Gold Coast news 2010-05-10

INTERNATIONALS BUSY AHEAD OF OCTOBER

Since the announcement of the 18 international drivers for this October's Armor All Gold Coast 600 on the streets of the Gold Coast, the drivers have been busy with many of them racing and winning in their respective categories over the past weeks.

Just days after the official launch of the Gold Coast event on April 22, American Scott Pruett (Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport) and co-driver Memo Rojas went on to win the Bosch Engineering 250 in front of a record crowd at Virginia International Raceway, extending their points lead in the Grand-Am Rolex Series.

One week later, the weekend of May 1/2 saw six other internationals competing across the IndyCar Series and World Touring Car Series.

IndyCar Series driver Ryan Briscoe (Toll Holden Racing Team) took pole for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway, ahead of Scott Dixon (Jack Daniel's Racing) and Dario Franchitti (Jim Beam Racing) while fellow Gold Coast bound racers Alex Tagliani and Will Power were fifth and seventh fastest respectively.

Come race day, Dixon went one better to take the victory, ahead of team-mate Franchitti. Briscoe was sixth, Tagliani was eighth and Power took 12th position. When it comes to championship standings however, Power remains the leader of the title chase after winning the opening two events and posting strong results since, with Dixon chasing in second, while Franchitti sits in fifth, Briscoe in seventh and Tagliani in 12th.

In the World Touring Car Championship, Yvan Muller (Paul Morris Motorpsort) maintained his second position on the championship standings, placing 6th and 2nd across the weekend's two races.

On track for the Marrakech Grand Prix, Muller was joined by fellow Gold Coast entrants Andy Priaulx (TeamVodafone), Tiago Monteiro (Centaur Racing) and Alain Menu (Brad Jones Racing) for rounds three and four of the WTCC, with race one seeing Monteiro placed third, Muller sixth, Priaulx 8th and Menu 9th, while race two saw Priaulx triumph with a victory ahead of Muller while Monteiro was fourth and Menu did not finish after being involved in an incident. Priaulx's win sees him fourth in the championships standings, ahead of Monteiro in fifth and Menu in sixth.

At the weekend, Gianni Morbidelli (Triple F Racing) also took to the race track for the third race of the 2010 Superstars Series at Vallelunga, with the reigning Champion taking his first win of the season.

All of the international drivers for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 are set to arrive on the Gold Coast on the Sunday before the event and will be involved in a week of activity, including a full-day test at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday, October 20.

The event will include two 300km races on Saturday and Sunday of the event, with the international drivers required to complete a minimum of 30% of each of the races.

-source: goldcoast600.com.au