Weekend racing during round three of the Champ Car World Series and the Australian V8 Supercar seasons has continued to whet the appetite of fans towards the Lexmark Indy 300 on October 18-21.

There’s still many races to be run and won in the meantime but the fields in both categories are begnning to sort themselves.

With Championship titles at stake the intensity will build prior to Queensland’s ulimate four day-four night, entertainment spectacle on the Gold Coast.

Following the results of the Grand Prix of Houston, reigning Vanderbilt Cup titleholder Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) finds himself commanding top post on the Champ Car World Series standings courtesy of back-to-back event victories.

Team Australia’s Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) didn’t enjoy the best of fortune over the weekend and his 11th placing saw him reqlinquish his overall lead to the three-time defending champion.

Despite the Houston disappointments, where the 26 year-old Toowoomba driver started from pole position, he sits just three points adrift of Bourdais in the overall standings, after two impressive podium results to begin the season.

Bourdais’ teenage team mate Graham Rahal made Champ Car history when completing a one-two finish for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, becoming the youngest Champ Car driver to earn a top-three podium finish.

Sacrificing his Senior Prom weekend, 18 year-old Rahal completed the first one-two finish for the team since Sebastien Bourdais and Oriol Servia accomplished the feat in Las Vegas in the fall of 2005.

Houston proved a happy hunting ground for many of the rookies and Australia’s Team Minardi USA owner, Paul Stoddart is celebrating another fine performance by his young charge Robert Doornbos.

The Dutch driver’s third place finish was also enough for him to claim third in the overall standings.

Power’s Team Australia team mate Simon Pagenaud finished a gutsy fifth place to elevate himself inside the series top ten.

In the process, the Frenchman recorded the fifth straight top-five finish for Team Australia, which began with Alex Tagliani’s third place effort during the 2006 Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast.

The Australian V8 Supercar Series may have traveled abroad for the first time this year, but the results proved on par with the previous two events, with Holden continuing their dominance over Ford drivers.

Toll HSV Dealer Team’s Rick Kelly ran away with the trophy and the final race win at the V8 Supercars round at Pukekohe in New Zealand.

The defending series champion put on an impressive display of speed and strategy to pick up the title at the last ever Pukekohe round of the V8 Supercars, before the championship moves to a street circuit at Hamilton, NZ from 2008.

Garth Tander (Toll HSV Dealer Team), the winner of race one and two, finished the round in second place while Ford’s Jamie Whincup (Triple Eight Race Engineering) claimed third position.

Tander could only manage eighth in the final race but his efforts across the weekend were enough to hold down second place in the Championship.

Kelly admitted he would have to improve in the next few rounds if he is to keep his team mate at bay in the race for the Championship.

So far this year between the two of them Kelly or Tander have won all but one race.

The V8 Supercar Series travels to Victoria for the Winton round on May 18-20, while Champ Car drivers will have the opportunity to take a breath during a six week lay-off before lining up at Portland International Raceway for round 4 of 16.


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