IRC BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLIN ACTION THIS WEEKEND

With four events of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge season remaining, the battle for the title is tightly poised as the series heads to Czech Republic next week for the 40th running of the all-asphalt Barum Czech Rally Zlin. Juho Hanninen tops the drivers' standings after eight rounds but his lead over Skoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecky has been trimmed to just seven points. And Kopecky, a recognised asphalt specialist and the winner in Zlin last season, knows victory on his home event would erode Hanninen's advantage still further after he outscored the Finn on the last IRC round in Madeira. Kopecky is relishing the opportunity of competing in front of the Czech spectators, who traditionally flock to the event in huge number. However, he is the first to admit the rally is one of the most difficult on the IRC calendar due to the proliferation of high-speed blasts through forests and woodland, sections of broken Tarmac and the bumpy nature of some of the roads. Considered daunting by some drivers, the rally demands huge commitment and extremely accurate pacenotes. A mainstay of the IRC since its inception in 2007, the event gets underway with a superspecial stage through the streets of host city Zlin on Friday 27 August. Run at night, the course is effectively three laps of the city's central area and crosses over a railway line. Crews are released from the start in regular intervals, which means there will be approximately seven cars on the concrete wall-lined course at any one time.

PEUGEOT POWERS BACK IN PORTUGAL

After playing second fiddle to the Peugeot factory team for most of 2010, the Oreca Peugeot team of Stephane Sarrazin, Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre have won the Algarve 1000 kms in Portugal, the third round of the 2010 Le Mans Series. It was a dominant performance by the works assisted team, winning the race by five laps after starting from pole. "It's good to win!." said Sarrazin after the race. "The team did a super job. We were under a little pressure but we did what we had to. The refuelling stops were excellent and we dove the right kind of race - a good pace and no mistakes. It's also worth underling the way the team's matured since the Le Castellet 8 Hours. I'm delighted to taste the joys of victory again." Second place went to the Rebellion Racing Lola of Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani, It was a great performance by the team who drove their way through the field after starting the race in last place. Aston Martin was third today with Team Signature coming back strong after the retirement at Le Mans. The third place was also a great result for Vanina Ickx who shared the drive with Pierre Ragues and Franck Mailleux.

BRABHAM, PAGENAUD WIN UTAH ALMS

Australian David Brabham and team-mate Simon Pagenaud have raced to their third consecutive victory in the American Le Mans Series with a hard-fought victory in the Utah Grand Prix. Pagenaud drove the final 1:45 in the team’s HPD ARX-01c, and the Patrón Highcroft crew took advantage of a quick final pit stop to beat Drayson Racing’s Emanuele Pirro to the line by 19.116 seconds at Miller Motorsports Park. Pagenaud and Brabham haven’t lost since the Long Beach round in April and increased their championship lead in LMP to 11 points over Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Klaus Graf. He and Greg Pickett, driving a Porsche Spyder, were third, 90 seconds behind the winning car.

AUSSIE BRISCOE ON POLE FOR TEXAS INDY

Australian driver Ryan Briscoe will start from pole in Saturday night's Indy car race at Texas Motor Speedway. Driving for Team Penske, Briscoe recorded a four-lap average speed of 215.273 mph (1 minute, 37.3275 seconds) to earn the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Firestone 550K race which will be held under lights at the high banked 1.5 mile oval. Dario Franchitti, seeking to be the third consecutive Indianapolis 500 champion to win at Texas in the same year, was 0.0057 of a second off Briscoe's pace. He'll start on the outside of the front row for the 228-lap race under the lights after an average of 215.261 mph. Briscoe's teammate and fellow aussie, Will Power, will be on the second row along with New Zealand's Scott Dixon.

PRE SEASON TESTING: SUPER GT 2010

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.

