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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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News Archive May 2009 mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk 11/08/2009 IF RACE REPORTS LINKS REMOVED - FOLLOW 'Reports' LINK ON THE GRID above 31-05-09
Michael Rowan won his first race in the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup at Knockhill this afternoon (Sunday) after a thrilling final race. Initially the race had been led by Michael Sleigh with Rowan following behind. On lap 3 Sleigh appeared to be nudged from behind causing him to have a brief visit to the gravel trap which sadly dropped him to fifth. This allowed Chris Knox, who had earlier supplanted Rowan in second, to take over up front. Rowan however wasn't to be denied and he clung doggedly to Knox's tail until 2 laps from home when he slipped by at the hairpin, holding the inside line over the start/finish line into Duffus Dip to take the lead. There he stayed despite intense pressure from Knox, Third, hard on Knox's heels was Mark Dryden by just 0.01 secs from Ken Thriwall in fourth. Earlier in the day Ken Thirwall had won twp closely fought encounters with Chris Knox and Mark Dryden, winning each race bt mere tenths of a second. Richie Stanaway driving a Mygale has finally stopped Nick Percat’s domination of the Australian Formula Ford Championship by winning the third race of the weekend at Symmons Plains Raceway. Percat faced a serious challenge to his winning form in the earlier race in the morning from both Stanaway and Scott Pye but onj that occasion he he managed to keep them at bay for another victory but the writing was clearly on the wall.
Scott Bargwanna has taken this year’s first podium for the ROCK Energy Drinks MINI Challenge team at Symmons Plains today, whilst team-mate BJ Cook has had his best run in the Series so far – ending up sixth overall The nightmare continued for Australian Formula BMW Junior Chris Wootton at Sepang International Circuit today, after a coming together with Ryo Haryanto sent the Queenslander into a vicious roll at the start of Round 5, however the Eurasia Motorsport team were able to get him out for Round 6, salvaging a sixth place. Following yesterday’s disappointments, Wootton was hoping to advance through the field and at least take something out of the weekend, but that didn’t last a lap after a coming together with Haryanto sent the Australian into orbit. After a trip to the on-site Medical Centre – where concern was shown for some soreness in his knee – Wootton gathered his thoughts and quickly realised his Eurasia Motorsport Formula BMW FB02 was severely damaged. All four corners and the rear wing had to be replaced, which the team worked overtime to do and got him back on track for the final race of the weekend. Starting in 10th position, the 20-year-old was able to finish in sixth, but still leaves Sepang bitterly disappointed after setting his first Pole Positions for Formula BMW Pacific yesterday. To draw another positive from the weekend is that Chris walks away with the new qualifying lap record for Formula BMW Pacific at Sepang. Hitech Junior's Kasper Andersen claimed the first win for his team today in the fourth round of International Formula Master in Valencia, Spain. After passing Jenzer Motorsport's Nicolas Maulini and fellow Hitech Junior driver Alexander Rossi at the start, Andersen led the race to the chequered flag. Jenzer Motorsport's Pål Varhaug claimed second place, ahead of JD Motorsport's Sergey Afanasiev. Kasper Andersen, Hitech Junior "It's great for the team and I; I've always done well here in Valencia and leading the race like this really gave me flashbacks from 2007! This means a lot though; I really had no testing at all with the team and went straight into the car in Pau after six months away from racing in the series. We worked hard and now we have a victory as a result." KAMS European Late M odel Series - Winston's woes. After showing some good pace in Saturdays practice sessions on the 23rd of May, Winston Graham’s race day was cut short by a Cylinder Head failure on the #11 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Graham who has raced in CAMSO V8 previously and also has a successful career in Formula Ford racing on the long circuits, is hoping to get the car back together for the next meeting. The car itself is the #11 former CAMSO V8 driven by Jimmy Bryan who has not campaigned the car for two years. The more superstitious race fan may have cringed when Kelvin Hassell dropped the #88 in favour of the #13 because he said “It might be luckier!” However, you have to wonder about the story of the new #88, the Race Car Direct Pontiac driven by Keith Whalley. After setting a blistering pace in Saturday practice on the 23rd of May, no one could have forseen the problems that struck on Sunday. Fuel pump problems led to the car not starting the first to heats and going down to seven cylinders in the final. Whalley was still able to bring the car home in the top eight in the final, and should be on the podium in the very near future. The #13 had a trouble free weekend finishing 4th in the final.
SEAT and BMW dominated one race apiece in the fifth WTCC event of the season. The turbodiesel León cars filled the four top positions in the first race, marking a triumphant moment for SEAT in their home race meeting. Yvan Muller scored his third victory of the season making it clear that it won't be easy for anybody (including his own team-mates) to deprive him of the World Champion's crown. However, in the second race, Augusto Farfus and Jörg Müller managed to overturn the situation. The BMW Team Germany duo claimed a 1-2 of crucial importance for the German Manufacturer, as it not only marked BMW's first victory so far this year, but also re-launched their hopes in the title fight that now sees Farfus lying second, only three points behind Muller. Chevrolet's winning streak came to an end after four consecutive successes in Marrakech and Pau. The Spanish weekend was not positive for the drivers of the Cruze cars who all remained out of the points. As for LADA, their hope of making a step forward with the new engine were totally hindered by a number of technical issues.In the Independents' Trophy, Stefano D'Aste obtained his first victory of the season, but the fight for the title seems to be an affair between Tom Coronel (winner of the first race), Félix Porteiro and Franz Engstler who are covered by only two points.The championship will resume in Brno, Czech Republic, on May 21st, for rounds 11 and 12. 30-05-09
Gabriele Tarquini's last qualifying lap secured him pole position for tomorrow’s WTCC race in Valencia. It was a successful qualifying for SEAT at their home track as they claimed the top four grid spots (Tarquini, Yvan Muller, Jordi Gené and Tiago Monteiro). Q1 - While Yvan Muller had the fastest time for the majority of the session it was his SEAT Sport team-mate Rickard Rydell who bettered him towards the end. Rydell's lap of 1:45.424 was 0.092 quicker than Muller's while a third SEAT man, Monteiro, went through to Q2 as third fastest. Fourth fastest was Augusto Farfus, the only BMW to make the cut. All three of the Chevrolet drivers entered Q2. Alain Menu was the fastest with a time of 1:45.681 followed by Nicola Larini who was seventh (1:45.854) and Robert Huff (1:46.038) who was tenth and used his last lap to knock Jörg Müller out of the Q2 running. Jordi Gené and Gabriele Tarquini also went into Q2, as sixth and eighth, while Tom Coronel went through as ninth and the only independent driver despite joining the session late due to starter motor problems. Q2 - While the Chevrolet cars waited in the garage, SEAT Sport's cars hit the attack straight away. However, it was in fact Tarquini's last lap of 1:44.414 that gave him pole position. With this, Muller was demoted to second on the grid while Gené and Monteiro filed in third and fourth. Farfus posted a time of 1:45.080 mid way into the session which secured him fifth position, ahead of Chevrolet man Menu (1:45.314). The Chevrolet cars hit the track with time for two flying laps - Huff qualified eighth and Larini tenth. The remaining two positions went to Rydell in ninth (the Swede spoiled his last attemp running wide well beyond the kerbs) and Coronel who put in a fantastic last lap to secure seventh. However, the Dutchman eventually had his Q2 times disallowed after his car was found to be underweight during the technical checks Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer secured his second win of the season in today's International Formula Master (IFM) Spanish round in Valencia. The young Swiss also set the race's fastest lap, whilst JD Motorsport team-mates Josef Kral and Vladimir Arabadzhiev finished second and third respectively. Fabio Leimer, Jenzer Motorsport "I had a good start but Josef was alongside me and he was really close; I thought he could pass me! After I got settled in the race and it was ok. I was pushing hard throughout because I didn't know if we would have tyre problems later as Valencia is very demanding on tyres but everything was ok."t After setting his first pole position for both rounds of Formula BMW Pacific at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia this afternoon, Australian Formula BMW Junior, Chris Wootton has been left disappointed after being taken out in separate incidents in both events…
Sonic Racing’s
Nick Percat didn’t take long to re-assert himself at the front
of the Tim Bridgman, as is usual this season, took both poles for this weekend’s 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup GB rounds at Oulton Park. In a sensationally fast session, Derek Pierce and Robert Lawson shared the pro-am1 poles, but the biggest revelation was the pace of leading pro-am2 racer Karl Leonard who took fourth overall for both grids . The first day of the Asian Festival Of Speed, held today at Sepang International Circuit saw Malaysian driver Eric Yeo made a stunning comeback In the Asian Touring Car Series. The 38-year-old set the fastest time in the unofficial practice session today. Yeo did a 2:30.631s, 0.149s ahead of Race 1 winner Cheung Chi Sing of Hong Kong while another local favourite, TJ Chin completed the day in third. In Formula V6 Asia, the return of Bahraini Hamad Al Fardan of Dynaten Motorsports is all set to bag the season opener after recording the fastest time today. Al Fardan clocked 2:01.295s, a second faster than teammate Ro-Charlez with Champ Motorsport ' s Kevin Chen coming in third fastest. Making a debut in the GT3 Asia championship is Singaporean Mok Weng Sun who quickly emerged on top during the free practice session. Mok, driving the Porsche Club Singapore Racing car, only attended the third session and straight away got on pace despite having never driven this car on the full track. Malaysia 's Tunku Hammam Sulong, who previously won in Shanghai , was 1.388s behind Mok. "It is definitely going to be an interesting race between Mok and myself as we have been sparing partners for quite some time now". Team Machine ' s Sam Yau was the third fastest driver in his Lambourghini Gallardo, registering a time of 2:12.857s. Young Irish driver and Championship points leader, Gary Thompson clocked 2:12.280s, to set the fastest time of the day in Formula BMW Pacific. His Malaysian teammate, Fahmi Ilyas was just 0.017s behind while Australian Chris Wootton of Eurasia was third with a best time of 2:11.386s. The Asian Festival Of Speed will be held at Sepang International Circuit from 30-31 May 2009. The event promises to bring lots of racing action with 10 action-packed races being held over the course of two days. The second day of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear test at Iowa Speedway saw championship leader Adam Christodoulou once again set the pace with a lap of 22.059 secs in his #11 JDC Motorsports / Molecule Mazda ..read more
28-05-09 The Porsche Open series once again visits Brands Hatch for a one-hour race this Saturday, May 30th, on the Indy Circuit.. The Class One cars provide the power and spectacle at the front, with the silver 993 GT2 Evo of Paul Mclean and Peter Fairbairn looking the pace setter on previous form. The duo looked on course for a win at Brands last season until an electrical problem brought the 993 to a halt. They did however win on the GP circuit at last year’s A1GP meeting. Class opposition is led by series returnee Gerry Harrison in his immaculate 996 GT3 RSR, and the potent 911 RS Turbo shared by Phil Price and Ross McCartney. Class Two sees Zubin Randeria, who performed strongly last season, out in a 996 GT3 Cup car, with Alex Martin joining the series in a similar 400bhp 996. Dave Whelan races a 993 Cup car, while Clive Bate should be in the mix in his 911 RSR. Class Three sees two series regulars lock horns. Mark Chilton, out at Anglesey in his 993 GT2, races his 928 GTS this weekend, providing a welcome additional body shape to the series. Mike Johnson, out last season in a Class One 996, once more races his trusty 911 SC.
There is just one day until the Asian Festival Of Speed and it is set to be a weekend packed with 10 great races and plenty of side events to keep everyone entertained throughout the day. …read review
The Top Hatters next UK date following Castle Combe is on the Silverstone National Circuit for the Bentley Drivers Club 60th Anniversary meeting over the weekend 8-9th August. There will be a Saturday race for the Cloth Cap Pre-66 GT cars with the XK Challenge, and a Sunday race for Top Hat Pre-66 Saloons including the Oldies But Goldies. Other invited race groups are Equipe GTS, AMOC, Morgan Championship, Sunbeam Tigers plus the various Bentley Drivers Club races. So, there will be plenty to do and see in a fun and relaxed atmosphere including a drivers’ BBQ on the Saturday evening! Entry forms for that meeting are also available online or upon request. The Oulton Park round of the Formula Renault UK Championship is this weekend and CRS Racing’s drivers will be looking for some good results. Josh Scott: “It’s great that we have the two 45-minute test sessions on Friday as this is one of the pre-season tests that I had to miss because of my visa delay. I did race there last year though and tested for a couple of days last November so it will just be a case of re-familiarising myself with the track. Oulton has some really good fast corners: Turn One, Cascades and the double right apex Druids. It also has a tight hairpin and chicane though so there are a couple of good overtaking opportunities. This time out I will be pushing for top four in both qualifying sessions. I am really hungry for a win now so I will be giving it everything I’ve got this weekend.” Lewis Williamson: “ We tested at Oulton Park earlier in the year but the conditions were very different to what is forecast for this weekend. The testing went okay though so hopefully I can make some good progress. It will be tough as it is quite a new track for me and very unforgiving, but I hope I won’t find out much more about that! My plan is to keep all four wheels on the black stuff and get some good results again.” Harry Ticknell: “Oulton Park is my favourite track on the calendar this year; it’s very quick and undulating and the official test went well there when I was eighth fastest without putting any new tyres on the car. I learnt a lot at the test and I feel like we have a good set up for the weekend so I’m hoping for another good result. I’m still leading the Graduate Cup by nine points, which was my aim to win at the start of the year so that is the most important thing. Hopefully I can have a less controversial weekend and score some good points towards the championship and maintain my lead in the Graduate Cup.” Audi Sport Team Joest have announced their driver line-ups for Le Mans on June 13/14. The Audi R15 TDI, car number "1", will be driven by last year's winners Dindo Capello (Italy), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan McNish (Scotland), the same squad that won the 12-hour race at Sebring. The number "2" car also features the same lineup from Sebring with Germans Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner sharing the car. The final car, car number "3" , will see Timo Bernhard from Germany and the Frenchmen Romain Dumas and Alexandre Premat team up. "The 12-hour race at Sebring was a successful dress rehearsal for us," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "That's why we didn't make any changes to the driver teams that competed at Sebring. The squad for the third car automatically resulted from this decision. I'm convinced that we've filled the cockpits of all three R15 TDI cars at Le Mans with outstanding racers -- also thanks to the two drivers Porsche is providing to us." A win this year would be Audi ‘s ninth overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Australian John Martin has been signed up to race for newly crowned Scottish champions Rangers FC in this year's Superleague Formula. The 24-year-old from Queensland graduates to Superleague Formula after competing in A1GP, British F3 and winning the Australian Formula Ford 1600 title in 2006. "We are excited to have a driver of John's talents racing for Rangers in this year's Superleague Formula," confirmed Martin Bain, Chief Executive of Rangers Football Club. "Everyone at the Club wishes John all the best for the new season and now we've won the SPL title, it would be great to start enjoying similar success on the race track". His car will be run by Alan Docking Racing.
As the teams get ready for the Formula BMW Pacific in Sepang this weekend, defending champions Meritus Racing are looking to extent their winning run. Champions for the last six years, Meritus will once again be the team to beat in the four races. Drivers Rio Haryanto and Dustin Sofyan are determined to improve on their showing during the first two races in April. Dustin had a mixed start to the season, finishing fifth in Race 1 and retiring in the first lap of Race 2 after going airborne when he crashed into another car. "It was a frightening experience but thankfully no one got hurt," said Dustin, at the time. "This is part of racing but I hope never to experience anything like it again." Rio, meanwhile, got on the podium in both races finishing third on his debut for Meritus, then winning by over 4 secs in the second race. "I put myself under too much pressure in the first race but managed to refocus for the second race. I'm glad to have got my first win under my belt and now I look forward to this weekend's races," said the 16-year-old driver. "I know the pressure is on the team as they have dominated the series for the last six years but if we all stay calm, then, I'm sure we can be among the leaders again this season." 27-05-09 Round three of the Easykart UK series heads to the West Country to the glorious Clay Pigeon circuit this weekend (30 May / 1 June) - the venue where the F1 World Championship leader Jenson Button started his career. Legend has it that he won on his debut, and there’s a whole host of competitors who will be eager to use Button’s past and present success to inspire them to their first wins at one of the most popular tracks on the Easykart UK calendar....read more
As International Formula Master (IFM) prepares for its two Spanish rounds in Valencia this weekend, online poker site Titan Poker has joined the ranks of IFM supporters. The poker website is offering a $500 bonus to www.formulamaster.net visitors, giving fans of the Series a chance to try their hand at their popular poker tournaments and online poker games. Racing for IFM resumes this weekend in Spain, where reigning champion Chris van der Drift claimed both victories last year. With the Series' title chase wide open, contenders will be hoping to emulate the young New-Zealander's feat. Drivers' classification leader Fabio Leimer is only two points ahead of 16-year-old rookie Alessandro Kouzkin, who has his eyes firmly set on winning, despite having no previous experience of the track. "I have never raced at Valencia before," said Kouzkin who won his first international single-seater race in Pau two weeks ago with Cram Competition. "But I didn't know Pau either and it was more than ok in the end! I hope to have a good result here too; we will see. Racing on a track is very different to a street circuit." Fellow rookie Pål Varhaug could also do well; the Norwegian is currently third in the overall classification and leads the rookies st andings, following a double third place at the opening 2009 IFM rounds in France.
