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News Archive March 2011

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08/05/2011

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29/03/11

Intersteps: Karting World Champion Jake Dennis showed his pedigree with a dominant performance and two victories under his belt, from the opening Intersteps rounds on Silverstone’s Grand circuit. The qualifying session was split into two sections, the first to form the grid for race one and the second for two.  Dennis secured pole for both, “the car felt good and I had been good in the tests. So nothing to complain about,” said the Fortec driver. MGR Motaworld’s James Peace secured second for the opener, just edging out Fortec’s Alex Walker. Pic Dennis Goodwin  

Production Touring cars: Last years Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup Champion Adrian Churchill got his 2011 Production Touring Car Trophy campaign off to a flying start at Silverstone. His Courtenay Sport Vauxhall Astra VXR took a convincing win in the opening race at Silverstone, but was plagued with gearbox problems in the second. Debutant Josh Cook was the a surprise winner, after only finishing his Renault Megane the night before the race. Pic Dennis Goodwin  

Porsche Carrera Cup GB : Stephen Jelley will return to Porsche Carrera Cup GB with Team Parker Racing this season after concluding a late deal to contest a full season in the latest 450bhp 911 GT3 Cup cars. Jelley, a double race winner during the last Carrera Cup weekend of 2010, had planned to graduate into the Le Mans Series with the Parker team, but when those plans faltered he quickly arranged a Carrera Cup programme with Stuart Parker’s team. He will now shake down his new car at Brands Hatch tomorrow (Tuesday 29 March) in readiness for the opening two races over the weekend (2/3 April). “The LMS is still an option for later in the season as the dates don’t clash,” explained the Leicester racer. “But the best thing for my career is to be racing and the Carrera Cup is a great championship. I feel part of Team Parker Racing and it is good to racing with them. I fully expect to be fighting at the head of the championship.” Despite having less pre-season testing than his rivals, Jelley says that he should be ready for the opening weekend. “I had a mega result at Brands at the end of last season so I’m confident of a good result. It was important to run the car this week as I’ve not driven a race car since the end of last season. I just want to get the car run in and knock the dust off.” Team boss Parker is delighted to have confirmed the former BTCC race winner in his team. “We were aiming at the LMS with Stephen but due to unforeseen circumstances that hasn’t happened. So the logical thing was to do another year of Carrera Cup and Stephen’s really up for it. He was one of the strongest contender s at the end of last season and its unfinished business for him.”

The Dunlop MSA BTCC’s top two names, Jason Plato and Matt Neal, say that Brands Hatch is the ideal circuit for the Championship to get it’s new season under way this coming Sunday (3 April). The pair, both double champions, are set to renew their long and intense rivalry this weekend where a bumper crowd is anticipated. And while often in the past they have disagreed on many things, Plato and Neal are united in the view that Brands Hatch’s short Indy circuit is the perfect venue at which to stage the championship’s opening event of the year. Race day tickets for adults are still available until midday this Wednesday (30 March) for as little as £25 (visit www.brandshatch.co.uk or tel. 0843 453 9000) while admission for children is FREE – that includes access to a specially organised autograph session with the BTCC’s star drivers in the Brands Hatch pit lane. Plato, again driving for the Silverline Chevrolet team in its Cruze model, said: “Brands Hatch is a circuit that’s got sporting drama written all over it. Overtaking is possible but can be tricky so there are always fraught moments – it’s not uncommon for cars to enter corners three abreast and to see a bit of paint being traded. The public want their motor racing to be full of entertainment and at Brands with the BTCC they’ll get it.” Neal, in the Honda Racing Team’s Civic but now with a turbocharged engine, added: “The Brands Indy circuit has a natural amphitheatre setting so the crowd can see every little bit of action unfold. That always whips up an electric atmosphere making it a great place to start the season. It’s very tight and close around there, but it’s a circuit that always produces some terrific touring car racing because of the physical way in which we race in the BTCC.” In addition to Plato and Neal, another seven drivers on this weekend’s grid are proven race-winners in the BTCC. But with a number of aspiring young names plus several exciting newcomers also on the grid some experts are predicting that at least 12 drivers could be spraying the victory champagne in 2011. Among those capable of challenging Neal and Plato for the title are Mat Jackson, in an Airwaves Racing Ford Focus run by the popular Wrotham-based Motorbase team, and New Malden’s Tom Onslow-Cole in West Thurrock outfit AmD Milltek Racing.com’s VW Golf. His car has undergone major redevelopment work during the winter and could spring a big surprise on Sunday. On top of three headlining BTCC races, a further seven races for the supporting Ginetta Junior, Ginetta GT Supercup, Porsche Carrera Cup, Formula Renault UK and Renault Clio Cup series – which offer the very best in saloon, single-seater and sportscar action.

While drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden are busy refining their 2011 British Touring Car Championship Honda Civics with test mileage ahead of the season opener at Brands Hatch this weekend, Honda Racing is pleased to announce the appointment of several key sponsors together with a technical support arrangement concluded with Bosch Engineering GmbH Motorsport. Joining the team for the first time is CTEK, the leading global brand in the care and maintenance of vehicle batteries, and Dread, Honda Racing’s new official clothing supplier and leading provider of corporate, promotional and team clothing.Honda Racing Team is also working with Bosch Engineering GmbH Motorsport for the 2011 season. Bosch is a leading global automotive supplier of technology and services.Marshall Motor Group, Honda UK’s largest dealer group, is no stranger to the Honda Racing Team and the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. After a successful 2010 with the team, Marshall Motor Group is back for a second season in a row.  pic Dennis Goodwin

Clios: As well as the opening three races of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, Brands Hatch will host a busy programme of support race action this weekend (2/3 April). In the AirAsia Renault Clio Cup, a familiar motorsport surname will line up on the grid as Nicolas Hamilton - younger brother of former Formula One World Champion Lewis - will make his motorsport debut with the Total Control Racing team.Nicolas carried out some final pre-season testing at the Kent circuit last week, when he also took part in an exclusive Q&A about his decision to go racing and his hopes for the season ahead.  Read Q & A

Formula Ford: 17-year-old Cavan Corcoran is the latest recruit to the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. The Derbyshire youngster has signed for a season with Getem Racing in the Scholarship division of the Ford-backed series after impressing the team in testing at Silverstone. It’s a remarkable comeback story for Cavan, who three years ago was seriously injured in a sports car crash at Brands Hatch. “He broke a leg and an ankle in several places,” said Cavan’s father, Brian Corcoran, “and that put him out of car racing for more than a year. But he is completely fit now and can run the 100 metres quicker than ever.” Cavan returned to motorsport with some Super 1 TKM kart outings and looked set to dominate the Academy single-seater series last year before it was axed. “We went to the Silverstone test on the off-chance,” added Brian, “and he took a test in Getem’s Mygale. Even though we could not afford new tyres and the fact that Cavan had never driven the circuit before, he set some respectable times. Martin Down offered us a superb deal, and now we are raring to go.” Corcoran will race the Premier Power-engined chassis in which Jake Cook impressed on his Formula Ford debut last year. He plans a two-year Formula Ford campaign; following his hoped-for success in Scholarship, Cavan plans to step up to the top class for 2012. The Scholarship class competition is hotting up for 2011: the Tockwith Motorsports team is to enter two Rays, one for 17-year-old Jake Jackson and another for David Moore, 16. Pic: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Ginetta Supercup: There are new cars and a new title for Ginetta’s flagship category, which bursts back into life this weekend at Brands Hatch. Welcome to the Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup, which boasts the all-new Ginetta G55 for 2011. The latest Ginetta has a 3.7-litre Ford V6 engine under the bonnet and will run in parallel to the earlier G50 model meaning that there will be double the action on-track. With the larger engine, expect the G55s to be at the pointy end of the field but a quick – well-developed – G50 will be able to mix it. Carl Breeze, the 2010 runner-up, heads the entry and the King’s Lynn driver can be expected to be the man to beat this season. With his 2010 sparring partner having moved on to the BTCC, Breeze will be facing a fresh rival during this season’s campaign.Heading the opposition is Ginetta veteran, even if he is only 19, Tom Sharp. Tom won at Croft last season and can be expected to be a winner in 2011 as well, as can Adam Morgan who also took a victory at the North Yorkshire circuit last season. Morgan, son of former Mercedes rally driver Russell, is another driver who developed well over the course of last season and should be a front-runner in his Ciceley Racing-run car. A real dark horse is George Murrells who won last year’s Ginetta Challenge for the smaller-engined G20s. Murrells makes the step up to the G55 class for this year, again run by crack Ginetta team Optimum Motorsport and can be expected to be in the leading group. Danish driver Joachim Ritter returns with TCR and will be another to drive the new G55. Ritter, currently the Fun Cup World Champion, improved during 2010 and should be another driver capable of fighting for the race lead, while the redoubtable Colin White is back for another season with the irrepressible CWS team. The multiple Hot Rod champion will be aiming for a maiden outright win this year. The G50 class is set to be hugely competitive as well: Ginetta Junior Champion Jake Hill should be the man to beat, while fellow Junior graduate Jody Fannin should be quick in his Team Pyro-run car while former Lotus Elise racer Connaire Finn makes his Ginetta debut. Former Renault Clio racer Robert Gaffney will be in the mix as will Patrick McClughan in the Kelvin Jones Motorsport-run car. With a number of drivers still working on their plans for 2011, expect some late additions and surprises to the Ginetta GT Supercup. It promises to be a superb season.

The Ginetta Junior Championship kicks off at Brands Hatch this weekend with a host of new drivers taking on those in their second season. The Ginetta Junior Championship is one of the most popular on the BTCC-support bill and 2011 promises to deliver its trademark non-stop action. With a handful of drivers returning for a second season, and an influx of newcomers, this is shaping to be a wide-open season. Of those in their second season, Tom Howard will be a man to watch. Fifth in the championship last season, the Tollbar Racing with WIRED driver will be a pace-setter and can be expected to be fighting for the championship at season’s end. Another driver with experience of the 1800cc cars is Jake Giddings who was a front-runner in the main championship last year and in the Winter Series at Pembrey. With two seasons of racing (in G20 and G40-shaped Juniors), Giddings will be another potential champion.Former Junior Rallycross star Brad Bailey is back for a second season and will be keen to turn the lessons learnt last year into race wins, while Max Coates is another looking to be at the sharp end of this year’s grid. Of the newcomers, Charlie Robertson has an impressive karting pedigree and at 14 is the youngest driver on the grid, while George Gamble is another to step up from karting in which he was 12th in the British Super 1 Championship last season. Ginetta Scholarship winner Sennan Fielding will be worth watching, as will Irish Ginetta Junior Champion Niall Murray who will be tackling a raft of new circuits this season. Add in Winter Series winner Seb Morris, former Junior Hot Rod Champion Mikey Day and Saxmax Rookie Champion Myles Collins and this looks set to be another great season at the best motor racing academy around.

GT Asia Series : Asia Racing Team will be running two Porsche 997 GT3 Cup R in the GT3 class of the GT Asia Series in 2011 for the Hong Kong racers Eddie Yau and Sasha Chu. Eddie Yau, a GT3 Asia Challenge race winner and a regular among the front-runners, will be partnering with another familiar face from the series, Sasha Chu. They will drive the last GT3 spec car from Porsche and prepared by the Macanese team based in Zhuhai. The 911 GT3 R features a four-litre six-cylinder boxer engine delivering 480 hpwith a six-speed sequential gearbox. Speaking ahead of the new season, Yau, said: “From my previous outings in GT3 Asia, I know we face fierce competition. Sasha and I believe in this partnership with Asia Racing Team. I’m doing my best in order to arrive at the first race with a good understanding with the team and the car so that we all feel comfortable together.” His teammate Chu, added “I've really enjoyed the tests I've completed so far and already feel part of the team. I know I have a lot to improve on and I take the team advices as a motivation to continue to train hard.” With a big reputation in single seater racing in the region, the GT Asia Series campaign will be another string to the Asia Racing Team’s bow. Team Manager, Philippe Descombes, stated: “We have looking to enter in the championship for some time now. The Porsche is a winner car in Europe and we have the right drivers. Eddie and Sasha together not only create a great atmosphere in the team, but also can perform. Eddie is well known in the house from his past participations in our training courses, and he made a strong first impression in the Pan Delta event. Sasha is improving every time he jumps in the car which is a good sign for the season ahead.” The 2011 GT Asia Series series will be held over six meetings at Asia's leading circuits.

Karts: Half a dozen Formula Kart Stars drivers were put through their paces at Rockingham Motor Speedway recently by former British GT Champion Bradley Ellis as part of their prize for winning the Bradley Ellis Hard Charger Award during the 2010 FKS season. Drivers Jessica Hawkins, Charlie Turner, Jacob Hunstone, Jack Taylor, Ethan Patterson and Daniel Headlam all had their skills tested in a variety of front and rear wheel drive machinery courtesy of Bradley and the Rockingham team and the Speedway’s renowned wet grip area. After a detailed briefing from former British Cadet Champion Ellis all five drivers took the wheel in one of Rockingham’s Mazda MX-5’s and Ellis’ own top spec Ford Focus RS and got to experience the wet grip area’s challenging kick plate, water walls and a surface so smooth it’s like ice. The state of the art facility is a perfect way to learn advanced driving skills in a controlled environment; skills that will be regularly called upon should any of the lucky six graduate to car racing in the future. “This is the second consecutive year we have teamed up with Bradley Ellis and Formula Kart Stars to provide young karters with the opportunity to learn the skills they will need for the future,” said Charlotte Orton, Rockingham Chief Executive. “We have a strong education ethos at Rockingham and we believe in providing an open classroom for people of all ages and abilities to come along and learn.”   The drivers were full of praise for the experience. “I have driven a car before, but at Rockingham I learnt a lot about car balance and how to control it when it goes into a slide,” enthused Hunstone. “The Ford Focus RS was easier to control than the Mazda on the slippery surface. I enjoyed it a lot.”

GT: Richard Westbrook and Peter Dumbreck secured an outstanding podium finish in the opening race of the 2011 GT1 World Championship in Abu Dhabi, as the no.22 JRM Racing Nissan GT-R finished a close second in an absolutely enthralling race at Yas Marina. 

27-03-11

Star Mazda: Connor De Phillippi, the California racer who won the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear season finale from the pole at Road Atlanta, scored his second victory in a row – six months later – winning Round 1 of the 2011 season at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in the Team Pelfrey / Justice Brothers Products / Trademark Garage Floors Mazda.Starting from the inside of the second row, De Phillippi kept his cool through a multi-lap full-course yellow on the first lap of the race, and on the second lap of the re-start, passed pole-sitter Martin Scuncio's #60 Juncos Racing / Fuerza Chile Mazda for the lead… a position he held until he crossed the finish line with a two second margin in hand.  Finishing 3rd was French racer Tristan Vautier in the #5 JDC Motorsports / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda; Vautier dominated pre-season testing and was the quickest driver in the first practice session at St. Pete, but his team missed the setup by just a hair and he was content, relatively, to take home 3rd-place points. 

FIA GT: The first round of the FIA GT1 World Championship in Abu Dhabi this weekend gave Maxime Martin(left), his new team-mate Fred Makowiecki and Marc VDS Racing to start the 2011 season on a high note with a brilliant victory in the Qualifying Race. Sadly however lady luck was not on their side in the Championship Race, where finished in a disappointing 8^th palce afgter a driver through penalty.

26-03-11

Star Mazda: For the first time since Session 2 on Day 1 of the Barber test, Chilean racer Martin Scuncio bested French driver Tristan Vautier – and since he turned the 1:11.413 (90.740 mph) lap in his #60 Juncos Racing / Fuerza Chile Mazda during the final practice session before tomorrow morning's qualifying, he stands as the quickest driver of the day… an distinction wildly applauded by his Juncos Racing team when the final number came up on the timing screens.  

25-03-11

Star Mazda: The 'Indy Summit' is one of the most eagerly-awaited events on the Mazda Road to Indy, an unparalleled educational experience in which drivers get to listen and interact with the top figures in motorsports.  The subject – the hard and fast truth about what it takes to be a racing driver at the top level in today's media, marketing and financial environment.  This year, the Indy Summit has so many aspects it has been divided into two parts, the first taking place here at the season-opener at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and including media training, a presentation by the top managers of Mazda's motorsports department on the business realities of motorsports sponsorship, and finally a sit-down with one of the most powerful and knowledgeable men in U.S. Motorsports today, Mike Hull, Managing Director of Target Chip Ganassi Racing. The second half of the Indy Summit will take place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May, during the lead-up to the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500.  This portion of the program will focus on the on-track and operational aspects of racing in IndyCar and the Mazda Road to Indy, including driver coaching from Indy racing legend Al Unser, Jr.  This portion of the Indy Summit will be part of the activities surrounding Round 3 of the 2011 Star Mazda Championship season, Lucas Oil Raceway, the first of three ovals on the schedule. The morning session of Indy Summit Part 1 was conducted at the Mahaffey Theatre on the grounds of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.  Drivers were coached by a team of professionals on how to deal with the all forms of media, including print interviews, radio and television.  Part 2 was the Business of Motorsports Seminar presented by Mazda.  Speakers included Jim Jordan (Merchandizing Manager for Mazda North American Operations), John Doonan (Manager, Motorsports Team Development at Mazda North American Operations) and Dean Case (Communications Officer, MAZDASPEED Motorsports).  Topics covered included everything from personal appearance to how to configure a sponsorship proposal that will get the attention of top decision-making executives.The final segment of the G.P. of St. Petersburg Indy Summit was a group meeting with Mike Hull, who has run the Target Chip Ganassi team for twenty years.  Delving into a massive accumulation of knowledge gained in two decades at the top of North American motorsports, he gave the drivers his perspective of how they can 'brand' themselves, what top teams look for in a driver, and what steps drivers currently in the Mazda Road to Indy program can do to get noticed by top teams.  At the end, he provided all of the 30+ drivers at the meeting with his e-mail address and an offer to advise them individually.After a day well-spent in the classroom, drivers in the Star Mazda Championship and the other series that are part of the Mazda Road to Indy take to the track for practice on Friday morning.  Star Mazda qualifying is scheduled for 8:05 – 8:50 am Saturday morning, and the race will get the green light for the first standing start of the 2011 season at 4:10 pm Saturday afternoon.  The next race on the schedule is with IndyCar at Barber Motorsports Park, April 9-10.

Formula Renault UK: Manor Competition’s Josh Hill and Ollie Millroy shone brightly during the final two days of Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship pre-season testing this week – Hill heading the times at Oulton Park on Tuesday, 22nd March, and Millroy lapping second fastest at Rockingham on Thursday, 24th March. With the first two races of the 2011 campaign taking place at Brands Hatch a week from now, 2nd/3rd April, this week’s outings in Cheshire and Northamptonshire gave the teams one last opportunity to fine-tune their preparations for the 20 round championship. In what has been a very strong pre-season test programme for New Ollerton-based Manor, the run at Oulton Park on Tuesday marked by far the best outing yet for category rookie Josh Hill.  Not only did he end the day with the quickest time of all at the 2.23-mile Island Circuit configuration, the Farnham 20-year-old was the only driver to lap under the 1m19 second bracket with a fantastic effort of 1m18.736s (101.77mph) – placing him a full 0.3 seconds ahead of his closest rival. In the opening session, Hill started as he meant to go on by leading the Manor charge with the second best time of 1m19.264s, a fraction ahead of third placed team-mate Alice Powell who produced a great effort of 1m19.326s. This ended up being her fastest lap of the day and also meant she left Oulton Park as the top Graduate Cup runner. The 2010 Formula Renault BARC Champion should have been quicker still but when she was on, potentially, her hottest lap of the day near the conclusion, red flags were shown and the final session was curtailed. Millroy was fourth during the opening run with a time of 1m19.537s, again a day’s best for him as he didn’t use new tyres at all, with Jordan King also producing his quickest time of the test in the first outing with a lap of 1m19.666 seconds (100.58mph) – only half a second covering the top six drivers.Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

During Thursday’s run at Rockingham, Millroy ended the outing as the top Manor driver with the second fastest lap of all – a time of 1m14.798s (93.37mph) placing the 20-year-old from Claygate within 0.2 seconds of the outright pace. Heading session two with a lap of 1m15.591s, he became the first driver to dip under the 1m15 second barrier in session three with a great time of 1m14.923s before improving further in session four but finishing the day second fastest. Powell shot into the top three during the afternoon with a lap of 1m15.472s in session three before slicing another half second off her best in the final run. She concluded the day a superb third quickest overall thanks to a terrific effort of 1m14. Hill finished the Rockingham test seventh overall with a lap of 1m15.285s, having overcome a spin and excursion in session one to progress to within 0.7 seconds of the top of the times by the end of the day. King ended the first two sessions fifth and seventh respectively before posting his quickest effort of the day in the opening afternoon run, a time of 1m15.514s placing him fourth for the session and eventually ninth for the day. Unfortunately, an electrical gremlin in the fourth and final outing meant he wasn’t able to complete any further laps.  Speaking on the final week of the pre-season, Manor Competition co-owner Sarah Shaw said: “We really have had a good few weeks during official testing, each of our drivers have been fast and they’re all showing fantastic potential for the season. We’re confident Josh, Alice, Jordan and Ollie can all be a consistent threat – now we can’t wait for the racing to start next weekend!”

Renault Clio Cup UK:  James Dixon heads to his home circuit at Brands Hatch next weekend seeking a winning start to the 2011 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK following a strong showing during official testing at Rockingham yesterday, Thursday, 24th March. Beginning the year as an expected title contender after a fantastic debut season in 2010, the Kent racer earned a deserved reputation as one of the Clio Cup’s quickest and most consistent drivers. His winter testing form has only confirmed he should be a front-runner from the off in 2011. Ending last season sixth in the standings – even though missing four of the 20 races – he amassed two wins, three other podiums, three pole positions and a hat-trick of fastest laps. Although still requiring additional sponsorship to fully underpin his championship challenge in the renowned Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship support category, James will continue to receive excellent support from Weidmuller, ABP Heating and new backer The Art of Decorating Ltd. For the coming season, which gets underway on 2nd/3rd April, the multiple race winner is aiming for nothing short of championship glory as he attempts to bring the prestigious Clio Cup title back to his Total Control Racing team – the squad last lifting the crown in 2006 with current BTCC driver Tom Onslow-Cole who succeeded fellow TCR title winner Jonathan Adam, another BTCC graduate. “Ideally, I want to start where we left off last season with pole position and a couple of wins but having consistency will be really important too if we’re to try and take the championship”, said James, “That’s the sole aim though as I want to make the step into touring cars in 2012 and follow the path taken by Tom and Jonny. We need that success to help attract extra sponsorship.” During this week’s officially timed test outing at Rockingham, James lapped consistently at the front as the competitors ran together on track for the first time ahead of the season opener. “I’m fairly happy with the way everything went at Rockingham”, he said, “Testing has gone well since January to be honest and we’ve been at the sharp end throughout – the car has been fantastic. It’s all about qualifying for me this year, I need to be on the front row for each race if I can to fight for as many wins as possible. I’m staying chilled out though, the best approach is to relax and remain calm.” Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB will burst into life at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 2/3 April with the first two races of the 19-race schedule. The signs are that the 2011 season is going to be the best yet, with a fleet of new 450bhp 911 GT3 Cup cars and a host of strong contenders across all three categories. Proudly carrying number one on his car as reigning champion is Tim Harvey (Team Nationwide/Motorbase) and the Oxford-based racer knows that he faces a massive challenge in his bid for a third Carrera Cup title. Harvey has his key rival from 2010, Michael Caine, as his team mate, and has at least five more drivers all aiming to win races. As well as a gaggle of new young challengers, Harvey and Caine have a new model car to get to grips with and Harvey is already buzzing about the latest 911 GT3 Cup. “The car is a big step forward over the previous car,” said Harvey. “The pleasure in driving is up another notch this year and the new car feels quick, even on old tyres. These cars are seriously quick.”  Caine joins Harvey in the Nationwide/Motorbase line-up and is determined to go one better than his championship runner-up slot of 2010. Both drivers know that winning titles is all about consistency across the 19-race season and will be eager to scoop two major points’ scores when the season opens with two races on the tight Indy circuit. Pre-season testing has shown just how big a challenge Harvey and Caine face and in the major group test it was SAS/Red Line duo of James Sutton and Michael Meadows setting the pace. Sutton, the 2007 champion, is back for another shot at the title, while Meadows looks strong as he capitalises on the experience from his debut Carrera Cup season last year. Over at Team Parker Racing, two exciting championship newcomers showed sparkling form in testing and both Sam Tordoff and Richard Plant will go to Brands aiming for at least a place on the podium. Joining them as another exciting newcomer is Carrera Cup Scholar Ben Hetherington, who races alongside Sutton and Meadows at Red Line Racing. While much of the focus will be on the Pro drivers, the battles in Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 will be every bit as competitive as the overall contest. In Pro-Am1, it was Red Line Racing’s Ahmad Al Harthy on top during the Snetterton test day and that was a significant confidence boost for the Omani racer. However, Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) and young Scot Rory Butcher (Celtic Speed) were close behind and it is Gelzinis who is expected to be the Pro-Am1 benchmark given his prodigious pace during 2010. In Pro-Am2, George Brewster set down an early marker at Snetterton by going top of the times for Celtic Speed, but was chased hard by impressive Carrera Cup newcomer Keith Webster (Red Line Racing) and Steve Parish from the Motorbase Performance team. 

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB will have an unrivalled television package in 2011, with live coverage of up to 11 of the season’s 19 races during broadcasting of the BTCC race days on ITV4 and extensive coverage in the 'Motorsport UK' series on both ITV1 and ITV4. The TV package for the Carrera Cup works hand-in-hand with the outstanding TV arrangements for the BTCC, which will feature extensive coverage on ITV4 during a live programme on each of the season's race days. Whilst this coverage focuses on the BTCC races, much of the support race action, including the Carrera Cup GB, will again feature within this major broadcast, which runs for up to seven hours on each race day. Programmes will typically start at 11am and run through until the end of racing at around 6pm.'Motorsport UK' will cover the BTCC support races in a run of over 30 hour-long programmes, and will benefit from two prime time slots on ITV4 and a late night screening on ITV1. In total, Motorsport UK will have three hours of broadcast per programme.The live BTCC programmes on ITV4 commonly attract over one million viewers and for 2011 the coverage will also be available in high definition (HD). The Carrera Cup will enjoy over seven hours of live coverage in 2011. Details of TV coverage of the Porsche Carrera World Cup at the Nurburgring on 25 June, round nine of the Carrera Cup GB, will be released at a later date. Exact transmission dates and times, along with the schedule of which races will be covered in each programme, will also be announced in due course.

BTCC: Alex MacDowall enjoyed a trouble-free first outing at the wheel of his new Chevrolet Cruze during official Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship testing at Silverstone yesterday, Thursday, 24th March – the precursor to next weekend’s opening event of the 2011 season. Declaring himself completely satisfied with his first taste of the car he will drive in his second year of action in the UK’s biggest and most popular motor racing championship, the 20-year-old ran in the top two for a large portion of the four hour test before ending the day seventh fastest overall. Completing important work ahead of the first three rounds of the BTCC season, which take place at Brands Hatch on 2nd/3rd April, Alex ended the test within just 0.4 seconds of the outright pace with a best lap of  1m00.448 seconds (97.61mph) on the 1.64-mile National Circuit. This also placed him less than 0.1 seconds shy of Silverline Chevrolet team-mate, and reigning champion, Jason Plato.  “The new car already feels better than last year’s and there’s much more to come”, said the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Superstar, “We tried a lot of different set-ups at Silverstone to make the car suit my style a bit more. I was second quickest for most of the day and although we slipped to seventh in the end, I’m not at all worried. I’m really looking forward to the first round at Brands Hatch next weekend, I’m confident we should be able to start the season very strongly and I think we’ll have a very competitive package there.” For the new season, Alex and team-mate Plato are driving updated versions of the Cruze which ran in the BTCC last year. The car is the same specification as that taken to the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship title by Frenchman Yvan Muller.Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

With a week to go before the Dunlop MSA BTCC blasts into action at Brands Hatch, the two new Toyota Avensis ‘Next Generation Touring Cars’ broke cover for the first time yesterday. Resplendent in the liveries of privateer teams Dynojet Racing and Hughes Motorsport/Speedworks, the Avensis racers went on display to the media and public at Silverstone. But the race to get to the grid for the 3 April opening rounds is only just beginning for the teams and their drivers, Frank Wrathall Jnr and Tony Hughes, for Frank’s Dynojet Avensis has yet to turn a wheel in anger and, though Tony’s car was successfully fired up for the first time yesterday, progress was hampered by a number of teething problems. Despite the component delays which mean his car will not undergo shakedown tests until early next week, Wrathall was delighted with the reception it received at Silverstone: “The Toyota looks amazing,” he said, “and we are all delighted with it. Yes, it is frustrating not to have done more testing, but the first few rounds were always going to be tough for us, so we will just get on with it and do the best, most competitive job that we can.” Hughes was able to cover only a handful of exploratory laps before power steering and fuel pump issues brought his shakedown run to a halt. “I am sure that when we get the Avensis running smoothly that it will perform as amazingly as it looks,” said Tony. “This was literally my first time at the wheel and the suspension, the brakes and so on all felt good. I am hoping to get to know the car better in testing next week.” Both cars have been constructed by GPR Motorsport from bodyshells off the production line at Toyota’s Burnaston, Derbyshire, plant. Wrathall’s car will be powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged Toyota engine developed by engineering consultancy X CTech R, whose technicians hope the 300-plus bhp unit will prove to be one of the lightest and most powerful engines on the BTCC grid.

Dartford racer Tony Gilham makes his debut in the Dunlop MSA BTCC at Brands Hatch next weekend.  Gilham, who is a former cage fighter, has raced in a number of UK club series including the Volkswagen Racing Cup and Porsche Carrera Cup GB. However his graduation to the BTCC in a Triple Eight-run Vauxhall Vectra marks the biggest moment in his motorsport career. Gilham is looking forward to the close, fierce racing that has become a hallmark of the BTCC. Tony Gilham said: “After spending three years in a Porsche, it’s going to be interesting to see what Brands Hatch feels like in a Touring Car. You’ve always got to be expecting some rough and tumble in the BTCC, and you’ve got to be up for a bit of a challenge. You have to be sensible but fight your own corner; it’s all about controlled aggression.” Gilham is also looking forward to the strong local support he will receive in his distinctively coloured green and pink liveried Vectra, which was unveiled earlier this week. Gilham added: “We will have a lot of local support from friends, family and hopefully some new fans, as we try and do a lot to keep the fans interested. I hope everyone likes the new colour scheme as well, as it stands out a bit! I can’t wait to get to my local circuit, the atmosphere is always great.” As a demonstration of appreciation to his motorsport fans, Gilham has also announced that he will be giving away his BTCC car at the end of the season to one lucky member of his ‘Tony Gilham Fanzone’ membership scheme, available through his official website.Tickets for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on 2/3 April cost £12 on the gate on Saturday and £30 on Sunday for adults. Entry is free for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0843 453 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk. Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Formula Renault 3.5: Following already two successful winter tests in Spain earlier this month, Alexander Rossi spent the past two days circulating Paul Ricard, Le Castellet , France for the third collective pre-season FR3.5 test with Fortec Motorsport. Sunny and warm conditions, ideal for testing, greeted Alexander and the Fortec Motorsport team on their arrival at the two day test which began on Tuesday morning.   Day one, Rossi and Fortec focused on the base line set up of the track. Paul Ricard, a very diverse testing circuit, and while Alexander is a veteran to it, he'd not experienced this particular configuration in his past runs here. Rossi got to grips quickly with lay out and began working with team to fine tune car set up. With near perfect weather conditions throughout the day's session, Rossi logged 61 laps, finishing day in P5, 0.28 seconds off the quickest time and a very competitive field of drivers and teams. On day two, temperatures crept up further with the track temperature reaching a high of 23 degrees celsius, enabling Alexander to put in a solid 75 laps around the circuit. This extensive running allowed Alexander and Fortec to complete their pre-season development program ahead of the first race which will take place in Motorland Aragon on the 16th and 17th April. By the end of the day's session, there was little in it between the top running drivers and Alexander finished the day in P5, just 0.011 seconds off the quickest time. Jamie Dye, Team Manager, Fortec Motorsport: "The two days we have had in Paul Ricard have been an excellent test program for us. After proving that our standard car set up was good enough for P1 by a clear margin, we decided to concentrate on our development work together in readiness for the rest of the season. We managed good lap times on old tires and carried on doing so throughout the sessions. What we have learnt during day two of the test has been a massive step forwards for us and we are therefore very happy with how things have gone at the test at Paul Ricard." Alexander Rossi: "The team have been fantastic over the course of the three collective tests and we have made a huge amount of progress since the first test in Motorland Aragon . There is a brilliant working relationship amongst everyone at Fortec Motorsport and we have a positive feeling within the team having finished our planned testing program ahead of the first race. We have made truly impressive steps forward over the course of the test at Paul Ricard and I go into the first race of the season feeling really comfortable with the car and looking forward to racing again!"

Karts: Young Swiss driver Darius Oskoui’s career in karts is moving rapidily. In just a few races, he has already put in some good performances in the KF3 international category, including fifth at the Margutti Trophy. In the first period of his young career, he won the title of Champion of the French speaking Switzerland in 2005, in Mini, and again in 2006, in addition to a victory at the Vega Trophy. Then he moved for some time to Norway and put aside his passion for karting. When he came back at the end of 2010, he raced in Rotax Ju­nior before being noticed at the 6 hours of Monte Carlo in the team that came second. His team mate Nelson Panciaticci commented his performances as follows: ‘A special mention for Darius, who showed great maturity despite his young age: he has what it takes to be a champion!’ Darius is now preparing his 2011 season with his manager François Frigola. Tests in Lonato for Intrepid. In pa­rallel, François Frigola registered him to the BMW Formula, in the Talent Cup, the series where the German constructor finds new talents. For the time being, karting remains a priority, with a 2011 racing calendar centred on the WSK Euro Series and the CIK European Championship. After some bad luck in Sarno at the first round of the WSK Euro Series, Darius went off the track too many times to be able to reach the finals. But he caught up the following weekend, at the Andrea Margutti Trophy, 6th in qualifying, he repeated his good performances in the heats, with the best time in the pre-final and a 5th place in the final.

Since joining front-running Comer Cadet outfit Fusion Motorsport last summer, William Taylforth has underlined the mantra that the quickest way to progress is time in the seat, and a packed winter racing and testing schedule was crowned by victory – his first in the sport – at Rowrah in Cumbria just before the resumption of national hostilities. It was, he acknowledges, a real shot-in-the-arm. Pic Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net 

WTCC: The Chevrolet team opened the turbo era in WTCC in style last week at Curitiba, having a great start to the season in which they aim to defend their world titles. Rob Huff and Alain Menu shared race victories, while reigning champion Yvan Muller collected two valuable podium results. The team's guest driver, Brazilian Stock Car hero Carlos 'Cacá' Bueno also shone in his home event and claimed two excellent results: third in Race 1 (his first podium finish in WTCC) and fifth in Race 2.Huff left Brazil as the leader of the championship, closely followed by Menu and Muller.Chevrolet Motorsport Director Eric Nève commented: "What a nice way to start the season! We can really feel proud of the entire team, the drivers and especially the engine guys, who have done a fantastic job during the winter, allowing us to live a perfect weekend in Curitiba."The championship will resume at Zolder, Belgium, on April 24th for rounds 3 & 4.

