Auto Action #1838 by Auto Action

ROD NASH: TICKFORD’S BEHIND THE SCENES POWERPLAYER

CAN WE

WIN? ABSOLUTELY SAYS LOWNDES

I’M NOT DONE YET

LOWNDES STILL CHASING THAT ELUSIVE 8TH WIN

INDIGENOUS DESIGNS EXPLAINED THE THEORY BEHIND DARWIN’S SUPERCARS PAINT SCHEMES

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GT3 COULD BE A NEW FOCUS FOR TICKFORD

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE SUPERCARS POWERHOUSE By Paul Gover, News Editor GT3 SPORTS car racing is the new frontier for Tickford Racing in 2023 and beyond. The Supercars powerhouse, a last-start winner with Cam Waters at Winton, is deeply committed to expanding into GT3 competition from next year. It has already doubled the size of its factory at Campbellfield in Melbourne in readiness for new motorsport opportunities. But, as the Gen3 conversion in Supercars reduces the opportunity for Supercarsbased engineering work, Tickford is also looking to grow its business outside motorsport. More modified road cars are on the agenda, as well as a potential drive into military work. On the racing front, Tickford joint owner Rod Nash reveals the latest thinking beyond Supercars.

“GT3 is on our radar. We’ve looking at opportunities there,” Nash tells Auto Action. “GT3 has expanded opportunities, there is a lot of value we can add. And we can also bring opportunities to our table to enhance our business services.” Nash is not promising a Tickford team in GT3, although that’s possible, but more supply contracts for the company’s expertise in everything from design and

engineering to sign-writing and car storage. “We see there are lots of opportunities in GT3, not just in Australia but Asia as well. We’re looking at those opportunities.” Tickford has seen what Triple Eight Race Engineering is doing in GT3, becoming the local agent for AMG Customer Racing as well as operating in the GT World Challenge Asia. But it does not see a future that’s tied to its existing relationships, and history, with Ford. “We’re changing out method and thinking, so that we don’t just have to have Ford branding,” says Nash. “There are other brands that are involved in GT3. And that keeps varying. We’ve trying to be a bit generic in how we look at it.” “We’ll end up landing somewhere. Aston Martin has been attached to Prodrive (the historic start of the Tickford operation) over time and that’s certainly

an area we’re looking at. “Ford has plans. And GT3 is predominantly in the Porsche arena, so there are always options there. That could be directly through Porsche or externally.” So, the GT3 expansion could be running cars under the Tickford banner, or operating as an outsourcing operation for other owners or teams, or just supplying specific services. And there is also the Super2 future, an area where Tickford has operated for a number of years. “We need to participate in it as a separate entity, as a two or three-car operation. It’s what comes from there,” Nash says. “It’s a question of whether we expand into running in a category like GT3, or if it’s more that we just operate in the services area. We’re just making sure we make the right decision. We’re looking at all of that right now.”

UP COMING RACE EVENT CALENDAR Brought to you by www.speedflow.com.au • SUPERCARS RD 6 DARWIN JUNE 18-19 • F1 RD 9 CANADA JUNE 17-19 • MOTOGP RD 10 GERMANY JUNE 17-19 • DTM RD 3 IMOLA JUNE 18-19 • AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD 3 JUNE 25-26 • WRC RD 6 KENYA JUNE 24-26 • IMSA RD 7 WATKINS GLEN JUNE 26 • WTCR RD 4 SPAIN JUNE 25-26 • MOTOGP RD 11 THE NETHERLANDS JUNE 25-26 •

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LOWNDES IS NOT WILDCARD STARTER SAYS HE CAN STILL WIN AT BATHURST

By Paul Gover, News Editor CRAIG LOWNDES is the new Russell Ingall – but he’s not done yet at Bathurst. The seven-time winner at Mount Panorama, with two extra titles in the 12-Hour sports car classic, has been moved across into the Wildcard ride at Triple Eight Race Engineering with Super2 youngster Declan Fraser. There was no space for the 47-year-old in the elite team once Jamie Whincup decided to resume his racing as codriver to young gun Broc Feeney, with Garth Tander also continuing alongside Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen in the Red Bull Commodores.

But, unlike The Enforcer, Lowndes has no plan to call time on his career in October. He is confident that he still has the right stuff to win, even with his young wingman, and believes he will still be in a Supercar at Mount Panorama in 2023. “There is this year and next year to try and get the elusive number eight,” Lowndes tells Auto Action. “To be honest, the break outside Supercars, and not having the pressure from year to year, makes you more hungry. For me, it’s re-energised me to get back in the car and be part of it.” Ingall drove into retirement with the T8 Wildcard last year and Lowndes has spent most of this year on the sidelines, after a

failed plan to continue with a full season in Carrera Cup, although he managed 10th overall and a class win at the 12-Hour in a Porsche Cup Car. Now he believes he has more to give, and take, from Bathurst. “Can we win? Absolutely,” Lowndes tells Auto Action. “When we won in 2018 our car wasn’t quick at the beginning of the race, but then it came on really strong. That year both Richo (five-time winner Steven Richards) and I sat down on Saturday night and we were thinking the car would not last 15 laps. So you can never put yourself out of an opportunity. “There is no doubt that Declan is a

bright young star. If we can just manage him through that week, the media and everything else that goes with it, it will be a positive experience for him. “When we get to the end of the race, assuming I’m going to be in the car and in the right place at the right time, I’ll do the same program as always. We’ll run under the radar for the first two-thirds of the race and then pop up at the end. “You need both of us to be strong. That’s where my experience is going to come in. “It’s almost come full circle for me. I remember the years of driving in there with (Peter) Brock and now I’m doing the same the same with Declan. “You need both of us to be strong. That’s

LOWNDES FACTOR ADDS NO PRESSURE TRIPLE EIGHT Super2 Series driver Declan Fraser will make his Bathurst 1000 debut alongside seven-time ‘Great Race’ winner Craig Lowndes, something he says does not add any pressure. As a rookie, debuting alongside one of the sports greats and most popular drivers will mean he has a lot of attention on him, but the Queenslander is not fazed. “I don’t think it puts too much pressure on me,” Fraser said to Auto Action. “I put a lot of pressure on myself as it is. “I’m just trying to learn as much as possible, he’s going to be a guide and

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help me the whole time. “I’m going to take it all in and learn as much as possible – he’s made it very clear that he would love to be on the podium this year. “I’ve just got to make sure that I’m doing everything possible leading up to it in Super2 in all of our debriefs, pre-briefs and test days and just making sure that we’re going to be there at the end of the race.” A podium for Fraser would be a dream on his Supercars debut – however he is fully aware of how tough The Mountain can bite.

“A podium would be an absolute dream,” he said. “Obviously, anything can happen at Bathurst. We’ve seen Percat win it when he was a rookie, I’d just like to be there in the mix at the end and just see where we are running.” Last year when Broc Feeney and Russell Ingall shared the Triple Eight Wildcrad it was obvious who the main driver would be. This year it is not so obvious, Craig Lowndes has been a co-driver for Triple Eight since he retired from full-time driving in 2019. “We haven’t decided that yet. There’s a

lot of things that have got to be taken into consideration and Triple Eight will make that call when the time comes,” Fraser explained. “Now that the launch, the contract and everything’s in place, we’ll really start to focus on our strategies, leading into the race. “We’ll get our first test out of the way, make sure that Craig and I are both ergonomically really comfortable in the car, and then we’ll start deciding the nitty gritty stuff of who’s going to be driving in qualifying and when in the race.” Although he has experience in a

DONE YET WHINCUP CONFIRMED AS CO-DRIVER

where the experience is going to be. We don’t need the tortoise and the hare, we need two hares.” Lowndes’ popularity with Supercars fans was on show as always at the unveiling of the Supercheap Auto car in Brisbane. For Fraser, the opportunity with Lowndes and T8 is a big one. “I grew up watching Lowndesy at Bathurst like every other kid did, so to see my name on the side of this car alongside his heading to Bathurst is super special, surreal even. I’m excited to get everything underway and see how it all pans out,” he says. “My aim is to hone my skills over the

next few months to make sure I’m fully prepared by the time I get to Bathurst. We get a couple of extra test days being a wildcard entry which will be good for myself to get familiar with the ZB Commodore, but at the moment there’s still a few Super2 rounds that I need to focus on.” Lowndes, too, is into full-scale preparations for Bathurst. “We’re ramping up again now, but the baseline is still there. I’m not coming from left field. I’m back training again and looking forward to it.” He also laughs off any discussion about his age, or comparisons with fellow Wildcard

starter – and joint Bathurst winner in 1996 – Greg Murphy. “Murf is the oldest driver in the field, not me” Lowndes laughs. “I’m only 47 and Richo (Jim Richards) was the oldest to win, when he was 51. My body stature suits that style of racing. You can get in, do your stint and get back out again. For me, that side of the racing has never been a problem. “It’s now about getting up to speed in the evolution of the cars, how they operate and how they make speed. That side of it doesn’t worry me. “We just have to be smart through the day. We haven’t got to be right into the granular of it all.”

ON FRASER

Declan Fraser is looking forward to learning as much as he can from multiple Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes

number of makes and models including a VF Commodore and even a Nissan Altima, he is yet to turn laps in a Gen2 spec ZB. “No I haven’t, so on our first test day it will be my first time running a ZB,” he said. “I’m actually really looking forward to it. “Having not just Jamie, Craig, Shane van Gisbergen and Broc, but also all the technical support from the engineers, I think they’re going to help me even more and make sure that I’m really focused on getting the best result we can in the 1000.” Dan McCarthy

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ALONG WITH the announcement of the Supercheap Auto Wildcard, Triple Eight Race Engineering has also confirmed its two co-drivers in cars #88 and #97. Once again, Garth Tander will return as co-driver of the #97 alongside Shane van Gisbergen, the 2020 Bathurst 1000 winning combination teaming up together for a fourth straight year. With Craig Lowndes the main driver in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Wildcard alongside its Super2 protégé Declan Fraser, the co-driving seat in car #88 had been left vacant. After months of speculation, Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Principal Jamie Whincup confirmed himself as Broc Feeney’s co-driver. Whincup retired from the Supercars Championship at the end of last season as a seven-time champion with 124 race victories. The 39-year-old has not won at Bathurst in a decade, but will be after his fifth Bathurst 1000 win when he teams up with Feeney for the very first time. “With myself piloting the #88, I look forward to working with the guys to dial in the cars during the week and then of course help each other in the race where possible,” Whincup said. “I can assure you the 50-plus people at Triple Eight don’t care which Triple Eight car wins the Great Race, as long as it’s one of us.” Dan McCarthy

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ADELAIDE 500 BOSS COMMITS FOR DECEMBER

Image: Motorsport Images

EVERYTHING IS UNDERWAY FOR THE BORN-AGAIN STREET RACE By Paul Gover, News Editor THE $18.8 MILLION mission to put the Adelaide 500 into gear and back on track is running to plan. The first steps have been taken with the re-birth of the South Australian Motor Sport Board, commissioning of track infrastructure, work to re-surface the track, and research into everything from support categories to the event capacity. “We’re committed. It’s all go,” the chief executive of Motor Sport SA, Mark Warren, confirms exclusively to Auto Action. “We’re going and we’ll make it happen.” Warren has dropped into the top job after six years at The Bend and reports to the state’s Premier, Peter Malinauskas, whose commitment to return the Adelaide 500 to South Australia was one of his key election promises. “I’m a delegate of the SA Tourism Commission. I’m working inside the

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Department of Premier and Cabinet. “I did six previous Clipsal events from 2011 to 2016. I’ve been at The Bend Motorsport Park for the past six years and delivered five Supercars events there.” The chair of the board, Andrew Daniels, is another long-term motorsport administrator in South Australia with a history that goes back to the original Adelaide Grand Prix in the 1980s. Creation of the new Board is happening at the highest levels, as it will be a Statutory Authority supported by South Australian laws. Debate on those laws is going through the legislative process with the parliament in SA this week. But Warren is already deeply into planning and execution of the born-again Adelaide 500 from December 1-4. “We are very focussed on making sure we can get all the infrastructure we need to build a facility that’s effectively a village for over 90,000 people. That’s the target,” he says. “A lot of the infrastructure was sold by the previous government. We have 600-odd concrete blocks we need to manufacture. There are 6600 tyres needed for the tyre

bundles. That’s just two things.” “We start the build process in August. We don’t have a lot of time to get everything done. It’s just the sheer process. “The other key thing is we’re doing is a track resurfacing. That will make a huge difference to the racing. “Turns Seven to Nine were done a couple of years ago. So now we’re doing from Turn 9, right through Victoria Park and back alongs the staircase. “It might increase the degradation a bit. Tyre strategy and race strategy will be completely different.” August is also the date for the start of ticket sales and, before then, Warren and his team need to set the crowd capacities for each of the four days in the Adelaide parklands. “There has been mega interest around Formula One this year and we’re expecting a similar effect. We’re working through what capacity we will have. We’re trying to predict how many people will want to come.” Warren and his team, which is about to grow to around 18 people, are also working on a range of innovations including the off-

track entertainment. “We are always looking to do something new and innovative,” says Warren. “There is always something new. If there wasn’t something new I wouldn’t be doing my job. The concert artists will be announced in a couple of weeks.” Warren says he is also working on the supporting program for the Supercars. “We’re getting a huge amount of support . We’ve been inundated by a lot of categories who want to come and be part of the program. We’re spoiled for choice.” Then there are the fine details of the Supercars headline act. “We’re discussing formats. The preferred format is the traditional one, to go with twin 250-kilometre races. “And our desire is to have the cars on track for all four days of the event.” Beyond 2022, and the comeback meeting from December 1-4, the South Australian team will be working on the Adelaide 500’s place and role in 2023 and beyond. “We think that being the closing race of the championship is a great place to be. In terms of dats, that would be our desire, to be the closing race again,” Warren says.

SANDOWN AND AUCKLAND GET A STAY OF EXECUTION By Andrew Clarke COST SAVINGS looked set to slash one round off the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship, but a deal last week may have saved both races Recent speculation about the immediate future of the Sandown and Auckland rounds of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship appears to have eased in the past few days, with a deal being cut between Supercars Australia and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited to keep both. Issues arose around Auckland when the costs of freighting the cars in the post-COVID era jumped to more than $1m, with alternative solutions being sought to keep the round on its September date. One of those possibilities was the cancellation of the Sandown round to both reduce costs and free up some time to ship the cars across the ditch by boat rather than plane. This move would have appeased the teams who were keen to cut back to 12 rounds in a move to cut costs, but the Melbourne-based fans of the sport would have been gutted at

losing their round for a third consecutive year. The deal to save both rounds involves a combination of extra money from both Supercars and Auckland Unlimited to cover the additional costs and an increased payment to the teams to cover the 13th round they didn’t want. The extra cash for the teams is believed to cover the Auckland round, given the cost of running the Sandown race is relatively small given its location in urban Melbourne. The juggling act between the two rounds swung between history and the future. Sandown is living on a lifeline with the track soon to be sold for a $150mplus housing estate. At the same time, Pukekohe’s future is relatively solid after a cash investment in the track, which ironically also sits around a horse racing facility. Without confirming any of the details, Supercars remains typically cagey, stating it is planning for each round as reported previously: “Supercars continues to plan for this year’s Penrite Oil Sandown

Pukekohe: Local investment support looking likely to keep the race alive. SuperSprint on August 19-21. Planning also continues for our return to one of our favourite events on the calendar, the ITM Auckland SuperSprint. “We are currently working jointly with Auckland Unlimited on securing the best freight options available.” But that statement has not stopped talk among the Supercars fraternity and won’t until the final confirmation of the deal is announced. Kevin Fitzsimons from Dunlop has confirmed that the tyres for Sandown are already in Australia, and the New Zealand ones are presently on a boat and making their way here. So for him – as with all the other

teams we contacted – both rounds are proceeding as planned. It is believed, though, that if Auckland does fall over, which is still technically possible, the Auckland tyres will be re-allocated for the yet-to-be-confirmed Adelaide 500, which will proceed during the first weekend of December. Acknowledging there are issues to be overcome, Chris Simpson, Head of Major Events at Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, said yesterday that “Tātaki Auckland Unlimited continues to work closely with Supercars Australia on the delivery of this season’s Auckland round, so planning is ongoing.” Both Sandown and Pukehoe have been missing from the calendar since 2019.

MURPH BACK IN A SUPERCAR By Andrew Clarke THE FOUR-TIME Bathurst Champion is finally back behind the wheel of a Supercar as he prepares for his delayed return to the Mountain The long-awaited and COVIDbumped return of Greg Murphy to Bathurst is now well and truly underway, with the four-time Bathurst winner testing his Erebus-run Boost Mobile Commodore at Winton last week. Murphy lapped the track and shared the car with wildcard co-driver Richie Stanaway. Murphy acknowledged he had some way to go with regaining the speed that nailed the Lap of the Gods nearly two decades ago, but he says at the moment that is not the goal. “It was good to drive a Supercar again,” the Kiwi said after the test. “I don’t know what I was expecting to be honest, so I just went into it with open eyes and no real goals. “It is a massive learning curve in some ways – the muscle memory was there but so much has changed; the technique required and where you gain your speed are different. The car felt so stable and planted and you can go hard right from the start and keep going hard because the tyres just don’t fall away. “We ran on the hard compound tyre because that is what we are using at Bathurst, and it stood up really well. The car is kind to its tyres and for me, that was a big change. “It all seemed to work well. It didn’t take much time to get on top of it – although I wasn’t that fast – but it was good. One of Anton’s old seat inserts worked for both of us, and we were using the safety cell that Erebus likes to use. That was important because it makes such a difference at Bathurst to not have to change too much between the drivers – there was just a slight compromise on the pedals for both of us and that’s it.” He said the current car felt more like a GT car than the Supercar he raced eight years ago, and that he was hoping his return to Bathurst was smooth and enjoyable. “It is a relief to get that first drive out of the way,.We’ve been talking about it for so long and now it is real. Last year it never felt that way; it didn’t feel like it was ever going

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to happen with what was going on in New Zealand and Australia. Now that I’ve been in the car it is real, and I can go away now and let it all sink into my brain and get ready for the next test. “It was not like it was an alien machine. There were a lot of familiar aspects but there were also enough new things to provide a challenge because a lot has also changed. My last memories of my time in Supercars were very mixed; we had some good ones from that time but it was also very challenging. “We’ve both got a lot to think about and a lot to work on, and now I am really looking forward to getting back into the car in the week before Sandown. To be honest, there is not a lot of excitement yet – it was Winton and when you’ve got to spend two and half hours on a freeway driving back to Melbourne you remember what you didn’t miss about being a full-time driver. “Once we get closer to the race I’m sure I’ll start to get a bit more excited. But remember, this was never my idea. I wasn’t sitting in New Zealand thinking of ways to get back into a Supercar, I was quite happy with everything. “It will always be an honour, and will be again, to race at that track. I never took it for granted and I never will. There are no expectations yet and I’m not even thinking about what might happen and what we can achieve. It is the toughest race on the calendar and so much can happen from that first lap of practice to the last kilometre of the 1000 in the race.

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“We have no plan – we’ve just got to do our job and see what happens.” Stanaway, the winner of the 2017 Sandown 500, also enjoyed his time back behind the wheel and said he isn’t sure what this means from a sporting point of view. The 30-year-old Kiwi switched to Supercars after a career in Europe, but walked away from motorsport after a stuttering and controversial second full-time season in 2019. “I really enjoyed myself – my initial impression is that the car is really good. It will take a while for me to learn how to drive it but I am confident we can both get somewhere good with it,” Stanaway said. “At the moment I am treating it as a one-off – it is far too early to think about what is possible, and I’m not that interested in impressing anyone anyway – I’m doing this for me. “All we have to do is make sure we are on the lead lap going into the last three tanks of fuel and then we can see what we can do. If we can do that we can benchmark ourselves; if I am miles off the pace of Will and Brodie then it is pretty clear, isn’t it? “But if I do feel the lure and I am competitive, and I’ve got a pretty good sponsor who can help facilitate something.” Murphy and Stanaway are expected to be one of up to four wildcards for the event. Triple Eight – for Craig Lowndes and Declan Fraser – and Anderson Motorsport with an ex-DJR Mustang for Michael Anderson as its lead have confirmed they are running, while rumours continuing to put Matt Chahda on the grid with a leased Walkinshaw Andretti United car.

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FIRST GEN3 VCAT TEST COMPLETED THE SUPERCARS Championship has completed ‘mini VCAT,’ in which the team tested both the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang at Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba with parity in mind. Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Testing (VCAT), sees both Gen3 machines tested on a runway for aerodynamic performance and drag. Porsche Carrera Cup drivers Bayley Hall and Harri Jones jumped behind the wheel of the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. It is a test that has been performed over many generations of Supercars, and, although it is not the final VCAT test, Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess is very pleased with what he has seen so far. “What we try and achieve is the same front downforce, the same rear downforce, the same total downforce and the same drag,” Burgess said. “The last VCAT, we had all of those metrics within two kilos, which is the target here this this week. “At the end of the process we leave the VCAT where we know we’ve got the aerodynamic performance and drag performance of both cars paritised to within one or two kilos. “In real racing terms (two kilos) is a very small number and wouldn’t have any effect on the racing. “We do that through a variety of different configurations of the car, we will also run the car, through – I think the last VCAT we chose nine different ride height combinations.” Burgess described the mini VCAT almost as a dress rehearsal, with the proper VCAT test to come later in the year. He explained the process and why he is so pleased with the numbers and results he has seen so far. “This is our mini VCAT – what we’re calling a pre-VCAT – the actual VCAT will be later on in the year, but we’re here just refreshing ourselves with our processes, all of our software, all the calculations that are used,” he said.

“It’s to get my guys back into that headspace, into that mentality of what we’re doing; and sharing our data back to the UK – those guys are supporting us in real time. “They’re up in the UK in the middle of night, checking through the data, making sure all these workbooks and all the calculations are precise and accurate, so it’s

a good test for everyone just to get us back in that mode.” He explained how transparent all the information has been and why he is so confident of close racing from 2023 when the Gen3 machines hit the track in anger. “The two homologation teams have been great; they’re open and transparent,”

Burgess continued. “Every single run the car does, there are Supercar people on that car, so we know every single change that happens that is all lined up with the data. “Everyone’s working harmoniously and this is really all in preparation for the official VCAT which will be later in the year. It’s been a good couple of days.” In recent months the Gen3 machines have undergone some ergonomic changes inside the cockpit to make it more comfortable; the next change is suspension. “We’ll turn our attention after this back into track running – we should be at Townsville, The Bend and Sandown,” he said. “We’ve got some more mods coming into the cars; we’ve got a different front suspension. “All these things are what you do in the process, you design a new car but then you need to put it through its paces, you need to test it, validate it and improve a few things.” Dan McCarthy

WHAT IS BEHIND THE WAU ENGINEERING CHANGES

AFTER HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING THIS SEASON, WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI UNITED HAS SHOWN PATCHY FORM WALKINSHAW ANDRETTI United has reacted swiftly to Nick Percat’s lack of speed at Winton by replacing engineer Geoff Slater with Head of Performance Grant McPherson as the engineer on Car #2 for the remainder of 2022. Slater, a highly regarded race engineer, has departed the team. WAU’s up-and-down season started with promise at Sydney Motorsport Park, with Chaz Mostert leaving the venue with the Championship lead and Percat on his return to the team in 11th. The team also sat third in the team’s title. Since then, a series of poor rounds – including Perth, where Percat qualified last for each race and the best Mostert could manage was 21st – have taken the team out of contention and into damage control. They now sit just five points ahead of Erebus in fifth spot. The team’s erratic performances this year are known to be a cause for concern inside the team that dominated Bathurst last year. WAU was contacted for comment but declined to add anything extra over the curious five-paragraph statement announcing the change.

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“Walkinshaw Andretti United can confirm the team and Geoff Slater have parted ways. “Everyone at WAU wish Geoff well for the future, and thank him for his contribution. “With restrictions on numbers at track still in place, putting the best team on the ground at events is critical, which ultimately leads to tough decisions being made. “Head of Performance, Grant McPherson,

will take over the running of Car 2 for the remainder of 2022, with Technical Director Carl Faux to oversee the race weekend from the track. “The Team will be making no further comment at this stage.” The issue around numbers was all to get the team’s Technical Director Carl Faux onto the travelling party, which meant someone had

to be removed since the numbers allowed since the COVID pandemic are strictly limited. Slater was the unlucky cut. While the team was concerned with its lack of pace for both cars at Barbagallo Raceway – where Slater was absent due to the birth of his first child – the issues inside car #2 became a serious concern for the team with Percat’s lack of competitiveness at Winton. Percat’s shift back to the team after a few promising years at Brad Jones Racing hasn’t proceeded as smoothly as all had hoped, with a season’s best qualifying of sixth and his best race results being fifth at the Grand Prix meeting. Percat has qualified last on the grid five times this season and sits 16th in the Series. Slater joined the team at the start of the season to engineer the car for Percat, while McPherson joined in late 2020, McPherson and Faux joined WAU at the start of this season McPherson boasts an impressive resume in the sport after enjoying a Championship and Bathurst winner partnership with Shane Van Gisbergen after a career that included time at the fore-runner teams to Provide Racing. Andrew Clarke

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DRIVERS GET FIA SUPPORT ON BOUNCING ISSUE HAMILTON MAY MISS THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX THE FIA has discretely assured the Formula One drivers it is working to find a solution to eliminate – or at least massively alleviate – the bouncing effect most cars are suffering from. It has admitted it is as concerned as the GPDA members about the long-term effects this phenomenon may have on their health. Since the start of the season a few drivers, including GPDA director George Russell and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, have been quite vocal about their concerns and with the long straight in Baku exacerbating the problem, the issue was discussed at length during a very long Drivers’ Briefing on Friday evening. With the teams that have minimised the effects of the porpoising issues certain to reject any changes, the FIA has to make sure it has a water-tight legal case to make the change on safety grounds. The drivers were told in Baku that the change process has already started. One possible solution appears to be raising the ride height of all cars to stop them slamming into the ground at speed. The issues were so bad on the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton that the seven-time World Champion had to be assisted from the car and he appears a far from certain starter in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend. “There were a lot of moments when I didn’t know whether I was going to make it and if I was going to be able to keep the car on track,” Hamilton said. “That was the most painful and toughest race I have experienced. “I was just holding and biting down on my teeth due to the pain. The adrenaline helped, but I cannot express the pain that you experience, particularly on the (extremely fast) straight. I was just praying for it to end. “The thing was bouncing so much there were so many times I was nearly going into the wall. That was a concern safety-wise. I don’t think I’ve ever really had to think about that too much as a racing driver.”

Prior to the start of the race, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff confirmed they are considering their options around Hamilton in Canada. “You can see this is not muscular anymore,” Wolff said. “It goes properly into the spine and it can have some consequences. At this stage, I think he is maybe the worst affected from all drivers. “But pretty much everyone, as far as I understood from the drivers, said that something needs to happen. But I couldn’t give you an explanation what that is.” Russell, Hamilton’s teammate, while not suffering as much from back pain, but was still quite vocal about his concerns: “I think it’s just a matter of time before we see a major incident. A lot of us can barely keep the car in a straight line over these bumps, we’re going around the last two corners at 300km/h, bottoming out. “It seems unnecessary we’re running an F1

car at 200mph millimetres from the ground and it’s a recipe for disaster. I don’t really know what the future holds but I don’t think we can sustain this for three years or however long these regulations are in force for.” After a tough time on Friday, Carlos Sainz was even more determined to get the cars changed as quickly as possible: “I suffered a lot with it, I had a car or floor that was porpoising and bottoming a lot more than the other car, with the same set-up. It got to a point where in the drivers’ briefing, we all looked at each other, and said ‘we need to do something’. It’s OK one more race, but can we do 10 more years? I doubt it, so we kindly asked the FIA to look into it; not listen to the teams so much and to listen to us. We’re saying it’s getting to a point where we’re struggling to handle this.” Lewis Hamilton explained how though life was for him in practice: “We had so much

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bottoming I could not finish my long runs, because my back was in a real mess. Now we don’t have it as bad at the end of the straight but it is the corners where you are trying to keep it out of the wall...” The seven-times World Champion added that, “I speak to other drivers, like Valtteri, and ask if he has any problems with bouncing and he’s like ‘no’ – can you imagine how nice that would be?” Knowing some teams will block any change in the rules, Russell concluded by pleading with the FIA to force the changes: “We just need something smarter on the suspension or the way the cars are being run. I’m pretty sure if you ask two or three engineers down the paddock, they will know the answer and what can be done to limit this and regulate it. “But we need the FIA to act as soon as possible.” Luis Vasconcelos

TOBY PRICE AND PAUL WEEL TO TACKLE USA OFF-ROAD rivals Paul Weel and Toby Price are joining forces for a major effort in the USA later this year – and into 2023. After lining up as opponents at the classic Finke Desert Rally, where each was competing in a high-powered V8 Trophy Truck, they will join forces to tackle the top end of off-road racing in the USA. Both have raced in the ’States in the past but this is something new and much bigger. “We’re doing the Vegas-to-Reno in August, the Baja 400 in September and then the Baja 1000 in November. “Next year, we’re planning on doing either five or six races. We probably will try and and run the full SCORE program, then something like the King of the Hammers, and something like the Mint or Parker races. “It’s a different sport and no-one has done what we’re going to do.” Weel tells Auto Action The former Supercars racer is going all-in on his first love, as he was a top-class off-road runner long before he turned to touring cars. Success in business has given him the cash to match his commitment, through the PWR cooling company in Queensland, as well as providing front-running trucks. He is committed to Geiser Brothers equipment and had Rick Geiser in his pit at the Finke. “The program we’re running with them, they’re pretty

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committed to it,” says Weel. “The truck is the latest specification they have, but there were a lot of other customers at Finke. And he brought Preston Schmidt (an American champion) with him to Australia.” Turning to the details of the American adventure, Weel says the decisions were pretty easy after a couple of earlier raids. “I told Rick Geiser to build me a new truck and we’d come over for a heap of races. It’s exactly the same as the latest trucks they are running over there. “I had a brand-new truck for Finke. It’s a G6, a full-sized truck, the same as we run in America. The only difference

is that it only have a 6-litre engine to suit our rules. “In the ’states we run with a big-block Chev that’s got 1100 horsepower. This one is in the mid-600s, it’s nothing mate. This one is a whole lot easier to drive.” says Weel. Price’s involvement came from a surprising source. “I was having a drink with my wife Emma and she said ‘Just call Toby’. So I got in touch with Dave Ellis, who looks after him, and he was straight into it.” “So we go from wanting to beat each other down the track at Finke to, in another month or so, doing everything we can to get the track down the track the quickest working together. It’s a bit of a unique thing. “It’s a proper Team Australia. We’ll have two drivers in

the car, both from Australia. It’s definitely something a little bit different. Weel knows what the pair face in the US, but he is confident despite racing rivals with $3-4 million budgets. “We definitely want to try and win. Like any race-car driver, you don’t want to finish second. If we can go over there and finish in the top three in any races, we’ve done pretty good.” Weel says the exact program for next year is still fluid because of Price’s commitments with Dakar. “The biggest thing is that Toby’s schedule is fairly different to mine. And the biggest part if the pre-running of the course. That’s 10 days for Baja.” The program is self-funded by Weel but he already has one Australia backer and is looking for more. “If we can raise $200,000 to $300,000 that will go a fair way to helping us.” Weel plans on a least two long visits to the USA in 2023 because of the time for pre-running, as well as the other forays before the end of this year. And he has already settled on who will be doing the qualifying for the off-road attack by Team Australia. “Toby can do that, because he’s good at hanging everything on the line. And he can drive in the dark. That’s part of the plan, seeing as how I’m paying the bill,” says Weel. Paul Gover

VALE: TIM ‘PLASTIC’ PEMBERTON TIM PEMBERTON, one of the great characters of Australian touring car racing and the Supercars paddock, died last weekend. Universally known as ‘Plastic’, he was Peter Brock’s long-time publicist in his heyday and later performed a similar role for Holden Motorsport. Pemberton was renowned for his brilliant and creative publicity stunts and his unique turn of phrase, which came to be known as Plasticisms. He had been in poor health for several years, primarily from diabetes, and spent the past couple of years in care facilities. He died early on Sunday in a Melbourne nursing home. Pemberton was a prominent figure in the sport and was highly regarded in the paddock, particularly by the Holden-backed drivers he worked closely with over the years. John Crennan, who worked with Plastic during his time at Holden and then the Holden Racing Team and Holden Special Vehicles for many years, was quick to honour his mate: “Plastic’s death triggered memories of the quartet that was the DNA of HDT and the sadness around how the last legend has now gone, joining his fellow rascals and giants of HDTs success – Peter Brock, Slug (John Harvey) and Spear (Grant Speers),” he said.

