Motorsport: Stanaway keen to get back in

He's enjoyed a comfortable championship lead through a two-month summer break but now young Tauranga racing driver Richie Stanaway says he's "keen to get the show on the road again" this weekend in Austria.
Stanaway, 19, won seven of the first 10 races in the German Formula 3 Championship earlier in the year and holds an 18-point lead over nearest challenger Marco Sorensen of Denmark as the series heads to round 11 and 12 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria this weekend.
In the eight-week break since the last race at Zolder in Belgium, Stanaway says he's been testing, training, taking part in FIA Academy development camps and "driving" the Formula 3 simulator at the Dutch base of Van Amersfoort Racing.
"I'm really keen to start racing again," said Stanaway.
"Since Zolder I've had four test days and been working in the simulator.
"The data modelling of the car, the tyres and the circuits in the sim is really authentic.
"The throttle, steering and brakes are just like driving a real car so it's a good way to stay sharp."
Stanaway recently spent a week at the latest FIA Academy training camp where he is one of 12 young race and rally drivers whose careers are being fast-tracked under the guidance of ex-F1 driver Alex Wurz and former world rally co-driver champion Robert Reid.
"The academy has been a really good experience and each camp we've done has been quite different," said Stanaway.
Eight races remain in the German F3 series and Stanaway has a clear goal.
"The aim is to continue dominating the championship and keep on notching up pole positions and race wins.
"Realistically finishing consistently on the podium would probably be enough to win the championship but it's no time to relax," he said.
"Unless I keep pushing now I won't be fully prepared for next year when the intensity level goes up another level."
On the question of next year Stanaway says nothing has been decided by Gravity Sports Management, the company funding and guiding his racing career.
"GP3 or the Formula Renault 3.5 Series are two of the more likely options but nothing is decided yet," says Stanaway.
The weekend at the Red Bull Ring [the recently redeveloped Osterreichring] has testing on Friday with a qualifying session and one race each on Saturday and Sunday.
The remaining ATS Formel 3 Cup rounds are at Laustizring (Sept 3-4), Assen (Sept 17-18) and Hockenheim for the final on October 1-2.
Endurance race
After the cancellation of the first round at Taupo last month there's extra anticipation for Saturday's VIP Pet Foods 12-Hour Hampton Downs endurance race for the Tauranga team of Richard Grainger, Mike Torr and Kevin Gallichan.
The local trio are among a field of about 20 crews contesting the 7am-7pm enduro - New Zealand's longest endurance race - at the north Waikato circuit.
They are campaigning Grainger's Rite Price Rentals Mitsubishi Lancer Evo which has been further developed following last years inaugural Hampton Downs 12 Hour where a four-driver team of Richard and Lauren Grainger, Torr and Bryce Armstrong finished ninth after an eventful run.
Since then Grainger contested the NZGT class of the 2010-11 GTRNZ series, finishing fifth overall in his rookie year.
Torr, who has the most competition experience of the team having competed in Top Half rallies throughout the 1980s before taking a 20-year break from participation in motorsport, has also been busy since the last 12 Hour.
He competed in the New Zealand Gold Star Hillclimb Champs, winning the opening seal hillclimb and climbed to fifth overall in this national series before destroying his Subaru's gearbox in the second North Island qualifying heat.
The gearbox damage resulted in him missing the final round, but he still managed to finish ninth overall thanks to his results from the two qualifying rounds.
While Gallichan has been interested in motorsport for many years, until recently his only experience had been track day events and the Formula Challenge Motorsport Experience.
The 12 Hour will be his first full racing experience.
Pro-Kart round
The Bay of Plenty Kart Club hosts one of its bigger events of 2011 this weekend when the penultimate round of the Mi Sedaap Pro-Kart Series visits the Fagans Valley track at Te Puke.
After three rounds of racing at Hawke's Bay, Tokoroa and Auckland the rapid KZ2 and KF3 classes will race both days in the clockwise direction on the full 725-metre circuit at Fagans Valley Raceway, Alley Rd, Te Puke.
The KZ2 class is for senior drivers in 125cc "shifter" karts and KF3 is a junior category which sees some of New Zealand's most talented 12- to 17-year-old racers in action.
Qualifying and two heats will be raced on the Saturday with the third heats, pre-final and final on Sunday along with regular club day racing. The Pro-Kart final is at Hamilton on September 17-18.
Top 10 result
Mt Maunganui's Mason Phillips produced another top-10 result in the Canadian Motocross Nationals last weekend. The penultimate round of the series was raced at Sand Del Lee near Ottawa with Phillips riding his Kini Red Bull KTM 350 to two ninth placings in the MX1 motos and ranking seventh overall for the day. He remains eighth in the championship and within 11 points of a top-six position heading into the final at Walton, Ontario on August 21. His Kiwi teammate Kieran Leigh of Cambridge continued to impress in the MX2 class with a seventh and sixth place at Sand Del Lee. He was sixth and also remains sixth in the MX2 championship.
New layout
The Bay of Plenty Motorcycle Club's Summercross event held between Christmas and New Year celebrates its 40th birthday this year. Summercross 2011 will be sponsored by Tony Rees Motorcycles Yamaha with a Tuesday-Wednesday format on December 27-28. However, this year senior racing will take place on the first day followed by junior and mini riders on day two. A new layout for the Awakaponga MX track will see a roller section replace the "number four" tabletop jump to provide better viewing with the removal of the hill, allowing about 90 per cent of the track to be viewed from the top of the hill vantage area.