The Grid

News Archive June 2010

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07/07/2010

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28-06-10

GT Cup: Having missed Thruxton Sarah Bennett-Baggs agreed to hire a 'Brand New' BMW M3 E46 built by BMW Specialists Butler Motorsport. Sarah was running in the GT Cup at Snetterton and after being asked to add ballast to her car before practice(which she did) she duly qualified 23^rd and then finished in what should have been first in Class 3 on both occasions. However that isn’t the end of the story… read report pic Tim Piper at Juice Photography

Dunlop Sports Maxx Class B Leader Andrey Magiy was in action over the weekend at Pembrey but it wturned out to be one of ‘those weekends!’ Two DNFz and a last place were all Magiy and the Lohen team had to show for themselves at the end after a weekend of problems .. read report

Mini Challenge: Luke Caudle kept his Mini Challenge title defence well on track with two wins at Pembrey’s 20th anniversary meeting, as well as a second place to rival Chris Knox. Reads report

GP3: Britain’s Dean Smith is aiming for a turnaround in fortunes on home soil a fortnight from now when the GP3 Series heads to Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit – the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner having experienced a luckless outing in Valencia over the weekend, 26th/27th June. read report

In just its third race weekend, the new Atech CRS Grand Prix team took its first podium of the GP3 season with a superb third place by Roberto Merhi in Valencia on Saturday. The Spaniard followed that up with second place in Sunday’s second race, after starting sixth, and with it posted successive fastest laps to gain a vital extra point. Read report

Adrian Quaife-Hobbs opened his points scoring account with fifth place in the latest rounds of the GP3 Series at Valencia this weekend. Arriving at the street circuit on Friday, Adrian spent much of the afternoon session acclimatising to the new circuit prior to the all-important qualifying on Saturday. read report

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge: Jim Geddie continued his run of Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge race victories with another dominant performance in races three and four at Silverstone on Sunday June 27th, the experienced Scot heading home Bertie Carruthers in race one and Josh Sadler in the afternoon’s second race. Read report

Porsche Club Championship: Mark McAleer and Marcus Carniel claimed the Class One wins in rounds five and six of the 2010 Porsche Club Championship at Silverstone on Sunday June 27th, the former putting in a stunning drive to take the opening race from tenth on the grid for his fifth win in a row. Carniel won the second race, leading home a train of cars after a close exciting race. The Class Two runners ran as a separate race in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge event, Chris Dyer winning race one, before losing out to Cieran Brewer later in the day. read report

Young Guns: Having only made his car racing debut in the last rounds at Snetterton, Max Cornelius proved all conquering with a triple victory at Pembrey’s 20th anniversary meeting. Cornelius’ Motaworld car just headed Falcon’s Patryk Szczerbinski by 0.119s after qualifying with championship leader Leopold Ringbom third in his Motaworld car. Fourth best was former Saxmax star Anton Spires, just ahead of Falcon team mate James Nutbrown, while BARC Formula Renault racer Jake Rattenbury (Motaworld) completed the grid in a one-off outing. pic Oliver Read Photography read report

Somerset teenager Max Cornelius produced a truly sensational performance at Pembrey Circuit in South Wales over the weekend, 26th/27th June, to secure a perfect hat-trick of race victories in the Autosport Young Guns – his first successes since graduating to car racing only a few weeks ago. Read report

Next on the 2010 Autosport Young Guns calendar is a visit to Cormelius’s most local track, Castle Combe in Wiltshire, over the weekend 17th/18th July. Before then though, he and his family will be working double-hard to try and secure additional financial support to help him continue his fantastic progress during his first ever season of car racing.With his championship bid currently self-financed, the promising teenage sensation requires the support and backing of commercial partners to help him fulfil his undoubted potential in single-seater racing as he bids to climb the motorsport ladder. The immediate target is for more success in the existing campaign but the target for 2011 is a possible step up to the ranks of Formula Renault.

Star Mazda: Frenchman Tristan Vautier claimed his second victory of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear driving the #38 Andersen Racing / Moulin TP / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda in Round 3 of the VISITFLORIDA Cup at New Jersey Raceway Park. Starting from the outside of the second row, he took the lead from pole-sitter Conor Daly's #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda on the opening lap and led all the way to the flag. Read report

AIM Autosport celebrated a successful outing at New Jersey Motorsports Park yesterday afternoon as David Ostella finished 7th in a Star Mazda Championship race. AMA Superbike competitor Larry Pegram finished 2nd in the Expert Class (16th overall) while Walt Bowlin, driving the third AIM Autosport entry, fell far behind after contact necessitated repairs. Read report

F2000: The SMR team has grabbed Stevan McAleer for their #14 Race House entry, owned by Tad Uzzle, for both the Watkins Glen and Lime Rock events. McAleer, from Scotland, brings a host of open-wheel experience to the table and will partner with rookie Tim Paul. Paul is in his first season of F2000 competition, moving over with his SMR team from the sprint car ranks, meanwhile, McAleer has a long resume of single-seater experience, including both Formula BMW and Skip Barber. McAleer, who had the opportunity to test the #14 entry two weeks ago at Lime Rock, said: “It was my first time in the car and it went very well The main goal, however, is to focus on Tim (Paul) and stick by him to help him develop. Even though I’m in the second car, the main priority is to get Tim to the front and develop SMR into one of the top F2000 Championship Series teams.” McAleer started out karting in the UK when he was 13, winning the Scottish open championship four years in a row. Following that, he ran in various British karting series.“We did well in the British championships, but ran out of money. It became too expensive. Then, I was just looking through Autosport, when I saw an ad for a scholarship competition,” said McAleer. Long story short, McAleer survived various knock-out rounds of competition and ended up with the grand prize – a Skip Barber Regional Series ride in the United States for 2006. “It was my first time in a car,” McAleer continued. “I came second in the championship with seven wins in 14 races. The following year I managed to put some sponsorship together for the Skip Barber National Championship and finished fourth in the points.” “I had enough prize money and had saved money myself to do another year in 2008, but I ended up fifth in the final standings after a lot of bad luck,” added McAleer. In 2009, he did another scholarship competition to end up being one of 10 finalists for a Formula BMW ride, getting the opportunity to test with Raikkonen Robertson Racing.Comparing the F2000 car to the FBMW package, McAleer commented: “I was surprised by how quick the F2000 car is. It feels quicker than the BMW which has more mechanical grip, but the downforce levels the F2000 car produces are pretty insane.” SMR had originally brought McAleer in as a driver coach to Tim Paul at the start of the season, but now McAleer will have the opportunity to race alongside Paul. “I’ve been working with and have known Tim since I moved here permanently about 14 months ago. I knew he had a sprint car background, but then I found out they were getting into the F2000 Series, and we’d been good friends throughout. They asked me to be his coach for the year so I said absolutely. “We had a good time at VIR; it was a positive weekend; and the same with Road Atlanta, which was the first time we felt we could really push the cars. As far as getting into the car, I guess it just came about, we were sitting at dinner one night and Tad (Uzzle) brought up whether I wanted to get in the car and I wasn’t about to say no.”

Superleague Formula: The Atech Reid team scored two more victories in the latest rounds of the Superleague Formula by Sonangol at the Nürburgring this weekend with Yelmer Buurman (AC Milan) and Alvaro Parente (FC Porto) taking lights to flag wins. Read report

FBMW: Facu Regalia ended the second Formula BMW Europe race of the Valencia GP weekend in fifth, a good result, moving him to fourth in the Championship. The Spanish-Argentinean driver started the race from the fourth on the grid, the dirty side of the track. Despite this he made a good start and held onto his position. He was on the Fahmi Ilyas and Robin Frijns’ tail for the first few laps, with all three running similar times. Around the middle of the race Facu felt a drop off in the Eifelland Racing’s car performance. “I kept my position on the grid and the pace of the drivers in front of me, but my single-seater began to show some issues in its handling. Yesterday, the car was understeering, today it was oversteering”, he said. At the end of the race, Regalia lost a position to Javi Tarancón, when he was passed on the dirty side of the track. With a fifth place in the bag he decided to play safe and get the points . “It’s clear that we hadn’t the pace to fight for the podium or for the win. Me and the team have to keep work so we can be back to the podium, which we managed to do at Zandvoort, and I think that we may be a competitive force in the next rounds”, he added.

27-06-10

F2000: Daniel Erickson will be back in action next weekend after a two-month interruption to his American F2000 Championship Series campaign.Lack of funds forced the young Australian driver to sit on the sidelines for the past four rounds of the national series, but now he has scraped together enough money to resume his campaign at Watkins Glen International.Erickson made a sensational debut in the opening two rounds at Virginia International Raceway back in April. In his first competition drive of a ‘wings and slicks’ racing car, on the unfamiliar 5.3km VIR road course, Erickson qualified on pole position for both rounds, setting a new circuit record in the process. In round one he shadowed winner Victor Carbone across the finish line after mis-timing his first ever race ‘rolling’ start. In round two, he held a commanding lead until three laps from the chequered flag, when a loose spark plug lead dropped his Van Diemen racer to 10th place. While Erickson hoped to be on the pace at Watkins Glen, he admitted that a repeat of his VIR results was no certainty. “I’ve never been to Watkins Glen, let alone raced there,” he said. “And I’ve missed four rounds of the series, whereas the other guys can only have been getting quicker after racing regularly.” Erickson acknowledged that a bumper F2000 field at the high-profile IndyCar meeting would make his task at ‘The Glen’ even tougher. “I hear that there could be as many as 40 drivers because the IndyCars are on the program,” he said. “About the only thing in my favour is that this time I’ll have driven an F2000 car before, which I hadn’t at VIR.“I’ll be more than happy if I can finish in the top five at Watkins Glen.” Erickson will hook up with leading F2000 team Quantum Mechanics for his 2010 racing resumption. Operated out of Oklahoma City, Quantum Mechanics is one of America’s longest established and most respected racecar preparation workshops. Owners Wendell and Slade Miller have experience in everything from Formula Ford up to IndyCars, and have chalked up more than 30 US regional championships and 150 race wins since 1977. “It’s reassuring to know that I’ll be driving a car prepared by an organisation with such an impressive track record,” Erickson said. As at VIR, Erickson’s mount will be a Van Diemen engineered by American motorsport guru Jon Baytos. Baytos has played a pivotal role in the careers of many young racers, including 2004-5-6 Indianapolis 500 winners Buddy Rice, Dan Wheldon and Sam Hornish Jnr. “I’m also looking forward to working with Jon again,” Erickson said. “What he doesn’t know about F2000 isn’t worth knowing, and we hit it off really well at VIR.”

Superleague Formula: Chris van der Drift gave Greek club Olympiacos its second Super Final victory in seven days as the young New Zealander produced another superb performance in round 5 of Superleague Formula by Sonangol at the Nurburgring. Having scooped the €100,000 prize for winning the five-lap dash-for-the-cash in Jarama last weekend, van der Drift repeated the feat in Germany thanks to a brilliant start from fourth which saw him dive down the middle of front row starters AC Milan and Galatasaray into the lead. Read report

ATCS: Mak Ka Lok took the win in a hard fought Round 4 race during the Asian Touring Car Series at the Sepang International Circuit on Sunday 26 June. The RPM Racing Team driver completed the race in less than 25 minutes beating out Charles Ng and Championship leader Lui Man Kit to the finish line.In round 3 it was battles all the way through the order, Liu Lic Ka(pictured left) claimed the win for Team IMSP after a hard fought battle with second placed man Charles Ng. read reports

MG Trophy: Paul Luti won the MG Stewart Robertson Memorial Trophy race at Knockhill's Speedfair this afternoon during an entertaining race were he had to fight tooth and nail to hold onto his lead. Colin Robertson had gone into the first corner with Luti side-by-side before the latter emerged in front as they exited Scotsman. Thiird was Graham Ross with Chris Bray fourth. This however was only after the first start was aborted when Charles Hazel appeared to be tapped into a spin at the top of Duffus, leaving him stranded at Leslies forcing a red flag to come out. As the restart settled down the leading four made a break from the pack and they remained locked together for 8 laps before Luti and Robertson began to edge away. Doug Cole found his way up to third on lap 8 by passing Ross before the latter re-took the position at Scotsman on lap 13. Sadly for Ross his race ended when he pulled up on lap 18 allowing Cole back into third and Bray up to fourth. Luti also won on Saturday with a lights to flag victory from pole position. After taking the lead at the start Luti quickly established a small margin over the chasing pack, lead initially Colin Robertson before he was delayed by a clash with Graham Ross at the end of lap 5 which dropped Robertson back to 12th. This left Chris Bray in second ahead of Ross, still in third despite his brief clash with Robertson, while fourth was Simon Byrne. By lap 12 Ross had moved into second after passing Bray and began to slowly eat into Luti's lead although he never quite managed to get close enough to mount a serious challenge. Bray held onto third just in front of Doug Cole in fourth with the fast recovering Robertson coming in fifth just a couple of tenths of a second further behind. Byrne was a close sixth just another few tenths back.

Star Mazda: Starting from the pole for the fourth time this season, Conor Daly was quite reasonably expecting to break the all-time Star Mazda Championship win record of four in a row. Until the green light when both he and his fellow front row starter Vautier were adjudged to have jumped the start. A drive-through penalty for both drivers dropped them to the back of the field. Then after another startline fracas the race was left with Brazilian Caio Lara, driving the #19 JDC Motorsports / MLD / ATW Mazda in the lead… a lead he lost when 2nd-place finisher Anders Krohn passed him briefly – and was re-passed in return on the same lap. Daly meanwhile charged back through the field to third…. Read report

There were mixed results for AIM Autosport’s Formula Mazda drivers this afternoon as they competed in the first of two races at New Jersey Motorsports Park. After a morning qualifying session, round 8 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear started at 3:00pm. A total of 29 laps were run during the 45-minute timed race. In his car-racing debut, AMA Superbike competitor Larry Pegram and his friend, Walt Bowlin, finished 17th and 19th, respectively, in their Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery cars, while David Ostella in the Global Precast car was knocked out of the competition shortly after the start. After qualifying well this morning to claim a 10th-place start for today’s race, David of Maple, Ontario, looked forward to a good race. Knowing that he could have qualified better if he’d only had a clean lap, there was much potential to gain positions during the 45-minute-long race. After picking off a car or two with a good start, he raced side-by-side with another car until being hit by a third car that overshot the braking zone. David’s car was damaged and his race was over. In the Expert Class, eyes were on Larry as many wondered how the motorcycle racer would fare on four wheels. Overall, he did quite well. Improving with every practice session, he qualified 19th and raced to a 17th-place finish. Larry chose a conservative approach, wishing to avoid hitting anyone or being hit. After a clean start, he settled in and gradually ramped up his pace. Although he was quicker than the cars around him—lapping fastest of those in the Expert Class—he had a frustrating problem: a race car is much wider and longer than a bike and he wasn’t sure how much room he needed for a clean pass. Eventually he figured it out and managed to squeeze past a car. Unfortunately, those ahead had pulled away and, although he could close the gap, he could not catch them. Walt, running in the Masters Class, qualified 21st. A fantastic start and strong running in the early laps saw him climb to 12th by lap 8, but a spin on the restart following the second of three full-course cautions, saw him fall behind the field. A third caution allowed him to catch the field of the field, but another spin on the restart prevented him from gaining back any positions.“A disappointing day,” offered Keith Willis, AIM Autosport principal and Chief Engineer of the team’s Formula Mazda program. “But, we’ve got another race tomorrow and we’ll try it all again.”

26-6-10

Formula Ford: Craig brunton won an exciting SMRC Formula Ford race at Knockhill this afternoon after a fierce battle with Scott Fraser(leading left) and Ken Thirwall.Brunton took the lead with a superb start and initial opened out a gap on the following pack led by Thirwall and Fraser. However by lap 7 Thirwall was right onto Brunton's gearbox while Scott Fraser was just behind in third. For lap after lap the trio circulated together and it was on lap 11 after Thirwall was forced to retire as he exited Scotsman, that Fraser was able to mount a challenge for the lead. He duly passed the leader with just three laps to run but Brunton wasn't about to surrender without a fight. Into the final lap Fraser still led before Brunton somehow managed to get passed at the hairpin to snatch the lead in the last few hundred yards to win by just 0.065secs. Third, 3 seconds behind the leading pair was Willie Hourie who had been involved in a race long battle with Stuart Thorburn who finished just 0.6 secs behind, and for 11 laps, Andrew Chesser who had also fallen by the wayside while running in fifth. This leftthe palce to Andrew Brennan with Alistair Dow sixth.

FBMW: Facu Regalia ended the first Formula BMW Europe race of the Valencia’s weekend in the sixth position, after experiencing some difficulties with his car. It wasn’t easy for the Spanish-Argentinean, he started well from the fifth position of the grid and in the first laps he challenged for third. “I started well, I tried to overtake Tarancón and Frinjs on the outside, but the first one closed me the door and we almost touched. I was ahead of Frinjs and I tried to overtake Tarancón again in the next few laps, but he slammed me the door again and, this time, there was contact between us”, said Regalia after the race. “After the third lap, the other drivers started to improve their lap-times, but my car started to understeer and it was hard to keep up with the drivers in front of me”. It was therefore only a matter of time before he was fighting to keep his palce. Facu tried to maintain fourth but he was soon overtaken by two cars dropping him to sixth at the flag, but at least he adding some points to his championship tally.“We have to look into the telemetry so we can find the problem that we felt in today’s race. We will do some modifications for tomorrow’s race where, starting from fourth, I’ll have good chance to get a good result”, concluded Regalia.

ATCS Rounds 3 & 4 – Qualifying - Liu Takes Pole in His New BMW - The change to a BMW 320 SI E90 was a good move for Macau driver Liu Lic Ka when he claimed the pole position for Round 3 of the Asian Touring Car Series. Most of the drivers were on strategy to maintain their tyres for the race and with the scorching weather those that are familiar with the circuit did the minimum laps possible while the new participants took the opportunity to get used to the circuit. Liu, driving with the four man Team IMSP did a fantastic job with his new car and clocked 2:27.496 on his third lap. “I am happy with the Qualifying today and I will definitely try my best for the race tomorrow” said Liu. He still maintains his number 3 and lime green livery on his car and is looking forward to the season with an end goal of participating in the Macau GP in November. “I bought this car so that I can race it in Macau this year”. When asked how much the change cost him, he cited with a laugh “Many many money”. Lining up next to Liu is Hong Kong driver Charles Ng in the G.Harry Racing Honda Integra DC5. This is the first time that Ng is competing in the full season and he looks excited at being able to compete against some great Asian touring car drivers. “I definitely feel great with the second place. We had a mechanical issue and the team tried till the last moment to put the car back together and we made it on time.The BMW is a fast car and the driver is a great driver. Second place next to the BMW is an honour but I think we will do great tomorrow” said Ng after the session. Despite some earlier gearbox issues, experienced touring car driver, Mak Ka Lok claimed the third spot. “I tried to keep my tyres and gear in good condition for tomorrow’s race. We had to rebuild my gearbox so this session was somewhat of a test for us. I did a few laps and I stopped pushing just to maintain my tyres.“The first three cars are close so we will have to see the laptimes and the opportunities to claim the win” ended Mak. Lining up in fourth next to him will be Hong Kong driver Danny Stacy Chau of Team IMSP and behind them will be current Championship leader Lui Man Kit and his younger brother and first time ATCS participant, Lui Man Fai. 2009 ATCS Champion, Cheung Chi Sing was struggling with mechanical issues will start last in tomorrow’s race.

A Superleague Formula by Sonangol qualifying session saw Italian club AS Roma and its French driver Julien Jousse make amends for both nations’ disastrous World Cup campaigns by netting pole position in qualifying for race 1 at the Nürbrgring on Sunday. The youngster reached the final by beating the in-form Chris van der Drift (Olympiacos) in the quarter final and Yelmer Buurman (AC Milan) in the knockout stages of qualifying and then defeated Robert Doornbos of Brazilian giants Corinthians in the final. David Rigon of Anderlecht will start tomorrow’s race from third, with Buurman fourth and in a fantastic position to close the gap to league leaders Tottenham Hotspur, for whom Craig Dolby endured a disastrous qualifying. The British driver will start tomorrow’s race from the very back of the grid after going out in the group stages, his car suffering a problem that the team has yet to fully understand. One of his chief title rivals, FC Basel, also crashed out as an unhappy Max Wissel struggled on home turf. The other English club, Liverpool, was another to suffer a problem, but at least made it past the group stages. James Walker had impressed to go through third quickest from Group A, but suffered a brake issue in his quarter final against Anderlecht and toured home after Rigon passed him early in the lap. Group A was a stunner in the first part of qualifying as the top four changed constantly in the dying moments. As well as the demise of Tottenham Hotspur and FC Basel, French clubs Bordeaux, race 2 winners in Jarama last weekend, and Olympique Lyonnais also missed out. Lyon’s Sebastien Bourdais had a particularly frustrating afternoon as he saw his best lap time, which had momentarily placed him fourth, beaten by Flamengo in the dying stages, and then crashed into the tyre barriers at turn 6 as he pushed to get one more quick time.The biggest surprise of Group B was John Martin’s failure to carry his strong form from Jarama, where he won pole position and the first race, to the Nürburgring. The Beijing Guoan FC driver missed the cut by three tenths of a second and ended the session in the gravel trap after a spin.

Star Mazda: Star Mazda: By a margin of more than half a second, Conor Daly, the current championship leader and winner of the last four races in a row, has put his #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda on the pole for this afternoon's Race #1/Round 6 of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. His lap of 1:15.317 (103.722 mph) around the 14-turn, 2.25-mile 'Thunderbolt' track at New Jersey Motorsports Park, while just a tick slower than his best time in yesterday's practice, was sufficient to give Daly his fourth pole of the season. read more

Once again it was the familiar green-and-white #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda of Conor Daly topping the time sheets in both morning and afternoon sessions in Star Mazda practice at New JerseyMotorsports Park yesterday. The quick times came in the morning session, with Daly turning a 1:15.204 (103.877 mph), an improvement of 7/10ths on his quick time from Thursday, but still shy of the official lap record of 1:14.744 set in qualifying for Race #2 last year by Englishman Richard Kent, who won from the pole. The track got slower in the afternoon, with Daly slipping to a 1:15.610 (103.320 mph); he was, however, the only car in the 15s in the afternoon, while the top-4 all came in under the 1:16 mark in the morning. Read more

WTCC: Japanese tyre manufacturer Yokohama will celebrate its 100th FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race when the series travels to Portimão, Portugal, on 4 July 2010, for rounds nine and ten of the 2010 season. Yokohama’s relationship with the championship started in 2006, when the Japanese firm became the official tyre supplier to the series. During their first 100 races together, Andy Priaulx, Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini have been crowned WTCC Champions and the series has grown in popularity to claim a substantial fan base as well as impressive viewing and attendance figures.The strong ties between the tyre company and the WTCC underline the Japanese tyre manufacturer’s rich heritage in motorsport, which dates back to 1963 when their tyres were first used in Japanese motorsport. The iconic ADVAN brand, currently used in several prestigious racing series across the globe, was introduced in 1978 and has achieved several outstanding achievements since. In 1988 and ‘89, Yokohama helped to make history with the introduction of the BMW M3. Equipped with their ADVAN tyres, the M3 race car claimed overall victories in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC), the German and Italian Touring Car Championships as well as the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. In the following years the partnership strengthened and other titles were collected, including the British and Australian Touring Car Championships. The Japanese tyre manufacturer continues to extend its long list of successes, adding its 100th WTCC race to its history books next weekend. In celebration, the WTCC cars will feature windscreen and door sticker bearing a new 100th race logo. YOKOHAMA is now looking forward to another successful 100 races in conjunction with the series.

25-06-10

Robin Peter Mortimer, owner of RPM Motorsport, sadly passed away late on Tuesday, June 22, aged 58. It is understood that Robin died of natural causes in his sleep at a hotel in Belgium while travelling with his team en route to Spa Francorchamps. Alex Mortimer, Robin’s British GT Championship-winning son, hopes to compete in the International GT Open taking place at Spa this weekend, June 26-27, alongside Peter Bamford, in honour of his father. Highly respected throughout the industry, Robin’s lifelong motorsport career spanned two and four wheeled racing. The son of renowned Grand Prix driver Charles Mortimer and brother to multiple TT winner Chas, Robin switched to sportscar racing in 1989 after a 35-year career as a rider, making many motorcycle Grand Prix appearances. RPM Motorsport’s multiple accolades include the 2007 British GT Championship title, secured by Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis in the RPM Dodge Viper; the 2007 Radical Enduro SR3 crown; FIA GT3 European Championship podiums with Bradley Ellis partnering Ed Morris in 2007, and runner-up in the Porsche Carrera Cup with Tim Harvey in 2004.Robin’s wife Bridget, fondly known as Biddy, and Alex are grateful for the continued messages of condolence and support but respectfully request privacy at this difficult time. Further statements will be issued in due course.

The Asian Touring Car Series: It will be another spectacular outing for the Series this weekend, held during the Malaysian Super Series. It’s Rounds 3 & 4 of the ATCS held at the 5.4km Sepang International Circuit. Seven new drivers will out from this round onwards, all of whom are regulars in Macau and are joining the ATCSfor the first time. “It will be an exciting weekend for sure. Not only will we see the battle between teammates with Lui Man Kit and Mak Ka Lok of RPM Racing Team trying to edge out Cheung Chi Sing and Man Ting Yu from Team IMSP and also the duo from G.Harry Racing, Charles Ng and Harry Chai, we will also have seven more drivers added to the series” said David Sonenscher, CEO of Motorsport Asia. Cheung and Man have a lot at stake, with Cheung trying to retain his Championship title and Man vying for that elusive championship win after being in the series for four years. The 2009 Championship winner currently lies third in the points table, after finishing fourth in both races in May. The Hong Kong driver is part of the four man Team IMSP, along with Man Ting Yu, veteran driver Danny Stacy Chau and Liu Lic Ka. Currently Lui Man Kit of RPM Racing Team heads the table and looks set to return to Malaysia to further cement his lead in the Series. He is currently heading the table with 27 points. Lui claimed the first pole position of the season and ended the weekend collecting one second place and one win propelling RPM Racing Team to the top of the Team’s table. Five points behind him is his RPM Racing teammate Mak Ka Lok. Mak collected the points from two podiums in his Honda Integra DC5. Charles Ng looks ready to make up for the DNF he suffered in Round 2 after a season opening win. This is his first full season in the ATCS and he has signed on with G.Harry Racing Team, driving alongside team owner, Harry Chai. New entrants who were unable to race first time out are three privateers, Ben Law, Chan Wing Shiu and Danny Chau Kwok Sang, each in the Honda Integra DC5. The remaining drivers are from RPM Racing Team, Chan Ken Meng, Dicky Cheung, Lui Man Fai and Kuok Io Keong. Chan will bring with him the Toyota Altezza while the rest are in Hondas.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB Scholarship drivers Euan Hankey and Michael Meadows tested the latest specification 911GT3 Cup car at Pembrey on 23 June ahead of racing in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race supporting the British Grand Prix in July. The step up to the F1 support race at Silverstone comes as an additional reward for their success in the 2010 Scholarship and represents a fantastic opportunity to race in front of a packed crowd at their home Grand Prix. Porsche Cars GB is entering the two young drivers and the race weekend comes as a huge bonus to the main Scholarship prize of a £50,000 contribution towards their Carrera Cup GB budget for this season. Hankey and Meadows will drive the latest specification 911GT3 Cup car, which will be introduced into the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for the 2011 season, and spent the day running the car in an exclusive test at Pembrey. On hand to work with the drivers was 2007 Carrera Cup champion James Sutton, who has experience of the new car from racing in Carrera Cup Italy. Both drivers ended the day hugely impressed with the new car. "Absolutely fantastic," said Hankey in summary. "The car is phenomenal; it is so responsive, it's faster and it sounds wonderful. The brakes are amazing and it really is fun to drive; it feels even more like a racing car that the current car. Everything from the throttle is more responsive and you can feel the greater downforce in the fast corner. Everything has moved on another notch and it is wonderful!" Meadows said that the chance to drive the new car has further fired his enthusiasm about tackling the high-profile Supercup race."It feels quite different," said after his first run at Pembrey. "It is stiffer and the brakes and change of direction are very good. It is so nice in the high-speed corners and that will suit Silverstone very well. Driving the car for the first time today has really made me enthusiastic about the Supercup race."

WTCC: The 9th and 10th rounds of the 2010 FIA WTCC will take place at Portimão next week. This event marks the championship's first visit to the modern Autódromo Internacional de Algarve located in Southern Portugal, which was inaugurated in 2008. Among the many possible layouts offered by this impressive, state-of-the art venue, the FIA WTCC cars will run on the 4.6km racetrack for two 11-lap races.In previous seasons the WTCC Race of Portugal was hosted alternatively by the Porto street circuit (in 2007 and 2009) and the Estoril permanent track (in 2008).Action at Portimão will begin on Friday afternoon at 14.30, when the drivers will explore the new circuit in a 30-minute test session.
The handicap weights for the WTCC Race of Portugal remain the same as for the previous event in Zolder.The Chevrolet Cruze and the SEAT León TDI remain the heaviest cars of the field and for the third consecutive race meeting they will carry the maximum compensation weight of 40 kg.The compensation weight was determined by the lap times set in Morocco, Italy and Belgium. According to this calculation, the León TDI emerged as the fastest car, two tenths faster than the Cruze and half-a-second faster than the BMW 320si. The German cars have again been imposed 20 extra kilos for the Portuguese event. The Chevrolet Lacetti and Kristian Poulsen's BMW (an old model) will have 20kg deducted from their minimum weight.
Compensation weight Portimão
+ 40 kg           SEAT León TDI, Chevrolet Cruze LT
+ 20 kg           BMW 320si
- 20 kg            Chevrolet Lacetti, BMW 320si (old model)

Following a proposal from the Touring Car Commission, the FIA World Motor Sport Council decided to adopt a new cost-controlling technical regulations to permit the adaptation of the current Super 2000 cars to the new 1.6L turbo engine in 2011.

FBMW: Facu Regalia was in good shape in today’s qualifying of the Valencia FBMW event of the Formula BMW Europe. The youngster will start tomorrow’s race from the fifth position and Sunday’s from the fourth. The Spanish-Argentinean driver began to show his potential in the morning practice when he was on the pace, with a good set-up, which would allow him to fight for a good result in the afternoon’s qualifying. He ended up seventh fastest but he felt that he could do better: “I was clearly improving my sectors, as everyone waited for the last moments of the session, and I was heading for the top of time-sheets, but I made a mistake in the last corner, and there I lost seventh tenths. I think that, without it, I would be on the top. The car is good so, I feel confident”.In the qualifying Facu ended with fifth and the fourth fastest laps, from where he will start the first and the second race, respectively. “With the first set of tires I was third, but at the end two drivers improved their times and I was pushed back to fifth. I did my best and I think it was difficult to achieve a better result. The track changed after the practice, and was harder for the drivers and the car wasn’t as fast as in the morning”, said Facu after the qualifying. “The goal for the weekend’s race is the same, to reach the podium, something that happened at Zandvoort “but using my head and thinking in the championship, so avoiding mistakes it will be really important, because here, any error might end on the wall.” The first race, which will have eleven laps, will start at 9.45h, local time tomorrow.

Formula 2: Will Bratt is relishing the category’s maiden visit to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal next weekend, 3rd/4th July, where he’ll be bidding to sign-off the first half of the 2010 season with a return to the podium.The reigning Euroseries 3000 Champion, who enjoyed rostrum success at the 2.9-mile Portimão track last year during his title-winning campaign, is currently fourth in the F2 Championship driver standings with a couple of podium finishes to his credit so far.Hungry for more silverware, and with a burning desire to achieve his first Formula 2 race victory, the 22-year-old from Banbury, Oxon, is looking forward to his return to southern Portugal and is focused on making inroads to the championship top three. He commented: “I’m looking forward to going back to Portimão, it’s quite a testing track for a driver and is obviously a circuit I have experience of so we’ll be aiming, as always, to do the best we possibly can. Hopefully we’ll be quick from the word go but, if not, we’ll work hard to find out why and then improve as much as possible.” At Zolder a week ago, Will hoped to put his past experience of the track to good use and although retaining his place in the championship top four, a mixed weekend frustratingly kept him off the podium. Undoubtedly running pace good enough to fight for podiums during last weekend’s event, he’ll be aiming to replicate the same level of performance in the Algarve. “Zolder was disappointing overall as we had the pace to take a couple of podiums”, added Will, “At this point we’re still in a position to fight for the championship though so, in that sense, I’m satisfied with where we are. Having said that, we really need to step it up next weekend and begin taking those consistent podiums.”