The Carbon Zero team are in final preparations for Round 4 of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Oulton Park Circuit, Cheshire and will leave for the circuit on Thursday. Dan Eaves is looking for his luck to change this weekend after engine problems in practice at Donington two weeks ago, he is keen for some good points finishes. Dan said "I still can't believe how the last two weekends have gone. I don't want to say too much in case I jinx next weekend, but I am surely due for some good luck at Oulton, it's a circuit that suits my driving style so given a good Saturday , I am confident that I will be in the points on Sunday." Eaves' team mate Adam Jones who is well placed in the championship said of his preparations for next weekend. "Its been a busy time since we left Donington, the car needed some work on it after the last race, the guys have been working on it and we are ready to go. The objective for Oulton is to bring the car home in the points for each race and work with Dan and the team to maximise our points finishes. It is obviously better to be out there with your team mate, it makes the race strategy less complicated." As expected, the East London round of the 2009 South African National Formula Vee Championship, produced two thrilling, race long, multi car battles, for the lead. In heat 1 Jaco Schriks claimed victory while in the second he was beaten to the line by Alan Holm
Menasheh Idafar is aiming to bounce back from a disappointing Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship event at Donington Park when the category moves on to Oulton Park this weekend, 30th/31st May. While the 18-year-old produced a mighty performance in qualifying at Donington to post a top six start for the fifth round, in the races Menasheh suffered a huge amount of misfortune.Undeterred, the Hillspeed racer is aiming to bounce back strongly at Oulton Park as he bids to continue his qualifying form and convert that into good race results to get his championship back on track. Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw continues to be impressed by his pace. “Menasheh has shown very good pace this year, to qualify in the top six on more than one occasion is impressive stuff in his first season in Formula Renault UK”, said Ollerenshaw, “Unfortunately though he’s had more than his fair share of bad luck in some of the races. Oulton Park is a very challenging circuit for any driver and is one Menasheh does enjoy, the track suits his attacking driving style so we hope he’ll go quickly at the weekend. At Donington we had the pace but the results went against us, at Oulton we hope to have better luck and have a successful weekend.” 26-05-09
The European Late Model Series return to Warneton International Speedway for the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds of the season on Sunday. The hot weather made it hard work for the teams but with three different winners from the three races, including the first win for a former-ASCAR machine it was a great advert for the series..read report ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin driver Alex MacDowall led an impressive showing of six UK drivers by finishing second overall in a specially organised international Clio Cup race at the legendary Nürburgring circuit in Germany on Friday, 22nd May. Total Control racing’s MacDowall from Carlisle only just missed out on the top spot in the event organised by Renault Sport Germany and Renault Sport Technologies which attracted a total of 45 Clio Cup racers from all over the world.The four lap race included competitors from China and USA as well as six UK entriesincluding , DTR’s Stephen Tyldlsey, APO Sport’s Alex Osborne and former Clio racers Jonathan Ridley-Holloway and Ray MacDowall (Alex’s father). Rob Austin, Team Principal of Team RSA which now concentrates on the Belgium Clio Cup, was the sixth UK driver. After the earlier qualifying sessions, MacDowall lined up for the rolling start second behind Germany’s Mezger Manuel. The first two laps saw MacDowall all over the back of Manuel’s leading Clio until lap three when a back-marker held up Alex. On the final lap, it was Manuel’s turn to be slowed by a back-marker allowing MacDowall to catch and challenge for the lead with the two drivers crossing the line just inches apart. Meanwhile, Ridley-Holloway finished fourth with Osborne taking fifth and Ray MacDowall in sixth. Commenting after the race Alex MacDowall said: “It was a fantastic experience and a really close race, especially as I’ve never driven at the Nürburgring before. If it wasn’t for the back-markers I think it could have been a different result. I’d certainly like to race next year given the opportunity.” Clio Cup Championship Manager Simon North said: “To have so many British entries finish inside the top ten is a great achievement and a testament to the quality of drivers in the UK championship.” Wednesbury’s Total Control Racing enjoyed the run with 18-year-old MacDowall’s second place finish. Alongside him was Jonathan Ridley-Holloway, who contested the 2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup with TCR, in fourth while Alex’s father Ray made it three TCR Clios in the top six. Commenting on the outing, team boss Lee Brookes said: “It was a fantastic opportunity to race on the Nordschleife for all three drivers and Alex did a fantastic job to finish second, so close to the win as well. Jonathan did a great job too by finishing fourth, especially as he hasn’t raced since the end of last season, and to make it three cars in the top six with Ray capped off a brilliant effort.” Andrew Herron is hungry to climb atop the ELF Renault Clio Cup podium and he aims to do just that at Oulton Park this weekend, 30th/31st May. Racing for the JHR Developments team and currently fourth overall in the standings, just 34 points shy of the lead and a mere seven points off second place, Dromore based Andrew is as determined as ever to claim his first win of 2009 during the fourth event of the year. Looking ahead to rounds seven and eight, he commented: “If we can leave Oulton Park with two more podiums it’ll definitely be another successful weekend. I want that first win though, not winning so far this year has made me more determined to try harder and work harder. Oulton has never been my strongest track but I went well there last year in the SEAT championship so I’m looking forward to it.” This year, qualifying hasn’t gone completely to plan and he recognises this has played the biggest factor in keeping him off the top step. “Realistically I’m aiming to start on the front row for both Oulton Park races”, added Andrew, “Up to now we haven’t managed that and that’s the main reason I haven’t won a race yet as we definitely had the outright pace at Thruxton and Donington. The championship is going well so far though, the guys at JHR are doing a fantastic job for me, I’m happy and they’re happy too.” Porsche Carrera Cup GB racers Michael Leonard and Glynn Geddie successfully completed their debut in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup when they tackled the race supporting the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday (24 May 2009). The pair from Team Parker Racing contested the street race between two Carrera Cup meetings, and finished 15th (Geddie) and 16th (Leonard) in the 23-car field on the daunting track. They also qualified close together, with Leonard 17th fastest and Geddie 18th despite an off that left the team working hard to have the car ready for Sunday's race. "They did really well, and certainly held their own against some tough opposition and on a very challenging track," said Marion Barnaby, championship manager of the Carrera Cup GB. Now, both drivers will turn their attention back to the Carrera Cup GB for rounds seven and eight at Oulton Park this weekend (30/31 May). Brands Hatch hosts rounds five and six of the 2009 Porsche Club Championship this coming weekend with Ben Demetriou the man to beat in Class One, winning three out of four races so far. However reigning champion Jeremy Clark is unbeaten in Class Two and the battle is already on for vital championship points. Brands Hatch Indy circuit always provides close racing, and Saturday’s 30-minute races should be no different. Demetriou has not had things all his own way at the front, having been chased hard by Mark McAleer in all four races to date, the pair of 968s setting the early season pace. Class One sees 16 cars of various types entered, and while the 968 CS model has done all the winning, the 964 C2s are bang on the pace, with Marcus Carniel and Kevin Harrison pushing hard and showing well. New for 2009 has been the 993 C2 joining the series. The most powerful cars in the field, the 993s have the highest minimum weight to compensate and drivers and teams are working hard to get the new cars up to pace. Gary Duckman took a fourth at Anglesey in his, while Scott Kavanagh was a front-runner in Class Two last year and should be on the pace with his 993. Reigning champion Jez Clark has stepped up to Class Two this season, and is currently unbeaten in his County Classics 944 S2. The regulars will be chasing him hard at Brands, with Chris Dyer leading the rest of the pack at the last meeting.
Round three of the Ford Genuine Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship is set to be a cracker with a host of drivers keen to break Nick Percat's winning streak, when the series heads to Symmons Plains Raceway just south of Launceston this weekend. This is what a few of our drivers had to say going into this round: Jack Barlow, who thanks to a superb second place in his most recent national outing at Glan Y Gors in North Wales, has now grabbed the championship lead in Formula Kart Stars 25-05-09 Young Rochdale kart driver Andy King triumphed at Glan Y Gors in the third round of the 2009 Formula Kart Stars Championship in what was his first national victory at his current level, Junior Max. Sheffield karting pilot Russell Danzey, who surpassed all expectations and overcame both inclement conditions and carburettor problems to win at Glan Y Gors in the 2009 Formula Kart Stars Championship in FKS.
In
Canadian Remy Audette led all 32 laps from pole winning round four of the F2000 Championship Season at Lime Rock Park. Audette, driving the #21 Dimension Doors/Novatech Audette Racing entry broke the standing track record during morning qualifying and simply took off on the field from the drop of the green. It was Audette's first F2000 win, Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Kieren Clark took the honours in the opening round of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Cheshire’s Oulton Park Island circuit on Saturday, 23rd May. The 20-year-old former Formula Renault UK driver claimed a lights-to-flag victory together with the fastest lap to earn maximum Championship points. Reon Motorsport’s Dino Zamparelli, who joins the single-seater series after winning the Ginetta Junior Championship last year, secured second place with Ahmad Al Harthy taking third for Hillspeed. Steven Durrant crossed the line as the Privateer Cup winner but was subsequently excluded from the race due to a technical non-compliance promoting Andrew Jarman as the leading privateer. Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Kieren Clark swept to victory in the opening round of the 2009 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Cheshire’s Oulton Park Island circuit. Ahmad Al Harthy got his Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship bid off to an excellent start at Oulton Park on Saturday, 23rd May, by taking a podium finish during the opening round of the 2009 season
Aston Martin’s factory entered V12 Vantage – modified only slightly for competition – has swept to a stunning debut class victory in the 37th Nürburgring 24 hour race, forming part of a double Aston Martin victory in the SP8 and SP10 classes 23-05-09 In the Performance and Economy Chip Tuning Sports Saloons Ric Wood won comfortably in his Audi RS 6, finishing the race 9 seconds ahead of Paul Sheard's Ginetta G50. Peter Davies came third driving a Caterham R400 just 1.5 seconds in front of Robert Chalmers similar machine....report to follow Kieran Clark won the opening roundof the 2009 Protyre Fprmula Renault BARC Championship today(Sat) at Oullton Park. Clark led from the start pursued throughout bby Dino Zamparelli. Hillspeed's Ahmad Al Harthy was third.
JMW Motorsport will be represented by one of the strongest driver line-ups at Le Mans this year with the announcement that regular driver Rob Bell will be joined by Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Sugden for the prestigious 24 Hour race taking place on 13-14th June 2009.
With four winners from six races and the top three title contenders covered by a handful of points, the Porsche Carrera Cup GB is enjoying a superb season and the action continues at Oulton Park (30/31 May) for rounds seven and eight. 22-05-09 JOSEPH TANDY - Aged 26 years. On 13th May 2009, Joseph, son of Joe and Marilyn and brother to Nick. Funeral service takes place on Monday 1st June 2009 2:00pm at St Peters Parish Church Pavenham, followed by interment in the churchyard. Flowers or if desired donations for a memorial fund in his memory to be set up may be sent to:
Arnolds Funeral
Service
Australian Formula BMW Junior, Chris Wootton, is looking to step up his attack on the Formula BMW Pacific Title at the second event coming up next weekend, once again at the Sepang in Malaysia. After recording a brace of seconds at the Malaysian Grand Prix in April, Wootton is seeking to make the most of the four rounds he will compete in as part of the Asian Festival of Speed (AFOS) event. The 20-year-old from Brisbane will take part in the official AFOS test day on Wednesday where he will focus on extracting every last ounce of speed from his Formula BMW FB02. The ROCK Energy Drinks, Bargwanna Motorsport team is itching to get across Bass Strait and hit the track for round two of Australia’s leading single-make racing Series – MINI Challenge – at Symmons Plains, May 29-31…
Phillip Island Nationals on Aussie TV this weekend. In the Australian Nationals’ only visit to the fast
and flowing Phillip Island circuit this year, drivers from five
categories turned on great racing in challenging, wintery
conditions. You can check out the action this Sunday on
Speedweek! The show leads with the Formula 3 Australian Drivers'
Championships' third round. See the win by Tim Macrow under
pressure all the way from Ben Crighton. Fantastic onboards from
Mat Sofi and the AmPro Dallara highlight the speed of this
amazing circuit. Also find out who wins the Meguiar's Best
Presented and EmbroidME hard charger awards in race two!
The Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT4 class battle has been just as exciting as that in GT3, with the Ginettas of Jody Firth/Nigel Moore and Gary Simms/Hunter Abbott sharing the wins. Simms and Abbott were excluded from their first-round class win through a technical infringement, allowing the WFR Racing duo of Firth and Moore to do the double at Oulton Park.The battle between the two cars at Spa was as furious as it was fun, Simms and Abbott getting the better of it in the first race and then coming back at their rivals in race two after a pit-stop penalty, only for Firth to nick victory on the final lap. If the Rockingham GT4 battle is only half as entertaining, it will be well worth watching. Ian Stinton is the man currently in GT4 championship third after solid results at both meetings; Mike Thomas is expected to partner him. ELF Renault Clio Cup racer Daniel Lloyd has switched to multiple championship winning squad Total Control Racing. Having contested the first six races of the season with Team Pyro, the 17-year-old has left to signed a new deal with TCR. . His first outing with Lee Brookes’ team will come next weel during the official pre-event practice ahead of the weekend’s seventh and eighth rounds on 30th/31st May. “I’m over the moon to have joined TCR in time for my home races and I’m hopeful we have a chance of achieving our best results of the year to date”, said Daniel, “Unfortunately there were a few things out of our control at Donington but a switch of team will enable us to continue our development as the season progresses. I’m really excited by the prospect of running with such a fantastic team, TCR’s record in Clios over the years speaks for itself and Lee is obviously a past champion himself. Working with that experience is an amazing opportunity, I can’t wait to be back in the car.” TCR has an unrivalled position in the Clio Cup in terms of race wins and title successes. In the last six years alone the squad has produced three champions including current HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship front-runner Jonathan Adam and former works Vauxhall BTCC racer Tom Onslow-Cole.
Following the never ending technical checks in Pau, the FIA Technical Department issued clarifications on both the engine speed limits and the measurement of the supercharged air pressure. ENGINE SPEED - The limits (8500 or 4200 rpm for petrol and diesel engines respectively) represent the maximum speed the engine can reach when it works as a motor. Cases of overreving while downshifting, wheelspinning and jumping over the kerbs will not be taken into account. SUPERCHARGED AIR PRESSURE - The limit of the relative pressure for the turbodiesel engines has been raised to 2.7 bar by a decision from the FIA Touring Car Bureau. Overboost pressure spikes above this limit - due to instability phenomena like gear shifting - which last less than one second will be allowed.
