Australian Motor Racing Series Touring Car Challenge Latest News

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Click the icon to the right to view the 2008 V8 Giants / AASA Australian Touring Car Championship calendar. Right click and select "save as" to download a copy of the file.

New Website for AASA Australian Touring Car Championship

Heading into the 2008 season, the AASA Australian Touring Car Championship is set to gain a new website.

The AMRS website (www.amrs.net.au) will continue to function, and will serve as a central meeting point of the categories competing in the 2008 AMRS, and the AASA ATCC will gain a new website with a new look, and a new address. Work on the new site is underway, and it should be released early in the new year.

March 1-2 - WAKEFIELD PARK (NSW)
April 25-27 - CALDER PARK (VIC)
May 17-18 - QUEENSLAND RACEWAY
June 14-15 - WINTON RACEWAY (VIC)
July 26-27 - ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (SA)
August 30-31 - CALDER PARK (VIC)
September 27-28 - QUEENSLAND RACEWAY
November 1-2 - WINTON RACEWAY (VIC)
November 29-30 - WAKEFIELD PARK (NSW)

It was a joyful ninth and final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Oran Park Raceway last weekend for Darren Saillard and his Saillard Racing team as not only did they secure the ATCC Title, but they managed to do it victorious fashion by taking out the round victory.

Running his newly acquired AU Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, running in the V8 Giants class of the ATCC, Saillard trailed Scott Loadsman in second place for the opening race as well as during qualifying in second place, but he managed to turn the tables in race two and three, both under the handicapped format start, by finishing ahead of him and that earned him the round victory. In race two Saillard finished in eighth place, and in the third race he recorded a third place finish.

Saillard was rapt with the performance of the AU Ford Falcon, and also the fact that he was able to claim the ATCC Title by taking victory in the final round.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better way to take out the ATCC Title for the year, and my AU Ford Falcon went from strength to strength over the weekend as I become more comfortable with the car,” Saillard said.

“I had a real good battle there with Scott [Loadsman] throughout all three races, and it was great to be able to match it with him on more equal terms with the AU Ford Falcon, and I finished ahead of him in both race two and three, and further indication of my speed was the fact that I set the fastest lap time during the third race.”

Returning to the Oran Park Raceway circuit for the first time in over 10 years, it didn’t take long for Saillard to find his feet.

“After a few laps things started to come back to me, but the circuit has changed quite a bit since I was last here, as the ripple strips and the surface itself are totally different these days,” explained Saillard.

“One of my major strengths around the Oran Park circuit was riding over the dog leg, as I wasn’t getting at all fazed by the car wanting to get sideways through that section of the circuit, as I was used to all of that due to my Speedway background.”

At the completion of the ATCC for 2007 Saillard finished ahead of John Vergotis and Amin Chahda in the final point standings.

Saillard wanted to say a big thanks to everyone involved in the Australian Motor Racing Series, in particular Garry Willmington and Rod Dale, for all their support throughout the year.

In 2007 Saillard is proudly supported by Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products, Abels Smash Repairs, A.C.T. Diff Doctor, and Larrikin Enterprises.

At the completion of the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) Daniel Natoli has managed to take some solace out of what has been an up and down year by securing the overall ‘Super Tourer’ class honours aboard the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo.

Despite suffering a number of mechanical issues with the Ford Mondeo throughout the year, Natoli managed to snare the ‘Super Tourer’ class honours in the ATCC, which saw highlights being a total of three overall podium finishers and finishing sixth outright in the ATCC point standings.

“There were plenty of up and downs during the year, but it was great that we were still able to win the ‘Super Tourer’ class of the ATCC, so that is something to be proud of,” Natoli said.

“Running a 2 Litre Super Tourer this year has taught me so much about driving, as running up against the more powerful V8 Supercars you have to be consistent and so smooth in order to achieve strong results.

“Although there were a few forgettable rounds over the year, there were a few highlights, as getting on to the podium for three rounds and winning a few races outright were massive achievements, especially up against all of those V8 Supercars.”

A lack of grip due to a lack of tyre selection for the Ford Mondeo hampered a better result for Natoli in the ninth and final round of the ATCC on Oran Park Raceway (NSW) at the weekend where he finished 10 th outright and third in the ‘Super Tourer’ class.

“I battled with a lack of grip; it was kind of like running on ice, and it certainly prevented us from finishing the year on a bright note,” added Natoli.

Also on the weekend Natoli made a cameo appearance driving his Proton Satria GTI in the Production Touring Car and this saw the 2005 Australian Production Car Champion (Class C) finish third in Class C.

“I have never previously run two cars on the same weekend, so it was definitely tiring for me, but enjoyable at the same, as it kept me on my toes,” Natoli commented.

Natoli would like to say a big thanks to Rod Dale and his Mumbo Racing team for all their efforts over the weekend, along with his 2007 sponsors:

The Gulf Western Racing team of Peter Vicary and James Henderson made their return to racing last weekend (November 24 and 25) at Oran Park Raceway (Narellan NSW) for the final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) and it resulted in Henderson taking out his very first race victory.

Although it was a premature end to the weekend for Vicary, driving his # 5 Gulf Western Oil AU Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, who was sidelined after breaking a short axle during the second race, for Henderson, steering the # 74 Gulf Western Oil EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, it was a great weekend as he finished second and first in both race two and three, and an eight place finish in the opening race, which gave him third place overall for the round.

For Henderson he was absolutely thrilled to record his maiden race victory in the third race, and it was made even more special with Oran Park Raceway being his home circuit, as it allowed many of his family and friends to witness his success.

“It had been over five months since either Peter [Vicary] or I have competed, and to come out record my very first victory is something really special,” Henderson expressed.

“That is the beauty of the ATCC handicapped race format, as it allows a driver like myself to come out and be able to win races, and for me to be in the winners circle in only my fourth ever race meeting is a remarkable result.”

Henderson continued on by saying a big thanks to Vicary for allowing him to drive one of his V8 Supercars, and this victory has now given him plenty of confidence to continue competing next year.

“Being able to win has certainly boosted my confidence levels for next year, as now I have done it once, I want to be able to do it more often,” he added.

“I cannot thank Peter [Vicary] and the entire Gulf Western Racing team enough, as they have given me an opportunity to fulfill a dream of mine to race a V8 Supercar, as the assistance and encouragement is fabulous.”

The weekend for Vicary was not the best, but he was very happy to return to the driver’s seat again. Vicary started the weekend strongly by recording the eighth fastest lap time in practice, and then struggled in qualifying by ending up 14 th. Vicary finished race one and two in 11 th and 12 th place respectively, but due to the short axle damage, he failed to start the third and final race of the weekend.

“I didn’t have the best of runs for my return, but I was happy to get back behind the wheel and turn some laps,” he admitted.

“It was just a shame that I couldn’t finish off the weekend with a solid result,” concluded Vicary.

InterAction Motorsport is a new team for 2008, and will be unveiling their two new cars at Oran Park, Saturday 24 November. The team are proud supporters of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and will be raising awareness and money for the charity at the event.

The team invites everyone to come along, support the AMRS, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and to see the two new racecars, and have your photo taken with the team or in one of the new cars. The wildest lady dressed in pink will win a hotlap in one of the new racecars, and there will be daily giveaways to spectators dressed in pink to show their support.

The 9th and final round of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series heads to Sydney's Oran Park 24-25 November. Catch all the Qualifying action Sat 24th, and all the racing Sun 25th.

It was mission accomplished for Darren Saillard and the Saillard Racing team after his third place finish in the eighth and penultimate round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge at Wakefield Park Raceway has only consolidated his lead in the series point standings.

After dominating both practice and qualifying sessions, Saillard found the going a little tougher over the three races when he finished second in race one, and fourth and fifth respectively in both handicapped format race two and three. Saillard managed to spin the car out in the third race and this saw him finish further down the order that he would have liked in what was the only bleak part from the weekend.

Battling lack of grip throughout the weekend aboard his # 25 Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products / Abels Smash Repairs supported EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, Saillard was pleased to achieve yet another podium result.

“Our aim heading into the weekend was to maintain, if not build on, our lead in the series point standings and our podium result has certainly seen us achieve that goal,” Saillard mentioned.

“It was very difficult with our lack of grip, but we managed to come away from the weekend with such a solid result, as the car was very quick in the tight sections, it was just [Scott] Loadsman got away from us down the main straight.”

With the series lead in his grasp, Saillard simply cannot wait to return to Oran Park Raceway, for the first occasion in well over 10 years, for the ninth and final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge on the weekend of November 24 – 25.

Saillard in 2007 is proudly supported by Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products, Abels Smash Repairs, ACT Diff Doctor, and Larrikin Enterprises.

The AMRS Endurance Championship has been officially announced, and will take place at Goulburn's Wakefield Park, 27-28 October.

The event will be a gruelling 300km around the technical Wakefield Park circuit, and will feature cars from a variety of AMRS categories, including:

Each car will have at least one driver change during the event, and may be driven by up to three drivers over the course of the 300km. Subclasses within the event will be established for cars based on the refuelling method used, with classes for timed fuel stops (where cars must pit for a fixed period of time) and classes for churned fuel stops (where cars pit for as long as it takes to fuel the car).

Further details will be announced soon. To find out now if your car is eligible, contact the AMRS: rod@amrs.net.au or garry@amrs.net.au

With thanks to AMRS supporter, Brenton Bachelor, we bring you this video of the first corner incident from Race One at Winton Raceway. Darren Formosa's car was unfortunately badly damaged in this incident, and the AMRS team wish him the best in repairing the car to race-ready condition.

It was certainly a tough round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) for Darren Saillard and his Saillard Racing team during the sixth round at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, VIC) over the weekend, but they managed to battle through and snare a comprehensive victory in the third and final race.

Between rounds, the Saillard Racing team’s EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar underwent an engine freshen up, but a delays of vital engine parts, saw them destined to miss the round and surrender their lead in the ATCC Championship. But like he did earlier in the year, ATCC director Garry Willmington came to the rescue with the loan of vital engine parts and with the help of Kim Baker Engines they were able to take part in the weekend.

Arriving at Winton Motor Raceway late on Friday night, Saillard was out on the circuit on Saturday morning where he was fourth in official practice, but later that day things took another turn for the worse when after only three laps of qualifying he suffered differential failure. Despite only three laps, Saillard still managed fifth fastest in the field. The Saillard Racing team worked late into the night to repair the damage, which include trips to Albury and Melbourne in order to source the necessary parts.

With the repairs done, Saillard was able to take to the grid for the opening race on Sunday morning. Lady luck continued to frown down on Saillard when he was the innocent victim in an opening corner crash that caused substantial damage to the front end of his car. Despite the considerable damage, Saillard was able to take part in the restart of the race and fought on to finish in a commendable fourth place.

Still battling the affects of the race one damage, Saillard finished ninth in the second race (handicap format). In-between race two and three the Saillard Racing team continued running repairs on the car, which included aligning the front end the best they could and also repair the front spoiler. Saillard received plenty of support from his fellow rivals who pitched in to lend a hand by offering help and the use of parts.

All the hard efforts of the Saillard Racing team was made worthwhile when Saillard romped to victory lane in the third and final race (handicapped format), which capped off what can only be described as a rollercoaster ride of a weekend.

“I cannot thank everyone enough for all their support, because without them I wouldn’t have been able to get through the weekend, and this is just another reason why I really enjoy racing within the Australian Touring Car Challenge,” Saillard expressed.

“To finish with a win in the third and final race was certainly a great way to finish a tough weekend, and it’s also wonderful for the entire Saillard Racing team and all our other supporters, as they all certainly worked hard.”

Despite an up and down weekend, Saillard still remains in the lead of the ATCC championship point standings, although fellow V8 Supercar rival John Vergotis has been able to join Saillard in the lead as the pair are now equal on points.

Saillard’s next event is the seventh round of the ATCC on the weekend of September 29 – 30 at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne Victoria.

For Daniel Natoli the sixth round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge at Winton Motor Raceway last weekend (August 25 – 26) brought some good fortune, and it resulted in him recording his third podium finish of the year.

After having his ATCC championship podium hopes taken away from him due to suffering an oil pump failure at Wakefield Park Raceway during the fifth and previous round, Natoli was keen to make amends and attempt to reclaim some much needed championship points after he was unable to contest the last round.

Natoli qualified the Mumbo Racing prepared and owned Ford Mondeo Super Tourer in eighth spot, also the highest amongst the Super Tourer class, and in the opening race improved on his qualifying position to finish in sixth spot. The second race, handicapped format, saw Natoli continue his solid weekend where he finished just of the podium with a fourth place. Disaster struck Natoli at the start of the third and final race after he suffered a flat tyre and a broken power steering belt, which all but ruined his chances of a podium result.

“I was really surprised to finish on the podium especially after not being able to finish the third race, but due to the amount of accidents during a few of the races and red flag periods I was able to sneak onto the podium,” explained the former Australian Production Car Champion.

“Over the past two rounds I have been hindered by some bad luck, so it was good to have some [good luck] come my way for a change, and end up on the podium, and you take them [podium finishes] anyway you can get them especially being a 2 litre car against those 5 litre V8’s.”

The weekend for Natoli ended on a bright note when he took part in the fourth race for the Super TT category and managed to come away with an outright victory and fastest lap despite a 45 second handicap.

Although a podium result in the overall ATCC championship point standings seemed out of reach after the last round, Natoli’s weekend result has brought him back into contention.

The seventh round of the ATCC will be fought out at Calder Park Raceway in Victoria on September 29 – 30.

Natoli would like to say a big thanks to Rod Dale and his Mumbo Racing team for all their efforts over the weekend, along with his 2007 sponsors:

South Australian hotshot, Tom Drewer is set to join the Australian Motor Racing Series V8 Giants ranks at Winton at the end of August.

Drewer is the winner of numerous SA state Go Karting titles, the 2002 FVee Rookie of the Year, and runner up in the 2002 FVee championship, the 2003 Peter Wright Memorial driver of the year, 2004 Saloon Car rookie of the year, 9 th in the 2005 Australian Saloon Car Championship, winner of the 2006 Thunder Sports 1400cc Prototype class, and currently leading the 2007 Thunder Sports championship outright.

He is best known in the AMRS for his dominating performances in the Thunder Sports category at the wheel of the WEST D prototype car, where he regularly carves his way through the field after a handicap start.

Drewer will drive Garry Willmington’s AU Falcon V8 Giant, and has said he is “really looking forward to driving the 630hp V8 Giant”.

To see Drewer in action, head to Winton 25 - 26 th August, 2007. For all the latest news and information on the V8 Giants category, and the AMRS in general, visit the official website: www.amrs.net.au

Since January 2007, the Australian Motor Racing Series website has had over 4 million hits. 226,000 pages on the AMRS site have been viewed in that period. Over 40 gigabytes of data have been downloaded from the site in that time.

There is a new and improved look planned for the site in the near future, but the thing that keeps visitors coming back is content. And largely, www.amrs.net.au relies on you for that content.

Results, championship standings, event details and entry forms are taken care of internally, we upload photos when they are available, but with just under 200 competitors having taken part in the AMRS so far in 2007, it is simply not possible for www.amrs.net.au to write stories on each and every competitor.

For the competitors, it means that we're relying on you to provide press releases or content you would like included on the site. To get your message across to the plentiful visitors to the site, you need to supply information and photos to the site - you have the opportunity to get additional exposure for your sponsors, and potentially catch the eye of new sponsors who might be visiting the site.

For the fans, if you have a story you'd like to share about your experience at an Australian Motor Racing Series round, send it in, and we'll include suitable stories on the site. If you have photos you'd like to see on the site, send them too, and if you have your own online photo album you'd like us to link to we can add it to the links page.

For everyone, if you have suggestions for the site, or something new you would like to see included, send it through. Now is the time for innovations to be incorporated into the next generation of www.amrs.net.au

To all those competitors who have been supplying content for the site, we thank you, and look forward to receiving more. To those planning to submit more content to the site, thank you.

Wakefield Park one of the coldest tracks around so far! What a new experience for Team Sasazat Racing (TSR) without their Team Manager, Brian Hamilton due to illness but always in the teams thoughts. Icy conditions, strong winds and lots of sharp turns TSR thought it had arrived to go snow skiing not motor racing!

With practice day being Southgate's first attempt at Wakefield, he decided to give it his best shot. Unfortunately, going out too hard too quick, over cooking several corners and compression breaking caused a diff failure. This along with a replacement shifter that kept sticking (replaced after Willowbank damage) did not make a smooth start or help to calm the driver’s excitement.

“Although mechanical failure was a set back, it was still a fantastic learning curve for the weekend” Southgate said, “I was especially thankful to all those people in pit lane who went out of their way and took the time to try and assist in sourcing parts to help repair the green monster, unfortunately we were unable to get the correct parts and ended up competing with one axle”.

“The support of the other drivers was overwhelming, it was unlike other experiences I have had in Motorsport where unfortunate accidents or failures see other competitors saying thank god that’s one less to compete against” Southgate said “A very special thankyou to Judy and everyone else that she called upon to assist in getting TSR back on the grid”.

Qualifying saw Southgate go through two axles, TSR pit crew quickly repaired the damage only to learn that damage had also occurred to the diff centre leaving Southgate with left rear drive only.

Nursing the VS Commodore Future Tourer off the grid on race day, Southgate had to learn to be smooth and gentle. His patience paid off giving him 3 completed races and consistent times throughout the day. Unbelievably managing to stay out of all the carnage and out of harms way was a bonus for the weekend considering some of the other drivers were less fortunate.

Southgate said “With the damage done, I could have either given the race away for the weekend or stay out there for my sponsors. I chose to battle on to show my appreciation to my sponsors and supporters with the added bonus of getting some points for finishing each race.”

Overall it was another great round and weekend had by all TSR crew. We are looking forward to the next round at Winton, where we are hoping it will be at least half a degree warmer than Wakefield.

The comment for the weekend went to Race Engineer Mark Papendell “You should race with one axle more often, it was your fastest lap time for the day!”

TSR’s merchandise will be changing for the next round to suit the cooler weather.

A big “Get Well Soon” goes out to Judy who will be off deck for the next couple of rounds. We will miss you and be thinking of you.

Despite not having the best of weekend’s (July 14 – 15) during the fifth round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway, Darren Saillard has still managed to maintain his lead in championship point standings.

Saillard still managed a fifth place finish overall and third in the V8 Supercar class, the Hayters Timber and Sawmill Products / Abels Smash Repairs supported EL Ford Falcon driver was left with a number of battle scars from the weekend’s action.

After suffering from mechanical woes in qualifying that limited his track time, Saillard managed to register second position on the grid for race one with a last ditch effort in the session. Saillard finished the opening race (scratch race over 6 laps) started and finished in second place behind Scott Loadsman. In race two and three, held under the handicapped format, Saillard worked his way through the field in race two from the rear of the grid to finish in sixth after suffering damage to the front end of his car in the latter half of the race due to contact with a rival.

Due to the damage to the front end damage sustained in the second, the Saillard went about fixing it [the damage] the best they could, but due to the severity of it was unable to be fully repaired. Once again starting from the back of the grid in the third and final race, Saillard battled against the odds and recorded a ninth place finish with a car that was quite a handful to drive due to the affects of the race two damage.

“It was a disappointing weekend for me as my car has sustained quite a bit of front end damage due to the contact in race two, but on the positive sides of things I was able to hold onto my Championship lead,” Salliard commented.

“We had some early problems in the weekend and after qualifying and race one all was on track for another podium result for the round, and during the second race things turned pear shaped for us.”

Round six of the ATCC will see a return to Winton Motor Raceway ( Benalla, Victoria) on the weekend of August 25 - 26.

Darren Saillard may be the front-running contender in the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) but at round five of the series this weekend (July 14-15); all focus will be on extending that lead further when he takes to his home circuit of Wakefield Park Raceway in Goulburn NSW.

Back behind the wheel of the #25 Hayters Timber and Sawmill / Abels Smash Repairs supported EL Falcon V8 Supercar; Saillard sits on top of the ATCC driver point’s ladder and first in the V8 Supercar class after a consistent run of success including two podiums and a win during the first half of the year.

Having run the Garry Willmington-owned AU Falcon at Queensland Raceway last month in a one-off arrangement (due to problems whilst travelling up to QLD Raceway with his own transport), Saillard still leads the competitive series despite finishing fifth overall. But with the added benefit of racing local, the lack of travelling long distance will leave more time to focus on improving on that result this weekend.

A fast 2.2km circuit known for its tight corners and fast horsepower straight, Saillard is confident that gains made to his own racecar between now and when he contested the Wakefield Park season-opener will yield the successful results he aims for at this latest round of the ATCC.

“We’re looking forward to racing back at our home track and not having to spend so much time on the road getting there!” said an upbeat Saillard.

“This is the first year I’ve raced the EL Ford Falcon so even though we’ve had relatively good results so far, we’ve been slowly working away at getting the set-up spot on.

“It was really strong out of the box at Wakefield Park last time when we got onto the podium and it never missed a beat so with the positive changes we’ve made, the tweaking will hopefully get us the win this time around.

“The few months since we last competed here have given us the chance to really work on fine tuning the car, going over every aspect of it’s handling and suspension, just to make sure that not only do we stay ahead of the field in the points but move further ahead as well.”

Saillard, who resides in Queanbeyan - ACT, is very much looking forward to returning to his home circuit, but this time, he wants to leave a round winner.

Philip Groeneveld is confident of backing up his recent podium success while aiming for more strong results at round five of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) this weekend (July 15-16) when the Australian Motor Racing Series heads to Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway.

Having already claimed a round of the series this year, Groeneveld comes off another solid last round result at Queensland Raceway where his VS Holden Commodore Future Tourer placed third overall and claimed a win in race two. With a consistency proving vital in maintaining a strong championship assault, the South Coast based driver is hoping this weekend will be a change in fortune at the 2.2km Goulburn circuit that has yielded less than spectacular results in the past.

“ Wakefield Park hasn’t given us the most promising results when we’ve competed there before,” admitted Groeneveld,

“So hopefully with the strong run we’ve had this year, we’ll be able to turn that around and bag another podium. The package we currently have is strong enough to qualify well and that should give us a leg up through all the races.”

“It’ll be an interesting weekend because the circuit is a mix of tight corners and the fast straight sections so it can be a bit of a handful to set the car up right. Even though the high powered cars are mostly up the front, the handicapping system no doubt will help us get an edge over my more powerful competitors.”

