Wishaw’s Ryan Dalziel received a late Christmas present when he was confirmed as the lead driver for Miami-based Alegra Motorsports’ assault on next year’s Grand-Am Championship in the States.

Dumfries racer Allan McNish — acknowledged as being the bast sportscar racer in the world — has predicted he can win back-to-back Le Mans 24-Hours races, despite having not yet tested his all-new Audi R15TDI.

Santa Claus may well be putting the finishing touches to his worldwide delivery plans for Wednesday night, but Edinburgh is guaranteed to have its very own high-flying sleigh.

Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta will start his bid to win the 2009 German Touring Car Championship (DTM) at Hockenheim on May 17. The 22-year-old Scot, the leading Mercedes-Benz driver, finished second in this year’s championship.

As the accolades showered down on triple Olympic gold medallis Chris Hoy after receiving the BBC Sports Personailty of the Year, the Edinburgh cyclist received more praise from former winner and fellow Scot, Sir Jackie Stewart

Any hopes Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta harboured of racing in Formula One next season have been shattered after Force India confirmed it will retain its current driver line-up of Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil for 2009.

In a moving and emotional evening for Scottish motorsport, the father and son instrumental in guiding the early careers of Scotland’s main racers — including David Coulthard, Allan McNish and Dario Franchitti — were marked at the annual Scottish Motor Racing Club awards in Edinburgh.

Dumfries racer Allan McNish beat off opposition from newly-crowned Formula One World Champ Lewis Hamilton to lift the British Competition Driver award at the Autosport Awards in London.

Five-times world champ Sebastien Loeb may have won a nailbiting Wales Rally GB by just 2.7-seconds when he slithered through the final stage at Port Talbot 4.9s quicker than Ford’s longtime leader Jari-Matti Latvala, but Ellon’s Barry Clark confirmed he has a place amongst the world’s elite.

While his Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala starts tomorrow’s second leg of the Wales Rally GB leading five-times world champ Sebastien Loeb by 11.4secs, Aberdeen’s Barry Clark survived an early spin to finish the day just 1min 39.5s off the lead.