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Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Tracing Monterrey
Paul Tracy has gotten off to the best start of his ten year CART career, taking his second victory of the season at Mexico's Fundidora Park. Against the industrial backdrop of the old steelworks, Tracy fought against the parochial crowd as for the second race in a row it was local boy Michel Jourdain Jr who took the fight to the Canadian.
Into the first corner Sebastien Bourdais made the most of his pole position and led Tracy, Alex Tagliani, Oriol Servia and Jourdain across the line. The leading pair already had a substantial gap on the field. The gap was quickly removed by the race's first yellow for Tiago Montiero in Emerson Fittipaldi's car, who pulled off track at turn ten with mechanical dramas.
The two leaders again leapt away very quickly from the pursuit and again had it quickly brought back again by another dead car as Patrick Lemarie stopped on the straight beside the pits. It was a temporary measure with Lemaire restarting. Half the field pitted, including all bar one of the leaders. The Newman-Haas team called in Bourdais, but radio problems meant the Frenchman missed the call. The damage was limited when Rodolfo Lavin spun and stalled on the racing line at the restart, giving Bourdais a second chance, albeit at the cost of much track position.
After starting well Servia was having a rough time. After an earlier clash with new boy Alex Yoong, he spun and clouted a tyre barrier after turn four. With the pace car out Tracy led a bunch of cars pitward on lap 40. Tracy would need all of his huge lead as he stalled exiting the pits, but managed to clear pit lane before Jourdain could pass. Elsewhere Bourdais rubbed the wall at one point, damaging his rear suspension. He tried to continue for several laps but the team eventually retired the pole sitter.
Junqueira was now third ahead of Tagliani and another crowd hero, Adrian Fernandez. Fernandez picked up another spot at the restart after Junqueira spun down field. With Bourdais suffering on track it looked like Newman-Haas's undefeated record at Fundidora Park had come to an end. All this brought a third Mexican into the top five, Mario Dominguez, and the crowd were responding accordingly.
Dominguez was first of the leaders in for his final stop on lap 63 with Fernandez following two laps later. A lap later and Tracy led in Jourdain and the flying Junqueira. Dominguez clashed with Darren Manning sending the local off field, but the nearby safety crew restarted the Lola-Ford before a pace car could be called for.
All his hard work undone, Tracy now only led Jourdain by two car lengths with Ryan Hunter-Reay in the middle of that gap, and the massive local crowd responded, trying their best to convert sound into horsepower for their hero. Tracy jumped at the start for four frantic laps, not helped in the slightest as Jourdain instantly swept Hunter-Reay aside. Tracy pulled a gap the hard way and wound the final four laps down.
Tags won the battle for third, giving Rocketsports Racing a podium on only their second attempt, with Fernandez holding fourth from Junqueira. Moreno placed sixth while Manning had a quiet run to seventh. Carpentier recovered from his embarrassment to finish eighth, ahead of an unobtrusively impressive performance from rookie Yoong.
Tracy now has an eleven point lead on Jourdain and 19 point lead on Junqueira. Next up is the palm trees of Long Beach, California.
Result of Tecate Telmex Grand Prix, Champ Car World Series, Round 2 of 18, Fundidora Park, Mexico:
Standings: Paul Tracy 43, Michel Jourdain Jr 32, Bruno Junqueira 24, Roberto Moreno 18, Alex Tagliani 14, Mario Haberfeld and Adrian Fernandez 12, Patrick Carpentier 10, Jimmy Vasser 8, Darren Manning and Tiago Monteiro 6 etc.
To Crash and to Win
Tony Kanaan took his debut Indy Racing League victory at one of the United States long standing open-wheeler traditions, Phoenix International Raceway. It was a win that was more or less handed to him on a platter after his team boss Michael Andretti, having his third last race before retirement, collided with Gil de Ferran in the closing stages, leaving only two laps to be raced under green flag conditions at the end.
"I got to say, it was like I won the race," said Andretti. "Tony saved the day for me, obviously, with what happened. First thing I was doing, I was looking at the damage thinking, "Oh, man, this is going to cost a lot of money." Tony ends up bringing home some good prize money that will pay for it."
Accidents were very much the theme of the race. The other driver in that incident, Gil de Ferran, was taken to hospital, as was Roger Yasukawa in an unrelated accident. Yasukawa was admitted as a precaution only, but de Ferran sufferred a minor fracture of the lower back. De Ferran missed the IRL finale last year after receiving a severe concussion in the penultimate IRL event last season. The dual CART champion has had a mixed bag of luck since moving to the IRL.
