Tag:

Touring Cars

Motorsport

Thoughts on SpeedSeries partnering with the Seven Network again next season

by Sports Benches

So there we have it! SpeedSeries including Trans-Am and TCR Australia will return to the Seven Network next season after two years out at Nine through its paid streaming service Stan Sport as well as some free-to-air on 9Gem/9Go & also 9Now. Every round will be live and free on its free streaming platform 7Plus as well as through 2-3 hour TV windows on 7mate. Plus, there should be free to view on-demand replays, the Bathurst 6 Hour Easter race and mid-week to next weekend TV highlights of each round.

Gotta say that the paid and free content split did not work out when SpeedSeries is not on the same level as Supercars, even if Fox/Kayo did share the series with Seven instead of Nine/Stan who did a great job covering SpeedSeries. It’s just that the change of media rights hands back to Motorsport Australia recently from Australian Racing Group makes it complicated when most of their sanctioned competitions are on Seven.

But having everything free-to-air is massive so every Motorsport fan here can check this out whether it’s watching Live or on-demand at anytime, anywhere throughout the year. It also remains to be seen who will be back next year when it comes to the on-air talent where most of them will be staying on except with just 1-2 changes, which I think Mark Beretta will be back for Matt White since he’s always been on Seven with Motorsport as well as reading sports reports for the Sunrise brekky program for a long time.

Other than the Nine and Stan exit, it looks like the S5000s and Touring Car Masters will be following them out the door as they could end up being a regular part of the Supercars schedule. Although the Australian GT World challenge will look to stay on the SpeedSeries categories list after SRO has taken full control recently alongside the Australian GT4 Series.

For now, you can catch these last two-hour replays from the Bathurst International season finale weekend on 9Go tomorrow at noon, as well as midnight Sunday 12.20am that is followed by an hour highlights from the 6 Hours of Bahrain (also a season finale round) in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
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!!

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
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.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Nathan Herne completes clean sweep in the Trans-Am while the Honda duo of Tony D’Alberto & Zac Soutar dominated yet again in Race 3 after Jay Hanson won Race 2 in the TCR Australia at Queensland Raceway

by Sports Benches

It’s good to see a mix of new front runners earlier today during Race 2 of TCR Australia, especially when Michael Caruso led for the majority from reverse pole in the No.10 Alfa Romeo Giuietta, after the original polesitter Lachlan Mineeff (No.14 MPC Audi RS3) had to start from pit lane. 

Sadly, a mechanical issue cost Caruso the win he desperately wanted to for Ashley Seward Motorsport which was a huge blow. That paves the way for Jay Hanson, who made plenty of spots through the field, before he chased down his Melbourne Performance Centre team-mate Will Brown in a battle of the best Audis (RS3) for the win. 

Then we move onto Race 3 where Hanson remained running inside the Top 3, but couldn’t get past both Hondas where they have dominated once again. Tony D’Alberto had an amazing weekend at Queensland Raceway with 2 of out 3 wins for Wall Racing ahead of Zac Soutar, who finished 2nd twice in both Race 1 from yesterday & Race 3 earlier this afternoon.

And there’s still a lot of thrills and spills being spun across the race track over in the Trans-Am. But what hasn’t changed is Nathan Herne controlling the entire grid after he completed a clean sweep all weekend long in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsports. 

Good to see his team-mate Owen Kelly rebound from the opening lap trouble in Race 1 yesterday with back-to-back third places today, while Jett Johnson never looked out of place in the Top 3-4. And Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki just completed his one-off stint in the No.66 Chevy Camaro here; he finished 6th earlier in Race 2 after a stellar start yesterday in 3rd during Race 1 before he added another podium this time in 2nd in Race 3. We wish Brodie all the best as we hope to see him fulfill his ambitions in the NASCAR Cup Series, even if it’s a partial ride effort next year.

What a weekend it has been at Queensland Raceway after three long years when they last hosted there before COVID got in the way. We can’t wait for Sandown Raceway in Melbourne on the 14-16th next month, with two rounds left in this year’s ARG SpeedSeries season.

