MOTORSPORT: Townsville's turn in the V8 sun

New venue but probably same two top teams
What a weekend of motorsport coming up -- the new V8 Supercar race at Townsville, the German Formula 1 Grand Prix, NASCAR at Chicagoland and IndyCar in Toronto.

Lots of excitement in North Queensland about the region's first V8 Supercar round, and rightly so. We don't detect much, indeed any, extra lead-up interest in the championship outside Queensland, but at least V8 Supercars Australia is delivering a big event to a major regional centre -- and that's a damn good thing.

As it has done with Darwin, as it does for Launceston with the Symmons Plains round and Benalla-Wangaratta-Albury with the Winton round, and of course Bathurst -- although these last three were well established before the Tony Cochrane regime came along.

For the record, this Townsville event gets off the ground after almost $30 million of taxpayer/raterpayer money has been spent -- the federal government tipped in $10 million, the Queensland government $14.61 million and the Townsville City Council $4.97 million. And there will be ongoing government/council money.

Pity it wasn't going into a permanent circuit, but that's another issue which we won't labour today. Townsville is entitled to its moment in the V8 Supercar sun and we hope it's a great success.

We touched on money, and there's another money matter in the air. A betting website, V8bet.com.au, has been launched in partnership between V8SA and Sportingbet Australia.

Sportingbet CEO Michael Sullivan says it's "the first time in Australia that a whole sport has signed up with a betting organisation to provide a betting platform for their fans".

V8SA executive chairman Tony Cochrane calls it "an exciting development". It's not a facility we envisage availing ourselves of, but perhaps it will be a service to those motorsport fans who love a punt.

We are glad, though, that it's starting at a round where the soft tyre compound won't be used. Punting is enough of a gamble, but punting on motor races with the wildcard of the soft tyre would be a lottery.

One possible development we do like the sound of though is raised in this week's Auto Action magazine -- the prospect of a return to the 4x2 race meetings of the 1980s and '90s, with superbikes on the bill with touring cars. It could start as early as this year's Phillip Island 500 in September, according to the AA report.

Hooray, we say. That's potentially a great way to take Australian motorsport forward for the fans; a case of "back to the future" being best. The support program at the country's major four-wheel championship has been overdue for some scrutiny and review, particularly why categories -- such as the Aussie Racing Cars -- come and go on the program.

In another good move, we note that those "Aussies" will be running with the two-wheelers at the Australian Superbike Championship round at Sydney's Eastern Creek on August 7-9.

But we digress ... back to Townsville. There is a bit of (funny) business to be examined by officials as the new street event gets underway today.

The weekly electronic version of Motorsport News raised the question of whether Tim Slade bringing out the safety car towards the end of the Sunday race in Darwin last month was unsporting.

"Stewards are set to investigate the reasons why the Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore of Tim Slade stopped when and where it did -- amid allegations that its technical problem was 'staged' to benefit teammate Russell Ingall (who was one of just two drivers to save his fast 'sprint' tyres for a late race two charge and desperately needed a safety car to compress the field)," Motorsport eNews reported.

More correctly, V8SA's investigating and prosecuting officer (IPO) Peter Wollerman is to take a look at the matter and decide whether to hand it on to the stewards. It's an interesting one this, although we can't see that it could bring anything more than a reprimand.

As Motorsport eNews editor Grant Rowley commented, the incident produced "the most intense finish of the season" and Team Morris could only be "guilty of setting up an entertaining race".

The format for Townsville's 2.9km, 13-turn circuit is a 200km race on both Saturday and Sunday -- that's 72 laps of racing each day.

To a very large extent it's a level playing field this weekend because it's a brand new track, but a look at the teams championship table tells us that, consistently, there are two teams, Triple 8 Race Engineering/Team Vodafone and Holden Racing Team, that are going to win most of the time.

Team Vodafone leads the championship with 2178 points to HRT's 2082. The gap is then more than 500 points to third-placed Garry Rogers Motorsport on 1536, with Dick Johnson/Jim Beam Racing on 1431 and Stone Brothers Racing on 1395.

