TANDER QUICKEST ON THE MOUNTAIN AS HOLDWORTH IS PENALISED

Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander has set the pace for this weekend's Bathurst 1000 with fastest time in Friday's final Qualifying session. Tander will be the final runner in Saturday's single flying lap shootout for the top ten after taking his HRT Commodore around the Mountain in 2:07:664. Mark Winterbottom gave Ford fans hope by setting the day's second quickest time with a 2:07:718. The 2010 pole sitter knows that while there is great prestige and some handy prize money for pole, it counts for little come Sunday. "I'd love to be on pole position and it is a big thing, so we'll try and put it on pole and try and lead the race on Sunday and see how we go." Series leader Jamie Whincup placed his car third after hard work from his crew after he put the car into the wall in morning practice. Fourth place went to David Reynolds setting the time on the final lap of qualifying. "I threw it on the line, chucked it down the hill, stomped out of it on Conrod and ended up P4." said an emotional Reynolds.

RAIN DAMPENS BATHURST PRACTICE

Thursday's practice session at a wet Mount Panorama has been cancelled due to a dispute over wet weather tyres. Two different batches of the control Dunlop tyres are present at the track, leading to concerns by some teams that one batch could be better than another, giving the teams that use them an unfair advantage. According to the website Speedcafe.com, unattributed "Paddock speculation" is suggesting that the newer of the two batches could prove up to four seconds per lap faster than the older tyres. Teams have now agreed to new regulations that will see them restricted to using just five sets of wet weather tyres in the race. The original supplementary race regulations stated that an unlimited amount of wet tyres could be used. Weather Reports for the weekend indicate wet and cold conditions will continue with heavy overnight fog and the chance of afternoon storms over the weekend.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

The 2012 V8 Supercar event around the streets of Hamilton in New Zealand will be the last. In another blow to the categories dreams of global expansion, Hamilton now joins Shanghai and Bahrain in failed overseas jaunts by the championship. According to the local Waikato Times newspaper, many local businesses are happy to see the back of the visitors from across the Tasman. "It has been a waste of time and money," Evelyn Booth, owner of the Bag Factory Shop told the paper. "We lose money when it's on, customers too, and we are going to be paying for it for a very long time." The council had "completely and utterly" let down the town, she said. The move to axe the race came at the request of V8 Supercars Australia after they took over the running of the event when the original promoter went broke. Acting V8 Supercars Australia chief executive Shane Howard met with the Hamilton City Council last Wednesday night, offering the council $1.2 million dollars to end the contract early. Local ratepayers had paid around $31.4m for the event including $9m worth of race infrastructure. These are now owned by V8 Supercars as a part of their deal for taking over the race.

THE V8 SPOTTERS GUIDE TO PHILLIP ISLAND

VETTEL ON POLE AGAIN AT MONZA

Speculation that Red Bull's dominance over pole position this season would come to an end in Italy proved wrong, with Sebastian Vettel taking his least-predictable P1 of the year at Monza. The German, who almost lost his car as he slid through the Ascari chicane, recovered to bank an unbeatable lap time of 1m 22.275 seconds. 'We thought it would be much closer than that,' said Vettel. 'We are quite quick throughout all three sectors, so we just had to put it together.' The German was stuck in traffic as all cars but Senna left the pitlane at once, but mistakes by Hamilton, Button's decision to abandon his fast lap, and teammate Mark Webber unable to extract the same pace from the Red Bull meant that he kept the RBR7's 100 per cent pole record for 2011 alive. 'We were not expecting, not thinking of being on pole by that margin,' he continued. 'This year, I have to say the car is very good here. The balance is perfect.' The pace promised by McLaren in the lead up to the Italian Grand Prix was only good enough P2, with Hamilton pipping teammate Button to the front from by half a tenth. 'Sebastian was mega quick today. It looked like we'd be quite competitive in the weekend, but that last lap was untouchable for me,' elaborated Hamilton. 'I didn't have another half a second in the bag. We perhaps could have got another couple of tenths out of the car.' Button noted that despite Red Bull running a seemingly lower downforce package than McLaren, they still managed to move faster in the high speed turns.

FOSTER FEELS FORMULA FORD FAME

Nick Foster came out on top in the opening race of round five of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at Sandown Raceway. The Mygale driver had to work hard to fend off the advances of Sonic Motor Racing Services team mates Cameron Waters and Gary Jacobson, as well as Synergy Motorsport's Liam Sager. The victory follows on from race wins at the previous two championship rounds at Eastern Creek and Queensland Raceway. "After the restart (for a mid-race safety car), I put my head down and was able to make a gap," Foster said. "I feel that I do my best driving out in front, so I felt pretty comfortable towards the finish. "Hopefully the weather holds off again for tomorrow's races."

WINSLOW WINS SATURDAY SANDOWN

British driver James Winslow set a new Sandown lap record on the final lap to hold off main rival Chris Gilmour to win the first race of this weekend's Australian Drivers Championship at Sandown. Gilmour led away early from pole sitter John Magro, but it wasn't long before Winslow grabbed the lead. Magro hung on for third with the first three all under the long standing lap record. Fourth place was a great result for Formula BMW Asia-Pacific graduate Steel Giulliania who led home his R-Tek team mate Josh Burdon. Queenslanders Ben Gersekowski and Roman Krumins rounded out the field. Only Seven cars fronted the start of the event, a clear indication of just how sad the state of open-wheel racing is in Australia.

VETTEL TAKES THE CHOCOLATES IN BELGIUM

Sebastian Vettel has rediscovered his winning form to kick start the second half of 2011 with a win in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. The German traded position at the top of the field on numerous occasions throughout the race, but allowed strategy to have him exit the pits after his final stop in the [...]

NEW GT ENDURO FOR ABU DHABI

The growing popularity of GT endurance racing has received another boost with a new major race announced for Abu Dhabi. The new Gulf 12 Hours is an invitation-only event aimed to support the continued, sustainable growth of motorsport in the United Arab Emirates whilst attracting a wider variety of teams and drivers to the region, without [...]

MAD MARKO MAULS MARK AGAIN

Red Bull Racing advisor and President of the International Mark Webber appreciation society, Dr Helmut Marko has claimed that Mark Webber will "probably retire in 2012". Speaking in an interview with Australian television station ONE HD on the future of young Australian Daniel Ricciardo, Marko let slip about Webber's future. "As with the other Australian, he is probably going to retire in 2012," Marko said. "We need to find one of our juniors who can replace Mark Webber." The reference to Webber as "the other Australian" is consistent with Marko's known dislike of Webber. Marko said in the interview that Red Bull expected Daniel Ricciardo to improve in the Hispania Racing Team drive if he's to step up to a Toro Rosso or Red Bull in the future.