The World Rally Championship moved to Argentina, and the Hampshire circuit of Thruxton welcomed the British Touring Car Championship. Both venues provided warm and rain-free racing for the weekend, as well as some top class action.

Sebastien Loeb continued his processional march to the 2009 trophy with his fifth straight victory of the season. Early into day one whilst on road sweeping duties, Loeb was trailing the leaders Mikko Hirvonen and Daniel Sordo. Young Finn Jari-Matti Latvala was keeping true to the objective set out by his Ford team. After a series of non-finishes so far this season, he was driving with the intention of finishing the rally. He was doing well until a puncture cost him some 8 minutes, and pushed him down the standings. Petter Solberg enjoyed a fantastic first day as he finished fourth overall, only 19 seconds off the lead. This was a brilliant achievement in a much older car than most, and also one with significantly less power. The second day saw a Loeb resurgence as he clambered back to the top of the leader board with distinct ease. Petter Solberg suffered a puncture, where as his brother Henning was slowly moving up the standings with a string of great times. Hirvonen retired on a road section after his Ford Focus overheated. Loeb completed the day with almost a minute's advantage over second placed Sordo. The final day saw Loeb close the rally out with great composure in typical Loeb fashion. Latvala dropped back further as fuel pressure problems set in, whereas the unfortunate Petter Solberg retired from 3rd place, leaving Henning to take the final step of the podium. Loeb took the victory, and remains undefeated in 2009.

With no fewer than 4 former champions on the grid in Hampshire, the BTCC was always going to provide some top class action. Fabrizio Giovanardi suffered a massive accident in the final practice session as he and Stephen Jelley made contact. Both teams worked hard to rebuild the cars in time for the qualifying session. As Giovanardi took his car out for the first run expecting to have to make some significant set-up changes, he drove to perfection. He set a time which no one else could match. This meant that he took the pole position, with his team mate Matt Neal in second, Jason Plato took third with Andrew Jordan in 4th. In the first meeting since Vauxhall announced they would not be in the BTCC from 2010 onwards, the entire Vauxhall team had the perfect first race. Plato dropped out of the running midway through the race, leaving Giovanardi, Neal and Jordan to take a clean sweep of the podium positions. Returning former champion James Thompson was enjoying some tough battles with Rob Collard, amongst others. The second race saw the Vauxhalls get away well, but the fast starting Team RAC BMW of Colin Turkington leapfrogged Jordan into 3rd. He also battled past Matt Neal early on but Neal regained the position moments later. Giovanardi, Neal and Turkington broke away from the chasing pack, but after a safety car period, the front pairing started to suffer with their tyres. Turkington slipped past Neal and set about chasing Giovanardi. The Italian made his car as wide as possible with some top class driving, but drifted slightly wide on the final lap, and the ever opportunistic Turkington moved past to claim his first win of the season. The top ten would be reversed for the third race, handing a pair of series returnees front row grid slots. Paul O'Neill would start from pole, with 2008 runner up Mat Jackson second. O'Neills's race was ruined after a good run, when his Honda Integra suffered a puncture, and Mat Jackson drove a superb race in the RML prepared Chevrolet Lacetti. He took the chequered flag to make it 6 different race winners out of the 6 races so far this season. Adam Jones took a fantastic second, with Thompson completing the top three.

Next weekend sees the V8 Supercars at Winton, and the World Touring Car Championship's first visit to Africa, with Marrakesh hosting the event. Both events run from the 1st to the 3rd May 2009. The two series do hold a link for 2009, as Three Time WTCC Champion Andy Priaulx has been confirmed to take part in the two endurance rounds of the V8 Supercar Championship.

Results

  Rallying

    WRC

      Final Positions (Top 8)
        1. Sebastien Loeb
        2. Daniel Sordo
        3. Henning Solberg
        4. Federico Villagra
        5. Matthew Wilson
        6. Jari-Matti Latvala
        7. Nasser Al-Attiyah
        8. Juan Marchetto

      Driver Standings
        1. Sebastian Loeb       50 Pts
        2. Daniel Sordo         31 Pts
        3. Mikko Hirvonen       30 Pts
        4. Henning Solberg      20 Pts
        5. Petter Solberg       14 Pts
        6. Matthew Wilson       12 Pts
        7. Jari-Matti Latvala    9 Pts
        7= Federico Villagra     9 Pts
        9. Chris Atkinson        4 Pts
       10. Sebastien Ogier       3 Pts
       10= Conrad Rautenbach     3 Pts
       10= Mads Ostberg          3 Pts
       10= Khalid Al Qassimi     3 Pts

       Manufacturer Standings
        1. Citroen Total        82 Pts
        2. BP-Ford              43 Pts
        3. Stobart Ford         37 Pts
        4. Citroen Junior       13 Pts
        4= Munchi's Ford        12 Pts

  Touring Cars

    BTCC

      Race 1 Final Positions (Top 10)
        1. Fabrizio Giovanardi
        2. Matt Neal
        3. Andrew Jordan
        4. Colin Turkington
        5. Paul O'Neill
        6. Adam Jones
        7. Stephen Jelley
        8. Mat Jackson
        9. Harry Vaulkhard
       10. Jason Plato

      Race 2 Final Positions (Top 10)
        1. Colin Turkington
        2. Fabrizio Giovanardi
        3. Matt Neal
        4. Stephen Jelley
        5. Rob Collard
        6. Jason Plato
        7. James Thompson
        8. Adam Jones
        9. Mat Jackson
       10. Paul O'Neill

      Race 3 Final Positions (Top 10)
        1. Mat Jackson
        2. Adam Jones
        3. James Thompson
        4. Jason Plato
        5. Rob Collard
        6. Stephen Jelley
        7. Matt Neal
        8. Fabrizio Giovanardi
        9. Colin Turkington
       10. Dave Pinkney       

      Driver Standings
        1. Matt NEAL              64 Pts
        2. Colin TURKINGTON       58 Pts
        3= Fabrizio GIOVANARDI    47 Pts
        4. Robert COLLARD         41 Pts
        5. Jason PLATO            36 Pts
        6. Adam JONES             35 Pts
        7. Stephen JELLEY         29 Pts
        8. Mat JACKSON            22 Pts
        9. Jonathan ADAM          16 Pts
       10. Andrew Jordan          16 Pts
 
      Manufacturer / Constructor Standings
        1. Vauxhall / VX Racing            138 Pts
        2. Honda / Team Dynamics            87 Pts
        3. Ford / Team Aon                  66 Pts

      Team Standings
        1. VX Racing                       109 Pts
        2. Team RAC                         87 Pts
        3. Airwaves BMW                     52 Pts
        4. Cartridge World Carbon Zero      45 Pts
        5. RML                              42 Pts
        6. Team Dynamics                    27 Pts
        7. Racing Silverline                15 Pts
        8. Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed   11 Pts

      Independent Standings
        1. Colin TURKINGTON       71 Pts
        2. Adam JONES             48 Pts
        3. Robert COLLARD         47 Pts
        4. Jason PLATO            46 Pts
        5= Stephen JELLEY         41 Pts
        6. Mat JACKSON            25 Pts
        7. Jonathan ADAM          21 Pts
        8. James THOMPSON         19 Pts
        9. Harry VAULKHARD        18 Pts
       10. Gordon SHEDDEN         16 Pts

      Independent Team Standings
        1. Team RAC                        72 Pts
        2. Airwaves BMW                    60 Pts
        3. Cartridge World                 52 Pts
        4. RML                             43 Pts
        5. Team Dynamics                   41 Pts