These other teams, and the new Kelly Brothers outfit, the hugely disappointing Ford Performance Racing and perhaps the likes of Tasman Motorsport, are going to jag the occasional win, as GRM did in Darwin with Michael Caruso, but most often it's going to be Team Vodafone and HRT.

Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup has won six of the 10 championship races so far this season, yet he only leads HRT's Will Davison, who hasn't won any, by 144 points.

Davison's more experienced and former champion teammate Garth Tander won one race in Tasmania but is 74 points behind the HRT newcomer, with Lowndes 48 behind Tander.

It may take only one Whincup DNF for Davison to grab the championship lead, and that's got to be a chance. But Team Vodafone, Whincup and Lowndes are the street circuit specialists.

Whincup has won the last seven street races in the championship, and Lowndes won two of the three non-championship V8 Supercar races at this year's Melbourne Grand Prix on the streets of Albert Park. Whincup predicts that Townsville is going to be "really hard on tyres", but he has vowed that Team Vodafone will be "on the attack".

We note that, contrary to recent speculation about Whincup going elsewhere next year or contemplating retirement at 30 (in another four years), Auto Action editor-at-large Mark Fogarty reports this week that the Team Vodafone pair are set to stay put for another three years. The best decision by and for all parties, we reckon.

And, incidentally, we hear on the grapevine that the Mark Skaife/Tasman Motorsport tie-up for the Phillip Island and Bathurst endurance races that we'd been led to expect at Townsville may be a little longer coming.

Another Aussie star shines overseas
Earlier in the week we applauded the performances of Australians overseas last weekend -- Ryan Briscoe second in the latest IndyCar race, James Davison second in an Indy Lights race, Daniel Ricciardo second in two British Formula 3 races, and Marcos Ambrose sixth in a NASCAR Sprint Cup round.

But we were delighted to discover after that column was posted to learn that Newcastle youngster Josh Scott won a race in the British Formula Renault Championship on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit last weekend.

Scott had a suspension unit snap on his out lap in practice, which cost him 30 minutes, but he still took pole position -- by 0.02 seconds. He made a great start and built a gap on rival James Calado.

A safety car came out mid-race for three laps, which Scott said allowed him to cool his engine, brakes and tyres. Then he got another jump at the restart and, despite getting two wheels on the travel at one point, rebuilt his gap on Calado to score his first victory in the British Renault series.

"To win a race on a GP circuit is a bit special," Scott said.

Indeed. He was seventh in the later race at the meeting, having started sixth. His best results before Silverstone were two fourths at Thruxton, and generally he's been around eighth. One win doesn't mean he's made it, but good on the kid -- and we'll keep an eye out for any more success he has over there.

Manufacturer teams still at war with FIA
It's been a horror week for Formula 1. First Bernie Ecclestone goes making stupid remarks about Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein, for which he has since apologised unreservedly -- but it has left many people with the view that he's at his use-by date. And he's almost 80.

And at a meeting of the Federation de l'Automobile Internationale (FIA) and the F1 teams regarding next year's rules the eight FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) teams walked out. That was because the FIA's F1 technical head Charlie Whiting told them they had no voting rights because they were not fully entered for next season.

The FIA rejected a FOTA request to postpone the meeting. That left only Williams, Force India and new teams Campos, US F1 and Manor represented.

The FIA, stating that unanimous agreement would have been required to change the rules for next season at this stage, announced: "All changes have now been agreed subject only to the minimum (car) weight at 620kg and the signing of a legally binding agreement between all the teams competing in 2010 to reduce costs to the level of the early 1990s within two years, promised by the FOTA representative in Paris on June 24."

That FOTA representative was Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo.

It was after that Paris meeting, at which FIA president Max Mosley agreed not to run for election again in October, that the conditional entries of the eight FOTA teams for next season were announced to have come unconditional.

FOTA said after this week's fiasco: "It will be remembered that all eight active FOTA members were included on the 'accepted' entry list as endorsed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and communicated by FIA press statement (on June 24)."

