MOTORSPORT: Tander the numero uno

Tander called that final race at Victoria's Phillip Island circuit a game of high-speed chess. Clearly he was having trouble doing the sums in his head as he was caught in the Whincup-Lowndes sandwich.

We wondered at the wisdom of him trying to hold off Lowndes rather than let him through, although if anything had gone wrong for Todd Kelly upfront the title could have been handed to Whincup on a plate.

"We stayed out a lap too long (before the compulsory pitstop), got caught between Jamie and Craig, and then it was about managing the situation," Tander said.

"I didn't realise that we still had it (the title) if Craig elbowed his way by (which he ultimately did). When the boys said (over the radio), 'Don't worry about it, just cruise to the end,' it was a pretty good feeling.

"I knew that if Jamie got to the front it would be curtains for us, but Todd held on and saved my bacon."

The last round of the title fight was a lot cleaner this time than last year. Lowndes applied tons of pressure -- and a bit of contact -- to Tander in the decider.

We note the comment of Tander's teammate and 2006 champion Rick Kelly, who copped so much flak a year ago.

"It was interesting to see the tactics at the end of the race there," Kelly said with irony strong in his voice.

Much was made on Saturday of Mark Skaife "gifting" Tander victory in the first race of the round, yet there was little fuss about what looked to us like some very deliberate biffo by Lowndes on Todd Kelly in that same race.

Tander's victory in the second race of the weekend put him ahead on points and proved decisive.

Whincup had to settle for the consolation prize this season, but has lost no friends and indeed won many more admirers for the way he has conducted himself on and off the circuits.

"The heat of the battle got to me a little bit," Whincup admitted last night. "I did the best I could, but it was not quite enough. We did the absolute best we could and got beaten by the better man on the day."

Still just 24, Whincup has plenty of time yet to achieve what 30-year-old Tander did yesterday.

Even though the final margin was only two points, Tander won 15 races for the season -- as many as the next three placegetters in the championship -- Craig Lowndes, Whincup and Mark Skaife -- combined.

Even that tally for those next three is a little distorted, because Lowndes and Whincup won two races together. Admittedly they were massively important races -- the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.

And it was those results, carrying double points, that created a somewhat artificial climax to the season.

However, it was a climax that fans -- both at the track and watching on TV -- loved, so we won't labor that point, other than to say that we continue to disagree with the endurance races being part of the championship.

All things considered, though, it has been a terrific season with Tander, the Toll HSV team and Holden taking the honors in the championship while Whincup and Lowndes, Triple 8/Team Vodafone and Ford have the glory from the enduros.

In a two-make, parity formula that's near enough to a perfect outcome. Unquestionably it has been an excellent year on the country's tracks. But there is one thing those running and participating in the sport perhaps ought to stop to think about.

There have been 37 V8 Supercar races this year. Toll HSV and Holden Racing Team, both controlled by Tom Walkinshaw (and, if anyone disputes that, their cars are at least built by his Walkinshaw Performance) won 24 of them. Triple 8/Team Vodafone, run by Roland Dane, won 11, and Ford Performance Racing, controlled by David Richards, another three.

So 36 of the 37 V8 Supercar races this year were won by teams owned or controlled by British automotive entrepreneurs. The only other win in the series was by Garry Rogers Motorsport, when Lee Holdsworth drove his Holden Commodore to victory in the wet third race at Sydney's Oran Park.

So, as good as Australia's premier motor racing category has become, it is now dominated by foreign-owned teams. The iconic Aussie teams of Dick Johnson and Larry Perkins are, sadly, no longer winners. Nor was the not-so-long-ago mighty Stone Brothers this year. Nor Tasman Motorsport.

DJR at least showed improvement, with the aid of Triple 8 mechanics -- and good performances by drivers Will Davison and Steve Johnson.

Perkins went with two young drivers, Shane Price and Jack Perkins, an experiment that hasn't worked and, unfortunately, Perkins Junior has been diagnosed with diabetes, but an injection of experience and proven speed is called for in 2008.

Perhaps that is on the way amid all the talk of a reshuffle in the Holden driving ranks, starting with, it seems, Tander joining Skaife at HRT, leaving Todd Kelly either to partner brother Rick at Toll HSV or, perhaps, move to Perkins.

Stone Bros is too good an outfit to stay down for too long, and certainly James Courtney has the potential to be higher in the championship standings than ninth.

While winning races again will depend on engineering improvement, SBR's fate is also to some extent in the hands of whoever replaces Russell Ingall now that he is returning to the Holden fold.

Tasman is perhaps best classified as a work-in-progress; an outfit with the potential to go places, but now all the elements need to come together.

As good as this season has been, this is one area where there is scope for improvement: to see homegrown teams back racing, and beating, those controlled by the foreigners.

V8 Supercar Championship final driver standings after 14 rounds - Garth Tander (Holden) 625 points, Jamie Whincup (Ford) 623, Craig Lowndes (F) 592, Rick Kelly (H) 552, Mark Winterbottom (F) 420, Todd Kelly (H) 381, Steven Richards (F) 380, Mark Skaife (H) 379, James Courtney (F) 359, Will Davison (F) 343, Russell Ingall (F) 311,  Steven Johnson (F) 304, Greg Murphy (H) 250, Jason Richards (H) 235, Lee Holdsworth (H) 209.

V8 Supercar round 14 points - Garth Tander 63, Todd Kelly 56, Jamie Whincup 54, Craig Lowndes 44, Mark Skaife 44, Mark Winterbottom 39, Rick Kelly 31, James Courtney 28, Will Davison 28, Lee Holdsworth 20, Steven Richards 14, Greg Murphy 12, Russell Ingall 10, Steven Johnson 10, Jason Bright 7, Shane Van Gisbergen 6, Paul Morris 4, Dean Canto 3, Max Wilson 2, Cameron McConville 2.