Qualifying saw two completely different cars, a GForce-Toyota and a Dallara-Honda, vie for the pole. It was the Dallara that took the pole, Tony Kanaan topping the time sheets at 178.512 miles per hour. Felipe Giaffone completed an all Brazilian front row in the Mo Nunn car ahead of last start victor Scott Dixon, and reigning Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves. Michael Andretti was next with Kenny Brack in sixth. Half a second covered the top dozen.
At the start it all went wrong for Kanaan with the Andretti-Green car slow away, baulking Giaffone for good measure. All this allowed Dixon to blast around the front row to take the lead from Giaffone, Kanaan, a fast starting de Ferran, Castroneves and Brack. But the yellows were out before lap two was completed. De Ferran spun exiting turn two without hitting anyone. Castroneves was forced high and Dario Franchitti forced low to avoid the rotating Penske Dallara. Tora Takagi was not as fortunate, bending his GForce-Toyota on the inside wall.
Giaffone returned to the lead from Yasukawa, Castroneves, Kanaan and Franchitti. Yasukawa finally pitted on lap 86 on fumes, only to just miss a yellow on lap 89 for debris. The rest of the field pitted and refreshed. Andretti stayed out and took up the lead from Giaffone, Castroneves, Franchitti and Tomas Scheckter. Just past half distance Yasukawa's sensational race ended in the wall.
Andretti was swamped by Giaffone at the restart, the form of the Mo Nunn car awesome to behold. It lasted two laps before a debris came out for an errant Scott Sharp front wing aerofoil. Several of the leaders pitted bringing Kanaan up to the plate and at the restart was persued hard by Sarah Fisher and the pair opened a gap on Castroneves, Giaffone and Scheckter.
Yellows flew again on lap 154 after Jaques Lazier spun without creasing anything. Fisher pitted among others and was released from the pits before her front left wheel was securely attached. Fisher stopped immediately but the car had to be dragged back to the pit bay to be reserviced. She made it back out before the pace car came around again, but it was close.
Kanaan bolted at the restart and blasted away from Castroneves ahead of Giaffone, Al Unser Jr and Andretti. Within a few laps the flying de Ferran joined battle with Andretti. De Ferran had a big look up the inside on lap 186 and the following lap dived into turn one, and got level, but Andretti turned in. There was contact and both cars flew into the wall heavily, with de Ferran impacting backwards.
It would be a long yellow and the race finally went green on lap 198. Kanaan got the start he needed to clear away quickly from the field and win. Castroneves could do little but finish second ahead of Giaffone, Unser and Kenny Brack. Jaques Lazier survived his spin to finish sixth ahead of Scott Sharp while Sarah Fisher claimed eighth.
Kanaan now holds the series lead by nine points from Castroneves with Dixon dropping to third, some 24 points adrift. The series now enters the strangest time in its history, leaving the US for the first time, for Motegi, Japan, the home of Honda (and indirectly Toyota) in three weeks' time before returning in time for the month of May and Indianapolis.
Result of Purex Dial Indy 200, Indy Racing League, Round 2 of 16, Phoenix International Raceway, Arizona, United States:
Drivers' Standings: Tony Kanaan 84, Helio Castroneves 75, Scott Dixon 60, Gil de Ferran 58, Felipe Giaffone 57, Scott Sharp 56, Jaques Lazier 54, Kenny Brack and Al Unser Jr 49, Michael Andretti 45 etc.
Busch's Bristol
After threatening to win other races this season, including missing out by inches at Darlington last week, Kurt Busch finally sealed the deal at Bristol, the same venue where he scored his first Winston Cup victory a year ago. Busch's win headed home a 1-2-5 finish for Roush, with Roush power also featuring in Ricky Rudd's fourth placed car, ending a run of engine failures for Roush. Roush also had good news with rookie Greg Biffle's scoring his best ever finish in fifth place. Kenseth's second place finish further cements his place at the top of the points chase, holding a gigantic 138 point lead after just six races, with teammate Kurt Busch moving just ahead of Tony Stewart and Michael Waltrip.
The race finally saw a few green flag laps after it resumed on lap 29, with Rusty Wallace taking the lead into turn one from Gordon, before they swapped places back 5 laps later. Lap 42 saw Earnhardt Jr move past Wallace to third as Gordon led comfortably. The next caution came out on lap 56 when Tony Raines blew an engine and stopped on the track. All except five cars pitted, Mike Skinner the first off pit road to restart sixth, while a late decision to pit saw Wallace fall from third to 30th. Gordon now led from Terry Labonte, Jeff Green, Matt Kenseth, who had started 37th and had been making his way steadily through the field, and Elliott Sadler. The race restarted on lap 63 but was back under caution on lap 69 when Ryan Newman came down on Tony Stewart, spinning Newman, who lightly collected a couple of cars as he sat broadside, while Steve Park hit Jimmie Johnson as they both tried to avoid Newman, Park's car joining a growing list of cars behind the wall for repairs.