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‘Plastic’ and Peter Brock were great mates as well as colleagues. “What a PR talent; he could handle two vastly different clients. On one the hand, it was Brock, HDT and touring cars where political incorrectness and the after-race parties he organised for sponsors, team members, Holden staff, and dealers would often take on greater significance than the Sunday race. Then he would turn his talents to working and complying with GMH and its ultra-conservative and highly disciplined ways. “My greatest memories of Plastic’s performances were always around the bar on Friday nights of non-racing weekends. He was the unofficial captain-coach of these 5–10 pm marathons where he would have 20-30 people from HDT – including Brock, Harvey and Spear – my fellow Holden sales staff, plus many of his mates from the nearby advertising agencies at Barbarinos Rib House for a late feed.

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“It was always a battle of wits as Plastic would abuse and take the piss out of everyone around him, yet we hung on all his irreverent comments regardless of whether they were directed at the Holden Director of Marketing or the newest employee of the ad agency. “But he had serious PR and marketing smarts and could never be underestimated when turning some PR disaster he had to deal with into sugar or making a no-news occasion into something highly reportable. He was the master of props and tricks where he would roll out some relevant clever special effects piece that would steal the show. “Plastic also knew how to play it tough when he had to – we locked horns on many issues, and he also didn’t mess around with Brock when Brock was getting it wrong. Plastic wouldn’t hesitate to tell

the King to pull his head in or let him know when he was not reading the play correctly.” Chris Payne, long-time Holden and HSV man and now General Manager Chevrolet Motorsport, said: “Plastic will be fondly remembered by the Holden Motorsport fans, dealers and staff as a major contributor to the Holden brand. So many of the great and memorable moments of Holden Motorsport will remain his hallmark. Thank you, Plastic, on behalf of all the Holden fans and send our thoughts to his family and friends.” While he left an impression on all those he worked with, he also made many friends in the media, including AA publisher Bruce Williams, who was in regular contact with Plastic during recent years. “From a personal point of view, Plastic was an important motorsport person over the years. He was great to have a beer with; a great raconteur and storyteller,” Williams said. “In recent years, I would often get a call from Plastic to let me know that he had approved of how things were going with AA – which meant the world to me. “He wasn’t always generous with his ‘accolades’, so it meant something when he did pat you on the back. We spoke recently, and he was still keen to know what was going on in the sport, and he always had an opinion; he was a big part of developing the sport.” Pemberton is survived by his long-time partner, Jennifer, and his son, Fraser. On behalf of the many people that knew ‘Plastic’, his family and friends, Auto Action passes on our best wishes and thoughts.

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STONE: GEN3 PARITY MUST INCLUDE TESTING YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE FOR GOLD STAR FINALE THIS WEEKEND’S S5000 Australian Drivers Championship finale will see a field back up to 12 take part, including the return of some experienced singleseater heads to the grid.. With a break before the start of the second S5000 Tasman Series, in October, there are those looking to get race miles behind them – including the experienced John Martin and Tim Berryman, both of whom have raced S5000 previously. Martin will run in a car tended by the fast-rising Versa Motorsport. The experienced racer was in Sydney with the Versa team in a driver coach/advisory role, but that has now stepped up to a return behind the wheel. Martin is keen to take on the Tasman series again, later this year, and is also keen to suss out both the city and race track in Darwin – where he’s never been before. Berryman’s return, piloting the second Form 700/ Alabar Team BRM car, is also a pointer to the Tasman series later in the year. In the period since his appearance in the first ever S5000 race, the NSW farmer has been forced to concentrate on the family business, delaying a return to something he is enormously enthused about: “They’re fantastic cars,” he says. “I’m so looking forward to getting back behind the wheel.” In order to get best acclimatised to Darwin’s humidity, Martin headed north early this week, with family in tow. At the same time, Image Racing Supercars wildcard racer Jordan Boys will split his two Supercar Wildcard races by returning to pilot the Versa Motorsport car formerly driven by Shae Davies. With 2022 Supercar commitments completed by then, Boys hopes to contest the S5000 Tasman Series later in the year. Young South Australian S5000 debutant Seb Amadio makes his second appearance behind the wheel of an S5000 after a solid showing on debut at the F1 Grand Prix. The experienced interlopers will find themselves in the midst of a strong contest at the front of the grid as Sydneysider Joey Mawson looks to tie up his second Gold Star title – in a row. With his nearest challenger, Tim Macrow (Team UCS), turned around while leading Sydney’s double-points feature, Mawson has a solid 55-point lead going onto Darwin – although with 130 points on the table, he can’t afford a slip up. GRM’s James Golding finds himself a further 30 points back and will be aiming to try and snatch the runner-up spot from Macrow, while Versa’s Cooper Webster, the young find of the year, is just a further 22 points behind, in fourth. It was a team-based discussion which led to the category decision to conclude the S5000 championship in Darwin (rather than three months later at Sandown), to ensure a strong field for the Tasman races later in the year – currently the Gold Coast and Bathurst International, with strong rumours of a potential third round at the reborn Adelaide 500 in early December. “Budgets are still tight across motorsport,” says S5000’s development manager Chris Lambden. “While things are heading back to some normality postCovid, commercially, things are still very tough across all motorsports – look around; Motorsport Australia’s national-level PI event in July has been cancelled and, if rumours are to be believed, one of either the Sandown or NZ Supercars events could also. “So while it was a bit disappointing to see a modest grid at SMP last month, it’s not totally surprising. It’s great to see it back up for Darwin, with a lot of quality, which I think will lead to a strong field for the Tasman races later in the year – there is a lot of interest in our unique formula overseas …” Dan McCarthy

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SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP team owner Matt Stone, has explained that testing of the Gen3 cars is expected to begin with a single car per team and has spoken openly about when and how it should commence. After the Gen3 machines were publicly unveiled at the Bathurst 1000 last year, testing and development has continued throughout 2022. In the last week Supercars conducted its first Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Test (VCAT), in which both the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang were run on a runway in a bid to find technical parity. Stone believes that each team will be given one Gen3 machine to test later in the year before things ramp up in 2023. “I believe there was initial discussions that perhaps every two car team had one Gen3 chassis and there would be a controlled test,” Stone told Auto Action. “Letting everyone get out there with one car and start the development process is the way to go from a team point of view. “Then there’d probably be a pre-season test at the start of next year as well – where we’d like to think you’d have all your cars obviously ready for the season ahead. “But the important thing here is to make sure that it’s even and relevant for all the teams. Some have got a head start because they’ve been involved in the design process and some are manufacturing teams and others aren’t. “They’ve got to make sure that the parity of testing and being prepared for next year’s is ensured.” There was speculation about a possible MSR move to Ford for the Gen3 era and while Ford announced that they would be supporting no more teams other than Dick

Image: Motorsport Images Johnson Racing, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United. Stone explained that they had already locked in a deal with General Motors and were yet to announce it. “We were all finalised,” he clarified. “We just weren’t in any rush to get it out to the media; we were actually thinking of announcing our livery and the GM deal all in one big hit. “Unfortunately, Ford took the wind out of our sails in terms of being able to announce it at our own pace. But the GM decision was certainly made, well, prior to the all of that other stuff coming in the media.” He explained that loyalty is was the main factor to stay with General Motors rather than following his father’s Jim Stone’s legacy. “We’ve been working with the GM guys now for years; they’re good group of guys and they really want to work with us,” Stone explained. “The heritage of Matt Stone Racing has been predominantly with GM; we’ve won Super2 Series with a GM car; we’re running them now, we’re aligned and we like that group. “When we actually weighed it down, loyalty is probably more important than the

past, so we decided to continue on with the people we know and like to work with.” Dan McCarthy

DARWIN WILL BE EQUAL IT WAS a tough weekend for Matt Stone Racing at Winton. Both Jack le Brocq and particually Todd Hazelwood have shown top 10 speed at every round – that was until the event in county Victoria. Le Brocq’s 13th in Race 2 was the best result of the weekend; however Stone is confident of a quick turnaround. “We are just struggling for a bit of a balance in the cold,” he said at the time. “Just simple things, just getting the tyre phasing right, ... nothing fundamental. “Two-day weekends you don’t really get time to fully analyse it, and the Victorian teams having data from last week would certainly mean that they’re starting with a better analysed go point – I think we were probably just playing catch up. “That is the nature of home track advantage, ... unfortunately us Queenslanders don’t have a home track on the calendar but that is what it is! “Looking to Darwin, we were all there last year with the same car, same aero package. We’re a bit more on an even playing ground there.” Dan McCarthy

BATES GETS FIRST SUPERCARS EXPERIENCE EIGHT LAPS at Winton thanks to Will Brown and Erebus. Talented youngster Zach Bates has taken his first serious step towards a future in Supercars with a brief hitout at Winton. The Canberra kid jumped into an Erebus Motorsport car at the end of the team’s ‘Who’s Next’ day at the Victorian track thanks to his mentor Will Brown and Erebus boss Barry Ryan. It comes off the back of his domination of the Toyota 86 Championship last year and a podium performance last month at his Trans Am debut at Sydney Motorsports Park. He overshadowed fellow youngsters Nash Morris and Jett Johnson, in a one-off weekend with the Trans Am racer owned by his uncle, to bag third place in the second of three racers and third overall for the weekend. Bates has no cash but plenty of commitment, as well as talent, and is knocking on doors every day as he looks for a professional future in Supercars.

Brown took him for a passenger run before Bates was handed the wheel of the Mercadore test car for eight laps. “It was for me to understand what a Supercar is all about,” Bates tells Auto Action. “It was a bit different to what I’ve ever driven. But that’s what makes them so unique and fun.” The members of the Erebus Academy were the focus for the test day at Winton, but there was still plenty of pressure on Bates. He knew he could not afford a mistake, but also needed to be fast and smooth.

His best lap was less than a second slower than Brown, running on the same tyres at the same time of the day. “He gave me plenty of advice and some little pointers to help speed-up the learning process,” says Bates. There is a lot of stigma around Supercars and everything it stands for.” Even so, he enjoyed the experience and the challenge as he adjusted to the speed and challenge of the car. “They’re quite different with grippy slick tyres and a sequential gearbox that I haven’t driven a lot. There were just a few things to get used to.” Bates has no idea what comes next, even with help from Brown, but knows the target in his driving career. “Now that I’ve driven that, I don’t want to drive anything else,” he says. “I’d love to race Supercars but I’ve still got a long way to go. It was an awesome opportunity to learn.” Read the full Zach Bates Young Guns feature on Page 28-29. Victoria King

BRT NOT CONVINCED SECOND CAR WILL HELP BLANCHARD RACING Team founder and owner Tim Blanchard is not convinced that a second Supercar would help the team with consistency and a move up the grid. In the team’s second season in the Supercars Championship, sole driver Tim Slade has fought for podiums at some rounds, but been unable to finish in the top 10 at others. In the first three rounds this year, Slade was regularly inside the top five, while in the last two rounds the South Australian has scored just one top 10. Blanchard was asked if a second car would help move the car forward. “There’s a lot of teams that have got two cars – one is at the front and the other not,” Blanchard explained. “I don’t necessarily think that’s the answer.” “Having two cars gives you an indication whether it’s setup or there’s something broken in the car – we probably miss out and getting that clarity as quickly as we’d like. “But I still don’t think it’s a massive disadvantage being one car, we can’t see a lot of advantages to it. “I just think every single person in this this team is focused purely

Image: Motorsport Images on making Sladey’s car faster and fixing it – when you’ve got two cars, you have to spread your resources and focus in the two directions.” Blanchard reiterated that he intends to expand his team, but that now is not the right time – he wants to maximise and deliver consistent results with the one Ford Mustang first. “It’s definitely on the radar; it’s definitely something we’re

considering,” he said. “But it’s something we’ve got to get the timing right on. “We want to expand, and that’s the plan, to move to two cars. But the timing needs to be right – we have to have the right resources and structures in place to make sure we don’t diminish what we’ve already built with a one car operation. “It’s quite easy to expand too quickly, and you spread your

resources thin. We’ve got some very clever people in our team, but we haven’t got many of them. “The last thing I want to do is take half of them on one car and half on the other and then you’ve got a weaker team over-all. So going to two cars needs to add value not diminish what we do.” BRT is still a new team and had previously not raced at Wanneroo Raceway in Perth or at Winton despite it being

its local test track. Blanchard believes this did contribute, but was no excuses. “Our race pace hasn’t been as strong here (Winton) as other places, but it’s still quite strong relative to the field,” Blanchard said to AA. “Perth and here are very hard places to pass and obviously sprint races. We just need to do a better job in qualifying – the outright one lap pace is where we need to improve. “We want to build the team to the level that can compete for race wins; we’re on that journey and it’s never a smooth journey, and we’re going through a bit of a bump Perth and this weekend, but that’s part of the part of the journey. “Bathurst 500 last year when we had the big crash, as disappointing as that was, it really shaped the team. This is a bit of a speed bump that’s going to help shape our team moving forward as well. “ The next few rounds we’re going to – Darwin, Tailem Bend and Townsville – are tracks we were quite competitive at last year, so we can lean on that experience to try and get ourselves back in the back in the window.” Dan McCarthy

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INDIGENOUS LIVERIES A COMPLEX EXERCISE

SUPERCARS HAS EMBRACED THE INDIGENOUS ROUND CONCEPT EMPLOYED IN BOTH THE AFL AND NRL, MAKING IT COMPULSORY FOR ALL TEAMS TO ‘REWRAP’ THEIR CARS FOR THE DARWIN ROUND OF THE SERIES SCT LOGISTIC

By Andrew Clarke SUPERCARS IS celebrating its first-ever official Indigenous Round in Darwin by mandating that every team use a First Nations-inspired livery, many of which will remain in place for the Townsville Round, which coincides with NAIDOC week. The teams have gone from the minimalist approach, to the full-on visual onslaught of Penrite Racing. Indigenous art traditionally tells stories as an extension of Dreamtime, and many teams have sent artists away to create specific stories blending their own stories with those of the artists and their nations. The process is complex and doesn’t come cheap. It is estimated that re-wrapping an entire car costs around $5000, and if the team also redesigns the pit crew attire, at a further cost, total cost across the grid could reach around $200,000. Supercars and the Northern Territory government must approval each design. Tim Pattison from TP Race Designs, who worked on the Penrite Racing and Red Bull Racing liveries, says the process is complex and has taken a few months to go from concept to finished car. “It starts with the commissioning of the artwork by an indigenous artist, and I understand the team had free choice on who to use,” he said. “A square or rectangular piece of art is sent to the designer who works on the livery concept before I get involved. “My job is to interpret the livery and make it flow across the surfaces, which is not always easy. The Red Bull art was a lot of work to get the flow across the panels, it was a tough design.” He said each car is wrapped from tip to toe for the event except for the front air intake, which is too complex to wrap. The hardest part of the job, though, is applying the wrap to the car with the complex artwork requiring a lot of time to align it correctly.

RED BULL RACING The two Red Bull Racing cars feature artwork designed by students of the Hunter River Clontarf Academy in Heatherbrae, New South Wales. The artwork tells the story of the academy, showing where the Hunter River meets the harbour and the connection that local Aboriginal people have to the water. There are footprints along the river which grow from small to large and illustrate the journey of leadership and growth that Clontarf students embark on on while at school. The circles of dots throughout the artwork represent the local communities that the academy connects with. The ‘blue sunrise’ represents new beginnings and how the Hunter River students strive to become the best versions of themselves and learn from others. DICK JOHNSON RACING

DJR used artist ‘Community of Communities’ by Dixon Patten (Bitja), a Yorta Yorta, Gunnai, Gunditjmara, Yuin, Jaithmathang, and Wiradjuri man, with five meanings: • U shape symbols representing the old people gathering to eat, connect, and reflect, leaving traces of midden shells. • Ripples that show how everything influences everything else. • Assorted markings and patterns depicting the diversity of cultures and honouring their cultural lore. • Gum leaves representing our human family tree, we are all custodians of mother earth, and it is our collective duty to Care for Country. • The dots and elliptical patterns show the transference of knowledge from one generation to the next.

Jack Smith’s racer features the artwork of Elenore Binge, a Goomeroi/Kamilaroi woman born in Goondiwindi who was inspired to paint by her great Aunt Colleen McGrady. Titled ‘Younger’, Elonore says: “Younger depicts Mother Earth, the land we call Australia, and the waterways are her veins. The Traditional bush medicines acknowledge healing and moving forward with shared learning of the reconciliation journey. The black and white hands symbolise reconciliation. Railway tracks are depicted throughout, and the blue lines are Mother Earth’s veins, representing our rivers and waterways. “The No Harm and Meeting Place symbols and the Five Spirit Guides of the five states that we operate on and through are surrounded by the white footprints of the Ancestors gone before us, surrounded by Sacred Sites that may be on Country.” PENRITE RACING In collaboration with team partner Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS), the artwork for Penrite cars was designed by Darwin-born Indigenous artist and MITS Boarding House Manager Lorraine Kabbindi White. The painting depicts ‘The First Bees’ and the ‘Freshwater Mermaids’ artworks created by Kabbindi. The three different colours each represent the bees Kubbulak, Kardderre and Nabiwu. Kubbulak belongs to the mardku moiety, and Kardderre and Nabiwu belong to ngarradjku moiety. The artwork captures their first flight out of their human bodies. Kabbindi used natural pigments all sourced from her family’s Mok Clan - Ankung Djang (Sugar bag dreaming) estate on the upper Liverpool River, Arnhem Land, NT.

R&J BATTERIES RACING - 8 BJR worked with Jedess Hudson, a young emerging Indigenous Artist from Cairns in Far North Queensland and a descendant of the Ewamian and Western Yalanji people on the design for the R&J Batteries Supercar. Drawing inspiration from the major sponsor, R&J Batteries, Hudson created the artwork Lava Lines. “The Undara Lava Tubes are situated on Ewamian country, which contain the remains of the Earth’s longest flow of lava originating from a single volcano. Volcanic activity formed these tubes over 190,000 years ago. “The red and orange represents the journey lines as the lava travels and flows across the land. Each lava tube varies in length, size, and dimension with its own unique story. The dots embody the lava imprint within the tubes and the Lava flow contain powerful energy – the natural embodiment of the products that R&J Batteries are known for today.” MIDDY’S RACING

The Middy’s car is the second work by Jedess Hudson used by Brad Jones Racing this year. Using the vibrant pink colours and electrical theme, Hudson created ‘Light The Way’. “Across our land, we see various weather patterns that signal the changing of seasons, mainly through the hot and humid summer months,” she said. “Bryce was born and raised in Darwin and Northern Australia which is known for its distinct wet and dry seasons and various types of lightning that can occur. Dry lightning, lightning to fire, and lightning to storms. “For First People, we recognise the original form of energy transference was lightning and with Middy’s being such a beacon in the Australian electrical industry, it seemed the perfect juxtaposition of elements to inspire the design.”

NULON RACING

BRAD JONES RACING -96

The artwork on Pye’s Nulon Commodore has been designed in collaboration with Nulon and GH United, a Mackay-based Memorial Rugby League team. Mackay-based Indigenous artist Debbie Thaiday and her family designed the artwork. The family of Thaiday, of DT Trait Designz, is from Iama & Erub Islands in the Torres Straits. The artwork pays tribute to the late Gail Hine and Grace Hoffman, who both passed away from a Brain Aneurysm in 2009. The main features of the artowkr reflect Hine and Hoffman’s Torres Strait heritage, and the the artwork was designed to help raise awareness for Brain Aneurysms. “We recently designed the supporter shirts for the GH United rugby league team for the annual Mackay Indigenous Rugby League Carnival, and we’ve replicated this story of GH United in the indigenous livery for the Nulon Racing team,” Thaiday said. “My husband is a cousin of Grace and Gail and we’ve been a part of GH United since it started in 2010. It’s awesome to see our artwork on a Supercar and I can’t wait to see the car racing on track in Townsville.” IRWIN RACING

Irwin Racing’s livery was designed by Kalkadoon artist Chern’ee Sutton. Sutton has designed a number of highprofile artworks, including the design of the NRL All Stars Indigenous Jersey, she was also behind the artwork and story for 2018 Commonwealth Games mascot ‘Borobi’, Essendon’s 2017 ‘Dreamtime at the G’ guernsey and official branding for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Sutton has artwork hanging in The Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace, Queensland Parliament House and Queensland State Library. The large community symbol in the centre of the artwork represents the first Indigenous Round of the Supercars. The centre of the community symbol is depicted in the shape of a Supercars wheel, the U symbols and people around the community symbol represent the patrons who will attend the Darwin event and the smaller community symbols represent spectators and supporters who will travel from all around Australia to watch the event. The footprints represent the drivers and their teams travelling to the event in Darwin. A rainbow serpent represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history. It also celebrates the traditional custodians of the Darwin area, the Larrakia people. Kangaroo and emu footprints represent how the team is always moving forwards and never backwards.

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The striking Kubota backed car for Macauley Jones is another from the brushes of Jedess Hudson. The Emerging Indigenous artist took inspiration from Kubota’s agricultural and construction background. She designed ‘Biri (Fire) Circles’, which is centred on fire’s influence on agriculture: “Traditionally, fire has been used as a tool for managing country for countless generations. The artwork on Macauley’s car is called ‘Biri (Fire) Circles’. “Fire is an integral part of life. It allows the land to regenerate, germinate seeds and clears the undergrowth of the land. This makes way for new ground to grow and ensures wildlife have fresh food to feast on. Biri can leave such devastation but is very much needed and symbolic in our own cycles of life.” BLANCHARD RACING TEAM The first livery released was Blanchard Racing Team with a design for its CoolDrive Racing Mustang with artwork by Melissa Tipo/Yaram. Tipo/Yaram has drawn together multiple facets core to Supercars, the Blanchard team and the local Northern Territory area. A Djerait/Larrakia/Kungarakan artist, her family has lived in the Darwin and Litchfield areas for generations. At the centre of the eye-catching CoolDrive scheme is the Saltwater Crocodile, which represents strength, power and masculinity, and is a feature of Darwin. Balancing out the Crocodile, the water lilies represent fertility, the blue signifies water, and the dots around the motifs symbolise prior generations, who are still overseeing and guiding society. The bonnet painting also features a number of various topics. The top left of the bonnet represents Larrakia Country, with the Larrakia people the traditional owners of the Darwin region. The flowing water surrounding the community, otherwise known as the ‘Saltwater People’, is also represented. Bottom right on the bonnet is the Blanchard team, its families and the community supporting the outfit. The star at the top right of the bonnet represents ‘Grandpa’, paying tribute to the late John Blanchard Snr. SUBWAY PREMIAIR RACING When the Subway PremiAir Racing Supercar driven by Garry Jacobson hits Hidden Valley Raceway this weekend for the Merlin Darwin TripleCrown, it will do so with a striking livery courtesy of the Indigenous artist, Elaine Chambers-Hegarty. The design is titled ‘Making Tracks’ and has been created by Elaine Chambers-Hegarty of Cultural Edge Designs, an award-winning Aboriginal Graphic Designer and Artist with cultural links to the Koa (Guwa), Kuku Yalanji and Barada Barna people. Elaine Chambers-Hegarty explains that “Making Tracks” highlights the connections of past, present and future through the representation of the journey pathways. The pathways throughout the artwork highlight the

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continuous growth of people as individuals as well as a collective community. The large circular pathway in the artwork represents the race track itself – as you travel around the racetrack, you are in a process of continuous improvement, growth and development. The design is about our connections with past, present and future and our pathways for Indigenous and also Non-Indigenous together” Chambers-Hegarty said. “I think this artwork is a perfect fit as my Dad and his art was my inspiration for my career choice, so it’s good to see Garry has kept his connection to his mob too by having his Dad’s number on the car”. Garry Jacobson said he was proud to have the opportunity to sport such an inspiring livery. “I am greatly looking forward to being a part of the first official Supercars Indigenous Round, and to celebrate First Nations people,” Jacobson said. “To be able to do so carrying an inspiring artwork such as this created by Elaine Chambers-Hegarty is something I am very proud of, and I hope I can honour her message this weekend.” MATT STONE RACING

Matt Stone Racing will pay its respects to the Larrakia people, the land on which Supercars will be racing at the Hidden Valley Raceway. The artwork has also been designed by a local Larrakia artist Trent Bundirrik Lee. The livery shares the story of the Kapok tree which signifies a change in season. When coming up with the design, Trent explained he took

into consideration the time of year that the Supercars Championship is visiting Darwin and the season in which we are entering.

The design features a pod casing opening with a white cotton like material that surrounds the seeds. This is replicated with the pod-like shapes and a blue dot which symbolises the fluffy material. The team’s Commercial Director Al Bye expressed his delight at working with Trent. “It’s been an absolute pleasure and an honour working with Trent on the design of the Truck Assist Racing cars for this week’s event,” Bye said. “He embraced the colours of our race team whilst keeping his artwork authentic to the Larrakia nation which was really cool to be a part of. “Right now, in Darwin we can see the Kapok tree in flower and just as they represent the change in season, Darwin also represents a pivotal part of our season too, so I really connected with this artwork.” Lee has been painting and carving since he was eight years old. He creates lots of artworks, carvings, artifacts and painting murals around Darwin. For Lee seeing the livery on the MSR was a very proud moment. “Obviously being a part of any sort of team, even if it is just providing the artwork, is a very proud moment for myself,” he said. “I used to go to the V8 Supercars when they first came to Darwin so to see my artwork going around the track this weekend will be another very proud moment.” MSR was very thankful for Lee’s efforts and the Larrakia people for their support. PREMIAIR RACING COKE NO SUGAR Chris Pither runs a Coke backed ZB Commodore in the Supercars Championship and this weekend (Supercars first Indigenous round) will run a Coca-Cola No Sugar machine designed by Indigenous artist Kiewa Tya Austin-Rioli. 21-year-old Austin-Rioli is a proud Gunditjmara and Tiwi Islander woman who owns and runs the Sweet Water Art design studio.

“With this artwork, I wanted to represent the unity of our people, so the artwork shows the connections that Aboriginal people have with each other all over Australia,” Kiewa said. “There are connections with family, cultural ways and through the land and song lines. This piece also shows the strength of those connections with all of our people.” Pither is impressed with the design “I’m excited to be here in Darwin to unveil our livery for Indigenous Round, alongside artist Kiewa Austin-Rioli. “It’s great to be working with our partner Coca-Cola Europacific Partners to use the power of the Coke brand to shine a light on an incredibly talented young artist this Indigenous Round. “Kiewa’s high-impact livery design completely reimagines Coca-Cola’s iconic logo whilst honouring her connection to country.” “The Top End is a great place, I’m happy to be back and to officially celebrate First Nations people is special.” As we closed off this digital edition two teams, WAU and Tickford racing had not released their own indigenous liveries

LATEST NEWS

VALE BRIAN DEVESON

FUTURE TARGA TASMANIA DATES ANNOUNCED TARGA HAS announced the dates for the next five editions of Targa Tasmania after extending its agreement with Events Tasmania until the end of 2027. The iconic tarmac rally will keep its traditional dates for 2023, running throughout the week after the Easter long weekend from April 17-22, despite considerations of a shift to March. “As we come out of COVID, and analysing the tourism landscape in 2022, we have decided, in agreement with Events Tasmania and the various regional tourism bodies around the state, the actual best place for TARGA Tasmania to stay for the next five years, is exactly where it has historically been held,” a statement read. “So, we are excited to announce the dates today for the next five running’s of TARGA Tasmania, which will take the `Ultimate Tarmac Rally’ to it’s 35th Anniversary event in 2027. “There is a myriad of exciting announcements surrounding next year’s event to come out in the weeks ahead, including the course (get ready for some amazing changes), the opening of entries, which will be later than normal on 15 August and what you can expect from TARGA Tasmania in the future. “We appreciate your patience in recent times and hopefully the moving back of next years date by a month will assist everyone’s

plans to show their support for TARGA Tasmania. We can assure you all that we will be back better than ever in 2023.”

DATES FOR THE NEXT FIVE EVENTS ARE: 2023 – April 17-22 2024 – April 8-13 2025 – April 28 – May 3 2026 – April 13-18 2027 – April 5-10 TARGA’s announcement was attached to a letter from CEO Mark Perry addressed to customers, current, past and future. The letter detailed what the organisation has done since the deaths of two competitors in the most recent Targa Tasmania event, while also ensuring that Targa events will return despite the current suspension of tarmac rallies by Motorsport Australia. “We were advised on Saturday 14 May by Motorsport Australia that their board had passed a resolution that morning to suspend all tarmac rallying until further notice,” Perry said. “We were advised of this at 3.00pm and the media release was published at 4.30pm. We had absolutely no indication that this was even a discussion point before this moment of advice. “I can categorically say that the period from the cancellation of TARGA Tasmania in 2020 to today is now a period

unprecedented in the history of TARGA Tasmania and dare I say, tarmac rallying anywhere in the world. “Yet, we have continued to turn up every day to ensure that we deliver some of the world’s most exciting motorsport events for our customers. Our dream never fades, our desire to be better never subsides. We are always doing the best we possibly can, even in the most difficult of circumstances. “We have done all we can over the last year to implement all of the changes needed and recommended by the Investigatory Tribunal, ensuring that you again get to live out your dreams at TARGA Tasmania. Ultimately though, we are in your hands. “We need to find a way to continue to work cohesively together to ensure that our dreams can continue to come true in the future. This is not the end, but just a pause in the journey to take stock, and ensure we move forward in the right direction. “We will continue to work closely with Motorsport Australia and the review committee to re-establish our events as quickly as possible and ensure that tarmac rallying continues long into the future. We will also work closely with the various competitor groups that take part in our TARGA events and the myriad of stakeholders who we need to approve each event.” Entries for Targa Tasmania 2023 will open on August 15. Josh Nevett

TEAM OWNER CUTS LAPS AT SMP

PREMIAIR RACING owner Peter Sciberras jumped behind the wheel of a Supercar last weekend for some laps at Sydney Motorsport Park. It wasn’t one of the team’s current ZB Commodores that compete in the

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Repco Supercars Championship but a 2001 VX Commodore, ex-Perkins Engineering PE038 in the 5 Litre Touring Car Supersprints at the HSRCA’s Sydney Classic historic race meeting. It was his first drive of the car, and his

only recent circuit drives have been at the Bathurst Challenge last year and laps at Phillip Island Classic in an ex-GRM VT . “Chad (Parrish) and I shared a Hyundai Excel at Mt Panorama, and he and Sean Fardell have been really helpful in guiding me, showing the lines and all that. Sean and I have been mates for years and he owns the sister car (PE 037) to this one,” Sciberras said. “The biggest thing to get used to is getting the power down out of the corners. In drag racing it is about going as hard as you car, but in this you have to be gentle, or you end up turning around,” he added. The advice was obviously well received as he improved by five seconds over the course of the weekend. Garry O’Brien

LONG TIME motorsport followers in Victoria, particularly those that have an ties with the Morris 850 Club, the Light Car Club of Australia, and the Historic Touring Car Association of Victoria, were sadden by the passing of Brian Deveson on May 14 at the age of 78. Deveson started his motorsport with the M850C towards the end of the ‘60s in motorkhanas, then graduated to hillclimbs and served as president for a period. He became a member of the LCCA and juggled that with a career in the Department of Civil Aviation. After he parted with his Mini Cooper S, he Image: turned to historic racing in Ford Cortina GTs, and became a member of HTCAV. He competed at most Australian circuits like Sandown, Phillip Island, Winton, Calder, Albert Park, Mallala and Bathurst. Unfortunately he had to sell his last car eight years ago due to failing health. One of his treasured memories was crewing for Paul Trevethan and others on two MGB V8 GTs at Spa for a 6-hour race, where Deveson was given the drive in the following day’s sprint race. He was regarded as fierce competitor on the track, a nice bloke off it, and a man who ‘put in’. He is survived by wife Noelene, daughters Deanna and Merita, son-in-law Edward and grandchildren Henry and Zoe. Garry O’Brien

VALE – MIKE COLLINS QUEENSLAND MOTORSPORT lost one of its favourites with the passing of Mike Collins at the age of 74 on June 2, peacefully, in a Toowoomba hospital. He was the driving force behind the foundation in 1996 of the Historic Leyburn Sprints, a successful grassroots motorsport event held each in August, that commemorates the 1949 Australian Grand Prix. While he and his late first wife Ann (2018) operated Collins Hay, which supplied hay throughout rural Queensland and was prominent member of the Australian fodder industry, he had a lifelong passion for motorsport. He competed in races and rallies from a young age and drove his own cars at the annual Leyburn Sprints. He also raced in the Australian Trans-Am Championship in a 1965 Ford Mustang. He purchased that car in the US and contested the 2012 Pikes Peak hillclimb in Colorado. Thousands of drivers in cars dating from the 1920s have contested the Leyburn Sprints, with up to 15,000 spectators lined the round-thehouses course. It was awarded Queensland Motor Sport Event of the Year in 2017. Collins served as the Sprint Race Director and on the organising committee, and helped build the temporary street course. His intense love of the sport was such that, although gravely ill, he made his way to QR the weekend before his passing to have a final look. He was a giant of a man with a giant heart and a giant personality and is survived by second wife Lyn, adult children Paul, Mark, Wayne, Chris and Tricia, their respective partners and grandchildren Taylah, Mitchell, Breanna, Liam, Summer, Georgia and Olivia. Garry O’Brien

THE NEW WILL POWER MULTIPLE FORMULA FORD MANUFACTURERS NOW LIKELY

FORMULA FORD is now likely to remain as a multiple manufacturer category after Motorsport Australia took note of competitor feedback. Motorsport Australia Director of Motorsport and Commercial Operations Michael Smith opened up to Auto Action about the current state of play in the incredibly popular Australian Formula Ford category. Smith LONG-TIME explained that the original AA’S idea Formula Ford now appears tosuccess be in Long Beach, then on COLUMNIST Edmonton’s airport circuit in 2009, substantially less likely after listening to PONDERS POWER’S which was his first win for Team competitors views. in the IndyCar Series PLACE IN HISTORY “We’re really wanting the DNA toPenske stay and“We’ve taken the time to speak to proper as re-unification occurred. the same,” he said to AA. every single one of those people or WONDERS WILL never cease. floodgates opened, “I know one of our preliminary In 2010 theemail every single one of those people. After 16 years at the front of the as he notched up five of his 39 recommendations was to look at a “I guess as a consequence of that IndyCar field, Will Power finally careers wins. Six followed in 2011, single manufacturer path,” he said. we’ve come around to the view that scored a mention on the evening but not yet the championship. “Whilst the (Formula Ford) working perhaps a multi-manufacturer concept news’ sports report back in his Unforced errors at critical times group hasn’t formed a view, one way is the way to go.” home country. Well, the first I can and some extraordinarily bad luck or another on that, I think we’re coming Smith feels that if they can get the recall, at least. You could have to rob him of at least around to the view that, potentiallyconspired a rules right, then a multi-manufacturer knocked me off my futon with a one title. Power would have to be multi-manufacturer format would be series will continue to work feather. that didn’t always a better path to go, because that’spatient – and successfully. Power’s victory the weekend come easy. consistent with what Formula Ford has “In order to do that (a multi-brand before last in the Grand Prix of He was duly crowned the 2014 always been in this country. category) you have to get the rules Detroit earned him eight seconds Series champion. Four “We had the stakeholder forum, IndyCar we right, we know that, it’s a lot simpler at the end of Nine’s Sydney years later he won the Indianapolis then had the survey, and then we to craft a set of rules when you’re only sports news. Rightly so, as he 500 – the first Aussie to do so. invited people to make submissions. have one homologated manufacturer.

