MOTORSPORT: Monster wreck, McRae glory

Hillclimb ace Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima wrecked his Toyota Super 86 at New Zealand's Race to the Sky and Colin McRae's brother Alister won the revived event in the Subaru WRX in which Possum Bourne took victory 14 years ago.

The rear wing of Tajima's Toyota came loose early in a sprint up the 14.5km, 135-corner gravel course in Central Otago on Sunday and the world-renowned Japanese star was little more than a passenger for a couple of hundred metres after it left the course, before it came to a halt down a bank.

"My car is broken. My heart is broken," said Tajima, but within half an hour he was at a desk signing autographs for fans at the event, held for the first time since 2007.

An eight-time winner of the Race to the Sky, Tajima is going to have to return at least twice more to achieve his ambition of 10 victories – and next time he intends to do it with an electric vehicle.

The engine in the Bourne Subaru had to be replaced before Australian-based Scotsman Alister McRae's winning run, on which he was clocked at 8 minutes 17.616 seconds – 16.5 seconds slower than Tajima's record from before the event's hiatus.

"To win the event in the car that Possum Bourne won it in in 2001 is just perfect," said McRae, a rally champion in his own right and brother of 1995 world champion Colin, who died in a helicopter crash in 2007.

"The Possum Bourne Motor Sport boys did a tremendous job to change the engine in time.

"I know what Possum means to the motorsport community here [in NZ], so to do that in his car, for Craig Vincent [the late Bourne's co-driver] to invite me down here, it's been a great weekend!"

Bourne died 12 days after a crash on reconnaissance for the 2003 Race to the Sky when his car and another vehicle collided.

Australian Brett Hayward was consistently fast at the weekend in his new Suzuki-powered open-wheeler Race to the Sky Special, finishing second with a best time of 8:24.574 – 15 seconds faster than he made the climb in 2007.

"Just phenomenal. It's a bit daunting. We're from across the ditch, but we've had a lot of support ... just incredible," Hayward said.

Kiwi quad racer Ian Ffitch was the third quickest driver at the event, with a best of 8:35.273 and collected the Possum Bourne Memorial Trophy as the fastest New Zealander.

The trophy was presented by Bourne's son Spencer, now 16, who said: "Representing dad is very special to me.  I know a lot of people here watched him and he was their idol."

Tony Quinn, the Gold Coast-based businessman, GT racer and owner of NZ's Highlands circuit, who resurrected the Race to the Sky, finished 12th in the twin-turbocharged Nissan-engined, Ford Focus-bodied "Monster Tamer" built for him by Pace Innovations.

His best time up the climb was 9:5.393 – and he conceded that it was the driver rather than machine that prevented a better time.

Quinn declared the event a huge success and said it was back to stay.

Great days for Ken Block and Scott Dixon
It was a great weekend in NZ and for New Zealanders in other ways.

American rally and YouTube star Ken Block took victory in the opening round of the NZ Rally Championship, Rally Whangarei – but, as an overseas driver, he's not eligible for points in the series.

Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino won 12 of the event's stages in their Ford Fiesta and finished more than 2 minutes clear.

NZ's three-time IndyCar champion was victorious at the third round of that American category's series at the Long Beach circuit in California, driving a Chevrolet-powered Dallara for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Australia's reigning IndyCar champion Will Power had a horror weekend, ending a lap down in 20th and he is now sixth in the series standings on 80 points.

His Penske teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves head the table with 119 and 116 points respectively.

Dixon, who had finished 15th and 11th in the previous two races this season, is now fourth in the points – behind Tony Kanaan but ahead of last week's winner in New Orleans, James Hinchcliffe.

Young Australian Matt Brabham did not finish the Indy Lights race at Long Beach because of a mechanical failure and is not in the top 10 in that championship. Dixon had never won the IndyCar race at Long Beach before. His previous best there was fourth place.

He overtook Montoya early for second place and then seized the lead when Castroneves was delayed briefly in the pits to avoid a collision with Kanaan.

Power, who had qualified only 18th, stalled entering the pits on lap seven. His third Penske teammate, Simon Pagenaud, finished fourth and is on his tail in the points.

The Chevrolet-engined cars raced without the flimsy aerodynamic front winglets that Power has christened "rabbits ears" because they could not be strengthened in time to meet new standards.

Dixon's 36th Indy racing win puts him one ahead of Bobby Unser on the all-time victory list for the category and he's closing on Al Unser Junior, who has had the fourth most at 39.

Dixon has also tied Bobby Unser, Emerson Fittipaldi and Castroneves atop the all-time list with an IndyCar victory in 11 consecutive seasons, and he has had at least one victory in 13 seasons.

The IndyCar series continues next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, before road course and super-speedway rounds at Indianapolis in May.

Images: www.driven.co.nz & www.racetothesky.co.nz