Ireland's Damien Faulkner took his second Indy Lights series victory in three outings in the US on Sunday to put himself into real contention for the series title.
Following his maiden win at the Texas Super Speedway in May, Faulkner was set back by a disastrous run at the Milwaukee Mile circuit three weeks ago. But last weekend, on his return to road course racing after two oval tracks, the Donegal driver battled through atrocious conditions to seal a win which moves into third place in the championship.
The reigning European Formula Palmer Audi champion survived a first corner collision to find himself third, and then reeled in Telmex Lola's Luis Diaz and Conquest Racing's Kiristian Kolby to assume the lead in treacherous downpours. With his main championship rivals dropped back down the field by the shunt at the start, Faulkner held on to take the chequered flag and his second win in three outings.
"It's fantastic to have three wins from five starts and I knew I would go well on the road courses, but I'm not thinking in terms of the championship just yet," he said of the win.
"I'm just going to keep my head down, keep scoring as many points as possible and the championship will take care of itself."
Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw had admitted the British team will sever links with engine suppliers Asiatech at the end of this season.
Meanwhile, after a day of rampant speculation over driver and manufacturer moves, which sucked over the half the grid into a vortex of rumour and counter-rumour, at least one part of next season's puzzle has been confirmed.
Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw had admitted the British team will sever links with engine suppliers Asiatech at the end of this season. "Asiatech was informed this morning to plan without us for next year," Walkinshaw told reporters. "We have three engine options for 2002. We will announce our engine partner for the 2002 season in the very near future."
Heavy paddock betting has Walkinshaw opting for a costly but potentially useful supply of customer Jaguar CR3 engines, the powerplant currently housed in the rear of this year's Jaguar R3.
Like a run on the stock market, rumours over the future of Asiatech sparked a firestorm of speculation that takes in teams as diverse as Jordan, Jaguar, Prost and Arrows, and involves several driver shuffles, with Briton Jenson Button acting as catalyst.
With Arrows and Asiatech parting ways, the engine manufacturer, which made its F1 debut in Australia this year, has apparently already struck a deal with French team Prost. Until the end of 2000, Alain Prost's outfit endured a troubled relationship with motor manufacturer Peugeot, whose technical development programme was bought by the Asiatech consortium when the car company pulled out of F1 at the end of last season.
With links being forged amongst engines and manufacturers, the rumour mill's second wheel began grinding out attachments between teams and drivers with Benetton's Jenson Button at the centre of a flurry of stories.
The Englishman, consistently voted rookie of the year in 200 for his performance at Williams, has been at best lacklustre since being loaned out to Benetton by Frank Williams. Button, whose place at Williams was taken by Juan Pablo Montoya, has been out-qualified eight to one by team-mate Fisichella and is, according to his management team, more than a little unsettled at the Renault-owned squad.
Prost, who were associated with Button when on his way from Williams last year; 2002 debutants Toyota, who are known to be actively seeking an experienced team-mate for Mika Salo for their 2002 debut, or Jaguar, who are rumoured to have made a multi-million bid to Frank Williams for the 21-year-old's services.
