Pitstop: Montoya to move aside for Raikkonen

McLaren boss Ron Dennis says Juan Pablo Montoya will move aside for team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in the interests of chasing the Formula One title, but don't expect anything similar in the Australian V8 Supercar championship.

Kiwi Ross Stone, co-owner of the team that runs Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall, has said there are "absolutely no team orders" for his drivers. Defending champion Ambrose leads the championship on 1486 points while Ingall is in second place on 1408, heading into the Bathurst 1000 next month.

They have different sponsors for their cars who would not be impressed by any concessions.

In this year's championship, drivers will drop their worst round from the opening 10 events and be left with a race to the title over the final three events on the Gold Coast, at Symmons Plains in Tasmania and at Phillip Island in Victoria.

When you apply that rule to the first nine rounds, Ambrose leads Ingall by just 58 points.

The top 10 would be: Ambrose (Ford) 1370, Ingall (Ford) 1312, Steven Richards (Holden) 1262, Todd Kelly (Holden) 1220, Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1203, Mark Skaife (Holden) 1142, Garth Tander (Holden) and Jason Bright (Ford) 1066, Paul Radisich (Holden) 998, Steven Johnson (Ford) 988.

Action on GP

Not everyone is happy about the A1GP series. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has decided to take legal action over the use of the phrase "A1 Grand Prix". Chairman Ron Walker says it infringes the corporation's intellectual property rights in relation to the Australian Grand Prix.

Star Cars winner

Young Auckland driver Shane Charlton has made a successful transition from karts to cars this winter, winning the Star Cars winter series, which ended at Taupo last weekend, from Palmerston North's John Reid and Aucklander Barry Bould. Star Cars are purpose-built mini touring cars powered by four-cylinder Suzuki motorcycle engines and clothed in V8 Supercar-style Falcon or Commodore bodies. The cars are seen as a step between karts and full-size touring cars.

Two continents

New Zealand's Cunningham brothers, Wade and Mitch, will be racing on two different continents this weekend, 21-year-old Wade at the 13th round of the Infiniti Pro series for V8-engined single-seater racing cars at the Watkins Glen circuit in the US, 19-year-old Mitch in his Formula A kart at the world championships at the Braga track in Portugal.

Karter runs well

Tokoroa karter Bradley Tyrrell qualified and finished sixth at the final round of the KartStars series at South Australia's Bolivar Raceway last weekend.

The 18-year-old was forced to change engines during the heat races on Saturday but came back on Sunday to recover ground in the 30-lap final, which was won by Jason Pringle from Kristian Lindbom and Michael Sam Abay.

Challenge sewn up

Mark Russ has won the Formula Challenge winter series championship without having to race in the final round. The 18-year-old Aucklander set the fastest lap time in the morning qualifying session at Taupo before torrential rain forced the organisers to abandon the meeting. The points awarded in qualifying gave Russ a one-point lead over 15-year-old Australian Damian Assaillit.