Tom Coronel showed the potential of the new BMW 320 TC during the second race at Curitiba. The Dutch racer seriously threatened Chevrolet's supremacy and claimed a well deserved second place that boosted BMW Motorsport's hopes. "I had a great start and then Tarquini helped by keeping the Chevrolet guys behind for a few laps. But the Cruze was very strong and better on the braking than my car. It was a good start for us. I have a strong team and a good car, which makes me think it will be a nice season," Coronel said.ROAL Motorsport team principal Roberto Ravaglia echoed: "I am more than satisfied. After finishing to assemble the car we had just the time for a shake down before shipping it to Brazil. Therefore our target was to finish in the top five/six positions. Results went beyond our expectations and confirmed the quality of the work done by BMW Motorsport."

After months of preparations, Polestar Racing and Robert Dahlgren kicked off Volvo's evaluation season in the WTCC. "We were satisfied with this opening as it met with our expectations and was encouraging for the continuation of the season," said Christian Dahl, Managing Director of Polestar Racing.The team's Volvo C30 ran with the 2.0L naturally-aspirated engine. A switch to the newly developed 1.6L turbo is going to take place later during the season.  "Compared to our competitors' new turbo engines the gap in power was especially clear at Curitiba that is located 1000 metres above the sea. Our calculations showed it was about nine tenths per lap. But keeping in mind how close we were to the top of the field, it shows that our development work with the chassis during the winter has paid off," said Dahl.
Dahlgren beat the 2010 pole position time in Q1 and missed the qualification for Q2 by just 0.4 seconds. In spite of a clutch problem he finished both races in 12th and 13th respectively.

Competitors of the Yokohama Trophy offered exciting battles at Curitiba, with Kristian Poulsen and Javier Villa claiming one victory apiece. The Dane finished the first race in a brilliant fifth position, losing fourth to Tom Coronel only by inches. "We had a great fight and lot of fun. It was a shame that in the end I was overdriving and gave him the opportunity to pass me. BMW has developed a very good car and I'm sure this will help me to be competive over the whole season," Poulsen commented. In the second race Poulsen dropped down in a collision with fellow contryman Michel Nykjær and this handed victory to young Spaniard Javier Villa. "It was a very good result, considering that we did not have the possibility to test before and that on Friday the team was too busy to finish my, which forced me to miss the testing. Despite all this we improved very quickly and winning the second race was a great reward to our efforts. I think we can have a very good season," said Villa.

Pepe Oriola, the 16-year old Spaniard who joined WTCC with SUNRED Engineering showed off a great potential on his maiden races at Curitiba. Oriola and his SEAT León TDi proved competitive from Saturday qualifying, when they missed the cut for Q2 by a mere 0.164 seconds.
On Sunday Oriola put in two solid performances in the races, finishing the first one in 13th position and the second in 10th, which also meant his first WTCC championship point, third position in the Yokohama Trophy and victory in the new Jay-Ten Trophy reserved for drivers at the wheel of cars complying with the Appendix J 2010 of the Sporting Regulations. With these results, Oriola emerged as the first leader of the trophy, 7 and 8 points ahead of Aleksei Dudukalo and Michel Nykjær respectively.

ILMC: Audi has put the next stage of its R18 project to the test: The latest version of its new diesel race car, which will appear in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was test-driven for the first time in the USA.  The “Evolution 2” Audi R18 is the result of the findings of previous test drives and wind tunnel testing, with a particular focus on improved aerodynamic efficiency and cooling of the interior of its V6 TDI engine. It clocked up its first test kilometres on a proving ground in Florida last week, as the 12 Hours of Sebring were held.The Audi R18 made its first public testing appearance after the 12-hour race in Sebring. Since then, internet forums have been abuzz with comments and discussions concerning the new, enclosed LMP1 race car. The comments on the photos and videos of the vehicle range from “magic” to “looks like a stealth airplane” and “sounds like a jet.” Two “Evolution 2” R18 vehicles (chassis numbers 101 and 102) were put to the test during the four days of testing in Sebring, together with an R15 TDI as a reference vehicle. All ten Audi racing drivers were involved in testing the three vehicles, clocking up thousands of test kilometres to generate important findings relating to vehicle setup, aerodynamics, tyres, cooling, and reliability. The two R18 vehicles set off on their return journey to Europe as airfreight. Starting Monday, they will be dismantled and thoroughly analysed at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt. The Audi R18 will make its next appearance on the famous racetrack in Le Mans, when the definitive design of the vehicle for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2011 will be unveiled at the official testing day on April 24. The R18 is scheduled to compete for the first time in the 6-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps on May 7. This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on June 11/12.

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LMS: Greaves Motorsport have signed up Tom Kimber-Smith for the 2011 Le Mans Series. Kimber-Smith, a former class winner in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, will replace Thor-Christian Ebbesvik, who has left the team. His first race for Greaves Motorsport will be the 6 Heures du Castellet, held at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit, on 1-3 April. Tom will share the Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN Nissan with his co-drivers, Karim Ojjeh and Gary Chalandon. Greaves Motorsport regret to announce the withdrawal of Haruki Kurosawa from their driver line up at the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours. This is as a direct consequence of the terrible events that have happened in Japan this month. Due to prior commitments, Kimber-Smith will not be able to compete in the French classic race. Greaves Motorsport will make an announcement soon about the third member of the driving squad.

Other News: The new SPEED EuroSeries website is now live @ www.speedeuroseries.com  .  With up to date news, event information, competitor profile pages and even live timing screens available from the SPEED EuroSeries events in 2011, the site has been designed to give the championship the best possible coverage. It even includes Live Timing Screens from the SPEED events. The old site will automatically redirect visitors to the new www.speedeuroseries.com address. Bookmark the new address now to ensure you are kept up to date with the latest information from the Speed EuroSeries.

BTCC: The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship today confirmed a record entry list ahead of its 2011 season with the highest number of different makes and car models entered for the series in the two decades it has run as an all two-litre formula.Ten makes of car representing Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Proton, SEAT, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen will all feature on this year’s flourishing grid. Out of those, 13 different models will be gearing up for action including: Audi A4, BMW 320si, Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Lacetti, Ford Focus, ‘Global’ Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Honda Integra, Proton Gen-2, SEAT Leon, Toyota Avensis, Vauxhall Vectra and VW Golf.  pic Dennis Goodwin  Read more

ILMC: Round one of the ACO’s new endurance championship, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, got underway last weekend with the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The classic American race was the first of this season’s seven events and attracted an impressive and varied entry list of 54 cars which included last minute Jaguar and Panoz entries.

F2000: After running a competitive partial season in, 2010 winning in the rain at Mosport, and following a third place championship effort in 2009, Remy Audette and Audette Racing have confirmed they will contest the entire 2011 F2000 Championship Series in their #21 Van Diemen/Zetec. It will mark the team’s fourth season in the F2000 Series, and its second full-season effort. “We want to win a championship in the U.S.,” said Audette, who was the oldest winner in the 2010 F2000 tour at the age of 25. “We have a crew chief coming over from our touring car team and I think we will be able to fight for the title.” Audette added he has been training all winter, and the car has been undergoing a rebuild since October. The Canadian was last in the F2000 car for fall testing at Mont Tremblant. “Last year, if you averaged our points out in just the few races we did, we would have been right there for the title,” continued Audette, who added that the team will be mainly focusing on the F2000 Championship Series in 2011, limiting its touring car and formula ford efforts. “To win the 2011 title, we will need to consistently get good results. If you win all the races that is better, but we need to be smart and finish them too.” Audette said he was looking forward to the season opener at VIRgina International Raceway, since the team is always quick there. In 2009, Audette scored a pole and two podiums, and took home more hardware in 2010 with a second place run in Sunday’s race.“It’ll also be the first time we make the trek to Road Atlanta,” Audette noted. “I am looking forward to that since we keep hearing good things about it.”  pic Janice Eakin

Ginetta: Seb Morris cannot wait for the 2011 Ginetta Junior Championship to begin at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit next weekend, 2nd/3rd April, where he aims to get the new season off to a winning start. Already a champion, even though entering only his second year of car racing, the 15-year-old from Marford near Wrexham goes into the new season with an extremely realistic chance of more title glory in the high profile Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship support class. Seb, who away from the race track studies GCSEs at Kings School in Chester, made sparkling progress during his debut season in 2010. Taking a maiden podium finish during the penultimate weekend of the main championship at Donington Park, he went on to earn a place in the record books by taking the Winter Series title at the tender age of just 14 years and 349 days! Having proven himself as a true front-runner with massive potential, the Welsh-born racer is hungry for continued success this year. Not only will he enjoy the fantastic continuity of remaining with the Hillspeed team which won the championship during its first season in the category in 2010, Seb will also receive vital support from Liberty Properties Plc and commercial property agency Legat Owen. “I really am so excited about the new season, we had a fantastic first year in Ginettas in 2010 and I’m confident we can continue to be successful in 2011”, he said, “I learnt so much last year being team-mate to the eventual champion (Tom Ingram) and I’d love to follow him by taking the title this year. It’s going to be really tough, there will be a lot of quick drivers, but we’ve got a great chance!”  Despite still being one of the youngest drivers in the championship this year, Seb will be the most experienced racer in Hillspeed’s line-up. Taking over the mantle from 2010 Ginetta Junior Champion Tom Ingram, he aims to put every bit of experience into practice as he strives for title glory.Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Formula 3: Facu Regalia was testing once again this week with his Formula 3 Italia Team Ghinzani Dallara at Mugello. The Spanish-Argentinean driver setting third quickest time on Wednesday. In the morning session he did a 1m40,864s lap  followed by further improvements in the afternoon, his quickest being a  1m39,557s. “We did a good work! I’m happy with the car handling and with the set-up that we are developing. The laptime that I did is good, but it was possible to do better. My best lap was done with my first set of tyres and I had to overtake another driver. With my second set of tyres I didn’t get a clear lap and I couldn’t improve my laptime”, he said. Regalia left Italy in a positive frame of mind: “We are progressing very well, and I’m getting more confident in the Formula 3 car, improving as a driver everyday, and I think that we are heading in the right way”, Facu will return to testing next March 31st at Adria.

With four official days of testing, two at Valencia’s 4.005-kilometre Ricardo Tormo Circuit and two at Barcelona’s 4.566-kilomretre Circuit de Catalunya, the Formula 3 Euro Series continues it’s preparations for the season’s opening round  in early April at Le Castellet. Over the course of the four days, three drivers topped the timesheets,  Laurens Vanthoor (Signature), Roberto Merhi (Prema Powerteam) and Nigel Melker (Mücke Motorsport).  On day one at Valencia in wet conditions, Vanthoor proved to be quickest whilst on the following day - on a dry track - Merhi went fastest. After a four-day break, the testing continued at Barcelona and Merhi once again outpaced the field, on the third day, with Dutch rookie Nigel Melker setting the fastest lap time on day four.  Spain’s Merhi, who switched from Mücke Motorsport to Prema Powerteam, in the off-season, made it to the top five on every day. The only other driver to emulate him was Kimiya Sato (Motopark Academy). The Japanese Series newcomer achieved his best result on day two at Valencia by finishing second followed by a third quickest time  in Barcelona on the final day.  In addition to the usual preparation work, the tests also gave the teams their first runs with the newly designed Kumho tyres. The slicks for this season are softer than their predecessors and their handling comes closer to the tyres used in the DTM. The new tyres represent a new hallenge for all those involved and they haven’t got a lot of time to adapt the set-up of their cars. Roberto Merhi : “It goes without saying that I’m happy about having been quick in the tests and having proved to be the only driver who succeeded in setting the fastest lap time on two days. Nonetheless, I have to underline that the value of test times is limited. Delivering in the season kick-off at Le Castellet will be far more important. But we worked hard and well on the four days of testing at Valencia and Barcelona and therefore, I will travel to France in a confident mood.”

Karts: Luke Whitworth has been rewarded for his progress with a VIP trip to this year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone – the young Rotherham racers prize for beating the very best in the country.When the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship visited Ellough Park Raceway in Suffolk last October, Luke had been karting for less than a year, however he produced a magnificent performance to finish a superb fifth in the Junior Max class on the opening day. In so doing, he was selected from amongst more than 80 competitors as the ‘Driver of the Day’. The very next day, the 16-year-old went and bettered it with his maiden podium finish in the sport.He will  now see the action from a spectator’s viewpoint rather than from behind a steering wheel when he travels to Silverstone as a special guest of Bernie Ecclestone himself for the British Grand Prix in mid-July.“I’m really excited about that, and it will hopefully give me the chance to meet some of the F1 drivers,” Luke enthused, alluding to the privileged access he will be granted to grand prix racing’s inner sanctum, the hallowed paddock. “I’m a fan of the two Red Bull drivers – Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber – so if I get to meet them, that would be very cool, and if I got to meet Bernie Ecclestone, that would just be amazing! “

GT: Johnny Herbert makes his début in the Spa 24 Hours this summer (July 30-31) when the three-time Formula One Grand Prix winner races an Audi R8 LMS sports car for the first time.Herbert, aged 46, joins previously announced fellow former Le Mans 24 Hour race winners and GP drivers Mark Blundell (GB) and Stefan Johansson (Sweden) plus Indy 500 race victor Eddie Cheever (USA) in the Anglo-American United Autosports team’s bid for glory in the Belgian “classic”.Herbert, whose last 24 hour race was in Dubai two years ago, has already sampled the GT3 class Audi at Snetterton, Norfolk, earlier this month and is scheduled to test the V10-engined “super car” at the famous Belgian track next week (March 29). Johnny raced an Audi R8 sports-prototype for the “factory” Audi Sport and “customer” Champion Racing (USA) and Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx (GB) teams between 2001-04 taking eight wins from 34 race starts and the Le Mans European Series title for the Audi UK-backed Veloqx team.Last year’s corresponding race was United Autosports’ maiden twice-around-the-clock event in which they achieved praiseworthy third and fourth places in the GT3 classification to record the highest-placed finishing positions for Audi with its two-car entry. Developed by Audi Sport with cooperation from quattro GmbH for “customer” sport racing, the Audi R8 LMS has won seven championships across Europe since its début in 2009, the 5.2-litre sports car achieving a total 64 victories.

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Intercontinental Trophy Cup (ITC) officials and competitors are set to converge at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Virginia this coming Thursday (24th) for the series' first official test day. The test in being run in conjunction with the National Auto Sport Association's (NASA) opening race meeting which takes place over the weekend (25th-27th). NASA is the sanctioning body for Intercontinental Trophy Cup events.ITC principal Dougie Livingston will be on hand along with other series officials to welcome drivers and brief them on future events for the series. They will also take the opportunity to talk to interested parties looking to enter the series as the competition get set to start just three weeks later (April 15th) at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey. "We are looking forward to a good turnout as teams and individual competitors have been hard at work preparing their cars for this first test" commented Livingston. ""We are expecting this to be a good session for teams and drivers to do a thorough shakedown on the cars in preparation for the opening round in New Jersey. This will also be an opportunity for our sponsors, supporters, teams and competitors to work closely together to develop relationships that will increase the profile of the series."  While the VIR event is listed only as official practice for ITC competitors, they will be able to enter the NASA event running that weekend as a further opportunity to run their cars and test under race conditions.

Star Mazda: AIM Autosport will enter three cars in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. AIM will field cars for Championship Class driver, Zack Meyer, and Expert Class drivers, Walt Bowlin and Larry Pegram. Zack, an eighteen-year-old Torontonian, is a graduate of karting and is fresh off taking the  shifter kart championship in the Florida Winter Tour. He made his Star Mazda debut last year at Mosport International Raceway, a one-off race with AIM. He is used to winning, but faces a steep learning curve this year as he adapts to cars. Zack will drive a silver and blue car sporting #66. Both Walt and Larry raced with AIM in the Star Mazda series last year as their schedules permitted and the will continue that relationship this year. Walt, who drove in the Masters Class last year, will join his friend Larry in the Expert Class after the merging of those groups this year. He will drive #23, a white and red car. Larry is an AMA Superbike rider who began competing in Star Mazda last season following a little coaxing from Walt. Larry will drive #72, a white and blue car with Foremost Insurance Group sponsorship while both he and Walt are also sponsored by Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery. Walt and Larry will compete at the season opener in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the following race at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala. They will then bow out as the series hosts a string of events on oval tracks and rejoin for selected races later in the season.

Formula 3: Menasheh Idafar delivered by far his most promising performance of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series pre-season at Oulton Park on Tuesday, 22nd March, by ending the outing a second quickest overall – the highest placed of the Volkswagen powered runners. The T-Sport racer, who has driven well throughout officially timed testing over the past few weeks, came to the fore with a stunning performance at the Cheshire venue’s 2.69-mile International Circuit to finish the day just 0.3 seconds shy of the top of the times. His best lap came in the first of three sessions, a time of 1m27.989 s (110.14mph) placing him second quickest. In session two he continued his impressively high level of performance with the fourth quickest lap of 1m28.662s (109.30mph) – just 0.3 seconds shy of the head of the times again – and in the third and final outing he was within 0.2 seconds of the top, albeit in seventh position with a time of 1m28.445. “My car was perfect from the start this morning, it was amazing all day”, said the 20-year-old British-born Bahraini, “On older tyres we were really fast, I didn’t find quite as much time as I should have done on the newer ones but it’s still been an incredible day for us. To be second fastest, and the best of the Volkswagens, is a really great feeling and gives us a lot of confidence.”  Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Richard Plant showed strong pace ahead of his maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign, as the 21-year-old set the sixth quickest time in the official pre-season test at Snetterton yesterday (22 March). Porsche rookie Plant topped the timesheets for a period during the morning session, as the Sheffield racer set the quickest time on old tyres. With many drivers choosing to run their new set of Michelin rubber later in the afternoon, Plant eventually set a time good enough for a top six finish overall – just over a tenth of a second slower than reigning champion Tim Harvey.It was the first time that Plant had run together with the entire 2011 PCCGB field and the first opportunity to compare his performance with that of his rivals. More important than overall lap times however, was the benefit of gaining more experience with the brand new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Plant completed more than 60 laps of the Norfolk circuit throughout the day, setting a quick and consistent pace during his longer runs.Plant will enjoy his maiden race weekend in the series when rounds 1 and 2 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB take place at Brands Hatch on 2/3 April, running alongside the British Touring Car Championship. The talented youngster completed a sensational treble when he last raced at the famous Kent venue, taking three pole positions and three race wins on his way to winning the 2009 Formula Palmer Audi Championship. Richard has secured sponsorship from fast food giants McDonald’s. Richard Plant said: “It was a really good day. It feels a little frustrating to have ended up sixth as I think we could have gone quicker, but the lap times in general were very encouraging. You only get one or two laps to try and set the fastest lap on new tyres, but I was largely focussed on learning more about the car and being consistent. I feel more and more confident each time I step in the car and we know that we are there or thereabouts in what is a very strong field. Now I just can’t wait to get the season started at Brands Hatch.”

Championship front-runner Ahmad Al Harthy produced a highly impressive testing performance at the newly revised Snetterton 300 Circuit on Tuesday, 22nd March, to end the outing as the fastest Pro-Am 1 Class runner  and seventh quickest overall. As the pre-cursor to the first two rounds of the 2011 season at Brands Hatch less than two weeks from now, the test outing marked the first opportunity for the Oman Air Racing Team 29-year-old and his category rivals to get an indication of their pace relative to each other. During the morning session at the newly configured 2.97-mile Norfolk track, Ahmad produced the sixth best time of 1m52.268 s (95.20mph), which also meant he led Pro-Am 1 by a full 0.4 seconds. In the afternoon he delivered again in his Oman Air Racing Team car – which is also backed by Nawras, National Bank of Oman, Brand Oman, Oman Ministry of Sports Affairs and Oman Ministry of Tourism. Posting a best of 1m51.057 s (96.23mph) to go seventh fastest in the session and for the day overall, he improved by well over a second on his morning time. Combined for the day, Ahmad ended his first officially timed run in his brand new 450bhp Porsche 911 GT3 car just 0.8 seconds shy of the outright pace and a full three 10ths of a second ahead of his closest Pro-Am 1 Class rival. Reflecting on the Snetterton test, Ahmad said: “Both the team and I are very happy with how the day has gone, everything went well in each session. It was the first time this year all of the drivers were together so I’m pleased we were so competitive. We approached the day the right way, had a good set-up and produced some good times.The new track at Snetterton is really challenging, it has a very nice flow to it and I really enjoyed driving it today. There is a good mixture of fast and slow corners and I think it should provide some very interesting racing this year, I’m looking forward to going back there in the summer.” Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

The SAS-backed Red Line Racing cars of James Sutton and Michael Meadows topped the times during the major pre-season test day for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Snetterton yesterday (Tuesday 22 March). As teams and drivers mastered the new 300 circuit at the Norfolk venue, Sutton and Meadows set the pace in what is already shaping up to be the most competitive season in the championship’s history. With seven-tenths of a second covering the top six drivers on the new 3-mile track, the pacesetters were an intriguing mix of established Carrera Cup aces and exciting newcomers. As drivers did new tyre runs later in the afternoon, Red Line was the last of the three big teams to send their drivers out with fresh tyres. Sutton and Meadows worked together, with Sutton running just ahead of his team mate to set the standard at 1m50.245s. With Meadows lapping 0.164s behind, it was an impressive display. “We seem to be in really good shape,” said Sutton. “It was important to get a really good sense of what the car is doing and this bodes well for the opening races at Brands Hatch.” Meadows was equally pleased with the day. “It’s been close all through. James and I like a similar set-up and we found a lot of time on the new rubber.”  Third fastest, right on the pace of the SAS cars, was newcomer Sam Tordoff (Team Parker Racing). He set the overall pace for much of the afternoon session was only edged back to third by 0.382s in the final reckoning. To make it an excellent day for the Parker squad, fellow newcomer Richard Plant was sixth fastest.  Having won 19 out of 20 races between them in 2010, Harvey and Caine clearly look to have a big battle on their hands this season and the Team Nationwide/Motorbase pair took fourth and fifth slots in the final testing times. “We’re pleased with the work we’ve done today, but I don’t think we got the best out of the new tyres,” said defending champion Harvey. Caine, meanwhile, lost a better lap on new tyres when his car ran low on fuel through Coram on a lap that was set to be around half a second better than his 1m50.887s best. “It cut out coming out of Coram on my second flier,” reported Caine. Making it a superb day for the Red Line team was seventh fastest and top Pro-Am1 time for Ahmad Al Harthy.  Chasing Al Harthy in Pro-Am1 were Jonas Gelzinis (Juta Racing) and Rory Butcher (Celtic Speed), while fourth fastest in Pro-Am1 was a strong showing from Freddy Nordstrom (Parr Motorsport). Although Nordstrom is not yet confirmed in the entry list, his pace on his Carrera Cup debut was a major boost to both team and driver as they work to conclude a deal for the season. Just ahead of Nordstrom in a fine tenth overall was Pro-Am2 pacesetter George Brewster (Celtic Speed). “Until last week I’d not sat in a racing car since last October, but it came right with the new tyres,” said Brewster. Leading the chase of the Scot in Pro-Am2 was championship newcomer Keith Webster (Red Line Racing). “That’s a good starting point; I was just getting to grips with the circuit,” he said as Steve Parish (Motorbase Performance) completed the top three in Pro-Am2. 

LMS: Aston Martin Racing has confirmed Christian Klien (A) as the sixth factory driver to join the team’s existing line-up of Adrian Fernandez (MX), Andy Meyrick (GB), Stefan Mücke (D), Harold Primat (CH) and Darren Turner (GB). Klien will join Mücke and Turner in the new 007 AMR-One, Aston Martin’s new ground-up LMP1 race car, at the 24 hours of Le Mans in June, and at selected other races. Klien has driven 49 GP races since his F1 debut in 2004. At 19, he was in the F3 Euro Series and took victory at the Marlboro Masters in Zandvoort, a win that helped secure a place in Formula One. He has also driven for Peugeot in the Le Mans Series and in 2008 finished 3rd at the Le mans 24 hours. Team Principal, George Howard-Chappell said: “Christian brings a wealth of race expertise to the team with his background in F1 and in particular Le Mans. I think he will be a great team player, and I am confident he will be a fantastic addition to Aston Martin Racing in our first year with the new AMR-One.” Klien said: “Having competed in three F1 races in 2010, I wanted to continue to race with a team that gave me consistency, at the top level of motorsport. I decided that the best opportunity to give me a focus and to retain my independence was to compete in the 24 hours of Le Mans with Aston Martin Racing and at selected other races in the LMP1 category as a full factory works driver. The AMR-One is now in its early stages of testing, and has successfully completed a preliminary shake-down at the Fen End proving ground and brief first test at Snetterton. The AMR-One will make its on track debut at Paul Ricard at the opening round of the LMS on 3 April with Stefan Mücke, Harold Primat and Darren Turner. Klien’s debut race with Aston Martin will be Spa on 7 May.

Karts: Having entered the weekend as a championship rookie, Dan Zelos has got his 2011 Super 1 Series campaign off to the best possible start with his breakthrough victory on the national karting scene at PF International – and now he is aiming to go all the way and clinch the coveted British crown. Pic Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net,

A third best time in time qualifying, a success in one of the heats and a fastest lap in the pre-final of the KZ2 category should have allowed Beitske Visser to challenge for victory at the 22nd edition of the Andrea Margutti karting trophy. But on the Castelletto di Branduzzo circuit, in Italy, during the final race, two problems intervened. First of all she made a bad start and got bogged down in the pack. Then she found her handling awry as it wasn’t as balanced as in the pre-final, possibly due to new tyres.  She finally crossed the finish line sixth.

Football fans are familiar with calls to ‘Support your local club’ - but it is a phrase rarely heard in karting. Now however, Sheffield’s Strawberry Racing is proud to buck that trend by announcing a deal with South Yorkshire Kart Club. Based at the legendary Wombwell circuit near Barnsley, SYKC boasts a long list of members who went on to achieve great things - including six-time World Champion Mike Wilson. Explaining how the deal came about, Strawberry Racing Team Manager Warwick Ringham says, “Lots of people follow big football teams, but have little or no loyalty to their local club. It’s the same in our sport, but we ignore grass roots karting at our peril because this is where the champions of tomorrow cut their teeth and learn their craft. “With people feeling the continued effects of the recession, we wanted to help South Yorkshire Kart Club in a practical and worthwhile way. That’s why we’re now sponsoring the Mini, Junior and Senior Rotax classes with sets of tyres for these categories at each monthly race meeting. They’ll be put into a free raffle, so that even a novice in their first race meeting has the same chance of winning them as a driver with years of experience.” After launching its new Cream Racing Engines division, Strawberry will also provide end of year prizes to the club in the form of vouchers.“The total value of these per class is £2,000 and will allow the recipients to take advantage of Cream’s state-of-the-art servicing, official sealing and dyno-testing facilities.” He adds “Wombwell is a cracking little track and everyone at the club is really friendly and helpful. They are a wonderful advertisement for karting and for that reason Strawberry is proud to be associated with South Yorkshire Kart Club.” SYKC members can also enjoy a special discount when having their Rotax motor serviced by Cream, as Warwick explains. “Simply produce your 2011 club membership card and we’ll give you a 15% discount on the labour charge.”

Prima Racing had already established on the international stage with Billy Monger’s outstanding 60 Mini class success in the 2011 WSK Master Series curtain-raiser at La Conca, Now they carried that form over to the national Super 1 Series, with Dan Zelos producing a brilliantly opportunistic effort to triumph in the opening round at PF International and Monger maintaining his early-season dominance with a double victory of his own. Pic Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net,  

The Annual Karting race presented by the Quebec motorsport’s magazine,  PolePosition was held on February 11 in the Kart-O-Mania Complex in Montreal. The races mark the beginning of the motorsport season in Quebec, first of which was won by Team Karting Saguenay on Friday evening. On Saturday it was the turn CASDI Rallye Défi. The 6 best teams of the two races wilkl now compete this weekend, March 26,  at the next 6 Hours of Pole-Position. Team Saguenay Karting Champion of the Nocturnal challenge will change their name to DMJRacing.com. DMJRacing.com can count on the experienced drivers including Atlantic andf A1GP driver Kevin Lacroix. He will be joined by Hugo Ouellette, who has repeatedly represented Canada at the Rotax World Finals. Jean Blanchette from Saguenay has raced in the Honda Sr category in the Montreal Cup and Dominik Séguin, 18, are no strangers to the world of karting. The last driver to be presented and team leader is Jean-François Séguin well known in Quebec. He is a Master in Indoor Karting with several championships under his belt plus several endurance races.

V de V :  The FFSA V de V season is back on the road this weekend with races for the VHC Endurance Challenge,  the Proto Challenge, GTs and Funyos at Jarama in Spain. Heading the VHC field are 2010 Champions Bernard Moreau and Miguel Langin in their n°1 3-litre Porsche RSR.  Read preview

MSA Euroclassic : Already established as the ‘blue riband’ touring event of its kind, the 2011 MSA Euroclassic (4-11 September) promises to be the best yet. Living up to – and even exceeding – its enviable reputation, this summer’s 19th MSA Euroclassic has all the hallmarks of a truly exceptional road trip featuring visits to wonderful museums, thrilling race circuits plus a host of other highly-prized motoring and tourist-related locations. The provisional route announced today takes participants on a spectacular non-competitive eight-day journey through previously unchartered territory in central Italy with visits to some of Europe’s most historic towns and cities, two of the continent’s premier motor museums plus exclusive track time at no fewer than five different race circuits. What’s more, with further details of the schedule only being confirmed now, the special price early booking offer has been extended from 31 March to 28 April 2011. As previously confirmed, this year’s MSA Euroclassic – as organised by International Motor Sports Limited (IMS) a wholly owned subsidiary of the RAC/MSA, the governing body of motor sport in the UK – starts from the historic town of Troyes to the south east of Paris and finishes in the Italian city of Parma, famous for its cheese, ham and countless other gastronomical delights.The cleverly conceived 1480-mile route between Troyes and Parma announced today is bursting with sight-seeing stop-offs in many of Europe’s most celebrated towns and cities including St Moritz in the Swiss Alps and Italian icons Verona, Venice, San Marino, Rome, Siena and Pisa. Whetting the automotive appetites, the journey also visits Mille Miglia and Maranello Ferrari Museums as well as providing drivers with exhilarating opportunities to put their classic cars through their paces at the Anneau du Rhin, Autodromo d’Franciacorta, Adria, Autodromo Dell’Umbria Magione and Varano circuits. As tradition dictates, entry into the MSA Euroclassic is primarily restricted to cars with a minimum age of 20 years. However, by popular demand, IMS is accepting a small number of contemporary classics into this year’s event – not least as the itinerary passes through the modern supercar heartlands in Northern Italy, home to Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati. Entry costs £2,250 per car plus two-person crew (£2,100 if booked before the revised 28 April 2011 deadline) and includes detailed route maps, exclusive driving opportunities at the five selected race tracks, on-event medical and mechanical assistance, lunches on most days, a special Celebration Dinner on the final evening plus a host of other benefits and attractions. For more information and full details of the 2011 route, log onto the official website at www.msaeuroclassic.co.uk. Entries are restricted and will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. 

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MR2 Championship: Offering some of the closest track action in motor sport and already guaranteed full grids at every meeting this year, the MR2 Championship will be supported by Toyota for 2011. Run by the 750 Motor Club, the championship features classes for all three generations of MR2 and continues to attract capacity fields. Such is the response this year, qualifying heats are anticipated in order to accommodate the number of drivers signing up to take part. Toyota’s sponsorship of the series extends its support for UK motor sport, alongside its recently-announced backing for the Toyota Sprint Series and its support helping privateers with Avensis race cars to teams competing in the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.Formula official Patrick Mortell said: “I'm delighted that Toyota have chosen to support the MR2 Championship. We’re proud to offer a great racing opportunity at a sensible cost, a package that’s attracting exceptional support from teams and drivers. Race crowds across the country can look forward to packed grids and hard-fought racing throughout the season.” 750 Motor Club Chairman Viv Ayres commented: “The decision of Toyota to become involved in grass roots motorsport is very exciting, and the 750 Motor Club is particularly proud to be associated with the world's largest motor manufacturer, we will work to make this a success for all.” The Toyota MR2 Championship comprises three classes, for each generation of MR2/MR2 Roadster, running standard engines and transmissions. Not counting any qualifying heats, the series will be fought out over 13 races held across seven meetings.

MSV F3 Cup.: Rochester-based racer Aaron Steele couldn’t have wished for more as he started his 2011 season with a clean sweep, dominating the race weekend at Snetterton in the MSV F3 Cup. Prior to the Friday test session Steele hadn’t turned a wheel in the car.  “Firstly I knew the car had been stored for 2 years before it was run on Friday” explained Steele. “As a result I always expected there to be a few teething problems with it, and sure enough there was! But luckily these were all catered for in the first half of the test day after a top job by Grays Motorsport to get the car in race ready condition!”  With the first test out of the way it was on to qualifying on Saturday. “Going into qualifying was a bit of the unknown however the word on the pit wall from Fridays testing was that I was the fastest!”  Steele would continue his good form as he lapped the new Snetterton 300 circuit with times good enough to take pole position for both races. “I just went out there got some good laps in and did the best I could do. When I came back in I found myself almost 3 seconds quicker than the nearest competitor, I was very shocked but obviously more than happy.” Following his blistering pace in qualifying Steele was confident ahead of the races; this wasn’t to be misplaced as he took victory in both with half a minute to spare ahead of the next competitor as the chequered flag came out. “The races went exactly to plan, good starts, just getting my head down from the word go and leaving the field a long way behind me, in both races i managed to finish with around a 30 second lead!”   With the first race weekend of the season out of the way Steele and the Grays Motorsport team are out on track again at Donington Park on 2-3 April. “So after the perfect start to the season, we're going to use the break to thoroughly go over the car and get all the finer details exactly how we want them which we didn't have time to do before this weekend so we can go to Donington confident and aim to do it all again!” says Steele reflecting on the weekend and the season ahead. Not only was it Steele’s first time in the car, it was his first time on the new Snetterton 300 where he set the new lap record. “It’s very challenging but at the same time quite enjoyable,” says Steele of the new layout. “I’m looking forward to going back there later in the calendar!”   pic Chris Gurton/theCheckeredFlag.co.uk

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: The best ever entry for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB has been unveiled today (Tuesday 22 March) during the championship's pre-season test and media day at Snetterton.The entry for the coming season has both quality and quantity with more potential race winners than ever before, as an influx of new drivers join established aces like Tim Harvey (champion in 2008 and 2010), James Sutton (champion in 2007) and Michael Caine (runner-up in 2008 and 2010). The new season will feature the introduction of the latest model 911 GT3 Cup, with all drivers competing in identical models of the stunning 450bhp car. Also new for 2011 is a race on the world-famous Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany on 25 June. The Carrera Cup GB racers will take part in the Porsche Carrera World Cup, an event that is designed to put as many as 200 911 GT3 Cup cars into action on the 14-mile circuit in the Eifel Mountains. As well as the battle for overall glory, the contests in the Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 categories and the Team Championship will be major features of the season as drivers and teams battle for a total prize fund of over £160,000. In addition, the overall champion, the Pro-Am1 champion and the team manager of the champion team will have the use of a road-going Porsche 911 for a year.While Harvey, Caine and Sutton are the established benchmarks, at least six other drivers start the season with race wins in their sights. Harvey and Caine have teamed up at Motorbase Performance, while Sutton and Michael Meadows are in the SAS-backed squad at Red Line Racing.  Another strong contender from the Red Line team is 2011 Carrera Cup Scholar Benji Hetherington, while the Team Parker Racing line-up has a new look this season with Richard Plant and Sam Tordoff to the fore.Other returning teams include Celtic Speed, with Rory Butcher as their young hotshot and Lithuania-based Juta Racing with Jonas Gelzinis set to challenge for race wins as he builds on the experience of last season.Among the Pro-Am1 and Pro-Am2 categories, a gaggle of rapid drivers will be challenging for the podiums with drivers like Ahmad Al Harthy, George Richardson, Steve Parish, Alex Martin, Andrew Shelley and series returnee Derek Pierce likely to battle for Pro-Am1. The Pro-Am2 field includes Celtic Speed duo George Brewster and Tommy Dreelan, Keith Webster, Tautvydas Barstys, Richard Denny and Swiss racer Daniele Perfetti.The action starts at Brands Hatch (Kent) over the weekend of 2/3 April when season nine of the Carrera Cup GB begins, running alongside the British Touring Car Championship.