Currently sitting third in the ATCC championship, Groeneveld will be aiming to consolidate series points and protect his current podium standing heading into the remainder of the season.

“That’s the goal, to stay inside the top five at every round and maintain our championship position,” Groeneveld added.

“Our aim for the year was to be on the series podium at the end of the year and as long as we can get through unscathed, we’ve got every chance to achieve it.”

Southern Highlands based driver Richard Huer is confident that strong results are on the cards for his assault on the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) this weekend (July 14 - 15) as round five of the Australian Motor Racing Series heads into Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway.

In only his first year of competition in the newly formed V8 Giants class, Huer is banking on his previous success at the 2.2km country NSW circuit to bring on a championship turnaround. Having competed there on numerous occasions during his 10 years behind the wheel of a 3.3 Litre Holden Kingswood, the added advantage of racing at a familiar circuit is sure to pay dividends.

Spending the first half of the year coming to grips with the transition into his Advanced Refrigeration supported #40 V8 powered Mitsubishi Magna, Huer now heads into the latest round confident of taking his on-track skill into the top half of the field to dice with the series leaders.

“I’m looking forward to racing at Wakefield Park because it’s a track I know really well,” said an enthused Huer.

“For most of the year I’ve been learning the tracks as well as the handling of the car. But knowing the tricks of getting a good lap around here will take away the burden of having to learn something extra and let me concentrate on working through the field.

“I’ve been slowly coming to grips with the car and finding its limits but we’ve got a good package now and just look forward to race day. The circuit can be a bit of a handful with the tight corners and the fast straight and the key is qualifying up the front. A lot of fast cars will be able to do that more so than us but once the handicapping rules kick in for the last two races, we are confident of competitively racing in the top five by the end of the weekend.”

With Queensland Raceway being his home track, Future Tourer rookie Stephen Southgate was under pressure for a good performance. With the sponsors trackside to watch, Southgate achieved better than expected results in Race One and Two. Racing his Commodore Future Tourer, unexpected mechanical problems in the 3rd race saw Southgate have his first DNF in three meetings.

“It can happen to anyone!” was Southgate’s response after his initial disappointment.

In Southgate's debut year as a driver in motor racing, to be in the top ten outright in the championship is an achievement his sponsors are proud of. With more experience, improvement and continued consistency he is definitely going to be in contention for a spot in the top five at the end of the season.

Southgate believes his continued improvement couldn’t have been achieved without the continued support from his sponsors: Mack Trucks Australia, LSM Technologies, City to Surf Auto Refinishers, STS Applied Systems, his pit crew, family and friends, Brian Hamilton (TSR Manager) and of course the trackside guidance and experience his mechanical engineer Mark Pappendel.

“I lead a very busy life running Sasazat Contracting Australia and STS Applied Systems QLD, without their (my sponsors and crew) continued support and encouragement I would not be where I am at the moment on the ladder.”

Special thanks, goes to City to Surf auto refinishers for the short notice colour change to the car.

The team also welcomes new sponsors Advanced Hair and Lenard’s Mt Ommaney (best fresh chicken).

“Thanks to the AMRS for such an awesome series, and to the drivers for being so friendly and helpful in pit lane” Southgate said, “TSR always has a great weekend packed full of action and fun. Being involved in the series has been a fantastic decision by the whole team and I am glad to be a part of it.”

“Taking my VS Commodore from green to green and orange has made Zues (TSR Rottweiler Mascot) on the bonnet stand out more which had kids coming to have a look at the car too, making for a more family orientated atmosphere, what better way to entice the younger generation.” Southgate commented.

Southgate's next appearance in the VS Commodore Future Tourer will be at Wakefield Park, in Goulburn, 14-15 July.

The Gulf Western Racing / V8 Race Car Hot Laps team of Peter Vicary and James Henderson put in a solid performance at Queensland Raceway ( Ipswich, Queensland) last weekend (June 16 – 17) in the fourth round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC).

So far this year lady luck hasn’t been on Vicary’s side, but at Queensland Raceway things took a turn for the better, whilst Henderson continued to impress in only his second ever appearance in a V8 Supercar.

“I haven’t had the best of luck this year, but fortunately that seems to have ended and we can now begin to post some strong results for the remainder of the championship,” a content Vicary said, who drives the # 5 AU Ford Falcon V8 Supercar.

“My run at Queensland Raceway has definitely lifted my confidence levels, and now with the niggling problems of my AU Ford Falcon in the past, hopefully results will start to flow.”

Not having raced at the Queensland Raceway circuit previously, Vicary qualified 13 th and finished opening race in the same position. Under the handicapped format, a spectacular dice with eventual race winner Philip Groeneveld and team-mate Henderson saw Vicary finished in second place. In the final race, after yet another handicapped start and an impressive run, Vicary managed to score victory, but due to breaking out of his nominated time, he was docked with a 30 second penalty and ended up with a 13 th place finish.

“It’s disappointing to be stripped of my race three victory, but the rules say you cannot break out of your nominated time by more than two per cent and I did that and suffered the consequences,” Vicary commented.

“Visiting a new circuit is a tough deal, in regards to breaking out of your time, and as you build confidence and become more familiar with the circuit your lap times improve, and that’s what makes it so hard to gauge [your nominated lap time], as I found out.”

For Gulf Western Racing / V8 Race Car Hot Laps team-mate, Henderson, it was also the first time at Queensland Raceway. In fact, round four was only Henderson’s second ever race meeting and he put in a very impressive display.

Driving the # 74 EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, Henderson qualified seventh and despite suffering a spin in race one, he managed to finish in ninth place. In race two, the rookie driver kept up pace with his team-mate Vicary and race winner Groeneveld to finish in third place. Henderson capped off the weekend with a sixth place finish in the third and final race, which gave him a sixth place finish for the round overall.

“I’m very happy with how the weekend panned out, as I managed to bring the car back unscathed and finished all thee races with respectable results,” a very pleased Henderson said.

“There is still so much to learn, but my progression has been very encouraging and I’m very much looking forward to contesting the next round, and I hope to continue building on my performances in my first two rounds.”

The Gulf Western Racing / V8 Race Car Hot Laps team will next compete in the fifth round of the ATCC which will be at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) on July 14 – 15.

For further information about the Gulf Western Racing / V8 Race Car Hot Laps Racing team visit their official websites: www.gulfwestern.com.au or www.v8racecarhotlaps.com.au

After a successful weekend (June 16 - 17), former Australian Production Car Champion (class C) Daniel Natoli has managed to score his second podium result of the year by finishing second outright in the fourth round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) held at his home of circuit Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, Queensland).

Following an impressive showing and taking third and fourth place respectively in both rounds two and three, such positive results in round four has allowed Natoli to move up in the championship ladder, where the Brisbane based driver is now ranked in sixth place.

These results have proven that Natoli is a genuine threat for a podium finish outright for the 2007 ATCC championship, and the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer is really starting to hit its straps.

“The aim for this year was a top three finish in the championship and I feel that is not beyond us, despite scoring no points in the opening round, and this weekend just gone was another indication how consistent we can be,” Natoli said.

“It’s tough out there [on the circuit] being the only Super Tourer out there, especially up against all my V8 powered rivals, but I’m proving that consistency can sometimes come out the winner in the end.”

Earlier in the weekend, Natoli qualified tenth passing three other drivers on the way to finishing the opening race in seventh. In his second race, under the handicapped format, Natoli finished seventh and in race three, once again under the handicapped format, he missed out on victory by a car length to end up finishing second.

“The car didn’t miss a beat all weekend long, and that is a testament to the Mumbo Racing team and their development of the Ford Mondeo, and are putting together a string of strong performances in recent rounds,” Natoli mentioned.

“We know we aren’t the fastest car out there, naturally, but we are plugging away and making every position [on the circuit] count, and as we have proven on three of the four rounds this year we are more than a capable front runner in the championship.”

Natoli’s next event will be the fifth round of the ATCC that is to be held on July 14 – 15 at Wakefield Park Raceway (Goulburn, NSW).

Natoli would like to say a big thanks to Rod Dale and his Mumbo Racing team for all their efforts over the weekend, along with his 2007 sponsors:

It was a weekend of much adversity for Darren Saillard, he managed to reach Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, Queensland) to compete in the fourth round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) last weekend (June 16 and 17) and claim valuable points towards his championship lead.

After two attempts to reach the Queensland Raceway circuit from his home of Canberra in the ACT, due to two separate road incidents, Saillard looked to miss the fourth round and perhaps damage his chances of championship victory. However, thanks to a huge act of generosity from fellow racer and ATCC director, Garry Willmington, Saillard was able to compete in Willmington’s AU Ford Falcon V8 Giant in the V8 Giants class of the ATCC after his normal car was unable to make the trip.

“I certainly never thought after the two incidents on the road that I would make it up to Queensland Raceway and I thought there and then that my championship hopes were dashed,” confessed Saillard

“It goes without saying that without the support of Garry [Willmington] and his team I wouldn’t have been able to race, and their generosity is well beyond the call of duty, and for that I cannot thank everyone enough for what has been an amazing weekend on so many different levels.”

Running in an unfamiliar car on a track he has never previously been on, Saillard still managed to adapt quickly to his new surrounds by qualifying second and subsequently dominate the opening race of the weekend. In the two handicapped races, Saillard found the going a little tough and after suffering the loss of clutch in race two where he struggled off the start line to eventually finish in tenth place, and in the third race he managed to finish in a strong third place, only for the race officials to deem that he had passed under a yellow flag and therefore was given a 15 second penalty which put him back to ninth place. Overall for the round, Saillard finished in seventh spot, but it most certainly could have been a lot higher had it not been for his unlucky race two and three results.

“Despite being disappointed with the end result to the weekend, I can’t really be complaining too much, as if all truth I really shouldn’t have been at this round,” Saillard said.

“The AU Ford Falcon V8 Giant was an awesome car to drive, and it didn’t take too long to come to grips with it, and there was plenty of progress throughout the weekend, and I’m very pleased with how we came through the weekend and scored some valuable points towards the championship.”

Although his point’s gap has been narrowed, Saillard maintains his lead in the ATCC Championship.

The fifth round of the ATCC will be held at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway on July 14 – 15.

Saillard is proudly sponsored in 2007 by Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products and Abel’s Smash Repairs.

Queensland Raceway with its long straights has always favoured the V8 powered cars in the Touring Car Challenge, and this trend has continued in qualifying for Round 4 of the 2007 Championship.

John Vergotis proved the class of the field, driving his AU Falcon V8 Supercar into pole position, with a 1m15.0s lap, surpassing the pole time from last year by 3 tenths of a second (and beating his own previous personal best by a whopping one and a half seconds!). Lining up next to Vergotis will be Darren Saillard, who suffered some terrible luck on the trip to Queensland - his tow rig was involved in a accident, and whilst his EL Falcon V8 Supercar was not damaged, he was left with no way to get the car to Queensland. Garry Willmington came to the rescue though, handing the keys to his AU Falcon V8 Giant to Saillard, to allow him to continue his quest for the championship (which he currently leads). Saillard set a time just 2 tenths behind Vergotis. Next up is Scott Loadsman, in a Holden V8 Supercar, and next to him is Darren Formosa in his VX Commodore V8 Supercar. Amin Chahda proved quickest of the Future Tourers putting his BA Falcon in 6th, after Philip Groeneveld set the early pace. Top of the Super Tourer pile is Daniel Natoli, qualifying 10th outright.

With a quality field, and quality weather forecast for Sunday, the Touring Car Challenge is sure to provide plenty of action packed racing. The first race gets underway at 8.30am, with the second race around 10.15am, and the finale at 2.15pm. Get yourself to Queensland Raceway, just outside Ipswich to catch all the action.

Darren Saillard is all set for the fourth round of the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) at Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, QLD) this weekend (June 16 and 17) and the main aim is to consolidate his lead in the championship point standings.

Driving his EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, Saillard will make his debut on the Queensland circuit. It is considered to be one of the fastest circuits in Australia, Saillard considers this round’s result as indicative of his outright speed.

“This weekend is going to really give me a gauge of our outright pace as Queensland Raceway is pretty much all about speed,” Saillard indicated.

“Once again, this is a new circuit for me, and I’ll be trying to get as many laps of the circuit as possible in order to dial the car in and hopefully build on what we hope will be a good weekend for our team.”

Despite the fact he is yet to compete at Queensland Raceway circuit, Saillard feels rather optimistic about the prospects of continuing his podium run.

“So far this year we have managed to score podium results at all rounds, and there is no reason why that cannot continue,” he said.

“The whole aim for the weekend is to consolidate our lead in the championship, and if we can do that by scoring a podium, then that would be great.”

There is a saying in motorsport, that you are only as good as you last race, well, if that is the case then Saillard is looking good as he managed a second place finish overall in the third round of the ATCC at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria last month. .

Saillard is proudly sponsored in 2007 by Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products and Abel’s Smash Repairs.

2005 Australian Touring Car Challenge champion, Garry Willmington, is set to return to the highly competitive field, this time in the category he helped to create - V8 Giants.

Willmington's latest acquisition, an AU Falcon V8 Giant, powered by a 5-litre pushrod V8 and weighing in at 1300kg, has been piloted previously by young guns Brad Lowe and George Miedecke. Lowe took outright honours in the car at Round One, and Miedecke performed extremely well, in his first outing in such a high-calibre machine. And now Garry has decided to take the wheel himself. Despite having tested the car, Willmington is yet to race it, and Round 4 of the Australian Touring Car Challenge will be his first race for over 12 months, his last outing was in the ATCC in an older model EL Falcon for Round One of the 2006 Championship.

The inclusion of Willmington comes as the V8 Giants category is starting to take off, with its biggest field yet set to take the grid at Queensland Raceway. Willmington will be joined by the EL Falcon of Shelton Loughrey, the V8-powered Mitsubishi Magna of Richard Huer, plus the 4.6 litre Ford Mustang Cobra R vacated by Sam Dale (now on overseas duties) set to be taken over by former Super Touring competitor Neil Byers. There are also a couple of Holden V8 Giants set to join the bulging fields - the details of these cars will be announced in the coming weeks.

There are also some very exciting cars being built for the category, with the names BMW and Monaro being whispered around the paddock. Stay tuned for more news on these cars.

Round Four of the Australian Motor Racing Series heads to Queensland Raceway 16-17 June. The V8 Giants and Touring Car Challenge will be joined by a diverse range of other categories - head to the official AMRS website for all the info: www.amrs.net.au

The climb of Daniel Natoli in the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) championship continued last weekend (April 28 – 29) at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, VIC) when he once again claimed top honours in the Super Tourers class and just missed out on an outright podium result after finishing fourth in the third round running of proceedings.

At the completion of the third round, Natoli is now sitting seventh in the overall ATCC championship point standings and is on track to move towards his goal for 2007, a top three result, and feels that consistency is going to play a big part in achieving that success.

“My fourth place finish at Winton Motor Raceway proved how important being consistent is, and that is my motto for the whole year, and so far, despite the problems in the opening round, everything is going to plan,” said an upbeat Natoli.

“The aim is to finish all our races, and over the weekend we did just that, and ended up fourth overall, and the speed we showed in both race one and two in the wet weather conditions was very strong, and the third race I feel the handicapping was far too great for my speed, but you have to take the good with the bad.”

In his third appearance in the Mumbo Racing owned and prepared Ford Mondeo Super Tourer, Natoli made his first visit to the 3km Winton Motor Raceway circuit since the Lotus Trophy Series of 2004 and with prior circuit knowledge there was no need to learn the circuit, but dial the car in. After qualifying in eighth place, Natoli showed strong form in both race one and two under the wet weather conditions by finishing fourth and third, and he finished off the weekend with a ninth place finish in the third and final race which was held in dry conditions.

The fourth round of the ATCC is something Natoli is looking forward to considering that is to be held at his home circuit of Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, QLD) on June 16 – 17 where he is hoping to repeat last year’s ATCC round performance which saw him score victory in race two on the way to a third place finish for the round.

Natoli would like to say a big thanks to Rod Dale and his Mumbo Racing team for all their efforts over the weekend, along with his 2007 sponsors: Oz Motor Transport, Lewis Fire Protection, Empire Trade Exchange, Richo’s Car Carrying, Ceilite, www.ozmotorsport.com.au, Coast Wide Online Printing, Ignition Magazine, and Kumho Tyres.

Darren Saillard put in another solid performance during round three of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, VIC) last weekend (April 28 – 29) and has managed to maintain his championship lead in the process.

After an eventful weekend with some early setbacks, Saillard drove his Hayters Sawmill & Timber Products / Abels Smash Repairs supported EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar to a podium finish and hold onto his current lead in the ATCC championship.

Saillard and his team were happy with the results of the weekend, especially as it was Saillard’s first time around Winton.

“The weekend started off with a few problems and it took us a while to get the car setup for the Winton circuit, but I’m really pleased with the outcome and the fact that I’m still leading the championship, which was our main aim for the weekend,” said Saillard.

Saillard qualified in third position for the opening race of the weekend despite limited circuit time due to ignition problems early on.

Making the most of his grid position in the opening race, which was in wet weather conditions and therefore required the use of wet weather tyres, Saillard paced the field until a mistake in the closing stages saw him run off the track and finish in second position.

Rain came down just in time for the handicap second race and Saillard, starting from the rear of the grid, drove extremely well on slick tyres in wet conditions to work his way up to sixth place and he would have finished a lot higher had it not been for two off circuit excursions.

“The second race was really tough because it was only my second time racing in the wet, but my Speedway experience defiantly came in real handy in the slippery conditions” Saillard commented.

The rain cleared and the track dried out for the third and final ATCC race of the weekend, and Saillard stormed through the field from the rear of the grid to finish in second place.

After an eventful weekend in all three races, Saillard finished in a hard fought third place overall for the round, allowing him to maintain his current lead in the ATCC championship.

Saillard will be racing next at Queensland Raceway ( Ipswich, QLD) on June 16 - 17 for the fourth round of the ATCC, where he will be hoping to improve on his current championship lead.

After being part of the V8 Race Car Hot Laps ride days for the past year, rookie James Henderson was able to get behind the wheel of a V8 Supercar in real competition when he last weekend (April 28 – 29) at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, VIC) drove the Peter Vicary owned EL Falcon in the latest round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC).

As the weekend progressed Henderson built up not only speed but confidence and managed to finish the third and final race in a credible sixth place, which capped off a dream come true experience.

“I cannot begin to explain how much of a thrill driving a V8 Supercar in competition is, as words just cannot express it,” expressed Henderson.

“The most daunting part of the whole weekend was waiting to go out onto the grid, as there is juts so many emotions going through you, ones of excitements, and ones of the fear of the unknown once you get out there onto the circuit.”

Henderson qualified in tenth position for the opening race, where he finished in 13 th place after breaking an axle at the start and completed the entire race on only one axle. The Gulf Western Oil / V8 Race Car Hot Laps supported team replaced the broken axle in time for the second race where he finished in 11 th place. The highlight of the weekend for Henderson was his sixth place finish in race three, despite having a tyre blow out on the last lap, after he had held down the race lead in the opening stages.

Gearbox failure in qualifying on Saturday afternoon saw Peter Vicary unable to complete the remainder of the weekend in his # 5 AU Falcon V8 Supercar.

Both Henderson and Vicary looking forward to the fourth round of the ATCC that is going to be played out at Queensland Raceway (Ipswich, QLD) on the weekend of June 16 – 17.

Meanwhile, Henderson and Vicary are going to be part of the next V8 Race Car Hot Laps ride day at Oran Park Raceway (Narellan, NSW) on Sunday, May 27.

To find out more about Henderson and Vicary visit the official V8 Race Car Hot Laps website: www.v8racecarhotllaps.com.au

For Darren Formosa, round three of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla, VIC) last weekend (April 28-29) was a difficult outing with a happy ending.

After some major setbacks leading up to the event, Formosa drove the Powerplus98+ Fuel supported and owned VX Holden Commodore V8 Supercar strongly on Sunday to claim a top ten finish.

Considering the eventful start to the weekend, Formosa was very happy with the outcome.

“We lost a whole day of practice before the meeting and did some major damage to the car on Saturday, but I’m more than happy with where I finished up for the round” said Formosa.

The team’s scheduled test session on Thursday before the meeting had to be abandoned due to electrical failure in the car, causing Formosa to lose a lot of important familiarisation and circuit time.

Formosa overcame this setback in Friday practice, finishing first in the session on Saturday morning and topped the time sheets by more than a second.

Unfortunately, an off on the first lap of qualifying on Saturday caused extensive damage to the undercarriage of the PowerPlus98+ car and as a result, Darren missed the rest of the session. After the PowerPlus98+ Fuels team worked late into the night to repair the car, Formosa started from the rear of the grid, in the first race on Sunday and drove well to finish in sixth place despite electrical problems robbing the car of considerable horsepower.

By the time the handicapped second race began it was raining heavily and Formosa, who was bravely racing on the slippery track with slick tyres, reached seventh place from the rear of the grid despite giving the front runner’s a 55 seconds start.

Despite the aerodynamic and electrical problems, Formosa put in another exciting drive in the third and final race of the day, finishing in fourth position after a tight early tussle with eventual race winner Ryan McLeod.

“It was a great weekend of racing overall, finishing in sixth for the round is great considering the lead up to the event and now I’m looking forward to reaching the podium at the next round” said Formosa.

Formosa can be seen racing again at round four of the Australian Touring Car Challenge at Queensland Raceway on June 16-17.

In what was only the fourth occasion that a Future Tourer driver has scored an overall round victory in the history of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC), Amin Chahda, driving his GT BA Ford Falcon, took out proceedings at Winton Motor Raceway during the running of the third round last weekend (April 28 – 29).

It was a case of deja-vu as at the corresponding round last year it was fellow Future Tourer competitor Ray Sidebottom (VX Holden Commodore) that claimed the round honours at Winton Motor Raceway, and this year it was Chahda who took all before him by finishing seventh in race one, second and fifth in race two and three and being the highest placed Future Tourer in two out of the three races gave him enough points to claim a maiden round victory ahead of V8 Supercar rivals John Vergotis (AU Ford Falcon) and Darren Saillard (EL Ford Falcon).

