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The Motorsport Brief - Supercars Stars at the New Zealand Grand Prix · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  An Aussie has won the New Zealand Grand Prix for the first time in 50 years.
• 0:09
  Will Brown, Brock Feeney and more on this special edition of The Shortcast.
• 0:15
  G'day everyone, Rusty here at Highlands Motorsport Park.
• 0:18
  It's about 40 minutes from Queenstown on the South Island.
• 0:21
  In this episode, we'll talk supercars, some rising stars, and we'll catch up with an engineer who guided the champion when he was first starting out in cars, and they got to work together again to win a very prestigious race.
• 0:34
  First up, the great debate.
• 0:37
  I had a lemonade with the Bathurst 12-hour commentator Richard Crail, four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy and more at the weekend.
• 0:44
  Aussies say garage.
• 0:47
  Rusty's garage, right?
• 0:49
  Kiwis tend to say garage.
• 0:52
  Which one is right?
• 0:53
  I'll leave you to be the judge.
• 0:54
  You can hit me up on social media and let me know what you think there, see who wins.
• 0:58
  Grand Prix weekend was epic.
• 1:00
  If you haven't been to Highlands, put it on your list when you come to New Zealand.
• 1:03
  It is an incredible facility situated in the beautiful central Otago wine region.
• 1:08
  Lots of good reasons to go there.
• 1:11
  It was the 69th running of the GP, one of only two in the world that are allowed to be called a Grand Prix beyond Formula One.
• 1:18
  The other is Macau.
• 1:20
  Famous race, right?
• 1:21
  Some big names have won the New Zealand event over the years, from proper legends like Sir Jack Brabham, Graham Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jackie Stewart and more, long list of those sorts, to modern day heroes, Shane Van Gisbergen, Lando Norris, Liam Lawson, Mitch Evans and others.
• 1:38
  But the last Aussie to do it
• 1:39
  was Warwick Brown in 1975.
• 1:42
  This year it went to another Brown, Will Brown, the Supercars champion.
• 1:47
  Now, I spoke with him after the podium wrapped up.
• 1:50
  He'd had a funny moment where the top of the Motor Cup, which is this beautiful, very impressive trophy that they give the winner, that fell off.
• 1:59
  It went down behind the dais.
• 2:01
  It was all recovered.
• 2:02
  It's all safe and sound, which is good.
• 2:04
  This whole New Zealand summer adventure started over a year ago for Will when he emailed the organisers.
• 2:11
  He just found them on a website and said, hey, I'd like to have a crack at this.
• 2:14
  He did the first couple of events at Topor and Hampton Downs in January before heading back to Australia for the 12-hour.
• 2:21
  Some might think of the decision to come and play here for a driver of his stature and what he's done...
• 2:28
  as being risky to put yourself out there in a different discipline, go up against these rising stars, single-seater specialists and so on.
• 2:37
  What if you get smoked by them?
• 2:39
  How would it make you look?
• 2:40
  Not Will, he loved this challenge and it really reminded us of his diverse skillset when it comes to racing cars.
• 2:50
  Holy smoke, New Zealand Grand Prix winner.
• 2:53
  How does that feel?
• 2:54
  That's exactly why I signed up to this series, was to try and win this race.
• 2:57
  And it's amazing to be standing here now and be the Grand Prix winner here in New Zealand.
• 3:02
  But this weekend wasn't looking great.
• 3:03
  I was going well in that first race, broke a front wing, broke another front wing in the second race.
• 3:08
  So yeah, I was sort of a bit down in the dumps before that one thought, oh God, that's a bit annoying.
• 3:12
  But the big race to Savo starting off second.
• 3:14
  And I knew I just had to get Brock off the start.
• 3:18
  I was just lined up watching those red lights straight when they went out, went for it and was able to get ahead of him.
• 3:23
  And then from there, I just knew I had to manage it.
• 3:24
  My first lap, I wanted to put a second over the guys and go as fast as I can.
• 3:28
  And I did that.
• 3:29
  And then the safety car came out and I thought, oh, bugger.