Australian racer Richard Denny will return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB this season with Parr Motorsport. Denny, a Senior Vice President at global satellite telecommunications operator Inmarsat, made his debut in the championship last year following a first and successful racing season in 2009 in GT racing. “I’m really looking forward to returning to the Carrera Cup this year”, said London-based Denny. “2010 was a bit of a baptism of fire for me, as the Carrera Cup is so very competitive. We also missed the last two rounds of the season, but I feel far better prepared for this season. The gym has become my second home and I feel far more physically and mentally ready for the racing this year. I can’t wait to get out in the new car!  Due to work commitments I was in the US when the car was delivered so my first test will be the media day on the new layout at Snetterton. I’m ready though and can’t wait to get out on track against my old rivals and some new ones.” Parr Motorsport team principal Paul Robe said: “I really think Richard will be a much more complete driver this year. The second year in any championship is always better as you get the consistency. This year we’ll have the new car of course but Richard has been out in a 2008-model 911 GT3 Cup already this year and he’s setting competitive times. All in, Richard has worked hard and I think we’ll be surprising a few people this year.”  

Star Mazda: At a recent three-day Star Mazda Championship series test, held alongside  IndyCar spring training at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, a preliminary 'driver to watch' list emerged for this weekend’s season opener at St Petersburg in Florida.  Dominating five of the six on-track sessions in the #5 JDC Motorsports / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda was French racer Tristan Vautier, a veteran of several European open-wheel 'ladder' series, including Formula Renault and Palmer-Audi.  Returning for his second year of advanced education in the Star Mazda Championship, last season he won two races, scored five top-5s and finished 5th in the championship. 

GT Racing: This year Belgian driver Maxime Martin will be competing in four major world or European series. Following on from 2010, Maxime will again be taking part in the FIA GT World Championship, with the same team and car, but a new team mate.”In fact I’m competing for another season with the Marc VDS Racing team and the Ford GT1. The team is now well acquainted with the car and the competition, and everything seems to be slotting into place to achieve some great things, Martin explained. I’m delighted to be teaming up with the Frenchman Fred Makowiecki, who will be competing in eight of the ten rounds with me. As for the races in Portimao and Navarra, where Mako will be unavailable due to the ILMC, the German Thomas Mutsch will be joining me. It will be a long season and I’m fully convinced that we have all the assets in hand to clinch one or two victories, as also a place in the championship.” He will also compete in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Marc VDS Racing, a new endurance series with as major highlight, the 24 Hours of Spa. “This European series is reserved for the GT3 and GT4 categories, and with the Ford GT which we know like the back of our hand, I’m just as optimistic, Maxime continued. I have previously competed twice in the 24 Hours of Spa at the wheel of that car, and grabbed two podium places in the GT3 category. Together with Bas Leinders and Markus Palttala, we’ll have a formidable weapon as also the ideal team to take on this type of competition. Having said that everything is new here and the list of entrants is impressive, making it difficult to bring out any type of forecast.”  Martin will also take in GT3 in the FIA European Championship at the wheel of an Aston Martin DBRS9 for LMP Motorsport alongside partner Gaël Lesoudier. “For more than two years Gaël and I have been teamed up, and everything has always worked out well. We are fully aware of the facts involving the European FIA GT3 competition, what with the Balance of Performances which can alter quite a few things and a drivers’ grading which levels out the strength of the teams. Personally I’m ranked Gold, whereas Gaël is Bronze. We’ll therefore need to keep a watchful eye of the driver duos graded Silver. However I believe that the Aston Martin DBRS9, which is not one of the most recent of the GT3s, can pull out all the stops during the entire season. It’s a definite fact that we’ll be there to battle it out up front.”  Last but not least the GT Tour, new name given to the French meetings organised by the FFSA, “It is foreseen that I will be involved in four or five races, depending on the clashes with other competitions Maxime remarked. In France I will be joining Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s team, which is entering a Lamborghini Gallardo 2011 for Jean-Claude Lagniez and myself. Unfortunately I’ll miss the season’s starter at Lédenon, as I’ll be in Zolder that same weekend for the FIA GT1, but as from Nogaro  I’ll do my utmost to make the most of the Lamborghini’s strong potential.”  With four different Grand Touring competitions, Maxime Martin will be racing over 21 weekends this season, taking between 55 and 60 starts! “That’s a pretty tempting programme which won’t leave me much time to do other things during the year, implying that I’ll be spending an entire season purely concentrating on racing. For me this is a logic and positive extension of the previous years. Progress is perfect; it also allows me to link up with quality teams in top-level competitions. Now heading off for Abu Dhabi, where my 2011 takes off this coming weekend with the first round of the FIA GT1 World Championship, and where the level of competition will be even higher than last year.”

With the opening races of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi just four days away, both of Nissan’s competing racing teams go into the weekend fully confident of building upon a promising inaugural GT1 season in 2010, and challenging for title honours this time round. 2010 saw Nissan secure victories in both Championship and Qualifying races and wholesale team changes and strong performances in testing ahead of the start of this season have given Nissan real hope that last year’s successes will be replicated on an even greater scale. This year, a total of four GT-Rs will be participating for two teams: the returning Sumo Power GT, and new team JRM Racing, who replace Swiss Team Racing from last year. Driver-wise, it’s a very strong and experienced line-up.  On the JRM Racing team, Peter Dumbreck, who was part of the Sumo Power GT team in 2010, will compete in the No.22 car alongside another British driver, Richard Westbrook, who last year raced in GT1 for the Matech Ford team.   The No. 23 car will be an all-German affair, with Michael Krumm, who partnered Dumbreck last year, this time round sharing with Lucas Luhr, who will be making his debut in GT1.  On the Sumo Power GT team, Brazilian ex-F1 duo Ricardo Zonta and Enrique Bernoldi will be behind the wheel of the No.20 car, having both raced within GT1 and won races (for Reiter Lamborghini and Vitaphone Maserati respectively) in 2010. Meanwhile, in the No.21 car, Jamie Campbell-Walter returns for a second season, partnered by Australian David Brabham, who has enjoyed double-title winning success within ALMS.  

Formula Abarth : Gerard Barrabeig will be at Mugello in Italy this week, (Tuesday and Wednesday), where he will be testing with his Formula Abarth team – BVM Target. The Catalan youngster will continue his adaptation to single-seaters as he prepares for his debut in car racing in the Formula Abarth European and Italian Championships. “Mugello is a circuit that I have to discover, because I was never there. I’m wishing to tackle the track as soon as I can, because I was told that it has a very selective lay-out”, he explained. Barrabeig will be using the test primarily to adapt himself to the Tatuus car in which he will tackle the Italian and European series. “The testing program is obvious. In the first day I’ll try to understand the track and in the second, Wednesday, I’ll try to acclimatize to the car and get good lap-times”. Barrabeig is  part in the Programa de Pilotos de Automovilismo – a program supported by Secretaria General del Deporte de la Generalitat de Catalunya, RACC, Circuit de Catalunya and Federación Catalana de Automovilismo.

Formula 3: Facu Regalia will be at Mugello tomorrow for another test at the wheel of his Team Ghinzani Dallara FPT. The 19 year old Spanish-Argentinean is preparing for the opening round of the Formula 3 Italia. “Mugello is a circuit that excites me since I was there for the first time, last year. The team and I are going there with the will that we showed in the last tests. Everything went smoothly until now and I hope it may keep this way”, he explained. “The goals are to keep adapting to the Dallara FPT handling and evolving my relationship with my engineer. Besides, we will have some new aerodynamic parts to try and we hope that they may allow us to improve and arrive to the season’s first weekend in good shape”.

Volkswagen’s Formula 3 and Scirocco R-Cup drivers have jointly prepared themselves for the 2011 motorsport season at an intensive fitness camp in Oberjoch, Bavaria. The camp, which lasted five days, included a variety of different training modules designed to maximise the drivers’ physical performance in the areas of stamina, strength and coordination – and to support the young sportsmen in their individual preparations.‘Professional motorsport places very different and very high demands on the drivers, and that includes in relation to their physical fitness,’ explained Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen, who also participated in the fitness camp.  ‘Their stamina, coordination and reactions have to be perfectly trained if they wish to compete with the crème de la crème on the racetrack.  Our fitness camp was an important part of our preparations for the new season and gave those who participated some important stimuli for their independent training activities.’Volkswagen Motorsport prepared a challenging and diverse programme of training modules for the team of 30 participants, which included not only numerous Formula 3 and Scirocco R-Cup drivers, but also seasoned touring car drivers such as Peter Terting and Fredrik Ekblom.  The main component of the stamina training was a combination of technically and physically demanding cross-country skiing, an energy-sapping mountain jog and, finally, a biathlon.  Other modules included snowshoe orienteering in small groups, which promoted not only physical fitness, but also coordination skills and teamwork, and a special fitness training session put together with the specifics of being in a racing car cockpit in mind.  There was also a Pilates session, group spinning and a seminar on nutritional science to round off the programme. ‘I came away from the fitness camp with new insights for my sports preparations.  It also showed me that training can be tough but fun at the same time,’ said Maiken Rasmussen of Denmark, who is a newcomer to the Scirocco R-Cup in 2011.  ‘Meeting all the other drivers was another important aspect of the camp.  There was a very positive atmosphere and a really sporting spirit among us – which was another reason why everyone trained so hard.’ The camp was also fruitful for 27-year-old professional driver Peter Terting, who will be lining up for Volkswagen at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring: ‘Working with professional trainers gave us all the opportunity to ask questions about our specific preparation regimes.  For example, it was important to me that I optimise my nutrition before and during the 24-hour race,’ he said.

21-03-11

BTCC: Former champion Matt Neal and team-mate Gordon Shedden have both been refining their 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship Honda Civic with test mileage ahead of the new season and are pleased with progress. The Honda Racing Team duo have developed the revamped car at Snetterton in Norfolk, Donington Park and Silverstone over the last five days as they prepare to defend the team’s manufacturers’ crown. The car is fitted with a new two-litre turbocharged engine ahead of a rule change this season and Neal stunned rivals by setting the fastest time at Snetterton on Tuesday (March 15). “The car has lots of potential,” explained 44-year-old Neal. “The new turbo engine gives us lots of torque but it changes the characteristics of the car quite significantly in terms of the power delivery. I will have to adapt to that and the more testing laps we can do, the better it will be. I was happy with how we managed to run at Snetterton particularly.We have also been through a range of set-ups on the chassis and so far, it has reacted exactly as we expected it to,” added Neal. “It is encouraging but we still need to do more running to fully understand the car.” Shedden said that he was optimistic about the season ahead after his initial outings in the reworked car. He sampled the hatchback at Snetterton and again at Silverstone on Friday. “It certainly requires a different driving technique to the car we had last season,” said the Scot. “There are lots of new variables with the different weight distribution and the turbo but we have already seen that the Civic has got massive potential.“It is important we do as much testing as we can before the start of the season to get the most out of it, but I am happy that we have the basic ingredients in place already.”

Formula Ford: Bosch Batteries Spectrum driver Jesse Fenech has started his rookie Australian Formula Ford Championship campaign in stellar fashion, taking second place on the challenging Clipsal street circuit in Adelaide over the weekend. The Melbourne driver, who turned 18 just a week ago, showed maturity beyond his years to keep his composure in the frenetic racing. “What a weekend!” beamed Fenech after the final race on Saturday afternoon. “I’ve never raced on a street circuit before, so it was quite intimidating initially. But Tim (Macrow) was fantastic to be able to talk to … He just told me to take my time and work up to pace. We did that and got faster with every session, finishing second to my team mate Tom in the final race, and second for the round. An awesome way to start the season,” he added. “I really want to thank Bosch Batteries, Kool Trailers and Borland Racing Developments for their support and encouragement,” said Fenech. “It was good to have the support of the Bosch guests here at Clipsal and I made sure I gave them a wave on the warm down lap after the race.” Bosch’s marketing department was thrilled with the performance of their young ambassador. “We are delighted with Jesse’s achievement over the weekend,” said a Bosch spokesperson. “His level headed approach to the event saw him improve with every outing, culminating in a well deserved second place for the round, which has set our hopes very high for the remainder of the season. Our guests were delighted to be able to cheer for Jesse and the Bosch Batteries Spectrum from the trackside, where the Bosch brand really stood out on the car as it lapped the circuit.” The Australian Formula Ford Championship heads to Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria for its next round, on 20-22 May.

WTCC: The Chevrolet team opened the turbo era in WTCC in style at Curitiba that also meant a great start to the season in which they aim to defend their world titles. After setting pole position, Rob Huff scored a lights to flag win in the first race, with team-mates Yvan Muller and Carlos Bueno in tow. After finishing third in last year's championship the young Englishman is now set to be the one of the most serious pretenders to WTCC throne. Alain Menu won the second race after an exciting fight with Tom Coronel. His victory was not quite expected after he qualified yesterday in a disappointed 11th position. But this time Lady Luck decided to help, promoting him to the pole position in Race 2 following the exclusion of his fellow countryman Fredy Barth. Huff leaves Brazil as the leader of the championship, closely followed by Menu and Muller. A double success of the Cruze cars powered by the new 1.6L engine was easy to be predicted, especially after the RML crew had worked so hard in development and testing. However, Coronel showed that the BMW 320 TC has not a big gap to fill. As a matter of fact the Dutchman was very close to create a surprise and win the second race. The fight between Chevrolet and BMW is set to draw the attention in the first part of the season, at least until the SEAT and Volvo cars will also switch to the new engine. If the drivers of the SEAT TDi were not far away from the pace of the winners (especially Gabriele Tarquini, Tiago Monteiro and Michel Nykjær), Robert Dahlgren and his Volvo suffered from the altitude that penalises the normally aspirated engines and also from a clutch failure. In the Yokohama Trophy, Kristian Poulsen took the lead despite an accident in the second race that marked the first victory for the Spanish rookie Javier Villa who was able to master his BMW car despite the total lack of testing until Saturday morning. His even younger compatriot Pepe Oriola was also able to shine and is now leading the new Jay-Ten Trophy. The championship will resume at Zolder, Belgium, on April 24th for rounds 3 and 4.

Formula3: A five-year agreement with CAMS, the governing body of Australian Motorsport, is set to ensure the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship long term stability and growth in the Aussie motorsport marketplace. Formula 3 officials have been presented a new Competition Management Agreement by CAMS with provisions for a five-year commitment to ensure that Formula 3 remains Australia’s premier Open-wheel category well into the future. The category is working towards a revitalised, commercialised management structure that will open doors to investment in the category from sponsors and teams. The first stage of a multi-year business plan was put in place for 2011 with the championship securing a three-year agreement with the promoters of Hidden Valley’s SKYCITY Triple Crown V8 Supercar Event, plus two other V8 Supercar rounds at Winton Raceway and Symmons Plains, respectively. The series has also confirmed an ongoing partnership with Kumho Tyres as an official series sponsor and Tyre supplier, plus an unprecedented $50,000 investment from FORPARK Australia towards the brand-new Forpark Australia F3 Scholarship for young drivers. New agreements with Elf Race Fuels Australia and Performance Friction Brakes give the series their best levels of corporate support in seasons. Australian Formula 3 Management is excited to be working alongside CAMS to develop the series and ensure a successful and long-term future for top-level Open Wheel racing in Australia. Australian Formula 3 is well positioned to become a major growth category with costs now controlled to the point where a full-season of racing and testing now costs essentially the same as National Formula Ford, and one-quarter the price – or less - of British Formula 3 or GP3 in Europe.  The series and its competitors are thrilled to see the governing body take an open mind into all discussions and actively seek to assist the championship in achieving its objectives and goals for the growth of the series, and that CAMS has recognised the hard work and commitment being shown by management to grow the championship.  Formula 3 also welcomes the implementation of a CAMS commission into the future of the Australian Drivers Championship and looks forward to actively participating in discussions about ways to build the profile and regain the stature of the Australian Drivers Championship / Gold Star award. Formula 3 Management expects to sign the five-year agreement with CAMS prior to the commencement of the 2011 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship to be held at Winton Raceway in Victoria in late May.

Karts: The first Formula Kart Stars iZone Driver Performance sampler day took place during the recent Half Term school break with more than a dozen of the 2011 Formula Kart Stars driving roster visiting iZone’s unique Silverstone based facilities. iZone have offered every competitor in the 2011 Formula One Management backed Championship the opportunity to spend a half-day with them where they will be introduced to iZone’s maximum personal performance training techniques endorsed by triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx. In addition to the classroom based session the 14 drivers in attendance were also given a tour of Porsche’s famous Fitness Centre, put through their paces in a Batak reaction test and were given a stint on iZone’s state-of-the-art simulator. “The day went very well,” says iZone’s John Pratt. “We covered a lot of basic areas and tried to make the drivers focus on their personal performance and an accumulation of marginal gains. We tried to get them to visualise each circuit in their heads. If they can do that and plan for each corner in their head they will be more prepared for a race weekend when they arrive at the track.” The drivers were all given a ten-minute session on the iZone simulator aboard a Formula BMW single seater trying to match a time set earlier in the day by former FKS KF3 Champion Alex Albon around Silverstone’s National circuit. Although Albon’s time remained unbeaten, Junior Rotax driver Jack Mitchell emerged with the quickest simulator time, a fraction more than one second shy of Albon and was closely followed by Matt Arnold, Sam Brabham and James Small. In the Batak reaction test Brabham emerged victorious, putting out nearly 80 lights in 60 seconds, although nobody got close to beating Lotus F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen’s record of 122. The second iZone day is on Saturday April 2nd and any 2011 Formula Kart Stars driver wishing to attend but has yet to confirm should contact FKS Championship co-ordinator Debbie Sellers.

Just hours after Sunday’s opening Formula One Grand Prix in Australia, 33 teams representing their schools will be racing to win this year’s British Schools Karting Championship (BSKC) plus a chance to visit the World Championship winning Red Bull Racing F1 team. After more than 100 karting events across the country and 10 hard fought Regional Finals the finalists will be lining up at the Daytona track in Milton Keynes on 27 March. The MSA’s award winning Go Motorsport initiative has worked closely with the BSKC with its Regional Development Officers attending many of the heats in their areas and promoting the Championship as part of their nationwide School Visits programme. This year the BSKC is proud to announce that Red Bull Racing and Arden International Motorsport – a successful team that race in the F1 support categories of GP2 & GP3 – have been kind enough to offer fantastic prizes for the BSKC overall winners. Red Bull Racing will reward the Champions with a VIP factory tour of their Milton Keynes facility and Arden International Motorsport have offered the overall Champions a day of driver training in their state-of-the-art simulator. The Championship is indebted to Red Bull Racing and Arden International Motorsport for their support. The 2011 BSKC has been contested by more than 450 teams. In excess of 1350 students have battled it out in ‘arrive & drive’ karts from Glasgow to Exeter and Belfast to Ipswich. To find more about how to ‘Race for your School’ please visit www.bskc.co.uk

ILMC: The 2011 12 Hours of Sebring could not have started better for Team Peugeot Total. A faultless qualifying lap saw Stéphane Sarrazin record the new Peugeot 908’s first pole position, in the car’s very first race.  The second car also secured a second row starting position to place both cars in an ideal position for the start of the race. Stéphane Sarrazin, No.8 Peugeot 908: “I waited for four minutes before heading out onto the track so as to avoid the traffic. That turned out to be the right decision, and it was all wrapped up after one lap! I am really pleased with this result. It’s just reward for the whole team, because we have really worked hard in the last few months and it’s been even more intense since we arrived at Sebring. 

The Audi R15 TDI was on par with the new LMP1 sports cars from Peugeot and Acura/Honda in its last ever race. But Audi Sport Team Joest missed racing luck in the season opener of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) at Sebring. Both cars were delayed by incidents in the first half of the 12-hour race. The hopes of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller were destroyed after one hour of racing, when Rockenfeller had to pit twice in a row with a rear left puncture. Both times there was also bodywork and rear wing damage. The repairs cost a total of eight laps and dropped the reigning Le Mans winners down to 50th position. Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish were able to take the lead several times with the "sister" car. At the beginning of the fifth hour, however, Capello, running in second position, became the victim of an attack by Peugeot driver Marc Gene who hit Capello hard on the right rear wheel. As a result of the collision, the right rear suspension of the Audi R15 TDI had to be replaced. The Italian rejoined the race in 17th position, seven laps down. In the remaining hours, the two Audi teams were able to move up into fourth and fifth positions respectively with consistently good lap times. However, Audi Sport Team Joest was denied the hoped-for victory in the "farewell" race for the Audi R15 TDI despite both cars having the performance to achieve it. After its "farewell" appearance at Sebring, the record winning car of the Le Mans 24 Hours will now finally be moved to the museum. Audi Sport Team Joest from now on will entirely focus on the new closed Audi R18 with its race debut scheduled for the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup on May 7 at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium). race report

Nissan enjoyed success on its debut in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) series yesterday when the No.26 Signatech Nissan LMP2 car clinched a second-place class finish at the end of the gruelling Twelve Hours of Sebring in Florida, USA.  The result marks a solid start to Nissan’s new challenge in sportscar racing and another step along the way for the first ever virtual-to-real racer, Lucas Ordonez. As Nissan set out on this new adventure it was important for everyone concerned that they put in the best performance they could as a mark of respect to their colleagues and friends in Japan.  Messages of support were displayed on the car and on the drivers’ helmets and the Japanese people were never far from the team’s thoughts. Lucas Ordonez was wide eyed at the prospect of his first big race and all eyes were on the Playstation gamer-turned-racer to see how he would cope with the tough Sebring track.  Happily, he didn’t disappoint.The task of qualifying the car in Friday’s session came down to French veteran, Soheil Ayari, who left the competition standing with a historic pole position.  This was the first pole position for a Nissan-powered car at Sebring since 1994, and it put the Nissan name firmly back in the record books. Franck Mailleux took the start of the race and quickly established a good lead in the LMP2 class. Then it was Lucas’ turn and he did a great job, keeping hold of the lead throughout his long stint.  Unfortunately on lap 78, during Soheil’s first turn at the wheel, electrical gremlins in the gearbox forced the car into the pits for an extended period to allow the team to fix the problem.  Then the fight back began.All three Signatech Nissan drivers got their heads down and slowly but surely clawed back the lost time to once again lead the race in the LMP2 class.  Unfortunately though, after nine and a half hours of racing, the gremlins returned. This delay allowed the first of the Lola Honda cars to retake first position- a lead it never relinquished, despite the best efforts of the Nissan drivers.Lucas Ordonez was delighted with his and the team’s performance at Sebring, stating: “A few short months ago I could never have imagined I’d be racing here at Sebring in the ILMC. Today was the culmination of intense preparation since the deal between Signature and Nissan was signed – all the drivers, technical staff and management have been working incredibly hard. I spent a lot of time driving the circuit virtually before I got here and that really helped my preparation.Personally, I feel that I made some small mistakes out there today, but I’m learning all the time, and certainly can take away a lot of lessons from this race. One thing I need to work on, for example, is carrying as much speed into the corners as possible. You don’t get to feel the same huge downforce on a Playstation…yet! We have to remember that this was our first ever competitive race. We now have a few weeks before the race in Spa, and we’ll be working round the clock to at least match this great result next time.”

Truck racing: Brands Hatch is revving up for the first major event of its 2011 season this weekend (26/27 March), when it hosts the opening round of the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship. British trucks are the mightiest machines to grace the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, weighing in at five tonnes with 1,000bhp. However, despite their size, these surprisingly nimble vehicles can accelerate to 100mph in less than five seconds, and their powersliding and panel-rubbing racing antics remain a must-see spectacle.The season opener is a great opportunity to cheer along Kent ’s sporting talents, as lining up on the trucking grid this season will be brothers Graham and Steven Powell from West Kingdown and Aylesford respectively, whilst West Kingsdown ’s Oscar Clarke will also be competing. Brands Hatch will host four British Truck races, including a special memorial race honouring Roger Brookfield – a former racer and chairman of the British Truck Racing Association, who passed away earlier this year following a short illness. There will also be support races including NASCAR-style Pickups, Legends and the Dunlop Motorsport News South East Saloon Car Championship. Tickets for the Delphi British Truck Racing Championship at Brands Hatch on 26/27 March are available on the day for £12 on Saturday and £21 on Sunday for adults. Entry is free for children aged 12 and under. For more information call 0843 453 9000 or visit www.brandshatch.co.uk.

20-03-11

ILMC/ALMS: Peugeot won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, this time the Team ORECA Matmut taking victory in America’s greatest sports car race and the opening round of the 2011 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. Loic Duval took the chequered flag by 31.868 seconds in his Peugeot 908 HDi FAP over Highcroft Racing’s Simon Pagenaud in a classic fight that saw the top three cars finish on the lead lap. Duval, who won with Nicolas Lapierre and Olivier Panis, took a late splash of fuel to ensure he could make it to the end of the race and the first race of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.

OAK Racing made a fantastic start to this season’s Intercontinental Le Mans Cup at the world famous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday where its brand new Pescarolo prototype scored an LMP2 class podium finish on debut. It was a sensational result for the crew of Andrea Barlesi, Frédéric Da Rocha and Patrice Lafargue, and particularly rewarding for the independent Le Mans-based team, which has designed, built and developed the car to a tight timescale for the start of this season. The team’s pair of new LMP1 machines meanwhile endured a more frustrating event. The #15 car of Matthieu Lahaye, Guillaume Moreau and Pierre Ragues showed impressive pace to run fourth overall and second highest of the petrol cars after eight hours of racing when Lahaye was forced into retirement with a fuel leak.Jacques Nicolet, Richard Hein and Jean-François Yvon were also going well when, after the five hour mark, a valve spring issue forced the gentlemen driver trio out of the race.Pic Clément Marin   

The REBELLION Racing Lola-Toyota, car #12, driven by Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and Jeroen Bleekemolen took the chequered flag in seventh place as a rookie at Florida’s Sebring raceway.After nearly 26 hours of running during the week, the new RV8KLM Toyota engine showed perfect reliability. Starting from 8th place on the grid, the #12 Lola-Toyota didn’t have  any technical problems at all during the whole race.

Robertson Racing emerged from a battle of attrition in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón season opener – the 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida – today to take an excellent eighth place GT class finish.The Atlanta-based squad’s #040 Ford GT driven by David Robertson, Andrea Robertson and Boris Said recovered from a mechanical problem, which in turn helped incur an unavoidable pit-lane penalty under Safety Car conditions, to work their way back up through the field and into the top ten by the chequered flag. 

WTCC: Predictions came true as three Chevrolet turbo cars achieved the first places in the qualifying session at Curitiba. It is not a surprise that Rob Huff and Yvan Muller will share the front row of the grid for tomorrow's Race 1. However, the third blue car is not Menu's as expected, but that of local Stock Car hero 'Cacá' Bueno, as the Swiss racer failed to reach Q2. The new system that determines the starting grid for the second race by reversing the top-ten drivers classified in Q1 proved spectacular as those who had adopted a conservative approach were forced to push or kicked off.

The Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 met on the Barcelona track for the last two days of collective testing recently. If the still damp track, from heavy rain the day before, upset the first few hours of tests, the drivers were later rewarded with milder weather. At the end of the tests, Paul Loup Chatin finished in a good 7th place less than one tenth behind 3rd and first of the French, not without giving the lead in class of the Tech 1 Racing, Javier Tarangon from Spain  a bit of competition. After some starting difficulties in the first tests, Chatin was able to get back to form and show his potential as a legitimate rival in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship. Chatin said, “My two test days went well. I was just as competitive on wet, with the second best time, as I was on dry where I was constantly in the lead positions. We also had a practice race with all the TECH 1 drivers and I showed I was fast and more consistent than Javier. I’m happy with these tests and feel confident for the first races.” Satisfaction can be felt in the Euroformula Volant’s entourage and as the director of the  school, Laurent FRADON said: “Paul Loup’s performance is consistent with our expectations, he is improving all the time and we can reasonably expect him to go for victory pretty soon. The quality of the selection and the number of drivers, 40, will make his task difficult but not impossible.” Paul-Loup CHATIN is ready then to take on the first challenge of the new Formula Renault Alps which will be raced at Monza

19-03-11

Formula Ford: Tom Williamson has taken his first Australian Formula Ford Championship round win on the streets of Adelaide today in an action packed race. The Brad Jones Racing junior driver found his way to the front of the field following an incident involving Friday's race winner Cameron Waters and held on to claim his first race and round win. In a safety car plagued race, Williamson held his nerve to fend off Spectrum teammate Jesse Fenech and New Zealander Nick Cassidy. 

LMPC/ALMS: Dane Cameron, winner of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, took another big step up the career ladder with a qualifying lap of 1:55.232 (115.593 mph) in the Genoa Racing/MOLECULE ORECA FLM09 to win the LMPC pole for tomorrow's 12 Hours of Sebring.  Cameron, who normally races the Team Seattle, Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 in the Grand-Am GT class, will share the Sebring driving duties with Jens Petersen and Michael Guasch, the 2009 Star Mazda Master Series champion. “Qualifying was extremely tight, but the Genoa team gave me a great car and I felt we had a good chance to put it on the pole,” Cameron said. “The only other time I’ve been at Sebring was in 2007 when I started from the pole in the Star Mazda Championship race.  Coming from single seaters, and then GT cars, the biggest difference is the weight and downforce on this car but I was able to adapt and the car feels good for long runs.  The traffic at the start of the race will be a challenge, but hopefully we can stay out of trouble and be there at the end to challenge for the win.  I want to thank Genoa, MOLECULE and my co-drivers for this great opportunity."

American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron GT class outfit Robertson Racing had hoped for more from Friday's qualifying session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh, with 12th and 13th respectively for the 004 and 040 cars falling short of their expectations heading into the event. Nevertheless with 12 hours of racing ahead of them tomorrow, the team remains upbeat about their prospects at the Florida track as they seek to profit from the reliability of their Ford GT machines. The Braselton-based squad worked tirelessly throughout Thursday's practice sessions to optimise the setup for each of their racers, eventually electing for a bold all-or-nothing approach to qualifying with the #004 car. However their hopes were dashed after Anthony Lazzaro lost a potentially fast lap to a rival car slowing in front of him, spoiling his effort, and struggled with oversteer thereafter. He will be joined by David Murry and Colin Braun in the #004 machine, which registered a best time of 2:03.309. Meanwhile team-mate Boris Said lines up 13th in the #040 car, partnered by David Robertson and Andrea Robertson, after achieving a 2:03.454 in the qualifying session.Having dedicated the winter break to development work, hopes were high ahead of this weekend's event, the first of the 2011 ALMS campaign, and the team is naturally disappointed with the result. However tomorrow's race is the longest on this year's calendar and will provide them with an opportunity to learn more about the cars and to raise their spirits with a strong result. Team Manager Andrew ‘H’ Smith: “We came here with high hopes after the winter and it didn’t work out for us in qualifying. A lot of effort has gone into this weekend and we are not where we thought we might be. But the race is long and you don’t have to be the fastest to get a result. Our reliability is good and if we have overcome our teething problems before the race anything is possible.” Anthony Lazzaro: “I aborted an average lap as I caught the Jaguar and created a good amount of space for the following lap. Unfortunately on the next lap, the #48 car had slowed and killed that effort too, so we lost a couple of laps to traffic. Now we have one more session before the race so we need to keep working hard on the setup."

For its debut at the 12 hours of Sebring, REBELLION Racing’s #12 Lola-Toyota has qualified in 8th position on the grid for Saturday’s race. After comming back to the team’s truck, Neel Jani said : “I am happy with the qualifying. We were on a kind of ‘‘defensive mode’’ in terms of tyres, and set-up. We could have challenged to be the fastest petrol car on the grid, if we had chosen a more agressive strategy. The car is set up for the race, great to drive and comfortable. I am really happy with the collaboration with the TMG engineers, they are really focused with us on getting the best result.” Over the past few days, during several free practice sessions, the team and the drivers have familiarised themselves with the characteristics of Florida’s finest track, the team is looking forward to a strong start in the opening round of both the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the American Le Mans Series. The team is pleased with the pace they have shown during the week. Bart Hayden Rebellion Racing Team manager : “We’ve run without any major issues all week, it’s very positive. The new Toyota engine showed good reliability during our test at Paul Ricard in France last week-end and here in more stressed conditions with the heat and the nature of the track, we are really pleased. The guys have been working solidly over the past nine days and even before that they had had many late nights to get ready for these early events.The new members of the team have slotted in well and are adding valuable contributions.  We are all looking for a good result to start the season.  We are still in a learning period with the car, it was not possible to go testing during the winter. The race will be a big test for the car and the brand new Toyota engine, the ideal conditions to simulate the Le Mans 24 ! Despite having spare engines here, we have elected not to change the engine for the race and to use the one that has been in the car since last Monday, that way we can prove the endurance early in the season. “ 59th 12 Hours of Sebring warm up is scheduled today from 08:00 to 08:25.Race will start at10:30. American viewers can see the race live on www.ESPN3.com from 10.15am ET while ABC will carry television coverage on Sunday at 12.30pm.You can also tune in to www.RadioLeMans.com for live commentary of each session and the race itself throughout the week while non-US viewers can watch live streamed coverage on www.americanlemans.com. 

Formula Renault BARC: 18 drivers, with even more expected, took the opportunity to introduce themselves to the attending media before the opening rounds of the season at Donington Park on 23rd/24th April. Organisers also used the event to unveil two new initiatives for the one-make single-seater series beginning with the announcement of a new hospitality suite for drivers, teams and sponsors. Operated by leading suppliers Williams Hospitality Ltd, the new race centre is a first for the series offering competitors even more value for money. The second was the announcement of the Championship’s exclusive Driver Fitness Programme run by the Lotus Renault GP Team giving drivers a direct link with a Formula 1 outfit.  The day also coincided with official pre-season testing for the Championship with Antel Motorsport’s Dino Zamparelli once more topping the timesheets with the Bristol teenager posting a best time of 55.432s (106.44mph average) around the 1.64-mile track. There was little to separate him though from nearest rival Archie Hamilton as the Hook racer, driving for Fortec Motorsport, ended the day a mere 0.332s off the pace. Scorpio’s Hector Hurst, from Lymington, again showed good pace throughout the four timed sessions as did Hillspeed’s latest signing Howard Fuller. Hillspeed also impressed with Telford’s James Theodore who was testing in the absence of Sean Walkinshaw (due to exams) and remains a possibility for the series. Many of the Championship’s newcomers were also able to gain good mileage with the likes of Antel Motorsport’s Callum Bowyer, MTech’s James Thorp, MGR Motorsport’s Matt Mason and SWB Motorsport’s Macaulay Walsh and Jack Dex all gaining ground. With still a month to go before the start of the season, many teams also indicated the possibility of further driver signings with 21-year-old Kieran Vernon, who attended the day, among those to have expressed an interest.