The son of the 1987 Bathurst 1000 winner Peter McLeod, Ryan, made his first appearance of the year and the second ever in the ATCC. Driving a VY Holden Commodore V8 Supercar powered by a newly built Les Small engine McLeod topped the time sheets in qualifying on Saturday afternoon with a best lap of 1:27.9522 ahead of Vergotis (1:28.4221) and Saillard (1:28.5775) who completed the top three, and they were followed by Chahda and rookie ATCC driver Shane Hunt in his AU Falcon V8 Supercar in fifth. Ford Mustang V8 Giant entrant Sam Dale (sixth), Daniel Natoli (eighth) and David Gardner (Group A) were the best of their respective classes, V8 Giants – Super Tourers and Group A, in the qualifying session.

Drivers to come to grief in qualifying were Brett Hobson who suffered engine failure in the Matthew Hunt owned VS Holden Commodore V8 Supercar, AU Falcon V8 Supercar racer Peter Vicary (gearbox), whilst Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) succumbed to clutch failure in practice. After dominating practice on Saturday morning Darren Formosa (VX Holden Commodore V8 Supercar) had an off track excursion on the opening laps of qualifying and that caused extensive damage to the undercarriage of the ex Imrie Motorsport car.

McLeod was able to carry his qualifying pace in the opening race (5-laps scratch race format) and crossed the line first under wet weather conditions where the use of wet weather tyres came into play. However, McLeod’s joy was short-lived when race officials handed him a 15 second penalty for jumping the start, and that put him back to fifth place. With a Speedway background, where sideways is the norm, Darren Saillard led the field for the majority of the race, right up until the final corners when he had an off which allowed both McLeod then Vergotis through and pushed Saillard back to third. With McLeod penalised, Vergotis was handed the win ahead of Saillard and Dale, with Natoli fourth, McLeod, a rear of grid starting Formosa, Chahda, Gardner, Andrew Gillespie (XR8 AU Falcon Future Tourer), and in tenth was Philip Groeneveld (VS Holden Commodore Future Tourer).

For the start of the second race (7-laps handicapped format) the entire field had switched to slick tyres as leading up to the race the rain had abated, and the circuit had dried. Many teams wondered if they had it all wrong as the rain started to come down as the cars entered the circuit, but the rain was not heavy enough to warrant wet tyres. As the race got underway, Dale was out at the end of the first lap as his Mustangs differential broke on the startline, but it was Groeneveld that showed his rivals a clean pair of heels, after getting by early pace setter James Henderson (EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar), and he ended up defeating fellow Future Tourer rival Chahda and Natoli in second and third respectively. Gillespie placed in fourth followed by Vergotis, Saillard (who had suffered two spins), Formosa, Richard Huer (V8 Mitsubishi Magna Future Tourer), Stephen Southgate (VS Holden Commodore Future Tourer) and Hunt in tenth place. Throughout the race a number of drivers were caught out running slick tyres on a dampened circuit, and it resulted in outright round contender McLeod failing to finish after coming off the circuit on the sixth lap and failing to finish.

Henderson held a considerable lead over the field for the opening four laps of the third and final race (9-laps handicapped format) up until Chahda arrived on the scene and took control of the race lead. The lead of Chahda lasted up until lap seven when eventual race winner McLeod blasted by and from there he was never headed taking the victory ahead of Saillard and Vergotis. Formosa finished in fourth place,

with Chahda, Henderson, Groeneveld, Gillespie, Natoli and Huer making up the top ten finishers in the field. The only non-finisher from the third race was Hunt who retired on lap three due to mechanical dramas.

Class winners for the round were Vergotis (V8 Supercars), Natoli (Super Tourers), Chahda (Future Tourers), Gardner (Group A), and Huer (V8 Giants).

The fourth round of the ATCC is to be held at Queensland Raceway ( Ipswich, QLD) on June 16 – 17.

All the action from this round of the Touring Car Challenge will screen on SBS Speedweek May 27 at 12 noon. Check your local guides for details.

For further information about the ATCC and its drivers visit their official website: www.touringcarchallenge.com

The Australian Touring Car Challenge is ready to stage the most gripping racing to date as the field is joined by a number of high-calibre newcomers at Round Three of the Australian Motor Racing Series held at Winton Motor Raceway (Victoria) this weekend (April 28-29).

Outright series leader and V8 Supercar class standout Darren Saillard head s a close field of competitors in the four contesting subcategories, he’s expected to be challenge d by 21-year-old Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series driver Brett Hobson , and other newcomers Shane Hunt and James Henderson who all have the potential to upset the established order.

Running the Matthew Hunt owned VS Commodore in the V8 Supercar class, and supported by United Oils, Hobson will no doubt be the one to keep an eye on as he puts the pressure on the rest of field. While other contenders John Vergotis (AU Falcon) , Darren Formosa (VX Commodore) and Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore) will take on the challenge, and newcomer , and former HQ Holden driver , Shane Hunt from Queensland will make his first appearance in the category campaigning an AU Falcon.

Driving the Ford Mustang in V8 Giants, Sam Dale will be looking to make amends after losing the round win through a penalty at Round Two , while fellow V8 Giants steerer Shelton Loughrey will undoubtedly throw down the toughest challenge in his EL Falcon.

The top Future Tourer favourites include three-time season class winner Andrew Gillespie in the AU Falcon XR8, while close on his heels will be the standout performers of Amin Chahda (GT BA Ford Falcon) and Round Two class victor Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore) . A lso rejoining the Future Tourer ranks will be Mark Telfer in his VX Commodore after a short hiatus from the category he ’s back for more , and doing double-duty at Winton, also running in the Super TT category.

In prime position in the Super Tourer field is Mumbo Racing’s Daniel Natoli who will look to continue his form after claiming a class win at Round Two. While David Gardner in the VK Commodore will again line up to represent the Group A class.

A feast for spectators with its many outstanding vantage points, the 3km Victorian circuit is renowned for it’s ever-changing weather conditions and has also produced racing upsets in the past, considering last year’s corresponding event was won by a Future Tourer.

Round Three of the Australian Touring Car Challenge gets underway with qualifying and on Saturday April 28, while the three races for the category will feature on Sunday.

When the third round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) hits Winton Motor Raceway this weekend (April 28-29) Darren Saillard will be confident of continuing his successful run of wins and remaining in the series lead.

Driving the # 25 Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products supported EL Falcon V8 Supercar for the first season in the ATCC, Saillard has made an impressive debut running on the podium for both of the first two rounds including a round two victory at Calder Park Raceway last month.

Despite having his V8 Supercars logged data for the 3km Victorian circuit, this weekend marks the first time that Saillard has competed at Winton. However, with the proven strength and pace of the EL Falcon so far this year, Saillard is unperturbed about the car’s performance.

“The more we compete in the Falcon, and the more we can gather our own data on top of what we already have, the more competitive we get,” said Saillard.

“We’ve had a great run so far this year and I’m really happy with the way things have been going.

“It will be exciting to hit the track on Saturday and get straight into it. It’s always a great advantage to be leading the championship but that makes you a moving target for others to try and beat you. But I’m hopeful by the end of this weekend we will still be in the number one spot moving on.”

Between rounds Saillard and his team has replaced the gearbox, and this is a major boost for them heading into the third round, as that (the gearbox) has been a problem so far this year.

Saillard is proudly supported in 2007 by Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products and Abels Smash Repairs.

So far in 2007, the Australian Touring Car Challenge action has been frantic. With no fewer than twelve different drivers reaching the podium in the races held so far this year, and that's after just two rounds! As the series heads to Benalla's Winton Raceway, the action looks set to continue.

Darren Saillard has had an extremely impressive debut, driving the ex-Garry Willmington EL Falcon Supercar. Saillard has been at the pointy end right from his very first race, and took the round win at Calder. He'll be doing everything in his power to make Winton a repeat performance. Another driver keen to take out the top spot is John Vergotis. driving his ex-Glenn Seton AU Falcon Supercar, Vergotis has showed he has what it takes to win. Other drivers sure to be in the mix include Darren Formosa (PowerPlus 98 VX Commodore Supercar), Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon Supercar), Amin Chahda (BA Falcon Future Tourer), Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer) and Daniel Natoli (mumboracing.com Ford Mondeo Super Tourer). And those are just the guys who have already visited the podium. There will be plenty more regulars keen to move to the front - Dale, Southgate, Oaklands, Gardner, Huer, Searle and Kelly among them.

There are a few new faces too, and despite not having competed in the ATCC previously, they won't be satisfied unless they're at the front. V8 Supercar Development Series regular, United Oils backed Brett Hobson will be driving the ex-Matt Hunt VS Commodore Supercar, he will be joined by fellow newcomers Shane Hunt (AU Falcon Supercar) and James Henderson (ex-Peter Vicary EL Falcon Supercar). Watch out for some good performances from these guys.

Also making his return to the ATCC is Mark Telfer in his VX Commodore Future Tourer. A regular competitor in previous seasons, Telfer makes his return to the ATCC field, and will also be doing double duty, racing in the Super TT class.

The action gets underway this weekend (28-29 April) at Benalla's Winton Raceway. Unofficial practice will be held on Friday, with qualifying on Saturday, and three action-packed races on Sunday.

Darren Saillard celebrated his first Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) victory after winning round two outright at Victoria’s Calder Park Raceway over the weekend (March 24-25).

Continuing his front running form in the #25 Hayters Sawmill and Timber Products supported EL Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, Saillard now leads the ATCC driver points ladder after an impressive strong start to his debut season.

Topping time sheets straight out of the box in practice was a good sign of competitive pace but the round win didn’t come without a struggle after gearbox dramas haunted the Saillard Racing team all weekend. Putting Saillard to the test, the Ford Falcon’s second gear kept slipping in qualifying and needing Saillard’s restraint to stay engaged.

Repaired in time for race one Saillard held down second until the gearbox sensor failed on the last lap, with the experienced steerer lucky not to spin on his own oil. Managing to bring the car home in third, the gearbox issues still lingered but Saillard made the most of a difficult situation claiming the win in race two from the rear of the field (as per the category’s handicap start rules).

Saillard had a good start to the 12-lap third and final race but the mechanical gremlins that disturbed the Ford Falcon all weekend continued, causing an uncharacteristic spin early on and taking evasive action on lap eight to avoid colliding with another competitor. Going off track both times, Saillard made amends and caught up with the pack, managing to lock in second place for race three which was enough to secure a hard-fought overall round victory.

“I’m stoked to get our first overall win and even more so considering the gearbox dramas we endured,” said Saillard.

“My Ford Falcon V8 Supercar has been really strong straight up this year and pace has been great but this weekend we struck major second gear dramas, it didn’t want to stick and kept jumping out so I had to struggle with it all weekend.

“With so many tight sections of the track being run in second gear it was a bit of a handful but we know that even with those dramas we can still be at the pointy end of the field. Full credit must go to my team who done a great job to get us over the line this weekend.”

Round three of the ATCC, part of the Australian Motor Racing Series, will be held at Winton Motor Raceway on April 28-29.

In what was his second appearance in the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) for 2007, former Australian Production Car Champion (Class C) Daniel Natoli scored a podium finish overall at Calder Park Raceway (Melbourne, VIC) on the weekend (March 23 – 25) during the running of round two where he drove the # 3 Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer.

After the disappointment of having the opening round of the ATCC at Wakefield Park Raceway (Goulburn, NSW) last month ruined by a spate of mechanical woes, Natoli returned to the seat of the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo and was able to show the potential of the car by being the highest placed Super Tourer and third overall for the weekend, a result that the Queenslander was very pleased with.

“Although we weren’t one of the fastest cars out there it was our consistency that gained us our end result for the weekend,” Natoli admitted.

“The aim for the weekend was to be consistent by staying out on the track, as we are still learning the characteristics of the car, and Calder Park is a track that I have no previous experience around, so all in all a very pleasing end result.”

Natoli managed to get through practice and qualifying (10 th) without a hitch, and went into the three races confident of competitive results, especially in the two handicap races, and that was exactly what he achieved. In the opening race (5-lap scratch event) Natoli finished ninth, and in race two and three (both under the handicap format) he finished second (after the winner was issued a 30 second penalty) and fifth which gave him third overall for the round.

“In race two I held down the lead for well over half the race and only lost second on the final lap when [Darren] Saillard in his V8 Supercar moved me back to third at the finish,” explained Natoli.

“The third and final race I got off to a slow start off the line and I also had a small gearbox issue where I couldn’t engage fourth gear, but I managed to battle and finished in sixth place.”

For the third round of the ATCC is at Winton Motor Raceway on the weekend of April 28 – 29.

Natoli would like to say a big thanks to Rod Dale and his Mumbo Racing team for all their efforts over the weekend, along with sponsors: Oz Motor Transport, Lewis Fire Protection, Empire Trade Exchange, Shift Transport, www.ozmotorsport.com.au, Coast Wide Online Printing, Ignition Magazine, and Kumho Tyres.

The PowerPlus98+ Racing Teams progress is on an upward spiral after only the second round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC). On their home circuit of Calder Park Raceway (Melbourne, VIC) last weekend (March 24 – 25) their team driver Darren Formosa finished in fifth place aboard the PowerPlus98+ VX Holden Commodore V8 Supercar.

In front of over 100 PowerPlus98+ Racing team guests, Formosa, in only his second ever meeting in the teams VX Holden Commodore V8 Supercar broke the 1 minute barrier with a 59.8 in race 2 and a 59.9 in race 3, the grand stand erupted when the commentators announced an unbelievable effort of breaking the barrier during intense dicing in the races. The entire team was stoked to bring home another top 5 result.

“There are plenty of positives to come from the weekend, as we were the fastest car in the field in both races two and three, so this is very encouraging as we know that the pace is well and truly there,” remarked Formosa

With the ATCC championship in their sights, the PowerPlus98+ Racing team feels that more improvements are in store for them and their driver Formosa. After missing out on pole position by 1 /10 of a second in qualifying to John Vergotis who was also using PowerPlus 98+ (welcome to the fast side John), Formosa finished second in the opening race, followed by sixth and third in race two and three under the handicapped format with their outright speed clearly evident.

“Our aim for the season is to win the ATCC championship and I feel we have made another step forward to that happening,” said a confident Formosa.

“The whole PowerPlus98+ Racing Team is still very new to V8 Supercars, and now that we have completed the opening two rounds and shown potential of the car and driver, we are now going to be doing all in our power to make a claim for the championship outright.”

After this weekend, Formosa has moved into third outright in the ATCC championship point standings.

The next meeting is at Winton Motor Raceway (Benalla - Victoria) on April 28 – 29. The PowerPlus98+ Racing Team will step up and attempt to take on the lap record and the ATCC championship.

PowerPlus Fuels (a subsidiary of the ACB Group) have for many years produced specialist racing fuels. Through this knowledge they have decided to release a passenger vehicle fuel, PowerPlus 98+, which will provide motorists with a powerful engine fuel that reduces sulphur emissions, cleans fuel injectors, inlet manifolds and valves while at the same time produces more power than equivalent fuels.

To learn more about the PowerPlus98+ and their fuels as well as their racing team, visit the official website: www.powerplusfuel.com.au

The PowerPlus98+ Racing team and headline driver Darren Formosa are confident of building on their promising series debut when round two of the Australian Touring Car Challenge gets underway at Victoria’s Calder Park Raceway this weekend (March 24-25).

Preparing the #98 VX Commodore V8 Supercar for the horsepower-friendly circuit, Formosa is firmly focused on achieving more podium places after scoring his first race top three result at Wakefield Park Raceway’s opening round last month.

With extensive experience around the fast 2.28km circuit, Melbourne-based Formosa is keyed up to build on his progressive pace and competitiveness to bring home strong results for the team.

“I’m rearing to go, the team’s ready and the car is really competitive, so we are confident of achieving a podium finish this weekend,” declared Formosa.

“It is my debut season in this category, I know the track really well and this helps build my confidence.”

“At the beginning of the year we didn’t set our goals too high because it was all new to us, but our strong results at Wakefield Park prove that we can be a consistent podium contender this year.”

Using the motorsport market to build product awareness, the Australian-owned PowerPlus Fuels look forward to building the brand under the AMRS banner after receiving extensive coverage at the season opener. Plans for the remainder of the 2007 not only include contesting the entire ATCC Championship, but the PowerPlus98+ Racing team is also planning to contest selected rounds of this year’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

To learn more about the PowerPlus98+ and their fuels as well as their racing team, visit the official website: www.powerplusfuel.com.au

Darren Saillard is certain of continued front-running form leading into round two of the Australia Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Calder Park Raceway (Melbourne, VIC) on March 24-25.

Running the #25 Abels Smash Repairs supported EL Falcon V8 Supercar, Saillard sits second overall on the ATCC driver points ladder and first in the V8 Supercar class after an impressive debut last month at Wakefield Park Raceway despite a short amount of testing.

Saillard’s strong start to the season is a welcome result after an 11 year hiatus from road racing. The former NSW State Sports Sedan Champion turned his hand to Sprintcars in 1995 but after suffering two broken neck injuries in recent years, Saillard decided joining the ATCC as part of the Australian Motor Racing Series was the best option for his return behind the wheel.

A fast 2.28km circuit known for its speed and horsepower-driven straights, Saillard will make his Calder Park Raceway debut this weekend and is looking forward to improving on his strong form.

“I would really like to record my first overall victory and I think we can do that,” said Saillard.

“The EL Falcon V8 Supercar was really strong out of the box at Wakefield Park and never missed a beat so I hope it will run well around Calder Park.

“With the characteristics of road racing being naturally so much different to the Sprintcar style I’m used to, I’ve been working on my starts because that was something I was caught out by last time. I am still adjusting and learning the car and going to a new track will be a challenge, but one I’m really looking forward to it.”

One part of racing that many drivers don't enjoy is interviews. It's easy to get nervous, or forget what you wanted to say (or which sponsors you wanted to mention), or give less than eloquent responses to some of the interviewer's questions. But if you can get it right, an interview will mean better exposure for you as a driver, for your team and for your sponsors. As many drivers in the top echelons of motorsport will attest, training in how to deal with the media is an important and valuable process.

As part of the Australian Motor Racing Series' ongoing committment to driver development, there will be a Media Awareness Seminar held at Round Two at Calder Park. Attendance at the seminar is not compulsory (although encouraged), and is free to all competitors (and team members) for the round. Simon Latchford, AMRS competitor and accomplished public speaker will deliver his thoughts on dealing with the media - how to plan for an interview, what to do during an interview, and how to keep the media on-side and assist you with promotion of yourself and your sponsors.

This is an outstanding opportunity for competitors to develop their professional knowledge and skills and an excellent selling point for future sponsors ("I have completed media awareness training to ensure I present your company in the best possible light.") The seminar will be conducted at Calder Park, 1630 Saturday afternoon.

Round Two of the Australian Motor Racing Series will be held at Calder Park, 24-25 March.

PowerPlus 98 Fuel Racing and Formosa Hit the Ground Running in V8 Supercar Debut:

The PowerPlus 98 Racing team and its driver Darren Formosa made quite an imposing debut in the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) during the running of the opening round at Wakefield Park Raceway (Goulburn, NSW) and they have certainly made their intentions clear for the remainder of the year.

PowerPlus Fuels are Australian owned and they have entered the Australian Motorsport market in order to build awareness on its existence, and feels that the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) is a great launching pad for bigger things in the future.

The Australian Contact Benders (ACB) Group purchased an ex Imrie Motorsport VX Commodore V8 Supercar and with the combination of PowerPlus Fuels and the 2006 3.3 Litre Holden Championship Title holder, Darren Formosa, have entered ATCC with their goals of eventually taking this team into the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

“The PowerPlus98+ Racing team wants to reach the pinnacle of Australian Motorsport and that is V8 Supercars, and joining the ATCC is just the first step for significant things to come in the not too distant future,” Formosa said.

PowerPlus Fuels are Australian owned and they have entered the Australian Motorsport market in order to build awareness on its existence, and feels that the AMRS is a great launching pad for bigger things in the future.

“The aim for the PowerPlus98+ racing team is to build it’s a product awareness from V8 Supercars and the capacity of PowerPlus98+ to fuel on road cars, and better still, it’s totally Australian owned,” Formosa enthused.

“Australian Motorsport is a huge market and the PowerPlus Fuel is used by many competitors, and if it’s good enough to run in a V8 Supercar, then it’s going to be more than adequate for road cars.”

“Heading into our opening race meeting in a V8 Supercar our goals weren’t set too high, as we had only completed a total of 30 laps in the car around Calder Park Raceway a week prior,” admitted Formosa.

At the opening round of the ATCC the PowerPlus98+ racing team and their driver Formosa left a lasting impression by finishing sixth overall and the highlight without a doubt was a podium finish in the second race.

“To have such a competitive debut outing is very encouraging for the remainder of the year, as there is still plenty of gains to be made with the car and within me as a driver, and being on the podium is a goal that isn’t beyond our reach.”

In 2007 aside from contesting the entire ATCC Championship, the PowerPlus98+ Racing team is also planning to contest selected rounds of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

PowerPlus Fuels (a subsidiary of ACB and FUTA International) have for many years produced specialist racing fuels. Through this knowledge they have decided to release a passenger car fuel, PowerPlus 98. PowerPlus 98 will provide motorist with a powerful engine fuel that reduces sulphuremissions by 65% and cleans fuel injectors, inlet manifolds, valves while at the same time produces more power than equivalent fuels.

To learn more about the PowerPlus Fuels, and the Racing team, visit their official websites: www.PowerPlusFuel.com.au

The debut of Brad Lowe in the Garry Willmington owned AU Falcon V8 Supercar, running in the V8 Giant class, was a memorable one as the 22-year-old dominated the opening round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) last weekend (February 24 – 25) at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) by taking pole position and all three races over the course of the event.

At the completion of the weekend Lowe, after taking pole position and all three race wins, took out the round (his second in a row after taking out the final round of last year’s ATCC) ahead of a very impressive Darren Saillard (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) and Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer) in second and third respectively.

Aside from the impressive Saillard, another newcomer to make quite an impression in his first ATCC round was former 3.3 Litre Holden competitor Darren Formosa, driving the ex Imrie Motorsport VX Commodore V8 Supercar, and he just missed out on claiming a podium finish in his maiden appearance. Formosa had just one test session on the board at Calder Park Raceway in his home state of Victoria, and as the weekend drew on he gained not only more and more speed, but also confidence, and after qualifying fifth, he finished the three races in sixth, third and eighth.

Lowe took pole position on Saturday afternoon with a best lap of 1:02.1942) ahead of Saillard, Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer), Vergotis, Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Giant), Formosa, Kelly, Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer), Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer), and in tenth was Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer).

