After taking a gallant victory at Bathurst, and a clean sweep of race wins on the Gold Coast Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup was hoping to carry his excellent form on to the sole flyaway race of the season in Bahrain.

The Superleague Formula championship season was still closely fought as the series moved to Italy for the fifth round. Two of the biggest names, and biggest rivalries, in football AS Roma and AC Milan would now be doing battle on the race track in Italy itself, and this would certainly draw huge interest.

Sebastien Loeb has won the 2008 World Rally Championship for a record breaking fifth consecutive year. His title rival Mikko Hirvonen won the Rally of Japan, but Loeb managed to finish a comfortable third, which was enough to see him claim the Driver's Championship.

As the series resumed it's sprint race format, the action moved to the Gold Coast to Surfer's Paradise. Jamie Whincup had made a great leap in his quest for the championship at Bathurst, but Garth Tander was hoping to hit back quickly to regain lost ground.

Following on from success in Zolder, Liverpool and Beijing were battling at the top of the championship standings as the season moved to Estoril. Warm sunny weather greeted the drivers in Portugal, in stark contrast to the damp conditions in Belgium during the previous round.