Kiwis reign supreme
Photo / Edge photographics
New Zealand V8 Supercars driver Shan van Gisbergen says he "hates driving in the wet" but you'd never have known it while watching him race in the rain at the Sydney Motorsport Park over the weekend.
The young Kiwi dominated race one to win from Garth Tander by nearly 10 seconds, and then in even more atrocious conditions held off Chaz Mostert to make it two from two.
• Read more Slick van Gisbergen cleans up in the rain
• Read more Kiwi young gun takes Volvo to Supercar first in Sydney
"It was awesome to win two races this weekend," van Gisbergen said. "The second was harder as Chaz was closing fast and my tyres had gone away."
The second Kiwi in the field, Scott McLaughlin, had a day to forget when his engine let go in race one when he was in a good position to challenge.
After a mammoth effort between the two races on Saturday, the Volvo crew managed to change an engine but forgot to secure a rear wheel, which flew off early in the race.
He did, however, salvage his weekend in the best possible way by triumphing in Sunday's feature race ahead of Nick Percat and the third Kiwi in the field, Fabian Coulthard.
"It's ridiculous," said McLaughlin. "I was so thankful and relieved when I crossed the line. I'm proud of myself and the team for going with the right strategy."
Jamie Whincup was again there to pick up points when others fell away - including early title contender Mark Winterbottom who again had a very average weekend.
Bamber does it again
New Zealand Porsche driver Earl Bamber continued his winning ways in Belgium at the weekend to take his second race win in the Porsche Supercup.
Earl Bamber
The Kiwi was in his element on the high-speed 7km Spa Francorchamps circuit, first qualifying on pole and then taking the chequered flag.
In a hard-fought battle Bamber wrestled the race lead from Nicki Thiim and Klaus Bachler to grab the maximum pints and he now leads the championship.
"Fastest in free practice, pole position, victory and now the points leader - what a perfect weekend. I'm over the moon," said a justifiably chuffed Bamber.
As well as grabbing the series lead from Kuba Giermaziak, Bamber now leads three Porsche international and national championships - Porsche Supercup, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and Porsche Carrera Cup Asia - something that has not been done before.
Masons miss out
Richard and Sara Mason had already wrapped up the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship with four straight round wins before heading to the VINZ Gold Rush Rally of Coromandel last weekend.
They were aiming for an unprecedented clean sweep of all six rounds but came unstuck.
They were leading by two minutes when disaster struck in the 24km Castlerock stage when a left rear toe-link broke on their Subaru, side-lining them.
Next best of the chancing pack, Ben Hunt, looked good to take over the race lead until he too ran into trouble, puncturing soon after the Masons' demise.
This left the door open for Phil Campbell and co-driver Venita Fabbro to take their maiden victory by 17.3s from David Holder and Graeme Featherstone.
"We are wrapped with the win - it's a fantastic result for our team," Campbell said. "It was a tough rally. We took a couple of stages to find a pace we were happy with and then tried to be consistent in the afternoon."
Dixon wins in Sonoma
Scott Dixon on the podium at Sonoma. Photo / AP
You can never rule IndyCar driver Scott Dixon out even after a bad start to the season.
Never one to give up, Dixon has now been inside the top five in his last six starts and notched up another win in Sonoma over the weekend.
With only one race to go, defending champion Dixon will not take another title home this year to add to the three he already has, but he is the dominant driver at the moment and can still make it into the top three - especially as the last race in Fontana, California, earns double points.
"It was a tough race with so many strategies going on," said Dixon.
"We've had a bad year this year but the strategy worked well here.
"The car's been strong all weekend and I'm just so happy to get another win. At least we're ending the championship well."
• Read more Dixon grabs victory as Aussie eyes title
Gilmour improves
Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship contestant Emma Gilmour is starting to make her mark in the fast and highly contested rallycross arena and made the semi-final after finishing heat one in third place.
The Daytona international Speedway is almost double the length of the tracks the drivers race on and Gilmour used the extra space to her advantage to finish fifth in the last-chance qualifier round to just miss out on a spot in the final.
"It was unfortunate that these guys hadn't qualified earlier as they are all-round winners and podium-placers from previous rounds, so it made for a tough LCQ," Gilmour said.
On a happier note, her teammate and team owner, fellow Kiwi Rhys Millen, posted his first GRC victory.
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