Motorsport: Dick Johnson's survival pledge

Midweek motorsport reportNovember 22, 2006

Dick Johnson Racing's predicament follows the loss of its long-time supporter Shell and then the failure of last year's title sponsor Westpoint, which has forced Johnson to inject more than $1 million of his own money into the team this year. He has funded it through two of his newer but not yet hugely profitable businesses, First Rock Home Loans and V8 Telecom, as well as selling five of his old race cars to collector David Bowden and the land under DJR's headquarters at Stapylton between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Interestingly, today's Auto Action cover is the second time within a few weeks that there has been a publicity splash about Johnson's problems and it may be his way of getting on the front foot and trying to unearth the financial support necessary to keep DJR going.

"We've got ourselves to blame for being in this situation as it is a combination of things that haven't gone our way -- all of which have turned into a major drama," Johnson told Auto Action. "We've had major dramas before and we've overcome them. We'll overcome this one as well. There is no way known we're going away. We'll find a way out of this mess one way or another."

Johnson admits the team is under financial pressure and that he has some creditors with outstanding payments. He is searching for a naming rights sponsor to lock into a three-year deal. Part of his rebuilding plan also includes a technical tie-up with this year's Bathurst-winning Triple Eight team and the possibility that DJR could supply engines to rival Ford teams next year.

"We're going to do an exchange with Triple Eight on certain things. We're still working on the exact details. That will provide us with a good base to work from in the future," Johnson says. "There are also opportunities for us to do engines for other teams, which is a viable option for us at this point. We're pretty well up in the engine department at the moment and we can take things forward from there -- and that's the way the category has to go to survive, for teams to consolidate their strengths."

DJR may end its three-car participation in the V8 development series, or at least contain it to two cars. Johnson is keen to continue supporting the careers of Andrew Thompson, who dominated the support races at Bathurst, and television personality Grant Denyer.

While his stated preference is to rebuild DJR to something like its former glory, Johnson admits to Auto Action he would not be averse to selling if the right deal came along. "Absolutely," he says. "Everything in this world is up for sale, but it would want to be something worthwhile for me to walk away. I would only want to do it if I thought DJR could continue on as a brand. I don't think it would do the category any good not to have DJR involved with the sport anymore."

Late-night Bahrain telecasts
The Bahrain round is billed the Desert 400. It is the furthest V8 Supercars have ever traveled to race, with two jumbo jets flying cars, spares and other equipment 12,000km there and back. Racing will be on a shortened, 3.6km, 10-turn version of the state-of-the-art 5.4km circuit built for the country's Formula One Grand Prix, but the schedule has been brought forward because of Bahrain's religious cultures.

In what has become a familiar three-race format though, there will be a 100km race Friday and two 140km races Saturday. Channel 10's telecasts are scheduled for Friday at 11.35pm, Australian eastern summer time, to 1am, and Saturday from 10.40pm to midnight, with replayed highlights on Sunday afternoon.

Experience no great advantage
Garth Tander and Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly are the only V8 Supercar drivers with Bahrain experience. They took part in a pro-am celebrity race there in HSV Clubsports earlier this year, but say any advantage they have will be cancelled once other drivers have done a couple of laps. Sand blowing on to the track could be a problem for everyone.

HSV heads for teams title
HSV Dealer Team -- with eight successive podiums, including two round wins by Tander since the fourth round at Victoria's Winton -- has a stranglehold on the teams championship, leading Triple Eight by 739 points with Ford Performance Racing 115 further back. HSV Toll has scored 5601 points this year, or 80.8  per cent of the maximum possible.

Skaife faces worst finish
While Mark Skaife remains arguably the fastest driver in V8 Supercars -- he has started from the front row of the grid at seven of 11 rounds this year, with four pole positions -- he could end up with his worst finishing position in the championship. Skaife stands only 20th on the points table and needs to jump three places to equal his lowest placing of 17th in 1987 -- his first year in the national touring car championship.

Lowndes wants to be Le Man
Craig Lowndes has flagged that he wants to race in the Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic next year. Lowndes watched the final round of the FIA GT Championship last weekend in Dubai, ahead of the V8 Supercar round in Bahrain this weekend. He previously had the lure of Le Mans dangled in front of him by Tom Walkinshaw and David Richards when he raced for their V8 Supercar teams. Derek Warwick, who is connected to the Triple Eight outfit for which Lowndes now races, has suggested he give the French classic a go. "Bathurst is the longest race that we do, but Le Mans would be something else," Lowndes says.

Power Champ Car's fastest
Will Power not only is the first Australian to have become rookie-of-the-year in Champ Car racing, but the Queenslander has been awarded a special trophy for this year's fastest aggregate lap in the series, determined by adding his fastest race laps at each of the 14 rounds. It capped a fine season for Power, who qualified on pole at the Gold Coast Indy and led the race until hit by champion Sebastien Bourdais, then notched his first Champ Car podium at the final round in Mexico.