Back to green on lap 74, Gordon easing away from teammate Labonte early, before Labonte closed in and sat on Gordon's bumper. Dale Earnhardt Jr was moving up the field, taking over third near lap 100, while Kurt Busch was going the other way. Jimmy Spencer, who had run well in the early laps, was also making his way up through the field, taking third from Earnhardt Jr on lap 129. The next caution came out soon after on lap 136 when Mike Skinner hit the wall hard after his right front tyre blew, everyone else heading to the pits for fuel and tyres. Gordon led Spencer, Earnhardt Jr and Terry Labonte off pit road, the race restarting on lap 142.
Yet another caution came out on lap 200 when cars running three wide down the backstretch eventually led to an incident on the frontstretch where Mark Martin was spun around, another car going behind the wall, Casey Mears also being tipped into a spin. Those that hadn't pitted at the previous caution stopped this time, including Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Bobby Labonte, Gordon dropping from the lead to outside the top 15 as Kevin Harvick took over the lead, the race back underway on lap 205. Previous leader Spencer was on the way up, soon moving in to second and challenging Harvick.
Lap 210 saw Robby Gordon slide high and kiss the wall while running in fifth, damaging the car and slowly losing places. Lap 217 and Spencer took Harvick to lead once again, just before the caution came out on lap 219 when Jerry Nadeau hit the inside wall on the frontstretch after battling to lap Ryan Newman, which saw him check up just enough that Brett Bodine tapped him into a spin, putting Nadeau's car behind the wall. Back to green on lap 223 but it was back to yellow on 227 when Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch harmlessly spun after everyone checked up, Labonte getting a little tap from teammate Tony Stewart! Ricky Rudd also got sideways but caught the slide. Elliott Sadler was forced to pit to remove some debris from another car in the right side of his car.
The race restarted on lap 250 as Spencer still led Harvick, but it was soon back under yellow again on lap 257 after Jamie McMurray was spun by Ward Burton after checking up to not spin Robby Gordon, McMurray then bouncing off Burton while Tony Stewart got squeezed between the wall and Ricky Rudd as Rudd avoided McMurray, the front of Stewart's car lifting up off the ground as it got squashed between the rear of Rudd and the wall.
Lap 263 and Spencer led Kevin Harvick, Earnhardt Jr, Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who was slowly moving back to the front, Earnhardt Jr losing several places soon after the restart as Johnson, Gordon and Kenseth fought for third, Kenseth relieving Gordon of fourth on lap 282 with a little help from Kenseth's bumper, and passing Johnson before lap 300. Kurt Busch was also on the move, taking fifth from Gordon on lap 314 as he marched to the front, as teammate Kenseth almost simultaneously took second from Harvick. Ten laps later Busch passed Johnson for fourth as Kenseth pressured Spencer for the lead.
Lap 357 saw the beginning of pit stops for leading cars, Spencer the first to do so, having been passed a few laps earlier by Gordon, while lap 359 saw Kenseth let Busch through into the lead as Jimmie Johnson hit the pits. The dicing between the leading duo had allowed Gordon and Labonte to close right in on the teammates at the front. Earnhardt Jr, worried about pitting under green, ran until he ran out of fuel, not losing much time due to the half-mile length of Bristol, Gordon and Kenseth pitting soon after as leaders continued to pit. Labonte was still out there and passed Busch for the lead as those who pitted under the last couple of cautions stayed out on the track.
And then it happened. Dale Jarrett, driving around in a car with no bodywork ahead of the windscreen, hit the wall exiting turn four, eventually ending up against the inside wall entering the pits off turn two, bringing out the caution on lap 390. This turned the race upside-down. Everyone except Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd and Greg Biffle were a lap or more down, either due to accidents, poor handling or being forced to pit under green, pit stops trapping front-runners such as Spencer, Kenseth, Johnson and Gordon down a lap or two. All those on the lead lap pitted, the order now Labonte, Busch, Marlin, Rudd, Biffle. Some of those a lap down also made stops.
Lap 425 and it was back to caution again, Robby Gordon and Ward Burton bouncing against each other, sending Burton into a spin and the inside wall, who then collected Kyle Petty as he came to a stop in turn one, sending Petty hard into the outside wall. Biffle and Marlin took this opportunity to make pit stops, as Petty was taken out of the track in an ambulance to hospital for precautionary checks. Back to green on lap 439, Busch continuing to run just ahead of Bobby Labonte, as Rudd faded, losing third to Kenseth on lap 446, and soon had Biffle on his tail, Biffle taking fourth with 37 to go in the 500 lap event. Up front Labonte was pressuring Busch but unable to find a way through.
