Friday 28 February 2014

Griffin: RAM Racing Ready For World Platform

When the sportscar racing world converged on Paris for February’s annual ACO press conference to discover which teams had been granted an entry for the Le Mans 24 Hours, Dan Shufflebottom’s RAM Racing outfit could sit pretty in the knowledge that the hard work had already been done. LMGTE class champions of the European Le Mans Series in only their first season of competition to guarantee their invitation to the great race, RAM have enjoyed a fine start to life in the sportscar arena and will look to continue that momentum in 2014 as they graduate to the World Endurance Championship with a two-car attack on the Pro and Am categories. 
Griffin has settled in well with Dan Shufflebottom's RAM
Racing team since its inception in 2013. (Credit: Drew Gibson)
One of the team’s lead drivers, Irishman Matt Griffin, has raced Ferraris for a number of years and knows a good thing when he sees it. First introduced to RAM through his connections with Amato Ferrari’s crack AF Corse GT team, the 31-year old was immediately struck with the ambition of the project, its geographic location only adding to the appeal.

“Racing for a British team is great because I’m only based forty minutes away from the workshop, so it’s very different from having to get on a plane and go to Italy,” Griffin said.  “It means I can drop in a couple of times a week, to go through stuff, even to just go in and have a cup of tea with the boys, it really helps with building relationships.

“RAM is a great team, I’m really comfortable. Everyone working there is absolutely at the top level and it really works as a unit. I think that’s why we were so successful last year in the European Le Mans Series.

“When they do something, they do it to win. They’re not doing it for any other reason; the objective is to win, so it’s great to be associated with something like that.”
Griffin enjoyed the most successful season of his career in
2013, winning the ELMS crown with Mowlem (right) and
finishing third in GTE-Am at Le Mans. (Credit: Drew Gibson)
If winning is the yardstick for measuring success, then RAM have certainly been living up to expectations. With the hugely experienced British pilot Johnny Mowlem alongside Griffin, RAM would enjoy a fairy-tale season of dominance that produced three wins from five races and never failed to make the podium.

The level of competition is sure to step up again as RAM take on the WEC, but Griffin is looking forward to playing the underdog against a Pro class almost exclusively made up of factory teams fielded by Aston Martin, Porsche and of course, Ferrari.

“Racing in the Pro class is where I want to be, it allows you to concentrate on your own performance and not have to worry too much about helping your team-mates out. Both drivers need to pull their weight and particularly with the change in qualifying rules both drivers have to do qualifying anyway. But what comes from that is the level of competitiveness; it’s absolutely through the roof,” he said. 

“I genuinely believe that GTE-Pro is the toughest and most competitive class there is, and I’m not just saying that because I’m in it. When that green flag drops you have to go as hard as you can. Once you get to Le Mans all bets are off, it’s 24 hours of qualifying laps, it’s really pure racing.

“It’s going to be tough for RAM this year as a private team up against all the factory teams with all factory drivers. Particularly on the strategy point of view, the team needs to be bang on, because whereas last year you could afford to have a couple of hiccups along the way, in the WEC you can’t do that because there are seven cars that can realistically win the race.”

There is also change on the driving front, with Mowlem slated to head up the Am car alongside Mark Patterson and Ben Collins, better known as Top Gear’s ‘The Stig’, to give RAM the best chance at both titles. Nonetheless, Griffin has every confidence that his new partnership with McLaren factory racer Alvaro Parente, a race-winner in the FIA GT Series with Sebastien Loeb last season, can prove just as fruitful over the course of the season.
The 458 GTE is a proven package and will be quick in the
capable hands of Griffin and Parente. (Credit: Drew Gibson)
“Dan had an eye on Alvaro for a while; it’s just been a case of trying to negotiate with McLaren to have him on loan.  It’s not as easy as you’d think to find a really good driver who will fit in, so I’m really happy that RAM signed him,” commented Griffin.

“I think we’ll make a really good team, we’re both of a similar age and at similar performance levels. It’s about both of us absolutely driving the wheels off the thing, that’s what’s going to be needed. I’m nervous and excited, it’s a massive challenge ahead but I’ve got  loads of confidence in myself, RAM and my new team-mate as well.