• 3:31
  So, yeah, able to manage the race.
• 3:34
  It was, you know, pretty good race.
• 3:37
  Didn't really make any mistakes.
• 3:38
  I was pretty happy with it.
• 3:38
  You and I reminisced about the fact that you were pairing again with Stephen Giles.
• 3:42
  This means a lot to that outfit.
• 3:44
  They have gone.
• 3:45
  It's been a bit of a drought over summer for them.
• 3:47
  And you do it, you break it for them with the New Zealand Grand Prix.
• 3:50
  Yeah, that's right.
• 3:51
  You know, I think Stephen and Giles Motorsport just do such a good job and I'm glad I could come here this year for three rounds and show that they are a great outfit, they can win races and hopefully they get some really good drivers next year.
• 4:04
  And, yeah, it was great to work with Stephen again.
• 4:06
  I worked with him when I won the F4 Championship in Australia in 2016, so it was good to reunite.
• 4:10
  Do you feel like you've scratched that itch now?
• 4:13
  Would you like to do it again maybe?
• 4:14
  Would you come back and defend it?
• 4:16
  Oh, I'm not sure.
• 4:17
  I probably would, to be honest.
• 4:18
  I really enjoyed my time over here.
• 4:20
  I didn't get a heap of time because I had to fly back for the 12 hour and things.
• 4:23
  But I love New Zealand.
• 4:24
  It's a nice place to come.
• 4:25
  The people are great.
• 4:26
  So it'd be good to come over here and have a bit more time.
• 4:29
  So who knows next year?
• 4:30
  But, you know, I've...
• 4:32
  scratch that itch but now after winning that i'm like oh what else so um who knows is there a what else what else is there i don't know i have no idea yet i just go with the punches uh you never know i work as hard as i can and i've got great partners and sponsors that help me do the racing that i want to do so if there's something else up uh hopefully some of my partners uh will be keen and we'll see what else is out there
• 4:53
  We now turn our attention to the opening round of the championship, the defence of the supercars title.
• 4:58
  You've uncovered the car here, a little bit different, white roof.
• 5:01
  Going to be a bit cooler by the sounds of things that car this year.
• 5:04
  Yeah, yeah, we've uncovered the car here, which is cool to do it in New Zealand for the fans over here.
• 5:09
  But, yeah, like you say, back in title defence, I don't even feel like I've had time off, to be honest, or really, you know, I've celebrated the championship, but I've done so much racing over the off-season as well that, yeah, I'm just ready to get back in it and...
• 5:23
  pretty much pick up where we left off, hopefully.
• 5:24
  You have had, when you think about your career to this point, you've ticked some unbelievable things at your age.
• 5:30
  And I've been lucky enough from the TCR title to other things to see a bit of that along the way.
• 5:34
  I mean...
• 5:37
  What other things would you like to add to the list?
• 5:40
  Bathurst, clearly.
• 5:41
  Yeah, there's so many other things that you can add to the list, to be honest, and so many wonderful achievements around the world that I'd love to achieve.
• 5:48
  But, you know, Bathurst is my first one, Bathurst 1000.
• 5:51
  I don't believe you're a great supercar driver nearly until you get one.
• 5:54
  You know, everyone talks about Bathurst.
• 5:57
  So...
• 5:58
  Yeah, I want to try and get that.
• 5:59
  You know, there's still stuff with the NASCAR that I wonder how to go last year and didn't get the result I wanted.
• 6:05
  So I want to go back and try again this year.
• 6:07
  And who knows what else it opens up.
• 6:09
  Yeah, I'll just wait and see.
• 6:11
  Final one for you.
• 6:12
  I know it's a year of change, end of an era for the Triple Eight team and their partnership with GM before they go to Ford next year.
• 6:18
  Be nice to get a few milestone things before that.
• 6:20
  That wraps up to your name too.
• 6:22
  Yeah, I would have been happy if it was last year to win the last one with GM, but I'll have to try and do that this year, to be honest.
• 6:27
  Try and push as hard as we can to win another championship, try and win Bathurst for GM, and then kick off 2026 strong with Ford, and it's going to be a change for me.
