it’s our best oil yet... www.castroledge.com.au 16th NoVember 2011Volume 1 - issue 28

wrc & NHra – missed by tHaaat mucH!

world eNduraNce series uNVeiled

gold coast set For 7’s FeVer

Fpr’scHargeForrd3

Fpr’scHargeForrd3

Fpr’s late cHarge

Castrol-supported V8 Supercar team – Ford Performance Racing – is making a stunning late season charge with just four races of the Championship remaining.

Typical of recent seasons, the team has been performing well at the post-enduro circuits. What is atypical about 2011 – is that the team’s biggest bugbear through the season (the soft tyre) has been the only tyre available to teams at Gold Coast, Tasmania and this weekend at Sandown.

The Tasmanian round of the Championship last weekend saw both Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom not out of the top 5 finishers for the weekend – with a double podium coming on Sunday.

Team-mate, Paul Dumbrell in the Castrol-backed The Bottle-O RNR Falcon set the pole time in a very tightly packed field on Sunday and was the pace-setter in Friday practice.

All three FPR cars survived a scary moment when Dumbrell

overshot the corner exiting the pits on Sunday – lucky not to cannon into the other two factory Falcons upon his re-entry to the circuit.

Tasmania proved to be a good one for Jack Daniel’s racer, Todd Kelly. It was one of his most consistent runs of the season and in both races, was in front of brother, Rick.

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes’ relentless charge toward the 2011 Title continued unabated, with Whincup taking a

clean sweep of the Symmons Plains races – and extending his lead over Lowndes to 194. With 150 points for a race win, Whincup could afford a DNF from one of the remaining four races.

Winterbottom elevated himself to third in the Championship and sits 14 in front of Shane van Gisbergen, but 408 behind Lowndes in second. Will Davison remains in sixth placing and Rick Kelly is the only other Castrol runner in the Championship top 10 in seventh.

It was a wild weekend for the final round of the 2011 World Rally Championship – Wales Rally GB – with Castrol EDGE-backed Ford WRC team driver, Jari-Matti Latvala walking away the victor.

It was Latvala and co-driver Mikko Anttila’s first victory of the season.

The big talking point for Ford WRC though was Mikko Hirvonen and his chase for the World Championship.

The Finn was left to wonder what might have been come the conclusion of the rally. A crash during Friday’s competition and subsequent engine problem saw the Championship aspirant out of action.

This guaranteed Sebastian Loeb his eighth consecutive World Rally Championship.

Had Hirvonen kept on track, though the result may have been far different. Leading throughout the weekend, Loeb

had a freak coming together with a civilian vehicle on a road transport stage, thus damaging his radiator.

And no, it wasn’t a disgruntled Finnish supporter – merely a Spaniard not accustomed to driving a right hand drive car!

Kris Meeke in the Castrol EDGE-backed MINI World Rally Team had another exceptional outing in Wales Rally GB. He was able to bring the 1600cc MINI machine home in fourth placing.

The year for Prodrive-run MINI WRC team has been nothing short of impressive and come

next year when it runs the full Championship, they could be rightfully considered contenders.

Hirvonen though retained his second position in the Championship – eight points behind Loeb. Latvala was able to finish the Championship in fourth – finishing behind the ‘other’ Sebastian – Ogier.

BANG, CRASH, WIN IN WALES

John Force Racing’s Castrol GTX High Mileage backed pilots, Robert Hight and Mike Neff have come close to the NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Series Title across the weekend at Pomona, but fell short – despite giving it their best shot.

The pair qualified second (Hight) and third (Neff) and both cruised into the second round of matchups.

The boss, John Force, was eliminated in the opening round by Johnny Gray – who then disposed of Neff in the second round.

He couldn’t get past Hight though, who got by in the Semi-Final and cruised into the Final – where he’d meet top qualifier, Matt Hagan.

Hagan defeated Hight with a 4.009 at 317.79mph (511.43kph) to a 4.031 at 318.92mph (513.25kph). This guaranteed Hagan

his first ever Full Throttle Funny Car Championship.

The JFR pair finished fourth and fifth in the Title chase, Hight fourth – just 93 points off the win, whilst Neff was 100 points neat off the win in a very close Title chase.

HigHt & NeFF get close

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comiNg togetHer For KawasaKiThe results are starting to come together for the Castrol backed Kawasaki Super-X team, with Dean Ferris finishing on the Lites podium at the penultimate round across the weekend. Billy Mackenzie bit the dirt - but got into the top 10 and young starlet, Meghan Rutledge was ruled out due to the concussion sustained last weekend.

