Category: MINI Challenge

The penultimate round of the Australian MINI Challenge was held at Western Australia’s Barbagallo Raceway last weekend. Like last year, the event involved a race ending incident for Uber-Star driver Leanne Tander. The accident happened early in Race 3, and was the precursor to a disastrous restart that saw many in the field confused by the starters orders.

Confusion on the grid is never a good thing, but when back half the field are going all out, and the front half are hesitating, or just standing still, well, it will always get ugly.

Staying out of trouble, though, was series leader Paul Stokell who pretty sealed the title with a solid showing across the three races. Local driver Nathan Caratti was the star of the weekend, winning two races and finishing second in the other.

Highlights of the three races can be seen in two clips, one above, the other after the break. Interestingly, some of the commentary for Race 3 has been re-done post event. This is most noticeable with the Leanne Tander-Aaron Caratti crash. Maybe this has always happened for the highlights shows, but I haven’t noticed it before. Full coverage and original commentary from Race 3 can be seen here.

The 2009 MINI Challenge reaches its conclusion next weekend at the Sydney 500, so make sure you keep an eye on your local TV guides for Channel 7’s live coverage.

The MINI Challenge action from Western Australia’s Barbagallo Raceway has just finished. And, like last year, Leanne Tander was in the thick of the action. In the footage above you will see the aftermath of an incident involving Tander and Aaron Caratti on the third lap of today’s Race 3. Tander, driving the Pizza Capers Uber-Star car appeared to be pushed wide by Caratti which forced Tander into a concrete wall where she made heavy contact on the driver’s side.

The 25 lap race was red flagged and Tander and Caratti were able to free themselves from their cars and it has been reported neither driver suffered any serious injuries.

Further mayhem followed at the race start. Now reduced to a 20 lap race there was apparent confusion on starting orders and several cars made contact before the first corner. The race was stopped again, with all remaining drivers making a clean get away from the re-start.

Race 3 was finally won by Nathan Caratti in his Glory Team Racing machine, with the Deco Rug duo of Paul Stokell and Grant Denyer filling the minor placings. Full race action can be now seen after the jump. The muddled up re-start can be found at the end of clip one, and again at the start of clip two.

Results from yesterday saw Nathan Caratti take out Race 1, with Karl Reindler and Scott Bargwanna following in second and third. Race 2 was won by series leader Paul Stokell, Chris Alajajian came home second with Nathan Caratti rounding out a great weekend in third.

If you want to see more MINI Challenge action on TV, Channel 7’s highlights package from this round will be aired across the nation next Saturday from 1:30pm. The final round for the year is two weeks away and will be held the new street circuit at Sydney’s Homebush Olympic precinct. There will be live coverage from thatrace, as well, so keep an eye on your local TV guide for details.

Last weekend the MINI Challenge gang tore around the streets of Surfers Paradise. Race 3 was broadcast live across the nation by Channel 7 and if you missed the action, you need worry no longer, because here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Being a tight street circuit the overtaking opportunities weren’t great, but it made for a pretty tightly packed bunch and the cars looked great going through the chicanes. There’s also some nice on board footage captured, including the inside left front wheel arch of Beric Lynton’s car in the first clip, while the second clip shows Glenn Seton’s fancy footwork inside the über-star car.

As usual, the footage is split into two clips, one above, one below. Highlights from this round will be televised on 14 November.

Round 5 of the Australian MINI Challenge was held at Phillip Island back in mid-September. Race 1 was covered live, while this highlights package shows snippets from the first two races, before showing Race 3 in full. There’s also a good mid-season re-cap at the start of the broadcast that includes interviews with a lot of the drivers.

Robbie Maddison was the über-star car driver, and you can almost see his improvement by the lap. He made a great showing, taking it right up to series leader Paul Stokell for most of the final race.

