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Motorsport

Thoughts on Nine & Stan Sport no longer airing SpeedSeries next year as Motorsport Australia takes back media rights control off Australian Racing Group in a different route

by Sports Benches

We didn’t see this coming when there was an update today by V8 Sleuth that Nine and Stan Sport won’t be back covering SpeedSeries next season after two seasons thanks to the recent change of media rights control back to Motorsport Australia, not Australian Racing Group who brokered the deal with Nine/Stan at the beginning of last year.

Yes, Stan will continue to show IndyCar, Formula E, World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship & Motocross next season as per promos during the Bathurst International weekend, but there’s no SpeedSeries on this list which has the main reason as to why these question marks has been raised. But then it would also be complicated for Motorsport Australia to keep Nine & Stan onboard covering SpeedSeries when the rest of their sanctioned competitions are covered by Seven. We don’t know how the coverage will look like going forward but we expect to see more free-to-air coverage since it will either be on Seven or SBS who both don’t have their own streaming arms, although a paid component will still be the crucial (expecting to be Fox Sports & Kayo) likewise with the Nine/Stan deal in order to keep the $$$ going for all participants involved.

As said, glad SpeedSeries is growing as seen with both TCR Australia & Trans-Am competitions as well as some International flavour with the help from TCR World Tour guys over the last two weeks including the way how the coverage is spread out by having a balance of both free and paid content, which is in a better place now than it was the start of last season. Let’s hope it stays that way going forward while Nine should finally have the WWOS logo on-air if they do air live Motorsport again.

It was also great seeing Matt White covering back Motorsport over the last two years here including his recent return commentating the Trans-Am races with Matt Naulty. He too finally appeared on Nine for the first time during Nine/Stan’s debut coverage with SpeedSeries in February last year after spending half the time out of his three-decade TV career at Seven & Ten. It remains to see where he will end up next after the Nine/Stan exit other than his daily sports radio job. For now, we wish SpeedSeries including its respective categories via its teams and drivers as well as the broadcasting talent the best of luck in the near future!!

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Motorsport

Reviewing SpeedSeries’s expanded free-to-air coverage in 2023 where there is every round live during three hours on a Saturday afternoon but still no Nine’s Wide World of Sports logo

by Sports Benches

First of all, I’m glad that SpeedSeries –  which showcases a range of categories from TCR Australia to Trans-Am & S5000 single seaters – has improved their free to air coverage this year with every race live throughout the season during Saturday afternoons. That way, if you like how the coverage and racing is like, then you can watch the rest of the weekend’s events including a full suite on-demand content only via subscription on Stan Sport.

When Nine came onboard to replace Seven at the start of last year by having most of the content behind a paywall via their own streaming arm at Stan Sport, it was initially just the opening round weekend at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tassie live on free-to-air with the rest being mid-week & next weekend two-hour replays. They even promised to put the mid-week stuff on prime time at one point to get the best out of the channel’s advertisers as well as the series itself.

But then their free-to-air highlights schedule was inconsistent & all over the place at the time while they didn’t show the Phillip Island round live at all. So to respond to that issue, they went on air the rest of 2022 with just the Saturday afternoon races Live in a two-hour window between 3-5pm. Now it’s gone from two to three hours per round with the amount of time allowed on free-to-air between 2-5pm where they showed more than just TCR Australia, Trans-Am & S5000s. Plus, their following week’s two-hour replays has improved consistently as well that starts on a Friday at noon followed by a 2nd showing either late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday AM.

I’m also glad to see some International flavour when it comes to seeing the world’s best TCR drivers come here v the locals (TCR Australia) as part of the two-round TCR World Tour Australian leg here over the course of last weekend in Eastern Creek and also this weekend at Bathurst’s famed Mount Panorama Circuit. There is still one more day to go where the next day’s activities tomorrow is only on Stan Sport before the eight-round TCR Australia & SpeedSeries is done for 2023.

The only negative still out of this improved free-to-air coverage is the way Nine uses their logo which isn’t the usual Wide World of Sports watermark, although Stan Sport has made good use by showcasing their logo for the all the sports they got including Motorsport. Instead, they gone straight off 9Gem/9Go with the Live tag below it which isn’t uniquely WWOS & more like a copycat coverage of Seven or Ten, who airs racing way long enough & very well than Nine. I have also emailed my concerns to Stan about it a few months ago & although they took note of it but then they never listen. Maybe that’s because Nine & Stan are only showing it on the air & not have complete control in-house, which is under SpeedSeries itself.