WTCC: Tom Coronel emerged as the fastest driver in Friday's test at Curitiba. At the wheel of his ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC the Dutchman posted a lap of 1:23.090 just before the end of the 30-minute session. After the morning shake down the drivers begun to look for aspiration on the long straight and lap times improved drastically. Three other men were able to break the 1:24 mark: Huff (1:23.713), Muller (1:23.796) and Barth (1:23.864). Tarquini (1:24.003) and Bueno (1:24.338) clocked the 5th and 6th fastest laps respectively ahead of the Liqui Moly duo of Poulsen and Engstler, with Dahlgren and his Volvo in 9th position (1:24.379). The session was disrupted once by the red flag after 14 minutes to tow Poulsen's BMW off the gravel trap at the Esse de Alta.In the dying moments Taniguchi took a big risk when his Chevrolet Lacetti ran very wide at the last corner, however the Japanese racer managed to avoid crashing into the tyre-wall.
Dudukalo did not take part as his team is still working to repair the cars after the massive morning crash; nor did Villa, whose car has still some mechanical issues to be solved. "It was one of those prefect lap you manage to post two, three times a year. I did not make any mistake and I benefited from a double slipstream on the straight from Poulsen and Menu. I was surprised by my time, but honestly I was at my limit. I am very pleased, because this morning the car was driving me and I did not like it. For the afternoon test I adopted a more aggressive approach and asked for a number of set up changes. The package worked very well and I could feel I was in total control, though I did not expect such, said Coronel

The WTCC drivers hit the track for the first time at Curitiba for a shake down. The session was due to last 90 minutes, however it was red-flagged with 20 minutes still on the clock and not resumed after Aleksei Dudukalo lost his SEAT TDi at the exit of the Esse da Alta and crashed heavily into the inside barriers. The Russian driver escaped unscathed while his car suffered from heavy damage.Tiago Monteiro and his SEAT TDi created a surprise by setting the fastest lap of 1:24.360 ahead of the new Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 Turbo of Alain Menu (1:24.440) and Yvan Muller (1:24.446). The fourth fastest lap was clocked by Franz Engstler's BMW 320 TC (1:24.472).
The top ten drivers were all covered by 0.6 seconds with Robert Dahlgren's Volvo in 10th position (1:25.036).Gabriele Tarquini and Javier Villa did not post any lap time as their cars sat in the respective garages for the last adjustments.

Four different brands will be fighting to win the 2011 FIA WTCC Manufacturers' Championship. The complete list was released today by the FIA and it includes:Chevrolet Europe, BMW Customer Racing Teams, SR Customer Racing and  Volvo Polestar Evaluation Team. All the SEAT cars taking part in the championship are eligible to score points for the SR Customer Racing.

Official proceedings to the 2011 WTCC season got underway in the centre of Curitiba. The promotional day began with the drivers parading through the city centre on board a double-decker bus and then meeting the fans in a crowded autograph sessions in the central Boca Maldita. In the evening WTCC drivers joined the Secretary for Sport of Curitiba, Mr Marcelo Richa and championship promoter Marcello Lotti for a reception for local media at the WYN Club.Two Chevrolet racing cars were exhibited in front of the building: Carlos Bueno's WTCC Cruze and Max Wilson's Stock Car.

Karts: AVG, Anton Van Grunsven’s team is back in the field for season 2011 with the intention of getting to the very heart of the matter in the WSK series (Master and Euro), with as many as four drivers in KZ and one in KF in SarnoGetting ready for major events organised by the International Federation under the best conditions,while trying to achieve the be st possible results: this was the goal pursued by AVG Racing at the first two meetings of the season in Italy. With a level which is even higher than last year in all international categories, it proved to be a hard task for the drivers of the Dutch team. “We knew that the first events of 2011 would be difficult, but it was important for us to be at La Conca and than in Sarno to allow our drivers to do as many km as possible. We all needed to be back in the middle of competition”, pointed out Anton Van Grunsven, the team manager. “Manuel Renaudie has decided to quit racing, but now we can rely on another French driver, Tony Lavanant, who won the European KZ2 Championship in 2008. But Tony has not raced a lot during the last two years and he has to get back on track. Dylan Davies will also be with us, as in 2010. It is just his second year in KZ2 and he still has a lot to show. Sinan Van der Raad is also part of our team now. He has raced in KF for several seasons and now he has taken on a new challenge by entering KZ1. The fourth driver with us in Italy was the young Roy Geerts. He lacks international experience, but he is determined to improve rapidly”. If the first round of the WSK Euro Series in Sarno did not lead to the expected results for team members, they all had a race full of lessons to be learnt at La Conca during the WSK Master Series. Saturday’s final ended with a 5th place in KZ1 for Tony Lavanant, three places ahead his team mate Sinan Van der Raad. In the KZ2 pack, Dylan Davies showed a brilliant recovery. After the setbacks he experienced in timed qualifying, he concluded with a brilliant 4tth place in his category, while Roy Geerts was 7th. In full rogression, the latter was even 6th in Sunday’s KZ2 final race. As for Lavanant, he was 7th in KZ1.

18-03-11

Australian Formula Ford : Cameron Waters dominated the opening race of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, taking the first victory of his career. The Mildura based driver started the afternoon's race from second on the grid, but took the lead on the opening lap and never looked back.  A late Safety Car didn't faze the 16 year old, who crossed the line ahead of Sonic teammate Nick Foster and Synergy Motorsport driver Liam Sager. 

Other News: Enthusiasts the world over dream of designing and building their own car. What set the Cheshire-born brothers Neill and Ian Briggs apart from most, is that they had the automotive qualifications and experience to do just that, and put the result into production for others to enjoy – enter the BAC MONO. MONO (as in monoposto, or single seat) was designed to bring formula race car levels of handling, performance and thrill to the public road, but it’s also the perfect trackday tool, racing school car, one-make series racer, etc. At 520 bhp / ton, its power to weight ratio surpasses that of the Bugatti Veyron and it can accelerate to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds, 100 mph in 6.7 seconds and on to a top speed of 170 mph. The car is also an object of engineering perfection and desire, courtesy of the Briggs brothers’ 15 years experience of the motor industry, during which time they’ve handled design and engineering consultancy projects for the likes of Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, through their company Adaptive Space. Of British conception, MONO combines the very best of all automotive worlds. Its aerodynamics were optimised using CFD in partnership with Stuttgart University, while its list of suppliers reads like a Who’s Who of the international motorsport industry. The vehicle is constructed in carbon fibre with a tubular steel driver safety cell, complete with FIA-compliant roll over protection system - similar in concept to a DTM race car. Power comes from a 280 bhp, normally-aspirated 2.3-litre Cosworth unit mounted longitudinally and mated to an electronically-controlled, paddle-shift, six-speed sequential Hewland transmission with limited-slip differential. The rose-jointed, aero profiled pushrod suspension features adjustable Sachs Racing dampers derived from the heat of competition. The braking is by AP Racing, the bespokeHRT alloy wheels by OZ Racing, the purpose-developed, street-legal track tyres by Kumho, and the vehicle electronics and instrumentation by GEMS. The driver is secured by a full six-point racing harness by Willans and there is a secure locker in which to store a helmet and the detachable steering wheel when parked. The seat is fixed for safety and optimum weight distribution (48/52 front to rear), and drivers of varying shapes and sizes can be readily accommodated thanks to the fully adjustable pedal box and steering column that can be altered for both height and rake. There is even the option of an F1-style fully-profiled seat. Said Ian Briggs (BAC stands for Briggs Automotive Company): “MONO is the culmination of a 12-year dream for us – the car we wanted to own but nobody else made.” Neill Briggs added: “All cars are built to order on a first-come, first-served basis and our flexible production facility has the capacity to manufacture between 50 and 100 vehicles per year – or more if demand requires. All I can currently say is, the early response has been extremely encouraging.” At £79,950(including UK taxes), the BAC MONO is not only highly desirable but eminently affordable. For further details, log onto www.bac-mono.com.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB : Tommy Dreelan and George Brewster will both contest full seasons in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, racing alongside young gun Rory Butcher in the three-car squad from Celtic Speed. With all three drivers from north of the border and the team based in Montrose and headed by Scot Alan Keith, this is a strongly Scottish team. Both Dreelan and Brewster have competed in the Carrera Cup GB since the middle of 2009 and will chase the Pro-Am2 title this season. In 2010, Brewster was one of the title contenders in the category and missed the title by just two points after a very strong and consistent season. Aberdeen-based Dreelan, who originally hailed from Ireland, only started racing late in 2005 and has since raced extensively in Porsches. Edinburgh’s Brewster, meanwhile, raced karts as a youngster and then returned to the sport a decade ago, racing first Caterhams and then Porsches. “We’re looking forward to a full season in the Carrera Cup,” said Dreelan. “With Rory in the team we’ve got someone to chase now and that should be a big help with the data as well.”

Keith Webster will be one of the new names on the Porsche Carrera Cup GB grid this season with Red Line Racing. The Hampshire-based businessman is stepping up from GT Cup in what will be only his second full season of racing. Liphook-based Webster (44) only started racing late in 2009, but challenged for the overall GT Cup title last season. Now he faces a big jump forward into the Carrera Cup GB. “It’s a huge leap,” he said during his first full day of testing at Donington Park on Thursday (17 March). “But it is going great and I’m pretty chuffed with initial progress.”  Webster has joined Cleveland-based Red Line Racing, one of the standard setting teams in the championship, and has backing from Sovereign Engineering, marque1.co.uk and LAMP. “This is totally different to what I’ve done before,” said Webster. “I’ve not even done a standing start yet.”“Keith is progressing very nicely,” said team boss Simon Leonard. “We’ve worked with him over the winter and I think he’ll be a very strong contender for pro-am2.” The team’s lead driver James Sutton has been instrumental in helping Webster on his learning curve. “That has helped me understand the car,” said Webster.

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB has renewed its association with Sacred to provide teams, drivers and guests with gourmet coffee throughout the coming race season. Sacred will be the supplier of coffee in the Carrera Cup race centre, which is home to over 300 people on busy race weekends. Tubbs Wanigasekera and Matthew Clark formed Sacred in 2005. Now six years and over one and half million great coffees later, Sacred now has six locations in Central London and a reputation for being one of London’s favourite café experiences. Sacred will be opening its next location in autumn 2011 at Westfield Stratford shopping centre and transport hub for the 2012 London Olympic main stadium gateway. Last year Sacred opened its newest location in Covent Garden. Locations that now include Westfield London shopping centre and Carnaby Street have helped Sacred grow into one of London’s finest gourmet tea and coffee brands. It has been voted as one of the top five cafes, four years running by Time Out London, and singled out as a brand to watch by The Times. More details are at www.sacredcafe.com  

London-based Swiss racer Daniele Perfetti will contest the Porsche Carrera Cup GB this season with Motorbase Performance. Perfetti brings experience from racing Renault Clios and the Porsche Carrera Cup in Italy, but this will be his first season of racing in the UK and he will be new to most of the tracks on the schedule. “I went to a lot of UK track days about 10 years ago, so I know some of the tracks. But I have to learn everything from scratch.” Perfetti started his pre-season testing at Donington Park today (Thursday 17 March) and says that he is already fitting in well with the Motorbase team, where he will be able to learn from team mates Michael Caine and Tim Harvey. “I feel at home with the team from the start,” he said. “I moved to London recently so it’s nice to race here. Motorbase is a local team and it has many good customers, so it must do a good job. Today was my first day at Donington Park,” added Perfetti, who will contest the pro-am2 category. Team boss David Bartrum is delighted to have confirmed the fifth driver for his team, but still has capacity to run one further car this season. Perfetti will now continue testing his 450bhp 911GT3 Cup and will take part in the pre-season test and media day at Snetterton on 22 March. The opening two races of the season will be at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 2/3 April.

Renault 3.5: Alexander Rossi was once again behind the wheel for the 2nd collected FR3.5 test with Fortec Motorsport at the Circuit de Catalunya, this week, but only for a few frustrating sessions. Rain and changing conditions over both days meant that the Fortec Motorsport team was not able to make use of the track at Barcelona and made little progress into the planned program on either day of the test. Day one was wet throughout, with the quickest lap times coming just after the mid-day break. Fortec and Alexander were caught out by downpours and numerous Red Flags. Unfortunately, for numerous reasons, they were unable to log much running in an afternoon again marred by the rain. Alexander put in 14 laps and finished the day 3rd overall with a time of 1:55.80, just 0.48 off the quickest time.  Day two brought the same problems in the test with even more changing weather conditions and shortened running sessions. Fortec found themselves in a bit of a lottery and guessing when the next cloud burst may appear. Despite their best  efforts, the team only got Alexander out on track on a new dry tyres intermittently before the rain returned and eventually ended the test early with Alexander 15th overall on the second day with a lap of 1:36.21 seconds.  Jamie Dye, Team Manager, Fortec Motorsport: "The weather has not been on our side this week in Barcelona . We missed an important window just before the rain came down incessantly and we had just put new slicks on Alexander’s car. We have obviously completed some wet weather running, but overall it has been a frustrating program for a number of reasons. We were relatively quick when we were out on track and Alexander has done a great job this week. It was the conditions changing rapidly that held us up; otherwise I believe that Alexander would have achieved even better results than last week in Aragon ."  Alexander Rossi: "We were trying to evaluate a new rain tyre compound, but it was difficult to get to grips with the program with weather changing every hour. Some useful info rmation for wet running did come out of the test. I only ran on dry tires with a quite a bit of mileage on them to get a read on the car balance. The car balance was ready for new tires and actually felt really good. It’s a shame the weather did not hold for a couple more hours because Barcelona is a great track to test and we had a good program and no doubt a top three car in the dry. All teams struggled over these past two days, but now we must look ahead and use the data we did collect to help us improve and prepare for races in 2011. "

Formula Pilota China:  2010 AFR Series first runner up Tin Sritrai will stay with Asia Racing Team for 2011 as he moves up to the Formula Pilota China series. Sponsored by Sports Authority of Thailand, Royal Automobile Association of Thailand, PTT, Singha, and Sang Hwang Amazing Grace Health Products, the Thailand’s motor racing hope and former Asian Karting champion wishes to walk down the path of Prince Birabongse Bhanutej Bhanubandh, or Prince Bira of Siam, who was Thailand's first, and still the only, Formula One racer. Sritrai, the first driver confirmed by the team for the Formula Pilota China campaign, has a very strong relationship with the Macanese outfit, as Asia Racing team is the only team he has raced with from his debut on single-seaters in 2010. A 22 years-old from Khon Kaen, son of Burin Sritrai, himself a former Misubishi Ralliart Thailand driver from 1993 to 1995, Tin comes from a very promising 2010 end of season that saw him take one win and four podium finishes on his AFR Series’ debut, clinching the first runner up spot in the championship standings. Speaking ahead of his second season with Asia Racing Team, Sritrai commented, “I am happy to be back with Asia Racing Team. They were the best team in Formula Renault series and they know the Tatuus chassis better than anybody else in Asia. After a learning season in single seaters, my goal for this season is to win races and from the outset. There will be tough competition and I don’t underestimate how tough it will be, but I have the commitment, passion and willpower to do well. I want to take the opportunity to thank my sponsors and my family for trusting and investing in me for another season. I can't wait to start off the new season." Asia Racing Team’s Team Manager, Philippe Descombes added: “I am very happy to welcome again Tin to Asia Racing Team. Securing Tin for our maiden season in Formula Pilota Series has been a goal of ours for a long time. He possesses all the qualities we look for in the  team: experience, eagerness, technical skill and the ability to fit into a tight-knit team. I am relying on him to help us to succeed right from the beginning in our very first campaign in Formula Pilota China.” The first edition of Formula Pilota China begins in Sepang, Malaysia, from 24th to 26th June. The Formula Pilota China uses a Tatuus carbon fibre chassis fitted with the 1.4 turbocharged Abarth engine tuned by Fiat Powertrain Technologies with 180bhp, and transmission supplied by Sadev, featuring a 6-speed sequential gearbox.

VW Cup: Double champion Joe Fulbrook is to return to the Volkswagen Racing Cup with FUCHS Lubricants for a full-season campaign aimed at winning back his crown. With renewed backing from Warranty Direct, the 40-year-old Berkshire driver has made major updates to the 1.8 turbo Bora he has raced since 2005 and which has carried him to 11 race victories during six seasons in the championship. Fulbrook, who missed most of last season after winning the title in 2008 and ’09, says he is looking forward to his return: “It’s all good news because my long-term sponsor Warranty Direct is back with me again after a year out. I have further good reasons for returning, not least that I enjoy the racing and getting the lads back together to help me, as well as mixing it with drivers who have become good friends over the years.” Fulbrook will have three team-mates in 2011: Simon Andrews, one of the championship’s two disabled drivers, who made his racing debut with promising results last season at the wheel of an adapted DSG semi-automatic Golf GTI; and Beetle racers Robin Riley and Steve Dorrell.“It’s very exciting to have Simon, Robin and Steve in the team,” says Joe. “Simon had a good first year in 2010 and it is our intention to move him forward, as we will with the other guys. Steve has been away from racing for a few years and will be a bit rusty but is looking forward to getting back out there.” Added Robin Riley: “I am glad to back running with Warranty Direct Racing. The team members have so much knowledge between them and I am looking forward to working with them again, and to moving up the grid.”With the help of RP Motorsport and ST Engineering, Fulbrook’s crew have made some positive steps forward with the Bora. “We have had help also from Forge Motorsport, who make some amazing bits and who have supported us through the last few years,” adds Fulbrook. “We also have some other new parts which we hope will give us an advantage. Tiny Townsend from STE will primarily be looking after the Bora, and we have secured Russ Preston from RPM to engineer the suspension on all the cars we are running.” Championship manager Melissa Wright said: “Joe’s presence livens up not only the racing but also the paddock atmosphere, so we are delighted that he will be back for the full year and that there will be a full-strength team alongside him. The Volkswagen Racing Cup grid for 2011 grows daily in size and quality.”

Silverstone Classic: Time is running out for those wishing to take full advantage of discounted ‘Early Bird’ tickets for this summer’s Silverstone Classic (22-24 July), the world’s biggest classic motor racing festival. This special Early Bird promotion offers significant discounts – but only on those tickets booked before midnight on Thursday 31 March. With £10 off all adult entrance tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday or £30 off a three-day pass, these represent sizeable savings of up to 27 per cent when compared to tickets purchased on the gate.“We’ve already seen record numbers booking Early Bird tickets for this year’s Silverstone Classic and we are expecting a further surge in the few days remaining before the generous offer closes,” reported Event Director, Nick Wigley. Highlights already confirmed for 2011 include a glittering array of more than 20 races staged for the first time on Silverstone’s newly extended Grand Prix circuit. The bill includes six showdowns for historic Formula 1 cars ranging from the ERA and Alfa Romeo of the Thirties to the DFV-powered McLarens and Williams of the Seventies, two thunderous scraps featuring brutal American V8 muscle cars from the Sixties, plus the return of the superfast 8-litre Group C sportscars from the Eighties. This year’s Silverstone Classic will also be the premier global event to mark the 50th birthday of the famous Jaguar E-Type. Celebrations feature two very special races on the track plus a record number of E-Types on show in dedicated display areas. ‘Early Bird’ ticket discounts currently on offer. These are available until the end of March either via the ticket hotline on 0871 231 0849 or by visiting the official event website at www.SilverstoneClassic.com

17-03-11

Comic Relief: A series of superheroes and toys descended on Brands Hatch on Wednesday (16 March) for a race with a difference to raise money for Comic Relief. Captain America , Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, Bananaman, Morph, Barbie & Ken, the Honey Monster, a Green Army Man from Toy Story and Katsuma all took part in a race on Razor scooters in an event jointly organised by Brands Hatch and Toyology. The characters lined up on the grid for a standing start before a drag race to the finish line, with Captain America securing the win ahead of Buzz Lightyear and Bananaman. The event raised over £2,000 for Comic Relief and organiser Peter Jenkinson from Toyology was delighted with the way the day went: "A huge shout to the riders who braved the chill to get out on the track and help raise money for a worthy cause, especially Barbie and the team at Brands Hatch helping keep the motley crew of kids' characters in order. We're already excited about next year's event." To make a donation towards Brands Hatch's Comic Relief fundraiser, visit justgiving.com/toyology.

Masters Historic Racing: Masters Historic Racing has announced a three-year sponsorship agreement with Luxembourg based Nordea Bank S.A. The agreement will see Nordea supporting all Masters 3-day Festivals in 2011, and will include on-track activity and a number of off-track social events aimed at increasing the social side of Masters Historic Racing. In addition, Nordea will work with Masters to raise the profile of the private banking sector of historic racing.To facilitate the sponsorship agreement, Masters have appointed a Liaison Officer in the form of new-starter Hamish Cook who will be based in the Masters office and present at all Masters Festivals working closely with Nordea to ensure the success of the partnership. Masters Event Manager Rachel Bailey said: “We are thrilled to have secured this long-term association with Nordea which reflects our own aims and principles. To have such a successful brand committed to Masters is a major boost and we look forward to a successful partnership.” Nordea Director Lars Alstrup: “After the successes of our association with Masters at the Iberian events at the end of last year, we were confirmed of the opportunities that the historic racing sector held for us.  We have been working with Masters over the winter to agree our sponsorship deal, and we are very excited to be planning our activities together during the summer months.” The opening race meeting of the new partnership will be the Catalunya Classic Festival on April 8-10th at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. 

Formula Ford: Mygale driver Cameron Waters has dominated the opening day of the Australian Formula Ford Championship at the Clipsal 500, finishing on top of the timesheets following two practice sessions today.The Linde Material Handlings driver was second in the opening session of the day, before rising to the top of the field during practice two, to finish seven tenths clear.Sonic Motor Racing Services teammate Nick Foster was second overall ahead of talented New Zealander Nick Cassidy, but it was the sixteen-year-old who looked most at home on the Adelaide Streets. Read more

The Volkswagen Racing Cup’s youngest-ever competitor, 16-year-old Zoe Wenham, is to return to the FUCHS Lubricants-backed championship for 2011 with a new car and a new team.The Gloucestershire-based A-level student is to step into to a SlideSports-prepared Golf GTI for the coming year after making her debut in a Polo. “We opted for the Golf this year because it’s a proven car, so I can concentrate on my driving and improving my results rather than developing the car,” she says.Zoe passed her ARDS track licence test at 13 and was a veteran of two seasons of competition in the junior SaxMax series before making her Racing Cup debut just days after 16th birthday last May.She is undeterred by being not only the youngest competitor but also the only female on the grid: “I was the only girl in 2010 and I think I will be again this year, which is a shame in one way but at least it makes me unique and offers me the opportunity to capitalize on that individuality. I’m pleased that the guys treat me as they would any other competitor, though it’s clear that some don’t like it too much when they are beaten by a woman.” Wenham says her goal for the season is to make the podium and end the year in the championship top six. Her sponsors include Supagard and Geometric Manufacturing.In addition to her school studies Zoe is a regular among 20 motor-sporting hopefuls taking the MSA’s Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence at Loughborough University, where again she is the only female.Championship manager Melissa Wright said: “Zoe made a really positive start to her Volkswagen Racing Cup career and we very much hope that she will progress to become not only the most successful woman driver we have seen in the series but also the youngest race winner.”   Pic by Jakob Ebrey Photography

Karts: At Sarno in Italy in the WSK Euro Series, CRG chassis and Maxter engines led the CRG Racing Team drivers to the top. Jonathan Thonon(left) won an important final race while Mirko Torsellini did likewise in KZ2. As for Max Verstappen, the team’s driver in KF3, he continued to extend his list of podiums, with  three from three this season.

The forthcoming national karting campaign will be Ryan Anderton’s second full season in the sport so and after a positive week of testing in Spain the Glastonbury-based kart racer headed to Rowrah in Cumbria to race in a club meeting against 34 Comer Cadet class adversaries. After a second and gfourth place in the ehats he went on to finish second in the final just 0.8seconds behind the winner    pic: Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net

Samuel Oram-Jones displayed remarkable speed again last weekend in the opening round of the 2011 British Super One Rotax Series at Whilton Mill and was third fastest overall in the second final. Sammy, who races in the Super One MiniMax class for 11-15 years - and who will also contest the same category in the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) series this year.Pics  TSR Productions / Graham Smith. 

BRSCC: The on-line race entry service makes it easy for BRSCC Racing Members to submit their entries, pay by the closing date and keep track of their racing schedule for the season. The system can only be accessed by members who have submitted their 2011 championship registrations and whose Racing Membership is up to date. To access the service click here ON-LINE RACE ENTRY SERVICE Alternatively, Race Entry packs for all BRSCC championships can be downloaded from this website from tomorrow onwards.

Notice is hereby given that the BRSCC’s Annual General Meeting for end 2010 will be at 8.00pm on Tuesday 19th April 2011. The venue is the Ibis Hotel Rugby East, Parklands, Dirft East, Crick, Northants NN6 7EX. The purposes of the AGM are to receive and adopt the Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December 2010, together with the reports of the Directors & Auditors. Additionally on the agenda is the election of Directors & Auditors. 

The Annual General Meeting of the BRSCC East Anglian Centre will take place on Tuesday 29th March commencing at 8.00pm at the regular venue of The Holiday Inn, London Road , Ipswich , IP2 0UA . Admission is via a current Club membership card.

The Annual General Meeting of the BRSCC Midland Centre will take place on Wednesday 30th March commencing at 7.30pm at the Hollyfields Centre Club, Woodacre Road, Erdington, Birmingham B24 0JT. Admission to the AGM is via a current Club membership card.  

The Annual General Meeting of the BRSCC Northern Centre will take place on Tuesday 12th April commencing at 8.00pm at the regular venue of The Crown Hotel, Market Place , Bawtry , DN10 6JW . Admission is via a current Club membership card. 

The BRSCC North Western Centre AGM will take place on Tuesday 29th March at the Culcheth Sports Club, Charnock Road , Culcheth WA3 5SH commencing at 8.00pm. Admission is via a current membership card.

The BRSCC South Western Centre AGM will take place on Wednesday 23rd March at The Boar’s Head, Aust BS35 4AX, commencing at 8pm. Admission is via a current membership card.

The South Eastern Centre AGM will take place at 8pm on Thursday 8th April 2010 at The Buttery, The Bull Hotel, Wrotham , Kent TN15 7RF  

Drivers, officials and marshals from the BRSCC North Western Centre gathered at The Park Royal Hotel, Warrington , earlier this month to celebrate the 2010 season. BRSCC Chairman Bernard Cottrell presented trophies to Karen Brand who became Lady Marshal of the Year & Dave Cleaveley who won the ‘The Achiever of the Year’ award for the sterling work he does managing the North West marshals’ database as well as being one of Race Control's radio people. A full report on the other award winners on the night can be found here; NORTH WEST AWARDS

John Loebell, another stalwart of the BRSCC North Western Centre, is the subject of a moving feature article in the latest edition of 'Outpost', the monthly newsletter of the Northern branch of the British Motorsport Marshals' Club. Written by the BRSCC's North West correspondent, Dave Williams, the piece covers how the Formula Ford specialist caught the motorsport bug, the tragic death of his brother Garry and how he developed Medina Sport into one of the most respected names in Formula Ford racing. You can read the article here: OUTPOST 

The Festival of Speed : It may be about to become a Centenarian, but Chevrolet shows no signs of old age slowing it down! The iconic American brand returns to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2011 with a larger stand to mark is 100th birthday – and a whole host of treats for the visiting public.Alongside the marque’s new 2011 models, the Orlando, New Captiva and Cruze 5-dr, Chevrolet will also be showcasing a number of icons, both new and old. The range-extending electric Volt, 2011 USA Car of the Year, will be making its UK debut at the festival, alongside the Camaro and the Corvette – Chevrolet’s two brawny performance icons.The cars will be displayed against a fascinating backdrop – a journey through Chevrolet’s history in the form of a road trip, with a distinct Americana theme. Iconic models from the company’s past will also star at the festival. Bringing the story full circle, Chevrolet’s 2010 British Touring Car Driver’s Championship winning team will also feature as part of the event – so expect to see at least one of the BTCC Cruzes attacking the hill in anger.The Festival of Speed kicks off this year on Thursday June 30th with the Moving Motor Show, where guests can drive the hill themselves, and runs until Sunday July 3rd.

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ILMC: Reigning Intercontinental Le Mans Cup champions OAK Racing make their debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring this weekend (March 19). Three OAK-Pescarolo prototypes – two in LMP1 and a single LMP2 machine, are entered for the entire seven-round ILMC season which begins at the American Le Mans Series’ opener at Sebring this weekend. In LMP1, the #15 car is shared by Matthieu Lahaye, Guillaume Moreau and Pierre Ragues. While the #24 entry three gentlemen drivers back together for a third time, team owner Jacques Nicolet sharing the wheel with Richard Hein and Jean-François Yvon. Finally, in LMP2, the crew of the #35 car, as required by the regulations, is a mix of gentlemen and professional drivers. Patrice Lafargue and Fréderic Da Rocha will defend the team’s ILMC LMP2 crown they won last year alongside OAK Racing’s new 19-year-old recruit Andrea Barlesi, who won the 2010 Formula Le Mans title.Preparations for this gruelling 12 hour event have included OAK Racing conducting a two-day test at Sebring this week. pic Julie Sueur Read more

Intersteps Championship: With the opening round of the new Intersteps Championship due at Silverstone on March 26th, teams have been busy fitting in final testing at both Rockingham and Silverstone around the young drivers mock GCSE period.“We hope to have 12 cars out for the first round,” confirmed co-ordinator Martin Phaff. Last years Young Guns champion Patryk Szczerbinski and team mate James Nutbrown are both returning to the Falcon fold for another year, where they will be joined by Junior TKM Karting Graduate Ashley Robinson. “My aim this year is to try and beat the more established drivers,” said the 17 year old from Stafford.Fortec also have a three car line up headed by 15 years old World & British Karting Champion Jake Dennis.  “The change to cars wasn’t that different than karts, a couple of days to bed in and it felt fine,” said the Market Bosworth driver. Dennis will be joined by 16 year old Oldham based Alex Walker, who missed out on the final Silverstone tests, as did Dubai based Ed Jones, a multiple UAE Karting Champion. MGR/Motaworld also have returnee with former Saxmax Champion Anton Spires, who had a win in the final Young Guns race of last year. He has 17 year old Witney driver James Peace alongside him. “I have only just got the budget so Silverstone was only my second day in the car. But I have been on a simulator and it helped a lot,” he said. Karting star Jack Barlow had also run with the team at Rockingham, but budget constraints have put him out of the frame.TMS Atlantic are also hoping to be on the grid for the opener,  “we have got three cars in transit,” said team boss Simon Moore, whose daughter Sarah is now planning to concentrate on Intersteps, rather than her original plan of MSA UK Formula Ford, partnered by James Birch who contested last years Pacific Formula BMW. The line up will hopefully be completed by Mofaz with 18 year old Indian Masood Mohammed and 16 year old Zimbabwean Axcil Jefferies, both having already had experience in the Formula BMW Pacific Championship. Jefferies is also a Childline Ambassador for Zimbabwe.

Formula Ford: Reigning Victorian Formula Ford Series champion Jesse Fenech has received a boost to his 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship campaign, with Bosch Batteries confirming a deal to secure naming rights sponsorship of his Spectrum 012 racer. From 2000 to 2005, Bosch Batteries was synonymous with success in Formula Ford and Australian motorsport, a fact not lost on Fenech. “I remember watching Mark Winterbottom, Tim Macrow, Shane Price and Steve Owen racing the Bosch Batteries cars,” Fenech said. “Between them, they have gone on to win the CAMS Gold Star, secure two V8 Supercars Development Series titles and establish careers in the V8 Supercars Championship. They set a pretty high standard, but I will be aiming to emulate their achievements,” he said. Further enhancing the deal is the inclusion of 2004 Bosch Batteries driver Tim Macrow as coach and race engineer for Fenech. Bosch’s Marketing Department is enthusiastic about the 2011 season. “It’s terrific to once again see the Bosch Batteries Spectrum racing in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Bosch enjoyed fantastic results from both a sporting and a commercial perspective when we were involved previously. Jesse is an outstanding young man who will be a great ambassador for Bosch, our products and our partners,” said the Department in response to the deal. Fenech’s Bosch Batteries Spectrum will commence its campaign on 17 March at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

Star Mazda: Coming out on top in a three-way battle for the quick time on the final day's time sheet, French racer Tristan Vautier put in a flier that was 6/10ths quicker than anything he had done before and made him the first Star Mazda Championship driver to turn a lap in 'the .19s' at Barber Motorsports Park.  Then two, laps later, he found another 2/10ths, finally recording the fastest time of 1:19.399 (104.283 mph) in his #5 JDC Motorsports / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda.. 

V de V: 2011 is the 14th year that V de V has kicked-off it’’s season at Jarama. In he beginning the race was a Historic Race whereas today there are three endurance races (GT, Proto and Historic) , each a 4-hour event. GT/Touring has the leading-edge technology such as Porsche 997 RSR, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini, Mosler MT900, BMW M3 etc…, whereas Proto is a Sport Prototypes grid, monotype (same engine, same technical and performance constraints) which opened to carbon-fibre chassis recently. It is divided into three categories: Elite (latest evolutions), Open (former generation) and Challenger (Prototypes not meeting monotype ‘Elite’ or ‘Open’ regulations).  It will also be the fist time V de V has a Sprint grid at this event made up of single-brand Sport Prototypes, the Funyo Challenge.

WTCC: The 2011 season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship starts this weekend in Curitiba, Brazil, on 18-20 March 2011. Yokohama will again support the WTCC providing its eco-friendly orange oil ADVAN racing tyres. This is the nsixth year Yokohama has been the exclusive WTCC tyre supplier and it is expecting another highly-competitive season. Joining the championship this season will be team Polestar Racing, the Swedish team running a sole Volvo C30 car for Scandinavian Touring Car Champion Robert Dahlgren.

BTCC: It won the BTCC Driver’s Championship in its first full season, and now the Chevrolet Cruze is set to return to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, with 2010 champion Jason Plato again as lead driver. Supporting Plato in the Silverline Chevrolet BTCC team will be Alex MacDowall. Both drivers campaigned with Silverline Chevrolet in 2010, with the team once again run by the Wellingborough-based RML Group, which also prepares and campaigns Chevrolet’s World Touring Car Team. The BTCC cars for 2011 will be similar to the 2010 WTCC championship-winning Cruzes campaigned by Yvan Muller, Alain Menu and British racer Rob Huff, which stormed the global series to take both drivers and manufacturers’ titles. A new livery, based on that of the WTCC cars, will be unveiled on March 24 at the BTCC Media Preview Day.Jason Plato said: “I’m delighted to once again be working with Silverline Chevrolet and RML. The team proved last year that it could provide the hardware to win the championship, and with a newer and more advanced development of the already incredible Chevrolet Cruze to campaign with, I expect we’ll be in for a dramatic and exciting season.” On his title hopes for 2011, Jason added, “Will I win the championship again? I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it was possible – but there are some other good teams out there who have come on leaps and bounds since last year, meaning we’re in for one of the most competitive seasons ever – great news for fans of the best racing series in the UK, and for the drivers who compete in it. It’s going to be a thriller.” With less than a month to go before the season kicks off, last year's fans' favourite for 'Rookie of the Year', Alex MacDowall, himself a pole-sitter and podium visitor in 2010 is on fighting form ahead of what will be only his second season in the BTCC. He said: “Last year was a big learning curve for me. I achieved some great results and in 2011 I’m confident I can really build on that and achieve my first BTCC win , especially with a car as good as the Cruze, a team as professional as RML and a team mate as experienced as Jason to work alongside.”

