it’s our best oil yet... www.castroledge.com.au 7th NoVember 2012Volume 2 - issue 19

V8 supercars actioN from abu dhabiIt was a mixed weekend for Castrol-

backed teams in the latest round of the V8 Supercars Championship

which took crews to the Middle East as a support category to Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi. Castrol-backed Ford Performance Racing driver Will Davison was the pick of the Castrol-backed crop with a clean sweep of pole positions for all three races followed up by three second place finishes in each race.

“Three second places aren’t anything to complain about but we expected more after our qualifying form,” said Davison.

His teammate Mark Winterbottom was the next best Castrol-supported driver with a sixth, fourth and five placing respectively over the three, 12-lap sprint races.

Castrol-backed Kelly Racing driver Rick Kelly drove a sensational race in the ‘Commitment’ Holden Commodore and finished 9th, in an action packed final race on the 5.5km Yas Marina circuit. In his 500th race start Castrol-backed Supercheap Auto Racing driver Russell Ingall finished 18th and 16th after starting 20th and 17th for the two 12 lap races on Saturday. Ingall avoided some

mid-pack carnage to finish 16th in Race 26 on Sunday after starting 18th and his experience came to the fore on the opening lap, when he avoided a nasty collision between Jason Bright and Karl Reindler thanks to his swift reflexes.

“Because of the limited track time this weekend, we’re pioneering with the setup,” Ingall said. Jamie Whincup made it three-from-three taking the win for each race over the weekend. The next and penultimate round of the V8 Supercars Championship takes crews to Winton Motor Raceway, November 16-18.

streNgth to perform

Championship standings after 26 of 30 races

pos driver pts

1 Jamie Whincup 3360

2 Mark Winterbottom 3064

3 Craig Lowndes 2971

4 Will Davison 2779

5 Shane Van Gisbergen 2434

6 Tim Slade 2319

7 Garth Tander 2232

8 Lee Holdsworth 1913

9 David Reynolds 1875

10 Fabian Coulthard 1843

11 James Courtney 1811

12 Russell Ingall 1738

13 Jonathon Webb 1651

14 Michael Caruso 1635

15 Rick Kelly 1606

16 Jason Bright 1506

17 Steven Johnson 1459

18 Todd Kelly 1263

19 Michael Patrizi 1184

20 Dean Fiore 1182

21 Steve Owen 1132

22 James Moffat 1060

23 David Wall 1011

24 Tony D’Alberto 990

25 Taz Douglas 916

26 Karl Reindler 886

27 Alexandre Premat 874

28 Greg Murphy 649

streNgth to perform

Castrol-backed Greg Murphy continued his phenomenal Pukekohe record by producing

a copybook drive to win the 70-lap feature race at the International 500 endurance race. Behind the wheel of the #51 Mike Pero Mortgages Commodore, Murphy and co-driver Jack Perkins beat fellow Castrol-backed drivers Scott McLaughlin and Jono Webb’s #93 Auto Trade Direct Commodore by 1.6s. The victory revived memories of the V8 Supercar era at the Counties circuit when Murphy was appropriately called “The Prince Of Pukekohe” .

Aussie super-sub Owen Kelly drove brilliantly in the second stint, taking over

NZ V8s: murphy uNstoppable at pukekohehere. It’s one of those places where you get rewards where you push a bit harder.”

Perkins did brilliantly when he started the race going side-by-side with McLaughlin and momentarily edging into the lead before McLaughlin fought back in a thrilling duel going up the high-speed Ford Mountain section on the second lap. The young Aussie chased McLaughlin hard to remain in second. McLaughlin pitted on lap 34 with Webb stepping into the hot seat while Perkins followed a lap later with Murphy taking charge.

The race changed complexion when Webb had a spin at the Castrol right-

from Richard Moore to guide the Skinny Commodore into third place. The result continues Murphy’s stunning form at the 2.82km circuit. He scored three wins at Pukekohe a year before the V8 Supercar brand started in 1996 and claimed nine race wins there during the 2000’s including the V8SC lap record of 56.0781s in 2005.

“There is no question I love Puke. I haven’t raced here since 2007. I haven’t done a competitive lap here since then,” said Murph. “It doesn’t seem to be any different to then. As far as I’m concern the bumps are in the same places and the character is exactly where it used to be. I love the challenge of pushing around

streNgth to perform

NZ V8s: murphy uNstoppable at pukekohehander giving Murphy a free pass to effectively lead the race by the biggest margin of the race. Then after the second safety car period for debris Murphy blitzed the field on the restart with just under 20 laps to go. Building up to the green flag Webb caught the grass coming onto the straight and fell back in the pack, leaving Murphy to charge away to a decent advantage. Webb soon fought back to move back into second spot and close to within just over a second behind Murphy.

