MOTORSPORT: A lot riding on Lowndes success

Craig Lowndes has mounted a big challenge to teammate Jamie Whincup for the V8 Super car  games title and series organisers and telecaster Seven will be hoping it proves a viewer drawcard

New stars burn bright for the Blue Oval
Craig Lowndes' hat-trick at Queensland Raceway ought to be a boon for interest in the upcoming V8 Supercar endurance races, although it didn't provide any instant injection. While V8 Supercars Australia claimed a 12,000 improvement in the three-day track attendance at QR, the TV audience for the round was lower than for Darwin and Townsville before the mid-season break.

Lowndes, the sport's most popular driver, back in the winner's circle is potentially a big plus, but Triple Eight Race Engineering/Team Vodafone proved with the mix-up over Jamie Whincup's engine cover on Sunday that it's human -- and that gives rival teams some hope for Bathurst especially.

The form of young Ford drivers Tim Slade and James Moffat at QR, and Shane Van Gisbergen most of the season, is cause for optimism among fans of the Blue Oval. Holden has already clinched the manufacturers' title with 16 wins in 18 races -- and with 10 races remaining over six rounds. The performances of both factory teams remains below par though.

The best finish by Ford Performance Racing from the combined six starts at QR by Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison was Winterbottom's 10th in the second of Saturday's two sprints. Davison, in a new Falcon, was no higher than 15th in any of the weekend's three races -- and a lap down at Sunday's chequered flag.

Holden Racing Team lacks qualifying speed and continues to be inconsistent, with the reigning champion it brought across from Dick Johnson's Jim Beam Ford team, James Courtney, not even in the top 20 in a championship of 28 drivers now.

Garth Tander's best finish for the weekend was sixth and Courtney's 12th. In the other four races they ended up nowhere, whatever the reasons. F1 and NASCAR engineer Steve Hallam's arrival as HRT chief next year can't come quick enough.

Saturday's average TV audience in the five major capital cities on Seven was 267,000 -- 17,000 more than for the Saturday of last year's QR round, which was held in May.

Brisbane was the only city to top "the ton" last Saturday with an average 103,000 viewers for the two 22-lap races, while Sydney had 73,000 viewers, Melbourne only 48,000, Adelaide 30,000 and Perth 14,000. Sunday's average audience in the mainland state capitals on Seven's digital channel 7mate was just 206,000.

Not everyone has that digital channel yet, but clearly Lowndes' dual successes on Saturday afternoon did not have hordes of lost V8 Supercar fans tuning back in on Sunday. That 206,000 is a mere 20 per cent of last year's Bathurst 1000 audience in the five capitals -- and an even smaller percentage of the Great Race audience which, as we recounted here recently, was 1.5 million in 2002. Brisbane averaged 70,000 viewers for Sunday's 65-lap third race at QR, while Sydney and Melbourne each had only 46,000, Adelaide 29,000 and Perth 16,000.

Lowndes now has 81 career victories and teams up with the most successful driver in the sport's history, 89-time winner Mark Skaife, as they chase a repeat of last year's endurance glory. The pair's Bathurst quest, and Lowndes having almost halved Whincup's championship lead and come into strong calculations for his first series title in 12 years, ought to entice some of the lost V8 Supercar fans. Lowndes had an ominous warning for rivals. "I love long distance racing -- always have," he said.

Whincup remains equal with the late "King of the Mountain" Peter Brock on 48 career wins but Sunday was a reminder of how easily things can turn awry, no matter how brilliant the driver in recovering to finish 10th from a lap down and a drive-through penalty. It was at QR last year that the championship seriously started to swing from Whincup to Courtney and now the 2008 and '09 champion and 2010 runner-up finds his advantage that looked so commanding at 186 points before QR narrowed to 98 heading to Phillip Island in less than four weeks. A third and a second on Saturday at least limited the impact of Lowndes' hat-trick.

The engine covers being left on the trumpets when the airbox cover was put on Whincup's Commodore was ironic in light of Team Vodafone principal Roland Dane's recent shot at FPR, telling it to lift its game.

"We made one of the oldest mistakes in motor racing -- we are not the first people to do it, but it was a silly mistake," Dane admitted. "We need a better system around that. The problem was a team issue, not a Jamie issue... Jamie drove a fantastic race (on Sunday) up until the last few laps with the incident with Rick Kelly, which even Jamie would admit was not good... He probably should have left a bit more room and he'd be the first to admit that.

"There were three drivers who were head and shoulders above everybody else this weekend -- they were Craig, Jamie and Tim Slade... It's a shame Jamie wasn't around for the scrap (Sunday) through no fault of his own."

Slade indeed was a huge star at the weekend in his Stone Brothers Falcon, finishing second to Lowndes twice and on the heels of the two Vodafone Commodores in the other. "The weekend was pretty much a dream run -- three podiums," Slade said. "The car was really strong and to have it featuring at the top of all sessions gives us a lot of confidence going into the enduros."

