QUICK LAPS THE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP

Shane van Gisbergen triumphed in an Australian Supercars showdown with Scott Mclaughlin under spotlights at Sydney Motorsport Park last Saturday. Red Bull Holden driver van Gisbergen used a late safety car to his advantage and has trimmed Mclaughlin’s championship lead to 89 points… Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott earned his first career NASCAR Cup series victory after surviving late-race pressure from reigning champion Martin Truex Jr at Watkins Glen last Sunday. Elliot was never more than one second clear of Truex during the final 15 laps of the 90-tour race before the latter ran out of fuel with two corners to go… Ex-formula 1 and Champ Car driver Christian Fittipaldi will retire from racing after next year’s Daytona 24 Hours. The 47-year-old Brazilian, who made 40 grands prix starts and won two Champ Car races, will hang up his helmet following next year’s IMSA Sportscar championship… The Manor Ginetta LMP1 team will miss this month’s Silverstone World Endurance Championship round after a late change of engine supplier. Ginetta has decided to abandon the Mecachrome single-turbo V6 that powered the pair of G60-LT-P1S on their race debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round in June in favour of the AER twin-turbo P60B unit… Aston Martin Racing will field just two drivers in each of its GTE Pro class Vantage GTES in the remaining 2018/19 World Endurance Championship rounds this year. Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen will drive the #95 second-generation Vantage GTE as a duo, while Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn will do likewise in the #97 at Silverstone, Fuji and Shanghai in October and November respectively… Williams Formula 1 young driver Oliver Rowland will return to the factory-backed Strakka Mercedes team for the Suzuka round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge later this month. The 25-year-old will drive one of two pro class Mercedes-amg GT3S entered by the German manufacturer’s fulltime representative in the Suzuka 10 Hours on August 26 after making his debut with the team earlier this year… Former Bentley factory driver Andy Meyrick has returned home after sustaining seven broken ribs and a broken vertebra in this year’s Spa 24 Hours. The 32-year-old Briton spent six days in a Liege hospital following a crash in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round while driving a Team Parker Bentley Continental GT3 after colliding with a stationary car at the top of Eau Rouge.