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7/5/06 | Mother nature, Hanger rain on Pingel's parade
2006 Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship Round 3 – Winton Motor Raceway, Victoria
MOTHER NATURE, HANGER RAIN ON PINGEL’S PARADE The battle for the 2006 Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship has intensified considerably following a wet and chaotic round 3 at Benalla’s Winton Motor Raceway today (Sunday).
Gosford driver Ty Hanger took his second round win of the season after two convincing race wins in extremely wet conditions and now leads the championship by 11 points from Derek Pingel who had a day to forget after off-track excursions in both races.
The revelation of the meeting however was Team Sydney newcomer Alan Price who finished 3rd and 2nd in the Sprint and Feature races respectively and set the fastest lap of the Feature race on the final lap.
QUALIFYING (20 minutes): 3:50pm Saturday afternoon Qualifying for the third round of the 2006 Yokohama Australian Formula 4000 Drivers Championship at Winton Motor Raceway commenced in bleak and cold conditions on Saturday afternoon with a 20-minute session to determine the starting grid for Sunday’s opening 12-lap race on the technical 3.0km Benalla circuit located 2 hours north of Melbourne.
Making their first F4000 starts for 2006 this weekend would be Canberra's Terry Clearihan, driving his trusty #27 National Neon Signs Reynard 92D, and New Zealand driver Ben Crighton piloting the #74 Hocking Motorsport Reynard 97D normally reserved for Les Crampton. Crighton, a 23-year old business analyst from Auckland, is making a delayed start to his second F4000 season following commitments to the New Zealand-based Toyota Racing Series which clashed with the first two rounds of the F4000 championship.
As the F4000s left pit lane for the start of qualifying, track temperatures hit a chilly 17° celsius whilst for the first time all day, sunlight peaked out amongst the clouds over the circuit and presented a visibility challenge to the drivers as they approached the hillcrest exiting Turn 2. This was clearly no problem for Crighton who set the first benchmark at a leisurely 1:22.1172s early in the session, only for Hanger to go almost 0.8s quicker after four and a half minutes.
Crighton soon fought back seconds later, dipping into the 1:19s bracket with Hanger again whittling down the benchmark soon after. Crighton and Hanger continued to swap fastest times until championship leader Pingel took to the track with an impressive 1:18.9990s to take provisional pole as the session reached the halfway mark.
Hanger responded once again by lopping a massive 1.3s off Pingel’s fastest to set a time which would ultimately be good enough for pole, before a bolt from Hanger’s oil pump detached itself and ended the New South Welshman’s session early, forcing Hanger to park on the infield of Turn 2 and watch proceedings trackside.
Soon after, the session was red flagged when Team Sydney’s Alan Price spun his Reynard 96D on the exit of Turn 5 prompting a temporary stoppage as marshals retrieved the car. When the session got back underway, Pingel demonstrated that he was up to the task of displacing Hanger at the top of the timesheets and on his final lap of the session was quickest over the first two sectors.
Pingel pushed hard throughout the third sector but encountered a massive brake lock-up at Turn 8 which cost the Queenslander dearly, forcing him to settle for 2nd place as the chequered flag came out. Motec data in the WISC Racing garage later showed that the lock-up cost Pingel roughly 0.35s which would have been enough for the Queenslander to pip Hanger for his second pole position of the season.
Only 0.2s back in 3rd place was a very competitive Crighton ahead of series returnee Clearihan, Price, Sam Dale and Matthew Fox whose session was marred by a broken driveshaft.
Qualifying Results 1. Ty Hanger - #48 Pluim Interiors Reynard 95D (1:17.9699s) 2. Derek Pingel - #8 Australian Lifestyle Management Group Reynard 95D (1:18.2492s) 3. Ben Crighton - #74 Hocking Motorsport Reynard 97D (1:18.4253s) 4. Terry Clearihan - #27 National Neon Signs Canberra Reynard 92D (1:20.1239s) 5. Alan Price - #95 Team Sydney Reynard 95D (1:20.3545s) 6. Sam Dale - #12 Mumbo Racing Reynard 94D (1:22.0377s) 7. Matthew Fox - #24 Information Assurance Solutions Reynard 91D (1:22.9737s)
RACE 1 (12 laps): 11:10am Sunday morning The opening 12-lap Sprint marked the first wet race for F4000 in seven years, with torrential rain hitting northern Victoria all morning.
As the rain continued to fall hard, Hanger led a tentative field of cars to the rolling start with Pingel alongside. Once the green flag was waved, the field managed to make its way steadily through the first few corners but while most drivers were content with merely staying on the track during the opening lap, Pingel and Crighton had other ideas as they went side by side down the back straight on the run down into Turn 8.
With Crighton on the inside line approaching the corner and Pingel on the outside, it came down to a braking duel into the 90° right-hander which saw Pingel brake too deep on the wet surface and skate off the circuit, dropping the Queenslander back to 4th at the end of the opening lap between Crighton and Price.
