ALL AUSSIE FRONT ROW FOR INDY OPENER

It's an all Australian front row for the "Grand Prix" of St Petersburg with Queensland's Will Power lining up alongside team-mate and fellow aussie Ryan Briscoe for the opening round of the 2012 Indy Car season. Power set a new circuit-qualifying record of 1 minute, 1.3721 seconds on his way to his third pole in consecutive years.  He won the race in 2010 and was runner-up to Dario Franchitti in 2011. Briscoe will start alongside his Team Penske teammate on the front row, while Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe will occupy Row 2. It's the best start in the race for all three (Hinchcliffe didn't compete in 2011). Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Firestone Fast Six. But because Pagenaud's Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports team made an unauthorised engine change after practice, he will be penalised 10 spots on the starting grid.

FRANCHITTI WINS SECOND STRAIGHT INDY 500

A dominant performance by Dario Franchitti has given the Scotsman his second straight win in America's biggest motor race, the Indianapolis 500. Franchitti started from position three but by the end of lap one he had already passed both Will Power and pole man Helio Castroneves for the lead. Second place went to England's Dan Wheldon. Wheldon came on strong late in the race to overhaul Marco Andretti who was the first American driver home in third. Alex Lloyd, drove from 26th to finish fourth. Initially credited with third place, Lloyd was relegated to fourth after stewards determined that he had passed under the yellow flag following the huge accident that took out Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Conway and Hunter-Reay made contact catapulting Conway into the air. His car hit the catch fencing, shredding the car, sending debris flying and leaving Conway with injuries to his left leg. The in-car footage from Hunter-Reay's car shows just how lucky he was to avoid any serious injury.

WILL POWER ON WIND TUNNEL

PENSKE POWERS SATURN ?

  Roger Penske has always been ambitious in his business pursuits and this week it has been announced that 'The Captain' is set purchase all of Saturn. However after being told that he could not legally purchase the hydrogen filled luminous body, he decided to simply to turn his attention to the defunct GM brand of the same name.  General Motors is in the midst of a fire sale, yes thats right, all the big brands, Saab, Hummer, Pontiac and more, have all got to go! As the automotive giant remains on a $15.4billion government subsidised life support system, its restructure has meant bargains are to be had!. Considering their dire financial situation, the announcement made last week of GM's brand restructure, surprised noone. The move will see GM offload several brands in a move to focus their attention to their 'core four', Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC. Saturn is one of the brands that didn't make the cut. Saturn Corporation was established in 1985 to combat the success of  Japanese imports in the small car market. First dubbed as 'The different kind of car company', it was always the poor cousin to GM's more premier brands such as Chevrolet and Cadillac. Like much of the US Automotive industry, Saturn suffered heavily from mismanagement and the imports it was designed to compete with, eventually accounted for its demise. Saturn spokesman Steve Janisse has revealed that several bids for the company have been made, however they wouldn't be revealing any of the interested parties until early June. A cautious Tony Porson, spokesman for Penske Automotive Group has stated they are considering the Saturn purchase, “It's very premature to assume anything will be done. I can confirm to you that we are looking at it”. Roger Penske has achieved virtually everything in the automotive world, however resurrecting a car company may be too much even for 'The Captain'.  Saying that, Roger Penske's motorsport interests are as vast as they are succesful, with teams running in IndyCar, NASCAR and ALMS. His stint into Formula One in the mid 70's recorded a victory and he has more Indy 500 than any other team owner. Off the track the Penske Empire also includes the world's second largest automotive dealer network, Penske Automotive, representing over 250 franchises. If anyone can do what General Motors couldn't, It'd be Roger Penske to do it.  

UGLY SPORTSCARS TEST AT DAYTONA

BRISCOE WINS ANZAC DAY ON THE GOLD COAST

Only hours before their respective Nations clash in the Rugby League World Cup Australian Ryan Briscoe and New Zealand's Scott Dixon fought out a thrilling Gold Coast Indy 300 and it was the Aussie that came out on top. Briscoe became the only Australian driver to win the race hanging on to beat the reigning Indycar Champion by less than a second. Briscoe took the lead after home town hero Will Power crashed out while leading. Back in the pits Power was gutted by his mistake. “It was a really bad mistake, the worst of my life.” he said. “It was a very bad day for me and I am very disappointed.”  Even Briscoe had some sympathy for his fellow Aussie. “ I really feel bad for Will Power. He had a real fast car.“ said Briscoe.

BRISCOE BACK TO PORSCHE

Australian IRL racer Ryan Briscoe will compete in the remaining three rounds of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in the LMP2 Penske Porsche RS Spyder. He will replace Sascha Maassen. Briscoe was scheduled to compete only in the two endurance rounds of the ALMS, but was told overnight that he was required to add the sprint ALMS rounds in Detroit this weekend and Laguna Seca on October 18 to his schedule.

PENSKE FIRES BACK AT SONOMA

Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Australia's Ryan Briscoe will share the front row for the third consecutive IndyCar Series race on a road/street course in tomorrow's Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County at Infineon Raceway . Castroneves won his 26th career pole with a best lap of 1 minute, 16.9027 seconds, 107.809 mph on the 12-turn, 2.30 mile circuit. Briscoe was second just .0158 of a second behind. The duo also shared the front row at Mid-Ohio with Castroneves on the pole and at Edmonton with Briscoe on the pole.