There is also talk about next season’s broadcast lately since Motorsport Australia will now handle the media side of things rather than the Australian Racing Group, having taken half the control of SpeedSeries ARG that began at the start of 2023. Maybe the exit of Supercars Media running the production with the TV trucks control & graphics before the 2023 season started has probably caused Nine to revert to the 9Gem/9Go logo rather than the WWOS logo which was previously used for most of last year except Round 1. Now there is a chance that Nine as an exclusive rights holder may not be back next season.

If they’re really coming back, then great. If there is plenty of SpeedSeries articles up on the WWOS website which happens regularly, so why can’t this be extended on TV? Let’s hope it finally happens if Nine/Stan stays on. If not, we could see SpeedSeries go to Seven & Fox Sports or Ten/Paramount +. Regardless of that, the balance of having both paid & free content is here to stay that needs to cover the $$$ back to all types of participants involved as they will be back to set even more breakthroughs in 2024.

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Motorsport

Team Penske Ford dominates the NASCAR Cup Series for another year at Phoenix this time by new Drivers’ Champion Ryan Blaney

by Sports Benches

What an amazing finish to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season after 36 points-series races across nine months of the calendar year where the same Ford team has won another championship in Team Penske, but this time it’s Ryan Blaney who is now your new drivers’ champion for the first time at age 29. Great start by William Byron with his opening stage win but was inconsistent as the race goes on where failure to stay ahead up front was the one weakness that ultimately costed him the race & championship itself in 4th. Meanwhile, unlucky from Christopher Bell due to a brake issue before things went bad to worse after he made contact with the wall in Stage 2. Then Byron’s team-mate at Hendrick Kyle Larson may entered the fight late into the 3rd & final stage in a bid to add Championship win No.2, but he couldn’t defend & stay ahead of Blaney under pressure at the last restart in 3rd where he had to settle as runner-up on the final drivers’ points standings of 2023. 

And last but not least, it’s the man of the hour Ryan Blaney who steered this No.12 Ford Mustang home that secured him his first major silverware of NASCAR, despite finishing 2nd in the race to Ross Chastain (Trackhouse). He may have started slow & steady from outside the Top 10 earlier on, but he gradually improved along the way towards the Top 2-3 places before Blaney locked out both Hendrick Chevy cars at the checkered flag. Roger Penske will be thrilled to see another championship-winning race car showing up at his race shop in Mooresville after Blaney’s team-mate Joey Logano won his 2nd Cup crown just one year ago in the sister No.22 team. Enjoy the 14-15 weeks of off-season before we go back all over again for the next NASCAR Cup Series season beginning with the 66th edition of the Daytona 500 on Sunday February 18th, 2024.

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Motorsport

Jorge Martin’s near perfect race was outrun by the soft rear tire strategy on the final lap that led to Pramac Racing team-mate Johann Zarco’s first MotoGP win at Phillip Island

by Sports Benches

What a finish it has been to the afternoon of MotoGP at Phillip Island when Jorge Martin almost led the entire 27 lap race upfront before his soft rear tire strategy was unfortunately backfired during the last lap, which paved the way for Pramac Racing team-mate Johann Zarco to secure his first win in the top class at age 33 & also his first win in many years since the 2016 Valencian GP over in Moto2. 

Gotta feel sorry for Martin who was way ahead of the field as soon as the race started, but then began to lose ground when it comes to the 2nd half run & he too instead ended up in 5th. This added some setback when it comes to his championship hopes as he sits 22 points behind leader Francesco Bagnaia after he finished 2nd for the main Ducati team.

Another great highlight from the last few laps of the race is the 4-5 way battle upfront where Zarco got around his team-mate on the inside before he blocked Bagnaia at Miller corner in that captured the race winning move en route with a few corners left towards the checked flag. He too has came from a long, long way where he wasn’t happy at KTM back in 2019 to rebuilding his premier class career within the Ducati satellite teams over the last few years & now he will move to the Honda LCR team on a two-year deal next year, which is a great move from him indeed. There will be a bit more MotoGP tomorrow at 1pm when it comes to the 13-lap sprint race that includes the Moto 2 & 3 races beforehand in the morning, as they have swapped out with the main race of this weekend’s Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix schedule due to impending weather.

