MOTORSPORT: International glory for Ricciardo, Ambrose

Perth's Daniel Ricciardo, already on the cusp of racing in Formula One, won a race in the World Series by Renault at Italy's famed Monza circuit yesterday.

Marcos Ambrose has scored his best finish of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season -- a brilliant third at Dover's "Monster Mile".

A report from across the Tasman says that Rally New Zealand appears set to do what the V8 Supercars couldn't -- compete on the streets of downtown Auckland. "It is understood an agreement between Rally New Zealand and the Auckland Council is close to being finalised, which would see the final stage of the 2012 event run in the heart of the city," says the report, which can be found here.

Thrilling rounds of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Australian Rally Championship in Queensland at the weekend. As the organizers reported, "a James Bond movie stunt driver (Mark Higgins, a triple British rally champion) and an up-and-coming auto electrician (the Sunshine Coast's Ryan Smart) stole the show".

Ryan Briscoe turned a 360.18kmh lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as practice got underway for the May 29 Indy 500. That was the sixth quickest time of a rain-affected weekend at The Brickyard. Fellow Aussie Will Power was 15th, with qualifying starting next weekend for the 100th anniversary "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".

Roger Penske, team boss of Briscoe and Power, is to receive a Legends of Racing Award in Indianapolis this week. Penske is the most successful team owner in Indy 500 history, having won 16 pole positions and 15 races. Overall, his teams have won more than 300 major races and 23 American championships.

Ricciardo had been forced to start the fifth race at Monza on Saturday from the rear of the grid because bolts had been found to be loose on his car after he qualified it on the front row.

At the previous two races at Spa in Belgium he finished only 10th and ninth because his car was not quite right after an earlier crash. And he had had missed the first two races in Spain because he was required in Shanghai to drive a Toro Rosso F1 car in early practice at the Chinese Grand Prix.

On Sunday Ricciardo started from pole position at the famed high-speed Monza and had a thrilling battle with French youngster Jean-Eric Vergne, who like the West Australian rising star is a member of Red Bull's elite junior driver development squad being groomed to race in F1.

Vergne crossed the finish line first after 28 laps at Monza but was given a 10-second penalty for cutting two chicanes, handing victory to Ricciardo.

After his bold drive from last to sixth on Saturday, the 21-year-old is seventh in the series for 3.5-litre Renault-engined openwheeler cars. However, he gives himself little chance of winning the title he came within two points of snaring last year because of missing the first two races and subsequent misfortunes.

His priority has become driving for Toro Rosso in the Friday morning F1 practice sessions at GPs, in which he has been as high as eighth fastest of 24 drivers including five world champions.

Vergne, who last year won the British Formula Three Championship that Ricciardo won in 2009, now leads the Renault series on 90 points and has signaled an appeal against the outcome of the latest race in which he was ultimately classified third.

American Alexander Rossi was promoted from third to second in Sunday's race and is second in the standings on 73 points, with Canadian Robert Wickens third on 71 points.

Ricciardo, seventh on 36 points, described his Monza victory as "an interesting and very challenging race".

"I had the lead into turn one, but I went in a little too deep and cut the chicane," he said. "I then backed off in order to not make an advantage and Jean-Eric came alongside me and passed me into the second chicane.

"I was a bit faster than him in the first part of the race and it was very close on a couple of occasions, but I couldn't get the last little bit to get past him. Then about midway through the race I had a good run into the second chicane and dived to the inside on braking.

"We were side by side into the corner and Jean-Eric cut the second apex and kept going in the lead. I felt I should have had the position and he should have given up his advantage.

"In the last part of the race his pace improved and I couldn't really get close enough to attack him properly.

"It was nice to be awarded first place after the race, but it would have been good to be first across the line... It was a very challenging race, but at the end of the day the points are very welcome."

The race was won by Matt Kenseth, who like Ambrose, changed only two tyres on his Ford at his last pitstop in the 400-mile (640km) race and held on after the final restart to beat Mark Martin in a Chevrolet, with Ambrose just 0.2 seconds away in third, ahead of Kyle Busch in a Toyota.

Ambrose had started 18th and his second top three finish of the year on a 1.5-mile (2.4km) oval has moved him up to 20th in the points. His earlier third this year was at Bristol in March.

Sports Illustrated has commented after this latest result: "Marcos Ambrose is really close (to winning in NASCAR). The Tasmanian continues to progress on the multitude of distinct ovals on the Sprint Cup schedule, quickly becoming far more than just a road course specialist... (but he) should be able to fall back on his road course tutelage and win his first career Cup race at either Watkins Glen or Sonoma, California (this year)."

