Geoffrey Harris•29 Apr 2013

NEWS

MOTORSPORT: Mercedes boost for Perth V8 Supercar round

Engine upgrade hope for E63s against Commodores, Falcons and Altimas as championship heads west

Any parity adjustments on hold for now

It’s been two weeks since the last round of the V8 Supercar Championship, in New Zealand, and the next is now less than a week away – in Perth.

Then the 28-car show has to be transported back east and flown to America for the new round in Texas on May 18-19.

It’s a long-haul championship this season.

Holden has won eight of the nine races to date, yet Ford driver Will Davison heads the points table.

Nissan has been the better of the two newcomer marques in the series, with Rick Kelly seventh in a Nissan Altima at one of the races at NZ’s Pukekohe.

The best any of Erebus Motorsport’s three Mercedes-Benz AMG E63s has been a 13th in qualifying and a 13th-place race finish by Lee Holdsworth.

There have been mutterings for weeks already about whether V8 Supercars needs to make parity adjustments.

The racing has been better with the new machinery and, while Holden has remained the dominant manufacturer, at least it has been different Holden teams winning this season – Brad Jones Racing and Tekno Autosports rather than just Triple Eight Race Engineering.

The man who oversaw the introduction of the Car of the Future, retired great racing driver Mark Skaife, says it’s too early yet for parity adjustments.

For this weekend’s fourth round of the championship at Perth’s Barbagallo circuit the Mercs will have upgrades to their M159 engines from HWA, the specialist Mercedes racing operation in Germany.

Nissan Motorsport too has been working on improvements to its under-powered VK56DE engines, in daily dialogue with the manufacturer’s Nismo performance arm in Japan, but says major changes are still some way off.

The main change to the Mercs will be from a two to an eight-butterfly inlet manifold after the heat problems they have had in the early rounds.

Erebus team manager Dave Stuart expects not only more power from the engines in the west but better driveability for Holdsworth, Tim Slade and European import Maro Engel, who has had the benefit of a day’s testing at the short Morgan Park circuit at Warwick in Queensland since NZ.

But while Erebus has made some changes by choice, V8 Supercars has made it switch from its electronic throttles to cables like the other 25 cars in the field.

The format for Perth will be similar to that introduced successfully at the second round in Tasmania – one race but in two parts on the Saturday for a total of 120kms, plus two 100km sprints on Sunday.

Slight tweaks are still being made to the formats throughout the season and for Perth any car that drops a lap in the first part of Saturday’s race will be allowed back on to the lead lap for the double-file rolling start to the second part – but any dropping more than one lap in that early part will get no let-off.

Each car will be allowed 24 soft-compound tyres for the abrasive, sand-lined 2.42km Barbagallo, while hard-compound rubber will be used for the four 100km races a fortnight later at the Circuit of the Americas.

Nissan Motorsport driver-engineer Todd Kelly says that, as in Formula One this year, tyre wear will be the key in Perth.

“I think we’ll have to go longer than we ever have on a soft set of tyres at Barbagallo,” he said. “The race winner will be the one who has the best balanced car, the nicest on its tyres and the most patient and sensible driver. If you try to race (too) hard you’ll run out of tyres after three laps. It’s quite a unique circuit and it will be a race of (tyre) management.”

Kelly’s younger – and faster – brother Rick said that NZ was the first round where he had felt completely comfortable with the Altima.

“We knew we’d struggle in Tasmania but to go to Pukekohe and perform quite strongly was very encouraging,” he said.

Of the tyre picture for Barbagallo he said: “With the rules in 2013 you don’t have to pit unless you want to, so it will be interesting, particularly on Sunday, to see if people try to stick it out for the whole 100km or run the risk and pit for new rubber.”

Dick Johnson Racing tested at Morgan Park on the same day as Erebus, giving its new driver Chaz Mostert a chance to acquaint himself with the Falcon he has taken over from New Zealander Jonny Reid. Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom has predicted Mostert, who has been groomed by FPR, will be very competitive at Barbagallo.

The other DJR Falcon, driven by Tim Blanchard, will carry prominent livery of the team’s former major sponsor Shell at the rear. Shell was synonymous with DJR through the team’s glory days and until 2005.

