Pitstop: Hartley's Spanish test

New Zealand's Brendon Hartley is back in the driver's seat for the opening round of the 3.5 World Series Renault Championship in Spain this weekend. Hartley is starting his second season of WSR with Tech 1, alongside his European Formula 3 and Red Bull Formula One commitments in 2009.

Turkey tough on tyres

Tyre wear will be the concern at the Rally of Turkey this weekend and may have a hefty influence on who wins. The Gocbeyli stage has about 13km of asphalt roads, followed by a further 55km on gravel, before the cars return to the service park for a full tyre change. Sebastien Loeb leads the series from Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen.

Dixon on the move

Scott Dixon is looking to build on his second place finish last weekend in Birmingham, Alabama to continue his push to getting back towards the top of the IRL point's table. This weekend the Kiwi IndyCar ace tackles the Grand Prix of Long Beach. With his recent second place finish, Dixon has moved up from 11th in the series to fifth.

Juniors in Blenheim
Top young Kiwi motocross riders are heading to at Bartlett's Creek, near Blenheim, this weekend for the annual Leatt New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships. A number of riders from across the Ditch are expected to pit their skills against the young New Zealanders. The 250cc and 125cc classes are expected to showcase the best racing.

UNDER THE HOOD

In case you've won Lotto over the weekend and are thinking of buying a car, don't buy a Ferrari. If you do, you'll join some of the naffest songsters who either still drive one, or used to own one. Britney Spears, LL Cool J, P Diddy, Wyclef Jean, and Dr Dre have Modena Spiders. And just to make sure someone made an independent decision we have Master P in a plain old Modena along with Robbie Williams. For the independent thinkers, Jay Kay has an Enzo as does Rod Stewart. At this point, a Nissan Micra has more appeal.