Pitstop: Dixon says title will go down to wire

Scott Dixon is not writing off his chances of a second Indy Racing League championship on the eve of the final round at the Chicagoland Speedway this weekend. The 2003 champion is 21 points behind leader Helio Castroneves, who is one point ahead of his Penske teammate Sam Hornish. Dixon's fellow Ganassi driver, Dan Wheldon, is 19 points behind Castroneves. "The situation that I see at the moment is Dan and myself have no pressure," he said. "The two Penske cars have to make sure they finish. We've got to try to win the last race, but if we don't, we tried our best. There's no doubt this championship will come down to a few inches and right down to the wire."

Cunningham fourth but pushing hard

Dixon's fellow Kiwi Wade Cunningham also has an outside chance of retaining the Indy Pro Series at Chicagoland. He is in fourth place 27 points behind Englishman Jay Howard, who raced a Toyota in New Zealand last summer. Cunningham, who was forced to miss two races at the beginning of the season because of an emergency appendectomy, has claimed four pole positions, won two races and led 275 laps, more than twice the number Howard has managed.

Italian coming to join Petch team

Nineteen-year-old Italian Edoardo Piscopo will join 16-year-old Kiwi Brendon Hartley in the Petch team for the international rounds of the Toyota single-seater series this summer. Both are competing in Formula Renault in Europe with the Red Bull junior team.

Fine Sandown 500 Weekend for Baird

Craig Baird was one New Zealander pretty happy with the way things turned out at the Sandown 500 V8 Supercar meeting last weekend. He teamed with Jason Bargwanna to finish seventh in a WPS Ford in the main event and finished second in the Porsche support races, stretching his championship lead to 176 points over Alex Davison.

Citroen coming back with Loeb and Sordo

Citroen have confirmed their return to the world rally championship as a full manufacturer team next season with the C4 replacing the Xsara. Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Sordo will do the driving.

Knight on podium in Formula Three

Christchurch driver Andy Knight scored a podium finish in just his third race outing in the Australian Formula Three championship at Queensland Raceway last Sunday. He was third in the first race and fourth in the second.

Kiwis to fore in BMW Asian series

Young Kiwis Earl Bamber and Dominic Storey are lying second and sixth respectively after the latest rounds of the Formula BMW Asian series in Thailand.