“It will change things, not having Johnny in the car, because he’s a great driver and he’s a great guy, a really top professional, but having him in the team will still be a really good thing. It’s always an advantage to have Johnny on the team, whether you’re driving with him or in a different car to him because he has such a lot of experience. I’m sure there will be times when he comes and sits in our debriefs because he can add something,” he added.

Should the plucky British privateer team continue their remarkable success story against the might of the manufacturers, it would also provide a much-needed feel-good story for sportscars after a 2013 season marred by tragedy. Equipped with the proven 458 Italia, which took Gianmaria Bruni to the WEC title in 2013 and a seriously talented driver roster, the no. 52 car certainly shouldn't be discounted. 

Sunday 23 February 2014

Griffin Eyes BOP Changes For Sebring

GTD Ferrari racer Matt Griffin believes IMSA still has work to do after the opening round of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, where the issue of performance balancing was on everybody’s lips.  Speaking ahead of testing at Sebring for the 12 Hour with the Spirit of Race team, Irishman Griffin warned that the speed advantage held by the GTD-spec cars over the more bespoke GTLM (GTE) cars down the straights, compared with the rest of the lap, could cause accidents.

“It was one of the fastest things in a straight line of all the classes, quicker than the LMP2s even, but the car has less grip, so it was quite hard to drive,” Griffin told The Motorsport Journal. “It’s difficult for championships to balance all the classes properly because they look at it based on lap-times, and obviously the GTD cars have very little downforce, so on an overall lap it’s not that quick but down the straights they’re absolutely ballistic. 
Griffin is concerned by the GTD Ferrari's top speeds relative to
their handling performance. (Credit: Trevor Horn/ Motorsport.com)
“I think they do need to do something because it makes things hard for all the drivers; at Daytona, a GTE car would pass you in Turn 5 before the banking, and then you’d drive straight pass them down the straight again.  It puts you in a situation where contact is likely to occur, because in a GTE car it’s very easy to get frustrated.  It’ll be very interesting to see how the changes take effect at Sebring.”

The reigning European Le Mans Series GTE champion, Griffin is set to combine his United SportsCar campaign in America with an assault on the GTE-Pro category in the WEC and Le Mans 24 Hours with British squad RAM Racing, an interview which will be available later this week on The Motorsport Journal.  Having driven the 458 in both GTE and GTD spec, as well as the GT3 variant in the domestic British GT championship and in the recent Bathurst 12 Hour enduro, Griffin is well-placed to describe their differences, which are more considerable than meets the eye.

“The biggest difference between the GTE and the GTD I’d say is the GTE is much more of a racing car, so it has a lot less road car parts on it. Technically it’s at a different level due to some of the electronics you have on the car, the way the car is set up, but because of the Balance of Performance they have less horsepower than the GTD car. Also, the GTE car doesn’t have ABS whereas the GTD car does.

“The only similarity really is they both have Ferrari badges on them; the cars really are different.  I think most drivers will tell you it’s more gratifying to drive the GTE car.”


Make sure to check back with The Motorsport Journal later this week, as Matt Griffin discusses his ELMS championship, Bathurst disappointment and the pressures of competing in the Pro category. 

Monday 17 February 2014

Sprint Cup Rookies Assessed

After several seasons where the esteemed Rookie of the Year award has been contested by a meagre field of part-timers and start-and-park entries, the 2014 crop is the strongest in years, with the reigning Nationwide Series champion, the younger brother of an established NASCAR star and two former Penske Racing development drivers among the eight contenders looking to pick up the title. James Newbold investigates.

Austin Dillon – Richard Childress Racing
Austin Dillon qualified on pole for the 500 with the
iconic number 3. (Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Perhaps inevitably, the spotlight will be very much focused on Austin Dillon as the famed no. 3 returns to Cup for the first time since the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001. Dillon may be the grandson of team-owner Richard Childress, but that’s not to say he isn’t here on merit. Austin won the Truck Series in 2011 the year after winning Rookie of the Year, a feat he repeated in 2013, winning a close fight with Sam Hornish Jr. to seal the second-tier Nationwide Series title after finishing top rookie the previous season.  He also showed his immaculate car control by winning the Truck race at Eldora Speedway, the first NASCAR-sanctioned event on dirt in forty years last July.

