MOTORSPORT: Three more big cheers for Power

A third straight win for Aussie ace in lead-up to Indianapolis 500, yet more glory for Sebastien Loeb in world rallying and Chris Atkinson continues to lead the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
Now the big oval challenge for Australia's Indy Car games ace
Will Power is unbeatable at the minute. The Australian has just won the IndyCar race on the streets of South America's biggest city, Sao Paulo in Brazil, for the third year in a row. It's his third straight win this season on street and road circuits and stretches his lead to 24 points at quarter-time in the series.

Now come four oval tracks in the next five rounds, starting with the big one, the Indianapolis 500, in four weeks. While Power is not greatly experienced or expert on ovals his Penske team has won the Indy 500 a record 15 times.

Rallying great Sebastien Loeb has won his 70th world championship rally, also in South America. It was a one-two finish for Citroen in Rally Argentina, as Finn Mikko Hirvonven adhered to team orders to finish behind Loeb.

Australia's Chris Atkinson lost a lot of time on the final day of the weekend's round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in New Caledonia after having led but still finished second and heads into his home event in Queensland at the end of May still on top in that series.

Will powers away from all the chaos
The Sao Paulo IndyCar race was chaotic again, with five full-course cautions because of a string of crashes, but Will Power was dominant for Team Penske -- although he had to withstand the challenge of the Andretti team's American Ryan Hunter-Reay on the final restart.

Power, who already had been rated the form driver in American-based racing as we reported here last Friday, is the first driver in five years to win three Indy races in a row -- since New Zealander Scott Dixon in 2007.

Ganassi team driver Dixon was the only one to pass Power in today's Sao Paulo race but he needed to stop for a splash of fuel and finished 17th.

Japanese ex-Formula One driver Takuma Sato notched his first IndyCar podium with third place with a Honda-engined car behind Chevrolet-powered Power and Hunter-Reay, despite the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team's man starting 25th and last and incurring a pit-lane speeding penalty.

The series champion the past two years, Dixon's Ganassi teammate Dario Franchitti, is languishing 13th this season. Despite being knocked over kerbing at one of the early restarts and dropping to 20th, Franchitti had been on course for third late in the race but couldn't get his tyres warmed up sufficiently on the final restart and wound up fifth, behind Power's Brazilian teammate Helio Castroneves -- the only other winner this season.

The third Penske driver, Australian Ryan Briscoe, ran in the top five in the early stages but was out at quarter distance when he slid wide into the concrete fencing.

IndyCar championship after four of 16 rounds -- 1. Will Power (Australia, Penske-Chevrolet) 127 points; 2. Helio Castroneves (Brazil, Penske-Chevrolet) 103; 3. Simon Pagenaud (France, Schmidt-Honda) 100; 4. Scott Dixon (New Zealand, Ganassi-Honda) 96; 5. James Hinchcliffe (Canada, Andretti-Chevrolet) 95; 6. Ryan Hunter-Reay (US, Andretti-Chevrolet) 81; 7. Ryan Briscoe (Australia, Penske-Chevrolet) 73; Graham Rahal (US, Ganassi-Honda) 62; 9. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil, KV Racing-Chevrolet) 59; J.R. Hildebrand (US, Panther-Chevrolet) 57.

IndyCar fines team owner $25,000
IndyCar fined Panther Racing chief John Barnes $25,000 for criticising it over its decision last week giving Honda the all-clear for a variation to the single turbocharger on its engines in the series. After Chevrolet's protest at the change was dismissed Barnes had tweeted: "Today is the day to resolve TURBOGATE! I hope [IndyCar] gets their act together. It has been embarrassing."

IndyCar deemed Barnes' comment "improper or disparaging language" and also has put him on probation for the rest of the year. Barnes said after he was penalised that he "should have chosen a more private forum to voice my opinions".

"I'm very passionate about all the decisions that are made, right or wrong, that affect our sport," he said. "Even if we don't always agree, I respect the authority of the IndyCar series and its officials."

