama’s status as Australia’s premier motor racing venue,” Bathurst Regional Council Mayor Paul Toole said.

“By agreeing to this long term contract V8 Supercars have shown their faith in the future of motor racing at Bathurst.

“Council is thrilled at this show of support and we look forward to continuing our close working relationship with V8 Supercars.”

BAIRDO CONFIRMED AT BUNDY-O V8 SUPERCARS

Dirk Klynsmith

CRAIG Baird has finally been confirmed as Fabian Coulthard’s Phillip Island and Bathurst co-driver.

The pairing had been common knowledge since HRT announced Cameron McConville and Nick Percat as their enduro drivers, but was announced by Walkinshaw

Racing in the lead-up to Winton. Baird took part in the co-driver practice sessions at the Victorian circuit on Friday, finishing 22nd and 20th in the two sessions. It will be Baird’s fifth season at Clayton.

“To be a part of this team, and to be driving with Fabian in particular will make for an enjoyable weekend,” he said.

“Fabian is very relaxed and

from a co-drivers point of view, he doesn’t put a huge amount of pressure on, he just lets you get on and do your job.

“Experience pays when you head to a place like Bathurst and there are always a number of obstacles that can be thrown at you, but to have two experienced drivers pays off at Mount Panorama and I think we have seen that in the past.”

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STONER TESTS ‘12 BIKE MOTOGP

CASEY Stoner is happy with Honda’s prototype 2012 1000cc GP racer.

The former World champion rode the bike for the first time at Jerez last week after HRC test riders Kousuke Akiyoshi and Shinichi Ito shook it down at Suzuka in April. Dani Pedrosa was to test it as well but his accident in Le Mans meant that it was not possible for him to take part.

“Everything has gone very well, very positive,” Stoner reported after running 50 laps. “We didn’t focus on anything special today, just tried to understand what the bike is doing, how it reacts on the brakes and things like that, also considering some the issues we have with the 800cc right now. The braking point seems to be stronger, stability in the front going into the corner seems to be very good, and of course we want to understand how the power delivery is, and it is very smooth, so no problem. In general, we haven’t changed too much from the set up we have on the 800cc right now and the feeling is very similar, so it’s pretty good.”

One of the challenges that HRC engineers will face is fuel economy. The 1000cc engine will be restricted to the same 21-litre fuel maximum as the current 800cc engines. Repsol engineers are focusing on a fuel that will not only offer optimum fuel efficiency but also deliver maximum performance.

Atko, MINI, Rally Oz, please WORLD RALLY CHRIS Atkinson is in talks with World Rally Championship teams about a oneoff drive at this year’s Rally Australia.

According to AUTOSPORT, the Bega native is looking to make a WRC comeback at Coffs Harbour in September, having not competed in a World Championship event since Ireland in 2009, where he had a one-off drive in a Citroen C4 WRC. Before that, he spent four full seasons with the Subaru World

Rally Team, before moving into an AsiaPacific Rally Championship drive with Proton in 2010.

“I’m determined to get back to the World Rally Championship and this is a step towards that goal,” Atkinson said.

“It’s not decided yet what car I’ll drive, [but] it’s fair to say all of the cars look pretty exciting. Right now, I’m focused on getting everything in place. The car I’m driving is integral to that, but it’s about getting the funding right.”

One option is the newly-formed

MINI World Rally Team, which is run by Prodrive, the same team that was in charge of Subaru’s WRC program before they withdrew from the sport at the end of 2008. While it is not yet confirmed whether or not the BMW-owned squad will make the long trek down under, if they do, it is logical that Atkinson could form part of their plans “I’ve spoken to Chris about it and I’d welcome him back if there’s a budget to do it,” Prodrive boss David Richards confirmed to AUTOSPORT.

RICHO STILL DOING HIS BIT STEVE Richards might not be a full-timer in V8 Supercars in 2011 but that does not mean he is sitting on his hands and not helping people whenever he can.

Richo has offered sponsor Laser Plumbing and Electrical the opportunity to sell some rides in the team’s Porsche Carrera Cup car for their nominated Charity, which is Variety, which does fabulous work to help kids’ dreams come true.

There are slots available in NSW, Victoria and Queensland for the remainder of the year, and if you want to have your wits rearranged in a quality car with a quality steerer, you could do much worse than to have a look at the details at www.laserracing.com.au

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WHO CAN STOP HIM? FORMULA 1

MARK Webber and every other driver in Formula 1 will be hoping for a chink in Sebastian Vettel’s amour in Monaco this weekend.

The World Champion drove a near-flawless race in Spain to score his sixth win in the last seven Grands Prix. In five GPs this year, he has scored 118 out of a possible 125 points, and leads the 2011 title race by a staggering 41 points.

He managed to win in Spain without relying on KERS (his system malfunctioned for a significant part of the race) and DRS, as he led for the last two-thirds of the event.

“We knew that we were quite slow on the straights plus with 10 laps to go you

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get the message not to use KERS is not really what you are hoping for,” said Vettel, who became the first driver in 10 years to win in Barcelona after not starting from pole.

“You are hoping for the opposite: we have found a second KERS in the car so use that button! But it wasn’t the case.”

The improved form the McLarens is not the only reason to expect that Vettel could be challenged again this weekend. He is yet to register a win on the street circuit but six other drivers next Sunday’s race have – Webber (2010), Jenson Button (‘09), Lewis Hamilton (’08), Fernando Alonso (’06 and ’07), Jarno Trulli (’05) and Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, ’97,’99 and 2001).

What h FORMULA 1

FERRARI will launch an investigation into why the pace shown in previous races, and in qualifying in Spain, went missing in the race.

The team, which was sent into the 2011 season with a clear message to win from Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, saw both

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happened to the Ferraris? sides of Grand Prix racing in Barcelona. An epic start from Fernando Alonso vaulted him from fourth into the lead at the first corner but, after holding off the Red Bulls for 19 laps, he fell back so far that he faced the ignominy of being lapped by race winner Sebastian Vettel only 40 laps later. That translates to an average lap time deficiency of 3s a lap – but on the hard tyres that were

used at the end of the race, that was as much as 5s.

“We lack aerodynamic downforce; here we did not have a wing that suited this track,” Alonso said frankly after the race. “We must analyse carefully the behaviour of all the modifications we brought to this Grand Prix and understand why, in the space of two weeks, we have

lost ground to Red Bull and McLaren.”

Team Principal Stefano Domenicali was no less forthright and is seeking more technical support for Alonso and Felipe Massa.

“We need to provide him and Felipe with a car with which they can fight all the way to the end of a race and not just in the first part. On a track that

favours cars that have a lot of aerodynamic downforce, ours are lacking in this area and that was glaringly obvious, especially on the new hard tyres brought here by Pirelli. We never managed to get this type of tyre to work and our pace was at least two seconds off that of the first four.”

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Hispania may challenge diffusers FORMULA 1

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FORMULA 1 is on a knife-edge and there could be protests over technical features this week at Monaco.

Hispania Racing Team boss Colin Kolles has hinted that he may protest the latest version of blown diffusers, which have been a feature on the leading cars this season. A blown diffuser is one through which exhaust gases pass not only when the driver is on the throttle but when it is closed.

The door has been left open for a protest by FIA Technical Delegate Charlie Whiting, who spoke to the media in Spain on Saturday.

“It became apparent to us, through examination of data, that what we thought was a fairly benign feature was turning into something that was being used, in our opinion, illegally,” Whiting said.

“An exhaust system is there for the purpose of exhausting gases from the engine and when you’re off-throttle, it isn’t

www.mnews.com.au

doing that any more. Therefore it’s being used to influence the aerodynamic characteristics of the car. We think arguably, this infringes Article 3.15 of the technical regulations.”

Kolles, whose cars have not run blown diffusers this season, would not rule out protesting in Monte Carlo.

“The only reason why we are not considering [in Spain] is because we were not really involved in any sporting decision today,” he told the BBC. “But it is clear that the other cars are illegal.

“We agree absolutely with Charlie Whiting’s view and, by the way, we are not the only ones who agree. I think that if this is not going to be stopped before Monaco then we have no other choice.”

With even the possibility of a protest hanging, it is probably that teams will bring multiple versions of cars’ bodywork and exhausts to Monte Carlo – one based on teams being able to run the systems on the streets and one that is not.

13

WELCOME BACK, PAT!

INDYCAR MEDIA

INDYCAR PATRICK Carpentier returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the weekend but not in the manner he may have wanted.

The Canadian was flown in to sub for Scott Speed, who was having all kinds of problems in Jay Penske’s car. Originally, Speed was to be partnered by Ho-Pin Tung but the Chinese rookie trashed his car when he crashed on Pole Day, suffering

mild concussion. Speed was visibly struggling with the car.

“The deal came together really late,” he explained. “I reached instability in the car and have tried to work on it. This track is treacherous when trying to drive an unbalanced car around here. I almost wrecked three times and explained to my team I can’t drive the car this way. I told them we have to be smart and fix the problem. Carpentier has more oval experience so he drove the car to tell us

what he thought.”

Carpentier, 39 and using a seat designed for Rafael Matos, took little time getting used to the car but on the 20th lap of the practice session, lost the car at Turn 1, in a manner almost identical to Tung’s accident.

Penske talked to a number of people in Gasoline Alley about replacement parts but it was soon obvious that the cars could not be repaired. Carpentier was not badly hurt in the crash.

– MARY MENDEZ

Busch honours slain Aussie NASCAR

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Toyota Motorsport

KYLE Busch may get his share of boos in NASCAR racing but he got cheered by even some of his harshest critics on the weekend.

When Busch won Friday’s round of the Camping World Truck Series in Charlotte, he carried the image and name of Zahra Baker. The 10-year-old Australian girl, who relocated with her father to Hickory North Carolina, was found dead last September. Her stepmother has been charged over her death.

“The story of Zahra Baker’s tragic murder really hit home with KBM and the Kyle Busch Foundation,” said Busch.

“We wanted to do something special in her honour and felt that the truck race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was the perfect opportunity. We are honoured to have Speedway Children’s Charities and several of the kids that attended last year’s event at the Speedway join us in paying remembrance to her. Zahra will never be forgotten. She will always be in our hearts.” motorsport news

Bayne on hold NASCAR

Martin D Clark

TREVOR Bayne was unable to race in the All Star Race on Saturday night and his future remains uncertain.

The Rookie Daytona 500 winner was unable to get medical clearance to run in the non-points race, despite testing tested successfully at a short track last week. Doctors did not pass him fit to race whole he is still suffering from periods pf blurred vision. His Wood Bros team withdrew from the event but Bayne hopes to take his place in the #21 Ford this weekend.

– MARTIN D CLARK

Class Raikkonen’s date The of 2011 with Nationwide NASCAR

Hendrick wants more Jr NASCAR HE may be in the worst slump of his career but Dale Earnhardt Jr is still a wanted man.

ESPN.com has reported that the son of the sport’s greatest driver is close to signing a multi-year extension to his deal with Hendrick Motorsports.

“We know we want to be together and we just want to get this over with,” said team boss Rick Hendrick. “It shows I’m committed to him and he’s committed to us.” www.mnews.com.au

In the meantime, there was a change of sorts at Hendrick’s this past weekend.

Jimmie Johnson raced with an unfamiliar #5 on the side of the Lowe’s Chevrolet. The change of number was due to the fact that Lowe’s offers its credit card holders and five percent discount on any purchased over US$299 at their home improvement stores. Mark Martin, who usually wears the #5, raced under #25. Both men return to their familiar digits for this weekend’s Coca Cola 600 at the track.

this week.

