Monday, 21 April 2008
The second round winner of MINI CHALLENGE - Nathan Geier - will swap colours from Barbagallo Raceway (May 9-11) onwards, when he steps behind the wheel of the Sherrin Rentals MINI CHALLENGE car, with additional support from Split Image Project Management.
The 25-year-old has quickly established himself as a star among the MINI CHALLENGE fraternity, dicing with some of the most recognised names in Australian motorsport. He has rocketed to third in the Series point standings - behind current leader, Seven Network personality, Grant Denyer and round one winner, Neil McFadyen.
"It's a great opportunity to be a part of the Sherrin Rentals team," Nathan said. "It (Sherrin) is a big company and I hope to represent their brand well. There are some good opportunities there, but I'm concentrating on MINI CHALLENGE. I'm sure if we can achieve some consistent results we can keep moving forward, but obviously you need a bit of luck, too."
Due to other commitments, Iain Sherrin steps out of the Sherrin Rentals machine, but has welcomed Nathan aboard - and has his eyes set on a long term plan for the affable youngster.
"We've identified that Nathan has the ability to be a star of the future," Sherrin explained. "Within a short amount of time, he has been able to build a profile for himself and certainly the feedback from his race engineers was enough to convince me that we should give him an opportunity with the Sherrin Rentals team.
"Obviously, with Sherrin MotorSport's activities in Porsche Carrera Cup and other forms of racing, we'd love to see Nathan progress through the ranks and that would be our plan looking ahead. Nevertheless, our focus - and certainly his at the moment - is on the MINI CHALLENGE title in 2008."
Between rounds, Nathan, in his role as a technician with BMW Group Australia, has had little time to reflect on the success of Wakefield Park, the majority of last week spent in the Snowy Mountains supporting the media launch of the new BMW 1 Series and this week, he will be at Phillip Island conducting the BMW 1 Series dealer launch.
His quest for the inaugural MINI CHALLENGE Series trophy resumes at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway on May 9-11 - a track that he has never visited before.
"I've seen a map of the track, but that's about it!" Nathan laughed. "I'm madly hunting about now looking for a Playstation game with Barbagallo on it!"
Perhaps thwarting his charge will be the addition of 25kg to his minimum car weight following on from his Wakefield Park win. He won't be on his own, though, with both McFadyen and Denyer also carrying 25kg - the latter combining weight penalties from the first two rounds.
The weight had a marked effect at Wakefield Park for varying reasons, but it remains to be seen -with no less than five drivers lining up with success ballast - what effect it will have on the Wanneroo track.
"For sure, I'll be interested to see how it impacts my performance, obviously it had some effect on Neil at Wakefield Park, but I have total faith in my race engineers to get the handling and balance right in my Sherrin Rentals MINI CHALLENGE car," Nathan said. "Nevertheless, my focus is on the greater goal at the end of the season, so I won't be thinking about the weight at all."
Sherrin was quick to back his young charge: "The yellow car's become used to carrying a bit of extra weight," he chuckled. "So I don't think the 25kg Nathan has to carry will worry it too much!"
Round three of MINI CHALLENGE will support the BigPond 400 at Barbagallo Raceway - May 9-11, the fourth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series.
Race two of MINI CHALLENGE from Barbagallo will be shown LIVE nationally on the Seven Network's V8 Supercar coverage, with a 30 minute post-produced highlights package airing on May 31 from 1:30pm on the network.
MINI CHALLENGE TOP 10 (after 2 of 8 rounds):
1 Grant Denyer 306
2 Neil McFadyen 294
3 Nathan Geier 282
4 Paul Stokell 270
5 Paul Fiore 252
6 Gary Young 174
7 Dave Turner 144
8 Iain Sherrin 117
9 Todd Fiore 105
10 Michael Stillwell 81
2008 MINI CHALLENGE CALENDAR:
Round 1: March 7-9 - Eastern Creek, Sydney, NSW (Round Winner: Neil McFadyen)
Round 2: April 4-6 - Wakefield Park, Goulburn, NSW* (Round Winner: Nathan Geier)
Round 3: May 9-11 - Barbagallo, Perth, WA
Round 4: June 7-9 - Sandown, Melbourne, Vic
Round 5: September 12-14 - Phillip Island, Vic
Round 6: October 9-12 - Mount Panorama, Bathurst, NSW
Round 7: November 21-23 - Symmons Plains, Tasmania
Round 8: December 4-7 - Oran Park, Sydney, NSW
*Denotes V8 Supercar Development Series round
TV SCHEDULE:
Round 2 Highlights: Saturday, April 26 - 2:00pm (Nationally) (Seven Network)
Round 3 - Barbagallo Raceway - LIVE TV: Race Two, Sunday, May 11 (Seven Network)
Round 3 Highlights: Saturday, May 31 - 1:30pm (Nationally) (Seven Network)