As the leaders began lap 472, Mark Martin spun just in front of them, recovering safely. However, he left a cloud of smoke, which saw John Andretti check up. Tony Stewart didn't and ran into Andretti, followed soon after by Joe Nemechek who ran into the now slow moving Stewart, bringing out the seventeenth caution of the day on lap 473, with Stewart and Nemechek's cars both suffering major damage. Rudd and Marlin hit the pits as they were already the last two cars on the lead lap. Lap 482 saw the race restart, Kenseth taking second from Labonte into turn three after the restart, setting off after Busch, as Rudd pressured Biffle for fourth, taking the place with 12 to go. Up front Kenseth closed but was never close enough, Busch taking the win ahead of teammate Kenseth, Bobby Labonte third. Rookie Greg Biffle had his best ever Winston Cup finish with a fifth place, while Jeff Gordon recovered from his green flag pit stop, ending the race in ninth place.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 6 of 36, Food City 500, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee, United States:
Standings: Matt Kenseth 935, Kurt Busch 797, Tony Stewart 788, Michael Waltrip 786, Dale Earnhardt Jr 749, Jimmie Johnson 743, Ricky Craven 735, Bobby Labonte 732, Ricky Rudd 695, Jeff Gordon 694 etc.
One All, But Skaife Shows The Way
At the start of race one, polesitter Jason Bright held onto the lead from Mark Skaife, with Greg Murphy nipping ahead of Marcos Ambrose. As Skaife, Murphy and Ambrose diced, Murphy was awarded a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, taking it at the end of lap 2. This allowed Ambrose to hassle Skaife, dropping him to 32nd. This allowed Ambrose to attack Skaife as Bright began to stretch away, Skaife so desperate to keep Ambrose behind that he nearly squeezed Ambrose into the wall. After 7 laps the dicing duo began to close the gap to Bright, Skaife getting onto Bright's tail soon after, at the same time Ambrose dropping just off Skaife's tail. Further back Russell Ingall was attacking, turning John Bowe around after attempting a pass and then trying to back out of it, Ingall suffering minor damage to the front of his car in the process, while Bowe dropped almost to the back.
The leading trio were in a race of their own, Skaife pressuring Bright for lap after lap before finally taking the lead on lap 22 at the hairpin. There was more bad news for Murphy as he had another drive-through, this time for speeding in pit lane at his first pit stop as the teams began to make their first stops. Skaife, Bright and Ambrose were in for fuel on lap 26, 27 and 28 respectively, Bright having spun and lost time just previous to his stop, dropping him behind Ambrose. Most of the teams followed in to make their second stops soon after, Skaife and Bright taking tyres on lap 33, Skaife losing a little time behind leader Lowndes who was yet to stop and began to smoke a couple of laps later and retiring, while Bright ran down an escape road straight after his stop, losing more time than he had just gained at the pit stop. Ambrose stopped two laps later, and thanks to a quick stop, emerging just in front of Skaife.
At the front Ambrose continued to edge away as the gap between the next three cars slowly increased. Meanwhile Johnson, Ingall and Todd Kelly managed to pull away from the train to have their own private dice, Kelly right on Ingall's rear bumper. Eventually on lap 66 Kelly took the place back from Ingall, and then with three laps remaining he stole fifth from Johnson as Ambrose went on to take the win from Skaife, Bright falling well back, just holding off Steven Richards. Murphy recovered well from his three penalties to finish the race in tenth place, just behind teammate Rick Kelly.
With the grid of race two determined by the finishing order of race one, Marcos Ambrose was now on pole, but was beaten into turn one by Mark Skaife, with Steven Richards and Jason Bright next up. Into the final hairpin on lap one, Steven Richards dived inside Ambrose to take over second, allowing Skaife to skip away up front. However, lap two then saw Anthony Tratt outbrake himself at turn four, burying himself in the tyres. This was further compounded when Jason Richards, in Team Dynamik's championship debut, repeated the error and ran straight into the back of Tratt's car, putting Tratt further into the tyres and ending both their races. This brought out the safety car for a couple of laps before the race restarted on lap 5.
Lap 19 saw the first of the leaders in for a pit stop, Bright taking tyres, putting him back on the track in the middle of traffic. Back in the field cars were dicing furiously, as they had in race one, with cars passing and then passing each other back, including running three wide out of the hairpin! Skaife was next in on lap 26, taking fuel, Ambrose doing the same three laps later, Bright making his second stop on the same lap as Ambrose's first. Skaife was back in for his second stop on lap 30, with Ambrose following suit a lap later, Ambrose having a slow stop after having trouble with the right rear. Even worse though was HRT's effort with Todd Kelly at the same time, dropping the car off the jacks with only three wheels attached, Kelly's stop taking almost half a minute.