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport fans are being given their chance to vote for their personal choice of winners from the 2008/09 season. All they have to do is visit the series web site, www.A1GP.com and decide who they think deserves the accolade in each of the listed categories. The annual A1GP end-of-season awards are a chance to reward the outstanding performances of the season, and not just those who finished at the top of the points’ tables. The teams and drivers are all keen for your votes which will be the culmination for them of a hard, action packed season of racing. The gongs are usually determined by an impartial expert A1GP panel, but this year – through A1GP.com – the series is giving fans from around the globe the chance to pick the winners of four awards for Season Four. While we already know A1 Team Ireland, A1 Team Switzerland and A1 Team Portugal are the gold, silver and bronze medal winners this season, these awards showcase different skills. The awards up for grabs are Best New Driver, Best Overtaking Move of the Season, Most Improved Team and A1GP.com Readers Favourite Team. For full details on the awards, who is nominated and how to vote, visit A1GP.com. Voting closes on Friday 5 June 2009. Plans are well advanced for the first A1GP visit to the streets of Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia on October 22-25. and volunteers are required for the Nitro SuperGP. There are a large range of positions available, which are suitable for people of all ages, from a fire marshal to pit lane marshal, corporate usher and building official. “Positions, time schedules and requirements vary, so whether you are 16 or 60, a first-time volunteer or a veteran, we are sure to have something to suit you,” said Nitro SuperGP Ticketing and Accreditation Manager Jayne Graham.“There are many benefits to being involved in the team, including official 2009 Nitro SuperGP Shirts and Cap, access to the event for you and a friend, some meals and drinks, free public transport to the event, as well as a participation certificate and an invitation to the exclusive volunteers after party. “Volunteers will also have the opportunity to win Course Car rides, helicopter rides and other wonderful prizes, both during and after the event.” 21-05-09
Aston Martin will run a third car at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours wit. The drivers Join 3 new drivers joining the team. They are Anthony Davidson (GB), Stuart Hall (GB) and Jos Verstappen (NL). The third LMP1 car will be numbered 008 ..read more
Eurosport, Official Media Partner and Host Broadcaster of the FIA WTCC, registered record-breaking TV audience figures for the 4th race meeting of the 2009 WTCC season, held last weekend on the street circuit of Pau (France). Through the 3 ½ hours of broadcasts, a record 7 million different viewers (*) watched Eurosport on Sunday, 17 May to follow the gripping excitement of the WTCC races. Eurosport's exceptional live coverage attracted an average audience of 820.000 viewers during Race 1 and over 1.2 million during the last half hour of Race 2. This represents the best average audience ever for a WTCC event on Eurosport. The audience figures were particularly high in Germany with an average of 251.000 viewers/ 2.5% market share (Race 1) and 344.000 viewers/ 3.2% market share (last ¼ hour of Race 2). On the streets of Pau Robert Huff and Alain Menu claimed two victories for Chevrolet, extending the new Cruze's winning streak to four. The championship will resume in Valencia, Spain, on May 31st, for rounds 9 and 10. (*) total reach across the Eurosport pan-European network, representing the number of different individuals who have watched at least 1 minute of the races. Sources: Eurometrix - AGF/GFK, SKO, BARB, TNS Global, MMS, AGB Nielsen Media Research, TNS Gallup, ARMA/GfK Romania. Star Mazda and Racing for Kids began its fourth season of teaming up to visit sick kids at children’s hospitals at five sites along the Star Mazda circuit with a visit last week (May 14th) at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City…read more
The second
programme in the dedicated television coverage of the 2009
Porsche Carrera Cup GB
will be broadcast in the Motorsport UK programme on ITV1 on the
night of Thursday 28 May and repeated on ITV4 on the afternoon
of Saturday 30 May. The Motorsport UK series will cover all of
the Carrera Cup GB action this year. Rounds three and four from
Thruxton will feature in the next programme, along with a
profile on pro-am1 title contender Glynn Geddie. Jack Barlow good performance at the third round of the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at the Glan Y Gors circuit in North Wales last Sunday (17 May), taking asn excellent second place in the final. Reigning British Karting Champion Callum Bowyer showcased both work ethic and fighting spirit in round three of the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at Glan Y taking fourth place in the grand final. 20-05-09
The Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit was the latest venue for Tom Tweedie in the Australian F3 Championship where despite the weather he managed to mix it with the more experienced opposition and come away with a fourth place in race 2. Joel Miller qualified second and finished 3rd in Round 3 of the Star Mazda Championship this past weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Qualifying was an intense battle at the front and after making a stop for a chassis adjustment, Miller was able to produce a lap good enough for P2 on the last lap of qualifying. However, even though Joel was happy to be starting on the front row, he reported an engine noise during the later part of the qualifying session. Despite a worry that the motor was starting to detonate a decision from the team was to not change an engine before the feature race, as this would drop Miller to the back of the start grid. Miller started P2 for the race that afternoon and fell into second off the starting line. "I got away cleanly at the start but soon realized it was going to be a long race when the detonating noise returned," stated Miller. Throughout the race Joel fell as far back as 6th at one point, but continued to push forward and make opportunities for himself. With pressure coming from cars behind, Miller kept his composure and was able to cross the finish line in 3rd. With this result he solidifies 3rd place in the championship fight. After the race Miller quoted, "With the situation given I will take a podium finish today. It was definitely a bit frustrating in the race when cars would just drive away in a straight line." Want to be a professional racing driver? Then go west younfg man, or to Boston at least. The the SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup can help make this a reality with the introduction of a their karting qualifier competition that will begin in July. Six standalone karting events will be held at Boston's F1 Outdoor karting .facility and provide an entry point for drivers who want to compete for $50,000 in prize money and the $100,000 championship award in Jetta TDI Cup series
Mike Conway personally put a new HANS Device development to a real-world test when he crashed in practice for the Indianapolis 500. Jeff Horton, IRL's Director of Engineering, recently received the Louis Schwitzer award f for his role in championing the innovations that proved to be valuable to Conway. Conway was the first to track-test the HANS Device with the Horton development during Indianapolis 500 practice. The results confirmed what had already been proven in sled tests. Horton designed an extension to the HANS Device that reduces driver impact in rear-end collisions. It attaches to the top of the HANS Device and allows the driver's head and neck to slide unobstructed against the headrest of an IRL car. Horton said, "My continued interest in the HANS Device and safety has led me to develop this new piece of technology that will help reduce potential injuries during rear impacts." Horton continued, "I'm sure the development will lead to a safer situation for the racers and I believe our continued research will lead to more safety improvements." Racing biomechanical expert, Dr. Bob Hubbard said, "Jeff's research further confirms the real benefit racers get from the high collar design of the HANS Device." 19-05-09
Reigning Formula Renault BARC champion Ollie Hancock finally got his 2009 season well and truly underway with an excellent fourth place in the second race of the Formula Renault UK Championship at Donington Park, his best finish to date. Albert Costa driving for Epsilon Euskadi was the man to beat in Pau in the Formula Renault West European Cup. The Spaniard not only took two poles but dominated the races as well, his first wins in the Series. Sam Bird, starting his opening race in the Euro F3 Series at Hockenheim from pole, was beaten off the line by Colletti and Mehri leaving him stuck in third for the remainder odespite l;ooking quicker than the front men. In race 2, starting 6th, by virtue of the reverse grid format, he made an excellent start this time and pulled up alongside Jules Bianchi to take over fourth place. However the ART driver squeezed him close to the wall forcing him to lift before turn 1 and dropping him to seventh. Once again, he found overtaking difficult until the penultimate lap when he regain 6th place from Atte Mustonen for the final championship point Henry Surtees set the fastest time in testing at Silverstone in the final pre-season test for the FIA Formula Two Championship in mixed weather conditions on Monday. Surtees’ flying lap of 1:38.920s was set as the grouped sessions came to a close early in the afternoon, justy before heavy rain brought an end to anyone's hopes of going faster. Red Bull junior driver Mikhail Aleshin held top spot late in the morning, but was pushed down to second by Surtees.' Julien Jousse was satisfied with third fastest overall while Sebastian Hohenthal had an impressive run to fourth. Rob Wickens, Jolyon Palmer and Andy Soucek were separated by just 0.088s in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively followed by Jack Clarke in eighth. Philipp Eng and Carlos Iaconelli made a late surge to make it into the top ten.
At Donington Park on Sunday, CRS Racing’s Lewis Williamson took his first Formula Renault podium finish. The two races were held in changeable weather conditions but Lewis, from Golspie in Scotland, drove well and came through to claim his prize. After qualifying 14th for race one Lewis would have a hard race ahead of him if he was going to score points. He kept his focus though and came home with seventh place. For race two his chances were better as he had qualified in fifth. He made a good start, despite the wet track, and immediately moved to second. After a safety car period, Lewis was battling with the race leader, Formula Renault veteran Dean Smith. Experience won out though and Lewis was soon passed by James Calado. He did hold onto third until the flag, defending well and taking his first podium of the year. His team-mate Josh Scott didn’t have quite as good a weekend. He got away well in race one, moving up a few places from 10th finishing eighth. Race two didn’t go quite so well and fourth place on the grid didn’t deliver as he hoped for as he again finished in eighth. Harry Tincknell started from eighth and got involved in a battle with Jordan Oakes. He raced well and finished sixth but his manoeuvre on the other driver was deemed a bit overzealous and he was excluded from the result. To make matters worse Harry had only qualified in 19th place for race two as the changing conditions caught out a lot of drivers. He got stuck in though, finished the race in 12th. Matias Laine struggled to 17th in the first qualifying session but took a solid seventh place in the second. When the races got underway he took a top ten finish in race one but only 17th in race two. Michael Lyons had a difficult weekend as his qualifying positions of 24th and 23rd left him with tough races where he could only finish 22nd and 23rd. In Adria at the weekend CRS Racing had their ups and downs. The high points were Chris Niarchos winning the Citation Cup trophy and Klaas Hummel having the time of his life in his first ever GT3 races. Race one was for the GT3 where Klaas Hummel got a cracking start and was running well until he was unceremoniously taken out by an Audi. As he recovered Robert Hissom was charging up the field before handing over to Phil Quaife. Unfortunately for Phil he had a race-ending ‘off’ when he spun on some oil from another car. By this point Chris Goodwin had taken over from Klaas but he too retired, not due to overheating brakes but as a result of damage sustained when the car took the hit from the Audi. The second GT3 race began at 2230hrs and Phil Quaife got away well at the start whilst Chris Goodwin moved to ninth from 12th. Sadly for Chris he was tapped into a spin, which sent him to the back of the field. Phil meanwhile retired when his battery stopped charging, putting an end to a great run and a potential podium result. The second half of the race saw Hummel take the No.55 car all the way to flag, emerging unscathed from his first ever night-time race. In the FIA GT race Tim Mullen got a blinding start in No.55, moving up to third place, and Andrew Kirkaldy got No.56 up to fifth. The opening laps of the race saw Mullen battling to stay in third and Kirkaldy fighting with understeer, which eventually tipped him into a spin. He soon recovered though and set off after the pack. Rob Bell and Chris Niarchos took over for the middle section of the race, both running well as night fell in Adria. Mullen and Kirkaldy took over for the run to the flag and brought the cars home in sixth and seventh places respectively.
Luc Alphand, Patrice Goueslard and Yann Clairay took a well deserved LM GT1 class win in the recent 1000kms in Spa-Francorchamps a couple of weeks ago(9-10 May). The second round of the Le Mans Series saw the trio finished ahead of both Astons and the Lamborghini Murcielago which set the fastest lap. The team will be off to Dijon on May 19 for a series of tests using a new type of Dunlop tyre. The day after that we will know the composition of the crews Luc Alphand Aventures will be entering for the Le Mans 24-hour race. 18-05-09
Nick Tandy delivered an impressive and heartening
message today at Rockingham,
the JTR driver setting the fastest lap time in the day's final,
damp test session to underline the team's pace and commitment
just five days after the loss in a car accident of Nick's
brother and team boss Joe Tandy.Tandy's Mygale clocked a 1m
14.783s lap in the closing moments of the final session; he was
the only driver in the session to break the 75-second mark for
the 1.94-mile circuit. The dry morning session - preparation for
rounds 5 & 6 of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International
Series, saw a new name at the top of the timesheets: Daisuke
Nakajima. Nakajima and his Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara-Mercedes
lapped in a time of 1m 12.252s, a full tenth faster than any
one else.. Though comfortably inside the circuit lap record,
Nakajima's time was more than a second shy of the testing mark
set by championship leader Daniel Ricciardo in March. Other
notable pacesetters included Spain's Victor Garcia, who outpaced
his Fortec Motorsport team-mate Riki Christodoulou by 0.5s in
the dry to emerge second fastest, and T-Sport's Wayne Boyd, who
was fourth fastest on the day, ahead of his team-mate Adriano
Buzaid by three-thousandths of a second. The wettest of the
afternoon's sessions saw Carlin driver Oliver Oakes on top, a
hundredth quicker than Christodoulou, with Tandy third fastest.
Gabriel Dias was the quickest of the three National Class
runners in action in his T-Sport Dallara. F3 TESTING TIMES
ROCKINGHAM - 18/5/2009
Hitech Jnr's Ollie Hancock picked up a fine fourth place in the sixth round of the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship after finishing 14th earlier in Round 5. It could easily have been third as he was jyst 0.1 secs off the final podium place. Rob Garofall and Richard Bernans romped to victory in the 4 Hour SPEED series event at Anglesey winning by more than a lap. Gail force winds and changing conditions provided a challenge for all drivers at the Welsh circuit. Ben Clucas lined up the Satellite Racing Norma on pole ahead of the Dolan/Hancock Ligier, but it was Rob Garofall and Nick Padmore battling for the lead by the end of the first lap. A safety car at 1 hour 15 minutes saw both the lead cars diving in to the pits to change driver. After a problem with the seat-belts in the Juno and a lengthy stop, the Norma UK car leapfrogged the Juno of Richard Bernans in the pits with the Juno rejoining in 4th. Bernans then pressed on in the Juno passing Jean-Lou Rhion and Sarah Reader before pitting to hand the car back to Rob Garofall. Garofall rejoined in 3rd place some 22 seconds behind the leaders who had yet to make their final stops. The Counter Solutions Racing Juno regained 1st place as the leaders made their final pit-stops, Garofall then pulled out a substantial lead eventually lapping the whole field before the end of the race. TFL’s Sarah Reader and her new co-driver,Graham Fennymore, got their new partnership off to a good start at Anglesey over the weekend. The duo brought their car home in third place in the 4 hour SPEED Series race on Saturday.
Dominic Pettit made it 4 wins out of 4 races by storming to victory with a dominant performance in rounds 3 and 4 of the Club Ginetta series at Silverstone on Saturday 16th May.Dominic qualified in pole position for both races and went on to win rounds 3 and 4 setting the fastest lap in both races.Dominic remains unbeaten in the Club Ginetta series having now won all four races.Unfortunately Dominic will have to miss rounds 5 and 6 at Cadwell Park on 31st May due to other racing commitments but will be back in action on 9th August for rounds 7 and 8 at Donnington Park. Dominic will be racing next at Rockingham on 30th and 31st of May in rounds 5 and 6 of the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship where he is currently lining in 3rd place overall.
Audi managed a perfect start to the 2009 DTM season at the 100th race of the new DTM: Tom Kristensen (Denmark), Timo Scheider (Germany), Oliver Jarvis (Great Britain) and Markus Winkelhock (Germany) clinched a fourfold victory of the Audi A4 DTM and delivered the best start to a season in AUDI AG's DTM history at Hockenheim in front of 91,000 spectators. 2008 DTM runner-up Paul Di Resta in fifth place and was the best Mercedes C-Class driver.
The Clubmans Cup race at the same event saw Barry Webb come out on top in a Mallock Mk23B, Second in a Mk28B was Jonathan Hair, 3.320 seconds off the winner with Adrian Lester third Robert Huff and Alain Menu claimed two victories for Chevrolet on the infamous streets of Pau, extending the new Cruze's winning streak to four. Huff and Menu were able to be in the right place at the right moment, when Farfus went wide on the oil in Race 1 and when Engstler had an incident with the safety car in Race 2. Then they both used the best of their skills and the narrow track to keep Augusto Farfus behind. The Brazilian youngster, as well as his fellow BMW driver Andy Priaulx, scored important points for the German manufacturer and they climbed positions in the standing although they still have to claim a win. SEAT's weekend was the worst they have had in a long time. However Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini managed to score some points that might prove crucial for the rest of the season,
Nathan Freke totally dominated Rounds seven, eight and nine of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup at Donington Park this weekend, 16th/17th May. He won all three races, in varying conditions, the first time anyone has won all three races at one event this year. In doing so he has closed up to within 20 points of Championship lead Carl Breeze. Two Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup podiums for Total Control Racing’s Carl Breeze and another for the team’s lead ELF Renault Clio Cup driver Alex MacDowall at Donington Park on Sunday, capped another successful weekend for teht eam..read report
Porsche Carrera Cup GB racers Michael Leonard and Glynn Geddie will get the chance of a lifetime this weekend (23/24 May) when they race at Monaco in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup race supporting the Grand Prix. The pair, from Team Parker Racing, will tackle the street race next leaving straight after yesterday’s Donington Park races. After the Monaco race, the team has just one week to re-prepare the cars for the next Carrera Cup races at Oulton Park on 30/31 May. “From Mondello Park to Monte Carlo is a big step. It’s living the dream,” said Irishman Leonard. “I got the opportunity from Porsche and I talked it over with my sponsors and they were very keen to go down. It’s a bit of a daunting challenge, but I’m sure we’ll be okay once we’ve done a bit of practice. I’ve been to Monte Carlo three times for the Grand Prix, but watching there and racing there are two different things. One small mistake there and you’re in trouble; there’s no margin for mistakes. In years to come I’ll be able to say that I raced at Monte Carlo, one of the blue riband events anywhere in motor racing. Thanks to Marion Barnaby from the Carrera Cup GB and Stuart Parker of Team Parker Racing for making it possible.” Geddie said, “It’s a great opportunity. I hope to do the Silverstone Supercup race as well. I watched the 2007 Grand Prix but it’ll be an experience to learn the track in 45 minutes of free practice.” Racing newcomer Glenn McMenamin made his Porsche Carrera Cup GB debut at Donington Park (16/17 May), having recently completed enough races to gain a National A race licence. McMenamin (37), has extensive track day experience, but only started racing last September and contested enough Porsche Open and GT Cup races to upgrade his licence and join the Carrera Cup as soon as practical.Although he didn't finish either race at Donington, McMenamin showed very good pace in the pro-am2 category and ran with category leaders Paul Hogarth and Bob Lyons after setting category pole positions for both races. He also set fastest lap in the second race. McMenamin is racing with Parr Motorsport and plans to do four of the remaining seven race weekends this season, concentrating on the circuits he knows. “It is early in my career and I wanted to push myself and see how far I can get,” said McMenamin. “All the time I’m learning.” His next Carrera Cup weekend will be at Oulton Park, his favourite track, on 30/31 May.