Ferris managed to take 7thplace in the opening Lites moto and then came out strong in the second moto, bagging the hole-shot on his KX250F and leading the entirety of the race for the moto win. Another rough start in the final race was not what Ferris needed however he rode strong to take 3rd place and his 7-1-3 results were good enough to give him 2nd overall for the

night and moves him forward to 7th place in the series.

“It’s my first podium of the series so I’m excited about that. For me to put a whole night together and not lay it on the dirt is a huge plus for me. I’m tied for race wins with Moss but it’s crazy because he’s leading the Championship and I’m nowhere because I’ve pretty much winned it or binned it apart for tonight.

In his first full season of Super X, Billy Mackenzie is learning a lot and exceeding the expectations of many. With a crash in the whoop section in the second moto severely affecting his overall result on the weekend, Mackenzie still managed a top ten finish going 6-11-6 for 9th overall.

Currently sitting in 5th place in the Championship, Mackenzie believes that with improvement to certain areas, he can be a podium achiever at Ipswich.

“I don’t fell as frustrated as I have the last few rounds. I’ve had an average day but my riding has been a little better than the last few rounds. I felt more confident today, I felt I was flowing a lot better. I’m getting good starts and battling up front with the guys, I just need to sort my whoop sections out really.”

Next weekend, the final round of Super-X will take place at the North Ipswich Showground, thus rounding out another top quality season of competition for the Australian Supercross Championship.

The Gold Coast will host the inaugural ‘Fever Pitch’ Rugby Sevens the weekend after this – November 25-26. Where Rugby meets Party is the theming for the event and with 16 of the world’s leading Rugby nations nominated for the event, it should be a fantastic weekend of Rugby entertainment.

With the teams broken into ‘Pools’ – Australia has drawn the USA, the nimble Japanese and powerhouses, South Africa. Meanwhile, New Zealand has a tough assignment with Sevens’ specialists, Fiji in their group, along with Kenya and Niue.

The Argentines – the fourth nation to take part in the upcoming The Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship – are in a group with Samoa, France and PNG, whilst the British Isles are well represented in the final group with England, Scotland and Wales coming up against Tonga.

The Gold Coast Sevens Fever Pitch will be conducted over two days, with sessions getting underway from 12:35pm

Friday and 11:35 on the Saturday and stretching into the night.

“This draw provides for some great match-ups on the Friday with New Zealand and Fiji and Australia and South Africa set to go head-to-head before we even reach the finals,” ARU CEO, John O’Neill said.

“It is hard to find a game that will be easy for any team, in any Pool, which means the inaugural Gold Coast Sevens – Fever Pitch tournament will kick-off with a bang.

“In previous years people would some-times have to wait until the final day to see the likes of Australia and South Africa or New Zealand and Fiji face off against one another, but now fans will get the chance to witness some great games from the very start of the tournament.”

For more information on the Gold Coast Sevens – visit www.goldcoastfeverpitch.com.au.

gold coast gearsup For seVeNs

audi gets tHird iN cHiNaTimo Bernhard and Marcel Fassler have taken their Audi R18 TDI to third in the six hours of Zhuhai in China, whilst the other team Audi entry once again suffered with numerous problems.

The race – the first in China – was dominated by Peugeot’s Sebastien Bourdais and Anthony Davidson, with the second Peugeot of Stephane Sarrazin and Franck Montagny coming home in second.

The #2 Audi, piloted by multiple Le Mans winners Tom Kristensen and Alan McNish led early – but the Scotsman was involved in two incidents, necessitating pitstops to fix the body damage.

The car ultimately succumbed to electrical issues a little over two hours from the race completion.

The weekend’s race also saw organisers – ACO (who also control the Le Mans 24 Hour race) – announce the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship Calendar.

It is an eight round calendar, which has included Bahrain – the first time the country has been included on an international calendar since the recent unrest. It’s date, however, clashes with the time-honoured Petit Le Mans in the USA – so how that will play out is yet to be determined.

2012 World Endurance Championship:

March 17 – Sebring 12 Hours, USAMay 5 – Spa 6 Hours, BelgiumJune 16-17 – Le Mans 24 Hours, FranceAugust 25 – Silverstone 6 Hours, UKSeptember 16 – Sao Paulo 6 Hours, Brazil (TBC)September 30 – Mount Fuji 6 Hours, JapanOctober 20 – Bahrain 6 Hours, BahrainNovember 11 or 18 – China 6 Hours (Venue TBC)

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