• 6:35
  I've never driven a Ford in supercars or in any category yet, so it's going to be different for me, but I'm looking forward to it.
• 6:41
  There are some serious legends on that motorsport, on the motorcup, I should say, from Formula One back in the day.
• 6:48
  You name it, and you have added your name to that list.
• 6:50
  Congratulations.
• 6:51
  That's huge.
• 6:51
  Cheers.
• 6:52
  Thank you.
• 6:55
  I also grabbed Stephen Giles after I spoke there with Will.
• 6:59
  Giles has worked for McLaren, among others, in a very successful career in the pit lane.
• 7:05
  He has his own team in the Summer Series, as well as working for Gary Orton and Tina and the Kiwi Motorsport crew there in the US.
• 7:12
  Will was fast from the moment that he stepped in for round one of Siti Frocking Topol.
• 7:17
  But last weekend's guest on the podcast, Arvid Lindblad, who wrapped up the Toyota Formula Regional Series title on Saturday at Highlands, he was so hard to beat all season.
• 7:28
  We genuinely saw someone with very special talent who will get...
• 7:33
  to Formula One.
• 7:34
  There's no doubt about that.
• 7:35
  He has enough super license points now after the month of racing in the land of the long white cloud to do that.
• 7:41
  So Arvid's domination meant that it was a bit of a lean summer as far as feature race wins were concerned for other teams.
• 7:49
  Will got a brilliant start from the outside of the front row, survived a safety car period and took out the final and biggest race of the five-week tour.
• 8:00
  What does that one mean to Stephen Giles and to this outfit?
• 8:03
  Congratulations.
• 8:04
  Yeah, thanks.
• 8:06
  It's been a long time coming.
• 8:07
  I was trying to think how long it's been since we won the last one, or Grand Prix anyway, and it's got to be 11 or 12 years at least looking back.
• 8:17
  So, yeah, it makes all the effort through the season very worthwhile.
• 8:22
  How's he grown?
• 8:23
  How's he changed as a driver since you last worked with him?
• 8:26
  Yeah, he's obviously a few years older now and a lot more experience and having won some championships since I last worked with him.
• 8:35
  But no, he's great to work with.
• 8:36
  You know, he's still very down to earth character as well.
• 8:40
  But, you know, very hardworking race driver and fast, obviously.
• 8:44
  So it's a pleasure.
• 8:46
  Yeah.
• 8:46
  Do you reckon it's sort of helped put the series, I wouldn't say on the map, that's the wrong thing, but it's given it a bit of a resurgence in the Tasman region.
• 8:53
  Having those guys from Red Bull Ampile Racing come and play in different teams and seeing what the supercars drivers are up to, that's been good, hasn't it?
• 9:00
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:01
  Look, I obviously don't, I'm not in Australia to see all of the Australian media, but what I do see is all positive and it's obviously drummed up a lot of interest.
• 9:10
  So having guys like that come over here and do well, obviously, helps.
• 9:17
  So yeah, it's great.
• 9:18
  The Grand Prix.
• 9:19
  Some cool names have won that over time, mate.
• 9:21
  I mean, he's the first Aussie to do it since Warwick Brown in the 70s.
• 9:25
  You've just talked about, you know, the long time between drinks for this team.
• 9:28
  What's it mean to the guys and girls that have gone five weeks straight, you know, lots of late nights and so on and beyond, even in the build-up to do this?
• 9:35
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:36
  It all makes a bit of the icing on the cake.
• 9:42
  We haven't had a terribly strong season.
• 9:44
  We've shown potential, I think, at every round.
• 9:48
  Sometimes a couple of missed opportunities with some better results, but this caps it all off nicely, so it makes it worthwhile.
• 9:54
  It certainly does.
• 9:55
  Let's finish with the state of the competitiveness of this championship.
• 9:58
  It feels like this summer has been tougher than certainly in recent years.
• 10:03
  Is that my imagination, or is that how you feel too?
• 10:05
  No, I think you're right.
• 10:06
  I think it's probably the strongest field in terms of depth we've seen for quite a while, actually.