And it added: "It is clear to the FOTA teams that the basis of the 2010 technical and sporting regulations was already established in Paris. As endorsed by the WMSC and clearly stated in the FIA press statement of June 24, 'the rules for 2010 onwards will be the 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to April 29, 2009'.

"At no point in the Paris discussions was any requirement for unanimous agreement on regulations change expressed. To subsequently go against the will of the WMSC and the detail of the Paris agreement puts the future of Formula 1 in jeopardy."

Of course there are other factors in this mix -- Mosley perceiving that the manufacturer teams were dancing on his grave and their resentment at his high-handedness, his use of the word "loonies" for some of their representatives and them invoking the term "dictatorial" for his presidential style.

There has also been fuss in recent days that new applicants for F1 next year -- and there were 15 -- were apparently told they would have to use Cosworth engines to secure an entry.

One upset applicant, perhaps Prodrive's David Richards we suspect (otherwise maybe Lola), claimed to have "a real possibility of obtaining a Renault, Mercedes or Ferrari engine".

An FIA spokesman has said: "The FIA has always considered the availability of an independent supply of engines to the new F1 entrants and the other independent teams to be a priority.

"Without the independent supply of F1 engines, the whole grid would be at the mercy of the car industry and no new team would be able to enter without their permission. Existing teams would also have to follow their instructions.

"An independent supply of engines is essential to a healthy F1."

Therein lies the crux of the matter -- it is the continuing stoush between Mosley and the car industry.

Finland's 1981 world rally champion Ari Vatanen, who had David Richards as his co-driver, and who also won the Dakar Rally four times, has emerged as a possible replacement, even challenger, for/to Mosley as FIA president.

Vatanen, who was a member of the European Parliament for a decade until recently, said: "At the moment I am consulting the (FIA) member clubs and am already seeing positive feedback.

"I am considering standing. I think the time has come for a change. I would go for it, even if not sure of winning."

Grandprix.com says Vatanen is rumored to have the support of the American Automobile Association (AAA) and probably the biggest European club, Germany's ADAC -- and that he was "very close to Jean Todt in his Peugeot days".

Todt has often been mentioned as a successor to Mosley, but his long involvement with Ferrari -- whose F1 team he ran as Michael Schumacher won five of his seven world championships -- is seen as unpalatable to the collective F1 teams -- although they do not have a vote in the FIA presidential election!

Might Vatanen actually be the man to replace Mosley, although if he did might Todt -- and even Mosley -- be pulling a few strings in the background?

Toyota says it won't host next year's Japanese GP at its Fuji Speedway because the global financial meltdown has made it "extremely difficult" to stage.

Fuji Speedway president Hiroaki Kato says the decision was "heart-breaking".

"I deeply apologise for being unable to live up to expectations," Kato said.

Toyota, the world's biggest and until the downturn most profitable, car maker has shown itself to be unwilling to continue fringe and unprofitable operations.

Japanese motor industry analyst Shigeru Matsumura says it would be no surprise if Toyota pulled out of F1.

In light of the commitment the FOTA teams made in Paris on June 24, to compete until at least 2012, it would be something of a U-turn, but in the context of the latest brawl with the FIA anything is now possible -- even revival of the alternative series idea.

This morning (Friday) we also read in Melbourne's Age newspaper that Australian GP chairman Ron Walker is threatening to withdraw that event from the F1 calendar if Ferrari is not there.

Just another load of huffing and puffing -- and grandstanding -- in this bunfight.

Red Bull v Brawn in Germany
The F1 season reaches its halfway point at the Nurburgring in Germany this weekend, with the country's new superstar Sebastian Vettel going for back-to-back wins after his British GP victory three weeks ago.

Vettel is the only driver other than Brawn GP's Jenson Button to have won this year, and Red Bull seems to believe it has genuinely caught the Brawn cars now.

McLaren-Mercedes has won in Germany the past two years -- at Hockenheim last year, and Nurburgring in 2007.

McLaren has no hope this time, but Brawn uses Mercedes engines.

Apart from Button, with six victories this season, his teammate Rubens Barrichello won at this circuit in the Eifel Mountains with Ferrari in 2002, beating Michael Schumacher in a straight fight, and has been on the podium there five times.

