MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo pumped for Monaco

Two years after he was denied victory in the grandest grand prix of all by his team bungling a pit stop, Daniel Ricciardo is looking good – very, very good – in Monaco.

The carsales.com.au global ambassador topped both sessions overnight, Australian time – practice for this race always begins on the Thursday, because Friday is the Ascension Day holiday – and he says it is his favourite race of the year.

He lives in the glitzy Mediterranean principality – where grid girls make a return this weekend, contrary to Formula 1’s American owner Liberty Media’s ban this season – and the Australian says that racing on its tight, narrow streets “creates the most adrenaline and excitement” of all GPs.

“The circuit is insane … it’s crazy to think we race around the streets so close to the walls like we do,” Ricciardo said.

“I just love the whole atmosphere. There’s a lot of intensity and the risk and reward is the best of the year.

“I would love this feeling coming into every race that we genuinely have a chance to fight for the win.

“Hopefully I’ll get some redemption this time.”

In 2016 Ricciardo claimed the only pole position of his Formula 1 career in Monaco with a stunning lap, then was running away with the race until his Red Bull Racing crew did not have the right tyres ready for him when he pitted.

He still finished second, and last year it was third – from fifth on the grid.

Fellow Australian Mark Webber won on these famous streets twice for RBR in 2010 and ’12. Ricciardo has taken the chequered flag first twice there too, in Renault open-wheeler support races before graduating to the big league, but doing it in F1 would be the second-best thing he could achieve, short only of winning the world title.

His teammate Max Verstappen was closest to him in both practice sessions last night and had the Dutch youngster strung his three best sector times together he would have topped the timesheets.

Verstappen also had an incident, as he is prone to do on this tricky circuit – clipping the rear of Romain Grosjean’s Haas car while letting Ricciardo past.

The West Australian knows well that the pressure will step up in Saturday’s qualifying, not only from Verstappen but the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers who have the advantage of an extra engine mode that Red Bull’s Renault power units don’t have.

There has been controversy bubbling in F1 that Ferrari may have been burning more than the permissible amount of oil while avoiding Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) sensors, but Mercedes and Red Bull say they are content for now that the authorities are on top of the issue.

Behind the Red Bulls, Ferraris, Mercs and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault last night came the McLarens, this year Renault-powered, with young Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne ahead of Fernando Alonso.

McLaren confirmed this week that Canadian businessman Michael Latifi, whose son Nicholas races in Formula 2, is investing A$360 million in the team this year, which it says “significantly strengthens the group’s balance sheet and underpins its ambitious growth plans”.

Power, Davison gunning for Indy glory

Will Power is “feeling good” about his Chevrolet-powered Team Penske car for the Indianapolis 500 on Monday morning, Australian time.

Power will start on the outside of the front row, alongside French teammate Simon Pagenaud and hometown hero Ed Carpenter on the pole position for the 102nd running of the ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’.

“I’ve had a very positive month,” said Queenslander Power, who won the fifth race of the IndyCar season on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a fortnight ago.

He is hoping to go one better on The Brickyard’s famed oval on Monday than his narrow runner-up finish three years ago to become the first Australian to win the 500.

Fellow Aussie James Davison will start the classic from 19th – on the seventh row – in the 33-car field, driving another Chevrolet-powered car prepared by the legendary AJ Foyt’s team.

Foyt was the first of the 500’s four-time winning drivers, although his own team has only won it twice – compared with Chip Ganassi Racing’s four times, Andretti Autosport’s five and Team Penske’s astonishing 16 victories.

Roger Penske this week was among the latest six names to be added to NASCAR’s Hall of Fame early next year. Penske won stock car racing’s premier Cup series in 2012 with driver Brad Keselowski and has twice won the Daytona 500, with Ryan Newman in 2008 and Joey Logano in 2015.

The other new NASCAR Hall of Famers include engine builder extraordinaire Jack Roush and drivers Jeff Gordon, Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki, who died in a plane crash after winning the 1992 Cup.

Americas Rallycross, in Britain – with Aussie ‘Atko’

Chris Atkinson is racing in rallycross this weekend – at Silverstone in England, home of the British GP but now rather curiously hosting the first round of the new Americas Rallycross Championship (ARS) as well as a round of the World RX as part of a ‘Speedmachine Festival’.

Atkinson’s Subaru Rally Team USA and Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross agreed to join the four-round ARS which has contributed to the collapse of the American-based Global Rallycross Championship.

The Queenslander’s regular teammate will be Swede Patrick Sandell, while Travis Pastrana will be among those rotated through the third Subaru WRX STI drive. Ken Block will join the ARS in a Ford Focus after the opening round.

Two rounds will be in the US – at least one of them at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas – with another in Canada.

Citroen no place for Meeke the wild

Citroen has dropped Northern Irishman Kris Meeke from its World Rally Championship line-up because of “an excessively high number of crashes”.

Meeke’s latest big crash was in last weekend’s Rally Portugal, after which he was air-lifted to hospital although he was released after precautionary checks.

Citroen team principal Pierre Budar said some of Meeke’s crashes had been “particularly heavy, could have had serious consequences with regard to the crew’s safety … and were unjustified by the sporting stakes at play”.

<a href="https://motoring.pxcrush.net/motoring/general/editorial/2018-rally-portugal_2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-csn-inline-image wp-image-245246" src="https://motoring.pxcrush.net/motoring/general/editorial/2018-rally-portugal_2.jpg?height=427&width=640&aspect=fitWithin" alt="" width="640" height="427"></a>Leena finds America much meaner

Leena Gade, the British woman who engineered multiple Audi victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, has been sacked by IndyCar team Schmidt Peterson Motorsport after just five races.

Gade had been in charge of Canadian James Hinchcliffe’s car that failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

One of Gade’s former Audi colleagues, Justin Taylor, has returned to sports car racing this year after just one IndyCar season with Ed Carpenter Racing.