MOTORSPORT: On target for a Whitewash

Tasmanian tarmac rally specialist Jason White and his co-driving uncle John are headed for a sixth victory in Targa Tasmania.

The Whites – winners for the first time 12 years ago in a Nissan GT-R and four times this decade in Lamborghinis – are leading again this year, now in a Dodge Viper ACR Extreme, as the field heads for Hobart on the penultimate day.

They have tussled with last year's winners, Victorians Matt Close and Cameron Reeves in a Porsche GT3 RS, but the showering weather early today has favoured the Whites.

Tyre wear has troubled them during the week and they had been hoping for wet weather on today's six-stage leg from Strahan on the state's west coast, while Close and Reeves would have preferred it dry.

They began the day 55 seconds apart, with another Dodge Viper, driven by Michael Pritchard and Gary Mourant, another minute back in third place.

Close and Reeves in the Porsche narrowed the gap to the White Viper through some of Thursday's stages from Burnie, but the Whites regained a lot of the lost ground on the final stage of the day.

Pritchard and Mourant won the long Mt Arrowsmith stage early today and have overtaken Close and Reeves for second, while the Whites had stretched their lead to 67 seconds as the field motored towards Hobart in drying conditions.

One of the highlights of the week has been the performance of the 47-year-old Datsun 240Z of Queenslanders Jon and Gina Siddins.

Not only are they on course to repeat last year's success in the Classic GT class but they have been in the top 10 overall as well. At one point they were fourth overall, but they started the second last day ninth – and less than seven minutes behind the Whites, but still barely two minutes off fourth.

They began the fifth day more than six minutes ahead of the 2015 Classic GT class-winning 1979 Triumph TR7 V8 crewed by South Australian Craig Haysman and Julie Boorman.

The biggest crash of the week was Barry Cuneo's in a Porsche 911 that rolled several times and landed on its roof after crashing into a bank. Neither Cuneo nor navigator Charles Martin was seriously injured.

Eight-time winners Jim Richards and Barry Oliver have been outside the top 10 this year and at lunchtime today were 18th overall in their Porsche GT3 RS.

After tonight's stay in Hobart the final six stages will be south of the island state's capital on Saturday morning before the lunchtime finish at its waterfront.
Rally Oz winner close to Hyundai deal?
Last year's Rally Australia winner Andreas Mikkelsen, who delivered Volkswagen's final victory in the World Rally Championship, could be in a Hyundai or even a Toyota when the WRC returns to Coffs Harbour in November.

Norwegian Mikkelsen, 27, tested a Hyundai i20 in Portugal last Friday after the Korean manufacturer's three contracted drivers – Belgian Thierry Neuville, New Zealander Hayden Paddon and Spaniard Dani Sordo – had departed for Argentina to begin preparations for this weekend's fifth round of the championship.

Mikkelsen is in negotiations to become the team's fourth driver, according to Britain's Autosport, which says that is causing concern in WRC circles that it could make Hyundai near unbeatable in the manufacturers' championship, as VW was.

The i20 has been the fastest car in the series this season, although it was not until the fourth round in Mexico that it notched a win – by Neuville – after Ford M-Sport, Toyota and Citroen took the honours in the first three rounds.

Paddon and his soon-to-retire Kiwi co-driver John Kennard won in Argentina last year.

Mikkelsen is also talking to Toyota about an agreement to drive a Yaris for its Tommi Makinen-run team, according to Autosport.

Having failed to secure a deal to privately campaign one of the Polos that VW had built for this year before its withdrawal from the WRC, Mikkelsen has driven a Skoda Fabia R5 in this year's Monte Carlo and Corsica rounds of the championship, winning the WRC2 class and finishing seventh outright both times.

Meanwhile, 26-year-old Finn Esapekka Lappi – who won the 2013 International Rally of Queensland in a Team MRF Skoda Fabia – is to drive a third Toyota Yaris at the next round of the WRC, in Portugal on May 19-21, joining countrymen Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hanninen.

The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship kicks off this weekend in New Zealand with the Rally of Whangarei in the country's north.

Indian Guarav Gill is defending his second APRC title in one of the two Skoda Fabia R5s prepared for Team MRF by Race Torque in Perth, WA, after having won all six rounds last year.

Bathurst 1000 legend Greg Murphy is making his NZ Rally Championship debut at Whangarei in a Holden Barina AP4, having missed the opening round because of television commentary commitments for the Supercars at Tasmania's Symmons Plains.

Murphy's only previous rally experience was sitting alongside US rally and rallycross star Ken Block during a pre-event test two years ago.

The next APRC round is in Canberra on May 26-28 following the recent collapse of the International Rally of Queensland.
Ricciardo says it's the chassis, not engine
Daniel Ricciardo said ahead of this weekend's fourth round of the Formula 1 World Championship, the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, that the uncompetitiveness of Red Bull's RB 13 car is more to do with its chassis than its Renault power unit.