Barrichello's first GP win came in Germany, at Hockenheim in 2000, and he has been in the points 10 times in the country.

Vettel's Australian teammate Mark Webber was on the podium at Nurburgring two years ago.

We keep our fingers crossed for that breakthrough Webber victory, but Button, Barrichello and Vettel have all got to be better chances this weekend.

Oh, and with the prospect of 13 teams and 26 cars next year (provided the FIA and FOTA make peace), Canada's 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who last raced in F1 in 2006, wants to return.

Villeneuve said this week he was "looking about". He claimed "experienced drivers are handy" under the rules now, with slick tyres back and limited testing, and that "the human aspect is counting again".

And, Villeneuve said, "People want to see gladiators".

Yes, but of the Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Kubica generation, we reckon Jacques.

Some light shed on new Rally Oz
Less than two months now to the revival of Rally Australia and there's a big interview with the man behind, Garry Connelly, in this week's Auto Action.

As we read the interview, by AA editor-at-large Mark Fogarty, it occurred to us that, while Connelly has plenty of critics, even detractors, it must be acknowledged that he brought a World Rally Championship round to Western Australia more than two decades ago now, that it lasted almost 20 years there, and that now he has got a new event up in Northern NSW, against lots of opposition and with the protection of NSW government legislation.

We have made strong criticisms of Rally Australia here -- mainly about the farcical attempt to base it at Norwell in southern Queensland a couple of years ago -- but we must acknowledge Connelly's tenacity in overcoming so many odds to make this new Rally Oz a reality now.

We found three points in the AA interview particularly interesting:

>> Connelly admitting that it is "a bit cheeky" to be staging what is virtually a Queensland event (in the Tweed and Kyogle shires of Northern NSW) with NSW government funding.

>> That organisers of this new Rally Oz "don't want a lot of live spectators". Connelly told Fogarty: "We don't want it to go off with a big bang like '88 and '89 in Perth. We want to start slowly and build it up. We don't have a huge spectator capacity and we don't want a lot of live spectators. We want spectators that want a good experience and are prepared to pay for it, and that will bring economic impact to the region."

>> And that this new WRC round, to be held every second year on rotation with New Zealand, is "actually owned by Rally Australia Pty Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CAMS". So, Connelly says, "we don't have to make a profit, but we'd like to because we'd like to have money in reserve to run different types of events in the off years and that's going to take some funding. We'd like to develop some new-style events in off years. Starting at the top down, our shareholder is CAMS International Pty Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CAMS Ltd, and we have a board that comprises six people." Those six are Queensland solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff, QC, former Australian Automobile Association and NRMA president Alan Evans, Ticketek CEO and former Gold Coast Indy general manager Geoff Jones, five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, former CAMS board member Peter Marcovich, and Connelly. Controversially in the Northern Rivers region, Tweed Share general manager Mike Rayner is also involve.

It's quite an enlightening interview. And next week Connelly will talk about the politics of the FIA on which he sits -- and defend Max Mosley's leadership of it.

Garrett weighs in way too late
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says he's disappointed that special legislation has been used in NSW to give Rally Australia the green light.

"I know there's a lot of local opposition to this," Garrett said.

We have one question: why did Garrett wait until the legislation passed through the NSW Parliament to make this noise?

Bates doubt for Rally Oz, Evans shock in Beijing
Reigning Australian rally champion Neal Bates is not a certain starter for the new Rally Oz.

Bates' Super 2000 Toyota Corolla does not fit the rules and will need FIA regional homologation to come through in time for him to compete on the first weekend of September.

Bates' former teammate Simon Evans, winner of the two ARCs before the Canberra veteran's fourth title last year, has lucked in to a drive in the Beijing Rally this weekend.

Evans will fill the Subaru Rally Team China seat of West Australian Dean Herridge, who has been quarantined after being on a flight with a swine flu victim recently.

Instead of his usual co-driver, wife Sue, Evans will have Chris Murphy calling the pace notes for him this weekend.