For now, make sure you sign up a seven-day Stan Sport free trial right now on top of the usual $10 basic subscription to catch up every race live and ad-free alongside on-demand replays and highlights. It will also be another $10 for the Sports pack if you’re happy with their motorsports content such as IndyCar, Formula E, World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship and Motocross beyond the seven days.

If not, Nine will continue to roll out a two-hour highlights package for free that looks back from this weekend’s event at Queensland Raceway. Tune in the following times on Thursday evening at 11pm-1am on 9Go, as well as Saturday 10am-12pm on 9Gem & next Sunday at 2-3.50 pm on 9Go.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Thrills and spills being played out in Race 1 yesterday at Queensland Raceway with the Trans-Am and TCR Australia where both winners were too good all along from start to finish

by Sports Benches

Yesterday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries racing at Queensland Raceway was full of twists and turns, where losing control or being collected into the gravel can cost you a few spots or even dearly. It changed the course of these opening respective races with the Trans-Am & TCR Australia.

We’ll start with the TCRs and what a day it has been for Tony D’Alberto in the No.50 Honda Civic Type-R for Wall Racing. Not only he set and started pole position but he too took the opening race win which was too easy from start to finish. While Zac Soutar would’ve love to have a close sniff of Tony and challenge him for top spot, but he‘s happy to finish 2nd also in the same Honda car & hopefully go one better for the next two Sunday races.

And it’s good to see Jay Hanson back on the podium in 3rd for the Melbourne Performance Centre organisation, as well as Bailey Sweeny in 5th behind Aaron Cameron (No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport) following an opening lap scare through the grass that cost him a few spots. Although, Sweeny’s team-mate Nathan Morcom was unlucky to be taken out by Ben Bargwanna into the gravel.

Then we go into Trans-Am where we also saw another driver who was too good with Nathan Herne in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He has no problems getting the job done from pole position to dominating the entire field, especially when some drivers behind him was collected through the gravel on the opening lap. While some slip and spills continue across the race track, it’s great to see 17-year-old Jett Johnson finish 2nd after he got around Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki in 3rd with credit from these restarts. So awesome seeing Brodie spend the weekend here as he hopes to fulfil his NASCAR aspirations over in the US next year, especially when he was being linked with Trackhouse Racing’s 3rd part-time Cup car that has a specific focus on International drivers.

Can’t wait for Races 2 & 3 later today with TCR & Trans-Am to round off Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 SpeedSeries season.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

Looking ahead to Round 5 of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries season with TCR Australia & Trans-Am this weekend at Queensland Raceway following a two month break

by Sports Benches

It’s been a bit over two months when we last had SpeedSeries at Eastern Creek with the TCR Australia, Trans-Am & S5000. Although the main S5000 portion may be done, but SpeedSeries is back at Queensland Raceway (Ipswich) this weekend for Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 season.

There’s plenty of exciting headlines to look ahead when we’ve got a jam-packed Trans-Am grid of 29 cars alongside a couple of debutants from Tom Hayman (Aussie Racing Cars), Jack Sipp (Super2) & Brodie Kostecki (Supercars).

Plus, TCR Australia will make up their half-century milestone at 50 races during Race 2 this Sunday. And it has been a long time since the TCRs last raced there in QLD three years ago when the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID, while this track wasn’t selected out of the shortened five-race calendar last year.

This is one huge event you don’t wanna miss as Nine will once again put Race 1 of the Trans-Am & TCR Australia this Saturday afternoon on their free-to-air channels via 9Go (NSW/QLD/ACT/NT) or 9Gem (VIC/SA/WA), with the whole weekend’s activities being a Stan Sport exclusive. Then as usual, Nine will showcase a two-hour highlights package the following weekend (August 13-14) on 9Gem/9Go.

You can sign up to Stan Sport for a seven-day free trial right now to watch every race live, as well as, full event replays & highlights. It only costs $20 a month to keep your fix of motorsport at any time, anywhere within Australia, such as, Formula E, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, Motocross and many more.

I would love to watch another SpeedSeries race live on free-to-air, having watched the season opener earlier this year at Symmons Plains in Tasmania. But I will be leaning on Club Rugby with Shute Shield regular season finale at North Sydney Oval at the same time between Northern Suburbs v Eastern Suburbs; That game will be live on 9Gem in NSW and ACT as well.