Overall this was one of the most entertaining MINI Challenge rounds to date, with close racing throughout the field. Nathan Caratti managed a clean sweep of all three races, but, again, suffered at the hands of officialdom with a query remaining over his results. Sadly, for Paul Stokell he had a dreadful weekend, he failed to finish the first two races and then limped over the line in ninth place in Race 3. He still maintained his series lead, but the margin back to his rivals has been drastically reduced.

The footage is split over two clips and you can catch the second clip, along with the series leaderboard after the jump.

The fifth round of the Australian MINI Challenge was held at Phillip Island last weekend. The first race on the program was held on Saturday and was televised live on Channel 7. If you missed it, fear not as here are two YouTube clips showing the broadcast in full. Nathan Caratti, from Glory Team Racing, completed a clean sweep of all three races and further highlights from the round are scheduled for Aussie TV screens this coming weekend.

Championship leader Paul Stokell had a shocker, mechanical gremlins only allowed him to score points in the third and final race. His lead is now a slender 30 points over teammate Grant Denyer. Each race win is worth 60 points, which means there are a maximum of 180 points up for grabs each round.

Also of interest in this round was the Uber-Star Car which saw motorcycle daredevil Robbie Maddison at the wheel.

Round 5 results and driver quotes are sure to be added to the MINI Challenge website soon, so make sure you keen an eye out for more info.

The organisers of the Australian MINI Challenge have come up with one pretty cool idea. It’s a try before you buy scheme that enables prospective racers an opportunity to drive one of the JCW racecars with current team owners present to offer advice and answer questions.

There will be three dates on offer, taking place along the eastern seaboard towards the end of this month. The MINI Challenge roadshow will be stopping in at Melbourne—Sandown, Sunday 20 September; Sydney—Oran Park, Thursday 24 September; and Brisbane—Queensland Raceway, Friday 25 September.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to show off what these cars are really capable of,” says Chris Brown, Marketing Manager of MINI, “we’re confident that when someone gets in and has a real go they’ll be keen to step it up and go racing in the MINI Challenge. It’s that simple.”

Applicants need to apply for one of the three test sessions by 5pm this Friday, full details can be found in the press release after the jump.

A reminder, too, for MINI Challenge fans to check their local guides for television coverage of this weekend’s round of racing from Phillip Island. The usual three race format will take place with one race live on Channel 7 this Sunday, with a highlights package to follow next weekend.

When the MINI Challenge first launched in Australia it was always supposed to be a five-year plan. But, the recent financial woes of the world have already claimed one major Australian series in 2009, with the demise of the Porsche Carrera Cup. So, it is welcome news to learn that the local MINI Challenge series has been secured until at least 2011.

The management rights of the MINI Challenge have already changed hands once, and the extension of the current partnership between MINI Australia and Toleman Motorsport should see the series continue to gather momentum.

Confirmation of this news was made by Justin Hocevar, National Manager for MINI Australia, at a press conference during the Sandown event last weekend.

“We’re pleased to announce our continued support of MINI Challenge into the 2011 season, and that includes maintaining all our current relationships that we have in place, including the one with our category management agency Toleman Motorsport.”

Ted Toleman, principal of Toleman Motorsport, is also happy to that the status quo will remain in place, “MINI Challenge offers highly competitive skills based racing with the backing of a global auto brand on the highest profile Championship motor racing series in the southern hemisphere, and with a comprehensive TV package that captures all of the excitement for fans. It’s got a lot going for it.”

In further good news for the category, Pizza Capers have extended their sponsorship deal for the rest of the 2009 season.

The relationship began at the Townsville round last month and Pizza Capers Marketing Manager, Adrian Burton, says his company is a good fir for the MINI brand, “Pizza Capers are a gourmet product at the upper end of the pizza market, and MINI are at the premium end of small car market, so the synergies between the two products are spot on.

“We are a company that is growing nationally and very quickly, just like the popularity of the MINI Challenge Series, plus it receives fantastic television coverage around Australia on Network 7.”

The series is now formally known as the MINI Challenge—delivered by Pizza Capers.