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REVVED UP

“But ultimately, if we’re, wanting to achieve or carry on the philosophy of Formula Ford Racing we need to be able to do it in a multi-manufacturer environment.” Smith believes the reason that Formula 4 did not work in Australia was because it did not appeal to the Australian motor sport scene, this is why it is essential that Formula Ford remains as close as possible to its roots. “Formula 4 didn’t work here,” he admitted. “It’s clear, people are very passionate about Formula Ford Racing “Our thinking is have it as an

evolution of Formula Ford Racing, as distinct from trying to introduce something that’s entirely new that we know with our Formula 4 experience hasn’t worked.” Smith also admitted that the plan for a 2023 introduction along with the reintroduction of championship status is looking ambitious. “If I’m being really honest, I think 2023 introduction might be a bit ambitious at this point,” Smith felt. “But we haven’t formed a fixed view on that, the Formula Ford Association of course, will be key to all of this as well. “What I will say is our current thinking is to run Formula Ford, the current Image: cars as a national series next year, and then at a point in time, whether that’s 2023 or 2024, we will introduce a new car as a championship. “We’d run existing cars in parallel with the new ones as sort of a mixed grid and that would happen for a period, broadly speaking, I’d be anticipating that it’d be three to five years, something like that. “I guess ultimately, it depends on the take up of any new car. DM

left the Belle Isle circuit with the Okay, so he made the evening news championship lead in arguably that night, but had to share the the most competitive racing series limelight with Dan Ricciardo who on the planet. won the Monaco Grand Prix a few Maybe it was the somewhat hours earlier in our country’s single of the illustrious names that won in the ONE OF the country’s longest serving quirky vision of Power’s postgreatest day of motorsport success. category. category administrators Margaret Hardy race celebratory flop into Belle The many F1 snobs out there Hardy assisted all of these drivers on passed away from cancer on Thursday Isle’s giant James Scott Memorial – who consider themselves pole positions, with 57. Only Mario him after the race.” Zealander is another not given due their route to Australia’s top-level. August 19. Fountain (pictured). After all, motorsport fans but look down Andretti has scored more poles. Our man with the wild eyes respect from the narrow-minded She was liked by all who knew her Hardy was involved in motor racing nothing makes the TV news their noses at other forms of While 41-year-old Power is in did catch-up with the Canadian Eurosnobs. in the industry which is why the motor for decades and was known for her without eye-catching footage. Or racing, including IndyCar – barely the twilight of his IndyCar career, after the race – on the cool down Hopefully both drivers’ vast sport community is sad to hear of her dedication to Formula Ford. perhaps Scott McLaughlin’s woes acknowledged Power’s triumph in he’s seemingly getting better and lap – gently steering into the side achievements will receive passing. Hardy joined the Light Car Club as in that race – spearing off into the the biggest race of them all. better. While pole positions and of DeFrancesco’s Dallara. It was deserved respect upon During her time in the category, the office manager and began working run-off zone – caught the news Then there are the many tunnelrace wins are harder to come by enough to give the rookie a wellretirement. It’s just a pity IndyCar she was named a Life Member of the with the Australian Formula Ford editor’s attention and provided the visioned Supercar fans who, if it’s these days, partly due to an everdeserved clip over the ears, but has flown under the radar in this Formula Ford Association. championship 1978, doing paperwork real news value that Power’s win not Ford versus Holden, wouldn’t strengthening field, an ability to not enough to seriously endanger part of the world since its annual Formula Ford Association for the category throughout the ‘80s. piggybacked upon. Whatever, it cross the road to watch a motor accumulate points Scott Dixoneither party. The old WP would Surfers Paradise shindig. Geez, Early in the following year she became representative Phil Marinon said was a rare moment in the sun in race. Some of these boofheads style is more evident. have caused a caused a major wouldn’t IndyCar would put on a she remained very connected to the the administrator of the category and Australia for one of our country’s wouldn’t even have heard of A good example came last not-so-diplomatic incident. He’s show on the Adelaide Parklands category. was tasked with organising national greatest ever racing exports. Power. How sad. weekend at Road America, come a very long way… circuit… and was always focused on the result and present took to social media to “Margaret was a tireless Administrator series events, a role she held until 2013. Perhaps only Sir Jack stayed at Yet, the boy from Toowoomba when he was pushed off the Power left Elkhart Lakes second kids, if you’re not rather than looking for accolades. send theirAnyway condolences. for Formula Ford Association and also She has dealt with many of Australia’s the top for so long. – born on the same day, track early in the race by Devlin in the points behind Indy 500 watching Power, teammate the AFFM including category manager “Margaret was very dedicated to Outside of Formula Ford, Margaret motor sport stars over the years and Now about those 16 years… that another DeFrancesco. The old WP would nine Team Ganassi’s tookMcLaughlin, on roles such as the race for the national competition,” he told all things Formulawinner Ford Marcus and hasEricsson withalso was well-known as a hardworking March and 1, 1981, Incredibly, Power’s Detroit win Queenslander, Dick Johnson, have ranted, raved and probably events still to run. Game on! Dixon and the many fine drivers secretary for Sandown Raceway. Auto Action. recently assisted the association in passionate worker. saw him extend his streak of Australian Touring speared off again trying to aforementioned and interesting characters they Hardy was diagnosed with attention to detail and ability to the production of aInterestingly, book on 50the years In her time as category manager won his first“Her scoring at least one victory per Car Championship race – has recover. The new WP simply got Dixon has also scored at least battle, you are depriving yourself Inflammatory Breast Cancer in 2019 support the competitors has been very of Formula Ford in Australia and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig year in North America’s topline achieved so much for so long. on with the business of salvaging one victory per season for 16 a motorsport treat. Catch and wentofinto Stage 4 in May. strongly acknowledged on social media disappointingly will not get to see the Lowndes, reigning 1000 victor, Will open-wheel series to 16. Sweet Power is currently fifth among the what points he could, after coolly consecutive years, albeit is yet to this antipodean-infused fight Auto Action sends its condolences to and is undisputed. final result.” Davison, David Reynolds, Chaz Mostert 16. It all started in 2007 with a win all-time IndyCar race winners and communicating to his crew over in 2022 to extend his streak before these greats hang up their her friends and family. DM “Margaret was a very private person Many Australianwin racing legends past and Anton de Pasquale are just some in Vegas, followed in 2008 with second all-time when it comes to the radio, “Wait till I catch up with to 17. The Brisbane-born New helmets.

VALE: MARGARET HARDY – FORMULA FORD’S GUIDING HAND

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LATEST NEWS

BMW AND CADILLAC HYPERCARS UNVEILED

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND reveals came thick and fast over the week of the Le Mans 24 Hours including Hypercars from BMW and Cadillac and teaser photos from Acrua and Ferrari. All four Hypercars are set to debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship or IMSA Sportscar Championship. Cadillac took the wraps off its Project GTP Hypercar which is set to contest both WEC and IMSA, the American manufacturer’s 2023 challenger will be powered by an all-new 5.5L DOHC V-8 paired with a common LMDh hybrid system. The car will begin on-track testing later this

month with its first race outing planned for the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2023. “By competing in both the 2023 IMSA and WEC championships, Cadillac Racing has the opportunity to demonstrate its capability, craftsmanship and technology,” said Rory Harvey, Vice President Global Cadillac. “Cadillac will be competing again on the world racing stage, and we are all thrilled to return to Le Mans after 20 years,” he added. The Project GTP Hypercar incorporates key elements of the manufacturer’s brand design characteristics, including vertical lighting and floating blades. BMW also took the covers of its aptly named BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar which contains the iconic BMW grille seen on its road cars. At this stage BMW only intends to run its Hypercar in the IMSA Sportscar Championship; however it may make a one-

off appearance at Le Mans. The prototype has been shown off in a bold camouflage livery that pays homage to 50 years of BMW’s M range. “The most critical task and the greatest challenge for the design team in the LMDh program was that the prototype must be clearly recognizable as a BMW M Motorsport car,” said Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M GmbH. “I can say this to all the fans: Just one look is enough to confirm that the BMW M Hybrid V8 is a BMW. It clearly carries the genes of BMW M. As the name suggests the BMW will be powered by a hybrid V8 engine and the German brand is optimistic the machine can take it to its former glory. Ferrari and Acura teased images of its Hypercars also, while regulations for LMP2 and GT racing. In 2025 the LMP2 rulebook is set to be updated with the LMP2 chassis being supplied by the current four constructors that are currently involved in the LMDh class: Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic and Oreca. At the end of this year GTE Pro will be dropped with GTE Am to follow suit next year. In 2024 the new GT category will be based on existing FIA GT3 technical platforms. Dan McCarthy

MILLER GOES ORANGE AUSTRALIAN MOTOGP rider Jack Miller has been officially confirmed as a factory KTM rider for the next two years and has sent the silliest of silly seasons into overdrive. The news of Miller’s departure from Ducati move to KTM is a return to home for the Queenslander after he finished as the runnerup in the 2014 Moto3 World Championship with the Austrian manufacturer. The 27-year-old has ridden Ducatis for the last five years, the last two with the factory squad following on from a three-year stint with the satellite Pramac team. At KTM, Miller will link again with Francesco Guidotti, having worked with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s current Team Manager for three of his eight years in MotoGP. “Having Jack alongside Brad in our team means we have another strong asset,” said Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager Francesco Guidotti. “I know him well, I know how he likes to work and what he can bring to the box.

“I believe his character and the way he will ride and push our KTM RC16 will help us a lot at this stage of our project. “Like Brad, Jack is a pure racer: he will find the limits and the maximum of any condition and any package and still ‘go for it’ to get the result and that is quite a rare quality. The next two seasons will be exciting!” Along with Miller, KTM also confirmed that South African Brad Binder would remain with the team in 2023. This leaves four-time MotoGP winner Miguel Oliveira with two options – either step down to the satellite KTM squad Tech 3 team or move to another team entirely. Prior to the announcement Oliveira made it very clear he is unwilling to return to Tech 3. It is expected that three-time MotoGP winner Enea Bastianini will take the vacant seat at the factory Ducati team in place of Miller. Oliveira has already been linked with a switch to take the place of Bastianini and at

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THE ANZAC EFFORT IN 2022 PRODUCED VASTLY DIFFERENT RESULTS By Paul Gover, News Editor BRENDON HARTLEY scored his third win at Le Mans with Toyota and Ryan Briscoe stood on the podium with Glickenhaus, but others from down under were not so lucky at the French sports car classic. Shane van Gisbergen was the final finisher in the GTE Pro class and 32nd overall in his first start at Le Mans, while former class winner Matt Campbell was never a contender with Porsche, and trailed home in 51st place, largely as a result of mistakes and miscues by his star co-driver, actor Michael Fassbender. Another Kiwi, Nick Cassidy, only managed sixth in his class. So the Anzac effort was distinctly mixed, but Hartley did the job as the New Zealander took pole position for the sports car classic and then drove hard and fast to the flag. “Taking the car over the line today was a very special feeling,” says Hartley. “I’m a small piece of the puzzle; all of my teammates are part of this victory. I broke down in tears after the race as my wife and six-month-old daughter are here.” Briscoe was also pumped with third outright after many previous GT visits to Le Mans. His Glickenhaus Hypercar prototype was helped by the misfortune of others, but that’s always the way at the biggest sports car contest of the year. “Le Mans podium, yeah!,” Briscoe posted. “Car was fun to drive and absolute blast.” Briscoe was making his second start with the Scuderia Glickenhaus team, run by eccentric American sports car maker Jim Glickenhaus out of New York. “Thank you to Jim, my team mates, and everyone involved. I’m honoured and grateful for the opportunity.” Van Gisbergen was never likely to star as a Le Mans rookie in the only privateer car in the factory-dominated GTE-Pro category, a Ferrari 488 from Riley Motorsports running as Bee Safe Racing. They were out-run for speed, missing the Hyperpole shootout, and only moved up to fifth in class – and 32rd overall – following the retirement of both factory Chevrolet Corvettes. “Thanks Bee Safe Racing for the opportunity, great experience,” van Gisbergen posted.

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ONCE UPON A TIME IN FORMULA RENAULT

Lando Norris was one who used the Formula Renault pathway in his early European career ... Image: Motorsport Images

THE FAIRYTALE THAT NEVER CAME TRUE IN AUSTRALIA THIS STORY is old but totally true. It’s the story of how single-seater racing in Australia could have been saved, and then prospered, for the past 15 years. It’s not about S5000 openwheelers, or Formula Ford, or even the dismal disaster that played out in Formula 4. Instead, it’s the story of Formula Renault and how it could have been the best thing to happen for Aussie youngsters since the original introduction of Formula Ford in the 1970s. The story begins at Dieppe in France back in 2015. A group of Australian motoring journalists are visiting Renault Sport to look at the latest road cars from the French brand, when there is a sudden diversion. “Hey, come and look at my new car,” says Justin Hocevar, the managing director of Renault

with Paul Gover

THE PG PERSPECTIVE Australia, who was using a big commitment to RenaultSport fast cars as a way to drive sales. “Here it is,” he says, pointing to a single-seater racing car. That cannot be right, or real, I’m thinking. But then he rolls out an audacious plan to transform the lower rungs of open-wheeler racing in Australia, using Formula Renault as a springboard into the upper regions of local motorsport and – for one talented youngster – a potential path to Formula One. “I’ve ordered 24 cars,” Hocevar tells me in the RS factory in Dieppe. But, even now, he is angry about what followed. “We had vehicles sorted.

Category management. Parts deals,” Hocevar recalls. “Global sponsor OK; local sponsors in waiting. Big shame.” The plan was simple. Renault Australia was going to buy and import the cars, which were 2-litre single-seaters with small wings and slick tyres. They were intended as a stepping stone from karts and a launching pad into the Renault 3.5 series that was being used as a springboard into Formula One. Among the Formula Renault champions were Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas and Brendon Hartley. In 2019 after the death of the Renault 3.5 series, Australian Oscar Piastri won the 2.0L Formula Renault Eurocup Series

which was now the premier World Series by Renault championship. Hocevar had all the bases covered. “A go-kart championship where the winner would win a free year in Formula Renault. A Driverto-Europe funded by Renault Australia was on the table. Flights, allowance and test drive.” But, wait, there’s more. Renault dealers would provide a package, with a van and trailer, for Formula Renault teams. So their towing and track base would be covered. And it could be financed through an all-in deal at a sharp price from Renault Australia. So, what happened? The idea was presented to CAMS, with Mark Skaife helping to clear the path. The proposal was laid out in fine detail, including category management. But CAMS wasn’t interested. Not a bit. This was in the time when

Formula 4 was being proposed in Europe, with retired F1 driver Gerhard Berger as one of the driving forces. Jean Todt, president of the FIA at the time, was a supporter of the plan – not even yet launched – for Formula 4 as a potential global category for youngsters. CAMS decided to totally reject the Renault plan, choosing an unproven idea over a rock-solid commitment, to line up with the FIA. So Australia got Formula 4, which was never popular with Formula Ford drivers or teams, and – despite heavy spending in the early days – it flopped. Badly. The order for the 24 race cars was cancelled and Renault returned its focus to road cars. But Hocevar, and the people who knew the story, have not forgotten. “Could have developed some future Aussie stars. When you think about how many came up through Renault programs,” Hocevar says now.

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AUSSIES

NO POINTS FOR F2 AUSSIES STANDINGS AFTER 6 ROUNDS 1 Drugovich 132 2 Pourchaire 83 3 Daruvala 73 4 Sargeant 59 5 Hauger 55 9 Doohan 45 19 Williams 5

In the end, the alternate tyre strategy didn’t work out for Aussie Calan Williams while (above) Doohan copped a time penalty..

Images: Motorsport Images Report: Dan McCarthy IT WAS a terribly unlucky weekend for both Australian FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers Calan Williams and Jack Doohan on the streets of Azerbaijan. Both came away with zero points – however they could have come away with well over a handful each had it not been for badly timed Safety Cars, post-race penalties and being involved in avoidable incidents. The weekend for both did not get off to the greatest of starts, with both missed out on a top 10 qualifying position. Doohan missed out on 10th place and reverse grid pole by just 0.007s, while Williams was caught out in traffic and qualified in 17th. Up front it was a Red Bull junior 1-2-3 with Juri Vips taking pole ahead of Kiwi Liam Lawson and Dennis Hauger. The Sprint Race saw Williams drive a mature and well executed race, from 17th on the grid, he charged through the pack, and sat on the fringe of the points until the final lap.

Williams overtook Ralph Boschung around the outside of Turn 1 on the final lap restart, but was not left enough space on the exit of the turn, hitting the wall hard before being collected by a further two cars. Doohan damaged his front wing in the opening laps when sitting comfortably inside the points – he was forced to come in and fit a replacement. With all the chaos late on, Doohan recovered to finish in 11th, but sadly no points were earned. Dane Frederik Vesti won the race, his first in F2. Having led for the majority of the race, Jehan Daruvala made a mistake, running wide on the second of three restarts. Vesti placed his ART Grand Prix car up the inside at Turn 2 and from there was never challenged. Lawson was one of the stars of the race, –he carved his way through from P9 to finish third ahead of another Kiwi, Marcus Armstrong.

Championship leader Felipe Drugovich kept his nose clean and finished in fifth. The Feature Race was equally disappointing for the Aussie pair. Doohan crossed the line in the points in fifth place but was handed a five-second postrace penalty, dropping him to 13th. The Queenslander clipped the left-rear of Lawson at Turn 2 after a late race restart and punctured the Kiwis tyre resulting in him finishing 15th. Trident put West Aussie Williams on an alternate strategy running the hard tyres in the first stint. A mid-race Safety Car did not favour him – the team elected to keep him out while everyone who hadn’t already stopped, did. Williams led the field back to the restart, but with drivers all aroud on fresher tyres, made a mistake at Turn 3, locking up and running down the escape road. Williams got the car back on track, made his compulsory pitstop and finished the race

MCELREA SECURES PODIUMA FOR THE second straight race, New Zealander and adopted Aussie Hunter McElrea finished on the podium in the second-tier Indy Lights Series. After a difficult start to the season, McElrea is building momentum – his thirdplace finish at Road America was the Kiwi’s third podium in the last five races and sits seventh in the standings. The win went to Dane Christian Rasmussen who broke through to take his first win in the series, and ended a threerace winning streak for runaway series leader Linus Lundqvist. Rasmussen beat his Andretti Autosport teammate Sting Ray Robb to the finish line

by a margin of 2.3573s after a four-hour long red flag interruption. To secure the race victory, Rasmussen made a daring move to the outside of Robb at Turn 1 on the Lap 11 restart. From there Rasmussen put his head down and steadily pulled out the small margin. Rasmussen, who won the 2020 USF2000 championship and the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 championship, started the race from third and rebounded strongly from the disappointment of two retirements at the previous round in Detroit. Rookie McElrea drove to a solid thirdplace finish in another Andretti Autosport car. It was a mature drive by the 22-year-old

as he held off hard-charging Lundqvist for over nine laps. Jacob Abel rounded out the top five ahead of Australian Matthew Brabham who remains fifth in the standings. The extended four-hour long red flag period came on Lap 9 when Christian Bogle drove over the kerb on the outside Turn 5. It lifted the front of the car into the air and flung the car into the catch fence. Fortunately, Bogle was unhurt, but the fence required an extensive repair. TIn fact, the time needed to fix the catch fence forced the final half of the Indy Lights race to be postponed until after the IndyCar Series race concluded.

in 15th position. Up front, Vips looked like he was going to cruise to his first victory of the season – however reigning FIA Formula 3 Champion Hauger began to nibble into his lead margin. With only a couple of laps remaining the Estonian cracked, Vips crashed into the wall by the castle eliminating him from the race. This allowed Hauger to take his first F2 Feature Race. American Logan Sargeant scored his best F2 race result in second and, while it was a quiet weekend for Drugovich, the Brazilian finished in third and further extended his championship lead. Daruvala came home in fourth ahead of Richard Verschoor and Enzo Fittipaldi. Race 1 winner Vesti stalled on the line and dropped to the back of the field, however he kept his cool and recovered to finish in seventh. Marino Sato, Boschung and Jake Hughes rounded out the top 10.

STANDINGS AFTER 7 ROUNDS 1 Lundqvist 315 2 Robb 233 3 Pedersen 218 4 Frost 215 5 Brabham 214 7 McElrea 198

Another podium forImage: HunterMotorsport McElrea. Images

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PUBLISHER Bruce Williams bruce@autoaction.com.au 0418 349 555 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Bruce Williams DEPUTY EDITOR NEWS EDITOR

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AUSTRALIA Bruce Newton, Mark Bisset, Garry O’Brien, Geoffrey Harris, Bob Watson, Bruce Moxon, Gary Hill, Craig O’Brien, Mick Oliver, Martin Agatyn. FORMULA 1 Luis Vasconelos US CORRESPONDENT Mike Brudenell

THERE’S NO MAGIC IN MOTOR RACING SÉRGIO PÉREZ’S recent performances seem to have stunned most fans, who considered the veteran Mexican driver a good support act for World Champion Max Verstappen, but certainly not a threat for the talented young Dutchman. The fact Pérez completely dominated Verstappen in Monaco, of all places, even led to some theories that, having secured his first title, the Red Bull young gun had lost a bit of his edge and wasn’t, therefore, as quick as he had been before. Which is, of course, a false idea, as a quick look at the way he drove in Jeddah, Miami or Barcelona easily demonstrates. But there was no magic wand swing that explains why, almost suddenly, Pérez has started to be on the pace with his team mate. There are hard facts to explain that, also putting to rest conspiracy theories that pointed to a fracture in the relationship between the Verstappen family and Helmut Marko. Last year’s Red Bull, like all Adrian Newey-penned cars since 2018, was designed for Verstappen’s favorite driving style, with a very strong and precise front end, guaranteeing a precise corner entry, and a loose rear end – the car snapping quickly once the driver hits the loud pedal midway

with Luis Vasconcelos

F1 INSIDER through a corner. That’s the same concept that helped Michael Schumacher to great success, as Verstappen, like the German, handled the car’s nervousness quite easily, having developed this driving style since karting. Verstappen’s team mates in that era – Ricciardo in 2018, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon the following year and Pérez in 2021 – never really got to grips with that characteristic of their cars and, therefore, struggled to get close to Verstappen’s lap times. That, effectively, ended the top flight hopes of the two Red Bull youngsters, after Ricciardo decided to move on and leave what was clearly becoming Team Verstappen. Pérez, though, didn’t have the luxury the Australian had four years ago, so he needed to find a solution to secure the seat for the long haul, and while his diligent work in 2021 gave some modest results, it was the regulation changes that gave him the break the Mexican needed. The new generation of cars is a lot less dependent on front end grip to be quick, the front wings

having been massively simplified, most turning vanes banned and the majority of the downforce now coming from the underside of the cars. Therefore, the RB18 doesn’t have the massive front end grip that allowed Verstappen to be very aggressive with his steering input in corner entry and, as a direct consequence, has a much more stable rear end from mid to corner exit. And that’s the kind of handling an experienced driver like Sérgio Pérez can handle perfectly, as his recent results demonstrate. Like most Formula One drivers, give Pérez a car with a whiff of understeer he can use for corner entry, with a strong, stable, rear end that sticks on corner exit, and he gets the confidence he needs to attack every corner. But with a snappy rear end that brings sudden oversteer, he’ll be tentative in his driving and, therefore, slower than a Verstappen or a Leclerc (the Monegasque also handles well cars with nervous mid-corner reactions). While there is no reason why Verstappen wouldn’t continue to

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PHOTOGRAPHERS AUSTRALIA Daniel Kalsz, Mark Horsburgh, Ross Gibb, Rebecca Hind, Mick Oliver, David Batchelor, Randall Kilner, Rhys Vandersyde, Richard Hathaway, MTR Images, Bruce Moxon, Ray Ritter, autopics.com.au Image: Motorsport Images be supreme in a car with these characteristics, the Dutchman and his engineering team have been trying to find a set-up more to his liking – moving forward the center of pressure of the car, trying to use the braking characteristics of the car to help the initial turn in – but that hasn’t really worked and, like in Monaco, it has made Max’s life quite difficult under heavy braking. A bit like in 2014, when Vettel spent half the season trying to resurrect the strong rear end the previous generation of cars had – with the blown diffuser that was banned at the end of 2013 – while Ricciardo just plowed on with the characteristics the new cars had and got the upper hand over the four-times World Champion. Sooner or later, Verstappen, his race engineer Gianmpiero Lambiase and the rest of their small group of engineers will conclude they’re chasing something that isn’t there anymore and things will go back to normal. The gap to Pérez won’t be as big as in the past, of course, but the internal hierarchy at Red Bull will be naturally restored, bringing peace of mind to Jos Verstappen, who hasn’t been reacting well to the sight of Pérez being occasionally in front of his son. There’s no magic in motor racing – just hard work and cold logic behind every successful story.

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FORMULA 1 NEWS LUIS VASCONCELOS

TOP TEAM’S EMPTY THREAT ON BUDGET CAP

Images: Motorsport Images

RED BULL, Ferrari and, in a more discreet way, Mercedes, have been lobbying the FIA and the other teams to agree on increasing this year’s budget cap from the 140 million dollars that are in the new Financial Regulations, with Christian Horner going as far as saying during the Monaco Grand Prix, that, “if that is not done quickly, then quite a few teams, maybe up to seven of them, won’t be able to go to the last four races of the year, and stay inside the budget cap.” It was a threat that was the butt of a few jokes in the paddock ... Alpine’s Otmar Szafnauer told us that, “if Christian wants to skip the last four races, we’ll be very happy, because that’s two cars

out of our way – we’ll score a lot more points and will be fighting for podiums!” Having a drink with the American, Alfa Romeo’s Frederic Vasseur laughed and added, “and if they skip four races, then they will be disqualified from the Constructors’ Championship – we’ll all move up one place and we’ll split the prize money they would get in 2023 between the other nine teams, so I’m sure we’ll all be delighted with that!” Had Horner’s threat been that his team and the other big spenders would be unable to pay salaries in the last three months of the year to stay inside the budget cap, there’s a chance he would have been taken a bit more seriously as no one believed

his threat of missing races, as that would have catastrophic consequences for Red Bull – disqualification from the Constructors’ Championship, ending Verstappen’s hopes of winning the Drivers’ Championship, losing all prize money for 2023 and having to compensate all his sponsors for skipping almost 20 per cent of this year’s races! ... A financial adviser for one of the top Formula One teams explained to us that the teams operating in UK pounds have lost absolutely nothing, so far – because galloping inflation in the United Kingdom – 7% in March and 9% in April – has seen the devaluation of the pound, essentially compensating for that.

According to that source, “the day Russia invaded Ukraine, 140 million US dollars were worth just above 103 million pounds – 103.2 million, to be precise. By June 1, those same 140 million US dollars are worth 111,55 million pounds – so the British based teams can spend an extra 8.35 million pounds this year, if the exchange rate doesn’t continue to shift in their favor, and that nullifies the effects the inflation has had on their accounts. Therefore, this is a false excuse to continue spending crazy amounts of money on car development – and Ben Sulayem is clever enough to see that, so I’m pretty sure he won’t change the budget cap. And why should he?”

BAYER’S DEPARTURE SHOWS FIA’S UPHEAVEL CONTINUES THE SUDDEN announcement of the departure of FIA’s Executive Director Peter Bayer caught the Formula One world by surprise. The way it all happened has all the hallmarks of being a drastic decision made by president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who seems determined to lead the Federation with an iron fist and doesn’t accept people around him who are not fully supportive of his views and decisions. Bayer was appointed Secretary General for Motor Sports immediately after Ben Sulayem’s election last December and was soon made responsible for all single seater categories, while also having the role of Executive Director of the FIA. The German was hired five years ago by Jean Todt but was not involved in the 2021 election and, therefore, remained in office after Ben

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Sulayem defeated Todt’s favorite, Graeme Stoker. The Emirati’s first impression of Bayer must have been quite positive, for he promoted him to effectively the top role in motor sports inside the Federation and made him an almost permanent presence in the first six Grands Prix of the season. Bayer was the man Ben Sulayem took with him to most meetings, including a high profile encounter with Fernando Alonso, during the Spanish Grand Prix, where the two-times World Champion had to backtrack from the criticism he had aimed at the Stewards of the Meeting two weeks before, in Miami (disagreeing with a post-race penalty that dropped him out of the points). Ten days after that meeting, Bayer was unceremoniously

shown the door by the FIA president. Following events hint at a sudden but violent disagreement between the two men. The fact the FIA didn’t appoint anyone as his permanent replacement also shows the president had not planned for this sacking. His solution was to

appoint as interim replacement, Shaila-Ann Rao, who had just recently being appointed as the new FIA Chief of Staff. She is an interim replacement for Bayer, until Ben Sulyamen finds a new full time Secretary general for Motor Sports. Rao was the FIA’s legal director between 2016 and 2018 and

then moved to Mercedes to work directly with Toto Wolff as the team’s legal director, only to return to the federation last month. Given her lack of knowledge of the sporting side of motor racing, she’ll just be trying to avoid any crisis until a permanent replacement for Bayer is appointed. The German’s sacking seems to confirm the idea everyone in Formula One has, given his reputation from his days in rallying and rally raids, is that the Emirati is a very difficult man to work with – autocratic and with a dictatorial way of handling his relationships. The speed at which some people are getting out of the FIA seems to indicate not many are ready to work with him – something that onviously could be problematic for the future of the organisation.

