Team Australia
Team Australia is an
Auto racing team competing in the
Champ Car World Series. It was created in early
2005 when two
Australian businessmen bought into
Derrick Walker's operation.
After sponsoring young Australian driver Josh Hunt in the
Toyota Atlantic Championship, Australian
millionaire Craig Gore began to investigate fielding a
Champ Car team. His empire already included a
V8 Supercar team competing in Australia, and at the
2004 Surfer's Paradise round of the CCWS, on the
Gold Coast, Australia, Gore's V8 driver
David Besnard made his debut with a WPS sponsored Walker Racing Champ Car. He finished a creditable 7th place, and the seeds were sewn for Gore's assault on the Champ Car series.
In late 2004 and early 2005 Gore and his associate
John Fish began negotiations with Derrick Walker. The two Australians bought the team and facilities, with Walker remaining as Team Manager. Obsolete
Reynard chassis were replaced with bespoke
Lola units, and the team signed
Canadian Champ Car veteran
Alex Tagliani and Australian
Formula 3 driver
Marcus Marshall for the 2005 season.
With a new chassis to learn, Team Australia was hardly going to upset the establishment in 2005. However, Tagliani's consistent, solid drives took the team to many top-ten finishes and several podiums through the year. Tagliani finished the season in seventh place, equaling his career best finish. Marshall, by contrast, was unspectacular, struggling to break the top ten. In all fairness, the jump from a Formula Three car to a Champ Car is a huge one that was exacerbated by Marshall's inexperience on the American circuits. By Team Australia's homecoming at the 2005 Surfer's Paradise race, they had announced that a third car would be run for Australian international driver
Will Power. Power outpaced both teammates before a collision with Tagliani took him out of the race.Amongst some controversy it was announced that Marshall's contract had been cut, and he was to leave the team. His attempt to appeal this in court was unsuccessful, and he was dropped in favour of Power, who signed a three year contract.The team ran their third car again in the season finale at
Mexico, where newly crowned Atlantics champion, Dutchman
Charles Zwolsman made his debut.
Rumours that
Ryan Briscoe would be taking the #15 car were crushed when Tagliani re-signed prior to
Long Beach. In 2006, Team Australia's commitment extended not only to two Champ Cars, but a two-car Atlantic squad and a two-car
Formula BMW USA squad, all aimed at fostering young talent.The team showed fantastic pace at the opening round at Long Beach, with Tagliani and Power running third and fourth respectively before a forced error dropped him down the order. He then suffered from brake problems but finished a competitive 9th, while Tagliani took a podium.
Team Australia expandeded its stable of global motorsport interests with a new partnership with Wood Brothers/JTG Racing that included the naming-rights sponsorship of
Marcos Ambrose's entry in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in
North America.
The sponsorship will be weaved into a nation-wide marketing campaign designed to promote quality Australian and Australian-themed products and Australia as a tourism destination.
The new green and gold
Ford F-150 truck carries Team Australia, Aussie Vineyards and
R. M. Williams signage. Featured in the primary bonnet position of the #20 Truck is signage for the Aussie Experience â€" a large-scale interactive tourism exhibit set to launch in North America in January 2007.
A mobile replica of the
Sydney Opera House, the Aussie Experience will be making tour stops at some of America's largest spectator events over a two-year period in what will be one of the biggest Australian-themed marketing initiatives ever seen anywhere.
Ambrose has showed a lot of driver skill in the #20 Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150 on the banked ovals of America, with his best finish being a podium in Kansas. He sent shockwaves through the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series by taking the Bud Pole Position in Kentucky.It is a wonderful acheivement considering this is the first year Marcos has driven on banked ovals.
The team gains most of its sponsorship from the businesses of Gore and Fish. Gore's financial company, Wright Patton Shakespeare, features on the sides and nosecone of the cars,
Fish Liquor are sponsors and their wine business
Aussie Vineyards is the title sponsor. The team is also sponsored by the
Queensland State Government,
Visa credit cards,
R. M. Williams, and
Qantas.
;Drivers who have driven for Team Australia:
*
Marcos Ambrose (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series #20)
*
Alex Tagliani (Champ Car #15)
*
Will Power (Champ Car #5, formerly #25)
*
Marcus Marshall (formerly Champ Car #5)
*
Charles Zwolsman (formerly Champ Car #25)
*
James Davison (Champ Car Atlantics)
*
Simon Pagenaud (Champ Car Atlantics)
*
Team Australia Motorsport*
Walker Racing