Busch NASCAR's seventh winner of year
NASCAR's Sprint Cup also is at quarter-time in its season, and the nine races so far have produced seven different winners. On the short oval at Richmond, Virginia, at the weekend the victor was Kyle Busch for the first time this year in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. It was Busch's fourth straight victory in the spring race at Richmond, the 24th of his Cup career and his first after a 20-race winless streak.

Dale Earnhardt Junior in a Chevrolet took his seventh second place since his last win 138 races ago, with reigning series champion Tony Stewart third in another Chevrolet.

Ford driver Carl Edwards led more than half the race but was penalised for jumping a restart -- and was very angry about it. He finished 10th.

Australian Marcos Ambrose battled back spasms and was 22nd in his Ford.

Now NASCAR goes to the Talladega Superspeedway -- the longest oval on the schedule.

NASCAR Sprint Cup after nine of 36 races -- 1. Greg Biffle (Ford) 338 points; 2. Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 333; 3. Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 329; 4.Matt Kenseth (Ford) 328; 5.Martin Truex Junior (Toyota) 316; 6. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 314; 7. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 313; 8. Tony Stewart (Chevrolet) 307; 9. Carl Edwards (Ford) 287; 10.Ryan Newman (Chevrolet) 278. Australia's Marcos Ambrose (Ford) is 22nd on 209 points.

WRC a game for team players
Yet again team orders were invoked in the World Rally Championship.

"I fixed the position ... the objective is the manufacturers' championship," Citroen team principal Yves Matton said after the Sebastien Loeb-Mikko Hirvonen quinella in Rally Argentina -- the longest WRC event in a decade.

Loeb spun three times on the first morning and was down in fourth place, but after a set-up change he was up to first within two stages. Loeb's progress was helped by Ford driver Petter Solberg breaking his steering while leading.

Norwegian Solberg went off the road in sixth gear on the fifth stage, after hitting a rock in a rut on the fourth stage. He restarted the next day in 11th place and set a string of fastest times but could not climb any higher than sixth.

Spaniard Dani Sordo, who deputised for injured Finn Jari-Matti Latvala in the other Ford works entry as Prodrive did not enter him in his usual MINI for Argentina, had looked set for a podium finish but broke down on the final power stage.

Norwegian Mats Ostberg in another Ford inherited third, more than three minutes behind Loeb, after picking up the win at the previous round in Portugal when Hirvonen's Citroen was disqualified.

World Rally Championship driver standings after five rounds -- 1.  Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen) 91 points; 2. Petter Solberg (Norway, Ford) 73; 3. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Citroen) 70; 4. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Ford) 68; 5. Evgeny Novikov (Russia, Ford) 43; 6. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Ford) 28; 7. Martin Prokop (Czech Republic, Ford) 26; 8. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar, Citroen) 23; 9. Daniel Sordo (Spain, MINI) 21; 10. Ott Taenak (Estonia, Ford) 16.

WRC manufacturers standings -- 1. Citroen Total World Rally Team 151 points; 2. Ford World Rally Team 106; 3. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 81; 4. Qatar World Rally Team 37; 5. Citroen Junior World Rally Team 30; 6. Adapta World Rally Team 27; 7. Mini WRC Team 26; 8. Brazil World Rally Team 10.

Veteran completes a magic square
Versatile Chilean driver Eliseo Salazar took part in Rally Argentina and reckoned it was tougher than the Dakar Rally.

"In Dakar you do five or six hours a day, then you go relax and go in the hotel, but on this event I woke up at 4.30am and at 10pm we were still going," said 57-year-old Salazar, who drove in Formula One in the early 1980s, then sports cars and Indy racing... And here you are going flat out, pushing as hard as you can, whereas in Dakar you are driving at 80 per cent.

"In F1 we had what was called the magic square and I finished Le Mans, Indy, Dakar and now this one... It doesn't help that I chose to make my debut in the WRC on such a tough event."

Salazar was classified 12th in his MINI, more than 41 minutes behind the leading Citroens, but said: "I'm happy."

One Aussie wins Asia-Pacific rally, another leads series
Chris Atkinson didn't win the Rally of New Caledonia but his teammate did -- with an Australian co-driver. Atkinson and his Belgian co-driver Stephane Prevot had led in their Super 2000 Skoda Fabia after the first leg, but they became victims of the tropical downpours that came after the earlier hot, sunny conditions.

