MOTORSPORT: Ambrose crew in hot water

Ambrose's team learns a tough lesson in Sprint Cup
One of Australian NASCAR racer Marcos Ambrose's crew has been suspended for four races for "actions detrimental to stock car racing".

'Gas man' Jack Watts and crew chief Frank Kerr have been put on probation for the rest of the season.

We mentioned here earlier this week that Watts got into strife during Ambrose's first pitstop in the fourth round of the Sprint Cup at Atlanta when he chased a runaway tyre across the pitlane and on to the grass inside the front stretch of the 2.4km speedway. Watts was immediately banned from any further involvement in the race and mid-week was hit with the four-race penalty.

Nothing has been heard from Ambrose's usually prolific press office on the matter.

Immediately after the Atlanta race, from which he retired his Toyota Camry with a blown engine, Ambrose was quoted as saying of the Watts business: "I'll look at the tape -- I'm not sure. We don't want to ruin anybody's race, especially NASCAR's. We want to play by the rules and do everything right. If we did something wrong then we need to look at it and not do it again."

But not a word since, although JTG Daugherty team co-owner Tad Geschickter has said the team will not appeal either the Watts or Kerr penalties.

The incident on lap 67 (about one-fifth distance) forced NASCAR to call a caution in the middle of green-flag pitstops because Watts was in harm's way had a car spun or lost control coming off Turn 4.  The caution put more than half the field a lap or more down, directly affecting the rest of the race -- which was won by Kurt Busch for Roger Penske's Dodge team.

Kerr is on probation for the season for violating NASCAR's rule 9-4-A, under which a crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of the team.

Watts, who has been in NASCAR for more than seven years and at other times works for the Charlotte Fire Department, was suspended and put on probation under rule 9-5-U that says crew members must not go on to the racetrack for any reason while cars are racing or while the cars are running under the yellow or red flags, unless directed to do so by a NASCAR official.

"I want to apologise to my team, my competitors and to NASCAR," Watts said.

"I saw the tyre going away [it was knocked away by the Yates Racing team] and it was a reaction - the wrong one."

Watts said he "certainly did not" think the tyre would roll as far as it did and by the time he was in the middle of the grass he realised he was in a bad position.

While it made for some excitement for spectators and TV viewers, Watts said it was "not the kind I want to be part of".

And Matt Kenseth, the Roush Fenway Racing driver who won the first two rounds of the Sprint Cup, said: "I wouldn't want to be in the middle of that grass."

Not knowing of Watts' experience, Kenseth said: "Maybe he's new - maybe he hasn't seen us drive, but we tend to wreck a lot."

Watts said: "Everything happened so fast on pit road that I just didn't realise how far I had to go out until I grabbed the tyre. I put myself in jeopardy and I know how hard NASCAR works to make the pit crew members safe on pit road. I stand by their decision and will serve my four-race suspension."

There is some sympathy in NASCAR circles for Watts. One commentator said that, while what he did was "dumb", giving him a four-race ban after the disciplining of him on the day was "excessive".

It's all a learning experience for 2003/04 V8 Supercar champion Ambrose's team in the top echelon of American stock car racing.

A fuller description of how the incident unfolded is here.

There is no Sprint Cup round this weekend. The next four speedways the series visits are Bristol on March 22, Martinsville on March 29, Texas on April 5 and Phoenix on April 18.

Cochrane loses two cars - but not from grid
A black 2006-model Jaguar XK8 Jaguar, registration JAG 505, and a blue 2005-model BMW X5, registration 298 ISJ, vanished from the garage of V8 Supercar chairman Tony Cochrane a week ago. A Gold Coast report called it a "brazen theft" as the Cochrane family slept.

Police said thieves gained access to Cochrane's basement garage through a side window late last Friday or early on Saturday. The "barefaced burglars" found the keys to the cars hanging in the garage, the report said.

Gold Coast police district superintendent Jim Keogh said the theft was clearly the work of a well-organised outfit that could have moved the cars interstate quickly.

"It's a re-identification job without a doubt, because you can't run them as they are. They will probably be reborn and re-registered in another state." Supt Keogh said.

No mention of any V8 Falcon and Commodore in that garage! Nor of any similarity with the reported disappearance of between $350,000 and $500,000 of cash and other items from former V8 Supercar team owner and fellow Gold Coast identity Craig Gore's Ephraim Island home while he and his family slept last September.

Godzilla II out front of V8 Supercars
How ironic that a new Nissan R35 GT-R will be the V8 Safety Car for the season, starting next week's at Adelaide's Clipsal 500 in view of the animosity, especially at Bathurst, towards the previous Godzilla in Australian touring car racing in the early 1990s.

Some tongues are wagging about whether the Nissan will be quicker than the Ford Falcons, Holden Commodores (and Triple 8 Hogsters!) it will be leading around.

Auto Action editor-at-large Mark Fogarty writes in this week's edition of that magazine: "The two-year deal to supply the new R35 GT-R as the V8 Safety Car is a far cry from the original Godzilla's reign of terror in 1991-92.

"Having 'Godzilla II' as the Safety Car will be a talking point for a while," Fogarty says.

"The move is laden with irony, given that the R32 Skyline GT-R racer's domination created the Commodore/Falcon V8 hegemony, and it's a cheeky way of basking in V8 Supercar's reflected glory."

