MOTORSPORT: Scene set for bumper enduros

Winton produced another first-time winner, James Moffat, son of the legendary Allan, in a breakthrough win for new manufacturer participant Nissan, as well as wins by the traditional Ford and Holden factory teams.

A horror weekend for reigning champion and series leader Jamie Whincup and top team Triple Eight Race Engineering, made even worse by a penalty on Craig Lowndes that has dropped him behind the top Ford pair, has bunched up the top four title challengers within 72 points.

There also was the controversy over the E70 fuel in the Nissan Altimas on Saturday rather than the usual E85 – a fuss that may rumble on in the lead-up to the Sandown 500 in mid-September and then the Bathurst 1000 in October.

While other teams had agreed to the E70 to give the newcomers better fuel efficiency – but not a performance advantage – there was anger in the wake of the Nissan quinella (Michael Caruso followed Moffat across the line in another Altima), particularly from champion manufacturer Holden’s teams.

However, Nissan and Erebus Motorsport – fielding three AMG Mercedes E63s – are likely to take the fuel concession into Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600.

Jamie Whincup had his worst weekend since New Zealand five years ago, when he didn’t get to start, and has seen his lead whittled down to 55 points, now over Ford Performance Racing’s Will Davison, with Mark Winterbottom – winner of the weekend’s second point-scoring race, his first success at FPR’s home track – just another 15 points behind.

Lowndes, penalised 25 points for contact with Caruso’s Nissan on the final lap of the last Winton race, now finds himself two points behind Winterbottom. Lowndes’ 10th place in that race was Triple Eight’s only top 10 finish for the weekend.

James Courtney became the 12th winner of the season with victory in the final 100km race. It was the 2010 champion’s first victory for more than two years and he has been on the podium six times in the past 10 races. On top of Garth Tander’s success at the Townsville round in early July, it bodes well for HRT for the endurance season.

What V8 Supercars needs to see now is evidence, particularly in the TV ratings, that the doubling of the number of car brands and the spread of race winners under the ‘Car of the Future’ is rebuilding its audience.

Some will say that the races so predominantly being shown on 7mate rather than Seven’s main channel is limiting the potential for that, but the races are screened live – and free.

The TV figures ultimately will be the measure of the success of the new era.

Will Power back in winner’s circle
Australia’s top IndyCar driver, Will Power, has broken a 16-month and 26-race victory drought with his win early today in the 15th round of the series at Sonoma in California.

It’s the third time Power has won there in four years – and fellow Aussie Ryan Briscoe was the victor the other time, last year. However, Briscoe and James Davison, now the third Aussie in Indy racing, were 17th and 18th at Sonoma today.

Power’s latest success came after New Zealand rival and then race leader Scott Dixon knocked over two of his crew accelerating out of the pits. They were not seriously hurt. Dixon, seeking his fourth win in the past five races, vigorously disputed IndyCar’s penalty on him that has made his chances of overhauling Power’s Penske teammate Helio Castronves in the remaining four rounds considerably harder – he’s 39 points behind now.
Power is the 10th winner in the series this year and headed home British driver Justin Wilson, representing Dale Coyne Racing, and Dixon’s Ganassi teammate Dario Franchitti.

Power is now up to eighth in the points while 13 drivers are still mathematical chances of becoming champion.

Vettel to the fore as Aussies fifth and 10th in F1
Sebastian Vettel tightened his grip on a fourth straight Formula One world title last night with his victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa – his fifth win in his Red Bull-Renault RB9 in 11 rounds.

Vettel overtook the Mercedes of pole position qualifier Lewis Hamilton soon after the start and was always in control thereafter as Spa’s notoriously fickle weather remained fine.

Fernando Alonso fought his way from ninth on the grid to second at the finish in his Ferrari – and second in the championship, albeit 46 points behind Vettel, as Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish because of a brake failure after his long run of 27 races in the points with Lotus-Renault.

Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg were next over the line, ahead of Australian Mark Webber in the other Red Bull – after yet another poor start, this time from third on the grid.

“I lost a couple of rows off the line and then had to try to clear people on the track, which was difficult as we had set up the top gear to race in clean air rather than to pass,” Webber said.

Younger Aussie Daniel Ricciardo, whose Toro Rosso team was badly caught out by weather and tyres in qualifying and started only 19th, salvaged a point by finishing 10th.

“It was nice to get that point – we ran a long first stint on the hard tyres and I think that helped us build a good base to have a strong pace in the final stints on the medium tyres,” Ricciardo said.

Despite the delay in the announcement on who will fill the second Red Bull seat next year, the departing Webber indicated it indeed would be Ricciardo.

“The decision’s made. We all know who it is. I’m happy with that decision. It’s good for him – and good for Australia.”

However, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner made the point that Webber “isn’t privy to all the discussions with drivers”.

Ricciardo is not counting any chickens before they hatch and Kimi Raikkonen has not yet signed a contract with any F1 team for next year, there is even a whisper Jenson Button may wriggle out of his McLaren contract, and Nico Hulkenberg remains a dark horse.

