F1 Monaco GP - Race 27/05/2007 Monaco

Fernando Alonso on Sunday returned to the lead of the world championship by comfortably heading a dominant McLaren one-two ahead of his rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the streets of Monaco.

The back to back title winner's victory - the 150th for Woking based McLaren - is his second successive win from pole in the Principality, and he also set the fastest lap of the race.

Alonso's ten points draws him level with Hamilton in the drivers' points standings with 38 points, but the Spaniard grabs top spot by virtue of his wins.

Felipe Massa, a full minute behind, completed the podium ahead of Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella, who was lapped. Massa now has 33 points, five shy of the McLaren duo.

The closest Hamilton got to his Spanish rival was in the closing stages, when some observers expected that Alonso had deliberately dropped his pace. The final margin was four seconds, after Hamilton also cruised for the line.

Kimi Raikkonen salvaged one point with a run to eighth and is now a distant fourth in the standings with 23 points.

1. F.Alonso
2. L.Hamilton
3. F.Massa

MotoGP - France - Le Mans - 06/05/07

Chris Vermeulen raced to his and Rizla Suzuki MotoGP's first Grand Prix win at a rain-soaked Le Mans.

Vermeulen rode an almost faultless race in the wet after heavy rain started to fall over the 4.180km French circuit.

He entered pit-lane at the end of lap nine to change to his wet-weather prepared Suzuki GSV-R. Within two laps he hit the front and never looked under threat all the way to the chequered flag, the impressive Australian finishing the race over 12 seconds in front of the second-placed man Marco Melandri. World Championship leader Casey Stoner finished third to give Bridgestone tyres a clean sweep on the podium.

Vermeulen now moves up to fifth place in the MotoGP World Championship with Rizla Suzuki MotoGP going up to third in the team's championship.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will now stay in France for a day of testing before the MotoGP circus moves across Europe for round six of the championship, to be held at Mugello in Italy on Sunday 3rd June.

1. C.VERMEULEN
2. M.MELANDRI
3. C.STONER

F1 Spain GP - Race 13/05/2007 Barcelona

Felipe Massa denied a 160,000-strong Barcelona crowd the result it was looking for by dominating the Spanish Grand Prix from lights to flag for his second consecutive victory.

The Ferrari driver emerged on top from a first-corner skirmish with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, which sent the home hero scampering across the gravel and down to fourth place.

In that instant, the world champion’s chances of repeating his home win of last year unravelled.

Team-mate Lewis Hamilton took up the slack admirably, passing Kimi Raikkonen in the first corner to set the scene for another strong runner-up finish.

The result gives the 22-year-old rookie sole possession of the world championship lead after just four grands prix – another extraordinary milestone.

Alonso looked surprisingly out of sorts all afternoon and only an electrical failure for Kimi Raikkonen ensured that he salvaged a podium finish.

Robert Kubica converted his fifth-place grid slot into a fourth-place finish for BMW Sauber, but team-mate Nick Heidfeld’s chances were ruined by a botched pit stop.

David Coulthard underlined Red Bull's improved pace but had to nurse an ailing gearbox to fend off a fast-closing Nico Rosberg (Williams) for fifth place.


Renault's Heikki Kovalainen and Super Aguri's Takuma Sato were the final points finishers.

Spanish Grand Prix result (66 laps)

1. MASSA Ferrari 66 laps
2. HAMILTON McLaren +6.790s
3. ALONSO McLaren +17.456s

ITV

MotoGP - Shanghai - 06/05/07

The MotoGP race at the Sinopec Great Wall Lubricants Grand Prix of China saw a great battle between Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner and Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, with the young Australian Stoner eventually emerging on top as he pulled away in the final laps.

It was, of course, a third win of the season for Stoner, who made full use of the powerful Ducati machinery at his disposal at the Shanghai International Circuit - to extend his World Championship lead to 15 points ahead of Rossi.

1. C.STONER
2. V.ROSSI
3. J.HOPKINS

A1GP - Brands Hatch, UK, 29 April 2007

A1 Team Malaysia completed the second season of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch, England, with a fifth place finish in the Sprint race and ninth position in the main Feature race for the team with driver, Alex Yoong. The team took sixth place in the final Championship standings, with three race wins, three pole positions and two fastest laps.

In the Sprint race Yoong made a good rolling start, overtaking the rival A1 Team India car as the field raced up to the first corner, the famous Paddock Bend, to take fifth place. With points all-important for the team this weekend, Yoong was able to maintain position from there until the chequered flag 15 laps later.

The Feature race start was one of the best of the season, with Yoong leapfrogging the French car to take fourth place in a superb move through Paddock Hill bend. An early safety car left the Malaysian team in this position for a few laps and on the return to green flag racing the team opted for an early tyre change stop. Unfortunately there was an issue with changing one of the rear wheels in the pits and by the time all the teams had completed their stops Yoong had dropped to 10th. A slowing Canada car enabled Yoong to pass for ninth place by mid-distance and the Malaysian car crossed the line in this position at the chequered flag.

Yoong said after the Feature race. "We were running fourth and although we didn't have the pace of the first two cars, we could have challenged Italy, so I was looking forward to the pitstop and thought if we had a good one we definitely had a chance of a podium, but we didn't, we had a difficult pitstop and dropped places. We went back to 10th place and as it's so difficult to overtake here, we really hadn't got much chance to improve on this. We managed to take one car for ninth place, but that's as far as we managed. At the end of the day, we've had a very good year, with three race wins and when we've been quick, we've been very good. We've proved we have the team that can do the business; we just need to more consistent."

Jack Cunningham, Chief Executive, A1 Team Malaysia adds, "Sometimes things just don't go your way in this sport and in the Feature race that certainly happened for us. Just one small problem with a wheel change and it's cost us a place in the Standings. Nevertheless I think we have improved our overall performance this year with teamwork and strong driving from Alex ensuring that we are one of the favourites for the title next season. There's always room for improvement and the work won't stop now; we'll start planning for the third season of racing. We would like to thank our loyal supporters in Malaysia and we look forward to challenging for more race wins next season."

The second season of A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has seen over 20 nations competing in this unique motor racing championship, travelling across the globe and visiting ten countries over the winter months. Netherlands, Czech Republic, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Mexico, and the UK all hosted A1GP events and each one gave the spectators and television viewers some of the most exciting races of the international motorsport calendar.

Ends



Monday 30 Apr 2007