Karts: Strawberry Racing has been awarded ‘Official Sealing Agent’ status ahead of the opening rounds of the British and European Max Championships. Team Manager Warwick Ringham announced the creation of the Sheffield-based firm’s authorised service centre, saying “I am delighted that Strawberry Racing can now offer new and existing customers the complete package – karts AND engines. It was the obvious way forward for us, so with immediate effect we are able to offer all types of Rotax engines and spares from club to international level.”  The British, European and World Rotax Championship winners also used the occasion to launch its brand new preparation division, Cream Racing Engines. “We enjoyed seven hugely successful years in partnership with Steve Ogden, but having our own, in-house facility was a long-held ambition of mine and (Strawberry owner) Paul Spencer,” said Warwick. “We have installed a state-of-the-art dyno and will now be able to share the obsessive attention to detail that has seen us win so many races and titles.”  For more information about the Strawberry Racing Rotax service; including rebuilds and officially-approved sealing on Senior, Junior and Minimax engines - plus Cream Racing Engines’ dynomometer facility - call 0114 269 6215 / 0114 288 9933

The final result achieved in KZ1 by Beitske Visser on the first round of WSK Euro Series 2011 is quite far from the goals she set for herself when she came to the Naples region. On the Sarno karting circuit, after a collision during Saturday's final and a hard rainy Sunday, the Dutch girl was already looking forward to the next race. 

Jack Barlow dominated the Junior Max class at Whilton Mill last Sunday (13 March) to take an early lead in the British Super 1 Rotax championship points table. “He’s a superstar,” said Strawberry Racing Team Manager Warwick Ringham. “Right from the first practice session on Friday, Jack was the quickest out there and carried that pace all the way through the weekend.” Pic Mike Hayden/Hayden Media     

Strawberry Racing’s newly-launched Cream Racing Engines division bore instant fruit at the opening round of the Super 1 Rotax Championship (12/13 March), with podiums in the Mini, Junior and Senior classes. Harry Webb got his career with the team off to an excellent start at Whilton Mill with a brace of podium finishes in Sunday’s finals. 

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: After a recent successful trial at Silverstone, the unique Raceceiver one way communication system is to be used in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB.  Raceceiver allows officials to broadcast directly to drivers, increasing safety and efficiency, without the drivers talking back.  The system can provide notifications of situations around the track, or specific instructions to any particular driver. The driver clips a small receiver (less than matchbox size) to his overalls, connected to a pair of ear buds. Race control officials use a control radio and base station to communicate.  Raceceiver has been used successfully over the last few seasons in the Legends Championship and VW Fun Cup and is used at Knockhill by the SMRC for most Scottish Championships. For this season it will be used in the BARC’s new InterSteps single seater championship and their Production Touring Cars championship.  Raceceiver is used in NASCAR sanctioned series in the USA and complies with MSA regulations.

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Formula Ford: Less than a second covered the top 12 runners at Silverstone yesterday in the first officially timed test session of the new season of the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. The 2010 championship runner-up, Scott Malvern, emerged on top of the timesheets by a slender margin at the wheel of his new mount, a Mygale prepared by multiple title-winning team Jamun Racing Services. The Essex-based racer went quickest in both the morning and afternoon tests and ended the day a hundredth of a second clear of his team-mate, the Australian Nick McBride, and a tenth ahead of Jamun’s Dutch driver Jeroen Slaghekke. Malvern said he was pleased with his work, only his sixth day in the car: “I have had to completely relearn how to drive, the Mygale is that different to the Ray I drove last year. The car feels great and I’m really pleased with how things are progressing.” There was a strong showing from the JTR team also today, with reigning Scholarship Champion Tristan Mingay fourth-quickest overall, just ahead of new signing Dan de Zille, the Jerseyman settling in well to his new team. The Silverstone tests were an opportunity for teams to test not only drivers already signed to the series for 2011 but also those considering a championship campaign. Among their number was Dan Cammish, the 2009 Scholarship Champion, who sampled Raysport’s new Ray chassis and ended the day the leading non-Mygale runner. Cliff Dempsey Racing’s American signing Neil Alborico was another Ray man to make the top 10, with Fluid Motorsport’s Van Diemen twosome - Matthew Parry and Matthew Parr - 11th and 12th respectively

Leading test times Silverstone 14/3/2011 (am/pm)
Scott Malvern GBR / Jamun Mygale: 57.494 / 57.396
Nick McBride AUS / Jamun Mygale: 57.885 / 57.406
Jeroen Slaghekke NED / Jamun Mygale: 57.867 / 57.504
Tristan Mingay GBR / JTR Mygale: 57.840 / 57.621
Dan de Zille JEY / JTR Mygale: 57.952 / 57.825
Daniel Cammish GBR / Raysport Ray:  -- / 57.884
Neil Alborico USA / Dempsey Ray: 1:00.706 / 57.888
Spike Goddard AUS / Jamun Mygale: 58.234 / 57.957
Geoff Uhrhane AUS / JTR Mygale:  -- / 57.973
Philippe Layac FRA / Enigma Mygale: 57.981 / 58.073
Matthew Parry FRA / Fluid Van Diemen: 58.410 / 58.168
Matthew Parr FRA / Fluid Van Diemen: 58.393 / 58.359 etc

Pic Jakob Ebrey photography

Star Mazda: Frenchmen Tristan Vautier set the pace in the first day of pre-season testing for the 2011 Star Mazda Championship at the IndyCar 'Spring Training' event at Barber Motorsports Park on Monday.  Driving the #5 JDC Motorsports / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda, Vautier turned a lap of 1:20.831 (102.436 mph) of the morning session.  Hot on his heels in the morning when cooler temperatures and a thicker cloud cover kept track temperatures, and lap times, down was Chilean racer Martin Scuncio, who ran only the Star Mazda season finale in 2010 but very nearly stole the pole at Road Atlanta and figured heavily in the outcome of the race.  He did a 1:21.557 in his #60 Juncos Racing / Fuerza Chile Mazda.  Third quickest in the morning was Irish rookie Patrick McKenna making his Star Mazda debut in the #48 Team GDT / Motorsport Ireland / Irish Sports Council / General Data Tech Mazda with a 1:21.626. Live timing from the Star Mazda test at Barber Motorsports Park is now available at: http://livetiming.net/StarMazda/    Cars are on track Tuesday (March 15) afternoon session is scheduled for 1-1:45 pm (Central Time / 2-2:45 Eastern).  The final session will take place 8-9 am (Central Time / 9-10 Eastern) Wednesday (March 16) morning 

Formula Renault BARC: Howard Fuller will remain with reigning champions Hillspeed for the 2011 Formula Renault BARC Championship season after agreeing a deal to join Zaamin Jaffer and Sean Walkinshaw as part of a three-car line-up. Fuller, who had his maiden taste of Formula Renault BARC with the Hathersage-based team during last November’s six-round Winter Series, will almost certainly begin his first full season in the category as a podium contender after showing impressive pace during recent test outings. He said: “I’m really pleased to stay with Hillspeed for my first full year in Formula Renault BARC, we have a strong package and I think we have a good opportunity to do well. Obviously the team had a fantastic year in 2010 so hopefully we can share some great success together this season.”  The 18-year-old graduated to car racing in 2007 in the now defunct T-Car Championship before switching to single-seaters the following year in the Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy.  Putting together a full campaign in FPA throughout 2009, he returned for a second season last year and finished seventh. He also dovetailed his FPA programme with selected appearances in the Volkswagen Racing Cup,– becoming a race winner on his first weekend in the championship. Team principal Richard Ollerenshaw commented: “We’re delighted to have secured a deal to retain Howard as a Hillspeed driver for the 2011 season. We worked well together during last year’s Winter Series and we were impressed with how well he adapted to the Formula Renault BARC car. He’s shown very good pace over the last few months during the test outings he’s had so it’s great for Hillspeed to have Howard onboard. We’re looking forward to him being a regular front-runner and alongside Zaamin (Jaffer) we’re confident we’ll have two very strong podium contenders.” Pic Jakob Ebrey photography

Formula 3: The off-season finally is over: the Formula 3 Euro Series teams and drivers are now preparing for the coming season. On Monday official testing began at Valencia and in five days time will continued in Barcelona. Marco Wittmann (Signature), last year’s Championship runner-up will contest the 2011 season with the No 1 on his car. In 2010, he was defeated by his Signature team-mate Edoardo Mortara, who has now moved into the DTM as a Audi works driver.Like Wittmann, Laurens Vanthoor (Signature) also stays with the Formula 3 Euro Series and his team. In addition Signature also has Daniel Abt and Carlos Muñoz. Two Spaniards, Daniel Juncadella und Roberto Merhi will represent the Prema Powerteam and will be supported by a third driver. Peter Mücke, the Mücke Motorsport Team Principal, has signed two Euro Series newcomers for 2011, Nigel Melker and Felix Rosenqvist. Team Motopark Academy relies on the services of three drivers from three different continents, in its second year in the Championship Sweden’s Jimmy Eriksson, Kimiya Sato from Japan and Canadian Gianmarco Raimondo will race for the Oschersleben based squad. New on the Euro Series grid is the Star Racing Team that has signed Kuba Giermaziak for its debut season. Several guest drivers are expected to contest the second race weekend of the season at Hockenheim.

Karts: Not even a suspected broken hand could halt Ed Brand’s march to victory in the opening round of the British Super 1 Rotax Championship (12/13 March). “If he can drive like that when injured, it begs the question what he could do when he’s not?” asked a seasoned journalist. The Strawberry Racing driver incurred the injury during a tense battle for the race win on the last lap of a preliminary heat. Ed had been leading, but a collision denied him the win.pic Mike Hayden

The debut of the WSK Euro Series in Sarno (Italy) also marked the beginning of one of the two main championships in Nyck De Vries' racing calendar 2011. The Dutch karter, who was racing in the KF1 category, improved his performances on the Sarno circuit and crossed the finish line of the first final as winner. The rain that came on Sunday also brought a few mishaps with it. The driver of the Zanardi-Parilla n°1 kart suffered the consequences twice and had to content himself with a 5th place in the second final.

F2000: Australian Daniel Erickson won’t be a starter in this week’s opening rounds of the USF2000 National Series at Sebring, and is unlikely to contest the series at all, following a problem arranging his American racing licence.  “There was a misunderstanding about the USF2000 licence requirements, which are aligned with the Indy Car rules and therefore different from the F2000 Championship Series that I contested last year.” a disappointed Erickson said. “The USF2000 medical check includes a blood test as part of IndyCars’ Substance Abuse Policy. That takes a minimum of two weeks, which wouldn’t have given me enough time for me get a licence in time for Sebring and possibly the next two rounds at St Petersburg the following weekend. Missing two rounds, let alone four, would have made achieving my aim of winning the series a tall order, because all USF2000 rounds count – unlike F2000CS, which allows you to drop your worst two rounds.After discussing the issue with Jon Baytos of Primus Racing, which would have been my team again this year, we decided that it was in our best interests to withdraw from USF2000 and focus our time and energy elsewhere,” Erickson said.

Australian Nathan Morcom has switched from the USF2000 National Championship to the rival F2000 Championship Series – due to the weather, of all things! The extraordinarily cold USA winter literally froze the pre-season testing plans of Primus Racing, for whom the 18 year-old Sydney driver will race this year. “The snow has been so heavy in Ohio, where Primus Racing is based, that it was almost impossible to get around,” Morcom explained. “Jon Baytos, who runs Primus, has been flat-out clearing snow away from his workshop instead of preparing the race car. But even if we’d been ready to go testing, the northern USA racetracks have only been good for snowmobiles, not openwheelers!”  Given the alternatives of turning up not fully prepared for the first four USF2000 rounds at Sebring this week and St Petersburg the following weekend, or using the intervening three weeks before F2000CS begins at Virginia International Raceway to acclimatise (pun intended!) the rookie to his unfamiliar car and team, Baytos chose the latter. “Racing at Sebring without having done as much testing as the other drivers would have put me at a big disadvantage, and I want to make a good impression right from the start in my first American season,” Morcom said. Not that he was unduly worried about the late change – in fact, it could turn out to be a positive move.“Although USF2000 has a higher profile, as part of the Indy Car ‘Road to Indy’ ladder, F2000CS will probably be more competitive,” Morcom said. “Last year F2000CS had more than twice as many registered drivers as USF2000, with 25-30 starters at several rounds, and it looks like being the same this year. “And the F2000CS circuits – VIR, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Mosport and Lime Rock Park – are among the best road courses in the USA, if not the world. Of course it would be great to win the USF2000 first prize of a scholarship to Star Mazda next year, but racing against only a dozen other drivers in that series wouldn’t be as good for my development as competing against 30 in F2000CS. Having said that, F2000CS will be a very tough series, with a mix of young drivers like myself as well as some very fast and experienced older drivers.But Jon Baytos has huge experience in this category, so I’m confident that with his help I can be competitive and give a good account of myself,” Morcom concluded.

American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron GT class contenders Robertson Racing will return to competitive action for the first time in over five months this weekend (March 19) at the world famous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. 2011 looks set to be the Atlanta-based team’s most promising campaign yet in North America’s premier sportscar championship as it embarks on a first full season dual-Ford GT programme.The winter break has been anything but a quiet time at their Braselton headquarters where a raft of development work has been ongoing ahead of yesterday’s first practice session at Florida’s Sebring International Raceway.Pre-season testing revealed the team’s self-developed Ford GT to have made significant progress over its previous incumbent which had shown glimpses of its potential throughout last season. Hopes are high of that progress continuing at the gruelling 12 hour enduro this weekend where former Sebring winner Boris Said, who also has two Daytona 24 Hour victories under his belt, joins the experienced #040 crew of David Robertson and Andrea Robertson. The #004 Ford meanwhile sees team regular David Murry partner the returning Anthony Lazzaro and talented youngster Colin Braun.  Team Manager Andrew ‘H’ Smith: “We’re certainly in a stronger position than this time last year, and that’s without running a lot of the new developments at February’s winter test. Sebring will be the first time that all of those elements really come together so it promises to be an exciting race. Of course, everyone else will have made progress too but I’m confident of being competitive. “One of our greatest strengths is reliability, which will be crucial to scoring a strong result around what’s probably the most physically punishing race on the calendar, including Le Mans. Keeping our noses clean will be especially crucial in such a congested event this year but with a wealth of experience in the driver ranks, including a former winner here, there’s plenty of potential for a great result.” American viewers can see the race live on www.ESPN3.com from 10.15am ET while ABC will carry television coverage on Sunday at 12.30pm. You can also tune in to www.RadioLeMans.com for live commentary of each session and the race itself throughout the week while non-US viewers can watch live streamed coverage on www.americanlemans.com. 

14-03-11

ILMC: The reigning Intercontinental Le Mans Cup champions, Team Peugeot Total will be racing for the first time the new Peugeot 908, in the 12 Hours of Sebring, next weekend.Team Peugeot Total has entered two cars for next weekend’s race, the first round of the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. The first car, racing as No. 7 will be driven by the 2010 driver team champions, Alexander Wurz, Marc Gené and Anthony Davidson. The second car will carry the No. 8 and will be driven by Franck Montagny, Stéphane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy  read more

ILMC: Britain’s Allan McNish sets out to score his fourth and Audi’s 10th race victory in the season-opening Sebring 12 Hours in Florida on Saturday (19 March). Audi “factory” driver McNish begins a hectic seven race, nine month Intercontinental Le Mans Cup campaign and is determined to get his and Audi’s season off to a flying start. McNish shares a revised diesel-engined Audi R15 TDI with regular co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello, the trio looking to sign off the R15 TDI sportscar’s career on a winning note. “Tom, Dindo and I will race the Audi R15 TDI as opposed to our new R18 which is not race ready yet so the Coupé’s first public outing will be at the ‘test weekend’ for the Le Mans 24 Hours in April and race début at Spa the following month,” confirmed McNish, adding, “So we’ll be trying hard to give the ‘old girl’ one last victory in its 10th and final scheduled race. Tom, Dindo and I gave the R15 TDI a début race win at Sebring in 2009, the first of three race wins this particular Audi model scored over the past two years. The last win for the R15 TDI was at Le Mans last year when Audi achieved a fabulous 1-2-3 result while Tom and I were very close to adding to that tally in my last race in China last November. So we know the R15 TDI’s reliability record and its performance envelope so believe we can take the chase to the competition.”   Read more

F1600 & F2000: CellMark Paper and SMR are sponsoring a number of awards for the 2011 F2000 Championship Series season and the inaugural F1600 Formula F Championship Series. The CellMark Paper Hard Charger will be back, a season-long competition awarding a year-end cash prize to whichever driver improves their position the most over the course of the season for both F2000 and F1600.  For F2000, a “Flying Monkey” award will introduced for 2011, a $1,000 cash prize to the champion, along with a $500 F2000 “Award of Excellence” in a category to be determined “at the last minute.” CellMark Paper, of Norwalk, CT, a division of CellMark AB based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and longtime primary sponsor of SMRacing, will support the F2000/F1600 Hard Charger Awards in 2011. Along with SMR, CellMark is also supporting the 2011 F2000 Champion’s Award. SMR will enter the 2011 season with a two-car team under the GTP Motorsports banner. Tim Paul will drive the #06 with a second driver to be named later. Last year, Paul Farmer in a GTP Motorsports Van Diemen took the CellMark Hard Charger award, improving his position 52 places over the course of the 2010 season. "We will also sponsor a new award for 2011 - the discretionary 'Flying Monkey' award which will be given to the F2000 team or driver deemed most deserving of this prestigious award,” continued Paul. “Currently SMR and CellMark are working on a comprehensive mathematical matrix of measurable core competencies for the ‘Flying Monkey’ that may not be complete until 15 minutes before the Championship banquet in October at Watkins Glen”. Series Managing Director Michael Rand added: "The continuing support of Rick Paul and Cellmark Paper has extended to the companion series to F2000, the F1600 Formula F Championship Series, and we welcome them back with great appreciation for their involvement." 

Late Model Series/750 MC: Kelvin "Rowdy" Hassell will be spending more time racing in England this season, starting with a return to Brands Hatch. The Brighton based driver has spent the last five seasons racing in the European Late Model Series for Roots V8 Racing. The European Late Model Series only has limited races in the UK and, for 2011, the series announced it would only visit the UK once during it's 16 race schedule. Hassell, however, has chosen to drop the Belgian rounds of the European Late Model Series in favour of racing with his father's race team, Alan Hassell Motorsport, located in Polegate, near Eastbourne. Kelvin will share one of the teams Citroen Saxo VTRs with his dad, Alan Hassell. The duo will be racing up and down the UK, taking turns in the 750 Motor Club's Stock Hatch Championship and Allcomers races. “I have raced the Saxo before," said Kelvin "I can say it is a lot different from a Late Model, but it is still an amazingly fun car to drive." The differences are quite drastic. The front wheel drive Citroen Saxo is much smaller and nimbler than the big American rear wheel drive Stockcar and, although the Citroen's 1600cc engine has been fettled to perfection at Alan Hassell Motorsport, it is still only 1/4 of the power of the mighty 5.7 litre Chevrolet V8 used by the Late Model. Alan Hassell will begin his Stock Hatch season on the third of April at Mallory Park. Kelvin will join him in the AHM Citroen Saxo at Brands Hatch on 17th of April. The pairing will then visit Cadwell Park and Snetterton before Kelvin resumes his European Late Model Series commitments in June. The first race in Kelvin's European Late Model Series campaign with the big Roots V8 Racing Chevrolet will take place at Venray, the new 1 kilometre banked oval in the Netherlands. Kelvin will also be competing in the European Late Models only visit to the UK. Foxhall Stadium in Ipswich will host the British round of the championship on the 6th of August. There will be plenty of action as the big cars race into the night on the smallest oval track on their schedule.  With two different cars to race and a full season ahead, it is hard for Kelvin to find time to relax. When he does find the time to relax, he likes nothing better than to fill that time with more racing! Between ducking in and out of Europe to race cars, Kelvin has joined the Brighton Karting Club. The club organises a professional looking championship using outdoor rental Kart races around the Sussex area. The aim is to provide a professional but cost effective way to go racing. The club is open to anyone so even the complete novice can go and mix it up with the clubs top drivers. "This is a great way for people to get a taste of the sport with minimal outlay. You don't even need your own race suit and crash helmet!" Enthused Kelvin, "It's a friendly club and everyone is out for a good time. I am proud to be a part of something that gets new faces into motor racing!" If you fancy some wheel to wheel action against some like minded individuals check out the Brighton Karting website at www.brightonkartingclub.com  pic: Kayleigh Sparks. 

MSV F3 Cup : Aaron Steele is looking to hit the ground running in the new MSV F3 Cup after securing a deal with Gray’s Motorsport for this season.  Steele, 22,  from Rochester, Kent was nominated for the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC award in 2008 and has a strong track record in Formula 3,  previously taking 3 wins, 5 poles and 4 fastest laps after contesting part of the season in the Enterprise Edge F3 Series. Steele said: “I want to thank John Gray and my dad for putting the package together and giving me the opportunity to run a full season and keep my single-seater dream alive. Unlike previous seasons I can relax and look to build some consistency in my form as I know my drive is secure for the year.”  The nine-round MSV F3 Cup kicks off on the weekend of 19/20 March at Snetterton on the new 'Snetterton 300' layout. Kevin Steele, Aaron’s father and Manager explained further: “The deal with Gray’s came out of the blue, once MSV F3 Cup was born John Gray contacted me to say ‘we should do this and we want to do it with Aaron. It’s just absolutely amazing knowing that Aaron’s drive is secure for the full season, a luxury he has never enjoyed. He can now concentrate on the job not having to drive every race and every lap like it could be his last. The MSV F3 Cup will only go one way, up! There really is a place for this series, the F2 test is naturally the goal, as it just may help Aaron get to where he needs to be, but that does not distract from the job ahead as this series will only get stronger & stronger.”

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: Omani racing driver Ahmad Al Harthy will return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB Championship this year thanks to the continued backing of some of the Sultanate’s largest and most prestigious businesses. At a specially arranged press conference in his home city of Muscat on Sunday, (13 March), the 29-year-old revealed his portfolio of sponsors for the coming season. They are Oman Air, who have increased their involvement as full title sponsor for 2011, Telecommunications company Nawras, National Bank of Oman, Brand Oman and the Ministry of Sports Affairs and Ministry of Tourism. Following on from a tremendous debut season of sportscar racing in Porsche Carrera Cup GB last year, where he achieved six podium results on his way to fourth overall in the Pro-Am 1 Class driver standings, Ahmad will return this year with Redline Racing. “I’m absolutely delighted to be able to confirm my return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB this year, it’s a fantastic championship”, he said, “I have to thank Oman Air, Nawras, National Bank of Oman, Brand Oman, the Ministry of Sports Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism for their amazing support. Without them I wouldn’t be racing and I wouldn’t have the privilege of flying the flag for Oman.” The new season will begin at Brands Hatch on 2nd/3rd April and conclude at Silverstone on 15th/16th October. The highlight of the championship will be the late-June visit to the world-famous Nurburgring-Nordschleife, Ahmad is relishing his first visit there.

BTCC: There are now less than three weeks to go before the UK’s premier motor racing series – the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – bursts back into life for a new season with its first three races of 2011 at Brands Hatch circuit in Kent on Sunday 3 April.
Brands Hatch hosts the first of the BTCC’s ten high-profile race events in 2011.  read preview

13-03-11

LMS: Two days of trouble-free testing with the all-new HPD ARX-01d at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France left RML AD Group eager for more – a lot more. All three drivers; Mike Newton, Tommy Erdos and Ben Collins, offered unanimously enthusiastic verdicts on the Honda Performance Development and Wirth Research designed chassis, while the new HPD V6 twin-turbo received the thumbs-up for strength and reliability. pic Peter May/Dailysportscar Read more

Formula 3: Facu Regalia ended his latest F3 test at Vallelunga on top of the timesheets with his Team Ghinzani’s Dallara FPT. The Spanish-Argentinean driver’s  good results at Imola were followed up on Friday when Regalia went quickest  ahead of his  team mate Edoardo Liberati by  more than three tenths of a seconds. “I was at the top all day. Vallelunga is a circuit that I enjoy and where I find myself very comfortable”, he said. Facu was concentrating on setup most of the day,  “the set-up and in the development of the car. We worked very well, the evolution that we showed during the day was very positive. We focused in the aerodynamic and we tried to understand the handling of the car with new and old tyres. I can say with confidence that I feel more comfortable in the car every time I get in it”. The Team Ghinzani driver will be back on track on March 22-23 at Mugello.

12-03-11

Formula 3: Deutsche Post is the new series partner of the Formula 3 Euro Series, the Bonn based logistics group agreeing a two-year deal. With this move, Deutsche Post adds another component to the active young-driver promotion programme of its extensive motor-racing involvement. Since 2004, the Deutsche Post Speed Academy has been supporting young gifted racing drivers on their way to professional motor racing by annually awarding six candidates a total of €240,000. In 2010, the fact that the Formula 3 Euro Series represents the perfect step to the professional motor-racing categories was once again demonstrated in impressive style: both Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel and DTM-Champion Paul Di Resta learned their trade in the Euro Series. Since the 2008 season, Deutsche Post has been supporting DTM as series partner. The partnership also advertises on all the DTM racers as well as the grid-girl livery.

Porsche Carrera Cup GB : Rory Butcher is targeting the pro-am1 category in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, after confirming that he will contest a full season in the championship with Celtic Speed. The young Scot from Kirkcaldy, who has twice impressed in the Carrera Cup at Knockhill, is the latest major name to confirm a full campaign and he will race with the Scottish team in what he hopes will be a two-year programme, moving into the pro category in 2012. “The Carrera Cup is a great move towards where I want to be as a professional sports and GT racer,” said Butcher, who will celebrate his 24th birthday on 16 March. He started karting at the age of eight and raced motorbikes as a teenager before switching to cars at his local Knockhill track in 2005. Since then he has won championships in Formula Ford and won the Kent Formula Ford Festival in 2009. In 2008, he made his Carrera Cup debut in the VIP car at Knockhill and took two fifth places. Last summer he had a one-off outing with Celtic Speed at the Scottish track and claimed two top six finishes overall in a pro-am2 car. Now, he goes into the 2011 season with a permanent slot at Celtic Speed. “We’re got a strong package together. For this season it will be good to start in pro-am1 and then look to move up next year,” said Butcher. “The Carrera Cup is the best place to get my name about and my aim for this year is to win pro-am1. But it’s going to be tough.” Butcher will enjoy on-going support from team mate Tommy Dreelan. “Tommy has been a big support to me and I owe it all to him,” said Butcher. “He has supported my career for the last five years and I hope to help the Celtic team establish itself towards the front of the grid. It’s going to be a very competitive season but I’d like to be able to fight it out with the pro drivers, especially at my home track of Knockhill.”  Along with the rest of the Celtic Speed team, Butcher will start testing his 450bhp 911GT3 Cup next week and will take part in the pre-season test and media day at Snetterton on 22 March. The opening two races of the season will be at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 2/3 April. pic Richard Pascal 11/56 Motorsport

BTCC: Bedfordshire-based Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship newcomer Chris James is putting together the final pieces for Team ES Racing  and his  #78 Chevrolet Lacetti. Having recently taken delivery of the car from Sweden the team then handed it over to Ray Mallock Limited who gave the Lacetti a full service. “The car has been to RML to have a full check-up and overhaul.” says James. “As it came from Nika Racing in Sweden it was in very good condition anyway. We have just had to have a general service on items such as the lift jacks, steering rack etc. The engine is being supplied by RML, which we are excited about as this is a quality proven lump.” Talking about the formation of Team ES Racing, James says that although it hasn’t been an easy task everything is falling in to place. Chris has also sorted out the logistics with the help of 2010 BTCC team Forster MotorSport. “We have done a deal with Arthur Forster of Forster MotorSport to buy his transporter & a ‘Turnkey’ operation. We are also close to signing a deal with an experienced Team Manager for the season; once this is done every position is covered.” James remains realistic in his hopes for the 2011 season: “We view it as a massive achievement in itself just getting to the grid. Our goal is to score points in the first season and accept that we won’t be challenging the likes of Jason Plato and Matt Neal, although this doesn’t mean that we don’t want to! We are looking to embrace the public & gain as many supporters as possible. The English love an underdog and that is what we will be for sure!”  Team ES Racing are set to test at Donington Park next week to shakedown the car ahead of the first official test session and media day at Silverstone on 24 March. The team will then test at Brands Hatch ahead of the first round of the season at the circuit. You can follow the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamESracing and Chris James on twitter at www.twitter.com/chrisjamesbtcc. Team ES Racing currently has a number of sponsorship opportunities available, anyone interested should contact Chris James directly at chris@eshire.com.

Formula Renault BARC:  Callum Bowyer is set to move up from karts into cars by joining Antel Motorsport for the 2011 BARC Formula Renault Championship,  but he is still reliant upon some vital last-minute support from sponsors. Callum has been a front-runner in UK karting circles for five years, finishing inside the top four in the British Championship in every season bar one since 2006 and storming to both national titles in the Mini Max class in 2008. “We watched Callum in KF3 and KF2 karting, and he stood out to us immediately,” explained Antel Motorsport team principal Brett Parris. “I rate him extremely highly and we’ve been desperate to get him into our car for well over a year now, so I’m thrilled that we’ve managed to put a deal together for 2011.” Bowyer added,  “We did our first test with Antel before Christmas to see how we got on, and after that went well, we tried to get everything sorted. “They’re a great bunch of guys – they’ve really welcomed me, and we all work together really well. I’m already very comfortable as part of the team, and it feels like I’ve been here for ages – I really feel at home at Antel. Hopefully, that will all translate into good results on-track this year.” One thing that will help the 16-year-old is the presence of an experienced team-mate in the shape of Dino Zamparelli, a driver with prior knowledge of BARC Formula Renault from 2009. Although an agreement with Antel has been reached in principle, Callum still needs more funding to be able to finalise the deal and participate in BARC Formula Renault in 2011. With the final meeting of the year due to support the high-profile, live ITV-televised British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone, interested backers have a superb opportunity not only to invest in and support the burgeoning career of an exciting young racing driver but also to benefit from unparalleled nationwide publicity at the same time. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Intel® GP Series - Online Racing : Last Friday in Hannover, Germany, Finland’s Greger Huttu won the iRacing.com Intel® GP Series World Final, a thirty-lap race in Star Mazdas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca featuring eight of the world’s top online racers. 

11-03-11

GT Asia : The organisers of the GT Asia Series have confirmed a partnership with AUTOart, a die-cast model maker for the 2011 Season. The company will provide selected items from their extensive collection of die cast models and lifestyle products for promotion for the GT Asia Series for the year. The die-cast model maker will be providing more than two thousand items for promotion and have confirmed to make Special Edition Trophies for the 2011 GT Asia Champions, which will be presented at the final race after the 58th Macau Grand Prix at the Guia International Circuit. “We are happy with this partnership as AUTOart is known around the world for their quality die cast scale model cars and also their extensive range of replica model racing cars” said David Sonenscher, CEO of Motorsport Asia. “The person behind AUTOart, Mr Jimmy Ye, is himself an avid race driver and motorsport fan. The items that he creates are what he would like to own and therefore he makes sure of the standard of craft that is put into each item created” said Paul Yao, CEO of Supercar Club Hong Kong. AUTOart models are known for their high quality of work, from the meticulous painting detailing steering wheels, brakes and other components to their quality finish. The company was set up in 1998 and now has the largest range of die-cast 1:18 models with more than a thousand items developed to date. Livery for AUTOart will appear on all cars for the season beginning from the Asian Festival Of Speed event at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia. The GT Asia series will kick off in Sepang in May during the Asian Festival Of Speed and then for the Super GT in June before heading to Fuji and Suzuka in Japan, the second last weekend will be held either during the Formula 1 in Singapore or at the Super GT in Autopolis before ending at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix at Asia’s oldest street circuit. For a look at the AUTOart collection, visit www.autoartmodels.com

Porsche Carrera Cup GB : The brand new fleet of cars for the 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup GB was released to the teams today (Friday 12 March).Twenty-five cars were lined up at Porsche Cars GB at Reading for collection by seven teams, while the two cars for Lithuanian-based Juta Racing were collected directly from Porsche in Germany. The line up represented the biggest display of 911 GT3 Cup cars ever seen in the UK and the teams will now run the 450bhp cars in before starting a busy testing schedule ahead of the opening race meeting at Brands Hatch on 2/3 April.The key test date will be the championship’s pre-season test and media day at Snetterton on Tuesday 22 March. The full day of running on the new Snetterton 300 circuit will be the first key indicator to the potential leading contenders for the coming year. 

Formula Abarth : Gerard Barrabeig, who will make his single-seater debut in 2011, was at Imola last Tuesday and Wednesday for another test session at the wheel of the BVM Target’s Formula Abarth  The sixteen year old continued to adapt to the Tatuus FPT, despite some problems on the first day, which were made worse by both traffic and his lack of circuit knowledge. His first glitch being a slight off track excursion followed soon after and by engine problems, both of which limited him to completing just sixty laps. “It wasn’t a good day. I had to learn the circuit and the engine was lacking in power. With this hard begin our work during the night was focused in having a good car for the next day”, explained Gerard. In the second day, the youngster from Espluga de Francolí had a much better day leaving him in a positive frame of mind. “We didn’t have reliable data from the day before and we had to start almost from a white sheet, after fixing the car’s mechanical problems. As in the previous day, the track traffic was very intense and was very hard to find a clear lap, which prevented me from taking the maximum potential from the new tyres. Technically, this circuit is very difficult for the driver, but I enjoy it very much”, he added. In the end, the youngster was up amongst the quicker runners and is now looking forward for the next test, when he expects “to proceed my evolution as a single-seater driver, so I can tackle the championship from a strong position”.

ILMC: Audi starts the 2011 sports car season in the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 19. Making its final appearance is the Audi R15 TDI, which had to be modified to comply with the new regulations and which carries the project name "R15 plus plus" internally. Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller (D/F/D), last year's Le Mans winners, as well as Dindo Capello/Allan McNish/Tom Kristensen (I/GB/DK), Le-Mans winners from 2008, drive the two diesel race sports cars. Read more

WTCC: The start of the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship is just one week away. The series' seventh season will get underway once again at Curitiba, Brazil. This will be the sixth time the 3.7 km circuit has hosted the WTCC. The championship visited Curitiba for the first time in July 2006; a crowd of 34,000 attended the races that were won by Jordi Gené (SEAT León) and Andy Priaulx (BMW 320si). From 2007 the Brazilian event was moved to March and given the honour of opening the season. BMW Team Germany fellow drivers Jörg Müller and local boy Augusto Farfus shared victories and the attendance was even larger, with 45,000 spectators.  In the latest years (2008, 2009 and 2010) Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini dominated the field, winning Race 1 and Race 2 respectively for three consecutive times. Five of those six victories were for SEAT, while Muller's won for Chevrolet in 2010.

Bamboo-engineering announced that their driver line up for the 2011 FIA WTCC will remain unchanged, with Darryl O'Young from Hong Kong and Yukinori Taniguchi from Japan. In their first season in the series the team came very close to clinching both the Drivers' (with O'Young) and Teams' Yokohama trophies. Taniguchi who joined the team for the last four events in 2010 and clinched a victory in Race 1 at Okayama, is the first Japanese driver to commit for a full season in WTCC.Team Principal Richard Coleman said: "We are obviously delighted that Darryl and Yukinori have resigned with us. The continuity is vital to the development of the team. We were of course disappointed to have just missed out on both Yokohama trophies last year, but to be in that position was a fantastic achievement for us and we are wanting to build on that success this year." The team will start the season with their existing pair of Chevrolet Lacetti cars that will be replaced by the Cruze with the new 1.6L turbocharged engine from the second event at Zolder.

Following the meeting they had last week, WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti and USTCC director Ali Arsham unveiled the first act of cooperation between the two championships. It was agreed that the winner of the 2011 Nitto US Touring Car Championship will earn a free test at the wheel of a WTCC car with the Italian outfit Proteam Racing. At the end of the season, the USTCC Champion will travel to one of the scheduled test dates.  "Then it's up to him to impress Proteam's staff. We have some amazing drivers in the US and we want to show the world that they can compete at the highest levels," said Ali Arsham. And Marcello Lotti echoed: "I'm very proud of this intiative that fits perfectly in our plans of throwing a bridge between the World Championship and those National Championships that share the same view of what touring car racing is."