All eyes were fixed on Lowe and whether or not he could sustain that pace under race conditions, and that he did in the opening race (5-lap scratch format) on Sunday morning by running away to a comfortable victory after starting from pole position. Over the 5-lap distance Lowe was able to build a comfortable advantage and score a comprehensive victory defeating Saillard and Vergotis as the top three finishers, followed by Loughrey, Searle, Formosa, Kelly, Chahda, Groeneveld, and Oaklands completing the top ten.

The only drama from race one was for former Australian Production Car Champion (Class C) Daniel Natoli, after earlier missing qualifying, who retired after only two laps due to mechanical woes in the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer and sadly that spelled the end of the Queensland based drivers weekend.

After taking out the opening race in comfortable fashion, Lowe was faced with doing it all from the back of the grid and under the handicapping system in the second race over 10-laps. Up at the front of the grid it was ATCC rookies, Gardner and Colin Passfield (V8 powered Mitsubishi Magna Future Tourer), that shared the front row and Gardner was able to take the lead on the opening lap after Passfield had gained the jump on him heading into the opening turn.

Gardner managed to stay out in front up until the fifth lap when the EL Falcon V8 Supercar of Vicary gained the front running. Vicary held down the lead position for three laps and battled closely with Super Tourer driver Kelly for a handful of laps before the latter was able to gain the upper hand on him. Once in the lead, Kelly held onto the lead right up until the final lap only to have Lowe sneak through for the win in sight of the chequered flag. Kelly finished in second ahead of Formosa, Vergotis, Vicary, Saillard, Loughrey, Sam Dale (Ford Mustang V8 Giant), David Gardner (VK Commodore Group A), and in tenth

was Chahda.

Due to mechanical dramas in the opening race Byers took no further part in the weekend and was a scratching from race two and three. Unfortunately both Searle and Oaklands were unable to finish race two. Searle collided heavily with Chahda at the fish hook (turn nine) after a brake lock up and saw Searle retire to the side of the track due to a considerable amount of right front end damage, whilst Oaklands was working his way through the field only to slow and retire to the pit enclosure on the fifth lap.

Both Searle and Oaklands were able to make the grid for the third and final race of the weekend, over a distance of 12 laps, and once again it was Gardner that took the early lead, but it was short-lived with both Dale and Vicary demoting him back to third without a lap completed. Once out in front Vicary built up a handsome lead as the heavy hitters from the rear made their way through the field. Future Tourer racer Groeneveld was able to catch up to Vicary by the seventh lap, but he challenge didn’t last long as Oaklands moved into second place behind Vicary. With Vicary still in the lead, the battle for second

place took a turn for the worse on lap nine when Oaklands and Kelly became entangled in turn seven and both speared off the track and onto the grass. Both drivers managed to disentangle and continue, but their hopes of winning were shot to pieces.

On the 10 th lap it was Lowe that caught up to the pack and gained the lead from Vicary and the lead position remained the same all the way to the fall of the chequered flag defeating Chahda and Groeneveld. Vicary was demoted back to fifth place in the closing stages by a hard charging Saillard who finished fourth, whilst Kelly managed to recover from his incident with Oaklands to finish sixth ahead of Vergotis, Formosa, Searle (who suffered a spin early in the race) and Oaklands in tenth.

The only non finisher in the third and final race was Loughrey who had the engine in the ex Paul Weel EL Falcon expire on the seventh lap in a big way.

All in all, it was a solid start to the 2007 ATCC Championship with the three races producing a different plenty of closely fought action with Lowe being victorious in all three.

Class winners went to Lowe (V8 Giants), Saillard (V8 Supercars), Kelly (Super Tourers), Chahda (Future Tourers) and Gardner (Group A).

The next round of the ATCC travels to Calder Park Raceway (Melbourne, VIC) on the weekend of March 24 – 25.

For further information about the ATCC and its drivers visit their official website: www.touringcarchallenge.com

There were plenty of cheers and tears for the Saillard Racing team in their return to the road racing scene over the weekend at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway and it was celebrated in winning fashion when team driver Darren Saillard took out the opening round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge in the ‘V8 Supercar’ class driving his # 25 Abels Smash Repairs supported EL Falcon V8 Supercar.

It had been over 10 years since Saillard, who spent a considerable period in Sprintcars before making the decision late last year to return to road racing due to suffering two broken necks in two separate crashes at Parramatta City Raceway, took part in a road race meeting and throughout his return to the track it looked as if he had never left after a consistent showing saw him take out the round honours for the ‘V8 Supercar’ class and second overall.

“I simply couldn’t have dreamed of a weekend like this one and to walk away with victory is something that is quite surreal, as I never had any expectations of winning so soon in the piece,” Saillard admitted.

“The car never missed a beat all weekend and only got better as it wore on, and the racing was very enjoyable, especially in the two reverse grid handicapped races.”

After qualifying on pole position Saillard was able to take victory in the opening race (5 lap scratch race format) for ‘V8 Supercars’ class and in the two reverse grid races managed a fifth and a third place over the respective 10 and 12 lap events.

“My number one goal for the weekend was to be as consistent as possible and the opening race was my first in ten years where I have had to face a grid start and got off to a bad start after getting confessed with the starting lights,” explained Saillard.

“I wanted to stay out of trouble and bring the car home in each race without a scratch, and I’m pleased to say that it was an objective that I was able to meet. The reverse grids are interesting ones, and so too was using fresh tyres, as they are a completely different car compared to having older tyres, and that was a new learning experience for not only me as a driver but the whole team.”

Over the weekend Saillard was well supported by many of his family, friends and sponsors, and he was over the moon to have tasted success in his debut in the Australian Touring Car Challenge.

“I cannot speak highly enough for all the support I have received and to take victory first meeting up is something very special to everyone,” he said.

“It was truly such a remarkable weekend and one where I had a lot of fun, and everyone involved in the Australian Motor Racing Series was very welcoming and everyone had an enjoyable time.”

Saillard and his team are now looking forward to their next challenge will be the second round of the ATCC which is to be held at Calder Park Raceway (Melbourne, VIC) on the weekend of March 23 – 25.

Stepping back into his EL Falcon V8 Supercar for the first time in over 12 months, Peter Vicary competed in the opening round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Wakefield Park Raceway (Goulburn, NSW). Vicary’s regular ride, the AU Falcon V8 Supercar, was unable to make the round due to a slight mechanical issue that was unable to be fixed in time and despite running an older car he was able to achieve a top 5 result overall.

Vicary, who was dogged by mechanical woes throughout last year, was able to post strong results in all three races which included a ninth place in the opening race (after qualifying tenth) and then two fourth places in the two handicap events in what was a major boost confidence wise.

In both race two and three Vicary held down the race lead at various occasions, and the third and final race saw him lead nine of 12 laps and eventually finish fourth in what was a solid performance.

“The third and final race saw me drive consistently after grabbing an early lead and I did my best to fend off all challengers, but was unable to, finishing in fourth place which was still a pleasing result,” the Gulf Western / V8 Race Car Hot Laps Racing driver said.

“It was good to finally get through a whole round without any dramas, and it allowed me to just focus on my driving and not having the hassles of being bothered by mechanical issues that plagued our team throughout 2006.”

Although he will not be contesting the entire ATCC Championship this year Vicary is confident that his run this past weekend will allow him to grace the podium.

“If you can remain consistent within the top five all weekend then the podium is there for the taking, and I’m hoping to visit there on a few occasions this year,” Vicary enthused.

“The two handicap races allow you to make your bid for the podium, and this weekend just proved that I am capable of being one of the top five contenders within the ATCC championship.”

The 2007 AMRS Touring Car Challenge started with a bang last weekend with large fields and exciting racing. The inclusion of the new V8 Giant category added some spice to the racing, which looks set for a huge series of nail biting wheel to wheel action over 9 rounds, at 6 tracks in 4 different states across the country.

Albury’s Amin Chahda set the tone for the weekend by turning in some stunning laps in practice, before putting his BA Future Tourer on class pole for the first race of the year. Chahda went on to record class wins in each of the three races held over the weekend at the Wakefield Park circuit, finishing with a brilliant drive to take overall second in race three ahead of several V8 Supercars, the other Future Tourers and V8 Giant competitors.

Overall points for the weekend are yet to be determined however, due to a protest after a penalty was imposed on one of the competitors in race three. Stewards are still to hear the protest and a final decision will be made prior to round 2, to be hosted by Calder Park Raceway on the weekend of March 23-25. The outcome of the protest won’t affect the Chahda camp with the MJR Ford Wreckers sponsored outfit looking enthusiastically to the challenge of again setting the pace with a “catch us if you can attitude”.

The M & A Motorsport team heads to Calder launching a two car attack with our second Future Tourer again joining the field to be driven by fellow local driver Mark Sutherland. The car to be driven by Mark is the Future Tourer that Chahda drove to second place in the 2004 Touring Car Challenge and has recently undergone a refit at our in house race shop, to bring it up to current specifications. The team will also be joined by new driver David Tulk entering his newly completed Improved Production EA Falcon race car in the AMRS Super TT (Super Tin Tops) event, also under the MJR Ford Wreckers banner.

(For drivers names in bold, click the name to read additional articles on that driver)

The Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) will blast into action this weekend (February 24 – 25) at Wakefield Park Raceway (Goulburn, NSW) which is to include a variety of new and old challengers in the category that brings V8 Supercars, Super Tourers, Future Tourers and Group A together into one event that is run under a handicapping system.

Inaugural ATCC champion Luke Searle (BMW 318i Super Tourer) back in 2004 is looking to capture his second crown after the last two championship have been won by V8 Supercar drivers Garry Willmington and Terry Wyhoon (2006), and this is going to be the Newcastle drivers best chance to do so. The likes of John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), Amin Chahda (BA GT Falcon Future Tourer), Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer) and a host of others are hopeful of getting amongst the front of the field.

After finishing fourth in the overall ATCC championship and claiming the rookie of the year honours, Oaklands has every right to feel confident of going better this year aboard his ex Perkins Motorsport VS Commodore V8 Supercar, and drivers such as Vergotis, Peter-Budge, Chahda and Groeneveld are all capable front runners, especially in the handicap races, and it was actually Groeneveld that claimed an outright round win last year (Round seven of the ATCC at Calder Park Raceway, VIC), and no doubt is looking to add another or two.

Drivers such as Mark Telfer (VX Commodore Future Tourer), Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), and Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) are once again lining up to tackle the ATCC championship in 2007, and all three drivers are looking for more consistency, which was something that robbed them of better results last year. Vicary didn’t have the best of runs last year by being dogged by mechanical woes, and this time around is looking for race wins and podium results throughout the year.

A bunch of new and exciting drivers have entered the ATCC fray and they are headed by Darren Saillard (EL Falcon V8 Supercar), along with Colin Passfield (making a cameo appearance driving the Neil Byers owned V8 powered Mitsubishi Magna), Paul Hibberd (Nissan Primera Super Tourer), Tony Saliba (Hyundai Lantra Super Tourer), Darren Formosa (VX Commodore V8 Supercar) and David Gardner (VL Commodore Group A).

Former Sprintcar driver and NSW Sports Sedan champion (1994) Darren Saillard has purchased the former Garry Willmington owned EL Falcon and in his opening test sessions has shown plenty of promise, and should be right up there amongst the leading pack form the outset. Passfield, who has a background in Light Truck racing, has jumped into the Neil Byers owned Mitsubishi Magna for this round and there is a chance that he could become a regular feature throughout the year in the ATCC. Hibbard makes a return to the Mumbo Racing team in their Nissan Primera and his last run at Wakefield Park was back in 2004 when he finished fifth outright with co-driver Adam Proctor in the Christmas 500, whilst Saliba joins the ranks after spending last year in the Production Touring Cars, and both Formosa and Gardner

have stepped up from the 3.3 Litre Holden ranks.

Joining the ATCC for the opening rounds will be the newly formed V8 Giants category and drivers include Brad Lowe (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Sam Dale (Ford Mustang Cobra) and Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar).

The format for the ATCC is two practice and a qualifying session on Saturday, whilst on the Sunday there will be a 5 lap scratch race along with two handicap format races over a distance of 10 and 12 laps.

Darren Saillard will make a return to road racing after an 11 year hiatus via the Australian Touring Car Challenge in 2007 where he will drive the ex Tony Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar, previously campaigned by Brad Lowe and Garry Willmington, and he is looking forward to his new adventure.

Since stepping away from the road racing scene, where he won the NSW State Sports Sedan Champion and raced Go Karts against the likes of Russell Ingall, Mark Skaife and Glenn Seton (and beat them on a regular basis too), Saillard took up Sprintcar racing in 1995 where he proved quite successful winning numerous feature races and gracing the podium regularly too.

In February 2004 at Parramatta City Raceway Saillard suffered a nasty crash that saw him sustain a broken neck amongst other injuries, and just on two years later he returned to Sprintcar racing after a remarkable fight back, and then unfortunately suffered another crash at the same track after a brief comeback in March of last year (2006) where he again suffered a broken neck and nasty head injuries.

With Sprintcar racing no longer an option, Saillard, with the full support of his family, has decided to make a return to road racing, and has picked up a V8 Supercar from Garry Willmington and will contest the entire nine rounds of the Australian Touring Car Challenge as part of the Australian Motor Racing Series.

“Some people have said I’m crazy getting back into racing, but motorsport has been my whole life, and it’s not just something you can just eliminate from your system,” Saillard confessed.

“The past few years they have been the hardest period of my life and for my family too, and they are fully supportive of my move back into road racing.

“To be honest there was a short period where I wanted to return to Sprintcar racing, and there is a time in your life where you have to consider the people around you and the pain they have been put through, so they had no dramas about me stepping into a V8 Supercar compared to getting back into Sprintcars.”

Saillard knows that entering the Australian Touring Car Challenge isn’t going to be a walk into the park, and all of his previous traits in Motorsport have been thrown out the window when he got behind the wheel of a V8 Supercar.

“Yeah, V8 Supercars are an awesome piece of machinery, and the technology of them is out of this world, and the major thing I am going to have to come to grips with is learning all of that technology in order to become faster,” he confessed.

“So far I have completed a handful of test sessions at Wakefield Park Raceway and everything has gone to plan. I have been using my initial track time in order to learn the car and my surroundings, and I’m taking everything step by step.”

Knowing that he has strong equipment behind him in the form of the ex Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar, Saillard is aiming to be at the pointy end of the field in 2007 and nothing less.

“Although my test sessions have been encouraging it’s going to be a whole new ball game come race weekend, and that is something my team and I are going to have to accustom ourselves with,” Saillard remarked.

“I know that I have competitive equipment at my disposal that is certainly capable of winning as it has proven with its previous drivers, and it’s all going to be up to me as a driver to learn as much as possible to get it [the car] up the front and keep it there.”

The opening round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge will be at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) on February 24 – 25.

Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) will see V8 Race Car Hot Laps / Gulf Western Racing team driver Peter Vicary being the 2007 season for the running of the opening round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) this weekend (February 24 – 25).

After a turbulent 2006 ATCC campaign where his # 5 V8 Race Car Hot Laps / Gulf Western Oil supported AU Falcon V8 Supercar was dogged with mechanical woes, Vicary is aiming for a more competitive and confident year.

Armed with a re-new boost in confidence, Vicary hopes to be amongst the top five runners in the ATCC championship, and feels that it a goal that he is realistically capable of achieving.

“I hope 2007 will see our team be more competitive and most importantly more consistent, and those two things were something that wasn’t with us at all last year, which was both frustrating and disappointing,” Vicary said.

“We suffered a lot of bad luck last year, and I hope we have used it all up, and I’m confident if everything comes together then a top five result is something we are very capable of, which is something we have proven in our past three years in the ATCC championship.”

It is basically the same AU Falcon V8 Supercar that Vicary used last year, but a lot more effort has been put by the Gulf Western Racing team to make their car more consistent.

“When the car is right we capable top five runners, and that’s where I am aiming to be this year,” Vicary noted.

“There has been a lot of effort put into the car during the off season and I’m hoping that it will transpire into a successful 2007, starting with the opening round of the ATCC championship at Wakefield Park Raceway.”

Mumbo Racing will be well represented at the upcoming round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge, with no less than six cars originating from the Mumbo team's stable.

As announced in January, Tony Saliba has acquired the ex-Australian Super Touring Championship Hyundai Lantra from Neil Byers, and will run in the Touring Car Challenge. Neil Byers will bring his ex-Steven Richards Nissan Primera 96B back into action, the nimble Super Tourer a formidable weapon when running at full noise. Also as announced yesterday (see below), the V8 powered Mitsubishi Magna Future Tourer will return to the Touring Car Challenge in the hands of Colin Passfield. Sam Dale will return to the Touring Car Challenge field, albeit aboard a V8 Giant, as announced earlier in the year in the Mumbo Racing Ford Mustang Cobra.

After a successful outing with the team in 2006, Queensland driver Daniel Natoli is set to return for 2007 in the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer. Last time out, Daniel won a race, and took out third outright for the round, and he's hoping he can have similar success at Wakefield Park this weekend. The Ford Mondeo has had a thorough rebuild in the off-season, and is ready for action - look out for Natoli to turn some heads during the year.

And finally, it's another Queenslander returning to the team - Paul Hibberd drove with the Mumbo Racing outfit at the Wakefield 500 in 2004, acquitting himself well, and impressing the team. In 2007, Paul will be behind the wheel of the second Nissan Primera (a 95GT) Super Tourer. The car was driven by Neil Byers during 2006, and has proven to be a strong runner in the Super Touring sub-category of the Touring Car Challenge.

Round One of the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge takes place this weekend, February 24-25 at Goulburn's Wakefield Park. For the full rundown of categories competing, check out the Round One page by clicking here.

Thanks to the efforts of Garry Willmington and car owner Neil Byers, Colin Passfield will make a cameo appearance in the opening round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) on the weekend of February 24 – 25 at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW) driving the V8 powered Mitsubishi Magna which is owned by Byers.

It has been close to 18 months since 58-year-old Passfield has stepped behind the wheel of a race car, with his last appearance being in the HQ Holden’s, and is very much looking forward to the opportunity of his cameo showing in the ATCC.

“I simply cannot wait to get back out onto the race track and many thanks must go to car owner Neil Byers and Garry Willmington for making this opportunity available to me,” expressed an excited and very grateful Passfield.

“It has been a while since I last raced, but my objective is to have fun and hopefully get more competitive with the more laps I do, and by all reports the Mitsubishi Magna has a strong history of being very competitive.”

The 2000 Australian Light Truck Championship runner up (behind John Falk) has done many laps around the 2.2 km Wakefield Park circuit, where he regularly takes part in drive days, and one of his fondest memories was driving the Garry Willmington owned V8 Supercar.

“I know Wakefield Park pretty well and I have done the majority of my racing around there in recent years, so hopefully that will hold me in good stead,” admitted Passfield.

“In order for me to be competitive I am going to have to get familiar with the car quite quickly, and I’m confident that will occur, and before the event I have completed a test session in it.”

Passfield would like to say a big thanks to Neil Byers, along with Garry Willmington and Shelton Loughery for all their efforts.

For further information on Passfield and the Australian Touring Car Challenge visit: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

The start of the 2007 season is fast approaching, new competitors are coming online, and 2007 looks like an outstanding year for the Touring Car Challenge. The 2007 Sporting Rules for the Touring Car Challenge have been available for some time, and those who have read them will know there are some minor changes afoot. With a number of competitors and fans contacting the Touring Car Challenge with queries about the changes, it seems timely to feature a bit of a Question and Answer session regarding the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge.

1. What are the key changes in the Touring Car Challenge for 2007, and why have they come about?

To answer this question, we have to do it in reverse. Firstly, why have the changes come about: When the Touring Car Challenge was first conceived back in 2003, it was to be a showcase of Australia's recent Touring Car history - 20 years of Australian Touring Cars doing battle in the one race. It was also meant to be structured so that any car in the field, regardless of its outright speed, should be able to succeed if driven consistently. As more ex-V8 Supercars have come into the field, the balance has recently become skewed towards the V8 Supercars. There has also been an incentive within the old regulations for competitors to drive more slowly (or 'sandbag') in qualifying and race one. This can lead to the competitor gaining a more favourable handicap and thus being untouchable in the handicap races. Heading into 2007, Touring Car Challenge management had a desire to get back to the original concept, and also make the racing fairer and the results a little less predictable.

So, what are the changes: To achieve the goals outlined above, Touring Car Challenge management implemented a number of changes in the 2007 Sporting Rules.

Those are the key changes, and as you can see, they're targeted at ensuring the Touring Car Challenge remains a level playing field for all of the sub-categories, and that the racing continues to be close, exciting and fair.

The formation of the V8 Giants category is a key part of making sure the Touring Car Challenge continues to be what it was conceived as - an opportunity for a diverse range of Australian Touring Cars to compete to win. With the recent influx of V8 Supercars into the Touring Car Challenge, it is clear that the V8 Supercar sub-category has a continuous source of vehicles, whereas the other sub-categories have an essentially finite pool to draw from. Rather than allow the Touring Car Challenge to be dominated and taken over by ex-V8 Supercars into the future, V8 Giants should eventually be a category where some of the V8 Supercars can move to, to keep the distribution in the Touring Car Challenge reasonably even.

In 2007 V8 Giants is combined with the Touring Car Challenge, to ensure neither category suffers, and that both have the opportunity to grow to the point where they can exist independently.

No, absolutely not. Whilst there are a number of similarities between the two categories, they are two quite different and distinct entities. The Touring Car Challenge should be seen as a presitigious category, showcasing cars that have a strong racing history in Australia and around the world.

4. What does this all mean for the competitors in the Touring Car Challenge?

It means that 2007 will be an exciting year - the playing field has been evened out, everyone has a chance to win, and nobody can afford to be complacent. The real spirit of the Touring Car Challenge is back, and here to stay, into the future. For those competitors who may want to develop their cars even further, beyond the realms of their sub-category, V8 Giants may prove to be an excellent alternative.

Great racing, great diversity, great fields, and plenty of excitement. For anyone who hasn't been to an AMRS race meeting before, they really should get along in 2007 - the pits are very accessible, the teams are extremely friendly, and the racing is unbelievable! The 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series - Exciting. Affordable. Accessible. Racing the way its meant to be.

To access the full 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge Sporting Rules, please click here.

