MOTORSPORT: Aussies in three glamour events

What a weekend of motorsport -- indeed a long weekend, stretching well into Monday, Australian time. In the next few days the two most prestigious open-wheeler races in the world, stock car racing's longest event, and a World Rally Championship round in Argentina are set to be run and won.

And Australians are racing in the big three: Mark Webber in the Monaco Grand Prix; Will Power and Ryan Briscoe in the Indianapolis 500; and Marcos Ambrose in NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Sluggish start for Webber in Monaco defence
But it's been a sluggish start for Webber's defence of the Monaco "title" he won so emphatically last year.

Last night (Thursday, Australian time) Red Bull-Renault RB7 had a gearbox problem in the opening practice session and the Aussie didn't get to clock a lap at speed.

In the later session Webber was eighth and was reported to have had trouble again with his car's kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) -- a feature Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey has admitted the team should have devoted more resources and attention to in preparation for this season.

Webber's world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, winner of four of the five grands prix already this year, was fastest in the opening session in Monaco and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso went quickest in the second session as Pirelli's super soft compound tyres were used for the first time.

Today is the Ascension Day public holiday in Monaco, with the program then resuming as normal with qualifying Saturday and the race Sunday.

Outwardly Webber was not perturbed by his problems on the opening day.

"We should be alright by Saturday. We will get back into the groove on Saturday and recover the weekend," he said.

And of his disappointing fourth place in Barcelona last weekend after ending Vettel's run of pole positions this year, Webber said: "Luckily, F1 isn't like the Olympic Games. You don't have to wait four years to have another go; we're back on-track this weekend on the most demanding track of them all."

Webber recalled that his victory on the streets of Monaco last year was "particularly special" and remained hopeful of a repeat this weekend, but it could depend heavily on qualifying well. The driver starting on pole position has won six of the last 10 Monaco GPs.

Ricciardo on target for repeat glory in Renault round
Young Australian Daniel Ricciardo did double duty in Monaco overnight -- in World Series by Renault practice (in which he headed a field of 26), and then the first F1 session. The main game he was 14th of the 24 drivers on the track.

Winner of the Renault race in the principality last year, Ricciardo clocked a best lap time of 1 minute 27.957 seconds for the Czech-owned ISR team.

The 21-year-old from Perth then drove 25 laps in a Ferrari-engined Toro Rosso F1 car, circulating up to 8.5 seconds quicker than he had in the 3.5-litre World Series by Renault machine.

"It's not very often that you get to drive a Formula Renault 3.5 car and an F1 car on the same day!" Ricciardo said.

"To take part in two different sessions within an hour of each other around Monaco is a pretty special experience, which I'm very thankful for. FR3.5 [Formula Renault] practice went really well. We completed quite a long run at the start to try to build up a good feeling of the car and the track conditions.

"In the final part of the session I pushed a bit harder and then tried to simulate a qualifying lap, which put us quite comfortably P1. It's qualifying (on Saturday) that really matters around here, but it's good to be at the front in practice.

"Then to be able to drive an F1 car around Monaco was fulfilling a dream and that session went really well too," Ricciardo said.

"Driving an F1 car round here is really crazy and a lot of fun... Maybe it would have been possible to push a little bit more, but it only takes one small mistake at Monaco to have a big accident and it's important for the team that they complete as many laps as possible."

World Series by Renault leader and fellow Red Bull junior driver, Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, was only 14th fastest in the session for those cars and he then flew to Britain to "drive" on Red Bull's simulator at its Milton Keynes factory – a role Ricciardo also has done a lot.

Australia has two shots at Indy history
While Monaco is F1's crown jewel, the Indianapolis 500 is its equal in American open-wheeler racing.

The 100th anniversary of this classic, Monday morning, Australian time, is being billed as "The Most Important Race in History". This is stretching things. Indeed the 500 has not yet fully recovered the lustre it lost during the split in American open-wheeler racing from the mid-1990s.

But the field is now much more international, including Australians Will Power starting fifth and Ryan Briscoe 27th, with just one-third of the 33 drivers American.

