Blame me if there are empty seats, says Alonso

Barcelona, May 10: Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso blamed his lack of recent success as much as the credit crunch for empty seats at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.

Organisers expect around 100,000 spectators at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday, a far cry from the record 140,700 that turned out on race day in 2007 when Alonso arrived as Formula One champion for the second successive year.

Last year's Sunday attendance was 132,600.

However Spain is suffering in the economic crisis and ticket sales have slowed although 71,600 turned out for Saturday's qualifying to see Alonso qualify eighth with the lightest car on the grid.

"I think the crisis will have an effect probably," said Alonso, who won twice last year but has scored just five points in four races this season, when asked about the gaps in what would previously have been a sea of fans.

"It's not good that I say this, but I think it's also because we are not winning.”

"I'm sure if Renault was winning races or winning the podium, the grandstand is full. Because people know what is the situation at the moment, they are not really that interested any more," added the Spaniard, who won in Barcelona in 2006.

"In this championship there are no battles between Ferrari and McLaren, there are no battles between Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso. So it's a little bit difficult to explain for the people how Formula One is now."

New rules have turned the sport upside down this season with McLaren, Ferrari, BMW-Sauber and Renault all struggling to score points while newcomers Brawn GP are battling previously unheralded Red Bull and Toyota at the front.

McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton has scored just nine points in four races while Ferrari's Felipe Massa, last year's overall runner up, has none. His team mate Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion, has three.

Brawn's Jenson Button, a tail-ender with Honda last year, has won three races.

Karthikeyan to race for Team Kolles in Le Mans series

New Delhi, May 07: Team Kolles has roped in Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan for the Le Mans 24-hour race as well as the European Le Mans series after he impressed the owners during tests in the Audi R10 TDI LMP1 Sportscar.

Karthikeyan, the only Indian to race in Formula One, will take part in the 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans on June 13 and 14 while his first race for Team Kolles will be at European Le Mans Series in Spa on Sunday.

"I am very excited and happy to be racing in the Le Mans 24-hour race with Team Kolles and would like to thank Dr Kolles very much for this opportunity," Karthikeyan said in a statement.

"I really enjoyed the recent endurance test at Paul Ricard which gave me a good idea of the performance of the car and the difficulties I will be faced with, all I can say is I cannot wait to get behind the wheel. I am also really looking forward to racing on Sunday at Spa in Belgium, in the LMS series and this is a 1000km endurance race."

Colin Kolles, owner of Team Kolles said, "I am happy to have Narain on board and looking forward to this weekend at Spa.

Force India put KERS system on hold

London, May 06: Force India have put on hold the new KERS system they had planned to introduce at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, team owner Vijay Mallya said.

The optional kinetic energy recovery system offers drivers a power boost at the push of a button but only a handful of Formula One teams have used it so far this season.

Mallya, whose team have yet to score a point since their debut last season, said in a preview for the first European race of the year that Force India wanted to concentrate on other areas.

"We will not be running KERS in Spain," he said.

"At the beginning of the year, it was our provisional plan to introduce the system for the start of the European season, but we have decided to put the emphasis on aero development where we feel the greater gains can be found.”

"As we've seen, many other teams are not running KERS so we do not feel we are at a disadvantage," he added.

"We still plan to use it later in the season but this will be reviewed after each race in line with the other work we have going on in the background."

Force India introduced a new rear diffuser and aerodynamic developments to their Mercedes-powered car at the previous race in Bahrain and plan further upgrades for Barcelona.

Super Aguri mull return to F1

Tokyo, May 06: Japan's Super Aguri could be set for a surprise return to Formula One in 2010, after withdrawing a year ago due to financial difficulties.

Former Super Aguri team chief Aguri Suzuki told reporters that he was tempted to rejoin the sport he once labelled a "club full of piranhas."

"If it's physically possible I would certainly like to (return to Formula One)," Suzuki said.

Super Aguri quit the glamour sport after a promised major sponsorship deal collapsed and backers Honda were not prepared to offer long-term support.

The sport's governing body FIA has since set an optional cap of 40 million pounds on teams to allow entrants that might otherwise struggle to compete against big-spenders like Ferrari and McLaren.

Although the optional cap is barely a quarter of what some teams have been spending, those that accept the cap would have more technical freedom in 2010 than those with unlimited budgets, the FIA said last week.

The FIA also announced there would be space for three new teams on next year's grid, potentially increasing the number of cars to 26 -- six more than at present.