Power Plus Fuels proudly announces its entry into the V8 ranks. Power Plus fuels have chosen Formosa Motorsport driver, Darren Formosa to take his VX Commodore Supercar through the 2007 AMRS Touring Car Challenge and beyond. Power Plus Fuels (a subsidiary of Australian Contract Blenders and FUTA International) have for many years produced specialist racing fuels. Through this knowledge they have formulated a superior passenger car fuel, PowerPlus98. PowerPlus98 will provide motorists with a powerful engine fuel that reduces sulphur emissions by 65% and cleans fuel injectors, inlet manifolds, valves while at the same time produces more power than equivalent fuels.

This will be a big step-up for Darren Formosa who is the current Australian Motor Racing Series 3.3 litre HQ Kingswood champion for 2006. The team will be competing in the AMRS Touring Car Challenge, which was won last year by Terry Wyhoon. Darren is excited at the opportunity and is keen to take on the new adventure. Darren will be backed by an eager crew with some inclusions that have a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Round One of the Australian Touring Car Challenge will see Formosa's debut in the VX Commodore V8 Supercar, at Goulburn's Wakefield Park circuit, February 24-25. For more information on the Round, and other categories competing, visit the AMRS 2007 Round One page by clicking here.

Goulburn-based racer Tony Saliba is set to step up a gear in 2007, after landing a drive in a Super Tourer in the Australian Touring Car Challenge.

The jockey-sized Saliba, nicknamed Fangio, is well known for his flamboyant antics in the 2006 Production Touring Car Championship, where he raced his green Nissan Pulsar to win the Class C Championship, also managing to net 6th outright. The young driver has secured a deal to drive a Hyundai Lantra Super Tourer in the Australian Touring Car Challenge. The car was originally commissioned for the Australian Super Touring Championship by Hyundai Australia. It was previously campaigned by Paul Leabeater in the ASTC. The car is powered by a 2-litre, 4-cylinder engine with around 290hp (somewhat more than Tony's Pulsar!), driving through an Xtrac 6-speed sequential gearbox to the front wheels. Tony's learning year in the front-wheel drive Pulsar should stand him in good stead, and prove good preparation for the front-wheel drive Super Tourer.

Saliba will be up against a diverse field in 2007, with ex-V8 Supercars, Super Tourers, Future Tourers and Group A cars all eligible. And with a revamp of the points system, and checks and measures in place to avoid drivers attempting to gain a handicap advantage, the competition should be closer than ever for 2007 - the system is designed so that all cars in the field have a chance at overall victory. The system will favour consistency, and driving the car to it's limits. The revised sporting rules for the Touring Car Challenge for 2007 are available from the Competitor Info page.

Round One of the 2007 Australian Touring Car Challenge will take place 24-25 February, at Saliba's home track - Wakefield Park. For all the latest news and information, and to find out more about the other categories competing at the round, visit the official Australian Motor Racing Series website: www.amrs.net.au

The Australian Motor Racing Series is all about making racing exciting, affordable and accessible. To simplify the paperwork and documentation procedures associated with racing the AMRS introduced the Season Booklet for the 2006 season. Now the new and improved Season Booklet for the 2007 season has left the printers and is on it's way to competitors.

Look out for your copy in the post this week. If you have not received a copy by the end of the week, or if you have not been in touch with the AMRS previously to supply your postal details, request a copy by contacting AMRS management via email by clicking here.

If you'd like an electronic version of the booklet, you can download it by clicking here. (It is 60 pages, and an 8mb download so recommended only for high speed internet connections.) The electronic version will remain available via the brand new "Downloads" page accessible via the main menu on the left of the screen.

Entries open tomorrow (15 January) for Round One of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series to be held at Wakefield Park, 24-25 February.

As the start of the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series approaches, the AMRS management have delivered some great New Years news to competitors - Entry and Series registration fees have been lowered by 6% for 2007.

Competitors who register for the entire 2007 series, or for the total number of rounds they wish to compete at in 2007 will be eligible for the discounted rate.

AMRS directors Garry Willmington and Rod Dale say it is all a part of their ongoing plan to reduce costs to competitors and encourage exciting, accessible and AFFORDABLE racing.

In addition to the discounted fees, registered competitors receive product discounts from a number of suppliers, guaranteed entry and are eligible for points and other incentives in their respective category.

The AMRS is set for a big year in 2007, with 11 categories competing at up to 9 rounds at 6 different venues. To read more about the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series, visit www.amrs.net.au - Australian Motor Racing Series. Racing the way it's meant to be. Exciting. Affordable. Accessible.

Coming hot on the heels of the AMRS Expo is the announcement of the Category Calendars for the 2007 Australian Motor Racing Series. The 2007 AMRS Calendar was finalised some months ago, but the distribution of rounds to the various categories has just recently been completed, and with the announcement of several new categories for the 2007 AMRS comes the calendar for each category.

Joining the Touring Car Challenge for 2007 will be V8 Giants. V8 Giants is a brand new category, intended to promote a diverse range of cars and philosophies, each bringing different strengths and weaknesses. Larger capacity V8s are allowed, but bring a weight penalty and rev limit. Smaller capacity V8s may not boast the same power as the larger cars, but the lighter weight allowed with smaller engines should level the playing field, and should ensure close racing with plenty of overtaking.

In a building year, the V8 Giants will compete as part of the Australian Touring Car Challenge for 2007, with dedicated races coming as more cars are completed. The Australian Touring Car Challenge Calendar for 2007 is as follows:

The 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series Expo is set to provide an excellent introduction to the Motorsport scene for new competitors in the lead up to the 2007 season.

A Future in Motorsport: The Expo, to be held at the Wakefield Park circuit 17 December, will provide a wealth of information and displays to interested visitors. There are over 30 confirmed displays, with more to be finalised over the next two weeks. Amongst the displays, visitors to the AMRS Expo will find drivers, teams and category representatives, who will all be extremely approachable, and eager to pass on information. This is the perfect opportunity for anyone considering competing or participating in motorsport to have an up close look at the cars involved and to get the inside information on participating. The presentations will also offer experienced competitors the chance to expand their racing knowledge in the lead up to 2007.

Something for Everyone: Everybody is welcome, and those who prefer to remain spectators will be catered for too, with Speed Off the Streets open practice sessions where they can get a taste of racing by taking their road car around Wakefield Park, there will also be Hot Laps where visitors can take a ride in a race car with an experienced driver. The displays will also give spectators a chance to see race cars in all their detail.

The Australian Motor Racing Series Expo - Wakefield Park, 17 December. Admission is free. A $5 lunch special (sausage sandwich and cold drink) will be available at the track. Fees apply for Open Practice sessions (see www.wakefieldpark.com.au), Driver Instruction sessions ($200 in your car, $300 otherwise) and Hot Laps ($300 for 5 laps).

There are still limited slots available for displays, so if you are part of a team or business interested in showing your wares, get in touch today: rod@amrs.net.au

If you are a driver keen to join the list of those offering Hot Laps, you will need to contact the AMRS for conditions: rod@amrs.net.au

Australian Motor Racing Series. Racing the way it's meant to be. Exciting. Affordable. Accessible.

In what was a display of both maturity and consistency, youngster Brad Lowe captured the victory in the eighth and final round of the Speed off the Streets @ Wakefield Park supported Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) last weekend (November 25 – 26) which was held Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW).

Driving the # 25 Garry Willmington owned EL V8 Supercar, Lowe took out a comprehensive round victory, the very first of his career, by finishing all three races over the course of the weekend inside the top five. After a below par qualifying result of fifth, Lowe finished in that same position in the opening race, but he shined through in race two and three (under the handicap format) to finish with a second and a victory.

ATCC Championship front runners, Terry Wyhoon (# 99 AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and David Krause (# 79 VS Commodore V8 Supercar), endured tough weekends where after the pair finished first and second in the opening race, they didn’t register finishes inside the top three in either race two or three. However, despite a tough weekend, Wyhoon did enough to seal the ATCC championship for 2006 by placing third for the round.

The Speed Off the Streets @ Wakefield Park supported Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) will draw to a close this weekend (November 25 – 26) with the running of the eighth and final round at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway (NSW), and AU Falcon V8 Supercar runner Terry Wyhoon is the one in the box seat.

Wyhoon, who has led the series point standings from the opening round, holds down a 100 point advantage over his closest rival David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), and it is Krause and only Krause who can possibly deny Wyhoon of the ATCC series crown. Last year it was Wyhoon who finished a close second to ATCC series winner, Garry Willmington

Despite recording more round wins than Wyhoon (three in total), Krause hasn’t been able to match the consistency of Wyhoon. There is a slight chance that Krause could snatch the ATCC series, but he would have to rely on Wyhoon bowing out in the opening race and not participating in the remainder of the round, in addition to taking a clean sweep of all three races to seize the lead.

With the prime battle of the ATCC field taking place between Wyhoon and Krause, the likes of Brad Lowe (EL Falcon V8 Supercar), Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer), and Dean Neville (VT Commodore V8 Supercar) will be looking to upset the form guide in racing for podium places. Last round winner, Future Tourer racer Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore) is one not be to discounted after showing everyone a clean pair of heels at Calder Park Raceway (VIC) where he walked away with the inaugural Peter Brock Memorial trophy.

Being one of youngest drivers in the field, it will be 22-year-old Brad Lowe’s first time behind the wheel of the 2005 ATCC series wining EL Falcon V8 Supercar, owned by Garry Willmington, at the 2.2km Wakefield Park circuit. And Lowe is looking for nothing less than a maiden round victory, having finished the past two rounds on the podium. So could Wakefield Park be the occasion where he takes a round victory? Only time will tell.

Searle, the 2004 ATCC series winner, hasn’t been consistently challenged within the Super Tourer ranks, but has been put to the test on several occasions by Peter Kelly (BMW 320i) and Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406). Searle will no doubt be chasing a round victory at Wakefield Park: the very first of the year for him and the Super Tourers.

In the Future Tourers, Andrew Gillespie (XR8 II AU Falcon) and Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon) are locked in a two way for the ‘Future Tourer’ class series win. There is plenty of fierce rivalry between the drivers, as both have been involved in a number of on track incidents with each other throughout the series, and they are going to be leaving nothing in reserve at the final round. Gillespie is chasing a third consecutive ‘Future Tourer’ class win, and a top five result in the point standings overall.

Although not in contention for any of the series within the ATCC, drivers such as Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), John Burke (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Mark Telfer (VX Commodore Future Tourer), Richard Mork (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer), Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) and Luke Everson (EF Falcon Future Tourer) are all aiming to finish their year on

a solid note.

The ATCC series format will see qualifying and race one (scratch) and two (handicapped) conducted on Saturday November 25, and race three (handicapped) on Sunday November 26.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest ATCC news and information by visiting the official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway is considered to be one of Brad Lowe’s favourite circuits and when the eighth and final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) visits the 2.2.km circuit this weekend (November 25 – 26) Lowe hopes to be in victory lane.

Driving the # 25 ex Tony Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar (owned by Wakefield Park Raceway track manager Garry Willmington), the 22-year-old rising talent has his sights set on taking out the overall round.

Lowe has every right to be feeling confident of a win after scoring back-to-back podium places (third on both occasions) at Calder Park Raceway (VIC) late last month, in addition to achieving his very first V8 Supercar race win in the opening race of that weekend.

“There is no two ways about it, I’m heading to Wakefield Park with the intentions of taking out the round victory,” Lowe stated.

“Wakefield Park is a circuit I know quite well, and it’s the first occasion since I’ve joined the ATCC series that I’m going to a circuit that I am familiar with.”

Since joining the ATCC series in round four earlier this year, Lowe has increasingly built upon his speed and now feels comfortable in the V8 Supercar.

Now that I’m comfortable in the car, and at a circuit I know well, winning results are what I’m going to be chasing,” remarked Lowe.

“I’m not in contention for the ATCC series, so I’m going to be going all out to upstage the series front runners by taking out the round, and leading into the weekend everything looks in good shape.”

With the likes of experienced V8 Supercar drivers Terry Wyhoon and David Krause heading into the ATCC series finale as well, Lowe hopes to throw a spanner in the works and prove just why he is one of the brightest talents on the Australian motor racing scene.

One driver that everyone will be keeping a close eye on during the eighth and final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway this weekend (November 25 – 26) is Philip Groeneveld.

Driving his VS Commodore Future Tourer, Groeneveld (a resident of the South Coast township of Berry), upset the apple cart during the last round of the ATCC at Calder Park Raceway (VIC) when he took out the overall round victory.

What makes Groeneveld’s victory more remarkable than usual is that he is only in his first year of motor racing, and to defeat drivers that are much more experienced by astounding the ATCC regular winners circle. But no one could be more surprised than Groeneveld himself.

“Yeah, I didn’t go to Calder Park expecting to win, but for it to actually happen was naturally a wonderful surprise,” he admitted.

“This is my first year of competing in motor racing and I’ve loved every minute of it, and my results have been getting better with each outing.”

Heading into the final round, Groeneveld is third in the Future Tourer class and is placed inside the top10 of the outright ATCC point standings. Groeneveld knows very well that now he has a round victory under his belt that his rivals will be playing closer attention to him and his race tactics.

“In all seriousness everyone involved with the series has been very helpful, so that makes the racing that even more enjoyable.”

Groeneveld’s new aim is to secure third place overall in the Future Tourer class, and finish the series in one piece – but he refuses to rule out another overall round victory.

“It’s not going to be easy out there, as I now have a round win behind me, so there will be more attention on me.”

The ATCC series has not only displayed the fury of the Future Tourers class, but also that of the Super Tourers and V8 Supercars categories. Groeneveld, aided by the handicapped format in race two and three, is driving his way to the top to make a fair fist of things: now and in the not too distant future.

Terry Wyhoon and David Krause head to Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway this weekend, 24-26 November, to race in the eighth and final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) series for 2006.

Throughout the seven rounds of the ATCC held to date both Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) have battled hammer and tong, and have taken out three round wins a piece.

Wyhoon currently holds down a 100 point advantage over Krause and there is a strong probability that Krause will walk away from Wakefield Park Raceway with the ATCC Series crown.

“Wyhoon and Krause have fought it out throughout the series and it’s quite fitting that the series is going to be decided at the final round,” said Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) director and reigning ATCC series champion, Garry Willmington.

“Both drivers always perform strongly at Wakefield Park, and it’s great that they are Ford and Holden drivers.”

Wyhoon and Krause boast considerable experience in V8 Supercars over recent years, and neither will want to give each other an inch, especially around the tight confines of the Wakefield Park circuit.

“Wakefield Park always provides close racing, and Wyhoon and Krause will no doubt be apart of it,” said Willmington.

“Not only will Wyhoon and Krause have each other to contend with, but also a host of fired up drivers looking to finish the year on a solid note, including Brad Lowe, Dean Neville, Luke Searle and company.”

Gulf Western Racing teammates Terry Wyhoon and Peter Vicary will head into the eighth and final round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway this weekend (November 25 – 26) aspiring to finish the year on a successful note.

Driving the # 99 AU Falcon V8 Supercar, Wyhoon holds down an almost unbeatable lead of 100 points in the ATCC point standings ahead of closest rival and fellow V8 Supercar driver David Krause (VS Commodore), and it is understandable that he wants to the finish the series the way he started – with a round victory.

“I’ll make no secret about my plans heading into Wakefield Park and that is to wrap up the Championship by taking the round win,” said an upbeat Wyhoon.

“I have enjoyed a strong year and in my previous runs at Wakefield Park I have always been strong, and I hope that trend can continue.”

So far in 2006, Wyhoon has claimed two round victories in the ATCC series, and would like to add to that tally no doubt. In the second round of the series in April at Wakefield Park, Wyhoon finished second to Krause, but this time around he is out to settle the score.

“David got the better of me back in round two at Wakefield Park, so I’m aiming for that not to occur again,” Wyhoon emphasised.

“If all goes to plan, we should be right up there and David [Krause] will be up there with me too, but the main focus is to wrap up the series win especially after missing out last year and finishing second to Garry Willmington.”

Meanwhile, Wyhoon’s Gulf Western Racing teammate and team owner Peter Vicary, will make his return aboard his # 5 AU Falcon V8 Supercar to the ATCC series after missing out on the previous round at Calder Park Raceway (VIC).

Wakefield Park holds fond memories for Vicary as it is a circuit where he has tasted success in the past so he is hoping to finish a troublesome year inside the top five at the completion of the round.

“I have done the majority of my racing at Wakefield Park and in the two handicap races, I’ll be focusing on taking a win,” Vicary remarked.

“I know if I can get a good run through traffic, and minimize my mistakes, then there is a good chance of victory. This year my AU Falcon has struggled with reliability issues, but I feel my team has turned a corner in that respect and can finish inside the top five overall, maybe even picking up a race win or two in the process.”

To find out more about the Gulf Western Racing team visit their official website: www.GulfWestern.com.au

Before the seventh round of the Speed Off the Streets @ Wakefield Park Australian Touring Car Challenge, the question was asked: "can anyone stop the Wyhoon and Krause dominance?" And the answer was: YES!

In his debut year in the ATCC, Phil Groeneveld broken the dominance, and taken the round win, and in doing so made himself the inaugural recipient of the Peter Brock Memorial Trophy. Groeneveld is a popular character in the ATCC field, and his win proved equally popular. Filling the remainder of the podium were former ATCC Champion Luke Searle, and in third overall, the standout performer from race one, Brad Lowe.

It was a weekend of thrills and spills, and upsets for the series favourites Krause and Wyhoon. To read the full round report and view the results, click here.

To catch all the action on SBS Speedweek, tune in this Sunday, 5 November at 12 noon. The coverage will also be shown on the FoxSports programs Inside Speed and Full Noise the following week. Check your local TV guide for further details.

The Touring Car Challenge hits the track for the final round for 2006 in just on a months time, at Goulburn's Wakefield Park circuit - 24-26 November.

Well, that is the question on everyone’s lips as the seventh round of the Speed off the Streets @ Wakefield Park Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) heads to Calder Park Raceway (Melbourne, VIC) this weekend (October 28 – 29).

Both Wyhoon and Krause (driving the respective AU Falcon and VS Commodore V8 Supercars) have battled it out at the front of the field in the ATCC, and heading into the seventh and penultimate round, Wyhoon holds a 111 point lead over Krause. Wyhoon will definitely be looking to seal his series fate this weekend at Calder Park after narrowly missing out on the honours last year (finishing a close second behind Garry Willmington in the points chase).

The ATCC kicked off earlier this year at Calder Park Raceway and it was Wyhoon who dominated proceedings to take out the round win. However, it was Krause who was making his ATCC debut, showing glimpses of big promise in the process. Krause proved that he had what it takes to challenge Wyhoon. As the series has progressed, Krause refuses let anyone down, claiming two round wins so far.

Those drivers that shouldn’t be left out of the calculations include 2004 ATCC Series champion Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer), along with Dean Neville (VT Commodore V8 Supercar), and newcomers Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and Brad Lowe (EL Falcon V8 Supercar). All these drivers have the potential to be amongst the top three in the field. Calder Park is widely regarded as a circuit where top speed is necessary for the chance to taste success.

Other drivers in the 18 car field looking to put on a strong showing are Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), John Burke (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer).

In the Future Tourer battles, current series leader Andrew Gillespie (AU Falcon XR8 II) has been in solid form in recent rounds, but with arch rival Amin Chahda (BA GT Falcon), father and son duo of Ray (VX Commodore) and Shanan Sidebottom (VT Commodore) all in the mix, he has his work cut out for him. The Sidebottom family has made a number of appearances at selected rounds this year, and on those occasions the pair have been at the front of the field every time.

Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer), Luke Everson (EF Falcon Future Tourer) and Leigh Moran (VS Commodore Future Tourer) will complete the ATCC field battle it out around the 2.28km Calder Park Raceway circuit.

Latest Australian Touring Car Challenge Point Standings (after six completed rounds):

Keep up-to-date with all the latest Australian Touring Car Challenge news and information by visiting the official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com or the Calder Park Raceway website: www.Motorsport.com.au

With Calder Park's Round Seven fast approaching, amrs.net.au is proud to present a video preview for the penultimate round of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series. The video features highlights from the 2006 Series so far, and is recommended for broadband users due to the file size (15mb). To watch the video, click here, or visit the brand new AMRS Videos page by clicking here. The video will only be available for a limited time, so if you want to keep a copy, make sure you download it to your computer.

If any competitors have video they would like to see included on the AMRS Videos page, please contact the webmaster via email. Due to storage constraints, videos cannot be hosted by amrs.net.au, but we can link directly to videos stored on your own website, or stored free at YouTube.

Round Seven of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series heads to Calder Park 28-29 October. Click here for more details.

Winton Motor Raceway, Benalla – Victoria played host to the sixth round of the Speed off the Streets @ Wakefield Park supported Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) last weekend (August 26 – 27) and it was David Krause, driving his VS Commodore V8 Supercar, that claimed his third round victory of the year.

The next round of the Australian Touring Car Challenge will be held at Calder Park in Victoria, October 28 and 29.

Catch all the action from the latest round at Winton on SBS Speedweek, Sunday 10 September at 12 noon.

As the exciting, affordable and accessible Australian Motor Racing Series prepares to head to Winton Motor Raceway for Round 6, the Australian Touring Car Challenge has announced a new naming rights sponsor for the round - Speed off the Streets @ WAKEFIELD PARK will take over naming rights from the Citilink Construction Group.

All cars in the Touring Car Challenge will bear Speed off the Streets @ WAKEFIELD PARK on their windscreens, promoting the campaign by Garry Willmington and Wakefield Park to get speed off the streets, and provide a safe, affordable and exciting venue for drivers to explore the limits of their machines. As has been seen far too often, speeding on the streets can lead to accidents, and worse, and the Touring Car Challenge is proud to support Wakefield Park's campaign.

As Bruce Oaklands and the Citilink Construction Group shift their focus from sponsoring the category as a whole to sponsoring the two-car Citilink team, the Touring Car Challenge is grateful for the contribution over the first five rounds of the championship, and the continued contribution of Citilink to the series.

The Speed off the Streets @ WAKEFIELD PARK Touring Car Challenge will burst into action this weekend at Victoria's Winton Raceway. Unofficial practice takes place on Friday, with qualifying on Saturday and racing on Sunday.

A wet and wild Winton Motor Raceway greeted the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) in round three back in May, but for the upcoming sixth round at the circuit on the weekend of August 26 – 27 the drivers are hoping for much kinder weather conditions.

The driver everyone is out to get is current ATCC Championship Terry Wyhoon, and after dominating proceedings during the last round at Adelaide International Raceway in South Australia, along with the fact that Winton (near Benalla in Victoria), is his home test track, the driver of the # 99 AU Falcon V8 Supercar looks to be in good shape to take back-to-back round victories.