David Brabham secured his third American Le Mans Series podium finish in four rounds with second overall despite setbacks at the Miller Motorsports Park. Team Pyro’s Aron Smith finally ended team-mate Phil Glew’s unbeaten run in the ELF Renault Clio Cup with Michelin after taking victory in round six at Donington Park on Sunday, 17th May. Smith didn’t have it all his own way though with Glew collecting his fifth consecutive Clio victory after winning round five held on Saturday, 16th May – extending his leading in the championship to 27 points over Total Control Racing’s Alex MacDowall. Changeable weather conditions made for thrilling action in round five as JHR Development’s Andrew Herron finished second with Coastal Racing’s Carl Bradley claiming his first podium with third place. Meanwhile the drama continued in round six with MacDowall taking second with Range Storage Ltd with Coastal Racing’s Lee Pattison also securing his first podium.
Daniel Lloyd’s latest foray in the Elf Renault Clio Cup did not go particularly well for the Yorkshire driver. In damp conditions on wet tyres he found the drying track more suited to slicks leaving him firmly on the back-foot. Team Dynamics' James Thompson returned to the BTCC with a bang at Donaington Park yesterday(Sunday). The Honda Civic driver won the first two races , one in the wet and one in the dry. The third race went to the Airwaves BMW of Robert Collard moving him up to third equal in the Championship table behind Matt Neal and Fabrizio Giovanardi. Simona De Silvestro had a perfect weekend at Round 2 of the 2009 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship, at Miller Motorsports Park. The Swiss driver had dominated the weekend, heading the timesheets on Friday and claiming pole on Saturday, her first in the Atlantic series. She then proceeded to stamp her authority on Sunday's race for her second Atlantic victory De Silvestro led from the off winning the 31 lap race by 11 seconds from John Edwards.
Benoît Tréluyer increased his lead at the top of the Formula Nippon championship with an excellent second place in Round two at Suzuka on Sunday. Fan Sponsored Car Takes Off. YourRacingCar.com (YRC) driver, Fulvio Mussi, found his car became the in flight entertainment at Round 7 of the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup on Saturday 16th May at Donington Park. A lap seven collision at the Redgate Corner saw the car lift four feet in the air to the amazement of trackside fans. After a steady qualifying session that saw Fulvio placed sixth on the grid for each of the weekend’s races the team expected to at least maintain the fifth position that they had started the weekend with. The three-car impact caused too much damage to the right front and chassis to enable the team to repair and prepare for Sunday’s racing. The car which had won the Motorgeeks.com best-presented car award sat it out in the garage allowing the YRC fans who sponsor the running of the car to see it up close. Meanwhile, Mussi took up the chance to partner commentating legend Ian Titchmarsh for rounds 8 and 9.The car will be further assessed this week by Ginetta and the team’s race engineers TCR to enable the team to start work to get the YourRacingCar.com car race-ready for Oulton Park on the 30th and 31st May. Fans who sponsor the car get their name and picture on it and receive a bundle of perks including team cap, by joining the club at www.joinyrc.com for £25. Manor Competition’s Dean Smith made a welcome return in the 2009 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship with a win and second place during rounds five and six at Donington Park on 16th/17th May. The 2007 runner-up took a lights-to-flag victory in round five followed by a second place in round six. Fortec Motorsport’s James Calado continued his title bid with an impressive drive in round six to take the overall honours but two consistent finishes by Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman sees the 18-year-old still leading the Championship, 10 points clear of Fortec Motorsport’s Oli Webb. Finland’s Jesse Krohn racing for Mark Burdett Motorsport joined Smith on the podium in round five finishing second alongside Webb while CRS Racing’s Lewis Williamson also secured his first podium of the season finishing third in round six.
Manor Competition returned to the winners circle at Donington Park on Sunday with a lights-to-flag victory for Dean Smith in the fifth round of the 2009 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship. Team-mate David McDonald produced his best performance in Formula Renault UK with a superb fourth place in round five while the team’s rookie Alice Powell claimed her first Graduate Cup class victory. Wolverhampton’s Dean Smith finally got his 2009 Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship underway at Donington Park over the weekend with a win and a second place alongside two poles positions.
Eric De Doncker and Dino Lunardi took their Matech Racing Ford GT into the winners circle at Adria in the Eurpean GT3 Championship at the weekend. The duo led the race on Saturday afternoon from pole winning the first race comfortabley. In the second night race they suffered a damaged radiator when they were hit by a flying bonnet off an Audi. Phil Quaife was encouraged by the big performance improvement of his CRS Racing Ferrari 430 Scuderia at round 2 of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Adria, even though he failed to finish both races. Will Bratt came away fromn his first PartyPokerRacing.it Euroseries 3000 Championship race at Portimao in Portugal on Sunday with an excellent second place. Earlier on Saturday in the first round Will had taken eighth after running as high as third. 17-05-09
After a
frustrating qualifying session due to set up issues that put
Mazdaspeed driver Conor Daly 12th on the grid,
Daly and his Andersen Racing engineers took a calculated risk
for the race, and made a series of dramatic suspension and
aerodymanic changes for the race. The hard work paid off, and
Conor quickly made up four positions in the opening laps.
Unfortunately, on a Lap 5 restart, Daly attempted an assertive
move for 7th place at the hairpin that resulted in contact. The
incident necessitated a stop for a wing replacement. However,
Daly unleashed a series of laps that confirmed that he could
match the speed of the leaders – in fact at times he was the
fastest car on the race track. Although the effort was only good
for P24 in the end, Conor's effort illustrated the team's
persistence and outright speed throughout. “I made an
aggressive move to pass on the restart because I felt I could
run with the leaders. Unfortunately it cost me a front wing and
a pit stop. After that the car was as good as I have ever had
it. We are close to being able to run right at the front” said
Conor. A cold windy and wet Pembrey greeted the drivers in the Welsh Sports and Saloon car Championship for Rounds 4, 5 and 6. Nick Jones extended his Championship lead with two wins and a second place, helped by the weather and by being in the right place at the right time. Century Motorsport’s Nathan Freke won the seventh round of the 2009 Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup at Donington Park’s National Circuit today, Saturday, 16th May, to close the gap to championship leader Carl Breeze by 15 points.
James Sutton and Michael Caine made it four race winners from six races when they won rounds five and six of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Donington Park today (Sunday 17 May 2009). Caine scored a tremendous victory after a grandstand finish to round five beating Tim Harvey and James Sutton in a dramatic scramble to the line, with 14-hundredths of a second covering the three cars. In pro-am1, Robert Lawson raced to a fine win while Paul Hogarth claimed pro-am2 after a long battle with Bob Lyons. In round 6 Sutton took Tim Bridgman late on the clinch his win while Tim Harvey came in thind. In pro-am1, Glynn Geddie mastered some tough conditions to take a fine win, while Paul Hogarth completed a pro-am2 double win.
Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup series leader Carl Breeze maintained his place at the head of the driver standings at Donington Park on Saturday, 16th May, by taking a hard fought fourth place finish during round seven of the 2009 season. David Brabham put in a sterling qualifying performance on Saturday afternoon to secure a front row start for round four of the American Le Mans Series at Salt Lake City. Aiming for win number two in the Patrón Highcroft Acura, starting second on the grid puts the Australian sportscar star in a promising position to extend his LMP1 championship lead with team mate Scott Sharp at the Millers Motorsports Park. Brabham was consistently fastest throughout Saturday’s practice, topping the timesheets in both the morning and afternoon sessions. The 43 year-old again headed the scoreboard in the first half of qualifying, but was pipped to pole position by Simon Pagenaud in the sister de Ferran Acura. The Patrón Highcroft ace’s final flying lap stopped the clocks at 1:31.381 setting the car’s fastest time of the weekend so far, sealing an all-Acura front row in Utah. Prior to the race at Virginia International Raceway, AIM Autosport teamed with CONSOL Energy, its sponsor for that event, to visit local communities in West Virginia and Virginia and help collect food and donations for area food banks. The two-day program was deemed a success with some thirteen hundred pounds of non-perishable food items collected and over one thousand dollars in cash donations being split between the various entities. CONSOL Energy had pledged to match the cash donations and stepped up by donating that amount to each of the four food banks involved. Just prior to the race, AIM Autosport team principals pledged to donate ten dollars for every mile the CONSOL Energy No. 61 Ford Riley completed in the Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR. After calculating the distance traveled (258.3 miles) AIM Autosport is happy to donate two thousand, five hundred and eighty three dollars and thirty cents, the proceeds going to the Buchanan Community Food Pantry, the COPE Food Pantry and the Hurley Community Development - Knox Creek Food Pantry. AIM will increase the total pledge to two thousand, seven hundred dollars ($2,700) with each of the three food pantries receiving nine hundred dollars ($900). When told of the donation by AIM Autosport, CONSOL Energy officials expressed their gratitude especially as since the food drive, one particular Buchanan County food pantry had to suspend distribution as they had simple run out of food and money. AIM Autosport will distribute the funds to the food pantries when it returns from its current west coast trip to Laguna Seca.
Daniel Lloyd came close to a top six finish at Donington in the ELF Renault Clio Cup on Saturday. However rain on the 12th lap turned the race into a bit of a lottery as everyone was on slicks. Daniel held onto seventh until the final lap when the weather caught him out and he slid onto the grass at the old Hairpin. This momentary off saw him loose a ‘hat full’ of places dropping him to 13th at the flag. A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will race at Assen in the Netherlands in Season Five on 14-16 May 2010. From the circuit, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, commented: “It is wonderful news that A1GP has signed a multi-year deal to race at the TT Circuit Assen. It’s a great opportunity to build on this year after year because of the multi-year deal. It’s an enormous boost for this region of Holland so is very important and will provide real opportunities for the future.” Commenting on this news, A1GP Chairman, Tony Teixeira, said: “I almost feel the series colour should be orange. We have had an enormous fan following since our very first event, and no one will forget the dedication of the fans at our very wet opening round for the 2008/09 season. Assen is a track with a lot of history. It has hosted a variety of very successful races for both two and four wheels and so this will be an exciting new adventure for us.” Assen has a long tradition with racing in the area since 1925, when the bikes raced on country roads. A circuit was built in 1955 and was then redesigned in 2006. It is 4.555 kilometres (2.830 miles) long and has a capacity for 100,000 spectators, with 60,000 grandstand seats. Not only is it famous for racing, holding the annual Dutch TT races and a Champ Car event in 2007, but also now as a concert venue. The first band to hold a concert there was Iron Maiden in August 2008, which was part of its Somewhere Back In Time World Tour. The circuit’s current lap record was set in 2007 by Champ Car driver, Sebastien Bourdais, in a time of 1min 18.756secs. 16-05-09
Andy Priaulx has claimed his first pole since Macau 2006. The BMW Team UK man was among the front runners during both practice sessions and qualifying and put in a stunning 1:22.462 when it mattered in Q2. He demoted BMW team-mate Augusto Farfus by just 11 thousandths of a second. Tom Coronel defied odds in taking part in Q2 after the front of his car was severely damaged in Q1. However, after sterling work from his team and determination behind the wheel he will line up a magnificent third tomorrow. Q1 - While it was a BMW at the top of the timesheet for the majority of the Q1, on the last lap Robert Huff from Chevrolet stormed through with a 1:22.900 stealing the quickest time away from Priaulx by 0.042 of a second. Jörg Müller (1:22.960) and Augusto Farfus (1:23.201) went into Q2 as third and fourth best. Tom Coronel had great pace and was sitting fifth at the end of Q1. However, at this time his team was repairing his car for Q2 after he incurred damage with seven minutes remaining. Leading man Huff's team-mates Larini and Menu both made the cut after claiming the sixth and seventh best times. Independent drivers Félix Porteiro and Franz Engstler along with Sergio Hernández made up the top ten, narrowly denying Alessandro Zanardi and Stefano D'Aste progression into Q2. All the five SEAT Sport turbodiesel cars remained out of the Q2 for the first time. Q2 - Tom Coronel was the man to beat for the opening half of the session after he clocked a 1:22.917. However, Farfus knocked the Dutchman off provisional pole by a sturdy four tenths of a second. The Brazilian's time of 1:22.473 seemed good enough to set him up at the front for Race 1 until Priaulx bettered it by just 0.011 seconds. Coronel's time secured third place on the gird alongside Jörg Müller. A trio of Chevrolets followed from fifth to seventh; Huff (1:23.097), Menu (1:23.128) and Larini (1:23.282).
S Current Cooper Tire Atlantic Powered By Mazda Champion Markus Niemela finished his second practice session at Miller Motorspors Park, with a series of quick laps that produced a best time of 1:37.626 (112.396 mph). The performance placed him 4th on the timesheets in preparation for tomorrow's Larry H. Miller Dealerships Atlantic qualifying. The young Finn's pace picked up considerably compared with his morning session, as he and his NWR refined their Swift's 016 package. Nonetheless, he was fairly quick right out of the box, producing an initial fast time of 1:38:250. "Today was good," Markus said, "the car is getting stronger and my team is really doing a great job. Their work on the package between the sessions allowed us to quickly find more speed, and picking up almost seven-hundredths immediately was was due to their hard work. More than that, however, we know the car has more to offer so, as a group, we're definitely looking forward to qualifying." Tomorrow's one-hour qualifying session will begin at 10:40a MTN with the race set for 11:40a MTN Sunday. All sessions will offer real-time timing and scoring. To follow the action go to: Atlantic Qualifying.
Proteam Motorsport's George Tanev and Vito Postiglione will be forced to skip this weekend's race meeting at Pau. Both the Bulgarian's and the Italian's BMW 320si cars suffered from extensive damage during the second race in Marrakech and, due to the short gap between the WTCC third and fourth events, the Italian outfit could not repair them in time to be transported to Pau, where only Félix Porteiro will represent the team.Tanev and Postiglione are due to rejoin from the next meeting at Valencia, on May 31st. Auto Mechanics students from three different technical schools in Pau have been invited to visit the WTCC teams. The initiative, agreed between the municipality of Pau and KSO, was met with enthusiastic support of the WTCC manufacturers who will welcome the students in their own garages offering them a unique experience for their future careers as mechanics and technicians. Three groups of five students and one teacher each, coming from LEP de Jurançon, Lycée Saint Cricq and Centre de Formation Professionnelle pour les Adultes de Pau, will visit SEAT Sport, Chevrolet and LADA.In addition to this, Chevrolet invited Bill Stewart - a student in Mechanics and Industrial Automated Equipments - to spend the Saturday working as a member of their team.