Nick Heidfeld gives Webber top marks for speed
Lots of good chat from the Formula 1 scene, as there has been all off-season - unlike the V8 Supercar scene.

>>German Nick Heidfeld has been in F1 almost a decade and his teammates have been Jean Alesi, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Giorgio Pantano, Timo Glock, Mark Webber, Jacques Villeneuve, and Robert Kubica. And guess who "Quick Nick" rates the quickest of them? Answer: Aussie Webber.

"Webber has been the quickest teammate I've had so far in terms of qualifying -- he was very strong there," Heidfeld said.

Webber beat Heidfeld 9-5 in qualifying when they were Williams teammates in 2005. In terms of racecraft, Heidfeld rates Raikkonen tops among the teammates he's had. More here

>>The BBC has cranked up the F1 section of its website (more here), as it returns as the English language telecaster of the sport this year.

Mighty impressive it is too, although we could not easily find the interviews with all F1 drivers mentioned here. And thus we could not verify that Mark Webber had said he would like to have had dinner with Hitler so he could "ask him why".

>>The Mercedes-powered Brawn GP (nee Honda) car was surprisingly, indeed lightning, fast in testing at Catalunya in Spain this week. The McLaren was surprisingly slow, while there are some indications that Toyota finally has got its F1 act together.

We give little credence to F1 pre-season testing times, but a very British perspective on what Brawn GP's form might mean for forgotten man Jenson Button, in comparison with world champion Lewis Hamilton, is here.

And Button's teammate, veteran Brazilian, Rubens Barrichello talks about how Honda got it wrong, here.

And a piece on Toyota's quiet confidence is here.

>>F1 commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone's marriage to his Croatian-born wife Slavica was dissolved this week in a 58-second hearing. British reports suggest that hearing may cost Ecclestone about 20 million pounds a second.

He may have to give her about 1 billion pounds as a settlement --and he's reportedly trying to get his hands back on 2.5 times that amount (or more) he supposedly put in her name during the 24-year marriage.

Slavica complained of his "unreasonable behaviour" and he did not contest the divorce proceedings.

Wonder whether the F1 teams may invoke the "unreasonable behaviour" argument now in their arm wrestle with Ecclestone for a greater share of the F1 financial pie.

Federation Internationale de l'Automobile president Max Mosley has also been in the news in Britain, appearing at a parliamentary hearing on privacy. A succinct report of what Mosley has had to say this week is here.

>>Another sign this week of something we've pondered here a couple of times over the past couple of years - that the next F1 driver from Australasia may well be a New Zealander rather than an Aussie.

Brendon Hartley, a 19-year-old Kiwi, has been named the reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso this year. Hartley is a member of Red Bull's junior development - he's one of eight in that 'club' which also includes 19-year-old Perth driver, Daniel Ricciardo.

Hartley will race for Britain's Carlin Motorsports in the European Formula 3 Championship this year. Last year he was third in the British F3 Championship with Carlin, for whom Ricciardo will drive in British F3 this year.

While the Red Bull/Toro Rosso reserve driver slot won't involve much F1 testing for Hartley he will be on-call in case Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Sebastien Bourdais or rookie Sebastien Buemi can't front for any GPs.

NZ has a proud F1 history - particularly the feats of Denny Hulme, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon - but its last GP driver was Mike Thackwell, although some people question whether he should be counted among F1 drivers.

In a third Tyrrell car at the 1980 Canadian GP, 19-year-old Thackwell's F1 career was limited to a few hundred metres before the race was stopped because of an accident and his car was commandeered by one of his teammates. The original start of that race was declared null and void, unfortunately leaving Thackwell as little more than a trivia question in F1 history.

More on Hartley's rise to the cusp of F1 here.

Tax, Helio Castroneves and others
The tax evasion case against two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves is running in Florida. Some reading material about it from an always excellent New York Times blog is here, plus a piece on racing identities who have been involved in tax cases, again from that NYT blog, is here.

Sebastien Loeb close to quitting rallying?
Rallying doesn't need any more bad news, but there is the prospect of some - indeed the worst it could get.

Auto Action magazine has a story this week headlined 'Why Loeb is ready to quit WRC' and it says: "The World Rally Championship could lose its greatest champion over the new Super 2000 non-turbo rules expected to be confirmed as the top formula for 2011-2013.

"Sebastien Loeb, five times the champ for Citroen, said last year he had no desire to drive such cars at the highest level. Now the FIA world council is on the brink of rubber-stamping that plan - and Loeb is ready to walk away from the sport he has dominated.

A source close to the PSA Group, parent of Peugeot and Citroen, said Loeb may switch to circuit racing straight away. He was hugely impressive in an F1 test late last year. The AA report said Loeb was frustrated that WRC drivers' views had been largely ignored by rulemakers and quoted him saying "maybe I can move to something more interesting".

VW sticks with Dakar and drops WRC plans
Auto Action also reports that Volkswagen's plans to move into the WRC have been put on the backburner with the news that it will contest the Dakar Rally again next year. That event, run in South America this year for the first time (because of terrorism fears in Africa), will be held again in Argentina and Chile where VW's Touaregs dominated in January.

VW had asked the FIA to clarify rules governing diesel engines in the WRC so it could campaign a diesel Scirocco.

Things to watch this weekend
In person: Phillip Island Classic Motorsport Festival. Details here.

On the box: a three-hour telecast of recent Bathurst 12-Hour on Seven Network Saturday afternoon (March 14).