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Van Gisbergen keeps Holden on top after Practice 2

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Brendan Lines

February 21, 2020

Red Bull have shown their hand in Practice 2 as Shane van Gisbergen went fastest posting the first sub – one minute twenty lap for the weekend, keeping the Holden flag flying high as the Commodores and Mustangs continue to parry on the streets of Adelaide.

SVG surges in Practice 2, Davison second after early off

Shane van Gisbergen on a charge in Practice 2 – Image: Adelaide 500

There was anger out on track as the teams began to show more of their race pace, yet the unforgiving street circuit continued to punish those who dare, as the session was red-flagged twice after Will Davison and Scott Pye’s separate incidents.

Second in Practice 1 yesterday, van Gisbergen has been on the pace, yet found himself ‘hating life’ wrestling his new ZB Commodore’s control damper suspension challenging.

Struggling for pace in his first run van Gisbergen pitted, opting for the team to increase his rear-wing angle to the maximum thirteen degrees allowable — the move paid off as the Kiwi posted a 1:19.807s on his 14th lap for the session.

The best of the Mustangs was Tickford’s Will Davison who built on his third fastest from yesterday. That was after a wild ride going straight on into the gravel at the racecourse section of Victoria Park.

But after his car returned to the garage during the red-flag period, Davison dusted himself off and the team pulled the gravel out of his Mustang, Davison later posted a 1:19.897s.

Red Bull Holden’s Jaime Whincup was also in the discussion, posting a 1:19.951s, but after two stints his best lap earned him third fastest for the session.

In similar fashion to Practice 1, today’s session ended with another incident as Scott Pye’s Commodore appeared to have a suspension failure mid-corner slamming into the barriers coming onto the Brock Straight.

Pye spoke with Fox Sports after the session.

“I think maybe we broke a shock, I’m not entirely sure I just went into the apex, the front right broke and I missed that hard left, missed the tyre-wall and hit the concrete wall hard,” he said.

Reigning champ Scott Mclaughlin remains .240s off the lead going into Practice 3 later this afternoon, but still finished in the top ten to gain a place in tomorrow’s Qualifying 2.

Practice 3 kicks off 6.00pm local time tonight.

Shocking reaction: Driver’s first thoughts of control suspension

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Brendan Lines

February 21, 2020

Yesterday’s Practice 1 was the first time the Supercars field turned official timed laps for the Adelaide 500, from ‘wild’ to ‘crap’ we heard yesterday’s top three fastest driver’s first thoughts on the new control aero and suspension for 2020.

Reynolds tops opening practice

David Reynolds gets ‘wild’ setting the fastest time in Thursday’s Practice 1 with 1:20.686s, – Image Adelaide 500

David Reynolds – Penrite Racing ZB Commodore:

“It’s different for me, but it’s very, very wild, extremely wild, feels like I’m out of control, but I love it it’s good fun.”

“Well it’s Thursday, I think we always complain about that here Thursday, because there’s not a lot of grip in the track, the aero is different the shocks are slightly different and probably trying too hard to be fair.”

“It was really good so I’m happy , got a lot of work to do obviously, I think everyone is struggling out there, just watching all the replays everyone is battling with a bit of balance, so just who can do a good job make it even, make the car balance and go fast.”

Shane van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team ZB Commodore:

“As Dave (Reynolds) said it’s pretty wild on the first day the shocks are pretty different than what we’ve had in the past, and just trying to learn that and understand that, but feels alright.”

“There’s less aero and shocks, driving around hating life, but you got to remember everyone’s got the same problems.”

“I don’t mean hating life, but the cars are crap, but it probably looks better the cars are moving everyone is sliding, everyone has got the issues so hopefully it look a bit better, we’re all battling a bit more, we’ve been pretty lucky in previous years having nice shocks and stuff, now we got these things we are all battling.”