Best-ever field for Autosport 3-Hour race at Snetterton. With entries still being taken, the stage is set for the biggest entry to date for the revival of the Autosport three-hour at Snetterton on 30 May, during the Historic Sports Car Club's annual race meeting at the Norfolk track. The Autosport 3-Hours is the longest classic race in Britain and will be contested by GT and sports-racing cars built before 1966, along with cars in an invitation class for pre '69 sports-racing, GT and sports-prototypes. The entry list already numbers more than 40 cars and with only a couple of places left on the grid, the HSCC is confident that a capacity field will start the third running of the three-hour. In 2007, 31 cars started and in 2008 a total of 34 cars took the start. "We certainly expect to have a capacity field and I'm delighted with the quality of the entries we already have," said Grahame White, CEO of the HSCC. Leading the field, and aiming for a hat-trick of wins, will be 2007 and 2008 three-hour winners Michael Schryver and Simon Hadfield in Schryver's faithful Chevron B6. However, Jon Shipman and Mark Hales came very close to winning last year, only to be denied with 15-minutes to go when their Crossle C9S failed. They are back this year, determined to win. As well as half a dozen Chevron B8s, including the family pairings of brothers James and Jeremy Cottingham and father and son team Steve and Will Hodges, the field includes Jaguar E-Types, Porsche 911s, Elva Mk7s, MGBs and Lotus Elans. For more details about the HSCC, please visit www.hscc.org.uk The BRSCC website www.brscc.co.uk now features a latest news facility so you can keep right up to date with all the latest stories emanating from the Club and it’s championships. Officials at Donington Park have confirmed to the BRSCC that the planned race meeting at the circuit on the 6/7th June will go ahead. Following the well documented on-going re-development work the circuit had a track inspection last week and an MSA Track Licence was duly issued. The meeting will feature a total of 21 races including Caterham Roadsports & Superlights, LMA Euro Saloons, Mighty & Super Mighty Minis, Sports 2000, Fiat Challenge, Ma5da, Club Formula Ford, Alfa Romeos & Monopostos. For more information visit BRSCC AT DONINGTON Ahead of the BRSCC meeting at Silverstone on the weekend of 27th/28th June the circuit has advised that there will be testing available on Friday 26th June. The test day will take place on the National Circuit and the cost per vehicle is £219. For more information or to book contact Julie Hartfield at Silverstone on 08704 588235 or email Julie.hartfield@silverstone.co.uk Fuchs Lubricants has launched a scheme to support BRSCC competitors. The new scheme is managed on behalf of Fuchs by 710 Oil who are one of the principle UK distributors of Fuchs Silkolene 4 wheel motorsport products. To enter the scheme any BRSCC driver must purchase an initial engine fill of Fuchs oil and register their MSA competition license number details on the website of 710 Oil. Any registered driver must also clearly display a Fuchs Silkolene or Fuchs Titan logo on their car and overalls. Once registered, scheme members will be able to purchase further Fuchs Silkolene products at specially discounted rates. In addition Fuchs Lubricants will also provide £100 worth of Fuchs Silkolene product to any competitor who has a photograph with the name of Fuchs Silkolene, or Fuchs Titan clearly displayed on their competing car, published in any of the following publications: Motorsport News, Autosport and Motorsport magazines. Or on any of the following web sites: Crash.net. motorsport.com, rallybuzz.com, racecar.com…sadly not the Grid,, the Club Racers website. Additionally, at the end of the year/season, two lucky drivers will be drawn at random from the list of registered competitors who will each receive product support to the value of £300.00 for the following year. For registration and full support scheme details please go to the 710 Oil website http://www.silkoleneoil.com 15-05-09 The BRSCC South Western Centre will achieve a first this weekend when they run their annual meeting at the Carmarthenshire circuit. It will be the first time the Centre has run both circuit racing and a Sprint at the same meeting. Saturday morning will be taken up with a 4 hour sprint for the Metro Caterham Academy Championship before regular qualifying starts after lunch. There are then 4 races on Saturday afternoon and further 6 on Sunday featuring the Federal Tyres Nippon Challenge, the Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship & the Silverstone Tyres MR2 Racing Series. We are hoping that the double header for the Webcon UK Club Formula Ford Championship, originally scheduled for this meeting, will now take place at the South Eastern Centre meeting at Brands Hatch on 13th/14th June.The full meeting details can be found at PEMBREY
The opening rounds of the European FIA GT3 championship took place at Silverstone earlier this month where Hexis Racing AMR held its own. The team took a podium finish while getting both of its Aston Martin DBRS9s amongst the championship points. The team now lies 2nd in the l team standings and one of its crews is joint leader of the drivers' table. The team also took part in the FIA GT race - the main event of the meeting - in which its Aston Martin Vantage GT2 showed up well .
Australian Formula BMW Junior, Chris Wootton, took time out from his preparations the next rounds of the Formula BMW Pacific season to visit the North-Western New South Wales town of Moree and talk to various groups in the town. He visited an unemployed group in Moree, before heading to one of the local high schools. He spoke of his experiences as a Formula BMW Junior and the sacrifices that he has to make to ensure he continues in the BMW Junior Scholarship program. “It was a really worthwhile experience,” Chris said. “I am pretty fortunate that I’m able to go and drive Formula BMW, but the people I met with haven’t had many lucky breaks, so it was humbling to meet them and listen to their stories. It seems like they got a lot out of my visit and hopefully it will motivate them to strive and reach whatever goals they may have. Moree was an interesting place – quite often it is overlooked, but a dedicated group of locals is working hard to change that perception, which I am extremely happy to be playing a part in. Many people made the point across the weekend that there is a real interest in motorsport in Moree, but not many in the industry embrace country centres like that as a fan base. From that perspective, it was quite cool to give them first hand access to motorsport.” Once the serious side of his visit was over, Chris was invited to partake in ‘Moree on a Plate’ – a food and wine festival that showcased local produce. Afterwards it was back to training for the next event of FBMW Pacific on May 29-31 at Sepang. “It’s going to be great, we’ll head there for a day’s worth of testing first with Eurasia Motorsport,” he concluded. “I think we can find more in the car. With it being the same track as I was on last event, we’re hoping it will go very well.”
Tim Bridgman was fastest in Porsche Carrera Cup GB testing at Donington yesterday (14 May) prior to rounds 5 & 6 this weekend. Second was Michael Caine just 0.25secs behind with James Sutton third and Tim Harvey Fourth. In pro-am2 Robert Lawson topped the timesheets..read more
Adam Christodoulou once again set the fastest time in the second Thursday practice session for Round Three of the 2009 Star Mazda Championship this weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. Wwarmer temperatures in the afternoon increased grip levels but slowed the cars down in acceleration and Christodoulou's lap of 1:44.861 (104.641 mph) in the #11 JDC Motorsports Mazda was a few ticks slower that Alex Ardoin's 1:44.642 time set in the morning. "The track is definitely up in temperature, so there's more grip, but it also slowed the cars down in a straight line so that was against us on times a little bit," said Christodoulou, "This morning went well, but we had a starter problem so the team had to split the car between sessions to get at the flywheel and get the problem sorted out, but we were half a second quicker in the afternoon so we're definitely going the right direction. The two things we're all struggling with is the amount of sun here makes it difficult to pick your braking points; there aren't a lot of markers available, so you have to get that sorted. And the track is good, it's very smooth and flows well, but as soon as someone goes off there's a huge cloud of dust that makes it impossible to see." Second was Alex Ardoin’s in the #51 JDC Motorsports Mazda with a 1:45.254 while Conor Daly improved from 8th to 3rd in the afternoon, with a 1:45.514 in the Andersen Racing Mazda. Among the other drivers in the top-5 in the championship, Joel Miller, driving the #2 JDC Motorsports Mazda was 4th on 1:45.916 while by Peter Dempsey in the #3 AIM Autosport car was down in 12th There will be 4 races at the next round of Formula BMW Pacific on May 30 -- 31, as the series returns to Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit. Leading the charge in the Championship is Ireland’s Gary Thompson (16/E-Rain Racing), who came away from the opening rounds with a win and a podium finish. Also making impressive start to the season with 2 second places is FBMW Junior Chris Wootton (AUS/20/Eurasia Motorsport), runner-up in the 2008 Rookie Cup and currently second in the points. Having already made a strong impact in his first full season, Indonesian Rio Haryanto's (16/Questnet Team Qi-Meritus) also won and took a podium place in the opening two races put him third, just half a point behind Wootton. Fourth and second in the Rookie Cup is Malaysian Calvin Wong (17/Team Holzer PFX) who will be racing for the second time on his "home" circuit. FBMW Junior Axcil Jefferies (15/ZIM/Eurasia Motorsport) got his season off to a sensational start, finishing just shy of the podium in the first race. Iin Round 2 he led briefly before his race was cut short with a coming together with another car. Fellow Junior Steel Guiliana (AUS/17/Motaworld Racing) arrived at the opening round with virtually no time in the car. Despite this, the Australian came away with a point, and much more can be expected as he familiarizes himself with the FBO2. The 2009 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda swings back into action this weekend after a two-month break for Round 2, the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park on Sunday. Read more 14-05-09 Joe Tandy
SRO - It was with considerable sadness and regret that the British motorsport community learned today of the tragic death in a road car accident of Joe Tandy, the Formula 3 and Formula Ford team owner. The staff of SRO Motorsports Group shares the grief felt by Joe's family and his many friends and colleagues in the sport. SRO Motorsports Group General Manager Bernadette Fitzsimons paid this tribute: "Joe's death has left everyone involved with F3 in Britain in a deep state of shock. He was an extremely popular guy and the paddock will be a poorer place without him and his great sense of humour. He was a credit to his family, his team and to motorsport in general and they have all lost a very fine young man. Our thoughts are with Joe's fiancee Sophie, brother Nick and all his family, friends and colleagues." Formula Ford GB - The Formula Ford community in Britain is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of Joe Tandy. Joe, the man behind the success of the JTR Formula Ford and F3 teams, was killed in a road accident yesterday (Weds).Sam Roach, on behalf of the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain, said: "Joe was a talented, winning racer himself before he started JTR, and his enthusiasm and passion for the sport shone through everything he did. Everyone involved in Formula Ford in the UK feels his loss, none more so than me and my colleagues at RacingLine and Ford. Joe's family and friends have our deepest sympathies." It is with great sadness that The Grid have learned today that Joe Tandy has died in a road accident. We have several messages of condolence from within the Sport which we have printed above. To Joe's family and friends we offer our sincerest condolences.
The Auto Channel's Senior Motorsports Editor Rick Carlton has written a video-enhanced feature on Star Mazda driver Conor Daly's amazing save at VIR two weeks ago. "It's a statistical fact that when listening to radio calls from military pilots who are about to crash, the typical last words heard are "Ah Crap." Usually the phrase is uttered when a jet driver has gotten him/herself in a situation that is so unnatural that they stop thinking, and simply give in to adversity. In racing, similar verbal results can exist, since open-wheel cars require similar levels of accuracy, focus and guts in order to hustle a hurtling carbon-fiber cocoon around a race track effectively, or unsuccessfully, depending on the final result of an incident.... " To read the article in its entirety please click: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/05/08/460084.html The Volkswagen Scirocco will tackle the 24-hour race on the Nurburgring-Nordschleife on 23 and 24 May. Volkswagen will take two Scirocco GT24-CNG cars with natural gas engines as well as three Scirocco GT24 vehicles using conventional petrol fuel The aim is to add another victory to those clinched in the highly competitive class for two-litre turbo engines in 2007 and 2008 and, in addition, to be successful in the class for alternative powertrains, thanks to EcoFuel natural gas technology. "The 24-hour race is a very special challenge. The Nurburgring-Nordschleife is more difficult than any other track, the field is huge and the race a real marathon," says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "Volkswagen sets standards on the road with its EcoFuel natural gas models and we want to show that alternative powertrains like CNG technology can be successful in motorsport as well. In addition, we want to achieve the hat-trick with our petrol-powered Scirocco GT24 in the class of vehicles with two-litre turbo engines." Vanina Ickx , Peter Terting Klaus Niedzwiedz will drive one of the Gas powered cars, the other being ‘pedalled by VW’s Dr Ulrich Hackenberg and journalists Bernd Ostmann, Peter Wyssand John Barker. DTM driver Altfrid Heger will join up with F3 stars Carlo van Dam, Congfu Cheng and Franck Mailleux in the first of the petrol engine machines. VW’s Dakar stars Carlos Sainz and Dieter Depping join sportscar pro Wolfgang Kaufmann in the second GT24 while the final petrol car will be driven by junior drivers Jimmy Johansson, Florian Gruber,Nicki Thiim and Martin Karlhofer
With only a few days to go until the Masters Festival at Brands Hatch(23-25 May) there are still some grid spaces available . As in previous years, the Masters Festival at Brands is, in fact, two complete race meetings held over the 3-day Bank Holiday weekend. First there is the one-day Top Hat Raceday on the Indy Circuit which is followed by 2-days of Masters’ grids on the famous GP circuit! (Pre Event Testing, sold by the circuit, is available on the Indy Circuit on the Friday, May 22nd – contact Alan Tapson on alan.tapson@motorsportvision.co.uk or via telephone on +44 1474 875340). Timetables (subject to any last minute revisions) and Entry Forms for those remaining places are available via the website at www.themastersseries.com.Events – Indy Circuit Raceday – mini-endurance races available for Pre-66 GT cars, XK Challenge cars, Oldies but Goldies and separate races for Over and Under 2-litre Pre-66 Saloons races, plus the very special Morgan cars only 100th Anniversary Trophy.On the GPO circiuit are F1 Cars from the 60s, 70s & 80s. World Sportscar Masters with a grid bursting with a fantastic array of cars from the 1966 –‘74 era, There are still spaces in both the SRM Pre-66 sports racing cars, and the Proto70s prototype races. The Gentlemen Drivers GT is likely to a real cracker and is all set with a 44 car grid. A 2-hour, 2-driver extravaganza on Monday evening. And finally Touring cars from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Three different races from the 1950s Oldies but Goldies through to the 70s CSL and Capri s. Strawberry Racing's Ben Cooper and Luke Wright both took maiden KF1 podiums at last weekend's second round of the British Super 1 Championship at Shenington, Cooper ‘s in fact made two appearances on the podium, both on the top step.
Sheffield United’s players have been racing at the Daytona International as a team building exercise prior to the Championship play-off Final at Wembley. After a semi-final victory over Preston, the first team squadvisited a Daytona International go-karting track to let their hair down. “It’s been a busy few weeks and it is almost a fortnight before the play-off final so we thought it was a great time to get the lads together,” said boss Kevin Blackwell. Chris Morgan and the Blades squad donned their helmets and racing overalls and, as usual, the banter was evident before climbing into the karts for qualifying and the big race. The players split in to pairs to compete against each other but well-fancied favourites Danny Webber and Craig Beattie failed to live up to their pre-race billing and were ultimately disqualified after a series of problems. Gary Speed was unable to live up to his name and along with fellow Welshman David Cotterill, finished well down the field. The eventual winner was midfielder Stephen Quinn, who was partnered by someone not connected with the Blades party and reportedly a motorsport enthusiast. They beat Brian Howard and Ian Bennett into second place. “We raced go-karts when we went to Malta a while ago and I finished just outside the podium places so I’m over the moon to win this time around,” said Quinn, after being presented with his winning trophy by physio Dennis Pettitt. 13-05-09
Masters Historic Racing, will celebrate the 100th birthday of the Morgan marque by hosting a race solely for the popular Malvern cars at Brands Hatch next weekend. As part of its three-day Festival at Brands Hatch, Masters will run a Morgan-only race on Saturday, May 23. Dubbed the Tucker Trophy, in honour of celebrated Morgan pilot Jim Tucker, the race will be supported by auction house Coys. The race will be open to Morgans built before 1970 and runs for a silver cup hallmarked and dating back, appropriately, to Morgan’s formation year of 1909. It was found specifically for this race by Masters’ sponsor, the jewelers, Ogdens of Harrogate. J.S. ‘Jim’ Tucker, who died on 18th December 2006 aged 67, bought his first +4 in 1960, and his second in 1963. It was upgraded to full Super Sports specification and he campaigned it throughout the 1960s including the Ilford Films 500 mile and Guards 1000 races at Brands Hatch. He also won the BDC Silverstone Morgan race and set the first sub-60 second Morgan time at Curborough. The race entry is still growing but already includes the rare (one of three) Morgan SLR Le Mans car of Simon Orebi Gann. The race is being co-ordinated by Guy Loveridge at Coys with assistance from Morgan racers and anyone with a car eligible for the race is encouraged to contact the Masters office on 01908 587545. The Tucker Trophy will form a showpiece race within Masters Saturday event on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, a perfect curtain-raiser to a further two days of activity on the Grand Prix circuit for Masters’ classes.