OSCAR PIASTRI’S F1 PREPARATION BOOSTED ALONSO’S INJURIES WORSEN FERNANDO ALONSO has been racing with injuries to both arms and hands since the start of the season, and his qualifying accident in the final moments of the session in Monaco has done nothing to improve his situation. The Spaniard went head-on into the Tecpro barriers at the Mirabeau corner, seconds after, ahead of him on track, Sérgio Pérez had crashed on the exit of Portier. Although Alonso’s impact came at relatively low speed – but still above 100 km/h! – the fact he kept his hands on the steering wheel all the way meant his hands and arms felt the impact in full. At the end of the race, with straps very visible on his right hand and arm, Alonso admitted he’s been driving injured and showed he had other straps on the left arm – consequences of other accidents, including his relatively high-speed crash in Q3 in Australia, when a Power Unit failure threw him off the track at Turn 11. Alonso explained that, “I have a couple of straps and other things in both arms. Bones, ligaments, tendons, everything is a mess at the moment.” The Spanish driver, however, explained he was going to continue racing through the pain, “because I need two or three months of rest to recover and there is no surgery, nothing you can do, just rest. Unfortunately, every two weeks I have to drive, so I try to rest when I’m at home, but it will take a few months until I am fully recovered.” There is, however, a concern within Alpine that another serious impact could put Fernando Alonso out of action for a couple of Grands Prix, if his ligaments and tendons are further affected, especially as the Formula One World Champion moves from Monaco to Baku and Montreal – two circuits with very little in the way of run-off areas and surrounding by walls and guardrails that are,

in some cases, the natural track limits. That’s why reserve driver Oscar Piastri’s program has recently been accelerated in recent weeks, the young Australian driving last year’s Alpine A521 in Qatar, on May 13, at the Losail International track where

Fernando Alonso drove it to the podium last year. Piastri was again due in the car this week, at the Red Bull Ring – coincidentally one of the next few venues in the Formula One calendar, scheduled for the second weekend of July.

Alpine’s goal is to have Piastri ready to jump into this year’s A522 at very short notice should Alonso’s injuries get worse and make it impossible for the two-times World Champion to compete in a forthcoming event.

CAN GASLY BE FORCED TO STAY AT ALPHATAURI? HELMUT MARKO made a point in reacting to the exploratory contacts Pierre Gasly’s management team are holding with McLaren and Aston Martin, to remind everyone that the French driver is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2023. The veteran Austrian explained that, “before the signing of Checo, of course, I spoke to Gasly, explained the situation to him and, yes, we’ll just have to see what happens with Gasly after 2023.” What Marko didn’t let on is that if, by the end of 2023, there’s no room for Gasly at Red Bull Racing, he’ll be a free agent and his long-standing deal with the Austrian drinks company will come to an end. With Verstappen and Pérez now certain to stay with the Milton Keynes-based team it’s clear Gasly won’t be able to go back to the company’s main team for 2024 and, therefore, he’ll be completely free to choose his future. That has been pointed out to Marko by Gasly’s representatives, who also added it would be in AlphaTauri’s best interests to get another driver to partner Yuki Tsunoda

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next year, giving the Faenza-based team the chance to try two youngsters and double its chances of finding a future driver for Red Bull – as keeping Gasly, who clearly will never go back to Horner’s team, would give Marko and Tost just one year to try a second

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youngster, alongside Tsunoda, to find the man who will eventually replace Pérez from the start of the 2025 Formula One World Championship. While technically it’s possible for Marko to force Gasly to stay on with AlphaTauri

for another season, even the Austrian understands it’s not in his interests to keep under contract a driver who wants to leave the team and that’s why he’s trying to persuade the Frenchman that staying on with his current team is the best solution for his future: “What would be the alternative? I don’t think there is any alternative for him at the moment that would be significantly better than AlphaTauri.” But if McLaren really decides to part ways with Daniel Ricciardo and avoids risk by not hiring Colton Herta or Pato O’Ward, then it’s quite likely Andreas Seidl will make a proper offer for Gasly’s services and that will make it very difficult for Marko, as McLaren is clearly a step forward compared to AlphaTauri. The money the British team could offer for his services will be substantially more than what he’s currently paid, so his best option will be to let the Frenchman go and choose one of the five drivers Red Bull runs in Formula 2 to drive alongside Tsunoda next year. Luis Vasconcelos

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NASH-VILLE RACER THE UNLIKELY POWERHOUSE AT TICKFORD RACING By Paul Gover Images: Motorsport Images/AA Archive SUPERCARS WOULD have done a better job on its Gen3 car if it had outsourced the job. That’s the opinion of Rod Nash, one of the lesser-known power players in the Supercars pitlane. Although everyone has an opinion, the difference is that the Nash view counts. He’s one of the two co-owners of Tickford Racing, a former member of the Supercars board, a former racer, from speedway dirt tracks right up to the Bathurst 1000, and a canny businessman who now has a multimillion-dollar bank balance after starting his work life as an electrical linesman. Most Supercars fans would name Tim Edwards as the owner of Tickford, based on his pivotal role in the team garage, his regular appearances on the Supercars broadcast, and his background in Formula One. In reality, the common denominator at the top of Tickford is Nash. So his opinion counts. “Gen3, it goes without saying, is frustrating,” Nash begins, speaking exclusively to AA. “I don’t mind saying that it would have been better, originally, to have been structured under an independent authority. It’s a program that would have been better if it had been run independently.

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“But the experts are working on it, so the product will be good. Still, the clock keeps ticking. We’ll be bolting the wheel nuts onto the cars the night before Newcastle, but so long as we get them on we will have ticked the box.” That revelation is a surprise from the quietlyspoken Nash, who attends every Supercars race but is rarely picked out for a comment or a television interview. He is hidden in plain sight, a role that he has chosen and enjoys. But get him talking and Nash emerges as much more than just a grey man. The 62-year-old is married with two children, living on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, and has a great life. He can usually be seen driving “something Ford”, but also has an eclectic collection of cars. “I’ve got a few,” he begins quietly, before comparing himself to his former Tickford partner Rusty French. For background, French has more than 100 collector cars, from exotic European road rockets to sprintcars that were raced by the legendary Donny Schatz. “Rusty’s collection is nice,” Nash continues. “I’ve only got a few. About 20-odd classic cars. Like the Edsel, for instance. That was quite a controversial vehicle back in the late 50s. I have a nicely rebuilt Edsel. “I’ve got an HJ Holden Sandman, because that is, culturally, something you have to have. It’s a panel van …”

But Nash would prefer to move on, so it’s time to hear how and where he started. “Money? I was just coming out of a normal family, that enjoyed racing. “I did an apprenticeship as a linesman with the SEC in Victoria. Then I went into contracting back to government departments in that field. That’s where I built my wealth. “I was 27 when I realised that I didn’t want to just be an employee forever in a government department. I was looking at the contractors who came and did work, got talking to them, and one of them assisted me to go out on my own. “At one point my business had 250 employees and a heap of trucks. I’m down to more of a 60-level employee business these days. And I’ve got some interests in property development. It’s an easy way to make money”. He’s forgetting, or overlooking, the successful and growing Tickford Vehicle Engineering operation, that can do everything from world-class engineering work to vehicle modifications, without even rolling into the Tickford Racing operation. Young Nash was typical for his time, with a huge interest in motorsport. “My father was a speedway racer with all his cronies. We grew up, just young, going to Victorian speedway tracks,” he recalls.

“As soon as I was 15, yeah, I had my first speedway sedan. It was a Triumph Herald. They were pretty popular because they had independent suspension. “It only had a 1-litre engine. I think you could pedal faster but it was a bit of fun.” Nash moved up in speed through the various sedan classes, even dabbled at the very top in the ’things with wings’. “I had a small stint with Sprintcars. There were also classes called Grand Nationals and Super Sedans. There were many, many sedan classes I got involved with over time. But Super Sedans was the main category.” Then dirt gave way to pavement. “In 1997, I decided that I’d had enough of breathing methanol fumes at 11 at night, freezing cold at a speedway somewhere. “At the time I’d been hanging around with John Faulkner and Les Small and, at the time, Wayne Gardner had had enough of his Coke Racing team. “So we went to Sydney and bought most of the equipment and cars off Wally Storey. That got me ready for 1998.” But his touring car graduation did not go smoothly. “CAMS didn’t really recognised the speedway participation so I had to do HQ racing, Formula Ford, Sports Sedan racing, just to demonstrate that I was viable to be considered for a circuit licence.”

“As soon as I was 15, yeah, I had my first speedway sedan. It was a Triumph Herald. They were pretty popular because they had independent suspension. It only had a 1-litre engine. I think you could pedal faster, but it was a bit of fun.”

“ ”

He got through the process and was ready to go. “My first race was Lakeside. It was absolutely stinking hot weather, so it was an interesting race to start out. I had never driven around Lakeside before and it’s a challenging track in its own right.” Nash was never a front-runner, but he enjoyed himself and he was soon thinking of ways to leverage his involvement. “I raced until 2001. I started to understand the business opportunity of AVESCO back then. I was more interested in the business side of it than the driving side. And young guys were starting to get involved.” Nash had a giant advantage, as Rod Nash Racing had the crucial Racing Entitlements Contract needed to join the Supercars circus. Over the years, he has used his REC to give a start to some young drivers – including Cam McConville – and form alliances with Larry Perkins, Paul Morris and Tony D’Alberto. “The Team Brock opportunity came along with Peter and Ron Harrop in 2002, so I used the Rod Nash Racing REC. Team Brock was basically formed by myself, with the Brock branding. “I did the year with the three of us. And I kept moving along from there. “Then I was involved with Larry in a joint venture with Perkins Engineer. We had a couple of good years. “I’ve been involved in other teams in terms of supply, anything from HRT with engines, to

Nash’s last season as a driver was in 2001, in the AutoPro Commodore. Below: conferring with Tickford Racing team manager Tim Edwards.

Paul Morris with services, and Marty Brant. It eventually led to a liaison with Ford Performance Racing and Prodrive, the company operated by British motorsport entrepreneur David Richards, but the core company has never disappeared. “Rod Nash Racing still has a workshop. That’s moved around from time to time. It was mainly out of Ferntree Gully. But it’s now run out of Mornington, which is where my racing factory is and with my cars and stuff. “We are in our 25th year with our REC – or TRC as they are known now. Throughout that period, I still own RNR as a separate entity. “I’ve just got my last car I drove, which is the AutoPro Commodore from 2001.” The pivotal moment for Nash came when Richards decided it was too tough to operate a satellite racing operation on the opposite side of the world. “We got to 2010 and I started to jump ship and come to the Ford side, with FPR as a customer. And then in 2012 the opportunity came about, by way of Ford closing FPV, and so Prodrive offered up the race team. “So David Richards sold me the whole company. We bought Prodrive Racing Australia, and traded as Ford Performance Racing.” “We”, in the business context, is Nash and super-wealthy Rusty French, who had raced for decades at Bathurst and also competed in some exotic

sedans with Porsche and DeTomaso badges. “I was hanging around with Rusty at the time and he showed an interest in being involved. Then Sven Burchartz (an awardwinning Melbourne lawyer) came into it, about two years ago. And then Rusty exited Tickford in 2021.” Anyone who thinks Tickford is just a Supercars team – even if it’s one of the biggest, with four cars and a Super2 program – needs to visit the company base in Melbourne or take a dive into Google. It’s big and recently got much bigger, as it continues to develop enhancement packages for currently Ford vehicles – the Ranger is a stand-out, and there is also the Mustang –

while taking on a growing amount of contract engineering work. “We have a full engineering capacity in the business. We’re expanding that, as we speak, into other areas of racing beyond Supercars and into other opportunities. “It’s not just a racing car business. It’s got design and engineering and a full suite of services. “It’s a supporting business. One of the interesting things I do like about it, and we’re doing some restructuring as we speak, is that there are only a handful of teams which are what you’d call a one-stop shop. “It’s nearly 10 years that we’ve owned the business, but it was structured well in the

Tickford wasn’t given the development role for the Gen-3 Ford Mustang, but will be ready to go with four new cars next year.

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And three makes four – the Randle, Kostecki and Courtney Tickford cars in close company at the AGP.

first place and we feel there is still plenty of strategic opportunities to pursue. Like any business, you keep looking at what do, and what opportunities there are in the big wide world. “It’s other areas. Australia has been pretty well acknowledged for its engineering capabilities. We’ve usually got 10-12 engineers at Tickford, and between those engineers they all have different expertise. “It allows you to basically do design in any field really. Not just cars. There is opportunity in other areas, where we can utilise those services. “But, equally, we’ve been involved in the Ford modification programs. And we’re just looking at expanding into those areas as well. There are a lot of racing services out there as well.” So Tickford is on a growth path, looking for opportunities and pivoting to make them happen. Part of the pivot is tied to the Gen3 car that’s coming to Supercars, but with Dick Johnson Racing and not Tickford as the homologation crew. It’s lifted the workload in Melbourne, freeing many of the technical team who have been involved in designing and developing the Supercars racers. “The opportunities are there now and we’re planning out a complete change in 2023. The Gen3 business, with control parts, means a lot of the work we were doing is going to be redundant. “Even in Super2, where we’ve always participated, we’re now looking to grow that into a larger program.” So, was there any thought of using Gen3 to move away to a different brand? Perhaps Chevy? Or someone new to Supercars? “That’s an area we’re looking at. FPR was the original factory team, and we’ve always been aligned with Ford, and will continue to run Fords. “But we’ve expanded the current factory at Campbellfield. We’re pretty much doubling the size and that’s almost completed now. And that’s investment so we can look at alternate options. “It’ more that we’ve been investing for our own business for service work. GT3 is one part of it. “And there are opportunities in left-field areas, like the military, for engineering

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services. It does make good sense. We say we’re an engineering business but we build and race cars.” Nash is happy to talk about the expertise at Tickford, which runs deeper than people might expect. “We have full machinery capability, fabrication, electrics, engine building, then right down to sign-writing and storage. We’ve got the base, we’ve expanded our facility to accommodate it, and it’s a matter of working through what will work for us.” This expansion, in building and equipment, must be costly. But Nash is not giving anything away. “I won’t spell out the exact amount, but it’s in the million dollar of investments. And that has been underway for a number of years. “With the work we’ve been doing, we’ve modified around 500 Tickford vehicles with the Ford Mustang and Ranger and Everest. We’ve been widening the scope of our capacity for the past four years, with Tickford. “That will just vary a bit in respect to a bit more specific external brand. There will be external work we can do for the Supercars

market, but we feel there is a wider scope with the other areas. “That could be GT3. We’re open to look at anything.” But the core business in racing is still Supercars, and Nash admits that Tickford can do better. “We do recognise that we’re a four-car team and one of the largest of the Supercars teams. We need to continue to develop that and we’re quite focussed on that at the moment, to get it back up to where we did have a lot more success.

“It’s also good that, after the sale of Supercars, that Super2 is directly owned by RACE and I would like to see that getting more promotion. “The Gen3 build is a big build but we’re planning to arrive in 2023 and be working some of these other areas like GT3.” It’s a big business, but why is Nash involved. “Being self-made, I haven’t worried about things being a headache. You just wear different hats every day. “Every sporting code, not that I have experience in others, is bull of bears and

Cam Waters Monster car has been the primary flag-bearer for the team over recent seasons – including the recent success at Winton (above).

Interesting times (above): Rod with regular driver Paul Dumbrell and the Bottle-O team at the one-off Gold Coast 600, where international drivers were flown in to partner the regualrs – in this case ex-F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

politics and personalities. In motorsport it’s owners, drivers, politics. “You’ve got a lot of moving parts, and absolutely they could be deemed as a headache, but it’s very rewarding. If you win the race, that’s the reward. “And the staff are very different in a sporing code. They all pretty much live and breathe what they’re doing. And it’s great to see them succeed. When you think you’ve done enough, you have to pull a little harder. “I suppose, from my point, I grew up being dragged along to speedway tracks and that has built in me that competitive nature. So, regardless of what has been achieved, there is more to go after. “I think it has probably helped me with Rod Nash Racing, to be part of a larger team as time goes on. You’ve got a lot of aspects to make something work.” Nash still has his REC – TRC now – and the three others for Tickford are held by the team. But his involvement in Supercars has also included a long stint on the board. “The last four years on the Supercars board was, like any board member would say, filled with many challenging moments. No-one knew a pandemic was going to rock up, so that was challenging. You’d make one decision and, as early as three hours later, that decision wouldn’t work. It was the way the pandemic was delivering all the issues.” Nash helped Supercars to weather the storm and then guide the sale from Archer Capital to the RACE consortium. But his view might not be the same as some others in motorsport.

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“Supercars is a solid business. And it is obviously the motor racing pinnacle in Australia,” he says. “But I always had a view that the teams shouldn’t have a shareholding in the sport. It’s not the template that NASCAR and Formula One use. “It was good timing when Archer was exiting to have the option to sell out completely. At least the owner of Supercars can just concentrate on running that as a sporting code and the teams can now concentrate on delivering the product. “Everyone was trying to do too much. Trying to run a business with lots of fingers in the pie, and teams having their rights with a shareholding, does make things difficult.” So Nash emerges as a change agent who is always looking to the future. “I’m all for refreshing things from time to time. I don’t think any structure is forever,” he says. “I now think it’s good timing, with the third generation of race-car, that we’ve got an ownership entity that understands the modern world, with digital marketing and things, going forward. So the sponsors will get greater bang for their buck. “There are opportunities. There are things overseas and Gen3. Things could be better, but what do you define as better? If everyone has their heads down with the go-forward plan for the next five years and more, then good on them. “You’d love for everything, from day two, to be up and on deck, with the sun lounges out and cruising nicely. But RACE is in their phase-in period in understanding Supercars. And the ship waits for no-one.”

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Former champion James Courtney is in his third season with the Tickford team.

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ZACH

BATES

CIRCUIT SENSATION ZACH BATES HAS WON MORE RACES THAN NOT IN RECENT TIMES AND NOW HAS HIS SIGHTS SET ON CLIMBING THE SUPERCAR LADDER. HE SPOKE TO JOSH NEVETT ABOUT HIS RAPID PROGRESS AND LIFE AS A BATES IN MOTORSPORT. IN A family full of rally stars, Zach Bates is taking the road less travelled by pursuing a career on tarmac and doing it with style. The 18-year-old Canberra Grammar student has been a frontrunner in every category that he has entered since first steering a kart at age 10, most recently scoring a round podium on National Trans Am Series debut at Sydney Motorsport Park. Bates showed composure beyond his years to mix it with the best and stay out of trouble in the rough and tumble racing that is Trans Am, finishing no lower than fifth across the three races. The generations of Bates family racers were quick to acknowledge Zach’s achievement, his father Rick leading the celebrations. Rick Bates was accomplished in both rally and touring car machinery, while his brother Neal won the Australian Rally Championship three times. The current generation is not limited to Zach – his cousins Harry and Lewis are making headlines in the ARC today. If you ask Zach, there was never any doubt that he would be chasing thrills on four wheels, however some may have expected that it would be on dirt rather than sealed circuits given his pedigree. “I don’t think I had a choice to be honest,” Bates says on his passion for motorsport. “I was always around it as a kid, watching it on TV and attending events. I’m very lucky to be from the background that I’m from. “I never did that much dirt stuff. From karting I’ve done a few car crosses and rally sprints but I ended up in circuit racing.” So far, it appears as if Bates has chosen the right path because his rise has been remarkable. After entering the karting system relatively late, the talented youngster quickly progressed into open wheel Formula Ford racing, where he won his first state race on category debut. Not bad, not bad at all. “I didn’t expect that – it doesn’t happen very often,” Bates humbly states. It proved to be no flash in the pan, as a consistent campaign would see Bates finish runner-up in his rookie year before going on to do so again in his sophomore season. “That first season the competition probably wasn’t as big as it was before, which is why I was so high up in my

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rookie year,” he explains. “I also finished runner-up in my second season, which was a good one. Tom Sargent did that season and he was very quick.” Success in Formula Ford was all part of Bates’ grander plan – he wants to be a Supercars driver. “It’s a natural steppingstone for people that want to progress to cars out of karts,” he says. “Two years ago, 20-something out of the 25 drivers in Supercars were out of Formula Ford. It doesn’t take a lot of brains to see why that category is so successful, it teaches you so much.” The Toyota 86 Series was the next step for the talented teenager, a natural progression for someone chasing the Supercars scene on a budget. Money hasn’t been thrown at Bates’ career like some others, so he is always chasing value. “I think the main reason for the move was that it’s on the Supercars stage at a relatively low cost,” Bates affirmed. “There’s no other category where you get that amount of TV coverage for the investment. “There have also been a lot of people to come out of it that have gone on to bigger and better things such as Will Brown and Broc Feeney. “Finally, the parity between all the cars is

unparalleled to anything else in Australia.” Bates more than impressed on the big stage, proving himself to be a first season specialist by winning nine races on the way to the title. Eight of those victories came in succession in a dominant run spanning three rounds, an achievement which Bates downplayed. “You’re not you’re not thinking about that too much, you’re just trying to do the best job you can,” he says with trademark humility. “I was trying to learn off other drivers and

“ ”

build my knowledge. “It was a strong season, unfortunately it wasn’t declared as a championship. It was a disappointment because I was leading, which was a bit of a bummer.” This season the wins have not come so easily for Bates, as fellow rising star Lachlan Gibbons has emerged as a serious championship contender. Bates was forced to settle for second three races in a row at Sydney Motorsport Park, Gibbons taking the victories. However, Bates struck back at Mount

there was never any doubt that he would be chasing thrills on four wheels, however some may have expected that it would be on dirt

Panorama to stand atop the podium twice. As such, the campaign is evenly poised, and another title could be the key for Bates to move up the national motorsport ladder in 2023. It was dreams of competing at the top level that prompted Bates to jump into a highpowered V8 Trans Am machine, with the assistance of his uncle, Nicholas Bates, who has helpful connections to the series. “My uncle Nicholas does the TA2 series, the regional series. He’d been doing that and just said ‘do you want to have a crack in it’ which was pretty cool,” Bates recalls. “He asked if I wanted to do a Trans Am round and I said yes, it was a good opportunity to get out and see where we stacked up.” The rest, as they say, is history. Bates could not have looked more comfortable behind the wheel in his first Trans Am appearance, improving from ninth in Qualifying to consistently run in the top five over three races. His future in the category will be the subject of several discussions within the Bates family and remains uncertain, however Zach was thrilled to have made his mark on the series racing against the likes of Nathan Herne, Tim Brook and Owen Kelly.

“I didn’t quite expect to be there – the whole point of that weekend was just to learn in a quicker car,” Bates said. “The 86 and Formula Ford are both good in their own right but I wanted to try and get some experience in a faster car to prove it’s not too big of a shift. “I tried to move up in the races and pick my fights. The cars are so different to the 86 and Formula Ford, there’s a lot of body roll and the tyres are very different. It moves a lot on the tyre and the brakes aren’t so good but they’re a bunch of fun, super cool. “I wasn’t expecting to be as fast as Nathan Herne, which I wasn’t, but you’re trying to learn off people like that.” Learning will be a key part of Bates’ development as he strives for a Supercars seat and, thankfully, he has some of the best resources around under his own roof. “Both Neil and dad have been super influential on my career. Dad and Neil are the most competitive people I know. “Harry and Lewis, my cousins, have also been awesome and I’m super fortunate to have those guys around.” Harry and Lewis have achieved plenty in national rallying to this point, the former taking out the 2021 Australian Rally Championship before Lewis won his maiden Heat earlier this year. As well as giving Zach free pearls of wisdom, the pair have fostered healthy family competition which remains to this day. “The competition never ends. We all did a test day together in the 86s which was fun. It’s close but I think I just edged them on track.

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Bates is chasing the Toyota 86 cown – it’s a brand not unfamiliar to the family ... Below: As with many, it all started in karting. Bottom: For a ‘first lesson’ in Trans-Am, Sydney was an impressive outing. (Image: ARG/Kalisz) “The problem is that when I get in the rally car I’m ages off – they’re absolutely crazy in those things. They make what I do look pretty boring.” When pressed on his assessment of rallying, Bates clarified that there is no such thing as boring motorsport. More interestingly though, he also left the door open for a switch from tarmac to dirt at some point down the line, creating the possibility of a Bates triple threat in Australian rallying. “I’d absolutely love to go to dirt one day,” Bates confirms. “It’s just hard to do two things at once at the moment, because we’re mainly focused on circuit. All the time and finance goes towards that. “To do rally would mean I would have to sacrifice some of the circuit stuff. It sounds terrible but there’s only really a couple of pay drivers in the national rally scene, Harry and Lewis. There’s more of an opportunity to make a career out of circuit racing, which is the main thing.” So, for now it’s all about Toyota 86 racing, and hoping to impress those in the Supercars pitlane. “Supercars is the goal,” Bates concluded. “There’s only about 25 people that are getting those seats, so it’s definitely very hard but we’ll just keep chipping away.” While Bates tends to downplay his progress, if he continues to ‘chip away’ at this rate there is every chance that you will see him in one of those hallowed Supercars seats one day.

A win in his first Formula Ford race and runner-up in the national series pointed Zach B towards a circuit racing future. Left: The Bates crew enjoyed a strong Trans-Am debut at Sydney Motorpsort Park.

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ENTRY INTO SPEEDWAY JUNIOR SEDANS IS AN ENTRY LEVEL MOTORSPORT CATEGORY IN THE WORLD OF SPEEDWAY. MANY OF OUR NATIONAL SPRINTCAR AND SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONS OWE THEIR SUCCESS TO TIME SPENT LEARNING THE CRAFT IN THE JUNIOR SEDANS. DAN MCCARTHY INVESTIGATES THE TRUE COST OF RACING IN THE POPULAR DIRT RACING SERIES FOR YOUNGSTERS. OVER THE years Auto Action has written about many racing categories from around the nation and delved into the real costs to compete – however, in this look at what it can cost to go racing, we are leaving the tarmac for the first time and taking a look at speedway racing Junior Sedans is not only an entry speedway category for kids, but it is an extremely cost effective one. The category was officially created in the late 90s, although records of titles held in Western Australia date back to 1978. The success of the Junior Sedans grew throughout the 00s and in 2006 the entry in junior sedans for drivers aged between 10 and 17 was standardised. The youngsters in the series race both front-wheel and rearwheel drive road cars that have been slightly modified to make them safe on the race track. Once a car is purchased or built the cost of running a car is next to nothing – travelling to the track generally costs more than racing, and even the repairs are extremely cheap in motorsport terms. Cars eligible to be raced include Hyundai Excel, Toyota Corolla, Suzuki Swift, Daihatsu Charade, Mitsubishi Lancer, Datsun 1600 and even older machines including Holden Toranas and Ford Escorts. The maximum engine size is 1.5L and as a lot of the parts are standard from the road car, the racing between all cars is competitive and closely fought. AA spoke to a couple of fathers of racers – Darren Brumfield and Peter King. Brumfield has been involved in Speedway for many years, racing himself, and helps where he can with scrutineering of Junior Sedans in South Australia, while the King family are new to the motor racing scene. There are two ways to get on a Junior Sedans grid. The first is to buy an existing machine and the second is to

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convert a road car to a race car yourself. “We bought our first car, a Toyota Corolla for about $3,500,” King told us.. “They do vary, depending on what sort of car you get. “They can be anywhere from $3,500 up to over $12,000, so a fairly big gap between the two of them. “I think it cost us about $8,500 all-up to get the car on track – $3,500 for the car, the trailer cost us almost $4,000 and then you’ll have to buy seat belts, transponders, a licence and the race gear which was about $800 ... so about $8,500 to get on track and racing.” The family took to it like a duck to water and invested in the build of a new machine, although King explained this was a more expensive option. “We’ve basically got our car finished now and it cost us just over $10,000,” he recalled. “We didn’t have the money to just go and buy a $10,000 car outright, so we built it up slowly. “We aren’t mechanics so it’s cost us a lot more because we’re not doing the work ourselves. “But from our point of view, it’s cost about $9,000 to build the car and to get it all done; then if you had to buy a trailer as well, like I said $4,000, so that’d be about $13,000, there or thereabouts – but it would be a lot cheaper ,with more mechanical knowledge, to do it ourselves.” King explained that mechanically apt people generally convert a road car to the racing machine, whereas people unfamiliar with the process will buy an existing car.

“If people can do a lot of the work themselves, they tend to build cars,” he said. “For us, not having a motor racing background, buying the already built racing car in the first place was the better way to go. I think it’s certainly a lot cheaper to buy an already existing one, everything is already set up and done properly. “The other thing is when you build the car, you’ve got to make sure you build it to the specs and all that sort of stuff.” So what is involved in making a brand-new car race ready? “iI depends on what the road car is like when you get it. You’ve got to put a new racing fuel tank in that complie to the rules for about $180; fuel lines at about $80 a metre (you need four or five metres,)” King said. “Then we paid $500 or $600 for an engine and gearbox because ours didn’t come with one. The roll cage is a fairly expensive – I think they’re about $4500. We had a friend that helped us out with that, so that has made it a lot cheaper for us.” “Next year they’re going to full HANS device – they are between $500 and $1,000.

Big grids and low cost are an obvious attraction in Junior Sedan speedway racing. Below and left: the King racing machines.

“You have got to replace your seatbelts every couple of seasons – they’re about $140-$200 depending on where you get them from; window net is the same, you need to replace it every couple seasons as well, $40-$50 depending on where you get it from. “From next season onwards, you need to use a full containment seat, that’s about $1,000 new and second hand about $700.” Brumfield, a speedway veteran went through a couple of other essential items and prices for building a new car. “Steering wheel ... we all use clip ons, I’m pretty sure they’re about $80.” Brumfield said. “We’re required to have a one-way radio so the stewards can talk to the driver – the last one I bought was about $180, so they’re not they’re not ridiculously expensive.” GoPros/judicial cameras, either for personal use or evidence for the stewards in the event of an accident, are entirely optional. Speedway is a dirt sport known for its dirt and subsequent lumps and bumps on track, however the shocks and suspension in Junior Sedans are not expensive and rarely replaced. “We’re only allowed a certain thickness spring, so pretty much the spring and shock rules are based off road cars. “Whatever that road car comes out with ... so, say Hyundai Excel, you have got to run the same thickness spring used in the road car. “We only run standard shocks in my son Henry’s car – they were about $300 each – but that’s standard straight out of a store. Every car is going to be different. “I have only bought two sets for Henry since he started. We really only change them when they get bent or they’re worn out.” Brumfield explained that while each car in Junior Sedans is slightly different in terms of price, they also each have

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strengths and weaknesses on track. He believes that in the end it is the driver behind the wheel that makes the biggest difference to a race result. “Every car has got its advantages as I’m starting to find out,” Brumfield said. “The little Hyundai Excel is a little bit better on the bigger tracks, but the Lancers are pretty good for small tracks, which is really cool. “It doesn’t really matter what you build. There’s a possibility, if you are good enough and you’ve got the right stuff there, you can win. “You can’t really do too much at the track. At home you can probably give it a wheel alignment. There’s really not much to it, believe it or not. A lot of it comes down to the kid itself as to how well the car goes. “At the track, probably the only things you can really change are your tyre pressures and what size tyre you put on it.

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“I’ve seen people run tyres for six or seven seasons. But I’ll put new tyres on Henry’s car just before a state title event.” In recent years tyres have become a big talking point in all of motorsport, – in speedway, rubber is used as a setup tool. King explained that at the race track tyre size plays a role in whether you go quicker at low speed out of the turns or high speed, acting much like a sprocket on a kart. “They have to be the same wheel diameter, 13 inches, but you can change the sizes of your tyres to just get a bit more stagger (like you see on Sprintcars),” King said. “Because you can’t change the gearing on the cars at all, the different tyre sizes change the gearing a little bit.” Because Junior Sedans aren’t the most powerful of racing cars and as the ovals are quite wide, brakes are rarely used. As a result, brake rotors, pads and callipers can do several seasons if needed.

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Junior Sedan racing is very competitive ... Right: Father and son, Richard and Lincoln King – typical Junior Sedan team. Below: Lincoln takes the chequer ...