“I think you always got to get the car right you know, that’s what today was we’re trying a lot of stuff, trying to match the shock absorber to each set and try different things, so there is still a lot to figure out, so we’ve got some big sessions tomorrow, we didn’t get a new tyre run at the end there, most people wouldn’t have so that would have been interesting.”

Will Davison – Tickford Racing Mustang

“We were trying to anticipate what we were going to get, the car was quite comfortable for me it’s certainly different we’ve certainly lost overall down-force, probably an interesting session and to be honest I was pretty comfortable in the car, so I won’t touch on what the other guys said, I was getting a bit of tyre deg, quite a bit of over-steer at turn four and I was a bit concerned until I think Davey (David Reynolds) come past me once all sideways, I tough oh well he’s got the same issue.”

“Shocks is quite interesting for us, it’s quite a positive thing for me at the moment as long as they are reliable, so we’ll see, I think the degradation amongst everyone is going to be different so we’ll see more mistakes possibly and might have to tune the cars quite a bit differently.”

Practice 2 at the Adelaide 500 kicks off 2.05pm CDST today.

Hazelwood and BJR ready to impress local fans

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Brendan Lines

February 20, 2020

As the anticipation at the Adelaide 500 builds this afternoon for Practice 1, Adelaide-born Todd Hazelwood is ready to impress with his new team Brad Jones Racing(BJR).

https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/d24be93280a91174153be2d313a4b096

Adelaide’s Todd Hazelwood – Image: Supercars

The 24-year old South Australian is about to step into his #14 BJR ZB Commodore for its first session at the Adelaide 500 today.

“For me this is my first race meeting with this team, I’m brand new to the whole crew at Brad Jones Racing, so for me I just want to start the year off cleanly,” Hazelwood said.

“We had a really positive test on Tuesday at the Bend Motorsport Park, this was my first chance to get an idea what the car is capable of, so far so good, but I’m just keen to go racing.”

But there is some added weight of expectation that Hazelwood and fellow South Aussie team mate and Bathurst winner Nick Percat are proudly baring, as BJR are the adopted home team for many local Holden fans.

“One hundred per cent we’re flying the flag high this week for Holden obviously after the news that’s just come out,” Hazelwood said.

“Having two proud South Aussies doing that I think is quite special and being in the same team together, we’re going to be pushing as hard as we can to get the best result possible.”

With only one day’s testing up their sleeve, Hazelwood says the team is using all its time wisely as the minutes countdown to the 4.00pm start time today.

The garage is now buzzing over his shoulder, Hazelwood says the team is still making final adjustments to the suspension of his BJR ZB Commodore.

“There’s been a few suspension changes with a control damper in the category, so it’s going to be interesting how the car takes the curbs we haven’t really been able to try that yet,” he said.

Superscars will be on track from 4.00pm to 4.40pm today.

Shakedown for Kelly Racing’s first Mustang at The Bend

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Brendan Lines

February 18, 2020

It’s been a busy off season at Kelly Racing developing its all new Mustang for 2020, but after an overnight cross-country haul Kelly and Co. have given their new machinery a full shakedown at The Bend today and first impressions are good.

#15 Mustang for Kelly Racing takes to The Bend for the first time – Image: Kelly Racing

There were early dramas to the day, as a failed coil pack limited the team to sharing one coil, meaning only single car runs were possible.

Despite the set back team owner Todd Kelly said to Speedcafe: “If that’s the only drama, we’re laughing. To have no other major dramas is still a miracle with the amount of work that’s been done in such a rush towards the end.”

The all new #15 car managed 14th best at the end of testing posting a 1:48.5517s, but it’s too early to gauge the outright pace says driver Rick Kelly.

“You know it’s baby steps for us to get the cars on the track and get them to turn some nice reliable laps and they did exactly that, the outright performance is too early to tell where we’ll sit and it will take a few rounds for us to fully understand that, but initial impressions seems really good,” he said.

