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.”
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€
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.
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.
Well, what a bonanza Barbagallo has dished up for this round of the MINI Challenge. More thrills and spills than anyone anticipated, or, in some cases, wanted, but alls well that ends well. The big talking point from the round was Ben Tune’s accident in Race one. The former rugby international came across the rise heading toward the final turn on the Barbagallo Raceway, before losing control on the damp circuit on lap seven. His MINI dug into the soft ground and rolled onto its roof. He was then rushed to Joondalup Hospital for precautionary scans where he stayed overnight. Earlier today he was released from hospital with no sign of serious injury. A big sigh of relief for Ben, his family and all followers of the MINI Challenge.
In the end Damien White became the third round winner in as many rounds when he swept to victory in the most hotly contested MINI Challenge race this season, while Gary Young (SALTA Constructions) scored his maiden MINI Challenge victory. Read on for more detail.
Media statement: 11 May, 2008
Former Wallaby Ben Tune was discharged from hospital in Perth today in good spirits and is looking forward to returning home to Brisbane.
Tune was injured in a single car accident when his car rolled over in the MINI CHALLENGE round at Barbagallo Raceway yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. He was taken by ambulance to hospital for precautionary examination overnight and underwent other medical tests today before being discharged.
Round 3 of the 2008 MINI Challenge began at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia earlier today. As reported previously there’s been a few driver changes to the line up with drivers swapping seats or making their debuts, such as Todd Wanless, pictured above. But, perhaps, the driver with the most potential to rattle a few cages this weekend is Leanne Tander.
Leanne, wife of V8 Supercar driver Garth Tander, will be driving one of the MINI Uber-Star Cars this weekend. The MINI Uber-Star Cars are designed to bring a broader focus to the MINI Challenge at each round, through engaging high profile personalities from the areas of sports, entertainment and media. Leanne Tander is arguably Australia’s most credentialed female race driver, becoming the first lady racer in the world to win a Formula 3 race and in 2007, she went perilously close to wrapping up the Australian F3 Championship. She currently lies fourth in the 2008 F3 Championship. She wasted no time in staking her claim for outright honours either, posting the second fastest time in this morning’s first practice session, behind fellow West Australian David Turner.
It’s just over a week until Round 3 of the 2008 MINI Challenge fires up and the off track action since the Wakefield Park round has almost been as frenzied as the on track thrills and spills with a series of moves taking place (read the full articles below for the latest news). Round 3 of the 2008 MINI Challenge will support the BigPond 400 at Barbagallo Raceway, May 9-11, the fourth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
Race 2 of MINI Challenge from Barbagallo will be shown LIVE nationally on the Seven Network’s V8 Supercar coverage, with a 30 minute post-produced highlights package airing on May 31 from 1:30pm on the network.
Today MINI Australia announced that former test Rugby player Ben Tune will be taking the hot seat in the Uber-Star Car in Perth. “I’m definitely excited about it,” Tune said. “It isn’t every day you have an invitation to get behind the wheel of a racecar. I’m really looking forward to having a lot of fun while I’m in Perth, but also I hope to develop further as a driver.” Tune is a noted revhead and has business interests importing a range of accessories for the motoring market. The pun possibilities here are endless, haha. All the best to Ben, I’d love to be offered a drive like this, what a blast he will have!
AUSmotive.com attended today’s MINI Challenge meeting at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park. Click HERE to see a gallery of all the action. Or you can click below to read the rest of this entry and see a selection of images.
The first series of images are from this morning’s Race 2, followed by some colour and detail from pit lane before finishing off with pictures from Race 3.
Melbourne’s Nathan Geier has won Round 2 of the 2008 Australian MINI Challenge, held this weekend at Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway. Yesterday’s Race 1 winner, Paul Stokell, from the DecoRug team, looked to have Race 3 and the round win in his hands until he mysteriously lost all power in his car and was forced to retire on lap 6. Geier had his Split Image Project Management MINI sitting safely in second place, and was able to fully capitalise on Stokell’s misfortune to inherit a lead he would not surrender, ultimately taking the chequered flag on lap 15.
The 25 year old Geier was full of excitement after his round win, “It’s kind of surreal! I’m still in shock to be honest. Paul (Stokell) was driving real well, it was really unlucky for him. I was following him and heard his car shut down and from then on started worrying about mine! I was trying to concentrate on my lines and not worry about how far Grant was behind me. Next round will be interesting. We’ll have an additional 25kg on board, which means it’s a totally different ballgame. It was a great weekend all round and really sets us up well for the remainder of the season.â€
