MOTORSPORT: Time for Kiwis to shine

Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander between them have won all seven races on the streets of NZ provincial city Hamilton since the V8 Supercars began racing there in 2008, so they start as favourites, but perhaps it's time for a Kiwi victory.

Shane van Gisbergen, approaching his 22nd birthday, appears the most likely to succeed, although Fabian Coulthard heads him in the championship. Meanwhile veteran Greg Murphy's form in the non-championship Australian Grand Prix races could be a sign he can recapture some of the magic that made him the dominant driver at the previous NZ venue, Pukekohe.

The V8 Supercar drivers collectively have launched a public fundraiser for popular Kiwi Jason Richards, who is now in the US as he continues his brave fight to overcome cancer after his incredible second place in one of the GP races and driving in the development series and a GT car in Adelaide for "therapy".

A victory by one of the other NZ trio this weekend would be a timely boost for Richards, while a Ford win (a first this year) would be a well-timed boost for the Blue Oval camp.

In Shanghai, Red Bull's young F1 world champion Sebatian Vettel will be seeking to extend his brilliant season opening to a hat-trick of victories (and five in a row including the end of last season).

Aussie Mark Webber is "piqued but not panicked", according to Reuters, by the pressure that has built up on him from comparisons with teammate Vettel.

The other F1 star increasingly under scrutiny is Michael Schumacher, as it is five years this weekend since the last of the seven-time world champion's 91 grand prix victories – although, admittedly, he was retired for three of those years. And, while Schumacher now drives for Mercedes, his old Ferrari team is struggling to unlock the secret to matching the Red Bull, McLaren-Mercedes and Renault cars this year.

It's also the third round of the IndyCar series, being led by Aussie Will Power, at Long Beach in California, with controversial veteran Paul Tracy returning there and the second round of the American Le Mans Series is on the program for that famous street circuit too.

NASCAR's eighth round of the Sprint Cup is at the huge Talladega super-speedway, with Aussie Marcos Ambrose chasing his third top 10 finish with his new team, Richard Petty Motorsports.

It's an important weekend for rallying too, with the start of the Australian championship in the Busselton-Nannup area of Western Australia, although this season will be little more than an attempt at consolidation ahead of the big changes foreshadowed for the next two years on which we reported last week.

The start of the fourth round of the World Rally Championship in Jordan has been disrupted by bad weather in the Middle East and the delay of a ship carrying 37 trucks containing the cars berthing at the port of Haifa in Israel.

The ship broke down twice and the first day of the rally had to be cancelled, but it should get underway tonight with the rest of the rally to be run as scheduled.

Meanwhile, the 2012 WRC calendar is believed to be close to finalisation, with Australia set to miss out on a round.

Instead, after September's new Rally Australia on NSW's Coffs Coast, our event will remain on rotation with New Zealand, meaning we will only host a world rally every two years. Participating manufacturers oppose annual rounds in Australia and NZ because of the limited numbers of their cars sold in the two countries.

And this weekend's Hamilton round in NZ will see the cars running entirely on soft tyres in two 200km races, unless it rains.

V8 Supercars Australia is now the promoter of this round and ticket sales are claimed to be much stronger this year after the attendance last year was only two-thirds of what it was in the first year the NZ round moved to Hamilton from Pukekohe.

Rick Kelly is in a four-year-old Commodore and Steven Johnson a three-year-old Falcon this weekend after the carnage of the final V8 Supercar race at the GP.

While Holden stars Whincup (Team Vodafone) and Tander (Holden Racing Team) have had the best form at Hamilton, Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom is sandwiched between them in second place in the championship and keen to give the Blue Oval's factory team a breakthrough win for the year, especially as Saturday's race will be his 100th V8 Supercar start.

Winterbottom's new teammate, Will Davison, also has shown signs of returning to his race-winning 2008-09 form, although he is standing ninth in the championship compared with his lower-profile brother Alex in fourth for Stone Brothers Racing.

The NZ round has lacked something since the days of Murphy ruling Pukekohe, and most Kiwi hopes are pinned on Stone Brothers and van Gisbergen reigniting that patriotic success. The young Kiwi has had plenty of podiums, including at the recent GP, and goes particularly well on street circuits.

van Gisbergen admits feeling the pressure from the Kiwi fans for success, but said of this weekend: "I'm just trying to take it like any other race. I just want a good result in the championship."

Coulthard, fifth in the championship in an HRT-prepared Bundaberg Red Commodore (van Gisbergen lies seventh), said it was time one of the Kiwis "got one (win) under our belts" at Hamilton.

"It's got to happen sooner or later… It's one of those events where you'd love to win it in front of your home crowd."

Murphy's best finish in seven starts at Hamilton has been eighth place and he's not overly-confident despite his improved form at the GP, but he wants to see one of the Kiwis on top on home soil.

"If we look at the last how many years, including the last couple at Pukekohe, it's been a long time between drinks for the Kiwis and that annoys all of us," Murphy said.

"We would hate for it to continue for too much longer. We've got to get our act together. It [a Kiwi victor] would be huge for the event and for the sport here and the recognition. It would be fantastic.

"At the moment Shane's form is probably the best of all of us, and he's probably feeling a bit of pressure there."

What also is being felt in Hamilton is an even bigger groundswell of support for Jason Richards.

Murphy has been the catalyst for the launch of the fundraising campaign for his fellow Kiwi through an auction website that is selling a wide range of personal, household, sporting and motorsport items donated by the V8 Supercar drivers, teams and their sponsors, media and supporters.

About 75 donated items are being offered for sale already, including a Holden Cruze Series II donated by GM Holden.

"I'm not underestimating our rivals because McLaren, in particular, have done a phenomenal job to turn around their performance, but we have a great car," Webber said.

"It's already won a couple of races this year and it'll win some more."

The build-up to Shanghai, just a week after the Malaysian GP, has been frenetic with teams having only 36 hours to move their freight from Kuala Lumpur to the Chinese city and get set up in the paddock.

Tyre degradation is expected to be a major factory again in Shanghai.

Pirelli is taking the same hard and soft compound tyres that were used in Australia and Malaysia and cars are expected to make as many as three pitstops.

"I'm expecting tyre degradation to be somewhere between what we saw in Melbourne and Malaysia. The track temperature isn't going to be as high in China as it was in Malaysia, but there are more fast corners here than in Melbourne," Webber warned.

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