Superleague Formula by Sonangol moves to Germany this weekend for the football-themed championship's fifth round of the season at the Nurburgring. Nestled in the Eifel Mountains alongside the formidable Nordschleife, the circuit returns to the calendar after hosting the second-ever Superleague Formula round in 2008. Championship leaders Tottenham increased their advantage at the top of the league table in Jarama despite Craig Dolby admitting that his hadn't been the fastest car throughout the weekend. Even so, the Englishman was still at his best to rescue fifth from eighth on the grid in race one, before carving through the field of the reverse-grid second to seal an incredible podium. Nearest challengers AC Milan were one of the quickest throughout last weekend but having finished second earlier on Sunday, Yelmer Buurman struggled to make headway in the afternoon's action to slip 60 points adrift of Spurs. But along with fellow Dutchman Robert Doornbos (Corinthians), Buurman does at least have winning experience in Germany, being the last man to triumph in a Superleague Formula race there back in 2008. Meanwhile, John Martin suggested that he could become a force to be reckoned with thanks to his and Beijing Guoan's pole, race one victory and second in the Super Final in Spain. Max Wissel will be the only man to compete on home soil at the Nuerburgring, always a threat and armed with local knowledge, the FC Basel driver has a fantastic chance of improving on his current third place in the standings. You can catch all the action from qualifying and the three races live on www.superleagueformula.com throughout the weekend, while UK viewers can also find race coverage live on ESPN at 10.45 and 13.45.

Star Mazda: Conor Daly continued his front-of-the-pack ways earlier this week by setting the quickest time in the second of two promoter test sessions leading up to Rounds 6 & 7 of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. His time of 1:15.990 (102.803 mph) in the #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda was substantially slower than the official lap record of 1:14.744 set in qualifying for Race #2 last year by Englishman Richard Kent, who won from the pole. Daly, who has won four races in a row so far this season, and won Race #1 here last year, doesn't expect to break that particular record. Read more

AIM Autosport is proud to welcome AMA Superbike competitor Larry Pegram to it’s Formula Mazda driver line up this weekend to compete in a pair of races in the in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. Larry, along with his friend, jaw surgeon Walt Bowlin, will join AIM’s full-time Formula Mazda driver, David Ostella, to race at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Both Larry and Walt will drive Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery-sponsored cars: #72 for Larry, who will compete in the Expert Class and #23 for Walt, who will compete in the Maters Class. This marks the 4-wheel-racing debut for Larry who currently holds fifth in the 2010 AMA Superbike Championship riding the Foremost Insurance Group Ducati. Walt, who has raced Formula Mazda in the past, was supposed to join AIM earlier in the season, but was thwarted by a broken collarbone—sustained while riding Larry’s Superbike during a track day. Walt intends to enter selected races with AIM over the remainder of the season.“We’re very excited to have Larry in one of our cars,” said Keith Willis, AIM Autosport principal and Chief Engineer of the team’s Formula Mazda program. “He’s an experienced and talented racer, but this is a new challenge for him. Very different vehicle dynamics than he’s used to.”David, driver of the Global Precast #16 car, is hoping to reverse his fortunes after a trouble-filled outing at Iowa Speedway. He currently lies 11th in the championship, just 1 point behind 10th-placed Chris Miller.The team will begin its weekend with two 40-minute test sessions on Thursday before a pair of official Star Mazda Championship practice sessions on Friday. The first race will take place on Saturday with Race two on Sunday.

Formula Renault 3.5: Nelson Panciatici delivered a strong performance at the weekend as the Formula Renault 3.5 Series visited the 21-year-old’s home track, Magny-Cours. The Parisian driver scored points for Junior Lotus Racing in both races and was within a whisker of the podium in the first. Read report

Karts: Jordan King kept himself firmly in the hunt for title glory in the KF2 class of the national Super 1 Series by recording a superb double podium finish in round four at Rowrah in Cumbria – his best result of the season to-date. Read report Pics Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net

TV Schedules: You will be able to watch Rounds 6 & 7 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear LIVE from New Jersey Motorsports Park on HDNet. The races are on Saturday, June 26th at 3:00 PM, EDT and Sunday, June 27th at 3:05 PM, EDT Live Coverage of all of the featured events begins at 12:30 PM EDT on both Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th on HDNet. If you are not sure if you receive HDNet at home or you want to visit a local establishment to watch the races, please log onto www.hd.net and click on the WATCH tab to find this information

Porsche Carrera Cup GB - The sixth programme in the dedicated television coverage of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB will be broadcast in the Motorsport UK programme on ITV4 at 5pm on Tuesday 29 June, on ITV1 on the night of Sunday 4 July and will also be repeated on ITV4 on Saturday 3 July.The Motorsport UK series, which features hour-long programmes, is covering all of the Carrera Cup GB action again this season. Round seven of the season at Oulton Park will feature in this programme.
Motorsport UK will be broadcast as follows:
Tuesday 29 June at 5pm on ITV4
Saturday 3 July at 1pm on ITV4
Monday 5 July at 3.25am on ITV1

The fourth round of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship was recently held at the Hidden Valley Circuit in Darwin. Catch all the action as Australia’s future stars take to the track over three races in the Top End this Saturday on 7TWO. Plenty of thrills and spills resulted in some of the best racing all season as the drivers continue to battle for the 2010 Championship. - 26 June, 2010 - 2:30pm EST (check your local guides) on 7TWO. The Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship hits the track again on July 9-11, for Round 5 of the series in Townsville.

This weekend, Motors TV is bringing viewers one of the most action-packed motorsport weekends in British television history with 10 hours of LIVE coverage from across Europe and highlights from a variety of worldwide championships. On the bill is the International GT Open and Auto GP from Spa and the MX1 and MX2 World Championships from Latvia, while on UK soil ther is live coverage of the Dunlop Great & British Festival’s trip to Pembrey. There is also highlights from the V8 Supercar Championship, GT4 European Cup, GP3 Series, Dutch Supercar Challenge, Fun Cup UK, SPEED series, MSA Asphalt Rally Championship and more!
This weekend’s best action (all times UK):
Friday 25 June 7:05pm: Fun Cup UK, Round 2, Rockingham 7.40pm: AAA Saloons, Round 3, Brands Hatch (Race 2)
Saturday 26 June 11:00am: Pickup Truck Racing, Round 2, Brands Hatch 11:30am: SPEED, Round 1, Silverstone 2:00pm: Dutch Supercar Challenge, Round 4, Zandvoort 3:10pm: LIVE International GT Open, Round 4, Race 1, Spa-Francorchamps 5:00pm: GT4 European Cup, Rounds 1 & 2, Silverstone & Spa-Francorchamps 6:00pm: V8 Supercar Championships, Round 7, Darwin 8:10pm: Caterhams, Zolder 10:20pm: MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, Round 3, Jim Clark Rally
Sunday 27 June 8:50am: LIVE Auto GP, Round 3, Race 1, Spa-Francorchamps 10:00am: LIVE MX2 World Championship, Round 9, Race 1, Latvia 11:00am: LIVE MX1 World Championship, Round 9, Race 1, Latvia 12:00am: LIVE Dunlop Great & British Festival, Pembrey 1:00pm: LIVE MX2 World Championship, Round 9, Race 2, Latvia 2:00pm: LIVE MX1 World Championship, Round 9, Race 2, Latvia 3:00pm: LIVE Dunlop Great & British Festival, Pembrey 6:00pm: Delayed-as-Live Auto GP, Round 3, Race 2, Spa-Francorchamps 7:00pm: Delayed-as-Live International GT Open, Round 4, Race 2, Spa-Francorchamps 8:10pm: GP3 Series, Round 3, Istanbul
Follow Motors TV online at:
Web: www.motorstv.co.uk

FIA GT: For the single FIA GT1 round in France, Olivier will drive a Matech Ford GT1 on the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit...He knows this track very well because his official team in the Le Mans Series is based nearby. After 10 years in F1 and many successes in the Andros Trophy, Olivier Panis found his way back to the tracks in 2009 when he entered GT FFSA. He is about to try the FIA GT1 World Championship where he will compete for the first time, replacing Cyndie Allemann who ran the first half of the season. Despite promising results and increasing performances, the Swiss driver won't be able to finish her season with Matech Competition due to personal and professional schedule issues. For the fourth FIA GT1 round, Matech Competition will have two ex-F1 drivers in its ranks : Romain Grosjean and Olivier Panis. Leading the drivers championship, Grosjean and Thomas Mutsch will be out to stay in front with their Matech Ford GT1 no.5 while Panis will drive the Matech Ford GT1 no.6 with Natacha Gachnang. Olivier Panis : "I am delighted to take part in this round with Matech Competition, a profesionnal team with very good results this year. I have always enjoyed driving on the Castellet circuit because this is the place where I drove a single seater for the first time and I have already run a lot of races here. But that will be the first time I share my seat with a woman, Natacha Gachnang, who shows a great determination."

GP3: After a busy week of mid-season testing the GP3 Series is back in action this weekend at the European Grand Prix in Valencia. Round 3 of the season, on the Valencia Street Circuit, gives the thirty drivers the new challenge, the 5.41 kilometre track winds through the historic city around the Juan Carlos I Marina, which includes a spectacular 140-metre long swing bridge. Round 2 in Istanbul saw RSC Mucke Motorsport's Nigel Melker snatched another pole position, but again the Dutch driver was unable to capitalise on his front row start and it was ART Grand Prix's Esteban Gutierrez who led from start to finish to take a deserved maiden victory in the Series. Manor Racing's Rio Haryanto was the surprise race two winner. The Indonesian driver only managed a lowly eighteenth spot in qualifying, but charged through the field to finish eighth in race one and claim the last point and reversed pole for race two. Haryanto then kept his cool and drove the perfect race taking a lights to flag victory. After claiming his first victory in Istanbul Esteban Gutierrez is now the man leading the drivers' standings with 22 points, five clear of his rival and teammate Alexander Rossi(pictured). After failing to score any points last time out Robert Wickens has dropped to third with 11 points. ART Grand Prix has extended its lead at the top of the teams standings with 40 points, 21 ahead of Jenzer Motorsport in second. A new soft-compound Pirelli tyre will make its debut in Valencia after the first two rounds were run on Pirelli's medium compound tyre. However, the demands of a street circuit differ to that of a permanent track as the grip can be more varied and the surfaces more aggressive. Pirelli's Racing Manager Mario Isola explains: "Valencia is a great circuit but it is not at all easy for the cars, drivers and tyres. The first time that the drivers will try our soft compound tyres will be during practice on Friday, and I think that they will notice quite a difference from the tyres they have used on the previous two rounds. We have made the tyres degrade more, but they will also provide more performance early on in the race. These are the tyre characteristics that the drivers will increasingly experience as their careers advance up the motorsport ladder, so it's great to get them used to looking after their tyres from a young age." We have three driver in Valencia. Carlin's Lucas Foresti and Tech 1 Racing's Jean Eric Vergne are back, and Spaniard Roberto Mehri takes over the #29 Atech CRS GP car from Patrick Reiterer.

Historics: London’s foremost historic automobile specialist, Fiskens, played its part in a misty-eyed reunion between actor Leslie Phillips and the vintage Bentley alongside which he starred in the 1960s British comedy film ‘The Fast Lady’, at the Masterpiece fair in Chelsea on Wednesday.The stunning original Vanden Plas fabric bodied, short chassis ‘Red Label’ Speed model 4.5 litre car, which gave its name to the film, has been consigned for sale to Fiskens at its Kensington showrooms and is currently on display at Masterpiece 2010 at the old Chelsea Barracks. In Wednesday’s pre-event preview, the iconic Phillips, who played car salesman Freddie Fox in the hit film, was delighted to be reunited with the vintage Bentley for the first time in almost half-a-century. In front of an admiring crowd, Phillips sat in the car and recalled how, prior to filming, he had arrived for his advanced driving test at Hampstead at the wheel of the spectacular 1927 model, much to the surprise of his perplexed driving instructor! Since the film, the car has been used regularly by its current owner and is in incredible condition, looking virtually identical to when Phillips was tearing through the English countryside with Stanley Baxter’s 'Murdoch Troon' character in the comedy romp. “Leslie seemed genuinely thrilled to see the Bentley again after all these years,” said Fiskens’ James Mitchell. “He regaled us all with many entertaining anecdotes from his time filming with the car and it was a real pleasure to see him reunited with her.”The Fast Lady will remain on display on Fiskens’ stand at the Masterpiece fair until Tuesday 29 June alongside an equally-stunning Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, a car once owned by the famous powerboat racer, Ambrogio Castiglioni.

Post-race celebrations at the FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX will be bigger than ever this year. More than 20,000 fans are expected to stay behind on Sunday 11 July for Silverstone’s post-race Grand Prix Party, where the football World Cup Final will be shown on a giant screen. Silverstone’s traditional finale to the Grand Prix weekend will take place on a purpose-built stage in the middle of the circuit. Free to all ticket holders, the Grand Prix Party looks set to attract its biggest crowd yet - and surely one of the largest gatherings of people, anywhere in the UK, coming together to watch the football. World Champion Jenson Button on stage at the 2009 Silverstone Grand Prix Party This year’s Party will be well supported by teams, with current F1 drivers and legends of British motor sport appearing on stage to chat to fans. Live music will be headlined by Eddie Jordan and ‘friends’. The BBC presenter and former F1 Team Principal, an accomplished drummer, will be joined on stage by a host of musicians throughout the evening. The line-up will include members of Eddie’s own band, ‘The Robbers’, the brilliant new girl band 'Angels In White' and one or two surprise guest-appearances from the world of Formula 1. Theis will be the eighth Grand Prix Party held at Silverstone. The event was originally developed by the circuit to add value to the fans’ experience All of the drivers receive a hero’s welcome, but the biggest cheers of the day are saved for Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. In 2009 the British drivers were joined on stage by fellow F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Rubens Barichello, Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet. Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, Damon Hill OBE, Sir Stirling Moss, Johnny Herbert, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle, Derek Warwick and BBC presenter Jake Humphrey were also a huge hit with the crowd.

23-06-10

Historic: Brands Hatch will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Grand Prix circuit at the HSCC Historic Superprix next weekend (3/4 July). The Grand Prix track is widely regarded as one of the most challenging and spectacular circuits around and it regularly held the British GP fin the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Nigel Mansell scored his first ever Grand Prix win at the Kent venue in 1985, whilst MotorSport Vision Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer made his F1 debut at Brands Hatch in 1983 driving a Williams FW08C. To celebrate the Grand Prix circuit’s golden anniversary, many of the vehicles that competed at Brands Hatch during its halcyon days will once again take to the track in the FIA Historic Formula One Championship at next weekend’s Historic Superprix, which will feature famous racing marques including Brabham, Lotus and Tyrrell. Many of the drivers that took part in the inaugural Silver City Trophy, a non-championship Formula One event, in 1960 have also been invited to attend the Historic Superprix celebrations. Jonathan Palmer said: "We're delighted that the HSCC has chosen such a special anniversary as the theme for this year's Superprix. The Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit is regarded by many F1 Grand Prix legends as one of the most challenging in the world, which makes it all the more satisfying to race on. With its dramatic sweeping undulations and the unique nature of every corner, it is one of those circuits that as a driver you just know at the end of every lap that there is a bit more time that can be found on the next - and that is so rare and exciting. There will also be racing from an array of classic machinery including one litre F3 ‘screamer’ cars, historic F2 and Formula Junior and 1960s GT and Sports Racing cars. Tickets for the HSCC Historic Superprix at Brands Hatch on 3/4 July are now on sale from £17 for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk.

Indylights: The Iowa Speedway is a much shorter oval than Indianapolis so it was another new challenge for Frenchman, JK Vernay, in the fifth round of the Indy Lights Championship. He put on a stunning display finishing third overall and best rookie. His fourth podium finish of the year helped him increase his lead in the provisional championship classification read report

SEAT Leon Eurocup: Michaël Rossi would have liked to savour the taste of a second victory after setting his first pole of the season. A wrong tyre choice in race 1 and electrical problems in race 2 deprived him of podium finishes. Nonetheless, he is well placed in the title chase, and is only one point behind the leader after the Seat Leon Eurocup round in Belgium. Read report

GP3: Atech CRS Grand Prix head into the latest rounds of the GP3 series at Valencia this weekend buoyed by a successful two-day test at the Spanish track last week. Briton Oli Oakes ended up quickest of the three drivers in fifth place while GP3 rookie Spaniard Roberto Merhi also placed an impressive sixth quickest on his very first time in the car. Italian Vittorio Ghirelli spent much of the session testing set-up for the street circuit races and had no chance to run on new tyres. Despite that the youngster set an impressive pace ahead of this weekend’s two races, rounds five and six of the championship. With just two events held, the new single-seater series has already lived up to pre-season expectations. For the Silverstone-based team, which heads to its home round at the British Grand Prix next month, last week’s test has shown a return to form for Team Principal David Hayle who is confident of a potential debut victory. “Oli once again showed an impressive turn of speed last week and I am confident that he will be able to repeat that pace when it comes to official qualifying and the races this weekend. I worked with Roberto in Formula 3 and he is undoubtedly another quick driver, who this weekend will be subbing for Patrick Reiterer. It was his very first time in a GP3 car so to end up sixth fastest is a fantastic achievement. Vittorio was tasked with carrying out set-up tests for racing on a street circuit and once again he showed tremendous maturity and gave us great feedback which hopefully will net a good result next time out.” The event kicks off with practice at 16.50 on Friday 25th June with qualifying at 08.45 on Saturday 26th. Race one gets underway at 17.20 later that day with the second race, on Sunday 27th at 09.25.

Karts: The second meeting of the 2010 French Championship, held last weekend in Angerville, brought satisfaction to the Sodi Racing Team. The Sodi chassis won in all the categories, further strengthening their domination of KF3 and KZ2 with drivers Pierre Gasly and Anthony Abbasse. Read report

USF2000: Polesitter Sage Karam led all 50 laps and posted a 7.364-second victory over Brazil’s Raphael Abbate Saturday afternoon in Round 4 of the "Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda" on Iowa Speedway's 0.875-mile trioval. With his third victory of the year the Andretti Autosport driver extended his lead in the Championship-class's point standings. Read report

Formula Renault: Thomas Hylkema experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows at Croft in North Yorkshire over the weekend, 19th/20th June, after scorching to his first ever Formula Renault UK pole position but then being robbed of a potential victory push due to a sensor failure at the start of round 10. read report

Formula Ford: Ash Walsh has continued to build his Championship points tally with the King’s Fibreglass Spectrum 012 driver placing 5th in the last round of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship, held last weekend at Darwin's Hidden Valley Circuit. The weekend saw Walsh as clearly the fastest of the circuit's debutantes and improving in every session. A strong drive netted 2nd place in the final race of the weekend. "We came to this round expecting it to be very tough," said Ash; "All of our main rivals have been here the previous two years, so Mike (Borland) and the BRD team have been keeping me focussed on the fact that we needed to score as many points as we can here and minimise the deficit. We've only dropped 16 points to the championship leader, so that is well within what we expected." Mike Borland said he was pleased with Ash's performance. "He did a good job up here. I think some people expected he would come into the Championship this year and blow everyone away; but that was never a realistic expectation. This is the most competitive field we have had for quite a while, with a number of equally experienced drivers, so it is about capitalising on the opportunities you get. Ash did that at Winton and drove very well in Darwin. We're only half way through the season and the last four tracks should give Ash a chance to challenge," said Borland. "I've been asked by a few people if I expected to be in front all year," commented Ash. "But I think it would be pretty disrespectful of me not to recognise the talent and experience I am racing against. I've effectively come into this season with two years out of the category and in one of those years I didn't drive anything, so we knew how hard it was going to be. We're really looking forward to Townsville, as no-one has seen the circuit yet and it should put everyone on the same starting point, so we'll put our head down and see if we can start to bridge the gap to the leader there."

Grand-Am: The Doran team with drivers Memo Gidley and Dion Von Moltke, notched up another great run this past weekend in the EMCO Gears Classic held at the Mid Ohio sports car course for round #7 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series race presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Doran Racing, which is based in Mansfield, Ohio, considers this its hometown track and the Doran fans came out in force to support the local teams effort. read report

Moto-GP: Josh Brookes, competing in the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Silverstone’s MotoGP event last weekend, took two historic victories on the new Grand Prix Circuit. Brookes was the first ever rider to win on the newly configured track during Saturday’s Superstock race, then battled to the front of the field on Sunday to claim a double victory at the circuit’s inaugural bike event. Following his win on Saturday, Brookes watched the start of the MotoGP race from the air, taking in aerial views of the circuit by helicopter. Commenting on the new Silverstone layout, Brookes said, “It’s great; it’s spot on, exactly what a proper international circuit should be. There were places to overtake on nearly every corner of the circuit because the track is so wide, you can set up two to three corners before and then plan a pass on pretty much any corner on the circuit. “There are other tracks where there is really only one place to make a move, and when you do it’s a really desperate move, whereas here [at Silverstone] it’s possible to make a lot more passes. I think it’s brilliant.” HM Plant Honda rider Brookes is confirmed to race twice more at Silverstone this year, as a ‘wild card’ entry in the only British round of the FIM Superbike World Championship (30 July-1 August) and as part of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship which heads to the Northamptonshire track on 24-26 September. Talking about his return to Silverstone for World Superbikes, Brookes said, “I’m really looking forward to it now that I’ve had some track time and know what the circuit is like. It’s something to be excited about because I know I’m coming to a great track.”

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Heritage GT: John Wilson was victorious in the HGTCC Saturday enduro race in his MG BGT V8 on a very slippery Snetterton circuit. But on Sunday the bright conditions saw a win for the Aston Martin V8 of series boss, Roger Bennington and co-driver Boysie Thurtle. read report

GP3: Dean Smith made great progress during last week’s officially timed two-day GP3 Series test in Valencia – a terrific fillip for the Carlin driver ahead of this coming weekend’s fifth and sixth rounds of the 2010 season at the Spanish city’s street circuit. With just a few days remaining until the third GP3 event of the year, run as support to the FIA Formula One World Championship’s European Grand Prix, the Wolverhampton-based racer was in fine form lapping inside the top three during two of the four test sessions.On the opening morning, he started well with an impressive third fastest time of 1m27.790 secs. In the afternoon, several red flag stoppages did prevent wholly consistent running but Dean was still within 0.4secs of the pace with a best of 1m28.283 seconds in very hot conditions. He produced his best time of the two days on day two with a time of 1m27.635 in the morning. During the final afternoon, he delivered his second top three performance of the test with a lap of 1m28.147 placing him just 0.09s shy of the top. “We tested a lot of different things over the two days, that’s why we were up and down the times a little bit”, said the BRDC Superstar, “We tried some things which were really positive and others that turned out to be not so good but overall it was a very rewarding test for us. We definitely moved some way forward and found something with the set-up which we should be able to refine this weekend. I’m feeling a lot more confident after this latest test, I worked well with the engineers and we’re all moving in the right direction. I’m definitely looking forward to fighting for some good results when we’re back in Valencia this weekend.”

Porsche Club : Mark McAleer has been the man to beat in the 2010 Porsche Club Championship, the Yorkshire racer unbeaten so far after four races as the series heads for Silverstone this coming weekend. McAleer heads the points table after taking his 968 CS to double victories at Brands Hatch and Cadwell Park , but the 2007 champion has stiff opposition in Class One, with reigning double champion Jez Clark learning his new 968 by the race, as well as a host of other former race winners snapping at McAleer’s heels. A key aspect of Class One is the battle between the front-engined 968s, and the rear-engined 911 derivatives. The rear engined cars are quicker off the line at the start of the race, with Marcus Carniel storming into the lead from the second row at Cadwell. The front-engined cars tend to be kinder on their tyres, but with rear-engined cars in the hands of suck rapid racers as Carniel, Mark Sumpter and Kevin Harrison, they should shine in the opening laps.Also upholding 968 honour is the experienced Pete Morris, back in Porsche racing after sampling GTs, Miles Maserati , quick in his first season in a 968, and if Richard Higgins can solve the teething troubles with his newly built up car, he should be back in the mix. Class Two has seen three wins from Chris Dyer, the Keighley racer another Yorkshireman to be racking up the victories. It is a busy raceday for the Porsche runners, with qualifying at 11.15 on Sunday morning, and two 25-minute races at 14.50 and 17.15.

CNC Saloons: Ric Wood brought his brand new ex Alain Menu Opel Astra DTM car out for the first time at Oulton Park on Saturday for the CNC Heads BARC Sports and Saloons. Despite strating from the pitlane after missing qualifying he climbed throught he 3 car grid to win by over seven seconds. Defending champion Robert Spencer was back on the pace with his Stuart Taylor Locosaki and secured pole by 1.11secs before ending the race second after a fierce battle with Alistair Chalmers. Read report

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Tim Harvey became the most successful driver in the eight-year history of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB when he claimed two more wins at Croft on Sunday (20 June). Going into the weekend, he was level with Richard Westbrook on the score of overall race wins with 31 each, and so victory in the opening race put Harvey ahead of the 2004 champion. Harvey then won the day's second race to take his career tally to 33 wins as well as extending his title lead to 39 points with half of the season's 20 races now run. "I'm not a great one for records and milestones but in a championship I love as much as the Carrera Cup to have the most number of wins ever is fantastic, especially to take the record from Richard Westbrook," said Harvey. "It's just part of a dream season so far for me. It's a nice achievement and it is special." The Croft results take Harvey's 2010 tally to nine wins from 10 races, which is an unprecedented run of victories in the championship. The next drivers in the wins rankings are Tim Bridgman (15), Damien Faulkner (13), James Sutton (12), Danny Watts (10), Michael Caine (8) and Steven Kane (7). Harvey is now his seventh full season in the championship and is again driving for Red Line Racing. "This is my 28th consecutive season of racing," said Harvey. "The Carrera Cup is the biggest and best national championship and it is great to be part of it." He won the title in 2008 and has finished in the championship top four in each of the last six seasons, finishing runner-up in 2004, 2006 and 2007. He has now scored a total of 97 podium finishes from 134 starts in the Carrera Cup GB and needs only three more podiums over the next 10 races to hit another milestone. Harvey has backing from Nationwide Accident Repair Services PLC, which is using the racing programme to promote its Mobile Restore and Motor Glass divisions. Additional backing is from Loctite, Datapulse and S P Fleet.

Ginetta Jnrs: Tom Ingram now has five podiums from the first ten races of 2010 after a closely fought couple of races in the Ginetta Junior Championship at Croft last weekend where he came away with two second places. Sadly he lost out on both to his closest rival for the Championship Jake Hill but never-the-less goes into the mid-season break just 9 points behind in the title chase. Read report pic Lee Foxon

Ingrams Hillspeed team-mate Seb Morris qualified very strongly in 10th place for the first race and a 11th for race two. His races didn't go quite so well, spin in Race two saw him fight back into the top 12 befor an accident in race two forced him to pit for repairs. Team Hillspeed report

ELF Renault Clio Cup rookie James Dixon rounded out the first half of the 2010 season with his best result of the campaign so far at Croft Circuit on Sunday the Total Control Racing driver getting an excellent seventh place finish during round 10. Read report

Following the long, seven-week break before rounds 11 and 12 of the ELF Renault Clio Cup kick-off the second half of the season on the weekend 7th/8th August at Snetterton. JamesDixon will be making best use of the time away from the track to try and secure extra funding for the remainder of the current season and to also attract backers with an eye on supporting a rising young talent with the goal of graduating to the country’s biggest series, the Dunlop MSA BTCC which offers a wealth of benefits to drivers’ commercial partners. James added: “I want to say a big thank you to Kris Wagland at Weidmuller for his support at Croft, I really appreciate the effort he has put in and I hope it’s the beginning of a rewarding relationship. During the next seven weeks, I’m going to be working as hard as ever to try and attract additional sponsorship to help my climb up the Clio grid and my goal of stepping-up to the BTCC.”

Karts: Tom Harvey has extended his lead in the MSA British Cadet class of the Super 1 Series with a brilliant double triumph at Rowrah in Cumbria, a result that leaves the 12-year-old undefeated on the national scene in his last six finals. Read report

Brands Hatch: The world’s hottest performance cars will descend on Brands Hatch this Sunday (27 June) when the West Kingsdown circuit hosts the Modified Live festival. Modified Live is an all-action interactive day out that combines track demonstrations, performance car competitions, spectator activities and expert advice on modifying your vehicle. Headlining the packed timetable will be the whistling turbos and smoking tyres of the European Drift Championship, along with track action from the Time Attack ‘beat the clock’ series for highly tuned roadgoing cars. Modified Live will also feature a world exclusive, as manufacturer Cosworth will unveil the brand new 395bhp Impreza STI CS400 – its first road car in more than 14 years – at the event, in addition to demonstrating Cosworth founder Keith Duckworth’s original Sierra Cosworth RS500. Plus, Modified Live will feature a series of supercar demonstrations including some exciting display laps by a 600bhp Nissan GT-R courtesy of the Sumo Power FIA GT1 World Championship team, along with a high octane drag car display by Santa Pod Raceway. Other highlights include the chance for spectators to get involved in the event with drift car passenger rides, a huge exhibition area showcasing the latest tuning products and expert advice, and a search for the next grid girl competition. Performance car fans can also win up to £250 by entering their car into the ‘show and shine’ competition to find the best spectator modified vehicle. Tickets for Modified Live are available in advance until Wednesday 23 June at £15 for adults or on the gate this Sunday at £20 per person. Entry is free for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk.

Other News: London’s foremost historic automobile dealership, Fiskens, will reunite two stars of the classic 1960s British comedy ‘The Fast Lady’ at the Masterpiece Fair in Chelsea this week.Fiskens will display the very 1927 Bentley 4.5 Litre that played a key role in the film at the event at Chelsea Barracks on 24-29 June. On Wednesday’s exclusive preview day it will be reunited with actor Leslie Phillips, who played used car salesman and serial cad Freddie Fox. The stunning Bentley, consigned for sale to Fiskens at its Kensington showrooms, is an original Vanden Plas fabric bodied, short chassis ‘Red Label’ Speed model that was upgraded in period to full 4.5 Litre specification. It was purchased in 1959 by Independent Artists Limited as they searched for a car to star in ‘The Fast Lady’, directed by Ken Annakin of ‘Swiss Family Robinson’, ‘Battle of the Bulge’ and ‘Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines’ fame and starring the likes of Stanley Baxter, James Robertson Justice and a very young Julie Christie, making her big screen debut, alongside Phillips. “It is remarkable that ‘The Fast Lady’ didn’t disappear after the end of filming, as so many star cars tend to,” said Fiskens’ James Mitchell. Fiskens will also display a sensational 1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 at the fair, a fabulous example of the legendary model with the supercharged straight eight engine, a model that enjoyed racing successes at events including the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio and Le Mans 24 Hours.This example, chassis 2311228, was originally supplied in April 1934 to Ambrogio Castiglioni, the famous powerboat racer, and it has recently been painstakingly restored by renowned specialists ‘Cognolato’ in Italy in time for Masterpiece 2010.“Each car has a very special history and are perfect examples of the kind of automobiles that we are privileged to work with each day,” said Mitchell. “They are true automotive Masterpieces!” For more details on Fiskens, or for tickets to Masterpiece 2010, please visit www.fiskens.com.

21-06-10

Saloons: Revolution Wheels supported Nippon Challenge driver Vaughan Fletcher continued his strong run of results as the 2009 GT300 title holder took another brace of class victories at a sunny Castle Combe Race over the weekend. Chesterfield based Fletcher had never competed at the Wiltshire track before but still placed his modified Subaru Impreza on pole position for the first race. A pair of hard fought races netted a pair of podium positions and more importantly, another pair of class victories, thus ensuring a clean sweep of class laurels in 2010! Vaughan Fletcher;” It’s been a great day, and we had to battle for our results but it makes the win that much sweeter. We have to thank our sponsors for helping us achieve these results” Warren McKiernan;”Another fantastic weekend for the team and Vaughan must be very pleased to take six straight victories in the fiercely competitive GT300 class “ The next meeting will take place at Lydden Hill on 17 July. This double header marks the half way point in the series and Fletcher and his team will be hoping to continue their winning ways.

