Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
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.
Markko-ing Time
In recent times, the Ford Focus has built up a fearsome rough rally reputation. Markko Martin used that to advantage to lead home teammate Francois Duval for an impressive Ford 1-2.
After heavy rain in the lead up to the event, a lot of mud plagued the route making for a slippery surface and a challenging tyre choice. Solberg leapt immediately to win the first treacherous stage of the event, leading Marcos Gronholm by 8 seconds, Martin by 10 and series leader Sebastien Loeb by 14 seconds. Loeb pegged back the gap winning the second and fourth stages to close to within five seconds of Solberg by the end of Leg 1. Gronholm held third with Carlos Sainz moving past Martin into fourth after a huge spin on Stage 4 for the Focus driver.
Solberg however was unable to start his Impreza when arrving at the final service beacuse of a dud alternator and was unable to enter the service park on time, incurring a 40 second penalty. Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills were quite unable to push the car up a ramp to reach the service park when help arrived in the form of spectators, led by rally media, helped push the blue car into service. While they might have been glad not to be disqualified, five minutes in penalties were added for receiving outside assistance. This gave Loeb an eight second lead over Gronholm.
The rally had become a race in three, Mikko Hirvonen leading the rest of the field over 160 seconds behind Martin with his Subaru teammate a further minute away after the flying Solberg had won all six stages on Leg 2, making it obvious as to who should have been leading the rally.
Into the final day Martin had to defend from the increasing pace of Sainz eating into the Ford's lead on the first stage of Leg 3, only for brake problems to strike the Citroen as Sainz dropped away and half rolled onto a bank. Quickly righted, Sainz did not lose a place, but the Fords were gone.
Over the course of the third leg, Mikko Hirvonen slowed appreciably allowing Solberg to chew up the minute's gap and gain another championship point. Immediately behind was Gronholm in the Peugeot 307, who continued to have power steering failure despite numerous repairs. Gronholm was so annoyed the dual world champion vented his frustration in front of an official television crew. Teammate Harri Rovanpera was in even more strife, breaking a steering arm on Leg 2, the duo removing the right rear wheel entirely in a drastic measure to keep the car moving, returning to the rally in sixteenth. With a relatively trouble free run on Leg 3, Rovanpera recovered to finish tenth, scoring a manufacturer's point for Peugeot.
Mitsubishi continue to learn the ropes with their new age Lancer. Plainly the car will not be enough to be competitive, even once sorted. Panizzi was a very distant eighth and had been plagued with transmission dramas on Leg 2. The French driver made it to the finish, racking up valuable testing miles for the Lancer. Broken suspension claimed Gigi Galli early on Saturday in Stage 5. The remaing factory car home was the '02 Focus of Anthony Warmbold in a lonely ninth, three minutes behind Panizzi and five ahead of Rovanpera.
Martin and Loeb now share top billing in the championship chase both on 20 points. They are four points ahead of Gronholm, who despite sorting the 307, is still finishing rallies. Duval is two points further adrift, and one ahead of the defending series champion Solberg. Ford has pushed 10 points clear of Citroen on the back of the 1-2 result. There is a five week gap to the next event as the teams travel halfway around the world to New Zealand.
Result of World Rally Championship, Round 3 of 16, Rally Mexico:
Standings: Markko Martin and Sebastien Loeb 20, Marcus Gronholm 16, Francois Duval 14, Petter Solberg 13, Carlos Sainz 10, Janne Tuohino 5, Freddy Loix, Gilles Panizzi and Mikko Hirvonen 4 etc.
Manufacturers: Ford 40, Citroen 30, Peugeot 21, Subaru 19, Mitsubishi 5
Earnhardt Returns To Winning Ways
"Talk about from zero to hero," said the son of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. "That's about as hard as I've ever driven."
Earnhardt, driving a Chevrolet, took the lead from the Dodge of Jeremy Mayfield on lap 265, opening up a lead of over two seconds before his final pit stop on lap 302 of the 325 lap race around the high-banked 1.54 mile Atlanta Motor Speedway oval.