BUTTON WINS, MELBOURNE MEDIA LOSES

The sensational win by Jenson Button of the Australian Grand Prix has reinvigorated the sport. The team formally known as Honda faced extinction only six weeks ago and yesterday in front of over 105'000 people the new Brawn GP team dominated as Button led team-mate Rubens Barrichello home in a Brawn Mercedes 1-2. Toyota's Timo Glock crossed the line in third but was later penalised for passing under a yellow flag giving reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton the final podium spot. Local hero Mark Webber again had a dire home GP after tangling with Barrichello into turn one forcing him into the pits and well out of contention. After the race an emotional Webber couldn't hide his intense disappointment. "For all the fans to come and watch today, I wanted a good result for many reasons today." Drivers were critical of the race's new start time with glare from the setting sun causing problems for several drivers including the winner.  It was really difficult, you know a few of the corners, it's strange for such an open circuit you could not see the exit of the corners at all," he said. "I used a visor that was slightly tinted and that was the correct thing to do, but with the glare from the sun and the change in light from the trees it was so, so difficult - so easy to put a wheel wrong." Toro Roso driver Sebastian Bourdais was one of the most vocal critics "We do half of a lap with the sun in your eyes," he said. "It's not the most enjoyable racing. Visibility is quite poor. Turn one is difficult, turn three is difficult. The shade from the trees makes it tough to get your eyes accustomed." Despite the current economic crisis and a clash with the local AFL football ( a regional curiosity much loved by the simple folk) crowds were down only about 16'000 overall. The race day crowd of 105'000 was only 3000 down on last year yet the Melbourne mainstream media have seized upon the downturn as a clear sign that the GP has passed it's use by date and that it should be shut down. Led by the taxpayer funded ABC, who launched into a tirade of the evils of taxpayer funding, and the inner-city broadsheet The Age, the football dominated Melbourne media spent most of the weekend trying to find any reason real or imagined to attack the race. Well known and respected football journalist Caroline Wilson was totally dismissive of the event when it came to discussion on the myopic ABC gabfest "The Outsiders"

WHY I WONT BE AT THIS YEARS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Every year since 1996 when the Australian Grand Prix first came to Melbourne, I’ve always looked forward to it as the highlight of the year.  The opportunity to watch my favorite sport live in person without exuberant travel expenses is always a good opportunity. To live that “chasing the dream” lifestyle if only for one week of the year.  However, 2009 will set another precedent for me as I chose to shun the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park and Formula 1 as a whole.       To my friends that I have made over the years at Albert Park especially wonderful fellow fans and former members of the Super Aguri F1 team who have found employment elsewhere and are traveling to Melbourne, I apologize for not being able to see you at the AGP this year.     For those of you who know me well, your first reaction to my statement above would be: “Is it only because Takuma Sato lost his ride?” That is partially correct.  Amongst other arguments, for a sport to encourage and changing rules to suit overtaking then deny a competitor who doesn’t need rule changes to be able to overtake on track is well beyond me.  However, that is not the entire story.   I estimated I’ve spent over AUD$10,000 over the last 13 AGPs I’ve attended, and that is not including the souvenirs that I have purchased.  However, I’ve found other than making friends at autograph alley and being given some very special privileges by Takuma Sato and his management as well as my friends at SAF1; my memories of the AGP are almost always of working like a slave for meager student wages to save up to fund my one big splurge each year at the AGP.  However, for where the money has gone, I’ve learnt the hard way that trackside F1 fans are still very much being given a raw deal by F1, the  FIA, race organizers and certain local businesses.

ACURA ON POLE IN SEBRING THRILLER

New Zealand driver Scott Dixon gave Acura/Honda a dream LMP1 debut with a stunning final-lap dash to take pole position for Saturday’s 57th annual 12 Hours of Sebring.   Dixon, the defending Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion, made his first Sebring race appearance quite notable by driving the all-new No. 66 de Ferran XM Radio Acura ARX-02a prototype sports car to the top position in Saturday’s grid over European challengers Audi and Peugeot.  It was a big day for the Japanese manufacturer with veteran Adrian Fernandez taking his Acura to the pole in the LMP2 class.  It is the first time since 2005 that a manufacturer has captured both the LMP1 and LMP2 pole positions in the same event.  This weekend marks Acura’s debut in the LMP1 class in the American Le Mans Series, after two years of competition in the LMP2 category.  Acura won the LMP2 division in its initial Sebring event in 2007.  Audi's new diesel powered challenger the R15 also made an impressive debut with multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen in the No. 2 Audi taking second place on the grid to edge out arch rival Peugeot. Nicolas Minnasian was the fastest of the Peugeot coupes just ahead of Mike Rockenfeller's Audi and David Brabham in another of the new Acuras.

MEXICAN BILLIONAIRE BUYS HONDA F1 ?

  A report in the Italian newspaper La Stampa has claimed that Carlos Slim, a Mexican Billionaire - and there's a phrase you don't hear much these days - has brought the Honda Formula One team. According to the story Jenson Button will continue with the team but veteran Rubens Barichello will be replaced by Bruno Senna. Despite the story there has been no official conformation at this stage.