MOTORSPORT: Now Whincup versus world's best

Whincup is to compete at the 25th Race of the Champions in Bangkok in mid-December.

The field includes seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher and the F1 champion of the past two years, Sebastian Vettel, who may have claimed a third title by the time of the Race of Champions.

Whincup has been invited to compete in this prestigious event previously but felt he had to decline as it was the week before a V8 Supercar Championship-deciding Sydney 500. This time the event , on a specially-constructed tarmac track with two parallel lanes winding through Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium, is two weeks after the Sydney 500.

Whincup will be the first V8 Supercar driver to compete in the RoC.

“I am not setting my expectations too high, but I will have some fun and hope my big Aussie V8 experience helps me.”

Whincup’s availability this time enables a Team Australia to participate in the RoC’s Nations Cup for the first time since 2009, with the tin-top ace partnering five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan in that section on December 15 with the individual competitions involving F1, world rally, Le Mans, IndyCar, X-games and other touring car stars the next day.

The website for the event is www.raceofchampions.com

Kaltenborn has been Sauber’s chief executive for three years after joining its legal department in 2000.

Sauber gifted her a one-third stake in the team several months ago.

“Monisha has all the necessary skills. She will ensure that the values underpinning the company live on,” said Peter Sauber, who will turn 69 tomorrow and will continue as president of the boards of all Sauber group companies and retain responsibility for strategic direction.

“We decided a long time ago that Monisha would take over from me, but we left the timing open. Now is a good time for both of us, so this is the right moment to pass on the baton.”

Red Bull Racing principal Christian Horner observed that Kaltenborn had effectively been performing the Sauber team principal role recently without the title.

“She has done a super job … it [the elevation] is good for her and for women in motorsport. In our team we have more and more women taking predominant roles. It is very healthy and should be applauded.”

Kaltenborn said: “I have set my sights high and am committed to taking the team forward as Peter Sauber would want and leading it on to success.”

Sauber is the fourth oldest team in F1 now -- after Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. Its sole Grand Prix win was by Polish driver Robert Kubica in Canada in 2008 when the team was owned by BMW.

This year it has had four podiums, including Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi’s third place in his home race at Suzuka last Sunday. The others were by young Mexican Sergio Perez, who is to replace Lewis Hamilton at McLaren next season, when Hamilton will join the Mercedes factory team -- in place of the retiring Michael Schumacher.

Five women have entered F1 races as drivers -- the last being Italian Giovanna Amati, who failed to qualify for three races at the start of the 1992 season with the old Brabham team.

The most distinguished of the women drivers in F1 was another Italian, the late Lella Lombardi, who drove in 12 GPs in the 1970s.

His co-driver at Bathurst and Sandown, Tim Blanchard, has been handed the drive in the Holden Commodore from next week’s Gold Coast 600, where he will be partnered with American Marco Andretti -- the Indycar racer son of Michael and grandson of the legendary Mario.

In another change for the Surfers’ Paradise event Garry Rogers Motorsport has “benched” Frenchman Alex Premat and brought back Greg Ritter.

Premat, who was the surprise recruit for that Holden Commodore seat this year when Lee Holdsworth shifted to Stone Brothers Racing, is only 26th in the V8 Supercar Championship but team owner Garry Rogers said he would be back for the following round in Abu Dhabi.

Ritter, who has long-time links to the Rogers team, said his recall had come “out of the blue”.

His international co-driver at the Gold Coast will be American Ricky Taylor.

Full driver line-ups at end of report.

At the same time as the news that Mazda6s will be used for the revived celebrity challenge at the Grand Prix in Melbourne next March, there are indications the Johnson team will split from Ford, with which it has been associated for 35 years.

Ford Performance Racing will be the Blue Oval’s only factory-supported V8 Supercar team next year.

Another stalwart Ford team, Stone Brothers Racing, has already announced it will be switching to running customer AMG Mercedes-Benz E63s in association with GT racing team Erebus Motorsport.

South-east Queensland car dealer Maurie Pickering, a long-time associate of Dick and Steven Johnson, is keen to see Mazda6s on the track as a sponsorship vehicle for his finance company, FinanceEZI, and his Mazda dealerships in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.

Pickering’s preference is that DJR be allowed to rebadge its Ford engines Mazda. The alternative would be to use V8 Supercar’s partly-developed generic engine, based on a Chevrolet LS3 block.

Pickering would need to get Mazda's blessing for such an entry. When contacted today, Mazda Australia told motoring.com.au that it has no plans to enter V8SC nor "actively support" anr entry.

In any case DJR is likely to be reduced to a two-car squad next year, with Steven Johnson and Dean Fiore as its drivers -- with James Moffat strongly linked to one of the four new Nissan Altimas from the Kelly Brothers team.

Longer-term Pickering is supporting the career of teenager Josh Hunter, the grandson of speedway racing legend Garry Rush.
    

As the ARC’s emphasis swings from three decades of four-wheel-drive cars to two-wheel-drive next year, the young West Australian frontrunner this season in the 4WD category, Tom Wilde, is skipping the final two rounds.

Wilde, winner of the first two rounds this year and second at the Rally of Queensland, said he had decided to focus on his 2WD plans for next year, which he will announce soon.

Earnhardt was one of the 25 drivers in last weekend’s Big One at Talladega. He also had a heavy crash while tyre testing at Kansas Speedway in late August.

His Chevrolet seat has been taken by Regan Smith for this weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and next week’s in Kansas.

Meanwhile, it seems that Australian Ryan Briscoe may yet retain his IndyCar drive with Team Penske. Briscoe, who won at Sonoma in California and finished second in the Baltimore street race in the season recently ended, has been a free agent after Penske told him it could not guarantee him a third car again next year alongside fellow Australian and triple series runner-up Will Power and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Helio Castroneves.

While other teams, including Chip Ganassi’s, appear interested in Briscoe, he said his preference was to stay with Penske -- and Roger Penske said he would still like to keep him, although it is known the seat was offered to others including new series champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Meanwhile, there are clouds over the future of KV Racing, the team jointly owned by expatriate Australian tycoon and former Champ Car owner Kevin Kalkhoven and ex-racer Jimmy Vasser. KV has retrenched more than two dozen employees and, after fielding three cars this year, will be at best a one-car operation next season, with Tony Kanaan the driver.