A1 Team Malaysia driver, Fairuz Fauzy, has been elected to the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC). His on track success has earned him the recognition necessary to become part of the club. BRDC membership is only open to racing drivers and includes such luminaries as Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, as well as former racing drivers Formula One World Champion, Damon Hill, who is also the Club President. Fauzy has bases in Malaysia and the UK, the latter only a stone's throw away from the BRDC Clubhouse at Silverstone. Fairuz commented, "It is an honour to be a member of such a prestigious and elite organisation. The BRDC is a unique motor racing club, which only top racing drivers are invited to join. I am very proud to have been elected as a member and to represent such a historic club. I am really looking forward to taking my family and friends into the Clubhouse to watch the races and to be involved with the club and its important activities in motor racing." World Speed Motorsports will be in Salt Lake City this weekend for the Star Mazda Series race at Miller Motorsports Park with Stan Kohls and Dave House driving. However at the end of the month the team is expecting to run up to nine Pro Formula Mazdas in the Molecule Formula Mazda Challenge double header May 30th-31st at Thunderhill Raceway Park. "We expect this weekend to be one of our most well attended events so far this season," stated series Official Ben Hettema. A test day is scheduled for May 29th as the race will be held on the "Lil Red Nuht" configuration which is Thunderhill backwards. More than 20 competitors are expected to take the green at this race. The Molecule Formula Mazda Challenge is a regional Star Mazda series sanctioned by NASA that keeps costs in check by limiting travel to a general region. The MOLECULE Formula Mazda Challenge is operated by World Speed Motorsports and is in it fifth consecutive season. 12-05-09
Helio Castroneves has taken pole position for this years’s Indianapolis 500 ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti. The Brazilian, who celebrates his 34th birthday on May 10, scored his third pole position and Roger Penske's record 15th pole position with a four-lap average speed of 224.864 mph (2 minutes, 40.0967 seconds cumulative time) on the 2.5-mile oval. It was the Brazilian's 27th career IndyCar Series pole and his first of the season. Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe made a late attempt to unseat Castroneves but came up short. 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi car was third. Franchitti started third two years ago when Castroneves also had the pole. Driving for Andretti Green Racing, Franchitti led 34 laps en route to becoming the first Scot to win the Indianapolis 500 since Jim Clark in 1965. The first 11 spots of the 33-car field were set on Pole Day. Positions 12-22 will be set May 10. Graham Rahal, making his second start, qualified fourth in the McDonald's Racing Team car for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. Reigning Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon and Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan are also on Row 2. Mario Moraes driving the KV Racing Technology-Votorantim car is sixth, with Marco Andretti and Will Power alongside on Row 3. Danica Patrick is 10th and Alex Lloyd 11th. With 5th- and 7th-place finishes in Rounds 2 & 3 of the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the Doran Racing / McDonald's team is on form for this weekend's Verizon Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca… the very track where Doran co-driver Memo Gidley started racing. "This is my home track, the place where I went to my first race, drove my first race car and scored a podium as a Champ Car driver," says Gidley. "Every time I go back and look at the building where the Jim Russell Racing School used to be located, where I used to work as a mechanic during the day, and drive around Monterey where I used to deliver pizzas at night, I'm amazed – and thankful – at how far I've come." The team's experience at this track in 2008 was aptly summed-up by the name of the race: the RumBum250 -- after scoring back-to-back top-10 finishes in the two previous events at Mexico City and VIR, Doran Racing had one of those ‘character-building weekends’ in which the #77 Doran Racing Doran/Dallara Ford of Memo Gidley and co-driver Brad Jaeger qualified 13th on the grid but suffered suspension and half-shaft damage during on-track contact with another car and was relegated to a 34th-place finish, 27 laps down on the leaders. But this is a forward-looking team not inclined to let problems linger from session to session, much less season to season. "We're definitely set to go back and have a good race and hopefully score our first podium finish of the season," says Jaeger. "Last year this was the first high-downforce track we went to with the new Dallara bodywork and it was really a substantial improvement. And this year, with all the additional upgrades and all the kinks from last year worked out, we should be fast right from the start. The track layout is amazing and I love driving there, but the main issue is all the gravel traps they put in for the motorcycle races; if you go off, you're stuck and there's nothing to do but throw the yellow flag and wait for them to pull you out. So the name of the game is to stay on the track yet go fast; you can't drop wheels off and you have to be careful of the curbing. So our strategy will be to have a quick, clean race and bring the car home with a good result."
Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark claimed three wins from three races at the first race of this year’s Danish Touringcar Championship at Jyllandsringen on Sunday. Former champion and current Euro Cup winner Michel Nykjær won the first heat and the final while his team mate Henrik Lundgaard won the second heat. This leaves the duo first and second overall in the points with James Thompson third. Read report
The Italian leg of the FIA GT season takes place at the Adria International Raceway this Saturday, a compact and twisty track, very different to Silverstone. On Saturday afternoon the first FIA GT3 race takes place during the day whereas the FIA GT race, also on Saturday, runs into the evening and into the dark. After that there is a second GT3 race starts in the night at 2230hrs. Three races in one day is a massive challenge for CRS Racing as Andrew Kirkaldy explains: "We have to go into Adria with very cool heads as once we get on track the action is non-stop until midnight! On the GT2 front we now know we have a fight on our hands but we also know we have the ability to win in that category. In GT3 we had some tough breaks at Silverstone but all the guys raced well and we were top Ferrari in each race. I hope we can have a good race one so that we can then carry positive momentum into round two, which happens late at night. We'll have to make sure the GT3 boys don't go off for a big dinner beforehand." Klaas Hummel will be back in the No.55 GT3 Ferrari this weekend, alongside Chris Goodwin. Chris Niarchos will be concentrating on GT2 after also running in GT3 last time out.
This weekend's Verizon Festival Of Speed marks the first visit to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge. With strong fields of equal cars, the Mustang Challenge has some of the closest racing out there. 2009 marks the second season for the series which was formed in collaboration between Miller Motorsports Park and Ford Racing. The visit to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is one that several in the Mustang Challenge paddock have been looking forward to as the series grows from an 8-race championship in 2008 to a 10-round battle in 2009. Last time out saw 2008 Mustang Challenge Champion Andrew Caddell take his second win of 2009 at New Jersey as the Mustang Challenge staged a thrilling race in the series' first-ever wet race. Ted Anthony, who had won 4 of the previous 5 races before New Jersey, is now 31 points adrift of Caddell. While he is looking forward to making up some ground in the title chase this weekend, Anthony Jr. will have to be thinking about Caddell's renewed confidence following his tremendous run in the rain in New Jersey. "I think we have got this car finally handling the way I like it, and I think we should be good to go for the rest of the season," said Caddell who has previous racing experience at Laguna in MX-5 competition. "I can't wait for the race at Laguna, and it's great to get the chance to race on a track like that in these Mustangs." 11-05-09 Chris Gould won both the BARC Westfield races at Mallory Park over the weekend. In the first race he narrowly beat Simon Pryke by mere hundredths of a second while in race two he crossed the lione 0.224 secs up on Will Chappell. Strakka Racing came home in 19th place at the LMS Spa 1000kms yesterdya(Sunday) after the teams’s three drivers, Peter Hardman, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts had to drive through the field after being force to start from the back of the grid.
Sir Stirling
Moss, will race at Brands Hatch this May Bank Holiday weekend
(23/24/25 May)
as part of the Masters Historic Festival. The Masters Festival
is a three day celebration of some of the World's finest
historic grand prix, saloon and sports cars, with racing action
on both the Indy and Grand Prix circuits. Sir Stirling Moss -
who, at the age of 79, is determined to keep sharp on track
until at least his 80th birthday this September - will be
competing in the Gentleman Drivers GT race on Bank Holiday
Monday. Moss will be racing an Osca 1500 sports racing car
alongside experienced historic racer Roger Earl. The cars from
Moss's heyday in the 50s and early 60s will also be out on track
next weekend in two special races from the Historic Grand Prix
Cars Association. In total, Brands Hatch will be celebrating
four decades of Grands Prix, as the festival includes racing
from F1 cars of the 1970s in the Grand Prix Masters Series. In
addition, there will be racing from the World Sportscar Masters
Series and a special Morgan-only race on Saturday - featuring a
unique Morgan SLR Le Mans car last seen in the UK more than 30
years ago - to celebrate the manufacturer's 100th birthday.
Historic racing will be recognised at the biggest event of the British motor sport season when a field of pre '70 sports and GT cars provides a support race to the 2009 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday 21 June. The news comes following confirmation that the Historic Sports Car Club has again been invited to organise the race. It was in 2006 that a similar field of cars last raced as a support event to the British Grand Prix and, with a sell-out crowd expected, it will be an enormous occasion. It may also be the final British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone. The race, which is likely to run after the Formula 1 feature event on Sunday afternoon, will be open to cars ranging from Lola T70Mk3Bs and Ford GT40s, to AC Cobras, Jaguar E-Types and smaller sports-racing cars from marques like Chevron, Elva and Lotus. Cars will run on treaded tyres. "We are delighted that Silverstone Circuit Ltd and FOM have invited us to organise this race for the fourth year running," said Grahame White, chief executive of the HSCC. "I am hopeful that we can fill the 44-car grid very quickly." For more details about the HSCC, please visit www.hscc.org.uk
Three weeks ago Newman-Wachs Racing's Markus Niemela participated as a featured driver in an episode of Rick Graves' Oncars.com series entitled "Rev - Stepping Stones" in the U.S. To watch the episode in its entirety please click on the link: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/05/09/460289.html  The
#35 OAK Racing Pescarolo-Mazda of Matthieu Layahe and Karim
Ajlani has been awarded an LMP2 podium finish in the Spa
1000kms after a number of disqualifications following post-race
scrutineering. The #29 Racing Box Lola-Judd and #32 Team Barazi
Epsilon Zytek, which finished third and fourth, have both been
excluded from the official results after being found to have
failed to comply with the series’ technical regulations. The #26
Bruichladdich Bruneau Radical SR9, which finished sixth in the
original LMP2 results, has also been disqualified.Adrian Campfield clinched two commanding victories in the third and fourth races of the ADAC Formula Masters powered by Volkswagen season at Assen. Alongside him on the winner's podium for the two races in the "star of tomorrow" class was the Dutch local matador Liroy Stuart as well as the Austrian Klaus Bachler. In the first race Stuart was just ahead, in the second race Bachler finished second. Gennaro Bonafede was the man of the Volkswagen Polo Cup South Africa race weekend. The 18-year old convincingly won the fifth and sixth races of the season at Killarney. In the first race took the chequered flag ahead of Jared Mortimer and Kieren Quarmby in second and third places respectively. In the second race he won from Devin Robertson and Mortimer, who also mounted the podium twice. Gordon Connelly and Wesleigh Orr were the winners of the fifth and sixth races of the Formula Volkswagen South Africa at Killarney. Connelly won the weekend's first race around the track located north of Cape Town from Orr and Cristiano Morgardo. Orr won the second race from Connelly and Jayde Kruger.
Nasser Al-Attiyah strengthens Volkswagen team for 2010 Dakar Rally. The Volkswagen squad for the 2010 Dakar Rally is finalised. Nasser Al-Attiyah starts the second running of the cross country rally in South America for the first time in a Race Touareg. The 38-year old from Qatar shares the cockpit with co-driver Timo Gottschalk (D). Carlos Sainz competes with a new co-driver. His landsman Lucas Cruz will navigate the Spaniard in the future. On the other hand the two crews that claimed a historical one-two in this year's "Dakar", the first victory for diesel power, remain unchanged: Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA). The Volkswagen factory team's preparations for the 24-hour race around the Nurburgring-Nordschleife enter the final phase: Four of the five Scirocco GT24, two with innovative Natural Gas and a pair with conventional gasoline power, completed a successful roll-out last week. The near 300 hp sport coupes, which will compete on 23 and 24 May in the endurance classic in the Eifel, were completely rebuilt and concluded their maiden runs without problems at Oschersleben. The fifth Scirocco GT24, which is powered by gasoline, will be finished on Tuesday and completes its roll-out on Wednesday on the Volkswagen test track at Ehra-Lessien. Seven drivers with Volkswagen engines start in the Formula 3 Euro Series at Hockenheim this coming weekend(16-17 May) French team Signature fields three Dallara F308-Volkswagen for Mika Maki (FIN), Jean Karl Vernay (F) and Tiago Geronimi (BR). Red Bull Formula 1 test driver Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Jake Rosenzweig (USA) compete for the English team Carlin Motorsport, Carlo van Dam (NL) and Robert Wickens (CDN) line up for the German squad Kolles & Heinz Union. The ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup starts its twelfth season also at Hockenheim. Twenty-six young talents aged between 16 and 24 and representing six different nations compete in the "tourin car school". Luiz Felipe Nasr driving for Eurointernational won the second round of the Formula BMW Championship at Barcelona on Sunday. Second and winner of the first round on Saturday was Michael Christensen of Mucke Motorsport while local driver Eurointernational’s Daniel Juncadella was third keeping the local fans happy. ON Saturday in the opening race of the season the aforementioned Christensen beat Nasr in second and Malaysia's Jazeman Jaafar for Eifelland Racing third. Nicolas Minassian, Simon Pagenaud and Christian Klein driving for Team Peugeot Total claimed first place overall in the Spa 1000kms. Team Essex did the same in the LMP2 class while the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette took its first victory of the season in the GT1 class and Team Felbermayr-Proton won in GT2.t 10-05-09
Aston Martin Racing’s 007 LMP1 car of Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomas Enge (CZ) and Stefan Mücke (GER) came through from the back of the grid to third place at today’s(Sunday) Spa 1000 kilometres.The teams other car, 009, driven by Darren Turner (GB), Harold Primat (CH) and Miguel Ramos (PT) finished fifth after suffering a puncture and a late spin.
The International Formula Master's (IFM) third season starts next weekend with the opening two rounds of the season at Pau, France. With a field of 20 drivers entered including 2008 runner-up Fabio Leimer and Kasper Andersen and Harald Schlegelmilch plus some impressive rookies like Pal Varhaug and Alexander Rossi, the only street race on the IFM calendar should provide an exciting start to the series..read more
In a hugely disappointing turn-around, Strakka Racing will start the Spa 10000 kms,Round 2 of the LMS, from the very back of the grid. Despite this the team that took pole in Spain remains upbeat about their prospects in the race. Heading into qualifying the team had just been getting on top of a minor handling issue that had seen the #23 Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S sixth in LMP1 for first practice, and then tenth on Saturday morning. So confident they could improve Danny Watts was headed out for his first flying lap, when disaster struck. “I braked at exactly the same position that I always brake, and I applied the same amount of pressure on the pedal that I always apply, but this time the car snapped immediately into a spin.” What Danny wasn’t aware of at the time is that the #007 Aston Martin had just spun off at exactly the same place, and reports suggest that there was oil on the track “The engine stalled, and then wouldn’t restart. When I managed to get it going again, it was immediately apparent that the tyres were badly flat-spotted,” added Danny. With the Aston still stranded and in a dangerous position, the session was red flagged. Back in the garage the Michelin technicians were able to examine the tyres on Strakka’s Ginetta Zytek, and advised against attempting to drive the car again. With the regulations making it impossible to fit fresh tyres, the team had no option but to abandon qualifying and accept their fate. “It’s very unfortunate, but these things happen,” shrugged a philosophical Nick Leventis. “We’re strong enough as a team to make the best of this. It’s a six-hour race, and all it takes is a bit of luck and a safety car or two, and we will be back up there again.”Having failed to set a time, Strakka Racing’s Ginetta-Zytek will share the back of the grid for today’s race with the 007 Aston Martin. Jordon Lennox-Lamb is looking very quick in KF2 class, running with more exalted runners such as Ben Cooper, Brandon Maisano, Chris Lock and Jordan Chamberlain. At Angerville in France last weekend he certainly got in amongst them and made his mark..read more 09-05-09
Martin Short and Gregor Fisken drving a Mosler took the chequered flag to win Round 3 of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Spa this afternoon(Saturday). The pair inherited the lead from Oulton Park winners Daniel Brown and Stuart Hall when Hall was called into the pits to server a stop-and-go penalty after a technical infringement of the pit stop procedures. Darren Turner driving the 009 Aston Martin Racing Lola alongside Switzerland’s Harold Primat and Portuugal’s Miguel Ramos (PT) put in a 2m02.488sec lap in on only his second-ever LMP1 qualifying session to place the car third on the grid. The team’s second car, 007 driven by crewed by Jan Charouz, Tomas Enge, Stefan Mücke didn’t manage to get out in qualifying today because of a mechanical problem on it’s out lap forcing them to start from the back of the grid tomorrow. Nicolas Minassian, Simon Pagenaud, Christian Klien put their Peugeot 908 Hdi-FA on pole for the Spa 1000kms today with atime of 2:01.056, just 0.026 secs ahead of their team-mates in the second 908 of Marc Gene, Alex Wurz and David Brabham. Third fastest was the works Lola Aston Martin of Harold Primat, Miguel Ramos and Darren Turner who did a 2.02.488, nearly one and half seconds behind the Peugeots. Fourth fastest was Stefan Ortelli and Bruno Senna for Team Oreca Matmut AIM while fifth went to Jean-Christophe Boullion, Christophe Tinseau in the Pescarolo Sport Judd engined machine.