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Rick Kelly talks with his engineer after final test run – Image Local Goals

The Tailem Bend circuit threw up some oversteer on entry to the corners, something Kelly has become accustomed to across The Bend’s layout.

The team’s key concerns for the day was proving the drivability and mapping of the car that will continue over to the car’s set-up for the Adelaide 500 later this week.

For the first time pre-season testing has been scheduled the week leading up to the opening round at Adelaide — robbing the teams of lead-in time to process and re-think any changes to their cars.

For Kelly Racing it has been a long road to deliver its first Mustang, this is the first time the team will run its new aero package and test an engine that has never run a lap in its life.

The Braeside team has been working at fever pitch right up to today’s test in order to get its new package right for the day.

“It’s pretty exciting the work that’s gone on at Braeside our headquarters the last three of four months has been pretty intense,” Kelly said.

“Obviously as you get closer to the day the intensity with hours and workload goes through the roof and to the point where I think we’re at a level we’ve never experienced before, with the guys literally working all night to get the cars done,

“So we arrived at the track at Three-thirty this morning with the cars, unloaded today and they’ve ran fantastically all day, so I reckon its a massive credit and pat on the back to the guys to work these hours to get the cars running and as well as they have today, it’s spectacular,” he said.

The Adelaide 500 kick-off this Thursday.

Breaking: Holden’s motorsport future faces uncertainty after 2020

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Brendan Lines

February 17, 2020

Holden’s presence in Australian motorsport is in free fall after the announcement General Motors will retire the Holden brand in a press conference in Melbourne this afternoon.

Just weeks after its livery reveal this could be the Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s last Holden Supercar – Image: Red Bull

GM’s association with all its top flight motorsport partnerships including Supercars and HSV is facing grim uncertainty.

GM Holden interim chairman and managing director Kristian Aquilina said Holden will be meeting with its key partners very soon.

“On our future in racing we’ve made a commitment, and certainly we need to sit down with our partners Supercars and certainly the Red Bull Holden Racing Team, Triple Eight which we’ll do hopefully in the coming days, we’ll talk about the appropriate transition, but our intention is to still go racing in 2020 whilst we’ve still got Holden vehicles out there in dealer showrooms,

“To the extent about GM and its involvement in racing beyond that will be part of the same conversation, there’s certainly a lot of new news for us and our partners to process, these decisions are only taken in the last few days, we’re communicating it with the Australian community as soon as we could, and we’ve got some work to do over the next few weeks and months ahead to work through those arrangements that go well beyond motorsport,” he said.

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GM’s Kristian Aquilina (left) and Julian Blissett (right) speaking at the Melbourne press conference – Image: ABC News

Quite clearly while there are Commodore’s on the road they will be on the track.

Yet that may not be the case for much longer as the carmaker intends to wind-up production at its Port Melbourne facility by June 2020.

Not only is every partnership with Holden in motorsport likely change drastically after the brand is retired, GM International operations senior vice president Julian Blissett said there is some saving grace perhaps for GM speciality vehicles.

“Although its not firmed up, formally our intent and our desire is to basically stay in the market, albeit in a different market and model with the GM specialty vehicles,

“We are in negotiations with our partners to make that happen and that is still work in progress.”

Products like the right-hand drive Corvette will still be available off the back of strong international sales says Blissett.

Red Bull Holden Racing Team made an official statement ahead of the Supercars season opener at Adelaide this weekend on social media.

Ferrari unveil SF1000 in spectacular style

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Brendan Lines

February 12, 2020

Ferrari lifted the covers off its 2020 challenger the SF1000 in spectacular fashion at a launch ceremony near their Maranello factory last night.

A grand entrance – Image F1.com

So far Ferrari’s rivals’ 2020 livery and car launches have been very tame by comparison. Last nights ceremony was a throwback to the halcyon days pre the Global Financial Crisis when teams were more liberal with their budgets.

But it is with good reason the arrival of the SF1000 was heralded by the swell of an orchestra and Ballet dancers.