• 10:13
  You know, 17 cars is still a good number.
• 10:17
  You know, 20 is the goal for all of us to have a nice big field size.
• 10:24
  But when you've got quality like this, it kind of makes up for it anyway.
• 10:26
  Grand Prix win.
• 10:27
  Congratulations.
• 10:28
  Go and celebrate tonight.
• 10:29
  Thank you for talking to us.
• 10:29
  Yep, thanks.
• 10:33
  This series is all about finding and guiding future champions, and Stephen Giles has the temperament and the nous to do that.
• 10:41
  But it was a great story, the pair of them, Will Brown and Stephen reuniting all these years later in a single seater to take that one out.
• 10:49
  I reckon...
• 10:50
  Will and Brock Feeney coming over might actually make a few more supercars drivers think about taking part next summer.
• 10:57
  Thomas Randall is a success story of this series and I wonder if he'd consider coming back for another crack at the GP or even a few races.
• 11:04
  He went to Europe in between his time in this series and supercars.
• 11:09
  That path to Europe is so tough for young Aussies and Thomas will tell you that.
• 11:15
  You can find our podcast episode, our feature ep with Thomas, where he talks about that.
• 11:20
  But a former carter from Sydney has chosen that very difficult path.
• 11:25
  He's already trying to pursue it and break in there.
• 11:27
  You're about to hear from Patrick Hoytsenroder, who went to the UK last year with minimal single-seater experience to...
• 11:34
  stays sharp for summer while he's back here.
• 11:37
  He was part of Aussie Bruin Beasley's team, Emtek Motorsport for the Kiwi summer.
• 11:42
  Bruin's worked in the Supercars pit lane, as many of you know, and he's had his own team in this series for some time, but he missed being part of it last year.
• 11:51
  He was back with some strong contenders this season.
• 11:55
  Hoyts and Rota was assisted by former F1 driver and
• 11:58
  Le Mans or sports car star David Brabham and it seemed to get better for Patrick each race weekend a win at Highlands on the Saturday was timely before he launches into GB3 this year with the XL squad sadly a win in the GP wasn't to be after the car sustained some damage to the suspension when he hit the wall on the outside of the second last corner
• 12:23
  Patrick Hoidsenroder, when you got out of that car today and you kind of wandered off, there was a scream, wasn't there?
• 12:29
  You were gutted.
• 12:30
  Yeah, I was mimicking, well, channeling my inner Daniel Ricciardo, I guess.
• 12:36
  But it's been a tough day today.
• 12:38
  Such a high yesterday pole on a race win.
• 12:41
  That's what I came here to do to this year is just to become a winner.
• 12:44
  And that's done.
• 12:44
  So that was good.
• 12:46
  But yeah, in the end, tough to get that penalty in race two.
• 12:49
  And then to start sixth wasn't ideal.
• 12:51
  I definitely think I could have been on the podium for the Grand Prix.
• 12:54
  A few people have told me to keep an eye on you in the build-up to this championship, right?
• 12:58
  Do you feel like Aussie audiences have a bit more of a, particularly in the motorsports space, a bit more of an idea of who you are and what you're doing now?
• 13:04
  I think especially now that I've done this championship, because it's so much closer to home, it's a lot easier to keep track of.
• 13:10
  But hopefully it's drawn some attention and that can string to or flow to some backing and things like that to help me climb the motorsport ladder for Australia.
• 13:18
  You had David Brabham in your corner over summer.
• 13:20
  Will that continue and how did that help assist you?
• 13:24
  Yeah, that'll continue this year.
• 13:26
  So he's based over in the UK and so will I this year, so that'll work well.
• 13:30
  And to have him here for the first three weeks is very valuable.
• 13:33
  Just from a, you know, we had to figure out the car together and the tyre together, but definitely from a mindset and mental perspective is very helpful.
• 13:40
  Now, I know at the end of the day, you know, it's money, right?
• 13:44
  But there's unfinished business here now.
• 13:46
  If you could stitch something together, would you come back next summer?