There will be five rookies at Curitiba among the 21 competitors: Aleksei Dudukalo from Russia, Urs Sonderegger from Switzerland, Marchy Lee from Hong Kong and the two young Spaniards Javier Villa and Pepe Oriola. The last one is the youngest driver ever to join the world championship at the age of 16.Some others are familiar faces who committed to the season for the first time like Robert Dhalgren at the wheel of Polstar Racing's Volvo C30, Fabio Fabiani and Yukinori Taniguchi, the first Japanese to take part in the full championship. Among the teams, Roberto Ravaglia's ROAL Motorsport make their comeback after a one-year absence. The Italian outfit that run Tom Coronel's BMW had achieved seven WTCC race victories between 2005 and 2009.

Touring car racing and rallies are now significantly closer thanks to the adoption of the Global Engine. After becoming the common denominator between the FIA World Touring Car and World Rally championships, the new 1.6-litre turbocharged power plant is set to be adopted in national and regional series as well. The new unit for the WTCC cars supplies about 320 bhp, with a significant increase of 30 bhp compared to the 2.0-litre normally aspirated and turbo diesel engines.  However, more than power itself, the new engine's peculiarity will be reliability as in 2011 competitors will be only allowed one engine change during the season and after the ninth event. Further changes will result in grid penalties. From the 2012 season all engine changes will be penalised.

The starting grid for the second race of each championship event is no longer based on the provisional results of the first race, but on the final results of Saturday's Q1 qualifying. The number of the reversed positions was also increased from eight to ten, matching the number of cars that are allowed to proceed from Q1 to Q2. The new system is set to prevent drivers from voluntarily losing positions during the first race with the aim to win pole position for the second.

Three circuits will host the WTCC for the first time this year. October 24th at Suzuka. The WTCC Race of Japan moves to Suzuka's East Circuit after being held at Okayama from 2008 to 2010.On November 6th the World Championship will pay its first visit to Mainland China, as the Guangdong International Circuit will be home to the WTCC Race of China, eleventh and last-but-one event of the season before the traditional finale on the streets of Macau.  

The prize money reserved for the competitors of the WTCC trophies totals to 624,000 euros. In the Yokohama Trophy 40,000 euros will be awarded at each of the twelve events, meaning 480,000 euros over the season. This prize money will be split among the top six drivers classified by adding together the points obtained in the two races of each event.
An additional 60,000 euros will be allocated in the new Jay-Ten Trophy to the drivers in cars complying with the 2010 Appendix J (2.0-litre normally aspirated and turbo diesel).
And finally 84,000 euros will be at stake again for the Monroe Performer that awards 3,500 euros to the driver setting the fastest lap in the Trophy at each race.

BSB: The world premiere of I, Superbiker took place at the Empire, Leicester Square last night ahead of its nationwide cinema release next Monday (14 March).The original Silver Dream Racer David Essex, who is joining the cast of Eastenders, made a special appearance on the night to be reunited with his bike made famous in the 1980 hit movie. The Silver Dream Racer movie was the inspiration for the new I, Superbiker film, which is based on a season of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship. The original bike from the film was restored and shipped to London from Germany especially for the Premiere.Essex joined stars of the film Tommy Hill, Josh Brookes, Gary Mason and James Ellison for the exclusive screening with reigning triple BSB champion Ryuichi Kiyonari also receiving a rapturous reception at the end of the evening. The film score is by David Vanian of The Damned, with music by Phil Collen of Def Leppard and Man Raze who were also in attendance last night to be part of the build up to the film's general release next week.

10-03-11

Masters Historic Racing has announced it has obtained MSA-recognised championship status for four of its leading categories in a new initiative for 2011 after a five-year period of working towards this goal and launches this weekend at Oulton Park . The MSA-recognised championship will be for GP Masters, WSM, Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Cars and will include the UK events at Oulton, Snetterton, Brands, Silverstone, Donington as well as the foreign Masters festivals at Porto , Nurburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. This will make Masters the only historic race organiser running a pan-European championship with the full recognition of the FIA and the MSA and will allow Masters to offer drivers the prestige of being Masters Historic European Champion. Masters series founder Ron Maydon said: “I am delighted that we are able to make this announcement which is the result of several years of hard work from all of the Masters team; MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton and his team, and John Hughes, President of the FIA Historic Commission to whom I would like to express my thanks for their co-operation. This championship comes with the backing of the MSA and FIA, which is a huge compliment to Masters. This allows us to have champions and season-long excitement to see who will come out as the inaugural Masters Historic European Champion in their class. Masters races are always hard to win because of the quality of our entries and to say that you are a race winner is no mean effort, but to say you are a Masters Historic European Champion means that you are among the best of the best. This is an exciting development for Masters and means we are a fully-fledged public championship, rather than having an internal points system within a series. Once again, Masters is leading the way.” Points will be scored in each class within the categories on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 basis and each category will have its own individual champion at the end of the season.  The opening championship rounds for WSM, Gentlemen Drivers Pre-66 GT Cars and Pre-66 Touring Cars will be this Saturday, March 12th, at Oulton Park .

Karts: Luke Whitworth ensured that he will head into the national Super 1 Series with his tail up and ready to do battle for a top ten finish after producing another front-running performance to claim fifth position at PF International in Lincolnshire.

As he shifts his career up a gear in 2011 with a step-up in class, Sale-based kart racer Jay Goodwin is endeavouring to steal a crucial march on his rivals by recruiting the services of a driver regarded as one of the very best in the business as his dedicated mentor – multiple British Champion Mark Litchfield. As a five-time British title-winner, Mark knows better than most just what it takes to triumph in the sport, and over the course of the coming months he is aiming to visit every circuit on the national calendar with his protégé. “I’ll be doing as much as I can to help Jay out this year,” affirms the 28-year-old. “It’s mainly about trying to rectify the things he does wrong on-track, in terms of speed, braking, acceleration – just a general overview, really – and what we’ve done together so far seems to have been quite beneficial for him. I’ve been going round with Jay in another Junior Max kart, driving in front of him and behind him so he can see how I do things compared to the way he does them. We do a bit of racing together, too, and place-swapping. I get him to try to overtake me as much as possible and vice-versa, to teach him the best way of passing and avoiding crashes and how to give a corner up whilst losing the least time. The amount of overtaking we get through in just one afternoon is probably the equivalent of about four race meetings’ worth! I just want to spend time in the seat with Jay to teach him as much as I can and as much as I know; there will be no holding back on anything, and that way, I’m convinced we can make him a better driver and a better racer. This is his first year in Junior Max so he is inevitably on a learning curve, but from what he has learned so far, he’s off to a good start.”  

The 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship will kick off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, the first time the category has been at the event since 2007. This season looks set to be as competitive as ever, with a mix of returning stars and series rookies ready to do battle across Australia, beginning on the streets of Adelaide. A 26 car field will take to the track across two 10-lap races, and while there are plenty of hopefuls, the championship favourites are already starting to emerge. Last years third place championship finisher Nick Foster(right) has some unfinished business in the category and returns to Sonic Motor Racing Services. He won’t have it all his own way and is expecting to be pushed all the way by teammate and 2010 Rookie of the year Cameron Waters. "I learnt a lot last year doing the full season with Team Sonic and I want to put that into practice this year," Foster said. "This season is going to be really exciting, especially competing against Cam. He was really quick last year and I'm sure he'll be pushing me all the way in 2011. I just can't wait to get to Clipsal in the Steeline Mygale and to have a good result straight off the bat." Reigning champions Synergy Motorsport has a brand new line-up for 2011 including talented rising star Mathew Hart. Hart made his national series debut in the latter half of the 2010 season and will be looking to challenge at the front. "I really want to make a big step up this year and we decided that Synergy Motorsport is the team to do it with. They've proven over the past few years that if you want to win championships they're one of the teams you need to be with," Hart said. "I'll be looking for race wins this season and with the team's experience hopefully we can challenge for the championship." Seven South Australian drivers will fly the local flag during the weekend, led by national series returnee Tom Goess. The Adelaide Hills resident will continue with South Australian squad Team BRM in 2011 and could create a few surprises. The Australian Formula Ford Championship will take to the track for the first time on Thursday morning ahead of races on Friday and Saturday.

BARC Formula Renault:  Wednesday was the second of the two day test at Croft for the BARC Formula Renault runners and Archie Hamilton showed consistency and speed throughout the six sessions. After running fastest in five of the six sessions, front-runner Dino Zamparelli has already named Archie as one to watch for the title. 15 drivers tested over the six 50 -minute sessions and on the last session of day one both Zamparelli and Archie broke the pole time from last year. Weather conditions on day two prohibited faster times as strong winds prevailed. Archie has signed to compete the season with leading single seater experts Fortec Motorsport, the team that has raced many talented drivers including Heikki Kovalainen, Sam Bird, Danny Watts, Duncan Tappy and Jamie Green. He has chosen Formula Renault BARC for 2011 to get maximum track time for his available budget, and has already benefited from a testing programme through the winter. If funds permit Archie hopes to compete internationally later in the season to hone his race skills to best prepare him for his ultimate goal of competing at the Le Mans 24 Hours in the future.  “Having raced in Formula Renault BARC in 2009 I knew this was the right place to be to improve my driving and gain consistency and confidence. I’m already feeling much stronger on track and have developed as a driver. Hopefully that will translate into race wins. The times with Zamparelli were close so hopefully that will make for some exciting races and I can’t wait to get to Donington in April.”  Archie will next outing will be the official test test on March 18th at Silverstone.

Indian racer Zaamin Jaffer enjoyed two very positive days with the Hillspeed team at Croft this week during the Formula Renault BARC Championship test – the category rookie ending the final day third fastest overall. The Hathersage squad, winner of the Formula Renault BARC title last year with Alice Powell, is keen to mount a sustained front-running challenge once again and the pre-season has certainly started well with 20-year-old Jaffer adapting impressively to the ‘slicks and wings’ formula. On Tuesday the Cardiff University student posted the fourth fastest time with a best lap of 1m20.749 which came during the final session. He improved further on Wednesday,  to shave three 10ths of a second off his time – a lap of 1m20.432 to go third quickest for the day, within just half a second of the pace. Team-mate Sean Walkinshaw, son of the late Tom Walkinshaw, ran well over the course of the two days at Croft and posted his best time on Tuesday. Improving by almost two full seconds over the course of the first day, the 17-year-old car racing rookie achieved a best time of 1m22.853 to finish eighth fastest. During day two the teenager bounced back from an excursion on cold tyres in the first session to finish up just a 10th of a second shy of his Tuesday best. In the last of the day’s outings he lapped in 1m22.953 to finish a shade outside the top 10. Reflecting on the first official test of the year, team principal Richard Ollerenshaw said: “We had two productive days at Croft, Zaamin made very good progress and his transition from the non-aero car in Formula Ford to the aero driven Formula Renault BARC car has been impressive. There’s definitely more to come from him and we’re very hopeful he’ll be a consistent front-runner all season. Prior to coming to Croft Sean had only been out for a handful of days over the winter so we’re happy with the progress he’s making as well, especially as over the last couple of days he didn’t run new tyres at all. Unfortunately on the second morning he had a small off, which resulted in him missing the entire first session, but after that he ran well. We’re pleased with his performance.”

Formula Renault UK: Ollie Millroy, one of the pre-season favourites for the 2011 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship title, continued his strong testing form at Croft in North Yorkshire this week – ending day one inside the top three and rounding out day two on top of the timesheets for Manor Competition. On Tuesday, 8th March, Millroy set the pace in the opening session at the 2.12-mile track with a time of 1m17.050s (99.28mph) ahead of team-mate Alice Powell who was just 0.4 seconds shy. Manor’s Jordan King was sixth with a time of 1m18.985s (96.85mph) while Josh Hill was just four 1,000ths of a second further back in seventh for the New Ollerton team. In session two, it was Powell’s turn to sit atop the timesheets with a lap of 1m16.992s from the Chipping Norton driver. King was third quickest, less than 0.3 seconds behind, while Hill was sixth fastest, within 0.7 seconds of Powell’s pace. Millroy sat out the session. During the third and final run of the day, which proved to be the quickest, Millroy was third fastest with a time of 1m16.321 and Powell lapped with a best of 1m16.524 to place fifth overall. Hill and King were a 10th of a second each further back in sixth and seventh position respectively. Millroy returned to the top of the timesheets during the first of Wednesday’s sessions with a 1m17.884 seconds. Powell was third quickest while King was seventh and Hill rounded out the top 10. In session two, Millroy led the Manor charge once more with the third quickest time of 1m17.247 before scorching to the top spot again during the final run to conclude day two with a best of 1m16.467 s (100.04mph) – Wednesday’s fastest of all. Hill moved strongly into the front-running mix during session three with the fourth fastest lap of the day, 1m16.900, while King was just a couple of 10ths of a second slower in fifth position overall with a time of 1m17.142. Powell ended day two ninth quickest with her best lap of 1m17.406. “It’s been a good couple of days at Croft”, said team co-owner Sarah Shaw, “All of the drivers did a tremendous job and Ollie looked very strong indeed. It’s really competitive at the front as always in Formula Renault UK and the great thing is that Alice, Jordan, Josh and Ollie have all been going really well – they all have the pace to be regular podium contenders this season.”

Formula 3: Facu Regalia, recovering from a bout of food poisoning,  ended Wednesday F3 test at Imola, as the second fastest in the morning and as third in the afternoon. The Spanish-Argentinean driver was in impressive form, showing a strong pace on a day where both he and his team did some good development. “I was in much better shape than I and the team were expecting. The main goal was to adapt me to the circuit, which was unknown to me, but, after nineteen laps, I was third, some tenths behind the GP2 driver, Jules Bianchi, who had in his car a softer Kumho tyre compound”, Facu explained.  His good day continued in the afternoon, when he tried some new aero developments. “We decided to do some aerodynamic work and brake evaluation, something that wasn’t originally planned, but was possible to do with my fast adaptation to the circuit. We weren’t able to take advantage from all new tyres that we had available, there was much track traffic and red flags, but we gathered some interesting information. With used tyres I was able to do some laptimes similar with what others did with new pneumatics, something that left me very pleased”, he concluded

Renault 3.5: Alexander Rossi commenced two days of intensive testing with his 2011 World Series Renault team, Fortec Motorsport, at Motorland , Spain this week. Alexander had to get to grips with not only joining a new team, but working for the first time alongside his engineer in Formula Renault 3.5. On a wet first morning's running yesterday, there were a few teething problems to iron out, but Alexander was quick to become accustomed to the new Dallara chassis and was able to provide invaluable technical feedback to develop the car. Both the handling and performance improved dramatically towards the end of the day and it concluded with Alexander being much happier with the increased sustainable pace they had found. He finished the day in 5th position out of the 23-strong field, only 0.31 seconds off P1, providing the championship winning Fortec Motorsport team with a very respectable 1 minute 43.266 seconds lap time out of a 61-lap program.  Alexander took a change to the  planned test programe in his stride and showed the Team why he is a title contender this year. A new tyre run planned for the afternoon was brought forward to the morning and Alexander used this track time to full advantage, he set the 2nd fastest lap time for the combined 2-day test at 1 minute 42.401 s. The sunnier afternoon comprised race simulation, pit stop practice and heavy fuel load runs with Alexander finishing the day having completed 72 laps, and a total of 133 laps for the entire test, or 712 kilometers. Jamie Dye, Team Manager, Fortec Motorsport: "This morning Alexander set a time that was 2nd quickest for both days on a new tyre run, which is very respectable. Our original plan was to run one new tyre set this morning and one this afternoon, but looking at the weather forecast it was going to be constant and cool, so we changed our programme to include both sets this morning. This meant that we had time to run a race programme in the afternoon, so Alexander's times from this session are not indicative of where he could have been. I believe he would have also been in the top 3 had he been running a tyre programme. Alexander has a positive attitude and the changes we made to his car, some ideas came from him and some from his engineer, made significant improvements, so they are already working well together. The work we have achieved here in Spain has been very constructive and I am sure that we shall soon be in the fight with the second year drivers."  Alexander Rossi: "Heading in to a new team and having to find your feet at times can be difficult for team and driver. Not this time, we work through some initial car sorting, but were in a rhythm straight away - talking though engineering solutions and my driving style. Each time we took to the track yesterday the car improved, and today we made another jump forward from the good base yesterday which produced a greater improvement. On a fast lap in the morning my first two sector times were purple. If I hadn't made a slight mistake in sector 3, I would have been top on the time sheet. The afternoon race programme was good, working on long race runs, heavy fuel and pit stops. When you join a new team there are uncertainties, but Fortec is high calibre. The team has a good atmosphere and my teammate Cesar also did a good job. We are in good shape and everything points toward a good season ahead."

BTCC: Brands Hatch will host the opening round of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on 2/3 April and, in preparation for the start of the season, 12 BTCC drivers gathered at the Kent circuit this week for a crucial pre-season test. 2011 is shaping up to be a thrilling year for British Touring Cars, with new ‘Next Generation Touring Car’ technical regulations and 10 different marques confirmed on the grid including Chevrolet, Honda, Toyota , Ford, BMW, Volkswagen and Vauxhall. Among the drivers taking part in the test was reigning champion Jason Plato, who confirmed that he will return to defend his title in an RML-run Chevrolet Cruze. Plato will be partnered by 20-year-old Alex MacDowall, who scored two podium finishes for the squad in 2010. Also in action at its local circuit was the Wrotham-based Airwaves Racing team(pictured), who will switch from BMW to Ford power in 2011. Mat Jackson will leading the Kent outfit’s championship charge, alongside Liam Griffin – managing director of Addison Lee, London’s leading minicab company – who makes his BTCC debut this season. The Brands Hatch test generated several groundbreaking pieces of news, including the announcement that the Tech Speed team will run Plato’s 2010 title-winning Chevrolet Cruze this season for John George – with the strong possibility of producing a second car for fans’ favourite Paul O’Neill, brother of former Spice Girl Mel C.Team Aon also chose the West Kingsdown racetrack to debut their new machine for 2011, Ford’s new ‘global’ touring car, whilst Honda Racing brought along its turbo engine Civic for title contenders Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden. pic Richard Randle

The GIRO D’ITALIA AUTOMOBILISTICO will take place from 25-30 October 2011 and this year the promoters have launched the event with the historic logo, originally created by the Automobile Club Torino(ACT). An agreement was signed in Turin between ACT Director Mr Giorgio Ungaretti, sporting delegate Giancarlo Quaranta and promoters Marcello Lotti, Luca Pazielli and Piero Sodano. “The revival of the Giro d’Italia Automobilistico propels Turin and its Automobile Club back on top of national motor sport; new pages are about to be written and they are set to be immediately included in motor sport history,” Mr Ungaretti said. “The census of drivers, co-drivers and cars that had the privilege to take part in the Giro d’Italia and the establishment of a Club that will count them all represent an action of automobile culture of which the Automobile Club Torino is a thorough trustee and that will be bolstered by the future editions of the great Italian race.” Confirming the interest in the competition, more that 200 requests for information have been received in the first 15 days since pre-entry opened. For further information, please contact info@giroditaliaauto.com .

09-03-11

Protyre Formula Renault BARC:  Archie Hamilton demonstrated his championship credentials after dominating the final day of testing in the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Croft circuit today, Wednesday, 9th March. The 19-year-old Fortec Motorsport driver headed the timesheets in all three 55-minute sessions at the 2.125-mile North Yorkshire track ending with a best time of 1min 19.858s (95.79mph average). With Tuesday’s pace-setter Dino Zamparelli, driving for Antel Motorsport, unable to attend, the Hampshire-based racer looked untouchable throughout the day, although was unable to better his fastest time from yesterday due to the increase in wind. Instead, Hamilton’s main contenders came in the form of Evesham driver James Thorp and Indian born racer Zaamin Jaffer driving for their respective MTech and Hillspeed teams.he day also saw four new faces join the official test with Matt Mason and Russell Danzey running with MGR Motorsport, karting star Callum Bowyer with Antel Motorsport and Scorpio’s Howard Fuller. Morning temperatures were even colder for day two of the test although that didn’t stop Hamilton who went straight to the top of the timesheets ending the session a full second quicker than his nearest rival. Fuller, Thorp and Hamilton’s team-mate Victor Jimenez continued to make improvements to their times as did JWA Racing’s Tom Walker. Hamilton once again dominated the day’s second session this time the only driver to lap in the 1min 19s. Jaffer was another driver on form during the session as were the two Scorpio Motorsport drivers of Hector Hurst from Lymington and Kingston Upon Thames racer Fuller.In the final stint, it was Hamilton who lead the way setting his best time on fresh Michelin tyres before resting for the remainder of the session. Fellow Fortec Motorsport driver Jimenez also impressed as did Hurst and newcomers Bowyer, Danzey and Mason.Speaking after the final session on day two Hamilton said: “It’s gone well today and overall for the test. We’ve had good pace and the car has felt impressive. The strong winds meant we couldn’t surpass yesterday’s best time but I’m still impressed at how quick we were able to go in the conditions and I’m feeling confident ahead of the season.” pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup : Less than eight weeks now remain until the start of Daniel Lloyd’s maiden campaign in the pan-European Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, undoubtedly the biggest challenge so far in the Huddersfield teenager’s racing career. Daniel will be the sole British representative in the one-make saloon car category and all eyes will be on the 2009 ELF Renault Clio Winter Cup Champion as he graduates into European competition for the first time. Having earned his place on the Scirocco R-Cup grid following a thoroughly impressive display during a two day Volkswagen Motorsport assessment at Oschersleben, Germany, back in November, Daniel is now preparing for a special pre-season ‘Fitness Camp’ which begins this weekend, 12th/13th March. “It seems like an age since we had the confirmation about my place on the VW Scirocco R-Cup grid so I’m really raring to go and get the season underway”, he commented, “I can’t wait for the fitness camp this weekend, that’ll be the proper start to my involvement with Volkswagen but I’m sure it’ll be very tough – I’m not under any illusions!” As a chief support category to the DTM championship, the Scirocco R-Cup has a very high profile and is watched by thousands of spectators at each event, Volkswagen’s flagship series will also benefit from live television coverage in 2011 on Motors TV.Daniel added: “It’s a massive privilege to be racing in the championship this year and I’m really looking forward to visiting all of the European tracks for the first time. Volkswagen put a lot of support behind the drivers and with the live TV, the iPhone app and a slot on the DTM bill, I’ve got a great opportunity to build my profile and, hopefully, have a successful season.”  Budget restrictions threatened to de-rail his progress last year but outstanding one-off debut outings in the BTCC and Avon Tyres British GT Championship ensured his stock remained high. Following this weekend’s Volkswagen Motorsport fitness camp, Daniel’s first test outing in his Scirocco R-Cup car will come in mid-April before the championship curtain-raiser at Hockenheim in Germany on Saturday, 30th April. pic Volkswagen Motorsport

Formula 3: “Australian Formula 3 launched my career. It launched me into the USA and  launched me into V8 Supercars. Now I want to come back and pick up where I left off.” These words come from 2008 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship winner James Winslow, who this week has announced his intentions to return to the series in 2011. Winslow edged out Leanne Tander in the 2008 Gold Star title, a year that netted him five wins, nine podiums and a title by just four points. Winslow made his Australian F3 debut in a one-off drive at the Australian Grand Prix support races in 2006, and was the only driver to beat now Bruno Senna that weekend. He went full-time in the category in 2007 before returning again in 2008 to win the title. Since then the British racer has tested Champ Cars for Conquest Racing, competed in the Indy Lights series and A1 Grand Prix for Great Britain, plus several V8 Supercar testing opportunities. He also won the Asian F3 title and the Formula V6 Renault title in Asia – but now he is ready to return to Australia - thanks in part to the addition of three V8 Supercar Championship Events to the 2011 schedule. “I want to come back,” Winslow said from his Indianapolis base.“I want to race and win at the V8 Events but I also want to try and win another championship. It’s a great series and it looks like 2011 is going to be better value for money than ever before. In the global scheme of things Formula 3 is so important and so well recognised and racing – and winning – it in Australia gave my career a great boost. I chose F3 in the first place because the cars are serious machinery and I knew I needed to have experience in them if I wanted to move into something like IndyCar or V8 Supercars, or even just have a serious career in Motorsport. It’s cost effective racing and Australian F3 is perhaps the best bang-for-your-buck Formula-style racing anywhere. I don't think there is any doubt that the best drivers come through Formula 3 and if you don't have the 600,000 pounds to race in British or European F3, then this is the next best thing. You can get more than 20 races, high profile Events and testing in for something like 120,000 pounds. It’s great value. And whether you’re going for V8 Supercars or IndyCars the skill set is the same you learn from driving a Formula 3 car.” Winslow said he continues to have aspirations of racing V8 Supercars, “I tested with V8 champions Triple 8 in 2009, and raced at Homebush in the Fujitsu series shortly after I won the F3 title and it was a great experience,” he said. “It’s still a very realistic goal but I need to re-establish myself in Australia whilst I continue to chase the IndyCar dream over here in the USA. I’m putting together a program for Indy Lights or Indy Car at the moment but I would love to mix that with another campaign in Formula 3 down under. I think I can win another championship,” He added. “I know there will be some good drivers in the series because there always is. It’s never over until the fat lady sings but I think I’d be competitive and I’d dearly love to win another Gold Star award.  “I’m working on the budget and looking for partners. I think it can be a good year so I’m working hard to make it a reality.” The 2011 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship kicks off at Winton Raceway in Victoria on May 20-22.  pic Dirk Klynsmith Photo

British Formula 3 racer Menasheh Idafar made great progress during the second outing of the championship pre-season at Silverstone this week – the 2010 National Class Champion heading an officially timed session for the first time and ending day two eighth overall. Following the annual Cooper Tires British F3 International Series ‘Media Day’ on Tuesday, where Menasheh and his T-Sport team worked through a variety of set-up options, huge strides were made today, Wednesday, 9th March, as he carved a full second off his previous best time.He performed very strongly during the final afternoon at the track and finished the second day in the top eight with a best effort of 1m53.415 seconds (116.19mph). “I’m really pleased how today has gone, we worked really hard to get a good set-up and in the end the pace was pretty good”, said Menasheh, “We tried a lot of different things on the first day. Today was wet to start but in the afternoon, when it was properly dry, we were able to really improve.”  Today’s test got underway on a wet-but-drying track so times weren’t that representative in the first couple of sessions. Lapping in 2m08.301s (102.70mph) during the opening run, he went on to post a time of 1m57.685 during the drier second outing to end the morning ninth fastest overall. It was in the afternoon though where the T-Sport racer and his team started to show their true pace, Menasheh topping an official F3 test session for the first time. Posting what turned out to be his best lap of the two days, 1m53.415s, during the first run, the British-born Bahraini powered round the 3.66-mile track a full second faster than he managed on Tuesday. He continued to impress during the fourth and final session where he was consistently in and around the top half dozen for most of the run. Red flagged with a couple of minutes remaining on the clock, he concluded the last outing of the week with a time of 1m53.599s(116.00mph) – just 0.679 seconds shy of the session’s pace and on the fringe of the top 10. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

LMS: The Rebellion Racing team members and drivers are looking forward to a busy start to the 2011 season with the Le Mans Series Test Days at Paul Ricard HTTT at the end of this week and the Sebring 12 Hour race, the first round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, next week.Rebellion Racing is ready for the challenge! The Lola-Toyota that will race for the first time next week at Sebring has already left the workshop for the USA and the two other sister cars were loaded into the team’s trucks yesterday, en route for the South of France. During the Le Mans Series Test Days, Rebellion Racing will present to the media their new Lola-Toyota LMP1 cars and 2011 driver line-ups. For the first time, the media will be able to see the team’s red, white and gold liveried Lolas powered by the 3.4 litre RV8KLM Toyota engine actually in action. All six Rebellion Racing drivers will be present at Paul Ricard. In car #12, regular drivers Neel Jani and Nico Prost will be joined by Jeroen Bleekemolen and in car #13 Guy Smith will rejoin Andrea Belicchi and Jean-Christophe Boullion at the track where they achieved a podium finish in the Le Mans Series opening race of 2010. As soon as the two day test in the South of France has ended, the drivers and crew will fly to the USA for the Sebring 12 Hour week where they will join up with an advance party of team members who travelled ahead to oversee the unloading and set up of the third Lola-Toyota and equipment. Bart Hayden, Rebellion Racing Team Manager : “The team have worked unbelievably hard during the Winter. The mechanics are the unsung heros of the moment, they have put so much into getting these cars ready. We have built a strong package and we have high expectations for the forthcoming season. Our relationship with the Toyota Motorsport engineers and management is very good and productive, we have strengthened our own technical team and we can count on fast and experienced drivers. The three cars are now on their way to the tracks and we can’t wait to see them in action ! “ 

08-03-11

Formula Renault BARC: Scorpio Motorsport’s Hector Hurst has been clocking up the miles in testing ahead of his first season in the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship.  The 18 year old has been running at circuits across the country as he finds his feet in single seaters, with guidance coming from 2009 series champion Kieren Clark. Moving from karts Hurst said from the start that he needed an extensive testing schedule to ensure he was up to speed by the time the series got underway in April. The British weather hasn’t belped, dry running being somewhat limited so far. After testing with Scorpio at Rockingham and the Silverstone National circuit, Hector headed to his local circuit Thruxton. “We went to Thruxton for two days which was good, as there’s very limited testing time at the track and I think that’s the only chance we get to test there before the race meeting. There were quite a lot of Renault BARC cars out, so it was good to get a gauge on where we were relative to everybody else. We were pretty quick in the rain and ended the first day P1 by about a hundredth of a second. On the second day, it was wet again in the morning and our pace was very good again. It dried out for the afternoon which was good, as we got some more dry testing and it gave us a chance to test the track in both conditions. By the end of the day we found some pretty good pace, improving all the time and ending second or third quickest, despite still finding the limit of the car through the quicker corners.” Hurst’s testing programme then moved to Oulton Park where he got nearly five hours on track in the car. However as the only Formula Renault on track the team found it hard to gauge his true speed. “We went to Oulton Park next, which was in the dry. We had the International circuit in the morning and the shorter, Island circuit after lunch. Our pace was again relatively good, but not quite as good as we’d expected to be honest. It was mainly trying to work out how to get the best out of me and the car through quicker corners such as Druids. We got a huge amount of laps in though, which was good.”  A couple of days later and it was the turn of Donington Park, where Hector was quicker than his Mtech Lite and Hillspeed rivals in the wet morning session before the track dried out for some much needed dry running in the afternoon.   “Donington was basically dry testing bar a little bit of wet in the morning. Our pace was again very good in the wet and in the dry, it took me a while to find my feet pace wise. We were fairly comfortable all day and then in the last half an hour of the day we got down to some quite good times considering the rubber we were on, so we finished the day on a very good note.” With much of his testing run in the wet Hector has had his share of ‘misdemeanours’ as he adapts to his new car, including a couple at Donington. “Firstly I dropped the car coming out of the final chicane, hitting some mud on the kerb and finding myself heading towards the pitlane backwards. That was not one of my best moments. Then, trying to weave my way around the huge amount of traffic, I reached my limit with a Ferrari and we had a bit of a coming together round the Old Hairpin. It didn’t end in the best possible circumstances but everyone was fine after that, if a little embarrassed.” Hurst will be continuing testing next week at the first official series test at Croft.  

Antel Motorsport’s latest signing Dino Zamparelli got his 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC campaign off to the best possible start by topping the timesheets in the first of two official pre-season test days held at North Yorkshire’s Croft circuit , today Tuesday 8th March.  The 18-year-old from Bristol set a best time of 1min 19.463s (96.27mph average).  Running just 0.076s quicker than his nearest rival, Archie Hamilton, Zamparelli set his best time in the final of three 55-minute sessions using fresh Michelin rubber. Hamilton.19, from Hook, now with Fortec Motorsport was quickest in the two previous sessions and along with Zamparelli, beat last year’s pole time of 1min 19.756s.

Comic Relief: On Wednesday 16 March, in aid of Comic Relief, the question that has beat at the heart of generations will finally be answered. Who would win in a race – Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario? At 2pm on 16 March, all eyes will turn to the renowned racetrack at Brands Hatch, Kent, as some of the world's best-known video game characters suit up and hit the track. But this is no ordinary race. Sonic and Mario will be racing Razor Scooters! Chasing the Sega and Nintendo characters around the track will be Mario’s brother, Luigi, scooting for the family crown; Sony’s iconic Sackboy and the beautiful, intelligent, and athletic Lara Croft. Having broken out of the maze, world’s favourite dot-eating arcade character, Pac Man, is still not free of the four ghosts burning rubber behind him on the Brands Hatch track. Maybe he’ll lose them on the famous Paddock Hill Bend. In total, 10 character riders will hit the racetrack, and in doing so raise thousands for Comic Relief.

Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship driver Alex MacDowall will return to the UK’s premier motor racing category for a second season this year after signing a deal to remain with RML as team-mate to reigning BTCC Champion Jason Plato. The Carlisle 20-year-old, who shone extremely brightly during his maiden season in touring cars last year, will enjoy the terrific continuity of remaining with the manufacturer-supported squad as he strives to secure his maiden BTCC race win and put together a sustained challenge. Graduating to the BTCC at the start of last season, following three years in the ELF Renault Clio Cup, Alex leapt in at the deep end to seize the opportunity with Ray Mallock’s renowned squad. Securing two podiums in his debut campaign, he also made history at Snetterton by becoming the youngest ever driver to qualify on pole position in the BTCC –19 years and 197 days. Two events later, at Knockhill, the Cumbrian made headlines again by taking his second pole position after breaking the circuit qualifying lap record. For 2011, Alex has his sights set on a top six championship push at least and has every confidence he should be able to fight for wins at the wheel of his Chevrolet Cruze. “It’s fantastic to be staying with RML for my second year in touring cars, I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of the Cruze and begin preparations for the new season”, said Alex, “There were some amazing highlights last year and I learnt so much from RML’s Silverline Chevrolet Team and from being team-mate to Jason (Plato). The aim for 2011 is regular podiums and, hopefully, wins too.” pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

BRDC acknowledge MacDowall - Even before Alex has turned a wheel in 2011, the year has started off well. Already a British Racing Drivers’ Club ‘Rising Star’, he was recently invited by the BRDC to be one of just 14 drivers on its prestigious ‘Superstars’ programme – an initiative headed by ITV touring car pundit Tim Harvey. Last month, Alex enjoyed his first experience as a BRDC Superstar when he took part in a reaction time simulator test at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire – home of world renowned aerobatic display team The Red Arrows. In addition, for his 2010 exploits in the BTCC he was voted the championship’s ‘Best Rookie’ by visitors to the www.touringcartimes.com website. Accruing over 50 per cent of the vote, Alex was by far the most popular choice. The Silverline Chevrolet/RML partnership was named ‘Best Manufacturer’ with 48 per cent and Silverline Chevrolet was also voted ‘Best Team’. Alex said: “It’s a real honour to have been chosen by a panel of highly rated drivers to become a BRDC Superstar. The BRDC is the most prestigious club in British motor racing so it’s fantastic to be one of the very few drivers that make it onto the Superstars programme. I’ll do my very best to maintain it.I’m also really pleased to have been voted as the top BTCC rookie last year by TouringCarTimes. It’s always nice to know you’ve got some good support and people have been taking notice of what you’ve been doing on track. I can’t wait now for the new season to start.” The opening three rounds of the 2011 BTCC will take place on 2-3 April at Brands Hatch.

