LE MANS: THE GREATEST RACE

It's all happening, the countdown has begun for the greatest spectacle in International motorsport, forget F1, ignore the Indy 500, don't even consider the Bathurst 1000, the greatest race in all motorsport is without a shadow of a doubt Le Mans. For the first time since 1984 Australian television audiences will have the chance to see the race live, well some of it anyway. TEN's new ONE HD sports channel will bring Aussie viewers the race live from 10.30 p.m. Saturday night with live coverage going through until 2.00AM when the network crosses to NASCAR Qualifying. The coverage continues from 6.30AM till 10.00AM with the final few hours also covered live from 8.30PM till 11.10PM when coverage of the MotoGP begins. For most Australians Le Mans is an abstract concept, not since the early eighties has there been any real mainstream media coverage of the greatest race. Even that proud purveyor of obscure sports everywhere cable TV confined their coverage to a scant hour of highlights often weeks after the race. Of course we on In Pit Lane tried our best to keep the spirit of Le Mans alive. In 2004 I attended my first Le Mans, it was everything I had expected and way, way more. The efficiency and friendliness of the ACO officials is a long way from the indifference and arrogance of the average Aussie racetrack. As I've said on the show before, it was easier to get into Le Mans and do our job than it is to get through the tunnel at Phillip Island for a round of the Victorian State Series. The media centre is remarkable, every table with its own monitor, a lockable cage for your laptop and a steady stream of information all delivered with a smile from a crew who are not only professional but knowledgeable and quite rightly proud of their event. It makes a big difference from some media centres at a typical V8 Supercar event when any request for information on a support event is met with a mixture of confusion and utter contempt. The track itself is suburb, sadly not all of it is accessible to the average spectator but there's plenty of good places to view from. The esses down from the famous Dunlop bridge is a favourite, especially on Saturday night when you can stand on the hill and watch the cars on one side and them flip around to the bands at the annual rock concert. Of course any trip to France must include food and wine and Le Mans is no disappointment there either.

QUEENSLAND STATE SERIES SHINES

The Queensland Motor Racing Championships held at Morgan Park Raceway on April 25-26 were a massive success, due largely to the introduction of Saturday night championship races.  Organised by the Queensland Racing Drivers Association (QRDA), the meeting saw around 150 racers take to the track, traveling from as far away as New Zealand to compete.  As an added bonus for competitors, there was perfect weather for the event, especially for the Saturday night racing where a large crowd turned out to take in the festivities.  Chris Donnelly, president of the QRDA was once again impressed by the local facilities, volunteers and spectator numbers.  "The Warwick District Sporting Car Club has gone above all expectations in assisting with the set up for the night racing and lighting towers, the success of the meeting and the presentation of Morgan Park Raceway is a credit to Bill Campbell and his team," said Mr Donnelly.  "I hope that the people of Warwick realise what a valuable asset they have at Morgan Park, as once again the town filled up with competitors and teams from as far away as Darwin, Cairns and New Zealand.  "The racing itself was top notch, with the night racing a real test for the drivers, with several competitors actually going quicker in the night racing than they did during the day time qualifying sessions.  "We all look forward to returning for the remainder of the championship races in August and November."  Qualifying on Saturday kicked off after a lunchtime Anzac Day service hosted by the Warwick branch of the RSL, which was attended by all competitors and teams.  There were several surprise packets amongst the front runners in the 10 competing classes, including the Queensland Geminis.  Ryan Hansford, son of the late legend of two and four wheel motorsport Gregg Hansford, won his first ever championship race after only a handful of meetings in 2008.  In the Saloon Cars, newcomer Grant Gatland shook up the establishment with a strong podium run in his Falcon.  Gatland, formerly from South Africa where he raced in the VW Polo series, is a student of the Southern Queensland Institute of Tafe motorsport program, and has a big future ahead of him.  Other strong local performers included Warwick driver Jamie Furness in the HQ Holdens, who battled hard all weekend long with his Toowoomba based uncle Gary Bonwick, and Brisbane based Dion Cidoni for the podium places.  For more information on the Queensland Motor Racing Championships, visit the QRDA website atwww.qrda.asn.au.  Source: QRDA Media Release

