MOTORSPORT: Flying start for top guns

The second race in Abu Dhabi ended up a thriller after the early mayhem of a multi-car crash, with one of the sport's top guns, Garth Tander, among those eliminated. The nail-biting tussle between reigning champion James Courtney, now driving for Toll Holden Racing Team, and veteran Jason Bright could be a good omen for the season.  Courtney came out ahead, with Bright just 0.6 seconds away from giving Brad Jones Racing its first victory in a V8 Supercar Championship race.

The first of the weekend's two 200km night races was a commanding win for 2008 and 09 champion Jamie Whincup – his 12th straight in races overseas. And Whincup finished third in the second race to take a 45-point lead in the championship after the first round – with the next five weeks away in Adelaide.

Between the manufacturers, the score is already 2-0 in Holden's favour.

While Mark Winterbottom was third in the first race it was otherwise a horror weekend for Ford's factory team, Ford Performance Racing – and especially recruit Will Davison, classified 12th and 16th in the two races after such optimism through the off-season following his switch from HRT.

Among the features of the weekend was the speed of the Stone Brothers Fords. Alex Davison took second place in the first race, briefly leading it at the start, and seventh the second day. Shane van Gisbergen fought his way up to finish fourth from 15th on the grid in the opener and then was eighth in the second despite losing time with a damaged left door. And Tim Slade was on the pace from the outset and fifth in the first race but caught up in the early pile-up in the second caused by Tony D'Alberto, who has copped a points penalty.

Courtney was another given a points penalty over the weekend, for his incident with Jason Bargwanna in race one – in which the reigning champion came off second best with a damaged left steering arm and was classified only 26th. He had a negative 23 points tally ahead of the second race and, despite his subsequent win, is only 12th in the championship standings – but clearly he is going to give his title defence a huge shot with HRT.

Holdens filled the first six places in that second race with David Reynolds, Michael Caruso and Jonathon Webb behind the podium trio. But Craig Lowndes squandered two good starting positions, including a pole, and finished seventh and 21st.

While the TV audience in Australia for the weekend's racing in the Middle East was only about half what it was when the championship began in Adelaide two years, there are indications it may have been an improvement on Abu Dhabi last year. The OzTam figures from the weekend don't yet include Adelaide viewers for some reason – and when added may push the race two figure above last year.

However, attendance at the billion-dollar Yas Marina circuit was still minimal – with huge empty grandstands visible on the telecast.

V8 Supercars Australia chief executive Martin Whitaker said "people in the Middle East are very enthusiastic about their racing" and "the population is demanding more racing".

Those people seem to have a strange way of expressing that desire – it's certainly not evident in attendance at the Abu Dhabi track.

However, James Courtney had a change of heart about the place.

After branding the Yas Marina track "very boring to drive ... in that it has zero character" last week, by the end of round one, with a victory that rated as perhaps the best of his nine in V8 Supercars, it had become "a good place to race".

Australian V8 Supercar Championship after round one: Jamie Whincup (Holden) 279 points; Alex Davison (Ford) 234; Shane van Gisbergen (F) 210; Mark Winterbottom (F) 192; David Reynolds (H) 174; Michael Caruso (H) 171; Fabian Coulthard (H) 150; Jonathon Webb (H); Craig Lowndes (H) 138; Jason Bright (H) 138; Steve Owen (H) 129; James Courtney (H) 127.

Earnhardt Junior gave owner Rick Hendrick his seventh Daytona 500 pole as he averaged 186.089 mph in single-car qualifiying on the 2.5-mile (4 km) high-banked resurfaced oval. But in the weekend's Budweiser Shootout Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip (winner of the 2001 Daytona 500 in which Earnhardt Senior died) turned laps at 206mph - 331.5kmh!

The fastest official NASCAR lap at Daytona was 210.364 mph by Bill Elliott in qualifying in 1987.

Australian Marcos Ambrose is 13th fastest so far in his first race meeting with Richard Petty Motorsports, and ahead of teammate A.J. Allmendinger.

The field for the "Great American Race" won't be finalised until Thursday's twin 240km qualifying races. NASCAR officials are likely to move to contain the speed of the cars by then.

Already they have eliminated the use of extra air ducts to cool engine fluids, but among the options still open to them are changing the restrictor plates on carburetors to affect horsepower or spoilers, etc to limited downforce and air turbulence.

Fans will observe silence during the third lap of the 500 to honour the memory of seven-time Cup champion Earnhardt, who drove the No3 car for much of his career.

"We're going to ask all of our fans to stand up, raise their arm and hold up three fingers as part of that lap three of silence," Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood said.

Earnhardt won 34 races in a variety of series at Daytona, including the 1998 500.

Kurt Busch, driving the only Dodge in the field, won the weekend's Budweiser Shootout ahead of last year's 500 winner Jamie McMurray, in a Chevrolet, and Ryan Newman, also in a Chevrolet.

Denny Hamlin, in a Toyota, crossed the finish line first but was penalised for driving below a yellow line to pass Newman and relegated to 12th place.

There were a record 28 lead changes in the 75-lap race.

It was the first restrictor-plate race win for Busch and he collected US$203,000.

It was Hirvonen's second successive win in the snow event based in Karlstad – and his 13th in the WRC. In contrast it was Ostberg's first podium, while Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, Hirvonen's teammate, was third.

Frenchman Sebastien Ogier was fourth for Citroen and Norwegian Petter Solberg fifth – although his Northern Irish co-driver Chris Patterson had to take the wheel of their Citroen for the last stage. Solberg had been stopped by police for speeding on Friday and handed a ban that took effect two days after the offence!

Five drivers started the final day separated by 15 seconds.

France's seven-time world champion Sebastian Loeb finished an uncharacteristic sixth after being slowed by punctures early in the rally.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One world champion, was eighth in a Citroen.

The WRC has introduced a new generation of smaller, lighter and less complicated cars for this year's 13 rounds, with drivers reverting to physically changing gears rather than flicking paddle switches on the steering wheel.

The second round of the championship is in Mexico on March 3-6.

World Rally Championship driver standings: Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Ford) 25 points; Mads Ostberg (Norway, Stobart-Ford) 18; Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) 16; Sebastien Ogier (France, Citroen) 15; Petter Solberg (Norway, privateer Citroen) 10; Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen) 10.

WRC manufacturer standings: Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 40 points; Citroen Total WRT 22; M-Sport Stobart Ford WRT 18; Ice 1 Racing 8; Team Abu Dhabi 6; Ferm Powertools WRT 4; Monster World Rally Team 2.

After troubles earlier in the test, Barrichello did more than 103 laps on the final day as he headed Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi in a Sauber, with Spanish dual world champion Fernando Alonso third in the new Ferrari.

The new McLaren-Mercedes is yet to shine in testing.

German Nick Heidfeld had been quickest when he took the wheel of a Renault for the first time on the penultimate day. Heidfeld, 33, and a veteran of 172 grand prix starts but without a full-time race drive, is favourite to replace 26-year-old injured Polish star Robert Kubica in the Renault team for this season.

Kubica has had a second operation since his huge rally crash in Italy a week ago and will require at least one more operation.

Two more four-day F1 tests are scheduled -- in Barcelona and Bahrain -- before the first GP in Bahrain on March 13. 

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