Australia/New Zealand motorsport thread

[Flem274*]

Just here to say **** yes Scott McLaughlin!

It's a real shame he didn't have European campaign money as a teenager. He's F1 quick.

 

[Flem274*]

Question I've had for a while.

I'm surprised Jonny Reid never made F1, Indy or even prototype GT. He was wheel to wheel with Huklkenberg in A1GP and comprehensively beat other past and future (at the time) F1 and Indy drivers.

That 2006ish field was absolutely OP. Reid had the talent for a full career but after a brief Indy Lights campaign for Sam Schmidt he just...faded away.

Daddy Giltrap could have put him in GP2 surely.

 

[Coronis]

It's a real shame he didn't have European campaign money as a teenager. He's F1 quick.

Honestly both him and (though I hate to say it) SVG.

 

[Flem274*]

Honestly both him and (though I hate to say it) SVG.

Jamie Whincup too. Bit of a late bloomer but clearly incredibly fast. Lowndes was F2 quick as a youngster and got relegated to #2 by him because he's a winner of races not championships.

 

[Coronis]

gdi. Really wanted anyone but Newgarden (or Palou) to win out of that lead group at the end.

Still 6th place for Scotty is a great improvement especially with his clutch issue - he’s really struggled at Indy previously. Hopefully his first oval win is not too far off.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Question I've had for a while.

I'm surprised Jonny Reid never made F1, Indy or even prototype GT. He was wheel to wheel with Huklkenberg in A1GP and comprehensively beat other past and future (at the time) F1 and Indy drivers.

That 2006ish field was absolutely OP. Reid had the talent for a full career but after a brief Indy Lights campaign for Sam Schmidt he just...faded away.

Daddy Giltrap could have put him in GP2 surely.

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while. You are not wrong though, bloke was absolute money in A1GP, him and Hulkenberg were definitely the two standouts in what was certainly a quality field. Definitely a bit odd (and disappointing) that his career kinda stalled after that, as far as I can work out he pretty much barely raced for a year or so before that Indy Lights stint you mention.

Aftee that there was a couple of years in Carrera Cup here in Australia (2nd to Craig Baird both seasons, won a bunch of races) then those few races for DJR in V8 Supercars at a time when the team both in terms of results and finances were really in struggletown. Then he was let go in favour of a very young Chaz Mostert, and that was pretty much that. Still does a bit of local GT racing back in NZ to this day as far as I can figure out, but not super regularly

Must have been a funding thing, still a shame though that more oppurtunity didn't come in what should have been his peak years. Absolutely the talent was there.

 

[Coronis]

Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while. You are not wrong though, bloke was absolute money in A1GP, him and Hulkenberg were definitely the two standouts in what was certainly a quality field. Definitely a bit odd (and disappointing) that his career kinda stalled after that, as far as I can work out he pretty much barely raced for a year or so before that Indy Lights stint you mention.

Aftee that there was a couple of years in Carrera Cup here in Australia (2nd to Craig Baird both seasons, won a bunch of races) then those few races for DJR in V8 Supercars at a time when the team both in terms of results and finances were really in struggletown. Then he was let go in favour of a very young Chaz Mostert, and that was pretty much that. Still does a bit of local GT racing back in NZ to this day as far as I can figure out, but not super regularly

Must have been a funding thing, still a shame though that more oppurtunity didn't come in what should have been his peak years. Absolutely the talent was there.

Man I remember those years with Bairdo in Carrera Cup. Good times.

Have been following Matt Campbell in WEC recently - bloke’s amazing, especially over a single lap, best of the factory Porsche drivers. Unsurprised to see he dominated the Carrera Cup too. Had a streak of 4 wins, Ret, then 5 wins. On pole for all of those

 

[Coronis]

rip McLaughlin, Dixon doing Dixon things and now congrats Marcus Armstrong! First Indycar podium!

 

[Flem274*]

Need to catch the highlights but it's nice things are going well for Armstrong after he had one of the most treacherous cars in F2.

 

[Coronis]

Need to catch the highlights but it's nice things are going well for Armstrong after he had one of the most treacherous cars in F2.

Was a mess of a race tbh but clearly Armstrong has been learning fuel saving tricks from Dixon. Rossi, Power and O’Ward all collided at turn 1 and due to a ridiculous amount of SC’s (Power also had at least one penalty) they ended up 5 6 7. As long as you don’t go a lap down most anything can be possible - Indycars on road/street courses are probably my favourite sport for actual racing right now (they’ve slightly converted me on ovals but I’ll always prefer “proper” circuits) - going into any weekend there’s a reasonable chance of any of ~10 cars winning the race, which is crazy.

 

[Coronis]

@Flem274* @GoodAreasShane what a ****ing race that was.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

@Flem274* @GoodAreasShane what a ****ing race that was.

