RACE RAP: Monday, February 17

Rovanpera loses in Sweden: Two-time World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanpera was the obvious favourite when the 2025 contenders hit the snow and ice of Rally Sweden. But the former flying Finn he was never a contender, complaining about tyres and set-up on his Yaris Rally1 car, as he fights to get competitive after a 'gap year' when he played at racing Porsches and drifting.

Instead, it was Welshman Elfyn Evans who did most of the leading in Sweden and he eventually finished a slim 3.8 seconds ahead of his team mate Takamoto Katsuta, as Toyota took the top two places with reigning champion Thierry Neuville third for Hyundai.

Evans is now the early points leader, ahead of another Toyota driver – Sebastian Ogier – despite the legendary Frenchman skipping Sweden as he runs a part-time program through 2025.

Jacques is back: Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve has rejoined the team that took him to the Formula One world title – Williams.

The feisty French-Canadian, who has said nasty things about Aussie Daniel Ricciardo in recent years, has been named as one of three ambassadors for the British team.

It comes as Atlassian, an Australia software company, becomes the naming-rights sponsor for Williams and the efforts of Alex Albon and new headline signing Carlos Sainz.

The other ambassadors are another world champion, although Jenson Button took his title with Brawn after leaving Williams, and female racer Jamie Chadwick.

Another pretty picture: There are only minor tweaks to the livery of the Ferrari 499P for this year's Le Mans sports car contest but it was a good excuse to get the team back together in Italy.

Ferrari is coming off back-to-back wins at the French sports car classic and will face much tougher competition in 2025, as Porsche renews its efforts with the 963 – which has already won at the Daytona 24-Hour – Aston Martin joins the outright battle with a pair of Valkyrie hypercars.

In the GT3 class, the field for Le Mans will grow to include Mercedes-AMG and Ford with its new Mustang.

TCR turbo power: The engine from a TCR championship winning Hyundai i30N has become the heart donor for a new speedway project.

The Sydney-based HMO Customer Racing crew has reinvented the car's 2-litre turbocharged engine for use as a Speedcar powerplant.

It's the first time a turbo motor is taking on the role and there is expected to be extensive testing and tweaking to ensure it is competitive, not dominant, in its new role.

Another one gone: Brian Thomson, a towering figure from the early days of Sports Sedan racing in Australia and his support of young drivers and Winton Motor Raceway, has died.

He competed for decades and was best known to many people for his radical V8-powered Volkswagen, which has just been re-created for historic displays and races, although he also competed in a fire-breathing Mercedes-Benz that was raced by Brad Jones and several other star drivers.

Real horsepower: As teams went wild with livery reveals in the lead-up to the start of the Supercars season, Grove Racing managed something – very – different.

Proving its lead driver Matt Payne knows how to handle horsepower, it got him up onto a thoroughbred racer with very different credentials to his Ford Mustang.

One to go: The struggling TCR Australia Series finally has received some good news.

Instead of starting its underwhelming five-round championship at Taupo in New Zealand it will now be competing at One Raceway, near Goulburn in NSW.

The totally revamped circuit should be ideal for the front-drive tiddlers when they race on June 27-29 following their new season opener at Wanneroo Park in Perth.

Change those wheels: Supercars crews will race again for their own title in 2025 with the return of a revamped Pit Stop Challenge series, starting at Sydney Motorsport Park.

There will be 12 legs to the championship, with points for all teams contributing to set the field for a top-four shoot-out in the final.

Brad Jones Racing had an unbeaten run from 2019-2023 before Triple Eight claimed the prize for the first time last year.

The prize in 2025 is $20,000 and the Golden Rattle Gun.

$20,000 and the coveted PIRTEK Pit Stop Challenge Golden Rattle Gun.

Aussie youngster scores in the snow: Taylor Gill continues to impress in the World Rally Championship, taking an unlikely win at Rally Sweden with Daniel Brkíc alongside him.

The pair are competing in the FIA Junior WRC in a Ford Fiesta and their big win in Sweden is a massive result for only their second event on snow.

They took the win by 22.8 seconds over the local favourite and pace-setter Mille Johansson, who is the early leader on the Junior WRC points table but lost more than three minutes in Sweden when he fired his Ford into a snowbank.

Gill will continue his 2025 junior season in Portugal from May 15-18.