MOTORSPORT: Ricciardo shines, and so does rally man Meeke

Daniel Ricciardo has had his best race of the year in his 100th grand prix, and Red Bull is now second in the Formula 1 constructors' championship, ahead of Ferrari, but Lewis Hamilton has won six of the past seven races and Mercedes 11 of 12 for the season.

The World Rally Championship is far less predictable. Citroen is contesting only occasional events while it concentrates on its car for next year's new regulations, but Northern Irishman Kris Meeke has driven two rounds this year and won both – the latest the fastest in WRC history. And young Irishman Craig Breen was on the podium there, in Finland, with third place in the other Citroen DS3 at only his fourth WRC start.

BMW has won the world's biggest GT race, the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium, for the second consecutive year and the 23rd time in its history – this time with the M6 rather than the Z4 of last year. The top four finishing positions were filled by different makes, with a Mercedes-AMG second, an Audi R8 LMS third and a Bentley Continental fourth. All the 'Down Under' participants finished midfield, between 18 and 25 laps down, although the Ferrari 458 that Brisbane's Liam Talbot co-drove for Swiss team Kessel Racing won the Amateur Cup.

The Team Penske drivers vying for the IndyCar title in America, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud and Australian Will Power, banged wheels twice as they fought for victory in the latest race at the Mid-Ohio road course. Power admitted he was caught "sleeping" on the final restart and congratulated victor Pagenaud, who called it "a great battle ... fair and clean".

Team boss Roger Penske said: "These guys both want it. I guess that's why they're driving for us."

Power has slipped another 11 points behind Pagenaud, with the gap now 58 points and four races remaining on successive weekends after a three-week break.

Anthony Martin, a 21-year-old from Kalgoorlie, went to Mid-Ohio 20 points behind the leader of the US F2000 Championship but won all three of his races there and came away with a 21-point lead (347-326) over his Canadian teammate Parker Thompson, with only two races remaining at Laguna Seca next month. Martin could win a valuable scholarship for another American open-wheeler series next year, the Pro Mazda Championship, while fellow Australians Jordan Lloyd, of Toowoomba, and Luke Gabin, of Perth, WA, are also in the top five in US F2000.

Hamilton further to the fore with Mercedes
As Mercedes continues its domination of F1, Lewis Hamilton has written another entry in the history books.

He's become the first driver to win four GPs in a calendar month after his victory in last night's German race at Hockenheim followed on the heels of those at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, Silverstone in Britain and Budapest in Hungary, during July.

It was the 49th win of triple world champion Hamilton's career and he now trails Alain Prost by just two on the all-time list, with Michael Schumacher's record of 91 probably beyond his reach.

Hamilton goes into the four-week northern summer break in the season now with a 19-point lead over teammate Nico Rosberg, who had led by 43 points back in May.

Rosberg was again outgunned by Hamilton in Germany after qualifying on pole position, and the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were also ahead of him as they came out of the first corner.

Rosberg later copped a five-second penalty for running Verstappen wide as he passed the teenager, and served that during a pitstop, but a stopwatch the team used was faulty and he sat idle for eight seconds – thwarting his chances of overtaking the Red Bulls and finishing behind Hamilton.

While Verstappen was ahead of Ricciardo early, the Australian was faster on his supersoft tyres from midrace and Red Bull instructed the Dutch youngster to let him by.

They ended up with Red Bull's first double podium for a year and the team that won four consecutive world titles in 2010-2013 is now ahead of Ferrari, which has not been represented on the podium in the past three races.

Rosberg, who won the first four GPs this season, has also been absent from the rostrum five times in the past eight races.

Barcelona, perhaps, and Monaco, certainly, should have been Ricciardo's big day of the season, but Red Bull's tyre-change bungle in Monte Carlo cost him victory there and he finished 7.25 seconds behind Hamilton.

Last night he was within seven seconds of Hamilton at the chequered flag and set the fastest race lap for the sixth time in his F1 career, although the Merc man would have had plenty in reserve.

The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth, behind Rosberg, and scoring 18 points for the Italian team to Red Bull's 33.

Mercedes-powered Williams and Force India are falling off the pace, while both McLaren-Hondas were a lap down at the finish – even though Jenson Button was in the points with eighth.

Ricciardo laps up the podium momentum
Daniel Ricciardo was "very pleased" with his and Red Bull's form in Germany.

"To beat one Mercedes is nice, but for both [Red Bull] cars to beat one Mercedes and the pole-sitter was really good," Ricciardo said.

"In the first part of the race I was sitting in third and the pace was okay, but I think I really came to life in the second half of the race and that's when I was able to show a bit more speed and capture second place.

"It was the best we could do today and I'm now happy to go into the [northern] summer break with another podium in the bag.

"For me the strategy worked very well. I was comfortable on the supersofts and it worked out my pace was better in the end with that tyre."

On the podium Ricciardo drank champagne out of one of his driving boots, which he said was "an Australian thing" – started by V8 Supercar driver David Reynolds?

"It's called a 'shoey'," Ricciardo said.

"I said if I win a race this year I'll do it but, just in case, [then] I thought I'll do it next time I'm on the podium.

