_of_around-the-tracks-logo.jpg){kind=logo}
A weekly wrap of motorsport from around the world.
A weekly wrap of motorsport from around the world.
NEAL Bates made the perfect end to his 20-year run with Toyota when he swept both heats of Rally Tasmania in his final event for the company, as well as locking-down a 1-2 finish with his team mate Simon Evans. Bates was never headed in his Toyota Corolla as he romped through the bitumen opener to this year's Australian Rally Championship, but admits he has no confirmed plan for the rest of the year. Bates will start the second leg of the ARC, his home event in Canberra, where his opposition will include Evans in a family-run Subaru Impreza he will start alongside his younger brother Eli.
DAVID Brabham has defected from Aston Martin to Peugeot for this year's long-distance classic at Le Mans. The Australian sports car ace had been expected to continue with the British team after a class win at Le Mans in 2008 but has shifted to the highly-rated Peugeot squad as it aims to end Audi's winning run in France in June.
SEBASTIAN Loeb continued his unbeaten run in the World Rally Championship with a surprising first win on the snow-covered Rally Norway at the weekend. Ford had been expected to dominate with a pair of Scandinavian drivers, but the Frenchman in his flying Citroen was unbeatable and Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala had to settle for second and third in their Focus WRC cars.
RALF Schumacher will continue to race in 2009 after winning a fresh deal from Mercedes-Benz in the German Touring Car Championship. Schumacher, a former GP winner at Williams in Formula One, had a dismal first year in the DTM but was driving a superseded 2007-model C-Class racer, but has now been updated to the latest 2009 model.
CHAD Reed was second as usual to James Stewart when the AMA World Supercross championship touched down in San Diego on the weekend. The speedy Aussie is now tied for the series lead with Stewart in a championship which has turned into a two-rider race.
The Porsche racers left stranded by the collapse of this year's Carrera Cup series in Australia have found new homes. A small group led by Craig Baird and Jim Richards will compete in the Australian GT championship and others will switch to the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge series.
Cheap tyres 
Credit crunch 
Ford Fiesta 
Hyundai ix35