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Motorsport

F1 live, Oscar Piastri follows up his 2nd podium finish just outside the winner’s circle of Max Verstappen for McLaren-Mercedes in Qatar

by Sports Benches

Oh so close but what a way to bring up a P2 finish that follows up from his career first podium finish of 3rd during the previous round in Japan two weeks ago by Oscar Piastri for #4 McLaren-Mercedes.

He has definitely benefited the opening lap Mercedes’ team-mates crash of Lewis Hamilton & George Russell that saw Lewis had to retire early where Oscar gained a few spots from his starting place of 6th to 2nd. Although he wasn’t able to stop the now 3 x World Champion Max Verstappen who continues to dominate the whole field by a comfortable 4 second gap, but it’s still an unreal weekend though to reflect in the end with another podium finish.

From a supposed 3rd in qualifying being wiped out by race control to winning all of the sprint formats & to now posting his best result of 2nd – hats off to Oscar on an excellent drive with credit of a front row race car being prepared by McLaren.

There’s only five races left with the United States Grand Prix next up in two weeks time at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Let’s hope Oscar can follow up a podium finish again but this time he wins a full Grand Prix for the first time.

The last time a McLaren driver won a race was fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo from the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. So hope the next McLaren winner will be an Aussie again but with Piastri being on top of the podium as we’re going to see a brilliant finish to his rookie year in the hope of being ready to challenge Max next year.

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Motorsport

F1 News Live, Australian Oscar Piastri gets his first Sprint Race win for McLaren in Qatar

by Sports Benches

Wow!! What a day it has been from Australia’s own Oscar Piastri who dominated both the Sprint qualifying shootout & the 19-lap race itself for McLaren-Mercedes at the Qatar Grand Prix in Lusail. He had a great opening few laps & although he lost a spot to George Russell (Mercedes) for a while, but Oscar managed to regain top spot off Russell & stayed there comfortably this time through the end with the win. 

How good was that to see Oscar record his next best moment in Formula 1 as a full race win will come his way sooner rather than later hopefully to wrap it up tomorrow at 4 AM AEDT time. We thought he will be starting 3rd, but will start 6th instead because his final lap time was invalid due to exceeding track limits which was also applied to his team-mate Lando Norris.

Regardless of that, he will hope to make the most of his starting position through a decent race car by challenging up front against the Mercedes & Red Bull cars including now 3 x World Champion Max Verstappen from the Netherlands.

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Motorsport

Formula 1 News, Update on Andretti Autosport’s bid to enter as the 11th team when it comes to the commercial side

by Sports Benches

A few days after the FIA has accepted Andretti Autosport’s application to enter Formula 1 as the possible 11th team, things didn’t go off to a good start when it comes to entering commercial discussions with the current 10 teams & the sports promoter Liberty Media itself. So far McLaren is 100% supportive through boss Zak Brown who has a great business relationship with Andretti in Supercars here, as well as Renault’s factory team Alpine as a honour to initially supply Andretti their engines if accepted. Then Aston Martin said that if the sport’s ain’t broken don’t fix it despite initially being happy to see Andretti enter the sport last year, but then probably Cadillac joining forces with Andretti at the start of this year saw their heads turn & say it’s best we stay with 10 teams. Meanwhile, Ferrari is not convinced what value Andretti can offer to this sport when a few teams didn’t do so well before shutting down last decade between 2010-2016.

Plus, Williams said that the price money pot will get smaller if they join in, as well as having to look after their big 900 + staff first where they’re happy with the direction F1 is heading right now. Although they wouldn’t be against having a new manufacturer like Cadillac/General Motors, just not a new team like Andretti. The score is 2-2 all right now as don’t think any other existing 10 teams will lend its support to Andretti. Red Bull/Alpha Tauri’s concern is the distribution of profits which is what WillIiams said the other day, while Haas would still straight out just say no like Aston Martin. All we can hope for now is for Toto Wolff from Mercedes to be 100% convinced on what Andretti has to offer in Formula 1 like the resources, budget, etc. I’m sure that will help Ferrari & Alfa Romeo/Sauber change their minds on how a potential 11th entry will look like when competing v 10 teams on-track.