“I want to try different things,” he said prior to the race. “I was interested to see how it is. I don’t have any plans for next year in anything I do. If I completely suck, there’s no reason to come back. Hopefully, it goes better than today.’’

He admitted there were some plans to move up, quickly.

“I’m looking at this weekend and hopefully next weekend I’m here. Then after that, there’s no real plans yet. Hopefully, I can get to run some Cup races that would be nice. There’s not awful lot of planning. I’ll try to do the best now and see what happens.”

It appears that Raikkonen will drive one of Busch’s Nationwide cars under the #87 NEMCO entry that is usually raced by Joe Nemechek. The former world champion finished 15th in the Camping World Truck race at Charlotte, which was won by Busch.

sutton-images.com

FIRST it was ‘just’ Trucks. Now, Kimi Raikkonen had admitted what we told you a month ago – that he wants to move up to race Cup races, this season.

It appears to be a Nationwide program for the Finn could start as early as this Friday. Raikkonen made his first appearance in a Kyle Busch Motorsport Truck during the All Star weekend, and looks like moving up a rung

NASCAR NASCAR has announced the inductees for its second intake into the NASCAR Hall of Game.

Drivers David Pearson, Bobby Allison, above, Lee Petty and Ned Jarrett and team owner Bud Moore will be welcomed into the hall in a ceremony slated for Monday night. They will join the opening class of Bill France Sr, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Bill France Jr and Junior Johnson. With the exception of Petty, who died in 2000.

15

Here now, racing soon?

AUSTRALIAN GT PETER Hackett is hoping to debut his newly-imported Mercedes Benz SLS AMG GT3 in the VodkaO Australian GT Championship sooner rather than later.

Hackett has secured one of the AMG’S new GT3 machines, which arrived in Australia earlier this month.

With the SLS GT3 currently outside Australian GT’s vehicle eligibility list, Hackett has applied to have it added and is currently awaiting a response from GT organisers.

“We have formally applied to have the SLS GT3 added to the eligible cars list. Australian GT has accepted our application, but there’s been no word since

the fifth of May,” Hackett told eNews.

“The rule in the Australian GT regulations says that once a car has applied to be added to the eligibility list, they reserve the right to take six weeks to assess the performance of the vehicle for parity. As far as I’m aware, at this stage we’re in, this six week holding pattern.”

Hackett says the car is race ready and could run this weekend at Eastern Creek’s third round of the championship, but a debut later in the year is more likely.

“Definitely,” he said, when asked if the car could race this weekend if approved.

“We are literally waiting on a call from GTs to say ‘yes, your application’s been successful’,

but that could take anything from now to six weeks time, as per the regulations. We’re ready to go racing, as soon as we’re allowed to.”

The car first turned a wheel in Australia a fortnight ago, May 9, with Hackett completing a 10-lap shakedown at Eastern Creek for a photoshoot.

“The car was really nice,” he said.

“It was responsive to the small changes that we made.

Obviously we were just running it in, bedding the brakes, doing installs and things like that. We were on old tyres that were provided to us by Michelin from old CupCar races, because we don’t know what tyres we’re

allowed to run in Australian GT. “It was really stable, but it didn’t feel like it had a thousand horsepower or anything like that; it’s a GT3 car, so the horsepower’s very similar to the Lambo. It probably felt a bit heavier than the Lambo, but it’s nearly 1400 kilos, so that makes sense.

“And trying to get our head around the electronics was quite interesting, it’s got an 11-stage ABS and 11-stage traction control and all of those sorts of things, so we didn’t get a chance to play with any of that stuff.

“I’m really excited, the car’s stunning. We can’t wait to get a Mercedes onto Australian circuits.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

support of Michelin,” Wall said.

“I have been driving on Michelin tyres for most of my racing career and they have helped me achieve great successes, hopefully we can add to the list at Eastern Creek.

“Michelin is the most renowned tyre supplier in the world and I am very excited to have them on our Cup S. I think the car looks amazing in the blue and yellow of Michelin and hopefully we’ll finish the weekend with a matching blue podium hat to go with our car!”

In other GT news, Greg Crick debuted backing from Chrysler Australia for his Dodge Viper at last weekend’s Winton round.

The two-year deal kicked off with an orange and silver livery to promote the Jeep’s ‘Don’t Hold Back’ branding. A range of liveries to promote Chrysler’s range are expected to be used over the course of the deal.

A 22-car field for this weekend’s third round of Australian GT is expected for a pair of one-hour races.

Spectator entry is free for the circuit’s annual Sports Car Carnival.

WALL BACK IN AUSGT AUSTRALIAN GT DAVID Wall will return to the VodkaO Australian GT Championship this weekend at Eastern Creek.

Wall won the 2009 and 2010 GT crowns in a Porsche GT3 Cup S, but has switched to the Fujitsu Series in 2011 with Wilson Security Racing.

With this weekend’s GT round at Eastern Creek’s Sports Car Festival falling on an ‘off’ weekend from his V8 duties, he’ll jump back in the Porsche as a one-off with backing from Michelin.

“I am pleased to be back in the category and to have the 16

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No Le Mans for David ...

LE MANS DAVID Brabham does not hold high hopes for picking up a late drive at the Le Mans 24 Hour race next month.

The 2009 winner looks unlikely to compete in the race after Highcroft Racing announced it was withdrawing from the French classic last week. As well, the team confirmed the end of its fiveyear relationship with Honda

through its racing arm, Honda Performance Development.

“We knew that it was going to be difficult,” Brabham told Motorsport eNews, “and as we were getting closer [to the race], it was looking more and more likely that it [the team’s withdrawal] was going to happen. It was still a stretch, and something that might have happened got dropped at the last minute. It was not a surprise.

“But it is still disappointing. I think that the car would have been a very good car there, and that it would have been right behind the diesels. We may not have been as quick as them but I think that it would have been the quickest petrol car.”

The team’s ARX-01e LMP1 racer was second on debut at Sebring’s 12 Hour race but the signs were not positive when the car Brabham shared with

Marino Franchitti and Simon Pagenaud ran in the colours of Michelin, the team’s tyre supplier.

Brabham now faces watching the 2011 race from the couch for the first time in 15 years, and forward to a season in which he will combine Nissan GT effort with Sumo Power and SBR’s endurances races.

For more on Brabham, see 5 Minutes page 24.

... QR & PI for Matt FORMULA FORD

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

QUEENSLAND Raceway and Phillip Island look like hosting Matt Brabham’s remaining starts in the 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

After running the full championship last year as a CAMS Rising Star, Brabham switched to Sonic Motor Racing Services for 2011.

But rather than contest a second full season, the third-generation Brabham is focusing on his final year of school; running in the Victorian State Series and making three National starts.

The first of those was Winton, where he claimed his maiden National race and round victories. While not finalised, the other two are set to be

Round 4 at QR in August, and Round 6 at PI in September.

Beyond that, the 17-year-old is keeping his options open for 2012.

“It’ll most likely be Phillip Island and probably Ipswich,” Brabham said of his 2011

National starts.

“It just depends on my school exams, though, I’m planning my racing around school this year and getting Year 12 done, so that’s the focus.

“I’m not sure yet about next year. It just depends how this

year goes, and we’ll decide whether it’s best to go and do something overseas, or stay and do Formula Ford again.

We’ll just see how it goes and make our decision at the end of the year.”

– MITCHELL ADAM 17

PRODUCTION CARS THE field for the first longdistance race of the 2011 Australian Manufacturers Championship this weekend at Phillip Island is coming together.

Most teams on the 23-car entry list have locked in their full driver line-ups, and high profile co-drivers to partner Stuart Kostera Mitsubishi Lancer Exo X) and Ryan McLeod (HSV Astra VSR) have been mooted, but were yet to be finalised as eNews went live.

Of the Class A entries, former Formula Ford and Formula Vee

front-runner Ryan Simpson will return to national competition, partnering Dylan Thomas in an Evo IX Lancer, pictured, with Jim Pollicina enlisting Dean Kelland for his Lancer.

Nathan Morcom will head home from America to partner his father Barry and Garry Holt in a BMW 335i in Class B. In Class C, Rick Bates is set to join Colin Osborne in a Mazda 3 MPS, while Barton Mawer and V8 Ute driver Jeremy Gray will race Ted Robinson’s FPV F6 Typhoon. Mawer drove the car at Phillip Island in an AMC sprint round last month, and will do double duty this

Rob Lang

Proddies ready for Six weekend, also running in the Radical Australia Cup. “We went the fastest the car had ever been there before,” Mawer said of the PI opener.

“It’s only a race-by-race deal at the moment, but Ted’s pretty happy with me at the moment, so I think any racing he does, he’d probably like to have me in there.”

Lauren Gray Motorsport will field their two Toyotas, with Lauren to be joined by Jake Williams in her Corolla, while sister Maddison will share her Echo with fellow Victorian Formula Vee driver Ash Quiddington. Quiddington

leads the 1600cc Class in Victoria and Gray the 1200cc Class – the 18-year-olds will be the youngest combination in the field.

A pair of Mini Cup cars have also been entered, with Beric Lynton to be joined by Tom Pickett, while Brendan Cook is yet to confirm his co-driver.

Meanwhile, series organisers have confirmed a unique prize on offer at the end of the year.

Through a new partnership with Sydney group Pacific Boating, the AMC champion will receive a share in a luxury sports cruiser for 12 months.

– MITCHELL ADAM

WORLD WIDE WINSLOW FORMULA 3 JAMES Winslow is keen to have an ongoing presence in both the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship and the Firestone Indy Lights Series for the remainder of 2011.

Winslow has contested the opening three rounds of the Indycar feeder series with Andretti Autosport, and this weekend will line up for the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Between rounds, the Englishman returned to Australia to race in the season opener of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, which he 18

won in 2008, winning the Winton weekend with R-Tek Motorsport.

While two date clashes will ultimately prevent Winslow from contesting the full season in both classes, he’s keen to race in both as often as his finances will allow.

“We’re just going along race by race,” he said of his Indy Lights program.

“We’ve been really quick in some of the races, but we’ve had some problems, we just need to start winning some of the prize money you get for finishing on the podium.

Hopefully past Indy we’ll be able to keep going. If we can get onto the podium at Indy, then I can’t see any

reason why we wouldn’t keep going, because that would propel me right up into that top three or four in the championship, where we should be.”

While America is his immediate focus, Winslow remains keen on V8 Supercars and a career in Australia, viewing F3 as part of that process.

“I think Australian F3 would fit in well with the rest of the year,” he said.

“I need to find some support here (Australia) to keep this program going, same as I need to find some support over there (USA) to keep the Lights program going. I’m just trying to keep my fingers in

all of the pies.

“I’d really like to keep my links to Australia and, eventually, come back here.

I’m a resident here, I love Australia to live in, it’s so much nicer than many of the other countries I’ve lived in. V8s is obviously a fantastic series, so I’d like to make a career in V8s.

I’m looking to use Australian Formula 3 again as another stepping stone towards that.