“Again, what comes with the car I use that for the season,” Brumfield explained. “Whatever comes out of the wrecking yard, I normally just clean it up and use. “I’ve never seen a Junior Sedan wear a rotor or pad out. It’s just one of those things – if you keep an eye on it you don’t have to go and buy new ones; you can just go to the wreckers and just grab some out of another car and it will last you for another two or three seasons easy.” Brumfield added that they cost between $80-$150 depending on size and brand. The engine is very much as you bought it – also if maintained it can easily match the life expectancy of the car itself according to Brumfield. “Basically, the engine comes out as standard from the car,” Brumfield said. “We’ve got a little single head overhead cam in our Hyundai Excel. “You’re only allowed to take a little bit off the head, but there is no machining allowed, you can’t put flat top pistons in or anything like that. “It’s pretty much a base model – you just put some rings and bearings in it and make sure the head hasn’t got any cracks and away you go. “Henry’s motor would have cost us $500... we’ll probably use it for the next three or four seasons” All Junior Sedans are required to run on fuel purchased at a petrol station. A large majority of category entrants run unleaded 98 – importantly, no additives can be added. One of the key success factors of the series is the running cost of the car – in fact it costs considerably more to get to the venue than to actually compete. AA asked Brumfield how much it cost to enter a meeting – whether it would be $500 per round. “Absolutely not. Entry fee is about $20 and 10 to $20 of fuel to run the race car per day,” Brumfield said.

“Money to get there, 60-$70 to fill a full tank. You’d get away with $100 at a local meetings for food and everything.” The expense in Junior Sedan racing comes at the long-haul rounds, travelling several hours to race. At these rounds you pay for more fuel and generally accommodation for at least one night. For a family of four, both Brumfield and King said this will set you back around $200 but again it depends on location and the hotel or motel itself. Of course, it is not compulsory to compete at the long-haul events – where you race is entirely up to you, but if you wish to you could race every weekend. A majority of events run to a traditional speedway format. “On a normal night we’ll get two qualifying heats and the

points they get from that put you into a Feature and whoever’s got the highest points will start the Feature from pole,” Brumfield said. In some motor racing categories you have to spend many man-hours servicing the car, making sure everything is pristine and running faultlessly. Junior Sedans is not one of these classes and is yet another reason why it is such a good entry level race series for speedway drivers. “I’d say you need to spend about two hours leading into a meeting just double checking everything; make sure the seatbelts are tight, charge the transponders, make sure the car is clean and that we’ve got all the tyres and everything is ready to go,” King said. “Generally, you don’t need to do a lot on them, every now and then you might change spark plugs or change your oil, but you don’t have to do that often because the races aren’t long. You don’t really need to do a great deal of maintenance to them at all unless you break things.” On that note, repairs are again not excessive with panels easy to come by. The money really comes into effect if the car needs reshelling.

Image: Paris Charles

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Image: Paris Charles

CO$T$ GUIDE

Entry fees local $10-$20 per round Entry fees not local $50 Weekend costs local $100 Weekend costs long distance $400-$500 Speedway licence Approximately $150 Used car $3,500-$12,000 depending on age and model New car $10,000-$14,000 Engine $500 Shocks $300 each depending on make and model Tyres $80-$150 depending on size and brand Fuel Approximately $10 - $20 per meeting Cost to get on track (used) Minimum $8,000 Cost to get on track (new) Minimum $13,000

“A set of panels for our car, that’s the two side panels, the back one, and the front bonnet is about $500,” King said. “You can repair them – it’s not like you have to buy new ones of those all the time. You can repair them depending on how much damage there is to the car. “If you bend a bar or break one, you can reweld it sometimes, but if you hit the wall hard the car could be a throwaway, which is obviously when it starts adding up. But the cosmetic stuff is not really that expensive.” If you are on the fence but unsure whether it is worth the investment due to your lack of mechanical knowledge, King stressed that this should not be a concern. “We had no mechanical background at all,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of help from other people. “Most of the parents want to see kids on track. If there is an issue, genuinely most people will get in there and help you get out on track, which is really good. “At our first meeting, my son’s car’s muffler fell off going out of the gate ... we didn’t know what was going on but by the time he got the car back to the pits, the car was up on jacks and people were under the car, helping.”

Top – tyre size selection is one key set-up decision, Henry Brumfield leads the pack. Right and below: Structural requirements are straightforward, and damaged parts can easily be replaced with second-hand items.

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www.autoaction.com.au I 33

CAN-AM MATICH SR4 REPCO 5-LITRE V8

MCLAREN MUNCHER

FRANK MATICH PLANNED AN ATTACK ON THE 1968 CAN-AM CHALLENGE BUT HIS CHASSIS AND ENGINE WERE LATE SO HE OBLITERATED THE OPPOSITION AT HOME IN 1969 INSTEAD. SR4 THEN BECAME A REPCO DISPLAY CAR WHILE STILL IN ITS PRIME. MARK BISSET LOOKS THROUGH ROSE TINTED SPECTACLES AND PONDERS WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN IF THE AUSSIE DESIGNED AND BUILT SR4 HAD MADE IT STATESIDE TO TAKE ON THE WORLD BY THE end of the 1965 Tasman Series Frank Matich (FM) proved he was every bit as quick as the visiting Grand Prix stars in his year-old Brabham BT7A Climax. He popped it on pole at Warwick Farm in front of Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren and Frank Gardner then diced wheel to wheel for many laps with the World Champion, Clark, at Lakeside. Rather than continue with single seaters, FM found the growth (read money) of big Group 7/Can-Am cars in Europe and the US intoxicating. His first step was purchase of an Elfin 400 Oldsmobile V8 from Garrie Cooper which he raced to many wins in 1966 including the Australian Tourist Trophy.

MATICH SR3 REPCO: TAKING ON THE YANKS

Late that year the Matich SR3 Olds replaced the Elfin 400 (Traco Olds in Matich-speak). According to close observers the SR3 chassis was tube-for-tube identical to the Elfin 400 albeit strengthened with the knowledge gained from racing it. SR3’s aerodynamics were entirely different to Cooper’s 400, given

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its shortcomings and the rapid evolution of aerodynamic trends. John Surtees won the first Can-Am aboard a Lola T70 Chev in 1966. During the 1.5 litre F1 years (1961-65) these big, brutal sportscars, powered mainly by stock-block American V8s, thrilled crowds with their speed, faster than F1 as they were. The world’s best drivers contested 200-mile races with rich prize pools. Matich decided to have a crack at the ‘67 Can-Am to test his mettle against the world’s best. By then SR3 was powered by a Repco Brabham Engines (RBE) ‘620’ 400bhp, 4.4-litre SOHC, two valve, fuel injected V8. The show started at Road America, Wisconsin in September and finished at Las Vegas in November. Matich and his small team contested four of six rounds – at Road America, Bridghampton, Laguna Seca and Riverside. The sweet handling car was outgunned bigtime; its 400bhp motor had too little of everything – power, torque and reliability for 200-mile sprints.

At Road America, the SR3 qualified 18th; DNF, holed radiator. In New York State’s glorious Hamptons, he qualified 15th, and again was a DNF, this time with fuel starvation. In California for a couple of races, FM gridded 13th at Laguna Seca where the Ferrari 350 Can Ams (lightened, modified 4.2-litre V12 P4 Spyders) contested their first ’67 event – Chris Amon finished 5th but qualified behind Matich in 16th slot. At Riverside, Matich was 20th, but Frank crashed out on lap 20, and with that the team decamped to Sydney. Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme’s 6-litre Chev powered McLaren M6As dominated, winning five of the six races, the driver’s championship for Bruce, and the manufacturers for McLaren. Matich and Amon, in David McKay’s Ferrari

“ ”

350 Can Am, had some sensational scraps in the summer of ’68 Tasman sportscar support races where the SR3 was quicker than the endurance derived Ferrari.

BIG-BERTHA: SR4 4.8 AND 5-LITRE

In addition to prepping SR3 for the Tasman, Matich briefed his team on design elements of his SR4, another spaceframe car, to be powered by a 4.8-litre 760 version of the RBE DOHC, four valve, 1968 3-litre F1 engine. Long-time Matich mechanic Derek Kneller recalls; “Henry Nehrybecki drew and fabricated the chassis, the conceptual design of which was Frank’s and his. Bob Britton (Rennmax Engineering) was also involved. “The chassis was transferred to Frank’s Castle Cove, Sydney, BP Garage in Eastern

Matich decided to have a crack at the ‘67 Can-Am to test his mettle against the world’s best

In this classic image by Dick Simpson, Matich and SR4 clip the Warwick Farm Esses apex with great speed and precision in early 1969. FM was prodigiously fast at the Sydney horse racing venue where he did most of his testing. Below: Frank Matich Racing Pty Ltd was a very successful family business – FM and Joan Matich with SR4 during a 1969 pitstop.

Top: SR4 across the top of The Mountain during the 1969 Easter Bathurst meeting. Ludicrous and very difficult to safely mount ‘spare wheel’ was mandated by the regs of the day! Above: BP ad shows SR4 during the 1970 Sandown Tasman meeting.

Images: Oldracephotos.com-Dick Simpson, Autopics.com.au, Nigel Tait-Repco collection, Auto Action Archives

Valley Way, which comprised a servo, raceshop and Firestone race tyre warehouse. “Peter Mabey assembled the SR4 (chassis #7). He’d been with Matich for some years including the SR3 race program in the ‘States. SR4 was maintained by Tony Williams and John Mepstead, on chassis and engine respectively.”

The body was made in Sydney by JWF Fibreglass using what was going to be an aluminium body as a mould. Hopeless delays with the body and engine delivery caused the ’68 Can-Am plans to stall. Repco were up to their armpits in crocodiles with no time for a Can-am program. They had huge reliability issues with the F1 860

V8s, Indy 4.2-litre 760 V8s to design and build, and customer 2.5-litre Tasman V8s to service – not to forget work for Volvo Australia (fuel injected cylinder heads), evaluation of modified cylinder heads for Renault and a 5-litre Trans Am V8 for Pontiac.

TOO LATE SHE CRIED

By the time Matich first raced SR4 at Warwick Farm on December 1, 1968, McLaren already had their second Can-Am Cup on the mantlepiece. The Bruce and Denny Show was in full swing and remained so until Porsche rained on their parade with the turbo-charged 917/10 in 1972. The sensational relationship between Repco and Jack Brabham which netted drivers and manufacturers championships in 1966-1967 ended in late 1968. So, there was no 1969 Can-Am sponsorship for Matich – Repco Brabham Engines Pty Ltd was being wound down. Frank’s booby-prize was the supply of motors to attack the Australian Sportscar Championship. But it wasn’t all bad – Matich became the works driver for

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Repco’s new F5000 program. “By the time I arrived at Castle Cove, the 4.8-litre 760 I’d built at Maidstone had been installed in the SR4 by Peter Mabey and run once,” recalled RBE technician John Mepstead. “I got to know Frank and Peter servicing the SR3’s Repco V8s and was seconded from Repco to Matich in November ’68 to look after the engines, not too long before its first race.” Matich won the three-round 1969 Australian Sportscar Championship with perfect scores at Warwick Farm, Surfers Paradise, and Sandown. Among these championship rounds SR4 raced from coast to coast in front of thrilled crowds, but it was a bit like taking an AK47 to a duel with the opposition toting Colt 45s. Don O’Sullivan was second in SR3, and Bob Muir third in a Lotus 23B Ford. “Frank was such a perfectionist and taskmaster. We tested all the time at Oran Park and the Warwick Farm short-circuit, regularly working 14-hour days 6½ days a week. He was incredible – if we moved the shocks one-notch he could feel it.”

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Matich takes one of his many wins at Calder during 1969, the SR4 is seen here in the later low wing spec mandated globally by the FIA from the 1969 Monaco GP weekend onwards.

“ ”

The SR4 ledger is impressive, FM raced it at Bathurst, Calder Park, Catalina Park, Sandown, Surfers Paradise and Warwick Farm; 19 starts for 15 wins, one second and eight outright lap records.

“Don’t forget, it was the year of high wings too. Evolutionary changes involved running wingless, then with high wings, and back, as international regulations changed. Jaime Gard fabricated the big, high wing together with Frank – it was mounted to the rear uprights.” Gun engineer/mechanic Gard was over from Perth looking after the SR3 which Matich sold to West Australian racer, Don O’Sullivan. “We did lots of fine tuning of the suspension to get it right. We moved the steering rack, extended the uprights, and changed from Armstrong to Koni shockers. Frank jumped on

a plane to Holland to optimise those changes. When he took on the sale of Goodyear race tyres rather than Firestone in late 1969 that also involved a raft of changes.” “In November 1969 we installed a Hewland LG gearbox to replace the original ZF. Nehrybecki fabricated a new cross-frame with a bellhousing designed by us and cast by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Melbourne – we made a pattern which we could adapt for a Chev or the Repco engine.” Kneller recalled. The SR4 ledger is impressive, FM raced

it at Bathurst, Calder Park, Catalina Park, Sandown, Surfers Paradise and Warwick Farm; 19 starts for 15 wins, one second and eight outright lap records. “The 4.8-litre engine gave us no major dramas and did over 2000 race miles on its original bearings that year. I never knew what revs Frank used as he wouldn’t let me instal a tell-tale! He was probably using about 7500rpm. I kept an eye on the cam-followers, but they were fine,” said Mepstead. “The engine was rigidly mounted to the chassis, but Frank said his eyes almost popped out of their sockets down the straights with vibrations from the big, flatplane crank Repco! So, we used rubber mounts for everything ... the engine moved in the frame and broke chassis tubes. It was fast but fragile.” “The famous occasion when FM had a jammed throttle going down Sandown’s pit straight and locked the brakes solid going into Peters during the 1970 Tasman support was caused by vibrations to the throttle springs. We fixed it with a change of springs and mounts, ... the development process was ongoing.” “The terrible part of the year was Bevan’s death at Bathurst in 1969.” Benalla shooting-star, Bevan Gibson died at the wheel of Bob Jane’s Elfin 400 RBE when it took flight on the second of Conrod’s humps, landed upside down, and caught fire. “Bevan asked me after practice how we were going to set up the front of the SR4, saying that his steering wasn’t reacting, as the wheels were in the air. I told him we were going to fit an illegally large front spoiler. “Not long before the race, Frank asked me to remove a spacer in the fuel metering unit.

Repco engines: The Maidstone factory, Melbourne, in early 1968 (top); the engine towards the front is a 3 litre ‘860’ F1 engine; behind are ‘760s’. Middle: Early shot of SR4 when still fitted with a ZF ‘box,(LG Hewland fitted later in the year.) Peter Reilly assembling an ‘860’ 3-litre F1 engine valve train assemblyy, the engine’s problem area! Beautiful workmanship clear. Bottom: Bare frame shots of the car undergoing restoration.

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It’s an easy enough job – just four bolts, pull it out, then reinstall. But I crimped the O-ring when putting it back together. As a result it was leaking a bit. Frank could smell fuel and the engine was misfiring because the fuel pressure was too low.” Gibson therefore had a chance to knock off Matich in front of a huge Easter Bathurst crowd. In the normal course of things, the SR4 would have been miles up the road from the 4.4-litre Elfin, but Bevan had a sniff of victory and threw caution – given his practice experiences with the car – to the wind at a time the Gods weren’t looking his way. “It was an incredible time. I left at the end of 1969 to return to Melbourne. I had a young family and we wanted the support network. I built two 5-litre Repco 760s (E41 and E49) for the SR4 in late ’69 early 1970. E49 was the most powerful engine Repco ever built. I’ve still got the dyno sheets – it developed

558bhp @ 7500rpm and 428 lb/ft of torque at 5500rpm to 392 lb/ft at 7500rpm.” “The car was last raced at Warwick Farm about May 1970 where Frank was second to Niel Allen’s Elfin ME5 Chev. He drove it gently as the engine had a vibration which a subsequent tear-down at Repco revealed was the front of the crank cracking,” recalls Kneller. “SR4 was kept under a dust sheet in our Artarmon workshop until after the Tasman Series in 1971 when FM asked us to clean it up. iI hadn’t been used for eight months. We delivered it by trailer, with the engine fitted, to Repco in Maidstone.” In 1969 Repco formed a partnership with GMH (Redco Pty.Ltd was led by Malcolm Preston and used part of RBE’s Maidstone premises) to develop their new 308 V8 as an F5000 engine with Matich as their works driver. As part of the deal Repco took over SR4. It had more championships in it, but Repco wanted Matich to focus on F5000 – racing SR4 was a distraction they didn’t need. The car then became a beauty queen, never raced again until the modern era when it was restored by its new owner, former Repco Brabham Engines/Repco/Automotive Components Ltd engineer Nigel Tait – who has had a connection with the car since its construction – together with Jim Hardman.

IFS, BUTS AND MAYBES

One of Frank Gardner’s many one-liners was, “If ‘yer auntie had balls she’d be ‘yer uncle”. So, recognising and accepting that IF means nothing in racing, it’s interesting to ponder SR4’s 1968 prospects had it arrived match-fit at Road America on September 1. Stick with me … In 1967, the dominant McLaren M6A weighed 590Kg/1300lbs and was powered by a 6-litre 530bhp Chevy; the 1968 M8A toted a 7-litre 620bhp alloy block Chev and weighed circa 1350lbs. Prima facie, FM’s 1361lbs, 760 Series 5-litre, 560bhp SR4 would have been in the hunt. While the RBE gave away power to the Chev – SR4 weighed much the same as M8A – the Matich potentially handled better given its weight distribution. The RBE alloy V8 weighed 380lbs and sat nice and low – the Chev lump

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weighed 550lbs and was perched up higher. While the RBE 860 F1 engines had major torsional valve train vibration problems in 1968, the 760 Series 4.2/4.8/5-litre V8s weren’t so badly afflicted. Peter Revson’s 4.2-litre Brabham BT25 finished fifth in the 1969 Indy 500, and later he won the Indianapolis Raceway Park event in July. Would the SR4 have been quick? Would the 760 engines finish 200-mile races? Could SR4 have achieved Can-Am podiums in 1968? Could Matich have won a race? The answers are Yes! Bruce and Denny didn’t win two rounds that year. John Cannon was first in the wet aboard a McLaren M1B at Laguna, while Mark Donohue won at Bridghampton in Roger Penske’s M6B Chev. FM could have prevailed – SR4 was quick enough to knock off both combinations. None of that happened of course, but domination in Australia did. That the SR4 was benched prematurely is sad – it was a certain winner through to 1975! Still, the Repco Holden F5000 program was very successful into the mid-1970s. Matich won the 1970 AGP at Warwick Farm, then contested two US F5000 championship rounds in early 1971. His McLaren M10C Repco-Holden won the Riverside GP and was second in the Monterey GP at Laguna Seca. There you go – a victory in the US after all, albeit three years later than planned!

SR4 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine/Gearbox: RBE 760 quad-cam, four-valve, Lucas injected V8. 4.8-litre bore/ stroke 3.736/3.37inch. 5-litre bore/stroke 3.786/3.37inch. ZF four speed transaxle, later Hewland LG. Chassis/Suspension/Steering/Wheels: Tubular steel spaceframe: Weight 38 kilograms (bare frame). Wishbones at the front. Rear reversed lower wishbone, single top link, and twin radius rods. Koni shocks. Matich rack and pinion steering, cast by CAC. Girling three-pot calipers. Matich design cast magnesium wheels, front 10.5 by 15”, rear 17” by 15”. Tyres, front 10.5” by 23” by 15”. Rear 15” by 26” by 15” Track: front 57”, rear 60”, wheelbase 90”

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Above: Peter Mabey and FM ponder changes to the throttle linkage in the Sandown paddock during the 1970 Tasman meeting. Note the flat-spotted tyre as per text. Below: Matich and SR4 during the fateful 1969 Easter Bathurst meeting during which Bevan Gibson died aboard Bob Jane’s Elfin while chasing the misfiring SR4.

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SPEEDWAY NSW TIN TOP TREAT ‘Old School is Cool!’ VL Commodore’s reigned supreme as the Hessions Auto Parts Grafton Speedway brought down the curtain on their 2021/22 season with the dual running of the New South Wales Modified and Production Sedan Titles, giving the fans of the tin tops a double treat of blue ribbon action. The 39th running of the state Modified Sedan championship saw a field of 19 competitors roll into the Northern Rivers region venue, the majority coming from Queensland, a small number of locals and a lone Victorian making the journey. The heat racing proved to be a tough affair – going into the 30-lap final a depleted field of 10 would take to the grid, Shane MacDonald and Darran Lester sharing the front row. Iit would be the latter to lead them away, holding position despite various stoppages which reduced the field along the way, highlighted by a spectacular roll over by Nathan MacDonald. Lester again led the field of just five cars remaining but his tenure at the front would soon end as he succumbed to mechanical difficulties at the halfway mark. S. MacDonald inherited the lead and with a handy gap looked set to claim victory until rubbing the wall, which allowed a determined Michael Shelford to hunt down the wounded MacDonald and take the lead with eight laps to go. With clear track ahead Shelford, the reigning Queensland Champion, stretched his legs as he marched on to add the NSW mantle to his CV. Shannon Blackburn managed to pass MacDonald on the penultimate lap to claim the runner-up mantle and S. MacDonald survived the journey to stand on the final step of the podium. Shane Langton fell just short of the distance required and joining him in the retirees were Lester, N. MacDonald, Allen Schultz, Walters, Max Clarke and Stevie Love. While 27 contenders fronted for the running of the NSW Production Sedans Title, only 19 would survive the heats to make it into an incident plagued 30-lap final that saw a massive crash on the opening lap involving the majority of the field. Lismore’s Jordan Biviano would survive an action-packed final – starting from Pole Position, Biviano would fall back to third in the early running as Zac MacDonald and Michael Mason each shared stints in the lead. However a determined Biviano regained control at two-thirds distance and go on to claim the state mantle. Rounding out the podium was Mason and current Queensland Champion Daniel Henshaw third. Defending Champion Joel Berkeley was fourth followed by Dakota Laverty, Adrian Stott, Matt Vicary and Josh Boyd all finishing on the lead lap. One lap behind was Jim Cowley and Z. MacDonald with Myles White the final finisher. Aaron Hall, Richard Cook, Demi Clarke, Chris Pagel, Travis Hutchison, Lindsay Clapham, Ash Graham and Neil Keldoulis would fail to see the chequered flag. In the support class action, David Putsey claimed the final Northern Rivers Rumble Series round for the RSA Street Stockers ahead of Luke Gray and overall series champion Connor Reeves third. The other feature winners were Brodie King (RSA Four Cylinder Sedans), Jeremy Wade (RSA Junior Sedans), Harry Fowler (SSA Junior Sedans) and Colin Crepin (Legend Cars). Q1 Michael Shelford added the NSW1 Sedan Championship to his CV. Images: Taylah Butcher.

Jordan Biviano collected the NSW Production Sedan Championship.

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Photo 1: V8 Trucks 5 Wide Salute. Image: Tanya Eastwood.

JAMES JUMPS TO TRUCK’N VICTORY BAKER BANKS KEV BAKER CHALLENGE

HORSHAM’S BLUE Ribbon Raceway fired into action with himself at the back of the grid while sharing the front row were dual classes featuring at the top of the marque. Rod Hetherington and Bayley Wilson. The first was the always popular V8 Trucks, a class that is Wilson led the first 10 lap before Baker made his way to the iconic to the Horsham club, with the running of the annual front and from that point would travel the remaining 15 laps at Robin Thomas Memorial and the second was the Limited the front of the pack. Sportsman Kev Baker Challenge. Anton, who started on the last row, had successfully Before the V8 Trucks were able to get underway there was manoeuvred his way to second with just 5 laps remaining a rearranging of the driver line-up – due to Covid regulations, before chasing Baker in a run to the line while Bailey Nathan Bird was sidelined as Wes Bell changed seats moving Wilson held on for the final podium position in front of into the wheelhouse of Bird’s HO11 entry while Jaryd Carman brother Andrew. Fifth to the line was Mal Siely, followed by would become the super-sub sliding into Bell’s HO22 ride. Hetherington and Bowen Donkers. Dejectedly, Troy Curran The other three to suit up would be HO73 Tim Driller, HO44 failed to travel the distance pulling to the infield on lap 21. Fletcher Mills and Luke James in the HO57. Andrew Wilson collected two heats wins to earn the highest Going into the Robin Thomas Memorial feature event, James point scorer going into the final while, Curran, Siely, Anton and claimed Pole Position and sharing the front row was Driller. Baker picked up one apiece. The second row consisted of Mills and Bell while Carman The largest field of the night was the Wingless Sprints and it occupied the fifth position. would be New South Welshman, John Egan making the most of At the drop of the green, James made the most of his inside his front row start to find the quickest way, leading all 20 laps to position as he jumped to an early lead and from that point the chequered flag. forward, he would consolidate the position over the express After dicing his way through the field, Mark Walsh would claim 10-lap journey to claim victory by almost a half lap between a well-deserved second. Jeremy Beddison was next after falling himself and the rest of the podium placers. to third with just five laps remaining. Driller held second for the majority of the journey but was Will Scott finished where he started in fourth, followed by pursued closely by the ever pressing Fletcher who managed Steven Hateley, Robert Whiteside and Ricky Bailey. South to pull his way into second as the duo raced towards the white Australian visitor James Rodda was next and rounding out the flag – once finding his way to the runner up position it would field were Gary Mccallum, Kelvin Johnson and Jake Byron. remain that way over the final lap. Fourth to the line was Bell The four 10-lap heat races were shared evenly between while Carman would finish one lap down in fifth position. Hateley, Rodda, Egan and Beddison. James was the first truck to the line in the opening heat Dehne Sparrow proved to be the fastest of the Production although he would be relegated two positions by the Chief Sedans with a clean sweep, winning both heat races before Steward for his passing efforts – Mills was awarded rthe ace claiming a flag to flag victory in the 12-lap feature over Graham win. Gerlach, Shaun Queale, Dean Hughes and Heath Riley The second heat provided an exciting finish as Mills and rounding out the top five. James raced side-by-side over the final lap before negotiating Finally, the Vintage Sedans and Hot Rods turned back the slower traffic, Mills went high and James ducked low, finding hands of time with some spirited demonstration runs. the quicker way to the chequered flag. They say the cream always rises to the top and amongst a stout field of Limited Sportsman the reigning dual South Australian and Victorian Champion, Jock Baker, would prove why he carries the #1 on his tail with an impressive drive, coming from the third row of the grid to claim a thrilling win in the 25-lap Kev Baker Challenge by a mere 0.483 of a second over the fast finishing Dylan Anton. Going into the final the field was inverted, so top point Jock Baker was the Kev Baker Challenge winner. scorer Andrew Wilson found

MARTIN’S SA MODIFIED TITLE SPEEDWAY NEWS with Paris Charles WAIKEIRIE’S SUNLINE Speedway played host to the running of the South Australian Modified Sedan Championship and with a field of 17 competitors vying for the coveted number one, it would be Mildura’s Martin Hawson claiming his second championship after first capturing the mantle 17 years prior. Hawson made the most of his front row position, jumping pole-sitter Andrew Dike to slingshot around the outside, leading the field away and from that point forward Hawson would control the 30-lap non-stop affair from the front, taking his Little’s Competition Services Holden Commodore to victory lane. Dike, Wade McCarthy and Ty Galley would all finish where they started to round the top four, making it an all Victorian podium. The fifth and final car to travel the distance on the lead lap was David Smith who had journeyed from the back to become the biggest mover in the field. Finishing a lap in arrears were Aaron Bunton, Bronte Perkins and David Hartman. Further back was Tony Hardy, Justin Demaine, Trevor Raams, and Mark Janssan while Rob Uren expired on the final lap after contact with Raams, Matt Nelson was out on lap five and Angelo Halacas retired on the opening lap while Jeremy McClure was a scratching for the final.

Mildura’s Martin Hawson, SA1. Image: Ray Ritter. The six heat races were evenly matched with Dike, Galley, Nelson and McCarthy claiming one apiece while Smith banked two which would have set him up for a front row start in the final – however a car change due to mechanical problems would see him relegated to the rear of the field for the final. An exciting race for family honours would see the Bolitho’ – Jordon and Jason – trade positions in the early goings of the Wingless Sprints 15-lap final before Jordan was able to settle in and command the pace to claim victory over Jason. Rounding out the top three

was Anthony Tapley. Melissa McMillan was fourth and rounding out the field were Michael Spoljaric and Anthony McMillan, while Calab Evans retired at two-thirds race distance. Darryl Knuckey was a scratching from the feature. Evans and Jordon Bolitho claimed the two 10-lap heat races. Continuing with a strong run from the Mildura based drivers, Wade Fell went flag to flag in the 15-lap Street Stock feature race in addition to picking up the two heat wins. Tony Prideaux, Jarred Farrell, Drew Flatman, Paige

FLY’N RYAN A1 WITH A massive $30,000 up for grabs, the biggest Prize Pool in the history of Modlites in Australia, a stout field of 21 contenders made the journey to the Broome Speedway in the Kimberley region of Western Australia for the running of the 2022 MG Tyres Bridgestone Australian Modlite Championship. The final provided a thrilling battle that had the crowd buzzing as the race went down to the final lap. South Australia’s Ryan Alexander (right) fought his way through a tough field to add the national title to his impressive CV, but what made it more impressive was that he had to do it the tough way after a disastrous Night 1 of the championship that saw him dwelling in 20th position on the points table after suffering mechanical issues. Going into the final, Queenslander Klinton Hancey looked Image: Paris Charles to be the odds-on favourite after showing great speed and consistency, winning all five of his qualifying races to claim Halliday inherited the lead as the yellow lights came on yet again, this Pole Position. The next four positions were locals Zac Minshull, Brent time for the spun entry of Mark Murray. As this had all been unfolding, Halliday, Rob Kirk and Glen Dearle before the next interstater in Brooke Alexander had steadily made his way forward and soon a titanic battle Alexander would be found to round off the third row. for the lead would develop between the two. Halliday would greet the At the drop of the green, it was a frenetic pace as Hancey jumped to an white flag in the lead as Alexander continued to harass the leader and his early lead. Halliday quickly moved into second place as Minshull dropped persistence would pay dividends – Halliday spun in Turn 1, handing a clear back to fourth before spinning on lap five causing the first of multiple run to the chequered flag and national crown to a jubilant Alexander. stoppages plaguing the first 10 laps. Rob Kirk advanced to the runner up position while Halliday salvaged Despite the drama going on behind, Hancey continued to control the third, joining them on the final step of the podium. In fourth was Dylan race until South Australians Dylan Richter and Justin Chadwick came Richter. together. As the cars circulated under the caution period, Hancey’s car Next was Tom Oliver followed by Zac Minshull, Jason Webb, Anna Elliott, began to show signs of distress with smoke coming from the engine room Chriss Kounis and Celeste Halliday rounding out the top 10. Brooke and the dejected race leader would soon retire to the infield on lap-15. Alexander retired on the penultimate lap with a sticking throttle while

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Goldsack-Gwynne and Todd Rose rounded out the half dozen finishers. The Junior Sedans were broken into two categories based on their experience. The Top Stars feature went to Lucas Warnett over Diesel Fallon and Lachlan Brown for the podium. The Richter’s – Matthew, Corey and Max – rounding out the field. The New Stars final was claimed by Evan McAlister, while rounding the podium was Ryan Burns and Brock Cadd. Neela FearWright and Emma Brown were next while Summer Gesell failed to travel the journey.

holding down seventh at the time. Hancey, Blake Webb, Warren Minshull, Glen Dearle and Andrew Stoodley also failed to travel the journey while Mark Murray, and Chadwick were forced to retire from the two stoppage rule and Shane Price was a scratching from the final after crashing out in his final heat race. Price, Kirk, Alexander and Warren Minshull each claimed a heat win while Zac Minshull and Brent Halliday collected two apiece. Hancey remained undefeated going into the final with four heats and the odds feature, while Zac Minshull claimed the evens feature event.

KLINTON CLAIMS WA CROWN

While on the western tour, the majority of the visiting Modlite teams stayed on for the following weekend’s Dirt Double Deluxe RJ & SW Brown Haulage Western Australian Championship held over two nights at the Kunnunurra Speedway. After a disappointing end to the national title, Klinton Hancey would make amends to take the honours of the state title with a flag to flag victory over the 25-lap journey. Brent Halliday quickly made his way past Rob Kirk for second and would remain in the runner up position for the remainder of the journey, Kirk third and rounding off the podium placings was Jason Webb who had started deep in the field. Mark Murray and Anna Elliot completed the depleted field of finishers. Andrew Stoodley, Robert Hardy, Justin Chadwick, Brook Alexander and Shane Price failed to travel the distance while Celeste Halliday and South Australia’s Keven Richards were both night one casualties. The heat race wins were shared with singles going to Alexander, Hardy, B. Halliday, Price, and Webb with a double to Kirk and Hancey claiming a triple.

