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Tekno Autosports take Bathurst 12 Hour victory

Last weekend’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour finished in typically thrilling and nailbiting style, with the Tekno Autosports McLaren of Shane van Gisbergen, Jonathan Webb and Portugese driver Alvaro Parente emerging victorious after a record 1845km of racing.

Tekno Autosports, who are proud partners of Sydney Motorsport Park and the ARDC as our official Safety Car supplier, has danced around a Bathurst race victory for several years; the infamous circuit forcing more bad luck than good on the team during their V8 Supercars racing in years past.

This year, the luck was on their side for the debut of the team’s new McLaren 650S GT3; despite 13 pit lane stops, a drive-through penalty during the final stint, and a scary mechanical hiccup that forced Parente to stop and re-set the car on the main straight before resuming the race.

The team beat home the 2015 defending champions Katsumasa Chiyo, Rick Kelly and Florian Strauss in their Nissan GT-R, with Bentley Team M-Sport’s Matt Bell, Steven Kane and Guy Smith came home third.

Only 20 contenders from 37 finished the mammoth race, which saw a record 297 laps completed after the flag fall at 12 hours, with 29 lead changes – another record.

Van Gisbergen also recorded a new outright lap record of the Bathurst circuit with a 2m01.567s, and the team also took pole position and claimed the fastest race lap.

The ARDC congratulates the drivers and team of Tekno Autosports – well done to all!

WTAC 2013 Day 2 Wrap

EVENT RELEASE: After two tumultuous days of time attack competition, racing has finished for another year. Positions were still being decided in the final sessions, and records have been broken across the weekend.
With Tilton setting the pace early on, the Pro Class field was playing catch-up.
Nobuteru Taniguchi was pushing the Top Fuel / Voltex S2000RR and posting some very fast times. The car went almost a second faster than last year but fuelling problems prevented the team from giving it the final big push on Saturday.
MCA Suspensions’ S13 in the capable hands of Earl Bamber was consistently fast and beat their last year’s time of 1:27.8080 with a new PB of 1:27.3670 moving ahead of Nemo into the second overall and the fastest RWD of the event.

The Nemo Racing team were not able to overcome their overheating problems and only managed to get out for one low-boost session. The 2012 champions still ended the event in an honourable 3rd place.
After having some mechanical issues on Friday, Suzuki went out all guns blazing resetting his 2012 time and edging closer to Nemo’s time.

Unfortunately it was not to be for Suzuki-san as he once again narrowly missed out on the podium finish with a time of 1:27.958. Scorch Racing was the fastest international team at this year’s WTAC, ahead of Top Fuel / Voltex, RE Amemiya and Esprit.

Despite not being able to make the podium, RE Amemiya RX-7 was one of the most popular cars on the track, turning heads wherever it went.
Tarzan had a love-hate relationship with the Esprit NSX, ending the event in 8th place with a time of 1:30.139
Precision Maintenance Evo was the pace setter in Pro Am with a time of 1:30.9570
Sutton Brother’s S15 was spectacularly fast and only a 0.9 second slower than the class leader Precision Maintenance Evo. A well deserved runner up spot for the Sutton Brothers.
Flying the Subaru flag, the Auto Engineering Hulk was in hot pursuit of the Sutton Brothers and completed the Pro Am podium in a third place.
Open Class saw several leader changes during the day with BC Automotive R32 GTR taking the win in the final session.
V-Sport’s Evo X set the best Open Class time early on Saturday but was relegated to the runner-up position by BC Automotive.
Legions of Honda fans cheered Benny Tran who pushed his BYP Racing Integra to its limits, not only placing it on the Open Class podium but also earning the title of the Fastest FWD of the event.
Jason Wright took out the Clubsprint win in the Prcess West WRX STi putting an end to the general assumption that you need an Evo to win at WTAC.
The “mult-tasking” award of the event has to go to Jason Wright and Benny Tran both of whom drove two cars, in two classes and managed to put both of them on the podium!
Jason drove the Autotech Engineering Hulk in the Pro Am and the Process West STi in Clubsprint while Benny Tran drove the BYP Racing Integra in the Open and a BYP Racing S2000 in the Clubsprint Class. Top effort guys!
Jason Naidoo took a well-deserved third place in the Clubsprint Class in his SuperPro Evo 9.
And once again, the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge is over for another year. We have a new World Champion – a team that has not only been the fastest at this event but managed to break the seemingly unassailable lap record set in 2012 by Nemo.

 

