Petter Solberg leads Jari-Matti Latvala by 1.3 seconds after five stages in Finland, with Mikko Hirvonen's massive crash having thrown the battle for victory wide open. Hirvonen had been pulling away from the field when he rolled several times his Ford in a high-speed accident after a jump on the Urria stage.
Former McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has said he finds it 'infuriating' that drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button complain about their car not being as fast as rivals Red Bull Racing in qualifying, even though the pair are leading the championship. In an exclusive interview with AUTOSPORT, Dennis reckons that part of McLaren's strategy this year was to ensure its car was better suited to the races than single flying laps - and thinks that is why the Woking-based outfit is leading the world championship standings despite having had just one pole position. McLaren has scored just one pole position this year, compared to Red Bull's 10.
Ferrari will start this year's Spa 24 Hours from pole after AF Corse's Gianmaria Bruni was quickest in last night's qualifying session. The best GT2, GT3 and National-specification cars proved evenly matched on the dry track and the leading times were set around 10pm. Ex-Formula 1 racer Bruni, who will share with Bert Longin, Eric van de Poele and Toni Vilander, took pole with a lap of 2m22.403s.
A combination of injuries and the clash with the British Formula 3 round at Spa has prompted several driver changes in GP3 Series field ahead of this weekend's round at the Hungaroring. As expected, Manor's James Jakes has been forced to sit out the round after breaking his hand in a crash at Hockenheim last weekend, with the Briton set to be replaced by Adrien Tambay . Also missing is Jenzer's Simon Trummer, whose back injury following an accident in Germany has proven to be worse than initially thought, forcing the team to call up Spaniard Marco Barba instead.
Ferrari is undecided on whether to use its latest specification front wing for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix - just a week on from a row over possible flexing of the design. Photographs of the front wings of the Ferrari and Red Bull Racing cars taken at the German GP suggested that the wings were flexing at high speed - helping the endplates get closer to the ground to provide extra downforce. McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh revealed he spoke to Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali to express his concerns about the matter, but the FIA gave the wings the all-clear following post-race inspections.
Championship contenders Oliver Webb and Jean-Eric Vergne will start on the front row for tomorrow's British Formula 3 race at Spa after topping today's qualifying. Vergne and Carlin team-mate James Calado set the pace for much of the dry session, with points leader Vergne recording a 2m14.496s effort before everyone came in to change tyres for a second run. Hitech's Gabriel Dias briefly jumped to second before Adderley Fong stopped out on the circuit and brought out the red flags
Early leader Mikko Hirvonen has crashed heavily on stage four of Rally Finland. The Ford number one had won the first two full-length stages of the event and held a four-second lead over Petter Solberg. But on the Urria stage, Hirvonen appears to have landed badly after a jump, struck a bank and rolled his Ford Focus several times, causing massive damage to the car.
NASCAR team owner Jack Roush has undergone surgery for facial injuries and continues to recover from a plane crash he suffered on Tuesday. Roush, who survived a previous air incident in 2002, is still listed under serious but stable condition two days after the Hawker Beechcraft Premier jet he piloted crashed while trying to land during an air show at Wittman Air Field in OshKosh, Wisconsin.
Jacques Villeneuve will race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for the second time this season next week, driving for Braun Racing at Watkins Glen. The former Formula 1 world champion has added a second road course race to his limited schedule in NASCAR's second-tier series, following a successful first outing at Elkhart Lake, where he was a contender for victory until fuel pressure issues hampered him in the closing laps.
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