With the global economic downturn biting hard, Honda subsequently pulled out of Formula One themselves to cut costs amid slumping car sales.

Suzuki slammed Formula One at an emotional news conference last year, saying: "It's a club full of piranhas and I don't want to put my fingers back in.

Patrick returns to Indy seeking breakthrough win

Indianapolis, May 06: Danica Patrick has already become the first woman to win an Indy-car race. Now she hopes to become the first to capture the sport's ultimate prize - the Indianapolis 500.

The 27-year-old American beauty won last year's Indy Japan 300 for her series breakthrough and will begin her quest to conquer the famed 2 1/2-mile Indy oval when practice starts here on Wednesday for Saturday's pole qualifying.

"It's a good opportunity to really just focus on qualifying," Patrick said. "All the rest of the year we tend to not really be so heavily focused on it, and we kind of do maybe a qualifying practice run or two, but that's about it.”

"Here we get a few days to really focus on it. It's about getting the car comfortable. You want to start out with a good balanced car, and hopefully you can even take the downforce off and just get faster."

Patrick, coming off a fifth-place effort at Kansas in the final tuneup for the May 24 race, has put a check on her notorious temper, which saw her pick a fight with England's Dan Wheldon and march down the Indy 500 pit lane after Australian Ryan Briscoe.

"I've learned from the past," Patrick said. "Look, the emotional Danica is still there, but there's a time and a place. The time and place is not every weekend. So it's just easier.”

"I always felt in the past like I had to prove to people that I cared and that I wasn't happy being fifth or 12th or something by being mad. It just doesn't really pay off, and it turns people off.”

"It's a lot easier and a lot more fun to be relaxed. It's all bunnies and rainbows around here

Karthikeyan 2nd in sprint, ends championships at 12th spot

Brands Hatch, May 03: Team India's Narain Karthikeyan finished second in the sprint race but had to pull out of the feature race with a crash to finish the A1GP World Cup of Motorsports at the 12th position with 19 points.

It was a bitter sweet day for Karthikeyan in the final race of the championship after the Mexico City leg was cancelled due to swine flu scare.

He registered his first and only podium finish this season with the second place finish in the sprint but was unlucky to be involved in a crash in the feature category.

Karthikeyan bagged eight points for his second place finish in the morning behind championships winner Team Ireland's Adam Carroll, the highest in the 12 of the 14 races he took part this season.

The former Formula One Indian driver could have improved his championships position had he not involved in a three-way crash in the first lap of the feature race in the afternoon with cars of United States and China, which eventually resulted to his retirement from the longer race. Starting at 10th at the 20-team grid in sprint race, Karthikeyan took an early pit stop alongside Lebanon, Germany and Malaysia.

He was driving second behind Carroll by the ninth lap and maintained his speed till the end to finish the sprint event at 22:39.934, 7.230 seconds behind Carroll.

Mexico's Salvador Duran finished third in the sprint race clocking 22: 45.044.

Team Ireland, whose driver Carroll also won the feature race, won the championships with an aggregate of 112 points, followed by Switzerland (95) and Portugal (92).

Karthikeyan was confident of a podium finish in the feature race also but the crash put paid to his hopes.

"It was difficult after a small mistake in qualifying as we should have been further up the grid. The car is working well so I think we are looking good for another podium in the feature," he said after the sprint race.

Rossi reigns in Spain MotoGP

Spain, May 03: Italian Valentino Rossi claimed his first victory of the season in the Moto GP category of the Spanish Grand Prix, the third leg in the world motorcycling championship.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda, and Australian Casey Stoner on a Ducati finished second and third respectively as Rossi, an eight-time world champion, took the lead of the world championship standings.

Rossi had a consistent and determined performance to thank for his first win of the season, and impressive 98th of his career, that has given him an 11-point overall lead over Stoner.

Rossi now has 65 points, with Stoner, who won the season-opening leg in Qatar, on 54.

However the Italian admitted it should be a fight to the death for this season's crown.

"There's been three winners in three races, so it looks like the championship will be very tight this year. I will have to stay very concentrated at each and every race," said Rossi, who was surprised with his victory.

"It's been a strange weekend. On Friday (free practice) I was very fast then Saturday I had a lot of problems with the bike. We then made a few technical changes before the race and things seemed to work better as of this morning.”

"During the race once I'd overtaken Jorge (Lorenzo) I managed to slowly creep up on Casey - we overtook each other two or three times - then on Pedrosa who, in this position isn't easy to overtake."