As the aptly named SF1000 will compete in Ferrari’s 1000th Grand Prix later this year.

1000th race in 2020: Image-F1.com

But the real significance of this Ferrari is; it could be the car that finally topples Mercedes for the Drivers and Constructors World Championship.

Team Principle Mattia Binotto spoke at the event about the SF1000’s development.
“The starting point was the car of last year, the SF90,” said Binotto. “But certainly we have been extreme on the concept as much as we could… It may look similar to last year but it’s completely different to the one of last year, and a lot of the concepts are very extreme on [the SF1000],” he said.

Drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc’s first outing head-to-head with Mercedes will be at the Australian Grand Prix in March.

It’s hoped the SF1000 will adapt more quickly to the Albert Park circuit than its SF90 predecessor, which Vettlel and Leclrec finished fouth and fifth respectively.

Vettel said to F1.com that the team and more importantly the drivers are united after the ‘blow-up’ in Brazil last year.
“We both learned the lesson what happened in Brazil,” he said.

“We are free to race but we are also team mates. A lot of people [work] on the car, we are a team, and things in Brazil shouldn’t happen. I’ve learned from it. The margins will probably be a bit bigger.”

The SF1000 will make its track debut at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya for pre-season testing on February 16.

Gouger Street Party revs up

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Image: Adelaide Rally

Brendan Lines

December 6, 2019

As cars in the Adelaide Rally race across the state, motorsport fans will be able to take a more casual pace getting up close to the machines tonight at the Gouger Street Party 2019.

The fan favourite event will see all of this year’s entrants park their machines in Adelaide’s west-end restaurant district to celebrate motorsport in the city of Adelaide.

Previously a feature of the for now scaled back Adelaide Motorsport Festival, the Gouger Street Party has been retained, but for the first time ever it will be a fully licensed event.

Allowing for more casual fans and die-hards alike to enjoy the event says rally spokesperson and keen racer Tim Possingham.

“ One thing we have seen in previous years is that the crowds are incredibly diverse. We obviously have the car enthusiasts coming along, but we also see city workers joining in for the buzz in the street, families with young kids and lots of people who become the car enthusiasts of the future as a result of seeing not just the beauty, power and style of the cars, but also the camaraderie and carnival atmosphere of the event.”

Attracting near 43 000 visitors over the three days of last year’s event, it’s a boon for local business as traders and sponsors invest more towards the bustling crowds says Possingham.

“This year our sponsors, Amadio Wines, will be operating their pop-up Ruby’s Wine Bar and the entire street is licensed, so people can check out the field of more than 250 rally cars with a glass of wine in hand.

“The Gouger St Traders Association are preparing for the crowds with all restaurants offering extended al fresco dining, plus there will be star drivers, live music, and even an appearance from Adelaide’s own supercar, the Brabham BT62,” he said.

Another home grown racing legend in attendance will be Formula 1 World Champion Alan Jones who is competing in a McLaren 720s Spider.

Jones who raced at the first Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1985, said to The Advertiser Adelaide continues its good reputation for hosting motorsport events.

“Adelaide is big enough to hold it and do it properly, but small enough to embrace it on a more personal basis,” he said.

The Gouger Street party kicks-off tonight from 5.30pm.

https://www.adelaiderally.com.au/gouger-st-party

Country and city school tennis aces win state champs

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Brendan Lines

November 29, 2019

The 2019 South Australian ANZ Tennis Hot Shots state school championships wrapped up this week at Memorial Drive’s clay courts, as Cobdogla Primary School and Prince Alfred College won respective divisions competing against schools from across the state.

210 students from 23 schools descended on to Memorial Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday to compete in respective country and city round-robin style competitions, to decide which schools would win the opportunity to an Adelaide International experience in January 2020.

The Hot Shots program, run locally by Tennis SA engages with children of all ages and abilities to play tennis through its program holding 34 district school carnivals throughout the year..

