Around the tracks May 22 2009

Macrow closes gap

Tim Macrow has closed the gap to British raider Joey Fisher after the latest leg of the Australian Formula 3 championship at Phillip Island. He claimed pole and won the second heat, after Fisher claimed the first, to close the points gap to the series leader to 17. In other action at the Island, David Wall was the GT championship winner in his Porsche GT3 and Brett Holdsworth claimed top points in the Commodore Cup.

Ambrose in solid run

MARCOS Ambrose continued his top-10 form with another solid run from the 14th starting spot in the latest round of the Sprint Cup on his home track at Charlotte, North Carolina. Ambrose came home tenth in his Toyota Camry, a solid build-up to the giant Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte this weekend, and a result which also kept him in the top 20 in the Nascar championship.

Davison on test track

ALEX Davison had his first full day of V8 Supercar testing at Queensland Raceway last week and is hopeful of improved form in coming races with Stone Brothers Racing. His Irwin Ford was also lapped by Mark Winterbottom of Ford Performance Racing as the two blue oval factory teams swap information in a bid to drive them forward and end the domination of the TeamVodafone cars of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowdnes.

McFarlane returns

Andrew McFarlane returned from eight years overseas to blitz the field in the first race in the Australian Motocross round at Toowoomba's Echo Valley. But Jay Marmont still leads the Pro Open championship by

13 points while Matt Moss closed the lead to Luke George in the Pro Lites series.

ARC wraps up

THE Australian Rally Championship will wrap in November following the postponement of the Coffs Harbour event originally set for June. Heavy rainfall over the course for the Daikin Coffs Coast Rally in March forced the organisers to re-schedule the event, although the exact date for the forest racing grand final has still to be set.

Lola back in F1

LOLA is returning to Formula One in 2010 in a move which would see it join the proposed US GP team in a cost-capped world championship. The world's largest racing car manufacturer has not bee in F1 for more than a decade, after its last effort collapsed after an appearance at the Australian Grand Prix when funding from a major finance company did not eventuate.

Repco route confirmed

The route for the return of Repco Rally Australia to the world championship has been confirmed with a 340-kilometre course in the northern rivers region of NSW. The rally will be run from September

3-6 and is expected to boost the local economy in the around around Murwillumbah by more than $30 million.

Tagliani out

ALEX Tagliani was the only high-profile casualty during final qualifying for this year's Indianapolis 500, with the former Champ Car front-runner missing a place in the 33-car field. The lineup for the race on May 24 is set with Helio Castroneves on pole — with Australia's Ryan Briscoe and Will Power in second and ninth starting spots — and Ryan Hunter-Ray at the back of the field.