After his car was serviced, it only took nine laps to regain the lead and he was pulling away at the checkered flag, finishing 4.854 seconds ahead of Mayfield, and Kasey Kahne, Mayfield's teammate.
Jimmie Johnson finished fourth in a Chevrolet followed by pole winner Ryan Newman in another Dodge.
"We had a great car at the end," Earnhardt said explaining his 11th career win in the series.
Last week at the race in Las Vegas Earnhardt was so slow NASCAR officials were contemplating waving a black flag to stop his race before he went to the garage to change the set up of his car.
This week he qualified seventh and steadily worked his car up through the grid but did not lead for the first time until lap 214.
Earnhardt's win snapped a two-race winning streak by defending series champion and current points leader Matt Kenseth. Kenseth continues to lead the series by 82 points over Tony Stewart, a former series champion. Earnhardt bounced back to third, 90 points out.
The next race in the series will take place this Sunday at Darlington.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 4 of 36, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Georgia, United States:
Standings: Matt Kenseth 673, Tony Stewart 591, Dale Earnhardt Jr 583, Kasey Kahne 550, Jeff Gordon 543, Kurt Busch 527, Jeremy Mayfield 514, Elliott Sadler 481, Jimmie Johnson 480, Bobby Labonte 469 etc.
Report provided by Reuters
Adelaide Anticipates
After the teaser of Albert Park, the V8 Supercar season proper gets under way this weekend in the concrete canyons of the former Adelaide Grand Prix circuit with a pair of 250 kilometre races. Physically the toughest race of the year, it will be a real test of mettle for the long season to come as over 30 cars criss-cross Australia with an early season trip to New Zealand and a late season event at Shanghai in China, just a few weeks after the Chinese Grand Prix.
Marcos Ambrose is enjoying the status of the first reigning champion for Ford since 1997 and will start the season in good shape after displaying good speed at Albert Park. Teammate Russell Ingall has built a fearsome street circuit reputation and the Stone Brothers Falcons will be cars to look for early in the season.
There have been few changes to the lineups from last year. Cameron McConville has moved to join Garth Tander at Garry Rogers Motorsdport. Jason Richards takes McConville's place at the reborn Tasman Motorsports (formerly Lansvale Racing) and Dale Brede takes Richards's spot at Team Dynamik.
Team Noske ramps up into a bigger operation as WPS Racing with David Besnard as teammate, though presently it is a one car team as the team is short of a second franchise to run a second car. Max Wilson returns to the team he left in 2002, Team Betta Electrical, which is now under the management of British outfit Triple 8 Racing with V8 BRute star Warren Luff taking Wilson's place at Dick Johnson Racing.
The big change though has been at Perkins Engineering where the Castrol-backed team has expanded from two cars to four with Tony Longhurst and Anthony Tratt joining Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell.
With so many winners to pick from, the front of the field has become more congested than ever and qualifying has now become more important than ever. The streets of Adelaide await.
V8 Supercar series entries:
Sebring Approaches
The American Le Mans Series begins its trek across North America with its traditional season opening event, the historic Sebring 12 Hour. Like other US circuit racing categories, ALMS is down on numbers from last year, and more than ever is missing the factory-backed entries of years' past.
There is still a strong collection of prototype and GT cars to contest the Florida classic with three Audi R8s leading the entry. Audi Sport UK have a pair of triple Le Mans winning prototypes, to be driven by the strong driver line-ups of Frank Biela, Pierre Kaffer and Allan McNish in one car and Jamie Davies, Johnny Herbert and Guy Smith in the second car. Joining the Audis in a re-jigged P1 class are the former P675 Class MG-Lolas. The Dyson Racing Team are fronting with their pair of MGs while former class rival Intersport Racing are leaving theirs at home in favour of three other cars, two Lola-Judds and the team's venerable Riley & Scott, with the older of the two Lolas running in a Lola dominated P2 class.
The GTS division will again be a fight between Ferrari and Chevrolet with two top flight well-prepared cars being entered under the guises of Barron Connor Racing (Ferrari 575) and Corvette Racing, although a well staffed Saleen S7 threatens to upset the tipsters.