07-03-11

InterSteps Championship : A new, controlled cost, single-seater series for junior racing drivers is to be officially launched at Rockingham Speedway this week.The wraps will come off the InterSteps Championship at a driver initiation and media day at the Northamptonshire circuit on Wednesday (March 9).The one-make national series - conceived to provide up-and-coming drivers with an affordable route from karts to cars - will run as part of the 2011 British Automobile Racing Club's 'Dunlop Package'.It is open to drivers between the ages of 15 and 19 and will comprise 20 races, the first of which gets underway at Silverstone on March 26. 

Formula Renault BARC: Potential racing drivers are being offered a golden opportunity to begin a career in motorsport thanks to a new single-seater scholarship which offers a fully funded drive in the 2012 Formula Renault BARC Championship – a prize worth an incredible £100,000. Single-Seater Star 2012, which is headed up by Competitions Manager Roger Belcher, is open to anyone over 16-years-of-age prior to the start of the evaluation process. For a one-off entry fee of £469, entrants will potentially be able to progress through three knock-out stages of competition – the final of which will take place at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome in Leicestershire on Tuesday, 27th September. Entry to the competition couldn’t be simpler with online registrations and payments now being accepted at the www.singleseaterstar.co.uk website. The portal also contains full details of every aspect of the contest, frequently asked questions and the official Terms and Conditions. The closing date for entries is Sunday, 31st July, with the opening karting based evaluations taking place at Rye House in Hertfordshire and Three Sisters Circuit in Lancashire in mid-August. Rounds two and three will then follow at Bruntingthorpe in late September where drivers will take to the track in a range of vehicles including a Westfield, Skid-Car, race-prepped VW Lupo and Ariel Atom.   Incredible £100,000 prize package to the winner...
The eventual winner will scoop a tremendous prize package. In addition to a fully-funded season of racing in Formula Renault BARC, a testing programme and membership of the British Automobile Racing Club, the winner will attain National B licence status – if so required – and will take part in a range of fitness assessments. They will also receive personalised Puma overalls. Roger Belcher, Competitions Manager of Dreamcraft Competitions, said: “I’m very proud to launch the Single-Seater Star 2012 scholarship. We’re confident with the format we have chosen we will unearth a future motor racing star and give one deserving driver a superb start to a potential career in motorsport. “There have been a number of other scholarships but we believe Single-Seater Star 2012 stands out as offering the best possible value for money, the fairest assessments and an exceptional prize. The team which will run the winning driver will be announced after the closing date at the end of July.” For any questions regarding Single-Seater Star, please email info@dreamcraftcompetitions.com

The Asia Racing Team has agreed a new technical partnership with Token Asia Company and Pakelo Motor Oil, Italy for the supply and development of oil and lubricants for the team’s racing cars and racing school activities in 2011.  Asia Racing Team believes that Pakelo is a superb choice to assist the team with retaining its Asian Formula Renault championship status, and further excelling its results on the Asian stage. In 2011 Asia Racing Team will be racing in 2011 GT Asia Series, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, AFR Series and the recently launched Formula Pilota China series. At the same time Pakelo will further support the successful ART Motorsports Racing School, the only formal driver-training course recognized by both the Hong Kong Automobile Association (HKAA) and the Associação Geral Automóvel Macau-China (AAMC), and the brand new set of Passengers Experiences at the Zhuhai International Circuit, PR China. Of the new partnership,Team Manager Philippe Descombes, stated,“We are all very excited to be entering into a partnership with such an innovative technical partner. Pakelo is at the forefront of lubricants technology and we share the ambition that motivates entrepreneurs and drives emerging businesses forward. The importance of oils and lubricants in motor racing is well-known and we strive to ensure our needs in this area are covered by the most prestigious and reliable companies in the world.”

Formula 3: The Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will end 2011 on a high after confirmation of  the final event. The series will return to Symmons Plains Raceway as part of the Falken Tasmania Challenge V8 Supercars Event on November 11-13, and for the second time the  track will host the season finale’. The Australian Drivers Championship was decided at the track in 2008 when James Winslow edged out Leanne Tander (pictured) by just a handful of points in a thrilling end of year showdown. The final race of the year will double as the Tasmanian F3 SuperPrix. Symmons Plains provides perhaps the best locale for Formula 3 battles, the low-downforce configuration providing intense slipstreaming and the best racing of the season. The return visit by the series this year ensures a competitive end to a championship that has been decided in the final race of every year since 2007. Tasmania will join Darwin as two 'Marquee' SuperPrix Events to be held in the championship this year. “Symmons Plains is one of the best tracks for Formula 3 cars in Australia,” 2010 Tasmanian F3 SuperPrix winner Tom Tweedie said. “Because it has long straights and a couple of heavy braking zones, we can really get a tow from the car in front – it’s probably the best racing I’ve ever been involved in since I started in F3 in 2009. I think we swapped positions five or six times in ten laps last year while we were battling for the lead – it was exciting stuff to watch and even better from behind the wheel.” The Event will be paired with the penultimate round, to be held at Phillip Island in Victoria the week prior to the Tassie trip. The close proximity of the two rounds will ease travel arrangements for competitors based in Queensland and South Australia, in particular, with the entire series essentially travelling ‘as one’ across Bass Straight on the following Monday or Tuesday. Full-season competitors racing this year will also pay no entry fee at the finale’, which when coupled with the popularity of the Phillip Island round should promote a strong field at Symmons Plains.  A seven-round championship will also ensure budgets are maintained at 2010 levels this year, with full-season costs totalling little more than Formula Ford money, if that. “This is the final piece in a complicated puzzle that was our 2011 schedule,” Formula 3 chairman Ian Richards said. “Though its taken time, the series has ticked off several key criteria we wanted to fulfil, namely, making it as affordable as possible for every competitor and delivering more V8 Supercar Events. “With Three V8 Supercar rounds and four with our friends at the Shannons Nationals, we think this is our most balanced and ideal schedule ever. “We are looking forward to building a relationship with the V8 Supercar team and showcasing Australia’s fastest cars to their fan base. We really think we will add another level of entertainment to their Events because our cars are fast, sound and look great, and provide great racing. “It will be a building year for Formula 3, but for our long-term future this is going to be the ideal platform. We’re looking forward to another great season.” pic Dirk Klynsmith Photo

Facu Regalia will be at Imola next Tuesday and Wednesday, where he will continue his preparation for the 2011 Formula 3 Italia Championship. The Spanish-Argentinean driver started his pre-season last week testing at Adria after signing with Team Ghinzani.  This time the 19 year old will be at Autodromo Enzo y Dino Ferrari with his Dallara FPT, where he expects things to keep evolving. “Though I just rested during the weekend, I’m exciting to continue my adaptation to the car that I’ll use this year in the Formula 3 Italia. I want to keep working with my engineer so we can know each other, to develop the car so we can be at the highest level in the first race”, said Regalia.  It will be the Spanish-Argentinean drivers first experience of the Imola circuit “According to what I was told, this is the hardest circuit in Italy for the driver and that will be even more amplified with thirty cars on track. Though, I’m looking forward to try it”.

Reigning Formula Renault UK Champion Tom Blomqvist will race for leading Formula 3 team Performance Racing in German F3 and the FIA F3 trophy this season, it was confirmed today (Monday). Blomqvist, the 17-year-old son of former World Rally champion Stig, displaced Lewis Hamilton as the youngest ever winner of the Formula Renault UK Championship in 2010 and has now set his sights on a second drivers’ title in as many years. “I am very excited to be racing in German F3 this year,” said Blomqvist. “The key for both myself and my management is for me to develop as much as possible in the coming two-three years, and this year in German F3 is the next step of our long-term plan to do that. This season will give me the opportunity to get a massive amount of miles under my belt and I am confident that with Performance Racing we make an excellent team that has what it takes to win the title. I really can’t wait for the season to start... The most important part of 2011, though, is to use this season as a fast-learning year to allow me to push my understanding and driving onto the next level and help me get to the top of the sport.”  The Saffron Walden based driver will dovetail his German F3 campaign with participation in the newly announced FIA F3 trophy. The six-round championship, which is based on a number of blue-riband events in Europe and Asia, enables the top three drivers to become eligible for the coveted FIA Superlicence required to compete in F1. Silverstone-based Anglo-Swedish squad Perfomance Racing are one of the most highly respected German F3 teams, with eight podiums and two wins in 2010. The nine-weekend ATS German F3 Cup kicks off on 25 April 2010 at the Oschersleben circuit, Germany. Blomqvist, who has been announced in the 2011 MSA Team UK line-up and has graduated to BRDC Superstar status, will immediately focus on an intensive test programme. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Karts: Headlined by an increased list of prizes from series partners TAG Heuer, Ginetta, iZone Driver Performance and with a place at the Autosport Awards in London waiting for the Champion the 2011 Formula Kart Stars KF3 Championship has been switched to eight rounds rather than twelve in a bid to remove some of the pressure on the KF3 drivers and teams already looking at an intense European and domestic schedule. Subject to agreement from those drivers already registered for the new season, the Formula One Management backed championship will run the KF3 class at their first four weekends of the 2011 season at Rowrah (April 23-24), Three Sisters (May 21-22), Glan Y Gors (June 18-19) and Genk (August 13-14) with all rounds to count towards the final standings. Competitors will be able to enter the shorter, eight round championship at a reduced cost and will still receive their championship trophies at the Autosport Awards in London in December and be eligible for all the regular in-season FKS prizes such as the Bernie Ecclestone Driver of the Day award and those offered by class sponsor Luke Hines and series partners Shell Racing Solutions, iZone Driver Performance and Powerboat P1.  Ginetta will also provide a number of places to KF3 drivers in the 2011 Silverstone Ginetta Junior Scholarship Shootout while the top three finishers will all receive a TAG Heuer watch. Like the Cadet, Mini Max and Junior Rotax classes, KF3 will also have a free tyre draw at every one of the eight rounds where one driver wins a free set of slick tyres. The KF3 karts will also be fitted with the CIK Approved Alfano Alspy datalogging system. Series director Carolynn Hoy, currently attempting to drive 16,000 miles in a Landrover to raise money for Help for Heroes, said that the decision was a hard, but necessary one to take and hoped it would find favour with competitors. “I’m a massive fan of the KF3 class and I believe it has produced some astonishingly talented drivers over the last three to four years. I love having the class in our championship but we need to make sure that we give our drivers as competitive a field as possible. I’m acutely aware that there aren’t a huge number of British KF3 drivers at the moment and that the lure of European racing is great so rather than run a 12 round championship with very few karts or, worse, have to cancel the class altogether, I hope that the ‘less is more’ approach will encourage more drivers to join FKS in 2011. After all, seat time in a race situation is more important than ever when you are trying to beat the best in the world.” pic Chris Walker/kartpix.net

For Energy Corse, the karting season in 2011 has started with Dennis Olsen on the first step of the podium in KF3 at the Winter Cup (Lonato), and has continued with Paolo De Conto's brilliant success at the WSK Master Series (La Conca).

Formula Ford: The Australian Formula Ford Championship has announced the appointment of two-time Bathurst 1000 champion Steven Richards as its official ambassador. Richards will represent Formula Ford at major events and in some exciting new PR opportunities throughout 2011, while acting as a mentor and advisor to Australia’s next batch of motorsport stars. The current Ford Performance Racing endurance driver has a long history with the Ford brand and boasts an impressive resume, which includes two Bathurst victories, seven V8 race wins and 182 event starts, as well as an Australian Formula Ford Championship crown in 1994. "I've got some great memories of my time in Formula Ford as a youngster, so it's fantastic to be involved with the championship again on a different level," Steven Richards said. "I'm looking forward to working with some of the best young drivers in the country today and hopefully I can offer them something worthwhile. Formula Ford has proved time and time again that its the premier junior development category, not only within Australia, but also around the world." Category Manager Margaret Hardy is also pleased to welcome Richards back to the championship. "Steven was exceptional when he raced Formula Ford and has gone on to have a long and successful motorsport career. Having someone with his level of experience will be a huge benefit to the category and to all the drivers in 2011, and Im sure theyll make the most of the opportunity." The first round of the 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship will take place at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March 17-20.

The eighth round of the 2010 Australian Formula Ford will be featured in this weeks final episode on SpeedTV. Catch all the action as Australia’s future stars take to the track over three races at Sandown International Motor Raceway in Melbourne this Tuesday and Wednesday on SpeedTV. Tuesday 6:30pm, Wednesday 10:30am AEST (check your local guides).

Ginettas: Reigning Ginetta Junior Champion Tom Ingram has been given his first taste of the car he hopes to be racing this year at a wet Silverstone. After winning the Gineeta Junior title last year Tom is hoping to move onwards and upwards this season. The opportunity to try out the G50 –with championship-winning outfit Century Motorsport around Silverstone’s National Circuit was one that was too good to miss. “The track was mega greasy all day, and with the G50 being such a powerful car, they weren’t the best conditions to be going out in!” quipped Tom, who has just been offered a job as an instructor at Bedford Autodrome, “I love those kinds of conditions, though, and they always seem to suit my driving style quite well. The G50 is a lot bigger, heavier and quicker than the G40, but the handling characteristics – in the wet, at least – are actually very similar from the point-of-view of how it turns in, and I was straight into it after only about five or six laps, to be honest. It was so much fun to drive, just awesome! One of the mechanics asked me afterwards when the last time I had been out in a G50 was – and he didn’t believe me when I told him never! I hadn’t even sat in any kind of racing car since November. “  Tom was also quick to praise Century Motorsport – G50 Champions in 2009 and runners-up in 2010 – as well as the man at the helm of the team, Nathan Freke, an ex-driver himself and a former British title-winner in both sportscars and single-seaters. “The couple of years’ experience that the team has in the championship certainly told when we looked through the data,” he explained, “as they were able to show me near enough immediately where there was room for me to improve. It was great to work with a previous champion, too – Nathan really knows all the ins-and-outs of the car, and exactly what is needed. I’ve known him for years, and we get on really well.”  However it remains unlikely that Tom will make the starting grid unless funding is found – and fast. Tom is working hard with Conquest Talent Management to attract sponsors to back his cause via the Thames Valley Business Support Scheme – but time is running out.  Nathan Freke highlighted the ex-British Karting Champion’s turn-of-speed on his G50 debut as well as his keen analytical feedback, “From seeing how he had got on in a touring car back in November, I thought Tom would adapt to the G50 fairly quickly – and he didn’t disappoint,” Freke confirmed. “He is clearly very good and extremely quick, and if you give him the equipment he will get to grips with it. Conditions were less-than-ideal – it was very cold and very wet, and the track was just like ice. If it had been a nice, sunny day the car would have been confidence-inspiring, but it was just the opposite! Despite that, Tom went out for a couple of half-hour sessions and after just 20 laps he had got to within half-a-second of a very experienced racer who we had out in our other car, which I thought was phenomenal. He has simply got natural talent inside a racing car; he doesn’t have any fear of getting it out-of-shape or taking it to the limit, which is quite a nice change. To get down to the kind of lap times that he did in such a short space of time is really promising, and as long as he can compete this year, he will be up at the front, no doubt about that. We’ve got the set-up and he’s got the talent, so he’ll be in the title fight. Tom definitely has the pace to win the championship.” pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

06-03-11

Grand-Am: A jubilant AIM Autosport team cheered its BMW-Riley #61 Daytona Prototype to a fourth-place finish on Saturday afternoon in the Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The team made huge gains since its car first took to the track yesterday morning and was handling terribly. Relentless effort saw the team gradually take control and field a competitive car for the race. Starting from seventh pace, the car ran as high as fifth place with qualifying driver, Mark Wilkins, at the wheel for the first stint. It soon became clear that tire pressures were slightly too high and the car became difficult to control. A swap to the set used for the morning warm up cost four places, but allowed Mark to run an extended session before handing off to co-driver Burt Frisselle with 1h 15m run (and 1h 30m to go). The team fueled the car and fitted new tires getting Burt back into the race in 11th place. Over the next 35 minutes, Burt conserved the tires while maintaining enough pace to climb as high as third, but then he quickly lost grip. Tasked with running another 10 laps before pitting, Burt soldiered on until a full-course caution presented an opportunity. Pitting earlier than planned Burt reentered the race in seventh and appeared destined for the podium, but fell just short as grip faded in the closing laps.

Formula Renault UK: Off the back of an impressive car debut in the 2010 Formula Renault UK Winter Series in November, Jordan King has re-signed with Manor Competition for the 2011 Formula Renault UK Championship. Following a successful karting career Jordan graduated to cars in the Formula Renault Winter Series, taking a sixth place at Pembrey. Since then he has spent the last three months pounding around the test tracks. “Everything feels a lot easier now, which is all down to spending more time in the seat and having more experience of the car,” revealed the Princethorpe College student and newly-appointed BRDC Rising Star. “We’ve made a big leap forward over the winter, and it’s really encouraging to be up there on lap times with drivers who are going into their fourth year of car racing, and ahead of other drivers with a lot more experience than me. If I can stay in front of them for even half of the races this year, I’ll be happy with that. Our speed in testing has been really good, and I’m very happy with how it’s all been going so far. We’ve found a few things in terms of set-up, and now we just need to optimise the performance of the package. It’s looking quite good.”  Manor team principal Tony Shaw is similarly optimistic. “We are very happy to have Jordan at Manor for his first full year in Formula Renault UK,” he affirmed. “He showed in the short Winter Series, and in subsequent testing, that he has a healthy appetite for the competitive nature of ‘slicks-and-wings’ single-seaters. His grounding and success in karting has set him up very well for the future, and we look forward to enjoying success with Jordan as a Manor driver.”  pic Jakob Ebrey Photography 

05-03-11

Grand-Am : AIM Autosport’s BMW-Riley #61 will start from seventh place in today’s Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway in south Florida. AIM is launching its 2011 Grand-Am season at the second race of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, having missed the season opener at the end of January. Further putting AIM behind the pack, the team missed winter test sessions—particularly important this year as the series has switched to Continental tires. While many teams logged important data with the new rubber, AIM fell behind and now faces a steep learning curve. A single-day test early this week helped, but was really just a drop in the bucket. Friday’s practice sessions allowed the team to gather more information, but set up changes before qualifying yielded little benefit. Qualifying driver, Mark Wilkins, managed a lap of 1m 14.535s around the 2.3 mile (3.7 km) 11-turn road course at an average speed of 111.089 mph (178.8 km/h), placing seventh. “It has to work, we just have to keep digging,” said Mark’s co-driver, Burt Frisselle. “We’ve got a steep learning curve as we’re behind and the only way to catch up is keep working.” Mark Added,  “I think it comes down to sorting out how we use the tire. The Continental tire is vastly different from what we’ve used for the last three years and we have to think vastly differently to get the best out of them. Other teams figured this out during winter testing and, like Burt said, we have to keep digging. We’re here to win and we have to keep pushing.” A 30-minute warm-up session today at 8:30 am will allow the team to make further evaluations. The Grand Prix of Miami, a 2h 45m race will start at noon. Coverage will be broadcast live on SPEED and MRN.

Other news: On 4 March  2011, John Watson, former McLaren Formula 1 driver and 1981 British Grand Prix winner in the MP4/1, was invited to Silverstone by McLaren Automotive to drive the new McLaren high-performance sports car, the MP4-12C. The 12C is the first in a new range of carbon-based road cars from McLaren and the first car to feature an innovative one-piece, hollow carbon chassis structure: the MonoCell. The MP4/1, also on display, was the first racing car, and first car of any kind, to feature a carbon chassis. Watson was joined at Silverstone by former McLaren Technical Director John Barnard, McLaren Automotive Technical Director Dick Glover, and Claudio Santoni Function Group Manager for Body Structures at McLaren Automotive, as McLaren celebrated its role as a carbon pioneer in the automotive industry over the last 30 years.Arguably the world’s greatest ever sports car, the McLaren F1, featured the world’s first carbon chassis in a road car. This was produced manually and took up to 3,000 hours to complete each unit. The bonded carbon chassis of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, the world’s most commercially successful carbon-based car, reduced that manufacturing time ten-fold. The new carbon manufacturing process developed by McLaren for the 12C will mean the MonoCell can be produced in a four hour cycle. Pioneering this industrialisation process means McLaren Automotive is making carbon a reality to car enthusiasts seeking the ultimate in lightweight and safe chassis construction at a price point more affordable to a wider market. The new MP4-12C is the first sub-£200,000 high performance sports car in the world to feature a one-piece carbon chassis. The MonoCell weighs just 75kgs (165lbs), and is a safety cell which, like the MP4/1, is unique in offering an unrivalled package of strength, light weight and the structural integrity and dimensional accuracy to form the bedrock to segment-beating performance. The MonoCell’s composition and construction process were defined over a three year period as the first, and vital, step in McLaren Automotive’s launch as a fully-fledged sports car company. Claudio Santoni, Function Group Manager for Body Structures at McLaren Automotive, said: “The MonoCell is extremely light, which helps reduce the 12C’s CO2 emissions to unprecedented levels for high-performance sports cars.  It is also incredibly strong and predictable in form and behaviour, providing a great foundation to world-beating performance; acceleration, braking, changes of direction and vehicle stability are all significantly better than on any car with aluminium chassis that I have ever known. This is because, using a carbon composite means we can manufacture the MonoCell with aerospace industry levels of precision, which is fundamental to accurate dynamic suspension geometry control,” Santoni concluded.On March 5, 1981 McLaren Racing introduced the carbon monocoque to Formula 1 in the McLaren MP4/1: it offered an unbeatable combination of strength and lightness. It had an immediate dynamic impact, with John Watson winning the 1981 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It also proved an effective safety cell, with Watson walking away from a dramatic high-speed crash at Monza later that season. Within a few years, every other Formula 1 team on the grid had followed suit, and McLaren’s place as carbon innovators was sealed.  John Watson said: “I’m very proud to have been a part of McLaren launching the first carbon fibre chassis in Formula 1. After that crash in Monza, I was back driving one of our Formula 1 test cars within four days at Donington. Despite the accident appearing horrific to those watching, I was clearly protected by a safety cell of the strength and rigidity the world of Formula 1 had never before seen. I’m sure that because of that innovative technology, I walked away unscathed.” After making his track debut behind the wheel of the 592 bhp, 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 12C, Watson exclaimed: “The MP4-12C is mind-bogglingly quick! It is by far and away the fastest road car I’ve ever driven. Between 80-130 mph it really feels as fast as my old Formula 1 car. I only drive it in Normal mode, so I can’t begin to imagine what it is like in Sport or Track modes!”

04-03-11

Formula Pilota China : Asia Racing Team will participate in the brand new 2011 Formula Pilota China series. The team is planning to contest the six-round Asian Series with at least three cars. A driver line-up announcement is expected shortly. Formula Abarth was introduced in Italy in 2010, and it  expands in  2011 to include the inaugural Asian and European Series. Named as Formula Pilota China in Asia, it is ideally placed to train drivers from karting or beginner categories to prepare them for Formula 3 or GP3. With six rounds tabled for the 2011 Asian season, the geographical reach of the Championship includes Mainland China and Malaysia. The Macau team based in Zhuhai has a track record of building successful open-wheel drivers in the region. Tatuus has employed a carbon fibre chassis, which is fitted with the 1.4 turbocharged Abarth engine tuned by Fiat Powertrain Technologies with 180bhp, and transmission supplied by Sadev, featuring a 6-speed sequential gearbox. Speaking on Asia Racing Team decision to join Formula Pilota China series in Asia, Philippe Descombes said, "We are delighted to be part of the series. This will further strengthen our reputation as a learning ground for young drivers. We have eight years of experience in Tatuus’ products, and we do believe Formula Abarth car is the ideal series for young drivers based in Asia to learn their trade in a highly competitive environment, on some of Asia’s best circuits. We fully expect to be able to continue our excellent track record of success at Asia Racing Team and to supply a first rate product to our young drivers."  

Formula Renault BARC : Drivers contesting the 2011 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship have been gifted a rare opportunity to race on an international platform after organisers secured the chance for them to compete in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC meeting at Zandvoort. Held over the weekend of the 12th to 14th August, the event would see BARC drivers compete as part of the highly prestigious Masters of Formula 3 meeting which attracts crowds of more than 20,000. Although an optional non-championship round, the move has been negotiated to allow Protyre BARC drivers the chance to gain vital international race experience and a taste of a circuit they could well find themselves on in later years. Drivers will be able to join both the 25-minute Formula Renault 2.0 NEC races taking part over the weekend as well as the preceded practice and qualifying sessions giving them maximum track time. Richard Ollerenshaw, Team Manager of Championship winning team Hillspeed, commented: “This is an exceptional opportunity for young drivers to compete at an event and circuit as prestigious as this. Giving drivers a taste of international racing will help them for what lays around the corner and we will certainly be talking to our drivers about participating.” SWB Motorsport’s Team Manager Simon Baldry said: “This is a great opportunity for us as a relatively junior Formula to have an opportunity to run both in front of a large, European audience and with a championship of the quality of the Masters of Formula 3. The potential for sponsors is excellent and it also gives the drivers a chance to impress on a European circuit.”  Championship Promoter Simon North added: “Together with the Zandvort meeting and the two rounds at the BTCC finale, this season we’re giving our drivers two fantastic opportunities to experience top-flight motorsport and a great platform for future success.” pic Jakob Ebrey Photography 

Karts: Twelve lucky Formula Kart Stars drivers will be special guests at the ‘Home of British Motorsport’ in July as Bernie Ecclestone invites the 2010 ‘Driver of the Day’ winners to take front row seats for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 9th-10th. The prize not only includes grandstand tickets for the weekend but also includes VIP Paddock passes that allow the young drivers a chance to get up close with the Formula 1 teams and drivers. Not only will the drivers be able to watch the all the on-track action they will be able to explore first hand Silverstone’s brand new pit and paddock complex, known as ‘The Wing,’ which is to be used by the Formula 1 teams for the first time in 2011. This is the second year the Formula One Management backed series has offered the ‘Drivers of the Day’ a once in a lifetime experience thanks to prize sponsor Bernie Ecclestone and the lucky few who experienced the prize in 2010 all agreed that the chance to watch and speak to the Formula 1 teams and those in the support races during a Formula 1 weekend was one they will never forget. “Silverstone is where it all began with the very first Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in 1950,” says Formula Kart Stars series director Carolynn Hoy. “It always carries a special buzz about it and our drivers will get a real taste of that. As the drivers who went to Monza with us last year will tell you, this won’t be any normal weekend at the races. I have to thank Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management for their continued support of our series and the Driver of the Day prize,” continued Hoy. “I know that he has had to work very hard to find a suitable date that will allow all our drivers to attend without causing disruption to their racing and school schedules and I know that he will give our drivers a really special weekend.”  Pic Carolynn Hoy

The last time Luke Whitworth had been due to race at Three Sisters near Wigan, the rapidly-improving young Rotherham kart racer was scuppered by a badly-broken arm sustained in an accident late last summer – but he has now returned and demonstrated that his acceleration through the ranks remains firmly on-track, by notching up the best result of his career to-date. Pic: Paul Griffiths Galleries     Read report

Formula 3: Facu Regalia was at Adria yesterday(Thursday) at the wheel of one of the Dallara FPT F3 cars from Team Ghinzani. Rain prevented him from going to the circuit in the morning, however by the afternoon he was able to get out for a few laps and continue with the development of his car.  During the morning conditions made it almost impossible to be out on track, the nineteen year old managing a solitary lap. “This weather was previewed, but he had the test already scheduled. The track was very difficult since the green flag and we just did one installation lap before lunch, because this was a new car and we wanted to know if everything was working correctly”, said Facu. In the afternoon, the Spanish-Argentinean youngster did get some mileage, although the track was still wet. “I never drove in such treacherous conditions, but we are very pleased, me and the team, with the development that we did and with the solution that we found. We tried some new aerodynamic parts with good results. Every time I went to the track, the lap-times improved, something that shows that we enhanced the handling of the car in the wet”, he underlined.

The reigning Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Champion of Great Britain, Scott Pye, will graduate to Formula 3 this season. The 21-year-old Australian, who won 12 Formula Ford races on his way to the 2010 title with Jamun Racing, will contest British F3 with Double R Racing.  Pye is the third Formula Ford Champion in successive years to graduate to F3: Wayne Boyd, the 2008 titlist, was a race winner in British F3 the following season, and ’09 Ford champion James Cole was a National F3 class victor last year. Scott enjoyed his first taste of F3 power in testing at Rockingham earlier this week. “It’s hugely exciting for me,” he said, “and also very daunting because it’s a big leap from Formula Ford to a Formula 3 car. But I’m with a great team and I’m enjoying the challenge.”  Ex-F1 driver Perry McCarthy corresponded with motorsport-mad Scott for many years, offering advice and encouragement, before bringing him over to race last year in Formula Ford. Says McCarthy: “I am backing Scotty not just because of his undoubted speed in a race car but because he has the attitude and focus of a champion and I believe he is a Formula 1 driver just waiting to happen.”  Pye is hoping to follow in the wheeltracks of his countryman Mark Webber, the 2010 World Championship frontrunner and a former Formula Ford Champion and British Formula 3 race-winner. Scott has many Australian backers behind him, including the Australian Motor Sport Federation, Australian Business and Triple Eight Race Engineering, the leading V8 Supercar team, whose boss Roland Dane said: “We are very happy to be supporting Scotty again and looking forward to him showing his potential this year. We hope that he will be the latest in the long line of Australian talent to succeed.” Penny Mattocks, the Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain co-ordinator, paid tribute to Pye on his graduation: “Scott Pye won Formula Ford with calm determination and a splendid success rate. Scott is fluent both on track and in interviews, and a really popular guy in the paddock. We are euphoric that once again the best in Formula Ford has stepped into a fabulous opportunity in Formula 3, and know that he will be a great credit to the team and prove himself worthy of one of the best single-seater championships in the world.”  Pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Porsche Carrera Cup GB: George Richardson will challenge for the pro-am1 title in this year’s Porsche Carrera Cup GB, as he goes into his second full season with Motorbase Performance. The Alderley Edge-based teenager was one of the rising stars of the 2010 season, taking four pro-am2 victories in a row over the closing four races and he will now step up to the pro-am1 class for 2011. He ended the season with the ‘most improved driver of the season’ award. Richardson will not reach his 20th birthday until 10 days after the end of the Carrera Cup season. “It will be right for me to step up to pro-am1 this year,” said Richardson. “We see this as the year to really step up to the plate and the new Carrera Cup car will be a big new challenge. I’ve been training very hard over the winter and I’m doing five mile runs every morning to get absolutely ready,” said Richardson. He has also been working with the Porsche Human Performance team to get himself in the best possible condition. My target is to get a top three overall finish by the end of the season. This is the second year of our three-year plan with Motorbase and I love the team,” he said. “This year I’ve got Tim Harvey and Michael Caine in the team, which is all good for me. I’ve got two wise men instead of one. The season has been a long time coming and I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car.” Team boss David Bartrum is delighted with the way that Richardson is developing his career. “George is ready to move up a league and keep his career momentum going forwards,” said Bartrum. “He was third in pro-am2 last year, but only six points off the title and by the end of the season he was the pacesetter. If he’d not had a water pump failure at Croft, when he was leading, he would have won pro-am2. George has completely grasped what it takes to be strong in a Porsche,” continued Bartrum. “He’s learnt how to deal with the team and the engineers and he’s learnt how to deal with the sponsors very well. He doesn’t expect it to come to him; he goes out and works very hard for it.”  Richardson will shortly start testing his 450bhp 911GT3 Cup and will take part in the pre-season test and media day at Snetterton on 22 March. The opening two races of the season will be at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 2/3 April. His progress can be followed on Twitter: @georgedot

Grand-Am: AIM Autosport’s Daytona Prototype team arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Thursday to compete in this weekend’s Grand Prix of Miami. Invigorated with a renewed sense of optimism following a productive off-season and the addition of Dinan-tuned BMW engines, AIM wants to begin its 2011 campaign with a podium finish in Saturday’s race. En route to Florida, the team stopped at Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah, Georgia, to shake down the AIM Autosport BMW-Riley #61. Having missed the off-season test sessions and being unable to participate in the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona, the test was the first time AIM had run its Daytona Prototype since the end of last season. The test went well and allowed the team debug the car in preparation for its season-opening race. Most importantly the motor and transmission performed flawlessly, a point of pride for the crew who had worked long hours to install the new engine and get the car ready to race. “The deal came together late and the guys only had two weeks to fit the engine,” said AIM Autosport principal, Ian Willis. “It turned out being more work than anticipated, but we’re fortunate to have a very talented crew and they were able to do an excellent job.” Drivers Mark Wilkins and Burt Frisselle are back and very excited for the 2011 campaign. "It’s great to be back behind the wheel of the AIM Autosport BMW-Riley #61,” Mark said. “The team has worked exceptionally hard to prep the car and fit the new Dinan-tuned motor. We have some learning to do on the new Continental tires, but we feel we will get up to speed come Friday morning." Burt Added, “AIM has kept pretty much the same group through the years, so it’s like coming home. When you know everybody and have good relationships and communication, it gives you a lot of confidence. If we can come out of Homestead with a top five, that would be a great.” The Grand Prix of Miami is the second round of the 2011 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Qualifying takes place today from 3:45–4:00pm and the 2h-45m race is scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED and MRN.

WSR: American racing driver Alexander Rossi was 'truly impressed and motivated' after visiting the grand prix circuit site in Austin , Texas this week where he met with Bruce Knox, President and CEO of Formula 1™ United States , and Tavo Hellmund, its promoter. Alexander, who will be driving for Fortec Motorsports in World Series by Renault (Formula Renault 3.5 Series) this season, and his father Pieter Rossi of Team Rossi Motorsports, were invited by Tavo Hellmund and Bruce Knox to visit the initial work that has commenced for the latest racetrack to be built for the 2012 Formula 1™ World Championship. The natural landscape and elevation of Austin 's unique typography has allowed renown circuit designer Hermann Tilke to create a 3.4 mile racetrack which combines modern features with details reminiscent of traditional races from the 1960's. The surrounding landscape will allow for a maximum elevation change of 133 feet, and the strategic combination of over 20 turns - which should please drivers and fans alike. "My visit to Austin affirmed the belief that this is the right location to host a Formula 1 return to the States," Alexander commented. " Tavo, Bruce, site workers and everyone I was able to meet this past week are extremely motivated and enthusiastic about the project. There is a buzz and energy that resonates within everyone I came in contact with in Austin . Everyone is aware that a major race and big event is coming to town. It's obvious by the professionalism at Formula 1 United States, that this event will take place in 2012. I'll be working hard to earn the opportunity to represent America , lining up on the F1 grid for 2012. For now my focus is 2011 and World Series by Renault with Fortec Motorsports." Bruce Knox said, "It was a great pleasure to meet with Alexander and to show him what we are going to achieve here. It is important for our home-grown talent to see what we envision for the USGP. I have followed Alexander's career and it would be fantastic for both F1 and American racing to see him in an F1 car at the inaugural Formula 1 United States Grand Prix™. We will be cheering him on at the Formula Renault Championship this year and hope to see him here in 2012."

WTCC: The entry list for the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship that will kick off on March 20th at Curitiba, Brazil, was released today; this list remains subjected to the FIA approval.Twenty-one competitors entered for the full season plus Carlos "Cacá" Bueno's Chevrolet Cruze that will take part in the Brazilian event. The list is formed by drivers coming from sixteen countries at the wheel of cars built from four different manufacturers: BMW, Chevrolet, SEAT and Volvo."We are satisfied because we retain a solid twenty-one car grid in spite of the recession that keeps on affecting motorsport activities worldwide. This makes us trustful in the near future, especially when we look at the first full season participation of Polestar Racing with a Volvo car. It is also very rewarding to see that all the represented Manufacturers are investing on the new 1.6-litre turbo engine. And this will enable all the teams to switch to the new engines sometimes during this season," Promoter Marcello Lotti commented, adding: "I want to say that we have signed two-year agreements with most of the teams, which provides already a solid basis of twenty cars again for 2012; a minimum guaranteed that we are trying to enhance further through the negotiations currently ongoing with other Manufacturers."   Download the entry list

Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu attended the press days of the Geneva Motor Show at the Chevrolet stand. The three racers posed for pictures, were available for interviews and acted as brand ambassadors and test drivers during the presentation of the new Chevrolet Volt.
Chevrolet's presence at the Motor Show revolves around two main topics: the brand's centenary and the victory in the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship. Therefore Yvan Muller's racing car - that sports the new 2011 livery - sits in the centre of the stand, alongside a glass show case containing the FIA WTCC Manufacturers' Trophy, while two giant screens show the highlights of the 2010 season.

