Mount Panorama Circuit

Hazelwood Pumped for Debut at the Mountain

Dunlop Development Series, Todd Hazelwood Racing
Hazelwood sporting a new Tecalemit Racing/Thomas Steel Fabrication livery

Hazelwood sporting a new Tecalemit Racing/Thomas Steel Fabrication livery

DUNLOP SERIES rookie Todd Hazelwood will be making his debut at the historic Mount Panorama circuit today, and could not be more excited to make his V8 Supercars Dunlop Development Series debut.

The 19-year-old tested last week at Queensland Raceway for this year’s new 250km race format and said this helped with his preparation leading-up towards this week.

“Testing last week went really well, I mainly focused on cold-tyre pace and pit-stop procedures,” Hazelwood said.

“This will be the biggest race of my career to date, 250km around Australia’s toughest track including a compulsory pit-stop in front of big crowds – the pressure could not be greater.

“My mental and physical training for the last few months has been successful, hopefully I can take some of the rookie success at the mountain.”

Although Hazelwood has focused on mental physical strain for the mountain, one of his biggest tasks was to find the financial support to make it to the endurance race on Saturday.

The South Australian is very thankful for all the on-going support and would like to thank Tecalemit Australia, Thomas Steel Fabrication, iSeek, Verto, Australian Post-Tensioning and The Pool Shop Group for partnering with Hazelwood for the Bathurst week.

This is a dream come true for the teenager and he cannot wait to hit the circuit this morning for Practice 1.

“I’m super excited about this week … it is very special to be racing at the iconic Bathurst 1000 weekend for the first time in a V8 Supercar,” Hazelwood said.

“I cannot wait to get on track and absorb all of the emotions the mountain brings.”

The teenager is currently eleventh in the championship on 744 points, with Hazelwood currently leading the rookie standings in the Dunlop Series.

Hazelwood will hit the Mount Panorama circuit for the first time in his Tecalemit Ford Falcon at 10:05 local time.

Race schedule – Mount Panorama, Bathurst
Thursday: Practice 1 – 10:05 (50 minutes)
Friday:     Practice 2 – 10:25 (50 minutes)
Qualifying – 15:55 (90 minutes)
Saturday: Warm up – 9:55 (15 minutes)
Race 1 – 12:30 (250km) live on Seven

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Whincup takes pole in thrilling shootout

Australian V8 Supercars, Fiasco Sports

Redbull Racing’s Jamie Whincup has taken pole position for today’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Whincup/Dumbrell will start first for today's big race. Photo: Getty Images/The Daily Telegraph

Whincup/Dumbrell will start first for today’s big race. Photo: Getty Images/The Daily Telegraph

Holden’s Jamie Whincup has taken his maiden pole position at Mount Panorama in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, with a time of 2:07.88. 

Whincup started last in the shootout with his previous pole position in qualifying the day before, taking first by only 0.2 to Ford rival Mark Winterbottom.

The Redbull Racing Australia driver was the only driver in the session to get into the 2:07s, with Winterbottom only just shy with a time of 2:08.07.

A shootout held later in the day than normal, the sun came out and the track became quicker and quicker throughout the session, giving an advantage to those qualifying quicker the day before.

Jason Bright set the third quickest time, just edging out Shane van Gisbergen who set a strong lap holding over James Courtney. 

29 cars will start the race today, racing around Mount Panorama for 161 laps over 6 and a half hours.

Final Top 10 Shootout Results

1 Red Bull Racing Australia Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VF 02:07.88
2 Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG 02:08.08 00:00.19
3 Team BOC Jason Bright Holden Commodore VF 02:08.28 00:00.39
4 TEKNO Team VIP Petfoods Shane Van Gisbergen Holden Commodore VF 02:08.28 00:00.40
5 Holden Racing Team James Courtney Holden Commodore VF 02:08.83 00:00.95
6 Red Bull Racing Australia Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore VF 02:08.96 00:01.08
7 Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford Will Davison Ford Falcon FG 02:09.00 00:01.12
8 Fujitsu Racing GRM Scott McLaughlin Holden Commodore VF 02:09.19 00:01.31
9 The Bottle-O FPR Ford David Reynolds Ford Falcon FG 02:09.24 00:01.36
10 Fujitsu Racing GRM Alexandre Premat Holden Commodore VF 02:10.41 00:02.53

– See more at: http://fiascosports.com/whincup-takes-pole-in-thrilling-shootout/#sthash.Go2KtL5o.dpuf

How To Punt This Bathurst

Australian V8 Supercars, Spultured

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Can’t decide how to bet at Mount Panorama this year? We’ve got you covered.

