Round 4 of the 2008 MINI CHALLENGE takes place at Melbourne’s Sandown raceway. Pictured above is Paul Mercurio who will be tapping his toes behind the wheel of the UBER-STAR CAR this weekend. Mercurio won the hearts of cinema goers in the lead role of the Australian classic Strictly Ballroom, and now finds a place in our homes as a judge on Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars. He is no stranger to race track action, Paul took victory in the Australian Grand Prix Celebrity Challenge in 2000 and in his second appearance in 2005, finished third after starting on the front row. He has also appeared in a PRO-AM at the Race of 1000 Years ALMS race on the Adelaide Grand Prix circuit and driven a MINI in the Classic Adelaide tarmac rally, where he finished second.
“It is every boy’s dream to be a sponsored racing car driver and I’m getting to live the dream—fantastic!” Mercurio enthused. “It’s a fantasy to be a sponsored driver.”
Regular readers may notice that Mercurio’s UBER-STAR car has a new look from previous rounds. The UBER-STAR program is designed to bring a new focus to MINI CHALLENGE by engaging personalities from the areas of sports, entertainment or media. At the launch of the new design were three of the UBER-STAR alumni—Jason Bargwanna (Round 1), Leanne Tander (Round 3) and Paul Mercurio (Round 4). Two other drivers complete the roll call to date, former Wallaby Ben Tune (Round 3) and MOTOR Magazine journalist, Shaun Cleary (Round 2).
The somewhat unconventional design on the UBER-STAR CAR has been wrapped using printed vinyl technology by Melbourne company, Decently Exposed, and the ‘pinboard’ design by Badjar Ogilvy makes the UBER-STAR CAR vibrant and irreverent and represents the fun of the brand. The ‘pinboard’ also provides space for not one sponsor or driver’s name, but many. The MINI CHALLENGE UBER-STAR CAR has become moving communication.
In a break from usual Sunday racing tradition this round will see two races on Sunday, with the final race taking place on the Queen’s Birthday Monday. Jason Bargwanna, in a return to the MINI CHALLENGE, has topped the times and will start Race 1 on pole position. Bargwanna made the best of the chilly Melbourne conditions to set the fastest time of 1:23.6448, some 0.6087 seconds in front of Seven Network personality, Grant Denyer (DecoRug Motorsport), who was showing no ill effect of having 40kg additional success ballast on board.
Bargwanna was ecstatic with his team’s early succes, “what a way to start Team Bargwanna! It’s come together in under a week and to put the car on pole is a fantastic, particularly for Trivett Classic MINI Garage and Matchmaster TV Reception Systems in their first motorsport experience. I’m very excited for those guys. To do what we’ve done with such little preparation time proves just how good these MINI CHALLENGE racecars are!”
Qualifying third was Round 2 winner, Nathan Geier (Sherrin Rentals). The local driver pipped Paul Stokell (DecoRug Motorsport) in the dying moments of the session for the third spot. Geier found his car unsettled across the bumpy Sandown layout and is working with his team to make some changes overnight to ensure the car rides the bumps better.
Race 1 starts today at 2:05pm, with the green flag for Race 2 dropping at 4:25pm. The round will close on Monday with Race 3 beginning at 11:30am. Highlights of Round 4 can be seen on Channel 7 on Saturday 28 June.
MINI Challenge leader board (Top 10 – after 3 of 8 rounds):
- Grant Denyer – 444
- Neil McFadyen – 432
- Paul Stokell – 345
- Paul Fiore – 330
- Nathan Geier – 330
- Gary Young – 288
- Todd Fiore – 198
- David Turner – 180
- Damien White – 156
- Nathan Callaghan – 13