I will continue to keep a close eye though on the SpeedSeries from QLD within the next few days, while the Rugby Championship with the Wallabies & Australian Superbike Championship are back on my sports viewing fix also this weekend.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD4: A mix of opening lap dramas and an easier finish by the respective leaders round off the weekend in Race 3 of the S5000, Trans-Am and TCR Australia at Sydney Motorsports Park

by Sports Benches

What a Sunday afternoon it has been to close out the weekend here at Sydney Motorsports Park in Round 4 of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries. We’ll start off with the S5000s where Tim Macrow fired off well from pole before he was spun off by Nathan Herne that cost him a few places, while race officials handed Herne a drive-through penalty at the same time.

As the race goes on, we saw a brilliant battle for 1st between Aaron Cameron & Joey Mawson before Cameron completed his payback with the win following his unfortunate opening lap DNF by Mawson into the wall from Race 2 earlier today. And James Golding finished his Sunday spell with two podiums in 2nd & 3rd, having made up lost time from a DNF Race 1 yesterday over a steering issue.

Then there’s the same opening lap drama over in the Trans-Am this time at Turn 1, when the No.67 of Nash Morris touched the wall before he collected Lochie Dalton in No.45 out of the park that led to the next couple of laps under caution. In the end though, Owen Kelly remained unchallenged from start to finish in 1st that followed up from an excellent Race 2 during the night session yesterday. Race 1 winner Nathan Herne became the biggest mover when it comes to track position from 22nd on the grid to 2nd, while Ben Grice rounds off the podium in 3rd.

And we finish our huge Sunday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries with the TCR Australia category. Nathan Morcom adds another podium finish on top of an excellent Sunday performance from P3 earlier during Race 2 today in the No.11 Hyundai i30 N, but this time he takes home with the win which ended his drought on top of the podium since November 2019 at the Bend in South Australia. He did an excellent job getting around polesitter Jordan Cox on the inside line straight away from 2nd spot before he never looked back ever since, while team-mate Josh Buchan in the sister No.30 machinery completed a 1-2 sweep for their HMO Customer Racing team. And Cox would’ve liked to hunt down the HMO cars all race long, but he’s happy to prevent an all Hyundai Top 3 when he passed Luke King on the final lap for 3rd.

#SpeedSeriesAU #Motorsport #S5000 #TCRAustralia #TransAm #OwenKelly #AaronCameron #NathanMorcom #JoshBuchan #Hyundai #GarryRogersMotorsport #FordMustang #EasternCreek #HMOCustomerRacing

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries: Youngsters Jay Hanson (TCR Australia) & Cooper Webster (S5000) take out the win in their respective categories during Race 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park

by Sports Benches

It was an easy run from Jay Hanson who dominated Race 2 comfortably in the No.9 Audi RS3 for Melbourne Performance Centre here at Sydney Motorsports Park.

He did a brilliant job holding off a four-wide pursuit at the start which was incredible to watch, before he never looked back as the race leader upfront.

Joining Hanson was the two Hyundai i30s in Luke King (No.2 Moutai) & Nathan Morcom (No.11 HMO Customer Racing) in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Now King may have got in a bit of contact with Tony D’Alberto over in the No.50 Wall Racing Honda Civic earlier on but it didn’t affect him too much as he kept racing all the way in 2nd.

Then we go into the S5000s also in Race 2 with some drama at the start/finish straight when Joey Mawson sent Aaron Cameron over to the wall, as Cameron was unable to race on just moments after the race began. But the highlight though belongs to Cooper Webster in the No.37 Versa Motorsport machinery who was just too good unchallenged from start to finish; he too gets his first win of the year which is an incredible moment to remember from this teenager. And James Golding did a great job passing Tim Macrow for the battle for 2nd where Macrow overcooked it out wide at Turn 6 where that kind of patience paid ahead of him.

Can’t wait for Race 3 later this afternoon with a mix of S5000s, Trans-Am & TCR Australia.

