Pitstop: European sojourn fires ambition

Young Aucklander Jonny Reid is back from his first season in Europe with a trophy and a mission to raise sponsorship for another campaign.

The 21-year-old from Howick, a former national Formula Ford champion and runner-up in the Australian Formula 4000 championship, finished fourth in the Superfund Euro 3000 championship with a win and several podium finishes.

For his efforts he won the Bruce McLaren Trophy, awarded by the British Racing Drivers' Club for the most meritorious performance by a Commonwealth driver competing outside his own country.

With a reshuffle in the single-seater competitions in Europe, Reid must find the budget for a new series for 2005.

"It's looking pretty good for the World Series by Renault, which has combined the World Series by Nissan and Formula Renault V6," he said. "It's about half the cost of GP2, which has taken over from the international Formula 3000.

"The cars have more downforce than Formula 3000 and the bodywork is like a Renault Formula One car."

Reid arrived back in New Zealand straight from testing at the Paul Ricard circuit near Nice in the south of France with AFC Draco, the team that won the Superfund Euro 3000 title with Nicky Pastorelli.

He heads back to Europe next month for more testing and hopefully with the budget to secure a drive.

"I learned a lot this year but I've still got lots to learn," he said. "One year in Europe is nothing compared to what all the other drivers have experienced. I need more of that kind of atmosphere."

If Reid can secure a World Series by Renault drive, there will be the chance of impressing some of the movers and shakers in the sport with a support race at the Monaco Grand Prix. The series also has rounds at Monza, Donington and Spa and a street race in Bilbao.

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Invercargill driver LeRoy Stevenson will drive in next month's New Zealand Grand Prix after a two-year break from competition.

He will drive a Van Diemen Stealth Formula Ford, five years after he won the Ford national championship.

Stevenson has Grand Prix experience. He contested the race in 2000 at Pukekohe when the trophy was at stake for Formula Holden cars.

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Gene Rollinson, who won the 2003 Formula Challenge championship, is the latest young New Zealand racing driver to announce plans to compete overseas.

The 20-year-old from Albany will drive a Suzuki Formula Hayabusa single-seater in the Formula Malaysia races at the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix meeting over the March 19-20 weekend.

The Suzuki-powered cars are similar to the Formula Challenge machines Rollinson raced at Taupo.

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Simon Wills will have a new team-mate from a prominent Australian racing family when New Zealand-owned Team Dynamik take to the track at the start of the V8 Supercar championship.

Dynamik have signed Will Davison, who has spent the past two seasons contesting British Formula Three before running out of money.

His brother, Alex, won the Porsche Carrera Cup in Australia this year and will drive for a new V8 Holden team next year. His grandfather, Lex, won several Australian Grand Prix and was a regular competitor in New Zealand. 

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Competitors left stranded by changes in the national rally championship rules restricting the field to Group N cars will have an alternative competition next year.

The new championship, dubbed Rally Extreme, replaces the club rally championship and will cover six events with competitors required to contest three, including one in the other island from their home.

The championship will be open to all classes of cars, including the Group A cars no longer eligible for the national title. National championship competitors will not be eligible for Rally Extreme.

The first round of Rally Extreme will be the Rally of Gisborne in March.

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Remember when Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello staged a finish to the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis?

The Americans - and punters everywhere - felt robbed of a true race result and forced Formula One to outlaw obvious team orders.

The outrage in the States is understandable when you consider the up-front prizes offered to winning drivers in American series. Formula One remuneration comes in salaries.

Kurt Busch, who outlasted more popular stars through the chase for Nascar's inaugural Nextel Cup, won a total of US$9,677,543 ($13.4 million) this season.