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NATIONALS WRAP (Commodore). Jones progressed to second in the last with Mitchell third with his third 5s penalty. Granger was next from Sutton and Evans.

Oldfield, Herring and Raddatz head the MX5s, while (above) Grant Elliott dominated Super TT. Images: Riccardo Bienvenuti.

MRA’S SMP WINTER START MOTOR RACING AUSTRALIA KICKED OFF WINTER WITH ITS FOURTH MEETING OR THE YEAR AT SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK ON JUNE 5 WITH GOOD SUPPORT FROM ITS TRADITIONAL CATEGORIES APRA PULSARS IT TOOK to the last lap of the third of the enthralling races to decide who won the second round of the series. Harry Inwood and Josh Craig each had a win and a second before the finale where the latter came through with a narrow triumph. Craig led the first race from Inwood who went to the lead on lap two. They were close from then on with a lead change twice before Inwood won by 0.09s. The race for third was equally intense with Brock Stinson ahead of Dan Smith for three laps before

NATIONALS WRAP with Garry O’Brien Smith was through. Jamie Craig was next as Bri Wilson held off three challengers for sixth. The second race was barely underway when Gavan Reynolds had an oil dump into Turn 1 which the following cars managed to successfully navigate. With the resumption, Josh Craig led all the way for narrow win over Inwood. Chris Manning had a great start and finished third in front of Jamie Craig, Ben Sheedy and Stinson. Smith retired early with a broken control arm. Josh Craig had the lead of the last race when it went Safety Car due to Charlie Viola going off out of Turn 7 and being tagged by

an unlucky Smith. After the greens, Craig continued to lead until Inwood passed him on the penultimate lap. On the last lap Craig regathered the lead for the win. Manning was third ahead of Jamie Craig, Sheedy and Wilson. Stinson was a non-starter with an oil leak and slipping clutch. SUPER TT IN HIS LS-powered BMW E36, Grant Elliott was the winner of each of three races and never seriously challenged. In the first he was comfortably ahead of Brock Mitchell (OzTruck Maloo) and Lloyd Godfrey (Honda Integra). Mitchell was pinged 5s at the start and relegated to fourth ahead of Denis Pana (Holden Commodore) and Chris Sutton (Subaru Impreza WRX). The race was delayed with a Safety Car when Myles Jones (Honda Civic) stopped with an alternator failure. Godfrey was second in the next encounter with Mitchell third despite another start infringement. Jones came from the rear to fourth ahead of Mark Granger (Ford Falcon), Sutton and Liam Evans

EXCELS IT WAS a total demolition job by Wil Longmore in the second round. He streeted the opposition in races one and two and had the third in the bag when it finished behind the Safety Car. Second overall was Lewis Buhagiar ahead of Cameron Brown. They were much closer in their contests. Brown passed Buhagiar for second in the opener while William Seal who was next, was penalised and relegated behind Dylan Debono, Shannon Williams and James Stabile. Buhagiar and Brown diced throughout Race 2 and were split by Seal by the end. Matt Woodward was next from Hayden Auld and Stabile. Seal jumped to second after the start of Race 3 and was soon passed by Buhagiar who was ahead when the race prematurely ended. Woodward was next from Brown, Stabile and Auld. MRA PRODUCTION CARS/E36 COMMODORE DRIVERS were first and second in each race, in which Corine Virag led Grahame Fraser home every time. Jamie Craig and Scott Tidyman were third and fourth in the first aboard their Nissan Pulsars with the latter third in race two ahead of Rob Boaden (BMW E36). In the last, Tidyman was again third ahead of Jonathon Hovey (Pulsar) and Boaden. MX5 CUP EVEN A poor start in one race couldn’t stop Tim Herring from scoring a trio of race victories. He led all the way in the first and crossed the finish line over 8s ahead of Ben Oldfield who held off Zac Raddatz for the duration. Similarly Rob Hay staved off Robert Giovenco. It was a closer result in the next with Herring 3.4s ahead of Oldfield and a comfortable gap to Raddatz. Hay was busy again, as he held off Steven Head who relegated Giovenco early on. Herring dropped to fourth briefly at the start of Race 3 before he passed leader Oldfield on lap two and raced away for the win. Hay was a close third behind Oldfield while Raddatz was clear of Head and Giovenco.

ANNIVERSARY FOR NOOSA THE WINTER Hillclimb on June 4-5, round one of the Noosa Hillclimb Championship Series, was the 25th Anniversary of the event on Gyndier Drive, Tewantin. Fastest time set was by Scott Bingham (right) in a Minetti SS-V1 ahead of 132 other competitors. On the second of three runs on the 1.5km course, Bingham posted a best of 58.6810s.

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Second quickest was Fabian Coulthard in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS he was sharing with Mark Seery (13th) on 59.0252s. Like Coulthard, Adam McLeod (Mitsubishi EVO Ralliart) set his best time on the final attempt, a 59.2681s, to secure third ahead of Adrian Reed (Audi S5) by 0.1s. Next was Blaise Paris (Porsche 964 RSR) ahead of a trio of Teslas piloted by Shannon Fleming, Jacob White and Ben Diggles. Ninth overall was Peter Hughes ahead of Chris Ryan, both in Volkswagen Golf Rs. Then came Matt Duncan (Subaru Impreza) and David Allen (EVO) ahead of Seery. Coulthard was not the only notable participant. Roland Dane drove an Audi Quattro S1 Evo (pictured above left) and

placed 25th, 4.9s off the best time and one spot ahead of Nash Morris in a Ford Mustang he shared with father Paul who was 58th. Not everyone got through the weekend without dramas. George Ross (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) crashed on his first run, and Russell Sticklen (Ford Fiesta) crashed on his sixth run, just after setting his best time. Dave Millington in only his second run on the hill in a Formula Vee, spun his TTV01 and nosed into an embankment, but managed another run afterwards. The Noosa Beach Classic Car Club who put on the event, will have the second round of the series, the Noosa Summer Hillclimb, in October. Garry O’Brien

Images: Russell Witt

Image: Ian Colley

CALENDAR MERLIN DARWIN TRIPLE CROWN, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUN 17-19 REPCO SUPERCARS, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUN 17-19 S5000 AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP RD05, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUN 17-19

AMOS GOES BACK-TO-BACK DEAN AMOS (above) continued on his winning ways at Mt Cotton by taking his fourth Queensland Hillclimb Championship on June 4-5. In his Nicholson McLaren V8-powered Gould GR55B, he scored his fourth title in five years and beat archrival and the 2020 Covid-restricted event victor, Dean Tighe (supercharged Hayabusa Empire Wrath) by 0.47s. Formula Libre over 2.0 litre cars filled the top three places with Warwick Hutchinson (turbocharged rotary OMS 28 RPV03) third for the second year in a row. It was the same outright podium as last year and they all posted faster times. After many weekends of rain, the 2022 Cottons Creations event was held in sunshine for the 56 entered. By the end of four of the six available runs, Tighe was the pacesetter by 0.11s. However Amos put in a 35.81s flyer on his next attempt to ensure that Tighe was second

A SHORTENED Snowy River Sprint, round two of the Australian Tarmac Rally Series on May 28-29, was won by Dean Lillie and Steve Glenney (above) in a Nissan Skyline GTR. During the 15th stage there was an incident where Wayne Lamont and Errol Rosenblatt crashed their Mitsubishi EVO 9 into a tree and the last three stages were abandoned. The winners were 1min 5.9s ahead of Jeff Morton and Daymon Nicoli (Porsche GT2 RS) with another 1min 39.2s to Geoff Olholm and Matt Sanders in their Toyota Supra GTS. Held in and around Victorian towns of Lakes Entrance and Buchan, the event was scheduled to cover 250 competitive kilometres through 18 stages and a 40km stretch of the Buchan-Orbost road.

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for the sixth time in seven years. The next three were F/L 1.3-2.0lt cars with South Australian champion David Mahon (Dallara F394/Hayabusa) fourth ahead of Doug Daniels (Nutec), Neil Lewis (Fly-001) and Stan Pobjoy in his O2L VW Special. The fastest of the tin tops was Gavin Taylor in his U2L Volkswagen Golf Sports Sedan with ninth on 44.46s. The time 0.01s quicker than Wayne Penrose (O2L Volkswagen Beetle) and 0.13s up on Tim Blake (AWD Forced Induction Subaru Impreza WRX) who were 10th and 11th overall. Then came Rick Miles (Kookaburra Formula Ford), Stephen Edwards (F/L up to 750cc Yamaha R6FL), Phil Dalton (Honda Civic Sports Sedan), Adrian Purcell (WRX) and Pauline and Ken Graham in their shared Improved Production Datsun 1600 SSS. Garry O’Brien

LILLIE AND GLENNEY BOWL OVER SPRINT

Image: Angryman

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NO AMBLING IN THE COLD FOREST IT WAS a cold May 28 night in the Wombat State Forest for the Moonlight Meander, round four of the Victorian Club Rally Series, but not so for Steven Porter and Tony Robinson in their Mazda RX7 (above – Image B Team Media). They won eight of the 10 stages and were ahead by almost 4mins at the conclusion. Second place went to Rowan Woollard and Andrew Daniell, also in an RX7, while Brian Semmens and Dan Parry (Nissan 200SX RV S12) were third. Paul Mahony and Simon Thompson (BMW 318i E30) finished fourth. Fifth at the end were Adrian Stratford and Kain Manning (Hyundai Excel) who were not eligible for points and did most of the rally with a broken control arm mount. James and Mark Leoncini (Toyota Corolla AE71) finished the opening stage, equal first with the overall winners, and then took the second by themselves before a left rear puncture delayed them and then a brake caliper failure put them out. Porter took over the lead despite third place on Stage 3 and was never headed. Mahony won the third stage and held second for that and the next four stages before they were fourth for the remainder. Inside the top five for the three opening stages, and then fifth and sixth, Ben and Cathy Hayes ultimately went out when their Datsun 1600 broke its fan belt. Braedon and Emma Kendrick (Holden Commodore VK) were also prominent, in sixth after four stages and before they were placed 22nd on the next stage and an eventually 14th. They were second on the final stage. An early retirement were Daryl King and Darcy McClure-Wallace (Toyota Corolla) after third on stage one. Brett Williams and Malcolm Cardwell (BMW 325e E30) crashed which downgraded the second stage. A broken diff put out the Joel Wald/ Chris Ellis Datsun Stanza before Rowan Quill Jnr/Ari Paterson (Nissan 180SX) were stopped with gearbox issues. Kim Harper’s Ford Escort was retired when navigator Gerry Bashford became ill, and the Grant Heywood/Paul Kent Datsun 1600 broke its driveshaft. Garry O’Brien

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COMBINED SEDANS, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUN 17-19 SUPERBIKES, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUN 17-19 PORSCHE CARRERA CUP RD03, HIDDEN VALLEY NT – JUN 17-19 VIC CLUB RALLY SERIES RD05, NISSAN NIGHTMOVES, HEATHCOTE VIC – JUN 18 MARQUE SPORTS CARS NQ, CALCIUM QLD – JUN 18 KCF 3 SHORT COURSE RALLY, BENARKIN QLD – JUN 18 HYUNDAI X3 SERIES RD04, PHEASANT WOOD CIRCUIT NSW – JUN 18 WPM TRACKSCHOOL TRACK DAY, WAKEFIELD PARK NSW – JUN 18 CENTRAL COAST CAR CLUB DIRT KHANACROSS, BENARABY QLD JUN 18 MOTOR EVENTS RACING – NIGHTRIDER, WINTON RACEWAY VIC – JUN 18-19 STATE KHANACROSS SERIES RD04, HAMPTON NSW – JUN 19 DEPUTY 4 HOUR RD04, PHEASANT WOOD CIRCUIT NSW – JUN 19 CENTRAL NORTH COAST SPORTING CAR CLUB RALLYSPRINT, NABIAC NSW – JUN 19 HOLDEN SPORTING CAR CLUB OF QLD, WILLOWBANK DRAGSTRIP QLD – JUN 19 IPSWICH WEST MORETON AUTO CLUB OPEN SPRINT RD03, WILLOWBANK – JUN 19 MILLMERRAN AUTO CLUB DIRT SPRINTS RD03, MILLMERRAN QLD – JUN 19 TOWNSVILLE CITY AUTOSPORTS CLUB BITUMEN OTORKHANA, TCAC QLD – JUN 19 MARQUE SPORTS CAR ASSOCIATION SA SUPER SPRINT RD02, THE BEND WEST CIRCUIT – JUN 19 SOUTHERN DISTRICTS CAR CLUB KHANACROSS RD04, MID MURRAY MOTORPLEX SA – JUN 19 HSV CLUB OF WA SPRINT RD04, WANNEROO RACEWAY – JUN 19 MG CAR CLUB OF TASMANIA/MINI CAR CLUB HILLCLIMB/ SUPERSPRINTS, BASKERVILLE RACEWAY – JUN 19 GEELONG MOTOR SPORTS CLUB AUTOCROSS/KHANACROSS RD04, AVALON VIC – JUN 19 MG CAR CLUB NEWCASTLE KHANACROSS DIRT/TARMAC, RINGWOOD MOTORSPORT PARK NSW – JUN 19 STATE MOTOR RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS RD04, SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK – JUN 25 SCOUT MOTORSPORT CLUB COME & TRY

MOTORKHANA, MALLALA MOTORSPORT PARK – JUN 25 It was a wet for Leg 1 where Morton won the first competitive stage ahead of Lille, STATE RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD02, RALLY LAUNCESTON – JUN 25 Olholm, Liam and Larry Howarth (Skyline WPM TRACKSCHOOL TRACK DAY, WAKEFIELD PARK NSW – JUN 25 GTR V-Spec) and Barrie Smith and Dale TARMAC SPORTZ SERIE TIME CHALLENGE, Moscatt (Audi TT RS). Morton extended the WANNEROO RACEWAY – JUN 25 lead on the next two stages before beaten MG CAR CLUB NEWCASTLE SUPERSPRINT RD03, RINGWOOD MOTORSPORT PARK NSW – JUN 25 by Lillie on stage five. Lillie took the overall lead on the next SHANNONS MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA CHAMPIONSHIPS RD04, PHILLIP ISLAND VIC – JUN 25-26 when second to Olholm. Morton finished sixth and trailed Lillie by 1.8s. That gap 2 DAYS OF THUNDER, QLD RACEWAY QLD – JUN 25-26 was extended with Lillee victories on the PORSCHE SPRINT CHALLENGE RD02, PHILLIP ISLAND VIC – JUN 25-26 remaining day one stages to 1min 11.3s. PRODUCTION CAR SERIES RD02, PHILLIP ISLAND VIC – JUN 25-26 Olholm finished the day third ahead of PROTOTYPE SERIES RD02, PHILLIP ISLAND VIC – JUN 25-26 Jason and Fiona Wright (Skyline R35), MOTORSPORT AUSTRALIA RICCIARDO’S RACERS, Howarth, Brent and Garry Coleman (Subaru SYMMONS PLAINS – JUN 25-26 Impreza WRX STi), and Mick Downey NSW-QLD SPRINT CHALLENGE & SHORT CIRCUIT TOURING CAR SERIES and Jarrod Akker (Holden Commodore – CARNELL RACEWAY QLD – JUN 25-26 Group A). Smith retired on stage 11 with AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP RD03, mechanical dramas. RALLY TASMANIA TAS – JUN 25-26 Heavy fog greeted competitors for day two WASCC STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS RD03, WANNEROO WA – JUN 25-26 and only one stage was contested before ARB QLD STATE OFF ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP the accident. It was won by Morton from RD04, MT LARCOM QLD – JUN 25-26 Wright with Lillie third which reduced his STATE HILLCLIMB SERIES RD04, MT COTTON QLD – JUN 25-26 lead margin by 5.4s. CHALLENGE TROPHY HILLCLIMB RD03, COLLINGROVE SA – JUN 26 Wright finished fourth overall ahead of RALEIGH MOTORSPORT ASSOCIATION Howarth, Coleman, Downey, Paul and RALLYCROSS RD02 – RALEIGH RACEWAY NSW – JUN 26 Claire Buccini (BMW 1M), David and Jackie CENTRAL AUSTRALIA RALLY SPORTS CLUB Thirlwall (BMW 1 Series), and 10th placed KHANACROSS, ALICE SPRINGS NT – JUN 26 Andrew Bollom and Jon Roberts (Mazda ALBURY WODONGA & DISTRICT CAR RX8SP). Garry O’Brien CLUB LAP DASH, WINTON RACEWAY – JUN 26 Josh Webster and Tim Shaw were in the lead battle all weekend. Image: Angryman

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NATIONALS WRAP

THE BEND A NEW CHALLENGE

ALL BETS were off when the SAORRA Multi Club series ventured to The Bend Motorsport Park for the Tigervac The Bend Short Course on May 28-29. With all the off road favourites falling by the wayside Nick and Alexander Burt (above) came home winners in their Extreme 2WD Chev V8-powered Rush Truck. The Burts lost time mid-race when they stopped to check for a flat tyre, but then continued on to cross the line 15s ahead. Second were Tim Vandenberg and Jason McGlynn (SS Racetec Hunter/Holden V8 Pro Buggy) who had to actually change

a flat tyre. There was over 2mins back to third placed Michael Shipton and Paul Chorlton (Performance 2WD Chevpowered Ford Ranger). Fourth were Scott Ballantyne and Celia Blomfield (Scott Schiller ProLite/Nissan ProLite), comfortably ahead of Ben and Heath Fatchen (SXS Turbo Can Am Maverick) as both crews had a reasonably trouble-free runs. Haydn and Neil Vanstone (RIDS Joker/ VW Super1659) had issues with a rough running engine yet completed the full 19 lap distance for sixth. Next home but laps

down after power steering problems were class rivals Jake England and Brad Turner (Murco J-Arm/Suzuki). Next were Mark and Ryder Taylor (Cobra/Mazda) who ran out of gears towards the end. Early race leaders on day two, David Hall and Corey Hayworth (Murphy/Nissan) settled for ninth after they broke the suspension with three laps remaining. Tenth placed Daryl Nissen and Andrew Harness (SORE/Nissan) set some of the fastest lap times but lost laps when a wheel departed. Rain on Saturday made things

interesting in Section 1 and the rocks took their toll. Aaron and Chelsea Haby with Rodyn Bailey (Element Prodigy/Toyota turbo) top qualified and were the leaders before they pulled out on Sunday morning with gearbox problems. John Smith and Grant Manion (Smith & Sons Nissan TT) made it to second outright but lost a wheel on Sunday. Adrian Cottrell and Amber Kennedy (Polaris RZR XP) qualified second and showed good pace until outed with electrical problems. Story/Image David Batchelor

TWO FROM TWO FOR TREWHELLA FASTEST ON each of the three sections, Adam and Craig Trewhella (pictured) won the Marsue Transport – Make Tracks WA Bencubbin 2022, round two of the West Australian Off Road Championship on June 4-5. That made it two rounds wins in a row in their Rimco/Chev Pro Buggy and they finished Bencubbin 5mins 53.8s ahead of Jared Percival and Luke Candy in their ProLite SS Racetech/Toyota 2GR-FE. Third place 3mins 16.7s away were Brad Krepp and Kerry Yaxley aboard the Extreme 2WD Nissan Navara/Chev L98. The event was made up of three sections of around 280kms in total. The first was a point-to-point run from Bencubbin to Gabbin and a police escort return. Section 2 followed the same route plus a return leg to Bencubbin. After an escort to

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Gabbin, the 41 entries would race back to Bencubbin to complete the third section. In cool and clear conditions Trewhella posted the fastest time ahead of quickest in prologue, Troy and Deborah Schoen (SS Pro Hustler/Pro Buggy), by 17s. Percival was third ahead of Mark and Sam Cramer (Hustler/Chev LS2), and Krepp. On the two-way run of Section 2 Trewhella extended the lead margin to over 2mins as Schoen dropped out with engine maladies. Percival, Krepp and Cramer were next and covered by 3mins 30s. In the final section, Percival was again second ahead of Krepp while Cramer was sixth behind the SXS Turbos of Jake Montgomery/Sharna Wormall and Will James Quinn-Schofield/Tia Chantelle Wormall, both crews in Can-Am X3s. The latter class battle produced different

winners on each section, ultimately the winner and outright fifth behind Cramer were Malcolm Yeardley and Latia Rodgers. They finished ahead of fellow Can-Am teams Aaron Caldwell/Fraser Dellabosca, and Jake Montgomery/Sharna Wormall. In the other classes, ProLite was won by Michael Davis/ Kyran Blight (Zarco/ Nissan), and Darren Alexander/Mark Savill (Voodoo/ Subaru) scored Sportslite honours. Daniel Jones/Peter Damopoulos (Nissan Image: WAORC Patrol/Chev) took

Ext 4WD when the Chris Dawes/Dave Glover Patrol/Chev broke its steering, and Performance 2WD went to Sean Beck/ Euan McCann (Holden). Garry O’Brien

CAN-AM CAN DO CLASS 6 Can-Am teams ran one-two in the Gorba Samba Metal Works round four of the Victorian Off Road Club Shield at Moyston on May 28. After 21 laps of the 5km course, Daniel and Jodie Jorgenson (pictured) were ahead of Darren Frankling and Rob Hackney by 1min 20s while third place went to Tim Lloyd and Steve Crowe in their Unlimited Lloyd Mark/ Nissan SR20 turbo. Heat 1 was over one lap, and Brant Knight (Class 10 Sabre/Suzuki) was first, ahead of Glenn Pike and Aiden Campagnolo (Can-Am), and Andrew and Jack Cameron (Class 5 Mitsubishi Triton/Chev), Lloyd and Frankling. Heats 2 and 3 were over 10 laps each,

and Jorgenson won the first comfortably over Frankling, Lloyd, Pike and the Class 3 Daihatsu-powered Southern Cross crewed by Dean Williams and Jonathon Huber. The last heat was also taken out by Jorgenson with Frankling second and Lloyd third again. Williams was fourth in front of Cameron, and Darren and Tenae Mott (Class 4 Bennett Truck Rodeo/ Chev). Overall fourth spot went to Williams with fifth taken by Cameron ahead of Mott, Kevin Howitt and Jye Williams (Unlimited Eng Matrix/Toyota Lexus). Pike was eighth in front of Brendan Forssman (Class 10 Sigma/ Nissan SR20) and Mark and Taryn Foster (Class 4 Toyota Tecoma/Chev).

Image: JS Motorsport Class 7 winners and 11th overall were James Markham and Natalie Pike (Nissan Patrol), Peter and Adam Grills were the best of the four Class 2 buggys, and Dean and Rebecca Bennett were the only ones in Class 8. Both Knight and Ken and Rod Holt (Class

10 Raptor/Lexus V6) failed to finish Heat 2 before Jason Forssman and Lee Whitehand rolled their Chev Silverado in the last heat. They were able to continue to third in Class 4 and 15th outright. Garry O’Brien

Image: Show n Go

TOP STEP THIS TIME

CHAPMAN AND HIS BUGGY BREAK THOUGH THE LEYBURN 100 became the Pats Diesel Services Dalby 100 on May 28-29 in a late venue change which worked out for Stuart Chapman (above) who scored his maiden outright victory. It was 12 months ago that Chapman debuted his Unlimited class turbocharged Mitsubishi-powered Chenowth Millennium at the same event for its first win also. In a great start to the ARB Queensland State Off Road Championship, he beat his older brother Clayton (Unlimited class Razorback/Toyota turbo) by 10s with Zak March (Class 6 Can-Am) third, a further 33s behind. At the end of the first day with 76 entries in the Gympie Auto Sports Club-run event, Stuart Chapman had a narrow 3s

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lead in the muddy conditions over Marsh. Another second away was two-time event winner Clayton Chapman. They were followed by Kye Camilleri (Can-Am) and Brice Derrick (Class 6 Can-Am). Craig Krog (Unlimited Razorback/ Chev), Michael Bertinazzi (Class 4 Rush Truck/Chev), Aaron Nicoll (Can-Am) and Jim Duff in his single seater Unlimited Chenowth were retirements by the end of the day. They would be joined on day two by Troy Duff who was double-entered with Jim, Brett Baker (Class 10 Racer Engineering/ GM Ecotec), double-entered David and Amy Loughnan (Can-Am), Matt Gillan (Class 8 Toyota 4WD) and Paul Herviou (Can-Am).

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Image: GASC

Fourth in the end was Kye Camilleri (Can-Am) who set the fastest time on the opening lap, ahead of Richard Tassin (Can-Am), and Tony Fehlhaber (Class 1 Chenowth Millennium/Nissan). Derrick was seventh in front of Ben Duff (Class 10 Ausco MC-Lite/Kawasaki), James Mogford (Can-Am) and Steven Kildey (Class 4 Chev Silverado). Other classes went to 11th outright Christian Trusz (Class 8 Nissan Patrol), Warren Stevens (Class 7 Mitsubishi V6), Matt Gardiner (Class 66 Polaris), Tyler Youman (Class 5 Toyota Hilux/Chev), Russell Hartnett (Class 2 Razorback/ Honda) and Toby Musico (Polaris) won Future Champions. Garry O’Brien

SECOND LAST year, Andy Murdock (above) went one better this time with outright victory in the GT Bobcat Mumbannar 160 off road event, held on May 14, 30kms east of Mount Gambier. The Millicent Sand Buggy Club-run event saw Murdock in his Unlimited Class Element Off Road Prodigy/Chev finish 3mins 19s ahead of Andrew Cameron (Class 5 Chev-powered Mitsubishi Triton) and Ivan Schmocker (Unlimited Southern Cross Element/Chev) another 48.8s away in third. The event was over approximately 160km with each competitor completing in two of the three heats with each of eight laps over the 10km course. The first heat was for Classes 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8. The second was for all classes and the third for Unlimited and Classes 1, 4, 6 and 10. The first heat was won by Cameron by over a half a minute. Second was class rival Brenton Davey (Mitsubishi L200) with Luke Densley (Class 6 Can-Am). Connor Corrigan (Class 2 Raptor/Toyota) was 7.7s adrift in fourth and well clear of Jake England (Class 2 Race Frames Murco/Suzuki). Unlimited buggys filled the top three places in Heat 2 with Murdock first by a minute over Scott, Schmocker. Fourth was Sam Barnes (Class 1 Superboot RV2/ Nissan) with a minute back to the Hondapowered Class 10s of Aaron Heemskerk (Razorback) and Travis Conrad (Southern Cross), followed by Cameron. Murdock again showed the way over the final heat where he was 1min 50s ahead of Schmocker with 24.8s further to Scott. Barnes was fourth in front of Heemskerk, David Vallance (Class 10 Hurricane A-Arm/ Honda) and Ken Holt (Raptor/Lexus V6). Fourth overall went to Scott ahead of Densley, Barnes, Corrigan, Heemskerk, Davey and England. James Markham (Nissan Patrol) won Class 7, and Jason Forssman (Chev Silveraldo/LS2) took Class 4. Garry O’Brien

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NATIONALS WRAP CATEGORIES SPLIT ACROSS WEEKEND THE SECOND West Australian State Racing Championship meeting at Wanneroo was a two-day affair on May 28-29 with most of the tin tops on Saturday and remainder, along with open wheelers on Sunday.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION/STREET CARS AT THE end of the first two races it was Paul Kluck (SC Nissan Skyline R32) first. In both he was ahead of Reuben Romkes (IP Holden Monaro) but in the initial outing he was penalised and relegated to third behind Michael Sciorio (IP Suzuki Impreza WRX). Nick Mitic (IP BMW M3 E36) missed qualifying but was fourth. In Race 2 Sciorio was second, was passed by Romkes and then Mitic. But Sciorio was able to retrieve third before the end. Romkes followed up with victory in Race 3, fractionally ahead of Kluck while Mitic passed Sciorio on the penultimate lap for third. Next best in Street Cars was Luke Streat (Honda Civic) as thirds went to Kelvin Sharp (BMW E30) and Laurie Whittome (Mazda MX5).

Grant Johnson leads the pack through Turn 7 in the first Saloon encounter. Image: Mick Oliver

EXCEL CUP AT THE head of the 23 entries, Brett Sherriff took the overall honours after dicing with Harris Douglas. They swapped the lead twice before Sherriff won the first. Jack Clohessy and Jake Passaris battled for third. It went the way of the former while Passaris lost fourth to Liam Gretgrix due to a 5s penalty. Sherriff and Douglas started race two in similar fashion with several lead changes until they were joined by Gretgrix, Clohessy and Passaris. Clohessy passed Gretgrix and then Douglas to finish a close second to Sherriff. On a wet track for Race 3, Jackson Callo relished the conditions and came though to win ahead of Douglas, Sherriff and Clohessy.

SPORTS CARS/SPORTS SEDANS WITH RYAN Humfrey absent from race one, Dan Gonzales (Audi R8 LMS) led from start to finish. Walter Epple (Porsche 997.2) headed Andy Tudor (R8) but was reined in by lap two. Fourth went to Brett Niall (TA2 Camaro) in front of Robbie McAfee (Porsche). Humfrey (Falcon XE/Chev) started Race 2 from the back and made short work getting to second. But Gonzales was too far ahead. Epple was third in advance of Niall, Tudor, McAfee and Ron Moller (TA2 Camaro).

SALOONS CARS SECOND IN Race 1, Robert Marcon (Ford Falcon AU) won the next two races for outright and Pro honours. Grant Johnson (Holden Commodore VT) won the opening encounter where Marcon was second. Vince Ciallella (VY) had third until he bunkered at Turn 7 which elevated Mason Harvey (AU), Rick Gill (AU) and Chase Hoy (VT). In Race 2 Johnson led until the last lap where he slowed and Marcon and Gill passed him. Gill and Johnson dropped down the order on the first lap. Marcon won and Matt Martin (VT) passed Ciallella for second. In Pro Am, Michael Koberstein (Commodore VN) won each outing. Falcon EA drivers Marc Watkins and Shane Eather filled the minors in the first two races. Koberstein led Watkins away in the last but the latter pitted on lap two. Reg Ralph (VP) took over second until passed by Eather.

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Elliott Cleary leads Craig Jorgensen and Ben Leslie into Turn 1 during the Formula Ford contest. Image: Mick Oliver

HQ HOLDENS

FORMULA FORDS

IT DIDN’T come easy, but Grant Ord won all three races. In the first Dennis Russell was best away ahead of Peter Marsh who went off at Turn 1. Ord chased down Russell for the win while Scott Hames placed third. In the second outing Ord led until passed by Russell on lap two. Later Ord took the lead back while Hames was third ahead of March from the back of the grid. In the last Ord and Russell showed the way until Hames passed both while Marsh made it a quartet. On the last lap Ord grabbed the lead and won from March, Russell and Hames.

IN THE category’s first outing of the year, newcomer Elliot Cleary (Van Diemen RF94) qualified on pole and led the first two races throughout. Craig Jorgensen (RF93) had the first race second spot until passed by Tom Chapman (RF01). Jorgensen held onto third ahead of Ben Leslie (Stealth). In the next, Chapman was ahead of Jorgensen who took second and held it until the last lap where Chapman passed him. Cleary stalled at the start of the last race which left Jorgensen to take victory. Chapman headed Leslie who eventually passed him as Cleary recovered to fourth.

FREE FORMULA TWO RACE wins went to Dan Gate (Ralt RT4) but since he missed Race 1, the weekend went to Simon Alderson (Van Diemen FF2000). Alderson led race one ahead of Alan Jones (Ralt RT5) before Stewart Burns (Phoenix F1K) systemically rounded them up to take the win. From the back of the second race grid, Gate was in front by the third left and left Burns to overcome Alderson for second. Gate led all the way in Race 3 where Burns had to again pass Alderson for second.

FORMULA VEES A REAR of grid start could not stop David Caisley (Jacer) from the first race win. He was helped by a Safety Car and passed Franz Esterbauer (Jacer) on the final lap. McKenzie Matthews (Jacer) finished third with Rod Lisson (Borland Sabre) next. Esterbauer led Race 2 while Caisley started from pit lane, but again lost out on the final lap, this time to Matthews. Caisley progressed to third ahead of Danny Cerro (Sabre) and Lisson. Caisley passed in the

opening Saloon encounter.Esterbauer early in race three for the win with Cerro third ahead of Lisson. Behind the 1600cc cars, Brett Scarey (CDVee) dominated the 1200s with three wins. April Welsh (Jacer) was second in Race 1 until passed by Allan Yeo (Ajay) who in turn lost out to Miles Lockett (Ajay) and then spun at Turn 7. In the next, Welsh passed Lockett on lap two to secure second. In the third race Yeo and Lamont (Polar) came together out of Turn 7 and result in a Safety Car after which, Lockett finished second ahead of Welsh.