The good news is that the 10 teams will have no say on whether or not if Andretti is the correct 11th team to join F1 as we can hope from Liberty Media now is for them to be on the same page as Andretti. That way, not they can work something out in order to give Andretti the opportunity to make a competitive name for themselves in Formula 1, but also help ensure the current 10 teams some stability when it comes to the commercial value as well. So the anti-dilution fee will no longer settle at $200 million, they should instead work at a counter offer of $400 million for the first year, then $500-600 million afterwards if Andretti can post regular Top 7-10s + occasion Top 3s – everyone wins.

Growth/Expansion should be taken one step at a time. Since F1 has reduced a 10-team series back in 2018, that Netflix documentary + seeing all teams being competitive saw its value rise overtime that comes with 2-3 US races now (Austin, Miami & Las Vegas). That is something Rugby Australia & Super Rugby needs to learn if they wish to become competitive by winning games again by having three strong teams instead of five right now. A US-based team is something the sport’s fans love to see as the next step, we just hope to see both Andretti & Liberty Media reach an agreement in three ways:

  • Ensure the 10 teams their financial security by growing the prize money pot as long as Andretti is willing to pay double the anti-dilution fee of $400-500 million.
  • Give Andretti the chance to show its worth in Formula 1 from their own home in the US when it comes to a manufacturing, resources & competitive standpoint.
  • And keep F1’s value intact while growing even further where all 11 teams thrive that will in turn have a lot more US-based fans alongside Andretti as the years goes by.

It’s going to be a difficult couple of months but let’s hope Andretti will finally be accepted before taking their next steps towards producing their first Formula 1 car at the earliest given time possible.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Andretti being formally approved by the FIA as the 11th Formula 1 team yesterday but it’s not over yet with a new battle coming up from the 10 teams

by Sports Benches

Another huge news out of Motorsport yesterday that the FIA governing body, who runs Formula 1, has formally approved Andretti’s bid to enter the top flight as the next possible 11th team. 

It’s been a long process so far where they passed the first two phases with one final big hurdle left, which is the sport’s commercial group where they run the media side of things including global broadcast rights as well as looking after the existing ten teams when it comes to prize money, etc. We’ll have to really, really wait & see if all of these teams will be sold of Andretti’s idea in the hope of having really good competitive on-track competition alongside a really good race car.

So far most teams are against it where they’re happy where they are right now while expressing concerns of having a smaller cut of the prize money. But at the same time, Andretti is 100% serious about being competitive where they’re not bereft of financial support while hoping to take America’s relationship with Formula 1 to the next level thanks to their own team.

How good would it be where Andretti is also constructing their world-class headquarters right now that is akin to other big Motorsport powerhouses like McLaren? That would be a huge boost to their Formula 1 goals if the ten teams do give them a chance that can reflect Andretti’s all-round value on the world stage. Although half of the resources will be based in Europe, but they can be the first team to build a Formula 1 car right at their own home in Fishers, Indianapolis.

Yes, that can be a bit odd since all of the Formula 1 cars are currently built across Europe. But it also be great if the US has their own cutting edge of the way they run Motorsport which is huge & I for one would love to see Andretti-Cadillac show the sport how it’s done for their own country. Speaking of the US, they will of course save a spot for a home-grown driver which is most likely going to be Colton Herta, while a team-mate will be experienced racer like Daniel Ricciardo, who is so popular over there even though he’s one of us from Australia. It’s going to take time for the 10 teams to really pay attention to Andretti’s wish of competing in Formula 1 by saying yes this time, but let’s hope it happens before they start racing in 2025 or 2026.

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Erebus Motorsports looking to enter NASCAR as a part-time Cup team to further support Brodie Kostecki next season

by Sports Benches

Didn’t see it coming that Erebus Motorsports has today expressed their interest to enter into the world of NASCAR via Auto Action, especially Cup level; but only on a part-time basis to support their full-time Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki’s US adventure to a further extent next year. If this happens, we expect to see him race in a Chevy Camaro (Car No. TBD) with technical support coming from their great mates at Richard Childress Racing, who helped Brodie get his foot on the door at Indianapolis (Road Course) last month.