With most of the cars having made both stops, the safety car coming out on lap 39 for John Bowe's dead car on pit straight didn't greatly benefit or harm anyone. The order now was Skaife, Bright, Richards and Ambrose. Meanwhile Ingall was sixth, Todd Kelly eleventh and Lowndes thirteenth. Back to racing on lap 43, with Richards looking to the inside coming down the back straight but Bright blocked, causing Richards to lock up as he entered the hairpin, running wide. This allowed Ambrose to get alongside on the exit, and with superior speed Ambrose took the place. Coming into turn four on lap 44 there was more action as Bargwanna turned in across Rodney Forbes, sending Bargwanna spinning and Forbes and Lowndes down the escape road in avoidance, dropping Lowndes from 14th to 24th.
This was soon followed by what would have to be described as an unusual incident, which saw the safety car make another appearance on lap 51. Just after Max Wilson crossed the finish line to complete lap 50, the car of Simon Wills shed part of the rear bumper's diffuser. This flew into the air and hit Max Wilson's windscreen, shattering a section of it, spraying small fragments of glass into the car, including into Wilson's eye, with Wilson parking his car in the chicane's gravel trap to pull out of the race and seek treatment for his eyes, washing his eyes out with water on the spot. He was taken to hospital, and has since been discharged, thankfully cleared of any permanent damage.
Soon it was back to racing on lap 55, with Ambrose getting a great restart, forcing Skaife to defend at turns four, five and six, before Ambrose thought about repeating his earlier move on Bright. He was halfway alongside Skaife when he realised Skaife was still going to turn in, and tried to back out of it. In his efforts to do so, he lightly tapped Skaife and got himself crossed up, allowing Richards to drive up the inside of him out of the turn and get three quarters of a car length up on him out of the turn. But Ambrose's car was quick in a straight line and he regained the ascendancy before the 200+ km/h sweeper, but Richards wasn't done with yet and took the place from Ambrose into the first hairpin. At the same time Ingall moved up the inside of Bright, but went in too deep, allowing Steven Johnson, Garth Tander and Greg Murphy to pass both of them as Ingall stayed ahead of Bright.
Later that lap Murphy had a look to pass Johnson into the final hairpin, but only got partly alongside, making contact as Johnson turned in, Murphy able to go through. However Murphy must've been worried the pass wasn't entirely fair, immediately conceding the place back to Johnson. Lap 66 saw Ambrose dive down the inside of Richards at turn four again, going past but immediately running wide as he couldn't find enough grip to pull the car up on the dirty side of the track, falling into the clutches of the pack behind him, Steven Johnson right on his bumper with Murphy and Ingall behind him, all looking for a way past each other. Lap 67 saw bad signs for Ambrose as his car became quite taily through the sweeper, his car suffering suspension damage from the pounding of the kerbs.
Lap 68 saw the safety car make another appearance after Dean Canto wrecked his car at turn seven as well as Steven Ellery losing a wheel nut and subsequently a wheel. With Ambrose's car wounded, it would be an interesting last seven laps to see how he coped as the race restarted on lap 72, as once again Ambrose's car was taily through the sweeper, even more so than before, allowing Johnson, Murphy and Ingall to pass him into and out of the first hairpin. Coming through the other hairpin at the end of the lap he lost another place as Paul Weel made a move before Ambrose powered back through as they completed lap 72. Again Ambrose was taily through the sweeper on lap 73, and again he lost a place at the hairpin, this time to Weel, as Todd Kelly lost a few places on the exit as he got caught up in the confusion. Into the final hairpin Murphy outbraked himself, allowing Ingall to move into fourth.
The final lap was a quiet one position wise apart from Dumbrell conceding eighth place to Lowndes as Skaife took a comfortable victory ahead of Richards, with Ingall finishing third. Well, he was third over the line, but Ingall was later demoted to twelfth for his contact with Murphy, Craig Baird also being demoted a place for careless driving. Steven Ellery also felt the wrath of the stewards, being excluded from race two though the reasons for the exclusion were not disclosed.
Result of V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 1 of 13, Clipsal 500, Adelaide Street Circuit, Australia:
Standings: Mark Skaife 189, Steven Richards 180, Jason Bright 171, Todd Kelly 168, Paul Radisich 150, Paul Weel 147, Paul Dumbrell and Russell Ingall 141, Greg Murphy 135, Simon Wills 123 etc.
V8 Supercar points distribution
Nissan In Action
The World Series by Nissan kicks off this weekend as the V6-powered Dallaras hit the tracks in the largely Spanish based series. Last year Ricardo Zonta demonstrated his class over the rest of the series, scoring over three quarters of the points available to him, taking 9 of the 18 race wins. Zonta though has moved to pastures anew with Toyota F1 along with another race winner, Justin Wilson, also moving to Formula One. Who will take up Zonta's mantle?