Tennis SA School Development Co-ordinator Shane Leathem says Hot Shots plays a vital part in promoting tennis at a school level.

“In carnivals around the districts we promote as many students from years three and four, we aim that we focus on participation, engagement and sportsmanship.”

The program introduces students to a modified version of tennis that includes smaller courts, racquets and coloured low compression balls designed to improve skill outcomes says Leathem.

“It just makes it a lot easier easier for kids who might struggle initially with that hand-eye coordination to be able to feel that ball and control it over the net.”

Not only does the Hot Shots program get young players on the court, it also helps schools apply for funding to buy equipment through the government’s Sporting Schools initiative.

Leathem says the program can identify talent, highlighting Tennis SA’s border aim towards grass roots support that may help to uncover the next Ash Barty or Alex di Minaur.

“Days like this really showcase what talent is out there, the program for us, is definitely focussed on that initial engagement of students as well, “ he said.

The winners from Cobdogla Primary School and Prince Alfred College will now be special guests at The Adelaide International to be held and the newly developed Memorial Drive in January 2020.

https://www.tennis.com.au/sa/

https://hotshots.tennis.com.au/about/

McLaren’s long road back to the F1 podium

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Above Image: Getty Images

Brendan Lines

November 22, 2019

At last Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix McLaren secured its first podium finish in 2,072 days locking away fourth place in this year’s constructors championship, after a post-race time penalty handed to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton promoted Carlos Sainz on to the podium, so just how has McLaren risen from the ashes of its past woes?

It hasn’t been a straight road by any means for McLaren after the failed rekindling of the Honda partnership, departure of Adrian Newey, loss of Lewis Hamilton and the infamous ‘Spygate’ saga that caused instability on and off the track — McLaren have finally turned the tide toward a brighter future.

Team Principle Andreas Seidl said to McLaren.com it was a team effort pulling off the great result in Brazil.

“P4 in the Constructors’ World Championship for McLaren secured. First podium for Carlos in his F1 career and first podium for McLaren since 2014. What an amazing achievement for the entire team back home in the factory plus here at the track, and for Carlos and Lando after putting in so much hard work throughout the year.”

Winning on their own terms is very much accustomed to the Woking based team, who over their 56-year history have seen dominant eras gilded by silverware from 12 Drivers’ and eight Constructors’ World Championships.

There has almost been an expectation that McLaren would always be a winning team. Yet not to have won a race in seven years, that being Jenson Button at Interlagos in 2012 — is unprecedented. McLaren’s last taste of ultimate success came when Lewis Hamilton won his first Driver’s World Championship in 2008.

But the cracks were just appearing at McLaren in 2007 during the fallout of the ‘Spygate’ espionage controversy. Off the track, ‘Spygate’ signalled there was instability in McLaren’s ranks.

It was a tumultuous time that exposed alleged theft of Ferrari technical data and a rift between then Team Principle Ron Dennis and Fernando Alonso, as Alonso accused the team of favouring Dennis’ young protege Hamilton.

Dennis retired as team principle in 2009 and eventually parted completely in 2017 after his 37 year association with the McLaren Technology Group. During his time Dennis oversaw McLaren’s most successful period across the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2015 McLaren went back to Honda engines for the first time since 1992, in what began as a hark back to the halcyon days of the Honda powered MP4/4 winning 15 out of 16 races and Ayrton Senna’s first world championship in 1988.

But the ‘McLaren-Honda 2.0’ partnership ended in an unmitigated disaster as the team slumped to ninth in the constructors’ championship in 2017.

Yet like any good comeback story there has to be a pivotal point where the fight back to the top begins.

That began when motorsport marketing guru Zac Brown took over as McLaren CEO, Brown said to McLaren.com he took over at the most difficult time.