James Moffat, son of the legendary Allan and in his first full season of the "main game", was in the top 10 all three times in his Jim Beam Falcon. Moffat Junior even felt that his fourth place on Sunday could have been a podium but for stalling in the pits and almost running off the track at turn four. "I'm happy but a bit disappointed at the same time because I gave away a podium," he said.

V8 Supercar Championship after eight of 14 rounds (18 of 28 races) -- 1. Jamie Whincup (Holden) 1895 points, 2. Craig Lowndes (H) 1797, 3. Shane Van Gisbergen (Ford) 1502, 4. Rick Kelly (H) 1418, 5. Steve Johnson (F) 1345, 6. Mark Winterbottom (F) 1321, 7. Garth Tander (H) 1321, 8. Will Davison (F) 1302, 9. Alex Davison (F) 1255, 10. Lee Holdsworth (H) 1140, 11. Fabian Coulthard (H) 1127, 12. Jason Bright (H) 1117, 13. Tim Slade (F) 1109, 14. Michael Caruso (H) 921, 15. Greg Murphy (H) 893, 16. Steve Owen (H) 865, 17. James Moffat (F) 858, 18. Jason Bargwanna (H) 849, 19. Paul Dumbrell (F) 843, 20. Russell Ingall (H) 837, 21. James Courtney (H) 819, 22. David Reynolds (H) 784, 23. Jonathon Webb (F) 736, 24. Todd Kelly (H) 721, 25. Tony D'Alberto (H) 661, 26. Karl Reindler (H) 644, 27. Dean Fiore (F) 631, 28. Warren Luff (H) 462.

V8 Supercar teams championship -- 1. Team Vodafone (Holden) 3717, 2. Stone Brothers Racing (Ford) 2807, 3. FPR -- Orrcon Steel and Trading Post Falcon (F) 2648, 4. DJR Jim Beam Racing (F) 2328, 5. Toll Holden Racing Team (H) 2190, 6. Kelly Brothers-Jack Daniel's Racing (H) 2164, 7. Fujitsu Racing GRM (H) 2161, 8. Brad Jones Racing (H) 1991, 9. Supercheap Auto Racing and VIP Petfoods (H) 1727, 10. Kelly Brothers No 2 squad (H) 1702, 11. Bundaberg Racing (H) 1152, 12. Lucky 7 Racing (F) 1109, 13. The Bottle-O Racing Team (F) 868, 14. Mother Energy Racing Team (F) 761, 15. Wilson Security Racing (F) 686, 16. Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing (H) 669, 17. Triple F Racing (F) 631, 18. Gulf Western Oil Racing (H) 462.


Ambrose monsters Montreal, misses out at Michigan
Another NASCAR road race win for Marcos Ambrose at the weekend, then a reality check on a superspeedway. After qualifying 16th on the 2-mile (3.2km) Michigan International Speedway on Saturday morning, Ambrose flew in the plane of Ford's top Sprint Cup racer Carl Edwards on a two-hour trip to Montreal for the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit.

They took a helicopter from the airport and then a boat ride along the St Lawrence River to the island circuit, arriving 25 minutes before the race start. Not having qualified, although fellow Tasmanian Owen Kelly practised his Ford Mustang, Ambrose started at the back and charged up through the field to the lead, overtaking 16 cars on the first lap.

On a wild restart mid-race he was biffed by home-town favourite Jacques Villeneuve, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2sOJERtTUI ) and had to pit for repairs to his steering and to fix a rubbing tyre -- by which time he was again at the back of the field. So he had to climb all the way to the front again and finally notched the victory that had eluded him on four previous visits to Montreal.

It was Ambrose's fourth Nationwide win and came just six days after his breakthrough Sprint Cup win at Watkins Glen, where he scored all three of his previous Nationwide victories. While it was thoroughly enjoyable, Ambrose said he "felt like I passed 400 cars out there."

Of the Villeneuve incident, he said: "It's a shame it happened because Jacques and myself had the two best cars out there and it's quite unnecessary to wipe out both cars. "We sailed off into turn one -- we both wanted the lead. I was on the inside for the left-hander, held my line and he ran out of track, went to the grass and I guess he couldn't slow down.

"So unlucky for him, it ruined his day, but lucky for us it didn't ruin ours... There's no hard feelings -- it's just tough racing. We know that Jacques doesn't leave much on the table, he's a 100 per cent sort of guy, and I knew what I'd gotten myself in for when I turned into turn one there and it's just a shame it happened.

"But it doesn't matter -- we came back through the field. I just put my head down, stayed calm, put down some good laps, made some aggressive passes and made up for that lost ground."

