MotoGP - Turkey - Istanbul - 22/04/2007

In a another fantastic performance, Australian rider Casey Stoner on his Marlboro Ducati grabbed his second season victory today at the Turkish Grand Prix held at the Istanbul Park circuit for the third round of the of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (MotoGP) that takes place this weekend on the Istanbul Park circuit.

The podium was completed by Spaniard Toni Elias with Honda Gresini and the Italian Loris Capirossi, Stoner`s teammate for the Ducati squad.

Stoner was almost gifted the lead early on, when Capirossi's pressure forced poleman Valentino Rossi to run along the grass at the end of the first lap.
Seconds later, the major talking point of the day took place, as Dani Pedrosa collided with Kawasaki rider Olivier Jacque and turned the Frenchman's Ninja ZX-RR into something of bowling ball, taking out Colin Edwards on the Fiat Yamaha.
Also caught up in the incident were Chris Vermeulen and Sylvain Guintoli; the former picking up his bike after being hit by Pedrosa, the latter having to ride all the way round the debris on the run-off section.

Elias in second place was unable to trouble the flying Stoner, but had plenty of his own pursuers nipping at his toes. The Spaniard had started fantastically from tenth, and was battling hard with Rossi in fearless fashion leading to a near-miss between the two riders. The move put Elias in second, where he stayed until the chequered flag, and Rossi right back into the thick of the chasing pack, where he further dropped down before finishing a disappointing tenth.

Capirossi completed the podium, lucky to hold off a flu-ridden Alex Barros on the line. The two veterans exchanged places on consecutive corners, and with a few extra metres on the final straight the Brazilian may have taken Pramac d'Antin's first ever podium.

World Champion Nicky Hayden was pipped on the line by John Hopkins after holding firm throughout the race in sixth, ahead of Randy de Puniet, Alex Hofmann and Rossi.

1. C.STONER
2. T.ELIAS
3. L.CAPIROSSI

By Federico Faturos - Motorsport.com

F1 Bahrain GP – Race 15/04/2007 Sakhir

Felipe Massa and Ferrari bounced back after their terrible display in Malaysia by securing a relatively comfortable victory in the Bahrain GP.
The Brazilian led from start to finish to claim a much-needed haul of ten points and revitalise his faltering campaign.
Lewis Hamilton finished just a couple of seconds behind in second place to become the first driver in F1 history to finish on the podium in his first three races and claim a share of the lead of the Drivers' World Championship with third-placed Kimi Raikkonen.
McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso struggled and was just fifth, finishing behind Nick Heidfeld



01 F. Massa Ferrari 1:32:27.515
02 L. Hamilton McLaren + 2.359
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 10.839

A1GP - Shanghai, China, 15 April 2007

A1 Team Malaysia were able to add another World Cup of Motorsport point to its tally with a sixth place finish in this morning's Sprint race, but missed out on further points by a whisker, finishing 11th in the Feature race, with driver Alex Yoong at the wheel of the team's car.

The Sprint race began with a rolling start, with Yoong using this to his advantage with daring overtaking through the first corners to pass the French and Indian cars to move up to sixth spot. Through the first lap he defended his position with India attempting to retake the place, but the experienced former F1 driver was able to keep his Asian rival behind him. The Malaysian team was able to hold position through the remainder of the Sprint race to take the chequered flag with another point-scoring finish.

In the Feature race Yoong started from his sixth place, but first lap incidents behind the Malaysian team brought out the safety car for three laps. On the return to green flag racing Yoong made a rare error, out braking himself in the run down to the first corner and needing the marshals to restart the Malaysian car in order for him to return to the track. Dropping to 21st place after this incident, Yoong began his fight back through the field. He made headway as the race progressed; climbing to tenth, but the mandatory pitstop put Team Malaysia back down to 17th. With the racing continuing at a strong pace, Yoong pushed hard, working his way back through the field again to finally finish in 11th place.

Yoong said, "The Sprint race gave us another point, which is important for us at this stage in the season, but I would have hoped to have finished higher. I made a mistake on the restart after the first safety car period, but luckily I was able to get back on track. As the track is good for overtaking we were able to make up some places, but we just didn't have quite enough pace to break into the top ten. The team, as always, did a good pitstop and we made up some time there, but it wasn't enough today and we'll be looking to improve for our final outing in the UK."

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia, commented, "Adding to our points tally and keeping in sight of Team France and ahead of Switzerland and Netherlands was the aim of this weekend as we strive to finish the season in as high a position as possible. Earning another point was important as this has kept us in fifth place in the standings. The Feature race was a hard fought race, with Alex driving well to recover from falling off the track early on and dropping to the back of the grid. We'll now turn our focus to the next race and prepare ourselves for the final battles of the season now. Wherever we finish this season in the top ten will be quite an achievement but our aim for Brands is to maintain our 5th spot if at all possible."

The A1GP Series reaches its conclusion for the 2006/07 season at Brands Hatch in the UK, in two weeks time. The British round of the World Cup of Motorsport is held at the venue which heralded the arrival of this championship on to the motorsport scene in 2005. The Kent circuit is expected to attract substantial crowds and, as at each event, the A1GP Series is anticipated to provide plenty of hard, wheel-to-wheel racing.

Ends

F1 Malaysian GP – Race 08/04/2007 Sepang

Fernando Alonso scored his first win for McLaren as he and Lewis Hamilton outgunned both Ferrari drivers to take a sensational 1-2 in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The double world champion took the lead of the world championship and McLaren's first win since Japan 2005 with a comfortable victory at Sepang after he and his young team-mate outfoxed the Ferraris at the start of the race.

1. F.Alonso
2. L.Hamilton
3. K.Raikkonen