“A couple of years ago, I was in a good position, had a Triple Eight test and a few other things lined up and left to go to America, so I want to try and get back to where I was and get some stronger links to V8s.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

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ARE YOU READY FOR THE MOTORSPORT NEWS MONACO GRAND PRIX PARTY? FREE ENTRY :: CHARITY AUCTION :: BIG SCREENS

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SEE YOU AT THE ARCADIA HOTEL IN SOUTH YARRA THIS SUNDAY NIGHT. PARTY KICKS OFF UPSTAIRS AT 7PM

4 www.mnews.com.au

19 motorsport news

MORTON HEARS A WHO, SETON HEARS ANOTHER DELAY TCM GLENN Seton’s entry to the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn will have to wait a little longer.

A new Ford Falcon XB Coupe is currently being built for Jim Morton’s new project in the series, with Seton to be the driver. The original plan was to debut the car at the Clipsal 500 season opener in March, but it wasn’t ready for that event, or Round 2 in WA. Now, it won’t make the third round in

Hidden Valley, either, as work continues to get the car right before it’s debuted.

Ford Performance Racing were involved in the initial build of the XB, which has now been taken over by Euan McDonald, and the car will race with a silver and blue livery akin to Mark Winterbottom’s FPR Falcon.

“It’s an ongoing road and if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly, bringing Glenn out with a fully equipped and prepared race package,” Morton said.

”While it’s disappointing not to be going racing at Darwin, we need to be sure that we’re at the right place and have had the time to complete the project and test the car before we hit the track.”

“We’d like to test before we go racing to make sure that all is in order, rather than just turning up. We’ve been working with Euan from Stillwell Motorsport so the engine is now almost together, and the parts shopping list is all ready to go so progress continues.”

Want some Victorian State Action? Then head to http://vicstate.realviewtechnologies. com/ for the latest news, race reports and carnage from the latest round of the VSCRC at Sandown International Motor Raceway. And always with Vic State Racer, it’s gloriously free for all to read! Check it out now.

ZUKANOVIC CONSIDERS FULL COMMODORE CUP COMMITMENT COMMODORE CUP MARCUS Zukanovic is entertaining the prospect of completing the full Commodore Cup season.

Zukanovic won the series in 2006, and had pencilled in several Commodore Cup rounds to contest this year alongside his commitments in the Fujitsu Series. After two rounds, he’s leading the series, and will again partner Gerard McLeod in next month’s Endurance Challenge at Winton.

Pending where he sits in the points after Winton, he’ll look at doing the remaining three rounds to have a crack at a second title.

20

“I’m leading the series now, so if I lead a couple more, I may as well do the rest of them,” Zukanovic said.

“There’s Phillip Island, I think there’s Sandown coming up, so I think that’s two local ones for me, I’ve just got to get through Winton and then Eastern Creek and that’s the championship.

I’m leading it now, we’ll see how we go. I might continue on with it, I think.

“Gerard’s doing a pretty good job.

Loves his racing, obviously, and doesn’t get much of an opportunity to drive. While he works with us, we can give him the opportunity; he has a ball, does a good job for me in the co-driver’s seat and does a really good job for me on my car.”

– MITCHELL ADAM motorsport news

KIWI

N A E

M TEAM

PLUS, HOW BRAD JONES RACING WENT FROM BEING THE WORST TEAM TO V8 WINNERS, WE INVESTIGATE WILLIAMS F1’S FALL FROM GRACE, AN EXCLUSIVE CHAT WITH INDYCAR STAR PAUL TRACY, A DETAILED LOOK AT THE SALE OF V8 SUPERCARS, THE MEANEST TORANA IN TOURING CAR MASTERS, SPEEDWAY, DRAG RACING, AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

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ON SALE WEDNESDAY

4

No. 408 June 2011

Australia $7.95 NZ $8.50 inc GST

DRAG RACING WITH a 98-point lead in the ANDRA Pro Series Top Bike championship, all Chris Matheson has to do is turn up to the Winternationals in June in order to claim the

title.

A recent win at the Nitro Champs came despite the team being off its usual low six-second pace, not gaining low ET points for the first time in a long time. Matheson said he was ecstatic about the

Ken Ferguson

Matheson monopolises championship result, despite the ugly route to the trophy.

“We got to the finish line first. The end result is a load of points towards the championship,” he said.

“We retain our championship lead heading into the final

round at the Winternationals at Willowbank. It is a credit to the team in achieving the win and a huge effort to all the track staff and officials in providing a meeting, despite the inclement weather.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

HEDGES HEATS UP DRAG RACING

22

John Bosher

JASON Hedges feels his Pro Stock team is reaping the rewards of a mid-season engine switch to stay at the front of the field.

“Between the last two events – the Aeroflow by Rocket Industries event and the 2011 Nitro Champs – we installed a new powerplant to the DecoGlaze/J&D Custom Cabinetry GTO,” he said.

“Pro Stock in Australia is going ahead by leaps and bounds and we were left with no choice but to upgrade in

order to keep up at the front of the pack.”

The team has not yet lost a first round and, with a good Winternationals, could finish right up in the points.

“The Castrol Edge Winternationals is the most prestigious event of the ANDRA Pro Series calendar,” he said.

“We just want to qualify for the event, which is getting tougher and tougher with the way that the competition is stepping up, and then continue to make consistent runs. The rewards will come if we take small, simple steps.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

motorsport news

news

John Morris / Mpix

John goes back to the scene of the crime DRAG RACING JOHN Barbagallo will return to the scene of a testing crash in three weeks time when he heads to the Castrol Edge Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway.

His ride has since been rebuilt and proved to be in a good condition at the recent Nitro Champs in Sydney. 43year-old Barbagallo was testing last November at the Ipswich facility, when he suffered a parachute malfunction.

While Barbagallo was unharmed, his JB Automotive Ford Escort was damaged and extensive work was required before it could make it back onto the track.

“On the last pass of our test day, the parachutes didn’t open and with some brake lock up, I hit the opposite wall and then the car went over onto its roof, slid down into the grass next to the braking area and dug in and rolled a bit before landing on its wheels,” said Barbagallo.

“The run was fine, it was just afterwards when the chute didn’t come out that we struck trouble.

“When we looked at it I had definitely pulled the chutes, but the cable had become snagged on something which hadn’t happened to us once before in 10 years, but we have now changed how they come out to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“It was just one of those freak things, and it would be our luck that the one time we have a chute problem it ends in a crash, it’s just the way it happened.”

The incident was the first ever crash Barbagallo had suffered in a drag racing career spanning 18 years.

“It was a pretty big one at that – it was pretty scary, when you are on the roof you are just waiting for it to hit something,” he said.

“I didn’t think that I would be affected when I came back to it, but the first pass was a bit

different, and it probably took me my whole first race meeting back before I was confident running it full power all the way down the track and through the finish line, so it does make a bit of difference to your confidence.

Barbagallo now has to get past the hoodoo the Winternationals holds on his team.

“It is one of those events that has always been an issue for me, two years ago I was in a position to win the championship but lost it by losing in the first round, its

always one of those ones that just doesn’t go right for me – hopefully my luck will change this time around, I think I am due for some,” he said.

“We may have a new engine in the car for the Winters, if not it will be ready for next season, either way I think there will be more than 25 cars on track at Willowbank and with the championship on the line, the weather at that time of year and the racers and cars we have in the bracket at the moment – Pro Stock is going to be the category to watch.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Next ANDRA Pro Series Round: 2011 Castrol EDGE Winternationals Willowbank Raceway, June 9-12 ANDRA Pro Series on TV: Friday May 27, Pro Stock, Nitro Champs www.mnews.com.au

23

FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

DAVID BRABHAM

The 2009 Le Mans winner might be watching the 2011 French classic from the couch in his house near London, after Highcroft Racing split with Honda and withdrew its entry last week. He gave PHIL BRANAGAN some details

Did the form that the car showed at Sebring, where you were second, make this a more difficult pill to swallow?

Obviously that was a very promising start to the season. The first race, with the car being so new, it never turned a wheel again up to this point. So when you go to Le Mans, you have got to be a bit better prepared than that.

The lead-up to Le Mans would have not seen the car at 100 percent. It would have been more like 80 percent. We should have been well into a test program, to continue to develop the car. We know that there are certain issues that needed testing, to sort them out and make the car even faster. We didn’t have that opportunity.

We could have gone [to Le Mans] and done really well if we had had all that preparation. Because it was last minute, the car was going to go and it would have been a bit like Sebring – go out there and see what we have got. Things would have gone a hell of a lot better if we had a preparation leading up to the race.

What is your understanding so far as the team’s links with the car are concerned – the IP [Intellectual Property] of the car, and the possibility of it moving forward with a new manufacturer, for instance?

24

Highcroft Racing

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Did Highcroft Racing’s withdrawal from Le Mans come as a bit of a surprise to you?

DAVID BRABHAM: No, not really. We knew that it was going to be difficult, and as we were getting closer [to the race], it was looking more and more likely that it was going to happen. It was still a stretch, and something that might have happened got dropped at the last minute. It was not a surprise.

But it is still disappointing. I think that the car would have been a very good car there, and that it would have been right behind the diesels. We may not have been as quick as them but I think that it would have been the quickest petrol car.

[Highcroft owner] Duncan [Dayton] is looking at trying to keep the team together and is looking at potential for other partners. They are one of the top Sportscar teams in the world, and any potential partner is going to do very well with them.

In terms of the HPD [Honda Performance Development] thing, obviously there could be an opening for anyone who has the will and the money to fund it.

There could be other customers out there who could be looking at backing the car in the future.

Having watched the landscape of Sportscar racing for such a long time, are you optimistic that there is a manufacturer that might want to come in and back the project?

We would all like to think so, wouldn’t we?

Manufacturers, at the moment, are all being careful about where they come in and spend their money. The economy is not what it used to be. I think that a lot of the companies now are being directed by the accountants and not by the visionaries, to be honest. I think that if they get a good manufacturer behind them, they could win.

Is it too late now for you to salvage some kind of ride for Le Mans?

I would say so, yeah. I did not look at any other option; that is the car that I wanted to drive.

You have to be realistic; I am not going to get in an Audi or a Peugeot. All the good seats have been taken by good drivers. Unless something big happens – and you don’t want something bad to happen to anyone – I think that I might be watching it from home this time, for the first time in 15 years! That will be a strange feeling, for sure.

My focus is on the GT1 World Championship, with Nissan and Sumo Power. It would be great to win a World Championship in GT1.

An interesting weekend for the Brabham family, with your nephew Matthew winning his first National Formula Ford race at Winton. If he listens to his uncle, what advice would you give him?

He doesn’t need any, does he? He is winning!

I have seen Matthew grow up, and my son Sam is racing karts at Wigan this weekend. Matthew started his career a few years ago, and it takes a while for anybody, not just Matthew, to finally get how things are put together.

He is in the right situation, and this will give him so much confidence going into the rest of the season. We are all so proud of him. motorsport news

chat

www.mnews.com.au

25

MYTHBUSTERS

D

ESPITE what you might read in novels or see on CSI ‘insert American city here’, so called mysteries often have a pretty simple explanation.

In V8 Supercar racing, most of the mysteries surround inconsistencies in performance. Some of the hot topics at Winton included Shane van Gisbergen’s yo-yo qualifying efforts, and how Jason Bright went from being right on it in Perth, then nowhere near it early in the Winton weekend, to right back on it by 3:30pm on Sunday afternoon.

But to me, the biggest turnaround in fortunes was Garry Rogers Motorsport.

The GRM cars looked awful, truly awful at Barbagallo Raceway, yet come Winton, they were right on the pace, all weekend.

How can it turn around so quickly?

