Motorsport: VE a winner on track too

Monday motorsport reportMarch 5, 2007

It was a stunning competition debut for the VE Commodore, winning both 250km legs of the Clipsal 500.

Holden Racing Team's Todd Kelly took the honors in the first race and younger brother Rick did the trick in the second for HSV Dealer Team, ahead of Todd in a Kelly quinella.

In a curious twist to a points system already restructured this year, Rick -- who had been fourth in Saturday's race -- won the weekend yet Todd heads the championship, with 66 points to Rick's 58.

It was a massive morale boost for Holden, although it will now be interesting to see whether the old 'Win on Sunday, sell on Monday' adage holds true.

And HRT still has the matter of its ownership to clarify with the Touring Car Entrants Group by next Monday, the question being whether Mark Skaife's is still the true owner or whether Tom Walkinshaw has somehow got a slice of the action again.

Rick Kelly, though, answered in the best way he could the many critics of him taking the title last year without winning a single round.

He says carrying number 1 on his car, and the carping by Ford fans since his controversial title success over Craig Lowndes little more than two months ago, spurred him and the HSV Dealer Team to new heights.

"I'm stoked to win in the new car first time out," Kelly says.

"Several things have motivated us to get the job done this year.

"One of those things is having the No. 1 on the door.

"There is nothing better than having it out there on the car as you are fighting to win.

"We copped a little bit of grief from Ford fans, which again drove us to success this weekend.

"To stand on top of the podium is exactly what we were after."

Todd Kelly was just as happy, with good reason, although he admits he's had a few worries over the past couple of weeks as the HRT ownership row has simmered in public.

"A lot of the guys in the team have been concerned," he says.

"I just went away and hid for a couple of weeks and pretended nothing was happening.

"If we weren't going racing, I would have gone and done something cruisey and gone fishing or something."

From the Ford point of view, the big positive out of Adelaide was the emergence of James Courtney as a serious championship threat in his second full season of V8 Supercar racing with Stone Brothers.

Pole position, fastest lap in both races and second and third places in those races gave him a great start to the title chase, although his race starts were dreadful -- something he'll be intent on improving for the second round of the series at Perth's Wanneroo track on March 24-25.

Embattled Skaife was 14th and seventh in the two races to be ninth in the championship, while Craig Lowndes -- the subject of tonight's Australian Story on ABC-TV, isn't in the top 10.

Stone Bros head the teams championship, aided by Russell Ingall's form as well as that of Courtney, with 92 points to reigning champion HSV's 88 (although Garth Tander was classified only 10th for the weekend) and HRT's 87.

V8 Supercar Championship after first of 14 rounds -- T. Kelly (Holden) 66 points, R. Kelly (H) 58, J. Courtney (Ford) 55, J. Whincup (F) 45, R. Ingall (F) 37, S. Johnson (F) 31, G. Tander (H) 30, S. Richards (F) 24, M. Skaife (H) 21, M. Winterbottom (F) 20.

Ford boss flags end of honeymoon
It was only a matter of time in view of the financial shape Ford - and Holden - are in, but the Blue Oval's Australian boss has publicly signalled that the big bucks the company has tipped into V8 Supercar racing won't be as big in future.

Ford president Tom Gorman is reported in today's Melbourne Age newspaper saying the company will have to start withdrawing financial support to teams and drivers to reflect the changing balance of the company's product portfolio -- that is, the fading fortunes of its biggest-selling model, the Falcon.

"In coming months, some teams and drivers will receive less 'love' from Ford as the company starts to measure results closely in a bid to more accurately allocate its finite marketing budget," writes Age motor industry correspondent Ian Porter.

Gorman tells Porter: "We are committed to motorsport, but I'm not sure we will be committed at the same levels that we have been.

"We put a lot of pressure on our employees to perform. We put a lot of pressure on our suppliers to perform. We put a lot of pressure on our dealers to perform.

"Teams that don't perform are not going to be rewarded to the same level, and the same with drivers.

"If you don't do well, maybe there won't be as much love as there used to be."

Gorman says existing contracts will be honored, but there may not be too much warmth in the air when renewal time comes.

'Low, dirty' Montoya wins, Ambrose eighth
Formula 1 renegade Juan Pablo Montoya has won his first NASCAR race -- in the Busch series round on the road course in Mexico City early today, with Australian Marcos Ambrose finishing eighth after starting 12th.

Ambrose jumped to equal fifth -- with Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick -- in the Busch championship standings as Montoya controversially spun his Ganassi teammate Scott Pruett out of the lead with eight laps left in the 200-mile (320km) race, the third in the series.