More details will come as soon as next season’s calendar comes out both for Supercars here & NASCAR. I’m glad the group at Erebus wants to have a crack at NASCAR on top of their successful Supercars operation considering their excellent relationship with RCR. With one year left on Brodie’s existing contact, although it seems too ambitious for Erebus to go full-time in NASCAR if you look at the huge costs to run from day-to-day, but sure he will end up at a RCR affiliate team like Kaulig or even RCR’s Xfinity Series team with the blessing/support of Erebus at some point in 2025.

He does not have much ovals experience right now on a national series level just like fellow Supercars driver Shane Van Gisbergen, who will move to the US full-time next season on an initial development contact with Team Trackhouse. But he can always continue to run 1-2 more road course events at Cup level alongside an odd short track oval race to round off his 2024 NASCAR adventure. Then he can move to the US full-time just like SVG but initially at Xfinity level & go from there to earn his stripes & get more ovals experience before being ready to race on Sundays (Cup level) after that either within in-house RCR or via one of their satellite Chevy teams like Kaulig Racing.

Whichever direction Brodie is heading the next step in NASCAR, he’s got excellent potential as our next NASCAR racer from Australia – even better when racing with a team also coming from Australia & the Supercars Championship for a start that will assist with his long-term goals. He certainly won’t be rushing too quickly as Brodie has the Bathurst 1000 this weekend as well as the rest of the Supercars season in the hope of waking away as the series’ champion, but glad he will get more opportunities which will in turn come with excellent on-track results.

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Motorsport

What if Toyota re-joined Formula 1 by forming a works partnership with McLaren?

by Sports Benches

Image Credit: Lukas Reich via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International

The McLaren-Toyota links are growing where they had a great relationship of using Toyota’s wind tunnel facilities over in Germany for a few years before their own particular building was completed lately going forward. But it doesn’t stop there as McLaren has extended its relationship with the Japanese car manufacturer by hiring one of their factory drivers from the sportcars program in 29-year-old Ryo Hirakawa, even though McLaren currently uses Mercedes Benz.

He too has an excellent racing record, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year as well as an World Endurance Championship (almost back-to-back now) & 2 x Super GT titles.

It will be no surprise if Toyota goes back to Formula 1 at some point as early as 2027 or 2028, but I assume it would just be an exclusive engine supply deal with McLaren – nothing else. That way, we could see some Toyota and/or Toyota Gazoo branding as part of the paint scheme if the relationship does go even further – as long as they’re on the same page so they can run up front & win races all the time unlike McLaren’s disastrous time with Honda back in 2015-2017.

As far as Ryo is concerned, we also hope he will be racing F1s on Sunday someday like Yuki Tsunoda who is at Alpha Tauri. But I guess he will just be there to gather data in the McLaren car & send feedback to Toyota as part of the plans rather than seeing him trying to oust either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri, whom both of these youngsters are both untouchable. If Ryo was to be on race days, he would be racing for a 2nd Toyota Formula 1 team like Williams again unless Piastri does very badly between now and the end of 2026 or else see Lando end up at Audi in three years time.

He’d be about closer to age 34-35 which is kinda close to impossible, but age isn’t a factor though if you look at Fernando Alonso (Spain) who is still doing well in the Aston Martin-Mercedes car right now at age 42. It’ll be nice to see him race at Monaco though to try and win there, so he can be one step closer towards completing the Triple Crown (Monaco, Le Mans & Indianapolis 500). Plus, McLaren also has an IndyCar team too. Maybe they can help Ryo out for a one-off ride at the (Indy) 500, but it will most likely be 2025 unless they can find a partner with a small Chevy IndyCar team since they got Kyle Larson onboard for the next big occasion. 

All in all, McLaren would choose their next engine partner that has never won a Formula 1 race before in Toyota, despite delivering numerous podium finishes when they previously raced as a fully fledged factory team between 2002-2009. But it seems both partners are willing to take baby steps from the ground up that began with McLaren using Toyota’s wind tunnel to now accessing their driver talent pool. Hopefully, McLaren can learn from their poor experience a few years ago with Honda, while Toyota will promise them at the same time to give the race-winning chassis they need with a good quality powertrain as they’re currently dominating in Sportscars, Rally-Raid & Rallying. 

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