Champion team, Racing Engineering, has replaced Montagny with his rival Leinders and former Minardi Formula One driver Stephane Sarrazin will join him. Leinders team of the last two years, Keerbergs Transport Racing, has signed Felix Porteiro away from Vergani Racing and added American Red Bull sponsor driver Paul Edwards.
The form team of the pre-season though has been an outsider. Front running British Formula 3 outfit Carlin Motorsport has started a satellite operation in Formula Nissan and have signed leading Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan to join British Formula 3 race winner Bruce Jouanny.
Potential wildcards are experienced open wheeler racers Enrique Bernoldi, most recently of TWR Arrows fame, who will join Polo Villaamil at RC Motorsport, and Williams F1 tester Marc Gene who has signed on with Adrian Campos Motorsport. If anything, 2003 looks to be better for the absences of Zonta and Wilson.
The series kicks off at Jarama in Spain before moving to Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and Austria, before returning to Spain, and finally venturing south for two races at Interlagos, Brazil in November. With two races at each stop there are plenty of chances for the star studded field to each claim prizes. With two drivers graduating to Formula One racing and testing, the series has become a genuine source of driver talent to watch for.
Ford Unveil 'Revolutionary' New Car For New Zealand
Ford unveiled what they called their "most technically advanced and revolutionary rally car ever" on Wednesday ahead of its debut in next month's New Zealand round of the world championship.
"Ford is at the forefront of rally technology with this car and I believe it takes the sport to a new, higher level," said Martin Whitaker, Ford's European motorsport director. "I am genuinely excited by what the team has developed here and I think the car looks sensational."
The team said in a statement that the Focus RS WRC03 was radically different mechanically to the car that competed in the first three rounds of the championship and showed significant performance improvements. It also had a redesigned roll cage to improve crash protection.
The car will be driven in New Zealand on April 10-13 by Estonian Markko Martin and Belgian Francois Duval. The team's third driver Mikko Hirvonen of Finland will continue for the rest of the season in the old Focus.
Report provided by Reuters
Standings: Satoshi Motoyama 10, Andre Lotterer 6, Toshihiro Kaneishi 4, Yuji Ide 3, Tsugio Matsuda 2, Hideki Noda 1
CART
"I have to really thank Team Player's. The job that they did this weekend, we went testing, and found some new things on the car to help the set-up. We came here and right off the trailer, the car was fast. I put pole position on Friday, then made a mistake on Saturday in practice and slid over the curb and damaged the car. So that put us out of the running for Saturday's qualifying. But I felt we could have defended if we had the chance. You know, I guess that was a little bit of a silver lining because I think today the key for the race for me was the tires we had. We had a brand-new set of tires for every stint because we didn't run yesterday. You know, from about midway through every stint, I was saving the tires, then I could really turn it on and pull a gap out."
Tracy nailed the start to get a big jump on Roberto Moreno in second. Moreno though was out of sequence and pitted on lap 31 leaving Tagliani in second, over 15 seconds behind Tracy. Bourdais was flying, recording the race's fastest lap to that point and reached seventh place before spearing off at the end of the back straight. He reset the fastest lap the next time around.
For the first time Patrick Carpentier made his presence felt and was attacking Fernandez who in turn was close behind Tagliani in a battle for third. Junqueira caught this group as well and soon slipped by the Player's car into fifth. Carpentier though had a card up his sleeve. The last of the late brakers, he dived up the inside of Junqueira first, then Fernandez into turn ten, but couldn't control it and the corner spat him out the other side. The yellows flew as Carpentier was restarted.
Pos Driver Car
1. Paul Tracy Player's-Forsythe Racing Lola-Ford
2. Michel Jourdain Jr Team Rahal Lola-Ford
3. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
4. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing Lola-Ford
5. Bruno Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
6. Roberto Moreno Herdez Competition Lola-Ford
7. Darren Manning Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
8. Patrick Carpentier Player's-Forsythe Racing Lola-Ford
9. Alex Yoong Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford
10. Patrick Lemarie PK Racing Lola-Ford
IRL
"Well, first of all, it was a matter of teamwork, I think," said Kanaan. "The whole Team 7-Eleven, it's working together. Since day one, since I joined this team, they've been great to me. They've been trying to give my confidence back what I lost a little bit last year."
At the restart Dixon was away again with Giaffone in pursuit. On lap 32 the yellows emerged again after a clash between A.J.Foyt IV and Sam Hornish Jr saw the reigning champ clout the wall. Most of the field pitted. Roger Yasukawa didn't and became the new race leader. Giaffone just beat Dixon out of the pits and then swamped Yasukawa at the restart. Yasukawa held second and kept it as behind him Dixon's car started spraying fluid from the engine and retired. Scott Mayer walled his Dallara shortly afterwards.