As Ambrose departed Montreal officials impounded the right rear spring from his Mustang and said it would be examined this week at NASCAR's research and development centre in Charlotte, North Carolina. Irrespective of the outcome of that investigation, Ambrose will retain the victory. Back at Michigan he finished 29th after his Ford Fusion was damaged in a pitlane altercation with Kevin Harvick's Chevrolet.

"That was frustrating. We had a good car and we were top 10 a lot of the day," Ambrose said. "We just kept getting tighter and tighter. We had a hole in the grill. That really hurt us and we ended up turned around in the pit there at the end, so that hurt us too. It was just a very frustrating day."

Toyota star Kyle Busch scored his fourth Sprint Cup victory of the year ahead of Chevrolet's five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who has never won in Michigan. Brad Keselowski notched his third consecutive top-three finish in a Dodge ahead of the Chevrolets of Mark Martin and Ryan Newman.

NASCAR Sprint Cup after 23 of 36 rounds -- 1. Kyle Busch (Toyota) 799 points, 2. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 789, =3. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 760, =3. Carl Edwards (Ford) 760, 5. Matt Kenseth (Ford) 759, 6. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) 739, 7. Ryan Newman (Chevrolet) 725, 8. Kurt Busch (Dodge) 722, 9. Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 700, 10. Tony Stewart (Chevrolet) 694, 11. Clint Bowyer (Chevrolet) 670, 12. Brad Keselowski (Dodge) 642, 13. Greg Biffle (Ford) 636, 14. Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 635, 15. A.J. Allmendinger (Ford) 632, 16. Mark Martin (Chevrolet) 627, 17. Kasey Kahne (Toyota) 623, 18. Paul Menard (Chevrolet) 617, 19. Joey Logano (Toyota) 610, 20. David Ragan (Ford) 604, 21. Martin Truex Junior (Toyota) 603, 22. Juan Pablo Montoya (Chevrolet) 596, 23. Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 593, 24. Jeff Burton (Chevrolet) 543.


Three major milestones at German WRC round
MINI has scored a podium finish at just its third World Rally Championship start. While Frenchman Sebastien Ogier took his first win on tarmac in Germany after Citroen teammate and countryman Sebastien Loeb lost time with a puncture, Spaniard Dani Sordo was less than 2 minutes away from Ogier in third.

Tensions between Ogier and Loeb worsened throughout the event as they were ordered to maintain position on the last day as Citroen claimed its 78th WRC round victory, overtaking Ford in the all-time standings. Seven-time world champion Loeb, who has recently agreed to stay with the French manufacturer for another two years, had been on course for a ninth straight German win before Saturday's puncture.

Ogier is now only 25 points behind him -- the equivalent of one win -- with four rounds remaining. Next up is the new Rally Australia on NSW's Coffs Coast in three weeks, then tarmac events in France and Spain and then the British finale on gravel. Ogier and Loeb each have had four wins this year. "Mathematically the championship is still possible and I have to believe I have a chance," Ogier said.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One world champion, achieved his best finish of his second WRC season -- sixth -- in Germany in his privateer Citroen.

The driver of the second MINI, Kris Meeke, battled for fifth with Norwegian Petter Solberg's Citroen most of the rally but dropped out with a loss of power two stages from the end. The factory MINIs will not compete at Rally Australia but there is a privateer Brazilian MINI entry.

World Rally Championship after nine of 13 rounds -- 1. Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen) 192 points, 2. Sebastien Ogier (France, Citroen) 167, 3. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Ford) 156,  4. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) 96, 5. Petter Solberg (Norway, Petter Solberg WRT) 94, 6. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Stobart)  56, 7. Matthew Wilson (Great Britain, Stobart) 40, 8. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ice 1 Racing) 34, 9. Henning Solberg (Norway, Stobart) 32, 10. Dani Sordo (Spain, MINI) 23.

WRC teams championship -- 1. Citroen 333 points, 2. Ford 242, 3. Stobart 105, 4. Petter Solberg 83, 5. Ice 1 Racing 48, 6. Munchis Ford 32.


Ricciardo tunes up for F1 resumption
Australia's latest Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo is back in the racing groove for this week's Belgian Grand Prix after a pair of second places in the World Series by Renault round at Britain's Silverstone circuit. Ricciardo crossed the finish line third in Sunday's race but was promoted to runner-up after American Alexander Rossi was disqualified from second when his car was found to have had an illegal wheel nut. Ricciardo already had been second in Silverstone Saturday race after a withering finish.

Canadian Robert Wickens won both races, took the championship lead from his French teammate Jean-Eric Vergne and helped Britain's Carlin Motorsport clinch the teams' title.

The F1 world championship resumes this weekend at Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps circuit, where Ricciardo will drive his fourth GP for Spanish team HRT while fellow Aussie Mark Webber tries to end his year-long victory drought with Red Bull Racing.

The World Series by Renault, in which 22-year-old Perth driver Ricciardo races for the ISR team, continues at the Paul Ricard track in France on September 17-18.



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