QUICK LAPS THE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP

Shane van Gisbergen gave the new Holden Commodore a perfect Australian Supercars debut after winning both legs of the Adelaide 500 last weekend. But it was a less successful season opener for likely title contenders Jamie Whincup and Scott Mclaughlin. Whincup suffered his first DNF since 2013 in the second race with gearbox troubles, while Mclaughlin had a puncture that dropped him out of the lead pack. Van Gisbergen now already has a 42-point lead at the top of the standings… Stewart-haas driver Kevin Harvick secured a second comfortable NASCAR Cup victory in succession after winning at Las Vegas last weekend. Harvick was dominant throughout, although Kyle Busch closed when on fresher tyres towards the end… Oliver Rowland is set to test a Super Formula car for the first time this weekend as the Williams young driver evaluates a campaign in the series. Elsewhere, ex-sauber Formula 1 driver Pascal Wehrlein has decided to drop plans to also race in Super Formula and will instead focus on DTM and his Mercedes F1 reserve role… British drivers Daniel Ticktum and Oliver Rowland will share Formula 2 testing duties for the DAMS team in place of Nicholas Latifi at Paul Ricard this week. Latifi is missing the first test of the F2 pre-season as he recovers from the infection that kept him from driving for Force India in last week’s opening F1 test at Barcelona. ticktum, the 2017 Macau Grand Prix and Mclaren Autosport BRDC Award winner, drove for DAMS in the final three rounds of last year’s GP3 season, scoring a best finish of third in the second race at the Abu Dhabi finale. MN understands that the 18-year-old will drive on the final day of the three-day test in what will be his first taste of F2-level machinery. The series has a new car for 2018, switching to a V6 turbo-powered Dallara chassis...