Lots of options for Briscoe
Ryan Briscoe returns to the A1 Grand Prix series in Malaysia this weekend but is a man in demand for next year's Champ Car series after making a big impression in his recent outings at the Gold Coast and in Mexico City, despite the race classifications showing him only 11th and 14th. RuSPORT, for which Briscoe drove in place of the injured Brazilian Cristiano Da Matta, is reportedly keen to keep him, especially as it may lose Englishman Justin Wilson. Team Australia also wants Briscoe as Will Power's teammate, although there have been indications in the past that the affable Briscoe is not overly keen on the company of Team Australia or Power.

Paul Stoddart, the Australian ex-F1 team boss reputed to be on the verge of entering Champ Car, and dominant team Newman-Haas are also said to be interested in Briscoe. So no shortage of options for a driver who almost made it into F1 -- he got as far as Friday test driver for Toyota -- yet couldn't get a full-time drive this year. Aside from any open-wheeler commitments next year, Briscoe is likely to continue with Holden Racing Team for the V8 Supercar endurance races.

Alex Yoong, who was a laughing stock in F1 and made an aborted attempt at V8 Supercar racing, has done much better in A1, which is either a reflection of poor standards in the series or that he has made progress and matured. Hopefully the latter.

At Sepang last year Yoong finished eighth in the sprint race and fifth in the feature race, while this year he won both races at the Czech Republic's Brno circuit in the second round. No team has won its home race in A1 but there will be some expectations of that this weekend, with Malaysia standing fifth this season -- seven points behind leader Mexico, whose Salvador Duran has notched three podiums in six races to date. "The only thing we haven't achieved is our first win this season," Duran says.

France took victory in both A1 races in Malaysia last season. Canada has led more races this season than any other team, with 55 laps in the lead in the three events so far, but victory has eluded it to date. The first three rounds were at venues new to the series.

"He is one of the greatest British racing drivers," Warwick says. "He will go down in history as one of the greatest touring car drivers -- if not the greatest. The really special thing about Andy is his ability to bring a team together -- something Schumacher did at Ferrari."
Warwick gave Priaulx his first outing in the British Touring Car Championship in 2001 for his Vauxhall team and he achieved pole position at Oulton Park. After a season with Honda he was signed by BMW.

"He is the most dedicated, hard-working, professional racing driver I have ever met," Warwick says. "His work ethic and the ability to get the most out of everything around him are not equalled by anybody."

Sky acquired 18 per cent of ITV for more than A$2 billion. It says it is not seeking any control over the free-to-air telecaster to most of the English-speaking world, although it wants to explore sharing sports rights. The NTL consortium that includes Sir Richard Branson and wants to buy all of ITV may yet appeal against Sky's share purchase.

Kimi 'needs a brain trade'
An F1 team boss -- not named, but I suspect Sir Frank Williams -- says that Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari's replacement for Michael Schumacher, "needs to change his brain".

"Kimi is absolutely magical," the team principal tells Racer nagazine. "He is the kind of talent that you see only once in may be 10 or 15 years. Kimi has amazing speed, he's blindingly fast and he lives for driving F1 cars on the absolute limit. (But) He will not be a champion at Ferrari unless he changes the brain in his head. He is nowhere near Michael when it comes to commitment, application to the job and just working hard. It's sad, but it's true."

"Michael has taken a lot (from F1), but he's given a lot too," Coulthard told F1 Racing magazine. "I've taken less, and given less, but I've certainly given. There are others who just take. An example is Rubens. He's a nice guy, and talented, but he just turns up, does his race and buggers off." Coulthard says that when he asked Rosberg about becoming a GPDA director the 21-year-old replied, "No way!"

"When someone like Nico says he isn't ready, well, that's bollocks," Coulthard says. "The GPDA is the only route via which they can influence their sport and yet they don't seem to want to know. I just can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to be active in the only forum via which he can increase the likelihood of his going home safe and sound at the end of a day spent caning one of the 22 fastest cars in the world around a race track."

Aussie at Formula BMW worlds
The Formula BMW world finals are on at Valencia in Spain from Friday until Sunday, featuring 37 young drivers -- including Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who was third in this year's Formula BMW Asian championship. Germany's 18-year-old Marco Holzer, winner of last year's Formula BMW world final, will get to test an F1 car at Valencia tomorrow. Holzer is wondering how he's going to cope with six times the engine power than has been his norm. Alex Zanardi, the popular Italian F1 driver who now has artificial legs after a massive Champ Car crash five years ago, also will drive an F1 car again there.