FRENCH AFFAIR:PREMAT'S AUSSIE V8SUPERCARS CULTURESHOCK 0
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o visit to Mount Panorama is complete without a stop at the National Motor Racing Museum,right beside the track at M\Sffa^& Corner,Inside you’ll find a constantly-changing array of vehaii^^l made their mark on not only Mount Panorama,but Australian iftotof^(^PiWl^i^M^SHH| The main hall is packed with not just touring cars, but open-wheelers, offascinating memorabilia - trophies, driving suite,leathers, helmets,posters Ti^se a break in the 40-seat theathrette and watch the videos covering the of racing on Mount Panorama since 1938,and the just-released version on the hisl^^^^S^H^ motorcycle racing at the track. Enjoy a coffee and check out the museum shop.It’s packed woth official yearn merchanl^^B books,video and collectables. Naturally, any visit to Mount Panorama is not complete withoial^ spin around the famous circuit itself - just remember to obey the 60 km/h speed limit! Bathurst is just two and a half hour’s drive from Sydney,so there’s no need to wait until the next race meeting - make it a memorable day trip any time.The whole family will love the experience.
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PHONE (02) 6332 1872^ax (02) 6332 3349 Web: www.nmrm.com.au It
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Editorial Group Editor Steve Normoyle snormoyle@ichevron.com.au Assistant Editor Mitchell Adam mitchell@mnews.com.au At Large Phil Branagan
Editorial Enquiries
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Contributing Writers
Mark Glendenning, Andrew van Leeuwen, Lachlan Mansell, Geoff Rounds, Paul Carruthers, Bruce Moxon
Photography
THIS MONTH’S FEATURES
The Grid r
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THENEWUON KING
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Results in recent times haven't matched the Holden Racing Team's lofty ambitions. We spoke with their new chief, Steve Hallam about rebuilding
Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, John Morris, Andrew Hall,James Smith, Geoff Grade, Phil Williams, Peter Bury, Michael Vettas, Ken Ferguson Paul Carruthers, Rob Lang
Art Director Chris Currie
Advertising Advertising Director Chris West cwest@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6376 M 0416125 252 National Sales Manager Luke Finn lfinn@chevron.com.au P 02 9901 6368 M 0423 665 384
Most V8Supetcgr drivers come from the DevelopmentSeries, not the DIM.We met up'with Alex Preifiat tO)discuss his new career path
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Chairman, Chevron; Ray Berghouse Circulation Director: Carole Jones Subscriptions; www.mnews.com.au
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Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 Chief Executive Officer, David Gardiner Commercial Director, Bruce Duncan Motorsport News is published by nextmedia Ply Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6,207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065 ® 2012. All rights reserved. Motorsport News is printed by CaxtonWeb, distributed by Network Distribution. No part of this 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. Privacy Policy We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Motorsport News, this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590.
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Johnny Herbert's enjoyed a long and successful career, especially in light of an early setback. We caught up with him to look back
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Unusual Suspects
j He's hardly a 'rookie', bat I Simon Pagenaudrs turning ; heads in his first fulltime j IndyCarseason
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Ring Ring A look at the 2012 Nurburgring 24 Hour through the lens ofa first-time visitor
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Parks and Renovation
He's worked with some of the best in the business in Formula 7 and NASCAR. Now, the straight-talking Steve Hallam is at the helm of the Walkinshaw Racing empire.
We check out the revamped and renamed Sydney Motorsport Park 72
Having a Ping Meet Brendon Pingel, a second-generation driver impressing in Aussie Racing Cars
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Looking Veally good Victorian youngster Jamie Veal is making waves in Australian Sprintcar racing
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Zapp Attack John Zappia now has a fifth Top Doorslammer title, but he's not done yet...
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Getting Territorial We preview the 2012 Australian Sprint Kart Nationals, being run in Darwin for the first time
For his final edition as a Motorsport News fulltimer, Mitchell Adam spoke to a French driver and a Swiss team owner. His nextstop? Europe. How's that for synergy?
He rhay be French, butSimon Pagenaud was dubbed 'Aussie Pag'during the Team Australia Champ Car days. Since then, he's finished on the podium in a V8 Supercar race and sent Alex Premat down under.
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You may not know Marcel Stawiczny by name, but we guarantee you're going to love his photos from the 2012 Nurburgring 24 Hour. www.mnews.com.au
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THE FRONT ROW since we last met
FORMULA 1 The 2012 Formula 1 season boasts seven different winners from the first seven races,following victories to Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Webber became the first Australian to win the Monaco Grand Prix twice with a controlled, start-to-finish performance. In the end,the top four were covered by just 1.3 seconds,Webber followed over the line by Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. A fortnight later, Hamilton stormed home to victory on a two-stop strategy. While Alonso and early leader Vettel attempted to complete a one-stopper, Hamilton committed to the strategy early and used the fresher rubber perfectly. Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez completed the podium, with Vettel eventually making another stop to secure fourth, ahead of Alonso. Webber was a quiet seventh, with Daniel Ricciardo 14th. Hamilton now holds a two-point advantage at the top of the standings over Alonso, with Vettel a further point behind. Webber sits fourth, nine behind Hamilton.