Dillon made his Sprint Cup debut as long ago as Kansas in 2011, and featured semi-regularly last season at RCR, Phoenix Racing and at Stewart-Haas Racing in the absence of Tony Stewart, albeit without running for series points, leaving him eligible for a full-on assault at the rookie crown this year.  Oh, and he’ll be starting the Daytona 500 from pole.

Whatever he does this season, whether it’s a repeat of his spectacular final-lap crash at Talladega last year or his misjudged swallow dive following victory at Nashville in 2011, Dillon is sure to attract plenty of attention in 2014.

Kyle Larson – Chip Ganassi Racing.
Best known for this crash at Daytona last year, Larson (32)
will look to rectify that fact this year. Bowman (99) is one of
his ROTY rivals. (Credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
The man most likely to challenge Dillon is his successor as the Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, Kyle Larson, who steps up to Sprint Cup in the no. 42 vacated by IndyCar-bound Juan Pablo Montoya. Chip Ganassi has high hopes for Larson, who was a revelation in his first season in the Nationwide Series last year, despite a horrifying accident at Daytona from which he was lucky to escape unscathed. He finished second four times, chasing down established Cup stars Kyle Busch, Regan Smith, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski on each occasion, and took a win in the Trucks at Rockingham. Interestingly, Larson was Dillon’s closest rival on the Eldora dirt, and the two will most likely trade paint again before the season’s conclusion.

Justin Allgaier – HScott Motorsports
Allgaier (51) battles Cup champions Brad
Keselowski (2) and Kurt Busch (78) at Talladega.
(Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images)
Justin Allgaier, or the ‘Little Gator’ as he is affectionately known in the paddock, makes a long overdue Sprint Cup debut after five seasons as a consistent front-runner in the Nationwide Series.  First groomed for stardom by Roger Penske, the 27 year-old from Illinois makes the step-up full-time after an exploratory four races at the end of last season with the newly renamed HScott Motorsports, which takes over James Finch’s Phoenix Racing entry and has Tony Stewart’s former crew chief Steve Addington on board.  One of the more experienced of this year's rookie crop, Allgaier could be the dark horse for ROTY.

Michael Annett - Tommy Baldwin Racing

Michael Annett. (Credit: Jerry
Markland/Getty Images)
27 year-old Iowa native Michael Annett will draw on the tutelage of the legendary Richard Petty, known in NASCAR circles as 'The King' for his record 7 championships and 200 wins, as he makes his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut in 2014. 

A consistent top 10 finisher in his first few seasons at Nationwide level, Annett made a big step forward in 2012 to finish fifth in the standings for Richard Petty Motorsports, but was unable to build on that in a 2013 season blighted by the injuries he sustained in the 'big one' at Daytona.  

Now with Tommy Baldwin’s small team, Annett would like nothing more than to spring a surprise on his more established rivals for the Rookie of the Year prize. 


Cole Whitt & Parker Kligerman – Swan Racing

He may not be Days of Thunder star Cole Trickle, but like his Hollywood namesake, 22 year-old Californian Cole Whitt is seriously quick. A champion in the USAC Midgets series in 2008, Whitt was picked up by Red Bull and given two Sprint Cup starts before the energy drinks manufacturer curtailed their involvement in NASCAR in 2011. Dale Earnhardt Jr. liked what he saw and gave Whitt a shot in his JR Motorsports Nationwide team for 2012, where he outperformed team-mate Danica Patrick and finished second to Dillon in the rookie standings. A lack of funding meant Whitt couldn’t continue in Nationwide in 2013, but he closed out the year in Swan Racing’s no. 30 entry when David Stremme was dropped on the eve of the Chase and stays on in the team’s no. 26 for a shot at Rookie of the Year in 2014. 
Swan Racing have a youthful lineup of Cole Whitt (22) and
Parker Kligerman (23). (Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Fellow rookie Parker Kligerman will drive the no. 30 after a successful season in Nationwide yielded ninth in points with Kyle Busch Motorsport. Like Allgaier, a former Penske scholar, 23-year old Kligerman emerged as a surprise Truck Series championship contender in 2012 and won at Talladega following a mid-season switch to Red Horse Racing, before moving to drive the no. 77 for KBM in Nationwide, peaking with a third at Road America and going on to finish only two points shy of top rookie Larson in the standings.  2013 also marked Kligerman’s Sprint Cup debut, running a promising 18th at Texas for Swan ahead of a full-season campaign for this year.