It has remained a minor backer in recent times but the arrangement now has been slightly upgraded as DJR fights for its survival again this season.

“Shell has a proud history of partnership with Dick Johnson and Dick Johnson Racing and we are excited to see more red and yellow on car 17,’ Shell executive Ann Pickard said.

V8 Supercar Championship after three rounds - 1. Will Davison (Ford) 697 points; 2. Jamie Whincup (Holden) 681; 3. Craig Lowndes (H) 591; 4. Garth Tander (H) 553; 5. Fabian Coulthard (H) 552; 6. Jason Bright (H) 539; 7. Shane Van Gisbergen (H) 532; 8. James Courtney (H) 510; 9. Jonathon Webb (H) 477; 10. Scott McLaughlin (H) 457.

Oval success still eludes Montoya in NASCAR

Multiple Formula One race winner and Indianapolis 500 victor Juan Pablo Montoya came close to his first oval-track win in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup at the weekend but lost out on the final restart at Richmond, Virginia, and finished fourth as Kevin Harvick grabbed victory.

Like Australia’s Marcos Ambrose, Montoya has two road-course wins in the Sprint Cup and each has had only one top 10 finish on the ovals this season. Ambrose’s Ford lost oil pressure just after quarter-distance at Richmond, putting him out of the race.

“The racing gods aren’t on our side,” said Ambrose, who is now 23rd in the Sprint Cup points – sandwiched between three-time champion Tony Stewart and Montoya, whose Richmond result was his first top five finish in two years.

Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson leads the series for Chevrolet, 43 points clear of Ford driver Carl Edwards, followed by Chevrolet pair Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Junior and Toyota’s Clint Bowyer.

Reigning champion Brad Keselowski is sixth in a Ford, ahead of Kyle Busch in a Toyota, while Ambrose’s Richard Petty Motorsports teammate Aric Almirola is 11th on 258 points – 63 ahead of the Aussie as the series heads to Talladega this week.

Piquet Junior sinks boot below belt

Nelson Piquet Junior, another former F1 driver and son of triple world champion Nelson Piquet Senior, kicked a rival in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series, Brian Scott, below the belt in a post-race scuffle at Richmond.

Later that night two members of Scott’s crew were arrested for assault at Piquet’s motorhome.

Piquet’s kick was reminiscent of his father’s attack on Eliseo Salazar after an F1 collision at Germany’s Hockenheim circuit in 1982. The morning after kicking Scott the younger Piquet tweeted an apology.

“With that kick, no wonder I race cars and not play soccer,” he said.

Scott already had asked sponsor Nationwide, an insurance company, on Twitter whether it insured “family jewels”.

The Piquet kicks, by junior and senior, can be viewed here

Honda glory in World Touring Car Championship

Honda not only scored its first World Touring Car Championship race win at the weekend but its Civics swept the podium in the first race at Slovakia Ring.

Italian Gabriele Tarquini was the victor ahead of Portuguese teammate Tiago Monteiro with Hungarian Norbert Michelisz third.

“I regard this car like a baby … I think of myself as the father of the Civic,” an emotional Tarquini said. “The car is fantastic to drive – the tyre wear, braking and engine are all good. Acceleration and power aren’t quite as good as the Chevrolet (Cruze) yet though.”

Three manufacturers were represented on the podium after the second race of the weekend – BMW courtesy of Dutchman Tom Coronel’s victory, Chevrolet with Frenchman Yvan Muller, and Honda with Tarquini third.

Muller leads Tarquini by 24 points – 120 to 96 – after three rounds of the championship.

Bangkok on course for grand prix

Organisers of the Formula One proposed for the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, in 2015 have finalised the layout.

It’s a 5.995km street circuit along the banks of the Chao Phraya River.

The circuit now needs approval of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile for it to become the next South-east Asian round of the F1 world championship, along with Singapore and Malaysia – and perhaps in place of the South Korean event.

Meanwhile, twice-retired seven-time F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher, is to drive a final farewell lap of the full Nurburgring circuit – the Nordschleife – on May 19.

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MOTORSPORT: Mercedes boost for Perth V8 Supercar round

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