BTCC: Gordon Shedden and Andrew Jordan shared the wins in Sunday's three Dunlop MSA BTCC races at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire. Notably Jordan's win was his first in the series and also marked the first for BTCC organiser TOCA's turbocharged 'NGTC' engine. But at the top of the championship table it is still Matt Neal who continues to lead rival Jason Plato as the series enters a lengthy summer break before returning at Snetterton on 8 August. In scorching sunshine and in front of a bumper crowd, Scotland's Shedden won the first and second races - his first victories of 2010. In a battle-scarred Honda Civic, he also took ninth place in race three and as a result has moved from sixth up to third in the standings to pressurise Honda Racing Team team-mate Neal and Silverline Chevrolet's Plato. Jordan's maiden win came in race three. The 21-year-old led all the way in his Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra which is powered by the BTCC's new Next Generation Touring Car engine - being used ahead of full-blown NGTC regulations being introduced in 2011. Shedden said: "I'm so happy with today - 35 points is a brilliant haul and it gets me right back into the title hunt. It was a shame I had a bit of a duffer in race three as I felt my car was good enough to have finished on the podium in that one as well but I can't complain. If someone had offered me those results before the weekend I'd have bitten their hand off." An emotional Jordan commented: "Last time out at Oulton Park my day ended on top of the barriers. I've ended today on the top step of the podium and it's a great reward for all my crew who've rebuilt the car in between. I'm ecstatic and it's the perfect Father's Day present for my dad (Mike, who runs the Pirtek team)." Meanwhile, Neal took fourth and second place in races one and two as Plato took a pair of thirds. Both then suffered punctured tyres in race three - Neal retiring, Plato rejoining after a pit stop to go on and score a valuable point for setting the fastest lap in his Chevrolet Cruze. It means that just as after the previous round at Oulton Park they continue to be separated by just eight points. Others to make it onto the podium were WSR BMW driver Collard who was second in race one before suffering some cruel luck in races two and three. Onslow-Cole (Team Aon Ford Focus) and Kane (Airwaves BMW) would then spray the champagne in race three with second and third places respectively. A mention should also go to 18-year-old Daniel Lloyd who made a great impression on his BTCC debut, twice achieving top ten points-scoring finishes in his Triple Eight-run Vauxhall Vectra.

Silverline Chevrolet’s Alex MacDowall survived three very robust Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Sunday, 20th June, to secure a brace of hard-fought points scoring finishes. Read report

Super GT: One week after his sensational second place at the Le Mans 24 Hours, Benoît Treluyer once again just missed out on victory in Malaysia on the way to his best Super GT result of 2010. On top of his game throughout the weekend, Motul-Autech’s Nissan GT-R star admitted that Sepang, a tricky circuit to master, witnessed one of the strongest performances of his career. Read report

Clio Cup: Not even the return of double champion Paul Rivett could stop Dave Newsham’s dominance of the 2010 ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin championship as the Team Pyro racer claimed another double victory during rounds nine and 10 at Croft circuit on 19th/20th June.The 42-year-old has now made up eight wins from 10 races so far this season, all lights-to-flag, together with 10 poles from 10 rounds to lead by a sizeable 81-point margin. Stancombe Vehicle Engineering’s Rivett, returning to the series after an absence of more than one and a half years, did secure a podium though on his first outing with second in round nine while Total Control Racing’s Sam Tordoff enjoyed a double podium at his home track with two third places. The final podium spot went to JHR Developments’ Lee Pattison, also on home soil, with second during round 10. Newsham and Tordoff also picked up the NGK Masters Cup and Graduate Cup class wins during the weekend as the one-make series reached its halfway point. read report

Total Control Racing enjoyed yet more podium success in both the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup and ELF Renault Clio Cup championships at Croft in North Yorkshire on Sunday, 20th June, thanks to excellent performances from Carl Breeze and Sam Tordoff respectively. In the Ginetta G50 Cup, points leader Breeze increased his advantage at the top of the standings to 18 points over chief rival Frank Wrathall with two more third place finishes – each worth second place points though due to category ‘guest’ driver Stefan Hodgetts not being eligible to score. Read report

Formula Renault: Atech GP’s Marlon Stockinger secured his first victory of the 2010 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship during rounds nine and 10 at North Yorkshire’s Croft circuit on 19th/20th June to become the first ever Filipino driver to win a race. The 19-year-old, who only finished 25th last season, secured a lights-to-flag victory in Saturday’s round nine after also claiming his first ever podium followed by a second-place in Sunday’s televised round 10. The weekend also brought delight for Scottish (Golspie) racer Lewis Williamson, racing for Manor Competition, who secured his second win of the season during the tense round 10 with the 20-year-old dedicating the victory to his dad on Father’s Day who also recently celebrated his 60th birthday. Manor Competition completed a strong weekend for them with a maiden podium for Ollie Millroy (Claygate) with second in round nine and Will Stevens (Oxshott) who secured third in round 10. Fortec Motorsport’s Tom Blomqvist (Saffron Walden) claimed the final podium spot with third in round nine while team-mate Alex Lynn (Dunmow) and Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Fabio Gamberini (Oxford) each picked up a class win in the Graduate Cup. Although absent from the podium, Hungarian driver Tama’s Pa’l Kiss, driving for Atech GP, picked up another good points haul to stretch his title lead to 19-points as the series reaches the halfway stage. read report

A stunning weekend for Atech Grand Prix’s Marlon Stockinger netted two top three starts and maiden victory and second place in the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship at Croft this weekend. Team-mate Tamás Pál Kiss maintains his lead at the top of the points table with fourth and sixth places while the team’s third driver Briton Nick Yelloly drove a storming second race to finish just outside the top ten. Read report

Lewis Williamson secured a lights-to-flag victory during the 10th round of the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship at Croft over the weekend, 19th/20th June, as the Manor Competition team also celebrated podium success for Will Stevens and Ollie Millroy. Thomas Hylkema also raced to a season’s best top six finish during round nine but his hopes of challenging for a first ever Formula Renault UK win in the second encounter, after taking a maiden pole position, vanished seconds after the start when his car ground to a halt with a sensor problem. Read report

Ginetta Junior Championship points leader Jake Hill increased his advantage at the head of the driver standings to nine points at Croft Circuit yesterday, Sunday, 20th June, with his second win of the weekend – the Tollbar racer’s first ‘double’ of the season. It wasn’t easy however as his main championship rival Tom Ingram fought him all the way only dropping back slightly in the closing stages. Read report

Team Parker Racing made an encouraging step forward in its rookie season as a Ginetta Junior Championship team when Adam Bonham and Chris Swanwick both claimed a pair of top-10 results at the North Yorkshire circuit of Croft. Read report

Ginetta G50 Cup: Dynojet’s Adam Morgan continued the run of Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup ‘firsts’ at Croft Circuit on Sunday, 20th June, by claiming his maiden category victory with an outstanding, and unchallenged, lights-to-flag performance during round 14. This cam e after IDL’s Tom Sharp picked up his second win of the weekend with victory on Sunday morning in Round 13 . read report

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: A maiden pole position for Euan Hankey and a best-yet second position for Stephen Jelley indicated that Team Parker Racing is knocking on the door for a breakthrough win in the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB, but Croft did not provide the ultimate achievement of a victory. Read report

Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy finished within just half a second of the Pro-Am 1 Class podium at Croft on Sunday on Round 10 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship. After a disappointing retirement due to a sensor failure in the first race, Round 9, which caused a misfire, the Redline Racing driver got right back into the action in the second race to record an excellent finish. read report

Superleague Formula : The Atech Reid Superleague Formula by Sonangol partnership had four cars competing for the team at Jarama in Spain this weekend. AC Milan’s Yelmer Buurman was looking to repeat his double victory of the last round but on this occasion he had to settle for a second and a third. Read report.

Formula Ford: Scott Pye enjoyed a near-perfect weekend at Castle Combe, Jamun Racing's Australian title hopeful leading from pole to chequered flag in both of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain races to record his fifth and six wins of the season. Pye bounces back into second in the championship as a result of his latest victories, with championship leader Scott Malvern maintaining his 43-point advantage thanks to a brace of podium finishes. In the Scholarship class there were twin wins for Raysport driver Tristan Mingay, with Luke Williams losing and then regaining the class points lead. Read report

Chaz Mostert has extended his lead in the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship after a dominant display at Darwin’s Hidden Valley over the weekend. The young Queenslander set the pace from the opening practice session aboard the Synergy Motorsport Spectrum 012. Being the fastest in practice is one thing, qualifying another and Chaz ultimately qualified in 4th position, 0.2 secs off the fastest lap! “It’s a shame we didn’t get pole,” said Mostert, “but that was a really messy session and I didn’t get a good lap in, so I’m confident we have the pace for the races. Justin (Cotter) has the car spot on and I know we can just keep pumping out the laps.” Chaz was spot on in his assessment, working his way into the lead of race one, building a margin and then controlling the race. He commented, “Racing at this level is never easy, but I felt very comfortable in that race. The Synergy Motorsport Spectrum 012 is so easy to drive that I was able to get into the lead and then maintain the gap without pushing too hard, which meant I could look after my tyres for the other races.” Race two was a lights to flag victory for Chaz, where he quickly established a commanding lead before backing off for the run to the finish. Chaz looked set to make it three wins for the weekend, but in the final race he was leading when he struck oil on the circuit and fell back to 5th place. He set the fastest race lap, but was unable to make up any of the lost positions. His two earlier race wins were enough to give him the round win and stretch his lead in the Championship. “It’s fantastic to come away from Darwin with more wins and a bigger lead in the Championship,” said Chaz. “I want to thank Justin and the Synergy Motorsport team for the hard work this season. The Spectrum was a jet all weekend and I’m sorry we got caught out by the oil in the final race and didn’t deliver the three wins the team deserved,” he added.

Formula 2: Benjamin Bailly scored a triumphant victory on home soil in the second Formula 2 race at Zolder on Sunday after leading from the start to take the flag over three seconds ahead of Jolyon Palmer. Saturday’s first race saw Dean Stoneman take the win from pole with Palmer second, despite having started the race from fifth. Read report

Will Bratt moved back into the top four of the FIA Formula 2 Championship standings at Zolder in Belgium on Sunday, 20th June, after taking a hard-fought fifth place finish during the eighth round of the season. Read report

Ford Mustang Challenge : Jason von Kluge won his fourth Ford Mustang Challenge race of the season after leading every lap from the pole at Mid-Ohio on Sunday with the Capaldi Racing Mustang of Tony Buffomante a close second. "Tony was right there the whole time, he never cut me a break," said von Kluge. "I made a mistake early on in and power slid through the Keyhole and I was really worried about that. I just managed to hold him back. He pushed me right to the end. I couldn't be happier to be up here, it feels great. You can't think about the championship when you are in the car, but I guess it's always in your mind and you know you have to bring it home and not throw it off the track. I just knew I needed to finish ahead of Mr. Buffomante, and he ran a great race again today, but I'm very happy to be up here right now!" Not once during the 45-minute race was the von Kluge JVK Motorsports Mustang without Buffomante looming large in it’s mirrors. For lap after lap the gap between them was less than 2 seconds as they pulled away from the rest of the field. Ben Crosland, starting from third, stayed with the leaders in the early going before settling into a comfortable, but lonely third place. In the final laps, Crosland's Interbank FX-backed No.25 RP Motorsports Mustang kept gaining pace as the laps clicked off, but was unable to mount any serious challenge at the finish. Crosland led home his RP Motorsports stablemate, Pratt Cole who claimed fourth in the No. 88 Western Metals Mustang. Cole after starting from sixth.

20-06-10

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Tim Harvey completed a marvelous day at Croft today (Sunday 20 June) in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB when he made it nine wins from ten races and built his championship lead to 39 points. In a race full of fierce battling, Ollie Jackson won pro-am1 and Glenn McMenamin won pro-am2.In front of a packed Croft crowd and live on ITV4, Harvey (Red Line Racing) once again made the start the decisive moment of the race as he out-dragged polesitter Euan Hankey (Team Parker Racing) on the rush to the first corner. However, Harvey was not able to pull away as Hankey mounted a dogged pursuit as he fended off Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) and Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing). Read report

Archie Hamilton scored two solid finishes today but despite closing the gap to fourth in class to just two points was disappointed with his race results. Saturday’s qualifying didn’t go according to plan when traffic and timing hindered Archie’s fast laps when his tyres were at their best. The consequence was starting fifth in ProAm1 class, from the grid of 12, for both races. Race one saw a good start for Archie and he challenged Ahmad Al Harty on the opening lap to gain a valuable class place. Archie was then holding onto Tony Gilham ahead for the first five laps but from that point his car’s handling and tyres dropped off and he had to hold his position as best he could. Race two was a similar struggle without the performance that he needed to challenge the cars ahead. Having been pushed wide at the first corner having made up ground he couldn’t make any progress through the field and took his points for fifth place leaving him just two points from fourth in the ProAm1 table. Archie Hamilton: “After the glory of podiums at Oulton Park and Le Mans in the last two weekends this has been a really disappointing event. I know that it can’t always go my way but having got close to a class win I really wanted it to happen today. I’m certainly happy to be getting the points but have to look forward to Snetterton to get back on the podium. It’s a track I like so I’ll be training hard and working on set-up to get back to where I want to be.”

WTCC: SEAT and BMW shared victories in Zolder, on the first ever visit of the FIA WTCC to Belgium that was blessed by a crowd of 23,000 despite a cold wind from the North. Jordi Gené came home first in Race 1, but it was his team-mate Gabriele Tarquini who inherited victory after the Spaniard's car failed to pass the technical checks because the air restrictor did not conform. Chevrolet's duo of Yvan Muller and Alain Menu completed the podium.The second race saw one of Andy Priaulx's famous solo escapes from the pole position on the reverse grid. The Briton rejected the assaults from Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro and claimed a much-longed home victory for Bart Mampaey and his BMW Team RBM.Thanks to the solid performances posted by their three top drivers, Chevrolet collected a great deal of points that enabled Muller to maintain his leadership in the Drivers' Championship (but Tarquini and Priaulx closed the gap) and the American brand to stay on top of the Manufacturers.Norbert Michelisz achieved two wins in the Rookie Challenge - and also 12 further points in the overall championship. These results meant that the Hungarian youngster is now one point ahead of Fredy Barth in the Challenge.
Kristian Poulsen claimed his first victory in the Independents' Trophy, while point-leader Sergio Hernández won the second race.The championship will resume for rounds 9 and 10 at Portimão, Portugal, on July 4th.

Moto GP: A crowd of more than 70,000 were at a sun-drenched Silverstone on Sunday, enjoying the successful return of Motorcycle Grand Prix racing t the circuit. Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo celebrated his third win of the MotoGP season, having started from pole position on Silverstone’s new Grand Prix Circuit. Over 145,000 fans experienced a festival of two-wheeled motor racing over all three days of the event, making the most of Silverstone’s new and improved spectator facilities. The 2010 AirAsia British Grand Prix was the first bike event to inaugurate the new 3.666 mile Grand Prix Circuit and riders were full of praise for the fast, flowing, of the new circuit layout. While Lorenzo stole the headlines in the MotoGP class, the British crowd was also treated to a podium finish by British 125cc rider Bradley Smith. Brits Danny Webb and Scott Redding also put in strong performances in front of their home crowd, finishing tenth and fourth in the 125cc and Moto2 races respectively.” Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, said, “It’s been a fantastic weekend for Silverstone. The new Grand Prix Circuit has received rave reviews from the riders and we have had great feedback from the fans. We were aiming for a 60,000 strong crowd on Sunday, so to exceed this by more than 10,000 is superb. I have a great team here at Silverstone who have worked hard to deliver such a world-class event. Tickets are already on sale for next year’s event, which will be even bigger and better.” Tickets for the 2011 AirAsia British Grand Prix are now on sale. For further information and to purchase tickets visit www.silverstone.co.uk. pic Dennis Goodwin

Grand-Am: Every member of AIM Autosport’s Grand-Am Daytona Prototype team is elated following a brilliant race to third place at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday. After being in the hunt throughout the 2h 45m timed race, a push in the final stages saw the Parcific Mobile/Bioisign No. 61 Ford Riley charge to the podium finish and, given another lap, could well have claimed second in the EMCO Gears Classic presented by Keybank. The result advances drivers Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins to 2nd in the Driver Championship while AIM Autosport moves into a tie for 7th in the Team Championship. read report

GT4 Asia: It was an action packed morning race with four drivers each taking a turn at the lead and battles going on up and down the grid throughout Round 4 of the GT4 Asia Cup. Daniel Bilski capped a perfect weekend when he claimed his second win, over the two days, ahead of the Dynaten Concord Motorsport duo Mark Williamson and Ryan Marsden in second and Track Torque Racing’s Matthew Perry in third. Read report

GT3 Asia: Tunku Hammam Sulong had the perfect weekend claiming his second win at the GT3 Asia Round 4 during the Autobacs Super GT 2010 Series. The Malaysian driver, in his Arrows Racing Lamborghini, fended off the fight from the fast improving Craft Racing Ginetta G50’s to move to the top of the points table heading into the next race. Read report

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Tim Harvey became the most successful driver in the history of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB when he scored his eighth win of the season and his 32nd career win at Croft today (Sunday 20 June) in round nine of the championship. While Harvey (Red Line Racing) led from the start to take a resounding victory, Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) took a hard fought pro-am1 victory and George Brewster (Celtic Speed) emerged to win pro-am2 for the first time this season. read report

Superleague Formula by Sonangol rookie Chris van der Drift scored his first ever Super Final victory as the New Zealander’s impressive form netted Greek club Olympiacos a €100,000 prize fund in round 4 of the season at Magny-Cours.Earlier, in race 2, Montagny scored his first Superleague Formula win as he guided the Bordeaux car to victory in an entertaining race while John martin wpon race 1. Read report.

Formula Ford: Chaz Mostert has won Round 4 of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship at the Hidden Valley Circuit in Darwin, becoming the season’s first multiple round winner. After dominating the first two races he dropped to fifth in the third due to oil on the circuit. This allowed Ryan Simpson to take the win from Ash Walsh. Read report

Star Mazda: Conor Daly took his fourth successive win in the Star Mazda Championship with a lights-to-flag victory from pole in the second annual Star Mazda Pizza Ranch 100 at the 7/8ths-mile Iowa Speedway. The win extends his lead in the championship battle to 216 points. Second was Team Apex driver Venezuelan Jorge Goncalvez ahead of his team-mate Brazilian Joao Victor Horto. Read report

Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup: Tom Sharp produced the performance of his career so far at Croft Circuit near Darlington yesterday afternoon to seal his first category race win under immense pressure from ‘guest car’ driver Stefan Hodgetts race report

Round 12 of the G50 Cup at Croft Circuit saw Total Control Racing’s Carl Breeze increase his lead at the top of the championship with a good third place finish. His ELF Renault Clio Cup team-mates Sam Tordoff and Mike Robinson also enjoyed good results during the ninth round of the season, the pair taking third and fifth places respectively to consolidate their championship positions. Team report

Ginetta Jnrs: Jake Hill moved back to the top of the Ginetta Junior Championship standings at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on Saturday after taking a comfortable victory in Round nine. Having won at every circuit so far this year Hill clinched his fifth victory of the campaign to move in the lead in the Championship ahead of Tom Ingram who was third in yesterday’s race. Read report

Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship racer Ahmad Al Harthy was satisfied with his qualifying pace at Croft yesterday after posting the fourth fastest time in the Pro-Am 1 Class for both of the weekend’s 15 lap races. Just a week on from his first ever experience of Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, the 28-year-old returned to the more familiar surroundings of the national UK motor racing scene for the ninth and 10th rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB season. Marking the first time Ahmad has driven his Porsche at Croft, the Oman Air, National Bank of Oman, Brand Oman and Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs-backed driver progressed well throughout pre-event practice on Friday and improved his pace yet further during Saturday’s 30-minute qualifying session.Lapping with a best time of 1m23.863 seconds (91.22mph) to secure fourth in class on the grid for round nine, he backed that effort up with a highly consistent second-best time of 1m23.952 seconds to ensure fourth in Pro-Am 1 for the start of round 10 as well. “Qualifying was the fastest I’ve been all weekend so that’s very positive, it shows we’re improving each time we’re on track”, said Ahmad, “We know we have good race pace and I’m happy where I am on the grid, I think we can have two good races from there to be honest. If we can bang in consistent laps in the races, we should do well.”

Formula 2: Despite an enforced retirement on the final lap of a robust seventh round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at Zolder in Belgium, Saturday, 19th June, category front-runner Will Bratt still maintains a top five placing in the driver standings. Read report

WTCC: Gabriele Tarquini (1:38.265) claimed his second pole of the season for SR-Sport in Zolder today after rain brought an early end to proceedings. Teammate Jordi Gené (1:38.430) will line up alongside him on the grid for Race 1 while Chevrolet's Alain Menu (1:38.494) will start third. Norbert Michelisz (1:39.072) finished top rookie in sixth for the Zengö-Dension Team while local racer Pierre-Yves Corthals (1:39.610) was top Independent in 13th on his season debut for Exagon Engineering. After a closely fought Q1 with the top ten covered by less than 0.4-seconds, the drivers only had chance for one flying lap in Q2 before the heavens opened making it impossible for anyone to improve. Q1 - On a dry track Andy Priaulx was quickest out the box with his first time of 1:39.349 already much faster than any time this weekend so far. As the times continued to drop, the final minutes saw a jostle for positions with Michelisz improving on his final run to knock SR-Sport's Tom Coronel out of the top ten. Darryl O'Young was in the top ten for the majority of Q1 following his promising start to the weekend. However, as the top drivers improved further he ended 14th with a time of 1:39.824. Belgium's Vincent Radermecker (1:40.003) will start 16th for Chevrolet.The top ten going forward into Q2 were Menu, Monteiro, Tarquini, Priaulx, Muller, Gené, Michelisz, Farfus, Barth and Huff.Corthals clocked the 13th fastest lap, emerging as the best of the Independents ahead of O'Young and Kristian Poulsen.Q2 - The 10-minute Q2 session was over quickly as after eight of the top ten had only recorded their first flying laps the rain began to fall. All but the BMW Team RBM cars had set a fast time before the rain fell with Farfus and Priaulx's decision to wait costing them dearly. The final order after one flying lap was therefore Tarquini from Gené, Menu, Muller, Michelisz, Barth, Monteiro, Priualx and Farfus. With the track now wet Tarquini's second pole position of the season, following his first at Marrakech last month, was secured

19-06-10

Star Mazda: Conor Daly, the current championship leader in the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with three wins in a row, set the quick time during three on-track sessions Friday at the 7/8ths-mile Iowa Speedway. Though not an official track record since it was set during a test session rather than qualifying or the race, Daly's lap of 22.156 in (#22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda was quicker than the 2009 Star Mazda pole time of 22.200 set by Juncos Racing driver Peter Dempsey. Read more

Porsche Carrera Cup GB : Tim Harvey and Euan Hankey shared the glory in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during qualifying at Croft today (Saturday 19 June) ahead of rounds nine and ten of the championship. Harvey (Red Line Racing) set the pace for round nine, but Carrera Cup Scholarship racer Hankey (Team Parker Racing) bagged his first pole in the championship for round ten, which will be the 150th race in the history of the Carrera Cup GB. In pro-am1 Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) and Ollie Jackson (Addison Lee Motorbase) shared the leading times in the category, while George Richardson (Motorbase Performance) and George Brewster (Celtic Speed) set the pro-am2 pace, with Richardson claiming his first category pole position. Harvey made the best use of strange track conditions to claim pole for round nine with a best lap of 1m22.191s on his first quick lap of the session. "It could have been a massive amount better," he said after a big slide at the Hairpin. Despite that moment, Harvey was just under a tenth of a second faster than Hankey. However, on second best times, Hankey was ahead by 22-thousandths to claim pole for the weekend's second race. "The track just got slower through the session," said Harvey. "The car was great; I probably should have got two poles," he added. Hankey was elated to claim his first Porsche pole as well as the first pole position for a Carrera Cup Scholarship driver. "I'm absolutely over the moon, but it was a weird session and you had to do your lap straight away." Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing) and Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) were third and fourth for round nine and then reversed places for round ten as Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing) posted fifth best time for both races.In pro-am1, Gelzinis set the pace for the first grid as he really came to terms with the Croft track to make it four poles from six races, while Jackson edged ahead of his championship rival on the second grid. "Traffic, traffic, traffic," said Jackson of his session, after setting his best time on his tenth lap on a new set of tyres. Behind Gelzinis and Jackson in pro-am1 was the evenly matched trio of Tony Gilham (Collins ReDesign Racing) and Red Line Racing's Ahmad Al Harthy and Archie Hamilton.There was a shake up in pro-am2 as Richardson and Brewster took first and second for round nine and then reversed places for round ten. "That's my first pole in the Carrera Cup," said Richardson. "I was just concentrating on being smooth and it's all good learning." Meanwhile, Brewster was equally pleased with the times. "You do have to be committed round here; I'm very pleased with that," he said. In both cases, the gap was no more than a tenth of a second. Paul Mace (GT Marques) and Mark Hazell (JHR) claimed third and fourth places for each race.

Superleague Formula: Australia may have made a bad start to the World Cup after a first game drubbing by Germany, while China haven’t even qualified for the tournament in South Africa, but both nations are celebrating this evening as Aussie John Martin put Chinese club Beijing Guoan on pole position by winning the qualifying knock out at round 4 of Superleague Formula by Sonangol in Jarama. Martin was fast in every session and was the only driver to dip below the 1 minute 21 second barrier in qualifying as he dominated a difficult Group A. He went on to beat championship leader Craig Dolby (Tottenham Hotspur) in the quarter final, fourth placed Max Wissel (FC Basel) in the semis and second place Yelmer Buurman (AC Milan) in the final to secure his first ever Superleague Formula pole position.His battle with the in-form Buurman in the final was a dramatic affair as the Milan star led in the first sector, before Martin turned it around in sector 2 and crossed the finish line 0.254 seconds clear.Buurman will start alongside Martin on the front row for tomorrow’s first race, while the impressive Chris van der Drift (Olympiacos) will share the second row with Wissel, despite the fact that his car missed time in the morning’s free practice session with an oil leak.Row three will see beaten quarter finalists Franck Perera (Flamengo) and Sebastien Bourdais (Olympique Lyonnais) line up alongside each other, the latter unhappy with his set up and unable to repeat the qualifying heroics which saw him take pole position for Peugeot at last weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.English Premier League clubs Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are on row four after losing their quarter final match ups, but both British drivers, James Walker and Dolby, will be hoping to challenge for the win on Sunday.The major surprise of the group stages was the elimination of Davide Rigon in the RSC Anderlecht car. The Belgian club currently lay third in the Superleague Formula table, but the Italian driver has it all to do in tomorrow’s first race, where he will start from the eighth row of the grid after a disappointing time in Group A.Also out in the groups was AS Roma, sixth in the standings, as a frustrated Julien Jousse missed the top four cut off in Group A by just two tenths, while there was more misery for Spain, still reeling from its World Cup defeat by Switzerland, as both home clubs, Atletico Madrid (Maria de Villota) and Sevilla (Marcos Martinez), failed to make it through.

Formula Ford: Factory Enterprises Spectrum driver Chaz Mostert dominated Race 1 at the Hidden Valley Circuit during Round 4 of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship. The championship leader extended his points advantage with a stunning drive to the front of the field, after a close battle with Sonic Motor Racing Services teammates Geoff Urhrhane and Ryan Simpson. Read report

Star Mazda: Due to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the overwhelming interest that this tournament generates in Latin American audiences, P-UNO Motorsports TV has re-scheduled the beginning of 2010 STAR Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear broadcasts on SPEED Latin America for a later date. "Even though the first broadcast was last week, with three games per day, we believe that our STAR Mazda broadcasts will not receive the proper attention from our potential viewers," says P-UNO co-founder Hector Cadematori. "We'll publish the new dates as soon as possible. For the moment, is soccer 24/7 south of the border, but as soon as the FIFA World Cup is over, we'll go racing with STAR Mazda on SPEED Latin America!" When the broadcast schedule resumes, Los Angeles-based P-UNO Motorpsorts TV will air eight races and a season recap on SPEED Latin America in 2010, with broadcasts going to more than forty countries and territories. Please see the www.StarMazda.com web site for race dates.The main targets of the project are three fold: to promote the series in Latin America, to inform drivers from that part of the world about the Star Mazda Championship and encourage them to further their careers by racing in North America, and to generate exposure for the sponsors of South American drivers in their home markets. Serramalera and Cademartori will provide voiceover commentary in Spanish and SPEED will provide a version in Portuguese for the Brazilian market.

WITCH: Augusto Farfus (1:40.096) topped the timesheets in testing for his BMW Team RBM's local event in Zolder on Friday, finishing ahead of Yvan Muller (1:40.259) and teammate Andy Priaulx (1:40.311). Testing got underway at Circuit Zolder today as the World Touring Car Championship makes its first ever visit to the Belgian racetrack this weekend. Brazil's Farfus was consistently at the sharp end but it was his final lap of the session that jumped him from fifth to first as the chequered flag came out. It was a good start to the weekend for BMW Team RBM, who is based less than a 150 km up the road in Mechelen, with Priaulx also in the top three. Bamboo-engineering's Darryl O'Young leapt up the order in the second half of the session, recording a time of 1:40.507 to end fourth, topping the Independents' and Rookie categories in his Chevrolet Lacetti. SR-Sport's Tom Coronel (1:40.647) rounded out the top five. After spending the middle portion of the session in the pits, Chevrolet's Rob Huff (1:40.883) posted the sixth quickest time ahead of teammate Alain Menu (1:40.961). After being quickest at the halfway point, Jordi Gené (1:41.123) ended the afternoon eighth in his SEAT León TDI with reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini posting exactly the same time down to a thousandth of a second around the 4-km circuit.
Local hero Vincent Radermecker (1:41.244) rounded out the top ten on his season debut for Chevrolet, while his fellow countryman Pierre-Yves Corthals set the 21st fastest lap (1:43.279).
The 30-minute session was free of any major incidents with Sergio Hernández spinning his BMW 320si at Turn 1 in the closing minutes.Augusto Farfus commented: "It's a great start to the weekend. Obviously it is just the beginning so there is a long way to go and we were lucky to get a good clear lap this afternoon but everything is looking fine."

Bamboo-engineering's Darryl O'Young clocked a suprising fourth fastest lap in Friday's test session that marked the team's first appearance at the Belgian racetrack. "The team did a fantastic job. It's the first time they and the Chevrolet Lacetti have been to the circuit and they did a great job to give me a good set up right from the beginning. I have been to the circuit before, last year in FIA GT, so I know the track but we do have a few things we need to fine tune still. Overall the car felt good and we were on the pace so I'm really happy with Chevrolet. The grip was pretty low as the track was dirty so everyone will go quicker this for sure. We are going to have to keep working hard to keep up there but there is definitely still time to be found," commented the Chinese driver.

The current FIA WTCC season will remain with the eleven already confirmed events.
The possibility to replace the Mexican meeting - that was originally scheduled at Puebla on April 21st - has finally been dropped after the negotiations with interested event promoters did not meet with the championship's logistic and promotional requirements.Marcello Lotti, CEO of KSO explained: "We did not find the conditions to seal a satisfactory agreement, and taking into account that this is a season affected by the global crisis, we thought it was better to settle on eleven events."

The WTCC rounds in Zolder will be the first FIA races in which gamers worldwide, sitting behind their own PC, will be able to race live against the real drivers using iOpener enabled technology. After months of preparation and testing of the systems in practice and regional races, the iOpener enabled technology will be used for the first time live in an official FIA event.
"We are extremely proud that we can offer gamers from all over the globe the option to virtually participate live in a world championship race. And all that in real-time!" said Andy Lürling, Group President of iOpener.With highly accurate satellite navigation and high-performance software algorithms the real and the virtual are merged. The iOpener enabled racing game plots the real drivers' real times in the game and allows gamers to join the race.Tom Coronel is one of the drivers chosen to be challenged by online gamers: "It is a huge kick to experience the new competitors. You not only need to keep an eye on the guys on the track, but you continuously wonder whether someone online is quicker than you! They will have the same car as me, so everything will be down to the driving skill." Join the WTCC races at Zolder visiting www.realtime-racing.com!

