Pitstop: Scholarship winner gets glimpse of F1

By BOB PEARCE

North Shore teenager Fabian Coulthard is heading to Britain to drive in the highly competitive Formula Renault series.

He will compete for Manor Motorsport in the last three rounds of the season, with his first race at Brands Hatch on August 24.

The 19-year-old is the national Formula Ford champion and won the McLaren Scholarship for young drivers. As part of the scholarship he will have the opportunity to visit the McLaren Formula One headquarters.

A McLaren protege, Lewis Hamilton, drives for Manor Motorsport and one of McLaren's stars, Kimi Raikkonen, graduated from a Formula Renault car to Formula One.

Coulthard, who hopes to do a full Formula Renault season next year, had also been offered an Australian V8 Supercar drive with Larry Perkins' team at Bathurst. That has now gone to Konica champion Paul Dumbrell.

* * *

Greg Murphy is aiming to use home track advantage and get back to winning form when the Australian V8 Supercars visit Winton Motor Raceway near Benalla, Victoria, for the eighth round of the championship this weekend.

Murphy and his Kmart team-mate, Todd Kelly, had dismal outings at the seventh round of the series at Oran Park three weeks ago. Murphy scored the team's entire haul of just 10 points for the weekend while dropping from second to third in the series.

But the picturesque Winton circuit is used by the team as their official test track and, following a visit last week to put more kilometres on their Commodores, Murphy and Kelly expect a return to form.

"Oran Park was a disaster for us and last week's test, I think, will prove to be exactly what we needed," Murphy said.

"You can't help but feel disappointed from what happened in Sydney, but our guys have just kept working hard, and getting back into the car was good for me."

Team Kiwi also use Winton as a test track and lead driver Jason Richards will be hoping for another top-10 qualifying and far better race results than he had at Oran Park.

The team are expected to give their other drivers, Angus Fogg and John McIntyre, some time in the car to decide who will partner Richards in the upcoming endurance races.

Mark Skaife, of the Holden Racing Team, leads the championship with 1693 points from team-mate Jason Bright (896) and Murphy (894).

* * *

Scott Dixon had an impressive return to form in the latest Champ Car race at mid-Ohio. He started 15th on the grid and finished fifth.

The race was won by French Canadian Patrick Carpentier from Christian Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti.

Championship leader Cristiano da Matta finished out of the points but still heads the standings. Dixon is 11th.

* * *

Injured Auckland driver Matt Halliday headed back to the United States on Monday and hopes to resume racing on August 25.

Halliday has been home recuperating after a bad crash in the first round of the new Infiniti Pro championship at Kansas last month.

He plans to race at St Louis, provided his broken wrist has healed sufficiently for the pins to be removed.

* * *

Auckland teenager James Cressey finished third in both races of the fifth round of the Australian Formula Three championship at Goulburn, New South Wales.

The 18-year-old, who changed teams mid-season, was always at the front of the field behind heat winners James Manderson and Peter Hackett.

* * *

Palmerston North teenager Nelson Hartley is starting to make his mark in the Australian Formula Holden championship.

The 16-year-old finished third overall in the latest round at Mallala in South Australia after third and fourth placings in the two races.

He will return to New Zealand to contest the Formula Ford championship in a new Stealth car over the summer season.

* * *

A new local motor-racing series, Formula Challenge, made its television debut on TV One last Sunday.

The series offers drivers the chance of turn-up-and-drive racing in single-seater cars with wings and slick tyres.

The cars have been designed and built in Taupo by Challenge Racing, the brainchild of Craig Greenwood, a former Formula Vee champion and constructor of more than 20 Formula Firsts.

For the eight-round series at Taupo and Manfeild, Challenge has built nine identical cars, all running on the same Bridgestone tyres and powered by 1100cc motorcycle engines.