• 13:50
  I think, yeah, to win the Grand Prix would be pretty special.
• 13:53
  So, you know, I'll see what I'm doing this time next year.
• 13:56
  But, yeah, we'll play it by year.
• 13:58
  Well done.
• 13:59
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 14:00
  There you go.
• 14:01
  A name to keep an eye on.
• 14:02
  Hopefully he has a good year in the UK.
• 14:05
  When we come back, we'll talk to Brock Feeney about his GP weekend.
• 14:09
  Stick around for that.
• 14:10
  What the new Camaro livery is like, what he thinks of that, the year ahead in supercars.
• 14:15
  And you will meet the CT frock runner-up, someone who wasn't widely known in this part of the world, but a Tony Quinn Foundation scholarship win and some silverware during the series changed all that.
• 14:31
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief.
• 14:32
  The season opener for supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park is less than two weeks away now.
• 14:38
  We're in the thick of livery reveals and with Willenbrock in New Zealand, Red Bull Ampol Racing took the opportunity to launch their war paint, their colour scheme while they were here.
• 14:48
  Now, some of you will say, why do that in New Zealand?
• 14:51
  What about that?
• 14:51
  Aussie fans, I reckon there's several reasons for this.
• 14:55
  Firstly, 888 are renowned for constantly changing it up, trying something different, and this fits that bill.
• 15:01
  It was the first time that a supercars livery reveal has happened anywhere in the world.
• 15:06
  outside of Australia.
• 15:07
  So, really cool moment.
• 15:09
  The drivers were here for the Grand Prix, obviously.
• 15:11
  Highlands owner Tony Quinn is a major stakeholder in Triple Eight.
• 15:15
  He also owns the Topor Circuit, which is again hosting the New Zealand round in April.
• 15:20
  So, good chance to cross-promote that.
• 15:22
  Don't forget, they've got a lot of fans, that team, on this side of the ditch after eight very successful years with Shane Van Gisbergen.
• 15:30
  And they were able to take the Bathurst-winning car that Shane and fellow Kiwi Richie Stanaway drove, which...
• 15:35
  TQ has in the museum at Highlands and wrap it in secret for the launch.
• 15:40
  It was really well attended by fans and we got some good reaction to the online reveal on the live stream.
• 15:45
  So it's a subtle change, a bit of a continuation of the team's corporate partners, which you'd expect after the success they've had.
• 15:52
  Very clean look.
• 15:53
  You'll notice the presence of the new AAA turquoise colour, something that Jamie Wincup was passionate about when the company rebranded in 2023 and,
• 16:03
  That's complemented by the Matt Navy feel that has been a bit of a part of it now for a few years.
• 16:09
  That looks after Ampol and Red Bull.
• 16:11
  But there is now the presence of some gloss white.
• 16:13
  It makes it a little easier for the team to keep clean.
• 16:17
  But importantly, it should help make the car a little cooler.
• 16:21
  And Shane Van Gisbergen, I think, identified the need to do that very early on in the Gen 3 era.
• 16:26
  Yeah.
• 16:27
  Last season's runner-up in the Supercars Championship wants the number one badly.
• 16:33
  Now, Brock chose to really step out of his comfort zone in tackling the GP.
• 16:38
  With almost no single-seater experience, he went fastest on Friday afternoon in practice, then took pole.
• 16:46
  For the GP.
• 16:47
  Very impressive.
• 16:48
  Remember, he didn't come and do Topor and Hampton Downs like Will did.
• 16:53
  So he was coming in only for one event.
• 16:55
  His engineer, Martin Short from AAA, who's raced and won in New Zealand himself, came over to work alongside Brock.
• 17:02
  The GP was...
• 17:03
  A bit bruising for Feeney with a sixth place finish.
• 17:06
  He was jumped by Will at the start.
• 17:09
  Brock's really happy.
• 17:11
  You can sense it in this chat with his life choices, with the focus, the direction, the decision to go the supercar's path.
• 17:18
  But it made me wonder what could have been if he'd gone the same way as his great mate Jack Doohan when they both got out of carts.
