Jason Bargwanna has made a dominant return to the MINI CHALLENGE taking a clean sweep of all three races in the Round 4 meeting at Sandown raceway. Starting on pole for the first race the former Bathurst winner established an early lead and never looked like being headed. Denyer closed slightly, but was never seriously able to challenge. Third placing in the opening race was Nathan Geier, with Stokell bringing the DecoRug machine home in fourth.
Round 4 of the 2008 MINI CHALLENGE takes place at Melbourne’s Sandown raceway. Pictured above is Paul Mercurio who will be tapping his toes behind the wheel of the UBER-STAR CAR this weekend. Mercurio won the hearts of cinema goers in the lead role of the Australian classic Strictly Ballroom, and now finds a place in our homes as a judge on Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars. He is no stranger to race track action, Paul took victory in the Australian Grand Prix Celebrity Challenge in 2000 and in his second appearance in 2005, finished third after starting on the front row. He has also appeared in a PRO-AM at the Race of 1000 Years ALMS race on the Adelaide Grand Prix circuit and driven a MINI in the Classic Adelaide tarmac rally, where he finished second.
“It is every boy’s dream to be a sponsored racing car driver and I’m getting to live the dream—fantastic!” Mercurio enthused. “It’s a fantasy to be a sponsored driver.”
To get you in the mood for this weekend’s Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix, I hope you enjoy this lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with commentary from BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld. This clip was spotted at our friends from BimmerFile, via BMW-web.tv.
Ford has released images of its new Falcon-based FG01 V8 Supercar ahead of the car’s track debut. Craig Lowndes will drive the only FG01 in the field in this weekend’s Sandown 400. There are five images in all, simply click on an image for a high resolution download (all images 3800px wide, approx 1.5mb).
Ford’s press release and additional high resolution images can be seen below.
After becoming the first ever MINI CHALLENGE UBER-STAR at Eastern Creek, Jason Bargwanna will complete the remainder of 2008 in the Series, this time with cousin, Scott in a two car super-team, starting this weekend at Sandown.
The arrangement has come together with major support from Trivett Classic MINI Garage in Parramatta (Sydney) and Matchmaster TV Reception Systems. It will be a family affair, the cars being run under the Bargwanna Motorsport banner out of Sydney.
Racing together isn’t new for the cousins – the Bargwanna/Bargwanna combination first teamed up at the 1992 Bathurst 1000 in a Corolla, taking a class win. The boys will continue the family connection by using the racing numbers of their fathers – twins, Alf (Scott) and Harry (Jason) Bargwanna – #79 and #97 respectively.
“Bargwannas have come out of the woodwork to get this deal pulled together for Sandown,†the former Bathurst 1000 winner said. “We’re looking good and cannot wait for the challenge. We want to be competitive in this deal, but we really want to have some fun as well.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to involve our families in our racing. Scott and I grew up at race tracks watching our fathers and this gives us the opportunity to do the same with our sons and also involve our fathers closely. MINI CHALLENGE is a great environment to go racing in and do this sort of thing.â€
In stunning news just to hand Max Mosley has won a vote of confidence and will remain in his role as FIA President. The vote, called by Mosley himself, returned over 60% of the count in favour of the embattled motorsport supremo, winning 103 of the 169 votes.
Mosley’s controversial grip on the FIA has been under question since news broke of his involvement in a ‘Nazi-style sex orgy’ in late March. The automotive federations of Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the USA all voted against Mosley. This follows public condemnation of the 68-year-old’s behaviour from prominent Formula 1 manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Honda. Even Formula 1’s main man, Bernie Ecclestone, has pleaded that Mosley step down. “He should go out of responsibility for the institution he represents,” Ecclestone told the Daily Telegraph.
Eddie Jordan, former Formula 1 team boss, has expressed concerns over Mosley’s ongoing tenure, “there are a lot of countries where F1 goes and lots of the rulers of those countries don’t want to deal with him. That is clearly not acceptable. My hope is that he will listen to the comments and then go.”
There are also suggestions from BBC journalist Adam Parsons that the FIA could face a damaging split, “he won by a clear majority, but among those who opposed him there is overt anger and resentment. The US, German and Dutch raised the spectre of breaking away from the FIA in protest is an unprecedented threat.
“Today the FIA is an organisation in crisis, facing the prospect of being ripped apart.”
Source: BBC
Keep your eyes peeled for some great MINI CHALLENGE action on your TV this weekend, including an exclusive interview on Channel 10 with Ben Tune about his roller coaster experience as a MINI CHALLENGE UBER-STAR CAR driver.
Channel 7 will also have a complete highlights package of all the Round 3 action from Perth’s Barbagallo Raceway. Read below for more detail and broadcast times.
This is a rare gem of a clip from the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix. Watch the closing laps as iconic commentary duo Murray Walker and James Hunt attempt to keep you up to date with who is winning the race! This should get you in the mood for tonight’s 2008 Monaco Grand Prix.
WIRED magazine’s website has an excellent article written by Mark Seal about ‘Stepney-gate’, the spy scandal that embroiled Formula One in 2007. It involved the leaking of vital information between Ferrari and McLaren, principally from Ferrari’s Nigel Stepney to McLaren’s Michael Coughlan. The article explores Ron Dennis’ dislike of Team Red as well as the apparently innocent, if ultimately foolish, errand that brought Ron Dennis’ McLaren team to its knees. One of the introductory paragraphs reads:
“It was June 2007 in sleepy Surrey County, and Coughlan, a statuesque blonde, sauntered through the door of the shop holding a sheaf of 780 pages. Scan them onto two CDs, she told the clerk, a forgettable middle-aged guy in a forgettable office park in the middle of nowhere. Nothing strange about the order, unless you happened to be a Formula One fan and happened to take a close look at the material: schematic drawings, technical reports, pictures, and financial information — enough insider dope to design a Formula One race car. Each page was emblazoned with one of the most famous logos in the world: the prancing black horse of Ferrari.”
Click HERE to read the rest of the article.
Subaru has unveiled its new generation All-Wheel Drive Impreza World Rally Car 2008, in time for its competitive debut at this month’s Acropolis Rally in Greece.
For the first time, Subaru World Rally Team will use a hatchback design. Following a successful research, development and testing phase, the Impreza WRC 2008 will be driven by Australia’s Chris Atkinson and Norwegian Petter Solberg in the Acropolis Rally starting 29 May.
Motorsport Event Management (MEM), the agency contracted to run the Australian MINI CHALLENGE, has been put up for sale by current owner Iain Sherrin.
In a statement issued today by BMW Group Australia, MINI National Manager, Justin Hocevar said, “MINI is confident that any sale of MEM will be to a suitable purchaser who will continue to manage the increasingly popular MINI CHALLENGE series exactly in line with the arrangements MINI put in place with MEM.
“MINI had a five year plan for MINI CHALLENGE and we see no reason to deviate from that plan with the new owner of MEM. Iain Sherrin has indicated his desire to sell the category management business and focus on his multiple race teams. His team – Sherrin MotorSport – manages six cars for a number of clients, with one added to the stable last week,” Hocevar continued.