HISTORIC TOURING CARS FORD MUSTANG pilot Graeme Woolhouse won the three races. After he led the first, he was passed by Peter Pisconeri whose Mustang ended buried in the Turn 7 sandpit. Simon Northey (Mustang) finish second ahead of Cooper S drivers Cono Onofaro, Dan Forster and Mitchell Evans. From the rear in Race 2, Pisconeri shot through to second ahead of Northey and the Mini trio. In the last Pisconeri was again second while Onofaro nabbed third off Northey. Mick Oliver

MORGAN PARK MASH-UP HISTORIC TOURING CARS

THE SECOND round of the Queensland Circuit Racing Championships took place at Morgan Park on May 28-29 with eight grids, some with multiple categories and headed by 38 Excels and Production Sports with over 20.

CHEV CAMARO driver Grant Wilson scored an unbeaten four wins. He was jumped at the start of race one by David Streat (Holden Torana XU-1) but soon took over for a 10s plus victory. From the back, Matt Clift (Mazda RX2) was second with Streat third. In Race 2, it was Wilson all the way from Clift while Streat fell to fifth behind Cameron Hein (Ford Cortina GT) and Mark Switzer (Ford Mustang). Behind Wilson in the third were Clift and Hein with the latter second in the last when Clift dropped out. Adam Duce (Mini Cooper S) finished third.

CIRCUIT EXCELS JARROD HUGHES scored both the leadup seven lappers before he went on to take out the 21-lap feature. In that third race Hughes took victory by 4.5s over Treigh Maschotta who had to battle Riley Beggs for a period. The latter was disqualified which elevated Cooper Barnes to third. Barnes was eighth early before he passed Holly Espray and Josh Richards while Brock Giblin and Jack Wood had dramas and failed to go the distance. Next was Bradi Owen who fought back from a disastrous first lap to head Ryan Casha. Fastest qualifier Giblin chased Hughes throughout Race 1 while Wood was third. Behind fourth placed Beggs, it was close between Barnes, Owen and Maschotta. Owen was big improver in Race 2 where he climbed to second just in front of Maschotta, Barnes and Giblin.

IMPROVED PRODUCTION FOR TWO races Justin Keys (Holden Commodore) was an all-the-way winner but after that he had a little bit of work to do to secure a clean sweep. Aaron Lawrence (Nissan Silvia) had lost out to Bruce Cook (Ford Escort) early but retrieved a first race second shortly after, and then Jason Grimmond (Commodore) displaced Cook for third. In the second encounter Grimmond had to come from fourth, and deal with Lawrence to take second. David Waldon (Mazda RX3) was fourth after Cook fell down the order. In the next Grimmond was the early leader before Keys took over. Lawrence dropped out of the 10 midway through as Waldon placed third ahead of Kyle Organ-Moore (Commodore). Grimmond glimpsed the lead in the last as well before Keys passed him. Lawrence came from 11th to finish second while Grimmond

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Images: Rob Turrisi was third in front of Waldon, Ash Isarasena (Mazda RX7) and Organ-Moore.

RACING & SPORTS CARS/FORMULA FORDS UNTIL THE third race, Blake Varney (Dallara F304 Formula 3) was in charge as he won both Races 1 and 2, comfortably ahead of Michael Van Rappard (Stohr WF-1). Tommy Lin (F3) was third ahead of Radical SR3s driven by Jamieson Davies and Adam Beesley in the opener before Grant Green came from seventh to third in the next ahead of Lin and Beesley. Cameron McLeod (Spectrum, pictured above) was the leading Formula Ford in Race 1, with sixth in front of eighth placed Kyle Evans (Spectrum), Tom Davies (Mygale) and Marcell Surace (Spectrum). Evans was sixth outright in Race 2 ahead of Davies and McLeod. Varney was involved in a crash at the start of Race 3 which brought out the red flag. An attempt to re-run it was thwarted by another incident. In the last Von Rappard had a narrow win over Green after he dropped to fifth on the first lap. Matt Morton (SR3) was third ahead of Beesley, Davies, McLeod, Evans and Surace.

FORMULA VEES WITH A quartet of victories, Alex Macdonald (Jacer) scooped the major

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points, but he had to work hard to get them. In Races 1 and 2 he and Alex Hedemann (Rapier) duked it out all the way to the flag with several lead changes before Macdonald prevailed. It was a three-way scrap in the third race with Tim Alder (Rapier) in the middle of the action but as per the previous races, he finished third. Macdonald had his easiest run in the last, he led all the way and won over by Hedemann by 1.9s. Alder was again third. Fourth for the weekend was Michael Westerhout (Elfin) ahead of Scott Andrew (Rapier), Matt Dicinoski (Bee Cee Jibaru) and Mark Moran (Elfin).

HQ HOLDENS/GEMINIS/SALOON CARS THERE WERE just two Saloon Cars, where Cameron Klee (Holden Commodore VT) was too good for Tim Barwick (Ford Falcon EA) who didn’t start two of the four races. Chasing them were the HQs, headed up by Joe Andriske who was unbeaten. In each he had narrow wins, firstly over Jake Madden, then Scott Andriske twice and Madden in the last. With a pair of thirds, Scott Andriske was second overall as Madden had a ninth in Race 2 to take third for the weekend. Mark Gray was the best of the Geminis and fourth in the combined Holden class.

SPORTS SEDANS THE SMALL Sports Sedan rollup was bolstered by the nine in the SuperMini Challenge. George Kulig driving his Chev Monte Carlo was the winner of all four races. In the first two he was pursued throughout by Ashley Bright (Holden Commodore/Chev) who didn’t figure in Race 3 but came through from the back for second in the last. That was good enough for third overall. Second overall went to the best of the Minis in Anthony Elliott who was second in race three and third in the last. In the first two races Trent Spencer was the best, and third overall ahead of Allan Murray and Elliott.

PRODUCTION SPORTS CARS PORSCHE DRIVERS greeted the chequered flag first in all four races, firstly by Shane Wilson, and then Steven McFadden (main picture above) in the others. The latter took overall victory ahead of Wilson who backed up with a pair of seconds before a late drop from second, meant a seventh place in the last. Third overall was Hugo Godson (Nissan Skyline GTR R35) after a fifth behind Michael Learoyd (Chev Corvette) and Todd Herring (Mazda MX5) in the first. He was fourth after Herring in the second, and followed up with a third and a second. Mark Cotterell was fourth overall with a best race result of fourth in the last. Garry O’Brien

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TOBY PRICE ADDS FINKE TITLE #8 BACK-TO-BACK CAR WINS IN THE TATTS FINKE DESERT RACE GIVES PRICE TWO FOUR-WHEELED TITLES TO STACK ALONGSIDE SIX ON BIKES

TOBY PRICE has set a new race record while clinching back-to-back King of the Desert crowns in the Car category at the 2022 Tatts Finke Desert Race. Better known for his exploits on two-wheels, Price is now making a name for himself on four, his second car victory taking his overall tally on Finke wins to eight. Price, a two-time biker winner in the Dakar, has made a seamless shift into cars with the support of Red Bull. His domination of the event impressed his multiple Baja 1000-winning navigator Jason Duncan. “Normally (in the Baja) we take it easy, go 80 per cent for most of the race, whereas here he is pretty flat out,” Duncan said. “This race, you don’t know the time, so you are giving it everything you got at every turn.” Originally known as a “there and back” rally, today’s Finke Desert Race runs from Alice Springs to the Finke River just north of Aptula (formerly known as Finke) on the first day and back the next. All in, it is about a 460km round trip. The record time was set up by a blistering first day that was more than five minutes faster than anyone else and allowed them to pace home to a two-day total of 3h 21m46.2s seconds, a little more two minutes ahead of the second-placed James (#93) in second.

Brent Martin, Andre De Simone and Ben Dawson were third, a further 4m30s back. In all, 149 cars and more than 500 bikes entered the race, with only 82 cars and 135 bikes finishing the gruelling event. Price is the first and only competitor to be crowned King of the Desert at the Finke Desert Race in both Car and Bike categories, with his 2022 campaign

seeing him clean sweep the weekend, finishing first in Prologue and on Race Day 1 before heading back to the Alice. “We’re stoked; it was a good run back,” Price said. “We didn’t push; we didn’t do anything

crazy. I just can’t thank my crew enough for all their efforts. “We had a really good run yesterday, and the hardest part is that you don’t know what’s going on behind you. You push hard, and the boys have done a

great job with the truck... everything has turned out really good.” The bike win went to David Walsh with an overall time of 3h35m45s, with Jacob Smith and Jack Simpson completing the two-wheeled podium.

Top and above: New race record; second four-wheel win – Toby Price is on fire. Middle: Bike winner David Walsh; Josh Howells (Pro Buggy). Left: Second overall and winner of Pro Buggy – Aaron James. Images: Motorsport Australia/ Dakar Press Team Australia.

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AMRS STATUS QUO

THE AUSTRALIAN MOTOR RACING SERIES RETURNED TO NORMAL WITH THE THIRD ROUND AT WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY ON JUNE 11-12 AFTER THE DRAMAS OF THE SECOND ROUND LAST MONTH TA2 RACING MUSCLE CARS

JETT JOHNSON (leading, above) broke through to score the third round win after three race wins. He took overall victory ahead of fellow Mustang driver Dylan Thomas and Zach Loscialpo (Camaro). Kyle Gurton (Mustang) took out the first race ahead of pole sitter Johnson, Jackson Rice, Josh Haynes (Camaro), Thomas and Loscialpo. Johnson won the second which ended dramatically when he and Rice tangled out the final corner. Rice speared onto the infield and was classified fifth behind Thomas, Loscialpo and Mark Crutcher (Crutcher). Gurton finished a lap down due to a wheel drama. Behind Johnson in Race 3 it was Thomas, Loscialpo and Camaros piloted by Graham Cheney and Murray Kent. The Paul Hadley and John Holinger Camaros clashed early, Haynes had a front suspension collapse, and Crutcher and Rice went off at Turn 10, locked together. Loscialpo ran off at Turn 2 after the Race 4 start while Johnson and Thomas went on to consolidate at the front. Haynes fought through to third ahead of Rice, Gurton, Cheney and Nick Bates (Mustang).

RX8 CUP

TWO WINS and handy places ensured Tom Shaw stood on the top of podium ahead of Shannon McLaine and Justin Barnes. Shaw won the first race from Barnes who edged out Tom Duncan for second. The latter was penalised 5s which dropped him behind Matt Butters and ahead of McLaine. Barnes led Race 2 from Butters, Shaw, Duncan and McLaine. Maisie Place was forced off and had front end damage. A resultant oil spill caused several front runners to slip up. Barnes won from McLaine, Shaw, Joe Pennacchia and Terry Lewis. Shaw passed Barnes to take out Race 3, and Barnes dropped behind McLaine, Pennacchia and Duncan. Luke Webber was next ahead of Andrew O’Keefe and Tim Berryman after declared a Race 2 DNF. In the last McLaine led from the outset with Shaw second and Barnes third. Berryman was fourth ahead of Duncan, Ryan Gilroy and Pennacchia.

VICTORIAN EXCELS

A STRONG Sunday with two wins gave Hugo Simpson overall Trophy honours after two seconds the day before. Brad Vereker scored two seconds and two thirds to be the overall runner-up ahead of Toby Waghorn and Wil Longmore. Glenn Mackenzie was master of the Over 40s with four wins. Larry Merifield netted three seconds and only dipped out in Race 3 where Mark Pesavento prevailed. The latter was third overall ahead of Donovan Menjavac and Karl Neilson who tied for fourth.

AUSTRALIAN FORMULA 3

NOAH SANDS took out the round ahead of Ethan Brown and Ryan Astley, all in Dallara F308/11s. The field lost Ben Taylor (crash) and Trent Grubel (terminal engine) in qualifying. Then Sands had a penalty

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Mark Tracy under pressure from Steve Chilby in Thunder Sports.

Thomas Shaw heads the RX8 queue from Thomas Duncan and Justin Barnes. applied in Race 1 for an unsafe re-entry on lap one. Astley took the win ahead of Sands, Brown and Mitch Neilson (F308/11). Astley led Race 2 until Sands passed. Brown picked up second while Neilson was fourth. Neilson was beaten away in the last before an error allowed Sands and Astley through. Sands was stranded at the start, he took fifth behind Roman Krumins (F307) and ahead of Luke Kleaver (Hyper Racer).

MINIATURE RACING CARS

FUTURE RACERS were first and second overall, with Brad Neilson taking the second round honours with two firsts and two seconds. David Brewer did not go well in the opener but hit back with a third, a second and a first. Third overall went to Brad Lemon (Aussie Racing Car Commodore) ahead of debutant Robert Coulthard (Future Racer) and Peter Griffiths (ARC Altima).

THUNDER SPORTS

ON HIS way to the weekend win, Mark Tracey (BMW/ Chev) won the four races, three narrowly over Stephen Chilby (Silverado OzTruck) and one over Scott Nind (Ford Mustang Stock Car) who had two offs in the last race. There was a lengthy Safety Car in Race 1 after a crash that involved Merrick Malouf (Ford Falcon Ute) and Travis Condon (Corolla/Chev) at Turn 2.

VIC V8S

FIRST, SECOND and third in the four races of round three went to Brian Finn (Holden Commodore VS), Greg Lynch (Commodore VT) and Allan Argento (Ford Falcon XE). David Ratcliffe (Commodore) was able to hold off Arthur Van Orsouw (Commodore) in three races. Fourth in the last went to Steve Bonney (Commodore). Garry O’Brien

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INTERNATIONAL

BACK IN BUSINESS SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS and Renger van der Zande overcame their rocky start to the IMSA Sportscar Championship season with a convincing win at Belle Isle. Employing an alternate one-stop strategy, the pair were able to hold off fast-finishing rivals to finish 0.398s clear in the #1 Cadillac DPi machine, resurrecting their title challenge. Oliver Jarvis put huge pressure on van der Zande during the second stint in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, however he was unable to make a decisive pass. As such, he and Tom Blomqvist were classified second, while the battle for third was filled with drama. Pipo Derani made a charge towards the frontrunners after employing a two-stop strategy, surging into third temporarily before finishing behind the #02 Cadillac of Earl Bamber and codriver Alex Lynn. However, Derani’s #31 Cadillac was found to be underweight post-race, his team relegated to the rear of the class as a result. In victory, Bourdais and van der Zande completed the record distance for a race in Detroit, as the encounter remained uninterrupted throughout. The pair jumped from sixth to fourth in the standings, 143 points behind Jarvis, Blomqvist and the #60 Acura with four races remaining. In GTD, the #17 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Kyle Kirkwood and Ben Barnicoat triumphed after the effective use of an overcut strategy and a clean pitstop. Those two contributors made all the difference, as the pair sealed their first GTD victories by crossing the line 2.263s ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn. Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers brought the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 home in third place, as the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz finished fourth. Stevan McAleer and Mike Skeen maintained their ascendency in the title fight with a fifth-place race finish in the #32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3, while Ryan Hardwick and Jan Heylen remain 34 points in arrears after a seventh-place finish in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R. Josh Nevett

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POWER WINS INDYCAR BATTLE OF STRATEGY Report: Josh Nevett Images: Motorsport Images AUSSIE WILL Power has jumped to the top of the IndyCar Series standings with a thrilling victory in Detroit. The Team Penske driver won a battle of strategy with Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, electing for two pitstops rather than the American’s three, the latter scoring his best finish of the season in second. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon finished third in the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to round out the podium, his first of the season. Power’s strategy was encouraged by his starting position, coming from 16th on the grid. Team Penske left him on the circuit to gain track position, which was a successful ploy as he was able to lead 55 of the 70 laps. However, it left him as a sitting duck in the closing laps of the race, running with quickly deteriorating red alternate tyres. Rossi, on other hand, had plenty of grip to work with after making his third stop for black tyres, quickly gaining on Power to reduce a 16s gap to less than 3s by the final lap.

Ultimately Rossi would not get close enough though, as the Belle Isle street circuit race ended under caution. Rinus VeeKay crashed on the final lap in the #21 Chevrolet moments before the leaders crossed the line, producing the first and only caution of the race. A satisfied Power explained that a lot of focus went into managing his tyres in the closing stages. “I drove it as straight as I could,” Power said. “I never put any slip (angle) into it. I was just driving it really straight and really nice on the brakes and the throttle. I knew if I could keep a reasonable gap until the end, we’d be ok. “Very enjoyable race, because you had to chop through the field and fight hard. “I was just waiting for something to happen those last 10 laps, but I just stayed laser focused.” Meanwhile, Rossi rued a missed chance but praised Power for his superior strategy. “I think one more lap would have been really interesting,” Rossi said. “But you’ve got to give credit to the 12 guys and Will. That’s hard to do at the end, to hang on. It was a good recovery from yesterday.

The strategy was good.” Polesitter Josef Newgarden finished fourth in the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet, while Pato O’Ward was fifth in the #5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Next came Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and his series winning teammate Alex Palou who also came from well outside the top 10. The other Kiwi in the field, Scott McLaughlin, finished 19th in his Team Penske machine after starting from 10th on the grid. McLaughlin had a lock up and nudged a tyre wall, by the time he got back on track he had lost nearly a minute. STANDINGS after 7 Rounds 1 Power 255 2 Ericsson 252 3 O’Ward 243 4 Palou 241 5 Newgarden 208 6 Dixon 202 7 Rossi 181 8 Pagenaud 179 9 Rosenqvist 174 10 McLaughlin 173

FERRARI STRIKE BACK IN 1000KM OF PAUL RICARD FERRARI STRUCK back in the second round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Series recording a 1-2 finish in the 1000km of Paul Ricard. In the dark at the end of the race it was Davide Rigon, Antonio Fuoco and Daniel Serra in the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 (right) who prevailed. After a thrilling opening stint in which the top six cars on track could not be separated (and for some time featuring Valentino Rossi), the Iron Lynx crew began to chip away as the race went on. Rigon handed over to Fuoco for the final third of the race and the young Italian proved as quick as his more experienced compatriot. He was more than 30s clear of the field when a late Safety Car saw their lead slashed. However, with lapped cars between himself and Bathurst 12 Hour winner Jules Gounon, there was no real chance of a lead change. Fuoco held on for the final 10 minutes to deliver the team its first win in the caregory since last year’s Spa 24 Hours. Gounon held second at the restart but was immediately under attack from the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Miguel Molina. The Spaniard drew alongside on the long Mistral straight and made the move stick, securing a one-

two for his team and a hard-fought podium alongside Nicklas Nielsen and James Calado. The #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG completed the podium, while ROWE Racing was a brilliant fourth with its young trio of Dan Harper, Neil Verhagen and Max Hesse in the brand new M4 GT3. The #46 Team WRT Audi R8 finished fifth, giving Valentino Rossi the best result of his so far short GT racing career alongside Frederic Vervisch and Nico Muller. The car lost ground mid-race when it was forced to make two pit stops in quick succession, but great stints

from Muller and Vervisch put them back in contention. Former Australian Carrera Cup Series winner Jordan Love had his best result of the season. The team lost 40s at the first pit stop and dropped well down the order, but a strong recovery saw them bounce back to finish fifth in the Silver class, recording their first points of the season and 16th overall. Grove Racing Super2 driver Matthew Payne, making his debut in the series alongside Piti Bhirombhakdi and Tanard Sathienthirakul, finished 33rd overall and five laps down. Dan McCarthy

TANAK TOPS RALLY ITALY Report: Josh Nevett Ott Tanak led a new-look World Rally Championship podium in Italy, comfortably taking victory in Rally Italia Sardegna. In doing so, the Hyundai Motorsport driver (pictured right) ended a victory drought spanning over one year, winning for the first since Rally Finland in 2021. Tanak finished 1m 3.2s clear of M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen, while Dani Sordo rounded out a podium that was lacking the usual suspects. From the start, it was clear that Tanak would be a contender in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 machine. The Estonian fought for the lead with GR Yaris driver Esapekka Lappi on Friday, ending the day just 0.7s off the pace. Tanak would emerge the clear leader after Saturday though, as Lappi was knocked out of the running just 10.4km into the opening stage after his car sustained heavy left rear damage. Lappi’s loss was Tanak’s gain, as he went on to win six of Saturday’s seven stages, building an almost insurmountable margin which made the final four stages a victory lap. “It’s been very challenging, especially since the beginning of this [hybrid] generation,” Tanak said. “We are definitely very happy, especially for the mechanics – they put in an incredible effort all of last year and the beginning of this year. This rally was not

easy and they made a good job to keep the car going. “We have made some good steps. In Portugal, we were really struggling and actually we managed to improve. No doubt, if the confidence is there then we can do a good job. We just need to keep working.” Breen’s journey to second started with a hiccup, the Irishman experiencing a spin on Friday. He made his way up the order on Saturday, before securing the runner-up spot in gutsy fashion.

Sordo was 29.8s off in third. The Hyundai driver was steady throughout the event gaining pace as it went on. Pierre-Louis Loubet scored a careerbest result of fourth overall, overcoming a puncture to beat championship leader Kalle Rovanpera who finished 53.4s behind. Rovanpera was the highest ranked Toyota steerer in a disappointing rally for the team. Despite a sub-par result in Italy, the Finn still tops the standings by 55 points. Takamoto Katsuta was sixth and Gus

Greensmith was seventh in his Ford Puma. Championship contender Thierry Neuville had to settle for five Power Stage points. Elfyn Evans was way off the pace after retiring on both Friday and Saturday. STANDINGS after 5 Rounds 1 Rovanpera 120 2 Neuville 65 3 Tanak 62 4 Breen 52 5 Katsuta 47 Image: Motorsport Images

QUARTARARO CRUSIES TO SPAIN WIN Report: Dan McCarthy Images: Motorsport Images FABIO QUARTARARO was untouchable at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya as trouble befell his closest championship rivals. The factory Yamaha rider romped home to his second MotoGP victory of the season, taking the win by over six seconds from the pair of Pramac Ducati riders. Quartararo took the lead from pole sitter Aleix Espargaro on the opening lap of the race, and put his head down immediately to break away from the rest of the field. It worked – Quartararo pulled away and from that moment onwards was simply uncatchable. Into Turn 1 there was a multi-rider crash involving three riders. LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami misjudged his breaking zone badly and ran into the back of championship contender Francesco Bagnaia, before sideswiping Alex Rins. The innocent Bagnaia and Rins were both wiped out of the race, sent tumbling spectacularly through the gravel with Nakagami. While Rins crashed out, his Suzuki teammate Joan Mir made a blinding start and by the end of lap two had made up 12 positions and sat inside the top five. However, he was unable to live with the trio fighting for second. The fight was between factory Aprilia rider Espargaro and the Pramac Ducati riders of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco as Quartararo took off into the distance. Former championship leader Enea Bastianini was just outside the top five, when

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for the second time in seven days he crashed out of the race and with it his title hopes, now in tatters. With 10 laps remaining Aleix Espargaro ran in second just ahead of Martin, with Zarco not too far behind. On the following lap Martin struck to take second position from the local lad. Espargaro was determined to limit the damage in the championship with Quartararo out front, and reclaimed second on the brakes into Turn 1 with four laps remaining. He then put the hammer down in an attempt to gap his fellow Spaniard – indeed, he pulled out a small margin enough to stop Martin diving back through. While it was a straightforward win for Quartararo, (right) Nakagami’s terrible error at Turn 1 took out two potential contenders.

As riders started the final lap, Espargaro began to slow on the run to Turn 1, waving at the crowd ... the local hero thought the race had concluded. It wasn’t until he fell to sixth position that he realised the race was still on and quickly got back to business. Further forward, Quartararo cruised to his 10th career MotoGP victory, ahead of Martin

who inherited second and Zarco in third. Mir also moved up a place, finishing in fourth, scoring his first top five finish in five races. A devastated Aleix Espargaro recovered to finish in fifth, overtaking Luca Marini on the real final lap of the race. For Marini, it was his second successive sixth place finish. He beat home Maverick Vinales who equalled his best Aprilia finish of seventh. Factory KTM riders Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira were next, with Alex Marquez rounding out the top 10 on his LCR Honda. Australian Remy Gardner scored his best MotoGP result to date, the Tech 3 KTM rider finished an impressive 11th. Fellow rookie Darryn Binder finished in 12th ahead of Franco Morbidelli. For the second race in a row Aussie Jack Miller finished outside of the top 10 – he crossed the line 14th and drops to ninth in the championship as a result. Gardner’s teammate Raul Fernandez finished in 15th to score his maiden MotoGP point. STANDINGS after 9 Rounds 1 Quartararo 147 2 A Espargaro 125 3 Bastianini 94 4 Zarco 91 5 Bagnaia 81 6 B Binder 73 7 Rins 69 8 Mir 69 9 Miller 65 10 M Marquez 60

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INTERNATIONAL

NEWGARDEN WINS MILLION Images: Motorsport Images

Report: Dan McCarthy JOSEF NEWGARDEN did not only dominate the IndyCar Series race at Road America, he also received a US$1 million pay cheque for his efforts, while his Australian teammate Will Power lost his championship lead. Newgarden’s million-dollar cheque came for winning on all three disciplines, on a street circuit, oval and now road course in a single season. Of the million, $500,000 goes to Team Penske and Newgarden and $500,000 donated to Newgarden’s chosen charities - SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville. “You’ve got to be on your toes at all times (in this series),” Newgarden said. “You can go in with a plan, but you probably have to change your plan 90 percent of the time once the race starts to unfold. “To be able to hit all these disciplines with this team, for me it’s the best series in the world.”

Newgarden (above) dominated the race for Team Penske, on the restart with three laps to go he led the field back to green and took off into the distance. His teammates did not fair so well. After a poor qualifying session, Power was involved in an incident with Devlin DeFrancesco early on in the race and then Rinus Veekey on the penultimate lap. Power came off second best in both battles and finished down in 19th relinquishing his series lead. Scott McLaughlin was inside the top 10 for much of the race. He overtook veteran Graham Rahal for seventh in the closing laps and narrowly missed out on taking Felix Rosenqvist at the line, the margin at the end 0.02s. Newgarden ended up taking the win on the legendary American circuit, surviving not one, but two Safety Car restarts in the last 10 laps. In the end he took the win by a margin of 3.37s from recently crowned Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.

Ericsson reclaimed the series lead and was in the thick of the action all race long. On lap 3 into Turn 5 Ericsson made a move on teammate and reigning champion Alex Palou. The pair made awkward contact which broke the Spaniard’s suspension, eliminating him from the race. “First of all, I’m really sorry,” Ericsson said. “You never want to have contact with a teammate. From my point of view, the door was open, and I was already side by side. If you see a gap, you go for it. It’s important at the beginning of the race to get track position. “It was a really good race, and we had a really strong weekend. Super happy with P2.” Ericsson kept his head down and sat third at the restart with three laps to go. The Swede made his way past polesitter Alexander Rossi and held on to the chequered flag. For Ericsson it was his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.

After taking pole, Andretti driver Rossi will be disappointed with third – however it is his second straight podium and third top five lifting him to seventh in the standings. “I tried to be really aggressive on that last restart, and it cost us,” Rossi said. “But we were trying to win the race. But ultimately a good day. “Josef certainly had a little better base than us, and it took us until the last stint to dial in the balance of the car. “We were coming back on him pretty quickly. I don’t think we could have beat him, but all in all, it was a good day.”

BAUTISTA EXTENDS WSBK LEAD ALVARO BAUTISTA extended his lead in the World Superbike Championship with a pair of wins around the Misano World Circuit. The ex-MotoGP rider won two races and finished the Superpole race in second position as his nearest championship rival Kawasaki’s Jonathon Rea did not quite have the speed in Italy. Race 1 of the weekend was yet another battle between the title protagonists Bautista, Rea and reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu. Bautista started from pole position but dropped back early before battling back to claim victory. First he took second place from Razgatlioglu on Lap 4 before making his move on Rea at the high-speed Curvone corner on Lap 13. He put his head down but was unable to march away from his rivals – in the first twothirds of the race, it was a three-way dual. However, at the end of lap 14, Razgatlioglu suffered a technical issue on his machine and

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was forced to retire from the race, his title hopes taking a major blow. In the closing laps Rea was no match for Bautista who pulled a considerable margin late on. In the end he took the win by 5.128s. Rea came home in second ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, his first podium of the season. Axel Bassani finished in fourth ahead of the second Kawasaki riden by Alex Lowes who battled his way back by Andrea Locatelli. After finishing second three times and third on five occasions, reigning champion Razgatlioglu finally broke through to take his first win of the season in the Misano Superpole race. Razgatlioglu responded from the retirement on Saturday emphatically taking the win by 2s from Bautista and Rea. The Turkish rider got the hole shot on the opening lap of the race and from there he did not look back keen to get his championship back on track. He was helped early as Bautista and Rea

fought tooth and nail for second early in the race. In the end Bautista came home in second place ahead of Rea. Factory Honda rider Xavi Vierge actually closed to within a second of Rea at the end of the race. Vierge’s teammate Iker Lecuona rounded out the top five from Locatelli, Bassani and Lowes. The final encounter saw Bautista and Razgatlioglu fight for the win, as Rea was trying to be best of the rest. Bautista found himself behind Razgatlioglu on the opening lap; however he was the faster of the two. He looked to find a way by on several occasions, firstly on lap 4, before Razgatlioglu responded into Turn 14 before the same result a couple of laps later. Finally on lap 7, Bautista made his move at Curvone and Razgatlioglu was unable to respond.

Bautista (above) skipped away and took his sixth victory of the season by an impressive 7.194s. Razgatlioglu came home in second ahead of Rinaldi who battled his way up from 10th on the grid. The Italian made a blinding start and by the third lap of the race sat in fourth. He made his move on that lap and made it stick, Rea kept a clear margin to the riders behind him to finish in fourth ahead of Lecuona and Locatelli. Dan McCarthy STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4 1 Bautista 220 2 Rea 184 3 Razgatlioglu 141 4 Locatelli 108 5 Lecuona 99

MEXICAN FIESTA

Romain Grosjean finished fourth in his #28 Andretti – using his ‘Push to Pass’ on the final lap he made his way by teammate Colton Herta who went on to round out the top five. Grosjean, McLaughlin and Rahal came next ahead of Kiwi Scott Dixon, rookies Christian Lundgaard and Callum Ilott. Simon Pagenaud rounded out the first dozen cars, while his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Helio Castroneves failed to greet the chequered flag, spinning out of the race on lap 50.

ON THE Sonoma Raceway Road Course, Daniel Suarez has broken-through to become the first ever Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race. It has been a long-time coming for the Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet driver who has been trying since 2017, achieving his life-long dream on his 195th NASCAR Cup Series start. “It’s a crazy day. I have so many thoughts in my head right now,” an emotional Suarez said. “It’s been a rough road. It’s been a rough journey in the Cup Series. These guys believe in me — Trackhouse Racing, Justin Marks, Ty Norris. Everyone that helped me to get to this point. “A lot of people in Mexico: Jay Morales, Carlos Slim. My family, they never gave up on me. A lot of people did, but they didn’t. … Just very happy we were able to make it work.” Suarez became the fifth driver born outside the United States to take a Cup Series victory. The others are Australian Marcos Ambrose, Italian-born Mario Andretti, ex-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya of

Colombia and Canadian Earl Ross. “I’m extremely proud to be the driver from Mexico, the driver from a different background,” Suárez previously told NASCAR.com. “I don’t feel that the sport could have found someone more committed to myself, my culture and my background.” Suarez felt no pressure late on, in fact he pulled away from runner-up Chris Buescher to take the win by 3.849s. It was a convincing drive for the Mexican who led 47 of the 110 laps and ultimately took one of the largest winning margins of the season. The 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell finished third. The regulars all finished outside of the podium positions, Stewart Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick was fourth. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric nudged his way by teammate Ryan Blaney to finish fifth. Behind Blaney came Suárez’s Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain, former champion Chase Elliott, William Byron, with Brad Keselowski rounding out the top 10.