[Source: MINI.com.au]

Round 4 of the 2009 MINI Challenge is best known for Chris Alajajian’s spectacular crash in Race 1. In the clip above Chris speaks about the incident and thankfully he was not injured. Although, he did describe the accident as a “painful experience” and “very upsetting”.

But that wasn’t the only drama at this round, held at Melbourne’s Sandown International Raceway.  After Alajajian’s crash, Race 1 was red flagged and declared a no result. In the remaining two races of the weekend Glory Team Racing’s Nathan Caratti showed the field a clean pair of heels to win both races. However, he was disqualified from Race 3 due to a “breached a component regulation” relating to his brake pads. Caratti’s win in Race 2 still stands. Nathan’s team is able to appeal the disqualification, but it is not clear if they will exercise that right.

Caratti’s misfortune left Grant Denyer, from DecoRug Racing, to inherit the race and round win. “Nobody likes to win that way but I’m happy for Bill Gremos and the DecoRug team to get the Championship points and the win,” grinned Denyer.

DecoRug’s Paul Stokell maintains his Championship lead, but Alajajian was the big loser in the standings dropping from second down to fourth. Denyer is second, while Scott Bargwanna, from ROCK Energy Drinks, moves into third place.

Full television highlights can be seen after the jump. The MINI Challenge returns next month, with live race coverage from Phillip Island (11-13 September).

[Source: MINI.com.au]

Round 4 of the 2009 Australian MINI Challenge is taking place at Sandown this weekend. Chris Alajajian currently sits in second place on the series table, however his chances of clawing back some points on championship leader Paul Stokell were done no favours after this spectacular crash in yesterday’s first race.

The accident happened on the opening lap and forced organisers to cancel the race. Fortunately, Alajajian was not injured and spoke philosophically after the incident, “I’m OK, but the car isn’t that flash. I got tapped in the right rear wheel as we went into the corner, I think it’s turn six, and then I got on to the grass and everything sped up dramatically. From there I was just hanging on.”

Alajajian, starting well down the field in 13th, had made a the most of a bumper start taking advantage of some front runners spinning ahead and had reached 4th place before his crash.

[Source: Racecar.com]

Australian Olympic legend and all round nice guy James Tomkins (pictured left) is taking a seat in the MINI Challenge Uber Star Car this weekend at Sandown International Raceway.

Tomkins is a self confessed motorsport tragic and he couldn’t wait to get out there, “I’m pretty excited,” he admitted, “Motor Racing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I have memories of getting up early Sunday mornings to watch the black and white TV coverage of Bathurst. All those awesome HO Falcons, those were the days!”

There is no live television coverage of the MINI Challenge round this weekend, but stay tuned for a highlights package on your TV screens soon.

Round 3 of the MINI CHALLENGE took place on a new street circuit in Townsville. While it was a new track, it was the same story as far as the results go. Paul Stokell came away with the round win to extend his championship lead to 123 points over Chris Alajajian.

The feature event for the weekend was Race 3 which featured a new compulsory pit stop for a driver change. The two driver pairing was optional, but even if a driver chose to drive the race solo, like Paul Stokell did, he would still have to come into the pits and remain stationary for a minimum of 60 seconds. The theory sounds a bit odd, but by all accounts the drivers gave the concept the thumbs up.

“I really enjoyed the Enduro format,” said Stokell, “I’m a bit surprised but naturally pleased that we were able to account for the field the way we did. I’d like to win my sixth Australian Championship if I can and this is helping my points situation.”

The time for the final race was increased from the usual 20 minutes to 35 minutes, although a big accident off the start line involving three cars saw the second drive stint reduced.

John Modystach’s MINI suffered the worst of the impact in the opening lap incident, but fortunately he walked away okay. “It’s devastating,” pondered Modystach, “we were having a really good weekend but it’s ended so badly.”

Rally ace Chris Atkinson drove the Uber Star car and put in a very solid performance earning a second place in feature event.

TV highlights from the round can be seen in two parts, with the second clip available after the jump. An image gallery from Townsville can be seen on the MINI CHALLENGE website.