OCTOBER 30, 2006

Here and there

The World Rally Championship was settled in Australia with Sebastien Loeb winning his third title, despite being on the sidelines because of a broken arm. His title rival Marcus Gronholm needed to finish in the top three to keep his hopes alive but rolled early in the event and struggled through the remainder of the event. Loeb is now looking ahead to try to match Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Makinen, who both won four titles.

In the DTM Bruno Spengler won his fourth victory of the year and thus took the runner-up spot in the championship behind Bernd Schneider. At the same event Formula 3 rookie Jonathan Summerton scored his first victory in the series beating Giedo van der Garde (ASM) and his own Mucke Motorsport team mate Sebastien Buemi. Summerton is the first rookie to win a race this season. Newly-crowned champion Paul di Resta (ASM) ended the event in sixth place while runner-up Sebastian Vettel was 12th after a spin.

Over in Atlanta the NASCAR Nextel Cup Chase moved into itss final stages with a victory for Tony Stewart, who is not one of the title challengers. Jimmie Johnson finished second to close up on the series leader Matt Kenseth, who was fourth, while rookie Denny Hamlin is still in the running having finished eighth. Other challengers hit trouble, notably Kasey Kahne who crashed, Jeff Burton who had tyre trouble and was only 13th and Kevin Harvick who was in all kinds of trouble and finished 31st.