MOTORSPORT: Stoner firms for V8 Supercar

But the weekend just gone was undoubtedly France's.

Sebastien Loeb won the Monte Carlo Rally for the seventh time, Stephane Peterhansel the Dakar Rally for the 11th time – six on two wheels and now five on four wheels – and Cyril Depres won the Dakar's bikes section for the fifth time.

And V8 Supercar team owner Garry Rogers confirmed that he's keeping his French driver Alex Premat for a second season in his team with newly-promoted New Zealand teenager Scott McLaughlin.

Premat was only 27th in the championship in his debut year, never higher than 13th in a race and was "benched" for the Gold Coast 600, but he has his sights on being in the top 10 this year.

Among the highlights of the past few days have been the finishes of some of the Australians in the Dakar - Geoff Olholm  11th in the car division, less than half a minute out of 10th, Paul Smith seventh in the quad section and Rod Faggotter and Ben Grabham 14th and 15th in the bikes.

And Volkswagen's Polo R WRC driven by Sebastien Ogier – another Frenchman! – was runner-up to Loeb's Citroen DS3 on "The Monte", which was cut short by treacherous weather and safety conditions.

And there's a bombshell in Formula One. Austrian Toto Wolff, a shareholder and executive director of the Renault-engined Williams team, is set to be the new Mercedes-Benz director of motorsport following the dumping of Norbert Haug at the end of last year.

Wolff, a shareholder in the HWA company that has built the 5.0-litre Mercedes engines for Erebus Motorsport's entry to V8 Supercar racing in Australia this year (and who managed Premat's early career) will be in charge of the Silver Arrows F1 and German Touring Car Championship (DTM) programs.

And Robert Kubica, the hugely talented Polish F1 driver seriously injured two years ago in a rally crash, is expected to test a DTM Mercedes soon.

Adelaide's Sunday Mail newspaper reported that it could "finally confirm the worst-kept secret in the [V8 Supercar]  paddock: Stoner will drive in the 2013 secondary series, backed by Triple Eight Racing, in the same new Red Bull livery as top duo Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, behind the wheel of a former Whincup [Holden Commodore] machine."

The source of its story was an article to be published - in a couple of weeks - in the official program for Adelaide's season-opening Clipsal 500.

Quotes attributed to Stoner in that program are now said to be recycled comments he has made over recent months rather than from some supposed exclusive interview.

The Sunday Mail story may have upset Triple Eight/Red Bull's plans to formally announce Stoner's much-anticipated move into car racing - and him.

"Don't believe everything you read. Haven't decided what I'm doing yet. V8 Supercars is on the cards. Will let you know when I do!" Stoner tweeted after the story broke.

Clearly it's happening and, even though it will be in the development series, will generate a lot of interest at Clipsal – perhaps as much as the entry of Mercedes-Benz AMG E63s and Nissan Altimas in the "main game", taking on Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons under the 'Car of the Future' rules.

A full season in the development series could prepare Stoner well for an upgrade to the main series next year, although we cannot forget that Wayne Gardner and more particularly Troy Bayliss had nothing like the success they enjoyed on two wheels when they made the move to four.

Perhaps expectations of Stoner need to be kept in check.

Overseas expansion all but over?

V8 Supercars Australia has confirmed what had become obvious - that there would not be a round of its championship in Abu Dhabi this year.

It declared itself "absolutely comfortable with the news", which brings the series back to 14 rounds.
The V8 Supercar round in the emirate became a support category at the fabulous Yas Marina circuit last year after having failed to work for the organisers in a couple of years as a standalone event.

However, the V8 Supercar community was aggrieved at its treatment by F1 management last October and few spectators showed interest in the Aussie sedans.

The V8 Supercar calendar had listed Abu Dhabi again this year, just a week after the Gold Coast 600, which was never feasible.

And since that calendar was announced GP2 and GP3 have become the support races to F1 in the emirate, which V8SA admitted left no space for it on the program.

This all casts a shadow over V8SA's much-hyped international expansion under former executive chairman Tony Cochrane.

China, Bahrain and now Abu Dhabi have fallen over. V8SA says it will be "exploring the potential for a new [Abu Dhabi] date for 2014" but it's very, very long odds of eventuating.

No new rounds have eventuated in Asia, despite all the talk about Singapore, Korea and the Philippines.

There is to be a new American round in Texas in mid-May but its appeal will be limited in the land of NASCAR, certainly without the presence of big-name stock car racers in the field, and it will be telecast into Australia pre-breakfast time.

In New Zealand this year the championship round returns to Pukekohe after the financially disastrous four years of street racing at Hamilton.

James Strong said in early December, soon after succeeding Cochrane in the V8SA chairman's chair (albeit non-executive), that the category shouldn't get carried away with international expansion.

"You must have a good Australian competition – that's the heart of the business and it always will be," Strong said.

The racing that came in on our TV screens from the Middle East was fine, and the fees from the circuits there added nicely to V8SAs coffers, but the spread of V8 Supercars overseas may have hit the wall.

Loeb led "The Monte" from the second stage last Wednesday until its premature finish at the weekend.

Organisers  cancelled the final two stages on Saturday night because of spectator congestion on roads made treacherous by rain and snow which restricted competitors to 20km/h in places.

Three of the top seven drivers in the event - Russian Evgeny Novikov and Finns Jari-Matti Latvala and Juho Hanninen - had crashed on the famous Col de Turini stage.

Volkswagen and its lead driver Sebastien Ogier were delighted to finish second to Loeb's Citroen, less than 100 seconds behind, in the long-awaited debut of the Polo R in the WRC, knowing that combination won't be competing full-time this season.

"It's like a victory for me," Ogier said. "The Polo is on the pace already."

Citroens filled the next three places, driven by Spaniard Dani Sordo, Finn Mikko Hirvonen and Frenchman Bryan Bouffier, while the first Ford was sixth - driven by Norwegian Mads Ostberg
The second WRC round is Rally Sweden on February 7 to 10.

"This is the first time since I started racing in cars (after making his name on bikes) that we've finished a race without a single mechanical problem," Peterhansel said.

Only the Toyota Hilux of South African Giniel de Villiers in second diminished the dominance of the X-raid-prepared MINIs.

Peterhansel's Spanish teammate Nani Roma won the final stage into Santiago after American Robby Gordon's success on the second last day in his Hummer.

Geoff Olholm of Cairns was 11th at his third Dakar, this time in a diesel Toyota Hilux.

Neither of the new buggies of Spaniard Carlos Sainz and Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah - both former Dakar winners - finished.

Frenchman Cyril Depress scored his fifth win in the Dakar bikes category as KTMs filled the top five spots.
Top Aussie two-wheeler Rod Faggotter in 14th was aboard a Yamaha while fellow Aussie Ben Grabham, 15 minutes behind him in 15th, was on a KTM.

Paul Smith, seventh overall in the quads and a stage winner last week, was on a Honda.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site…