“If we knew, we’d be able to fix it,” said Lee Holdsworth after finishing second on Saturday at Winton.

“Our cars just don’t work on a low grip surface. On the abrasive surfaces it’s no good, and that’s why we’re always pretty strong on street circuits. I think it’s probably in the shocks – that’s something that we’re working hard on at the moment.

Unfortunately the tracks like Phillip Island, we know already that we’re going to

struggle – unless we do something about it before then.”

Okay, so GRM Andrew van Leeuwen – have identified the eNews Editor weakness, targeted and area, but still can’t quite fix it. had a classic year in terms of results, it Why not? Sounds like a mystery, doesn’t it? wasn’t crisis time, because they were right Well, it’s not. The simple answer is there. Garth Tander echoed the same view that V8 Supercars is just so close, that it after Sunday’s Race 11. only takes a tiny hit-and-miss change in “It’s just a matter of getting everything the landscape to completely alter your right on the day,” he said. weekend. Go half a turn on camber or “It’s only a small thing you can miss out toe-in, and it could cost you a tenth of a on, and you fall out the back. We saw the second. In Formula 1, that might cost you pole-sitter today fall off and not have a row on the grid – if you’re really unlucky. much speed at the end.

In V8 Supercars, in the case of Sunday “It’s so competitive that it only takes morning qualifying at Winton, a tenth was two or three little things to be out of the the difference between eighth and 13th. window, and you pay the price.”

In Perth it was even tighter than that.

So the next time your favourite driver So it’s not that a team engineers itself goes from hero on one weekend to zero from one end of grid to the other in the next, just consider how tough the the space of a single race meeting, but modern V8 Supercar game is. Of course, just that everything is so close, and the if your favourite driver is Jamie Whincup, tolerances are so tight, that the smallest you won’t have to worry about it too flaps of the butterfly’s wing turns into an much, because he and TeamVodafone are almighty typhoon. so consistent.

At Winton, Tim Edwards told me that, And given how close things are, that’s while Ford Performance Racing haven’t the most amazing thing of all.

OPINION

THE THING ABOUT 17

Dirk Klynsmith

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comment

Dirk Klynsmith

S

EVENTEEN-year-olds can do amazing things.

At 17, Boris Becker won the Mens’ Singles title at Wimbledon. Ian Thorpe was a multiple Olympic Gold Medallist. Joan of Arc had sidestepped the somewhat inconvenient truth of not being old enough to vote or drink by leading an army in France.

What’s next for the one-sevens – Justin Bieber defeating Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential elections? [Actually, since The Beeb is actually Canadian, that is unlikely. But you get my drift].

At 17 and a bit, Matthew Brabham won his first Formula Ford Championship race at Winton on the weekend. He is not the youngest driver to score a win, nor is he the youngest driver in this year’s FF chase. But, obviously, because www.mnews.com.au

of who he is, and to whom he is related, people like me take note.

Just as we, the media, have chronicled the second (or even third) generations of the Andrettis, Unsers and Stewarts, so the steps in the course of young Brabham’s career will be written about. That is fine, particularly for the future, but perhaps a little unfair. After all, Matthew is still a kid (even if 17year-olds do not want to hear such things from people my age) and in the giant scheme of the motor racing world, the steps that he has taken are relatively small. If he chooses to go forward to greater things, giant strides will lie ahead.

I did not seek a comment from the young fella before penning this piece. There are enough pressures on the

OPINION Phil Branagan – Executive Editor teens of the world to sort out their lives. I know that; I have a couple myself, one just a few weeks younger than Brabham Jr, and I can’t even get him to tell me when his mid-term SAC tests are coming up, let alone roll bar settings and how a new tyre feels.

The extraordinary Brabham Saga continues. It may well be that Matthew will conquer the world. Apart from having a multiple World Champion as a grandpa, a Le Manswinning dad (and Uncle David), his mother Roseina

was a championship-winning racer of jet skis. Okay, that is not the common domain of this publication, but you can see that the lad had go-fast to spare, hard-coded into his DNA. So, to young Brabham, well done. We hope there is more to come. To the 17-year-olds of the world, stop spending so much time on Facebook and read a real book, for goodness’ sake. And to one in particular, if you decide you feel like getting your hair cut, that would be just fine by your dad.

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V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACES 10/11 – WINTON, VICTORIA

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BRIGHT

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T LIGHTS UP IN THE DARK The weather was a little different, but the results were the same as Perth, with Jamie Whincup and Jason Bright sharing the wins.

ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN reports

Tristan Murray

www.mnews.com.au

29

RACE 10: NO REPEATS FOR WHIN

A

YEAR ago, Jamie Whincup had a shocker of a weekend at Winton. He lost the championship lead to James Courtney, and he never got it back.

But in 2011, he had extinguished the possibility of history repeating by Saturday evening, with a simple, yet stunning, win in Race 10 putting him more than a race win ahead of the rest of the field.

On early weekend form, Whincup seemed to be struggling. He was sixth quickest in practice – and that’s struggling in Whincup terms – and only third on the grid, beaten by Craig Lowndes and Steve Johnson. He then made an average start (a better effort than he was recently managed on the soft rubber), slotting into third in the opening laps.

But, TeamVodafone being TeamVodafone, it quickly turned around.

Whincup was called into pit-lane on Lap 14 of 40, the first of the front-runners, and the stop was as slick as they come. By the time the stops had shaken out, Whincup was well and truly in control, and it stayed that way until the end.

30

“The race almost went to plan,” said Whincup.

“I got off the line relatively well, and then out pace during the race was good.

We were able to control the race from there.”

Early race leaders Johnson and Lee Holdsworth joined Whincup on the podium. Having led the first stint, Johnson suffered a double blow when he stopped – a lengthy stay in pit-lane followed by a small off-track excursion on re-entry to the racing surface thanks to cold, green tyres. The delays not only let Whincup sprint into the distance, but cost Johnson second place to Holdsworth. He tried in vain to get it back, but despite a drag race to the finish, and a 0.0330s margin at the line, Holdsworth held on.

“We expected to be strong here,” said Holdsworth.

“After Barbagallo we were scratching our heads. We had a test [at Winton] last week, learnt a few things, and it was nice to have a strong car in the race.”

Johnson, meanwhile, was left rueing the decision to use green tyres in the middle of the race.

“I think if I’d gone out on roaded tyres, I

could have put a better out-lap together to stay ahead of Lee.” Rick Kelly was fourth with a typically stealth outing. He qualified 12th, pitted on Lap 15, kept out of trouble, and was rewarded with a very impressive fourth place.

But the really impressive charge in the race came from Paul Dumbrell. Okay, he finished in the same place he qualified – fifth – but having dropped back in the push-and-shove of the start, it was up to stunning speed late in the race to get him back into the lead group.

Behind him, Alex Davison, Jason Bright and James Courtney all used late speed, in a field of cars wobbling around on knackered sprint tyres, to break into the Top 10, with Mark Winterbottom holding on for 10th.

And what about pole-sitter Lowndes?

Having made a huge hash of the start, dropping back to fourth on Lap 1, Lowndes pitted two laps later than Whincup, losing out to R Kelly in the process. He then chewed up his second set of sprints, before throwing his ‘Fonebacked Commodore off the road with five laps to go, ending up 11th. motorsport news

race

Peter Bury

Peter Bury

Dirk Klynsmith

NCUP

Good start, then bad start: Craig Lowndes was fastest in practice, fastest in qualifying, but slipped back in the pack during the race, above. Paul Dumbrell used some late speed to nab fifth place, left, but when he bounced over a kerb on Lap 1, he punted Lowndes into David Reynolds, below left. Rick Kelly, meanwhile, came from nowhere to finish fourth, below.

James Smith

John Morris/Mpix Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

31

RACE 11: THE HOMETOWN H

W

ITH five laps to go, Jason Bright was in fourth position. By the time the chequered flag came out, he was 1.5s clear of Jamie Whincup, having backed off by the tune of 1.6s on the final lap. That’s how remarkable Race 11 at Winton was.

At 67 laps, all on the soft tyre, it was always going to be a race dictated by tyre strategy. And when Bright stayed out until Lap 25 on his first stint, losing a heap of track position in the process, it looked as if Brad Jones Racing had turned a promising grid position (eighth) into a pretty ordinary day out.

But looks can be deceiving.

Having done a long stint on the tyre at the start, Bright spent the second half of the race with plenty of car speed, and two shorter stints on the tyre to enjoy. While Whincup and Garth Tander were scrapping for the lead, Bright popped up on the radar on Lap 62 (of 67, remember) when he grabbed third from Michael Caruso. In a flash he was also past Tander, and as quickly as we began to ponder whether or not he could catch Whincup, he was in a commanding lead, with two laps to spare. It was nothing short of amazing.

“We did it the hard way,” said an exhausted Bright, who had battled his way through the 67 laps without a cool suit.

“We had a good car and good tyre life, but having to pass all of those cars around this joint was hard work.”

Whincup looked to be in control of the race before Bright’s late charge. A lightening quick second stop (see breakout) got him out ahead of mid-race leader Tander, and it seemed a formality that Whincup would take his second win in as many days. But, when he had no answer for Bright, he was forced to settle for second.

“We had a good car, but Brighty had a little bit extra,” he said.

“It’s great. It ups the level. We’ll go home and do our homework.”

For Tander, any chance of beating Whincup was lost during a slow second stop, which allowed Caruso to split the pair on track. Tander was back past within a couple of laps, but had to use valuable rubber to do it.

“Where we had the car today is where we should have been a couple of days ago,” said Tander.

“Our race pace is fine, but out tyre consistency isn’t what it needs to be.”

Fourth was Shane van Gisbergen, and had the race been five laps longer, he would have been on the podium – probably in second – such was his late speed. The same could be said of fifth placed Fabian Coulthard, who set his fastest lap on Lap 53, the latest of anybody in the field (13 of the drivers did theirs on Lap 2).

Behind him, Craig Lowndes, Steve Johnson, James Moffat and Steve Owen rounded out the Top 10.

The biggest surprise of the race was Mark Winterbottom.

Starting from pole position, and following on from solid pace from Paul Dumbrell on Saturday, it seemed that Ford Performance Racing had hit a sweet spot. But after leading the first 12 laps of the race, Frosty fell back, and back, and back, and eventually finished 19th.

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Dirk Klynsmith

HEROES

Dirk Klynsmith

The Rapture? The rain threatened, top, but never came during Sunday’s race. Garth Tander, above, took an impressive third on what was a tough weekend for HRT. A Lap 1 pile-up ruined Russell Ingall, Will Davison and Todd Kelly’s race, below.

James Smith

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

33

Tristan Murray

WINNERS JAMIE WHINCUP: As Whincup himself pointed out, Winton was a turning point in the 2010 season.

He’s not a man who makes mistakes twice.

JASON BRIGHT: Impressive drive on Sunday.

He had good rubber at the end, but you have to make the moves stick – and he did.

BRAD JONES RACING: Barbagallo and Winton are very different tracks, and now BJR have won at both of them. That’s Triple Eight-style consistency.

LOSERS MARK WINTERBOTTOM: Would have expected a lot more from a pole position.

CRAIG LOWNDES: Same as above. The funny thing is that Lowndes was always the master of making the soft tyres last, but in the last two meetings he’s seemed to have struggled to get any tyre life.

WEATHER FORECASTERS: We were told there was essentially a 100 percent chance of a wet race on Sunday – and it didn’t happen.