Running an all-rookie lineup means there isn't a great deal expected of Swan Racing in 2014, but Brandon Davis’s young team - only formed in 2011 - will be sure to give it their all, and in Whitt and Kligerman, have two stars of the future who will only improve as the year goes on.  

Alex Bowman & Ryan Truex – BK Racing

The youngest of the rookie crop, 20-year old Arizonan Alex Bowman joins BK Racing in the no. 23 (formerly 93) Camry after only a single full-season at sub-Cup level.  Driving for RAB Racing, Bowman took third in the Daytona season opener and scored a further five top 10s, including a fifth at Kentucky en route to 11th in the standings.
Ryan Truex will join big brother Martin on the Sprint Cup
grid in 2014. (Credit: Robert Laberge/ Getty Images)
Bowman is joined by 21-year old Ryan Truex, the younger brother of Furniture Row Racing’s Martin, an established name on the Sprint Cup circuit and Nationwide Series champion in both 2004 and 2005. Truex the younger has raced only sporadically in recent years, but recorded impressive results when given a chance in Joe Gibbs’ Nationwide cars and signed a multi-year development contract with Richard Petty Motorsports ahead of a three-race foray into the Sprint Cup with Phoenix Racing last year. 

Like Swan Racing, BK Racing will find the going tough with two rookies, particularly considering their inexperience relative to their ROTY rivals, but will hope their prodigious talent can get them in the mix. 

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Engel Predicts Tough Challenge Ahead For Dahlgren

Robert Dahlgren has raced successfully for Volvo for ten years, but
V8 Supercars is a whole new challenge. (Credit: Robert Dahlgren)
Germany’s Maro Engel has spoken of the challenges facing international drivers in the V8 Supercar championship ahead of Robert Dahlgren’s debut with Volvo.  Engel made his category debut last year with the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes team, scoring a best finish of ninth at Hidden Valley, but found himself out of a drive when Erebus downsized to two entries and signed Will Davison from Ford Performance Racing.  He expects Dahlgren, a veteran of 10 seasons on the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship circuit with Volvo, to have a tough learning curve in the new S60.

“It’s an extremely tough championship to come in as a rookie, especially as an international,” Engel said. “The cars are very different, the tracks are very different to what we know in Europe and you’re racing almost all unknown drivers bar maybe one or two he might have come across racing in Europe, so it’s a similar situation to what I had or Alex Premat had.

“I guess the question is how competitive will the Volvo be? If it’s a competitive car then it will make things a lot easier for him. I’m sure he’s aware of the challenge that he’s facing and he’ll do everything he can, one of the key things will be how well the team prepares and how well they support him, that’s a very important thing to have in this championship. I’ll certainly be watching to see how he goes and wish him all the best.”
Another convincing performance at Bathurst has Engel itching
to get back behind the wheel of a V8. (Credit: Maro Engel)
Engel has settled in well to the Australian way of life on the Gold Coast, and after winning the Allan Simonsen Trophy for pole position in the Bathurst 12 Hours, is keen to get make a comeback in V8s in the near future.

“Clearly the year running in the V8 Supercar championship was very difficult and challenging.  For any European coming in it was always going to be difficult, but what nobody expected was for the car to struggle as much as it did. 

“I’ve really enjoyed the championship and I certainly feel capable of producing strong results and racing at the front in V8 Supercars, so we’ll see what happens in the future.”

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Profile: Craig Lowndes

One of Australia's foremost sporting heroes, three-time V8 Supercar champion and five-times Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes is one of few to have successfully transcended the deep-rooted partisan divide between fans of Holden and Ford. The Motorsport Journal profiles the perma-smiling Aussie, who once again mastered Mount Panorama in a classic Bathurst 12 Hours for Maranello Motorsport at the weekend. 
Craig Lowndes celebrates on the podium after
winning the Bathurst 12 Hours. (Credit: Craig Lowndes)
As a fresh-faced rookie at the Holden Racing Team in 1994, Craig Lowndes caught everyone by surprise when with 11 laps remaining, he made a career-defining pass around the outside of John Bowe’s Ford for the race lead at Griffins Bend. Although Bowe would wrest the lead back in traffic and go on to win unchallenged when Lowndes' fuel light came on, it barely seemed to matter. A new star was born.  