V8 Supercars teams championship - Toll HSV 1177 points, Team Vodafone/Triple 8 1134, Holden Racing Team 800, Ford Performance Racing 788, Stone Brothers Racing 670, Jim Beam/Dick Johnson Racing 626, Tasman Motorsport 431, Garry Rogers Motorsport 322.

Loeb has equalled the feat of Finnish great Tommi Makinen, whose countryman Juha Kankkunen also won four -- but not successively.

Loeb happily settled for third in the rain, mud, slush and wind in Wales at the weekend as Finland's Mikko Hirvonen won in a Ford Focus ahead of his countryman and teammate Marcus Gronholm, who now retires after finishing runner-up for the season to Loeb.

Hirvonen, winner of Western Australia's last Rally Australia late last year, won three rallies this year to finish third in the championship with 99 points, to Loeb's 116 and Gronholm's 112.

Ford had already won the manufacturers' championship ahead of Citroen.

Australia's Chris Atkinson finished seventh in Britain and seventh in the drivers' championship.

Atkinson headed British rival Matthew Wilson going into the last day but Wilson's Ford overhauled the Aussie's Subaru on the first stage of the final leg.

"Of the three times I've attempted Rally Great Britain this has been the most frustrating," Atkinson said. "As a driver I can honestly say I've tried my best, but for a number of different reasons that hasn't been enough to get decent stage times.

"We have experienced a variety of small issues but the main hurdle has been the inconsistent handling of the car.

"On the final morning we tried a set-up which worked well on Friday, but for some reason this time it didn't work at all. We have a lot of questions to answer in the off-season and a lot of testing planned to enable us to turn things around.

"We want to be fighting for wins again, for Subaru and the fans as well."

Atkinson's Norwegian teammate and former world champion Petter Solberg sounded more positive.

"We have taken back third overall in the manufacturer championship. Now we have a small break before Monte Carlo, but we are doing lots of testing and I am looking forward to coming back strongly for some better results in the new season.

"It's very important for Subaru that we are getting back on track. I really want to get back on top again too."

The Production Car World Rally Championship was won by Japan's Toshihiro Arai and the Junior Rally Championship by Swede Per-Gunnar Andersson.

World rally championship driver final standings after 16 rounds - Sebastien Loeb (France) 116 points, Marcus Groenholm (Finland) 112, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) 99, Daniel Sordo (Spain) 65, Petter Solberg (Norway) 47, Henning Solberg (Norway) 34, Chris Atkinson (Australia) 31, Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland) 30.

World rally championship constructor standings - BP-Ford WRT 212 points, Citroen Total WRT 183, Subaru WRT  87, Stobart M-Sport Ford WRT 81, OMV-Kronos Citroen 45, Munchi's Ford WRT 14.

A.J. reckons Schumi may race again
Michael Schumacher says that, despite his brilliant F1 testing form for Ferrari in Barcelona recently and taking part in another test at Jerez this week, his retirement is "irrevocable", but Australia's 1980 world champion Alan Jones is not so sure.

Jones, who retired from F1 in 1981 but later made a comeback, says Schumacher may find the temptation to race again too difficult to resist.

"After nearly a year out of the saddle, I can image him thinking, 'Maybe I'd like to have another go,'" Jones told Autosport magazine.

"It must be just like coming back from an extended Christmas break. He used to take a couple of months off at the end of each season, so another few months won't make a big difference. Two or three years might have done.

"It's a win-win situation: Ferrari gains from his expertise and he enjoys it. And you can never rule out a comeback -- he might be thinking, 'I'm really enjoying this!'

"Money won't be his motivation; it will be to prove a point. Niki Lauda was out for several seasons and came back and won the title. Michael could do the same.

"You don't stop being a good racing driver in just 10 months. Michael didn't go to bed one night and forget to drive an F1 car -- the only thing he might have lost is motivation, not ability."

Fisichella bites at Bernie's barb
Giancarlo Fisichella has taken exception to Bernie Ecclestone saying he (and Ralf Schumacher) ought to bow out of F1 rather than keep promising youngsters out of motor racing's premier division.

Ecclestone said Fisi and Ralf had both been in good teams for quite a while and should have performed better.

He added that if Fisichella had been Renault's lead driver in 2005 and 2006, the team "would never have known how good their car really was".

Fisichella has retorted on his website: "You are the father of F1 and like a father you have talked about your children, including me.

"I wanted to remind you dear daddy, I mean dear Bernie, that I am the one who won the first grand prix in Melbourne in 2005 with Renault and therefore I was the one who first discovered the R25 as a winning car.

"In the two seasons I spent alongside Fernando Alonso, in full agreement with the strategies of my team, I have contributed to two constructors' titles, taking home the fourth place in the drivers' championship, just like Felipe Massa (with Ferrari) this year.

"Given the circumstances, I believe I could not do any better. In 2007, Renault promised me a championship-winning car, but this has not been the case and for this I did not get demoralised.

"This week, in fact, I will bring my enthusiasm and my experience to Force India (previously Spyker, Midland and Jordan), a young team with an 'old heart' just like Giancarlo Fisichella, who has still some talent to show!"

Meanwhile, Honda has denied that Alonso has visited its factory for a seat fitting.

Renault remains favoured to regain the dual world champion, but the sticking point is the length of the contract.

Alonso only wants a one-year deal, while Renault wants to tie him up for three years.

Talk persists that Red Bull wants Alonso, but energy drink tycoon Dietrich Matezitch reckons his team is a year short of having a car worthy of Alonso's talents.