GT is the usual smorgasbord of Porsche 996 entries, fielding the new RSR model and led by the potent Porsche-supported Alex Job Racing pair of cars. The Racers Group are also fielding three cars with other international entries being fielded by Cirtek. As ever the Ferrari 360 of Risi Competizione leads the non-Porsche entries in the class and will definitely threaten, while colour is added by the visiting factory Morgan Aero 8.
Leading Entries: Sebring 12 Hour
With only 13 confirmed entries prior to Fernandez' withdrawal, the series looks on shakier ground than ever. The rumour mill now moves towards Team Rahal, another team with a car in both series. Team Rahal, co-owned by television host David Letterman, have committed to running Michel Jourdain Jr in OWRS alongside an IRL machine presently being driven by Buddy Rice while Kenny Brack recovers from injuries sustained at the end of last year.
Rally
That dominance was thinner, however, than it appeared. Petter Solberg completed the rally in a time two minutes faster than the Estonian Ford driver, but after an incident on Leg 1 received 5 minutes and 40 seconds in penalties. Solberg's charge back through the field on Leg 2 was electric but in the end it could not be anything other than a points gathering exercise. Martin however had to endure an in-car fire, a 160 kph spin, and overheating mechanicals, in addition to his own small ten second penalty to take the win.
After the first stage of Leg 2, Stage 5, Loeb's lead blew out to over 30 seconds after Gronholm's power steering failed. Loeb's lead only lasted another Stage after a rough landing in Stage 6 ended with a cracked sump. Martin had regained a position from Sainz in the meantime and as Loeb's Citroen bled all its oil, he inherited the lead of the rally. Sainz was struggling to keep tyres on his Citroen and fell behind the second Ford of Duval on Stage 9.
There was a gap of over seven minutes from Gronholm to the next car, the Hyundai Finland entered Accent of Jussi Valimaki. A trouble free run in the ex-MSD Accent netted Valimaki two points and allowed him to finish ahead of three, well two and a half, factory cars.
Pos Driver/Co-driver Car
1. Markko Martin/Michael Park Ford Focus RS WRC 03
2. Francois Duval/Stephan Prevot Ford Focus RS WRC 03
3. Carlos Sainz/Marc Marti Citroen Xsara WRC
4. Petter Solberg/Phillip Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 2004
5. Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Subaru Impreza WRC 2004
6. Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen Peugeot 307 WRC
7. Jussi Valimaki/Jakke Honkanen Hyundai Accent WRC
8. Gilles Panizzi/Herve Panizzi Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 04
9. Anthony Warmbold/Gemma Price Ford Focus RS WRC 02
10. Harri Rovanpera/Risto Pietilainen Peugeot 307 WRC
NASCAR
Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr bounced back from a disappointing 35th place finish last week to win the Atlanta 500 on Sunday.
As a result he went from leading the series to seventh place.
Pos Driver Car
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Intrepid
3. Kasey Kahne Dodge Intrepid
4. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
5. Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid
6. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
7. Tony Stewart Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Greg Biffle Ford Taurus
9. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
10. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
V8 Supercar
The entity once known as Tom Walkinshaw Racing had a troubled year last year with the break up of the empire into three distinct teams taking longer than anticipated which significantly delayed urgently needed testing for the new model Holden Commodore. By the end of the season both HRT and K-Mart teams were up to pace, and Paul Weel Racing demonstrated at Albert Park that they too were now at the front again, with Jason Bright winning the Albert Park weekend.
