MOTORSPORT: Erebus plays the youth card

A pair of rookie racers have given Erebus Motorsport the early edge in the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship.

Will Brown and Brodie Kosteki are stepping up to the main game in season 2021, earning them an extra rookie orientation test day at Winton Motor Raceway in north east Victoria.

The Erebus pair hit the track in their new-look ZB Commodores, which were given a special test livery for the occasion, and will continue their education when they join the other Victorian-based Supercars team at the official pre-season test (split between Winton and Queensland Raceway) before the season opens at Bathurst in late February.

Brown and Kosteki each completed more than 100 laps in the cars that were left vacant by David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale (now at Kelly Grove Racing and Shell V-Power Racing respectively) in a massive shake-up at the end of last year.

“It’s really good to get the first day done. It’s also good for the team to get to know each other,” Brown told carsales.

Kosteki was a tick quicker when the pair went for qualifying situations, although Brown was quicker for much of the day.

“It’s not a problem. It’s good for us to be that close. It means we can share information and help with feedback for the engineers,” the 2019 carsales TCR champ and now Supercar racer said.

“You never like to be beaten by your teammate, but we did our runs on greens at different times. I’m not worried.”

Brown also believes the clean-out from last year will allow Erebus to regain its mojo in 2021.

“It was a really happy day and everyone worked well together. With Dave and Anton both leaving it’s a bit of a blow for the team, but I think they have done well to pick up Brodie and myself.

“The team environment now is the best I’ve seen. It’s really good right now,” Brown commented.

The lap record at Baskerville Raceway is set for a pounding when a pair of state-of-the-art S5000 open-wheel racers headline a return of top-level motorsport to the Hobart circuit this weekend in Tasmania.

James Golding and Nathan Herne will strap into a pair of the V8-powered single-seaters for a series of demonstrations runs as the Australian Racing Group also introduces the TCR Australia Series and Trans Am cars to the tight-and-twisty Baskerville layout.

Hobart is the second leg of a Race Tasmania program that began at Symmons Plains near Launceston last weekend, but tight COVID-19 restrictions mean a reduced program.

The S5000s will share top billing with a half-dozen TCR cars in the demonstrations, while Trans Am will provide the meat of the action.

Australia’s home-grown open-wheelers have already shown their speed on the mainland and Joey Lawson demolished the Symmons Plains lap record, which had stood for 41 years, when he clocked a time of 49.7242 in the first leg of this year’s Gold Star championship.

The current mark at Baskerville is 48.82 seconds, set by Josh Kean in an historic Benetton B186 grand prix car.

Former world Formula 1 champion Jenson Button is winding up for a big year of motorsport in 2021. Button has been a regular in GT cars in Japan since he finished his time in F1 but has two new challenges for the coming year.

The Briton is rejoining the Williams Grand Prix team, where he got his start in F1, as a senior advisor.

He has also joined Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg –
also former world champions – by establishing a team in the fledgling battery-powered Extreme E series.

The difference is that Button intends to drive his car, after several starts in off-road racing in the USA.

“I caught the off-road bug a few years back, which led to me entering my own team in a few races including the Mint 400 and even the Baja 1000 and I absolutely loved it,” Button says.

“In Extreme E, they've created a product that will offer first-class racing and entertainment to the fans, but also serves to highlight the impact of climate change.”

Australian rally champ Molly Taylor is also racing in the off-road EV series.

Formula 1 is still in lockdown ahead of official pre-season testing, but that has not stopped Ferrari from introducing Carlos Sainz to the team.

While its rivals must wait for the pre-season hit-out in Bahrain, Ferrari is able to use its Fiorano test track without breaking the rules provided it uses a two-year-old F1 car.

That’s how Sainz got his first run in a Ferrari, along with a bunch of youngsters including Mick Schumacher – who graduates to F1 in 2021 with the Ferrari-powered Haas team.

“A day I will never forget! This morning, the alarm went off at dawn because we had some very early meetings before going out on track. One of the most special moments for me today was when I arrived at the circuit and I saw the Ferrari with my number 55 on it,” Sainz said.

“We were able to get through an extensive programme and I was able to familiarise myself with the whole setup: the engineers and mechanics, the steering wheel, the procedures which are obviously a bit different to those on the car I drove last season. I am very happy and could not have wished for a better start.”

The humble Hyundai Excel is becoming an unlikely star of Australian motorsport. One-make championships for the late-1990s and early-2000s compact hatch have sprung up across the country with capacity grids for most events.

During the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, Excels even starred on the supporting program when the Supercars circus travelled to Townsville.

The Excel follows a range of other unlikely successes in one-make championships, including the Holden Kingswood and Commodore.

It’s appeal is obvious – the basic car is cheap and there are plenty for sale.

An amateur team can easily prepare an Excel for racing and then compete on a modest budget in their home state, or make occasional raids for Excel races across state borders.

But even Triple Eight Racing Engineering, one of the top teams in Supercars, has been lured into the Excel world. It is now building key components, has an engine program with the KRE Race Engines company that supplies the V8 engines for its Red Bull Commodores, and can build turn-key race-cars for wealthy amateurs.

Excels are also providing an excellent training ground for young drivers, with Supercars drivers Brodie Kosteki and Broc Feeney – the strong favourite to take the Super2 crown in 2021 – both competing regularly in the humble little hatchbacks.

Tapping into the popularity of Excels as an entry-level feeder series, Burson Auto Parts has announced it is extending sponsorship into the class.

Via bursongarage.com.au – a free membership-based website for parts, tools, accessories and equipment – the company will support the Scarcella Motorsports Hyundai Excel driven by carsales.com.au editor-in-chief, Mike Sinclair.

The aim of the involvement is to encouraging fans and racers alike to become members of the Burson Garage club which provides member-only discounts for specific auto parts, tools and accessories at Burson Auto Parts stores nationwide. Members can also participate in regular member-only competitions and special-interest features on the Burson Garage website.

The #98 Burson Garage Scarcella Motorsports Hyundai Excel will compete in selected Excel events in Victoria and beyond. The #98’s season kicks off next month at Melbourne’s Sandown Raceway and will include enduro rounds later in 2021 with some surprise, high-profile co-drivers.

Bursons also sponsors the father-and-son team of Jason and Ben Bargwanna in the 2021 TCR Australia Series.