Almost 35 years & the Brits are still ruling Australia
05/02/2020
34 Years have passed since Australia gained independence from Britain in 1986 & yet, Britain still has a stranglehold on them in some way. Sure, we might not have the same grip against them when it comes to the cricket, but where wheels are concerned, we have them trumped.
Less than a week ago the Brits conquered the Mt Olympus of Motorsport. Beating the Ozzies in their backyard, taking the overall victory of the Bathurst Liqui Moly 12 Hours. The team that took the honours; Bentley Team M-Sport. A British based team, running a British marque car.
Even the Australian's found themselves enlisting help from them. Team 59Racing, an Australian based team ran two, British marque, McLaren 720S GT3's, yet despite a home-grown driver, Fraser Ross, in car 59, it was car #60, with British driver's Ben Barnicoat & Tom Blomqvist who placed second overall, with #59 down in 8th.
Notwithstanding the highly talented line-up of Aussie, Jamie Whincup with help from fellow Supercars competitor, Shane Van Gisbergen, who has competed in the Australian based series since 2007, could only muster a second-placed finish. Some 41.5 seconds down the road from the winning #7 car.
The dominance doesn't stop in GT's either. It continues into the pinnacle motorsport series, Formula 1. Since independence was gained, a Grands Prix has been won by a British driver on 9 separate occasions whilst, not even a single podium has been scored by an Aussie on home soil. Despite the best efforts of Daniel Ricciardo, taking the checkered flag in 2nd place, he was later disqualified for an infringement on the rules. Since, his highest placed finish in Melbourne has been a 4th, in 2016. Which incidentally also happens to be the highest placed finish of any Australian driver in the past 30 years!