No. Driver Car
1 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon BA
2 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VY
3 Jason Richards Tasman Motorsports Holden Commodore VY
5 Glenn Seton Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon BA
6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon BA
7 Tony Longhurst Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore VY
8 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore VX
9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon BA
10 Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motor Sport Ford Falcon BA
11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore VY
12 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon BA
14 Terry Wyhoon Imrie Motor Sport Holden Commodore VX
15 Rick Kelly K-Mart Racing Team Holden Commodore VY
16 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore VY
17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon BA
18 Warren Luff Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon BA
20 Mark Winterbottom Larkham Motor Sport Ford Falcon BA
21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon BA
021 Craig Baird Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore VY
22 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VY
23 David Besnard Wright Patterson Shakespeare Ford Falcon BA
29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore VY
31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon BA
33 Cameron McConville Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore VY
34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore VY
43 David Krause Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore VX
44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore VY
45 Dale Brede Team Dynamik Holden Commodore VY
50 Jason Bright Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore VY
51 Greg Murphy K-Mart Racing Team Holden Commodore VY
75 Anthony Tratt Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore VY
88 Paul Radisich Triple 8 Race Eingineering Ford Falcon BA
99 David Thexton Thexton Motor Racing Ford Falcon BA
888 Max Wilson Triple 8 Race Eingineering Ford Falcon BA
ALMS
P1
No Drivers Car
16 James Weaver/Butch Leitzinger/ Dyson Racing Team Lola EX257 MG
Andy Wallace
20 Chris Dyson/Didier de Radigues Dyson Racing Team Lola EX257 MG
22 Martin Short/Rob Barff/Joao Barbosa Rollcentre Racing Dallara
LMP2001 Judd
28 Pierre Kaffer/Frank Biela/ Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Audi
Allan McNish R8
37 Jon Field/Duncan Dayton/ Intersport Racing Lola B160 Judd
Larry Connor
38 JJ Lehto/Emanuele Pirro/ Champion Racing Audi R8
Marco Werner
86 Christophe Bouchut/Roland Berville Larbre Competition Panoz
Jean-Luc Blanchemain GTP Elan
88 Johnny Herbert/Jamie Davies/ Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx Audi
Guy Smith R8
P2
No Drivers Car
8 Marino Franchitti/Derek Hill/ Rand Racing Yokohama
Andy Lally Lola B2K/40 Nissan
30 Clint Field/William Binnie/ Intersport Racing Lola
Rick Sutherland B2K/40 Judd
56 Jeff Bucknum/Chris McMurry/ Team Bucknum Racing Pilbeam
Bryan Willman MP91 Nissan
GTS
No Drivers Car
3 Ron Fellows/Johnny O'Connell/ Corvette Racing Chevrolet
Max Papis Corvette C-5R
4 Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta/ Corvette Racing Chevrolet
Jan Magnussen Corvette C-5R
25 John Bosch/Danny Sullivan/ Barron Connor Racing Ferrari 575
Thomas Biagi Maranello GTC
26 Jean-Denis Deletraz/Mike Hezemans/ Barron Connor Racing Ferrari 575
Ange Barde Maranello GTC
63 Terry Borchellar/Johnny Mowlem/ ACEMCO Motorsports Saleen S7R
David Brabham
GT
No Drivers Car
23 Timo Bernhard/Jorg Bergmeister/ Alex Job Racing Porsche 996
Sascha Maassen GT3 RSR
24 Marc Lieb/Romain Dumas/Lucas Luhr Alex Job Racing Porsche 996
GT3 RSR
35 Ralf Kelleners/Anthony Lazzaro/ Risi Competizione Ferrari
Matteo Bobbi 360 Modena
49 Adam Sharpe/Neil Cunningham/ Morgan Works Race Team Morgan
Keith Ahlers Aero 8
66 Patrick Long/Cort Wagner/ The Racers Group Porsche 996
Kelly Collins GT3 RSR
Briefs
Adrian Fernandez has sent shockwaves through the US open wheel community, announcing after the OWRS season launch that he will no longer contest the series he has been racing in since 1994. Fernandez will now join the car his team co-owns with Super Aguri Racing, driven by Kosuke Matsuura, in a two pronged GForce Honda attack on the Indy Racing League. Fernandez has been a stalwart of the Champ Car World Series through his strong Mexican connections and sponsorship arrangements. The OWRS had scheduled two Mexican events for Fundidora Park in Monterrey in May and Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City in November. Unlike OWRS, the oval-only IRL does not run in Mexico.
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Volume 10, Issue 11
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Every Other Sunday
The Paint Job: Part III
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