One driver keen on duplicating his Winton Raceway performance from May is Ray Sidebottom. After winning the previous Winton Motor Raceway round, the Future Tourer ace and his # 85 VX Commodore is looking to bag another round victory.

“Winton Motor Raceway is regarded as my home track, and back in May the weather conditions suited us down to a tee and resulted in us taking the round win,” Sidebottom said.

“If the track is dry then we will find it tough to keep those V8 Supercars at bay, but if the handicapping system is done right and a bit of luck goes our

way then another round victory is a strong possibility.”

Sidebottom’s son Shanan (# 84 VT Commodore Future Tourer) finished third at Winton Motor Raceway in May, and has his sights fixed on climbing the ranks.

“Yeah, our run at Winton Motor Raceway last time was pretty good and we ended up on the podium,” Shanan commented.

“The main aim for Dad and I is of course to attempt an outright win, but if that doesn’t occur, then winning the Future Touring class is next on the agenda and for me personally that is my main priority.”

Aside from Wyhoon, the likes of fellow V8 Supercar entrants David Krause (VS Commodore), Dean Neville (VT Commodore), Brad Lowe (EL Falcon), Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore), along with the return of both Richard Mork and John Burke (both VS Commodores), are bound to create plenty of concern for Wyhoon. Also not to be discounted is 2004 Champion Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer) and his fellow Super Touring drivers Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406) and Neil Byers (Nissan Primera).

Then there is a number of Future Tourers to contend with, which includes Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon), Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon), Mark

Telfer (VX Commodore), Leigh Moran, Shelton Loughrey, Luke Everson (EF Falcon) and Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore), who are the ones to look out for during the weekend, especially in the two handicap races.

After damaging the engine of his EL Falcon V8 Supercar at Queensland Raceway in June, Loughrey will step into the Neil Byers owned Mitsubishi Magna, whilst Moran makes a return for the first time since the opening round at Calder Park Raceway when he hurt the engine of his # 4 VS Commodore.

The 3 km Winton Motor Raceway circuit is going to create plenty of interesting racing over the weekend. It has been proven in the past that it is highly unpredictable in regards to the outcome of the round. Can the V8 Supercars prevail once again, or is a Future Tourer that gets up for another round victory? Or perhaps is it time for a Super Tourer to bag its maiden ATCC round victory for 2006.

Latest Australian Touring Car Challenge Point Standings (after five completed rounds):

Keep up-to-date with all the latest Australian Touring Car Challenge news and information by visiting the official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com or the Winton Motor Raceway website: www.WintonRaceway.com.au

A reminder that all the action from the fifth round of the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series will air over the next two weekends. This Sunday (6 August), tune into SBS Speedweek at 12 noon for all the Citilink Touring Car Challenge and Production Touring Car Championship action. Next Sunday (13 August), tune in to catch all the Formula 4000, Thunder Sports and 3.3 Litre Holden action.

The coverage will also be shown on Fox Sports Inside Speed, the Wednesday night following each Speedweek episode.

And for the next instalment of on-track action, it's a little under four weeks to wait, as Round Six hits Winton Raceway, August 26 and 27.

Current Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) Championship leader, Terry Wyhoon, extended the gap over his rivals in the overall Championship standings by taking out the fifth round at Adelaide International Raceway last weekend (July 8 – 9) driving his # 99 AU Falcon V8 Supercar.

Although Wyhoon was impressive, the gaggle of Future Tourer competitors in the form of Andrew Gillespie (XR8 II AU Falcon), Phillip Groeneveld (VS Commodore) and Mark Telfer (VX Commodore), all put in splendid efforts over the course of the weekend.

All three Future Tourer drivers showed plenty of pace around the 2.41 kilometre Adelaide International Raceway circuit, especially in the two handicapped races, and finished behind Wyhoon overall with Gillespie, Groeneveld and Telfer filling second through to fourth place respectively.

Wyhoon’ third ATCC round victory of 2006 has now seen the Victorian pull a handsome gap over his rivals in the Championship points table overall ahead of David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and 2004 ATCC Champion Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer).

A number of drivers were sidelined early in the weekend even before they had the opportunity to partake in qualifying, those being the Nissan Primera Super Tourer of Neil Byers (gearbox failure), and V8 Supercar runners Peter Vicary (gearbox) and Shelton Loughrey (engine failure).

Joining the ATCC field for this round were three cars from the Super TT category; they included Joe McGinnes (Ford Falcon XW GT), Wayne King (EA Falcon Saloon Car) and Craig Smith (EA Falcon Saloon Car).

The weekend officially commenced with an upset in qualifying when John Vergotis, driving his ex Glenn Seton AU Falcon V8 Supercar, posted a lap

time that kept him at the top of the time sheets and he outpaced previous round winner Krause, followed by Brad Lowe (EL Falcon V8 Supercar), Searle, Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and further down the order than usual was Wyhoon, who times during the session were only good enough for sixth. The best performing from the Future Tourers in qualifying was Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon) in eighth.

After starting from position two on the grid for the opening race (scratch race format), Krause was able to take advantage of his position and grab an immediate lead and from there onwards he never relinquished his lead over the entire 5 lap distance and took a comfortable win.

Coming in second was Championship leader Wyhoon, who after starting from the third row progressed through the field to end up second and holding down third place was pole sitter Vergotis ahead of Lowe, Searle, Oaklands, the best of the Future Tourers Groeneveld, Telfer, Gillespie and Chahda completing the Top 10 finishers. King was the best performing out of the Super TT cars and finished in 12 th.

VT Commodore V8 Supercar entrant Dean Neville suffered watts linkage (rear-end) problems and retired from the opening race.

In the second race, the first of two handicapped events, it was McGinnes that set the early pace in his XW GT Falcon and stayed out in front for a total of five laps before Groeneveld caught and powered into the lead, which was where he stayed until the final lap. After the disappointment of not

finishing race one, Neville hit the lead on the final lap after getting by Groeneveld and took victory ahead of Wyhoon and Groeneveld.

Outside the Top 3 was Gillespie in fourth, followed by Telfer, Searle, Krause, Vergotis, Chahda and in 10 th was Oaklands. McGinnes was the highest placed of the Super TT class in 11 th place. New South Wales based youngster Brad Lowe suffered tail shaft failure on the fourth lap in race two and retired the Garry Willmington owned ex Tony Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar.

The third and final race (10 laps) was marred by a safety car period, which by the ATCC rulebook states that if a safety car is deployed then half Championship points are awarded for that race.

After being on a high from his race two win, Neville was the cause for the safety car when he drove off the track on the third lap at the end of the main straight and beached himself in the sand trap. It was McGinnes and Luke Everson (EF Falcon Future Tourer) that set the early pace, shortly before Gillespie took control of the race on the third lap just as the safety car was brought out.

A handful of laps were spent behind the safety car as the crash recovery crew extricated Neville from the sand trap, and on the sixth lap racing resumed and it was Gillespie who headed the field. A number of the more heavily handicapped drivers took advantage of the safety car period and made their way through the bunched up field. Gillespie set a cracking pace as he did all in his power to be as smooth and fast as possible in order to make it hard for the faster cars to catch him.

As the laps dwindled down, a charging Wyhoon managed to get through to second place on the penultimate lap and it wasn’t until the final corner of the final lap Wyhoon took the lead away from Gillespie and recorded the win. Gillespie didn’t give up and there wasn’t much between Wyhoon and himself at the finish line, and following closely behind Gillespie was Lowe in third.

Mark Telfer put in a good performance to come home in fourth, and managed to finish ahead of Oaklands, Searle, Groeneveld, Chahda, Everson and the 10 th place finisher was Super TT racer McGinnes.

Casualties during the third race, aside from Neville, were Krause who tried in vain to fix a wheel problem and retired on lap eight. That same lap, Super TT driver King came off the track and made contact with the tyre wall, his race ended there and then.

At the completion of the round Wyhoon took out the overall honours ahead of Gillespie and Groeneveld. Class honours went to Wyhoon (V8 Supercars), Searle (Super Tourers), Gillespie (Future Tourer) and McGinnes (Super TT).

The sixth round of the ATCC will see a return to Winton Raceway in Victoria on August 26 – 27.

All the action from Adelaide International will air on SBS Speedweek, Sunday 6 August at 12 noon, along with the PTCC. Tune in the following week, 13 August to catch the F4000s, Thunder Sports and 3.3 Litre Holdens.

The battle for the lead in the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) is set to continue in round five at Adelaide International Raceway (AIR) this weekend (July 8 – 9) where Championship heavyweights, Terry Wyhoon and David Krause, are primed to resume their battle for the ATCC honours.

A total of 70 points separates leader Wyhoon, who returns to the seat of the ex Craig Lowndes AU Falcon V8 Supercar after running the Dean Neville VT Commodore V8 Supercar at the previous round, and Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar). The latter recently announced that he has gained the support of Citilink Construction Group proprietor Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) for the remainder of the Championship and will be decked out in identical colours to Oaklands.

Now that Krause and Oaklands have joined forces this has allowed Krause to concentrate on chasing down current Championship leader Wyhoon in the remaining four rounds of the ATCC.

The 2.41 kilometre AIR circuit is going to be a battle of horsepower between Wyhoon and Krause, and a host of others which is certainly going to

make for some exciting racing. There are similar traits to the AIR circuit with Calder Park Raceway and Queensland Raceway. A technical layout, which has high speed and challenging sections, along with a one kilometre main straight, AIR has a little bit of everything.

Apart from the battle at the top of the ATCC Championship tree, the battle for third place is well and truly alive between 2004 ATCC Champion Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer), who is placed third and 70 points between him and eighth placed Oaklands.

Drivers in-between Searle and Oaklands include Dean Neville (VT Commodore V8 Supercar), John Vergotis (# 26 AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and Victorian driver Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), and all of the above mentioned drivers are aiming to get amongst the pointy end of the field in order to claim a maximum points haul.

A spate of bad luck, which has included missing an entire round due to engine failure, sees Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer) languishing in ninth overall in the Championship point standings and despite being out of contention for the overall Championship, it won’t stop Kelly from chasing his maiden round victory.

In the Future Tourers, both Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon) and Amin Chahda (GT BA Flacon) are seeded 10 th and 11 th respectively in the overall Championship and they are on top of their class at the half-way mark of the Championship. There is no love lost between Gillespie and Chahda after a number of panel rubbing incidents thus far, and with only a mere 6 points between the pair neither driver will be leaving anything in reserve.

Other Future Tourer competitors looking to get up there with both Gillespie and Chahda are Phillip Groeneveld (VS Commodore) and Mark Telfer (VX Commodore). So far this year Groeneveld and Telfer have shown plenty of sparks and shouldn’t be discounted to cause an upset. Newcomer Luke Everson (EF Falcon) is improving with each outing and looks destined to continue that trend.

The extremely versatile and talented Brad Lowe is eager to build on his debut in the Garry Willmington owned ex Tony Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar at the previous round. Despite being hampered by gearbox woes, 20-year-old Lowe, who competes in the National Formula Ford Championship, showed a lot of promise. With the gearbox drama fixed in the Willmington car expect to see Lowe challenging for positions at the front of the field.

Consistency has been something that Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) has enjoyed so far this year and he currently sits 12 th in the ATCC Championship point standings. Loughrey will work towards a Top 10 result and going by his form it’s more than achievable.

Both Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) and Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) haven’t had a lot of success in the opening four rounds and hope to break their run of misfortune. Vicary makes his return to the ATCC after missing the previous round due to getting his engine completely rebuilt.

With none of the nominated drivers having any previous experience around the AIR circuit, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see who comes out on top in round five of the ATCC Championship.

The Latest Australian Touring Car Challenge Championship Point Standings (after four completed rounds):

To obtain further information about the Touring Car Challenge visit their official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

Victory in the fourth round of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) at Queensland Raceway last weekend (June 3 – 4) has seen David Krause close the gap in the ATCC Championship point standings to leader Terry Wyhoon.

The Sydneysider, who steers an ex Perkins Motorsport VS Commodore V8 Supercar, took the round honours in strong fashion after recording consistent Top 3 finishes of a third, a win and a second in all three races, whilst Krause’ main threats in the form of Ryan McLeod (VX Commodore V8 Supercar), Wyhoon (VT Commodore V8 Supercar) and Brad Lowe (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) all suffered various forms of misfortune.

Krause was a deserving winner nonetheless due to being at the pointy end of the field throughout the weekend. After finishing the opening race in fourth, current ATCC Championship leader Wyhoon suffered rear axle failure in the Dean Neville owned VT Commodore on the opening lap of the second race. Some hasty work by the Image Racing team saw Wyhoon take his place on the grid for race three where he finished in third.

Both McLeod and Lowe made their first appearances in ATCC for 2006. McLeod, the son of 1987 Bathurst 1000 winner Peter, was steering a former Holden Young Lions VX Commodore and was quick from the outset around Queensland Raceway by qualifying on pole position, winning the opening race and finishing third race two. Misfortune struck in the third race for McLeod after suffering power steering dramas

and retired costing him a likely round victory.

For Lowe, who was making his second ATCC round after competing in the opening round back in 2004 with Mumbo Racing, jumped into the EL Falcon V8 Supercar of reigning ATCC Champion Garry Willmington and was quite impressive. After qualifying second, 21-year-old Lowe finished second in the opening race, but for race two and three endured gearbox problems in the ex Tony Longhurst car and as a result finished in fifth and 12 th respectively.

Earlier in the weekend it was McLeod who paced the field in Saturday’s qualifying session with a best lap of 1:15.3823 around the 3.13 kilometre circuit ahead of Lowe (1:15.8559), Krause (1:16.6246), BMW 320i Super Tourer driver Luke Searle (1:17.0011) and in fifth was Wyhoon (1:17.0316). The best of the Future Tourers was Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer) in ninth outright with a 1:20.4044.

The weekends of Neil Byers, Bryce Peter-Budge, the returning Brendan Julius and Dean Neville all suffered premature endings. For Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) he was forced to head back home due to sudden personal commitments, while Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), Julius (Toyota Camry Super Tourer) and Neville (VS Commodore Future Tourer) all suffered engine issues.

In the opening race, a 5-lap scratch event, McLeod blitzed the field from start to finish easily defeating Lowe, Krause, Wyhoon and Searle in the process. After qualifying 14 th John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) made his way up to finish in seventh behind Citilink Construction Group proprietor and ATCC Championship sponsor Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and ahead of Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer), Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) and Chahda in 10 th.

Queensland ’s Daniel Natoli made his first appearance in the ATCC but after qualifying 15 th in the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer he failed to start the opening race due to a clutch malfunction.

The second race of the weekend was marred by two safety car periods that saw most of the 7 lap distance completed behind the safety car. Without a lap completed Wyhoon suffered rear axle fail and this brought out the safety car as the recovery crew removed his stricken VT Commodore from the track. At the restart it was Luke Everson (EF Falcon Future Tourer) who led away and was closely followed by Natoli (who had started from the pit lane due to his clutch dramas).

Natoli on the fourth lap made his way into the lead after getting by Everson and soon after the safety car was deployed due to Searle beaching

himself in the sand trap. This occurred after Vergotis and Searle made contact which saw the latter come off second best. A closely following Loughrey was forced to take evasive action to evade contact with Vergotis by going into the sand trap. Although Loughrey was able to avoid getting beached in the sand trap he retired back to the pits after damaging the radiator of the ex Paul Weel car.

Once the Searle car was removed from the sand trap he was able to re-join the tail of the field for the one lap sprint to the chequered flag. With Natoli leading, the long straights of Queensland Raceway were going to make it difficult for the Gold Coast based driver to hold out the V8 Supercars.

Despite his best efforts Natoli was unable to contain the pace of the V8 Supercars and dropped down the field. At the fall of the chequered flag Krause took the victory followed by Vergotis, McLeod, Kelly, Lowe, Oaklands, Natoli, Everson, Chahda, and in 10 th was Andrew Gillespie (AU Falcon XR8 II Future Tourer).

It was all the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer of Natoli in the third and final race of the round which saw him rocket away from his front starting handicap position, although having to start from the pit lane, and was never headed despite the field closing in on him in the final stages of the nine lap journey.

Krause secured his second round victory of the year with second place behind Natoli in the third race with Wyhoon getting up for third place ahead of

Vergotis, an impressive Gillespie, Kelly, Searle, Chahda, Oaklands and Philip Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer) in 10 th.

Power steering problems saw McLeod retire back to the pit enclosure on the fourth lap.

The overall round podium saw Krause ahead of Vergotis and Natoli, whilst the class honours were claimed by Krause (V8 Supercars), Kelly (Super Tourers) and Chahda (Future Tourers).

Round five of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge travels to Adelaide International Raceway in South Australia on July 8 – 9.

To keep up-to-date with the latest news and information on the ATCC visit their official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

Current Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) Championship leader, Terry Wyhoon, has been forced to campaign the VT Commodore normally driven by Dean Neville for the fourth round at Queensland Raceway this weekend (June 3 – 4) after his regular AU Falcon V8 Supercar has succumb to engine woes.

In a minor setback for Wyhoon who goes into the fourth round with a 110 point lead in the ATCC Championship point standings ahead of arch-rival David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar). This might just be the opportunity for Krause to make amends after a disappointing run at the previous round at Winton Raceway in Victoria, which saw Wyhoon stretch his lead after he finished second overall behind Future Tourer racer Ray Sidebottom.

A field of 17 cars have nominated for the fourth round with a total of six V8 Supercars, six Super Tourers and five Future Tourers primed for battle around the 3.13km circuit.

Out of the 17 car field Wyhoon, Krause, Luke Searle and Andrew Gillespie have previous experience around the Queensland Raceway circuit. The Queensland 500 in 2001 was the last occasion Wyhoon drove at the circuit, whilst for Krause his one and only run was in round six of the 2004 V8 Supercar Series when he drove a Paul Weel Racing VX Commodore. Both Searle (Super Touring) and Gillespie (Future Touring) competed at the venue back in 2002 as part of the Pro Series.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Wyhoon fares in the unfamiliar VT Commodore and it was in 2001 when he last drove a Holden at a competition level. The likes of Krause, Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer) and Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer) will be looking to reduce the lead of Wyhoon’s and this just might be the perfect opportunity to do so.

Currently sitting fifth in the overall ATCC Championship standings, 2004 Title holder Searle is starting to find his true form and he’s looking to find his way onto the podium at Queensland Raceway. Meanwhile, Searle’s team-mate, Kelly, is another capable front runner, but he hasn’t made the best of starts to the year after suffering an engine failure in round two.

So far in 2006 Neville has been very consistent and continues to develop more and more speed and his results indicate this in his VT Commodore V8 Supercar. For this round, Neville steps back into his VS Commodore Future Tourer from last year after allowing Wyhoon to run his regular car.

Despite missing a round, John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) has drove very impressively so far this year and it’ll be interesting to see if he can continue his current form at the Queensland Raceway, a circuit that might suit the driver of the former Glenn Seton car.

Defending ATCC Champion Garry Willmington makes a return at Queensland Raceway and will be steering his ex Tony Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar. In his ATCC debut for 2006, Brendan Julius takes to the track in his Toyota Camry Super Tourer.

Those drivers looking to make their mark in the handicap races are Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar), Andrew Gillespie (AU Falcon XR8 II Future Tourer), Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer), Phillip Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer), Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) and youngster Luke Everson (EF Falcon Future Tourer).

A yet to be named driver has also been nominated in the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer.

The handicapping system so far in 2006 has produced plenty of spectacular, yet controversial, racing.

Queensland Raceway is renowned as a horsepower circuit and that is certainly going to be in the favour of the V8 Supercar competitors.

The format for the ATCC is practice and qualifying on Saturday and for Sunday racing will commence with a five lap scratch race (grid positions decided by qualifying) followed by the two handicap (fastest to the rear of the grid) races over 10 and 12 lap distances respectively.

To find out more about the ATCC and Queensland Raceway visit the official ATCC website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

Victorian Ray Sidebottom, driving his VX Commodore, became only the second Future Tourer driver in the history of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) to take an outright round victory last weekend (May 6 – 7) at Winton Raceway.

After missing Saturday’s practice / qualifying sessions, Sidebottom Snr was forced to start the opening race from the rear of the field and at the completion of the 5-lap distance finished in 9 th. In the two handicapped races, over 7 and 9 laps respectively, Sidebottom recorded a second and a win which was good enough to claim the round victory overall ahead of Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer).

Sidebottom kept his cool in wet and very cold weather conditions to come out on top around the 3.0km Winton circuit and became only the second Future Tourer driver to win an outright round since Andrew Gillespie’s breakthrough round win last year at Phillip Island Raceway.

Sydney based David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) started the weekend like a house on fire setting new lap records in practice and qualifying on Saturday. However, in the wet weather conditions Krause struggled and failed to figure prominently, which saw the 27-year-old lose valuable points in the overall ATCC standings to leader Wyhoon.

The ex Perkins Motorsport VS Commodore of Krause dominated both practice sessions along with qualifying and in the process set a new lap record for the ATCC with a 1:27.7294 qualifying lap that was unable to be matched. Searle was the next best in official qualifying with a 1:28.0068 lap followed by Wyhoon (1:28.7111), Peter Kelly (1:29.0067), Bryce Peter-Budge (1:29.1334), John Vergotis (1:29.2845), Dean Neville (1:30.1782), Shelton Loughrey (1:30.4335), John Burke (1:30.7949) and Future Tourer driver Amin Chahda (1:32.4583) was 10th.

Veteran Richard Mork suffered mechanical woes with his ex Perkins Motorsport VS Commodore in Saturday’s practice sessions, which consequently eliminated him from the remainder of the round. Ray Sidebottom (VX Commodore Future Tourer) didn’t contest either practice

session or qualifying and only appeared in Sunday’s three races.

Wet and cold weather conditions invaded Winton Raceway for Sunday’s three ATCC races and it produced three different winners from three different classes, with Searle (Super Tourer), John Burke (V8 Supercar) and Ray Sidebottom (Future Tourer) all collecting wins.

In the opening race (5 laps), the scratch race (that goes off qualifying results – fastest to the front) saw Searle take victory after he started from the outside of the front row and led the entire 5-laps to take victory ahead of Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer) who held down second from the

outset, whilst Wyhoon finished third.

Behind the Top 3 came Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer) in fourth ahead of pole sitter Krause, Neville, Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer), Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Ray Sidebottom and in 10 th was Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer).

Shelton Loughrey, driving an ex Paul Weel EL Falcon V8 Supercar, was running as high as sixth in an impressive performance before he was forced to retire on the final lap.