Both Elliott and reigning champion Kyle Larson were in the fight for the win until uncharacteristic pit-stop miscues which allowed Suarez to dominate the closing laps. While Elliott finished, Larson the defending Sonoma race winner could recover to finish in 15th. A week earlier, Team Penske driver Joey Logano held off both Kyle and Kurt Busch to win at Gateway. All three finished outside of the top 15 at Sonoma. NASCAR visits the Nashville Superspeedway in a fortnight’s time. Dan McCarthy

STANDINGS AFTER 8 ROUNDS 1 Ericsson 293 2 Power 266 3 Newgarden 261 4 O’Ward 248 5 Palou 246 6 Dixon 224 7 Rossi 218 8 Rosenqvist 203 9 McLaughlin 199 10 Pagenaud 197

AZCONA OUT FRONT AFTER THE last round of WTCR at the Nurburgring was canned due to tyre concerns, WTCR returned with a bang at the Hungaroring. Race wins were shared between drivers and brands with Hyundai driver Mikel Azcona winning the first race and Lynk & Co steerer Santiago Urrutia the second. Azcona’s win in the main race was his second in succession (after winning the inverted grid race at Round 1). He held the lead at the start and never looked back. The Spaniard made a strong start and defended his position throughout the opening lap. Once his tyres came up to temperature, he put his head down and pulled away from the field. “Really pleased, very happy, a very comfortable race,” said Azcona. “There was no pressure from behind. The first lap is always the most tricky part of the

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race. The first few corners I felt the pressure and tried to defend. I have to say the car was working very good, the degradation was amazing. Thanks to my team.” Two-time defending champion Yann Ehrlacher scored his first podium of the season. The Frenchman started from third and sat there for much of the race. He kept the pressure on Audi RS3 driver Nathanael Berthon who cracked on the penultimate lap of the race. Ehrlacher did not need a second invitation, snatching second place from the Belgian. That was the way it remained, with Ehrlacher beating home Berthon. Gilles Magnus finished fourth ahead of Ma Qing Hua, who rounded out the top five. Rob Huff came through from eighth on the grid to finish sixth, the Cupra Leon driver pulling two good moves early in the race.

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Nestor Girolami, Santiago Urrutia, Esteban Guerrieri and Yvan Muller completed the top 10. In the second encounter, the inverted grid race, Urrutia fought off Huff to take a thrilling win. Urrutia started from pole position and held off Huff at the start, he survived a Safety Car restart and soaked up a great deal of pressure from Huff. “That was hard – it was very warm in the car,” said a delighted Urrutia. “I had no rest time in the race. Rob was pushing and I could not make a single mistake. I think I won the race on the restart. “If I made a gap he could never get it back. But he was still there pushing. What a race. Thanks to Rob for the clean race.”

Girolami completed the podium in his Honda Civic Type R holding off an attack from Norbert Michelisz and Ma Qing Hua. Girolami’s podium saw him reduce the gap to Azcona in the championship. The Race 1 winner finished ninth from 10th on the grid. Ehrlacher finished in sixth ahead of Magnus, Berthon and Muller. Dan McCarthy

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LE MANS

Images: Motorsport Images

TOYOTA WINS LE MANS FIVE IN A ROW FOR GAZOO

Report: Andrew Clarke TOYOTA HAS made it five wins in a row at Circuit De La Sarthe, dominating the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hour race with a pair of GR010 Hybrid Hypercars. The race-winning car of Brendan Hartley, Sebastian Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa took control of Sunday morning when the more fancied sister car slowed to a standstill on Arnage in need of a full power recycle on its front hybrid system. Up till then, the pair of cars had swapped the lead around pitstops and slow zones – extended periods of the track that were effectively under virtual safety car – and both finished on 380 laps (17 down on the race record) with an eventual gap of a little more than 2 minutes. The win was Buemi’s fourth in the race, Hartley’s third and Hirakawa’s first. They finished five laps up on the podium sitting Glickenhaus Hypercar of Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleaux, with the team’s second car fighting its way up to fourth after early troubles.

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The Australian contingent had a mixed 24 hours, Briscoe’s podium the highlight, while James Allen in the LMP2 class and Matt Campbell in the LM GTE Am class never troubled their class leaders. The Kiwis got a race win (and a stunning pole position) with Hartley; Shane Van Gisbergen had a tough weekend in his LM GTE Pro Ferrari and finished fifth in class, Nick Cassidy in the LM GTE Am class was sixth in class also in a Ferrari.

OUTRIGHT/HYPERCAR

Only Toyota, Glickenhaus and Alpine had cars in the Hypercar class, and the Toyotas were the class of the field. The technically complex 3.5L twin-turbocharged petrol V6 engine and hybrid system required all the technical might of Toyota to master, not wanting a repeat of the embarrassing failures in the races leading to that first win in 2018. Brendan Hartley was a surprise pole-sitter after nailing the least troubled lap on the 13.6km track, beating his teammate and four-time pole winner Kamui Kobayashi by

0.177s with a best lap of 3m24.408s. He used that pole to take control of the running early before the #8 and #7 cars swapped the lead up to the 16th hour when Jose Maria Lopez stopped on Arnage and lost time resetting the hybrid system and more time in the pits. With retirements to both Toyotas in the lead-up events, there was always a chance of a repeat in the biggest race of the year for the World Endurance Championship, but, aside from that blip, the day was untroubled by anything mechanical. Ryan Briscoe’s run onto the podium in Glickenhaus #709 was largely troublefree, an early stop to replace a faulty sensor temporarily handing the ascendancy to Glickenhaus #708 in the race for the final spot

on the podium. The latter had been the faster of the two US-designed and built cars for most of the weekend, but a rear suspension failure before midnight pitched the car off the track at Tetre Rouge. Recovery and a repair in the pits cost 20 minutes and dropped them well down the order, but they eventually fought back to fourth, five laps behind #709 and 10 behind the race winners. The Alpine was never in the running despite outqualifying the Glickenhaus cars. By the Dunlop Chicane on the opening lap, it had dropped to fifth; from there, it went from bad to worse. First, it was an unscheduled pitstop to replace the electronic clutch, then another for the ignition coil and finally a 20-minute stop to fix the car after an off at the Porsche

Ryan Briscoe co-drove the Glickenhaus Hypwercar to its outright podium. Below: Porsche took out GTE Pro. Bottom: Buemi, kiwi Hartley, and Hirakawa – outright winners, on the podium.

Curves in the morning. To make matters worse, there was also a drive-through penalty for speeding in a slow zone, leaving them well out of the running and in the middle of the LMP2 battle.

LMP2

Above and left: The #8 Toyota had a virtually untroubled run to victory. Below: Shane van Gisbergen’s Ferrari team had some practice issues, but finished fifth, albeit last, in GTE Pro. Bottom: James Allen’s Algarve Pro Racing team recovered from a practice shunt to finish 15th in LMP2 and best of the LMP2 Pro-Am cars.

The JOTA team dominated LMP2 with a relatively easy win for Roberto Gonzalez, Antonio Felix Da Costa and William Stevens coming after an easy run in the lead from the first pitstops onwards. The early evening run was faultless and got the #38 car to a lead of more than a lap over its rivals, the race’s only Safety Car, early on Sunday, causing the only hiccup when they were delayed at the end of pitlane by a red light costing them their one-lap lead. With Stevens at the wheel for the final stint, they completed 369 laps and came home more than two-minutes clear of the #9 Prema Orleon car of Roberto Kubica, Louis Delatraz and Lorenzo Colombo with the second JOTA of Oliver Rasmussen, Edward Jones and Jonathan Aberdeen completing that podium with three others LMP2 cars also completing 368 laps. With 27 cars, LMP2 was the largest class in the 2022 race and action was heated from the start of the race with Will Owen (#22 United Autopsorts) sandwiched between the two WRT cars of class pole-winner Rene Rast and Ferdinand Habsburg going into the first corner. Owen came off worst and ended up in the gravel with a damaged car, eventually losing two laps before resuming with a repaired car. Rast got a one-minute stop-go penalty for his efforts, although he later said his rivals jumped the start, which surprised him. Plenty of other LMP2 cars found trouble too, and it kept the interest in the class till the end of the race. The only car not to take the flag in this class was the troubled #31 car of Rast, Robin Frijns and Sean Galael, with Frijns crashing out 19 hours and 40 minutes into the race and ther reason for the only full course Safety Car of the race. Frijns got out of shape on the exit curbs at Indianapolis and fired nose-first into the Armco barrier on the inside of the track. The crash was enough to signal the concussion warning lights on Frijns helmet, and their race was officially done with 285 laps complete.

LM GTE PRO

Only seven cars were in the LM GTE Pro class, with two Porsches, three Ferraris (including the #74 Riley Motorsports car for Shane Van Gisbergen) and two Corvettes making up the running, but there was plenty of action. Coming in 30 laps behind the racewinning Toyota was the Porsche GT Team car of Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Leitz and Frederic Makowiecki, who won a hard-fought battle with the AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro

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Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra. With this class resigned to the scrap heap next year, there were plenty of bragging rights up for grabs, and the dramatic fight for honours belied the skinny field. The Corvettes dominated qualifying and were looking strong in the race before the #63 car of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg suffered a rear suspension failure that resulted in retirement. The #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre, Michael Christensen and Laurens Vanthoor then took up the running until a spectacular front puncture following a front lock-up tore the bodywork off the front of the car and dropped it out of the lead. The #64 Corvette of Nick Tandy, Tommy Milner and Alexander Sims then took over the lead before Sims was clipped on Mulsanne Straight by the LMP2 car of Francois Peredo and slammed heavily into the wall lining the famous high-speed straight. Both Corvettes were out of the running while leading the class. Shane Van Gisbergen’s weekend rarely ran to plan, missing a chunk of practice and qualifying with several issues and battling low engine power during the race. They did get 347 laps done and finished fifth and last in their class, the reigning Supercars Champion getting more than seven hours in the car on debut.

LM GTE AM

There were only three Aston Martins in the LM GTE Am class, but that was all they needed to take a class win and another podium slot from a brace of Porches and Ferraris. TF Sport’s Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sorensen took the honours by 44.446s over the Weathertrech Racing Porsche of Julien Andlauer, Cooper MacNeil and Thomas Merrill, which was looking strong in the race until overnight errors to MacNeil and Merrill cost them a lead they never regained. The NorthWest AMR Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, Paul Dalla Lana and David Pittard was third a lap behind the leading pair, taking that spot when a suspension failure to Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Harry Tincknell, Sebastian Priaulx and Christian Ried landed a long pitstop.

THE ANTIPODEANS

Brendan Hartley (Hypercar – Toyota #8) Hartley had a perfect weekend with pole position and his third win in the race. Ryan Briscoe (Hypercar - Glickenhaus Racing #709) A faulty sensor in Briscoe’s car landed an extended pitstop near the end of the second hour, dropping the car off the lead lap. A troublefree from there and ran them to a lonely podium. James Allen (LMP2 – Algarve Pro Racing #45) Allen missed qualifying after a crash in practice by his co-driver damaged the tub of the LMP2 car. They started the race from second last in class after being one of the fancied runners and battled all day for 15th and the lead LMP2 Pro-Am car. Shane Van Gisbergen (LM GTE Pro – Riley Motorsports #74 Ferrari) The Giz’s debut at the 24 Hour race never really got into gear, missing time in practice and qualifying before a solid run in the race brought them home 5th in class and 3 laps off the leaders. Matt Campbell – Proton Competition #93 (Fassbender, Robichon) Matt Campbell’s chances in the GTE Am class disappeared a few hours into the race when co-driver Michael Fassbenber lost the rear of the #93 Porsche in the Dunlop Chicane. There were plenty of other small niggles all day and he finished 16th in GTE-Am. Nick Cassidy (LM GTE Am - AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari) New Zealander Nick Cassidy crossed the line sixth in class in AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari. Cassidy ran nearly 10 hours in the car and was easily the quickest of the three drivers in the car.

www.autoaction.com.au I 55

Formula 1 Round 08 Baku, Azerbaijan GP

Leclerc smoked the rears off the line, allowing Perez to lead.

RED HOPES UP IN SMOKE THE BULLS TAKES CONTROL AS FERRARI FAILS – AGAIN!

By LUIS VASCONCELOS Images Motorsport Images WHAT PROMISED to be a fascinating battle between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen ended abruptly by lap 20 of the 51 scheduled for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Having putted nine lap earlier than his rival, during the first VSC period of the day, the Monegasque was 12.9s ahead of his rival after Verstappen did his scheduled stop on lap 18. With 33 laps to go, the Ferrari driver had to manage his tyres well, to make sure he would still have enough grip in the final laps, when the Red Bull would get closer – but another Power Unit failure, this one looking like coming from the Internal Combustion Engine, put to end to his race and seriously dented his championship aspirations. Of course, reliability is part of the game and Max Verstappen knows that only too well, having twice retired early in the season, in Bahrain and in Australia, losing 36 points in the process. That’s why the Dutchman said, at the end of the race, “things are now evened out, as we both have two DNF each. Things tend to even out during the season; we had our bad luck early on, he’s having his now, but it’s how you come out of it that counts.” As in Monaco, though, Verstappen had to contend with another rival he wasn’t counting on: team mate Sérgio Pérez. The winner of the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix kept his form in the streets of Baku, was fastest overall in FP1, FP3 and Q2, losing out to the World Champion only in Q1. A great start from the inside of the front row put him in the lead, with Leclerc holding Verstappen off, and the Mexican quickly got a 2s buffer that he kept until lap 9, when Ferrari’s first own goal – Sainz’s retirement – brought a VSC period that Red Bull ignored and

56 I www.autoaction.com.au

Ferrari used to put Leclerc on the Hard compound, hoping to go for one stop with 42 long laps still to go. As soon as racing resumed, though, Pérez knew he was in trouble: “I need to understand that, to be honest. Right now, it didn’t feel that I was hitting the tyre too hard at the time. It was certainly right at the restart after the Virtual Safety Car that we lost the pace. All the way to that stage, things were looking right, but it was mainly after the Virtual Safety Car when we really dropped the pace massively.” Within five laps Verstappen was on his tail and with the team telling the Mexican, “no point in fighting him”, the Dutch eased through into Turn One, a call Pérez fully understood: “I think it was the right call made by the team, because at that time Max was a bit faster and it was just a good team result. Here anything can happen, so, we managed to do a one-two so that’s a great team result.” The team admitted its two drivers were running slightly different set-ups, Pérez’s favoring straight line speed, but having less aero grip in the corner, while Verstappen had a bit more downforce – which explains why even with DRS he couldn’t get past Leclerc before the VSC period – and that may have been the key for the Mexican’s sudden loss of grip, as degradation kicked in earlier than anticipated. Four laps later Leclerc retired from the lead, after Pérez, first, and Verstappen, later, had done their scheduled stops and it was game over. The World Champion was already 5.2s in front of his team mate, Russell, now in P3, was 8.5s behind the Mexican and losing close to one second per lap, so there was nothing to fight for and the two Red Bulls ran unopposed and with a growing gap between them, to secure an easy one-two.

For Verstappen, “today we had an incredible pace in the car, we could really look after the tyres and we could chip away at it, pass for the lead. But then, of course, also maybe a tiny bit lucky with the retirement ... but I think nevertheless our car was really good today, so I could have closed that gap. “Then of course you have a race on your hands. But I’m really happy with how the balance of the car was today.” While the Dutchman seemed nonplussed by Red Bull’s decision to keep both cars out during the first VSC period, Pérez believed things could have been done better: “There was some miscommunication and once we wanted it, it was a bit too late. And we were a bit unlucky there because that would have made up our race when Ricciardo had an all-round better weekend.

we were leading. And then at the restart I just got too much degradation, and certainly Max was a lot stronger today on that medium tyre.”

MERCEDES BACK IN NO-MAN’S LAND

With Ferrari out of the way by lap 20, George Russell’s lonely race became more rewarding, as he moved into a podium position, too far behind the two Red Bulls to have any hope of catching them, but comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. With Hamilton stuck behind Gasly – a déjà vu for the British driver – the youngest Mercedes driver opened a gap to his rival before the VSC period and as they both pitted during that period, with Hamilton losing a couple more seconds as the team did a stack up double stop, things were settled in his favor, as the slow stop put the Lewis needed a hand to get out of his car such was the pain from Merc’s porpoising.

MAMMA MIA! WHAT A DISASTER!

Gasly had another strong weekend, netting fifth-place points for AlphaTauri.

Small rear wing on the Alpines equalled straight line speed – as Vettel discovered as he tried to pass Alonso ... seven-times World Champion also behind Ocon and Vettel. For Russell, who has finished every single race inside the top five and is now a solid fourth in the championship, just 17 points behind Leclerc, “it was a lonely race, very well managed by the team, with no tyre degradation, no issues apart from the bouncing; very well controlled. I think we were clearly the best of the rest, after a difficult time until qualifying, so we can be proud of the job we did today.” Hamilton eventually got the better of Gasly, his team making the most of a second VSC on lap 33, as Magnussen’s car had stopped in a dangerous position, calling him in for a new set of Hard tyres. That initially cost

QUALIFYING RACE 08

Again ... Leclerc’s race – and championship? – up in smoke ...

him a place to Tsunoda, but with more grip available he made light work of the young Japanese and then caught and passed the leading AlphaTauri with seven laps to go to secure P4. In serious back pain, Hamilton explained that, “George and I ran different parts, as the team tries to find the solution for our problems, my car was bouncing a lot more than his – I was losing up to 0.3s on the straight just because of that and, honestly, it was the adrenalin that kept me going because the back was killing me.” AlphaTauri deserved to get out of Baku with 18 points in the bag, but if Gasly ran flawlessly to 5th place, way clear of the rest of the field, a DRS flap issue forced

RESULTS RACE 08 51 LAPS BAKU CITY CIRCUIT BACU

CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER RACE 8

Tsunoda into an unscheduled stop with 13 laps to go, taking him out of a comfortable sixth place. Vettel inherited the position, confirming the progress Aston Martin has made with the modified chassis introduced in Barcelona. The German, who had got into Q3 like in Monaco, cost himself some time by going off in Turn 3 while getting past Ocon, on lap 13 but fought his way back through the field, and eventually passed the Alpine driver in the same corner on lap 35 to secure his best result of the season.

SOME RESPITE FOR RICCIARDO

Pos Driver

Time

Pos Drivers

Make

Laps Margin

Pos Driver

Charles Leclerc

1:41.359

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing RBPT

Max Verstappen

150

Sergio Perez

1:41.641

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing RBPT

+20.823s

Sergio Perez

129 s1

Max Verstappen

1:41.706

George Russell

Mercedes

+45.995s s2

Charles Leclerc

116 t-1

Carlos Sainz

1:41.814

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

+71.679s s3

George Russell

1:42.712

5 Pierre Gasly

AlphaTauri RBPT

+77.299s s1

Carlos Sainz

Pierre Gasly

1:42.845

6 Sebastian Vettel

Aston Martin Mercedes 51

+84.099s s3

Lewis Hamilton

1:42.924

+88.596s s3

Lando Norris

Yuki Tsunoda

1:43.056

8 Daniel Ricciardo

Mclaren Mercedes

+92.207s s4

Valtteri Bottas

Sebastian Vettel

1:43.091

Mclaren Mercedes

+92.556s s2

Esteban Ocon

10 Fernando Alonso

1:43.173

10 Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

+108.184s s3

10 Pierre Gasly

16 s4

Lando Norris

1:43.398

11 Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

+1 lap s4

16 s2

12 Daniel Ricciardo

1:43.574

12 Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

+1 lap s5

12 Kevin Magnussen 15 t-2

13 Esteban Ocon

1:43.585

13 Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri RBPT

+1 lap t-5

13 Daniel Ricciardo

15 t-2

14 Zhou Guanyu

1:43.790

14 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari

+1 lap s6

14 Sebastian Vettel

13 s1

15 Valtteri Bottas

1:44.444

15 Nicholas Latifi

Williams Mercedes

+1 lap s3

15 Yuki Tsunoda

11 t-3

16 Kevin Magnussen

1:44.643

16 Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Mercedes 46

DNF s3

16 Alexander Albon

17 Alexander Albon

1:44.719

NC Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari

DNF t-1

17 Lance Stroll

18 Nicholas Latifi

1:45.367

NC Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo Ferrari

DNF t-4

18 Zhou Guanyu

19 Lance Stroll

1:45.371

NC Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

DNF t-18

19 Mick Schumacher

20 Mick Schumacher

1:45.775

NC Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

DNF t-16

20 Nicholas Latifi

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Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault Lando Norris

Auto_Action

1:34:05.941 s2

Points

Fernando Alonso

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McLaren had a car quick enough to battle Vettel but both Norris and Ricciardo got stuck behind Alonso the whole race. With poor straight line speed, the orange cars couldn’t even make ground on the Alpine when they had DRS available and the French car hadn’t, so they were fighting a losing battle. The veteran two-times World Champion admitted that, “we had a very small rear wing, to maximize top speed, so we didn’t have a lot of grip in the twisty part of the track and that used up our rear tyres quite a lot. It’s always a trade-off and, obviously, it paid off because we beat the two McLarens.” Eighth place is not something Daniel Ricciardo will celebrate but the Australian had reasons to leave Baku in good spirits. For once he was close to Norris’ pace in qualifying and with a different tyre strategy in the race was even forced to sit behind his team mate before the first pit stop, a decision that may have cost both drivers a better chance to beat Alonso. Norris’ in lap was terribly slow, with Ricciardo sat behind him, so it was only fair the team repeated the order to stay put in the last two laps, when it was Norris catching his team-mate.

ANOTHER RACE, another blow for Ferrari. After Leclerc retired from the lead in Spain and dropped to P4 in Monaco due to a strategic mistake, the Monegasque suffered his second DNF of the season in Baku, retiring again from the lead and, again, with a Power Unit-related issue yet to be fully identified but likely to have come from the ICE. Leclerc’s pole lap had been amazing but he lost the lead to Pérez at the start and didn’t seem capable of catching the Mexican on the Medium compound tyres. When the VSC period started, to remove Sainz’s car from the run-off of Turn 4 – an hydraulic failure had led to his stop – the Scuderia took the decision to call Leclerc in and put him on Hard tyres for the remaining 42 laps. With both Red Bulls staying out, suddenly the contenders were on different strategies and Ferrari looked in a stronger position. With Pérez losing ground, the battle was now with Verstappen and on tyres nine laps younger, the Dutchman was taking one second off Leclerc on lap 20 when the Italian V6 spilled all its oil and Leclerc coasted into the pits to retire. With Sainz already out after just nine laps, this was a disastrous weekend for the Italian team and Leclerc was quite upset and critical: “Any DNF is hard obviously, now it’s not the third in row, but, to be honest, Monaco felt like a DNF. It’s the third disappointment in a row and it’s not easy. We need to get on top of those things; reliability is something that we need to look into after the last three races. As a team, maybe we need to do a step on that.” For Sainz, “every time I do a good race, in the next race something is happening. 2022 has been extremely frustrating on that side, but I’m still hoping that one day this all will finish, and we’ll have a smoother time.” It was up to Team Principal Mattia Binotto to face the media on his own, his two drivers having left the circuit much earlier, to admit this is a difficult moment for his team: “The reliability is a key factor in the battle, as is the performance. I think we pushed certainly a lot through the winter clearly improving the car. But it’s clear that we are not fully reliable – there is still some work to be done. But, as I think we didn’t get too carried away at the start of the season, we will not be feeling defeated right now. In the team, we still focus working hard to understand and fix the issues, to make us stronger for the future.” With customers Alfa Romeo and Haas also losing one car each to technical issues, the Italian had not yet the answer for all those problems: “Not all the issues are the same; some of the issues are very different and in Zhou’s car it came from a part we do not supply. We need to take some time to analyse, to understand, and maybe they are the same we experienced in past events, maybe not. I don’t know the answer yet.” With Canada just one week away, time is of the essence for the Scuderia to get its act together and get back in the fight against Red Bull for both championships.

www.autoaction.com.au I 57

Name:

1838 Crossword

TEST YOUR MOTORSPORT KNOWLEDGE

Test your motorsport knowledge

Across

2. The 1988 Daytona 500 is famous for the 1-2 finish for a father and son duo – what is their surname? 3. Well known Motorsport identity David Richards won the 1981 World Rally Championship as a co-driver to who? (surname) 4. Driving a Jaguar with Derek Daly and Kevin Cogan at Le Mans in 1988, in what position did Larry Perkins finish the race outright? 10. Which F1 team scored the most podiums in 2021? 11. Who am I? An Italian, I won the 125cc World Championship twice and I recorded Ducati’s first MotoGP race win. (surname) 14. Which manufacturer won the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours? 15. Who will become the first driver in the Supercars Championship to reach 300 rounds later this year? (surname) 16. For what MotoGP manufacturer does Stefan Bradl test and race for? 17. Who holds the record of 24 consecutive points finishes for Ferrari? (surname) 18. What make of open-wheel

machine is photographed in Image B? 21. Who finished second in the 1969 Australian Touring Car Championship? (full name) 23. Who was Scott Pye’s teammate at Walkinshaw Racing from 2017-2019? (surname) 24. Who was Patrick Tambay’s teammate at Ferrari in 1983? (surname) 26. Who holds the record of 190 F1 races before taking a win? (surname) 27. Todd Hazelwood made his debut with which Supercars team at Sandown in 2018? (abbreviation) 28. Who took the final F1 victory powered by the famous Cosworth DFV V8 engine? (surname) 29. In what country was Prodrive boss, former Subaru WRC team and Honda F1 owner David Richards born?

Down 1. image A was the livery for which F1 team in 1993? 2. Who was the last driver to win an F1 championship for Lotus? (surname)

5. Which team won the last race for the Cosworth DFV V8, at the Detroit 4 Grand Prix in 1983? 6. An Australian completed in the legendary Pau Grand Prix this year and finished in second – who was it? (surname) 7. Who holds the record for points in a single F1 season? (surname) 8. Who is behind the wheel of car #12 in Image B? (full name) 9. Shot B sees which famous F1 driver assisting his son? (full name) 12. Who won his maiden F1 title in 1988? (surname) 13. Who won the Bathurst 1000 alongside Tony Longhurst in 1988? (surname) 19. Who is pictured in Image A driving a Formula 1 car? (full name) 20. What was Peter Revson’s best Indy500 result? 22. Whose helmet is photographed in England in shot C? (full name) 25. At what track is the F1 car pictured in Image A?

1 2 3 5

7 8

10 11

13 14

16 17

19 20

24 25

26 27 28

Created using the Crossword Maker on TheTeachersCo

Across

Down 2. The 1988 Daytona is famous for the 1-2 finish for a father and son duo,7what 1. Shot A was the livery for what F1 9team in – 1993? #1837 Le Mans Crossword Answers 1 down – four, 2 across – two, 3 down – Hartley, 4 across – third,500 5 across – LMGTE Am 6 down – Glickenhaus, down – Proton Competition, 8 down – Pirro, down McLaren, is their surname? 2.–Who was18the last – driver to win an F1 –championship 10 across – Bird, 11 down – Binder, 12 down – Chevrolet, 13 across – fourteen, 14 across3.–Well seven, 15 across – Peugeot, across – David Brabham, downRally – Sebring, 18 down Alonso, across August, 19 across Van Gisbergen,for Lotus? (su known Motorsport identity16 David Richards won the 198117 World team won the last race for the Cosworth DFV V8 at the Det Championship as –a Kobayashi, co-driver to who? (surname) 20 down – Porsche, 21 down – Fassbender, 21 across – Ferrari, 22 across – Glickenhaus, 23 down 24 across – three, 25 down – Toyota, 26 across – two, 5. 27What across – Audi, 28 across – Porsche 4. Driving a Jaguar with Derek Daly and Kevin Cogan at Le mans in 1988, what position did Larry Perkins finish the race outright 10. Which F1 team scored the most podiums in 2021? 11. Who am I? An Italian, I won the 125cc World Championship twice and I recorded Ducati’s first MotoGP race win. (surname) 14. Which manufacturer won the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours? 15. Who will become the first driver in the Supercars Championship to reach 300 rounds later this year? (surname) 16. For what MotoGP manufacturer does Stefan Bradl test and race for? 17. Who holds the record of 24 consecutive points finishes for Ferrari? (surname) 18. What make of open-wheel machine is photographed in Shot B? 21. Who finished second in the 1969 Australian Touring Car Championship? (full name) 23. Who was Scott Pye’s teammate at Walkinshaw Racing from 2017-2019? (surname) 24. Who was Patrick Tambay’s teammate at Ferrari in 1983? (surname) 26. Who holds the record of 190 F1 races before taking a win? (surname) 27. Todd hazelwood made his debut with what Supercars team at Sandown in 2018? (abbreviation) 28. Who took the final F1 victory powered by the famous Cosworth DFV V8 engine? (surname) 29. In what country was Prodrove boss, former Subaru WRC team and Honda F1 owner David Richards born?

Grand Prix in 1983? 6. An Australian completed in the legendary Pau Grand Prix this ye finished in second, who was it? (surname) 7. Who holds the record for points in a single F1 season? (surname 8. Who is behind the wheel of car #12 in photo B? (full name) 9. Shot B sees which famous F1 driver assisting his son? (full name 12. Who won his maiden F1 title in 1988? (surname) 13. Who won the Bathurst 1000 alongside Tony Longhurst in 1988? (surname) 19. Who is pictured in shot A driving a Formula 1 car? (full name) 20. What was Peter Revson’s best Indy500 result? 22. Whose helmet is photographed in England in shot C? (full name 25. At what track is the F1 car pictured in Shot A?

We take a look back at what was making news in Auto Action 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago

1972: IT WAS expected that both the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and Oran Park would hold rounds of the 1973 Tasman Series along with Warwick Farm and Sandown. Despite missing the first round of the Gold Medal Series, Holden Torana driver Colin Bond took victory and moved up to second in the standings. In Formula 1 Emerson Fittipaldi won in Belgium and now led the standings.

1982: FORMER FORMULA 1 World Champion Alan Jones continued his dominance of the 1982 Australian Sports Sedan/GT Championship with victory at Oran Park. Jones led home a Porsche 1-2-3, with Rusty French in second and Colin Bond third. On the dirt in the Australian Rally Championship, Geoff Portmann driving a Datsun 1600 took victory in Perth, beating home Greg Carr once again.

58 I www.autoaction.com.au

1992: AFTER A long period of uncertainty, it appeared the rules for the 1993 Australian Touring Car Championship were taking shape. The Group A regulations would be dropped at the end of 1992 in favour of a local fight between Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores from 1993. In F1 at Monaco, Ayrton Senna held off Nigel Mansell to end the Englishman’s winning streak in his Williams FW14B.

2002: FIVE-TIME 500cc Motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan signed up to race alongside Paul Morris for the 2002 Bathurst 1000 in the Paul Morris Motorsport VX Commodore. This never happened in the end – Morris raced with Wayne Wakefield. Mark Skaife continued his dominance of the V8 Supercars Championship in Canberra, while in Formula 1 Michael Schumacher was doing the same.

2012: WITH THE announcement that Vodafone would not continue to sponsor Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2013, the team was on the hunt for a new title sponsor. Monster appeared to be the early favourite as it sponsored Triple Eight’s Super2 car driven by Scott Pye, however even at that stage Auto Action revealed that Red Bull had a new marketing manager with a motorsport target.

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• • • • • Order Code: B006

249

50 x 10mm flat bar 20 x 20mm solid bar Gear driven hardened rolls Cast iron housing Adjustable side guide rolls

SAVE $10.40

• 22,000rpm Free speed • Easy to adjust power speed with built in regulator • 1/4" collet • Extended 5" (127mm) shaft allowing to get to hard to reach areas

• • • • •

Order Code: A332

RR-10 Manual Section & Pipe Rolling Machine

1,595

SAVE $44

Ø20-76mm OD tube 1/2" - 2-1/2" NB pipe Angle vice 30-90º Holds round or square material 2.8kW / 415V motor Order Code: L849

2,299

SAVE $220

Order Code: S681

1,859

AT & ARD FL STAND ROLLS ARE ANGLECLUDED IN

SAVE $220

THIS MAY BE Own YOUR it now,LAST up to 12 CHANCE? months interest free

BUY & INSTALL BEFORE JUNE 30TH TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE $150,000 & conditions apply please Up to the value of $10,000 *Terms see website for further details INSTANT ASSET WRITE-OFF, NOW FOR BUSINESS UP TO $500 MILLION TURNOVER! UNIQUE PROMO

CODE

EOFY2TO2RE!

ONLINE OR IN-S

*Contact your accountant or business adviser to discuss your particular circumstance

www.machineryhouse.com.au

NSW (02) 9890 9111 QLD (07) 3715 2200

VIC (03) 9212 4422

1/2 Windsor Rd, Northmead 625 Boundary Rd, Coopers Plains 4 Abbotts Rd, Dandenong

WA (08) 9373 9999

11 Valentine Street Kewdale

Specifications & Prices are subject to change without notification. All prices include GST and valid until 30-06-22

06_AA_160622

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