There is also a possibility a thirteenth team may be added to the list, while the twelve teams guarantee a 24 car field for the next three years. Already the HiTech Piquet team has confirmed their drivers, who will be 2004 British F3 champion Nelson Piquet Jr (Nelsinho) alongside current South American F3 Championship leader Alexandre Negrao.

The series also announced the weekend's programme for the series at each of the twelve mainly European Formula One events it will race at, with the programme subject to ratification by the FIA World Motorsport Council. Friday will see a 30 minute practice session, followed by a 30 minute qualifying session. This session will determine grid positions for the first race, held on Saturday at 2:30 pm, which will be a 180 km race. The finishing order of this race will be used to determine the starting order for race two, with the exception of the top eight places, which will be reversed ie. the winner on Saturday will start eighth. This Sunday race, of 80 km length, will be held at 11:30 am. For comparison, the Formula 3000 race distance was 150 km.

The points system, like the car and the weekend's programme, is a change from Formula 3000. In race one, points will be allocated 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to the top eight finishers, while in race two points will be allocated 6-5-4-3-2-1 to the top six finishers. The driver who sets the fastest lap in race one will score two points, as will the driver who sets the fastest lap in race two. Also, the driver who sits on pole position for race one will earn two points.

The teams will receive their first cars late in January before taking part in testing during February and March. Then in mid March they will receive their second cars, after which a final testing session will take place before the inaugural round at the end of March.

  Rally

Martin Leaves Ford, Joins Peugeot For 2005

Estonian Markko Martin will drive for Peugeot in next year's World Rally Championship, the French manufacturer said on Wednesday.

Peugeot, who are quitting the sport at the end of 2005 along with stablemates Citroen, said Finland's twice World Champion Marcus Gronholm would be staying with the team. Martin, 29, finished third in this year's championship for Ford with British co-driver Michael Park, and has won five rallies in his career.

"Despite this agreement being limited to just one year, I am very happy to be joining Peugeot Sport," Martin said in a statement. "I am looking forward to having Marcus as teammate. We get on well together and I have a great deal of respect for him. I believe he is still the fastest driver in the championship."

Gronholm, 36, has been at Peugeot for the past six years, winning 16 rallies and the 2000 and 2002 titles. "Markko is a first-class recruit," said Gronholm. "He has shown that he is very strong on all types of surface."

Peugeot will also have a new tyre partner, Italy's Pirelli, next season.

Gardemeister Joins Ford For 2005

Finland's Toni Gardemeister will drive for Ford in next year's World Rally Championship, the team announced on Friday.

Ford said the 29-year-old, who has driven for the works Seat and Skoda teams, had signed a one-year contract to compete in all 16 rounds for the championship runners-up. Compatriot Jakke Honkanen will be his co-driver after the retirement this year of Paavo Lukander.

"Toni has earned his reputation as a quick and highly consistent driver," said team director Malcolm Wilson. "He is now ready to make the step up to a frontline team and I'm confident he will do a superb job for us next season."

Ford had Estonian Markko Martin and Belgian Francois Duval on their books this year. Martin has moved to Peugeot while Duval has joined Citroen, despite both French carmakers announcing their withdrawal after the 2005 season.

Gardemeister will begin testing for Ford, who have made a four-year commitment to the championship, in Sweden this week.

Schwarz Leads Four Man Skoda Challenge

Skoda will take part in the full World Rally Championship next year with a four man team led by Germany's Armin Schwarz.

The 41-year-old, who drove for the team this year, will drive all 16 rallies with the other three sharing the second car. Skoda said in a statement that Finland's Janne Tuohino and Jani Paasonen, both 29, would share the gravel events while 28-year-old Frenchman Alex Bengue would do the asphalt races.

Paasonen drove for Skoda in his home rally this year, finishing sixth as Tuohino was fourth for Ford in Sweden. Bengue won the French rally championship last year and was runner-up this season.

"Armin will use his many years of experience to further develop the Fabia WRC and also bring important stability to the team while we introduce three young drivers in the second car," team boss Martin Muehlmeier said.

