Geoffrey Harris•6 Sept 2013

NEWS

MOTORSPORT: It's as-you-were for enduros

For two weeks V8 Supercars has stewed over whether to let the Nissans and Mercs run E70 fuel in the endurance races but it seems they've been given the thumbs down

Still no official word on parity row

It’s less than a week now before the V8 Supercars will be on track at Melbourne’s Sandown in practice for the first of the year’s three endurance events, but still there’s been no public clarification on the hot parity issue – fuel.

However, we believe a decision has been made; it just hasn’t been announced.

The more time that has ticked by the more this author sensed that – to ensure the best possible racing in the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 – the sport’s key decision-makers would have to allow the four Nissan Altimas and three E63 AMG Mercedes-Benzes to run on E70 fuel in the enduros.

However, the whisper this afternoon is that the new participants in the sport with four-valve engines will get no leniency on fuel to reduce the number of pitstops they will need to make in those races.

If what we hear is correct it is a victory for the ‘old guard’ – the Holden and Ford teams running two-valve pushrod engines that are more efficient on fuel than the newcomers.

Those ‘old guard’ teams are determined not to give the ‘new boys’ any break.

Two Nissans and one Merc ran E70 – 70 per cent ethanol, 30 per cent unleaded petrol – in the Saturday race at the Winton 360 in northern Victoria a fortnight ago.

The Nissans, driven by James Moffat and Michael Caruso, finished first and second.

All teams had agreed to the experiment that weekend, on the basis that E70 was to give greater fuel economy but no performance boost.

However, amid huge controversy, those two Nissans and the Merc of Maro Engel were back on E85 – like the other 25 cars in the field – for the two Sunday races at Winton.

The storm has continued within the sport since, with claims from the ‘old guard’ that E70 has been found to enhance performance, and questions raised about whether the Winton race one result should stand.

Nissan Motorsport, run by Kelly brothers Todd and Rick, and Erebus Motorsport, which fields the three Mercs, have continued the fight to use E70 for the enduros.

Erebus has said that its engines – from AMG Customer Sports in Germany – consume 7 per cent more fuel than the Holdens and Fords.

It is not surprising that those associated with the two long-time makes in V8 Supercar racing are fighting so hard against the newcomers, with supposedly more advanced technology, getting ‘a free kick’ for the enduros – and a better chance of winning the sport’s crown jewel, the Bathurst 1000.

However, it seemed in the vacuum created by the official silence on the matter since Winton that the sport’s governors may have been coming to the bold decision that, having invited new players into the series (with Volvo to come next year), there needed to be a parity move to ensure the best possible racing over the three long-distance events.

And E70 seemed to be the way to achieve that, as unpalatable as that may be to the Holden and Ford camps.

Now we hear that any such move was vetoed two days ago.

It just hasn’t been announced, if indeed that is the decision.

If there is any announcement today or over this weekend we will update or link to it here.

Better TV deal, cashflow hinge on racing quality

The importance of V8 Supercars putting on its best show through this endurance season, and beyond, is that it will have a major bearing on its chances of securing a better TV deal from 2015.

The deal with the Seven Network for this year and next was downgraded to such an extent from the previous contract that there are no financial distributions – or ‘dividends’ – to the teams from V8 Supercar headquarters now.

And those teams need every dollar they can get in an era when sponsorship is increasingly difficult to find.

A pair of world-beaters for Bathurst

One big plus for this year’s Bathurst 1000 on the second weekend of October is the mega international driving line-up announced this week for the third Triple Eight Race Engineering entry.

Triple Eight chief Roland Dane has paired British ace Andy Priaulx and Swedish gun

Mattias Ekstrom in a Holden Commodore VF like those of Jamie Whincup-Paul Dumbrell and Craig Lowndes-Warren Luff but in different livery – Xbox instead of Red Bull.

Priaulx is a three-time world touring car champion with V8 Supercar experience – at Bathurst four years ago, and at the Gold Coast with Lowndes when teams were compelled to bring in international drivers.

Ekstrom has not raced in Australia but is a two-time champion in Germany’s DTM touring car championship and a three-time winner of the Race of Champions, the annual end-of-year event in which he has consistently beaten the likes of Michael Schumacher and Sebastien Loeb.