"Of all the people to take you out -- your teammate,'' says Pruett. "That was just lowdown, nasty, dirty driving.''

Montoya, who also races in NASCAR'S premier Nextel Cup (which did not have a round in Mexico), says: "I'm very sorry about what happened with Scott. I thought he saw me and when he came across I had no room to go.''

Denny Hamlin, who was right behind the pair at the time, says: "I wouldn't call it dirty driving, but it was a bit aggressive. Juan had the fastest car and he would have taken the lead sooner or later. He was overzealous."

Pruett ended up fifth, behind series leader Carl Edwards.

Now NASCAR moves on to Las Vegas, where the Nextel Cup, Busch and the pick-up series all have oval races next weekend.

In any case, Besnard will return to his open-wheeler roots by driving in the NZ Grand Prix next weekend.

At the fifth round of the V8 championship at Timaru, John McIntyre drove his Ford back into the series lead by eight points from previous leader, Kayne Scott in a Holden, with Ford drivers Angus Fogg and Besnard third and fourth.

McIntyre won the round with a win in the first race, a second to Holden driver Andy Booth in the next race, and 12th in the reverse-grid third race that Scott won easily -- and controversially.

Scott missed the first race on Saturday because he was competing in the Fujitsu series round in Adelaide, where he had a steering failure in the first race while third, then finished sixth in the next race before rushing home to NZ.

Scott started the second race at Timaru from the back of the grid but charged through the field to eighth -- and a starting position near the front in the reverse-grid race, which sparked protests from other leading drivers.

Those protests fell on dead ears among the officials and in the race Scott quickly took the lead and ran away from the pack.

Besnard and Fogg collided, had to pit and Fogg received a drive-through penalty -- at which Besnard was "ropeable".

"Foggy dead-set turned me around and all he got was a drive-through. I got an endorsement on my licence at Taupo for tapping somebody and he gets just a drive-through? He cost me a meeting win," Besnard says.

"I love the series, but it's enough to make me think twice about coming back."

Next weekend Besnard will drive a Toyota at Teretonga in the NZ GP.

Daniel Gaunt extended his lead in the Toyota series at Timaru with two wins after Andy Knight won Saturday's first race of the round.

Teenager Shane Van Gisbergen notched another three podium finishes to retain second in the series.

"I don't have any other experience in life that compares to how much your heart pumps out of your chest during a tarmac rally stage," Bana says.

"I just don't think anything compares to it -- circuit racing, performing live, doing stand-up comedy, being on a tonight show."

Targa Tasmania, from April 17-22, is billed as the ultimate tarmac rally.

Bana has owned the Falcon for 23 years and says his Targa outing will form part of a motor sport documentary he is making.

He previously drove in Targa in 1996 and has recently been in Tassie familiarising himself with this year's course.

He says the long preparation of the Falcon has been "a labor of love".

"Targa Tasmania is a fantastic showcase of classic cars and I reckon the XB GT coupe will bring back a lot of good memories for many of the fans watching the rally as it makes its way around Tasmania," Bana says.

Event director Mark Perry says Bana "is a good steerer" and could sneak into the top 10.

Bana's co-driver is his long-time friend and fellow motoring enthusiast Tony Ramunno.

Bill Pye is the outright favourite this year in a Porsche Carrera, but a more direct competitor for Bana's Falcon will be Peter O'Keefe's Holden Torana SLR5000.

The modern field again includes eight-time winner Jim Richards with Barry Oliver in a Porsche, other previous winners Jason and John White in a Lamborghini, Tony Longhurst in a Subaru Impreza and new tarmac rallying ace Alan Simonsen in a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Outwardly similar to its predecessor, the WRC2007 has been tested recently on gravel roads in Italy and Spain but has had a fairly low-key launch and Atkinson is much more understated about its likely performance than his Norwegian former world champion teammate Petter Solberg.

"It's going to be interesting to tackle the first proper gravel rally of the season," Atkinson says.

"We've been in the points in Mexico before and that's certainly the aim again this year.

"However, we'll only be able to predict our overall performance level when we see where the improvements of our new car put us in relation to the other teams."

The more upbeat Solberg says: "We had a very good test in Spain and found some interesting developments with the car.

"It seems to have good traction and my feeling is that there are many areas where we have taken a step forward from last year.

"We may still have a few areas to work on, but that is something we can do during Rally Mexico or at the next test.

"I feel quite happy with the preparation we have done.

"Mexico is a rally we like a lot. I have always gone quite well there.

"Hopefully this event is going to be the start of a new phase for the team and we just have to build it up from here for the rest of the season (with 12 rounds after Mexico, but no Rally Australia this year)."

