A weekly wrap of motorsport from around the world.

MARCOS Ambrose finally got some serious Sprint Cup points with 14th   place from this third start of the Nascar season in Las Vegas last weekend. After mechanical troubles in Daytona and California, Ambrose   only qualified 31st but charged through the field in a race won by   defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.

SCOTT Pedder started his Australian Rally Championship comeback the right way with maximum points from the season opener, Rally Tasmania,   last weekend in his Pedders Mitsubishi Evo. Pedder beat defending   champions Simon and Sue Evans in a Subaru, with Justin Dowell taking   his first ARC podium in his Evo as Eli Evans' efforts in his factory   Honda Integra were blunted by Kumho tyre failures.

DEAN Canto has locked-in his V8 Supercar long-distance plans for 2010, joining Paul Dumbrell in the third FPR Falcon. The two-time development series champion has never been able to crack a serious main-game start in V8 Supercars but is one of the more popular backstops for the two-driver events at Phillip Island and Bathurst.

THE loss of the V8 Supercar event at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth could give an unexpected sprint tyre bonus to the Queensland Raceway round of the series. The WA event was originally one of this year's sprint-tyre weekends and the super-soft Dunlop tyres are now likely to be   allocated to the Brisbane event.

DEFENDING Top Doorslammer champion John Zappia got his first win of the championship season in Perth last weekend when he drove his Monaro-  bodied racer to victory over Robin Judd. Zappia re-set the national elapsed-time record during the event, leaving it at 5.815 seconds for   the quarter mile.

GEORGE Miedecke, who cut his racing teeth in V8 Ute racing, has won a giant break in Nascar racing in the USA thanks to help from Marcos Ambrose. Miedecke will race as a development driver in this year's   Late Model championship in a two-car team run from JTG Daugherty, the   same outfit that runs Ambrose's Toyota Camry in the Sprint Cup.

ONE of the world's rarest and most costly racing cars, the factory   Alfa 158 which won the 1950 Formula One world championship, heads the   lineup for the Phillip Island Classic on March 19-21. The meeting will   also see the cream of Australia's old racers on hand for autograph   duties, led by Sir Jack Brabham, Harry Firth, Kevin Bartlett, Bob   Jane, Jim Richards, John Bowe, Fred Gibson, Colin Bond, Alan Hamilton and Bob Watson.