Gentleman Jim wins again

Motor racing round-up...

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport has ordered an investigation into the accident during the final stages of last weekend's Targa Tasmania that left three spectators in hospital.

A 2004 Mini Cooper S driven by Japanese driver Nob Ikeda, ran out of control and into a group of spectators injuring three men from all from Tasmania.

Two of the men are listed in a serious but stable condition in the Royal Hobart Hospital while the third man is in a stable condition with back injuries.

CAMS have appointed Brisbane QC, Walter Sofronoff, to Chair the investigation along with former CAMS Chief Executive Officer and senior Steward, John Keeffe and the Clerk of Course for the Western Australian round of the Australian Rally Championship and Targa West, Ross Tapper.

The Tasmanian Government has also ordered a review into the safety guidelines for the event.

Tasmanian State Infrastructure Minister Jim Cox says the Targa safety review will be held in conjunction with the investigation by CAMS.

The event was won for the eighth time by Jim Richards driving a Porsche GT2 with co-driver V8 Supercar commentator Barry Oliver.

International

World champion Sebastian Loeb has won the Rally of Argentina. The Citroen driver led home the Subaru of Peter Solberg and the Mitsubishi of Italian driver Gianluigi Galli.

Loeb finished 34.6 seconds ahead of Solberg after the 22 stages to secure his fourth consecutive win of the championship.

The conditions in Argentina certainly seemed to suit Australian Chris Atkinson more than the snow and ice of early European rounds as he finished in sixth place despite a 60 second penalty for speeding in the service park.

Loeb's victory extends his lead over Finland's Marcus Gronholm in the drivers' standings to 21 points.

The FIA has announced that David Richards' Prodrive organisation will be awarded the 12th team position in the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

FIA President Max Mosley said: "Prodrive had the best combination of financial backing, technical capability and motor sport experience. Also, Prodrive's chief executive, David Richards, has experience as a Formula One team principal."

Richards controls the commercial rights to the World Rally Championship and Prodrive runs Subaru's world rally team, the Aston Martin Le Mans sportscar team and the Ford Performance Racing team in Australian V8 Supercars.

The decision means that there will be no comeback to F1 by Australian businessman Paul Stoddart, who had also filed an application for a team licence.

Mosley said that the limit of 12 teams had been set for safety reasons, circuit facilities, pit garages and so on. The FIA boss said that the number "is unlikely to increase”.

In front of 76,000 spectators at the EuroSpeedway, Lausitz, Bernd Schneider drove his Mercedes to victory and the lead in the DTM Championship. The win was Schneider's 41st DTM victory.

Le Mans legend Audi-driver Tom Kristensen finished second, only 1.428 seconds behind the winner.

Former F1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen looked set for victory but problems with his Mercedes’ left rear wheel during his second pit stop dropped the Finn back to third.

The debut NASCAR season for Marcos Ambrose has not been going according to plan with the Tasmanian once again taken out of his second race by another competitor. The entire right-hand side was ripped from Ambrose's F-150 racing truck when he collided with the truck of Mike Skinner who had made contact with the wall in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Ram Tough 200 at Gateway International Raceway.

Ambrose paid tribute to the strength and safety of his car after the crash which he described as one of the bigger hits he'd had in the last few years.

Todd Bodine driving a Toyota Tundra won the race, his second victory of the season.

Marco Melandri pulled of a spectacular final lap pass on Australian rider Casey Stoner to win the Turkish MotoGP at Istanbul.

Melandi, Stoner and Dani Pedrosa staged a classic battle for the race with each taking turns at the lead as the laps ticked down.

For Pedrosa, who had started back on the fifth row of the grid, his race was to end in disappointment when he came off his Honda on the final lap.

American Nicky Hayden on a Honda finished third and now leads the title chase by one point from Ducati rider Loris Capirossi.

World champion Valentino Rossi recovered from a poor qualifying performance and an early mistake to finish a fine fourth in his 100th race at the elite level.

Young Australian Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen started from pole after a spectacular wet weather qualifying performance and led briefly at the start. In dry conditions, however, he fell back still managing to finish in a fine seventh place.

In the 250cc race Japan's Hiroshi Aoyama took a surprise win after a crash between the two race leaders on the last lap.

Spaniard Hector Barbera kept his bike up after the collision with Alex de Angelis finished second, followed by Andrea Dovizioso. And Hector Faubel won as Spanish riders swept podium in the 125s. Alvaro Bautista and Sergio Gadea were second and third; all riding Aprilias.