In Pit Lane Videocast 055

THE SUN SETS ON JAPAN

With the unsurprising announcement of the withdrawal of Toyota from Formula 1 effective immediately, along with the confirmation of Bridgestone of their withdrawal from 2010 onwards, it seems the bleak picture I painted towards the end 2008 of a mass withdrawal of Japanese interest in worldwide top flight motor sports has been finally realized. Japanese motor racing fans currently have very little to cheer about on an international scale.  Toyota has now followed Honda’s lead in withdrawing from Formula 1, Subaru and Suzuki no longer grace the World Rally Championship, and Kawasaki took its own hibernation from Moto GP also, save for providing a bike for Marco Melandri.  Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi have now joined the jobless Japanese Formula 1 driver’s queue, which already has claimed the popular Sakon Yamamoto and Japan’s most successful F1 driver Takuma Sato.

AU REVOIR RENAULT ?

Toyota's decision to leave F1 had prompted Renault to reassess their continued involvement in the sport. According to the BBC the French manufacturer held an emergency board meeting to discuss whether to remain in Formula One, become an engine supplier only, or exit the sport altogether. Renault president Carlos Ghosn is due to promote the Renault's zero-emissions policy during a special publicity event on Thursday. Ghosn is known to be less than enthusiastic about F1, seeing the sport as increasingly irrelevant in a changing economic and environmental landscape.

WIN TICKETS TO HISTORIC SANDOWN

With a record 420 competitors taking part, this weekend’s 18th Nationallube Historic Sandown (November 6-8) can claim the largest entry ever seen at the popular Melbourne circuit since it opened in 1962. As well as capacity fields in most categories, some 100 V8-engined historic touring, sports and open wheeler racing cars will compete in 16 races over the weekend. A highlight of this year’s meeting is the final and deciding round of the 2009 Biante Touring Car Masters series, with former Bathurst winners Jim Richards and John Bowe again locking horns in their Falcon Sprint and Chevrolet Camaro respectively. Three generations of the Brabham family will also be on track for a unique Speed Comparison, with Victorian Historic Racing Register Patron Sir Jack dropping the flag on his Le Mans 25-Hour race winning son Geoff in a BMW M3, his grandson and rising Formula Ford star Matthew aged 15 and four times Australian champion John Bowe in a racing GT40 replica.

TOYOTA OUT AS JAPAN SAYS SAYONARA F1

A report in the Japanese English language newspaper "Mainichi Daily" claims that Toyota are about to announce their withdrawal from Formula One effective immediately. The company is due to annouce it's six monthly financial report this Thursday where it is expected to reveal a significant operating loss. Sales have dropped by just over 30 percent in the April to September period compared with the previous year, with exports falling 45.4 percent. The company had already announced it's decision to withdraw from hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its' Fuji circuit and follows the news that Japanese tyre giant Bridgestone will pull out from F1 at the end of 2010.

SORA SOARS TO ASIAN LE MANS WIN. SIMMONSEN WINS GT2

It would have to be one of the shortest race series in the world. One weekend, two races, but with a guaranteed start in the Le Mans 24 hour classic as one of the prizes, it was little wonder that Sora racing were delighted to win the first Asian Le mans series at Okayama. The Sora Racing Pescarolo of Christophe Tinseau and Shinji Nakano won Saturday's first race with the Gulf Aston Martin of Stefan Mücke and Harold Primat winning the second race. A second place to Tinseau and Nakano in race two was enough to give the team the overall victory. In LMP2 the team of Mathieu Lathaye, Jacques Nicolet and Richard Hein in the Pescarolo-Mazda came out on top, while Lamborghini won in GT1 thanks to the all Japanese team of Atsuhi Yogo and Hyroyuki Iiri. Australian based Danish driver Alan Simonsen had a great weekend as he helped co-driver Dominick Farnbacher to a win in GT2. Driving their Ferrari 430 GT, Simmonsen and Farnbacher turned the tables on race one winners, the BMW M3 of Dirk Muller and Tom Milner to take the overall win and an invite to the 78th running of the World's greatest motorsport spectacle the 24 hours of Le Mans on the 12th and 13th of June.