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British Rally Championship 2010 - Round 6 News

There were two winners from this weekend’s International Rally Yorkshire: Gwyndaf Evans/Claire Mole took overall honours on the Scarborough-based gravel event, but Keith Cronin took his second straight victory in the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, the first for his co-driver Barry McNulty.

Evans’ win was a relatively easy one, but only after Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts rolled their Fiesta following a frustrating mechanical gremlin, which had already dropped the Irishman behind the 1996 British Rally Champion.

At the finish on Scarborough seafront Evans commented, “It was a difficult rally for everyone, It was so easy to make a mistake, but I’ll treasure this win with the others this year. I’m delighted for the JRM team who have all worked really hard all season.”

The victory was Evans’ first on Rally Yorkshire, which has only been part of the championship in its present guise for less than ten years. But it was extra special for BRC returnee and Evan’s third co-driver this season Claire Mole, who chalked up her first ever British Rally Championship event win.

Motorsport Mundial 39-10

On the programme this week DTM is at Zandvoort in the Netherlands for the sixth round of the year. The World Motocross championship is all about Antonio Cairoli as he conquers Belgium and the F3 Euroseries takes to the streets in Germany while on the beach in Wales are the Zapcat's.

BTCC Event 9 Donington

Gordon Shedden, Tom Onslow-Cole and Matt Neal were the winners of today’s three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire to set up a nail-biting, four-way title-decider against Jason Plato on Finals Day at Brands Hatch, Kent on Sunday 10 October.

Silverline Chevrolet driver Plato crashed out of today’s first race but later secured a pair of vital third place finishes in races two and three to maintain his lead in the standings – the first of those achieved with a stunning comeback drive from the rear of the grid.

Honda Racing Team’s Neal was fifth in race one and eighth in race two before capping his day with a victory in race three ahead of WSR BMW driver Robert Collard. Team-mate Shedden (pictured leading) won race one, was second in race two and added a sixth in race three to take the biggest points haul of the day. Onslow-Cole’s results read eighth, first and ninth. Two other drivers made onto the podium at Donington, Onslow-Cole's Team Aon team-mate Tom Chilton and Airwaves BMW's Mat Jackson taking second and third places respectively behind Shedden in race one.

The results mean that an unprecedented number of four drivers – the previous record was three – will fight it out for the BTCC title in the season’s final three races around Brands Hatch’s tight and often controversial Indy circuit in three weeks time. Plato will arrive there with a 17-point advantage over Neal with Shedden a further four points adrift. Onslow-Cole is three more behind – in total with 24 to make up on Plato with a maximum of 52 to be won on the day.

Oxford racer Plato, who won his only BTCC title to date at Brands in 2001, said: “After race one it wasn’t looking too rosy but my team worked miracles to repair the car in such a short timeframe and third place in race two was all down to them. I knew this would be a great circuit for the Cruze and while I’m happy with a 17-point lead it should have been 25 or so. But I’d rather have a handy cushion than be going to Brands Hatch playing catch-up. We just need to do our homework between now and then, leave no stone unturned and take nothing for granted.”

Worcestershire’s Neal, who lifted the first of his two titles at Brands in 2005, added: “Jason holds all the aces but he’ll have two Hondas to worry about – there are no team orders between Gordon and I and we’ll be coming at Jason from all directions. But he’s been there before and so have I so we both know the score. The Honda’s big strength is its handling and Brands Indy is a twisty circuit so it’s game on.”

For both Scottish ace Shedden and Onslow-Cole, it will be the first time either has gone into Finals Day fighting for the coveted BTCC Champion's trophy. Shedden, from Dalgety Bay, Fife commented: “It’s all to play for and Jason will have two Hondas to worry about. Then again, I think all three cars, the Chevrolet, the Honda and the Ford will be very evenly-matched there. I’m relaxed about it, I’ve nothing to lose so it’ll be maximum attack.”

And said New Malden-based Onslow-Cole: “I’m the absolute outsider so have no other option but to go for it. We had some strong results with the Focus on the Brands GP circuit earlier this year but the Indy circuit is a very different animal. Let’s just see what happens.”

Meanwhile, the battle for the Independent Drivers Trophy will also come down to four drivers – Onslow-Cole, Airwaves BMW’s Steven Kane, Chilton and Kane’s team-mate Mat Jackson. Thirty-five points cover them with a maximum 45 available at Brands Hatch. The HiQ Teams Championship is now a straight fight between Honda Racing Team and Team Aon, the former ahead by 41 points with 81 available in the season finale. Honda, however, has provisionally secured the Manufacturer honours for 2010 thanks to Neal’s and Shedden’s efforts this season. In the Independent Teams Trophy, Team Aon leads the only other outfit still in the running, Airwaves BMW, by 25 points with a maximum of 45 up for grabs at Brands – notably, the latter’s home circuit.

