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.

ANOTHER POM TAKING OUR JOBS

Former Director of Motorsport at Ford and current Bahrain International Circuit CEO Martin Whitaker, is the new CEO of V8 Supercars Australia. The appointment of the highly respected sports administrator will be seen as a major boost in the profile and credibility of the category in the International motorsport scene. Making the announcement V8 Supercars Australia Chairman  Tony Cochrane said that Whitaker's signing "is an outstanding testimony to the size and quality of our business and our sport." “Martin will join an excellent management team and help build the sport throughout Australia, the Pacific, Asia and the Indian sub continents.” he said.

IT’S LOOKING BRIGHT FOR BRAD JONES RACING

Jason Bright will return to Holden with the news that he has signed on to replace Cameron McConville at Brad Jones Racing. Bright a veteran of 145 V8 Supercar starts spent several years behind the wheel of a Commodore including a time as a driver for the Holden Racing Team. Bright said that he is excited about the move to Brad Jones Racing. “BJR has all the ingredients to turn it into a very strong force. Its rate of progress up the field in the last couple of years has been impressive and the changes they’ve made internally, as well as their plans for the future with engines and engineering, were all deciding factors for me." he said.

LOEB STRIPPED OF RALLY AUSTRALIA WIN

Citroen driver Sebastian Loeb of France has been stripped of his win in this year's Rally Australia. Sebastian Loeb lost the rally after all three Citroen C4s received one minute penalties for a technical infringement. The stewards' gives the win to Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen, who further extends his championship lead to five points with just two rounds to go. The penalties were imposed on the cars of Loeb, his team-mate Dani Sordo and Citroen Junior driver Sebastian Ogier - who had finished third and fourth due to "an irregularity in their cars' anti-rollbars". Loeb won the event on the road by 12.5 seconds from series leader Hirvonen. Hirvonen's battle with Spanish Citroen driver Dani Sordo was a thriller, the two traded places five times in 10 stages.

LOWNDES & WHINCUP COME HOME TO HOLDEN

It's official. The Triple Eight team of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes will race a Holden in 2010. Speculation had been growing that the British owned team would switch to the General Motors marque after Triple Eight was dropped from official Ford support earlier this year. In a press conference held at Holden's Port Melbourne headquarters this morning, the announcement was made that the championship team would be making the switch to Fords for 2010, Holden Executive Director Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, Alan Batey  said that “Holden has a long and proud history in motorsport that stretches back over 40 years and today's’s announcement is an exciting step into the next chapter.” “Our commitment and passion for motorsport has not wavered. Today we are making a clear statement on how much we value this sport which is also a very smart, responsible sponsorship decision.... click headline for more.

HOLDEN: V8 SUPERCAR PROTEST WILL BE HEARD

The protest by Holden teams against the controversial front splitter mountings on the all conquering Team Vodafone Falcons will now be heard.   The Confederation of Australian Motorsport's V8 Supercar National Court of Appeal, has upheld an appeal lodged by Walkinshaw Performance and will now allow an official protest.   The appeal was lodged against the decision by Stewards at the Symmons Plains round on 29 May, not hear the protest regarding the legality of the Team Vodafone splitter mount and the decisions and conduct of the V8 Supercar Category Technical Director, Campbell Little.   In a statement released yesterday (June 9 2009) the Court of Appeal ruled that:   1. That the Appeal be allowed; 2. The time limit for lodging of the Protest by Walkinshaw Performance, dated 22 May 2009, be extended to 22 May 2009; 3. Direct that CAMS reconvene, for the purpose of Hearing the Protest by Walkinshaw Performance alone, the Stewards of the Meeting held on the 1-3 May 2009 at Winton Motor Raceway, or appoint other Stewards as may be appointed in accordance with the provisions of Rule A10.1.3.14; 4. That the Appeal Fee be refunded to the Appellant; 5. Direct that the Protest Fee be reinstated; 6. Direct that CAMS give notice of this decision to Triple Eight Race Engineering Pty Ltd and inform that person that they have a right to be heard at the Hearing; 7. Direct that the Stewards conduct the Hearing promptly; 8. Liberty to the parties and Triple Eight Race Engineering Pty Ltd to apply for further orders if necessary. The V8 Supercar National Court of Appeal said that it will give its full decision regarding this matter in writing within 14 days.   The controversy over the splitter mounting has led to the resignation of V8 Supercars Technical Director Campbell Little. In a statement issued last Monday Little said that  he had arrived at the decision in recent weeks.