Starting fourth on the grid behind Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner, Rossi overtook the Australian on the sixth of the race's 27 laps before then trying to chip away at Pedrosa's advantage.

Rossi reigns in Spain MotoGP

Spain, May 03: Italian Valentino Rossi claimed his first victory of the season in the Moto GP category of the Spanish Grand Prix, the third leg in the world motorcycling championship.

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, on a Honda, and Australian Casey Stoner on a Ducati finished second and third respectively as Rossi, an eight-time world champion, took the lead of the world championship standings.

Rossi had a consistent and determined performance to thank for his first win of the season, and impressive 98th of his career, that has given him an 11-point overall lead over Stoner.

Rossi now has 65 points, with Stoner, who won the season-opening leg in Qatar, on 54.

However the Italian admitted it should be a fight to the death for this season's crown.

"There's been three winners in three races, so it looks like the championship will be very tight this year. I will have to stay very concentrated at each and every race," said Rossi, who was surprised with his victory.

"It's been a strange weekend. On Friday (free practice) I was very fast then Saturday I had a lot of problems with the bike. We then made a few technical changes before the race and things seemed to work better as of this morning.”

"During the race once I'd overtaken Jorge (Lorenzo) I managed to slowly creep up on Casey - we overtook each other two or three times - then on Pedrosa who, in this position isn't easy to overtake."

Starting fourth on the grid behind Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner, Rossi overtook the Australian on the sixth of the race's 27 laps before then trying to chip away at Pedrosa's advantage.

Kyle Busch overtakes Edwards to win at Richmond

Richmond, May 02: Kyle Busch passed Carl Edwards on the first lap of a restart with 22 laps to go and won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Friday night at Richmond International Raceway.

Busch, who led four times in the Lipton Tea 250, made the move that counted in the third and fourth turns on the 229th trip around the 0.75-mile oval. Edwards led the previous 71 laps, with Busch seemingly the only other driver with a car to contend.

Busch's Toyota, he said, "was right when it mattered most."

The Sprint Cup star proved it by passing Edwards to the outside to grab the lead and then twice more on the final restarts — with eight laps to go and again with five laps remaining.

Busch pulled away easily the second time, and Edwards never really challenged.

The victory was Busch's third in nine starts this season and 13th since the start of last season, when he missed five races but won 10 and finished sixth in the point standings.

Busch led 115 laps in his third career victory in the series at Richmond.

"I feel like tonight was a good night to get back on track," Busch said. "Tonight was a race that mattered and we had our biggest challenger behind us in Carl, so it was nice to beat him out, straight up, and we had some other issues with the car that we fought through."

Edwards held on to finish second, followed by Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski.

"He smoked me on the restarts," said Edwards, second to Busch in the series standings. Edwards remained winless and has finished behind Busch in five consecutive races.

Busch's lead over Edwards in the series standings grew to 82 points.

For a while, it looked as if the 2007 series champion would turn the tables.

Edwards was running second and gaining on Busch when a caution slowed the pace just past the midpoint. It went back to green on lap 138 and it took Edwards 20 laps to take the lead.

They were still running 1-2 when another caution flew on lap 204, and they quickly separated themselves from the field along with Mark Martin, who was running 11th but fighting to stay on the lead lap after pitting under a green flag just before the caution came out.

Martin, the career leader with 48 series victories, wound up seventh.

"Maybe we'll have a contender tomorrow night," Martin said.

Busch's victory was his 24th in the series, pulling him into a tie with Kenseth and Tommy Houston for fifth on the career list. Kenseth said he never had a chance on Friday night.

"I had a pretty solid car. I just could never get it quite right to be able to run with those guys," Kenseth said. "It would be nice to be able to win one of these things, too."

Kevin Harvick finished fifth, followed by Joey Logano and Martin, giving Sprint Cup Series regulars the top seven spots at the finish. Nationwide regular Michael McDowell was eighth.

Brad Keselowski, the surprise Sprint Cup winner last weekend at Talladega when he and Edwards made contact on the final lap, sending Edwards' car airborne into the fronstretch, had another incident Friday night, costing Jeff Burton a top-10 finish.

Keselowski was running third and Burton was in the top five and gaining with 17 laps left when Keselowski made contact with Jason Leffler, with Burton getting caught up in the accident and hitting the wall. Keselowski continued on unscathed and finished fourth, while Burton wound 31st, 17 laps off the pace.