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V8 SUPERCARS Will Davison headed north to Hidden Valley with a slender lead in the V8 Supercar Championship Series,following another dramatic weekend at Phillip Island. Davison's Ford Performance Racing team-mate Mark Winterbottom won the Saturday race and moved into the championship lead, after Davison and fellow title contender Jamie Whincup came together atTurn 4 late in the piece.That clash followed a frenetic Safety Car restart, with Davison forced wide atTurn 3 while dicing with Tim Slade. Unable to stop his car on the grass, he cannoned into an unlucky Whincup atTurn 4. The very next day,though, Davison made amends, holding off a late charge from Craig Lowndes to win, with Jason Bright third. In claiming FPR's seventh-straight win, and with Whincup and Winterbottom fifth and sixth respectively, Davison reclaimed a 10-point advantage at the top of the standings over Whincup.
Victories at Le Mans and Barcelona have seen Jorge Lorenzo extend his buffer at the top of the MotoGP standings. In France, Lorenzo led home Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner, but it was the Australian attracting all of the headlines, having announced before the race that he'd retire at the end of the year. With Dani Pedrosa second, it was a Spanish 1 -2 on home soil a fortnight later. Andrea Dovizioso was third, with Stoner fourth. After five rounds, Lorenzo holds a 20-point advantage over Stoner.
QUICK QUIZ QUIZ QUESTIONS 1. Before moving to Australia to become Walkinshaw Racing’s Managing Director, with which NASCAR team did Steve Hallam work? 2. Which of the following championships has Alexandre Premat 6
not won? Formula Three Euroseries, A1 Grand Prix or Le Mans Series? 3. Before Premat, who was the last proper international i.e. not counting New Zealanders- to race fulltime in the V8 Supercar Championship Series? 4. When did Eastern Creek Raceway -
yes,Sydney Motorsport Park - open? 5. V8 Supercars will return to the Sydney circuit in August for the first time since 2008- who won that round? And why was it significant? QUIZ ANSWERS ON PAGE 98
motorsport news
NEWS OF THE MONTH TEAMNODAFONE
INDYCAR Will Power continues to lead the IndyCar standings, despite his winning streak coming to an end. Power headed to the Indy 500 having won three-straight races, but was eliminated in an incident when Mike Conway rejoined the race with a damaged front wing. Dario Franchitti, pictured, survived a last-lap dive from Takuma Sato to win, while Ryan Briscoe was fifth after starting on pole. Having been second to team-mate Franchitti at Indy, Scott Dixon reversed the Ganassi 1-2 at Detroit a week later. Power was fourth, with Briscoe a troubled 16th. Briscoe, though, returned to the podium at Texas,taking third behind Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal. Power was eighth after a controversial penalty for blocking, but retains a 36-point lead over Dixon in the standings.
This will be the last season of'TeamVodafone', with Vodafone Hutchison Australia to cease its title sponsorship ofTriple Eight at the end of the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship Series. Vodafone joined T8 at the beginning of 2007 and the decision to withdraw was accompanied by news it would end its sponsorship arrangements with Cricket Australia.
LOWNDES GETS 0AM It wasn't all bad news forTriple Eight- Craig Lowndes was among those recognised in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List. Lowndes received a Medal ofthe Order of Australia in the General Division,for"service to motor racing and to the community, particularly through road safety education programs and charitable organisations".
BREAKING BACK Greg Murphy is set to be out of action until the Sandown 500 in September. Murphy injured his back in a crash with Jono Webb in Adelaide in March,and missed the following round at Symmons Plains. Further surgery is required and he'll miss the next three months of competition, "Despite the discectomy procedure I had after Clipsal,the disc has continued to rupture and I've been in a fair amount of pain and discomfort this week,"said Murphy. "I need to get the vertebrae fused to sort this once and for all and while it means I'll be out of the car for the next three months, I expect to be 100% and back racing for the Pepsi Max Crew here in Australia and Mike Pero Racing in New Zealand by the end of September." Kelly Racing endurance driver David Russell replaced Murphy in the Pepsi Max Commodore in Darwin.
FORD’S FOUR PLAY
WORLD RALLY C’SHIP Sebastien Loeb claimed his fourth win ofthe 2012 World Rally Championship in Greece. Loeb continued his march towards a ninth crown with a 40 second victory over Citroen team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, but the Acropolis Rally wasn't quite that simple. Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala was just 2.2s behind Loeb on Saturday morning, but a puncture ended his push for victory. The next day, Petter Solberg closed to within 10s of Loeb, before he crashed out of contention. Loeb then had to survive a puncture of his own, but had done enough to lead home Hirvonen, with Latvala third.
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Ford Performance Racing will field a fourth entry from the start of the 2013 V8 Supercar Championship Series. Charlie Schwerkolt will take his Racing Entitlements contract to FPR in a'multi-year agreement;to run alongside the two factory Falcons and Rod Nash Racing's entry. Schwerkolt's licence is ■currently in use at Dick Johnson Racing, with James Moffat's Falcon, a legacy of Schwerkolt's former ownership stake in the team. A driver for 2013 is yet to be named, but FPR's Dunlop Series hotshoe Chaz Mostert heads the list of early contenders. "I am very pleased to align myself with FPR as for me it is by far the best place to position my licence for 2013 and beyond." Schwerkolt said. "This sport is about people and FPR seem to have the right mix throughout the whole team. I believe whoever ends up driving my car will be in one ofthe best seats possible on the grid."
NOT A ROLLING STONE
Shane van Gisbergen is staying put at Stone Brothers Racing. The flying Kiwi has signed a new, three-year deal with Ross and Jim Stone that will see him remain with 5BR until the end of 2015. Title sponsor on his entry, SP Tools, is also locked in for the duration.
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