DAVID REYNOLDS: Looked fast all weekend, but no great result. Saturday’s carnage wasn’t his fault at all, but it was a shame.

34

Dirk Klynsmith

GARTH TANDER: Once again, he salvaged a podium out of a tough weekend. On the other side of the garage, the guy with #1 on his car essentially took himself out of title contention. Not a great look ...

WHY HAVE TWO, WHEN YOU CAN HAVE FOUR? SH GENERALLY, racing drivers like to be as far up the point score as possible.

But there are exceptions. At V8 Supercar rounds, drivers outside the Top 15 get the two extra practice sessions. At a meeting like Winton, the advantage of an extra hour of track time is somewhat negated for two reasons; one, the endurance co-drivers were allowed out in the first two sessions, so all 28 cars were, effectively eligible to run.

And two, the first two sessions were run on the hard tyre, while the remainder of the sessions were on the soft tyre.

Still, having gone third fastest in Friday practice, Tim Slade was quick to point out that four sessions is always better than two.

“Four is the way to go,” he said.

“I was happy coming out of Perth. I said to the guys that I’d rather be 16th and 14th.

“You have to limit the running a little bit, because otherwise you just use up your tyres and confuse yourself. [But] if you have a solid plan, and you stick to it, it can work in your favour.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

The biff is back!

THERE were some fun and games after Saturday’s Race 11.

During the 40-lapper, there was some intrabrand contact. Michael Caruso got together with Fabian Coulthard, the two swapping paint for some time. On the blue side of the ledger, James Moffat and Tim Slade had some similar, up-close-and-personal time together.

The flag fell but the action didn’t stop. The Jim Beam and Fujitsu cars both made ground past others, and then followed what the

Stewards’ report later described as the drivers “acted in a manner that caused or was likely to cause damage, contact” to their opposite numbers. As a result, both drivers were fined $5000, with half that amount suspended until December 31.

It was not quite of the scale of the recent Kevin Harvick/Kyle Busch imbroglio in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup but, considering doorinto-door combat is not encouraged in V8 Supercars, these could be two rivalries worth watching. motorsport news

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The Reds’ Blues

WHAT a difference a day makes.

On Saturday, looking for a Holden Racing Team entry would have required looking down the qualifying list for some time.

The team, which calls Winton its home test track, had a bad day.

“We stuffed up,” admitted HRT’s Rob Crawford after a long day.

But, fellow Clayton-ite Fabian Coulthard did not. Why so?

“He didn’t stuff up,” Crawford mirrored perfectly.

Garth Tander was going to start the race from 11th; James Courtney from 19th. Coulthard was seventh.

Race 10 was not, initially, much better for the Reds, Tander reporting that his grip fell off a cliff once the tyres were old. He was 12th and Courtney flew home to eighth, fast when it was almost all over. To illustrate the point, Courtney was 7.2s faster than his team-mate OVER THE LAST TWO LAPS. A day later, things were way better – for GT. He qualified P4 but Courtney was on the 10th row again, in 20th. Coulthard looked feisty when it was damp, but a broken tailshaft stopped him early in the session. He lined up 14th; at the time the Bundy car broke, he was second fastest.

Of course, in the race, Tander was third and Coulthard flashed home for fifth, showing what might have been.

Courtney had a notable ‘disastrous’, practically ensuring that the #1 plate will not be his in 2012.

HORT-FUELLED OR OUT OF TYRES?

Rob Lang

www.mnews.com.au

THE question as to whether Jamie Whincup short-filled during his second stop during Sunday’s race will probably never be answered.

Watching the race, it seemed that Whincup took on less fuel during the second stop. After all, he and Garth Tander came into pit-lane nose-to-tail, Tander leading, and both cars took on four tyres each. Yes, the HRT mechanics took a bit longer to throw the new tyres on Tander’s car than their TeamVodafone counterparts, but what does it matter? Both cars were still on the stands, with the fuel filler connected, when the new tyres were fitted, so it can’t have been the difference.

If Whincup had short-fuelled, it would have also explained why he was so quick to throw out the white flag when Jason Bright came up behind him with two laps left. If it was tyres, you’d expect him to fight it out. But if he was worried about fuel, he would have backed off.

As far as HRT were concerned, Whincup must have short-fuelled. But Whincup himself was evasive when quizzed post-race.

“I can’t answer that, I don’t know what happened in the pits,” he said.

“My stop seemed to be reasonably quick. Track position is a big deal around here, so we got out ahead of Garth, and then he got caught behind [Michael] Caruso, which burns the tyres up. It was a big deal for us to come second today.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN 35

Results :: Race 10 – Winton,

IMAGINE this scenario for a moment.

You are starting a V8 Supercar race at Winton – not a place noted for lots of overtaking in past years – from the back row. On lap 3, you drive off the road to avoid a multi-car pileup. What are the chances of challenging the leaders? Slight?

Maybe. Maybe not. Greg Murphy was as mystified as anyone after Sunday’s race. Of the 28 drivers who started the race, 22 of them bettered Murph’s fastest lap. His fastest lap of the race was three-quarters of a second off that of the leaders. So, how was it that he was running fourth, running down the leaders, and why

36

Bury Dirk Peter Klynsmith

THE MYSTERY OF MURPH

did all that stop in the final stint?

“I don’t know,” he shrugged after the race. “I really don’t know.

“It had no pace at the end of the race. I don’t understand these tyres like some people seem to. They seem to be more inconsistent that others, and not like you get a bad set. You seem to get a bad tyre in a set, at random and that hurts the car.”

On the other hand, the Pepsi Max car did seem to be kind to its tyres’ life.

“Yep, it was hanging on better than some of the others,” Murph said. “But, I don’t know why that is either. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

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 DNF DNF

88 33 17 15 55 4 8 1 5 61 888 2 6 9 47 34 39 11 18 21 7 16 49 19 12 3 30 14

Jamie Whincup Lee Holdsworth Steven Johnson Rick Kelly Paul Dumbrell Alex Davison Jason Bright James Courtney Mark Winterbottom Fabian Coulthard Craig Lowndes Garth Tander Will Davison Shane van Gisbergen Tim Slade Michael Caruso Russell Ingall Greg Murphy James Moffat Karl Reindler Todd Kelly David Reynolds Steve Owen Jonathon Webb Dean Fiore Tony D’Alberto Warren Luff Jason Bargwanna

TeamVodafone Co Fujitsu Racing GR Jim Beam Racing Jack Daniel’s Raci The Bottle-O Raci Irwin Racing Falco Team BOC Comm Toll Holden Racin Orrcon Steel FPR F Bundaberg Racing TeamVodafone Co Toll Holden Racin Trading Post FPR F SP Tools Racing Fa Lucky 7 Racing Fa Fujitsu Racing GR Supercheap Auto Pepsi Max Crew C Jim Beam Racing Fair Dinkum Shed Jack Daniel’s Raci Stratco Racing Co VIP Petfoods Com Mother Energy Ra Triple F Racing Fa Wilson Security Ra Gulf Western Oil R Jana Living Racin

motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith

Top 10 Points: Whincup 1234, Lowndes 972, Tander 935, Bright 920, van Gisbergen 913, R Kelly 887, A Davison 825, W Davison 813, Johnson 808, Winterbottom 797.

Victoria

ommodore VE2 RM Commodore VE2 Falcon FG ing Commodore ing Team Falcon FG on FG modore VE2 ng Team Commodore VE2 Falcon FG g Commodore VE2 ommodore VE2 ng Team Commodore VE2 Falcon FG alcon FG alcon FG RM Commodore VE2 Racing Commodore VE2 Commodore VE2 Falcon FG ds Racing Commodore VE2 ing Commodore VE2 ommodore VE2 mmodore VE2 acing Team Falcon FG alcon FG acing Commodore VE2 Racing Commodore VE2 ng Commodore VE2 www.mnews.com.au

Results :: Race 11 – Winton, Victoria Qual

Pos

#

Driver

Team/Car

Qual

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

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 DNF DNF DNF

8 88 2 9 61 34 888 17 18 49 11 19 47 8 33 4 15 55 5 16 3 30 21 6 1 12 7 39

Jason Bright Jamie Whincup Garth Tander Shane van Gisbergen Fabian Coulthard Michael Caruso Craig Lowndes Steven Johnson James Moffat Steve Owen Greg Murphy Jonathon Webb Tim Slade Jason Bargwanna Lee Holdsworth Alex Davison Rick Kelly Paul Dumbrell Mark Winterbottom David Reynolds Tony D’Alberto Warren Luff Karl Reindler Will Davison James Courtney Dean Fiore Todd Kelly Russell Ingall

Team BOC Commodore TeamVodafone Commodore Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore SP Tools Racing Falcon Bundaberg Racing Commodore Fujitsu Racing GRM Commodore TeamVodafone Commodore Jim Beam Racing Falcon Jim Beam Racing Falcon VIP Petfoods Commodore Pepsi Max Crew Commodore Mother Energy Racing Team Falcon Lucky 7 Racing Falcon Jana Living Racing Commodore Fujitsu Racing GRM Commodore Irwin Racing Falcon Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore The Bottle-O Racing Team Falcon Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Falcon Stratco Racing Commodore Wilson Security Racing Commodore Gulf Western Oil Racing Commodore Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Commodore Trading Post FPR Falcon Falcon Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore Triple F Racing Falcon Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore

8 2 4 9 14 5 6 3 17 25 EXC 21 10 22 11 13 12 19 1 7 16 27 26 15 20 23 18 24 37

FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5 – BARCELONA, SPAIN

PRESSURE TEST

Lewis Hamilton threw everything he had at Sebastian Vettel in Spain, but the German still took his fourth win from five races

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39

B

EFORE the weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, we knew that Sebastian Vettel could lead from the start and dominate. Now, we know that he can defend hard for a race win as well.

For the first time in 2011, Vettel wasn’t on pole in Spain; that honour went to Mark Webber. And Vettel didn’t even take the lead at Turn 1; that honour went to Fernando Alonso. There were no short-cuts for Vettel in this race. He had to do it the hard way.

Typically, he made the hard way look relatively easy. He took over the lead on his second attempt to undercut Alonso, and once he was in the lead, he kept it. ‘ He did, however, have to withstand awesome late-race pressure from Lewis Hamilton. A longer second stint of the fourstop race saw Hamilton jump Alonso and Webber, and tag onto the back of Vettel. With his KERS working for consistently than Vettel’s, and the long straight offering a delicious DRS zone, Hamilton was in the box seat to breeze past and snatch the win, as he did in China.

But this time Vettel was too well prepared.

The German put on a stunning display of attacking defense in the latter stages of the race, only covering his line when he needed to, and eventually forcing Hamilton to concede the fact that 18 points was all he was taking home from the race – even if the final margin was just 0.6s.

“He tried everything he could,” said Vettel.

“We were in the same boat, just the other way around. We tried to defend, he tried to attack. But I am very happy. It was a lot of fun.

“Ten laps to go I thought my tyres are going off, I am on the primes and Lewis is coming from behind very similar to China.

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This way it was the other way around so I am extremely happy.”

Meanwhile, Hamilton just rued not getting quite close enough.

“I never had an opportunity to overtake. I was quite impressed with the job we were able to do today, myself and Jenson [Button], considering that [Red Bull’s] car is quite a good step faster than ours, particularly in the higher speed [corners].”