"The last few races I got a bit more out of the race weekends and it's nice to get a bit of momentum now before the break.

"Just to stand up there on the podium is the best feeling in the world."

Formula 1 World Championship driver standings after 12 of 21 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 217 points; 2. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 198; 3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 133; 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 122; 5. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari 120; 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull-Renault) 115; 7. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Williams) 58; 8. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 48; 9. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 38; 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 33; 11. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 30; 12. Romain Grosjean (France, Haas-Ferrari) 28; 13. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 24; 14. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 23; 15. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Honda) 17; 16. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Renault) 6; 17. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Manor-Mercedes) 1; 18. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, McLaren-Honda) 1.

F1 constructors' championship – 1. Mercedes 415 points: 2. Red Bull-Renault 256; 3. Ferrari 242; 4. Williams-Mercedes 96; 5. Force India-Mercedes 81: 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 45; 7. McLaren-Honda 42; 8. Haas-Ferrari 28; 9. Renault 6; 10. Manor-Mercedes       1.

Mighty Meeke and Citroen fastest in WRC history
Kris Meeke averaged 126.6km/h in winning Rally Finland – 1.2km/h faster than the world record Jari-Matti Latvala set last year.

In becoming the first British driver to win the northernmost round of the WRC, Meeke defeated Volkswagen's Latvala by 29.1 seconds, denying the Finn a third straight win in his home event.

Meeke led almost the entire event in his Citroen DS3, while 26-year-old Craig Breen was 1 minute 41.3 seconds behind Meeke in third, withstanding the challenge of two Hyundais, for his first podium at just his fourth WRC start.

Over the legendary 33km Ouninpohja stage on Saturday morning Meeke was more than 13 seconds faster than Latvala, who already trailed because of a puncture on his Polo R on the first day.

Meeke gained another 6 seconds in the afternoon and could then cruise through the remaining stages.

"Finland is the home of rallying and Ouninpohja is the 'Holy Grail' of stages and to win both the rally and that stage is incredible," Meeke said.

"I enjoyed it like a little kid, just playing and having fun. It has been exceptional."

Latvala is up to third in the championship now, behind VW's other drivers – French triple world champion Sebastien Ogier and Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen.

Ogier still has a commanding lead in the championship despite failing to score a point in Finland after crashing into a ditch on the first leg and not having won since February, which he and his manufacturer blame on the running order that has him 'sweeping' the stages for fellow competitors most of the time.

Belgian Thierry Neuville nudged his New Zealand teammate Hayden Paddon out of fourth place in the Finnish event by 2.3 seconds, with Norwegian Mads Ostberg the best of the Ford drivers in sixth for M-Sport.

Australia's 2014 national champion Scott Pedder finished 17th outright and eighth in WRC2, which was won by 25-year-old Esapekka Lappi in a car similar to Pedder's Skoda Fabia R5.

The next WRC round is on tarmac in Germany on August 18-21.

World Rally Championship driver standings after eight of 13 rounds – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen) 143 points; 2. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, Volkswagen) 98; 3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen) 87; 4. Hayden Paddon (New Zealand, Hyundai) 84; 5. Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Hyundai) 76; 6. Mads Ostberg (Norway, M-Sport Ford) 70; 7. Daniel Sordo (Spain, Hyundai) 68; 8. Ott Tanak (Estonia, Dmack Ford) 52; 9. Kris Meeke (Great Britain, Citroen) 51; 10. Craig Breen (Ireland, Citroen) 25.

WRC teams championship – 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 227; 2. Hyundai World Rally Team 168; 3. M-Sport 112; 4. Volkswagen Motorsport II 109; 5. Hyundai Motorsport N  86; 6. Dmack  58.

A tough 24 hours at Spa for boys from Down Under
The Spa 24 Hours had 15 full-course yellows, three safety-car interventions and two stints in the rain, including in the last hour.

Six Mercedes GT3s were given five-minute stop-go penalties for running illegal ignition mapping in qualifying.

The winning BMW started 11th in the field of 65 cars – 54 of which finished.

V8 Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen's chances of a third victory this year in the Blancpain Endurance Cup were scotched when one of his co-drivers in a McLaren 650S, Frenchman Come Ledogar, collided with a Lamborghini, and the car later caught fire as a result of a gearbox problem.

The McLaren took the chequered flag 31st, 18 laps down on the victorious BMW, with British driver Rob Bell at the wheel.

However, the McLaren trio still lead the Endurance Cup drivers standings by nine points (86-59) from a trio of Bentley men ahead of the season finale at Germany's Nurburgring.

On the same lap was the Kessel Racing Ferrari in which Brisbane's Liam Talbot was one of four drivers and which was classified 32nd outright and winner of the Amateur Cup.

Four laps behind in 35th outright, was the Lamborghini Gallardo R-EX leased by Lago Racing and driven by Australians Jonathon Webb, Steve Owen, David Russell and Roger Lago.

And another three laps down, in 37th place and 13th in class, was the Nissan GT Academy GT-R in which Brisbane former Australia Post courier Matt Simmons was one of four drivers.

Simmons said it had been "the longest day ... full of emotion, draining, exciting and exhausting".

"To get to the finish line felt like a win ... a fantastic feeling," Simmons said.