LOWNDES ON TOP AS TANDER HITS OUT

It was no surprise that a Triple 8 Falcon crossed the line first in today's V8 Supercar championship race at Winton, what was surprising is that it wasn't Jamie Whincup. Craig Lowndes drove a superb tactical race to lead home his team-mate as Fords took the top three places. In the debut race for the new soft option tyres Lowndes and his team picked the perfect strategy, starting on the normal control tyre before switching to the new option tyre late in the race. The move allowed Lowndes to move from fifth though to the lead late in the race as Whincup who switched tyres on the opening lap of the race struggled for grip. "We spent about one and a half or two hours last night trying to figure out what the best strategy would be because no one knew." Lowndes said after the race. Third place went to Ford Performance Racing driver Steven Richards who also chose to switch to the option tyre late in the race and it nearly paid off as he just missed out on second place. Rick Kelly was the first Holden home in fourth place. Kelly started on the option tyre before switching to the control tyre late in the race. Despite missing the podium he was relatively happy with his race. "... when you finish fourth it’s always extremely frustrating because you're so close to getting a podium and it would have been fantastic to get the first ever podium for Kelly Racing here today. he said.  “Not to worry - we should be happy with the job we've done and we’ll do our very best to make sure we're in the top 10 again tomorrow."

WHINCUP GOING GLOBAL ?

Jamie Whincup  is well on his way to becoming a modern great of Australian Motorsport. He currently sits 12th on the all time round winners list, and if his current form continues he may jump to 7th by seasons end. If that occurs only the likes of Brock, Skaife, Lowndes and Co. stand in front of him.  So far in 2009, he has proven to be fast, precise and virtually mistake free. If you trace his results back to Bathurst last year, Whincup has won 14 out of 17 championship races contested, a winning percentage of over 80%. While domination isn't exactly a new concept to motorsport, V8 Supercars Australia had invested in a variety of changes to prevent the curse of predictability.  After the Holden Racing Team's domination of the mid 90's, Project Blueprint and a raft of format and championship points changes were implemented. Yet in the face of this, Team Vodafone and Whincup have been in a league of their own.  Not even his much fancied teammate Craig Lowndes has been able to keep up with the 26year old. In fact Whincup has proven to be the only teammate to consistently outpace Lowndes for over two seasons and with both Team Vodafone drivers out of contract at years end, Lowndes may be the only one feeling any pressure to perform.  But for Whincup, V8 Supercars may not be his only choice...

ALL NOT WELL AS HAMILTON GEARS UP FOR V8 STREET FEST

  The glitter of New Zealand's racing jewel, this week's V8 Supercar race through the streets of the City of Hamilton has tarnished with ticket sales well down and local opposition to the event growing. With only a few days remaining till the thunder of the big five litre V8s hits the streets, race organisers have admitted that this years race is still a long way from being a sellout. With a raceday capacity of 50'000 event promoter Dean Calvert told the Waikato Times newspaper that an average of 35,000 daily tickets, or 70 per cent, of the total had been sold. They were a mix of general admission, grandstand and corporate hospitality tickets. Capacity for each day is 50,000. Mr Calvert told the paper that despite this he was happy with the way the event was going. "Selling out the event, as was the case last year, was not a priority" Mr Calvert said. "Ticket sales are only a part of the bigger picture. Our priority this year is the quality of experience that the fans get." Local businesses are also bitterly divided on the perceived benefit of the race to the region.

FROSTY THE FORD MAN