Fast forward twenty years and the boot sits firmly on the other foot. In the dying minutes of the Bathurst 12 Hours enduro, it seemed a tough ask for Lowndes to hold off the charging Mercedes of Maximillian Buhk, who had a clear straight-line speed advantage and fresh brake-pads to boot.  Buhk came knocking, pulling alongside the Ferrari and tried to stick it out around the outside of the fast right-hander.  But Lowndes was never about to concede, and in a typically canny display of defensive driving, brought the car home to deliver Allan Simonsen’s former team an emotional victory, and add yet another accolade to an already glittering CV.  In a twist of irony, Lowndes’ team-mate watching nervously from the garage was none other than Tasmanian Bowe himself.

Lowndes missed out on a sixth Bathurst win in 2011 by just 0.3 seconds
to Holden rival Garth Tander. (Credit: Australian Daily Telegraph)
Lowndes’s phenomenal record on the mountain speaks for itself.  In the record books as one half of the youngest ever pairing to win the Great Race, alongside Greg Murphy at HRT in 1996, no-one could begrudge Lowndes fittingly winning the inaugural Peter Brock Trophy in 2006, dedicated to his late mentor, the great Peter ‘Perfect’ Brock. That kick-started a trio of consecutive victories alongside one Jamie Whincup in Triple Eight’s Fords, before a change in the regulations meant full-season drivers could no longer team up for the endurance races. Not that this would stop Lowndes, as semi-retired V8 legend Mark Skaife marked his return to Holden by co-driving him to a glorious fifth triumph in 2010, and has never finished off the podium since, famously contributing to one of the great finishes in 2011 when he hassled Garth Tander all the way to the flag.

At 39, the ever-popular Lowndes remains a massive draw and is still at the top of his game, setting a new record for the largest margin of victory in the first race in the new Car of Tomorrow era of V8 Supercars last year. He can also be well satisfied with being the only man to consistently keep the dominant man of this generation in Whincup honest in recent years, having finished second in points for the last three years in a row.  Should rumours that Lowndes is targeting an assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours in June come to fruition, who would count against him showing the rest of the world what they’re missing? I for one certainly hope it happens.
V8 star Jason Bright made the trip to Le Mans last year and had
a blast. Will Lowndes do the same? (Credit: John Dagys)

Thursday 6 February 2014

Bathurst 12 Hours Preview: Maro Engel Interview

‘Anything can happen, and it usually does’ is one of Murray Walker’s most famous lines from the commentary booth, but it’s an axiom that certainly fits Mount Panorama and one Maro Engel is well aware of. The German tackled the legendary mountain for the first time in the V8 Supercars last year, and is eager to return as Erebus Motorsport look to defend their Bathurst 12 Hours crown following an epic 2013 race in changeable conditions. 
Maro Engel rates Bathurst as one of the top
circuits in world motorsport. (Credit: Erebus Motorsport)
Engel is joined by young gun Nico Bastian and DTM legend Bernd Schneider, who formed part of the winning lineup last year, and is under no illusion of the challenge facing him against a strong international field of 44 cars, 14 of which will compete for outright honours in Class A GT3-spec machinery.

“There’s a very strong field of V8 Supercar drivers and internationals and you’ve got to give them a lot of respect,” Engel said. “At the same time, we’ll be working as hard as we can in the lead up to the race to make sure we put ourselves in the best position we can to win the race and defend our title, but the competition has stepped up a bit compared to last year so it’s certainly not going to be a walk in the park." 

With Schneider on the team, there comes a certain expectation that the car will run at the front, but Engel shrugged off suggestions that he will be under pressure to perform. 

“It’s just a positive really, it’s great to have Bernd in the team and his experience will be a big factor, as he’s won the race before.  Nico’s done very well at the Nordschleife and in various smaller categories, and he’s driven the SLS GT3 extensively, so he’ll go very well. As a whole team with Bernd and myself, it’s certainly a very strong combination and hopefully we’ll be pushing each other on so we can come out on top at the end of the day.”
Engel shone at Macau and was unlucky to be denied
the victory by a puncture. (Credit: Erebus Motorsport)
The 28 year-old has a proven track record in the SLS, with a win on his first time on Australian soil at Phillip Island in 2012, and set pole position and a GT lap record to boot on the streets of Macau last year only to be denied victory with a late puncture, so it shouldn't take long for Engel to acclimatise after a year racing the E63 AMG.