ROYAL PURPLE PRO CLASS
1 – Garth Walden (NSW) Tilton Evo – 1:24.8550
2 – Earl Bamber (QLD) MCA Suspension S13 – 1:27.3670
3 – Warren Luff (QLD) AugerTorque/Nemo Evo – 1:27.7080
4 – Under Suzuki (JPN) Scorch Racing S15 – 1:27.9580
5 – Nob Taniguchi (JPN) Top Fuel S2000 – 1:28.8660
GARRETT PRO AM CLASS
1 Mick Sigsworth (QLD) Precision Maintenance EVO – 1:30.9570
2 Andrew Sutton (NSW) Sutton Bros S15 – 1:31.8320
3 Jason Wright (NSW) Autotech Engineering WRX STi – 1:32.4040
4 Andy Papageorgiou (CYP) Simply Racing Evo VI – 1:33.2980
5 Atsushi Shimaya (JPN) Endless/R Magic FD3S RX-7 – 1:33.5550
V-SPORT OPEN CLASS
1 Dean Lillie (VIC) BC Automotive R32 GTR – 1:31.7980
2 Rick Bates (NSW) V Sport/Go-Pro Evo X – 1:32.4260
3 Benny Tran (NSW) BYP Racing Integra – 1:32.6800
4 Nik Kalis (NSW) Piazza Doro EVO – 1:33.5330
5 Simon Podlewski (SA) Move Yourself Racing 180SX – 1:34.4456
JUST CAR CLUBSPRINT CLASS
1 Jason Wright (NSW) Process West WRX STi – 1:39.2470
2 Benny Tran (NSW) BYP Motorsport S2000 – 1:41.0360
3 Jason Naidoo (NSW) Superpro EVO 9 – 1:41.2560
4 Dan Farquar (NSW) IS Motor Racing/Royal Purple Evo – 1:41.5450
5 John Richardson (VIC) Motul/Advan R33 GTST – 1:42.0590
Our congratulations to all competitors.

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WTAC 2013 Day 1 Wrap

EVENT RELEASE: Day 1 of the 2013 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge certainly didn’t disappoint with some of the Best Time Attack Racing to date.
With Nemo’s race day on the skids Tilton have capitalised, setting a blistering early pace and smashing the existing WTAC lap record. In today’s third Royal Purple Pro Class session Garth Walden has broken Nemo’s record from last year with an incredible 1:24.855 flying lap. This team are well and truly breaking new ground.
We asked the team after the second session how they were going and if they were holding back. “No, we go out and try to get better and faster with every lap. Were trying to play our own game.”
As for what’s changed since WTAC 2012, “It’s a years worth of really small steps. We went to Japan and had bad luck at Tsukuba but it was a great learning experience. We collected a lot of data.”
“For WTAC 2012 we were on the back foot. We were having to fix things all the time just trying to keep the car going rather than going faster. The trip to Japan gave us a lot of insight into what was wrong with it.”
Fans will no doubt notice the aggressive new aero on Tilton. Underneath the external changes is a new suspension setup with reconfigured geometry. Horsepower remains the same as last year with the addition of a new BorgWarner EFR turbo, similar to that found on Nemo.
“There’s a big difference. We’ve pretty much eliminated any lag that was giving us issues before.” The team says aero alone wouldn’t have made that much of an impact but the new package is potent.
“Garth is very comfortable in the car. He adjusted to the new aero quickly and is loving it. We’re running 30psi right now and can run more, we’re not all out yet. The car is about 10km/h slower down the straight than we would like but the speed through the corners makes up for it.”
“What the team loves most about this year is they’re not fixing anything. Every tweak they make it making the car faster. With a full day still to go tomorow, we could well see that record smashed all over again.”

With only a second seperating Nemo, MCA, Under Suzuki and Top Fuel – we should be in for some close racing on Saturday. Will Nemo be able to snatch victory back from Tilton? Who will reign supreme in the battle of the rear wheel drive cars?

 

CAMS announces FIA Academy at SMSP

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) is on the search for one young Australian driver who can take on the world.
CAMS will be hosting the Asia Pacific Region Selection Event for the 2013 FIA Institute’s Young Driver Excellence Academy in October with the search starting now for a young Australian driver who will become one of up to 19 from across the Asia Pacific region to converge on Sydney for three days of intensive testing, training and evaluation.
They will be here to stake their claim on the single guaranteed Asia Pacific position available on the FIA Institute’s global Academy.
The selection process for the Academy involves a series of five qualifying events in regions across the world to give as many drivers as possible the opportunity to participate.
Each of the qualifying events produces one winner to go forward to the 2013/14 Young Driver Excellence Academy with a total of eight participants in the final Academy training programme, which aims to help drivers develop their motor sport careers, while increasing safety skills and actively promoting the principles of safety, fairness and responsibility on and off the track.
The Asia Pacific Region Selection Event for the 2013 FIA Institute’s Young Driver Excellence Academy will be hosted by CAMS and will take place at Sydney Motorsport Park on 20-23 October.
CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos said “CAMS is delighted that the FIA Institute has asked us to organise and run its regional selection event. It is a great tribute to the expertise of staff at CAMS and we look forward to playing a continued role in the identification and development of young talent in our region for many years to come.”
The Australian Racing Drivers’ Club has partnered with CAMS to make the Asia Pacific Selection Event possible in Australia.
The program will be headed by CAMS ambassador and former V8 Supercar driver Cameron McConville who will develop a comprehensive elite program including involvement from the NSW Institute of Sport and recognised motor sport fitness experts.
They will oversee exercises designed to evaluate fitness and driving performance, media techniques, teamwork and psychology.
All Asia Pacific Region National Sports Authorities (ASNs) can nominate one driver each with the single Australian spot to be nominated by CAMS with the applicant having met the minimum criteria set out by the FIA Institute.
A selection panel consisting Geoff Morgan, Chairman, Australian Motor Sports Foundation (AMSF), Neal Bates as the Rally representative and CAMS’ Director of Racing Operations Tim Schenken will determine who of the Australian applicants will be successful.
Drivers aged 17-23 from circuit and rally disciplines, who have demonstrated excellence in competition so far, will be considered.