TOKYO — Toyota Motorsport has decided against appealing a decision by race stewards that dropped Jarno Trulli from third place to 12th at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Trulli finished third behind Brawn GP pair Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello on Sunday but Formula One stewards later ruled that he’d overtaken under safety car conditions late in the race and imposed a 25-second penalty on him.
Toyota declared an intention to appeal the decision but opted out Wednesday as preparations for the Malaysian Grand Prix were getting underway.
The team issued a statement saying it had reviewed recent judgments, and F1 regulations, and decided an appeal would most likely be rejected.
Reigning world drivers’ champion Lewis Hamilton crossed the line fourth but was promoted to third place.
FERRARI HUNG OVER? Luca di Montezemolo believes Ferrari’s struggles in Formula One’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday can be attributed to the title fight with McLaren that went down to the final race of last season.
“There’s no doubt that we’re paying for how the 2008 season went down to the final turn in the final lap of the final race,” the president of the Italian automaker said Tuesday during a book presentation, according to the ANSA news agency.
“We and McLaren had to develop the car right up until the end, while the others could work on completely new projects many months earlier.”
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton narrowly beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa for last season’s title.
Massa retired due to a steering failure in Melbourne on Sunday and teammate Kimi Raikkonen sent his Ferrari into a wall. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of Brawn GP finished 1-2 and Hamilton was third.
“I expect to see the real values in Malaysia on a circuit that’s not as strange as the one in Melbourne,” Montezemolo said, looking ahead to the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend.
As the president of the Formula One Teams Association, Montezemolo also said he was anxious for an FIA hearing regarding the rear diffusers of Brawn, Toyota and Williams.
Stewards in Australia cleared the diffusers of the three teams, but Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault have filed an appeal that will be heard following the race in Malaysia.
“I’m expecting the rules to be clarified,” Montezemolo said. “It’s not good to start a season with such important question marks.”
TIME TO WIN: It’s been 18 months and 47 races since Jeff Gordon last visited Victory Lane and Texas Motor Speedway wouldn’t seem to be the most likely place for the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion to end that streak.
But Gordon, leading the season points and coming off his fifth straight finish of sixth or better, is feeling pretty good this week heading to the Fort Worth track, along with Homestead-Miami Speedway one of only two current Cup venues where he has yet to win.
He’s come close on the 1.5-mile Texas track.
“In 2007 when we hit on the setup, I hit the wall with about 20 to go while leading and it ruined that opportunity,” Gordon said. “Another time we had electrical issues while leading late in the race. But those were instances when we ran well and had a shot at the win. Other times, we’ve been off the mark.”
Last April’s race was one of those. Gordon hit the wall in turn four on lap 110 and finished last in the 43-car field.
“I am not going to base anything off last year,” Gordon said. “Even when we finished second (in the fall race), it was because of fuel mileage and we still were only about a 12th- to 15th- place car.
“The team worked hard over the offseason and our performances on intermediate tracks have improved. We are just a different team with different race cars right now.
In three races on 1.5-mile ovals, Gordon has led laps in each event and has had finishes of second at California, sixth at Las Vegas and second at Atlanta.
“Texas is one of those places that is on my radar,” Gordon said. “I want to turn things around and conquer it. We’ve made such huge progress — the way the cars are driving, the way the team is performing — that I’m really optimistic. What we are doing with the cars has worked well so far this year. “And I think it could possibly even work better at Texas than some of the places we have been to.”
QUALIFYING REWARD: Pole winners in the IndyCar Series are about to get a reward they haven’t received since 2001 — championship points.
The overall points for each of the 17 events this season, beginning with Sunday’s Honda Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, Fla., will remain the same in 2009. But each pole will be worth one point, with points awarded for leading the most laps in the race reduced from three to two.
Pole winners will also received a $10,000 PEAK Performance Pole Award at every race except the Indianapolis 500, which pays $100,000 for the top qualifying spot.
“It seems appropriate that the driver who can survive four laps driving on the edge on ovals, or who can make it through three elimination rounds on road and street courses, be rewarded for their efforts with a point toward the championship,” said Brian Barnhart, IndyCar’s president of competition and operations.
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