Elsewhere, two drivers were punished for on-track incidents at Donington. These were: Race 1: Jason Plato – officially reprimanded and 2 penalty points for an incident with Matt Neal; Race 2: Andy Neate – officially reprimanded and 2 penalty points for an incident with David Pinkney

Fiesta World Tour - Leg 2 - Part 1 - VNR

As the Ford Fiesta World Tour, the 60-day, 21-country, 15,000-mile circumnavigation of the globe, reaches European shores, the team attend a matchmaking festival, head across the Irish sea to Wales to catch up with rallying legend Gwyndaff Evans, and finally to The Houses of Parliament to meet with Mark Prisk, the Business and Finance Minister to see what he thinks of the the Fiesta.

Regular VNRs will be available for download via the Dystribute network.

Auto Mundial 38-10

We start with the headlines from around the world and then we're looking at practicality - but it can come expensively, with BMW's new X3, or reasonable with Honda's CRV.

The Korean world takeover continues with Hyundai and Kia, Jaguar celebrates seventy-five years with two fine cars that will literally make your day, and we end with Maserati's four-seat soft-top.

In the show this week:-

NEWS

BMW X3

HONDA CRV

KIA SOUL

HYUNDAI AVANTE

JAGUAR

JAGUAR XJ75 PLATINUM CONCEPT

MASERATI GRAN CABRIO

Pre-Singapore GP feature

Adrian Sutil, Tonio Liuzzi and Paul di Resta discuss the challenges of the series' only night race in Singapore. The trio look at adapting to the day/night schedule and racing under lights, the challenges of the street track and the unique atmosphere of the Singapore Grand Prix.

WTCC Valencia HLTS - International Sound and Commentaries

The home race meeting resulted in a complete triumph for SEAT. Not only did the Spanish car manufacturer manage to win both races with SR-Sport's Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro, but Tarquini's hopes to retain the WTCC crown were definitely relaunched.
In Race 1 the current world champion dominated the field claiming his fifth win of the season from the Chevrolet pair of Yvan Muller and Rob Huff.
With a brilliant overtaking on Andy Priaulx at the start of Race 2, Monteiro paved the road to his second victory of the year, leaving Muller, Tarquini and Priaulx battling each other for second place in a duel that eventually could prove crucial for the title fight.
Today Muller added two more podium results to an impressive series and stretched his lead once again. The 2008 champion scored 36 points, 14 more than Priaulx, but four less than Tarquini. The gap between Muller and Priaulx is now 25 points (which equates to one race win), while Tarquini is a further four points adrift. It will be a three-men final shoot out, although Rob Huff still has theoretical chances as he lies 69 points behind with 100 still at stake.
There is the same uncertainty in the Manufacturers' Championship that is led by Chevrolet with a 45-point margin ahead of SEAT Customers Technology. BMW lies third with a gap of 78.
With five victories in the six latest races Kristian Poulsen has climbed up to second in the Independents' Trophy, moving one and two points ahead of Stefano D'Aste and Darryl O'Young respectively. Sergio Hernández continues to lead, but he saw his advantage cut to 31 points.
Fredy Barth and Michel Nykjær shared wins in the Rookie Challenge, but Norbert Michelisz is still leading the Swiss by 4 points. Nykjær is third, only 18 points behind the young Hungarian.
Indeed anything can still happen in the two final events of the season, Japan and Macau.
The championship will resume after a 40-day break for rounds 19 and 20 at Okayama, Japan on October 31.

Motorsport Mundial 38-10

This time on Motorsport Mundial the Zapcat National championship is at Barry Island in North Wales, the British Touring Car championship is at Silverstone and at the brand new Smolensk Ring the FIA European Truck Racing championship reaches its halfway point in the year.

Fiesta World Tour - Leg 1 - Part 4 - VNR

As the team wrap up their State side visit, it's Montreal to Boston, then NYC, then a trip to Europe.

Auto Mundial 37-10

We'll start the week with the news headlines as always and then look at some of the cars that those headlines are all about in our all-electric round-up that sums up the situation.

Then we're off road with the anti-Christ, Range Rover's so-called Chelsea Tractor which so divides opinions, and we're joining Fiesta on its world tour as Ford discovers new media.

In the show this week:-

NEWS

HONDA CRZ

START ECO CAR

RANGE ROVER

FIESTA WORLD TOUR