INTERNATIONAL WRAP: RACE OF CHAMPIONS & AUSSIES OVERSEAS
David Coulthard wins the 2018 Race Of Champions – Photo: LAT/Race Of Champions
RACE OF CHAMPIONS
Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard won the Race Of Champions in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
Coulthard eclipsed 19 fellow superstars of motorsport to take home the Race Of Champions trophy the second time after beating World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg in the final.
“I had to work hard out there and my heart is beating hard now! So thanks to Petter for a great race. He’s a great sport and a great champion.” said Coulthard.
Solberg, who competed in his first Race Of Champions final this year, was happy with his result.
“First of all, congratulations to David. I was doing everything I could to win it, but it wasn’t quite enough today.” said Solberg.
“David drove very well and he has the right mentality so this was very well deserved. He’s a better circuit driver than me, that’s for sure. I still like to be a bit more sideways! But I’m proud and happy to make it to the final against such a strong field.”
Coulthard beat multiple Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen to advance through to the final, while Solberg faced his rallycross Johan Kristoffersson in the semis before advancing to the final.
Team Germany, made up of Timo Bernhard and DTM Champion René Rast, won the ROC Nations Cup during the previous night’s competition.
FORMULA E – SANTIAGO
TOYOTA RACING SERIES – TAUPO
Rober Shwartzman leading Marcus Armstrong in Taupo – Photo: Bruce Jenkins
Robert Shwartzman became the fourth different feature race winner in four weekends of the Castrol Toyota Racing Series, when he won the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy race at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Taupo this afternoon.
He led from start to finish. “It’s a really good feeling,” said the 18 year old from St Petersburg, who has had a succession of seconds and thirds over the previous 11 races.
Last weekend, Richard Verschoor (Netherlands) won the New Zealand Motor Cup at Hampton Downs, while Clement Novalak (England) was the big winner at Teretonga and Marcus Armstrong took out the Lady Wigram Trophy at Ruapuna, Christchurch on his home track.
Victory has closed Shwartzman to within 33 points of series leader Armstrong, who finished second, while third placed Verschoor is another 27 points back in third place.
Shwartzman had to overcome his first safety car restart after the race was stopped when London based teenager Novalak went off the track and ripped the rear suspension and gearbox off his car. He stepped from the wreckage uninjured.
“I’ve never led a safety car restart before,” said Shwartzman. He managed the situation without any mistakes and as the race progressed he gradually built a lead on Armstrong.
His success was built on a stunning qualifying lap for pole position on Saturday, under the lap record and half a second faster than anybody else, an almost unheard of margin in the Toyota Racing Series. “I think this track suited me better,” said Shwartzman. “There are more corners. It’s more like a European track.”
In the last five laps, Shwartzman said his car’s tyres had lost their best grip and he eased off, but the rest of the field was suffering the same problem, notably James Pull (England), who conceded sixth place to Cameron Das (USA) on the last corner of the last lap.
Earlier Pull had put a fifth-placed Brendan Leitch (Invercargill) under pressure and even got ahead when he took a shortcut at the S bends at the end of the back straight, but then gave the position back.
Leitch had won the morning’s preliminary reverse grid race, to have his best weekend of the series and has climbed to seventh on the points table. In the same race, Christchurch’s Ryan Yardley had driven well defensively to fend off Verschoor for the whole race.
AUSSIES OVERSEAS
ASIAN LE MANS SERIES – SEPANG
A couple of Australian’s were in the field for the final round of the Asian Le Mans Series of the 2017/18 season at Sepang.
Jake Parsons’s ended the season with an outright podium finish. In his second appearance with the Eurasia Motorsport squad, he helped steer the No. 33 Ligier JS P2 to both third place outright and in the LMP2 class.
Josh Burdon put in a stunning drive in the LMP3 class and was leading the class towards the end of the race. However, a stop and go penalty for a pitstop infringement dropped the No. 18 KCMG Motorsport Ligier JS P3 out of contention, before being listed as a DNF in the official results.
While Chaz Mostert was back in Australia racing in the Bathurst 12 Hour, the BMW FIST-Team AAI squad he’d raced with all season went on to win the GT class at Sepang, earning an invitation to race in the Le Mans 24 hour.
The other Australian in the field, Dean Koutsoumidis failed the race.
MRF CHALLENGE – CHENNAI
Harri Jones’s fourth place in the second race was the highlight of the Aussie performances during the final round of the MRF Challenge in Chennai.
Both Jones and Dylan Young finished consistently in the top ten throughout the four races. Kurt Hill, on the other hand, struggled, with the best result of twelfth in the second race before crashing out at the start of the third race.
Young ended up the best of the Australian’s in the series standings in eighth. Jones finished the season tenth.
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