Michael Schumacher finally broke the victory duck that has hung over both himself and Ferrari since the start of the 2003 Formula One season, but felt unable to celebrate at Imola following the death of his mother overnight.
Marcus Gronholm took his second consecutive win on the Propecia Rally New Zealand today. The reigning world champion took a comfortable lead into the final day of the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship and was untroubled through Sunday's six stages south of Auckland.
Mickael Pichon won a thrilling duel of World Champions this afternoon in Valkenswaard, at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands, to make it a perfect two wins from two Grand Prix starts in 2003.
Marcus Gronholm continued to dominate the Propecia Rally New Zealand from the front of the field today. However, it was slightly more exciting for the Finn than yesterday, as he dropped his Peugeot 206 WRC onto its side for 30 seconds on the Parahi stage.
Predicted to open the floodgates once his maiden grand prix victory was secured, Kimi Raikkonen racked up a second consecutive win when he was awarded the Brazilian Grand Prix on countback at a sodden Interlagos.
Kimi Raikkonen elevated himself to the ranks of grand prix winner - and wiped away the tag of Formula One nearly-man - by winning the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang in oppressive conditions.
David Coulthard made the most of tricky conditions, good calls from his pit-crew and errors by each of his major rivals to add a second Australian Grand Prix victory to his personal haul and head the 2003 F1 championship table.
Peugeot driver and reigning world champion Marcus Gronholm emerged from the final leg of the Uddeholm Swedish Rally to win the event by 50.8 seconds from Subaru driver Tommi Makinen.
Marco Melandri finally wrapped up the 250cc World Championship today at Phillip Island to become the youngest ever quarter litre champion, but it was far from easy for the Italian who clinched the crown by just 0.007secs after 23 hard laps.
Alex Barros produced a stunning ride on his RCV debut to defeat World Champion Valentino Rossi by 1.6secs in a straight all-out fight, on equal machinery, that went right to the flag in today's Pacific Grand Prix.
Rubens Barrichello stood on top of the podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but his appearance there belied another dominant performance from Michael Schumacher in the United States Grand Prix.
Valentino Rossi claimed victory in today's incident packed Rio Grand Prix - and with it the 2002 MotoGP World Championship, after nearest rival Tohru Ukawa crashed out on a day when Carlos Checa looked to have completed a fantastic last to first recovery - only for disaster to strike as soon as h
Sebastian Porto had what could only be described as a perfect Rio Grand Prix - dominating from start to finish on his underpowered Yamaha despite tricky wet-dry conditions to take his debut Grand Prix victory after 104 starts.
Frenchman Gilles Panizzi has strengthened his grip on the 11th round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Sanremo Rally, which continued in northern Italy today.
Rubens Barrichello won the Italian Grand Prix today at Monza, beating Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher by 2.255 seconds. It was the Brazilian's third win of 2002 and his fourth in total, achieved at Ferraris home track in front of the fanatical 'tifosi'.
Long time race leader Sete Gibernau came agonisingly close to claiming his - and Suzuki's - first MotoGP victory today in atrocious conditions at Estoril.
Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards took an emphatic victory in today's opening race of the crucial 12th and penultimate round of the World Superbike championship at Assen in Holland.
Monster Mob Ducati rider Scot Steve Hislop delighted a 30,500 strong crowd at Cadwell Park as he took control of the chase for the Motor Cycle News British Superbike title with a winning double in the tenth round.
The rest of the field had no answer to Ferrari once the Hungarian Grand Prix got under way and, perhaps as expected after he took pole position, Rubens Barrichello was able to lead home a Scuderia 1-2 for his second win of the year.
If there was one thing Michael Schumacher wanted more than his first pole position at the German Grand Prix, he said, it was to take victory for Ferrari in front of his adoring home crowd.
Michael Schumacher clinched an historic fifth world title with victory at Magny-Cours, but he had to rely on a huge slice of luck to overcome an uncharacteristic mistake.