Ambrose said of Dover: "It was a great day and a really good call for two tyres there at the end. I had a fast car and we just lost a little track position. I thought I had something for 'em but the downforce went away and I wore my front tyres out.

"We had a really good day at Darlington (the previous weekend) but it didn't work our way at the end there and we finished 13th. Terrible luck.

"I'm really excited that our team is learning -- they're learning me, I'm learning them. I'm learning how these cars work.

"This result I'm really excited about because I think it's going to lead to a great Charlotte, Pocono, Indy, all these great big tracks coming. I feel like our team is suited to those tracks.

"We've been fast all year and had bad luck. We've been through tough times. I've been learning my new crew chief, Todd Parrot. He made a great call at the end for two tyres.

"We're coming! We've just had some rough luck so far this year. We've had accidents and incidents outside our control that has hurt our points."

Matt Kenseth's victory was the second of his career at "The Monster Mile" and his second win this year, so he has joined joined Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick as multi-race winners this season.

Carl Edwards, another Ford driver, still leads the Cup standings on 416 points from Chevrolet's champion of the past five years, Jimmie Johnson, on 392, Busch on 379, Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 364, Harvick 362 and Kenseth 342. Ambrose has 281 points.

The Cup skips a round this week, but Ambrose is a chance to make the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Saturday night carrying a $1 million prize for the victor.

New Zealander Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner, was second at 224.491 mph, with American JR Hildebrand third for Panther Racing at 224.433mph just two days after passing his rookie test.

Defending champ and two-time 500 winner Dario Franchitti, Dixon's teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, was fourth at 224.107mph, just ahead of Marco Andretti at 223.927mph.

Sixth-placed Aussie Ryan Briscoe said: "It was a great first day and definitely fun to be running at more than 220mph -- it's been a long time since we've felt that exhilaration. It feels really comfortable being back at Indy, and I'm excited to get more laps in."

Teammate Will Power said: "The car was good. We really didn't run too much by design. It was more of a shakedown for us, just easing our way into our time here at the Brickyard. It did feel good to get back on track at the Speedway -- it's such an awesome place."

The third Penske driver, Brazilian three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, was ninth fastest at 222.755mph.

More than two of the six hours scheduled for practice on Saturday were lost because of rain, while Sunday was a washout.

Qualifying begins next Saturday.

Higgins and Welsh co-driver Ieuan Thomas started the final gravel stage of the event 1.4 seconds behind India's Guarav Gill but over the 34km final sprint turned that into a 15.8-second victory.
Japan's Katsu Taguchi, the defending Asia-Pacific champion, finished third to give Mitsubishi a sweep of the podium.

Monaco-based Queenslander Chris Atkinson set some fastest times in his factory Proton Satria Neo S2000 but did not finish either day because of electrical problems, completing only five stages for the weekend.

Atkinson's Proton Motorsports teammate, Perth-based Scotsman Alister McRae, suffered similar problems but fought on to finish fourth.
Gill leads the Asia-Pacific championship with 53 points to McRae's 41, while Higgins has 39 and Atkinson 33, with the third round in New Caledonia on June 17-19.

The surprise frontrunner was Nathan Quinn, from Coffs Harbour, who led five stages on Saturday but retired Sunday morning with engine overheating in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.

Ryan Smart and John Allen, in a Toyota Corolla Sportivo, took a second straight victory in the Australian Rally Championship, winning eight of the 19 stages and finishing in a time just 30 seconds slower than Higgins.

At the start of the final stage, Smart, who works in his family's automotive workshop in Yandina in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, had been last of three drivers separated by two seconds. He improved 15.4 seconds on his rivals to win Sunday's heat and, after his heat one victory on Saturday, the second round of the ARC.

Victorian drivers Mark Pedder and Justin Dowel in Mitsubishi Evo IXs scrapped throughout 231km over two nights and two days, finishing with identical times to tie for second place.

Junior Australian Rally Challenge contenders Greg Latham and co-driver Stephanie Booth were airlifted to hospital after a massive crash on the opening forestry stage near Imbil in the Mary Valley which destroyed their Subaru Impreza.

Latham is in hospital in Gympie with ankle injuries while Booth was transported to Brisbane with a suspected broken pelvis. Both are in a satisfactory condition.

The next ARC round is Rally SA in the Barossa Valley on July 30-31.

Images: Ricciardo - Photo4; Ambrose - nascar.com

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