At the moment, Sandown 500 winners and reigning Bathurst champions Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell are sitting at $3.00, with their teammates for the great race Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff at $4.33. Red Bull’s season has not been as dominant as previous years, but they still continue to lead this year’s championship.

Next up is Ford Performance Racing. Mark Winterbottom is partnering up with Steven Richards, with ‘Frosty‘ looking for his first win at the mountain ($7.50). Teammate Will Davison has previously won Bathurst with the Holden Racing Team, with Davison partnering up with Steve Owen ($8.00). Ford has shown great pace this year, but unfortunate pit stops have cost them the championship lead.

Holden Racing Team, this year have James Courtney joining Greg Murphy to make a fiery duo and are currently priced at $9.00. Keep an eye out also for Garth Tander and Nick Percat who are at $13.

Brad Jones Racing present a dark horse, with victories coming their way throughout this year’s V8 Championship. Jason Bright will be teaming up with Andrew Jones, and at $18 they offer a bit of value, as do Fabian Coulthard and Luke Youlden.

A great car to put money on would be David Reynolds and Dean Canto, with the duo finishing a close second to Whincup and Dumbrell last year. The Bottle-O Falcon currently stands at $26. A real smokey however are young guns Scott McLaughlin and Jack Perkins. McLaughlin this year took the record for being the youngest driver ever to win a V8 Supercars race, with Jack Perkins bringing a wealth of knowledge to the pair. This duo, running for Gary Rogers, currently sit at $26.

So there you have it – there’s plenty of value around, even if you are having a punt just to make laps 1-140 that bit more interesting. Either way, Bathurst is definitely not something you want to miss this Sunday.

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

75 Years Of The Bathurst Motor Festival

Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship, Spultured

Published on: http://www.spultured.com

Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

Bathurst Motor Festival, Photo by Dirk Klynsmith

Over the Easter long weekend, Bathurst celebrated it’s 75th year celebration of the Bathurst Motor Festival, held at the historic Mount Panorama raceway.The circuit was first opened in 1938 in conjunction with the Australian Grand Prix. Since that date, the festival has been in operation throughout the Easter long weekend, making Mount Panorama the oldest motor racing circuit in Australia, also amongst one of the oldest tracks in the world.

But history aside, everyone knows how iconic this Bathurst circuit is. This year the turnout for the event was huge, with categories including Formula 3, Formula Vee, Group N Historic Touring Cars, NSW Production Touring Cars, Production Sports Cars, Porsche Club of NSW and NSW Road Racing Club

Of course, the racing for the weekend was the highlight, with all types of weather coming to and from the circuit and drivers turning on the racing for all the fans.

The Mount Panorama circuit opened on Friday, with practice scheduled for all the teams and drivers entered in the event.

Saturday saw the first of qualifying and racing, with the Formula 3 cars breaking the qualifying lap record, a lap time of 2:03:239 set by Nathan Morcom. To put things into perspective, the fastest V8 Supercar lap around Bathurst was set by Craig Lowndes in 2010, with a lap time of 2:06.801!

With lap record pace being set around the circuit, every driver and team in the paddock thought it was their turn to break the race records on Sunday.

The Bathurst weather thought otherwise, as the track was declared wet on Sunday.

This meant trouble, with some fields reaching more than 55 drivers and on a circuit so steep and twisty, some drivers unfortunately found the wall. Luckily enough, everyone who did crash in the racing was a-okay.

Over 10,000 attended the event; with the festival being a huge success with fantastic racing put on by all the drivers.

Full race results can be found at Natsoft.com.