Life didn’t get any better for Pingel on the next lap when he endured a half spin at Turn 7 that sent the WISC Racing driver even further down the field. Out in front however Hanger was leading comfortably from Crighton and Price who was coming under attack from Sam Dale who would later make his way past the Team Sydney machine only to also spin off on lap 6.
At the end of the 12-lap race, Hanger took the chequered flag after a virtuoso performance with Crighton in 2nd and Price finishing an excellent 3rd in only his third F4000 start. In a credit to the competitors, all seven cars that started the race managed to finish what was one of the most rain-hit F4000 races on record, a point demonstrated by lap times set being some 25 seconds slower than they were in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Race 1 Results; 1. Ty Hanger - #48 Pluim Interiors Reynard 95D 2. Ben Crighton - #74 Hocking Motorsport Reynard 97D 3. Alan Price - #95 Team Sydney Reynard 95D 4. Derek Pingel - #8 Australian Lifestyle Management Group Reynard 95D 5. Sam Dale - #12 Mumbo Racing Reynard 94D 6. Matthew Fox - #24 Information Assurance Solutions Reynard 91D 7. Terry Clearihan - #27 National Neon Signs Canberra Reynard 92D
Fastest Lap: Ty Hanger (1:43.0582) on lap 5
RACE 2 (18 laps): 2:00pm Sunday afternoon Frantic activity filled pit lane before the start of the second race as teams and drivers deliberated over tyre choices following variable weather conditions which saw the circuit drying 10 minutes prior to the race only for intermittent rain to hit minutes later.
Taking a gamble would be Mumbo Racing’s Sam Dale and Hocking Motorsport driver Ben Crighton who both took to the circuit on slick tyres hoping for conditions to dry out as the race wore on.
The good news for the drivers was that the sun finally came out over Winton for the second race but the bad news was that the sun light was reflecting from the damp track surface and producing high levels of glare. Nonetheless, the Feature race got underway with a standing start and again it was Hanger who would lead into the first corner but behind him Terry Clearihan produced a blinding start to rocket from 7th to 2nd in less than 200 metres, with Crighton and Pingel filing behind the Canberra driver.
On the second lap, Pingel overtook a battling Crighton on slicks and set out after 2nd placed Clearihan, before the Queenslander again went bush on the next lap letting Crighton through into 3rd. Not giving up easily, Pingel repassed the New Zealander on lap 5 through the tight ‘cleavage’ section and was fighting to stay on the track in his bid to catch Clearihan.
This was a fight soon lost for Pingel when for the fourth time in two races he slid off the track again letting Crighton through and setting up a battle going into Turn 7. Pingel held the inside line for the corner as Crighton attempted to hold the WISC Racing car off through the tight left-hander, only for both cars to touch wheels sending Crighton spinning off the track and Pingel out of the race with damaged steering on a day he will be quickly looking to forget.
As marshals intervened to retrieve Crighton’s car which had become beached off the circuit, the safety car was deployed giving the field some hope of getting within striking distance of Hanger who was dominant out front.
Lap 11 saw the race resume under green flag conditions as Hanger again streeted away from Clearihan whilst Dale had moved into 3rd ahead of Price and Fox, with Crighton rejoining the race two laps down following his altercation with Pingel.
With the race for the lead being non-existent as Hanger continued to run away from the field, all eyes were now on the battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th places between Clearihan, Dale and Price. With the steadily drying conditions allowing all three drivers to battle harder, Price seized an opportunity on Dale to take 3rd place with five laps to go and set out after Clearihan who was holding onto 2nd in his older Reynard 92D.
Despite some defensive driving from Clearihan, the impressive newcomer made his way past the Canberra driver on the penultimate lap much to the delight of Team Sydney’s John Calamos and Paul Liston who were earnestly watching on in pit lane.
As was the case in Race 1, Hanger did it comfortably to take the win from Price and Clearihan and propel to the top of the points standings in the process. As if to prove that the penultimate lap move on Clearihan was no fluke, rookie Price continued to raise eyebrows as the race finished by setting the fastest lap of the day on the final lap.
Race 2 Results*; 1. Ty Hanger - #48 Pluim Interiors Reynard 95D 2. Alan Price - #95 Team Sydney Reynard 95D 3. Terry Clearihan - #27 National Neon Signs Canberra Reynard 92D 4. Sam Dale - #12 Mumbo Racing Reynard 94D 5. Matthew Fox - #24 Information Assurance Solutions Reynard 91D 6. Ben Crighton - #74 Hocking Motorsport Reynard 97D DNF. Derek Pingel - #8 Australian Lifestyle Management Group Reynard 95D
Fastest Lap: Alan Price (1:32.8898) on lap 18 *1 Safety Car period for 3 laps
Round Results; 1. Ty Hanger - 40 2. Alan Price - 27 3. Ben Crighton - 21 4. Sam Dale - 18 5. Terry Clearihan - 16
Drivers Championship Standings; 1. Ty Hanger - 87 2. Derek Pingel - 76 3. Sam Dale - 60 4. Mark West - 57 5. Les Crampton - 38
Masters Championship Standings; 1. Derek Pingel - 67 2. Les Crampton - 51 3. Alan Price - 42 4. Terry Clearihan - 22
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