Franchitti revels in home victory to keep alive title dreams

Dario Franchitti admitted he was taken aback with emotion after a "very special" victory in the Rockingham 500. The Scotsman won his first-ever CART Championship oval race in Northamptonshire on Saturday to keep alive a glimmer of hope in the title race.

Franchitti revealed his delight at winning on home soil after a charging drive from the back of the field following a problem on his first pit stop. The Team Kool Green driver said: "I didn't really think it would be anything different to win here, but it's very, very special. I have family and friends, and fans in the grandstands and it's a fantastic feeling.

"The car felt great, but after the first stop, I didn't think a win was going to happen. But then we got out of sequence on pit stops and it seemed like things might go our way.

"Kyle Moyer [the team manager] and all the guys did a great job. That last pit stop was dynamite."

Franchitti is third in the overall standings with 126 points, 65 behind the leader and runner-up on Saturday, the Brazilian Cristiano da Matta.

The English rookie Darren Manning set his sights on securing a permanent ride in the series after a stunning CART debut for the all-English Team St George.

The Yorkshireman made history by becoming the first CART racer to lead a race twice on his debut and finished a superb ninth. He said: "We got a top-10 finish, which we thought would be a fantastic result, and we achieved that in such a short period of time. The team just did a great job. Big thanks to St George, RAC and Rockingham. I think they put on a great show. Hopefully, enough to maybe do something next year.

"It was all very good really considering the short build-up time we had. We didn't want to say too much but we were always pretty confident the car was going to be quick. It was just a shame we didn't get any practice qualifying runs before actual qualifying. We would have been a bit further up the grid."