Le Mans: Benoit Treluyer describes his experience in the 78^th Le Mans 24 Hours last weekend, his first driving for Audi, read more

18-06-10

GT3 Asia: A 212km/hour top speed assured Tunku Hammam Sulong the coveted pole position for the Round 3 of the GT3 Asia this weekend at Sepang International Circuit. The reigning GT3 Asia champion will start at the front of the pack tomorrow during the Autobacs Super GT 2010 Series after clocking the fastest time of 2:09.012 a good two seconds ahead of the Ginetta G50Z of Frank Yu. Hammam looked comfortable in the white and blue Arrows Racing Lamborghini LP560, setting the fastest time on lap three and improving his best time by 0.01secs on lap 6. “Basically it was a good session but I thought the grip level was not as good as this morning’s session but I had new tyres, which is why I bettered my time slightly. I was pushing the car and I went off twice but I am still learning this car and I am trying to find out the full potential, so I roughly know where to play with this car now.“I’m quite happy, Frank Yu is about two seconds away so what more can I say” said Hammam. Hong Kong driver, Frank Yu and his Craft Racing teammates are looking to improve on their first outing where all three drivers suffered from technical issues with their cars. Yu currently lies 8th on the championship points table with just 9 points from his fifth placed finish during Round 1. Kevin Tse, guest driver with the SPS Racing Team, claimed the third best time of the weekend when he completed his fastest lap in 2:12.050. Tse will compete in place of Sasha Chu for Round 3 and was quick to impress with his fast and consistent pace. Yu’s teammate, Samson Chan, placed fourth with his time of 2:12.108. David Lai, who was having trouble with his car have had to borrow Michael Choi’s car for the weekend, finding himself in fifth with his 2:12.134. Lining up next to him will be SPS Racing driver Siu Yuk Lung in the Lamborghini Gallardo, who clocked 2:12.404 to claim sixth.

GT4 Asia: All eyes are on Dilantha Malagamuwa and his new Nismo tuned Nissan 350Z this weekend at the GT4 Asia Cup series during the Autobacs Super GT 2010 Series.The Dilango Racing Sri Lanka driver had to partner Adrian Henry D’Silva at the last outing and is making an impression this weekend in the Nissan claiming two front row starts, one of them from pole.Malagamuwa was happy with the result despite the slight uncertainties that he has with the car. “I am very happy with the results. The car came late and we just did the test yesterday. The car is slower than the Aston so I had to push but the handling is better. They (Nismo) could not send their engineer from Japan so we are just running as it is. The car is really nice but it is detuned to a GT4 so the power is not there. I now just keep pushing and brake late in the corners. In the last race, we couldn’t get the car, so Adrian was so kind to let me partner him in his car so that we could collect points” concluded Malagamuwa. He currently lies in a shared third on the championship points table with D’Silva, who claimed third for Round 3 with 2:23.833 and the pole position for Round 4. D’Silva has mixed feelings about the qualifying sessions “In the first qualifying session I managed a P3 which is a bit disappointing considering the practice time I got was 2minutes 22seconds. “I think I’m finding it difficult to get the heat in the tyres and by the time I get the right temperature, the qualifying session is over. So for session 2, I used the same tyres where I have already developed the heat and I immediately managed to get 23 seconds flat which was good enough to put me in P1”. Championship leader, Daniel Bilski of Team Road and Track only went out for two timed laps for both qualifying sessions. Despite the limited laps, a strategy to save tyres for the long race, he managed to clock a best time of 2:23.083 and 2:23.408 to place him in second and third for the two races. The new addition to the series, the Nissan 350Z, is causing a lot of chatter between the drivers and most are claiming Malagamuwa is the man to beat, even his ‘teammate’ from the first two rounds.“Dilantha is expected to be one of the front runners and it will be nice to race with him, my ex-partner” said D’Silva with a laugh.“Dilantha is very quick and we will do everything we can to catch him” concluded Bilski.

Paramatta Smash Repairs Mygale driver Ryan Simpson has topped the time sheets over two close fought practice sessions at the Hidden Valley Circuit during Round 4 of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship. Simpson had the speed throughout both 20-minute sessions and posted the time to beat mid-way through Practice 2, to finish the day ahead of Adam Graham and championship leader Chaz Mostert. “We’re actually struggling a little with the balance of the car here this weekend, which I think is due to the hot weather,” Simpson said.“The performance of the tyre drops away after a few laps, so we need to make some changes overnight to combat that.On a positive note we’ve ended the day fastest and there is still room to improve, so we need to be happy about that.” Second fastest Graham set his quick time in the morning session and looked on track to replicate his speed in Practice 2, until a small off ended his charge. Despite the set-back, the Mygale driver remained positive about his chances in Round 4. “It was slightly disappointing to end the day in that fashion, but overall I’m really happy with how the day has gone,” Graham said. “We haven’t started a weekend this well in some time, so it’s nice to be in a strong position and I can’t wait for Race 1 tomorrow. “ Factory Enterprises Spectrum driver Mostert finished the session marginally behind Graham and was pleased with another consistent start to the weekend. “I feel like we have some really good race pace and although we are struggling slightly with some balance I think we’re in a good position for tomorrow,” Mostert said.Sonic driver Geoff Urhrane was fourth ahead of last round winner Ash Walsh and Nick Foster. Cameron Waters was seventh in a Mygale, while Nathan Morcom, Andre Borell and Tom Williamson rounded out the top 10.
HIDDEN VALLEY, DARWIN, NT - PRACTICE 1 & 2
1. Ryan Simpson, Mygale SJ10a, 1:13.2434
2. Adam Graham, Mygale SJ10a, 1:13.2630
3. Chaz Mostert, Spectrum 012, 1:13.2683
4. Geoff Uhrhane, Mygale SJ10a, 1:13.3320
5. Ashley Walsh, Spectrum 012, 1:13.3940
6. Nick Foster, Mygale SJ10a, 1:13.6068
7. Cameron Waters, Mygale SJ06a, 1:13.7577
8. Nathan Morcom, Spectrum 012, 1:13.7753
9. Andre Borell, Mygale SJ10a, 1:13.8835
10. Tom Williamson, Mygale SJ09a, 1:13.9138ra

Grand-AM: Following a fantastic charge that saw the Pacific Mobile/Biosign No. 61 Ford Riley Daytona Prototype take 4th place at Watkins Glen, missing third by under half a second, AIM Autosport is confident heading to the Emco Gears Classic Presented by Keybank at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. AIM hopes to see its drivers on the podium this weekend, building not only on the recent result but also on the team’s history of being fast at Mid-Ohio. With the car back at AIM’s headquarters for ten days between races, the crew has had ample time for thorough inspections and preparation following the 6-hour race at Watkins Glen. The transport rig left for Lexington, Ohio, yesterday evening and the rest of the team is en route today. The Pacific Mobile/Biosign car and drivers Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins will first see the 2.258-mile-long track today(Friday) for 2 practice sessions before Burt takes qualifying duties in a 15-minute session at 5:00pm. The team will begin Saturday with another 30-minute practice at 8:40am and the Emco Gears Classic, a 2h 45m timed race, is scheduled to begin at 5:00pm. “We always look forward to racing at Mid-Ohio because the track is very technical and challenges both the drivers and engineers,” said Ian Willis, team principal and Cheif Engineer of AIM’s Daytona Prototype program. “Mark has qualified well here in the past two years and this year he will drive the final stint so we look forward to a strong race. I have no doubt that Burt will deliver in qualifying as he did a great job at Watkins Glen.” Burt Frisselle added “I love Mid-Ohio. I’m really psyched,” he enthused. “Last year we ran 1st or 2nd until we were caught out by a yellow, but this is our chance to run with the Ganassi car. I’m more confident here than at any other track. We know we can race at the front this year and have to be perfect to find the top step of the podium.” said driver Mark Wilkins. “Mid Ohio has traditionally been a pretty strong track for us and I expect we will be right up front come race time on Saturday.”

After barely surviving the “Widow Maker,” Gidley and the Doran Team head to Mid Ohio this weekend It wasn’t the picture perfect race for Gidley in round #4 of the DJSA Outlaw jet ski series this past weekend, but then again, just to come away from the “widow maker” in one piece is seen by many as an accomplishment. With the course surrounded by 10ft high concrete walls, and the large and completely unpredictable waves that bounce off of them, just making it around one lap at race speed without incident can be a real challenge. “If there is one course where I still feel like a fish out of water, it’s the widow maker,” said Gidley. “It is so hard to get a rhythm in this crazy water”. When all was said and done, Gidley came away finishing sixth overall after recovering from numerous falls in the choppy water. “After the punishment that I took trying to battle my way to a good finish all day, I was exhausted,” said Gidley. “It is the challenge that motivates me to become faster and stronger. And the “widow maker” is as Challenging as they come.” This weekend he and the Doran team are off to Mid Ohio for the Emco Gears Classic presented by key bank Round 7 of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports car Series race presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. The #77 McDonalds/PR Newswire with drivers Memo Gidley and Dion VonMoltke, currently sit ninth in team point standings. “I am really excited to race Mid Ohio this weekend because I love the track and I have had a lot of success racing here in everything from Formula Ford 2000, Toyota Atlantics to Champ Cars, “said Gidley. “And I also have a ton of respect for the Mid Ohio track owner, the late Jim Trueman who had such a passion for racing and developed this track in to what it is today.” The Mid Ohio course is also considered the home track for Kevin Doran of Doran Racing. The Doran Race Team headquarters are in Lebanon, OH and team owner Kevin Doran has spent many a weekend over the years racing and testing cars at Mid Ohio. And Kevin’s Dad, Jim an Ohio native, owned and ran Queen City Speedway, a half-mile dirt oval in West Chester, Ohio.“It is nice that we are at a track where so many local Doran Racing fans can come out and check us out,” said Gidley. “I have high hopes for Dion and I in the #77 McDonalds/PR Newswire car this weekend.”

Misc News :A new motorsports video website was launched last weekend, RaceFansTV.com. It plays licensed full-length racing videos 24 hours/day across 10 different channels. The site is part of an international initiative to pull together historic motorsports videos online. The site covers everything from F1 to Star Mazda, Touring Cars and Stock Cars. For example both the of the 2008 and 2009 European Late Model Series are on the site. Check them out Stock car Channel

GP3: Yesterday the GP3 Series began a two-day mid-season test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. The test gave the teams and drivers another chance to fine tune their cars ahead of Round 3 on the street circuit in the same city next week. Status GP's Robert Wickens posted the fastest lap time during the afternoon's session in dry and bright conditions which saw thirty drivers on track. Wickens led the pack posting a time of 1:27.881, the Canadian snatching the top spot in the dying minutes of the session on fresh rubber. The Status driver was quickly followed by Tech 1 Racing's Jean Eric Vergne, the Frenchman making a triumphant return to the Series finishing in second. In third spot was ART Grand Prix's Esteban Gutierrez, the Mexican posting a time of 1:28.163. Fourth was RSC Mucke Motorsport's Nigel Melker followed by Manor's James Jakes. Jenzer Motorsport's Simon Trummer finished the session in sixth spot and an impressive performance by Tech 1 Racing's Doru Sechelariu saw the young Romanian take seventh spot. Eighth was Carlin's Dean Smith, ninth Addax Team's Felipe Guimaraes, and rounding out the top ten was Jenzer Motorsport's Nico Muller. The session was marred by a splattering of red flags. GP3 new guy Emmanuel Piget stop on track in his #27 Tech 1 Racing car early in the session, whilst his teammate Jean Eric Vergne caused the second red flag of the afternoon by stopping in the pit lane exit. The third and final red flag was caused by a spinning Lucas Foresti in his #16 Carlin car. In the morning Simon Trummer from Jenzer Motorsport topped the timesheets for almost all of the three hour session. Rising temperatures and a slowing track meant the teams skipped changing to new rubber and saved the fresh tyres for the afternoon. Best track conditions were early on in the morning and Trummer set his quickest time of 1:27.344 on lap 12 out of the pits. The Swiss was closely followed by Wickens who posted a time of 1:27.583. Dean Smith from Carlin finished third with a time of 2:27.790, and Esteban Gutierrez from ART Grand Prix was just behind in fourth.

MotoGP: On the eve of the 2010 AirAsia British Grand Prix (18-20 June) Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta praised a ‘stunning’ Silverstone Circuit as the Northamptonshire venue officially opened its gates to Britain’s round of the MotoGP World Championship. With 50,000 fans having purchased tickets in advance and excellent weather forecast for the weekend, Silverstone is gearing up for a bumper crowd with a range of tickets still available on the gate. “We are delighted to be here at Silverstone”, commented Ezpeleta. “The sun is shining and the whole venue looks stunning. We are very impressed with all the work they have done and are looking forward to a fantastic weekend’s racing on the new circuit. The British fans are some of the most knowledgeable in the world and we expect a great atmosphere.” Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, said, “We’ve had a fantastic response to MotoGP coming to Silverstone. Advance ticket sales have been excellent, but anyone still wanting to come can turn up on the day and purchase tickets on the gate.There is space in the grandstands, so we have made arrangements for fans who have already purchased their tickets to upgrade on site.” “This is the first motorcycle racing event to take place on the new circuit and it should deliver some spectacular racing. We’ve had a great crowd here today for Riders For Health’s ‘Day of Champions’ and, with 50,000 tickets already sold in advance, we’re expecting strong crowds over the next three days. A huge amount of work has gone into delivering this event and we can’t wait for it to start tomorrow.” For further information visit www.silverstone.co.uk.

17-06-10

Top UK motor racing team HHC Motorsport has launched the Junior Race Car Academy in association with Croft Circuit and Ginetta Cars. The Academy is the only place where young drivers can gain invaluable experience in what amounts to a private test session. Whether the drivers have been karting or are complete rookies, they will gain classroom tuition and on-track experience with an ARDS-qualified instructor sat alongside them at all times whilst they get to grips with a Ginetta G40 on an empty Croft Race Circuit. The Academy is operated by HHC Motorsport that brings driver coaching and technical expertise to young drivers. HHC’s Charlie Kemp explained: “The Academy is aimed at drivers who are thinking about starting junior car racing. They may have been karting and want car experience or be looking at going car racing without any karting background. We can cater for both groups: we offer tuition in the classroom to explain the theory, as well as maximum time behind the wheel of a Ginetta G40 with one-to-one top-level ARDS instruction. “The drivers will have the luxury of having Croft Circuit to their self allowing rapid driving development as well as maximum enjoyment. “After that, whether they move into car racing or not, they will leave the Academy as better drivers with a newfound insight into what skills they need to master to win.” Anyone wishing to learn more about the Junior Race Car Academy in association with Croft Circuit and Ginetta should contact HHC Motorsport on 07760 336884 where tutelage, support, guidance and a race-winning car come as part of the package. Brochure

Le Mans: The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010 saw an unusually high number of "Did Not Finishes" even amongst the Factory cars in the LMP1 category (only five LMP1 cars finished compared to eighteen on the starting grid). Unfortunately for REBELLION Racing, both of their cars were amongst those that failed to make it to the chequered flag. read report

Star Mazda: The second annual Pizza Ranch 100, Round 5 of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, will be streamed via live internet video this weekend. The Star Mazda Championship race, scheduled to take the green flag at 7:15 pm Central Time (8:15 pm ET) Saturday, June 19. Other weekend races that are part of the IRL Road to Indy program will also be streamed live; Firestone Indy Lights (8:45 pm Central/9:45 ET) and the Cooper Tires Presents USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda (3:50 pm Central/4:50 ET).The 'on air' team are all motorsports industry veterans, including Kevin Lee, Mark Jaynes and Jake Query. Lee has been an announcer for the Indy Motor Speedway since 2001 and also works the IZOD Indy Car broadcasts on Versus. In addition, he broadcasts for the Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis Colts radio networks. Mark Jaynes has been a pit reporter for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network in 1996. Jake Query has been a member of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network since 2007 and is also a pit reporter for IZOD IndyCar events.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Muscat-based racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy has been signed-up by the Brand Oman Management Unit (BOMU) to help promote Oman through his sporting campaign in the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship. BOMU leads and facilitates the promotion of the Sultanate of Oman as a world class destination where people choose to visit, live and in which companies want to do business and invest. Running in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism’s European campaign, 28-year-old Ahmad will play an important role in helping BOMU raise the sultanate’s profile in the UK and in Continental Europe. The addition of Brand Oman to his sponsorship portfolio follows recently confirmed agreements with two of the sultanate’s most successful businesses, Oman Air and the National Bank of Oman. Speaking about his new Brand Oman ambassadorial role, Ahmad said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be involved with Brand Oman. Being able to help promote my country is a true honour. I firmly believe that through my involvement in international motor racing I can help introduce Oman and all that it offers to a wide and diverse audience. I’m very fortunate to have such a strong package of support for the 2010 season in Porsche Carrera Cup GB. I’d like to thank BOMU, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Sports Affairs, Oman Air and the National Bank of Oman for their backing, encouragement and endorsement.” His Highness Sayyid Faisal Al Said, COO, BOMU commented: “On behalf of BOMU, I’d like to thank Ahmad for the work he will be doing to promote the sultanate. Oman is an emerging global holiday destination known for its unique landscape, people and hospitality. Ahmad will be back on track this weekend, 19th/20th June, at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire for rounds nine and 10 of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship. Heading into the event, the Redline Racing driver is fourth in the Pro-Am 1 Class driver standings.

Next TV dates for Porsche Carrera Cup GB. The fifth programme in the dedicated television coverage of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB will be broadcast in the Motorsport UK programme on ITV4 at 5pm on Tuesday 22 June, on ITV1 on the night of Sunday 27 June and will also be repeated on ITV4 on Saturday 26 June. The Motorsport UK series, which features hour-long programmes, is covering all of the Carrera Cup GB action again this season. Round six of the season at Brands Hatch will feature in this programme.
Motorsport UK will be broadcast as follows:
Tuesday 22 June at 5pm on ITV4
Saturday 26 June at 1pm on ITV4
Monday 28 June at 2.30am (approx) on ITV1

BTCC: Just two days ahead of his debut in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, Daniel Lloyd is inviting businesses and individuals to take advantage of a new and exciting sponsorship initiative – The 500 Club. Launched today, Thursday, 17th June, to coincide with the build-up to his maiden weekend in the BTCC at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire, ‘The 500 Club’ is a way for people to get centrally involved in the 18-year-old’s career for an investment of just £500...and anyone can join. Affording members the best value sponsorship option in motorsport, joining ‘The 500 Club’ will offer a wide and varied package of benefits including – but not limited to – race car branding, hospitality, driver ‘meet and greet’ opportunities and the chance to book a personal track day with Daniel.“The 500 Club is the perfect way for people to get centrally involved with my racing career and to enjoy the sort of benefits that would ordinarily only be associated with four or five figure sponsorship agreements”, explained the Huddersfield teenager, "We’re confident this offers the best value option of its kind in motorsport.” Having risen through the junior ranks of motorsport with success in national karting, the Ginetta Junior Championship and ELF Renault Clio Cup, this weekend’s action, 19th/20th June, marks Daniel’s step-up into the big time with his debut in the BTCC. Driving for multiple championship winning team Triple Eight Race Engineering at the wheel of a Vauxhall Vectra, his weekend will commence with two free practice sessions on Saturday ahead of qualifying. On Sunday, the three races are scheduled to take place at midday, 14.40 and 17.15

Indy Lights: Adam Christodoulou tested one of Andersen Racing's Firestone Indy Lights at Mid-Ohio in Lexington last Thursday. The test was the result of a collaborative effort between Mazda, Performance Friction, the Star Mazda series and Andersen Racing, which was the series' top team in 2008, finished second in 2009 and is currently leading the 2010 team point standings. Performance Friction stepped up to sponsor the test because it is also devoted to supporting rising talent. The company is the exclusive brake pad and disc supplier for the USF2000 National Championship and the Star Mazda Championship. Its products are also used by nearly all the teams in Firestone Indy Lights, which is the final step on the official Road to Indy ladder priot to Indycar it self. Christodoulou completed 89 laps on Mid-Ohio's 2.258-mile road course in Andersen Racing's No. 4 Firestone Indy Lights car, which is normally driven by Carmen Jorda. Christodouilouc has been driving a Mazda RX-8 in the GT division of the Grand-Am Rolex Series this year with the 2008 Star Mazda champion, John Edwards. "I was very pleased with Adam's test," said Andersen Racing co-owner John Andersen. "He showed that with a little bit of seat time he was able to run with the best Firestone Indy Lights drivers." Andersen added. "We were the first team in North America to test Adam in a Star Mazda car back in early 2009, and we knew then what a talent he is," added his brother and team co-owner, Dan Andersen. "It was a real delight to be able to provide our Firestone Indy Lights team and race car and see him perform so well once again. We would welcome an opportunity to have him on our Firestone Indy Lights team sometime in the future." Christodouilou said "The test at Mid-Ohio in the Firestone Indy Lights car definitely put a huge smile on my face. This test was possible thanks to Performance Friction brakes, Mazda and Andersen Racing, and it was a pleasure to be back in a single-seater. At first it was quite strange getting back into a single-seater car, as I hadn't been in one for at least eight months, and I had only been in a Firestone Indy Lights car once last year. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it seemed compared to the scream of the three-rotor Mazda RX-8 I have been racing all season," he added. "I was also braking far too early for all the corners. The brakes felt unbelievably good, and I was over-slowing the car and wasn't getting the best out the brakes until my second or third run. Then I was carrying a lot more speed and was a lot more efficient on the brakes. Everything ran smoothly and we didn't run into any problems. It would have been nice to have put on a new set of tires at the end of the day just to see how I compared to the other seasoned Firestone Indy Lights drivers, but overall it was a fun day and it was nice to be able to test against the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights drivers," he concluded. "I have to say a big 'Thank you!' to all the people who put this deal together for me, especially Performance Friction brakes, MAZDASPEED Development and Andersen Racing. I look forward to hopping into a Firestone Indy Lights car again if the opportunity arises."

Superleague Formula by Sonangol rookie and star driver for La Liga outfit Sevilla, Marco Martinez talks us through a lap of his home circuit, Jarama.“First of all this is an old-style circuit which is really tricky to master. It is quite bumpy and very fast, but with lots of corners, which means you have to concentrate for the whole lap. The main straight is also really long and I think the speeds we will reach there in the Superleague Formula car will be the fastest of the whole year. There are lots of hard braking zones and it is very challenging and exciting for the drivers. The first corner (Fangio) is a slow right hander, about 80k/h. You have to brake hard but you must be careful as it is very easy to lose the rear end when you put the throttle down on the exit. Turn 2 (Varzi) is a fast right hander. It should be flat in these cars, but it’s difficult to do it because you have to stay over to the right hand side to get a good line into the next corner. Turn 3 and 4 (Le Mans and Farina) is a long left, then right ‘S’ complex and you have to sacrifice the first one in order to get the second, which is the slowest corner on the whole circuit, right. The exit of turn 4 is very important as it leads onto a straight with a fast, uphill left hander (Pegaso) in the middle. This corner should be flat in a car this powerful, but you can never be sure as all the fast corners are tricky at Jarama. In qualifying and maybe in the race on fresh tyres it should be, but we’ll have to see! Then comes the flat out right/left flick at Ascari, but you need to be very careful because the braking point for Turn 7 (Portago) comes as you’re still turning and it is crucial to get your braking right here. Portago is a really slow, second gear right hander with a very long exit. You have to be really patient before getting the power down and it’s easy to have oversteer problems here. “Next up is the famous Bugatti corner, which is also very fast but difficult to do flat as it is so bumpy and comes just before the big braking zone for Turn 9 (Pegio). Bugatti is a real challenge and it’s a challenge to get it right consistently lap by lap. Turn 9 is a double-apex left hander and is also very tricky because there are bumps mid-corner. As there are no real kerbs at Jarama, if you go wide on the exit then you are on the grass. “Turn 10 (Monza) is the penultimate corner and is another double-apex, but this time a right hander. It is another difficult one as you are braking as you turn in and then it is important to get on the gas early on the exit to set yourself up for the straight. “There is one more corner (Tunel) but that is easy flat as you build up speed for the long main start/finish straight before you’re braking hard for Turn 1 again.”

Ahead of Superleague Formula by Sonangol’s fourth round of the season at Jarama this weekend, the championship is pleased to announce that its potential worldwide audience continues to grow thanks to the addition of new broadcasters.Now in its third season, Superleague Formula has already received the support of more race promoters, teams and established drivers to participate in a series that has increased from six to 12 rounds in 2010, each of which includes the highly competitive and unique three-race format.Superleague Formula is therefore seeking out new horizons with Jarama’s round set to be broadcast throughout more than 120 countries across five continents. Those without access to SF’s television coverage meanwhile will be able to watch the action live online via www.superleagueformula.com.

16-06-10

MG Trophy: The last time the MG Trophy Championship went to Knockhill, both Anthony Reid and Colin Turkington raced as guest drivers. Anthony winning both races. The weekend of the 26/27th June is the annual Speedfair event at Knockhill andf the MG Trophy will be there. Unlike all of the other MG Trophy rounds, this is not an MGCC organised event and Macwaters has allocated this weekend as the Trophy’s ‘thank you’ to the three Scottish drivers, Colin Robertson, Graham Ross and Paul Luti, who travel south to all the Trophy’s double header race weekends. Robertson is sponsoring the Sunday race in memory of his late father, Stewart Robertson, and this will no doubt be a special weekend for him. Despite the distance, there is expected to be 17 drivers for the races. Along with rounds of the Scottish Formula Ford championship, Equipe GT, Formula Junior, Pirelli Ferrari’s, Mini Cooper’s and the Scottish Classic Sports and Saloons it should be a great weekend. Read more

The Le Mans Classic takes fans inside the history of the most famous endurance race in the world, the Le Mans 24 Hours. Only cars that have competed in the race between 1923 and 1979 are eligible to take part in the event, which is held every two years. Staggered races (which include the traditional Le Mans-style starts) will see nearly 470 cars, divided into six categories based on their year of manufacture / competition, competing across 24 hours on the 13.629km track, sometimes in the hands of previous Le Mans 24 Hours winners such as Henri Pescarolo, Derek Bell and Jan Lammers. This is an opportunity to see stunning cars, such as the Chenard and Walker entered in the first edition of Le Mans in 1923 or the Porsche 908 used by Steve McQueen during the filming of the Le Mans movie, race again. Patrick Peter, General Manager of SAVH, added: “We created the Le Mans Classic in 2002 with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and we are delighted that the event has continued to grow. We are very pleased to offer TV viewers thorough coverage in France and Europe thanks to Motors TV. The teams of Jean-Luc Roy and those at the Le Mans Classic are driven by the same passion and we will do everything we can to bring car lovers the best possible show, on location and in front of their TV screens.”
Le Mans Classic: Friday 9 July from 9.15pm. Saturday 10 - Tuesday 13 July from 8.40pm
Photo credit: Tony Brown

Ginetta G50 Cup: Carl Breeze heads to Croft as the leader of the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup after two dominant race wins at Oulton Park. Twelve months ago, Carl Breeze came to Croft feeling the effects of a monster shunt at Oulton Park. This year he comes to North Yorkshire as the Championship leader and with his confidence sky-high after crushing the field at Oulton Park at the start of June. Breeze (TCR) is excellent when leading from the front, it seems to give him confidence and he was able to use that to his advantage to draw clear of Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) who by his own admission is not a massive fan of Oulton Park. Breeze bagged two wins, a point for pole and fastest lap over the weekend and has a slender three-point lead in the title race, whereas Wrathall's damage limitation exercise at Oulton keeps him in the hunt. He will be looking to bounce back this weekend as the series returns to its 3-race format after the constraints of the timetable at Oulton where there were just 2. Oulton Park also marked out some other drivers incuding Chris Dittmann (CDR) who ran well in both races, particularly race two when he moved past Wrathall on the opening lap and then kept Breeze of his toes for the first half of the race. Only a spin at Old Hall, spoilt his run and dropped him to sixth. Stephen Tyldsley is another who took a podium and a fastest lap at Oulton Park. The former Renault Clio racer has switched to HHC Motorsport, run by former Ginetta staffers Charlie Kemp and Jodie Hemmings. The Harrogate-based team has excellent qualifications (Hemmings is a former F1 engineer) and racer Kemp is a well-respected driver coach. The effect they had on Tyldsley was clear at Oulton Park where he raced better than ever and should be a factor here this weekend, too. Mark Davies, the reigning Ginetta Challenge champion for the older G20 models, also enjoyed one of his better races of the year at Oulton Park by taking fourth in race one but a spin in race two scotched his chances of a repeat. The Hetherington brothers, Ben and Freddy, continue to display good pace with Ben the quicker of the two at present although the gap between them is narrowing. Ben has been on the podium this season and could well achieve that again at Croft. Others that shouldn't be ignored include former National Hot Rod World Champion (many times over) Colin White who found increased pace at Oulton en route to another win in the Chairman's Cup for the over 40-year-olds, although his second race was rudely interrupted by Martin Donnelly in the guest car who used him as a brake. Alice Powell, splitting her time between single-seaters and sports cars this year continues to impress while Julien Draper made a step forward in terms of pace at Oulton as did Phil Broad. After Oulton Park, though, the question is: Can anyone stop Breeze? pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Ginetta Jnr: Tom Ingram heads the Ginetta Junior Championship as the teams head to Croft this weekend. After eight races the Ginetta Junior Championship is continuing to provide some of the best racing on the TOCA package. With the teenager drivers adapting to the new-for-2010 Ginetta G40, new teams and the lure of a BTCC test drive, it’s no wonder that the racing is fierce this year. After another solid weekend at Oulton Park where he steadily collected points, Tom Ingram heads the championship by 10 points from Jake Hill and while Ingram doesn’t seem to have the ultimate pace of Hill at present, he does have an ability to keep out of trouble and score points. This will be crucial at the end of the 20-round championship and you can expect him to be in the leading group this weekend as usual. Jake Hill (Tollbar) has taken more wins than anyone, four out of the eight rounds held to date and all of his winning has come on Sunday whereas the Saturday race seems to be when he has his dramas. Hill remains a very quick driver but has his occasional wild moments. They are fewer than before but a clash with reigning champion Sarah Moore at Brands Hatch cost him points and hence he is playing catch-up, despite his 4 wins. Jody Fannin was impressive at Oulton Park where he took a win to back up his Brands Hatch success and the Ginetta rookie has become a major thorn in the side of the more experienced racers. Louise Richardson impressed at Oulton Park as well where she took pole for race one and a second third place finishes over the two races. Her battle with Hill in race one was a highlight and her never-say-die attitude marked her out as a real racer. If she maintains the same form here, Ginetta Junior racing could have another female race winner. Reigning champion Sarah Moore looks to be struggling in terms of results although Ginetta insiders reckon she is driving better than ever – it is luck she is short of, not ability. Her brother David is getting faster all the time and drove well at Oulton Park last time out. For Ingram, though, he needs to outscore Hill this weekend. The championship is building up very nicely, thank you.

Star Mazda drivers head for second annual 'Pizza Ranch 100' at Iowa Speedway with championship leader Conor Daly looking to make it four in a row. The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear gets Round 5 of the 13-race 2010 season underway at the 7/8ths-mile Iowa Speedway tri-oval this weekend. This is the second of two oval races in 2010 and they represent a graduation to the next level of oval education for the drivers. Having distinguished themselves with a exciting 115-lap race during the 'Night Before the 500' at O'Reilly Raceway Park in May, the drivers will now be averaging 145 mph in 100-laps of wheel-to-wheel racing in the second annual Star Mazda Pizza Ranch 100 on Saturday. The race is part of the 'Road to Indy' activities (including USF2000 and Indy Lights) leading up to the IndyCar Iowa Corn 250 on Sunday. Currently leading the Championship having won the last three races is Conor Daly, driver of the #22 Juncos Racing Mazda, who finished 2nd in this race last year. Of the drivers in this event, five also ran here in 2009, they include Canadian David Ostella who started 5th and finished 3rd; Texan Rusty Mitchell who qualified 6th and finished 4th; Norwegian racer Anders 'The Viking' Krohn who qualified 9th and finished 6th; Brazilian Caio Lara who qualified 17th and finished 9th and Venezuelan Jorge Goncalvez who started 14th and finished 21st. Rookies who bear watching include Canadian Mikael Grenier who qualified on the pole and finished 2nd, Brazilian Joao Victor Horto who finished 3rd, Frenchman Tristan Vautier who crossed the line in 6th place and Californian Connor De Phillippi, the current MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder scholarship winner. He was the 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series champion and is one of three open-wheel 'ladder series' champions in the field, including Chris Miller the 2009 Formula 2000 champion, and Carlos Linares the Venezuelan Formula 1600 champion.

