Two-times world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso claimed his 18th career pole position on Saturday when he emerged on top after an incident-filled and chaotic qualifying session for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old Renault driver grabbed his first pole this year in chaotic scenes as the circuit's electronic timing system crashed in the final minutes after a half-hour's delay following an accident involving Ferrari's Brazilian driver Felipe Massa. Alonso had predicted he would be on pole for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix of 2007 before the session began, but he was left asking his rivals what had happened and what were their times when the session ended.

Niki Lauda and David Coulthard said Felipe Massa's freak 170mph accident in Hungary was a "wake-up call" for Formula One. The popular Brazilian lay in an induced coma in intensive care yesterday, with no word yet on whether he will be able to make a full recovery. The accident came six days after Henry Surtees, son of F1 legend John Surtees, was killed by a flying wheel at Brands Hatch. The FIA have already launched an investigation into

Formula 2 racer Natacha Gachnang is eyeing a test with new-for-2010 Formula 1 team Campos Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Swiss driver - who is the cousin of F1 driver Sebastien Buemi - finished third in the Spanish F3 championship last season driving for Campos and has been in discussions with team boss Adrian Campos about a potential testing role.

"I have been speaking to Adrian Campos about a test drive," Gachnang said. "It is certainly a possibility. He believes in me as a driver after our time together in

General Motors is set to cut back financial support for its main teams competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup after filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

Less than a week since cuts were announced for its Nationwide and Truck Series teams, the automaker has now taken a similar step with the outfits it supports in NASCAR's top series.

Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart/Haas Racing, currently the top teams for Chevrolet in the championship, confirmed that they've been notified of the

FIA president Max Mosley has informed teams of the package of rules that he is willing to accept for next year, AUTOSPORT has learned, as a final push is made by the governing body to end the standoff over entries to the 2010 championship.

The eight members of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) have until Friday to lift the conditions attached to their entries - and efforts are increasing on both sides to try and reach a settlement.

After a day of further letters between motor racing's

British Racing Drivers' Club president Damon Hill believes the absence of Silverstone will be a loss to Formula 1 if the British Grand Prix does not return to the circuit in future.

The Northamptonshire airfield track will host the British GP for the final time this weekend, before the contact moves to Donington Park. Despite long-running issues with the new project, F1's commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone has said the race will not return to Silverstone even if Donington is unable to host the race.

Lewis Hamilton this week spoke in support of an FIA initiative to promote safety on the roads, ahead of his home grand prix at Silverstone this weekend.

The reigning world champion was in Westminster to help raise awareness of global road deaths, and what can be done to prevent them.

"When the FIA Foundation invited me to speak here today, and when they briefed me by telling me exactly how many people die on the world's roads every year - a total of 1.3 million - I was shocked," said

Adrian Valles has signed up to race for Liverpool again in this year's Superleague Formula.

The 23-year-old Spaniard won two races and finished fourth in the championship for the British club last season and is determined to take the title in 2009.

"It was good to be fighting for the championship last year and, but for a couple of reliability issues, we should have won it," Valles said. "We were very, very strong. I took more pole positions than anyone else, won in Belgium and Portugal as well as