“The V8 Supercars are very different cars that require a unique driving style, which doesn’t quite apply as much to the SLS. You could say it’s more like what we Europeans are more familiar with in terms of driving style, downforce and performance of the cars.  It's great to jump back in the SLS which was competitive straight out of the box at Macau, the team did a great job of preparing it and I guess we did something which nobody really expected.

“It was really special, it was obviously great for me to see that I hadn’t lost any of the speed and I just needed a competitive car underneath me.  I’d have loved to finish off the job and take the win, and I think we were on to achieve that comfortably, we were out in front and everything was under control. It’s just a shame, 2013 certainly wasn’t a lucky number for me.”

It was undoubtedly a tough season for Engel in 2013, as he had to get to grips with a new set of cars, tracks, and drivers he had never raced with before.  But even if the results weren’t what he’d hoped for as Erebus Motorsport grappled with a power disparity and fuel economy issues, Engel will benefit enormously for having done the Bathurst 1000 alongside Steven Johnson, with circuit knowledge an extremely valuable commodity.

“Obviously track knowledge there is key, so the fact that I’ve done the 1000 there has given me a lot of laps and it’s always good to have a heads up and know the track, even though Bathurst is a place where you never stop learning,” he said.  “It’s one of those places where before the start you get a very special feeling, and you probably only have that feeling at Indianapolis, Le Mans and maybe the Nurburgring.  It’s a unique place.”

Maro Engel's Bathurst Track Guide
Maro Engel attacks the mountain on his Bathurst 
1000 debut in 2013. (Credit: Maro Engel)
“Bathurst is one of those iconic race tracks in the world, there’s very few of those around. There are some tracks that are just that little bit more special than any other track and Bathurst is very high on that last. It’s obviously very unique, it’s got a great history and driving a race car around there in anger is a very special feeling, going over the top of Mount Panorama with the walls so close, the succession of fast corners and that incredible descent.  You can feel that atmosphere on raceday early in the morning when the whole mountain is full of fans. Everyone is just living that buzz, it’s a great experience to be a part of.

“It’s very demanding, probably a mixture between an open, European style circuit down the bottom – you could compare it to Spa in some instances – and around the top I’ve tried to find comparisons and what seems closest to me is Macau, you’ve got the walls beside you all the way from the moment you get out of turn two all the way until you come down the Conrod Straight.  

"It has its own character, a lot of fast, blind corners around the top and gradient changes, it’s a big challenge. The sun will definitely be a factor in the later afternoon as it sets very low and you come around the top over Skyline, you’re blinded. When you do the track walk, you realise the place demands respect and its special, and that’s exactly how you have to treat it the first time you drive around there in a race car."

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Bathurst 12 Hours Preview: Runners and Riders

Mount Panorama. The revered spiritual home of Australian motorsport and the playground of its favourite son, the late Peter Brock, the allure of Bathurst remains as strong as ever, as a 44-car entry of V8 Supercar stars and internationals alike are drawn in once again for the ever-growing Bathurst 12 Hour enduro. Ahead of its eighth season in its current format, The Motorsport Journal runs through the likely names to look out for. 

Returning winners Erebus Motorsport are back with Bernd Schneider once again leading the line. The German DTM maestro, who races for fun these days, is still a formidable force behind the wheel of an SLS AMG GT3 at the age of 49, and would have won his fifth consecutive endurance race on the spin in Dubai – following a clean sweep in 2013 of Dubai, Bathurst, Nurburgring Nordschleife and Spa – before mechanical gremlins struck. Joined by the V8 Supercars refugee Maro Engel, a dab hand himself in a GT car having set a lap record for Erebus at Macau last year and youngster Nico Bastian, who raced an SLS in the VLN Series last year, the all-German crew should be the ones to beat.   Erebus’s new V8 Supercar signing Will Davison will be partnered by Erebus Academy prospect Jack LeBrocq and veteran Greg Crick in the sister car.
Erebus Motorsport are strong favourites with
their pair of Mercedes SLS GT3's. (Credit: Erebus Motorsport)
A third Mercedes has also been entered for Bathurst by HTP Motorsport, which delivered Maximillian Buhk the Blancpain Endurance Series title in 2013, despite only competing in three of the five rounds. 21-year old Buhk returns for his Bathurst debut, with 2013 Bathurst winner Thomas Jaeger and Harold Primat completing what should be a victory contending line-up.