While foreign drivers previously have had trouble showing their best straight away in V8 Supercars there is a feeling that the ‘Car of the Future’ will be easier for them to adapt to – and the Priaulx-Ekstrom combination could be a sensation at Mt Panorama next month.

Dane is throwing his best effort at this entry, assigning his technical whiz Ludo Lacroix to the car – and bringing in/back, somewhat controversially, Mark Skaife as a “mentor” to the pair.

That fuss aside, it should add great spice to The Great Race.

Ricciardo happy about taking on Vettel

Daniel Ricciardo is wearing an even bigger and broader smile since the confirmation this week that he will replace Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing next year.

“I have one of the best seats in Formula One (next year),” Ricciardo said on arrival at Monza for this week’s Italian Grand Prix. “It’s a great time in my life.

“For now I am very happy. But if we get to maybe four or five races into next season and I am getting well beaten [by Sebastian Vettel] then I won’t be very happy.”

Webber, who is departing to sports car racing with Porsche, gave glowing endorsement to his 24-year-old fellow Aussie.

“Perfect age. It’s all in his corner. He can do a tremendous job,” Webber said.

And on becoming teammate to Vettel, with whom Webber has had his clashes and who most likely will be a four-time world champion when Ricciardo joins RBR, Webber said: “Daniel will be fine. He knows how to handle himself, so he’ll be OK.”

And Ricciardo is feeling big enough and tough enough to handle himself alongside the brilliant and ruthless German.

“That’s obviously for me to figure out,” Ricciardo said.

“I’ll be right.

“He will be a great teammate to really measure myself against and it will be great to see how he works.

“I have got a lot to learn from him but I am anxious and curious to see how close I can get (to him).”

RBR team principal Christian Horner said Ricciardo was the best choice for the seat “for the medium and the longer term”.

“It’s a calculated risk that we’ve taken but he’s got all the attributes of being a star of the future.”

Vettel said he expected “we’ll get along with each other”.

“I don’t want to marry him, so I don’t have to be best friends with him,” Vettel said.

Australia stays No. 1 on F1 calendar

It’s not final yet, but Australia appears to have retained “pole position” on the F1 calendar next year despite a big play by Bahrain to “steal” the season opener.

The Melbourne race is listed first on a draft calendar circulated at Monza with a record 21 GPs.

Pressure from the teams is likely to reduce that to 20 races – and a revised Mexican GP, a new race at Sochi on the Black Sea in Russia and the Korean event, tentatively brought forward to the fourth round of the world championship in April, each have clouds over them.

As speculated the past couple of weeks, the proposed New Jersey race in the US, which would have had the Manhattan skyline in the background, is missing from the calendar for the second year running.

An Austrian GP, reborn with Red Bull’s support, is scheduled for June 22, with Mexico City slotted for November 9 – a week before the Texas race at the Circuit of the Americas.

Considerable work is required at Mexico’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, including a new pit building, if it is to host its first GP since 1992 – when Nigel Mansell won there on his way to the world title.

India is off the calendar next season, as forecast, but there are expectations of it returning in 2015.

Formula One 2014 draft calendar

March 16 – Australia (Melbourne)

March 23 – Malaysia (Sepang)

April 6 – China (Shanghai)

April 13 – Korea (Yeongam) *

April 27 – Bahrain (Sakhir)

May 11 – Spain (Barcelona)

May 25 – Monaco (Monte Carlo)

June 8 – Canada (Montreal)

June 22 – Austria (A1 Ring,Spielberg)

July 6 – Great Britain (Silverstone)

July 20 – Germany (Hockenheim)

July 27 – Hungary (Budapest)

August 24 – Belgium (Spa)

September 7 – Italy (Monza)

September 21 – Singapore (Marina Bay)

October 5 – Japan (Suzuka)

October 19 – Russia (Sochi)

October 26 – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

November 9 – Mexico (Mexico City) *

November 16 – US (Austin, Texas)

November 30 – Brazil (Sao Paulo)

* subject to confirmation by Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)

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MOTORSPORT: It's as-you-were for enduros

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