Button, meanwhile, ended up third. It was a surprising result for two reasons; one, he had a disaster of a first lap, ending up well back in the pack and seemingly on for a long afternoon.

Secondly, the team opted for a risky three-stop strategy. But it all paid off, with Button able to hold off Webber late in the race to take the final podium spot.

“As soon as I knew we were on that strategy I was happy, looking at what other people were doing,” said Button.

“All weekend we’ve been saying that the prime is a tough tyre and it’s a long way off the option tyre so for me to do a three stop was a no-brainer really, and it worked out pretty well in the end.”

Webber was left in fourth, having jumped Alonso during the final round of stops by staying out for a whopping eight extra laps. As for Alonso, his Ferrari hated the harder tyre, and he faded to a distant fifth, so distant that he was lapped by the leaders.

Behind him, Michael Schumacher took his best result of the season with fifth, Nico Rosberg was sixth, and Nick Heidfeld was seventh, having started at the very back of the grid after a practice fire prevented him from taking part in qualifying.

Team-mates Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi rounded out the Top 10. www.mnews.com.au

Results :: Spanish Grand Prix Pos

Driver

Team

Qual

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

Sebastian Vettel Lewis Hamilton Jenson Button Mark Webber Fernando Alonso Michael Schumacher Nico Rosberg Nick Heidfeld Sergio Perez Kamui Kobayashi Vitaly Petrov Paul di Resta Adrian Sutil Sebastien Buemi Pastor Maldonado Jaime Alguersuari Rubens Barrichello Jarno Trulli Timo Glock Jerome D’Ambrosio Narain Karthikeyan Felipe Massa Heikki Kovalainen Tonio Liuzzi

Red Bull-Renault McLaren-Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes Red Bull-Renault Ferrari Mercedes Mercedes Renault Sauber-Ferrari Sauber-Ferrari Renault Force India-Mercedes Force India-Mercedes Toro Rosso-Ferrari Williams-Cosworth Toro Rosso-Ferrari Williams-Cosworth Lotus-Renault Virgin-Cosworth Virgin-Cosworth HRT-Cosworth Ferrari Lotus-Renault HRT-Cosworth

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

Top 10 Points: Vettel 118, Hamilton 77, Webber 67, Button 61,

Alonso 51, Rosberg 26, Heidfeld 25, Massa 24, Petrov 21, Schumacher 14.

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FORMULA FORD ROUND 2, WINTON, VICTORIA

Dirk Klynsmith

Sonsational

Tasting success at National level for the first time, Matthew Brabham led the way as Sonic Motor Racing Services dominated Formula Ford at Winton. MITCHELL ADAM was there 42

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was very surprised how all of the things went,” Brabham said.

“My first National race of the year, I’m over the moon about it.”

Brabham led early again in Race 2, but was passed by Cameron Waters at the Lap 3 restart, after Jordan Lloyd copped a touch from Tom Goess at Turn 2 on the opening lap and was spat out into the tyres, below. While Waters went on to take the race win, Foster passed Brabham for second, before Jacobson – trying to take third from Brabham – tagged Brabham at Turn 1 on the final lap. That saw Jack LeBrocq break Sonic’s stranglehold on the podium, finishing third ahead of Jacobson and the recovering Brabham.

A downpour before the final race on Sunday afternoon promised an interesting finale to the weekend, and while the majority of the field was well behaved, again, they had no answer for Brabham.

Foster got the jump, but was soon passed

by Brabham, who never looked back. He went on to win by almost 10s in the wet conditions to seal the round win.

“I felt really confident heading into the final race of the weekend because I’ve done a lot of running in the wet recently

and I’ve always been very quick, so I knew I had a great chance to grab another race win,” Brabham said.

“I made a great start and focused on consolidating my position once I made it to the front. It was really slippery, especially with the V8 rubber, so it was just a matter of keeping it on the black stuff and bringing it home.”

Foster ran in second place for the first half of the race, before a pair of offs – including a high-speed ride at Turn 1 – saw him drop to eventually finish 15th.

Waters came home in second place to move into the lead of the championship, ahead of Brabham, Jacobson and Foster in a Sonic 1-2-3-4.

Adelaide round winner Tom Williamson struggled for pace all weekend. Sixth in the wet final was his only points finish for the weekend, and he drops to fifth in the points. As it turned out, CAMS Rising Stars drivers offered the closest challenge to Sonic’s domination, with Trent Harrison taking third in Race 3, ahead of team-mate LeBrocq, who was third for the round.

Points: Waters 71, Brabham 51, Jacobson 45, Foster 44, Williamson 42, Harrison 33, LeBrocq 33

Tristen Murray

John Morris / Mpix

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Dirk Klynsmith

John Morris / Mpix

I

N years gone by in the Australian Formula Ford Championship, a State Series driver contesting a oneoff event at a circuit they know well, and winning, was a regular occurrence.

Since the introduction of the category’s Fiesta engine in 2006, that has become a rarity, but Matthew Brabham brought it back at Winton.

After contesting the 2010 season, Brabham has scaled back his racing in 2011 to focus on his final year of schooling, moving to Sonic Motor Racing Services to contest the Victorian State Series and selected National rounds. Sonic’s test track and the scene of a State round earlier this year, Winton was the first of Brabham’s three scheduled National starts in 2011, and he turned it into a winning cameo.

After taking pole position, the 17-yearold took his Mygale to a comfortable victory in the opening race, leading home a Sonic squash, with team-mates Cameron Waters, Nick Foster and Garry Jacobson completing the top four. It was the third generation racer’s first win at National level.

“We led from start to finish, it’s always the easiest and safest way to do it and I

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AUSTRALIAN GT ROUND 2, WINTON, VICTORIA

The D-Team

When opportunity knocked in Race 2, Dean Grant and Daniel Gaunt answered, teaming up to take the Australian GT honours at Winton, MITCHELL ADAM reports

A

SAFETY Car changed the complexion of Round 2 of the VodkaO Australian GT Championship at Winton.

For most of the weekend, it looked as though Mark Eddy would be the man leaving with the round honours. In the opening 30-minute race, he overran Tony Quinn to score Audi’s maiden win in Australian GT. And he picked up where he left off in Race 2, a one-hour affair for which teams had the option of enlisting a co-driver.

Eddy was among the 44

majority who elected to fly solo, and had the race in the palm of his hand. He’d built a lead early, completed his pitstop and was waiting for the rest of the field to do the same, including race leader Klark Quinn. Then, with about 25 minutes remaining, things changed.

Nick O’Halloran and Stig Richards came together at the second-last corner and the Safety Car was called into action. Quinn pitted immediately, and with Eddy completing a slow lap behind the Safety Car, emerged with

the race lead. Meanwhile, Porsche GT3 Cup S drivers Dean Grant and Marc Cini pitted, handing over to Daniel Gaunt and Craig Baird, respectively.

Racing resumed with about 15 minutes remaining, with Quinn leading Eddy, Greg Crick, Gaunt, Ash Samadi, O’Halloran and Baird, before Carrera Cup drivers Gaunt and Baird made their moves. Eddy was unable to get past Quinn, but Gaunt had no such troubles, passing Crick, before putting moves on Eddy and Quinn on

consecutive laps at Turn 9 to move into the lead.

From there, Gaunt never looked back, going on to win by seven seconds and secure the round win, series regular Grant’s first in Australian GT. “You sort of dream of that scenario and it came through, the Safety Car bunched us all up,” Gaunt said.

“Dean had done a really good job in the Saturday race to finish third and did what he needed to do in the long race.

We put a couple of rear tyres on it for my stint and with the motorsport news

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Dirk Klynsmith John Morris / Mpix

Mark Eddy, top, won the opener, while the Quinns had mixed fortunes. Klark, above, grabbed a pair of seconds, while Tony’s weekend went downhill after leading early in Race 1, below.

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opener meant Baird and Cini didn’t feature in the round results. Eddy was philosophical about the Safety Car costing him a likely victory, and pleased with the form of his R8.

“The timing was perfect for Quinny, but that’s motorsport,” he said.

“The car was quick and we proved that in Race 1 with a pretty comfortable victory.

Today, we were cruising around, with a pretty comfortable lead and the Safety Car came out.

I suppose the guys with two drivers were a bit fresher, able

Rob Lang

Dirk Klynsmith

Safety Car coming into it, it was a good race “I knew Bairdo was coming.

It’s a pretty difficult track to pass, but I felt strong at the top of the track, so once I did it once, to pass Eddy, I knew I could give it a crack and do it again.”

Quinn held on to take second and continues to lead the championship after winning the season opener in Adelaide in March, while Baird put a late move on Eddy to claim third for the race, but a mechanical problem in the

to get a bit more out of their cars, whether their tyres were a little better, I don’t know.

I’m still happy with how the weekend went.”

Crick finished fifth, ahead of Peter Edwards, Samadi and O’Halloran, who shared his Ferrari F430 with Jason Richards. Richards was the only ‘Pro’ to start Sunday’s race, and moved from ninth to third in his stint.

Tony Quinn dropped to third with a differential problem on Saturday, but was later penalised 30-seconds after

officials deemed he’d jumped the start, dropping him to seventh. Without a spare diff, he was an onlooker on Sunday. Fellow Aston Martin driver Ben Eggleston also struck mechanical problems, a transmission failure ending his race on Sunday, after finishing fourth on Saturday.

GT Debutant Lindsay Yelland was the best of the Challenge Class competitors, finishing 10th outright in each race in a Ginetta G50.

Points: K. Quinn 220, Eddy 208, Grant 197, Crick 196, Samadi 186 45

FORMULA 3 ROUND 1, WINTON, VICTORIA

Winslow Wins Winton

J

AMES Winslow made his 32,000km round trip to Winton worthwhile, taking out the opening round of the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship.

The Englishman is contesting the Indy Lights Series in America, but jetted back to Australia for four days to return to the championship he won in 2008. After landing in Melbourne on Thursday from Indianapolis, he got down to business with R-Tek Motorsport, narrowly missing pole position in a tight top three headed by John Margo. Winslow booked a front row start, just 0.0184s behind Magro, with Bryce Moore only 0.0679s from pole in third.

When racing got underway, Winslow nailed the start and proceeded to control the opener, winning by three seconds from Magro and resetting F3’s long-standing Winton lap record, which had been set by Michael Caruso in 2003. Magro had to resist pressure from Moore for much of the race in a fight for 46

second, before Moore had an off at the final corner, although he recovered to third.

In his 100th Aussie F3 race, Chris Gilmour took fourth, but didn’t make one of his customary speedy starts, instead making a meal of it and dropping a number of places. Gilmour returned to starting form in Race 2, though, jumping from fourth to second behind Winslow, who drove into the distance to win with a 16 second advantage over Gilmour. With the scheduled third race cancelled due to a late storm on Sunday afternoon, Winslow headed back to the US on Monday for this week’s Lights race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a pair of wins and the points lead.

“These cars are just really good fun to drive, it’s a good series and I’m just really happy to come back and show my support,” Winslow said.

“It was a really good weekend. All of the R-Tek boys gave me a motorsport news

race Dirk Klynsmith James Smith

Bryce Moore, above, is second in the series ahead of Chris Gilmour, below, who made his 100th F3 start.

Steel Guiliana, Josh Burdon and Ben Gersekowski battled it out for National Class honours, bottom.

www.mnews.com.au

Dirk Klynsmith

good car, they had to change a couple of things to suit my slightly different driving style, but we got there.”

