For the second week in a row reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Jimmy Johnson (48) crossed the line first to take victory in Atlanta yesterday. Although he had dominated most of the race this victory was a little harder as Johnson battled rival Tony Stewart (20) nearly all the way to the falg. With three laps to go Johnson squeezed Stewart up the track resulting in Stewart’s car touching the wall.

Further down the field Juan Pablo Montoya (42) finished an impressive fifth, while a tenth place finish was enough for veteran Mark Martin (01) to retain the overall points lead. However Martin has declared that despite leading the series he will be sticking to his originally planned reduced schedule and will step out of the car for the next two events.

The Top 10 finishers were:

• Jimmie Johnson
• Tony Stewart
• Matt Kenseth
• Jeff Burton
• Juan Pablo Montoya
• Clint Bowyer
• Carl Edwards
• Martin Truex Jr.
• Reed Sorenson
• Mark Martin

Many people, myself included, predicted that after the retirement of Michael Schumcaher and the loss of several key staff over the winter that the Ferrari organization would collapse in 2007. However there seemed little sign of that as the team’s new driver Kimi Raikkonen cruised to an easy victory in what was a fairly dull season opening Grand Prix at the Albert Park cicuit in Australia.

While Raikkonen may have had his own way at the front, there were a few highlights behind hom, notably

• the charge to sixth from the last place on the grid by his team-mate Massa.
• the excellent perfomance of the two McLarens with Lewis Hamilton having a strong debut race.
• the obvious lack of performance fo the Honda works team in comparison to their “sister” team Super Aguri
• David Coultahrd’s late and overly optomistic overtaking manoeuvre that resulted in his car coming within inches of Wurz’s head – the consequences of which could have been horrific if Wurz had just been a fraction of a second slower on the brakes.

The Top 10 finishers were:

• Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
• Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
• Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
• Nick Heidfeld (BMW)
• Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault)
• Felipie Massa (Ferrari)
• Nico Rosberg (Williams)
• Ralf Schumacher (Toyota)
• Juano Trulli (Toyota)
• Heiki Kovalainen (Renualt)

The 2007 Formula One grid is now complete following the low key launch of the new Super Aguri SA07 (below)  in the pit lane at Melbourne as teams prepare for this weekend’s season opening Australian Grand Prix.

According to a report on Autosport.com a consortium led by Prodrive boss David Richards has bought luxury car maker Aston Martin from Ford.

Richards has a strong motor-sports pedigree having run sucessful rally teams, been World Rally Champion co-driver and being part of the group that holds the commerical rights for the World Rally Championship series.  Richards has confirmed that Aston Martin will remain committed to motorsport in the next few years. He has been involved with Aston Martin throughout its current sportscar projects, which are overseen by his Prodrive operation. “We’re not going to be running away from sportscar racing with me as chairman of the business,” Richards told autosport.com. “The company has supported us right from the build-up to our involvement in GT racing, so you’ll continue to see us at Le Mans this year with further enthusiasm from our investors.”

 Richards has also spent time in Formula One with both the Benetton (now Renault) and Honda teams. Richard’s own ProDrive organization is set to join the Formula One grid in 2008. So will we see a British Racing Green liveried Aston Martin F1 car next year? Here’s hoping.

Reigning NEXTEL Cup Champion Jimmy Johnson overcame a number of minor set-backs to score his third victory in Las Vegas and the 150th win overall for Hendrick Motorpsorts as he headed team-mate and car-owner Jeff Gordon across the line in Sunday’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

Denny Hamlin drove to a steady third ahead of Matt Kenseth and a seemingly resurgent Mark Martin. The 5th place finish leaves the veteran driver leading the points standings.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1.  Jimmie Johnson
2.  Jeff Gordon 
3.  Denny Hamlin
4.  Matt Kenseth 
5.  Mark Martin
6.  Carl Edwards 
7.  Tony Stewart 
8.  Ryan Newman 
9.  Kyle Busch 
10.  Jamie McMurray