So, the NASCAR season is over until next year and you’re wondering what to do without any racing?

Uh…no.

You see, if you take a step back and remember that there’s more to the world than the patch of land, whose name escapes me, between Mexico and Canada, you’d realise that there’s still plenty going on in motorsport for the next few months (though not enough to keep jbroomy awake considering his last post *laugh*).

The A1GP season has had two rounds already and are in Malaysia this weekend after a five week layoff. I think we’ve got four rounds of that before Daytona starts…so get behind your country. Even if you don’t like open-wheelers, you should at least feel a little bit of pride seeing your nations colours on the car.

World Rally Championship…one round to go in that; in Wales. The title is between Sebastian Loeb (Citroen) and Marcus Gronholm (Ford) with Seb in control. Last time out in Ireland, Marcus crashed out while Seb won so the points went from Marcus four in front to Seb six in front…Marcus has to win and hope that his rival finishes no better than sixth to win it so Seb seemingly just has to finish this thing to win yet another championship.

And lastly, the V8 Supercars. They’ve got one round to go (Phillip Island in Victoria) and the title is anything but over like I suggested last time I posted about it. Garth Tander went into Tasmania holding a handy 20 point lead over Craig Lowndes (with Jamie Whincup and Rick Kelly a bit further behind). To put that into perspective, the three-race format of Tassie means that you get 24 points for winning a race…so 20 is a nice lead to hold I think you’d agree.

Things looked really good for Tander as he swept to pole position and took out race one over Whincup while Lowndes could only manage fifth. It was races two and three where things got interesting. See, the V8’s have a compulsory pitstop rule where every car (unless you’ve retired from the race early on) has to come in and change (at least) two tyres…most elect to do rears but sometimes teams change just one side of the car like they do in NASCAR. Whincup got the jump on Tander in race two off the start line but during the stops, Tander managed to get back ahead.

However, both were down the order as several cars decided to do a long first stint before coming in for their stop. So, it was around lap 20 of 50 that Tander, Whincup and the rest found themselves towards the back end of the top ten…then Tander went off. Amazingly he didn’t get beached in the gravel trap but lost a whole bunch of track position as he rally-crossed his way back to the black stuff. He then proceeded to carve his way through the field and wound up in seventh…a sterling job but Whincup won the race so the points gap was back to around 20…just with Jamie in second instead of Craig.

Just a slip in concentration for a second saw Garth outbrake himself, costing him vital championship points.

Race three saw Tander start where he left off, jumping up to fifth at the end of lap one and up to third once the pitstops were over. That was as good as it got for Garth though as he tried to dive up the inside of Steven Richards at the hairpin following a safety car period. That move proved costly as he was too far back and all he achieved was a nice whack from Steve as he turned into the corner…which broke Garth’s suspension forcing him out of the race.

While that was going on, Whincup was just doing what he does best; driving out front. Jamie seems to be one of those guys that loves to lead races instead of having to storm through the field…at least, that’s just my opinion anyway. Regardless, Jamie took the win, both the race and the overall round, and leapt into the top of the points to boot...a great weekend for the Vodafone driver and a great weekend for Ford as they swept the podium again.

As things stand, these are the points of those still in the hunt for the championship;

1 – Jamie Whincup, 569 points
2 – Garth Tander, 562 points
3 – Craig Lowndes, 548 points
4 – Rick Kelly, 521 points

We’ll see how things go next weekend in Victoria…the Fords seem to have found some pace in the sprint rounds now and last year saw Mark Winterbottom take his first career victory…driving a Ford. It’s another three race weekend so there’s a maximum of 72 points up for grabs for a driver…something that both Rick and Craig would love desperately to manage. Jamie’s in the box seat, but with Tander so close, it could very well come down to pitstops…and both the Vodafone and Toll HSV teams are among the fastest in the pitlane.

I’d love to see Jamie win, purely for the fact that he’s been, arguably, the most improved driver this season. Yes, Garth has been leading the title the majority of the year, but he’s also been more prone to bad luck…something he can’t afford this time (nor can the others though).

Jamie using all of the track…and then some!

And I also know that Jamie will probably be the favourite for many of you too…why?

Well that’s simple; he drives the #88 so you can get some practice in for cheering it.

I can only hope that this got covered in the prerace show of Loudon as the little bit at the end was an absolute joke and nothing more than an afterthought...but I figure that was the first they mentioned about it so I might as well do this; former World Rally Champion, Colin McRae (and three others; two family friends and his son, Johnny), was killed in a helicopter crash over the weekend.

It is my opinion that McRae caused the explosion of Subaru WRX sales in my part of the world and also increased the global awareness of rallying with his Playstation games.

Born in 1968, McRae made his WRC debut in 1987 driving a Vauxhall Nova before joining forces with Subaru in 1991. His first overall round win came in 1993 in Rally New Zealand before going on to win the title in 1995. Including Vauxhall and Subaru, he also raced with Ford and Citroen (and subbed for an injured Sebastian Loeb last year) while making one-off appearances for Skoda in 2005. He won a, then record, 25 rounds, his last being the 2002 Safari Rally in Kenya.

I may not follow rallying all that closely (I prefer tarmac racing to dirt), but those drivers are the best in the world...without question.

Yes, both F1 and NASCAR (the two series I follow the most) drivers have amazing reflexes and drive at stupidly high speeds...but only in the world of rally would you find the slightest mistake meaning you risk a 300 foot drop (and higher) off a cliff with only trees slowing the fall.

McRae may have only won the title once, but he was one heck o####reat driver

Colin (and his son) leaves behind his wife and daughter...to which I give my sincere condolances through this horrible time.