Moore finished third in Race 2, despite copping an early touch from Magro at Turn 12, which ended Magro’s race. With a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race, Moore sits second in the points, ahead of Gilmour.

“It’s a long season and we’ve had good speed this weekend which is promising,” Moore said, “it’s a long season ahead – bring on Darwin.”

Steel Guiliana and Ben Gersekowski split the National Class honours from the two contested races. Guiliana topped the class in qualifying and Race 1 ahead of team-mate Josh Burdon, before Gersekowski bounced back from an opening race off to lead home Burdon and Guiliana in the second.

Points: Winslow 25, Moore 17, Gilmour 16, Guiliana 11, Burdon 11, Gersekowski 10

Peter Bury

James Winslow made a winning return to Australian F3, cleaning up in the season opener at Winton.

MITCHELL ADAM watched it

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AUSSIE RACING CARS ROUND 3, WINTON, VICTORIA

Yo Adrian, you did it!

Not even wild weather could stop Adrian Cottrell from bagging a pair of wins and round honours at Winton

W

ITH a pair of wins to his name, Adrian Cottrell claimed the weekend honours in Round 3 of the Aussie Racing Cars Super Series.

After qualifying sixth, Cottrell made his way up to second in the opening race, finishing between victor Peter Carr and 2010 Champ Kyle Clews, who recovered after being turned around in the early stages of the 12-lapper.

Carr made it a double in Race 2, leading home Clews, Tyler 48

Owen, Cottrell and Simon Smith, but the remaining two races were all Cottrell.

An early shower on Sunday morning presented a greasy track for the start of Race 3, with Cottrell mastering the conditions to lead home Paul Kemal and Carr. But those conditions were nothing on the final, which was held later in the day, amid heavy rain and fading light.

While many drivers found trouble, Cottrell was untouchable, taking out the shortened race over Owen

and Smith to secure the round honours. Carr was second for the weekend ahead of Owen, with their title rival Clews failing to finish the wet final.

Bathurst round winner Carr now shares the lead of the series with Owen, with Cottrell and Clews equal on points behind them.

Smith, Master’s Cup winner Grant Ludbey and Sheridan Phillips finished fourth, fifth and sixth overall, ahead of former Sports Sedan driver Trent Young. Making his circuit racing debut, karter David

Sera was 17th, 13th and 15th in the opening three races, but made impressive progress in the rain to finish fifth in Race 4.

Another Aussie Racing Car newcomer, former openwheel and Carrera Cup driver, Barton Mawer’s weekend went the other way. After going from 14th to fourth in Race 3, he joined a long list of retirees in Race 4.

Points: Carr 146, Owen 146, Cottrell 143, Clews 143, Smith 137, Ludbey 132, Kemal 130, Maurice Masini 128 motorsport news

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James Smith John Morris / Mpix

John Morris / Mpix

Peter Carr, top, won the first two races, while 2010 champion Kyle Clews had a mixed weekend, which included being turned around in Race 1, above. David Sera was fifth in the rapture-like conditions of Race 4, below left, while Tyler Owen, below, shares the points lead with Carr.

Rob Lang

John Morris / Mpix

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INDYCAR 2011 INDIANAPOLIS 500 QUALIFYING

In Black and White His own team may have shut down in the off-season but Alex Tagliani rewarded his new team owner Sam Schmidt with pole for the 100th anniversary Indy 500.

MARY MENDEZ reportson a gripping qualifying weekend

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IndyCar Media

A

LEX Tagliani has emerged from a dramatic weekend of qualifying on top and will start the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 from pole position.

Tagliani, who has been fast all week at the Speedway, achieved a 228 mph lap in the morning practice session, had to prove himself again in the Fast Nine Shoot Out. Tagliani was fastest in regular qualifying with a 226.954 mph average so the team hoped the rain would stay. But the track dried out by about 5:30 PM, making it possible for the Pole Shoot Out where each of the top nine drivers were given one more qualifying run. Tagliani proved he truly deserved the Pole with a 227.472 mph average, four-lap run.

“We know what we have,” said Tagliani about his car and crediting his talented engineer, Alan MacDonald (formerly at Andretti) as having a true calming effect.

“You never have a clean lap in practice. There’s always turbulence. You ask what can you do by yourself? I have an amazing crew who believes in me and we are playing in the big leagues. Sam Schmidt got involved in this team and believed in what we built last year.”

Schmidt, a former racer now confined to a wheelchair, showed that his team can take on, and beat, some of the sport’s biggest players. His outfit adapted superbly to the track’s changing conditions,

Honda Racing

www.mnews.com.au

Your Tag is showing: Alex T was fast in practice and backed it up, big time, when it came to get qualifying at the Speedway. He is the first Canadian to qualifying up from for the famous race.

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and backing up Tagliani is Townsend Bell, who will start the race from fourth.

Scott Dixon and Will Power flew the flags of New Zealand and Australia high. Dixon will start second between Tagliani and Oriol Servia, and Power will start fifth, inside former race winner Dan Wheldon.

But the truth is, both Ganassi Racing and Team Penske struggled. Dixon’s car coughed on the run to complete his four-lap run and, unbelievably, team-mate Dario Franchitti also ran short of fuel on his run. The Scot will start ninth.

“To run a guy out of gas like that is inexcusable,” said a clearly team owner, Chip Ganassi.

“With 40 cars all trying to qualify it caught some people out,” explained Dixon. “You may see some cars going to the back in the race if the team hasn’t worked on race set up and you may see some cars that didn’t qualify that will moving up. I needed about ¼ to ½ gallon more fuel. Dario probably needed another two gallons. He lost six or seven positions. It must be pretty exciting back in the team transporter right now.”

Power looks to be one of the best hopes for a win, after showing speed all week and backing it up in qualifying.

“I’m very happy for Tagliani because they’ve done a great job,” explained Power, surprised by Team Penske’s unusual results.

“It was a good day in the

end. The cars weren’t bad as far as handling goes. We just weren’t that fast. It was tough going around here when you are wide open. We took all the downforce off. There’s nothing much else you can do. My racecar is quite good and we’ll work more on it tomorrow. We’ve spent most of our time working on race set up rather than qualifying.”

Ryan Briscoe will start 26th, having to qualify on Sunday in his T-car after a major practice shunt. Former winner Helio Castroneves will start 16th.

The team that really battled all week was Andretti Autosport. It took Danica Patrick until 4:49pm, 70 minutes before the end of qualifying, to make the field – and in doing so, she put Marco Andretti on the bubble. He was bumped out when Alex Lloyd made the race with only seven minutes left, at which time Andretti was second in line. He made it on to the track with one minute to go and averaged 224.628mph to start 28th – but in making the field, he bumped out Andretti’s Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Ups and Downs: From main pic; Patrick Carpentier was brought late and ended up in the wall. Ryan Hunter-Reay, right, was bumped at quite literally the last minute. . Ryan Briscoe and Will Power made the field and so did Paul Tracy, below.

Honda Racing

Honda Racing

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2011 Indianapolis 500 Starting Grid

IndyCar Media IndyCar Media

Alex Tagliani Scott Dixon Oriol Servia

Can NZ Esp

Sam Schmidt 227.472 Ganassi 227.340 Newman Haas 227.168

4 5 6

Townsend Bell Will Power Dan Wheldon

USA Aus GB

Sam Schmidt 226.887 Penske 226.773 Herta Autosport 226.490

7 8 9

Buddy Rice USA Ed Carpenter USA Dario Franchitti GB

Panther Sarah Fisher Ganassi

225.786 225.121 226.379

10 11 12

Takuma Sato Vitor Meira JR Hildebrand

KV AJ Foyt Panther

225.736 225.590 225.579

13 14 15

James Hinchcliffe Can Bertrand Baguette B Davey Hamilton USA

Newman Haas 225.572 Rahal Letterman 225.285 D&R 225.250

16 17 18

Helio Castroneves Br John Andretti USA EJ Viso Ven

Penske Andretti KV

225.216 224.981 224.732

19 20 21

Bruno Junqueira Br Justin Wilson GB Jay Howard GB

AJ Foyt D&R Schmidt

224.691 224.511 224.483

22 23 24

Tomas Scheckter RSA Tony Kanaan Br Simona de SilvestroSw

SH Racing KV HVM

224.433 224.417 224.392

25 26 27

Paul Tracy Danica Patrick Ryan Briscoe

Can USA Aus

D&R Andretti Penske

224.939 224.861 224.639

28 29 30

Marco Andretti USA Charlie Kimball USA Graham Rahal USA

Andretti Ganassi Ganassi

224.628 224.499 224.380

31 32 33

Alex Lloyd Pippa Mann Ana Beatriz

Coyne Conquest D&R

223.957 223.936 223.879

J Br USA

GB GB Br

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Honda Racing

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1 2 3

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NASCAR SPRINT ALL STAR RACE - CHARLOTTE, NC

Sta

Carl Edwards ad mantelpiece and a dominant win FORD Media

FORD Media

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motorsport news

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arry Eyed

dded an All Star trophy to Jack Roush’s d a million dollars to his bank account with at Charlotte. MARTIN D CLARK was there

C

ARL Edwards won his first Sprint All Star Race on Saturday night.

Greg Biffle won the first 50lap segment almost flag-toflag after he took the lead from pole sitter Kyle Busch on lap four and led through the mandatory lap-25 pit stops.

Biffle’s Roush Fenway teammate Edwards started on pole in the next 20-lap segment by virtue of a two tyre pit stop and passed Jimmie Johnson

for the lead to head 14 of the 20 laps.

Busch drove from the outside front row in the third segment, taking the lead from Edwards before Carl retook the lead with four laps to run and Shining stars: Carl Edwards pocketed the million bucks – some of which will help to pay for the damage his car sustained after he crashed during his post-race burnout.

NASCAR Media

www.mnews.com.au

55

head that 20-lap segment.

Following a 10-minute break for adjustments, the teams left pit road under caution and then headed back for a mandatory fourtyre change, with Edwards the leader off pit road followed

by Busch, Biffle, Matt Kenseth and David Reutimann.

The final 10-lap shoot out is supposed to be exciting.

Unfortunately the only thing about Edwards’ flag-to-flag victory was his attempt at a

burnout, which started in the grass and ended with the car on a wrecker. When Edwards slid across the wet grass he hit a drain cover and his car went airborne, nosing back down into the grass with heavy front end damage including a broken radiator.

“I feel so bad about tearing up the car,” said Edwards, “but Bob Osborne (crew chief ) told me not to worry and that we had a faster one for next week.”

The $1 million Edwards won

FORD Media

Anguish for Ambrose FORD Media

DAVID Ragan (below) passed Brad Keselowski in the closing laps to win the Sprint Showdown qualifying event, held over two 20 lap segments.

But it was a case of oh-soclose for Marcos Ambrose. The Aussie came home third with a strong looking Ford just a little too late in the closing laps. The first two drivers from the race advance to the All Star event, so it was the Roush and Penske drivers who made it through.

“That stings finishing third and missing a chance for a million bucks to win the big race,” Ambrose said.

“We were the fastest car at the end, so we learned a lot, we were just unlucky.

Ambrose headed his Petty team-mate AJ Allmendinger and Joey Logano home. Dale Earnhardt Jr finished sixth and was – surprise, surprise – the driver voted in via texting to the All Star Race.

NASCAR Media

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motorsport news

race for his trouble should have covered the damage.

Busch held for second followed by Reutimann, Tony Stewart and Biffle.