Vettel’s latest win was his 31st, bringing him equal on the all-time tally of GP victors with Nigel Mansell.

Championship leader Sebastien Ogier’s VW Polo R’s suspension broke on the second leg of the event and then teammate Jari-Matti Latvala crashed.

The irony of Sordo’s belated success is that Citroen already had dropped him from next month’s Rally Australia at Coffs Harbour in favour of British driver Kris Meeke.

Frenchman Ogier could clinch the world title in Australia if he can extend his lead to 84 points.

He’s already 75 points ahead of Belgian driver Thierry Neuville, who is only his first year in the championship in a Ford Fiesta RS and fought Sordo until the last stage in Germany, losing time when he ran off the course 3km from the finish to end up 53 seconds down in second place.

Finn Mikko Hirvonen, winner of Rally Australia two years ago in a Ford, was third in Germany in his Citroen DS3.

Meanwhile, young Australian driver Brendan Reeves and his co-driver sister Rhiannon Smyth won the two-wheel-drive category for the fourth straight time at the lastest round of the US Rally Championship in the Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota. They could clinch the title at the final round, the Lake Superior Performance Rally, on October 18-19.

The weekend’s event was won by Ken Block, while Reeves and Smyth were third outright behind the top two four-wheel-drive cars.

South Australian Steve Glenney won the four-day Targa Adelaide in a 2009 Nissan GT-R ahead of reigning Targa series champion Jason White in a Lamborghini Gallardo and Tony Quinn in another Nissan GT-R.

The next round of Targa Championship will be in Victoria’s High Country on November 8-10.

Matt Kenseth in a Toyota withstood the challenge from Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet in the closing stages to score his fifth win of the season.

Juan Pablo Montoya, out of a NASCAR ride at the end of the season, finished third at Bristol in his Chip Ganassi Chevrolet.

Only two races remain now before the 12-driver line-up is finalised for The Chase over the final 10 rounds of the season.    

V8 Supercar teams championship – 1. Triple Eight 3637 points; 2. Ford Performance Racing 3594; 3. Brad Jones Racing 3403; 4. Holden Racing Team 3304; 5. Tekno Autosports 2929; 6. Garry Rogers Motorsport 2247.   

Formula One World Championship driver standings after 11 rounds - 1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 197 points; 2. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 151; 3. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 139; 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Lotus-Renault) 134; 5. Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 115; 6. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 96; 7. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 67; 8. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Renault) 53; 9. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 47; 10. Paul Di Resta (GBm Force India-Mercedes) 36; 11. Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes)  25; 12. Sergio Perez (Mexico, McLaren-Mercedes) 18; 13. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 13; 14. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 12; 15. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Sauber-Ferrari) 7; 16. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela, Williams-Renault) 1.

F1 constructor standings - 1. Red Bull-Renault 312 points; 2. Mercedes 235; 3. Ferrari 218; 4. Lotus-Renault 187; 5. McLaren-Mercedes 65; 6. Force India-Mercedes 61; 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 25; 8. Sauber-Ferrari 7; 9. Williams-Renault 1.

IndyCar championship after 15 rounds – Helio Castroneves (Brazil, Team Penske, Dallar-Chevrolet) 479 points; 2. Scott Dixon (New Zealand, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara-Honda) 440; 3. Ryan Hunter Reay (United States, Andretti Autosports, Dallara-Chevrolet) 417; 4, Marco Andretti (US, Andretti Autosports, Dallara-Chevrolet) 409; 5. Simon Pagenaud (France, Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports, Dallara-Honda) 380; 6. Dario Franchitti (Great Britain, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara-Honda) 379; 7. Justin Wilson (GB, Dale Coyne Racing, Dallara-Honda) 361; 8. Will Power (Australia, Team Penske, Dallara-Chevrolet) 356; 9. James Hinchlciffe (Canada, Andretti Autosports, Dallara-Chevrolet) 350; 10. Charlie Kimball (US, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara-Honda) 335.

NASCAR Sprint Cup standings after 24 rounds - 1. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 821; 2. Clint Bowyer (Toyota) 803; 3. Carl Edwards (Ford) 768; 4. Kevin Harvick ( Chevrolet) 760; 5. Kyle Busch (Toyota) 739; 6. Matt Kenseth (Toyota) 736; 7. Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 714; 8. Kasey Kahne (Chevrolet) 701; 9. Greg Biffle (Ford) 698; 10. Joey Logano (Ford) 685; 11. Brad Keselowski (Ford) 681; 12. Kurt Busch (Chevrolet) 679. Australia’s Marcos Ambrose (Ford) is 22nd on 590 points.

World Rally Championship drivers standings after nine rounds – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen) 184 points; 2. Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Ford) 109; 3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen) 98; 4. Dani Sordo (Spain, Citroen) 96; Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Citroen) 88.

WRC manufacturer standings – 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 262 points; 2. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT 236; 3. Qatar WRT 127; 4. Qatar M-Sport 126; 5. Ipocar Czech 51.

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