Le Mans: Strakka Racing male LMP2 history at Le Mans: The final hours of the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours ran every gamut of emotion, from the abject despair of Peugeot, to the euphoric delight of those who won their classes. Strakka Racing is proud not only to have won LMP2 at the team's first attempt, but to have done so in dominant style; leading from pole to finish; setting a new class lap record; completing the greatest distance ever covered by an LMP2 car; crossing the line in the highest position yet achieved in LMP2 (5th overall), and winning the Michelin Green X Challenge award for Le Mans 2010. read report

The RML AD Group Lola HPD, driven by Mike Newton, Thomas Erdos and Andy Wallace, added another Le Mans LMP2 podium to their tally by finishing third in this year's 78th Le Mans 24 Hours. The team won the class in 2005 and 2006, but despite a near perfect run last weekend, couldn't match the outright pace of 2010 winners Strakka Racing. Read report Pic David Lord, Dailysportscar

Pegasus Racing overcame all the obstacles in its path to be at the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours. The fledgling team from Strasbourg and it’s new car handled their Sarthe debut with all the expertise of a well-honed top-level endurance squad. But a misunderstanding on the track led to the French car's retirement in a race in which the favourites also had their fair share of misfortune! Read report

Formula Renault: Croft hosts the ninth and 10th rounds of the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship this weekend, 19th/20th June -- a track which Thomas Hylkema believes could provide his best results of the 2010 season. The 21-year-old Dutchman, who is 10th overall in the points table, has suffered more than his share of on-track misfortune during the current campaign but aims to conclude the first half of the championship with a flourish this coming Sunday. During official testing at the circuit last month, Thomas steered his Manor Competition Car to the eighth quickest time -- just 0.2secs shy of the top four -- and sees no reason why he can't push for a top six start for each of the weekend's races. He said: "I enjoy Croft, there are some good high-speed and medium speed corners and it's the sort of track where it's critical to get the corners absolutely right. It can be easy to crash if you push too hard, especially at Sunny In and Sunny Out and the left-hander into the complex. You really need to use your mind at Croft -- it's very easy to be greedy and to then end up going off. We went well in testing at Croft last month but I know there is time to be gained so I'll be working hard with the team to maximise my pace. I really hope we can have a decent and stable weekend at Croft with a good qualifying, two solid races and a lot of points. If I can take a couple of top five or top six starts and convert them into similar results I'll be very pleased."

Karts: Jordon Lennox-Lamb overcame a troubled qualifying session to notch up his finest results of 2010 to-date in the WSK Euro Series at Sarno in Italy. Taking a third and a fourth place to end his campaign on a high and set himself up in style for the forthcoming inaugural WSK World Series and CIK-FIA European Championship Final. Read report

Jack Hawksworth warmed up for the finale of the CIK-FIA European Championship at the end of this month with a return to the podium following a brilliant performance from the back of the grid in the German DKM Championship at Oschersleben. pic Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net read report

Formula 3: Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori claimed two strong fourth place finishes and a solid haul of points despite a weekend beset with bad luck at rounds 5 and 6 of the Japanese F3 Championship in Fuji. Read report

Superleague Formula by Sonangol is ready to host a festival of motorsport, football and music as the series celebrates the World Cup in style at round 4 of the 2010 season at Jarama, Spain this weekend. Tottenham Hotspur are leading the table by 54 points from AC Milan, with Belgian giants RSC Anderlecht in third. Each clubs’ driver, Craig Dolby, Yelmer Buurman and Davide Rigon respectively, is expected to be a front runner again this weekend. However Atlético Madrid and Sevilla will be hoping home advantage will help them climb the table. Both clubs are currently tied on 106 points and sit 11th and 12th in the standings.Atlético’s María de Villota enjoyed her best performance of the season at Magny-Cours in the last round and having visited the Rojiblancos’ Vicente Calderon Stadium last week to promote the race, the Madrid-born driver is counting on the club’s fans to roar her to success.Marcos Martínez carries the hopes of Sevilla on his shoulders, the Superleague Formula rookie hoping to repeat the Andalusian club’s two podium finishes at Jarama last season, while Borja García may be representing 18-time Portuguese champions Sporting Club de Portugal, but the 27-year-old Spaniard is also hoping to impress at his home event. Meanwhile, several drivers will be heading to Jarama fresh from the challenge of competing the Le Mans 24 Hours. Olympique Lyonnais’ Sebastien Bourdais took a fine pole position for Peugeot Sport in the 78th edition of the Grand Prix of Endurance, but saw his challenge end early in the race through suspension failure, while fellow Peugeot driver, Bordeaux’s Franck Montagny, led for the first half of the event until suffering engine failure on Sunday morning. Roma’s Julien Jousse (Luc Alphand Aventures) was also forced to retire after running strongly in the GT1 class, but Galatasaray’s Tristan Gommendy (WR/Salini) did make the chequered flag, finishing eighth in the LMP2 category. The four Frenchman will now be looking to quickly re-adjust to a very different style of racing at Jarama this weekend.

Club Racing: While this weekend is a rare quiet one for the BRSCC with none of their Centres running a meeting, the Ma5da MX5’s have an away day at Castle Combe for rounds 10 & 11 of the incredibly popular Championship. As has been the case all season over 60 drivers have entered which will mean the cars being split into two groups. Doncaster ’s Rob Boston heads for the picturesque Wiltshire circuit with a 1 point advantage over 2009 champion Tom Roche with Jonathan Greensmith just a further 6 points behind. Full details of the Combe meeting can be found here CASTLE COMBE

Former Watford, AC Milan and England striker Luther Blissett helped out the BRSCC South Eastern Centre at Brands Hatch last weekend by taking on the role of the Safety Car driver. The ex-footballer has a long standing interest in motorsport having founded Team 48 Motorsport with fellow former professional players John Barnes and Les Ferdinand with the aim of promoting young racing drivers of Afro-Caribbean background. Luther also assisted on the podium presenting trophies & garlands to some of the race winners. An interview with Luther is planned for the BRSCC website, meanwhile the meeting report from the busy two day meeting at Brands Hatch can be found there BRANDS HATCH 12-13th JUNE

Ford Racing’s Kevin Shortis celebrated 21 years in motorsport at the BRSCC Northern Centre meeting at Cadwell Park earlier this month and marked the occasion by hosting a party in the paddock for competitors, marshal and officials. It was back in 1990 at a chilly Cadwell that the story began for Kevin when the Ford Saloon Car Championship made its maiden appearance. Since then, and many motorsport championships later, Kevin still feels passionate for motorsport and continues to administer existing championships whilst preparing the launch of the new Fiesta Junior Championship in 2011. The intervening years have seen Kevin take on many roles ranging from Ford's Boreham Motorsport facility, where he played a leading part in setting up the Ford Rally Ka Championship, to working with the BRSCC, BRDC and BARC to help run the highly acclaimed Best of British Motorsport package. A long stint with the Ford RS Owners' Club from 1985 - 1992 as company secretary gave Kevin a close association with the Blue Oval and he is known for his total commitment to all things Ford. His unwavering support for the marque has been recognised both within and outside the Ford Motor Company - the Ford Saloon Car Championship, the Ford Fiesta Championship and the Ford XR Challenge are familiar names. Commentating on the milestone Kevin said, “It has been my good fortune and a privilege to have met so many fantastic people. Motorsport in the UK is very strong and well supported and I hope my small contribution has enabled it to continue to grow and be successful. My thanks go to all the competitors and sponsors who over 21 years have been so supportive and instrumental in helping us all achieve such success. I would also like to thank the BRSCC and the MSA for their help over those 21 years”. For more information on the championships run by Kevin click FORD RACING at the BRSCC Website

BRSCC Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship competitors are experiencing something of an unusual (and perhaps unique?) situation this season as the two main protagonists for the title are a father and daughter! Following the Cadwell Park double header earlier this month, Chris Healey, running a 3 litre GTV in Class C, leads daughter Mel’s Class E 156 by just 2 points. Both head for Anglesey the weekend after next for two more rounds determined to keep the pressure on each other but they will have to keep an eye on the growing threat posed by Andy Inman, also in a 156, who is closing fast. To keep right up to date with the Alfashop backed championship visit www.alfaracer.com

The most successful Formula Ford 1600 driver in the country will earn a free entry into October¹s Formula Ford Festival in a new challenge created by the BRSCC and Motorsport News. MN are collating driver rankings for the category by awarding points for every FF1600 race in the UK this season. The racer at the top of the standings on Monday, October 4 will earn the £295 prize. The competition is called the Motorsport News Road to the Festival. Drew Furlong , the BRSCC Competitions Director, endorsed the initiative. He said: “We see the Motorsport News Road to the Festival rankings as a very positive move. Anything that engenders more interest in the category has got to be good news. It will certainly enable the Kent-engined community to keep up to date with who is doing what in the various regional championships across the UK .”
Australian Jordan Skinner, who is taking part in a number of championships this season, leads the current rankings with 97 points from Darren Burke and John Farrell. Don Hardman runs Skinner's car and he said the prize would help generate more interest in the October 16/17 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch: “Kent Formula Ford is one of the most popular categories across the country. This will bring everyone together and will highlight who the big players are going to be when we get to the Formula Ford Festival. It's a great idea.” Current points leader Skinner, 19, added: “It's going to be a great incentive for everyone to keep pushing throughout the year and it's another thing to win, which is what all drivers want. I hope I can maintain my position at the top.”

Data logging experts Race Technology attended the BRSCC Snetterton meeting at the end of May to display their product range to drivers competing at the meeting. The Nottinghamshire based company produces data loggers, dash displays and video recording systems that can be used on their own or built up into a complete data logging/video recording and display solution. For further product information email sales@race-technology.com or click the following links: DL1 Data Logger ; DASH 2 display ; VIDEO4.

The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge championship battle dialed up another notch in intensity after Tony Buffomante's Watkins Glen race win catapulted him to a five point advantage over Jason von Kluge in the championship standings. That 5 point edge will surely be tested this weekend as this Sunday's race at Mid-Ohio marks the start to the second half of the 2010 season as the series returns to the 2.258-mile road circuit for round six of the championship. Buffomante's Watkins Glen pole and flag to flag run up front marked his second win in succession after he took his first victory of the season just a week earlier when the Mustang Challenge visited Lime Rock Park as part of the Memorial Day weekend event. Von Kluge, who took wins in the three opening rounds, had a strong start to the Glen race as he threatened for another podium, only to suffer a braking issue and come home in eighth. For von Kluge, the return to Mid-Ohio should be welcome news, as he's had the extra challenge of learning new tracks the past two rounds. While hisrace pace and qualifying showed him to be very quick at both Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen, he's happy to be going to a track that he already knows. Buffomante has a podium result at Mid-Ohio to his credit, having scored third in the Mid-Ohio round last season to von Kluge's run to sixth. "The Capaldi Racing guys have been doing an awesome job and I just want to keep doing what we've been doing the last few rounds," said Buffomante. "We are going to have to be strong because I know that Jason (von Kluge) and everyone else are right there with me ready to take it and I don't want to make it easy for them. It was great to be on the podium at Mid-Ohio with my dad and family last year, and I'd like to do it from the top step this weekend!"

The FIA WTCC will travel to Zolder this weekend for rounds 7 & 8 and tyre supplier Yokohama will be on-hand to support teams and drivers, but what does the weekend at the race track entail for the Yokohama team? Three tyre engineers travel to each WTCC event, one of which is Technical Consultant Ian Beveridge, whose role it is to monitor the tyre performance and wear, as well as provide advice to the teams. "During a typical race weekend, my team and I arrive at the circuit by 8.00am at the latest and often work until 7.00pm," said Beveridge. "On the Thursday before a race we would normally inspect the circuit, record the relative grip level and compare it to data taken the previous year, which can vary if it has rained or there have been heavy frosts over the winter. However, as Zolder is new to the WTCC for 2010 we can't do this, so we will have to start afresh and collect all the information relevant for us during the weekend. We walk the full length of the circuit looking for hazards, such as bumps and drain covers on street circuits to steep kerbs or sharp stones in the gravel traps on conventional circuits. From this information, we can advise the teams on the track conditions they can expect for the weekend ahead." At each event, the team also suggests working limits for tyre pressures and camber, specific to that track under the current conditions. "Often teams will approach the YOKOHAMA team for advice on how aggressive they can afford to be with their set-up without negatively affecting the rubber," explained Beveridge. "It is our job to let them know how much camber they can run without creating undue stress on the tyre." Although the entire race weekend is always busy, it's the Saturday of the event that the YOKOHAMA tyre engineers are at their busiest. Beveridge added: "With two practice and qualifying sessions we need to be on-hand for the teams and drivers to ask any questions that arise during these four sessions. Also, with the FIA taking the WTCC race cars into Parc Ferme for scruitineering after the qualifying session, we need to stay onsite until they are released in order to deal with any last minute questions before race day. The Sunday's tend to be more straightforward: however, if conditions have changed overnight, we are available to make suggestions according to the weather. Throughout the day we record data from the tyres, looking for signs of stress or wear. It's a long weekend, but when we leave the circuit we know we've recorded information that will help us improve the YOKOHAMA products across our complete range."

Moto GP: Race day ‘General Admission’ tickets sold out for Silverstone MotoGP - Grandstand tickets still available for all three days - Following high levels of demand, Silverstone has announced that general admission tickets for the Sunday of the 2010 AirAsia British Grand Prix (18-20 June) have now sold out. However, grandstand tickets are still on sale for all three days. Tickets for Practice on Friday and Qualifying on Saturday are also still available from £20 and £40 respectively. In order to make the next category of ticket more affordable, Silverstone has priced ‘Silver Grandstand’ tickets at £75 (for race day) – just £5 more than a race day general admission ticket would have cost. Tickets can still be purchased in advance, for collection at the circuit and will be available on the gate. Ticket holders will also have the option to upgrade their tickets during the event. Tickets for the 2010 AirAsia British Grand Prix are still available and can be purchased on the gate. For further information, or to purchase tickets in advance, visit www.silverstone.co.uk, or call 0844 3750 500

14-06-10

F2000: Victor Carbone took his fourth win in six races by taking a solid victory at Mosport in his Alegra Motorsports Van Diemen. The 17-year old Brazilian started from pole and held off an early challenge from Cole Morgan before pulling out a gap en route to the checkered flag. Carbone opens a bigger championship lead over 2007 F2000 title winner, Cole Morgan, who finished second with yesterday’s run-away winner, Remy Audette, rounding off the podium. “It wasn’t as easy as it may have looked,” said Carbone, who also ran the fastest lap of the race and picks up more bonus points. “I got a great start and then just pushed from there and looked forward.” Read report

Le Mans: OAK Racing Team Mazda France continued their incredible run of form at the Le Mans 24 Hours in recent years with a third consecutive podium finish. The #35 Pescarolo-Judd driven by Matthieu Lahaye, Guillaume Moreau and Jan Charouz produced a typically professional performance to run quickly and consistently throughout the twice-round-the-clock endurance race on their way to second position in LMP2 and seventh overall. Read report

David Brabham and Highcroft Racing’s second place in LMP2 was lost in the 20th hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours 2010 when a cooling problem ended the team’s debut and Brabham’s hopes to secure a fourth consecutive class title at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Drivers Brabham, Marino Franchitti and Marco Werner put on an impressive show in France engaging in a fierce battle for the LMP2 lead with eventual winner Strakka Racing. Regardless, Brabham and the team’s outstanding first-time efforts haven’t gone un-noted and the reigning American Le Mans Series Champions leave Le Mans as serious contenders for the 2011 re-match. Read report

Aston Martin Racing factory driver Sam Hancock had an unfortunate end to his Le Man 24 Hours when his Aston Martin LMP1 retired in the final hour when he and his team-mates were the leading petrol-powered car in fourth place overall. Their #009 LMP1 coupe had run trouble free for 23 hours when Sam, having all-but completed his final triple stint and with team mate Darren Turner waiting in the pits to reel off the race's final 50 minutes, the Aston Martin slowed dramatically with smoke coming from the rear. Read report

SEAT Supercopa: The weekend of 5/6th June saw Freddy Nordström make his return to the Jarama circuit, near Madrid, for round two of the Spanish SEAT Supercopa Championship. However things didn’t go well for Freddy at the circuit near Madrid. Engine problems put him out of the running in race , while officialdom prevented his appearance in race 2 before an accident completed his miserable weekend in race 3. read report

Saloons: Revolution Wheels supported Nippon Challenge racing driver Vaughan Fletcher is keen to consolidate his series lead as the season moves to Castle Combe Raceway, a circuit that the reigning Nippon Challenge GT300 Champion has never competed on before. Fletcher has enjoyed the best possible start to the 2010 season, taking pole and outright victories in all four races so far. However with as this is his first visit to the Wiltshire circuit he will be aiming to consolidate the series lead. Vaughan Fletcher; “Heading to Castle Combe is exciting as it’s a new circuit and bit of an unknown for us! We are not content to sit on our laurels as there is a long way still to go and will be aiming for a strong run this weekend! “

Porsche Carrera Cup France: Tim Harvey claimed a podium finish at Le Mans on Saturday when he was one of five drivers from the Porsche Carrera Cup GB to contest a race for the Porsche Carrera Cup France on the morning of the most famous motor race in the world. While Harvey led the race for 30 minutes and finally finished third overall, Archie Hamilton was a fine eighth, Alex Martin was 12th and Glenn McMenamin finished 15th in the 40-strong field. Only Ahmad Al Harthy failed to finish from the Carrera Cup GB squad after his car was damaged in qualifying. Frustratingly, Al Harthy was heading for a top six grid position at the time. Harvey was among the pacesetters in qualifying and started the race from fourth on the grid. With a damp track, all the field bar one elected to start on wets and Harvey used all his wet weather prowess to lead the race for 30 minutes. Unfortunately for Tim, Frenchman Sylvain Noel had gambled on slicks and was able to rush ahead in the final 10 minutes of the race to win. Then, Kevin Estre, running on the wet tyres from the French Carrera Cup, edged Tim back to third in the closing moments. "It was great fun leading the race and it looked like we could win," said Harvey. "But the podium was our realistic goal and to stand on the podium at Le Mans was fantastic. The whole weekend was a great experience; the circuit and atmosphere was brilliant. There is no other circuit and event like it in the world." Meanwhile, Hamilton had a fine race to take eighth place and a podium finish in the Junior category. "It has been an incredible experience," said the 19-year old racer. "My grandfather won here in 1953 and my father was so proud he was crying." Martin and McMenamin also gave excellent accounts of themselves in their first race at this level and their first experience of Le Mans.

BTCC: Alex MacDowall heads to Croft this weekend, 19th/20th June, with his confidence sky-high after showing outstanding pace during the previous Dunlop MSA BTC event at Oulton Park just over a week ago. For his ‘home’ event a few days from now, the Cumbrian Silverline Chevrolet driver is aiming for nothing less than a front-row start for the opening race and at least one podium finish having been consistently strong at Oulton Park. Missing out on the top spot in qualifying at Oulton by only 0.069 secs, the races were largely hampered by bad luck for Alex – in particular the third encounter which he led until a driveshaft failure occurred on the fourth lap.“We should really have had pole position for the first race at Oulton but I made a mistake on my best lap in the final sector and that made all the difference”, said Alex, “At Croft, I think we should be just as strong so I’m aiming to qualify on the front row – it’d be nice to take the pole we should have had at Oulton. Croft is definitely one of my top two favourite circuits – it’s my local track and there’s always a very good atmosphere. It’s a daunting track and it’s fast too, which is what I like, plus it’s been a good circuit for me in the past. Last year I had a double pole, a win and a second place in Clios so I’m focused on trying to re-produce that sort of performance in the touring car.” With fast straights, tricky chicanes, the challenging right-hander at Sunny In and Sunny Out and the all-important complex section leading to the final hairpin, Croft’s 2.1-mile circuit certainly has a bit of everything for the drivers and Alex is confident his Chevrolet Cruze will lend itself well to the track. He added: “Although we should be quick on the straights, the Chevy will probably be strongest through the twisty parts of the track as it has very good grip on turn-in. I’m looking forward to the weekend, hopefully we can have a strong qualifying and three trouble-free races.”

ELF Renault Clio Cup: Kent racing driver James Dixon heads to Croft this weekend aiming for season’s best results during the ninth and 10th rounds of the ELF Renault Clio Cup. The 20-year-old has made a strong impact in Clios so far. In just four races he has three ninth place finishes and a best result of eighth just over a week ago at Oulton Park. Racing with Total Control Racing James had an excellent debut in Round 2 at Rockingham. His initial progress was impacted at the next event, Brands Hatch, when an unfortunate accident during pre-event practice ruled him out of the weekend’s races. Bouncing back on the official test days during the three-week break before Oulton Park, James impressed by setting second fastest time overall at Silverstone’s newly configured Grand Prix Circuit, at Snetterton a week later he was second fastest again – a mere 0.097 seconds adrift of TCR team-mate Sam Tordoff. This was topped off last weekend at Oulton Park rwhere he achieved his best finish so far in Clios, eighth place during round seven. “I’m really enjoying working with such an established and successful team as TCR”, he said, “So far we’ve shown some very promising test times and it was just such a shame we had the accident during the practice at Brands Hatch. Everything was going fantastically well up until that point – still, we showed what we could do! Since then, we had a good run at Oulton Park and I’m hoping for our best weekend yet in Clios at Croft next time out. TCR is the first team I’ve worked with in my career which has so much potential and communication between the drivers, I’m thoroughly enjoying my new career direction in saloons and I’m going to take full advantage of the opportunity. It’s a big plus for me to have two quick, experienced team-mates like Sam (Tordoff) and Mike (Robinson) as we’re able to share data and information. All of this has really benefitted me so far this season and the aim now is to keep building on that and moving forward.”

Formula 2: Zolder in Belgium hosts the seventh and eighth rounds of the 2010 FIA Formula 2 Championship this coming weekend, 19th/20th June, an event in which category front-runner Will Bratt aims to make the most of his past experience at the 2.5-mile circuit. Will, who won at Zolder last year in Euroseries 3000, has happy memories of the former Grand Prix venue and is aiming for more success just a few days from now. “We’re definitely aiming for another step forward at Zolder”, said Will, “I’m going there focused on fighting for two wins, that should be the aim for every weekend from now on. Realistically, I should have had my first F2 win at Monza but the clutch problem ended those hopes. Hopefully at Zolder we can have a problem-free weekend, take away a lot of points from both races and hopefully a win. Zolder is a track which is quite technical, it took me a little while to get my head around it fully when I visited there for the first time last year in Euroseries 3000 but by the second race of the weekend we were able to dominate with a clear win. Once you have the car in the groove, it’s a great track to drive so I’m really looking forward to going back there.” Will is certainly growing in confidence behind the wheel of his Audi-engined, Williams F1-designed car ahead of the fourth event of the year. Nonetheless, he isn’t underestimating how tough it will be. He added: “I’m not complacent ahead of the weekend but we should have a good chance of going well. As we’ve already seen this season, F2 is very competitive and there are some really quick drivers at the front. Hopefully though, my experience at Zolder from F3000 will pay dividends.”

Formula Renault: On the Brno circuit, Arthur Pic left no crumbs for his rivals setting two poles, scoring two victories and bagging the two fastest laps. Just two weeks before the French round of the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, the young driver from the FFSA Equipe de France Circuit is back in the top three in the championship chase read report

13-06-10

Le Mans: For the ninth time Audi has won the Le Mans 24 Hours equalling Ferrari's victories in the event. Only Porsche has more wins. In the 78th edition of the race, efficiency and reliability were the decisive factors yet again with the three Audi R15 TDI cars of Audi Sport Team Joest running without any mechancial problems. The victorious Audi R15 TDI was driven by Timo Bernhard (D), Romain Dumas (F) and Mike Rockenfeller (D) and completed 397 laps in the 24 hours, a total of 5,410 kms. The trio broke the 1971 record set by Dr. Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep in the Porsche 917, a record considered unbeatable since the Mulsanne Straight then had no chicanes. The onlt problem the winners encountered was a slow puncture shortly before the end of the race and a right-hand mirror that came off. Second place was taken by Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoît Treluyer whose R15 TDI had to have it’s front bodywork changed twice after contact with the barriers. The 2008 winners, Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, who were the best-placed Audi team in the early phases, suffered a setback when Tom Kristensen had to evade a slow GT2 car on Saturday night and slid backwards into the barrier at the Porsche Bends. Setting fast times Capello, Kristensen and McNish then fought back into the group of front runners and were rewarded with a podium finish.

Despite proving to be the fastest petrol-powered car at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, Aston Martin’s hopes of claiming the accolade of top petrol competitor were cruelly dashed by scenes of barely believable drama in the closing hour. Nonetheless, the Aston Martin Racing team salvaged sixth place overall in the world’s toughest endurance race thanks to the 007 line-up of Adrian Fernandez (MEX), Stefan Mücke (D) and Harold Primat (CH). Aston Martin also claimed a podium in the GT1 class with Official Partner team Young Driver AMR, courtesy of Tomas Enge (CZ), Peter Kox (NL) and Christoffer Nygaard (DK). The team qualified on pole thanks to Enge – who claimed his sixth Le Mans pole in GT1 – and finished 22nd overall, equating to third in class. Up until the final hour the 009 car crew of Juan Barazi (DK), Sam Hancock (GB) and Darren Turner (GB), who had never raced together until Le Mans this year, seemed set to repeat Aston Martin Racing’s fourth place result of 2009. But with just 55 minutes of the 24 hours to go, the car slowed dramatically with smoke coming from the rear, finally stopping on its 368th lap near Arnage corner. The 007 car set the pace among the petrol runners from the very beginning of the race and was at the forefront of the action until Sunday morning, when a gearbox bearing failure caused an unscheduled trip to the pit garage. Despite never having undertaken a gearbox repair of this complexity under race conditions before, the Aston Martin Racing pit crew completed the task in under an hour. Having fought their way back up from 14th after the bearing problem to sixth, there was a further last-minute drama for the intrepid 007 crew when the Gulf-liveried car picked up a puncture with only 25 minutes to go. Mücke was able to limp the car back to the pits in order to get the tyres changed, and he finally crossed the line at 3pm on Sunday to seal a bittersweet success for Aston Martin. The 007 car proved its pace and reliability over 365 laps and more than 5000 kilometres of flat-out competition. Despite the varying weather in the build-up to the race, the Le Mans 24 Hours remained dry. As well as the dramatic retirement of the 009 car, Aston Martin lost the 008 car run by French team Signature Plus at 10:00 on Sunday morning when Vanina Ickx crashed. Unfortunately, the JMW Motor sport Vantage GT2 retired on Saturday night after Bryce Miller (USA) crashed on the exit of the Porsche Curves, breaking his car’s radiator and suspension uprights. Previously, the experienced Rob Bell (GB) – who started the race – was setting some extremely competitive times. David Richards, Chairman of Aston Martin said: “All in all this weekend was a success; we set out to prove that we were the fastest petrol entry here and whilst the result wasn’t quite what we were looking for, we certainly proved the performance of the Aston Martins. “We received such an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm and support from customers and fans alike. The team performed to their usual immaculate standards and I am especially pleased with our Official Partner Team Young Driver AMR who secured a podium. We hope and look forward to the opportunity to challenge for an outright victory in the future.”

With only three hours remaining, Aston Martin is poised for another top result at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Aston Martin 009 is currently sixth in the hands of Darren Turner, as the race draws to a thrilling conclusion in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The Englishman is putting in another rock solid run, having taken over from Juan Barazi at just after 10:00 this morning. Turner reported no major problems during his stints and he is concentrating on bringing 009, along with his team mates to the end in order to seal the accolade for Aston Martin of being the fastest petrol-powered car at Le Mans for the second consecutive year. Barazi’s earlier stint did not go quite as smoothly as he had hoped, when he had a straight-on and was briefly delayed at the Mulsanne Chicane. However, he quickly recovered from this minor setback and handed over to Turner, who continued the car’s solid progress. Stefan Mücke drove 007, after it emerged from the pits following an hour’s delay earlier this morning to fix a gearbox problem. The German strung together the sort of quick laps that have become his speciality, in order to drive the Gulf-liveried LMP1 car up the field. Unfortunately the 008 Aston Martin, run by French team Signature, was unable to build upon the excellent progress it had made so far in the race. Just after 10:00, Vanina Ickx went off on her out lap after taking over the car from Franck Mailleux. Ickx was unhurt, but her Aston Martin LMP1 car was too badly damaged to continue. The Signature team were consequently forced to retire with less than a quarter of the race remaining. There were no such problems for the AMR Young Driver GT1 DBR9, which is holding firmly onto its second place in class thanks to Tomas Enge and the team.

F2000: Remy Audette led every lap in a crazy rain race at Mosport to take a commanding victory that saw a 25-second lead at one point in the middle of the race. Quebec’s Audette started from pole and was in control for the entire race, which went to the 30-minute time window due to two caution periods. And while Audette ran away with the race, there was epic action throughout the deep F2000 field. Phil Lombardi finished second ahead of Cole Morgan, Victor Carbone and Tim Minor. pic Janice Eakin Read report

Formula 3: Alexander Sims enjoyed a positive outing during mid-season Formula 3 Euroseries testing at Magny-Cours this week, the 2010 championship contender ending the second and final day of running with the equal-fastest time. Off the back of a well deserved second place in the RTL GP Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort last weekend, the former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner continued his strong form by matching the pace of F3 Euroseries championship leader Edoardo Mortara to the precise 1,000th of a second – both drivers lapping with a best of 1m34.142 seconds. Focusing on working his way through a variety of set-up options on his Mercedes-powered car during the opening day, Alexander then rocketed to the top of the timesheets on day two. Reflecting on the test, he said: “The test was pretty positive, to end equal fastest with (Edoardo) Mortara was good and shows we’re definitely moving in the right direction. The start of the season hasn’t been as smooth as we’d hoped but I’ve been working very hard, as has the team, to turn that around. Our pace on new tyres in qualifying hasn’t been as strong as our race pace but we’re really getting on top of that now. We worked through a lot of things on the car during the first day at Magny-Cours before setting the joint-fastest time on day two which was pleasing. Overall, we did a very good job and I’m pretty happy with the outcome.” Next up for Alexander are F3 Euroseries rounds seven and eight, which will take place at the Norisring in Germany on 3rd/4th July. Heading into the event Sims is equal fourth in the standings, tied on points with ART Grand Prix team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and has one race victory to his credit so far. “I’m looking forward to going back to the Norisring”, he added, “We went well there last year and were quick, I see no reason why we shouldn’t be able to challenge for a couple of wins this time. At Magny-Cours we worked on eliminating drag on the car, due to Norisring being a zero downforce track, and I’m happy with what we achieved. We’re certainly aiming for a strong weekend there.”

Carrera Cup: Winning the Le Mans 24 Hours is Archie Hamilton’s career goal, following in the footsteps of his Le Mans winning grandfather, and the 19 year old had his first race and first podium at the track in his Porsche Carrera Cup car on Saturday. The race is a round of the French Matmut Porsche Carrera Cup and is a support race to the 24 Heures du Mans. Archie’s pace in practice wasn’t maximised in qualifying when his best lap was on tyres past their best but his time was still enough to start 16th from a field of over 40 cars. The race was wet and from the eighth row on the grid Archie made a good start before he was pushed off the track on the second corner, dropping to 21st place. With just 40 minutes to regain positions Archie focussed on his task, and he set about moving towards the front of the field. One by one he picked off the opposition and crossed the line in eighth overall and second in the Junior class to take his first Le Mans trophy.Archie Hamilton:“It has been an incredible experience. My grandfather won here in 1957 and my father was so proud he was crying. This is just the start. I’m looking forward to getting back to the rest of my Carrera Cup season in Britain and get as much race experience as I can and hopefully look to secure a seat in the Le Mans 24 Hours next year.