Audi are also well-represented, with Phoenix Racing running a de-facto factory entry for treble Porsche Supercup champion Rene Rast, FIA GT champion Laurens Vanthoor and former DTM racer Rahel Frey. Fresh from his dramatic last lap run-in with Alessandro Pier Guidi for the class win at Daytona, Markus Winkelhock joins Eric Lux and Mark Patterson at United Autosports, while V8 Supercar star Jason Bright will share with Warren Luff, Liam Talbot and Rod Salmon in the latter’s eponymous entry. Not to be discounted also is Christopher Mies, who won back-to-back Bathurst 12 Hour races in 2011 and 2012 and will look to add a third alongside Marc Cinci and Mark Eddy.

2006 V8 Supercar champion and Jack Daniels Nissan team-owner Rick Kelly heads up the Japanese marque’s attack in the GT-R Nismo, which includes the experienced Alex Buncombe, rising Japanese F3 star Katsumasa Chiyo and 2012 GT Academy winner Wolfgang Reip, who did a stunning job on his LMP2 debut with Greaves in Bahrain, while cult hero Steve Richards, a member of that elite club to have won at Bathurst in both a Holden and a Ford, will look to become the defending winner of the Bathurst 1000 and 12 Hours simultaneously in the M Motorsport Lamborghini.  

Fan favourite Craig Lowndes, a five-time winner of the Bathurst 1000 race, links up with the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari team, and should prove competitive with ex-F1 racer Mika Salo, veteran pro John Bowe and Peter Edwards keeping things ticking over.  Further Ferraris are entered by Clearwater Racing, who pin their hopes on the hugely experienced Kiwi Craig Baird and Irish ace Matt Griffin, while Italians Michele Rugolo and Marco Cioci will hope to put AF Corse in the mix.  In another coup for the series, McLaren will also make its first appearance on the mountain in the A class, as Andrew Kirkaldy joins father and son Tony and Klark Quinn and V8 Supercar racer Shane van Gisbergen at VIP Petfoods Racing.
BTCC champion Gordon Shedden is a late addition to
the entry list in a Class C Lotus. (Credit: Riad Ariane Media)
In Class B, 2012 WTCC champion Rob Huff is back for a second crack at the mountain alongside fellow countryman and factory Corvette driver Oliver Gavin, Richard Meins and Kevin Gleason at Rotek Racing in the proven Audi R8 LMS.  Gavin’s ALMS sparring partner Patrick Long is also present, the American ace joining McElrea Racing, with David Calvert-Jones and Will’s brother Alex Davison alongside in a promising-looking Porsche 997 GT3. Elsewhere, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion Earl Bamber, recently announced as the winner of a factory scholarship, will partner Ben Barker and Steven Grove in the latter’s 997, and Hollywood actor Eric Bana makes his return to the mountain in a Racing Incident Lamborghini with Peter Hill and Simon Middleton.  Class C also has a star name of its own, as 2012 BTCC champion Gordon Shedden makes his first trip to Mount Panorama in the Motionsport Lotus Exige GT4 which was unlucky not to beat the factory Peugeot's last year.

As a footnote, Ryan McLeod is entering the invitational class with three of the brand new MARC Ford Focus V8s, set to compete in the South African Global Touring Car series (GTC) later this year, with Chris Pither among those set to drive.  
The fearsome new Focus GTCs will race in their own 
South African-based series in 2014. (Credit: Speedcafe)

Monday 3 February 2014

Analysis: Why Di Grassi Is The Perfect Fit For Audi


McNish's retirement leaves some rather big shoes to fill at Audi. (Credit: WEC media)
Audi’s announcement on Monday that Lucas di Grassi would join reigning WEC champions Tom Kristensen and Loic Duval in the number one Audi R18 e-tron Quattro for 2014 should come as no surprise.  Choosing the successor to the newly-retired Audi stalwart Allan McNish is no small feat, but the 29 year-old Brazilian is about as qualified as they come.  