Freddy Nordstrom made his debut in Valencia, Spain in an eventful SEAT Leon Supercopa Opener. Freddy Nordstrom’s first event in the Supercopa SEAT Leon proved to be a dramatic affair. A packed grid of almost 40 cars saw the cool Swede surrounded by some fiery fellow drivers in action and incident packed races. The grid boasted former WTCC, BTCC and current Eurocup drivers as well as returnees to the Supercopa SEAT Leon so it was set to be a fierce battle. After a tough qualifying Freddy started race one at the back of the grid but made an excellent rolling start. Within a few short laps he'd made up over 12 places and was on a flyer. Unfortunately, Freddy was to become a casualty of another duo's misfortune when two cars in front of him made contact, both spun and collected Freddy on their trip to the gravel. As such Freddy was unable to start race two which immediately followed the first race, a grave disappointment after he'd made up such ground. For Sunday's feature race it was another start at the back of the grid, but thankful to be there, Freddy got his head down and again was making up over a dozen places in just a handful of laps. Finishing 16th, it was truly a tough introduction in a series which saw some of the best of the best struggle. Supercopa is certainly for the brave, not the faint hearted, and with that in mind Freddy can't wait for the next race which will be at Jarama on 6-7 June. Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing face a race against time to repair and prepare Dan Eaves' car in time for the Donington rounds of the HiQ MSA BTCC. The car was damaged on four separate occasions at Thruxton last time out. The team returned to its Rugby base and was stripped down, a detailed inspection showed considerable damage to the car, both components and bodywork. Colin Neill (Team Principal) said "It's going to be very tough to get the car ready for Donington, we sustained two front end impacts, one rear and in the last race front and side damage, including suspension. The cumulative effect has left us with a lot to do and not much time to do it. The pit crew did at fantastic job at Thruxton to get the car back on track for qualifying and the three races, the last race incident resulted in us having to order some replacement parts which have been delayed getting to us. The team is working flat out to get the car ready for May 16/17, but it's going to very tight that's for sure." This is in contrast to their second car, which driven by Adam Jones finished the Thruxton weekend with a podium second place, having earned points in the first and second races of the day with 6 th & 8th place finishes respectively. Adam did a great job throughout the entire weekend and had some great battles and brought the car home comparatively clean. Jones no stranger to the podium during his previous BTCC campaigns, earned the team its first podium finish at only its second BTCC outing. 08-05-09
Alpine Motorsport’s Dean Stoneman reaffirmed his position as Championship leader by going quickest during official testing in the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship at a blustery Croft circuit on 6th and 7th May.
The Porsche Carrera Cup GB resumes at Donington Park next weekend (16/17 May) for rounds five and six of the 20-race season. At Brands when the season opened, Tim Bridgman (Team Parker Racing) won both races convincingly. But at Thruxton Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing) and Michael Caine (Motorbase Performance) took a win. Added to the mix at Thruxton was 2007 champion James Sutton, back with Red Line Racing; the team that took him to the '07 title. He claimed a podium in the second race and now makes it at least four drivers vying for race wins. Clearly, if Bridgman can recover his Brands form he will be very tough to beat, but Harvey and Caine are formidable opponents and Sutton will almost certainly be bang on the pace, having jumped into the car at Thruxton with no testing. Then, drivers like Carrera Cup Scholarship winners Tom Bradshaw (Team Parker Racing) and Lewis Hopkins (Red Line Racing) are chasing hard, while the championship debut of Aaron Scott (JMH) puts another strong contender into the mix. Bradshaw in particular is expected to be strong at Donington, having struggled with tyre performance somewhat at Thruxton, while Hopkins has already shown impressive pace. Meanwhile in the pro-am1 category four drivers have each won one of the four races to date. Currently Glynn Geddie (Team Parker Racing) has the lead from newcomer Robert Lawson (JHR) and Tony Gilham (Red Line Racing). However, back for Donington after missing Thruxton will be Brands winner Michael Leonard (Team Parker Racing), while Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance) and Derek Pierce (JHR) are two more strong runners. In the pro-am2, Robin Clark (Parr Motorsport) has taken the early advantage, but Karl Leonard (RSS Performance) and George Richardson (Motorbase Performance) should both be back on the grid at Donington. John Gaw (Team Kinfaun) should also be a pro-am2 contender on his Carrera Cup debut. Making his 2009 debut is Paul Hogarth (IN2Racing), while Bob Lyons rejoins in pro-am2, racing alongside pro-am1 contender Tommy Dreelan in the Celtic Speed squad. Boosting the pro-am2 entry to give the category its biggest field to date will be series newcomer Glen McMenamin (Parr Motorsport).The VIP car will be raced by Aaron Steele as his reward for being one of the six finalists in the Carrera Cup GB Scholarship.
David Brabham will drive the new-liveried Peugeot 908 HDi FAP for the first time at Spa this weekend with co-drivers Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene ahead of Peugeot’s assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours and Brabham’s bid to take his third consecutive Le Mans win next month. The Australian has not race in the Spa event for over a decade. But the 43 year-old still rates the Belgium circuit as one of the best. “I’m really looking forward to racing at Spa as it’s one of the greatest race tracks in the world. This will obviously be my first race with Peugeot so it’s going to be a fantastic experience. The car’s in good shape and I am looking forward to working with a great team and sharing the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with my co-drivers Alexander and Marc. The race will be good preparation for Le Mans, which is really what we are focussing on. Of course we want to win at Spa, but all of the information we gain will be working towards Le Mans, so we will be doing things to the car and trying out strategies to learn as much as possible.” He continues: “It’s been a good few years since I last raced the 1000 kilometres at Spa but I’m feeling well prepared for my first race in the Peugeot. We completed a 30 hour simulation test at Paul Ricard between the St Petersburg and Long Beach ALMS rounds, which went really well. So I’m ready and up for this. When I feel properly prepared, I feel like I have a better chance of winning.”
Robert Huff's and Nicola Larini's victories in Marrakech will result in Chevrolet being given the maximum ballast in Pau. The Cruze cars will receive a 40kg ballast like the turbodiesel SEAT cars and the BMW 320si cars, because it was the fastest in Morocco after having received technical help from the Touring Car Bureau. The compensation weight for Pau has been determined by the lap times set in the three previous events (Brazil, Mexico and Morocco). The SEAT León TDI emerged as the reference model, 0.1s faster than the BMW 320si. All the other cars - LADA 110, SEAT León TFSI and Alessandro Zanardi's BMW 320si (the only one equipped with a sequential gearbox) - will have 20kg deducted from their minimum weight. The WTCC Race of France was launched during a press conference at the city's Chamber of Commerce attended by the reigning world champion Yvan Muller who reminded: "This year Pau is the only French city to welcome an automobile world championship." The event also marks the 69th edition of the Grand Prix Automobile de Pau and Jacques Raynaud, vice-president of the Eurosport group commented: "Tradition is not something you can buy. You have to build it and keep it alive." While Marc Jubault-Bregler, town counsillor for the Environment confirmed: "Our aim is to develop and renew the Grand Prix in order to make it perennial." Laurent Cazenave will rejoin the Wiechers-Sport team for his home WTCC meeting at Pau. The 34-year old Frenchman will take the wheel of the German outfit's second BMW 320si car, alongside Stefano D'Aste. This will mark his second appearance in the FIA World Touring Car Championship after last year's debut at Pau. In 2008 Cazenave used his racing experience on his home town's streets to the utmost, claiming an outstanding victory in the Independents' class at the end of Race 1. Now he is back, aiming for more: "This is a very difficult challenge. I know the car a bit from last year, however we will make a test on Thursday before the event at the Pau Arnos racetrack, because I wish to do the best I can." After the season's opening in Curitiba, when 43 tonnes of food were collected through the ticketing campaign and donated to a charity society, the WTCC continued its program of social contribution activities. On the occasion of last week's Race of Morocco, Marcello Lotti, Managing Director of KSO, offered 2000 t-shirts to the Moroccan Ministry of Education. These clothes will be distributed to the children of Marrakech as a symbolic donation in order to associate the population in need with this first-ever successful FIA WTCC Race Meeting in Morocco. Marco Andretti was quickest on the first full day of practice for the Indianapolis 500. with a lap of 39.9152 seconds, 225.478 mph on the 2.5-mile oval. The 31 drivers put in a total of 2,199 laps as they began preparations for the race. Rookies and drivers needing a refresher at the Speedway practiced three hours May 5 but got less than an hour of practice time May 6 before rain washed out the remainder of the day. On Thursday, the track opened up more than two hours earlier than originally scheduled to make up for some of the lost practice time. Two-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves was second-fastest with a lap at 225.237 mph. Ryan Briscoe was third, defending race winner Scott Dixon fourth and 2007 winner Dario Franchitti fifth. The top 27 drivers were separated by less than one second. Ryan Hunter-Reay was involved in the only incident of the day when the No. 21 Vision Racing car did a half-spin exiting Turn 2 and hit the wall early in the afternoon. Hunter-Reay was uninjured.
Carlos Sainz (Junior) put in a peerless performance at Angerville on Sunday (3 May). He was fastest in Qualifying, won all his heats and the two finals for the Tony Kart Junior Team putting himself forward as one of the - favourites for overall glory at the KF3 finals which will be held at Zuera, Spain in July (11/12).
Bridgestone has announced the names of the 11 finalists for the 2009 e-reporter Young Journalists competition, in time for the opening round of the Bridgestone-backed GP2 Series this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Eight finalists are attending a F1 race weekend to follow the GP2 Series while three others will get the opportunity to witness the action in a MotoGP. All finalists will be reporting on the Bridgestone-supported championships for Bridgestone’s website, (www.bridgestone.eu/e-reporter), and interviewing riders or drivers to fine tune their skills. 2009 marks the sixth year of the e-reporter initiative, and once again a record number of entries have been submitted from across Europe. FreeM, makers of the finest quality Italian custom-made race wear, will supply leading BTCC and Porsche Carrera Cup GB squad Motorbase Performance with all its race suit needs in 2009. The team are running a pair of BMW 320si E90s in the BTCC for Rob Collard and Jonathan Adam as well as Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars for Michael Caine, Oliver Jackson and George Richardson in the Carrera Cup GB. They celebrated their first ever BTCC win recently when Collard won at Brands Hatch. Motorbase Performance Team Principal David Bartrum said: "FreeM has provided us with a unique, professional, corporate look across both our BTCC and Porsche Carrera Cup squads and we're delighted with the design and quality of their race wear."
A record number of five Zytek-built cars will race in Sunday's LMS race at Spa. A third of the new Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S cars is to join the two that performed well at the season's opening round in Barcelona. Both the Zytek 07S that contested last year's championship will also be on the grid. The newcomer is the Team LNT LMP1 GZ09S, driven by former Le Mans 24-hours winner Guy Smith and by Robby Kerr. Robbie previously scored a LMP2 class podium position for Zytek at Le Mans in 2007. The third driver in the line-up will be team owner, Lawrence Tomlinson. This Ginetta-Zytek is identical to that which Danny Watts used to win the pole in Barcelona. Danny will again be driving the Strakka Racing entry with Peter Hardman and Nick Leventis. Having narrowly missed out on winning the LMP2 category in Spain, the Quifel-ASM team will be out again with its new Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S. Frenchman Olivier Pla will share the car with Miguel Amaral. The Portuguese team will be backed by the two Zytek 07 cars of GAC Racing Team and Team Barazi-Epsilon. The GAC (formerly Trading Performance) entry is to be driven again by Philipp Peter, Karim Ojjeh and Claude Yves-Gosselin, the Barazi-Epsilon car by two of last year's drivers, team owner Juan Barazi and Fernando Rees. All will be powered by 4.5-litre or 3.4-litre versions of Zytek's V8 engine. A sixth entry will use the 3.4-litre engine, the WR, driven by Tristan Gommendy and Philippe and Stéphane Salini. Team Barazi-Epsilon, a two-time class winner for Zytek in 2007, will be making its first appearance of the season. Guillaume Moreau and Xavier Maasen were at Silverstone last weekend in the FIA GT championship driving a Luc Alphand Adventures Corvette C6.R finishing in third place. 06-05-09 Boysie Thurtle won both races as the 2009 Heritage GT Challenge season finally got underway at Brands Hatch over the May Bank Holiday weekend (May 2-3). It was all the more remarkable as he achieved it in different cars, Sunday’s victory coming after he partnered Chris Scragg in the latter’s Aston Martin DBS V8.
Fresh from its debut Le Mans Series victory at the opening round of this year’s championship in Barcelona, Aston Martin Racing now heads to Spa-Francorchamps and it’s unique microclimate that can make weather conditions extremely variable. Aston Martin Racing will field two LMP1 cars for the second round of this year’s Le Mans Series. The 007 car of Jan Charouz (CZ), Tomas Enge (CZ) and Stefan Mucke (DE) will be joined once more by the 009 car of Harold Primat (CH), Miguel Ramos (PT) and Darren Turner (GB). The Astons will face xtremely strong opposition in Spa, including the first appearance of the diesel Peugeot that will compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours. In total, 51 cars will take the start of the Spa 1000 kms on Sunday 10 May. The six-hour Spa race forms part of Aston Martin Racing’s preparations for the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours, 50 years on from the company’s last Le Mans win in 1959. Aston Martin Racing Team Principal George Howard-Chappell commented: “Following our success in Barcelona we are very much looking forward to getting back to the Ardennes and seeing how our car performs against a completely different type of challenge, which is Spa. Of course we will be facing some important new rivals in Belgium, namely the factory Peugeot team and also the new Oreca, but we’re all feeling confident and upbeat as we head to Spa-Francorchamps.” Aston Martin will also be represented by two customer teams. Jetalliance Racing in GT1 and Drayson Racing in GT2 in the GT2…read Jan Charouz on driving at Spa
T Sebastian Saavedra topped a Firestone Indy Lights Open Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Twenty-one drivers had five hours to prepare for the Firestone Freedom 100, which will be run May 22. Saavedra, who won the April 26 race at Kansas Speedway, turned a best lap of 47.0520 seconds, 191.278 mph. 2006 race winner Wade Cunningham was second at 190.969 mph, Martin Plowman was third and J.R. Hildebrand was fourth. The 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship is officially underway as all 24 cars took to the track for the first time at Snetterton on Tuesday(5 May). All the drivers got a brief session to familiarise themselves with their cars and carry out installation laps. Whilst no official timing was recorded the F2 drivers were able to increase their pace and complete some solid runs as the day progressed. All 24 cars have run well throughout each session. Testing is due to continue today(Wednesday) on bespoke Avon compounds. Spaniard Andy Soucek, who last season competed in GP2, was enthusiastic after his first run in the Williams JPH1 F2 car: "I have a very good feeling about this car and the championship. I have done four years of Formula 3, one year of Formula Renault 3.5 and two years of GP2, so I'm used to these type of cars, but the Williams JPH1 surprised me. The levels of downforce exceeded my expectations, the grip levels are good and once we have the new Avon tyre tomorrow it should be even more fun to drive."It is easier to follow another car than in F3 and GP2 as you don't lose so much aero. It means that being behind someone really permits you to get close to them, so I'm sure we will see a lot of overtaking this year." Jonathan Palmer, Chief Executive of series organiser MotorSport Vision, said: "This is a very proud moment. Today has gone far better than I had dared to expect; none of these cars had even turned a wheel before they arrived at Snetterton this morning and the whole MSV F2 team has done an absolutely phenomenal job in meeting the original date for the first test on time. All 24 F2 cars have run today and been amazingly trouble free. "I really believe we are making history. The combination of high performance, F1 safety standards and 16 European races - all for just GBP 200,000 - was disbelieved when the FIA first invited tenders, but now with a full grid of drivers and the cars all complete, the reality has arrived - Formula Two is going to create a revolution in motorsport." Mosport International Raceway will renew one of its grandest traditions during Victoria Day SpeedFest, May 15-17, when the ground-pounding, high-horsepower Corvettes, Camaros, Jaguars and Mustangs of the Muscle Milk SCCA Trans-Am Series makes its return to Mosport for the first time since 2003. Trans-Am has a long and storied history at Mosport that dates back to 1976.. This year marks the series return to competition since shutting down after the 2006 campaign. Coming into the Mosport round, Tony Ave of Maiden, N.C. leads the eight-race championship after starting on the pole in the first two races and finishing second at Virginia. The Mustang pilot will be in tough against a field that includes Mosport veterans Tony Drissi (Jaguar), Edison Lluch, (Corvette) and Lluch's son, Edison Jr. (Corvette). Among the other racers looking to get the top of the podium at Mosport is Simon Gregg(Corvette), son of the late Trans-Am legend and four-time 24 Hours of Daytona champion, Peter Gregg. Klaus Graf (Jaguar), the 2005 Trans-Am champion should also be a contender at Mosport after notching his first win of the season at Virginia. Joining Trans-Am track are the SPEED World Challenge GT and Touring Car Championships, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Sundown Grand Prix endurance race into darkness..For more information about Mosport visit online at www.mosport.com.
05-05-09 Mark Funnell broke his own LMA Euro Saloons and Sports Car lap record at Castle Combe on Monday(4 May) on his way to a easy win in his Lotus Exige. Second, some 25 seconds behind came the Noble M12 while Isla Coz was third in a SEAT Leon Cupra.