Late response I know but you really are not wrong there, was a phenomenal race. That battle between Mostert and Waters was as good as I have seen in any motorsport in a while, hard racing but they kept it clean (not always been a given with those two, although tbf most of that was a while ago when they were teammates). Plenty of other good battles up and down the field too

Sunday race wasn't as good, but it was still interesting to see some to the strategy play out. Thought watching it live Payne may have pitted too early, but as it turned out the team absolutely got it right, and he upheld his end of the bargain behind the wheel

Also have to give a shoutout to Cam Hill, a pair of top 10s from nowhere in qualifying. Saturday especially impressive, got turned early and was way off the back, to get back up to 10th was a superb drive, if somewhat off the radar

 

[Coronis]

Late response I know but you really are not wrong there, was a phenomenal race. That battle between Mostert and Waters was as good as I have seen in any motorsport in a while, hard racing but they kept it clean (not always been a given with those two, although tbf most of that was a while ago when they were teammates). Plenty of other good battles up and down the field too

Sunday race wasn't as good, but it was still interesting to see some to the strategy play out. Thought watching it live Payne may have pitted too early, but as it turned out the team absolutely got it right, and he upheld his end of the bargain behind the wheel

Also have to give a shoutout to Cam Hill, a pair of top 10s from nowhere in qualifying. Saturday especially impressive, got turned early and was way off the back, to get back up to 10th was a superb drive, if somewhat off the radar

Yeah have no idea how he did that, he really had crazy good race pace. The difference between Payne/Stanaway and Hill/Percat in race pace were quite large.

 

[Coronis]

MY BOY DID IT! MCLAUGHLIN ON AN OVAL

 

[Coronis]

Stanaway unsurprisingly dumped by Grove.

DJR are apparently the front runners for Brodie, though based on current results Grove could be a better option. Of course at DJR he would get to be the clear alpha unlike with Brown at Erebus. Would not be the case with Grove clearly.

Premiair is also apparently an option.

 

[Flem274*]

I've missed most of the season because I've had to pick and choose my sport a bit. Dod Richie get rekt again?

Not the only f3000/gp2 grad to be mid in a low grip high power supercar tbf. Payne is young but already a tough team mate too. He's rapid. Get him in an F2 car.

But yeah, Stanaway should have done better in the lowest quality field we've had in many years.

 

[Coronis]

I've missed most of the season because I've had to pick and choose my sport a bit. Dod Richie get rekt again?

Not the only f3000/gp2 grad to be mid in a low grip high power supercar tbf. Payne is young but already a tough team mate too. He's rapid. Get him in an F2 car.

But yeah, Stanaway should have done better in the lowest quality field we've had in many years.

And the best car Ford have had in a few years. He hasn’t even had many incidents he’s just been completely off pace compared to Payne since R1 pretty much.

There were points where we had 7 of the top 10-12 running as Fords recently. The outliers - Stanaway just ahead of BJR’s B team and Blanchard Racing still being Blanchards even without him driving.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

I personally for one think the Stanaway axing is a little harsh, certainly not completely unreasonable though. Wouldn't say he's been bad per se this season, more just that Payne has (clash with Waters at Albert Park excluded) been genuinely top notch this year which has made Richie look worse than he otherwise would have.

Realistically can't see him getting another fulltime drive, best bet IMO for him is going for a top enduro co drive, and then going to either Carrera Cup or Aus GT if he wants to race more regularly, was very fast indeed when he did a few races in a Mercedes GT3 for Triple 8, seems like that style of car really suits him

From all I have heard, smart money is on Kai Allen for the second Grove seat for 2025. Don't mind that, Kai is a talent, had a broadly similar career trajectory to Broc Feeney at a similar age, but what I am surprised at is the fact DJR don't seem interested anymore despite him being around their setup for a couple of years now.

 

[Coronis]

I personally for one think the Stanaway axing is a little harsh, certainly not completely unreasonable though. Wouldn't say he's been bad per se this season, more just that Payne has (clash with Waters at Albert Park excluded) been genuinely top notch this year which has made Richie look worse than he otherwise would have.

Realistically can't see him getting another fulltime drive, best bet IMO for him is going for a top enduro co drive, and then going to either Carrera Cup or Aus GT if he wants to race more regularly, was very fast indeed when he did a few races in a Mercedes GT3 for Triple 8, seems like that style of car really suits him

From all I have heard, smart money is on Kai Allen for the second Grove seat for 2025. Don't mind that, Kai is a talent, had a broadly similar career trajectory to Broc Feeney at a similar age, but what I am surprised at is the fact DJR don't seem interested anymore despite him being around their setup for a couple of years now.

I mean, I’d jump at the chance to get Kostecki too, but Davison does seem a little past his best and Anton’s petered out. You’d think they’d try to go for Kostecki/Allen

 

[GoodAreasShane]

I mean, I’d jump at the chance to get Kostecki too, but Davison does seem a little past his best and Anton’s petered out. You’d think they’d try to go for Kostecki/Allen

I still think Wilbur can absolutely do the job on his day, the pole sunday last round showed the speed hasn't went away, but at his age there will always be that sort of pressure on him

Agreed on Anton though, honestly his first DJR season was still his best with the team, the pace he showed then has definitely plateaued somewhat, while his wheel to wheel racecraft honestly hasn't improved in that time either

Agree that a Brodie/Kai lineup would look definitely to be an improvement overall, especially in the medium to long term, but it (from a distance) seems like the very real chance of DJR securing Kostecki has seen them lose a degree of interest in Allen