"We're not as strong as we should be from the chassis point of view," carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo said.

The surprising lack of downforce on the Adrian Newey-designed RB13 has made it hard for the cars to 'switch on' its tyres compared with frontrunners Ferrari and Mercedes.

"It's sensitive, but I'm sure at some point we're going to figure out the best thing for the tyres," Ricciardo said.

Although Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel leads Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton 68 points to 64 in this year's drivers' championship, Mercedes has won all three previous GPs in Sochi.

Ricciardo is sixth on the points table with 22, three less than fifth-placed teammate Max Verstappen, after not scoring in Melbourne's season-opener. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen are the other two drivers ahead of the Red Bull pair.
'Shield' in vogue for F1 cockpits, but not with drivers
Formula 1 has taken a different tack now on cockpit protection.

The 'halo' concept that was approved for next season, and which emerged from Mercedes and Ferrari designs, has now been overtaken by a 'shield' that is more of a variation of the 'Aeroscreen' that was put forward by Red Bull but rejected last year.

"A number of more integrated solutions for additional frontal protection have been studied and the decision has been taken to give priority to the transparent 'shield' family of systems," motorsport's world governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), said this week.

The 'shield' will now be track-tested in coming months, with a view to introducing it next season.

However, several F1 drivers have spoken out against it – American team Haas's pair, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, Williams veteran Felipe Massa, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kyvat.

Massa says that, while the 'shield' is more attractive "it's a bit worse for the safety ... I would say the 'halo' has more safety".

Verstappen is happy with the openness of cockpits as they are.

"Of course there are some very unlucky accidents that happened in the past [most notably those of Jules Bianchi in F1 and Justin Wilson in IndyCar in recent years], but you cannot control it and the shield will not make a difference in that as well.

"When the tyre lands the shield will not protect you."

Magnussen says "it's going to be difficult, especially in the wet, with a screen".

"It's going to be impossible and more dangerous in wet conditions," he said.

Meanwhile, there were moves at F1's Strategy Group and its commission this week to get rid of the T-wings – which have been coming off cars this year – and 'shark fins' over the engines next season.

The FIA also has said that "measures will be taken to ensure that oil will not be used as fuel. In addition, only one specification of oil may be used for any given power unit during an event".

This apparently is in reaction to a complaint by Red Bull that at least one team – thought to be Mercedes – has been using a 'qualifying oil' to produce extra power before switching to a more durable type for the race.

From the next GP in Barcelona the driver names and numbers will be made more visible on the cars.
Wind, traffic challenges for Alonso at Indianapolis
Australia's IndyCar star Will Power says that running in traffic and wind will be the big challenges for Fernando Alonso at Indianapolis.

Alonso is to have his first test of the Andretti Autosport Dallara-Honda he will race in the Indy 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next Wednesday.

He will then return there after the Spanish GP for rookie orientation, practice and qualifying before the May 28 race, which clashes with the Monaco GP he is skipping because of the his McLaren-Honda is uncompetitive.

Team Penske driver Power expects dual F1 world champion Alonso to get comfortable at 'The Brickyard' when testing by himself, but added: "Windy days, running in traffic, understanding the weight of your car – that is the tough part about it.

"Wondering where the true limit is, which [you] don't want to find."

The 2014 IndyCar champion but only 14th after bad luck in the three rounds so far this season, Power is hoping to get his campaign on track this weekend in the Saturday night race on the Phoenix oval.

"We have the speed [in the Penske Dallara-Chevrolet]," he said. "The car is very good. Team Penske is as strong as ever."
Earnhardt calling time on NASCAR career
NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Junior, is to retire at the end of this season.

Earnhardt has returned to racing his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet this year after missing the final 18 races of last year's 36-round Cup because of two serious concussions within six weeks.

Son of late seven-time champion Dale 'The Intimidator' Earnhardt, 42-year-old 'Junior' has never finished a season higher than third – and that was 14 years ago.

In 603 starts he has had 26 wins, the biggest of them in the 2004 and 2014 Daytona 500 – the classic in which his father was killed on the final lap in 2001.

That year 'Junior' won the mid-season race at Daytona, four months after his father died, and then – at Bristol, Tennessee – the first NASCAR race after the 9/11 terrorism attacks.

Despite his record not being a patch on that of 'The Intimidator' or his own leading contemporaries, the younger Earnhardt has won 14 consecutive NASCAR Most Popular Driver awards and has made about US$20 million a year.
Privateer heads factory teams in BTCC
A privateer team and its 23-year-old driver are upstaging the five works outfits in this year's British Touring Car Championship.

Tom Ingram is the only double race winner after three rounds of the BTCC, driving a Toyota Avensis for Speedworks Motorsport.

Honda, Subaru, MG, BMW and Vauxhall have works teams in the series.

Ingram has a 14-point lead over a dual series champion Colin Turkington in a BMW 125i M Sport.

The fourth round is at Thruxton in Hampshire.