Tenneco Inc., manufacturer of Monroe shock absorbers and Walker exhaust systems, announced that Tiago Monteiro is the official Monroe driver for the 2011 FIA WTCC. A former Formula One racer, the 34-year old Portuguese switched to WTCC in 2007; since then he claimed four race wins and was classified fifth in last year's championship. Monteiro faces now his fifth touring car season in a Monroe-branded SEAT León run by SUNRED.   Alex Gelbcke, Tenneco Vice President and General Manager, Aftermarket Europe, said: "Having Tiago as an ambassador will be a fantastic asset to Monroe's presence in the WTCC. We are all looking enthusiastically forward to a great season!"  And Monteiro commented: "it is an honour for me to be chosen by Monroe to represent their brand. I will give my all to make them proud and make this relationship work!"

The Zengö Dension Team announced that Norbert Michelisz will take part in the 2011 WTCC with a BMW 320 TC in partnership with BMW Hungary. In an effort to gain more experience with the new technical package, the team decided not to attend the season-opener at Curitiba and to join from the second event at Zolder. Michelisz, who created sensation on his maiden WTCC season last year by becoming the first Hungarian driver to win a world championship race, will take over Augusto Farfus' former BMW factory car that is being upgraded to the new TC specifications that include the 1.6-litre turbo engine. The car will be updated and prepared by Belgium-based Team RBM that will also provide technical support on track. "I'm very happy to race a BMW 320 TC. I will need to adjust my mind and driving style for the rear-wheel drive. We have a lot work to do in order to get to know the car, but I'm confident that we will be able to make a big step forward especially in case we will be testing the car ahead the first race," Michelisz said.  Henning Putzke, Managing Director BMW Group Hungary declared: "We are happy to support the team. Norbert Michelisz is a great talent and we hope to see him more often on the podium in 2011 so that the world can recognize the success of Hungarian motorsport. Supporting him is an extention of the motorsport engagement of BMW Group Hungary."

Fredy Barth unveiled at the International Motor Show in Geneva the livery of his SEAT Swiss Racing car he will drive in the 2011 WTCC. His SEAT León car will be run again by Spain-based outfit SUNRED Engineering; on his second year in the World Touring Car Championship and after finishing nine races in the points during his maiden season, Barth aims for more points and for podium results. "I am really happy and proud, to once again be part of both the WTCC family and the SUNRED team. Unveiling the livery here in Geneva offered the ideal setting for a successful season. The fact that I have already settled into the championship will help me to prepare myself for the new season. I know most of the racetracks and also the secrets of racing in the WTCC, and with some luck that was missing sometimes in 2010, podium finishes will be within our grasp," said Barth and then added: "The start of the season won't be easy with the old TDI engine, but from the third event in Marrakech we will have the new 1.6-litre turbo engine."

03-03-11

Carrera Cup GB : Steve Parish says he can’t wait to get back to racing for his second season in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, when he will continue his partnership with Motorbase Performance.The London-based businessman only started racing in 2009 with the aim of getting the licence signatures required for a National A licence ahead of his debut in the Carrera Cup GB at the end of the season. All of his racing to date has been in a Porsche with the Motorbase team.“I hope to complete the season this time,” said Parish, who missed part of the 2010 season after an accident at Oulton Park in June. “I was in the pro-am2 reckoning last year and there should be a big pro-am2 entry this season. We’ll all be in the same cars, so you can measure yourself against the best drivers in the Carrera Cup.” His team mates will include category pacesetters Tim Harvey and Michael Caine. Parish took his first pro-am2 win at Brands Hatch in May and was a category front-runner despite missing several race weekends. Team boss David Bartrum is delighted to have signed Parish to continue with the multi-car Motorbase squad. Steve’s not had a brand new car before, so that will be good for him,” said Bartrum. “The pace is definitely in Steve and he just needs to learn this new car, like all the drivers are going to have to do.” Parish said, “I really can’t wait to get back in the car, I’m beside myself at the prospect of getting back into it.” Along with the rest of the Motorbase Performance team, Parish will start testing his 450bhp 911GT3 Cup on 13 March and will take part in the pre-season test and media day at Snetterton on 22 March. Like all the Carrera Cup GB drivers, the full day of running will be his first chance to learn the new Snetterton 300 track layout, which will host two rounds of the Carrera Cup GB in early August.The opening two races of the season will be at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 2/3 April.

Formula Renault UK: Manor Competition made a highly competitive start to official Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship pre-season testing at Brands Hatch this week, the Nottinghamshire team delighted with the progress of all four of its drivers. By the end of the two day run, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, 1-2 March, Ollie Millroy led the way for Manor with the third fastest lap on combined times while Graduate Cup runners Jordan King and Alice Powell were fifth and sixth respectively and Josh Hill was eighth.  Only 0.4 secs separated the top eight by the end of the two days at the 1.2-mile Indy Circuit and although Millroy was just a mere 0.053 secs shy of the outright pace, he could have concluded the test as the quickest of all had a flap bracket not broken on his front wing. Working through set-up options on old tyres during Tuesday, Millroy really came to the fore on the second morning where he emerged quickest with a lap of 43.076s (100.17mph). One of just three drivers to dip below the 43 second barrier on Wednesday afternoon, his final new tyre run was impacted by the front wing problem. Warwickshire 17-year-old King enjoyed an impressive couple of days and concluded the test within just 0.2 secs of the top of the times – the second fastest of the youngsters eligible for the Graduate Cup class this year – thanks to his best lap from Wednesday morning. Tuesday’s outing started off on a damp track and King ran well throughout, ending session one in fifth and then rounding out the afternoon with an excellent third fastest time on old tyres – the best of the Manor quartet. Third again on Wednesday morning, just 0.061 secs shy of Millroy, King wasn’t able to improve further in the final session after an excursion at Paddock Hill Bend. Reigning Formula Renault BARC Champion Powell, who is also eligible for the Graduate Cup battle this season, was very evenly matched with King in the end and finished the test inside the top six with a time a shade over 0.2 secs off the outright pace.Running on very old tyres for the bulk of the test, meaning her day one times weren’t representative of her genuine speed, the 18-year-old from Chipping Norton was eighth fastest – within 0.5 secs of Millroy – on Wednesday morning and then improved very well in the last session to go sixth. Hill did a tremendous job to be within 0.4 secs of the outright pace by the end of the test, especially considering he had to contend with an electrical issue which caused his car to cut-out through left-hand corners. Fourth fastest overall at the end of the first day, within 0.5 secs of the top, the 20-year-old was within 0.3 secs of the pace on the second morning and then produced his best lap of all – 43.325 secs (99.59mph) – in the final outing to end the two days a creditable eighth. Reflecting on the test, team co-owner Tony Shaw said: “We’re pleased with how everything went at Brands. Ollie was right there at the top and on combined sectors he should have been fastest of all but the breakage to the front wing flap prevented that. Josh did very well considering the electrical gremlin on his car, to be within 0.4 seconds of the pace having coped with that was a great effort.Jordan did look as though he could be in the top three at the end after such a terrific job on old tyres on day one, without his off at Paddock we’re sure he’d have been right there. Alice too did a fantastic job, she put in a lot of laps with really worn out tyres and although she didn’t quite get the best from her new set her time was still very quick.” pic Jakob Ebrey Photography 

GT3: At the end of January, HEXIS AMR was the first team to announce two complete driver line-ups for the FIA GT1 World Championship. A month later, the French team presents the two driver trios who will share its Aston Martins in GT3. HEXIS AMR won the European Championship in this category in 2009, and it is now about to discover a new domain of motor sport – endurance.  Pic V-Images.

Motorsport Asia announced today that they recently received notification from CKMP, the Asian Festival Of Speed (AFOS) Promoter in Korea , that they are unable to proceed with the AFOS event scheduled for 8th May 2011, due to problems with the circuit owner KAVO. Following receipt of this notification, David Sonenscher, CEO of Motorsport Asia, met with KAVO yesterday (Wed), who confirmed that they are not in a position to host the AFOS event this season. "As you know we have tried very hard to support the new circuit in Korea , it is an amazing state of the art facility and we believe that Korea is a very important market for the future of Asian motorsport. I hope that we can look at going back there in the near future, but they would really need to satisfy us that nothing else could go wrong. Two consecutive cancellations is a bit much." said David Sonenscher.  Motorsport Asia has already made alternative arrangements for the three affected Championships. For GT Asia Series they have established a co-operation with Sepang Circuit to support the F1 event in Malaysia as a non-championship round. JK Racing Asia Series will now attend the Guangdong Circuit, China on August 14th and the Asian Touring Car Series will now start 1 month later on 24th April in conjunction with HTCC also in Guangdong

Formula 3: Felipe Nasr continued his sterling efforts at the sharp end of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series field in the second day of official testing at the Rockingham circuit. Having set top time on Tuesday – 1m 10.953s – the 18-year-old Brazilian shaved a further 0.3s from his best to end the two days on 1m 10.586s, which is a second and a half inside last year’s Rockingham pole time.  Wednesday was a generally quicker day at the Northamptonshire speedway, with six of Nasr’s rivals joining him in setting laps under the 1m 11s mark. His closest competitor was another of his Carlin team-mates, Danish championship newcomer Kevin Magnussen, who was 0.146s adrift. The others in the super-quick club were fellow Carlin runners Carlos Huertas, Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Jazeman Jaafar, plus Hitech men Pietro Fantin, who went fifth fastest to split the Carlin formation, and Riki Christodoulou. Young Brits Jack Harvey and Harry Tincknell were the first of the F3 debutants in eighth and ninth positions respectively, with Tincknell outpacing his Fortec team-mate Will Buller for the honour of top Mercedes-powered runner. Testing continues next week at Silverstone on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series

Official testing, Rockingham / 1-2 March 2011 

Leading runners Tuesday / Wednesday 

1  Felipe NASR / BRA,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 10.953s / 1m 10.586s

2  Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 11.528s / 1m 10.732s

3  Carlos HUERTAS / COL,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 10.994s / 1m 10.792s

4  Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 11.110s / 1m 10.838s

5  Pietro FANTIN / BRA,  Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 11.772s / 1m 10.925s

6  Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 11.121s / 1m 10.954s

7  Riki CHRISTODOULOU / GBR,  Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 11.530s / 1m 10.984s

8  Jack HARVEY / GBR,  Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen  1m 11.358s / 1m 11.261s

9  Harry TINCKNELL / GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 11.904s / 1m 11.507s

10  William BULLER /GBR,  Fortec Dallara-Mercedes  1m 12.084s / 1m 11.554s etc

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series racer Menasheh Idafar rounded-out this week’s opening test of the 2011 pre-season satisfied with his performance after concluding the two day run at Rockingham less than a second shy of the outright pace. Although a somewhat frustrating day for the 19-year-old with numerous red flag stoppages in the morning hampering his progress, he managed to enjoy a more straightforward outing during the afternoon on Wednesday, 2nd March. In the final session he posted a best time of 1m.11.577s (97.57mph). Placing the T-Sport driver 11th quickest overall, his fastest effort of the two days meant he ended the first official test of the year just 0.9 seconds away from outright pace-setter Felipe Nasr. Menasheh said: “Today wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for, in the morning I just didn’t get a clear run at all so we weren’t as quick as we should have been. Thankfully in the afternoon we did manage to get some better laps in so, in the end, we were pretty competitive.”  Beginning day two at Rockingham with the 11th fastest time of 1m12.357s, any improvements during the remainder of the morning weren’t possible due to the aforementioned red flag interruptions. In the afternoon, the British-born Bahraini posted a time of 1m12.441s in session four to go 13th quickest on the timesheets before slicing a significant chunk of time off his previous best to end the two days with a best of 1m11.577s from the final run. Next is a visit to Silverstone on Tuesday and Wednesday, 8-9th March. pic Jakob Ebrey Photography 

ITC: With the first official practice for the Intercontinental Trophy Cup (ITC) series just weeks away, officials  have announced a deal with FORGELINE as the official supplier for high-performance wheels for both P1 and P2 classes in the Porsche Cayman based series. Forgeline will feature their newest competition wheel, the GA3R. ITC principal Doug Livingston stated, "While providing wheels for all makes of car in motorsport, Forgeline has a long history with Porsche cars on and off the track.. Forgeline is providing a great wheel that is built to withstand the high demands of ITC and its competitors." Livingston continued, "David Schardt and his family have been long time friends and have also been involved in Motorsports for a long time both at a club level and professional level. We are very pleased to have them as part of the ITC family."  The Intercontinental Trophy Cup season starts with an official test at Virginia International Raceway on March 24th. Racing gets underway April 15 at New Jersey Motorsport Park. For more details please visit www.trophycupracing.com

MotoGP’s highly anticipated return to Silverstone was a resounding success in 2010, praised by riders, fans and media alike. Following its promise to deliver an even bigger two-wheeled festival at this year’s AirAsia British Grand Prix (10-12 June), the Northamptonshire circuit is delighted to announce it has secured the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, the Red Bull Matadors and legendary trials rider Dougie Lampkin as part of its world-class entertainment package. The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup will be a new support race at this year’s event – Britain’s only round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship. Silverstone will host rounds five and six of the popular grass roots racing series, from which several riders have graduated into MotoGP, including Andrea Dovizioso or Hiroshi Aoyama. The best young talent from 15 nations will battle it out on the Saturday and Sunday of the MotoGP weekend, hoping to emulate the likes of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo on Silverstone’s super-fast Grand Prix Circuit. Away from the track, the Red Bull Matadors will be a spectacular new addition for 2011. Throughout the weekend, the UK’s most dynamic aerobatic team will be taking to the skies and wowing the Silverstone crowd. Aerobatic gold medallists Paul Bonhomme and Steve Jones will be performing breathtaking manoeuvres and extreme displays in their high speed stunt planes

02-03-11

F2000/F1600: SOS Children’s Villages has been named the official charity of the F2000 Championship Series and the F1600 Formula F Championship Series. SOS Children's Villages focuses on family-based, long-term care of children who can no longer grow up with their biological families. The charity’s new initiative, “Keeping Kids on Track,” will brand a new inner-championship for both F2000 and F1600: The SOS Children’s Villages Watkins Glen Cup. The award will be presented to the driver in each Series that scores the most points during both weekends (four races) at Watkins Glen International at the year-end Series banquet on October 16 following the final races of the 2011 season at Watkins Glen. “Keeping Kids On Track is a perfect slogan for this great partnership,” said Heather Paul, CEO, SOS Children’s Villages – USA. “Racing is about family and people in your life who become family, to give you a first start, or a fresh start. That’s what SOS does around the world—we give orphaned and abandoned children a family and a future, and we provide a place of healing where brothers and sisters in foster care are reunited once more. This will be a terrific opportunity to introduce the racing community to SOS Children’s Villages – a charity that shares their values."As the official charity of both Series, SOS Children’s Villages will receive branding at the track and on marketing materials as well as content opportunities on the Series’ various delivery routes and more. Additionally, SOS youths will be on-hand to take part in the F2000 weekend. For over 60 years, SOS Children's Villages has been dedicated to providing family-based, long-term care to children who can no longer grow up with their biological families. They also focus on preventing the conditions that cause children to be orphaned and abandoned. Through its Children’s Villages and Family Strengthening Programs, SOS impacts the lives of over 1 million people each year. In 2009, SOS Children's Villages received the Save the World Award. SOS has also received numerous honors including the Mother Teresa Gold Medal, the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, and the Vietnam Friendship Medal. For more information about SOS Children's Villages, visit www.sos-usa.org.

Karts: CRG Racing Team went to the La Conca meeting at the end of February with several young drivers, all eager to take advantage of the experience of the Italian team "CRG has always been able to rely on valuable drivers to reach its goals and enhance the performance of its equipment, but our make has also constantly supported and trained young drivers. Some of these drivers remain in karting, while others turn their attention to car racing. In any case, we try to make them improve in all areas: driving, technique and strategy", said the team manager of CRG Racing Team.   In KZ both the KZ1 and KZ2 drivers were together in the same group and had to struggle against changing weather conditions. For the CRG chassis it was an opportunity to show their full potential on track, in both the wet and the dry. In KZ1, Jorrit Pex (CRG Holland - pictured left) concluded Saturday's final in 4th place. He was 3rd on Sunday, after the heats but sadly he wasn’t as successful during the final race. In KZ2, Daniele Delli Compagni reached the third step of the podium on the first day and concluded the following day in 4th place ahead of another CRG driver, Leonardo Fuoco. In KF the heavy rain made the work of drivers and teams much harder, in KF2 for example, Russian Ivan Mikitchenko as well as Italian Alessio Profeta, at the wheel of his LH, would have preferred a less difficult trackbut both are already looking forward to their next race. In KF3, Dutch Max Koebolt (CRG-Maxter) staged one of his most exciting recoveries, from 67th to 28th. Another CRG chassis also put in a noteworthy performance with another recovery by Max Verstappen. 20th at the start of the final, he moved up to third, setting fastest lap on the way.  In 60 Mini Eliseo Martinez won a heat on Saturday, but did even better the following day. Ending up 2nd in the pre-final and 2nd in the final, taking fastest lap in the process.

Prima Racing enjoyed their breakthrough success on the global stage with a sublime victory for Billy Monger in the 60 Mini class of the 2011 WSK Master Series curtain-raiser at La Conca recently. Pics FotoFormulaK, 

As at the Winter Cup held two weeks earlier,the sun played hard-to-get in Southern Italy on 25, 26 and 27 February. Heavy rains fell on the La Conca track at the WSK Master Series inauguration and made track conditions extremely difficult. Beitske Visser took advantage of the situation to broaden her driving experience and take fifth place. 

Formula 3: Felipe Nasr gave early notice of his intentions in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Rockingham in the first official test session of the 2011 season on Tuesday. The Brazilian was one of only two drivers to break the 1m 11s barrier, and his best time was very nearly 1.2 seconds inside last year's Rockingham pole time. Nasr's patriotic yellow and green Dallara-Volkswagen was one of five Carlin-run cars in the top six, with Colombian Carlos Huertas next up on 1m 10.994s. Felipe set his time in the third of the five Rockingham sessions; though some drivers, Huertas included, bettered their personal bests in the afternoon tests, none could topple Nasr from the top. "I am very pleased," said Felipe, whose sole race victory of the 2010 British Formula 3 season came at Rockingham. "It was a good session and a good lap. Everything so far is looking fine for the year." A number of drivers new to the championship were in action, the quickest among them young Briton Jack Harvey, whose Racing Steps Foundation-backed car was quickest in the first afternoon session. He ended the day fifth quickest overall behind his team-mates Nasr, Huertas, Rupert Svendsen-Cook and Jazeman Jaafar. Riki Christodoulou, a championship regular in 2009, was in action for Hitech and placed eighth overall, a couple of tenths shy of his Hitech team-mate Pietro Fantin. The leading Mercedes-engined runner was Fortec's Lucas Foresti, who posted ninth-quickest time. The sole Rookie class competitor, Dutchman Bart Hylkema, posted 17th best in his Mugen Honda-powered T-Sport Dallara.

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Official testing, Rockingham / 1 March 2011

Leading runners am / pm

1 Felipe NASR / BRA, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 10.953s / 1m 11.131s
2 Carlos HUERTAS / COL, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.128s / 1m 10.994s
3 Rupert SVENDSEN-COOK / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.147s / 1m 11.110s
4 Jazeman JAAFAR / MAS, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 12.731s / 1m 11.121s
5 Jack HARVEY / GBR, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.861s / 1m 11.358s
6 Pietro FANTIN / BRA, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.772s / 1m 11.370s
7 Kevin MAGNUSSEN / DEN, Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 11.628s / 1m 11.528s
8 Riki CHRISTODOULOU / GBR, Hitech Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 12.792s / 1m 11.530s
9 Lucas FORESTI / BRA, Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 1m 11.584s / 1m 12.084s
10 Menasheh IDAFAR / GBR, T-Sport Dallara-Volkswagen 1m 13.967s / 1m 11.826s etc

National Class Champion Menasheh Idafar made a good start to the first official Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series test of the 2011 pre-season at Rockingham on Tuesday, 1st March, by ending the outing 10th quickest on the combined timesheets. At the wheel of his Dallara F310 Volkswagen, the 19-year-old finished the first of two days within just 0.8 seconds of the outright pace. Remaining with the T-Sport team for his step-up to the full International Class this year, Menasheh immediately ran well in the damp during the opening 45-minute session this morning to post the sixth quickest time of 1m24.472 seconds (82.67mph). The track surface dried significantly in time for session two and from that point on the times started to tumble as a result. Lapping in 1m16.781 seconds (90.95mph) to end the second run on the fringe of the top 10, the British-born Bahraini improved to 1m13.967 seconds (95.00mph) in session three. During the afternoon Menasheh was in the front-running mix throughout, first posting a time of 1m11.861 seconds (97.18mph) in session four to go back into the top six and then concluding the day with a marginally better 1m11.826 seconds – placing him ninth fastest in session five and 10th overall for the entire day.  “It’s been a pretty good day, I did make a mistake in the first session which meant I wasn’t as quick as I should have been but overall I’m fairly happy”, he commented, “We’ve got some good data from today and there are a few things to improve on tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that. We expect it to be drier for the second day too so hopefully we can make some good progress.”  pic Jakob Ebrey Photography

Facu Regalia has signed with Team Ghinzani for the 2011 Formula 3 Italia Championship and he will get his new season underway on Thursday with a test at Adria.. The nineteen year old will make his debut in a Formula 3 championship with the squad led by ex-Formula 1 driver, Piercarlo Ghinzani. “I’m very excited with this opportunity and to be able to work with Team Ghinzani. The tests that we did together went very well and I’m confident that the team will give me all the conditions to explore my potential. As always, I’ll give my best in every moment and I feel that we can achieve good results. We are looking forward to start working together”, said Regalia. After months away from a racing car Facu will be at Adria tomorrow for a test with the Team Ghinzani’s Dallara FPT. “I’m looking forward to be in the car again. I’ve been working hard in the last few weeks so I can tackle the new season in the best possible way”, said the nineteen years old driver. During the test he has as goal “to evolve the car, developing myself as a driver and starting to pick up the racing rhythm, after such a long period without driving”, underlined the Spanish-Argentinean driver.

Formula Renault UK:  Atech Reid GP kicked off its 2011 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship bid with the fastest time in the first official tests at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on Tuesday.  Rookie Tio Ellinas, topped the time sheets with a 43.191s lap around the 1.2mile Kent track to finish ahead of several second-year drivers. His team-mate Oscar King was equally impressive, the youngster finishing fifth fastest with a time of 43.867s from the combined morning and afternoon sessions, to wind up quickest of the graduate runners. Atech Reid GP Team Principal David Hayle was delighted with the performance at this, the first of two days at Brands Hatch: "It was a superb performance not only by Tio, who we expected to be up at the front but also by Oscar, who drove exceptionally well for a young rookie. Tio was consistently running in the top two all day, and it's a great start to the season to have him show this pace so early on, finishing nearly half a second ahead of the opposition. Oscar improved throughout the day so I'm particularly happy with his performance which we hope will continue into tomorrow's second day."

Other News: A group of students from North West Kent College received an exclusive insight into club motorsport last week, when they attended the MotorSport Vision Racing (MSVR) season launch at Brands Hatch. Pupils Jack Carter, David Miles, Sam Crowley and Ryan Baker, accompanied by teachers Frank Groom and Winston Sewell, were invited alongside VIP guests and members of the media to attend the event, which showcased the 21 series and championships operated by the racing division of MotorSport Vision. The group experienced a unique opportunity to go behind the scenes in the pit lane and visit two MSVR-run series - the Club MSV Trackday Trophy and the MSV F3 Cup - for a lesson into the mechanics of setting up a race car.Frank Groom of North West Kent College said: "The session gave us the chance to forge links with MVSR, as I feel it most important that the motorsport industry and colleges work together to make learning a two way experience. "All too often we all forget that learning is where we had to start from, and learning a trade needs input from the industry to ensure we all keep up with the technology of today. We found the day most informative and thanks to MSVR for inviting us along."

01-03-11

LMS: Following the launch in Paris of the Peugeot 908 in February, a diesel-hybrid version of the new car has now been unveiled at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. The newcomer has already been set ambitious targets for the 2011 season. The new Peugeot 908 has been designed to comply with the latest endurance racing regulations and will play a major part in the Brand’s 2011 environmental strategy. 

Phil Quaife will continue to race in the Le Mans Series with CRS Racing in 2011 after re-signing with the British team for a title challenge in the newly-created LM GTE Am class of the prestigious endurance racing championship. The 24-year-old driver will compete in all five of the six-hour races on the LMS calendar driving the Ferrari 430 in which he made an impressive series debut last year. Quaife will be joined by the 21-year-old Adam Christodoulou, who made a successful switch to racing GT cars in 2010 after winning single-seater titles in both the UK and United States, and Dutch driver Klaas Hummel who has driven with CRS Racing in both the FIA GT3 European Championship and International GT Open in recent years. “I’m thrilled to be back with CRS Racing and driving in the Le Mans Series,” said Quaife. “2011 will be my third year with the team. They’ve always been great to work with and it has been my intention since the end of last season to come back. Making my debut in the LMS last year was the pinnacle of my career so far and I can’t wait to start my second season.Because we’re driving last year’s car, Adam, Klaas and I will race in the new GT2 Pro-Am category and I think we’re capable of mounting a challenge for the title. Klaas has good experience with the team and the car from the GT Open last year, while Adam is a very quick driver who has adapted brilliantly to racing GT cars.” The 2011 LMS calendar includes races at five current or former Grand Prix circuits. It begins at Paul Ricard in April and visits Spa-Francorchamps, Imola and Silverstone before ending at Estoril in September.“It’s the best championship I’ve ever raced in,” said Quaife. “The standard of competition is extremely high and the challenge of the six-hour races is tough for the drivers, the teams and the cars! We had a bit of bad luck last year but we’re ready to come back and fight for the title in 2011.” Phil’s season will begin at the official Le Mans Series test days at Paul Ricard on 11-12 March.

25 years since they won the C2 World Sports Car Championship, legendary Scottish team, Ecurie Ecosse, is set to make a major comeback in 2011. The illustrious team which won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1956 and 1957 has been dormant on an international level since the 1990's when the team won the British Touring Car Championship running works Vauxhalls. A driver line-up comprising of Alasdair McCaig, Andrew Smith, Joe Twyman and Oliver Bryant are set to contest The Total 24 Hours of Spa in July 2011 with Ecurie Ecosse as a partner team of Aston Martin Racing in a DBRS9 GT3. Ecurie Ecosse will sub-contract the running of the car to Barwell Motorport, a highly experienced and successful Aston Martin Racing Partner Team, and will be contesting for outright honours in the race which sees GT3 now being the top class as a result of a recent format change.  Team boss Hugh McCaig, who is behind the return and intends to use the 24 Hours of Spa as a stepping stone for Ecurie Ecosse to return to Le Mans, commented: “This is a very exciting development for Ecurie Ecosse. I have been looking for an opportunity to take the team back into sportscar racing for some time, but the overall package had to be right. Now, with a team of ambitious and talented young drivers, together with a competitive manufacturer-backed car run by experienced engineers, I am extremely pleased that we can now take this major step forward. We have partnered with Aston Martin before and it is great to be doing it again some 20 years later. Ultimately we want to be back at Le Mans and this is a fantastic starting point.”  All four drivers have had highly successful historic racing careers so far, together with relevant and impressive modern experience, especially in the case of BRDC member Oliver Bryant who’s CV includes strong results in both the British and FIA GT series: “I am very excited to be a part of the Ecurie Ecosse comeback. Our drivers all have substantial experience racing at Spa, and we have all driven together successfully before. The DBRS9 GT3 is also extremely well suited to the fast, flowing nature of Spa, and having tested it before myself, I have no doubt that our combination of car, drivers and team will be highly competitive.” In 2010 Twyman won his class in the 24 Hours of Spa driving a Jota Sport Aston Martin, and in 2009 Smith claimed a front row grid position and fastest lap of the race at Spa in his British GT Championship debut.  Former Ecurie Ecosse driver and twice Le Mans winner Allan McNish is also highly supportive of the team’s return: “I am very pleased that Ecurie Ecosse is returning to Sportscars, it has such fantastic heritage in this arena with its legendary Le Mans wins and it will be nice to see the dark blue flags flying once again. The team has supported so many famous Scottish Drivers making their way in the sport, including Le Mans winners, Indy 500 winners and F1 World Champions. Ecurie Ecosse really has been an integral part of the very successful Scottish Motorsport story past and present." Aston Martin Racing are backing the effort and providing technical, engineering and training support. Aston Martin and Ecurie Ecosse last teamed up at Le Mans in 1989 with the AMR1 project. AMR  Managing Director John Gaw is delighted at the news of Aston Martin working with Ecurie Ecosse again: “We are particularly pleased that Ecurie Ecosse has announced this significant return to international sportscar racing in partnership with Aston Martin Racing and Barwell, and we are looking forward to working with the team across 2011 and beyond. We will be providing as much support as we can in order to help both Ecurie Ecosse and Barwell achieve their goals.” The team have already raised part of the budget required to compete at the event, and discussions with other potential sponsorship partners are now underway to enable them to make it onto the grid in July.

In 2008, Nissan teamed up with PlayStation to ask the question; can a super-fast gamer become a super-fast driver in the real world? In less than three years, Lucas Ordoñez has proved the answer to be a resounding ‘yes'. His transformation from novice to professional racing driver has amazed the motor sport fraternity and the extraordinary story will reach climax on 11 and 12 June. Lucas will line up to contest arguably the most famous race in the world, the Le Mans 24 Hours. The 25-year-old Spaniard will contest the full Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2011 behind the wheel of a Nissan-powered LMP2 car for the Signatech Nissan team. For his part, Lucas is naturally thrilled to be given the opportunity to take to the legendary track for the famous 24 Hour race. "It is beginning to sound a bit clichéd for me to keep talking about ‘living my dream'," said the former MBA student. "However, the past three years have been amazing and now to have been given the opportunity by Nissan to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as all the other fantastic races in the Intercontinental Le Mans Series, is incredible. I recognise that this is a big challenge and a great honour and I can't wait to get started at Sebring later this month." Lucas was among the fastest of the 25,000 people that entered the first GT Academy competition on PlayStation's Gran Turismo game. He won a place to represent Spain at a five-day training camp at the UK's Silverstone circuit and emerged victorious. Between September and the end of 2008, Lucas embarked on an intensive driver training programme to qualify for an international racing licence. With the licence secured in record time, Lucas headed to Dubai in January 2009 and joined former Le Mans and Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert in the GT Academy Team, contesting the Dubai International 24 Hours in a Nissan 350Z.

Karts: This weekend (5/6 March), for the second year in succession, the Easykart UK series kicks off at Ellough Park Raceway near Beccles. “It’s because of the welcome,” explains promoter John Vigor. “Richard Lock and his team bend over backwards to help and with the investment they’ve put into the facilities it is just a fantastic place to go kart racing. The marshals are also second to none and I think the circuit lends itself very well to Easykart. The racing is always fantastic with loads of overtaking, and little in the way of crashes. For me, it’s one of my favourite tracks.” Large grids again show that the championship’s appeal lies in its ability to offer great value-for-money balanced with a friendly atmosphere in the paddock. However, neither of these two qualities mask the standard of competition throughout the classes - and this year’s championship is arguably the most open yet.  pic Enver Meyer   

ALMS: Robertson Racing has added Ford factory driver Colin Braun to their line-up for this season’s American Le Mans Series endurance events in place of Rob Bell. The 22-year-old American will race alongside David Murry and Anthony Lazzaro in the squad’s #04 Ford GT at the season-opening Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on March 19 and 10 hour/1000 mile Petit Le Mans championship finale at Road Atlanta on October 1. He will also be the car’s designated third driver during this June’s Le Mans 24 Hours should the team’s second entry be promoted from the reserve list.Braun’s CV includes stints as a Ford works driver in NASCAR’s Nationwide and Truck series as well as extensive Grand-Am prototype and GT experience. His ALMS career began at Sebring in 2007 aged just 18 before going on to claim a fine runner-up finish in GT2 at Le Mans later that year. Colin Braun: “Sebring is such a special race so I’m really excited and looking forward to it. The opportunity to run with Robertson Racing and the Ford GT in particular – it’s just such an iconic car – means it’s going to be a lot of fun. I jumped at the chance knowing how great the team are, especially now they’re running with Michelin tyres, and think there’s a lot of potential for a strong result. That I’ve raced at Sebring before is also going to be a big help. It’s a tough place to learn so I’m really excited to be going back. We’ll also be testing again there before the race, which will be a useful refresher. I know how hard the team is working to prepare the cars and they have clearly taken a step forward in terms of performance over the winter. I’m sure we can get a strong result.”  Andrew ‘H’ Smith, Robertson Racing Team Manager: “Unfortunately Rob Bell’s commitments elsewhere have prevented him from running with us at Sebring and Petit. However, in Colin we have a highly talented young guy whose youthful exuberance and speed will complement David’s and Anthony’s wealth of experience. He’s raced at the event before so is well aware of Sebring’s unique demands.” The opening round of this season’s ALMS at Sebring, which has also been designated an Intercontinental Le Mans Cup race, takes place from March 16-19.

Silverstone Classic: A star-studded line up of famous names will be topping the live music bill at this summer’s Silverstone Classic (22-24 July). As well as being firmly established as the world’s biggest classic motor racing festival, the Silverstone Classic, provided as an integral part of the show at no extra cost to all ticket holders. Reflecting the on-track action starring many racing cars from motor sport’s golden eras, the live music performances provide festival-goers and classic car fans with an equally evocative step back in time. On Friday evening Silverstone will rock to the celebrated sounds of the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley and Queen as three of the UK’s most acclaimed tribute bands roll back the years. Then, on Saturday evening, the Silverstone stage will host live performances from legendary acts: Suzi Quatro, 10cc  & Wishbone Ash. Quatro had a string of hits in the Seventies and is widely credited as being a major role model for a host of raunchy female rockers. Wishbone Ash is hailed as one of the major innovators in the harmony twin lead guitar format and enjoyed huge critical success with albums such as Argus in the early Seventies. Art rock band 10cc also enjoyed major success in the same decade racking up no fewer than three number one hits. With three such celebrated live bands, it promises to be a memorable evening. Sunday’s musical entertainment switches from live stadium rock to the more relaxing atmosphere of the 40-piece Amadeus Orchestra playing many crowd pleasing classical favourites. Along with promising young tenor Adriano Graziani and energetic electric string quartet Tetra Electra, the acclaimed Amadeus Orchestra will be performing as part of the innovative ‘Picnic in the Paddock’ attraction for a relaxed afternoon. Another newly created feature this year is the ‘village green’ entertainment area, which will host the recreation of many traditional British rural pursuits with steam engines, Punch & Judy shows plus a host of other magical memories from yesteryear.Ticket sales are already more than 100 per cent up on last year with spectators taking full advantage of significant ‘Early Bird’ discounts available for those booking before the 31st March. For more information log onto www.SilverstoneClassic.com.

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