Subaru World Rally Team's director of engineering Steve Farrell says: "The targets were to produce a car that has a more responsive front end with better traction and more balanced tyre wear, particularly on longer stages.

"To achieve that, we have applied a different philosophy into areas such as weight distribution, suspension geometry and differential set-ups.

"We also have new dampers to improve road-holding and traction.

"The car also has a different radiator and intercooler pack.

"We made an evolution in the middle of last season and, with the benefit of the new homologation, we've been able to make a further step on that.

"We have simplified the layout, which has improved the air flow, made the front end of the car easier to service and lost some weight.

"Externally, the differences are relatively subtle.

"The front bumper has been restyled to suit the new radiator pack and the bonnet vents are different -- we have twin side exits on the bonnet this time rather than one central one."

Singapore alight at GP prospect
The mooted night grand prix on the streets of Singapore could be confirmed within days.

Singapore's Today newspaper says the new race could either be in April or August next year. September had been mentioned earlier.

Today quoted a source saying: "I can confirm that Singapore is on the calendar next year and it could either be the third race of the season or towards the end of the season in August."

Singapore tycoons Ong Beng Seng and Arthur Tay have been vying for the key role in staging the event but it is now speculated they may join forces.

Alonso gives Ferrari early edge
Formula 1 world champion of the past two seasons, Fernando Alonso, who has moved from Renault to McLaren this year, concedes Ferrari is the most likely winner of the early rounds of the world championship, starting in Melbourne on March 18.

Alonso told Spain's Telecinco it might be mid-season before his Mercedes-powered McLaren is competitive with the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

While most have completed pre-season testing, Mark Webber's Red Bull team will be trying a new aerodynamic package for the Adrian Newey-designed, Renault-powered RB3 at Magny Cours in France early this week while Toyota will be at Jerez in Spain.

Toyota is reputed to be the biggest spender in F1 but its TF107 has been the slowest of the cars from the manufacturer-backed teams in weeks of testing.

"Obviously we have some issues to sort out, but we will work hard at that this week," driver Ralf Schumacher says.

Red Bull is pinning its hopes on the latest aerodynamics getting the RB3 somewhere near the pace after generally poor form throughout extensive testing in Spain and Bahrain to give Webber and David Coulthard some hope in Melbourne.

Before the cars of all 11 teams are loaded for flights to Melbourne next weekend, Scuderia Toro Rosso (formerly Minardi) will give a second Ferrari-engined STR2 a run at Mugello in Italy while Spyker (formerly Midland and originally Jordan) will shake down a third F8-VII at Silverstone in Britain.

Super Aguri has cancelled its launch planned for Tokyo next Monday and will instead simply roll out its SA07 at its garage at the Albert Park track two days later -- and the day before scrutineering.

That's when the argument over the legality of the Toro Rosso and Super Aguri cars will come to a head, with rivals -- particularly Williams and Spyker - claiming they are "customer" versions of Red Bull and Honda factory cars.

Still a standoff over Bunbury
CAMS, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, has reiterated that it has not heard a peep directly from the developers and promoters of the proposed $30 million Bunbury International Circuit in south-west Western Australia, which is curious for a track hoping to host international -- primarily Asian -- events.

CAMS says in its second missive on the subject that it "has been forwarded copies of various promotional materials which we understand were distributed recently in relation to the proposed BIC being developed by Perth International Motorsport Management (PIMM)".

"CAMS notes the use of the words 'FIA-approved circuit' and 'FIA-approved international events' in this material and reiterate our previous media release of  February 22 which advises that any legitimate international competition within Australia can only be organised under the auspices of the FIA and, in this case, through their sole delegated authority for motor sport in Australia, CAMS.

"PIMM have made no formal application to CAMS requesting an FIA-approved racing circuit application be lodged."

Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Teri Schwartz rejected moves for a retrial after Goodwin was found guilty in January.

Thompson, who was briefly in a motorsport promotions business with Goodwin in the early 1980s, and his wife were gunned down in the driveway of their eastern Los Angeles home on March 16, 1988, by two hooded men who then escaped on bicycles.

Prosecutors say the gunmen shot Thompson repeatedly but kept him alive to watch his wife's murder before they shot him in the head.

The prosecutors say Goodwin ordered the hit. The gunmen have never been identified.

Thompson was the first American to top 400mph (640km/h) on land, held about 500 land-speed records and ran cars in the Indianapolis 500 before turning to race promotion. He was credited with bringing off-road racing to stadium events.

Goodwin lost a bitter two-year court battle to Thompson shortly before the double murder.

The killings became the subject of several national television shows in the US.

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