With the wet conditions continuing for the second race, under the handicap format, VS Commodore V8 Supercar driver John Burke handled the conditions impressively to lead the entire 7 laps while the battling pair of Ray Sidebottom and Peter-Budge finished strongly behind Burke.

After suffering the disappointment of a non-finish in the opening race, Loughrey drove strongly to finish in fourth ahead of Wyhoon, Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Kelly, Andrew Gillespie (AU XR8 II Falcon Future Tourer), Byers and the struggling Krause back in 10 th.

Future Tourer pilot Chahda started the race strongly, running inside the Top 3 for a number of laps, only to be forced out on the fifth lap. Luck eluded Luke Everson (EF Falcon Future Tourer) in race two after the youngster failed to record a single lap.

In the ATCC third and final race (9-laps handicapped format) of the weekend it was Phillip Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer) who set the pace and led up until lap 7 on a drying track surface. It was then former car owner of the Groeneveld VS Commodore, Ray Sidebottom, who demoted him of the leading position and went on to take victory in race three along with the overall round victory.

A hard charging Wyhoon managed to work his way up to second at the fall of the chequered flag ahead of Shanan Sidebottom (VX Commodore Future Tourer), Searle, an impressive Groeneveld, Neville, Vergotis, Kelly, Loughrey and race two winner Burke, who rounded out the Top 10.

Misfortune struck Krause (lap 6), AU Falcon V8 Supercar driver Peter Vicary (lap 4) and Peter-Budge (lap 2), all failing to complete the race three distance.

ATCC round honours overall went to Ray Sidebottom ahead of Wyhoon and Searle. While the class wins were shared between Ray Sidebottom (Future Tourers), Wyhoon (V8 Supercars) and Searle (Super Tourers).

Round 4 of the ATCC is to be held at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich on the weekend of June 3 - 4.

The battle between Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) heavyweights, Terry Wyhoon and David Krause, is set to intensify when the third round hits Winton Raceway in Victoria on the weekend of May 6 – 7.

V8 Supercar combatants, Wyhoon (AU Falcon) and Krause (VS Commodore), are separated by 37 points in the current ATCC Championship standings with both drivers sharing one round victory a piece. For Wyhoon, he is no stranger to the Winton circuit after it was his nominated test track back in his Konica V8 Supercar Series day, while 27-year-old Sydneysider, Krause, has no previous experience.

However, despite their contrasting levels of experience around Winton, the battle is certainly going to be one not to be missed. Apart from the two above mentioned drivers they are just the tip of the iceberg in the nominated 20-car field.

The 3km circuit, which consists of a number of long straights which will allow the drivers to really show their power, but at the same time they must be wary of the tight sections, which can cause plenty of grief if they are not given enough respect.

After finishing third a fortnight ago in the second round at Wakefield Park Raceway, Dean Neville (VX Commodore V8 Supercar) is looking to move up a few positions on the podium and with the handicapping system in race two and three, there is a good chance that the second year racer can achieve that.

Inaugural 2004 ATCC Champion Luke Searle (BMW 320i Super Tourer) is another driver shooting for that elusive round victory for 2006. Blue Mountains (NSW) based John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) was a non-starter at Wakefield Park and after a podium placing at the opening round the driver of the former Glenn Seton car is hoping for a similar performance.

The Father and Son duo of Ray and Shanan Sidebottom (both VX Commodores) are fired up to take on their home track in the potent Future Tourers and neither should be discounted in terms of challenging for podium positions. Fellow Future Tourer rivals Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon), Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon), Mark Telfer (VX Commodore), newcomers Phil Groeneveld (VS Commodore) and Luke Everson (EF Falcon) will be chasing a successful weekends.

Bad luck has hampered 2006 so far for Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer) and Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar). Kelly suffered engine failure in the round two, while Vicary has been struck down by mystery engines fires and has slotted in his spare engine for Winton. Both drivers are hoping to put their bad starts to the year behind them.

Victorian based Bryce Peter-Budge, aboard his Peugeot 406 Super Tourer, has enjoyed a wonderful start to the year and if his current form is any indication a spot on the podium isn’t out of reach. V8 Supercar campaigners Richard Mork (VS Commodore), John Burke (VS Commodore), Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore) and Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon) all have their sights on continuing their competitive starts to the year.

The ATCC makes its return to Winton Raceway for the first time since June 2004 when Terry Wyhoon, driving an ex John Bowe EL Falcon, dominated proceedings with two race wins, while the race winners was Future Tourer driver Andrew Gillespie. Also impressive on that weekend were Bryce Peter-Budge, Ray and Shanan Sidebottom and Shelton Loughrey.

This weekend’s events will see open practice held on Friday, followed by official practice and qualifying on Saturday, and then on Sunday three races are to be run consisting of a 6-lap scratch race, followed by two handicap races over a distance of 10 and 12 laps respectively.

Latest Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge Point Standings (after two rounds):

Keep up-to-date with the latest Australian Touring Car Challenge news and information by visiting their official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com or the official Winton Raceway website: www.WintonRaceway.com.au

VS Commodore V8 Supercar driver David Krause last weekend (April 22 & 23) took out the second round of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) on a track, Wakefield Park Raceway – Goulburn – NSW, that he hadn’t done a lot of racing around previously, but by the end of weekend he was more than accustomed to.

The 27-year-old from the Sydney suburb of Gladesville proved too strong around the 2.2km Wakefield Park circuit and upstaged his more fancied

rivals, current ATCC Championship leader Terry Wyhoon and 2004 Champion Luke Searle.

After qualifying third, Krause finished his three races with 2 seconds and a victory in third and final race and took the round honours ahead his nearest rival all weekend Wyhoon, and in third overall was the # 69 VX Commodore V8 Supercar driven by Dean Neville.

The weekend kicked off with Saturday’s practice and qualifying and it was Wyhoon who was the form driver in both se

ssions. In qualifying Wyhoon posted a best lap of 1:01.5488 and therefore earnt the right to start Sunday morning’s opening race from pole position. The next best behind Wyhoon was Searle (1:02.7464), Krause (1:03.2923), the stunning performance of Future Tourer racer Mark Telfer (1:04.5295) and completing the Top 5 was Bryce Peter-Budge (1:04.8836).

ATCC front runner Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer), along with the returning Adam Proctor (Ford Mondeo Super Tourer) were both sidelined with engine problems in Friday’s practice and took no further part in the weekend, which robbed the round of two exciting drivers.

The opening race of the weekend, a 6 lap scratch, on Sunday morning was taken out by Wyhoon, who led from pole position and was never headed. Krause finished strongly in second ahead of Searle, John Burke (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), Telfer (VX Commodore Future Tourer), Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) and the Future Tourers of Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon) and Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon) in 9 th and 10 th respectively.

Drama in race one struck Dean Neville who suffered gearbox failure on the starting grid and didn’t start, while Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar)

on the second lap had an engine fire and pulled off the track. This fire brought out the safety car as the fire rescue crew came to the aid of Vicary who was attempting to put the fire out with an extinguisher.

A new handicapping format was trialed for the second race of the weekend. After being sidelined with gearbox failure in the opening race, Neville was able to take his place due to obtaining the gearbox from the Peter Vicary AU Falcon, with the latter out for the weekend after the engine fire in race one.

Neville dominated the second race after leading the entire 10-lap distance and took a comprehensive win over Krause, who had worked his way

through the field and finished ahead of Burke and Wyhoon. Peter-Budge drove strongly in fifth, followed by Searle, Group-A competitor Richard Prince, Loughrey, Richard Mork (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and in 10 th was Chahda.

Newcomer Luke Everson had a forgettable second race after the youngster performed two separate spins at various parts of the circuit and was not classified as a finisher after failing to complete 75 % of the race distance.

The strong weekend of Future Tourer racer Telfer came to an end during race two when mechanical woes forced him out at half race distance and he

failed to take part in the race three. Veteran Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) was another driver that failed to finish, he had a spin on lap 6, and was then clipped by another car as he returned to the circuit – the collision forced the wheel arch onto his left rear tyre and Neil was forced to pull off the circuit.

For the third and final race of the weekend, ATCC officials reverted back to the normal handicapping format and it certainly worked a treat as it turned on plenty of exciting racing over the 12-lap journey.

Newcomer Phil Groeneveld (VS Commodore Future Tourer) set the pace and led up until the penultimate lap in a fine drive.

Back markers, Krause and Wyhoon, fought tooth and nail through dense traffic. There were a number of close calls as they battled for track position, in particular mid race when they entered turn two and contact was made which sent Wyhoon sideways. Luckily, Wyhoon was able to control the car in the power slide and avoid a potentially nasty crash.

In the closing laps Krause was able to break away from the Wyhoon challenge in traffic and power to a good win. Krause managed to defeat

Wyhoon, Neville, Searle, Chahda, a very consistent Loughrey, Peter-Budge, Burke, Gillespie and Everson, who completed the Top 10.

After such an inspiring performance out in front, Groeneveld retired to the pits with engine problems shortly after losing command. Mork was another sidelined after his sick sounding VS Commodore was pulled to the side off the track on the seventh lap.

Overall honours went to a very thrilled Krause ahead of fellow V8 Supercar rivals Wyhoon and Neville. Class wins were snared by Krause (V8

Supercars), Searle (Super Tourers), Chahda (Future Tourers) and Prince (Group A).

Krause has now closed the gap slightly in the ATCC Championship to current leader Wyhoon, and has his sights set firmly on taking out the Championship.

“Since we joined the Championship our aim has been to take it out and after this round win this has only given us more confidence that we can achieve it,” stated Krause.

“I haven’t done a lot of racing around Wakefield Park and as the weekend progressed, the quicker we became. It’s just such an incredible feeling

taking out my first ATCC round victory.”

Krause continued on by saying that he has really enjoyed racing his ex Perkins Motorsport VS Commodore in the first two ATCC rounds.

“The ATCC allows us to compete on a budget and it’s a very relaxed atmosphere,” he commented.

“Although I’d dearly like to get back into racing in the V8 Supercar Series we simply just don’t have the budget to do so and the advantage of the ATCC is that it’s very cost effective.”

Winton Raceway is the venue for round three of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge and is to be held on the weekend of May 6 – 7.

Latest Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge Point Standings (after two rounds):

Keep up-to-date with the latest Australian Touring Car Challenge news and information by visiting their official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge Battle Set to Intensify at Wakefield Park

Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway will this weekend (April 22 & 23) play host to the second round of the 2006 Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge and the going is sure to get tougher for current Championship leader, Terry Wyhoon.

The driver of the # 99 AU Falcon V8 Supercar dominated proceedings at the opening round at Calder Park Raceway, but the tight nature of the 2.2km Wakefield Park circuit has traditionally evened up the competition somewhat and been of benefit to the Super Tourer and Future Tourers drivers.

A field of 20 cars has nominated for the second round, which will include the first appearance in 2006 of Adam Proctor (Super Tourer) and Richard Prince (Group A). Both drivers are sure to add some spice to the field this weekend.

Aside from current Championship leader Wyhoon, other drivers that will be looking to get amongst the winners circle include: Matthew Hunt (V8 Supercar), Dean Neville (V8 Supercar), David Krause (V8 Supercars), Luke Searle (Super Tourer), Peter

Kelly (Super Tourer) and a host of others.

After finishing a solid second behind Wyhoon at the opening round, Blue Mountains based John Vergotis is a scratching from this round. The driver of the former Glenn Seton AU Falcon has personal commitments and will not be able to make the trek to Wakefield Park.

Last year Matthew Hunt proved his speed by taking out his first round victory since joining the Australian Touring Car Challenge driving his # 38 VS Commodore V8 Supercar and will be looking to repeat that performance. At the opening round, Hunt showed plenty of pace, but mechanical woes let him down and saw him fail to figure prominently after earlier in the weekend qualifying on pole position.

Amongst the V8 Supercar entrants are Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore), Richard Mork (VS Commodore), Peter Vicary (AU Falcon), John Burke (VS Commodore) and local Shelton Loughrey ( EL Falcon).

The BMW Super Tourers of Searle and Kelly are sure to be on top of their game at Wakefield Park and as has been proven in the past, they are more than capable of taking the outright honours. Youngster Adam Proctor (Ford Mondeo Super Tourers) has showed that he is no slouch around Wakefield Park and should be one to keep an eye on. Lining up for the first time in the ATCC will be Andy Dickens, aboard the Mumbo Racing Ford Mondeo Super Tourer.

Super Tourer class winner at the opening round, Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 206), is hoping for another good run, while Neil Byers (Nissan Primera) is returning to the track after suffering a premature end to the weekend due to mechanical dramas in round one.

In the Future Tourers, the likes of Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon), Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon) and Mark Telfer (VX Commodore) are all ready to challenge at the pointy end of the field during the handicap races. Newcomers Phil Groeneveld (VS Commodore) and Luke Everson (EL Falcon) want to continue their learning curves and build up more speed.

The lone Group A in this weekend’s field is the Volvo 240 Turbo driven by Richard Prince.

Keep up to date with all the latest news and information regarding the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge log onto the official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

For more information on the Wakefield Park round, including admission fees, how to get to the circuit, and what to look out for, visit the Round Two page here.

Gulf Western Oils Continue Support of Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge into 2006

The 2005 naming-rights sponsor of the Australian Touring Car Challenge stepped aside at the beginning of 2006 - passing the naming-rights reins to Citilink Construction Group. But Peter Vicary of Gulf Western Oils has put his hand up to continue his company's support for the Touring Car Challenge into 2006. The round winner of each sub category (ex-V8 Supercar, Super Touring, Future Touring and Group A) for the remaining seven rounds of 2006 will be awarded a $250 open order for oil product from the Gulf Western Oil range.

All cars in the Touring Car Challenge will bear a number plate sized Gulf Western Oil sticker, in recognition of the continued support from Gulf Western Oil.

Round Two of the 2006 Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge will burst onto the Wakefield Park circuit in two weeks time. A number of competitors will be looking to improve on their Round One performance, and haul back Terry Wyhoon's early points lead. For all the information on the Wakefield Park round, click here.

A final reminder that the TV coverage from Round One of the AMRS will commence this weekend, on SBS Speedweek 12 noon, Sunday 2 April, with the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship and Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge featuring.

The following weekend, Sunday 9 April, all the action from Fantastic Furniture Kingswood Racing, Thunder Sports and Production Touring Car Championship, will screen at 12 noon.

In a new timeslot for 2006, the repeat of the coverage on FoxSports Inside Speed will now be shown the Wednesday following the Speedweek episode, at 8.30pm. For Round One, part one, watch FoxSports 5 April. For Round One, part two, watch FoxSports 12 April.

The TV coverage from Round 1 is expected to air on SBS Speedweek 12 noon, Sunday 2 April and Sunday 9 April.

The 2 April program will feature the Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship, and the Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge. This program will also be shown on FoxSports InsideSpeed, Thursday 6 April.

The 9 April program will feature the Production Touring Car Championship, the Thunder Sports and the Fantastic Furniture Kingswoods. The coverage will also be shown on FoxSports InsideSpeed, Thursday 13 April.

After being bitterly disappointed in 2005, Terry Wyhoon has kicked off his 2006 Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge (ATCC) campaign in the best possible fashion by rocketing to an opening round victory last weekend (March 18 & 19) at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway.

Making his first in the former Matthew White AU Falcon V8 Supercar, Wyhoon managed to overcome early setup dramas to score two victories and a second over the three races and this got his 2006 assault off on the right foot defeating fellow V8 Supercar racers John Vergotis and ATCC first timer David Krause.

Both Matthew Hunt and Wyhoon dominated proceedings on Saturday. Wyhoon came out for practice quick from the word go and posted the fastest lap of the session ahead of Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and 2004 ATCC Champion Luke Searle (BMW 318i Super Tourer). In qualifying later that afternoon Hunt emerged the fastest with a best lap of 0:59.4586 ahead of Wyhoon (1:002341), Vergotis (1:00.5620), Peter Kelly (1:01.1922) and defending ATCC Title holder Garry Willmington (1:01.2973) in fifth.

Peter Kelly (Super Tourer) and local Andrew Gillespie (Future Tourer) were the fastest in their respective categories with fourth (1:01.1922) and ninth (1:03.4763) respectively outright in the 21-car field.

Bad luck followed Leigh Moran when the Future Tourer racer blew the engine of his VS Commodore after only five laps of practice and was sidelined for the remainder of the weekend. Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar) was unable to contest qualifying due to an engine fire that developed when he started up his car in the pits.

For the opening race on Sunday morning, which was a 6 lap scratch race, saw Hunt start from pole position alongside Wyhoon. After trying valiantly to fix a clutch problem that occurred in qualifying, Hunt was hampered by this problem for the remainder of the weekend after his team were unable to fix the issue. This made the starts off the line particularly interesting for Hunt as he was unable to get off the line as easy as his rivals due to the clutch malfunction.

Despite this hindrance Hunt managed to get off to a clean start in race one and give Wyhoon a run for his money off the line, but by the time they entered turn one Wyhoon had pulled into the lead. After a brave fight, Hunt on old tyres was unable to keep with Wyhoon, who had fresh tyres.

At the fall of the chequered flag of the 6-lap journey Wyhoon was a comfortable winner over Hunt, Vergotis, an impressive but aggressive Dean Neville (VT Commodore V8 Supercar), Willmington, Searle, Kelly, David Krause (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Gillespie and Citilink Construction Group supported driver Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), whom completed the top 10.

The opening race saw Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer) fail to finish and rookie Phil Groeneveld aboard the ex Ray Sidebottom VS Commodore Future Tourer didn’t start due to a muffler problem.

In the first of the handicapping format, race two (10 laps), Vicary and newcomer Luke Everson (EL Falcon Future Tourer) start from the front row and Vicary bolted to an immediate lead. While Vicary set a cracking pace out front on fresh tyres, the faster cars did their best to find their way to the pointy end of the field from their respective handicapping positions.

Pace setter Vicary was forced out of the race on the fifth lap after his car developed a misfire and this handed the command to Krause. For remainder of the distance Krause led the race and took victory ahead of a rapidly approaching Wyhoon, but this win for Krause was short lived.

Officials declared to Krause moments after his win that he was to be penalised 15 seconds for jumping the start and this left him dejected. Wyhoon took the victory, while Krause was pushed back to sixth. Shanan Sidebottom (VX Commodore Future Tourer) placed second behind Wyhoon, followed by Neville, Hunt, Vergotis, Krause, Peter-Budge, John Burke (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Oaklands and Groeneveld in 10 th.

Another casualty, aside from Vicary, in race two was Shelton Loughrey (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) whom retired to the pits after only three laps.

In the third and final race (12 laps) of the weekend, it was Krause who avenged his race two disappointment by taking a solid victory after he took the lead from long time leader Loughrey on lap 8 and from there he was never headed. Despite his best efforts, Wyhoon came up short to finish second

ahead of an impressive Burke in third, and then Oaklands in fourth followed by Vergotis, Peter-Budge, Sidebottom, Kelly, and Neville and in 10 th was Loughrey.

Due to mechanical issues Everson failed to finish, as did Hunt, who had a good weekend up until that point. Vicary was a non-starter for race three after his team narrowly fell short of fixing his race two problems.

A number of drivers had off-track excursions in race three; they included Loughrey, Neville, Burke and Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon Future Tourer). Defending ATCC Champion Willmington had a forgettable weekend, as did Luke Searle.

Overall the round victory went to Wyhoon, ahead of Vergotis and Krause in V8 Supercar trifecta. Class honours went to Wyhoon (V8 Supercars), Peter-Budge (Super Tourer) and Sidebottom (Future Tourers).

Round two of the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge will be staged at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway on April 22 & 23.

To keep up to date with all the latest information about the Citilink Construction Group Australian Touring Car Challenge visit their official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

The 2006 Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge shapes up to be hotly contested affair and this weekend (March 18 & 19) a field of 22-cars will converge at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway for the opening round.

Defending Champion Garry Willmington goes into the opening round as one of the early favourites. This year the veteran will debut a new Castrol livery for his ex Tony Longhurst EL Falcon V8 Supercar and is very keen to get his Title defence off to a winning start.

Meanwhile, Willmington’s arch rival Terry Wyhoon, who finished second in the 2005 Championship after arguably being the fastest driver all year long, but not the most consistent. The Gulf Western Oil pilot will debut the ex Matthew White AU Falcon V8 Supercar and is hell bent on taking the championship after last years disappointment.

2004 Champion Luke Searle, aboard the BMW 318i Super Tourer, shouldn’t be discounted in reclaiming the Title after a luckless 2005 that saw the Newcastle (NSW) based steerer suffer a number of non-finishes. Towards the latter half of 2005 Searle found form, which included a round victory at Oran Park Raceway, and he will be looking to continue where he left off. Despite his bad luck, Searle still managed equal second in the championship with Wyhoon.

Another driver that finished last year strongly was Matthew Hunt (ex Terry Finnigan VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and he is confident of being a Championship contender. Like many of teams this weekend, Hunt hasn’t competed at Calder Park in the past, but should be one to keep an eye on from the outset. Hunt is a genuine championship threat.

After a low-key 2005, David Krause will make his Touring Car Challenge debut in his VS Commodore V8 Supercar this weekend and could cause a stir or two throughout the year. Other drivers aiming to stand tall from the word go include: Peter Vicary (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Peter Kelly (BMW 320i Super Tourer), Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR 8 Falcon Future Tourer) and Amin Chahda (GT

BA Falcon Future Tourer).

Newcomers are Bruce Oaklands (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and Luke Everton (Amin Chahda owned EL Falcon Future Tourer).

Shelton Loughrey has in the past two years of the Touring Car Challenge made cameo appearances, but this year he will campaign an EL Falcon V8 Supercar out of the Garry Willmington stable and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Nominated for the opening round are the Victorian based father and son duo of Ray and Shanan Sidebottom in their VX Commodores Future Tourers.

Rounding out the 22-car field this weekend will be Richard Mork (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), John Burke (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Bryce

Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406 Super Tourer), Mark Telfer (VX Commodore Future Tourer), Dean Neville (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer), Leigh Moran (VS Commodore Future Tourer) and John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar).

Touring Car Challenge co director Rod Dale is very enthusiastic about 2006, commenting:

“The championship is going from strength to strength which includes growing popularity from both race fans and competitors alike,” he said.

“This year will be hotly contested and the number of potential outright winners in this year’s field is quite large. The battles for each of the classes are set to be fierce too and that was proven on numerous occasions last year.”

