Australian single seater racer Anton De Pasquale extended his Formula Renault 1.6 NEC championship lead to 53 points after taking his sixth victory of the season at Zolder.

The reigning Australian Formula Ford champion didn’t have it all his own way at the Belgian circuit after as a mistake saw him finish the opening race off the podium in fourth.

De Pasquale had held second behind team-mate Florian Janits before a three car incident triggered the Safety Car. A mistake on the restart saw him fall to fourth where he finished the race.

The teenager made up for his error in race two with a commanding run to victory to open up a 53 point lead with just two rounds remaining.

De Pasquale will return back to Australia before heading to the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit for the penultimate meeting of the year on October 3-5.

Sepang 12 Hour

Clearwater Racing were once again the dominant force in the Sepang 12 Hour as the team recorded an impressive one-two result.

Mok Weng Sun, Alif Hamdan and Italian GT ace Gianmaria Bruni led home the team’s sister Ferrari 458 of New Zealand’s Craig Baird and Richard Wee.

The pair were separated by a lap at the finish with the lead car completing a total of 325 laps around the Malaysian circuit.

The Alexandre Imperatori led Absolute Racing Audi R8 was third, while V8 Supercars co-driver Warren Luff finished fourth alongside Stefan Mucke and Frank Yu in the Craft Bamboo Aston Martin.

Australian pair Mark Eddy and Marc Cini came home in sixth overall in their Audi R8 which they shared with former Bathurst 12 Hour winner Christopher Mies.

The Team NZ Porsche 997 entry of Will Bamber, John Curran, Graeme Dowsett and Yeuy Tan finished inside the top 10 in eighth overall.

Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort 

Thousands of fans applauded the achievements of Sir Jack Brabham in a moving tribute to the late Australian three-time Formula 1 world champion at the Historic Grand Prix of Zandvoort.

Jack’s youngest son David Brabham led the tribute by completing parade laps behind the wheel of the 1967 Brabham BT24 in front of a 30,000 crowd.

He also reminded Dutch fans of ‘Black Jack’s’ endearing sense of humour by recreating his father’s tongue-in-cheek walk onto the 1966 Formula 1 grid at Zandvoort, complete with a walking stick and a false beard.    

Sir Jack Brabham won the Dutch Grand Prix in 1960 and 1966 before going on to win the world championship in those seasons.

“It was very special to drive the Brabham BT24 around the streets of Zandvoort, where 48 years ago my father and his Brabham team would have been based before they came out to the track and of course went on to win the race,” said Brabham.

“A huge crowd turned out and got right behind the parade and it made for a fantastic atmosphere.

“We had a good bit of fun re-enacting dad’s famous walk onto the 1966 Formula 1 grid, with a false beard and walking cane, which was really well received by everyone. It’s been so nice to see so many people in Europe who clearly remember dad and what he achieved.”

Moto3

Jack Miller witnessed his Moto3 championship lead reduce to just 13 points after finishing sixth in round 11 at Silverstone.

The Townsville rider managed to keep pace with the front runners in the early stages before slipping back to finish in sixth spot.

Alex Rins claimed the victory but a second place for Alex Marquez took 10 points out of Miller’s championship lead.

“I think one of the main problems we’ve had has been with the bumps,” said Miller.

“We have to look at what we did well, and then do it again. Maybe I have also to communicate better with my team, to describe problems better to get more time during the weekend.”

The Moto3 series heads to Misano on September 14.

European Rally Championship

Privateer Vaclav Pech recorded his first win in the European Rally Championship as he cruised to victory at Rally Zlin.

The Mini driver mastered the tricky Czech Republic stages to take the victory by 51.5 seconds from Skoda’s Sepp Wiegand and Rufa Ford’s Tomas Kostka.

Pech held the lead from stage five after taking advantage of issues for Craig Breen, Kevin Abbring and championship leader Esapekka Lappi on the previous stage.

Lappi holds a 19 point lead over Wiegand at the top of the championship standings.

Asian Le Mans Series

OAK Racing extended its advantage in the Asian Le Mans Series with a comfortable victory at Fuji.

The Morgan-Nissan LMP2 machine of Ho-Pin Tung, David Cheng and Keiko Ihara completed a one lap win in the three hour race over the Eurasia Motorsport LMP2 Oreca Nissan of Pu Jin Jin, John Hartshorne and Richard Bradley.

Team AAI took the honours in the GT Class while Craft Bamboo Racing won the CN Protoytpe category.