MOTORSPORT: CAMS U-turn on GT racing

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) this week withdrew a restriction it imposed on GT racers barely a month ago.

The rule would have prevented GT3 and GT4 cars from competing in state-level events outside Australian GT Championship, Australian Endurance Championship and Australian GT Trophy Series (and the Bathurst 12-Hour).

CAMS had claimed the restriction was to protect GT racing and grassroots motorsport.

It was introduced without consultation, but CAMS has now pledged to consult with the GT racing community.

Competitors were up in arms about the rule, arguing especially that state-level events were a great way for newcomers to the category to gain experience.

A large group of competitors talked of legal action, and James O’Brien (organiser of the Bathurst Challenge test day and founder of the 12 Hour before selling his stake to Supercars) had planned an appeal to the Australian Motor Sport Appeal Court.

CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca had said, in calling an emergency meeting of the organisation’s board, that the rule had been “based on sound reasons” but acknowledged that “the communication and consultation process could have been better”.

Arocca said after the meeting that the board had “met to discuss GT vehicle classifications”.

“The board initially met [to consider the rumblings] on June 14, discussed the matter and sought further information before meeting again,” Arocca said.

“CAMS has determined that the document issued on June 5, 2017, dealing with the classification of GT vehicles is rescinded with immediate effect.

“This decision reflects the general principle that mid-season changes to sporting regulations should only occur where safety is an issue.

“CAMS will now further canvass and consult with all affected stakeholders, including the GT Championship organisers, drivers and vehicle owners to determine the best way to develop the GT and sports cars categories at all levels in Australia.”

The legal action threatened against CAMS by competitors would have leant on anti-competitive trading arguments that were often used by rebel Melbourne promoter Bob Jane against the traditional and internationally-affiliated governing body of motorsport in Australia.

The group of about 30 competitors also questioned whether the rule went against Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and national competition rules.

Arocca, a lawyer before stints in AFL administration with the Collingwood and North Melbourne clubs prior to joining CAMS, claimed he had not been worried about the threat of legal action and that “CAMS will always put the interests of the sport, particularly at grassroots level, above all other considerations”.

Toyota for Rally Oz
Toyota is to be the provider of official vehicles for the potential world title-deciding Rally Australia in mid-November.

The deal comes in the year of the Japanese brand’s return to competing in the World Rally Championship, fielding its Yaris model – with two or three cars at each round, prepared by multiple world champion Tommi Makinen.

This year is also the 60th anniversary of Toyota’s first international motorsport entry – the first by a Japanese car manufacturer – when it contested the 1957 Round Australia Trial.

The event at Coffs Harbour on November 16-19, of which Kennards Hire is the major sponsor, will be the 25th Rally Australia as a WRC round.

Announcing the Rally Australia vehicle supply deal, Toyota Australia's Tony Cramb said the company’s “commitment to rallying comes from the very top, with our global president Akio Toyoda firmly believing that overcoming the extreme challenges of motorsport is vital in our quest to build ever-better cars”.

The hills are alive to Formula 1 circus
Formula One and IndyCar racing this weekend. F1 is at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, with Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo the last-start winner two weeks ago at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The circuit in Spielberg for Sunday’s race is another (after Montreal and Baku) not expected to favour the Renault-powered RB13 car, but after carsales.com.au global ambasssador Ricciardo’s third and first at the past two rounds another surprise could be in the offing.

Red Bull and many in the F1 paddock are expecting big things from Ricciardo’s teenage teammate Max Verstappen after his horror run of luck with mechanical failures amid signs of massive competitiveness.

Ricciardo is fond of the track but wishes it was longer than 4.3km.

“At any kind of power circuit like Austria you want to be smooth and get good [corner] exits in order to give yourself the best chance on the long straights,” he said.

“The compromise is always the aero package. In the middle to the end of the lap you want more downforce because the corners are quite fast, but more downforce means you are slower on the straights, so the key is to find a good balance throughout the lap.

“I wish the track had a few more corners, but the corners that do exist are great fun.”

A lot of attention will be on the two leading drivers in the championship, Ferrari’s Sebatian Vettel and Mercedes-Benz’s Lewis Hamilton, after their fireworks in Baku.

The FIA has taken another look this week at Vettel’s behaviour there but decided against any further punishment.

McLaren has been the most successful team in Spielberg, with six victories in the 29 GPs held there. In the third season of its disastrous ‘remarriage’ to Honda in the hybrid era (which produced the first points of this year for Fernando Alonso only at the last race), it will introduce ‘Spec Three’ power units this weekend expected to improve Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne’s lap times by 0.3sec per lap.

That will still leave them well shy of the Mercs, Ferraris, Red Bulls and Mercedes-powered Williams and Force India cars.

Hot on the heels of the recently-released McLaren film, a documentary on the Williams team is to have its world premiere in London next Tuesday.

It is based on the 1991 book by team founder and principal Sir Frank Williams’ late wife, Lady Virginia, which was titled A Different Kind of Life – and about which Sir Frank was most unhappy at the time.

The 11th of the 17 races scheduled in this year’s IndyCar Series is in Iowa and will be the fourth of six oval races for the season.

Australia’s 2014 champion Will Power, with 31 wins in his Indy career, including two this year, is still struggling to overhaul the top five drivers – New Zealander Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing), Power’s Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castronves and Josef Newgarden, and Indianapolis 500 victor Takuma Sato.