For further information about the Citilink Construction Group Touring Car Challenge visit their official website: www.TouringCarChallenge.com

The Australian Touring Car Challenge has today announced a naming rights sponsor ahead of Round One at Calder Park, March 18-19. The support from Citilink Construction Group will be reflected at Round One with Citilink windscreen logos.

The Citilink Construction Group are responsible for numerous major works around Australia.

For all the news, information, and features on the Australian Touring Car Challenge, visit the official category website: www.touringcarchallenge.com

The following message is from Australian Touring Car Challenge competitor Richard Mork:

From everyone associated with the Australian Touring Car Challenge, from organisers to competitors to officials to pit crew, we offer Richard our deepest condolences. May Matthew rest in peace.

Australian Motor Racing Series competitors have only five weeks to wait until Round One at Calder Park in Victoria, so it's understandable that they are excited. Today though, they have even more reason to be excited. Just by becoming a Registered Competitor in the 2006 AMRS, competitors can now enjoy between 10 and 25 % discount at Meridian Motorsport.

It Pays to be a Touring Car Challenge Competitor in 2006, with Permatex, Bardahl and Timken

Competitors in the Australian Touring Car Challenge for 2006 will get to celebrate Christmas again at the start of the season. All registered competitors will receive a Permatex, Bardahl and Timken product pack to use throughout the year. Products from Permatex include special lubricants, sealants, adhesives, cleaning products, repair kits, greases, the ever-popular Fast Orange hand cleaner, thread-locker, and a huge range of other products. Products from Bardahl include specialty lubricants and oil additives. Timken are most famous for their premium quality bearings, used in road and race vehicles worldwide.

Competitors from the 2005 Touring Car Challenge will be able to verify that the product packs are top-notch - the competitors received a similar product pack at the beginning of the 2005 season, and all made good use of the great gear inside. One team in fact only making it to the circuit for round 2, thanks to some excellent Permatex products after a problem with the radiator in the tow vehicle.

We hope to bring you a brief review of a sample of the products as part of a Technical Article during the early part of 2006, and to get a first hand opinion of the products, chat to any competitor at any of the Australian Touring Car Challenge in 2006 - check out the Calendar here.

Competitors click here to find out what you need to do to register for the 2006 Australian Touring Car Challenge, and to receive your Permatex/Bardahl/Timken product pack.

For more information on Permatex's great range of products, click here to visit their website. For Bardahl, click here. For Timken, click here.

Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge competitors celebrated Christmas in excellent racing style over the weekend, with the Gulf Western Oil Christmas Party, held at Wakefield Park on Sunday. Peter Vicary, Terry Wyhoon, Ben Vicary, Garry Willmington, Adam Proctor, Sam Dale, Vince Evans, Matthew Hunt and Dean Neville all had their Touring Car Challenge cars at the track to take passengers for the ride of their life. The day was a big success, with hundreds of people showing up to sample the atmosphere, and the various cars. A big thank you to everyone who made the day possible - especially the Touring Car Challenge teams that brought their cars along.

In other news, the Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge will be featured on Speedweek in a 2005 Australian Motor Racing Series Review program. The show will air on SBS at 12 noon Sunday 8 Jan 06, and will feature one of the best Touring Car Challenge races of 2005. This program will be followed up with a 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series Preview - also featuring the Touring Car Challenge. The preview show will air on SBS at 12 noon 29 Jan 06. Check your local TV guide to make sure you don't miss either program!

With the 2005 Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge (GWTCC) having been run and won, the GWTCC soared in popularity and earnt plenty of respect amongst the Australian Motorsport community.

After a testing-the-water period in 2004, the GWTCC really spread its wings in 2005, especially with the backing of Gulf Western Oil as major sponsor. Not only did the GWTCC grow in numbers, but also popularity amongst race fans and television viewers.

“There is no doubt that this year saw plenty of highlights and this will only buoy well for the future of the GWTCC,” said one of the GWTCC founders Rod Dale. “We have seen an increase in competitor’s numbers along with plenty of breathtaking race action. Not only has the racing been first class, it’s seen a number of different round and race winners from various categories.”

At the completion of the eight rounds veteran Garry Willmington, driving his # 25 EL Falcon V8 Supercar, emerged victorious in the GWTCC series ahead of arch rival Terry Wyhoon (# 5 AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and defending champion Luke Searle (# 1 BMW 318i Super Tourer).

“The battle between Garry and Terry this year was very fierce, but in the end Garry’s consistency was the winner, after Terry endured various reliability issues,” explained Dale. “This was a great shame as Terry was arguably the quickest driver all year. In the end championships are about consistency, and that was something Terry lacked which was very uncharacteristic of him.”

Other drivers to show plenty of fight at various stages this year were Adam Proctor (# 98 Ford Mondeo / Nissan Primera Super Tourer), Matthew Hunt (# 38 VS Commodore V8 Supercar), Peter Kelly (# 88 BMW 320i Super Tourer), Andrew Gillespie (# 9 AUII Falcon XR8 Future Tourer), John Vergotis (# 26 AU Falcon V8 Supercar / Walkinshaw VL Commodore Group A) amongst others.

“Towards the latter stages of the series both Hunt (Matthew) and Kelly (Peter) really came of age and showed that they will be ones to watch out for in 2006,” commented Dale. “Other drivers showed that they will be serious contenders not only in their respective classes, but for the outright honours, and exciting times lie ahead for the GWTCC.”

Looking towards 2006 Dale is confident of stronger field, which should generate plenty of exciting racing, similar to what was seen this year.

“Without letting too much out of the bag, 2006 shapes up to be an exciting year and so far we have received plenty of interest from people wanting to join the series,” Dale said. “Like anything, some things that are new take people a bit to get a grasp of the concept, but now that we have proven ourselves, those people want to get off the fence and come on board with us.”

In terms of car numbers for next year, the GWTCC expects to have regular grids of close to 30 at all rounds.

As has been the case this year, the cost effectiveness of the GWTCC has enticed many drivers to join the category.

“The GWTCC is a cost effective category in comparison to many other forms of Motorsport and our handicapping system gives everyone an even playing field,” stated Dale. ”We try and accommodate for everyone’s needs and the comradeship between the drivers is very strong.”

Early in the New Year the GWTCC have some exciting announcements, so stay tuned.

Outgoing Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge (GWTCC) title holder Luke Searle finished the year in strong fashion by capturing the eighth and final round last weekend (December 3 & 4) at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway, but it was veteran Garry Willmington who emerged the big winner by being crowned the 2005 GWTCC series champion.

The Newcastle based Searle driving the BMW 318i Super Tourer was consistently at the pointy end of the field all weekend and used his advantage in the two handicapped races to full effect. After qualifying fourth in the 23-car field, Searle scored an impressive third place in the 5 lap scratch race, then dominated race two and finished third in the final race.

At the completion of the weekend Searle managed to accumulate a total of 156 points for the round, and this not only gave him the round win but also netted him equal second in the GTWCC series outright with Terry Wyhoon.

Despite a fairly conservative approach from Willmington (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) throughout the weekend, he was over the moon to capture the GWTCC series crown for 2005. The veteran rated it highly in terms of his career achievements alongside an 8th place outright and numerous class wins at Bathurst in years gone by.

“Yeah, this GWTCC win rates up there, and I couldn’t be happier with how the whole year panned out,” beamed Willmington. “We were consistent all year and that was the key to our series win, we just finished each and every race. While we weren’t always the quickest, we were by far the most consistent, and that is what it’s all about in the end.”

Willmington finished the year with a total of 870 points, ahead of Wyhoon and Searle, who were both locked on 780 points.

After taking out the corresponding GWTCC round at Wakefield Park, Matthew Hunt continued his electrifying form throughout the weekend which saw him dominate Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.

In qualifying Hunt was able to come out on top of the field with a best lap of 1:37.1546 (which would have been good enough for 15th on the grid for this year’s HPDC V8 Supercar series round at Eastern Creek) followed by Wyhoon (1:37.7234), Willmington (1:38.2370), Searle (1:38.8820) and the top 5 was rounded out by Victorian based Bryce Peter-Budge (1:41.7592).

George Vergotis (Walkinshaw VL Commodore) and Mark Telfer (VX Commodore) were the best in the Group A and Future Tourers sections with eight (1:44.1840) and ninth (1:44.4471) respectively.

The red hot form of Hunt was carried into the opening race on the Sunday morning after scoring a strong victory in the 5 lap event to defeat Willmington and Searle. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Hunt, who bogged down at the drop of green due to a gear selection mishap, which allowed Wyhoon to grab an instant lead.

On the second lap thins turned pear shaped for Wyhoon when he slowed and retired from the race due to a power steering alternator belt failure and this saw Hunt take the lead. From there Hunt was never headed and took an easy win. Outside the top three finishes were Richard Mork (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), John Vergotis (AU Falcon V8 Supercar), Kelly, Peter-Budge, George Vergotis, John Burke (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) and Telfer.

In the first of two handicapped races (8 Laps) Sam Dale (Ford Mondeo Super Tourer) bolted to the front quickly and set a rapid pace before fellow Super Tourer campaigner Searle managed to catch and pass Dale on the main straight at the commencement of lap four.

Once out in front Searle was unable to be run down and finished comfortably ahead of a fast finishing Hunt, while Kelly was able to hold out Wyhoon, who was followed by Peter-Budge, John Vergotis, Willmington, a slowing Mork, Dale and Peter Vicary (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) in 10th.

The second race wasn’t without incidents, especially for Clyde Lawrance (VT Commodore V8 Supercar), Neil Byers (Nissan Primera Super Tourer) and Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon Future Tourer).

On the third lap Lawrance had a big lose entering turn eight and spun off the track and into the wall. This caused substantial damage to the Ray Ayton owned car and brought weekend of his to a premature ending, although Lawrance emerged unscathed from the incident.

Drama didn’t stop there either, when on the final turn a collision between a rival and Byers saw an innocent Gillespie crash into him which damaged the front end of the Byers car and spelled the end to his weekend. Gillespie crept across the finish line, but he had sustained major damage to the right hand side of his car, however, with the help of fellow teams he was able to start the third race.

The third and final race of the weekend saw Shelton Loughrey (Mitsubishi Magna Future Tourer) set the early pace up until the third lap when Dale took over the front running, then soon after Loughrey slowed and retired from the event. A cool headed Dale drove with plenty of flair to take the race win ahead of Kelly and Searle.

Due to a off track excursion in turn one on lap 8 from Mork, which saw him spill fluid all over the track entering turn one, the fastest part of the 3.93km circuit. This left officials with no other alternative but to red flag the event. At the time of this incident Kelly and Searle were in the lead, but due to taking it back to the last recorded lap, Dale was awarded the win.

Behind the top three place getters was Vicary in fourth, who finished ahead of impressive newcomer Chris Fox in the ex Ian Palmer (QLD) VS Commodore V8 Supercar, Dean Neville (VS Commodore Future Tourer), Mork, Peter-Budge, John Vergotis and completing the top 10 was Hunt, with the latter on a charge from the back of the field at the time of the red flag.

Overall Searle took out the round win, his second of the year, ahead of Hunt and Kelly in second and third respectively.

GWTCC class winners from the weekend were Hunt (V8 Supercars), Searle (Super Tourers), Dean Neville (Future Tourers) and George Vergotis (Group A).

After seven thrilling rounds, which has seen a variety of winners, the Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge (GWTCC) will conclude at Sydney’s Eastern Creek raceway this weekend (December 3 & 4) with the eighth and final round that sees Garry Willmington in the box seat.

Willmington, the driver of the EL Falcon V8 Supercar, holds a 60 point lead heading into the eighth and final round over Terry Wyhoon (AU Falcon V8 Supercar). Wyhoon, who has arguably been the fastest driver all year, has struck a number of snags during the seven rounds this year, while Willmington has been a model of consistency.

This weekend will require Willmington to encounter some divine invention to prevent him from capturing the 2005 GWTCC title. Wyhoon on the other hand will be hoping that Willmington suffers a non finish, if that occurs, he will be back in the running for the championship providing that he finishes high up in the finishing order.

Look forward to seeing plenty of fire works this weekend, not only between Willmington and Wyhoon, but last round winner Matthew Hunt (VS Commodore V8 Supercar), who blitzed the field at Wakefield Park. After missing numerous rounds this year, Hunt does not figure in the championship, so he will be going all out to take back to back round wins.

Veteran Richard Mork (VS Commodore V8 Supercar) made a strong return to the GWTCC last round and ended up finishing second behind Hunt overall and also scored a resounding race three win. South Australian based Chris Smerdon shouldn’t be discounted in regards to causing an upset and is a proven winner after he took victory back in round two at his home circuit of Mallala Raceway.

Peter Vicary (EL Falcon V8 Supercar) started the year like a house on fire, but lately has come across a fair bit of misfortune. The last time the GWTCC was at Eastern Creek, Vicary placed second overall behind team mate Wyhoon and also scored his maiden race win, can he duplicate a similar performance?

Other V8 Supercar entrants for the final round include Ray Ayton (VT Commodore), John Burke (VS Commodore), John Vergotis (AU Falcon), newcomer Chris Fox (VS Commodore) and a yet to be confirmed driver, who is believed to be steering an AU Falcon.

Reigning GWTCC champion Luke Searle (BMW 318i) heads the field of Super Tourers, currently placed third outright in the standings the Newcastle based racer will be aiming to finish a disappointing year by his own standards on a solid note with a round victory. While Victorian visitor Bryce Peter-Budge (Peugeot 406) seems to have overcome the dramas that has hampered stronger runs in recent years and is looking to continue his consistent run of late.

After taking out the Super Tourer class honours last round, Peter Kelly (BMW 320i) will be hoping to do likewise at Eastern Creek. Mumbo Racing’s Sam Dale (Ford Mondeo) and Neil Byers (Nissan Primera GT 96B) shouldn’t be discounted and have the potential to give their rivals a run for their money.

In the Future Tourer ranks Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon) is as keen as ever to put the memories of a disappointing last round at Wakefield Park behind him by retuning to the pointy end of the field. Gillespie, who took out race three at Eastern Creek back in July, will not have it easy with Amin Chahda (GT BA Falcon), Mark Telfer (VX Commodore), Leigh Moran (VS Commodore) and Dean Neville (VS Commodore) snapping on his heals. Goulburn resident Shelton Loughrey will make his first appearance in the Neil Byers owned Mitsubishi Magna, while Royce Everson is set to debut the Amin Chahda EL Falcon.

George Vergotis (Walkinshaw VL Commodore) made an impressive GWTCC debut at the last round and took home the Group A class honours for the weekend. Vergotis, the younger brother of V8 Supercar entrant John, is confident of another strong performance; however he will have Richard Prince (Volvo 240 Turbo) in the field to keep him honest.

In a weekend that saw plenty of fast and furious action Matthew Hunt, # 38 VS Commodore V8 Supercar, was able to break through to score his maiden Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge round victory by taking out the seventh and penultimate round at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway last weekend (November 12 &13).

It has been a year that was up until this point full of bad luck for Hunt and there was no one that could deny him his maiden GWTCC round victory, after he has endured plenty of hardship. Aided with a fresh set of tyres and some spring adjustments, Hunt was able to outpace the series front runners in his former Terry Finnigan Sony Auto Sound V8 Supercar.

Hunt was able to score the outright round win with a total of 138 points narrowly ahead of veteran Richard Mork (135) # 11 VS Commodore V8 Supercar and current GWTCC series leader Garry Willmington (114 points) rounding out the podium finishers with third. Category winners were Hunt (V8 Supercars), Peter Kelly (Super Tourers), Mark Telfer (Future Tourers) and newcomer George Vergotis (Group A).

Wakefield Park track promoter, Willmington, showed everyone the fast way around the 2.2km circuit by topping the time sheets in qualifying on Saturday afternoon with a best lap of 1:01.4759 followed by Terry Wyhoon (1:01.5977) and Hunt (1:01.6769) all within proximity of one another. Reigning GWTCC title holder Luke Searle was fourth in his # 1 BMW 318i Super Tourer ahead of Kelly, Victorian Bryce Peter-Budge, Mork, Sam Dale, Ray Ayton and completing the top 10 was Neil Byers.

On Sunday morning for the opening scratch race, over a distance of six laps, it was fairly uneventful, with the exception of an opening lap collision between Byers and Andrew Gillespie at the fish hook which saw Gillespie come off second best and spin out. At the fall of the chequered flag it was Wyhoon, who managed to hold out an impressive and very aggressive Hunt, with Willmington in third place.

Outside the top three finishes for race one were Searle, Kelly, Peter-Budge, Mork, Ayton, Dale and John Burke aboard the ex Richard Mork VS Commodore V8 Supercar in 10th.

The first of the handicapped races saw Peter Vicary (# 74 EL Falcon V8 Supercar) score a dominant victory by leading the entire 10-lap journey and comfortably defeating Burke and Mork in second and third respectively ahead of Telfer, Hunt, Willmington, Gillespie, Searle, an impressive Dean Neville and in 10th Byers.

In a race that was full of drama, the most notable being that of Wyhoon, whose GWTCC series aspirations took an almighty dent when a collision between himself

and Ayton on the back straight on the seventh lap saw the latter spin off the track. Only half a lap later Wyhoon’s # 5 AU Falcon V8 Supercar came to a slow and he then pulled off the track when his car developed an engine fire. The quick action of the fire crew extinguished the fire; however it was the end of the weekend for Wyhoon’s car.

The generosity of Leigh Moran allowed Wyhoon to compete in the third and final race of the weekend driving his # 4 VS Commodore Future Tourer.

Future Tourer front runner Amin Chahda was sidelined with mechanical issues after the second race and as a result failed to start the third race, as did race two winner Vicary, who pulled off on the warm up for race three and took no further part in the event with a mystery problem.

For the third and final race it was the Group A BMW of David Towe that set the early pace up until the fifth lap when Mork made his way into the lead, which was a position he didn’t relent. On the opening lap Searle’s car came to a slow and was forced to retire from the event.

Once Mork took command he powered into the distance, as the likes of Hunt, Willmington and co cut their way through the field, where the traffic was at times hectic. As the laps wore down, Mork held a comfortable lead, in which he was able to take to the chequered flag and defeat Kelly, who marginally fought off a fast finishing Hunt. In fourth was Dale, who finished ahead of Willmington, the consistent Peter-Budge, George Vergotis, Ayton, John Vergotis (# 26 AU Falcon V8 Supercar) and Neville in 10th. Wyhoon finished well down the order in 13th.

Please check the following link for Natsoft results from round 7 at Wakefield Park.

The eighth and final round of the GWTCC is set down for Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway on December 3 & 4.

The 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series calendar has been announced, and sees some exciting new inclusions on the AMRS schedule. An eight round series, travelling to four different states, the 2006 Australian Motor Racing Series looks set to be better than ever!

ROUND	DATE	CIRCUIT
1	18 - 19 March 2006	Calder Park
2	22 - 23 April 2006	Wakefield Park
3	6 - 7 May 2006	Winton Raceway
4	3 - 4 June 2006	Queensland Raceway
5	8 - 9 July 2006	Adelaide International Raceway
6	26 - 27 August 2006	Winton Raceway
7	28-29 October 2006	Calder Park
8	25 - 26 November 2006	Wakefield Park

The Gulf Western Touring Car Challenge (GWTCC) continues to grow in popularity and support, not bad for a category that many said wouldn’t get off the ground in the first place.

Formulated in 2003 by Garry Willmington and Rod Dale, the GWTCC, which celebrates over 20 years of Touring Car history, was thought up with the aim of bringing to together V8 Supercars, Super Tourers, Future Tourers and Group A into one category under a unique handicapping race system.

Since then, the GWTCC has enjoyed a rapid growth and this year has seen an average car count of 20 cars and the series has ventured to circuits in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

The GWTCC race action has been spectacular to say the least and this has seen numerous race winners mainly due to a well constructed handicapping system, which has enticed many to join the series.

“After testing the water last year, we are better prepared this year and the racing has indicated that,” said GWTCC director Garry Willmington. “We have seen an increase in competitor numbers, along with different winners from all classes, and this will only buoy well for the future.”

So far this year winners of the six rounds have been captured by Terry Wyhoon (ex Craig Lowndes AU Falcon) who has claimed 3 outright wins, while Chris Smerdon (ex Marcos Ambrose AU Falcon V8 Supercar); Andrew Gillespie (AU II XR8 Falcon Future Tourer) and Luke Searle (BMW 318i Super Tourer) have recorded single round wins.

There have been various race winners at each round and Wyhoon leads the way with a total of six followed by Gillespie (4), Willmington (3), Searle (2), with Peter Vicary (ex Dick Johnson EL Falcon V8 Supercar), Adam Proctor (Ford Mondeo Super Tourer) and Smerdon all with one. Pole positions have in the six rounds so far have seen Wyhoon score three, while Smerdon has two and Willmington with one.

“This year’s series has been very competitive and many of these races have been decided in the final laps,” explained Willmington. “It is also safe to say that almost every driver that has competed this year has spent time leading a race. The close nature of the GWTCC series is well and truly reflected in the current point standings.”

With only two rounds of the GWTCC series remaining the battle for the title is really tight with Willmington taking over the front running from Wyhoon after the last round. Defending series champion Luke Searle has put his unlucky start to the year behind him and is finishing the year strongly. At the last round, which was held at Oran Park Raceway, Searle took the round victory overall and that has now elevated him to third in the series point standings.

The remaining two rounds of the GWTCC will be held at Wakefield Park and Eastern Creek Raceways respectively and the action is sure to be spectacular.

Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway will host the seventh and penultimate round of the GWTCC on the weekend of November 12 & 13 and there is a strong possibility that the series could be decided around the tight 2.2km circuit.

“There is a good chance that the upcoming round will decide the series winner, as Terry (Wyhoon), Luke (Searle) and myself are pretty strong around there,” commented Willmington. “The tight Wakefield Park layout doesn’t really give us V8 Supercar drivers a distinct advantage, while the Super Tourers, Future Tourers and Group A cars are quicker in the tight sections.”

Round	Circuit	Date
1	Wakefield Park, NSW	February 24 - 25
2	Calder Park, VIC	March 24 - 25
3	Winton Raceway, VIC	April 28 - 29
4	Queensland Raceway, QLD	June 16 - 17
5	Adelaide International, SA	July 14 - 15
6	Winton Raceway, VIC	August 25 - 26
7	Calder Park, VIC	September 29 - 30
8	Wakefield Park, NSW	October 27 - 28
9	Oran Park, NSW	November 24 - 25