Results, Race 3, International 500

pos name best speed

1 Murphy / Perkins 178.048

2 McLaughlin / Webb 178.259

3 Moore / Kelly 177.350

4 Scott / Evans 177.711

5 Gaunt / Waite 177.221

6 Rollinson / #Booth 176.493

7 Pedersen / Halliday 176.682

8 Manuell / Penny 177.298

9 Richards / Harrison 177.034

10 McLennan / Waters 176.417

11 Pither / Miedecke 176.813

12 Fogg / Gardiner 177.322

13 M.Cunningham / Canto 175.605

14 McIntyre / Lester 176.991

15 Emery / Owen 176.262

16 Reid / W.Cunningham 177.322

Not classified (75% = 53 Laps)

DNS Edgell / Van der Drift -

DNS Corkery / Bleekemolen -

DNS Booth / D’Alberto -

streNgth to perform

streNgth to perform

TO TEST OUR STRONGEST OIL WE ENGINEERED THE

ULTIMATE TESTS OF STRENGTH.

New Castrol EDGE with Titanium Fluid Strength TechnologyTM is put through extreme tests of strength to ensure unsurpassed ability to minimise metal on metal contact and provide top engine performance no matter how you drive.

Find out more at castroledge.com.au

Castrol-backed Honda Alvaro Bautista met his objective of a fifth place finish at Phillip Island ,

the Spaniard fighting hard for fourth until the finish of a race won by Casey Stoner. Bautista’s battle with Andrea Dovizioso and Stefan Bradl provided much of the entertainment in the race, the trio swapped positions on the final two laps, with Dovizioso taking the spot by 0.129s over Bautista, with Bradl only 0.035s behind in sixth.

Another top five finish here in Australia for the Spaniard consolidated fifth place in the championship with one round remaining at Valencia.

Alvaro Bautista (5th) “We have achieved our objective here, but I have to recognise that if it wasn’t for the crash from Dani Pedrosa I would have been sixth. I am disappointed for him, because

faNtastic fourth for bautista at phillip islaNd

he has produced some extraordinary races recently, but today he lost the championship on the second lap. This morning in the warm-up we could see that Crutchlow had a better pace than us, so when I saw Pedrosa crash I just tried my best to stick in the group behind Lorenzo in the hope we could fight for the podium, but we were lacking straight line speed. All the time I lost down the straight I had to

make up for the rest of the lap, but it was a fun battle with Dovizioso and Bradl, we passed each other many times and the race went quickly for me. I made one last attempt at the end, but again Dovizioso got me down the straight and then did a good job to close every door. Anyway it’s a positive result, so thanks to all the team and now let’s hope we can seal fifth in the championship at Valencia. ”

streNgth to perform

wiN a castrol retro bathurst pack or diNNer with adam ‘gilly’ gilchristpromotioN 1

want the chance to win a limited edition castrol bathurst retro pack celebrating 50 years of the great bathurst 1000 race? the prize pack even includes one of these exclusive castrol port bottles specially designed to celebrate 50 fantastic years of the bathurst 1000 race!

simply head to www.speedcafe.com/castrol for more details!

promotioN 2

are you ready to wiN with castrol magnatec?

Just answer 1 easy question and you and 4 of your mates could be having dinner with australian cricketing legend adam ‘gilly’ gilchrist. so which 4 mates would you take?

plus you could win 1 of 50 bp gift cards…. see website to enter and for more info.

for further details on this promotion head to www.castrolpromotion.com.au/magnatecshine

streNgth to perform

Nissan has unveiled its all-new 2013 Nissan Altima V8 Supercar for the first time in a spectacular launch

event in Melbourne. The Altima is the first all-new V8 Supercar model unveiled in two decades, as Nissan joins the V8 Supercars Championship from next season with the four-car, factory Nissan Motorsport team. The Nissan Altima V8 Supercar has been designed and built to the category’s new ‘Car of The Future’ regulations, which include 18 inch wheels, transaxle gearbox and independent rear suspension.

The car has been built by Castrol-backed Kelly Racing who will field four Nissan Altimas in next year’s V8 Supercars Championship. The all-new, state-of-the-art Altima V8 Supercar completed a handful of laps to undertake system checks, before commencing aerodynamic testing in preparation for the V8 Supercars homologation process. Team co-owner

reVealed: NissaN uNVeils the 2013 NissaN altima V8 supercar

and driver Todd Kelly had the honour of becoming the first person to drive the Nissan Altima V8 Supercar. Kelly drove several sedate installation laps on the 2.28-kilometre Calder Park circuit to kick-off the day’s proceedings, not jeopardising his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery.

Nathan Pretty then took over driving duties in the Altima V8 Supercar, performing

aerodynamic test runs on Calder’s long front straight. James Brock drove one of the team’s Holden Commodores to provide benchmark data for engineers and V8 Supercars officials. The Nissan Altima V8 Supercar is the first all-new V8 Supercar in over two decades. It was unveiled on Tuesday 30 October 2012 at a spectacular event in Docklands, Melbourne.

streNgth to perform

THE

POWERBEHIND THE

PACKBEHIND THE

PACK!