Kanaan was now being pushed by Castroneves, the pair running side by side down the front chute, banging wheels, but it was a short green as Dario Franchitti started venting fluid. The next green was only half a lap as Scheckter was walled after a passing move of Giaffone went wrong. Giaffone survived the contact undamaged.
Pos Driver Car
1. Tony Kanaan Dallara-Honda
2. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Toyota
3. Felipe Giaffone GForce-Toyota
4. Al Unser Jr Dallara-Toyota
5. Kenny Brack Dallara-Honda
6. Jaques Lazier Dallara-Chevrolet
7. Scott Sharp Dallara-Toyota
8. Sarah Fisher Dallara-Chevrolet
9. Buddy Rice Dallara-Chevrolet
10. Shigeaki Hattori Dallara-Toyota
NASCAR
At the start, polesitter Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon ran through turns one and two side by side, before Gordon took the lead, but it was soon yellow on lap 4 after Robby Gordon tapped Kyle Petty into a spin. Racing resumed on lap 7 but it was back to yellow on lap 15 after Michael Waltrip got loose off turn four, collecting Dave Blaney while trying to correct it, then Dale Jarrett ran into Waltrip when he slid back up the track in turn one, Jarrett's car going behind the wall for repairs. At the restart on lap 20, there was an incident for cars at the rear of the field before they even reached the green flag, Todd Bodine being run into by John Andretti who was hit by Casey Mears, Mears's car badly damaged. Ryan Newman pitted from third in an attempt to cure an ill-handling car.
It wasn't green for long, as lap 150 saw the caution flag waving again after Jack Sprague spun in turns one and two after he and Johnny Benson fought for the same piece of track on entry. Lap 154 and the race restarted, Spencer working on Gordon's tail before taking the lead on lap 161, Bobby Labonte passing his brother Terry at about the same time to move into fourth. The next caution came out on lap 182 after Jack Sprague spun off turn two, hitting the inside wall. Several lead lap cars pitted at this caution, including leader Spencer, who dropped to 14th, returning the lead to Jeff Gordon ahead of Bobby and Terry Labonte as the race resumed on lap 187.
Lap 241 and the race restarted but only for a couple of laps as lap 244 saw yellow again as third placed Terry Labonte was spun into the wall by Brett Bodine, then Robby Gordon tried to go under Bodine but he went up as Bodine came down and they both spun. When Bodine stopped spinning he finished up on the start of the backstretch, rolling back down the hill, just as Labonte had got going again, totalling Labonte's nose to match his tail. Also in the mess Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace were tapped into spins.
Harvick's strategy of staying out at the cautions saw him the first to put under green on lap 327, dropping over two laps behind the leaders in the process. Not long after, Kenseth took the lead from Spencer and Gordon passed Johnson for fourth, with Busch taking Spencer for second on lap 345. Bobby Labonte, having restarted on lap 262 in 20th position, was moving up thanks to fresher tyres, a fast car and a few cars pitting as he took fifth from Johnson on lap 357. Up front Busch was right on Kenseth's bumper.
The race restarted on lap 404, Busch taking the lead from Labonte almost immediately, though Kenseth led the field away at the restart, as he was on the tail end of the lead lap by not pitting. It was soon back to yellow on lap 407 when Kyle Petty went on to the apron to pass Joe Nemechek and spun, as Rudd moved up to third just as the yellow came out. Kenseth, Gordon and Earnhardt Jr all got a lap back, with Kenseth now the sixth car on the lead lap, and pitted to take a 'free' stop, losing no positions and staying on the lead lap. Lap 412 and it was green once again as Kenseth harried teammate Greg Biffle, taking fifth place on lap 420, and fourth from Marlin a few laps later.
Pos Driver Car
1. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
2. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
3. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Ricky Rudd Ford Taurus
5. Greg Biffle Ford Taurus
6. Sterling Marlin Dodge Intrepid
7. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
9. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Kenny Wallace Dodge Intrepid
V8 Supercar
A new year, a new season, and there were new cars at the first round of the V8 Supercar championship. But the two race winners were familiar, even if their cars weren't, with Marcos Ambrose winning race one in a BA Falcon, while Mark Skaife won race two and the round overall in his VY Commodore after finishing the first race in second position. With AU Falcons and VX Commodores running to the old specs, VY Commodores in interim spec, and BA Falcons and VY Commodores in full "Project Blueprint" spec, it is unclear how the cars compare with each other, though HRT remains the leading Holden team and Stone Brothers the best of the Fords. Another year with a new points system has left Skaife with only a small lead for a change, with three other Holden drivers close by after Ambrose and Johnson's late race retirements.