#SpeedSeriesAU #TCRAustralia #Motorsport #S5000 #SydneyMotorsportsPark #JayHanson #Audi #Hyundai #LukeKing #NathanMorcom #CooperWebster #JamesGolding #TimMacrow #EasternCreek

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries, 9Gem to show the twilight Saturday event showcasing the TCR Australia live at Sydney Motorsports Park

by Sports Benches

I just read a source from Media Spy earlier this week that 9Gem will show live ARG SpeedSeries racing once again next Saturday on 5.30 to 7.30 pm at Sydney Motorsports Park.

There will be twilight TCR Australia in action as the main event to close it out under the lights alongside the Trans-Am muscle cars and S5000 Open-Wheelers.

All of these races for next weekend’s event via Free to air will only cover Race 1, but there’s no mention of the Sunday races which will most likely be a Stan Sport Exclusive & a two-hour highlights recap on 9Gem/9Go the following weekend.

It’s great to have some live motorsport on for free where we’ll get to see the TCR cars to race under the lights which is a huge must see event.

Hats off to Nine Entertainment for allocating that early Saturday evening slot for their free 9Gem digital channel to the organisers at Australian Racing Group, before Stan Sport & 9Gem heads straight off to the Super Rugby at Leichhardt Oval between the Waratahs v Blues in the regular-season finale clash before the knockout rounds begin on 3rd-4th June.

Although I’d personally love to attempt double duty by also heading straight from the track to the stadium in person myself, but I will be on-site as a spectator for the Tahs’ season-finale game v Blues.

However, I will be attending Sydney Motorsport Park for the Sunday races in person which is going to be a perfect way to finish my busy sports viewing weekend right in front of the action.

And we can’t forget the UEFA Champions League soccer Final on Sunday morning between Liverpool v Real Madrid, as well as the big Sunday of racing starting with Formula 1s in Monaco just before overnight, then the Indy 500 in the early hours of Monday morning & finish it off with NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on Monday lunchtime.

Let’s hope Nine and ARG can surprise us later this year with the Bathurst season-finale live on 9Gem like it was back in February with the season-opener from Symmons Plains in Tasmania, since the Bathurst 6 Hour and its support categories was a Stan Sport exclusive last month.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD3 on Sunday at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, Nathan Herne cleans sweeps in the Trans-Am while Aaron Cameron bounces back with the Race 3 win in the TCR Australia

by Sports Benches

Race 3 of the Trans-Am Australia in Bathurst was a series of twists and turns, most notably between Turns 19 & 20 at Conrod Straight, where race officials abruptly ended the race under yellow. Thankfully, John Hollinger was okay in the No.23 Chevy after this huge wreck; he and the No.12 Dodge of Shaun Richardson were battling for a position side-by-side before Richardson collected him that spun sideways into the wall.

Speaking of the final race results of the weekend, Nathan Herne collected a clean sweep with all three wins in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. Meanwhile, His team-mate Owen Kelly completed his resurgence with back-to-back podiums in 3rd. And arch-rival Tim Brook would’ve loved to end Herne’s long-running stranglehold in the No.38 Ford for Wall Racing when he always had to settle for 2nd. However, he’s happy to take the result as there’s still time for Brook to catch up when it comes to the Drivers’ Standings, even though Herne just extended his lead with four rounds left this season.

Then we look at the TCRs where Aaron Cameron bounced back with the win just a while ago during Race 3 in the No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He would’ve liked to take home the clean sweep when the reverse grid system didn’t benefit him any favors that much after P9 in Race 2 yesterday afternoon. However, it certainly does today when his Race 2 result allowed him to start on the front row, overtook James Moffatt immediately, and held off comfortably through the checkered flag. It’s also good to see fellow GRM driver Dylan O’Keeffe rebound with another podium spot in 3rd on top of a good drive back in Race 1.

And we saw two brilliant drivers who know what it takes to gain a couple of positions all too well at the Mountain. Jordan Cox in the No.33 Peugeot GRM machinery may have endured an unlucky Race 1 yesterday with a DNF after being fasted during practice yesterday. But he wasted no time working his way from the back of the grid to 10-11th following these two remaining races. So does Bailey Sweeny in the No.130 Hyundai i30N for HNO Customer Racing after his breakthrough win on Race 2; he too showed some patience from the 3rd row (6th) to just behind Cameron in 2nd.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • 1
  • 2