MOTORSPORT: Moves to boost Oz, NZ V8 fields

Wheels are in motion to increase V8 touring car fields on both sides of the Tasman Sea.

V8 Supercars has offered a Racing Entitlement Contract for tender that should increase the regular entry list in rounds of Australasia's premier motor racing series to 26 cars next year.

It says the REC for sale is one that was surrendered – thought to be that handed back at the end of last season by South Australian businessman James Rosenberg when he severed ties with Walkinshaw Racing.

Those handed back earlier by Tony D'Alberto and Dean Fiore are still on the shelf too.

V8 Supercars says it "has already had interest" in the REC up for tender, with applications closing on April 24.

Roland Dane's dominant Triple Eight Race Engineering is seen as the most likely buyer of it as it will expand to a three-car team next year with Shane Van Gisbergen joining Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes (pictured at Symmons Plains).

Tekno Autosports, which is fielding Van Gisbergen now in a Triple Eight-built Holden, is expected to retain its REC to field another driver, perhaps even team owner Jonathon Webb again.

DJR Team Penske is likely to expand to two cars next season, but it can recall a REC it already controls, but which is being used this year by New Zealand's new Super Black Racing for young Kiwi driver Andre Heimgartner in the fourth Ford Falcon run out of the Prodrive Racing Australia workshop.

Another REC may need to be offered later in the year for Super Black to remain in V8 Supercar racing beyond this season.

There were legal wranglings last year when three RECs were offered for tender – those previously held by D'Alberto and Fiore and another "parked" by Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

The major dispute then was settled when LDM regained its second REC, which is now being used for the Holden being driven by Nick Percat – who previously ran on Rosenberg's with Walkinshaw.

Across the Tasman the V8 SuperTourers and NZ V8 Touring Cars look like formally merging by the time they provide the support act to the V8 Supercar Championship round at Pukekohe near Auckland in November.

Both NZ categories have been suffering from dwindling fields since the big split in the country's touring car ranks four years ago, but they will have two combined races at Pukekohe this weekend in which the series champions in each will be decided.

Simon Evans is in line for the title in the SuperTourers – in which there is a standard chassis similar to V8 Supercars' and the engines are a 7.0-litre generic Chevrolet Corvette-based unit – with 19-year-old Heimgartner a chance, although he is 225 points behind Evans.

Both drive cars with Holden bodywork – as does Tony D'Alberto.

Third-placed Van Gisbergen will be absent as he is in Italy for the opening round of the Blancpain Endurance Series in which he is sharing a McLaren 650S  GT3 car.

There were only eight SuperTourer entries at a January round at Hampton Downs, between Auckland and Hamilton, and two rounds scheduled for March at Timaru and Ruapana on the South Island were cancelled.

Jason Bargwanna, the V8 Supercar investigating officer, is in the box seat to win the NZ Touring Cars title in a Toyota Camry as he has a 158-point lead over Nissan Altima driver Nick Ross. 

There is barely a handful of what are known as TLX cars, but fields are boosted by others called TLs – which are now set to form the development series to a merged major national championship.

NZV8 chairman Ian Booth said the combined races at Pukekohe this weekend would be "the start of a new era for V8s in NZ motorsport".

And Owen Evans, whose Team4 fields his son Simon in the SuperTourers, said "this round is all about cementing our future for next season with both classes moving together".

It will be the first time the two categories have been on the same grid, although they raced separately at the same meetings before.

While there has been no rush for parity this weekend, equalisation measures will be needed if there is a full merger before November because the SuperTourers are considerably quicker than the NZ Touring Cars.

Red Bull has reverted to Italian-made Brembo brakes after using German Hitco brakes at the previous two GPs this year.

Not only has Ricciardo, a three-time winner last year, been lapped in Melbourne and Malaysia this season, largely attributed to an under-powered Renault engine, but his RB11's front brakes and those of Russian teammate Daniil Kyvat overheated at Malaysia's Sepang, emitting palls of carbon dust.

"We're experimenting with a few things, but for now we're going to go back to what we know, to get the basics right," Ricciardo said.

"The main points from Malaysia were that we had a lot of brake issues and overheating at the front of the car.

"So we've reverted back on quite a few things and even to stuff from last year, which we knew was more efficient.

"It's obviously older, but it doesn't mean it's not better."

Ricciardo said Red Bull at least ought to be back in front of its junior team Toro Rosso in China after 17-year-old Max Verstappen and 20-year Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Kyvat and him at Sepang.

"In Malaysia we had quite a few other problems limiting some performance for us, but we've rectified all of that for this weekend and have a few aero updates that should hopefully see us back in a more competitive proposition," Ricciardo said.

"The wind tunnel always pulls out some nice numbers, so let's see what it does on track, but the team's obviously done quite a lot since Malaysia to rectify some issues and get us further up the grid."

The battle at the front though is certain to be between Mercedes and Ferrari, winners of the first two GPs.

Tycoon Dietrich Mateschitz not only pointed the finger at Renault for its under-performing hybrid power unit but said it too could – or should – bow out if it can't do a lot better.

Mateschitz ruled out Red Bull building its own power units.

"We'll only stay in F1 if we have a competitive team, and we need a competitive power unit for that," Mateschitz told the Austria Press Agency.

"If we don't have one we can race with the best car and the best drivers and still have no chance of competing for victory.

"Of course, Renault can also weigh its options, including a pull-out.

"As a manufacturer it's your task to deliver a competitive power unit.

"If you can do that it's great. If, for whatever reason, you can't do that, you should pull out.

"Then the consequences for us would be clear too.

"We are not a car manufacturer who could justify the investment [in building and developing power units]."

Formula E has had six events so far, mainly in the middle of major cities in Asia and the Americas, with five to go in its first season – the next in Monaco next month, two months before F1's annual "crown jewel" there.

"We have over 180 cities that have requested to have a race, and many of them are ready to pay quite substantial money for that," said Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag.

"So we are now just in the process of evaluating the whole picture.

"We want to race in city centres, we want to give the message that electric formula cars are right for the cities now.

"It's difficult to change the perception of electric cars, but that's what we want to do by showing them in this context.

"We want to go to new places, like Hong Kong, maybe Paris, maybe Mexico."

No mention of Australia from Agag, although Sydney could be a contender (it won't get the Australian F1 GP that NSW premier Mike Baird wants, because it's contracted to Melbourne until 2020) and Sydney and the Gold Coast may be in the Formula E running too.

But engine performance in the top classes will be curbed five per cent and speed limits imposed at the spot where a Nissan GT-R crashed, killing a spectator, as well as several other places in the track famously called The Green Hell.

German motorsport's governing body, the DMSB, said the speed limits would be enforced via GPS.

Lots of carbon fibre pieces came off the cars during an eventful St Petersburg race two weeks ago, with one spectator suffering a head injury.

IndyCar's president of competition and operations, Derrick Walker, said the series would be proactive in limiting the risk of flying debris.

"These upgrades are a good first step ... expect additional improvements  in the future," Walker said.

Chevrolet has blamed what it called a potentially faulty batch of valve springs for the repairs to 11 of its engines at St Petersburg for which it was penalised with a loss of more points than it scored.

Although Chevrolet-powered cars finished in the top six positions, with Australia's reigning IndyCar champion Will Power second to Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, Honda now has a 162-point lead in the manufacturers' championship.

IndyCar engines are meant to last 4000km before significant repairs and teams are allowed four motors per car for the season.

The New Orleans race will be followed by rounds at Long Beach, California, and Birmingham, Alabama, the following two weekends before the series heads to Indianapolis – for a road race on May 9 and the Indy 500 on May 24.