Auto Action magazine has had an excellent two-part feature on the history of the Indy 500 in its past two editions, with one item among its many facts and figures reminding us that the best Australian finisher in the race has been Vern Schuppan.

Schuppan was third in 1981, while Geoff Brabham was fifth and (AA gives the ultimate trivia question and answer here) little-known Aussie Dennis Firestone finished tenth.

While Australia's biggest contribution to the Indy 500 was Sir Jack Brabham starting the rear-engined revolution at The Brickyard, AA points out that there was an Aussie in the first race in 1911. Rupert Jenkins was the riding mechanic and relief driver for Howard Hall and they finished 17th.

The next year Jenkins came within a whisker of victory as riding mechanic and relief driver for Ralph de Palma, who led for 196 of the 200 laps before his car stopped with a broken connecting rod.

There has been one change to the starting line-up since last Sunday's final day of qualifying. American Ryan Hunter-Reay, who failed to make the field with his regular team Andretti Autosport, will drive for the legendary AJ Foyt in place of Brazilian, Bruno Junqueira.

The unique Indianapolis rules allow such switches and Michael Andretti approached Foyt about installing Hunter-Reay, who drove for 'SuperTex' Foyt in 2009.

Long night for Ambrose – Raikkonen moves up a grade
Just hours after the chequered flag is due to be waved at Indianapolis the Coca-Cola 600 (that's 600 miles or 965.58km!!) will get underway at Charlotte, North Carolina.

This race has attracted a bigger television audience than the Indy 500 in recent years, although it still does not rival NASCAR's biggest drawcard, February's Daytona 500.

Australian Marcos Ambrose has qualified 24th at Charlotte as he chases that elusive first Sprint Cup victory.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 world champion who made his NASCAR debut in the third-tier pick-up truck series last weekend, finishing 15th, will race in the second-tier Nationwide Series at Charlotte. Raikkonen is again entered by Kyle Busch Motorsports, although this time in a car from the garage of Joe Nemecheck.

And Raikkonen this week tested a Sprint Cup car owned by Robby Gordon and may drive for him in a road race at Sonoma, California, on June 26 – the round Ambrose almost won last year.

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch has apologised again for exceeding a road speed limit by almost three times in a new Lexus sportscar, as we reported yesterday.

Busch has come under intense public criticism in the US and, apart from facing the loss of his road licence for two months, may be sanctioned (although he won't be suspended) by the Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota team for which he is third in the Sprint Cup.

Busch has said he made a serious error or judgment and clarified the comment he made to the arresting police officer that the Lexus was "just a toy".

"It was a car that was on loan to me from Lexus – it wasn't that it is a toy, but it is a high-performance vehicle that shouldn't be taken lightly and should be driven with caution," Busch said.

Southern American torture test in WRC
Round six of the World Rally Championship in Argentina is on some of the most taxing gravel roads in the 13-round series. And this year there's added spice -- sections of tarmac added since the event was last run in 2009, though the drivers will have to tackle them on gravel tyres.

France's seven-time world champion Sebastien Loeb has won in Argentina five times, has two wins already this season to lead the championship again, and set the fastest time on the opening stage overnight at Carlos Paz, north of the capital Buenos Aires, in his Citroen DS3.

Ford's Mikko Hirvonen is only seven points behind Loeb in the championship, 100-93, while the other Citroen factory driver, Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, is on 81.

Hirvonen claims to have found a near-perfect gravel set-up on his Ford Fiesta RS, while Ogier has only driven once before in Argentina.

Today's schedule comprises three repeated stages at altitude in the Traslasierra valley west of Carlos Paz featuring narrow and twisty roads lined by large rocks. Saturday's itinerary takes competitors south of Carlos Paz and on to demanding high-speed roads.

Sunday's final leg begins with the longest stage of the season, 48.21km from Ascochinga to Agua de Oro north of Carlos Paz, with the Cabalango-Villa Garcia Power Stage concluding the rally.

The tarmac sections are today and tomorrow, with the El Condor-Cuesta Blanca stage today ending with a 20km downhill blast.

The Las Jarillas-Falda del Carmen stage starts on gravel but 14 km are downhill on tarmac. It should make for spectacular racing…

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