Motorsport: Kiwi pair want title back

Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon is just the man to tackle the tricky forest tracks. Picture / Honza Fronek

Experience will make all the difference at Coffs Harbour

World Rally Championship Kiwis Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard will be at Coffs Harbour for Rally Australia this weekend, supported by a horde of New Zealand fans.
Paddon and Kennard will be looking to build on their experience competing on the high-speed country roads and tight, technical forest tracks in round 10 of the series.
They have raced there twice before, including clinching the 2011 FIA Production title.
This time they'll be in a Hyundai i20 WRC car for the fourth time and have a new team-mate in Aussie Chris Atkinson.

Enduro season
The V8 Supercars pilots are getting ready to share duties with their co-drivers for the opening race in the Pirtek Enduro Cup at Sandown this weekend. The next three events - Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 - will more than likely give a clear indication who is gong to claim the title. With only two race weekends after the Gold Coast event, the pair who can keep the car straight and consistently pick up points will have the advantage.

Jamie Whincup is back in his accustomed spot at the head of the field, and with co-driver Paul Dumbrell joining the team for the endurance rounds it would appear they're on solid ground. Others to watch will be Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen, James Courtney and Greg Murphy (if Murphy can avoid the walls this year) and Garth Tander with Warren Luff.

Kiwis at Monza
GP2 driver Mitch Evans started well in his weekend campaign, qualifying third for the feature race and backing that up with a solid third place behind Stoffel Vandoorne and Arthur Pic. Sunday's race wasn't so productive: Evans finished 20th after surviving a collision. He remains fifth in the championship with two rounds to go.

GP3's Richie Stanaway qualified a solid fifth but crossed the line ninth in the feature race. In Sunday's race the Kiwi driver was forced out on lap three by mechanical problems but is still second in the series.

Earl Bamber showed he's one of the best exponents of Porsche Cup racing by setting the third fastest time in qualifying and finishing third. Bamber took the championship lead from Kuba Giermazaik at Spa Francorchamps and has a five-point buffer with one race left.

One of the greats
Proof of the motor racing world's respect for New Zealand motorsport journalist Eoin Young - if it were needed- came when a moment's silence was held at the Formula One Grand Prix press conference. Young, 75, died in Christchurch last week.

Young left these shores in 1961 to work with Denny Hulme and then the fledgling Bruce McLaren team. He was a founding director, leaving in 1966 to become a motorsport correspondent.

He was first published in Road & Track and spent 33 years writing a column for Autocar magazine. The bloke could write as if he were having a conversation in the pub and was respected by drivers during the halcyon era of New Zealand drivers in F1. He wrote books on Hulme, McLaren, Jim Clark, James Hunt and Chris Amon.

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