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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 NOVEMBER 2014 20 Sport MOTORSPORTS SPORTTODAY Oscar Pistorius prosecutors appeal verdict SOUTH African prosecutors have filed an appeal against the sentence and conviction of Oscar Pistorius, who last month was sentenced to five years in jail for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend. "Today, we announce that the NPA filed the application for leave to appeal both the conviction and sentence," the National Prosecuting Authority said on Tuesday. "The ap- peal on conviction is based on the question of law." The athlete stood trial for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot four times through a locked toilet door in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013. The 29-year-old Steenkamp died after Pistorius fired four shots through a door at his upmarket home in the capital, Pretoria, in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year, fearing there was an intruder in the house. The athlete was also given a three- year suspended sentence for firing a gun in a restaurant. The prosecution had called for him to be given the maximum 15- year sentence for culpable homicide, or manslaughter. But the Pretoria high court judge, Thokozile Masipa, found there was not enough evidence to convict the 27-year-old Paralympic and Olym- pic athlete of premeditated murder. He was instead found guilty of cul- pable homicide, a charge equiva- lent to manslaughter, after a seven- month trial. The date for the appeal hearing has not been set. Pistorius is currently serving his sentence in the hospital section of Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru II jail. He can apply to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest after 10 months in prison. After the verdict, his family said that he would not ap- peal. South Africa's prosecutors have filed an appeal against the "shockingly light" sentence given to athlete Oscar Pistorius Smaller Formula 1 teams to be offered €130 million payment Camilleri unbeatable at Pennellu – sets new record FORMULA 1's controlling share- holder is set to hand smaller teams a £100 million payment in an attempt to ward off the sport's financial crisis. Three cash-strapped teams, Force India, Sauber and Lotus, had threat- ened to withdraw from Sunday's US race in protest at the way F1's revenues are divided, with the reports stating that the boycott was only averted af- ter an intervention from CVC Capital Partners. F1's two smallest teams, Caterham and Marussia, have both gone into administration in the past fortnight, although there is hope the latter outfit will return for the Abu Dhabi GP later this month. The struggling teams are hopeful a deal can be struck to ensure their sur- vival, which is likely to take the form of an extra base payment from the sport's commercial rights holder. Lotus boss Gerard Lopez is confi- dent a deal can be struck this week with Bernie Ecclestone and F1's con- trolling shareholders, CVC Capital, that allows the smaller teams to re- ceive enough money to operate on a workable budget. "I really think there is a way to solve this in the coming days, probably even to get to a proposal before Bra- zil, in which case I don't see the point in doing anything drastic that would damage the sport. "It can take various forms, but for sure the so-called smaller teams – one of my colleagues called it the racers versus the constructors, which I like much better because it is the truth – and he gave a definition that was quite interesting." However, the bigger teams have been reluctant to make sacrifices and under their agreements they would also be entitled to an extra payment. In the wake of comments from Bernie Ecclestone that a way to solve F1's cost crisis would be to change how income is distributed, the bigger squads have baulked at the idea. They argue that they should not be singled out as the ones who need to make changes simply because they were successful in agreeing better deals with the sport's owners. Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: "That is awfully nice of Bernie to suggest that. "Every team has negotiated its deal with the commercial rights holder and I think it is an issue that needs to be asked of him about the distri- bution of money. We have signed agreements, and I am not convinced that even if you double the money to Caterham and Marussia it would have solved their issues. Their issues are more fundamental on what are the cost-drivers rather than what is the income." Ferrari team principal Marco Mat- tiacci believes the best answer would be for F1 to attract more income in the first place – which would help out all teams. "Ferrari is very focused to make the cake bigger and not to change the different ways of how to slice the cake," he said. "We don't have to over- react. We need to first look at how to increase revenues, that is priority number one. "Second is to make sure that who comes in F1 is very aware of the chal- lenge of F1. This sport is innovation, innovation costs money, a lot of in- vestment, and long-term investment. So we keep investing in F1: that's our focus." But Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said that the bigger teams should at least speak to Ecclestone if he thinks there is a compromise that can be reached. ETIENNE GRECH SUNDAY'S event at Mellieha (Pen- nellu) was a real treat for lovers of Motorsport: the local hill climb racers got engaged in some tight competition with guest groups from the Italian Salerno Corse Racing, comprising nine of Sicily's most ac- complished hot hatch racers and the illustrious AutoSport Sorento Team who brought two of Italy's finest Radical racers for a good canter up the Pennellu Hill. From the start it looked as though the weather would play its part, although perhaps not in the way it transpired, with many fearing the rain to ar- rive as early as 2pm and stay for the day, which would have seriously hampered the aspir- ing championship contenders as it is nearly impossible to get on group record pace and score big points in adverse conditions. This unique hill climb was Round seven of the season-long Grimaldi Lines Hillclimb Championship or- ganised by the Island Car Club. Over 70 competitors took part, more than expected on usual standards, but this is quite understandable when one considers the favourable road and its superior quality. The organisation and running of the event was of superlative stand- ard. Starting right on time, the event ran like clockwork. 21-year-old Keith Camilleri, in his Chevron Britannia-Tours Radical Prosport, grabbed the fastest time of the day showing complete domi- nance right from the beginning, se- curing yet another win. The Formula-4 driver produced a flawless final run and an excellent time of 55.363sec, which was fastest time of the day and a record breaking one, over a second and a half quicker than his previous victory time on the same hill earlier this year. This also gave him a winning margin of just over one second on runner-up championship contend- er Zach Zammit (56.515sec) who steered his powerful Urban Jungle Ralt to second place on the podium. Italian champion and guest com- petitor from Team Autosport Sor- rento, Sebastiano Castellano in his Radical SR-4 Evo who participated for the first time in Malta, bagged the 3rd podium spot with an excel- lent time of 56.810sec. Probably one of the most eye- catching cars in the paddock was the impressive sounding supercharged Forch-Tools Radical Club Sport of Jason Muscat who although suffer- ing engine trouble, still managed to secure the 4th overall place ahead of Francesco Celentano (Radical SR-4 Evo) who was the second driver of the Autosport Sorrento Team to place in the top six with a time of 57.257sec. 6th place was awarded to the winner's brother, Kurt Camilleri, in his Chevron Auto-Dealer 1.5ltr Radical Sr. Spectators were regaled with several excellent performances by numerous touring cars which thundered up the hill in a quest for elusive season points. Honours for best four-wheel drive went to Steve Baldacchino, who had a fine showing in his Subaru Impre- za. Baldacchino was quickest ahead of Dr Anthony Bernard (Mitsubishi Evo) and Chris Aquilina (Subaru Impreza). The front wheel drive class was dominated by Didier Bugeja (Peugeot 106). Italian guest Nino Surrace in his red Peugeot 106 Maxi and Etienne Grech (Citroen Saxo Vts) followed in that order. John Zammit once again was top driver in the rear wheel drive category. Zammit edged Ryan Mangion (Ford Escort Mk1) by a mere half second. Warren Sammut in his Cos- worth powered Ford Escort Mk2 placed third. An excellent drive came from Martin Spiteri in his Cobra 289 Fia who won the Classic Modified group ahead of Paul Ciappara Jnr (MGB) and John Drury (Austin Mini). Teddy Aquilina at the wheel of his SR1 was quickest veteran driver of the day winning the over-60 cat- egory. Final race This was perhaps one of the most closely-fought hill climbs of the sea- son with rookie driver Camilleri vy- ing for the day's honours with 2012 champion Zach Zammit. The championship comes to a close on Sunday at Gnejna. As things stand between Camilleri and Zammit, the final showdown is expected to be an extremely com- petitive decider. The first run of the day commenc- es at 9am. Prosecutors have appealed against the "shockingly light" sentence given to Oscar Pistorius (pictured)