MOSLER MONSTERS STREETS OF ADELAIDE

  A winning debut for the controversial Mosler MT900 as New Zealand driver Craig Baird wins race one of the Australian GT Championship on the streets of Adelaide. Starting from pole Baird jumped to an immediate lead and was never headed despite close attention from David Wall in the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S. Klark Quinn showed his potential as a professional driver with a strong third place in his Porsche 996 GT3 also taking the win in the Challenge class. 24 cars finished the race with the tight confines of the Adelaide street circuit testing even the best drivers. Jim Richard's retired early after contact with another car, John Tuelan spun his Mosler late in the race and John Briggs was out early in the Dodge Viper. The second race for the Australian GT Championship will be held tomorrow (Sunday)  

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.

UGLY SPORTSCARS TEST AT DAYTONA

WE WILL RACE AT LE MANS: CORVETTE

Corvette have denied an  Autosport magazine story that claimed the team would not be running at next the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Steve Wesoloski, Road Racing Group Manager for the General said that the current plan was that the cars would be at the classic race in next June 2009. “I can confirm that we will be in Sebring, Long Beach and Le Mans with the C6 R in GT1” he said. The  program as announced at Detroit last September will include the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Long Beach ALMS round and finally the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mr Wesoloski did say however that “for several reasons, primarily to preserve our budget, we will not be present at the Winter Test of the ALMS”  The ALMS Corvette program in GT2 is also at this stage still on track. “Project GT2 is in hand, with the objective of beginning in Mid-Ohio” he said. Of course all of this could be dependent on their still being a General Motors come 2009. With Audi, Porsche, Acura and now Chevrolet all cutting back their ALMS programmes, the 2009 season will be a very different landscape from the one we saw in 2008.

HONDA KILLS NSX PROJECT

Only a week after pulling out of Formula One, Honda has now announced that it's cancelled its plan to build the new NSX Supercar. The successor to the famous mid-engined V6 machine that still successfully competes in Japan's high tech Super GT series, the new era NSX was to have been a front engined all wheel drive V10. Prototypes of the car were seen testing at the famous Nurburgring circuit. The move comes after Honda president Takeo Fukui told Japanese media that the company had slashed its 2009 profit forecast by 62%. Mr Fukui said that in this rapidly changing environment, the company needed to review investment and development plans and make choices to keep the impact on profit as small as possible. “We need to concentrate limited resources on the right places,“ he said. The original NSX ceased production in 2005.

SPEED TV ALMS WRAP UP 2008

QUEENSLAND’S SUNCOAST RALLY CANCELLED

The 2009 Suncoast Classic tarmac rally has been cancelled with organisers blaming the world financial crisis for a lack of entries. The management team of Silverstone Events, which planned to stage the rally on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast between 22 and 26 July, said that a smaller than expected number of registrations had resulted in its cancellation. Silverstone Events Director David Edwards said it appeared the world financial crisis has taken its toll on motorsport events like the rally. He said that while the number of enquiries for the second Suncoast Classic was high, those early registrations of interest had not translated into official entries. “Unfortunately, we have not received the number of entries we expected by this point,” Mr Edwards said.

FERRARI WINS SANDOWN BUT LAMBORGHINI TAKES THE TITLE

The Ferrari team of Nick O'Halloran and Alan Simonsen took out the Sandown GT classic last weekend. Held over two one hour heats the black Ferrari crossed the line over 16 seconds ahead of the Viper of Ross Lilley and former Nations Cup Champion Greg Crick. Tony Quinn making his debut in the ex Peter Hackett Aston Martin DBRS9 led the race at various times but fell back to third late in the race. The Lamborghini team of Ted Huglin and John Bowe came through to finish fourth with former F1 driver Ivan Capelli impressing everybody with his speed in the Maserati Trofero. Max Twigg in a Porsche GT3 Cup Car was sixth to take out Class B over the team of Michael Locisano and Marc Cini with high profile Hollywood actor Eric Bana also in a Porsche in third. Only 13 cars finished the race which was dealt a blow on Friday when the cars of Championship Contender John Kaias and Kim Bourke came together during private practice. With Kaias out Mark Eddy in the Lamborghini became the Australian National GT Champion after a seventh place finish.