• 17:26
  Lots of positives, as I said, for Brock from the GP weekend at Highlands.
• 17:30
  He does his best here to mask the disappointment.
• 17:33
  There's a big year ahead for him at Triple Eight as they all prepare for the switch to Ford and Mustang in 26 without impacting on the wins that we've come to expect from them as they farewell GM.
• 17:47
  Hey, mate, mixed emotions for you.
• 17:48
  Congratulations, firstly, on the pole position.
• 17:50
  I mean, that is wild when you consider your limited open-wheel experience to do that for the Grand Prix.
• 17:55
  Well done.
• 17:55
  Thank you.
• 17:55
  I should have probably packed up and gone home then, I reckon.
• 17:58
  I peaked too early in the weekend.
• 18:00
  But, I mean, it's been an awesome experience.
• 18:02
  It's been...
• 18:03
  Honestly, it's been one of my most challenging weekends probably I've ever had for a long time.
• 18:09
  So to rock up and be so far out of my comfort zone and to do the fastest time and pole, it was super special.
• 18:15
  But apart from that far out, I feel like I've been climbing Mount Everest for the rest of the weekend.
• 18:21
  But awesome to see Will.
• 18:23
  We said one of us has got to win it.
• 18:25
  He's done it.
• 18:25
  Not the race for me, but yeah, pretty happy with the weekend.
• 18:28
  I walked in on a nice little exchange between the pair of you before we started recording this.
• 18:32
  I mean, I know it's a good battle between the pair of you and the Supercars Championship, but even here with different teams on the grid, that's nice.
• 18:37
  Yeah, no, it is good.
• 18:38
  Like, obviously, I'm absolutely gutted that I couldn't hang on for the win there or get the start because I think the race would have been a bit different.
• 18:45
  But I'm stoked that he's won it.
• 18:47
  I mean, it shows the calibre, I think, of drivers in Supercars and his talent as well.
• 18:52
  I think it's been awesome to see him come across and do that.
• 18:55
  you know, we just got a message from Jamie to all of triple eight saying, how cool is this?
• 18:59
  You know, first Aussie winner in such a long time.
• 19:01
  So it's awesome to be part of just come here and do this series.
• 19:03
  I mean, he's the reason I'm here.
• 19:05
  If he didn't do it, I probably wouldn't be here either.
• 19:07
  So it's awesome to be over here with him.
• 19:09
  And yeah, awesome to see him get the win.
• 19:10
  Could we twist your arm and get you to come back again next year?
• 19:13
  Yeah, look, I could probably come back for the Grand Prix.
• 19:15
  I'm looking forward to getting back to what's called a normal car for me.
• 19:19
  Yeah, I'm looking forward to power steering.
• 19:21
  I can tell you that.
• 19:22
  But yeah, I,
• 19:23
  I don't know if I would commit to a full season, but I think the one-off for the Grand Prix.
• 19:29
  But now I know what to expect.
• 19:31
  I mean, I've learned so much this weekend about what you've got to do in these cars and how you've got to prepare, and I was the furthest thing from that this weekend.
• 19:39
  Alright, you can compare a little bit of notes now with your mate Jack Doohan.
• 19:42
  He went one way in his career, you went the other, but now you've got a little bit of single-seater experience.
• 19:46
  He's got a big year coming up.
• 19:47
  Will you follow that closely?
• 19:48
  Yeah, for sure.
• 19:49
  I mean, to be honest, actually, most of my mates are in open wheelers and I've never really been able to relate to them in any sense.
• 19:55
  Same with Jack and Lockie Hughes, who's now in Indy Next and that, so it's fun.
• 20:00
  I mean, they've all been messaging me all weekend and keeping up to date with everything's awesome.
• 20:04
  Mick's been on the phone to dad and all that, so it's cool to see everyone support, but
• 20:09
  Yeah, maybe we can do a race with them one day.
• 20:11
  Who knows?
• 20:12
  That would be cool indeed.
• 20:13
  Attention now turns to the start of the Supercars Championship.
• 20:17
  How revved are you for that?