“I definitely joined in probably the most difficult period in the team’s history, but to me that’s the exciting part. That’s the challenge. What we needed to do was provide clear leadership and direction, and ensure the right people were in the right places. I think we’re now going in the right direction. The decisions we have made are paying off, but there’s still a long way to go.”

The first milestone on the road back success came when Brown divorced McLaren from its partnership with Honda in 2016, striking a new engine supply with Renault.

Brown also oversaw the increase of sponsorship investment and was instrumental bringing Seidl to the team along with James Key as Technical Director.

Brown also attributes the teams renewed stability from retaining the services of drivers Sainz and Lando Norris.

“We’re currently in a period of rebuilding and we want stability. Both Carlos and Lando are performing well and we’re very happy with them, therefore we wanted to confirm them early. I’m sure there are many teams that would love to have either of them in a race car and by confirming them when we did, we avoided getting caught up in ‘silly season,” he said.

It was quite fitting that Sainz’s P20 to P3 drive at Interlagos very much echoed McLaren’s fight back to the podium, but despite the much welcomed success, Seidl said to McLaren.com he is now looking for success on the teams’ own terms.

“We keep our heads down and now focus on securing our positions in the Drivers’ World Championship. The achievement this year together with the podium today is the perfect motivation for all of us to keep working hard in order to score podiums again in the future for McLaren based on our own outright performance.”

With great results in the bag for 2019 and a revitalised partnership with Mercedes as their new engine supplier in 2021, the team as a collective appears now to have their heads in a good space for the challenges ahead, to finally get that elusive win they so desperately hunger.

Matildas settle the score on World Cup bid

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Brendan Lines

November 14, 2020

The Matildas 1-0 victory against Chile at Hindmarsh Stadium on Tuesday night not only settled the score on the field, but set Adelaide’s World Cup bid straight giving women’s football in Adelaide the attention it rightly deserves on the world stage.

Matildas captain Sam Kerr gives her shirt to a young fan after the match. Picture: AAP

Image: Daily Telegraph – Sam Kerr gives away her strip to local Adelaide fan.

A record 10,342 strong crowd attended the women’s international friendly, smashing the previous record in Adelaide of 5186 set in 2006.

From the resounding cheers at the climax of Advance Australia Fair, to the raptures engulfing the moments just after Emily Gielnik’s goal in the 23rd minute — alone would have been more than enough for Premier Steven Marshall to come to his senses.

The roar of approval for The Matildas:

Recent public and political pressure forced the Liberal government to re-think its World Cup bid, before Adelaide was lost to the complete alienation of the country’s football and wider sporting community.

Just hours before kick-off the Premier made a statement re-committing his support.

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup is a massive event to add to our sporting calendar, and Adelaide will be a fantastic location for the competition,” he said.

In August, Marshall balked at the chance for Adelaide to support Football Federation Australia’s bid to host the World Cup, on the grounds of affordability to upgrade Hindmarsh Stadium.

Tourism minister David Ridgway argued that losses of business would have to be paid to the Crows and Port Adelaide AFL clubs if games were to be played at Adelaide Oval — despite InDaily revealing the government was not under any obligation to compensate the Stadium Management Authority.

The opposition’s recreation spokesperson Katrine Hildyard who criticised Marshall for a $24m cut to the Female Facilities Program, later said on Twitter that supporters made their voice heard on Tuesday night.

The government’s change in tack came as Ridgway said “The State Government has negotiated a good outcome for South Australian sports fans and taxpayers.”

But all the politics aside, it was the spectacle that mattered in the end as the Matildas headed by Sam Kerr were dominant against the Chileans.

As their fluent attack wrecked havoc on the Chilean defenders and keeper Natalia Campos.

The win cemented the Matilda’s eighth place in the world rankings for 2019 with seven wins and two losses.

To the Matildas’ credit, not only did they get the job done on the field, but there was an implied victory off the field rousing record local support.

As our ladies silenced the rhetoric with their irrefutable results, giving women’s football in Adelaide a well deserved shot at getting further attention on the world stage.