MOTORSPORT: Triple Eight deal Holden's masterstroke

It is believed that Holden motorsport manager Simon McNamara had spent months before then negotiating with Triple Eight principal Roland Dane, who had been at loggerheads with Ford.

At Mt Panorama on Sunday the Team Vodafone Commodores finished first and second, in formation. Much is being made of the driving of Craig Lowndes -- and Mark Skaife who, in semi-retirement, has done two races this year for two wins and added a sixth Bathurst victory to his CV.

Skaife called Lowndes' performance "a Peter Brock drive". Indeed, Lowndes' mentor Brock would have been exceptionally proud of his protégé on Sunday.

Now a five-time Bathurst winner, Lowndes is in a purple patch after having been overshadowed by regular teammate Jamie Whincup in recent years. Not only has Lowndes won Bathurst this year but also the 500km warm-up at Phillip Island, and in between he triumphed in the Australasian Safari.

But Lowndes and Skaife won on Sunday because they were driving a Triple Eight Commodore, and Whincup and his co-driver Steve Owen were second for the same reason. There were clear signs of it all day, but when the whips cracked in the last hour the Triple Eight Commodores had sustained speed that other Holdens and the few Fords didn't.

Once Roland Dane had agreed to field Commodores this year for Whincup and Lowndes it was obvious that Holden, already with its factory-backed Holden Racing Team, was going to win a lot -- probably the majority -- of races. McNamara, unwisely, boasted pre-season that it was hard to see Ford winning a race this year.

The imbalance hasn't been that total, but Holden has won the prize that counts most -- the Great Race. It filled the podium, with HRT's Garth Tander and Cameron McConville third. And, had not Will Davison hit the wall with eight laps to go, Triple Eight and HRT could have filled the first four finishing positions.

Holden is reaping the rewards from having the two best teams in its camp.

Team Vodafone is undeniably the best in the business and, while the teams championship table this season doesn't reflect it, HRT in reality is still number two.

The official table shows it fifth -- behind Team Vodafone, Jim Beam/Dick Johnson Racing, Fujitsu Racing/Garry Rogers Motorsport and Ford Performance Racing.

But HRT won Bathurst and Phillip Island last year and, in what has been a poor 2010 season (particularly for Will Davison, and with the embarrassment of a door coming off the Tander-McConville car during a pitstop yesterday), Tander has still won two races this season and was on the podium at Bathurst.

Mark Winterbottom put his FPR Falcon on pole at the Mountain on Saturday but yet again the team has come away without winning the race that remains far and away the most important in the championship. Winterbottom and Luke Youlden finished ninth on Sunday.

James Courtney and Warren Luff drove the only other Falcon in the top 10 -- the fifth-placed Jim Beam/Dick Johnson Racing entry.

While Courtney said in the lead-up that he would be going all-out for victory on the Mountain it looked in the closing stages that he had his championship lead on his mind.

That lead over Whincup was trimmed from 179 to 125 points, while Lowndes has leapfrogged Winterbottom into third and Tander is fifth.

Next up, in less than a fortnight now, is the revamped Gold Coast round -- a total of 600km in three races with 17 international drivers. It could be entertaining, but it could also play havoc with championship campaigns.

Bathurst began with the spectacular (Fabian Coulthard's multiple barrel roll on the opening lap) and had its other highlights. The best of them was the midrace driving of part-timer David Besnard in leading, and keeping Lowndes at bay for so long, in the Fujitsu/GRM Commodore he shared with Lee Holdsworth.

But Besnard was both hero and villain. Speeding in the pitlane, even though he couldn't believe it was him, put the car back in the field when Holdsworth had to motor slowly through the pitlane, and ultimately out of contention to finish in the top three or five.

Jason Bright's speed in the lead-up to race day and ultimate fourth place with New Zealander Matt Haliday in the Trading Post Commodore was another highlight.

As always, Bathurst again ended up being pretty damned good, although it has a few problems. The field remains too small under the 31-car limit and it has become ever more like basketball -- all down to the last few minutes.

The dark clouds overhead did not dump any rain, but a sprinkle -- or more -- would have made things more interesting. And, despite the enormous commitment of the Seven Network and V8 Supercars TV, the telecast was light on for colourful interviews.

There were a few with drivers but not enough with team principals, let alone with celebrities or "personalities".

It needed a bit more spice, and we note that now there is an outcry that the vision was delayed -- almost half an hour at the end -- as Seven met its advertising priorities.

And that's before we even see the TV ratings.

V8 Supercar championship after 18 races: James Courtney (Jim Beam/Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon) 2323 points; Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone Holden Commodore) 2198; Craig Lowndes (Team Vodafone Commodore) 2039; Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Ford Performance Racing Falcon) 2030; Garth Tander (Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore) 1938.

It sounds good, but there's a danger in it. Webber's Red Bull Racing teammate Sebastian Vettel has now won the Japanese GP in consecutive years and, while Webber finished second this time, the young German is now level in second with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on 206 points, to Webber's 220.

Three races remain -- in Korea, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

Sunday's quinella was Red Bull's third one-two finish of the year. If they were to continue finishing first and second at the next two races, with Vettel ahead of Webber and seven points between winning (worth 25 points) and second place (18), they would have equal points going to the Abu Dhabi finale.

But, if that were to be the case, Vettel would have one more win than Webber by then -- five to four. That's to presume Webber doesn't win either of the next two GPs.

Vettel, on his day, or most days, is just a fraction quicker than Webber. The Aussie needs to win another race, or two (three would be ideal!) to put this title out of everyone else's reach and become Australia's third F1 world champion.

The Abu Dhabi finale, on November 14, is only a week after the Brazilian race at Interlagos in Sao Paulo. So it will all be settled in little more than a month now.

Formula One world championship after 16 races: Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 220 points; Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 206; Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 206; Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 192; Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 189.

Ricciardo, 21, from Perth, withstood the pressure of Russian rival Mikhail Aleshin for almost three quarters of an hour in torrential rain at the Catalunya circuit. However, he struggled for grip in the closing stages. Aleshin snuck past in a brilliant move three laps from the chequered flag to finish third in the race and end the season with 138 points to the Australian's 136.

The finale on the drenched track began behind the safety car with Ricciardo and Aleshin equal on 128 points after Ricciardo's runaway victory in Saturday's penultimate race. Trying to catch Aleshin on the final lap of the championship Ricciardo spun at the second last corner but recovered without losing his fourth spot.

Moscovite Aleshin paid tribute "for such an incredible fight" to his younger rival Ricciardo, who is already the regular F1 reserve driver for Red Bull Racing and was the year's top rookie in the Renault series.

Ricciardo said the rain-soaked finale -- which he started from the front row, ahead of Aleshin on the second row -- had been "a pretty long race".

"It's always more difficult to be defending rather than attacking," Ricciardo said.

"I just had no grip [at the end] -- I'm not sure if I had some oil on my tyres or something, but I was just drifting round the corners. It probably made for a great show for the spectators, but it's not the quickest way round a racetrack.

"Second in the championship is a great result in my rookie season," the youngster commented.

Argentinian Esteban Guerrieri started the finale from pole position and scored his sixth victory of the year, ahead of Ricciardo's French teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne. Ricciardo won four races and Aleshin three.

As the top rookie Ricciardo came close to emulating the 2005 feat of Poland's F1 driver Robert Kubica in winning the World Series by Renault in his first season.

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