This Week in Auto Racing March 12 - 14

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03/10/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While all three of NASCAR's national touring series take a break, the IZOD IndyCar Series and Formula One kick off their 2010 seasons this weekend. IndyCar will run on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil for the first time, and F1 will be in Sakhir, Bahrain.

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES

Sao Paulo Indy 300 - Streets of Sao Paulo - Sao Paulo, Brazil

The IndyCar Series -- with new title sponsor IZOD -- will compete in South America for the first time with the Sao Paulo Indy 300 on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Dario Franchitti also will begin his campaign to repeat as series champion. Franchitti ended the 2009 season with an 11-point margin over his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon. Four of his five wins last year came on road/street courses.

Seventeen races make up the 2010 IndyCar schedule, but nine of them take place on road/street circuits. The first oval race is scheduled for May 1 at Kansas -- the fifth event on the schedule.

"This year, with nine road and street courses, it's going to be very challenging," Franchitti said. "There are going to be lots of different drivers vying for wins, so we're going to have to be very focused and paying attention all the time."

In the last five years, three drivers went on to win the series championship after winning an inaugural race at a track. Dan Wheldon won the first event at St. Petersburg, FL and the series title in 2005. Dixon picked up the victory in the inaugural race at Edmonton during his 2008 championship season.

Franchitti won the first race at Iowa in 2007, the year he won his first series title. He also won both inaugural events on the '09 schedule -- Long Beach, CA and Toronto -- en route to his second championship.

Brazil will become the fourth country outside the United States to hold an IndyCar event after Canada, Japan and Australia. Canada (Edmonton and Toronto) and Japan continue to be on the schedule. The series held an exhibition race in Surfers Paradise, Australia at the conclusion of the '07 season.

Six Brazilian drivers -- Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Raphael Matos, Vitor Meira, Mario Romancini and Ana Beatriz -- will compete in front of their home crowd. Last month, all six competitors met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and then toured the 2.6-mile, 11-turn Sao Paulo street course.

"I really like the race circuit," Castroneves said. "It has two really long straightaways, and it will be great for the fans. It is going to be a challenge for our Team Penske engineers to set up the car because of the changes between road surfaces, but it's going to be fun to drive."

Romancini and Beatriz are expected to make their first IndyCar starts in Brazil. Beatriz will drive a Dreyer & Reinbold-prepared car.

"This is very special for me doing my debut in the IZOD IndyCar race at my home event," Beatriz said. "It's also very special to be the first female Brazilian race car driver to race there, and it will be a great experience."

Romancini will run a full-time schedule for Conquest Racing.

"To have my first race in my hometown, in front of all my people, family and friends, will be amazing," Romancini said. "I am very excited for this moment and for sure couldn't ask for a better place."

Takuma Sato, a former Formula One competitor and native of Tokyo, and Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro also will make their series debuts this weekend.

FORMULA ONE

Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sakhir, Bahrain

Amid the blistering desert heat, the 2010 Formula One season gets underway this weekend with the Bahrain Grand Prix. Three new teams -- Hispania Racing Team (HRT), Lotus Racing and Virgin Racing -- will make their debuts at Bahrain, but Michael Schumacher will be the center of attention as the seven- time F1 champion returns to the sport.

After three years of retirement, the 41-year-old German is making a comeback with the newly formed Mercedes GP team. Mercedes-Benz recently acquired Brawn GP, which captured the constructors' title and drivers' championship with Jenson Button in the team's maiden season last year.

Schumacher considered a comeback with Ferrari last August to replace the injured Felipe Massa for the remainder of the season but had to rule out the possibility of a return due to injuries he sustained during a motorcycle accident earlier in the year.

When Schumacher signed a multi-year contract to drive for Mercedes in December, he was reunited with team principal Ross Brawn, who guided him to two world championships with Benetton and five with Ferrari.

"The decision to make my comeback feels like a long time ago now, and I can hardly wait for the season to get underway in Bahrain," Schumacher said. "It's funny to think that I will be competing in Formula One again when just a few months ago, I would have declined the opportunity categorically."

Right now, it's anyone's guess who the favorites are for this year's drivers' and constructors' championships.

After winning last year's title, Jenson Button has teamed up with 2008 champion and British compatriot Lewis Hamilton at McLaren. Button recorded six wins in the first seven grand prix last season when he drove for Brawn. He won at Bahrain, which was the fourth race on the '09 calendar.

"I'm really looking forward to getting into my car on Friday morning in Bahrain and knowing that I'm the world champion," Button said. "It's a responsibility and an honor, but it's something I'm going to enjoy for as long as I can."

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso has moved over from Renault to join Felipe Massa at Ferrari. Massa is healthy again after a high speed crash in qualifying at Hungary last July curtailed his '09 season.

Nico Rosberg has paired up with Schumacher to make Mercedes a perennial threat, while Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber hope to give Red Bull another stellar season.

Starting with Bahrain, teams are prohibited from refueling their cars after they have left pit lane prior to the start of the race. F1 has not enacted a fuel ban since the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.

Other rule changes that go into effect this season include: limited sets of tires for race weekends, tougher penalties for engine changes (loss of 10 starting grid positions) and a revised points system.

This will be the seventh time F1 runs at Bahrain International Circuit but the first on the track's new configuration. Bahrain recently increased to 3.914 miles (6.299 km) in length, making it the second longest circuit on the current schedule. Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps has a distance of 4.352 miles. (7.004 km).

Built on former desert, the 23-turn Bahrain track sits less than 20 miles south of the kingdom's capital city of Manama.