KEY POINTS:
Craig Lowndes can crown Ford's year of success in Australia if he can claw back eight points from Holden's Rick Kelly in the finale of the V8 Supercar championship at Phillip Island this weekend.
Lowndes broke Holden's seven-year run of success in the Bathurst 1000 in October and shortly afterwards the boys of the Blue Oval clinched the Supercar manufacturers' title. Meanwhile, Finn Mikko Hirvonen drove to victory in Rally Australia in a Ford Focus.
Ford has won the Supercar driver's crown for the past three years with Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall and Kelly is bidding to be the first Holden winner since Mark Skaife completed his hat-trick of wins in 2002. There will be three races over the 4.45km circuit, all run from conventional grids.
Evangelou debut
Team Kiwi have saved money and avoided incurring a fine by ceding their starting spot at Phillip Island to second-level V8 Supercar driver Tony Evangelou and his BA Falcon. The 41-year-old Victorian will be making his debut at this level as the New Zealand franchise looks forward to 2007 and a new Falcon and a fully recovered Paul Radisich.
Not a Baird effort
One Kiwi appears certain to emerge a winner from the finale. Craig Baird, who will compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup support races, needs only a couple of finishes to clinch that championship.
North Island bonanza
The top 16 saloon car drivers are set to race at a different speedway venue for seven consecutive nights around the North Island. The first meeting will be on Boxing Day in Gisborne, then follow Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Stratford, Huntly and Rotorua. The series is the brainchild of Tiger Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, who is the national Super Saloon champion.
Emma makes history
Dunedin driver Emma Gilmour will become the first woman to compete in the Bettega Memorial Rally Challenge at Bologna in Italy. She will drive a Ford Focus WRC car for the first time. The event is named in honour of Attilio Bettega, the Italian world championship driver who died in a rally accident in 1986.
Latvala on fire
New Zealand rally champion Richard Mason's top-10 finish and second placing in the Production World Championship class in Rally New Zealand has been put in perspective by the performance of Finn Jari-Matti Latvala in the British round of the world championship.
Latvala, who won the PWRC class by finishing eighth in New Zealand, moved up to a Ford Focus WRC car in Wales and finished fourth overall.