Karts: Jay Goodwin recently had his best result of 2010 with the runner-up spot in the third round of the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at Whilton Mill, has been sidelined with a broken arm after a fellow competitor clattered into him during practice for a club meeting at PF International. However Jay is determined to return as soon as possible. Pic: Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net read report

12-06-10

Le Mans: As the Aston Martin drivers make their final preparations before they run across the track to their iconic Gulf liveried cars ahead of the 78th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, drivers Adrian Fernández (MX), Stefan Mücke (D) Harold Primat (CH), Juan Barazi (DK), Sam Hancock (GB) and Darren Turner (GB) answer a few pre-race questions. Read Q & A

Carrera Cup: Ahmad Al Harthy’s maiden experience of the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans ended all too early over the weekend when unfortunate damage to his Porsche Carrera Cup car, during qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans support race, ruled him out of the remainder of the event. Delivering an exceptional performance on his debut at the world famous French track, the Omani produced tremendous pace from the off. Highly impressive during the wet qualifying session for the French Carrera Cup race, the 28-year-old posted the sixth fastest time – out of 36 drivers – but during the closing stages unfortunate contact with a retaining wall ruled him out on the spot. pic: Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

F2000: Cole Morgan paced Friday practice at Mosport setting the fastest lap of the day at 1:21.6 early in the first official session of the weekend. The American 2007 F2000 title holder, who is driving for Liberty Motorsports for this event, had never been to the famed Canadian road course until today. Championship points leader Victor Carbone followed along with Remy Audette, Jonathan Scarallo and Phil Lombardi. photo: Janice Eakin. Read more

Star Mazda: Conor Daly, current championship points leader in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, gets his first hands-on experience with Formula One racing this weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix courtesy of iRacing.com, Grand Prix Tours, Dell and Intel.Twenty Star Mazda Championship iRacers from around the world are poised to race online against Formula One driver Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Racing) and Daly, son of F1/Indy Car racing legend Derek Daly and winner of the last three Star Mazda Championship races in a row. The event is the Finals of the Grand Prix Masters Tournament and will take place in Montreal on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix. The finalists were the highest scoring iRacers during the Grand Prix Masters Tournament, held April 27- May 3 and sponsored by Grand Prix Tours, Dell and Intel. In keeping with the international flavor of Formula One and iRacing, the qualifiers represent nearly a dozen international clubs and range in age from 14 to 31. The qualifiers are: Alberto Baraldi (Italy), Kevin Bartsch (France), Andre Boettcher (Germany), Richard Crozier (Scotland), Max Dell’Orco (Italy), Evgeniy Donstov (Russia), Danny Engels (Germany), Dave Gelink (Netherlands), Philippe Gosselin (Canada), Klaus Kivekas (Finland), Darryn Lobb (South Africa), Martin Macjon (Germany), Aritan Maia (Brazil), Mikko Niemi (Finland), Luke McLean (Australia), Jeffrey Rietveld (Netherlands), Victor Szabo (Hungary), Jonathan Stewart (Canada), Blake Townend (England) and David Williams (England). "I'm confident of being able to hold my own against these guys because I use the iRacing.com Star Mazda Championship simulation quite a bit to stay sharp between races and learn new tracks," says Daly. "The iRacing.com simulation is as close as you can get to actually strapping yourself into the car, and the detail of each track is particularly realistic. The Star Mazda Championship car is one of the most popular simulations on iRacing.com and you've got to be really good to be a top racer in one of these international clubs. They get a lot more track time than drivers who race the real thing, but it's an interesting new challenge and I'm looking forward to it." The twenty finalists will compete online, from their homes around the world, with di Grassi and Daly in simulators on a stage in Montreal’s Rue de Fortification before a live audience at 5:30 pm ET (21:30 GMT) on June 12. The 20 lap race at Canada’s Mosport International Raceway, will feature Star Mazda cars painted in Dell and Intel liveries. The event will be broadcast live on iRacing.com (http://www.iracing.com/multimedia/live-broadcasts/), with highlights shown on an upcoming edition of the Inside Grand Prix television show. The three top finishers (excluding di Grassi and Daly) will receive a Dell Studio 17 laptop computer (first place), Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook (second place) and iRacing.com Prize Pack ($100 in credits, a diecast car and iRacing hat). Additional information on the event can be found at:
http://www.iracing.com/grand-prix-masters
http://www.iracing.com/multimedia/live-broadcasts
http://www.gptours.com/index.php?command=show&what=drivercast&video=177

11-06-10

Le Mans: In a thrilling first half-hour to the final qualifying session for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, Strakka Racing took LMP2 pole with an emphatic run of 3:33.079 from Danny Watts. The team’s Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-01c had been in a close-fought duel with Highcroft Racing’s similar car throughout practice and qualifying, but Aylesbury-born Watts found nearly a second and a half to put pole beyond question. “I can’t quantify just how impressive Danny’s achievement has been,” said a visibly delighted Piers Phillips, Team Manager at Strakka. “That lap was absolutely fantastic. We’d seen Highcroft go a second or more quicker than we’d ever gone before, but to Danny’s credit, he found time we didn’t know was there. It was his first time on qualifiers in this car, and I’m not sure he knew what to expect, but he certainly found his feet very quickly. Those tyres were phenomenal and I can’t overstate how important Michelin’s contribution has been to our programme this season.” Strakka had emerged quickest on Wednesday night as well, during the first qualifying session, when Jonny Kane posted a best of 3:36.168. “Under the prevailing conditions, and with a track that was still improving, Jonny’s time was equally astounding,” insisted Phillips. “It was a banker lap, in case it rained later, and we were very pleased for Jonny.” That time from Kane held provisional pole until the final minutes of Thursday’s first session. With rain forecast, it had started to look as if Strakka’s “banker” might pay dividends, but the track conditions were coming to a head. Highcroft’s David Brabham struck back, and his improved time snatched back the top slot by half a second. Right at the start of the final session, Danny Watts headed out on track to better the time set by last year’s Le Mans winning driver not once, but twice, and effectively placed pole beyond reach.
Top three in LMP2:
#42 Strakka Racing HPD: 3:33.079 (15th overall)
#26 Highcroft HPD: 3:34.537 (17th)
#25 RML Lola HPD: 3:39.649 (20th)

RML AD Group’s Lola B09/83 HPD will start from third in LMP2 for this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours, making it a clean sweep of the qualifying “podium” for Honda Performance Development. Having worked assiduously with the engineers to perfect a race set-up for the car, Brazilian Thomas Erdos came through with a best of 3:39.648 to secure the team’s best grid position since he took pole in 2006.The priority for the team had been to develop the best possible set-up for the #25 Lola, and then ensure that all three drivers; Mike Newton, Andy Wallace and Tommy Erdos had achieved their personal qualification requirements for the race. Not until the start of the third and final session was Tommy given the green light to go for a quick lap. It was a frenetic period, as teams throughout the 55-car field vied for clear track, all recognising that the conditions would never be better. Having sat fifth in class for most of the previous three sessions, Erdos swept through to secure third. The two HPDs also went quicker than they’d done before, with Danny Watts (Strakka Racing #42, 3:33.079) taking pole from David Brabham (Highcroft Racing #26, 3:34.537) by a second and a half. Mike Newton had a frustrating evening, being pitched into a spin through the Esses by one of the works Audis, and then finding a slippery patch into the Ford Chicane. “I was just caught out by the damp and bounced across the gravel. The session was almost over anyway, so I decided to press on and head for the pitlane. I was two seconds up on my previous lap, but I’d done my required laps in the dark, and the basic pace was there, so I was happy to get back to the garage, no foul, no harm done.” pic David Lord / Dailysportscar

Sam Hancock will line up 9th for Saturday’s 78th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours after mixed conditions blighted the four hours of qualifying at La Sarthe last night. The Aston Martin Racing factory driver was provisionally set to line up inside the top ten following Wednesday’s first session held in fine and dry conditions. By way of contrast, yesterday brought with it a mix of heavy rain and gloomy skies over Le Mans and although conditions did improve throughout the day, the track remained greasy for much of the first two-hour session. As such, neither Hancock nor team mates Darren Turner and Juan Barazi were able to improve their best time of 3m26.747s, leaving the #009 crew a tantalising 0.067sec adrift of their team mates in the sister Aston Martin LMP1 coupe. And it was the same story in the second session, by which time darkness had descended over Le Mans. With the track all-but dry, it was a case of finding a clear lap for all 13.65km of the circuit, no mean feat when faced with slower prototype and GT cars to be potentially found around each corner. Encouragingly, seven of the cars ahead are all running the diesel engines that have won Le Mans for the past four years, putting Hancock on the front row of the unofficial petrol class grid and indeed ahead of two further diesel entries.

Cadwell Park will be celebrating unique two and four wheel machinery from the past eighty years at the Vintage Racing Weekend on 19/20 June.The festival begins on Saturday 19 June with a busy programme of historic car racing courtesy of the Vintage Sports-Car Club. The timetable will featuring an exciting mix of single seaters, saloons and sports cars spanning six decades, including a special trophy race for pre-1961 Grand Prix cars.There will also be an event for 1950s Formula 3 machinery, which will include local competitor Richard Elligworth from Grantham in a Kieft F3 car, along with two outings from pre-1931 Vintage Racing Cars and a contest for 1950s sportscars.The Vintage Racing Weekend then continues on Father’s Day (Sunday 20 June) with two wheel action from the Vintage Motor Cycle Club, which will showcase classic vehicles dating as far back as the 1920s.Highlights include competition from pre-1958 sidecars, solo motorcycles from the 1930s – 1960s including Norton and Triumph machinery, Formula Bantams and a Morgan Three Wheeler Club Challenge race.In addition to thrilling track action, paddock access is free of charge to spectators throughout the weekend to enable motorsport fans to take a closer look at the irreplaceable machinery competing at Cadwell Park . Tickets for the Vintage Racing Weekend are available from £10 for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.cadwellpark.co.uk.

Formula Ford: After the drama of the Zandvoort rounds of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, which provided two debutant race winners, the series swings into Wiltshire next weekend (19/20 Jun) for a double-header at Castle Combe. With championship leader Scott Malvern's advantage now stretched out to 43 points, the Jamun Racing team and its front-running driver, Australian Scott Pye, are hoping for an improvement in their fortunes at Combe. Read more

Le Mans: Qualifying for the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours took place last night from 19:00 to 21:00 and then from 22:00 to midnight. Following some rain during the day, the track was largely damp throughout both sessions, making the 13.4-kilometre circuit extremely slippery. This meant that the times established during the previous evening’s qualifying session still stand. Aston Martin 007 was the fastest petrol runner and will start from eighth on the grid for the weekend’s race, thanks to a qualifying time of 3m26.680s set by Stefan Mücke yesterday. The sister 009 car will line up directly behind it, by virtue of Darren Turner’s benchmark of 3m26.747s, also set on Wednesday evening. Read report

OAK Racing Team Mazda France will line up 5th and 8th on the LMP2 grid for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours following two rain-interrupted final qualifying sessions yesterday evening. Heavy rain fell ahead of the day’s first session and even though times tumbled dramatically throughout as the track dried, neither the #35 Pescarolo-Judd of Matthieu Lahaye, Guillaume Moreau and Jan Charouz, or the sister #24 car driven by Jacques Nicolet, Richard Hein and Jean-François Yvon could improve on Wednesday’s provisional best laps. Read more

David Brabham is shaping up to add another Le Mans 24 Hours class win to name after two solid qualifying sessions secured Highcroft Racing the second fastest LMP2 starting slot ahead of the team’s race debut. Brabham continued Highcroft’s impressive first showing in France by finishing Thursday’s opening two-hour session top of the LMP2 timesheets despite heavy traffic during his single run on Michelin qualifying tyres. read more

Grand-Am: So far this year, the #77 McDonalds/PR Newswire Daytona prototype has been getting a lot of attention. It seems like week in and week out, the driving duo of Memo Gidley and Dion Von Moltke, have been seen on more occasions than not, towards the front end of the Daytona Prototype field. And this past weekend at the Sahlens 6 Hours of the Glen round#5 of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 series race, was no different. Read report

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB will reach the mid-point of the season at Croft next weekend (19/20 June) when rounds nine and ten are held at the challenging North Yorkshire track. A fabulous field of 27 cars is due to contest the weekend. Tim Harvey is currently riding high in the Carrera Cup GB, with seven wins from eight races and a useful 32-point lead in the title race. But as the teams head for Croft, Tim knows well enough that it could all turn around with one bad day at the office. Read report

Supercars: The development testing program of the Porsche Panamera S race car continued with another day at the Autodromo di Franciacorta (Italy) in vpreparation for the cars debut at Mugello on the weekend of 25 July. Under the Technical Director Engineering Andrea Adamo, the crew of N. Technology have focused mainly on reliability and the basic setup of the car. Excellent weather conditions (up to 35 degrees air and 47 ° asphalt) have helped the program. "We are very pleased with the work today, a really good way to start the development of the Porsche Panamera S!" driver Fabrizio Giovanardi declared "My first impressions on the car are positive, even this has been the first real check on the track. Thanks to today's activities, engineers have now a good amount of data available to better prepare the next testing sessions. We expect to debut in the Championship at Mugello (July 25) and continue to better development in the coming weeks." The next test session is scheduled in Vallelunga on 19 and 20 June.

Karts: For the Energy Corse Team, the WSK Euro Series finished with a title in KZ2 conquered by Paolo De Conto and a second place in KF2 for Nicolaj Moller-Madsen. Other excellent results rolled in for the Italian brand, in the German and French Championships as well as in the qualifying rounds for the European KF2&KF3 Championships. read report

Each race of the WSK Euro Series gave CRG and Maxter the opportunity to display the qualities of their equipment. Thanks to such high level of performance and reliability, they have conquered a long series of podiums and victories over the last few months. And at the end of a particularly exciting final race in Sarno (Italy), CRG Racing Team won two championship titles with Max Verstappen in KF3 and Jonathan Thonon in KZ1. Read report

WTCC: The 7th and 8th rounds of the 2010 FIA WTCC will take place at Zolder next week. This event marks the championship's first visit to the 4-km racetrack, that was home to the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix between 1973 and 1982. It will also be the WTCC's return to Belgium after its only visit, in 2005 at Spa-Francorchamps. Back in 2001, Zolder hosted one meeting of the reborn FIA European Touring Car Championship that was split in two separate categories. Gabriele Tarquini (Honda Accord) and Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo 156) shared victories in the Super Touring championship, while Duncan Huisman (BMW 320i) won the Super Production race.

The Chevrolet Cruze and the SEAT León TDI remain the heaviest cars of the field. Like in the previous event at Monza, in Zolder they will again carry the maximum compensation weight of 40 kilos.The compensation weight has been determined by the lap times set in Brazil, Morocco and Italy. According to this calculation, the León TDI emerged as the fastest car, one tenth faster than the Cruze and half-a-second faster than the BMW 320si. The German cars, that ran in Monza with no compensation weight on board, have been imposed 20 extra kilos for the Belgian event.
The Chevrolet Lacetti and Kristian Poulsen's BMW (an old model) will have 20kg deducted from their minimum weight, while Pierre-Yves Corthals' petrol-powered SEAT León TFSI will also run on the maximum compensation weight because Zolder marks the first appearance of this model car during the current season.
Compensation weight Zolder + 40 kg           SEAT León TDI, Chevrolet Cruze LT, SEAT León TFSI + 20 kg           BMW 320si - 20 kg            Chevrolet Lacetti, BMW 320si (old model)

WTCC drivers are used to sprint races. However, sometimes they take also part in long distance competitions. Last week Chevrolet's racers Rob Huff and Vincent Radermecker claimed an outstanding result in the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, part of the Belgian Touring Car Series. Sharing a Volvo S60 car with Eric van de Poele, they finished in a brilliant second place, losing a comfortable lead after a late safety car intervention.
This weekend Augusto Farfus, Andy Priaulx and Tom Coronel will compete in the GT2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While the Dutchman joined the Spyker Squadron to share a Spyker C8 with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Peter Dumbreck, Farfus and Priaulx are at the wheel of BMW M3 works cars. The Brazilian is teaming up with Jörg Müller and Uwe Alzen, the Briton joins Dirk Müller and Dirk Werner.

Reigning World Champion Gabriele Tarquini has signed for Argentine top team Equipo Petrobras to take part in the Buenos Aires 200KM, the 11th round of the TC2000 championship that will take place on November 7th.Tarquini will share a Honda Civic car with Argentine raising star José María López, winner of two back to back TC2000 titles in 2008 and 2009. "I'm really happy for this opportunity. I had positive comments about the race from my European colleagues who took part in previous years. And I am flattered at having received a proposal from the champion team to share the car with Péchito López. I know he is very fast and I followed sympathetically his failed attempt to join F1. That matter made us united someway, as I also signed an F1 contract with a team - First Racing - that never raced." said Tarquini.
Team principal Victor Rosso commented: "It is a great honour for us to have such an experienced and competitive driver joining our team. We are extremely happy to enter a team formed by the reigning champions in the world and the Argentine touring cars."

10-06-10

Formula Ford: After a thrilling battle at Winton Motor Raceway, the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship is heading north to Hidden Valley in Darwin for Round 4 of the series. After losing the championship lead to Chaz Mostert at Winton, Nick Foster is keen to put a frustrating round behind him, starting at Hidden Valley. Read more

BTCC: Daniel Lloyd will realise his long held dream of competing in the country’s biggest motor racing series, the Dunlop MSA BTCC, just over a week from now after agreeing a race deal with multiple title winning team Triple Eight Race Engineering. After a test debut at Rockingham two weeks ago,Lloyd has agreed a deal to contest rounds 13, 14 and 15 on 19th/20th June at Croft . Daniel’s graduation to touring cars has been made possible thanks to the support of TNT Post and, in particular, the central involvement of the Managing Director of TNT Post in the North, Andy Goddard. “It’s absolutely amazing to be making my BTCC debut, a real dream come true”, said Daniel, “At the start of the year I never thought I’d have the opportunity to test a touring car, let alone to make my race debut in one – and especially with Triple Eight, as far as I’m concerned it’s the best team on the grid. This has all come together so quickly, I’m over the moon and I intend to make the most of it. It’s going to be very tough, we’re under no illusions as to how competitive the BTCC is, but I’m confident we can give a good account of ourselves at Croft. I like the track and it’s worked out really well that we have this opportunity at one of my local circuits, hopefully we’ll have plenty of support.” Daniel, who also races in aid of his local Kirkwood Hospice Charity, added: “We’ve been working really hard to sort this deal out. I want to say a big thank you to Ian Harrison at Triple Eight, my manager Tim Sugden and Andy Goddard from TNT Post – without them it just wouldn’t have been possible. The deal is only for Croft but we hope to secure more financial support for the subsequent rounds in August.” Ian Harrison, team principal of Triple Eight Race Engineering, said: “At Rockingham Daniel did a very good job in the test and we’re all very excited about getting such a quick young guy in the car at Croft. “His pace at Rockingham was completely genuine, which was impressive, so he needs to get as much mileage under his belt as possible in the two practice sessions at Croft and then build on that through qualifying and the races. It’s going to be tough but hopefully it’ll be a good weekend for all of us.”

The F2000 Championship Series lands in Mosport this weekend for rounds five and six of the 14-round, seven-weekend 2010 national championship. After sweeping Road Atlanta, and winning three out of four races this season, Victor Carbone, driving the #23 Van Diemen/Zetec for Alegra Motorsports, has a sizeable margin in the points and is the hot driver coming into Mosport. Carbone won the season opening race at VIR, and then ran away with the double-race weekend at Road Atlanta.pic Janice Eakin Read more

Carrera Cup: Archie Hamilton will be supported by Boodles of London for the Porsche Matmut Carrera Cup race at Le Mans this weekend. Last week Hamilton announced he was driving in the forthcoming Le Mans support race on Saturday 12th June. Archie’s main campaign is supported by Duncan Hamilton and Co Ltd and Delaney. Boodles, a leading British jewellery brand has added support for the Le Mans race. Adrian Hamilton, son of Le Mans 1953 race winner Duncan Hamilton, Chairman of Duncan Hamilton & Co Ltd and father of Archie: “Boodles is an iconic British jewellery brand established in 1798 and is a family owned. The Hamiltons and Boodles share many values including heritage, excitement and fun. I think we’re all dynamic and contemporary and that supporting Archie in his first outing at the legendary event will be rewarding for us all. Hopefully this is the first of many Le Mans races for Archie and is another rung up his ladder to the 24 Hour race win that he aspires to.”

Le Mans: Three Aston Martins hold the top three positions in the unofficial ‘petrol class’ after first qualifying at Le Mans last night, which was held between 22:00 and midnight. Conditions remained dry throughout free practice and qualifying, enabling all the drivers to get in plenty of consistent running as they took to the track for the first time. The two Works Aston Martin LMP1 machines, numbered 007 and 009, hold eighth and ninth positions respectively behind seven diesel-powered cars. Aston Martin 008, run by the Signature team, is a provisional 10th fastest. In addition to this, the AMR Young Driver team has set fastest time in the GT1 classification. Stefan Mücke set the quickest time for the 007 car, with a benchmark of 3m26.680s. This compares favourably with his eighth-fastest time on last year’s Le Mans start grid, achieved with a time of 3m27.180s. “I think there’s still a bit more to come as the track is getting quicker all the time,” he said. “But it really depends on the weather conditions tonight.” Darren Turner in 009 was just behind his German colleague with a time of 3m26.747s. He said: “Yesterday went reasonably well. It was nice to get back in action, and now it’s just a question of making a plan for the three of us to be comfortable in the car so that we can look forward to a solid performance over the weekend.” Car 008 is run by the Signature Plus team from France, with Franck Mailleux setting a time of 3m29.774s to put him in a provisional 10th. “It felt really good,” said the Frenchman. “Driving this car is a huge pleasure for me and I’m looking forward to qualifying tonight.” The AMR Young Driver team’s GT1-leading time of 3m55.025s was good enough to place the Aston Martin DBR9 in 25th overall, out of a field of 55 cars. Tomas Enge, a noted qualifying specialist, set the time. The Aston Martin Vantage run by JMW Motorsport was 13th in the GT2 class with a time of 4m06.391s set by Rob Bell. Two qualifying sessions remain to decide the grid for the start of the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours. The first session will take place between 19:00 and 21:00, while the final session is scheduled to run from 22:00 until midnight. Normally, the times should get quicker tonight but with intermittent rain conditions will be uncertain. Qualifying is never the most crucial element of a 24-hour race, but Aston Martin is aiming to start as it means to go on – by being fastest of the petrol cars.

Sam Hancock’s 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours campaign began in earnest yesterday with free practice and the first of the week’s three qualifying sessions. The Aston Martin Racing factory driver, competing at his first Le Mans since 2006, will provisionally line up 9th overall after the first two-hour night qualifying session, just 0.067sec shy of the ultimate petrol-powered pace. Wednesday night’s session was first and foremost an opportunity for the 30-year-old Briton to complete the mandatory ten laps of running required by all drivers who haven’t contested the race in at least three years. And although he did just that, a series of red flag stoppages ensured that nearly 45 minutes was lost, preventing any meaningful times being set. The #009 LMP1 coupe’s driving trio, completed by fellow countryman Darren Turner and Dane Juan Barazi, had earlier set the fastest petrol-powered time during the afternoon’s four-hour free practice session in which they were only beaten by Audi and Peugeot’s dominant diesel contingent. Sam: “It’s great to be back at Le Mans after a few years away and I’m glad we’ve got all the laps in as that was the most important factor for last night. It was very frustrating out there because of all the stoppages which seemed to happen right in the middle of my stint. We’re making some minor enhancements to the car from what we learnt yesterday so I’m confident that we’ll improve further tonight.” The first of today’s two-hour qualifying sessions kicks off at 7pm local time before the third and final chance to improve comes at 10pm.

OAK Racing Team Mazda France’s quest for a third consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours podium kicked off at La Sarthe yesterday. The squad, currently in fine form coming off the back of successive podiums in this season’s opening two Le Mans Series rounds, ended last night’s first two-hour qualifying session fourth and seventh in the LMP2 class. In a multiple red-flag interrupted session, the #35 Pescarolo Judd of Guillaume Moreau, Matthieu Lahaye and Jan Charouz did well to post their best time early on when the track was at its quietest. Indeed, Lahaye’s 3m42.399s personal best was just 0.4sec shy of reigning LMS champions Quifel-ASM and over two seconds faster than the much fancied HPD-powered RML squad. Meanwhile, the #24 entry of Jacques Nicolet, Richard Hein and Jean-Francois Yvon also enjoyed a trouble-free session, each completing the three mandatory night laps required by all drivers hoping to contest this weekend’s race. Times and positions remain provisional at this stage thanks to the two remaining sessions this evening which, weather permitting, could alter Saturday’s grid. Regardless of conditions however, the team will continue to focus solely on developing a strong race set-up beneficial over 24 hours instead of an ultimate qualifying pace. Francois Sicard, Team Manager: Last night was a good session because the two cars completed nearly 800km each. As it was dry, and not wet as expected, we were able to gather a lot of data. The drivers enjoyed it too but we have a straight-line speed deficit compared to the HPD cars which is crucial at Le Mans. We knew they would be quick and that was confirmed. Overall the cars worked very well, although there’s a small worry for Guillaume who has the flu. We lightened his workload, got the night qualifying laps completed and sent him back to bed. There’s another two sessions today when we’ll work on reducing drag, but our development will still be aimed at finding the optimum race set-up, not qualifying trim.”

Clio Cup: Double ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin champion Paul Rivett says he can’t wait for rounds nine and 10 of the series at Croft circuit where the 31-year-old will make his come back to the one-make championship. Paul will return to the popular saloon-car series at the North Yorkshire track – where he still holds the lap record – on 19th/20th June after an absence of more than one and a half years. The 2002 and 2004 champion will race with Stancombe Vehicle Engineering in the Blue Square Data backed car, replacing series regular Matthew Munson. “I’m really looking forward to be racing again and to be working with Colin Stancombe who I haven’t raced with since 2001,” says Paul who works full-time as a glazier. “It’s been a long time since I was last in a Clio and although the car has changed I’m hoping it will be like riding a bike!” Rounds nine and 10 are two of six races Paul will contest this year together with the race meetings at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, as part of World Series by Renault, and Brands Hatch Indy circuit. “Of the six rounds my goal is to win three of them and at least be on the podium for the rest – although ideally I’d like to win them all! The competition this year though is as high as ever so I know it won’t be easy.” Indeed, Paul will face stiff competition from the likes of Total Control Racing’s Sam Tordoff, racing on his home circuit, and championship leader Dave Newsham who has already notched up six wins so far this year in his Team Pyro run car. Commenting on Paul’s return Newsham said: “I’m really looking forward to be racing alongside Paul and it should make for an interesting weekend. I’ve only ever competed against him once before in 2008 so I’m certainly up for the challenge.”

09-06-10

Formula Renault 3.5: Nelson Panciatici scored solid points for Junior Lotus Racing as the Formula Renault 3.5 Series made its first ever visit to Brno in the Czech Republic last weekend. The 21-year-old Frenchman made up several places in the first race to claim 13th, and strongly secured eighth in race 2 after a gutsy drive, which saw him defend superbly in the closing stages. read report

Formula Renault: MP Motorsport endured terrible misfortune at Brno in the Czech Republic last weekend, 5th/6th June, during the third event of the 2010 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season – a race meeting in which the team should rightfully have secured its first pole position in the pan-European championship. Meanwhile Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 rookie Kalle Kulmanen produced his best qualifying performance of the 2010 season so far, securing 14th on the grid for both encounters, and the 18-year-old Finnish racer went on to take his maiden points finish during round six with a terrific drive. Read reports

FF2000: Liberty Motorsports has added another driver to its 2010 driver line-up with the addition of American Zach Craigo. The Colorado native, who has limited FF2000 experience, will drive with the Illinois-based squad in the remaining 10 rounds of the F2000 Championship Series, commencing with Rounds Five and Six on June 12-13, at Mosport. The 24 year-old joins the multi-car squad following a highly successful test at Road America, where Craigo and the Liberty Motorsports crew quickly bonded and established a rapport both in and out of the cockpit. Piloting the No. 85 Rocky Mountain Medical Lasers Inc./Strahan Colorado Whiskey/Liberty Motorsports Van Diemen, Craigo will contest the remaining 10 races on the 2010 F2000 Championship Series calendar, partnering Tim Kautz and Bobby Caldwell in the team. "It was great working with Zach at the test at Road America, and we welcome him to the Liberty Motorsports Team," said Chuck Lessick Liberty Motorsports Team Manager. "Helping him make the jump to the pro level is what our team is all about^aour experienced crew will help him get the most out of his F2000 Van Diemen and finish up front. I'm really excited to be getting back behind the wheel and racing with Liberty Motorsports in the F2000 Championship Series," said Craigo. "Chuck, Brian and the whole team have made me feel right home already and I can't wait to reward them with some great results. I'm sure they will give me a car capable of running up front and I'm looking forward to making the most of the opportunity."

Karts: South Wales circuit, Llandow, the 1050 metre circuit may not be the largest on the calendar, but its compact nature and mix of sweeping and tight corners invariably combine to inspire some superb racing. With Llandow marking the mid point of the series, and after some spectacular and feisty racing at Clay Pigeon last month (23 May), things are likely to become very exciting in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Cadet - Just three points separate current points leader Tom Thickpenny from his closest rival, Ronan McKenzie. At Clay, Thickpenny had no answer for McKenzie’s pace or Will Stowell. Having won the opening two rounds, Thickpenny will be gunning for more glory, but it will surely be McKenzie who heads to Wales feeling the most confident. Last year’s race at Llandow, saw Ryan Anderton take his only win of the season, and ultimately James DeHavillande a clean sweep of victories on his march to the title. Kyle Forgie and Kieran Wragg experienced a dip in form at Clay and this weekend’s encounter will be the perfect opportunity for them to bounce back. Matthew Round-Garrido and Daniel McAuley drove well at Clay and should figure, along with Jack Vallance and Jenson Murchison.
Junior - The Junior class is incredibly open. In each of the opening 3 races there have been different winners; Thomas Grainger, Toby Sowery and James DeHavillande. The latter has been the most consistent with a podium finish on each occasion. However, Grainger heads the table by virtue of his victory at Clay and a strong 2nd place at Ellough back in April. Luca Hirst has been the nearly man on the past two occasions and will be pressing hard in Wales for his first win. Jamie Cummings has taken a trophy home this season and is a consistent front-runner, whilst James Lay has improved his results at every round. On his current trajectory he should be on course for a trophy at Whilton Mill but could well run ahead of schedule at Llandow. We’ll just have wait and see.
Light -Who would have put money on last year’s Junior champion leading the points in the senior category? Patrick’s second win of the year has put him on top of the leaderboard, just five points clear of Elliot Rice though. The E Plate champion had a character-building time in Dorset but showed grit and determination to carve his way from the back of the grid and into the top ten. Kieran McCullough’s title aspirations took a wobble last month but that usually signals a response from him. He will be fast, aggressive and compelling to watch at Llandow. As will be Sam Dimelow, round two victor Joe Paterson and Owen Jenman. Last year Jenman survived a last corner collision to claim his first podium of the year.
Heavy- Incredibly, Barnaby Pittingale finished over 5 seconds down on Will Smith at last year’s corresponding fixture. With Smith now in the Light category and Barney’s form such as it is (three wins from three races) the headline writers will forgiven for already writing ‘Pittingale to the Four’. Behind him is a welter of drivers eager to knock him off his perch. On results so far, Gary Poynter is his nearest challenger but Tim Hill, Adrian Riccardo-Batty and Mark Lawrence have also all finished inside the top three this season and will be desperate to take their debut victories. Just some of the candidates who could collect their first silverware of 2010 are Jerry Pack, Jay Shepherd, Firas Bilbeisi, Ken Steward and Howard Kayman. The unpredictability created by the circuit layout and the local weather could deliver a big shock, if you’re in the area on Sunday it will be well worth watching. The action starts from 10:00am on Sunday at the South Wales Karting Centre, Llandow near Cowbridge. For more information, visit www.easykart.co.uk pics: Terry Thorne/Tel T Photography

MotoGP: As Silverstone gears up to host Britain’s round of the 2010 MotoGP Championship in just over a week’s time (18 – 20 June), the circuit has announced that all of the MotoGP riders will be taking time-out to make appearances on a purpose-built stage in the public Entertainment Zone at the new Arena Complex. TV presenters Toby Moody and Julian Ryder will host the evening’s entertainment, interviewing all of the riders at various intervals between approximately 17:00 and 19:00hrs on the Saturday of the AirAsia British Grand Prix (19 June). The rider appearances will be topped and tailed with live music from bands, including Jamie Whitham’s The Po Boys, and a DJ. Additional entertainment planned for the Saturday includes stunt and freestyle displays from the Red Bull X-Fighters, Dougie Lampkin and Craig Jones - a specially designed motocross track featuring a round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals motocross championships, a Freestyle MotoX competition, a Silverstone Youth Slam race, plus qualifying rounds ahead of Sunday’s 125cc 2 Stroke Supercross and Silverstone 2 Stroke MotoX Invitation races. Meanwhile Saturday’s on-track action includes Qualifying for Sunday’s MotoGP, Moto2, 125cc and 250GP ACU National Championship races, as well as the first of the weekend’s two Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship races. Three day tickets are still available, priced from £60 if purchased in advance (£30 for children*). Tickets for Saturday only are available from £30 in advance (£10 for children). Advance prices are available until Friday 11 June. For further information,or to purchase tickets, visit www.silverstone.co.uk, or call 0844 3750 500

08-06-10

Le Mans: REBELLION Racing’s preparations for the start of the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours are well underway after the team’s two Lola - Rebellion LMP1 cars passed through technical scrutineering yesterday afternoon at the Place des Jacobins in downtown Le Mans.The scrutineering session also offered a great opportunity for the fans to get close to the cars and drivers. The two Lola - Rebellions will take to the 13.629-kilometre Le Mans track for the first time on Wednesday afternoon, between 4pm and 8pm, for practice. The first qualifying session takes place between 10pm to midnight on Wednesday evening. Drivers quotes after scrutineering

Le Mans: Just like Aston Martin, the Le Mans 24 Hour race has a rich heritage with several traditions surrounding it. One of the most famous is the Le Mans start, in which drivers used to sprint across the track when the French tricolour was dropped to signify the start of the race. Their cars were lined up in a herringbone formation opposite the pits, and the drivers would jump in, start the engine and get going as quickly as they could. In order to speed up the process, different teams and drivers used to have various tricks to help save time. A number of teams, for example, located the starter button to the left of the steering wheel so that a driver could engage first gear at the same time as starting the engine. Stirling Moss – an Aston Martin factory driver in 1956, 1958 and 1959 – used to have his car with first gear already engaged, so that he could travel for the first few metres on the starter motor before dipping the clutch and firing up the engine once he was underway. With drivers doing everything they could to save time, it was inevitable that there were shortcuts when it came to safety. In particular, many drivers never bothered with their safety belts, which only became a feature in the 1960s, until they were underway. Jacky Ickx, a six-time winner, opposed this practice on safety grounds and registered his protest by walking across the track to his car at the start of the 1969 race and refusing to leave until he was fully strapped in. Although he was nearly run over by another competitor at the start, he went on to win the race, and the Le Mans start was substantially modified for 1970. In that year, the cars still started from opposite the pit lane but the drivers were already strapped in and ready to go. Then in 1971, the practice was done away with completely in favour of a rolling start, which still exists today. However, this year the Le Mans organisers have revived the classic Le Mans start tradition – but only as a prelude to the conventional rolling start, so that safety is not compromised. At 2.15pm on Saturday, the 56 drivers taking the start will walk across the track to be strapped into their cars, which will be facing them in herringbone formation: just like the old days. They will be strapped in with the help of their mechanics and then released one by one to take their places on the grid for the rolling start at 3pm as usual. The starting order for the Aston Martin drivers on Saturday has not yet been decided, but it is a privilege that carries plenty of responsibility. As Aston Martin 007 driver Harold Primat – who took the start last year – points out: “There’s plenty of scope for things to go wrong and with the cars so close together, it’s easy to have some contact that can compromise the whole race. In the end, you just have to focus on your job, concentrate very hard, and stay out of trouble.” All the drivers will take to the track for the first time tomorrow, for a free practice session from 4pm to 8pm tomorrow. After a two-hour break, they will then have their first taste of night driving from 10pm to midnight.