• 20:18
  And I know there's a deep inner hunger in you to go another step this year, isn't there?
• 20:24
  Yeah, I mean...
• 20:24
  and obviously today's there's more fuel to that getting beaten by Will but um yeah I mean it's going to be a huge year once again I mean for me it was super important to do a couple races before round one and and I've done that and and look I mean 12 hour we were extremely quick and then even this weekend to get pole it it gives me confidence going back into into supercars but got a huge year ahead I mean um I'm always extremely hungry to get it done but um I'm sick of
• 20:50
  sick of being the guy that's just missing out so um we'll do whatever we need to do this year to get that trophy in order to stay sharp you've been doing things like triathlons and stuff you feel like you're in peak condition for a crack at this um yeah i feel like every year i'm getting better and better i think um me and my trainer been working really good together and i tell you what though this weekend these are the most physical cars i've ever driven by far so um my body probably wasn't ready to drive an open wheeler as such but um supercar spec yeah i'm feeling good
• 21:17
  I've got another triathlon coming up in a couple of weeks' time.
• 21:21
  But no, enjoying all that.
• 21:22
  I mean, training's good.
• 21:24
  I'm feeling pretty ready for this year.
• 21:25
  I'm excited.
• 21:26
  The team's the same.
• 21:28
  Yeah, I just want to get the ball rolling now.
• 21:30
  Tell me from your perspective then about the approach to this.
• 21:35
  Does it change?
• 21:36
  I mean, you just talked about keeping the people behind you the same.
• 21:39
  Does your own approach change?
• 21:40
  Um, I mean, it's going to have to this year with the new format, but, uh, you know, we're going to have to be able to peak at the right times and, and, you know, sort of what I alluded to yesterday, I feel like I'm someone that can ramp up and get it done in those moments.
• 21:53
  And we're able to do that in quality yesterday and even Adelaide last year to, to have to rock up and win and to do that is awesome.
• 22:00
  So, um, yeah, I'm excited.
• 22:01
  We're going to have to, we're going to have to be strong at the back end of this year, but I've got a great group of people behind me, as you said.
• 22:10
  one done this year year of change for the team can they manage that transition i mean it sounds as though with the unveiling of the car here this weekend everyone is absolutely focused on giving gm the right kind of send-off aren't they yeah we certainly are i think everyone from the outside already trying to look forward to 2026 but um yeah for us that that's a that's a lot of days away and a lot of race weekends so um for us look we've been through a process where we had to build a gen 3 car and still go racing so switching cars at the end of the year won't be a drama at all for
• 22:40
  you know, it's another year for us.
• 22:42
  We don't have to treat this any different.
• 22:44
  It's going to be a send-off year for the GM, but AAA, we try to win races, and that's what we do best.
• 22:50
  So that's what we'll be trying to do again.
• 22:51
  It has been terrific to have you here for the Grand Prix.
• 22:53
  It won't be all that long before fans will see you in Taupo on the North Island go well for the 2025 championship.
• 22:59
  And I know you gutted about the Grand Prix result.
• 23:02
  Take the positive.
• 23:03
  That pole was mighty.
• 23:04
  Well done.
• 23:04
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 23:05
  Thanks for having me.
• 23:07
  Brock's first ever car race was actually in New Zealand.
• 23:11
  His dad, Paul, raced bikes at the Whanganui Street track back in the day.
• 23:15
  That layout runs clockwise around the cemetery.
• 23:18
  It is seriously old school, that event.
• 23:21
  Hay bales, you're up against the wire fences.
• 23:24
  They blast past.
• 23:24
  They were brave.
• 23:25
  They still are.
• 23:26
  No surprise that Brock has the motorsport bug and we all kind of kept an eye on him as he came through Karts 86 and ultimately Super 2.
• 23:34
  But my next interview is with someone who it's fair to say wasn't on our radar at all until the Tony Quinn Foundation awarded him a $70,000 scholarship.
• 23:45
  after he impressed during the intense judging process there.
• 23:49
  He's 17 years of age, born in New Zealand, but based in the UAE, which kind of meant he was unknown to us.