The All Star race started out as a great idea but over time, the event has turned into a non-event, and is need of a serious makeover. A shorter, sharper and less predictable format would be a good place to start.

Results :: Sprint All Star Race Pos. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No. 99 18 00 14 16 17 11 6 29 39

Driver Carl Edwards Kyle Busch David Reutimann Tony Stewart Greg Biffle Matt Kenseth Denny Hamlin David Ragan Kevin Harvick Ryan Newman

Make Ford Toyota Toyota Chevrolet Ford Ford Toyota Ford Chevrolet Chevrolet

Team Roush Fenway Joe Gibbs Waltrip Stewart Haas Roush Fenway Roush Fenway Joe Gibbbs Roush Fenway Childress Stewart Hass

Sponsor Aflac Now Hiring M&Ms Aaron’s Dream Machine Burger King 3M Crown Royal FedEx Express UPS We Love Logistics Budweiser/Realtree Haas Automation

Qual.

4 1 18 6 3 13 15 19 14 10

TOYOTA Media

FORD Media

Channeling Brambilla: Carl Edwards managed to top the legendary Vittorio Brambilla for the world’s silliest victory celebration crash, centre left.

Jimmie Johnson borrowed Mark Martin’s number 5 for the All Stars event, centre right. David Reutimann down low on Denny Hamlin, left. Kyle Busch and Clint Boyer at the start.

TOYOTA Media

NEED TO JOIN A CAR CLUB TO GET YOUR CAMS LICENSE? No matter what car you drive, Formula Ford Association membership is a cost effective way to get you on track.

CLICK TO FIND OUT MORE> www.mnews.com.au

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GP2 IT was an all Addax affair in Race 1 of the GP2 series at Barcelona, with Charles Pic leading home teammate Geido van der Garde. Fabio Leimer meanwhile got one back for his Rapax squad by taking out Race 2 at the Catalan circuit.

Brilliant strategy saw Pic sprint ahead of his pole sitting teammate and iSport’s Sam Bird in the pit stops; after he elected to change only two tyres while his rivals changed four. Pic held onto the lead until the end of the race, with Bird eventually

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LEIMER AND PIC WIN GP2 AT BARCELONA

settling for third behind van der Garde. Romain Grosjean meanwhile was excluded from the official results after failing a post-race ride height test.

Starting Race 1 from the tail of the grid, Leimer managed to drive through the field to finish ninth, only to inherit pole for Race 2 after Grosjean’s penalty. Leimer then held his own during Race 2, finishing a massive 10-seconds ahead of Dani Clos in second, with Marcus Ericsson taking the final step of the podium.

–CALLUM BRANAGAN

EVANS BREAKS THROUGH FOR FIRST GP3 WIN GP3 MW Arden’s Mitch Evans has taken his first win of the GP3 series in commanding fashion at Barcelona, leading the race from start to finish without a serious challenge from his rivals.

Tamas Pal Kiss meanwhile joined Evans to take his maiden GP3 win during Race 2 on Sunday.

New Zealander Evans recovered from a lacklustre start from

pole position in Race 1 to retain the lead through out the 16-lap affair ahead of James Calado and Aaro Vainio.

Mirroring the efforts of Evans in Race 2 was Kiss. Starting strongly, Kiss took the lead heading into the first turn where he would remain unchallenged. Kiss finished ahead of Nigel Melker in second and Dean Smith in third.

Evans would finish the second race in fifth position.

–CALLUM BRANAGAN

OUTSTANDING PIT DISPLAYS BY OCTANORM MANY OTHER DISPLAY OPTIONS AVAILABLE PLEASE CALL US TO DISCUSS REQUIREMENTS

SYDNEY (02) 9556 6012 MELBOURNE (03) 9394 3150

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Paris Charles

EKINS AHEAD IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY SPEEDWAY WHILE the majority of Australian Speedways have well and truly come to the end of their respective seasons and the competitors put their machines back in the sheds, Darwin’s Northline Speedway exploded into action on Saturday night as the boys and girls fired up their machines for the first time in anger to kick off the 2011 Speedway season at the first class presented Northline Speedway, located in the Hidden Valley Motorsport Complex.

www.mnews.com.au

Veteran racer Warrenne Ekins made every post a winner aboard his NT11 Maxwill powered Murphy to claim the twelve-lap Open Sprintcar Feature race over Alan Barlee. Both Ekins and Barlee showed a polished display of fast racing after their recent visits to the southern states for the summer events. Jamie McInnes meanwhile claimed the third and final step on the podium. Barlee and McIness chalked up a heat victory each.

Rounding out the top half dozen was Nick Halkitas, Adam Courtman and Glen Higgins.

Also on the program was Round 1 of the Darwin 360 Sprintcars Track Championship. Adam King got his season off to the best start possible, claiming the victory over Halkitas who raced in both Sprintcar classes. Rounding out the podium was Peter McIver who made a welcome return to competition after several seasons away from the cockpit.

Following McIver to the chequered flag was up and comer lady racer Kristie Power.

Heat races were shared between King and Jason McIver, son of Peter.

–PARIS CHARLES

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MIEDECKE IMPRESSES AUSSIES OVERSEAS AUSTRALIA’S next NASCAR hopeful George Miedecke has enjoyed a shining debut in the ARCA Series at the ModSpace 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park to finish second overall.

Driving for the Marcos Ambrose Motorsport outfit, Miedecke dominated the program to lead 40 out of 60 laps. Unfortunate for Midecke however, the last lap wasn’t one of them, losing the lead to eventual winner Andrew Ranger.

Miedecke was disappointed to come so close, but was still happy with second for his weekend efforts.

"It was a great experience stepping up to the ARCA Series, it's just a shame that the lapped traffic didn't give me any room at the end," Miedecke said.

"After a late race caution I was able to break away with a bit of a margin, but Andrew had the better car in the closing stages; it just sucks that we couldn't have a clean fight between the two of us to the finish.”

Team Principal Marcos Ambrose was suitably impressed with Miedecke’s efforts at New Jersey.

"George did a great job out there, to earn a top result amongst such tough competition simply can't be ignored," Ambrose said.

"ARCA cars are the next best thing to a Nationwide Series car, they're big, they're fast, they have 850 horsepower, and they're hard to drive.

“The form that George has shown in Late Model competition and now in ARCA will definitely get people talking."

–CALLUM BRANAGAN.

THE WITTMANN FOR THE JOB INT’L FORMULA 3

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GERMANY’S Marco Wittmann has dominated his Formula 3 brethren to win the 70th running of the Pau GP on the weekend.

The extent to which Wittmann dominated was clear for all to see as he took a commanding pole position in qualifying, and the fastest lap of the race en-route to leading every lap of the Pau Grand Prix in his Signature prepared Dallara Volkswagen.

Wittmann was obviously delighted with his weekend out in Pau. "I had fastest lap in practice, qualifying and the race, you

can't do any better," said Wittmann.

"I am really happy to win this race, because it's a little bit like Macau in terms of prestige.”

Fast starting Robert Merhi looked like a good candidate to challenge Wittmann early on, but fell short of defeating the German by a grand margin of 15-seconds, taking second for the weekend.

Merhi’s Prema teammate Daniel Juncadella too looked ominous early on in the Grand Prix, but had to settle for third place, eventually missing out on Merhi’s second place by a meagre two-tenths of a second.

–CALLUM BRANAGAN

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BUSCH WINS AS KIMI DEBUTS NASCAR KYLE Busch took his 97th career win in NASCAR’s top three divisions at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Friday night, joining the late Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip on the 97-race wins list.

After spinning on Lap 52, Busch passed fellow Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer

for the win with seven laps remaining – the only time he led all night.

Rookie Cole Whitt finished third and takes over the points lead. Whitt is a Red Bull Racing development driver, and will run his first Nationwide race at Charlotte this Saturday. If he keeps his performance up, expect to see him in a Red Bull Sprint Cup car in 2012.

Kimi Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut in the Truck race, qualifying his Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 31st.

The 31-year-old former F1 champion scrubbed the wall in practice, and again on Lap 5 of the race, fighting an extremely loose truck throughout the event. He held on to finish a solid 15th in the 36-truck field.

Current series champion Todd Bodine hit the wall after spinning out early, and former champion Ron Hornaday spun under the same loose conditions.

By comparison, another former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr finished 21st, this being his second season of Truck Series competition.

– MARTIN D CLARK

BARTELS BLASTS THE BLANCPAIN BUNCH SPORTS CARS Reigning FIA GT1 World Champion Michael Bartels took his maiden GT3 win on Sunday by winning Round 2 of the new Blancpain Endurance Series at Navarra in Northern Spain.

Bartels, who runs the Vita4one Racing Team, scored the maiden win for the new Ferrari 458 Italia after mechanical gremlins struck the cars at the opening race at Monza. His German co-driver Frank Kechele started on the front row but it was Stephan Ortelli in the pole-sitting Audi R8 LMS who led the opening laps with Gianluca Roda’s Monza-winning AutOrlando Sport Porsche running behind. www.mnews.com.au

Ortelli pulled away as Roda had to defend from Kechele who in turn was under pressure from the SOFREV-backed Ferraris of Ludovic Badey and Julian Jousse.

Kechele eventually found a way past Roda and then forced a way past Ortelli as the first safety car period came and deprived Ortelli a chance of building up a lead. With Kechele having relayed Nico Verdonck, the young Belgian was able to assume the lead after the safety car period and build a lead while Ortelli’s co-driver Bert Longin struggled for pace as the temperatures went up. The Audi seemed quicker in cooler temperatures and Longin fell to fourth behind the sister car of Marcel Fassler.

Bartels took over from Verdonck and

had an easy run to the flag while, Paulo Ruberti’s AutOrlando Sport Porsche was picked off by a charging Filipe Albuquerque who had bagged pole position for Audi.

GT4 honours looked to be going to Leo Mansell/Greg Mansell/Edoardo Piscopo (Lotus Evora GT4) as they were a lap clear but then a gearbox problem cost them three laps and they fell to third in class.

Honours went to the similar car of Lorenz Frey, ex-WTCC racer Freddy Barth and Rolf Maritz who was a regular in Group 5 Porsches in the late 1970s.

The next round of the championship is the Spa 24 Hours, an event that Bartels is determined to win.

–DAVID ADDISON 61

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motorsport news

ODD SPOT!

rear of grid

Carl-nage at Charlotte

Ford Racing

CARL Edwards; All Star Race winner, tick. Stunt Driver, not so much.

The dimpled one cleaned up at Charlotte on Saturday night, taking the non-points race win and celebrating in traditional style.

Problem is, his burnout started on the grass, which made it hard for him to see, and miss, an infield manhole cover.

His Roush Fenway Ford was pretty much wrecked, so he will probably have to run a fresh one in this weekend’s Sprint Cup race. Winning US$1.2m on the weekend probably makes that a little easier ...

ON THIS DAY 23 MAY 1982 FOR bizarre finishes to a Grand Prix, you can’t go past the 1982 Monaco GP. Brabham’s Riccardo Patrese took his first win, but only after he spun out of the lead with a few laps left. Earlier Renault’s drivers, first Rene Arnoux and then Alain Prost, both crashed, separately, while leading, Didier Pironi ran out of fuel and Andrea de Cesaris and Derek Daly also crashed! Pironi was classified second and Patrese drove back to the start-finish line and asked who had won … only to be told he had. In one of the classic calls of all time, Murray and James had a ball with that one.

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