History will be made on the support package to the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend when Porsche Carrera Cup competitor Ahmad Al Harthy becomes the first Omani to compete at the event. Racing as part of the Porsche Carrera Cup France Championship round t the circuit on Saturday morning, the 28-year-old Redline Racing driver will join around 40 other entries – four others, like Ahmad, coming from the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship. Undoubtedly the highlight of his career and the realisation of a lifelong ambition, the Porsche support race to this year’s Le Mans encounter will be a truly memorable occasion for a number of reasons. Not only will the weekend mark the 40th anniversary of Porsche’s first 24 Hours victory, it also coincides with the 40th year of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s reign in Oman. Ahmad said: “I am immensely proud to represent my country at Le Mans, especially as part of two very important anniversaries. It’s a great moment for me, and also Omani sport as a whole, to compete as part of the support package to the world’s biggest motor race. This really is a dream come true and it will be a very humbling experience for me with the significance for Oman. As always, I wish to thank my sponsors Oman Air, National Bank of Oman and the Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs for their vital support.”

Porsche Carrera Cup GB driver Stephen Jelley has teamed up with nutritional supplements brand HiPro Sport. Jelley is now carrying the branding of HiPro on his Team Parker Racing-run Porsche 997 Carrera Cup car, starting at Oulton Park yesterday (Sunday), where he raced to third position in both races. “Nutrition is an area that is set to grow within motorsport,” said Jelley, who has been a race winner in the British Touring Car Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship. “People try to make every last thing perfect on the car, but they neglect the correct things that your body should have inside it.Getting the right nutritional balance for race day is vital. HiPro have jumped upon that and thankfully I am going to be the vehicle to show their name.” HiPro Sport is the sporting arm of Health Interlink, which already backs rugby teams Leicester Tigers and Wigan Warriors, and Olympic athlete Paul McKee. Health Interlink managing director Glenn Price said: “We’ve been dealing with high-end nutritional supplementation for 15 years or so, but have only been involved in sport for the past two or three years. We’re now broadening that out. A lot of top-end drivers are triathletes and understand the benefits of good nutritional supplementation.”Price added that the Porsche Carrera Cup’s position on the British Touring Car Championship package, which includes live coverage of races on ITV4, is vital. “Outside of Formula 1 it gets the best coverage of everything,” he said. “Stephen is a seriously clever driver and will be a great ambassador for our brand.”

Ginetta Jnrs: Tom Ingram retained his lead in the 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship at the weekend despite some bad luck in round four of the season at Oulton Park. He is also suffering a from a funding shortfall which is limiting testing between meetings which could threaten his title challenge.pic Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

Formula Renault: Manor Competition driver Thomas Hylkema had a frustrating weekend at Oulton Park in the Formula Renault UK Championship. He did manage top pick up some points but no where near what he expected. He had been aiming for a couple of top six finishes but had to settle for a 13^th and 12^th in the two races as a result of a tricky qualifying session that left him well down the grid.pic Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

Karts: On her first participation in the WSK Euro Series, Beitske Visser put in a superb performance and finished second in a karting event that could be easily mistaken for a European Championship read report

With two victories and two second places in five races plus the runner-up spot in the Championship, Nick De Vries can draw a very positive assessment of his participation in the WSK Euro Series in Super KF. The young Dutch driver is a rookie in the category but that did not prevent him from duelling with the best drivers, in addition to finishing his championship with a brilliant success at Sarno in Italy. Read report

Indylights: Adam Christodoulou, 2009 champion of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear -- and co-driver (with 2008 Star Mazda champion John Edwards) of the GT class-winning #68 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 in last weekend's Grand-Am race at Lime Rock Park – will test an Andersen Racing Indy Lights car on Thursday, June 10 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The test, made possible by Performance Friction, is part of a previously-announced announced an expansion of the Indy Racing League's 'Road to Indy' program in which the 2009 and 2010 Star Mazda series champion is guaranteed a test with a top Firestone Indy Lights team. Read more

Le Mans: Aston Martin’s preparations for the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours are well underway after the two Gulf-liveried Works LMP1 cars passed pre-race scrutineering in Le Mans city centre, held for the first time on a Sunday at its traditional location; the Place des Jacobins. Read more

Ginetta G50 Cup: Total Control Racing’s Carl Breeze recorded his fifth victory of the 2010 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup season at Oulton Park on Sunday to move three points clear in the championship standings. As with Saturday’s race Breeze dominated from pole winning by 3.5 seconds. Clio Cup: TCR’s Elf Renault Clio Cup driver Sam Tordoff just missed out on his first win of the season on Sunday during round eight whenhe came home in second behind Championship leader Dave Newsham by just 0.3 seconds Read TCR Race reports

BTCC: Alex MacDowall saw his hopes of a maiden Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race win slip through his fingers at Oulton Park in Cheshire on Sunday, 6th June, when a driveshaft failure forced him out of the 12th round of the season while leading. Read report

Formula Reanult UK: Manor Competition secured its third race win of the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship season at Oulton Park Island Circuit over the weekend, 5th/6th June, with Scotland’s Lewis Williamson making his first visit to the top step of the podium. Having cruelly missed out on claiming his maiden victory during the previous event at Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit last month, the Golspie-based racer made no mistakes during round seven on Saturday afternoon to fend off the ever-present attentions of pole-sitter Tom Blomqvist. Read team report

Brands Hatch: Football may be grabbing the headlines at the moment thanks to the World Cup, but motorsport fans in the south east are set to enjoy a spectacular summer of racing action thanks to Brands Hatch’s busiest-ever programme of events. The Kent venue will host three major international and national events in just four weekends – and all of them on the 2.3 mile Grand Prix circuit – commencing with a double headline meeting from the FIA WTCC and Formula Two Championships on 16-18 July. Among the World Touring Car stars competing next month will be a quartet of UK talents vying for strong results on home turf against international competition including France ’s Yvan Muller , Switzerland ’s Alain Menu and Italy ’s Gabriele Tarquini. Leading the British charge will be triple WTCC champion Andy Priaulx from Guernsey in his BMW 320si, who currently lies third in the title chase ahead of fellow Briton, Chevrolet’s Rob Huff.Reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington will be onthe grid in a BMW 320si with the WSR team that steered him to his BTCC title. There will also be Union Flags flying in F2 as Jolyon Palmer is currently leading the title race ahead of Dean Stoneman following an impressive double victory at Monza in Italy last month.Two weeks later on 31 July/1 August, Superleague Formula, a fusion of motorsport and football, will make its Brands Hatch debut. A powerful fleet of 750bhp V12-powered single seaters will bear the colours of leading international football teams, including UK clubs Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur, as they go head-to-head over three races. A number of famous F1 faces will be competing in Superleague Formula at Brands Hatch, including Sebastien Bourdais and Narain Karthikeyan, and the series will be supported by thundering Group C sportscars, the Lotus Cup Europe and the GT Cup Championship.The following weekend (6/7/8 August) Brands Hatch will host the biggest round on the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship calendar. Discounted advance raceday tickets for the FIA WTCC & F2, Superleague Formula and British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch are available from £24 per event for adults, with free entry for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0870 950 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk.

07-06-10

ELF Renault Clio Cup : Team Pyro’s Dave Newsham produced another faultless performance during rounds seven and eight of the 2010 ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin series at Oulton Park circuit on 5th/6th June with two superb lights-to-flag victories. Only a fastest lap by Total Control Racing’s Sam Tordoff prevented the 42-year-old from taking a clean sweep of the points during the thrilling race weekend which sees him extend his title lead to 63-points. Two second places for Tordoff though saw the 21-year-old make a welcome return to form following a spell of bad luck with Sam confident that Newsham is still, “definitely catchable”. Local driver Jake Packun driving for Elite Motorsport – who was awarded the ELF/Atol Driver of the Meeting – and JHR Developments’ Lee Pattison both picked up a third place during the meeting which once again attracted a sizeable crowd. The Graduate Cup and NGK Masters Cup honours meanwhile went to Tordoff and Newsham respectively. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography read report

FBMW: Facu Regalia achieved his first podium in the Formula BMW Europe at Zandvoort on Sunday in the first race of the day. In the afternoon’s wet race the Eifelland driver came home in seventh. Regalia started the first race from third onf the grid, holding off his opponents in the first moments to hold his position. After the two safety car periods, the Eifelland Racing driver moved to second place after a good move on the championship leader. “I’m very happy! In the start I could defend myself from my rivals and in the second part of the race I started to attack, as my car started behave in a better way”, he said. The second race in the afternoon, was run in the rain. wet The track was completely wet when the lights went out and after twelve hard laps Regalia took his car to the flag in seventh. Afterwards Facu said, “It was a very hard race. The track was very treacherous and the car was very hard to drive. To put things a little bit harder for me, I didn’t start very well and I lost three places. Nevertheless, I add twelve points to my championship campaign”,.

Formula Ford: In atrocious conditions at Zandvoort on Sunday, Danish driver Dennis Lind came out on top to win the second Formula Ford race of the weekend and the eighth round of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. In a race that was red-flagged after 10 laps, the Fluid Motorsport Van Diemen pilot claimed victory from Cliff Dempsey Racing's Scott Malvern, who leaves the Dutch track with a championship lead extended to 43 points. Read report

Grand-Am: From first practice on Friday morning, everything was going in the right direction for AIM Autosport and the Pacific Mobile/Biosign No. 61 Ford Riley and right through the chequered flag for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, things continued to go well. At the end of two full days of practice and competition, the team left Watkins Glen with a strong gain in points in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. They also gained confidence in their chances of stepping on the podium a few more times this year when at the end of this six-hour 'sprint', they would miss a third-place finish by less than half a second after taking a calculated gamble on the final pit stop. Pic Chris Jameson Read report

Formula Renault: Atech GP’s Tama’s Pa’l Kiss picked up his third win of the 2010 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship at a packed Oulton Park circuit this weekend to extend his lead at the top of the drivers’ standing by 18-points. The 19-year-old Hungarian racer just got the better of Fortec Motorsport’s Tom Blomqvist during round eight to take the honours together with a third place in round seven. Blomqvist secured two second places during the weekend. There was also saw a first win for Manor Competition’s Lewis Williamson in round seven. CRS Racing’s Harry Tincknell picked up the remaining podium spot with third in round eight while Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Fabio Gamberini enjoyed a double win in the Graduate Cup – his first of the season. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

A superb lights to flag victory for Tamás Pál Kiss at Oulton Park on Sunday, coupled with third place in Saturday’s opening Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship race, has extended the Atech Grand Prix driver’s lead to 18 points over his rivals. His team-mate Marlon Stockinger had his best qualifying of the season on Saturday with the third fastest time but was denied a potential podium finish in the race when he was punted off the track on lap one. Read report

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Tim Harvey completed a double Porsche Carrera Cup GB victory at Oulton Park over the weekend when he won a shortened round eight of the championship. Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) completed a superb pro-am1 double, while Paul Mace (GT Marques) took the pro-am2 victory. Harvey (Red Line Racing) was ahead, but under constant pressure from Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance), when the race was halted at 12 laps following an accident involving Steve Parish (Addison Lee Motorbase) and Alex Martin (GT Marques). With the circuit curfew time fast approaching, there was no time to restart the race. Read report

Three podium finishes, two of them courtesy of Stephen Jelley, provided a strong return for Team Parker Racing from the latest round of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Oulton Park, but it was Euan Hankey’s second place in race one that was the squad’s best result of the weekend. Read report

Sportscar racing rookie Ahmad Al Harthy produced his most competitive drive of the season at Oulton Park in Cheshire on Sunday, 6th June, to record his third Pro-Am 1 Class podium during the eighth round of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship. Read report pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Archie Hamilton continued to shine in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, when he scored his best result of the season and was awarded Porsche Driver of the Weekend at Oulton Park on Sunday. read report

Formula 3: Alexander Sims earned yet more silverware at Zandvoort on Sunday by finishing in second place during the RTL GP Masters. Setting the pace throughout the weekend at the Dutch venue, the 22-year-old Team UK driver was most definitely the man to beat having headed the opening practice session on Saturday and then going on to secure pole position 0.156 seconds clear of 2009 winner Valtteri Bottas. Pic Jeroen Vermeeren/Insight F1 Motorsport Report Read report

The Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship has announced a restructure of the second half of the 2010 season designed to stimulate growth within the category. A 3 round ‘series within a series’ will now complete the 2010 Gold Star season, kicking off at Morgan Park Raceway in Warwick before progressing to Eastern Creek in Sydney, and Sandown in Melbourne. It is planned that the Formula 3 ‘East Coast Shootout’ will become a mainstay of future seasons as a focal point within the overall ustralian Drivers Championship chase. It will allow drivers to compete in three focussed rounds for a title separate to that of the overall season’s championship. As such, it will also allow drivers who have only contested a partial schedule to date, or who were intending on competing later in the year, an opportunity to win a title despite not completing the full championship trail. Sponsorship and incentives for the series are currently being sourced and will be designed to especially reward competitors who compete in all three rounds, but also offer a tangible reward for drivers of all cars to strive for. In response to feedback from competitors and partners, the series has decided to contest seven rounds this year as a cost saving initiative and as such will no longer compete at Winton Raceway in June as previously scheduled. These initiatives have been implemented with the full support of the Shannons Nationals, of which Formula 3 Australia is a core category and stakeholder. Further incentives, prizes, sponsorship and other details will be announced when available. IAN RICHARDS – Chairman, Formula 3 Australia “We are always assessing our position and doing what we can to offer value to those competing and to those looking to compete within the series. It was clear that we needed to shake up the establishment and be more proactive to ensure a strong finish to the year and this is just the first part of that effort. We have never been so busy following opportunities for potential growth for Formula 3 racing in this part of the world. The numbers on the circuit may not reflect this at the moment however there must be a longer term, broader approach to this and that is what we are putting in place. There is a strong, viable future for Formula 3 racing within Australasia and we continue to work to that goal.”

Ginetta Juniors : Less than a second covered the top three finishers during the eighth round of the Ginetta Junior Championship season at Oulton Park on Sunday – Tollbar’s Jake Hill putting together a strong performance to claim his fourth victory of 2010. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

Adam Bonham provided the best result of the weekend on a difficult outing for Team Parker Racing in the Ginetta Junior Championship at Oulton Park. Bonham took 10th place in the first of two races for the 14-17-year-old racers, who always provide some of the highlights of the BTCC support package. Bonham was battling for a top-six place in the second race when he got taken off by an errant rival, relegating him down the order to a disappointing 12th place at the finish. After a tough qualifying session, Parker’s top driver in the championship, Nottinghamshire ace Chris Swanwick, was the team’s ‘guinea pig’ for a set-up change for race one. Swanwick battled through to chase Bonham, the pair finally taking 10th and 11th places. For Parker’s Monmouthshire racer Finlay Ractliffe it was a hugely disappointing race, alternator failure putting him out before the start. Swanwick was in the wars in the second race. A clash at the first corner dislodged his bonnet catches, and a collision later on the first lap delayed him again. Worse still, the driver who Swanwick had collided with was then collected by the unfortunate Ractliffe, who found himself with nowhere to go. With his bonnet raising further and further, Swanwick was forced to pit by officials before finishing one lap down.The team’s driver coach Danny Buxton said: “It was so unlucky for Adam. He was on for a really good result and then he got removed by another driver. We had such high hopes for the weekend and it turned out to be hugely disappointing, but the changes we made to Chris’s car worked well - it’s just a shame we didn’t get to show it.”

Ginetta G50 Cup: Round 11 of the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup saw the title pendulum swing in favour of Carl Breeze at Oulton Park, thanks to another impressive race victory for the Total Control Racing-run driver. Taking his fifth win of the year, ahead of chief title rival Frank Wrathall, Breeze opened up a slender three point margin at the top of the driver standings to cap off a truly sensational, and richly deserved, weekend. read report

BTCC: Tom Onslow-Cole, Jason Plato and Matt Neal shared the wins in the weekend's three Dunlop MSA BTCC races at Oulton Park. Neal's win in race three means he leads the championship as the series heads to Croft t in North Yorkshire on Sunday 20 June. In front of a huge crowd Onslow-Cole led race one all the way from pole position in his LPG-powered Team Aon Ford Focus, standing up to intense pressure from Neal's Honda Racing Team team-mate Gordon Shedden and WSR BMW driver Robert Collard. Behind, Neal and Plato who'd gone into the race tied for the series lead, experienced varying fortunes. While lying fourth, Plato was knocked off the track and down to tenth so instead it was Neal, who finished eighth, who gained an early upper hand. Plato then came through from tenth on the grid to win race two, his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze crossing the line with heavy front-end damage after a robust move on early leader Onslow-Cole. Neal also passed Onslow-Cole to take second but it was not enough to stop Plato from now moving ahead in the standings. In race three. Home hero, Preston's Tom Boardman, led for much of the race until Neal overtook him in the closing laps for his third win of 2010. With Plato finishing back in sixth, Neal is therefore left with a small eight-point advantage at the top of the table. Notably, fifth place in race three for Onslow-Cole meant he was the day's highest points-scorer and as a result he was presented with the Cliff Johnson Trophy - in memory of much-loved Boulevard Team Racing principal Cliff Johnson who passed away last week. Finishing that race in second was Airwaves BMW’s Steven Kane - a result that keeps him ahead of Onslow-Cole in third place in the championship - while taking third, his first podium result of 2010, was James Nash in his Triple Eight Race Engineering Vauxhall Vectra. Elsewhere, Honda/Dynamics has maintained its lead in the Manufacturer/Constructor championship, as Arena/Ford moves ahead of Chevrolet/RML into second. Airwaves BMW has increased its lead in both the HiQ Teams and Independent Teams standings and its pairing of Kane and Mat Jackson are also now 1-2 in the Independent Drivers table after a tough day for Paul O'Neill, the Widnes driver hampered by mechanical problems on his Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Honda in two of the three races in front of his home audience. pics Dennis Goodwin

06-06-10

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Tim Harvey was the big winner in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Oulton Park today (Sunday 6 June) in round seven of the championship. With title rival Michael Caine off at the first corner, Harvey's victory became even more significant. Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) drove a gritty race to win pro-am1, while Glenn McMenamin (Red Line Racing) won pro-am2. read report

Porsche Club Championship points leader Mark McAleer kept his 2010 unbeaten run going with victories in rounds three and four of the series at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire on Saturday. The Yorkshire racer had to battle hard for his first win, then led all the way to take the afternoon’s second round. Chris Dyer made it a great day for Yorkshire racers with a brace of Class Two wins. Read report

Formula Ford: Daniel Cammish took his first win in the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain yesterday at Zandvoort. After an action-packed race which saw the elad change hands several times, Cammish crossed the finish line 0.4secs ahead of Jake Cook and Scott Malvern. For the latter, finishing third after a great recovery was enough to extend his championship lead. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

Ginetta G50: TCR’s Carl Breeze dominated the 10th round of the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup at Oulton Park on Saturday, 5th June, by taking pole position, victory and the fastest lap of the race. The team’s ELF Renault Clio Cup drivers were also in action with Sam Tordoff taking his fifth podium of the season while his d team-mates Mike Robinson and James Dixon finishing fourth and eighth respectively. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography read Race report read TCR team report

Ginetta Junior Championship rookie Jody Fannin took a dominant win during the seventh round of the season at Oulton Park Island Circuit on Saturday, 5th June, to head home a fantastic one-two-three finish for the TJ Motorsport team. Marking the youngster’s second victory of 2010 –Fannin took the lead of the race from team-mate Louise Richardson on the second lap and from mid-distance he edged further and further clear as the battle for the other podium places intensified. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography Read report

Le Mans: With two LMP1 Lola coupé - Rebellions entered for the race, REBELLION Racing will face new challenges in la Sarthe. The team will compete at Le Mans with two LMP1 cars for their first time under the REBELLION Racing name. Last year, under the Speedy Racing Team Sebah banner the Swiss team entered one Lola Coupé – Aston Martin in LMP1 and a Lola Coupé – Judd in LMP2. Both cars took the chequered flag with the #33 car finishing 2nd in LMP2. The Team’s first appearance at la Sarthe was in 2005 (as Sebah Racing). read review

Porsche Carrera Cup GB competitor Ahmad Al Harthy got the fourth race meeting of the 2010 season off to a great start at Oulton Park Island Circuit in Cheshire this afternoon, Saturday, 5th June, by posting the third fastest time in the Pro-Am 1 Class during round seven and eight qualifying. The Omani 28-year-old, who drives for the Redline Racing team, produced a best time of 1m24.516 seconds in very hot conditions during the 30-minute session to miss out on the Pro-Am 1 pole position for the first of the weekend’s races by just four 10ths of a second.Such was Ahmad’s consistency his second fastest lap was an almost identical time of 1m24.532 seconds, placing him third on the grid in class for round eight. This time, he was less than two 10ths of a second shy of Pro-Am 1 pole position. “Today it was very important to try and get that perfect lap”, said the Oman Air, National Bank of Oman and Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs backed driver, “I got a good run on my first set of tyres which was crucial in order to get some good, solid times on the board. The second set was better for sure but I couldn’t quite get the perfect lap.“I took a risk waiting it out for the last few minutes in the pits but luckily none of the other guys were able to go any quicker so that means our tyres should be in good condition for the races. I’m really pleased, to be in the top three in Pro-Am 1 is always a challenge so it’s great to have achieved that again this weekend. If the conditions stay the same tomorrow, we should be strong.”

BAW: Facu Regalia will start today’s Zandvoort races from third and the sixth places after missing out on pole by less than a tenth of a second. The Spanish-Argentinean driver started Formula BMW Europe’s second weekend well and ended the morning practice session in fifth position, despite some problems. “It wasn’t that bad. I signed the fifth best lap time, but could be a little better, because when the tyres were at their best there was a red flag. I think that I could be second. Besides, we suffered from some understeer, but the team is working on it and I think it will be fixed for the qualifying”, he said . In the qualifying Regalia was among the top runners from the off, so he could be a contender for a podium. “I lost less than a tenth to the pole-position, something I think it is a good result. Starting from third, the cleanest side of the track, I think I can reach the podium, something for which I’ve been working very hard”, he added. For the second racehe will start from the sixth,.

05-06-10

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Michael Caine and Tim Harvey each took a pole position in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Oulton Park today (Saturday 5 June) ahead of rounds seven and eight of the championship. Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) headed pro-am1 for both races, while John Gaw (Kinfaun Racing) topped the pro-am2 times. The leading drivers were more closely matched than ever as three-tenths of a second covered the top five times on the grid for round seven. In fact, such is the competitiveness of the Carrera Cup GB that only five seconds covered the entire 27-car field.Caine (Motorbase Performance) got the fastest lap of the session to take pole for round seven in 1m23.475s, but Harvey (Red Line Racing) had the faster second best lap, so he took pole for round eight. "We wanted both poles but we only got one of them," said Caine. "So it's one-all. I was a bit frustrated by the red flag coming out late in the session." However, Caine was also aware that a gaggle of contenders will line up to challenge the two established pacesetters. "They're all getting there," he said as Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing) and Carrera Cup Scholarship racer Euan Hankey (Team Parker Racing) and Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing) all lapped very close to the pole time. For the weekend's second race Harvey will start on pole position. "Our pace is consistent and the car is good on old tyres," said the championship leader. Hankey came close to edging Caine back to third for race two, but Caine jumped up to second fastest on his final lap of the session, which had been re-started for a final 5-minute charge after a red flag. That pushed Hankey back to third from Jelley and Geddie in the line up for round eight.Sixth overall and top of pro-am1 for both races was a fine result for Gelzinis, who had learnt the Oulton Park circuit during testing on Friday. "There was a lot of traffic and I couldn't get a complete clear lap," said Gelzinis. "But I'm getting used to the circuit and I really like it."However, Gelzinis faces tough opposition in pro-am1 as Archie Hamilton and Ahmad Al Harthy (Red Line Racing) ran him very close on times. "It was so close; just a tenth off," said Hamilton. However, like his team mate Harvey, Hamilton is confident that his car will be strong in race trim. Down in fourth in pro-am1 for both races is category leader Ollie Jackson (Addison Lee Motorbase), who felt that he had been over-driving during qualifying. Gaw set the pro-am2 pace, despite being the cause of the late session red flag when he clipped the tyres marking the corner apex at Knickerbrook. "It's Michael Caine's fault; he told me to take the corner in second gear," joked Gaw. With Gaw not scoring championship points, Glenn McMenamin (Red Line Racing) and Paul Mace (GT Marques) shared the points for the pro-am2 poles. George Brewster (Celtic Speed), Steve Parish (Addison Lee Motorbase) and Mark Hazell (JHR) packed out the top places in pro-am2.

Avon Tyres British GT Championship debutant Marc Hayek and his vastly experienced co-driver Peter Kox claimed an emphatic fifth round win today at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, their Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo lapping the field to take the win. It was Swiss driver Hayek's solid first stint in the 150-minute endurance marathon which laid the groundwork for Dutchman Kox's finishing flourish. Read report

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: The 911GT3 Cup car that will be raced in the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB was unveiled to teams and drivers at Oulton Park yesterday (Friday 4 June). The stunning new car, already in use in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and several Carrera Cups around the world, will be introduced into the Carrera Cup GB car for 2011. Up to 28 new cars will be produced for the 2011 Carrera Cup GB and the first deposits were taken within minutes of the car being unveiled. "This car is more of a step change than an evolution," said Geoff Turral, general manager Porsche Cars GB, when unveiling the latest car. An increase in engine size from 3600cc to 3800cc has boosted power output to 450bhp, while a wider bodyshell is drawn from the GT3RS. Notable among a raft of detail changes is the rear wing, which is both wider and higher to increase down force. "The new car is quite technically different to the existing car," said Turral. Reigning Carrera Cup GB champion and current Supercup racer Tim Bridgman spoke about the driving experience in the new car. "You can feel the extra power straightaway and it's a move advanced racing car. The adjustments do more to the car and it is incredibly sensitive; it gives more scope to the drivers and engineers." The car will next be on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (2-4 July) and will then be one of the cars to be raced by Carrera Cup GB Scholars Euan Hankey and Michael Meadows in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race at Silverstone on 11 July. "We may have more demand than we can supply," said Turral. "We are keen to create a strong market for the current cars so that our existing teams and drivers can step up to the new car." Turral also reported strong interest from new teams looking to join the Carrera Cup GB grid for 2011. The new Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, run by the Porsche Club GB, is expected to absorb a number of the current cars, while the creation of new GT3 Cup Challenges in several European markets for 2011 will further increase demand for the current cars.

Five drivers from the Porsche Carrera Cup GB will race at Le Mans next weekend (12 June) in a support race to the famous 24-hour race. Tim Harvey, Ahmad Al Harthy, Glenn McMenamin, Alex Martin and Archie Hamilton will contest a race for the Porsche Carrera Cup France on the morning of the 24 hours. Over 40 Carrera Cup cars from across Europe will be on the grid. Harvey is the only one of the quintet to have previously raced at the 8-mile track. He contested the 24-hour race four times from 1988, but has not been there since 1991. Hamilton, meanwhile, will honour his late grandfather Duncan, who won the 24-hour race in 1953. Tim Harvey: “It’s one of my all-time favourite tracks, with the overall speed and sense of history. I think we’ll be hitting around 185mph three times on every lap and that’ll be fantastic. This is a unique chance to race in front of 300,000 spectators and we’ve got to uphold British honour.” Ahmad Al Harthy: “It’s unbelievable. It’s an ambition of mine; one of the things in the sport I would love to do. I just want to enjoy the whole atmosphere. I will be the first Omani driver to race at Le Mans.”Glenn McMenamin: "It's the chance of a lifetime to drive the most famous circuit in the world. It's the high speed that makes it a completely different challenge." Alex Martin: “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and it’s going to be brilliant. Who wouldn’t look forward to racing at Le Mans? To race there one day has been on my wish list.” Archie Hamilton: “It’s a great opportunity to follow in the family tradition. The whole atmosphere and build up to the race will be amazing. It’s a great chance to learn the circuit and I’ve been flat out on the simulator since I knew we were going to Le Mans. I’ve never even been there to watch so just being there will be very special.” Harvey, Al Harthy, McMenamin and Hamilton will run with their regular Red Line Racing team, while Martin has joined Team Parker Racing for the event. The five cars will head for France straight from this weekend’s Oulton Park round of the Carrera Cup GB and will be back in action at Croft on 19/20 June for rounds nine and ten of the Carrera Cup GB.