• 23:55
  His dad has actually competed in Targa rallies here and had a frightening crash some years back.
• 24:00
  TQ was actually the first on scene for that one.
• 24:03
  His son, Zach Schooler, joined Bruin and Emtek Motorsport for summer.
• 24:08
  Prior to that, Zach had finished 15th out of...
• 24:11
  33 drivers in his rookie year of the British Formula 4 Championship.
• 24:15
  He grabbed a podium along the way with third at the Brands Hatch Indy event.
• 24:19
  He scored seven Rookie Cup podiums in that series.
• 24:22
  But when he took pole in CT frock at the opening race in Topor, and then he proceeded to convert and win that, he really got our attention.
• 24:32
  Zach would seal the rookie title at the second last event at Territonga in Invercargill before claiming the series runner-up at Highlands.
• 24:43
  Hi mate, it's been a breakout year for you here and what I think you've done in New Zealand has really put you on the map.
• 24:50
  Congratulations.
• 24:51
  Yeah, thank you so much.
• 24:52
  I'm honestly pretty speechless after this year.
• 24:54
  Didn't really expect it coming in.
• 24:57
  I said I'd be really happy with the top five at the start of the year and we've exceeded all my expectations and the vice champion is so, so special.
• 25:03
  It commenced with you winning the Tony Quinn Foundation scholarship.
• 25:08
  When you came into that, did you think you were a good chance of doing that?
• 25:10
  And how much of a launchpad, how helpful was all that?
• 25:13
  Well, obviously, I can't thank the Tony Quinn Foundation enough for the opportunity they gave me and the support they provided for my family.
• 25:19
  But yeah, after we won that, you know, we expected to be strong, but we didn't expect to be this strong.
• 25:23
  And, you know, to come out here and do this is so, so cool.
• 25:27
  How does it help you with the next phase of, I know you haven't, as we record this, announced what your plans are, but I mean, to think that you've been able to do that and the calibre of competition I reckon we've had in the championship this year, how much does that help?
• 25:39
  Well, I mean, it gives you confidence.
• 25:40
  Like now you know where you are going into the summer series, which we'll do in Europe.
• 25:44
  And yeah, it just gives you a head start on the rest of the competition.
• 25:46
  So hopefully the rest of the year goes well.
• 25:48
  We've had a cracking year, I reckon, in this.
• 25:52
  The level has been something else, hasn't it?
• 25:56
  No, the level this year has been really, really strong.
• 25:58
  You've had obviously RV, you have F3 drives, you have everyone who's like getting to the top of what they're doing and you know, to come out here after not really being on the radar and I've made a name for myself being out here.
• 26:11
  So yeah, it's been pretty good.
• 26:12
  Congratulations.
• 26:13
  Thanks so much.
• 26:15
  We should know Zach's 2025 plans shortly after this episode drops.
• 26:19
  Hope it goes well for him.
• 26:20
  He's another driver for you to keep an eye out for.
• 26:23
  That is it for today.
• 26:24
  Worth having a listen to Arvid Lindblad in our library, if you haven't already.
• 26:28
  He will be on the Formula One grid before too long.
• 26:31
  I've no doubt about that.
• 26:32
  It's the episode that dropped last week.
• 26:34
  Great chat, that one.
• 26:36
  Very driven young man.
• 26:37
  How a motorbike started it all.
• 26:39
  not being daunted by calls from Dr Helmut Marko and the Red Bull management, and how the Drive to Survive effect now means that fans are closely following the next wave of races on the rise.
• 26:50
  I'm going to be talking to a familiar voice from CT Frock and also from bike racing, Jonathan Green.
• 26:56
  He's got that very animated style.
• 26:58
  We're going to do a feature episode with him.
• 27:00
  How he got into commentary, cornering Nigel Mansell for an interview in a stairwell,
• 27:09
  for television.
• 27:10
  It's very funny and he laughs about it.
• 27:12
  Plus, I'm going to have some convos around a feature episode with former Champ Car star Max Pappas too.
• 27:19
  Can't wait.
• 27:19
  Bye for now.