"The wet created several deep water crossings and water got into the electrics of the car," Atkinson said. That cost the pair six minutes -- and victory.

"The remaining stages weren't an issue in terms of water, so it's a shame we couldn't produce the overall win [as they had at the opening round in New Zealand]," Atkinson said.

Indian Gaurav Gill and Australian co-driver Glenn Macneall took the win after having trailed Atkinson and Prevot by 41.4 seconds overnight. The gap had got out to almost two minutes at one stage before a puncture cut Atkinson's lead.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Chris this weekend," said Gill, who also had a puncture early on the first leg.

Despite having to settle for second in New Caledonia, Queenslander Atkinson still leads the championship by nine points ahead of the next round on the Sunshine Coast on the last weekend of May. Gill, who ended up winning by almost five minutes at the weekend, won nine of the 19 stages and Atkinson four.

The Skodas are prepared for Indian-owned Team MRF in Perth by Race Torque. Only eight Asia-Pacific championship cars finished in New Caledonia, with New Zealander Brian Green a distant third in a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Swede Per-Gunnar Andersson, the two-time junior world rally champion who replaced Atkinson in Malaysia's Proton team this season, led the event early but also fell victim to electrical problems caused by one of the water crossings. He lost power throughout the first leg and lasted only 6km on the final day.

The other Proton driven by reigning Asia-Pacific champion Alister McRae with West Australian Bill Hayes was out of contention after front suspension damage on just the second stage of the event but they returned to claim three stage wins on the final day.

Asia-Pacific Rally Championship after two of six rounds -- 1. Chris Atkinson (Australia, Skoda) 64 points; 2. Gaurav Gill (India, Skoda) 56; 3. Brian Green (New Zealand, Mitsubishi) 33; 4. Per-Gunner Andersson (Sweden, Proton) 32; 5. Alister McRae (Great Britain, Proton) 23.

A ton of doubles for Mercedes in DTM
Mercedes-Benz notched its 100th one-two finish in the DTM as the German touring car series got underway this year at Hockenheim. British driver Gary Paffett sored his 18th victory, the most of any driver now competing in the DTM, ahead of Jamie Green.

"The duels by Jamie Green and Gary Paffett were motor racing at its best," said Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug, as organisers claimed a weekend crowd of 142,000 -- including 71,000 on race day.

Swede Mattias Ekstrom started from pole position in his Audi but finished third. BMW surprised its rivals with its pace in its return to the series, its German driver Dirk Werner qualifying third.

Werner was hit by Ralf Schumacher's Mercedes early in the race and dropped to 17th at the finish. Canadian Bruno Spengler could not avoid Schumacher as he hit Werner and had to retire his BMW.

The reigning series champion, German Martin Tomczyk, also was forced into an early retirement in another BMW.

The best-placed BMW finisher was Andy Priaulx in sixth, while American Joey Hand -- who has raced at the Gold Coast 600 -- is also driving a BMW in the DTM.

The second round of the series is this weekend at Lausitzring near Dresden.

Aston Martin blitzes sports sedan racing
The debut of an Aston Martin in the Australian sports sedan racing was a whole lot more successful than in Australian rallying. The DB9 Aston Martin of Tasmanian Kerry Baily won all three sports sedan races at South Australia's Mallala circuit at the weekend, leading every lap.

In early March fellow Tasmanian David Thompson took an Aston Martin Vantage to Melbourne's Calder Park for the new stadium event that began this year's Australian Rally Championship but it was wrecked when Thompson's son Ivan and co-driver Karl Francis crashed heavily.

A six-hour race at Phillip Island at the weekend ended as a battle of two Mitsubishi Lancers, with the Evo X of Jim Pollicina and Ryan Simpson taking the chequered flag 2.5 seconds ahead of the Team Mitsubishi Ralliart entry driven by Stuart Kostera and Inky Tulloch.

A BMW driven by Nathan Morcom and Chaz Mostert took third place, and victory in Class B, three laps behind the Mitsubishis.