Michael Meadows topped the time sheets in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during testing at Oulton Park on Friday ahead of rounds 7 and 8 of the championship. Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) headed pro-am1, while John Gaw (Kinfaun Racing) topped pro-am2. A 27-car field assembled at the track and by the end of the day's testing less than a second covered the top 12 cars. Meadows (Red Line Racing) set the pace for the first time with a lap in the second session of 1m24.282s. "I struggled a bit this morning, but I had a look at Tim Harvey's data before the second session. I'm very optimistic for the weekend," said Meadows. Second fastest after two sessions interrupted by red flags and then rain was Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance). "The track was quite slippery and very dirty off line," said Caine on a day when high track temperatures also had a detrimental effect on lap times. Third fastest was Harvey (Red Line Racing) based on his time in the first session as he only did three laps in the second session before he clipped the tyres at Knickerbrook and damaged the front suspension. Fourth fastest was Stephen Jelley (Team Parker Racing), but he was frustrated not to have found a better lap on new tyres. "I didn't get the best out of the new tyres," he said. "I had all four wheels off the track at Old Hall." Just three-thousandths of a second slower than Jelley was his team mate and Carrera Cup Scholar Euan Hankey, who looks strong for Saturday's qualifying as he set his time on old tyres. A planned run on new tyres late in the session was thwarted by a red flag and then rain. A stunning sixth overall and top of pro-am1 was Gelzinis on his first experience of Oulton Park. Once again the Lithuanian racer proved that he is a fast learner by lapping within four-tenths of Meadows in an impressive display. "It is fun to drive but a lot to learn," he said of the track. Chasing Gelzinis in pro-am1 will be Red Line Racing team mates Ahmad Al Harthy and Archie Hamilton, who both posted top 10 times. In pro-am2, Gaw set his expected searing pace to be seventh fastest overall. On a circuit that particularly suits the pro-am2 cars he could have been even higher up the overall rankings. "I spun at the hairpin on my best lap; that would have been a good lap," he said ahead of his 2010 Carrera Cup debut. Glenn McMenamin (Red Line Racing), Paul Mace (GT Marques) and Steve Parish (Addison Lee Motorbase) were next up in pro-am2.

04-06-10

British GT: The scene is set for an enthralling two-and-a-half-hour race battle at Spa-Francorchamps tomorrow after a nail-biting qualifying session for the fifth round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship. Peter Kox topped the timesheets for the Reiter Engineering team, the Dutch driver making a triumphant return to the series after a six-year absence.Kox lapped the Belgian Grand Prix circuit in 2m 24.611s, some six seconds inside the official lap record, at the wheel of his Lamborghini Gallardo. "It's great to be back in the championship," said Peter, who will share his car tomorrow with Blancpain watches chief Marc Hayek, "and it's pleasing to set the best time. The car was great today and we had no problems to speak of."The Lamborghini was ahead of the game by just three-tenths of a second, Richard Westbrook attempting but failing to lift the pole for the Trackspeed Porsche team in the closing minutes of qualifying. The Rosso Verde Ferrari 430 Scuderia went third fastest, Allan Simonsen at the wheel.There was a close three-way battle in the G4 class, with championship leaders Christian Dick and Jamie Stanley's Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta G50 ending the session less than five-hundredths of a second ahead of the KTM X-Bow driven by Rory Butcher and Benjamin Harvey. "It's great to maintain our 100 per cent pole record," said Stanley, "but it's a long race tomorrow and tyres are going to be crucial."Continuing brake problems blunted the performance of the Predator CCTV Ferrari of Adam Wilcox and Phil Burton, and the GT3 Racing Viper of Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott. Both cars missed chunks of the session, and the Viper was described as almost undrivable by Scott because of a glitch in the anti-lock braking electronics.Tomorrow's "Spa 150" is the longest race on the Avon Tyres British GT calendar this season, with two mandatory pit stops, refuelling and a host of sporting regulation tweaks designed to keep the teams on their toes. pic Jakob Ebrey photography times

The results of round four of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Knockhill will stand as published, it was decided today.Clerk of the Course Bernard Cottrell heard a protest by the MTECH team concerning the collision between its car, driven by Matt Griffin, and the Preci-Spark Ascari of Godfrey Jones which resulted in the Ferrari's retirement from the race.Cottrell dismissed the protest and also took no action over other race incidents.

Grand-Am: It has been a hectic week for the AIM Autosport crew with just four days between races as they moved from Lime Rock Park in Connecticut to Watkins Glen, New York for this weekend's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. The entire team had a lot of work to do in preparing the car after what started as a rough outing at Lime Rock. The race had ended alright but not after the crew had to rebuild the car after an accident in qualifying and while Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins ran a fantastic race in the Pacific Mobile No. 61 Ford Riley, job one was to tear the car down and make sure it was fit to run a six hour enduro at the very fast Watkins Glen International. The team took some extra time at Lime Rock to work on the car before loading for the trip to Watkins Glen and they were at the track on yesterday going over every detail while the engineers started working out their plan for the race. Practice and qualifying are today followed by an early-evening practice. But AIM goes into this race with some optimism after showing they could run at the front at Lime Rock. Burt had the Pacific Mobile No. 61 Ford Riley near the front of through most of his stint and handed the car over to Mark in second. Mark would lead twenty laps and also never be far from the front. "Burt and Mark both put in a terrific drive", commented Team Principal Ian Willis. "The crew did a great job getting us onto the starting grid after the accident and we had the car to run at the front. The only hiccup was when we missed the call on the last pit stop an not making it in before the caution. That cost us track position but Mark still fought back to finish in the top five." He continued, "The result of all that hard work is that now we can come back this weekend at The Glen and make a run for the podium. We have a history here, taking the win on the short track in 2008, so now we'd like to add a win in the Six Hour to complete the package. The No 61 started from the front row in 2008. No reason we can't do that again and go on for the win. The boys are fit and ready for this", said Willis. "Both have already done the Rolex 24 this year and the 6-hour race at Laguna a few weeks ago. Mark also competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this season. They have been training very hard." To determine the benefits of that training, this weekend, founder and Chief Technologist of AIM's new technical partners, Biosign, will be on hand to demonstrate their UFIT® health monitoring system and determine how it can be used to enhance Mark and Burt's training regimen. The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 presentation of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen takes place on Saturday, June 5th. The race will be broadcast live in two, two-hour segments on SPEED TV starting at 2:00 p.m and 6:00 p.m. ET. The entire race will be carried live on MRN (Motor Racing Network) affiliates on the Sirius Satellite Network.

The Doran Racing Team with drivers Memo Gidley and Dion Von Moltke, had a strong run going at the Lime Rock Memorial Day Classic before being sidelined by a crash due to a failed suspension piece. The weekend started exceptionally well, with the #77 Mc Donald’s/PR Newswire Ford Dallara, quick right from the drop of the green flag in practice. “I was thinking we might have a lot of catch up to do since we were one of only a couple of teams that had missed the open test at Lime Rock earlier in the month,” said Gidley. “However as it turned out, the car was really close right from the start.” read report

V de V: British racing driver Nick Padmore and team mate Jean-Lou Rihon came through a difficult V de V race at Motorland Aragon in Alcañiz, Spain at the weekend to finish in a well-deserved 6th place for the Norma UK squad. Read report

Star Mazda: Los Angeles-based P-UNO Motorpsorts TV will air eight races on SPEED Latin America in 2010. In fact, we'll broadcast nine programs, eight events and a recap of the season. Seems that the network is happy with our performance and they renewed our contract for this year," said Hector Cademartori, President of P-UNO. "We aired eight races in 2009 with two repetitions each (24 programs) and two repetitions each again in February of this year (16 programs) for a total of 40 hours of Star Mazda racing on TV." The eight races for 2010 will be: Sebring, the two ovals in Iowa and Indianapolis (ORP), one of each of the double-headers in New Jersey and Autobahn, the two Canadian events in Mosport and Trois Rivieres and the season finale in Road Atlanta. Please see the www.StarMazda.com web site for race dates. The first two races, Sebring and ORP (Indianapolis) already have an airing date with a repetition: Sebring: June 13 at 10AM and 11PM and ORP : Jun 26 at 10AM and June 27 at 11PM (Mexico Time). Hector Cademartori and Pedro Serramalera, P-UNO's principals, produce the commentary in Spanish and in Portuguese for the Brazilian market.

GP3: America's Alexander Rossi scores another GP3 podium and further points in the championship for both himself and his team, ART Grand Prix, by finishing in 3rd and 4th in Turkey last weekend. Read report

FRMC: The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge is back in action for round five on Sunday at Watkins Glen International. It’s a debut visit to the circuit for the Mustang Challenge, whose drivers come straight from last weekend's race at Lime Rock Park. The 3.4-mile circuit is a drivers circuit, climbing over 100 feet in elevation as the drivers charge through the Esses, through the Inner Loop into the Outer Loop before going down into the famed Boot The race is part of the GRAND-AM weekend as the Rolex series stage the Six Hours of the Glen on Saturday. The race at Lime Rock Park saw Tony Buffomante take some revenge on the disappointment he experienced at VIR, leading the race from lights to flag to score his first win of the year and the debut victory for Capaldi Racing. "Watkins Glen is the home race for me and the Buffomante family so I'm VERY excited about this weekend," said Buffomante. "The last time I raced at that track, I ended up in the hospital so hopefully this weekend will be better." The championship opened with Jason von Kluge cruising to three straight wins, has now tightened with Buffomante taking to the top step. Lime Rock wasn’t a disaster for von Kluge as he took third despite starting sixth. "Hopefully we can be alright again at the Glen," said von Kluge. "I know it's a bigger track than Lime Rock, but I think I can pick it up quickly. We have more time to soak it all in this weekend than I did at Lime Rock and hope that helps. I know Tony will be good there with his knowledge of the place but if I can just keep it clean and have a good run, I think we'll be ok." Richard Golinello will look to sort any mechanical issues like the one that ook him out of podium position at Lime Rock, while impressive young racer Kyle Gimple will be hoping to go one better than his runner-up finish last weekend. George Winkler had a weekend to forget at Lime Rock, but he'll look to his past experience at the Glen to climb back on the podium on Sunday. The series also welcomes back both Jim Click Racing drivers Jim Click and Mike McGovern, who was third in the 2008 Mustang Challenge Championship, for the Watkins Glen round.

V8 Utes: Scott "Slamboy" Jennings, will celebrate his 100tth V8 Ute Race start during Round 3 of the 2010 Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All at Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin, Friday, 18th June - Sunday, 20th June. The former U/19 AFL representative, will celebrate his 100th start in Race 1, Saturday, 19th June and sees it as one of his biggest achievements. "It's a fairly big milestone for me. Playing 100 games in AFL comes around fairly quick but this has taken me a while. I'm really passionate about motorsport and to log 100 starts is a big milestone for me. It's great to do it in one of the best support categories in Australia, the V8 Utes," said Jennings. Jennings completed 2 rounds in 2005, started a full season in 2006 and although a Sydneysider he has come to call Darwin his biggest supporters track. "Darwin is my home supporters' track, which is mainly because of Peter Mules from NT Shipping. He has supported me every year I've been there. If I've been down and out with sponsors, Muley will come and pick me up and allow me to go racing again. His support is invaluable and we've come to be great friends," confides Jennings.

WTCC: With three back-to-back world championships achieved (from 2005 to 2007), BMW Team RBM's Andy Priaulx is undoubtedly one of the most effective and consistent players in the FIA WTCC. His recent victory in the second race at Monza, not only enabled him to close in on the championship leader Yvan Muller of Chevrolet, but also meant that the Briton was the first driver to go beyond the 500-point mark. Since 2005 Priaulx started all the 116 WTCC races held so far, finishing 106 of them, claiming 14 wins (just one short of his current team-mate Augusto Farfus) and scoring 505 points (4.35 on the average per race).According to the all-time scorers statistics, Muller and SEAT Customers Technology's Gabriele Tarquini are placed immediately behind Priaulx. No wonder they both were also crowned world champions. The Frenchman who won the 2008 title has collected 480 points over 94 races; however, because he did not join the championship until 2006, his 5.10 points average per race is better than Priaulx's. Tarquini, the reigning champion, is on 465 points over 113 races or 4.11 per race.

Reigning British Touring Car Champion, Colin Turkington, confirmed today he signed up for an initial three rounds of this year's WTCC - and may be running further rounds. Turkington plans to join the grid for the WTCC round in Portimão, followed by Brands Hatch and Brno at the wheel of a BMW 320si car run by West Surrey Racing. "I feel this is a natural progression for me after last year's victory in BTCC," said Turkington. "We were bitterly disappointed when we were unable to compete in a full programme. This opportunity - initially for three rounds - has been made possible through the support of a group of sponsors. We are really grateful to them and hopefully, with further support from others, we may be able to make additional rounds towards the end of the season."The Irishman added: "This is part of our plan to target a full programme in 2011. We will be working hard over the coming months to demonstrate the WTCC is a fantastic event with which to be associated as a sponsor and will be speaking with a number of organisations in the hope they will come on board for next year." WSR Team Principal, Dick Bennetts, commented: "We are all really looking forward to seeing how Colin and the team go in the WTCC. The guys have nearly finished rebuilding his BMW and we are just waiting on a fresh engine and some parts from BMW Motorsport, before doing some testing prior to our first race in Portimão." Turkington and WSR are not new to WTCC as they took part in two events back in 2008 at Brands Hatch and Macau, claiming one 3rd and one 4th in their home race meeting.

The Proteam Motorsport duo of Sergio Hernández and Stefano D'Aste is leading the WTCC Independents' Trophy after the first three events. They have both been crowned Independents' champions in the past: Hernández in 2008 for Proteam and D'Aste in 2007, when racing for Wiechers-Sport. The latest race meeting in Monza provided ups and downs for the two drivers. D'Aste struggled in qualifying, but then shone in both races. He finished third in Race1, but was promoted to second following Bennani's penalty, and later claimed his first victory of the season in Race 2. His Spanish team-mate remained in the pits for most of the time during Friday's testing and Saturday's practice due to technical issues. In spite of this he completed both races, collecting 10 points that propelled him on top, with a gap of 5 ahead of D'Aste. Their rivals are close behind: Mehdi Bennani and Franz Engstler are one and two further points adrift respectively, while Harry Vaulkhard lies fifth, with a 9-point gap from the leader.

The first three events of the season have seen a domination by SEAT drivers in the new Rookie Challenge. Making the most out of track layouts that favoured their TDI cars, Fredy Barth, Michel Nykjær and Norbert Michelisz have won all the six races held so far and built a comfortable margin ahead of Mehdi Bennani and his BMW.At the wheel of his León car backed by SEAT Switzerland, Barth has already claimed four race victories and leads the standings with 48 points. During the latest meeting at Monza, Norbert Michelisz broke his winning duck by taking victory in Race 2; now Zengö-Dension Team's Hungarian youngster chases Barth with a gap of just 5 points.Nykjær - winner of the second race at Curitiba - saw an amazing overall victory in Monza vanishing because of a tyre failure. However, he is only two further points adrift.

Chevrolet WTCC drivers Rob Huff and Vincent Radermecker will take part in the 12 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, part of the the Belgian Touring Car Series (BTCS).
Huff and Radermecker will join former Formula One driver and local hero Eric Van de Poele at the wheel of a Vovo S60 silhouette car."I am delighted to have this opportunity to go back to Spa-Francorchamps. It is a magnificent track and the 12 Hours is a very nice event, with many cars and an enthusiastic crowd. I raced there in 2005, it was my first time in Spa. This time I am going to enjoy the experience and support Vincent and Eric in their BTCS campaign." said Huff.
Radermecker, who will join the Chevrolet WTCC team in Zolder driving a fourth Cruze, echoed: "The 12 Hours is quite an event for BTCS, and in terms of points can make the difference in the title fight, so it is important for Eric and me to do well there. Having with us a fast and motivated driver such as Rob will definitely be a plus. I am sure we will be competitive."

LMS: OAK Racing Team Mazda France head into next weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours targeting a third successive LMP2 podium finish at the world’s most famous motor race, but also hoping for an improvement on the fine third places achieved in 2008 and 2009. Read more

03-06-10

GTs: British racing team Jota Sport has finalised a multi-year agreement to become an Aston Martin Racing Official Partner Team. The team will take immediate delivery of an Aston Martin GT4, which it will race in this year’s Spa and Silverstone 24 Hours, and will then represent AMR in the GT2 category of the Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hours, subject to invitation by the ACO, with an Aston Martin Vantage GT2 in 2011. Jota Sport will continue running GT2 and GT4 programmes into 2012 and beyond under the terms of the agreement and, subject to Aston Martin Racing’s decision on its long term LMP1 strategy, potentially graduate to the LMP1 class. The news is part of the team’s overall plan to create a ladder to top-level sportscar racing for members of ‘The Drivers Club’, its bespoke racing driver training programme. The Drivers Club ‘pupil’, Simon Dolan, who currently races with the team in the SPEED and VdeV series, will drive the GT4 and GT2 cars over the next three years and will be joined by official AMR Factory Driver Sam Hancock. Sam Hignett, Team Principal, Jota Sport: “Everyone at Jota Sport is delighted to have become an AMR Official Partner Team and we’re looking forward to a long-term future working closely with Aston Martin Racing. Team Jota has vast experience of sportscar racing and at the Le Mans 24 Hours while Jota Sport has proved to be a race-winning outfit in every series it has entered. We believe that will continue in the coming years with AMR and we’re relishing the challenges ahead.” Sam Hancock, Co-owner, Jota Sport: “Since we formed Jota Sport two years ago our aim has been to build a team capable of running multiple international racing programmes. We are now set to realise that ambition with one of the world’s most prestigious manufacturers, which is incredibly exciting news for the team. The agreement also gives us the chance to provide a route to pinnacle of sportscar racing for members of The Drivers Club.” Tony Schulp, Aston Martin Racing commercial director: “Jota is an up and coming team which has already proved its racing credentials. With their drive and ambition they are a perfect partner for Aston Martin Racing and will represent the marque professionally in race series across Europe.”

Silverstone: Work on Silverstone’s new Pit and Paddock Complex is well underway as development around the circuit continues at a pace. The circuit’s brand new Stowe Complex – a unique collection of customer focused test track facilities, hospitality units and pit garages – has also been officially opened this week (Thursday 03 June).. Scheduled for completion in 2011, are new garages, a race control building, media centre, hospitality and VIP spectator zones and a primary paddock. The new Pit Wall has already been constructed on the straight between Club Corner and Abbey, while work on a new pit lane, with reorganised entry and exit points, is also on-going. The Pit and Paddock Complex will ensure that teams and sponsors are provided with world- class facilities, reaffirming the circuit’s position as a premier racing destination. Silverstone’s growing reputation as a venue for product and experiential programmes for automotive manufacturers and associated corporate brands was also enhanced this week when the circuit officially opened its impressive new Stowe Complex facility. The focal point of the Stowe centre is a new multi-surface 1.088 mile fully-licensed race track. Purpose-designed, the circuit can be used to demonstrate chassis control systems like ESP and ABS on modern vehicles. The Complex is also home to a split braking area and a three- lane irrigated wet handling pad, boasting different levels of grip from sheet ice to standard wet tarmac.Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, said: “These new facilities, and the redevelopment of Silverstone at large, will provide a venue where all forms of automotive and motor sport events can be celebrated in style. “The state-of-the-art Stowe Complex will further enhance our offering to manufacturers, corporations and brands involved in motor sport, while the Pit and Paddock Complex will deliver a new mix of facilities that will bring Silverstone into the 21st Century. Our intention is to transform the venue into a world leading centre for education, business, leisure and technology. “It is vital that we continue to diversify as a business to make sure that the UK remains at the forefront of the motor sport industry.”

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: The fourth programme in the dedicated television coverage of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB will be broadcast in the Motorsport UK programme on ITV4 at 5pm on Tuesday 8 June, on ITV1 on the night of Sunday 13 June and will also be repeated on ITV4 on Saturday 12 June. The Motorsport UK series, which features hour-long programmes, is covering all of the Carrera Cup GB action again this season. Round five of the season at Brands Hatch will feature in this programme, which is dedicated entirely to the Carrera Cup GB.
Motorsport UK will be broadcast as follows:
Tuesday 8 June at 5pm on ITV4
Saturday 12 June at 2pm on ITV4
Monday 14 June at 2.30am (approx) on ITV1

Le Mans: After signing for Audi Sport during the winter, Benoît Treluyer is on the brink of his best-ever experience at La Sarthe. Before taking the wheel of the Audi R15 TDI prototype in an attempt to add a win at the world’s biggest motor race to his CV, he talks about ‘his’ 24 hours.... read more

David Brabham has his sights set on another entry into the history books of the world’s biggest endurance race, on June 12-13, with four consecutive wins in three different classes at the 2010 outing of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.Outright victor with Team Peugeot in 2009, Brabham’s LMP1 title followed back-to-back GT1 class wins with Aston Martin Racing in 2007 and 2008. This year he eturns to France contesting LMP2, helping Highcroft Racing make their Le Mans debut. Although 2010 marks the team’s first time at Le Mans, the Brabham/Highcroft partnership is of course no stranger to success. Winning the 2009 ALMS title earned Highcroft Racing an invitation to compete in the 24 hours and they leave for the race leading the 2010 ALMS title fight. “I’ve been part of Highcroft Racing since the beginning of their 2007 Acura programme and I couldn’t be more proud to be going to Le Mans with them,” said Brabham. “It’s the biggest sportscar event in the world and the team is absolutely ready for it. Racing with some fantastic teams and teammates has helped me to deliver perfect races the last three years. I’ve also been fortunate, in some ways, to be part of organisations that are so well prepared, organised and focussed — all the ingredients you need to win.Highcroft Racing has all of those attributes in abundance, and plenty more besides. It’s taken them less than five years to tick every mission box and Le Mans has long been on the cards. Now it’s time to realise that dream and part of that dream is winning.” One of few drivers to have joined an elite club of those to have scored wins in multiple classes at Le Mans, Brabham returns to the La Sarthe circuit for the 17th time in 2010.“A lot of people have asked me if I am disappointed not to be fighting for the overall win this year,” continued Brabham. “Just to compete at Le Mans is an honour and for me it doesn’t matter what class you are in, when you win that class it feels like you have won the race. I know now, having had experience of winning in class and outright, it feels the same. The only difference is people’s perception. Certainly for any team member winning any class at Le Mans is no different to winning overall.” Joining Brabham in the Highcroft Racing HPD ARX-01c will be his ALMS teammate, Marino Franchitti, and multiple Le Mans winner Marco Werner. “I know what it takes to win and with my experience, teamed with Marino and Marco, who has been just as successful as me with three Le Mans victories, we know what it takes to win that big race.” Instead of Highcroft’s usual Patrón title sponsor branding, Malaria No More will be the primary signage on the side of the car for Le Mans, with the aim of raising funds to combat the preventable disease which kills a child in Africa every 30 seconds. For just £5/$10 an entire family in Africa can be protected against malaria. Race fans throughout the world can join Highcroft Racing’s Miles to End Malaria pledging pit crew online at http://www.milestoendmalaria.org. An ebay auction, featuring memorabilia courtesy of Highcroft and other teams and drivers, will also be held to raise money for the cause.

The V De V Championships were in action at the superb Motorland Aragon circuit last weekend, both drivers and teams finding it a technical and testing track. The team Vison Ferrari F430 won the GT/Touring race while the Moreau/Langin’s n°1 Porsche 911 3.0 RSR took then VHC Challenge victory. Philippe Mondolot and David Zollinger won the Proto Endurance Challenge for the Palmyr team ..read report

02-06-10

Porsche Club: Cadwell Park hosts races three and four of the 2010 Porsche Club Championship season on Saturday June 5th, with Mark McAleer the main in form after winning the two opening rounds at Brands Hatch in April. The series has only visited the Lincolnshire venue once before, with both wins going to James Neal in his 964 C2, but it was McAleer’s 968 CS who set fastest lap in each race and the continuing battle between the front and rear-engined cars looks to continue unabated at the weekend. 2007 champion McAleer started off his title campaign in the best way possible, but will face some stiff challenges as his rivals get up to speed at Cadwell. The lap record holder could be under pressure from reigning champion Jez Clark, who has stepped up to Class One this season. A self-confessed fan of the Cadwell circuit, Clark was a winner there in his single-seater days, and should be more at home in his left-hand drive 968 CS at the second meeting of the year.Class One is packed with potential winners, with the experienced regulars joined this year by drivers such as Mark Sumpter and Pete Morris returning to the Porsche racing. Sumpter is joined by Kevin Harrison and Marcus Carniel in leading the rear-engined charge, with Morris one of the numerically superior 968 runners. Chris Dyer took a Class Two win at Brands, with Harrison taking the other as he ‘guested’ in Clarke’s Class Two championship winning car of 2009. Cieran Brewer should provide stiff opposition, with former class winner Frazer Robertson making his season debut in the class in his 944 S2.

Saloons: Championship leader Adrian Churchill continued to add to his victory tally in the Dunlop Sports Maxx Cup at Oulton Park, with one win in his Courtney Motorsport Vauxhall Astra VXR. But as at Snetterton it was three different winners on the top step, of the podium, with Stuart Clarke and Craig Currie sharing the spoils. Read report

They say good things come to those who wait, and Lohen’s driver Andrey Magiy prove this point last weekend in the Sport Maxx at Oulton Park. After taking a second in c lass dring the red-flagged race 1 he went better in the third and final race of the day winning the class in his Lohen Cooper S MINI to go second in the title chase. Read report

Alistair Chalmers’ Caterham CSR picked up a first win of the season in the BARC(NW) Sports and Saloons car championship, as another 30 car grid lined up as the guest championship on the Dunlop Great & British programme at Oulton Park. It was an all Chalmers front row after qualifying, but it wasn’t Alistair on pole, as son Robert took the place in his R400 by 0.084secs on his first outing of the year. “We had managed to cure a misfire from qualifying. I may have got pole but I suppose I will have to let him through in the race,” said Rob. “It was a bit leary as the tyre pressures were uneven. If Rob doesn’t let me through I will stop his pocket money,” Alistair reckoned. Read report

Karts: Jordan King banished a run of ill-fortune with a superb performance that saw him return to the podium in the third meeting of 2010 in the Super 1 Series at Nutts Corner in Ireland. Read report Pics : Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net

Sodi chassis left their clear mark on the opening of the French Championship, at the first GPO of 2010, held this weekend in Varennes-sur-Allier. The team reaped success both in KZ2 with Anthony Abbasse and in KF3 with Pierre Gasly (pictured left): Sodi drivers monopolized the highest step of the podium four times during the event, so now the French constructor is comfortably in the lead of the race to the national title in both categories. Read report

FBMW: Facu Regalia was among the fastest drivers in Tuesday’s Formula BMW Europe test at Hockenheim, setting the second fastest time in the morning and the third fastest in the afternoon.The Spanish-Argentinean had shown in Spain, the first round of the season, that he should be a contender this season. Now after a good test at the Hungaroring last week, he impressed once again this time at Hockenheim. “Everything is going very well! I’m very pleased with the team’s work. I was the fastest for long moments, but in the end I lost 0,030s for the fastest driver”, he said.In the afternoon Facu remained in the top three finally setting the third fastest time, the quickest of the Eifelland Racing drivers. “We decided to use a new set of tyres in the afternoon, because it’s expected rain for tomorrow. I was the third fastest, three tenths from the fastest, though I had to abort my first flying lap in new rubber because of a slower driver”, he explained.

Indylights: Jean-Karl Vernay made a big impression on his first outing on an oval in the curtain-raiser to the Indianapolis 500 Miles. He was the best rookie in qualifying, and he gave the American spectators a thrilling demonstration of his talent in the race. Unfortunately, a brake problem cost him six laps and dropped him out of contention for victory. Despite this setback, he still leads the Indy Lights Championship thanks to the gap he opened up in the first three rounds. Pic Clément Marin Read report

01-06-10

Saloons: Revolution Wheels backed race driver Vaughan Fletcher was unstoppable as the reigning Nippon Challenge GT300 Champion took a pair of lights to flag victories at Snetterton in his modified Subaru Impreza over the weekend. The result proves that his recent double success at Mallory Park was no fluke! Fletchers weekend started off with pole position in qualifying, only his second top spot in his career. The first race was relatively straight forward but the second race was held in heavy rain which the Chesterfield based driver handled with some smooth and steady driving to take his secondl victory of the weekend! “It’s been a fantastic weekend with some great battles and we couldn’t ask for better results”, said Vaughan, adding,” We have a couple of issues we need to sort out, but we aim to continue with our success when we head to Castle Combe in June.”

Grand-Am: AIM Autosport arrived at Lime Rock Park all set for a good day. In the end it turned out not too badly but there were some twists and turns along the way. The single-day event in Lakeville, Connecticut would prove to be a bit of a challenge as everything the team learned in a test here back in April was thrown out the window as weather conditions were drastically different, so it was back to square one. Read report

Ginettas: The stars of the Ginetta Junior Championship are set to thrill racegoers at Oulton Park this weekend as the competition becomes ever more intense. With six rounds (of 20) completed, the Ginetta Junior Championship is more competitive than ever. A new car, the Ginetta G40, new teams and drivers, plus a few returnees, has made for thrilling and unpredictable races and this weekend’s double-header will be no exception. The championship can boast four different winners in the six races so far with Jake Hill being the only man to win more than once. Indeed, Hill has bagged three victories but exclusion from race one at Brands Hatch for his part in an accident cost him 19 points. That means that he trails Thruxton winner Tom Ingram by 32 points and will be keen to turn the tables this weekend. Ingram has been the model of consistency. He hasn’t won since Easter at Thruxton but has never finished lower than fifth and, despite fears about his season-long funding, keeps scoring valuable points. Another win this weekend would do his hopes of securing the required budget no harm at all. David Moore has taken four third places as he becomes more comfortable in the new G40 model and has looked happier in the car than his sister, reigning champion, Sarah Moore. Sarah tangled with Hill at Brands Hatch but has only a sixth place to her name as her best result. As yet, the best hasn’t been seen of the feisty Yorkshire lass.Other winners are Tom Howard and Jody Fannin. Howard secured honours at Rockingham and a second place at Brands Hatch has helped his championship quest, while Fannin was impressive to win at Brands Hatch when he came out on top of a three-car battle. Oulton Park will be new to Fannin but he has shown that he can adapt quickly to the most challenging of circuits and he should be in the leading group this weekend.

Karts: Tom Harvey now leads both British Championships in the MSA Cadet class following a brilliant double victory, his second in as many meetings at national level in 2010, in the Super 1 Series at Nutts Corner in Ireland. This despite tyre troubles that left the 12-year-old down in 19th position after qualifying. Read report

James Singleton produced a brilliant performance in the Euro Max Challenge at Wackersdorf in Germany last weekend to banish a recent run of bad luck and finish a superb second in the Junior Max class . pic Bas Kaligis, read report

Harry Crawley, fresh off the back of his breakthrough British victory in Junior Max,pulled off a double triumph in the Euro Max Challenge at Wackersdorf in Germany from all the way down in 21st on the grid in the first of the two finals, to move into the championship lead. Read report

Mini Challenge: A guesting Stuart Clarke took wins out of three in the Mini Challenge At Oulton park over the weekend. It was also a day when the first two races weredominated by the safety car. Read report

Radicals: With five wins already under his belt this season, Darren Luke was again the man to beat at Oulton Park in the Radical Club Cup. But despite problems in qualifying, he once again reigned supreme and is beginning to look unstoppable in his quest for this years title. read report

Defending UK Cup Champion Derek Johnston was back on form with a win and second from his visit to Oulton Park, but it was the guesting Touring Car ace Paul O’Neill who really stirred things up, having led both races. Spa double victors Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser took the second win in a terrific climax to the weekends action. Read report

LMS: Sportscar racer Liz Halliday will make her third consecutive appearance as part of Eurosport’s commentary team at the Le Mans 24 Hours on 12-13 June. The dual sportswoman, who also competes in International 3 Day Eventing, has contested the race three times, finishing fourth in class in 2006, and will again provide expert analysis for the pan-European channel. This year’s race is set to be another epic battle between Audi and Peugeot, with the French marque hoping to cling onto its title after ending Audi’s five-year winning streak at the race last year with its diesel-powered 908 HDi prototype. Liz Halliday: “I’m really happy to be joining the Eurosport team again at Le Mans this year. I’ve worked with all of the other commentators at the race before and there’s a great atmosphere between us all. I’m expecting another fantastic race this year, with six works cars from Audi and Peugeot as well as Team Oreca’s 908 and the Aston Martins. There is quality right through the field and in all four classes and I’m also particularly looking forward to the multi-marque fight between Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette, BMW, Jaguar, and Spyker in GT2! I would have loved to be on the start list again after a two-year absence, but just being there and sampling the race is very exciting and being involved with Eurosport is the best next thing to driving. Hopefully the experience I’ve gained racing at the Circuit de la Sarthe can give the viewers some extra insight into the race.” Eurosport’s coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hours begins on Wednesday 9 June with action from practice and qualifying and continues on Thursday 10 June. Live, uninterrupted coverage of the race begins on Saturday 12 June on both Eurosport 1 and 2. For the first time the race will also be available in High Definition on the Eurosport HD channel. Liz’s trip to Le Mans will come after her return to racing in a historic Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca at the Coppa Intereuropa at Monza the previous weekend. She will also race Silverstone Classic in July

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