Skoda took part in a limited number of rallies this year, with Schwarz taking just one point in Corsica.

Reports provided by Reuters

  GT

Bahrain Bonus

The Australian-led Cooper's Racing team of David Brabham and Dane Allan Simonsen swept all before them at the Bahrain GT Festival, winning two of the three preliminary races before leading home the Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper of Ferederic Dedours and Frederic Makowiecki by 16 seconds. Limping home in third position was the DDO Saleen of Dominique Dupuy and Francois Fiat.

The grid for the final race of the weekend was established after three preliminary heats. The first heat was red flagged after nine laps after the sun deprived the race of sufficient light to continue. When the race was stopped Simonsen led in the Ferrari from Makowiecki and Fiat.

The second heat saw a duel ensue between Brabham and Dupuy. Dupuy won the race after Brabham was caught behind slower traffic late in the race allowing the Saleen through to victory. Wolfgang Kaufmann was third in the Weith Racing Ferrari. Brabham won the third race after Dupuy's Saleen punctured and was forced pitward. Dedours was second ahead of Stephane Lacroix in the Force One Chrysler Viper.

For the final, Simonsen won the start in the Ferrari and led to the pitstops which saw the Danish driver dominate the field, with Larbre's Makowiecki leading the pursuit. The top three cars each led during the stops but once completed Makowiecki lost second place to Dupuy, who then closed on Brabham only to have a differential failure in the dying stages. The Saleen limped home in third position after Makowiecki retook second. Nigel Greensall brought Speedworx Stealth B6 home in a competitive fourth just ahead of ALMS racer Patrick Long in the first 996 GT3. The delayed Force One Viper was next ahead of the first of the GT3 entries, the Porsche of Roland Berville and Jack Leconte.

Result of Bahrain GT Festival, Manama, Bahrain:

Pos  Driver                                 Car
 1.  David Brabham/Allan Simonsen           Ferrari 550 Maranello
 2.  Frederic Dedours/Frederic Makowiecki   Chrysler Viper GTS-R
 3.  Francois Fiat/Dominique Dupuy          Saleen S7-R
 4.  Nigel Greensall/Terry Pudwell          Stealth B6
 5.  Lars Nielson/Patrick Long              Porsche 996 GT3-RSR (1st GT2)
 6.  Stephane Lacroix/Antoine Leclerc       Chrysler Viper GTS-R
 7.  Roland Berville/Jack Leconte           Porsche 996 GT3 Cup (1st GT3)
 8.  Bas Leinders/Renaud Kuppens            Vertigo Gillet (2nd GT2)
 9.  Cyril Helias/Frank Colas               Porsche 996 GT3 Cup (2nd GT3)
10.  Adam Sharpe/Rob Croydon                Porsche 996 GT3-RS (3rd GT2)

  V8 Supercar

Team Dynamik Takes It To The Top

After CAMS finally announced their decision on appeals to Team Dynamik's original penalties for 'illegal' testing at an airstrip in August, including an unusual one lap penalty, there has been further developments this week.

Despite being penalised originally back in September for the testing, and then losing the appeal and being hit with additional penalties which were announced last week, Team Dynamik are not giving up on the fight. Last Friday saw Team Dynamik lodge an appeal through CAMS, Australia's motor sport controlling body, to the FIA International Court of Appeal, against the decision of the V8 Supercar National Court of Appeal.

In the short term, this is good news for Team Dynamik, as under FIA rules, the orders of the V8 Supercar National Court of Appeal have been stayed pending the determination of the FIA International Court of Appeal, so the one lap penalty will not be applied at this weekend's final round of the 2004 series. Whether things will be quite as rosy in the long term is unclear though.

  Upcoming Events Calendar

• December 3 - Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Round 7 of 7, India Rally
• December 5 - V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 13 of 13, Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia
• December 12 - Bahrain Formula 3 Superprix, Manama, Bahrain
• December 31 - Dakar Rally, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali & Senegal