After making his second stop, Murphy got a familiar call, receiving his third drive-through of the day, once again for speeding in pit lane. While the leaders had made two stops, some others had made none. This became crucial when Rodney Forbes bunkered his car in the gravel at the chicane, bringing the safety car out onto the track for the first time on lap 41. The order was Ambrose, Skaife, Bright, Steven Richards and Steven Johnson as they went back to racing on lap 44. The top four broke away, Ambrose opening a gap, as further back Max Wilson spun Glenn Seton. Meanwhile a train of cars battled for fifth through to thirteenth place, Ingall taking sixth from Skaife's teammate Todd Kelly on lap 46, with Murphy soon joining the train to make it a ten car snake.
Once again Skaife stretched the gap as Ambrose kept Richards busy, but this left him open to attack from Bright, who took third from him at the first hairpin on lap 9. Bright then repeated the move a lap later on Richards to take second place. As Bright went forward Richards went backwards, Ambrose passing Richards also at the hairpin, on lap 12, Richards soon coming under pressure from Johnson, and Todd Kelly with Ingall on his tail. Meanwhile Lowndes was on a charge, up from his 34th starting position to 19th by lap 10.
After passing Richards, Ambrose moved onto the tail of Bright, and when presented with half an opportunity at turn seven on lap 46, pounced, taking second. Bright's impeded exit from the turn then allowed Richards to get alongside heading into the fast sweeper, and rather than try to hang outside Richards and probably crash, Bright conceded, and dropped from second to fourth in two corners, with Johnson, Ingall and Murphy right on Bright's tail, Bright's decision to stop early for tyres starting to cost him. Meanwhile Skaife was glad to see the dicing, extending his lead over them, though Ambrose began to reduce the gap when he moved clear in second place. Lap 50 saw Ingall dive inside Johnson at turn four and take fifth place.
Lap 57 saw Murphy take Tander into the first hairpin to move up to fifth place. Bright thought he saw a chance to follow through but quickly realised it wasn't on, spinning himself out rather than taking Tander out, Bright dropping from seventh to 21st! More action upfront as Ambrose went side-by-side down the inside of Richards into turn four, the two banging panels as Richards held onto the place. The safety car came out after Jamie Whincup got stuck in the tyres at turn four after some help from Dean Canto. After his earlier charge was halted by being forced down the escape road and down to 24th place, Lowndes was now back up to 15th, just one place lower than he was before the incident. Lap 62 saw the race back to green, Skaife pulling away as the car behind him battled. The following lap saw Tander drop from sixth to 23rd after hitting the tyres at turn six.
Lap 74 and Ambrose lost a place to Radisich at the first hairpin. Two turns later worse was to come as Ambrose went straight ahead into the tyres and retired. At the final hairpin there was even more drama as fourth placed Steven Johnson was spat off the circuit when his car jumped out of gear, slamming into the fence, effectively ending his day, though he limped around for a lap or two. Lap 75 saw Murphy sneak back ahead of Ingall, but Ingall wasn't about to give up. Ingall looked left and right as Murphy covered every move. Lap 77 and Ingall tried the move that Ambrose had made successfully once and unsuccessfully once at turn seven. Unfortunately for Ingall his move was unsuccessful, as he never got far enough alongside and tapped Murphy into a spin, Murphy dropping from third to fourteenth.
Race One
Pos Driver Car
1. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA
2. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VY
3. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VX
4. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VX
5. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VY
6. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA
7. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA
8. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VX
9. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VX
10. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VX
Race Two
Pos Driver Car
1. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VY
2. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VX
3. Paul Weel Holden Commodore VX
4. Paul Radisich Ford Falcon BA
5. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VY
6. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VX
7. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA
8. Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VX
9. Simon Wills Holden Commodore VY
10. Glenn Seton Ford Falcon AU
Formula Nissan
Many drivers leap to attention. The battle for the minors was tight with Franck Montagny taking second from Bas Leinders after a disappointing final round for the Belgian. Montagny returns, taking the seat once held by Zonta at Gabord Competicion alongside British Formula 3 graduate Heikki Kovalainen.
Rally
Briefs
Satoshi Motoyama won the first Formula Nippon event of the year at a weather-affected Suzuka for Team Impul, leading home Andre Lotterer (PIAA Nakajima Racing) by eight seconds. Toshihiro Kaneishi (Team LeMans) completed the podium finishing ahead of the Team Cerumo pair, Yuji Ide ahead of Tsugio Matsuda.
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Volume 9, Issue 13
Malaysian GP Review
2003 Malaysian GP Review
Technical Review: Malaysian GP
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The Changing of the Guard
The Buck Stops Where?
Ann Bradshaw: View from the Paddock
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