PORSCHES ON TOP IN ADELAIDE GT OPENER

Porsches have dominated the opening day's practice session of the first round of the Australian GT championship on the streets of Adelaide. Canberra driver James Koundouris in his Porsche 997 GT3 outpaced defending champion David Wall and Victorian Max Twigg to lead a big field of 31 GT cars. Tony Quinn in the controversial Mosler MT900 was the only car to challenge the Porsches which featured in five of the first six places. High profile Lamborghini driver Peter Hackett had to play second fiddle in the battle of the Gallardo's to local driver Andrew Taplin. Former GT champion Mark Eddy debuted his new Audi R8 LMS in 11th spot just ahead of the battling Dodge Viper pair of Greg Crick and Ross Lilley.

GT1 WORLD TITLE’S GOLD COAST DISAPPOINTMENT

FIA GT1 World Championship promoter Stephane Ratel has expressed his disappointment at not gaining a berth on the Gold Coast Street Race card. Speaking on Tuesday night's edition of the C31 Melbourne television show "In Pit Lane" Mr Ratel said that Australia had always been an important part in his plans for the World Championship and he was disappointed that his proposal to be a part of the Gold Coast event had been refused. " We had a big ambition to launch the Championship on all five continents." he said. "I visited Australia twice in the last couple of years... I had a lot of hopes that something would come together and the last one was to join Surfers Paradise, but as you know... they finally decided to do V8's (V8 Supercars) only." Mr Ratel believes that the new World Championship would have been a considerable asset to the event bringing International glamour, media attention and corporate support to the race. "I personally think that we are an excellent fit for any big event in Australia." he said.

2010: LE MANS BIG BANGERS EXIT STAGE RIGHT

The 2010 Le Mans 24 hour classic will be the last chance to see the big banger turbo diesels in action. Changes to regulations for 2011 and beyond are expected to cut the maximum engine size of the diesels back to only 3.7 litres a far cry from today's 5.5 litre 700 BHP powerplants. Already the two major players in the diesel race at Le Mans have signalled their intention to develop cars for the new regulations. According to the respected magazine Racecar Engineering, Audi will develop a new car powered by a 3.7 litre Turbo V6 while Peugeot have announced that they are actively developing a hybrid powered racer to replace the current 908 HDI FAP.

CAMS CEO RESIGNS

The CAMS ( Confederation of Australian Motor Sport) Board have announced the resignation of CEO, Graham Fountain, effective 1 April 2010. Mr Fountain, who came to the Confederation from the Victorian Country Fire Authority, has filled the CEO position for almost three years. According to the statement Mr Fountain is leaving CAMS to fill another CEO position to be announced this afternoon. In making the announcement CAMS President Andrew Papadopoulos said: “I would like to publicly acknowledge the significant contribution Graham has made to CAMS during his tenure and on behalf of the Board wish him every success in his new role.

PRE SEASON TESTING: SUPER GT 2010

WHINCUP TAKES ROUND ONE FOR HOLDEN

Defending Champion Jamie Whincup showed the switch to Holden from Ford has had little effect on Triple Eight's dominance of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship with a win in the opening round at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. In front of empty grandstands Whincup dominated the 43 lap race to lead home team mate Craig Lowndes and take an early lead in the defence of his Championship. "It's been a great day, we has a great strategy and it's really cool under these lights." said Whincup. Mark Winterbottom was the first of the Fords in third place overcoming a 10 second penalty after he failed to line up properly at the start of the race. Dick Johnson Racing's James Courtney finished fourth just ahead of Gary Rogers Motorsport driver Lee Holdsworth in the Commodore.

SATO HEADS TO INDYCAR

Popular Japanese Formula One racer Takuma Sato is headed to the Indianapolis 500. Sato will contest the entire  2010 IZOD Indycar Series with the Indianapolis-based team KV Racing Technology, headed by champion driver Jimmy Vasser and Australian business man Kevin Kalkhoven. Sato's move to Indycar will be a huge boost for the struggling series in Japan where Sato remains the country's best known and most popular driver. “This is a very exciting time for me and all my supporters. I have really missed racing last year and can’t wait to get started in this new challenge with such a great team. To me, KV Racing is a team with massive potential and great team spirit." he said.

AUSSIES ON TOP IN FUNNY CAR DUEL

A record breaking 320mph/513kmh pass by Australian Damien Harris, was the highlight as Australia came out on top of the USA vs AUS Nitro Funny Car Challenge at Queensland's Willowbank Raceway. Harris saved the best till last with the new speed record being set in very last run of Nitro Funny Car for the night, which also saw the West Australian alongside Queenslander Ricky Steffens set the quickest Nitro Funny Car side-by side-pass for Australia as well. Harris’ 320.66mph at 4.868 second effort combined with Steffens’ 5.164s pass – a new personal best for the driver – to better the previous side-by side-mark (also featuring Harris alongside fellow West Australian Mark Sheehan in Perth on Boxing Day) by seven one thousandths of a second. “The speed record hasn’t really sunk in as yet to be honest, the guys came on the radio to tell me what had happened while I was slowing down and I was concentrating on the car and things, and it just hasn’t sunk in,” said Harris, who also won the first round on January 2.

NHRA GOES GLOBAL: TODAY POMONA TOMORROW THE WORLD!

US Drag Racing sanctioning body the NHRA have signalled its intention to spread it's brand worldwide with the announcement of NHRA Worldwide Network. The new program will enable drag racing facilities around the world to conduct events under the NHRA banner. By becoming a part of the NHRA Worldwide Network, a facility will be able to use the specially-designed “Worldwide Drag Racing” NHRA oval for broad promotional purposes and will be able to draw on NHRA’s decades of experience and history. “We have been receiving many inquiries regarding how facilities outside of North America can become affiliated with NHRA,” said Tom Compton, president, NHRA.  “NHRA Worldwide Network provides drag racing facilities around the globe with unique benefits and identification with NHRA.”

BRISCOE TOPS WEBBER IN WORLD DRIVER “RANKINGS”

Indy Racing League driver Ryan Briscoe has topped Formula One star Mark Webber and 2009 Le Mans and ALMS winner David Brabham to be the top  ranked Australian driver in a new world driver ranking system. The Castrol Driver Ranking System claims to fairly compare drivers across a number of different race series and styles. The rankings analyse performances over 50 major National and International racing series, points are awarded based on a bewildering formula based on results from qualifying, racing and fastest laps. Events and series are also given a rating based on the number of rounds and the "importance" of the event or series. The rankings were revealed at the Autosport International Show in Great Britain by former F1 driver David Coulthard.