Well-renowned for his technical feedback as the official test driver for Pirelli and the new FIA Formula E series and a known quantity who is familiar to the team, having previously shared with Kristensen and shone in the third entry at Le Mans last season, di Grassi offers the ideal mix of stability, speed and reliability to give Audi a shot at defending their drivers and manufacturers titles from Toyota and Porsche. 

Upon meeting di Grassi at Le Mans last year, I was struck by his erudite manner, but also the humble reverence he held for La Sarthe, which despite all his experience on the F1 circuit was like nothing he had ever witnessed. This grounded approach should stand him in good stead this season. While there is always great expectation when representing Audi, a winner of the 24 Hours twelve times since 2000, the pressures of driving the number one car are a whole different ball game; no longer can di Grassi use the 'underdog' tag that comes with driving a part-time third car.  
Lucas di Grassi will swap the no. 3 for the no. 1 in 2014. (Credit: WEC media)
"Le Mans is a special place, so have my first Le Mans with Audi is an honour," he told me, in a crowded media session on the Thursday morning. "There is no better team to be with, and my aim is just to learn as much as I can. I have very little experience of endurance racing, especially at Le Mans, the rest is just a matter of doing my job and being as fast as possible.

"The car is so different from Formula One. When you're having the discussions about how to set up the car, over the 24 hours the car changes so much, especially at night with the temperature drop. In Formula One it was always about pure performance all the time, you don't care about what the weather is going to be like on Sunday if you're doing the race on Saturday, I just didn't have that mentality. But it makes a lot of sense, you have to have a car which gives you confidence, is nice to drive, it's a completely different mentality."

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich has every confidence in di Grassi to reward Audi's faith in him this season and with that ringing endorsement in mind, the Brazilian will surely deliver.

Di Grassi in profile:

Lucas di Grassi first rose to prominence in 2004 with a podium finish on his first visit to the fearsome Macau Grand Prix circuit, before making a winning return on his second attempt at 2005 ahead of Robert Kubica and one Sebastien Vettel, when his new team-mate Duval was adjudged to have made a jump start.  With support from Renault, di Grassi moved to GP2 with Durango in 2006, before launching a title challenge with ART in 2007, where he finished runner-up to Timo Glock.  

Despite missing the first six races of the 2008 season, di Grassi would go on to finish third, winning three times to finish just a point shy of second-placed Bruno Senna.  His performances caught the eye of Renault and Honda, who both evaluated him for an F1 ride in 2009, although he would remain in GP2 for a fourth year, again finishing third, when Nelson Piquet Jr. and Rubens Barrichello were maintained by their respective  teams.  Di Grassi would eventually make it to Formula One at the new Virgin Racing team for 2010, but it wasn’t everything he hoped for as Nick Wirth’s exclusively CFD designed VR-01 proved highly unreliable and effectively limited him to the ‘Class B’ battle against the Lotus and HRT teams, the infamously small fuel tanks making every race a fuel economy run. Rarely running the same specification as team-mate Glock, he nevertheless was held in high regard by the team, despite crashing on the way to the grid in Japan.
Di Grassi endured a difficult F1 baptism with the struggling Virgin team. (Credit: F1 Fanatic)
With Jerome d’Ambrosio signed up for 2011, di Grassi became the chief test driver for Pirelli’s F1 programme, which put him in the frame to join Peugeot’s WEC team before the French marque’s shock decision to withdraw from motorsport ahead of the 2012 season.  Following Dindo Capello’s retirement, di Grassi was added to the Audi lineup for Brazil round of the 2012 WEC alongside Kristensen and McNish, where he impressed despite driving the slower, non-hybrid R18 ultra, and earned himself a dream contract for 2013 in the process.

After finishing second the Sebring 12 Hours, again with Kristensen and McNish, di Grassi teamed up with Oliver Jarvis and Marc Gene to take on Spa and the Le Mans 24 Hours, with back-to-back podiums confirming to Audi that the Brazilian could be relied upon.  Having now stepped down from his role as Formula E’s official test driver, di Grassi will race for Audi full-time in the World Endurance Championship in 2014.


Audi also announced that 2012 WEC champions Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler will be retained for the full season, while Filipe Albuquerque will move across from the DTM to drive a third entry at Spa and Le Mans, alongside Oliver Jarvis and Marco Bonanomi, who replaces Marc Gene.