Benoît Tréluyer and Satoshi Motoyama’s victory 209 Super GT500 championship at Fuji on Sunday got the pair back into sixth place in the championship standings with 20 points. Scott Rarick won the latest round in the Pacific F2000 series at Buttonwillow from pole position. It was his first win in the Pacific F2000 Series presented by Terminal Velocity Processing and Sierra Tire. On Saturday Max Hyatt also took advantage of pole by taking a lights to flag victory in Round 5. Jean-Eric Vergne competed in races 3 and 4 of the 2009 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup this weekend. After showing his speed in Barcelona two weeks ago he was determined to fight at the front and open his score, something he achieved on Saturday. Starting from fourth on the grid he quickly moved up a place and finished third on the rostrum. Things did not go off so well the next day. He was unable to defend his fifth place due to an engine problem and only came in eighth. Vergne is now seventh in the European Championship after two rounds. He now aims to close the gap to the lead at the next meeting in Budapest on 12-14 June. Next up for the Frenchman will race are two rounds of the WEC Championship, which he currently leads, at Pau on 15-17 May followed by Magny-Cours on29– 31 May.
Alexander Rossi finished 4th overall last week Team in the final International Formula Master pre-season test at the Hungaroring whilst driving for Hitech Junior. At the Hungaroring after some early day 1 setbacks the Hitech crewed worked through the night on Rossi’s Tattus /Honda. Rossi, still a rookie in the series, then posted his quickest time on day 2, setting a time of 1:37.551 around the 4.4 kilometer circuit. "We are definitely moving in the right direction and I really enjoy working with the experienced Hitech Crew”, Rossi commented. “The team and I were very confident going to Hungary, but felt the pressure to back it up after a successful BRNO test. In Hungary we struggled at bit in day one, but the team was unbelievable and worked overnight. On day two we were quick and I was quite happy with the car balance. I cannot wait to see what we can put together at the first event in Pau, I am sure we will be challenging for race victories right from the start,” Rossi added. David Hayle, Hitech Junior’s Team owner commented;“Alexander and the crew have made significant progress after only BRNO and Hungary tests. I am quite happy with our progress and believe we will be very competitive this season.” Next stop for Rossi and IFM are opening rounds on May 15 – 17 at Pau James Walker opened his 2009 World Series by Renault Championship account at the weekend with a win at Spa in front of almost 80,000 spectators. He had earlier dominated qualifying taking the fastest time before going into into the Superpole session. There he was pipped to pole by just 0.02secs. With the reverse grid system, James started race one from seventh place and was running well when a small mistake caused him to lock up his wheels at the hairpin and get stuck in the gravel. On Sunday he more than made up for his mistake despite a bad start that dropped him to fourth. However he soon recovered and set off after local driver and pole-sitter Bertrand Baguette, and the second and third placed Miguel Molina and Charles Pic. While the latter pair were locked in their own private battle, James chose his moment and slipped by both at Les Coombes and set off after Baguette. A brief safety car period allow him to close up on the leader just before his mandatory pit-stop. Once he rejoined on a clear track he banged in fastest lap after fastest lap which allowed him to leap-frog Baguette for the lead when the Belgian pitted for his stop. James then cruised to the chequered flag and took his first win of the season. "After the disappointment of Barcelona this is where we get this championship started," said James. "It's a great feeling to go to the next race in Monaco as the latest winner. The team needed this result and so did I. Our speed has never been in question but now we have put it all together to produce a victory and it feels great."
CRS Racing left
Silverstone on Sunday with the first GT silverware of 2009 after Andrew Kirkaldy and Rob Bell finished today’s
FIA GT race in third position. Chris Niarchos and Tim Mullen
finished in ninth place, which was no reflection of the great
pace they showed in the race. Tim Mullen started the race in the
No.55 Ferrari from third on the grid but the Ulsterman soon took
second place, with Rob Bell not far behind in the No.56 CRS car,
in fourth place. The positions remained unchanged for most of
the first stint, until Tim radioed in just over half an hour
into the race to say he had a problem with his power steering.
He pitted soon after to hand over to Chris and the
power-steering was reset before Niarchos took to the track. Just
before the halfway point of the race Bell pitted from third to
hand over to Kirkaldy. Just as the Scot joined the race the
safety car came out while a stricken car was cleared from the
track. At this point Kirkaldy was fourth and Niarchos was
10th. With the safety car picking up the GT1 race leader, the
GT2 field was split up and both CRS Ferraris lost out on time.
After the final pit-stops Bell was back out in No.56 and Mullen
was running in No.55. An off for GT2 race leader Gianmaria
Bruni boosted the positions of both CRS Ferraris with Bell
taking the flag in third place and Mullen in ninth. 04-05-09 Phil Quaife made his debut for CRS Racing at the opening round of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone over the weekend. He finished the both races as the top Derrari, 17th in the first and 12th in the second.
The Doran
Racing / McDonald's team took yet another top 7 finish at the
weekend in the Verizon Wireless 250, Round 3 of the 2009 Grand-Am
Rolex Sports Car Series held at New Jersey. Drivers Memo Gidley
and Brad Jaeger started from 10th on the grid and
brought the car home in seventh in wet conditions.
Full Speed Racing missed out on the points on their debut in the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone. Luke Hines and Stephane Lemeret brought their car home in ninth after a safety car period halfway through wrecked their strategy, Josef Newgarden continues to impress in his first full season of racing in the UK. This time he was out in Formula Palmer Audi on the Brands Hatch GP circuit and he took it all in his stride winning both races. The American teenager won the first race after snatching the lead from pole-sitter Adam Foster on the opening lap while in race two he came from 4th on the grid to win when Kazim Vasiliauskas and Foster tangled early on and Richard Plant was penalised for a jumped start.
Results of the FIA World Touring Car Championship's Rounds 5 and 6 that took place on Sunday on the new street circuit of Marrakech, Morocco, will remain suspended pending the technical checks of the 4 SEAT Sport cars of Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini, Jordi Gené and Tiago Monteiro.
Bertrand Baguette took two second places at Spa in Formula Renault 3.5 last week after a great drive from eighth on the grid on Saturday and a close battle with James Walker on Sunday. GThe result leaves him second in the Championship behind Marcos Martinez.
03-05-09 A great pair of races in the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International races at Silverstone today (Sun) saw Dutch driver Renger van der Zande win his first race in the British Series while Aussie Danlel Ricciardo continued his dream start to the season with another victory further extending his championship lead over Britain's Nick Tandy to 28 points after just 4 races..
A1 Team Ireland and Adam Carroll completed his weekend with victory in Sunday’s A1GP Brands Hatch Feature race to win the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport championship. Ireland had been in control all weekend, claiming two pole positions yesterday followed by two wins on Sunday. Carroll took the lead in the Feature race from the start to take a comfortable victory, eventually crossing the finish line 10-seconds ahead of the Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen. Neel Jani ended third, securing second the runner-up spot in this year’s championship. Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque came home in fifth to give them third place in the final championship rankings. In the Sprint race Carroll was followed over the line by India’s Narain Karthikeyan in second after a great pit stop moved him up the order. In third, despite leading Ireland at the start, was Mexico’s Salvador Duran swho dropped down the order during the mandatory pit stops.  Francis
Tjia took a magnificent win in Round 3 of the GT3 Asia
Championship
at Shanghai International Circuit today(Sunday). After making a
great start from 8th on the grid he stormed through
the field to the lead on lap 4, a lead he held until the flag.
He then went on to record his second win of the day in Round 4,
his Modena Motorsports Ferrari 430 taking the flag with more
than 20 seconds in hand over Siu Yuk Lung in second .Nick Percat continued his dominance of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship this weekend at Winton Raceway, winning all three races quite comfortably. Chaz Mostert and Mirch Evans had a hard fight in race 3 for second place, with Mostert coming out on top, while in race 2 Richie Stanaway provided the entertainment as he climbed from 13th to sixth.
Round 3 qualifying times, Silverstone GP, 2/5/09
Round 4 qualifying times, Silverstone GP, 2/5/09 The Doran Racing/McDonald's team, in conjunction with officials from the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, will host members of "The Bronx Flash Track Club" during this weekend's Verizon Wireless 250 at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Included in the race day activities for club members will be a Grand-Am organized garage tour and a special 'insiders tour' of the Doran Racing paddock conducted by Memo Gidley, co-driver (with Brad Jaeger) of the #77 Doran Racing/McDonald's/Doran-Dallara Ford. Doran Racing has qualified 10th for today’s 250-mile Verizon Wireless 250. The Bronx Flash Track Club in The Bronx, New York is a 501(c)3, non-profit community organization that serves children ages 9-18 years old who are interested in running as a means to achieving a healthy and successful lifestyle. The primary goal of the Bronx Flash Track Club is to improve physical activity participation, health awareness, and academic achievement among youth in the community through the sport of running. With the tremendous support of the New York Road Runners Foundation (NYRRF), the Bronx Flash was created in 2003 by Dan Bellino, a Public School 87 teacher who was amazed at the lack of youth sport and fitness opportunities not only in the school, but in the surrounding community. Even though limited in adequate "running space", P.S. 87 has served as the home for practices through the creative and efficient use of staircases, hallways, blacktop courts, gyms, and the concrete sidewalks. "It will definitely be a trip to Wonderland for a bunch of kids from the heart of the city to get to see this fantastic race," says Bellino. "I'm very grateful to Grand-Am, the Doran Racing team and Memo Gidley for making this opportunity possible. You never know what one thing will change a young person's life, but this is just that sort of experience." Chevrolet's Robert Huff rained on SEAT's parade in WTCC qualifying by claiming pole position, the first for the new Cruze car. Gabriele Tarquini will start second and Yvan Muller third. Despite setting the second fastest lap, Alain Menu was demoted to 10th because the Stewards disallowed his Q2 qualifying times after his car did not restart following a mandatory visit to the weighing bay. Q1 - SEAT had company at the top of the qualifying timesheet in the form of Chevrolet. While Tiago Monteiro initially made claim to pole with a 1:51.086, Menu (1:50.271), Nicola Larini (1:50.723) and Huff (1:50.817) stole the top spots. The end of the session saw Andy Priaulx miss his braking point at turn 1 and clash with Hernández who had come off his line to let Zanardi through. Due to the fact he received external aid to restart, the Briton was not permitted to take part in Q2 and therefore qualified ninth following Menu's penalty. All of the LADA drivers remained out of Q2. Despite not making Q2, Morrocan driver Mehdi Bennani put in a strong performance to qualify 14th overall and second of the Independents. Q2 - The session ended prematurely for Jörg Müller who suffered a rear left puncture after six minutes. He did not post a competitive qualifying time and will line up eighth for Race 1. The pack was tight and at one point during the session just four tenths of a second split the top six. On the last lap Huff charged to the front with a 1:49.789. Tarquini clocked a 1:50.086 on his last lap to secure a front-row place and Muller's best time was 1:50.156. Muller will line up third followed by Jordi Gené, Larini and Monteiro. Franz Engstler qualified a magnificent seventh which not only equates to the lead Independent driver, but the front running BMW. Menu's gloomy qualifying session ended when he hit the wall at turn 2 on his last lap.
'The Grid' erroneously reported last week that Joe Tanner ran an 1800cc engine in the Scottish FFord series at Knockhill. Sorry but it wasn't it was just a 1600cc unit like everyone else. Sorry Joe! Joe has borrowed from Elliot Mason for the season and it hasn't had an engine rebuild for some time. Hopefully by the next event it should be much better and Joe should be able to put Rory Butcher under some pressure. 02-05-09
Ruling on decision 12 taken by the Stewards at the WTCC event in Puebla on 22 March, the FIA International Court of Appeal, which met in Paris on 21 April, confirmed the drive-through penalty for Gabriele Tarquini but annulled the drop of ten grid positions.The Stewards judged Tarquini responsible for causing an avoidable collision with BMW Team Germany driver Jörg Müller during the second race.The International Court of Appeal declared SEAT's appeal inadmissible in so far the drive-through penalty is concerned; this penalty remains suspended for the next three events.At the same time, the International Court of Appeal annulled the part of the decision concerning the drop of then grid positions, because the same infringement cannot be punished with two different penalties. The FIA Touring Car Bureau granted technical waivers to Chevrolet and to the BMW 320si cars run by the independent teams. The Chevrolet Cruze cars have been authorized to use a new front bumper fitted with flat bottom and to replace the front and rear door windows with plastic elements. As for the independent BMW cars driven by Stefano D'Aste (Wiechers-Sport), Franz Engstler and Kristian Poulsen (Liqui Moly Team Engstler), George Tanev, Félix Porteiro and newcomer Visto Postiglione (Proteam Motorsport) they will benefit from a 15-kilo reduction on the minimum weight that will be dropped from 1170 to 1155 kg, including the driver. SUNRED Engineering's Tom Boardman will not take part in this weekend's event at Marrakech. The Briton will join the championship again from the following meeting in Pau on May 17th. "After the first two events in Brazil and Mexico, Tom asked us to have a new car, however we were not able to have it ready in time to be shipped to Marrakech. Also because Tom wishes to test the new car in England before racing it. We will be ready in time to re-start from Pau," team principal Joán Orus explained.The final weekend of 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport began at Brands Hatch this weekend with A1 Team Netherlands’ Jeroen Bleekemolen setting the pace with a 1m 12.700s, over two seconds faster than the official A1GP lap record. Earlier in the day France’s Nicolas Prost topped the rookie session. 01-05-09
AIM Autosport came to New Jersey Motorsport Park (NJMP) on a roll last season having recorded three straight podiums including back-to-back wins at Montreal and Watkins Glen plus they had three poles in the last four races. So it was expected the No. 61 Ford Riley would be quick when it reached the brand new racetrack in New Jersey. AIM’s engineers and crew set about finding the right balance driver Mark Wilkins would go on to record his second pole of the year . Of course the team is hoping to repeat that performance this year. “It was great to have pole and we did lead the early part of the race” said Mark Wilkins, “but this is a very tight track and there are limited passing opportunities especially with the GT cars. Following pit stops, you find yourself looking for ways around traffic. We are more familiar with the track this year and there have been some changes and improvements that should allow for some closer racing.” Wilkins continued, “Our goal is to repeat on the pole and have a better finish this year. Sixth last year was OK but we had a podium car. A late race incident with another car caused some damage to the steering and on a tight course like NJMP, you don’t want to have to fight a problem like that. The focus is squarely on getting to the podium on Sunday and both Burt and I know we have the car to do it.” Making his first appearance at New Jersey Motorsport Park will be driver Burt Frisselle. “It should be an interesting session” noted Frisselle. “I heard a lot about the track from Mark and Brian (Frisselle) after last year’s race and I have had the opportunity to review some of the in-car footage, especially from Mark’s qualifying when he got pole. That information should be very helpful when I hit the track.” He continued, “Now we just hope that the weather holds and we get in plenty of laps." This year, New Jersey Motorsport Park will feature a change in the layout of the Thunderbolt Raceway circuit. A chicane has been added at turn three to slow the Daytona Prototypes after a number of them got just a bit too airborne along the back straight last year. There is also improved runoff at the end of the high-speed straights plus new grass off the edge of the track should keep the dust down. The Verizon 250 at New Jersey Motorsport Park starts at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday May 3rd. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED TV. The Masters Classic race meeting next weekend at Donington Park is on, as is the British Touring Car Championship the following weekend. Recent reports have indicated that the track between Macleans and Coppice was devoid of run-offs , thereby stopping racing. Not so, the track surface is intact; the tunnel is in place; the run-offs need ,to the required specification, are in place so it’s all systems go! . Masters management have been deeply involved in pressing all parties for the necessary agreements over run-offs, barriers and therefore track licences to be reached. The Masters teamhave held many face to face meetings with the CEO of Donington, Simon Gillett, with Robert Fearnall and their consulting engineers, contractor’s director and project manager.They have been at MSA House with Colin Hilton and John Symes, the key people at our governing body over recent weeks, up to and including yesterday. As a result racing is on next weekend 9-10 May.
Last year Roy Johnson put his name in the record books as the most successful driver in Cadet karting history – winning the British MSA, Super 1, Open and Kart Masters titles all in one season. The 13 year-old from Pelsall, South Staffordshire will now graduate to the KF3 class with Steve Green’s DR Racing Kart UK outfit. “I’m hoping that with the help of Steve and his team, I’ll move up the grid very quickly. He’s one of the top men in karting and hopefully we will soon be challenging for victories,” Roy said. He added, “We’d previously toyed with other makes of chassis, but the DR was very good straight away. It’s nicely made and I’m very pleased to be given the opportunity to race it in the UK.” Steve Green says, “It goes without saying that we’re delighted to have a driver of Roy’s calibre working with us. His results from last year speak volumes about his ability and we’re all very excited about the season ahead. Roy will compete in the Formula Kart Stars and Super 1 series - and I have to say, I can’t wait for our first race together.” Roy’s debut with the team will be at the second round of the British Super 1 Championship at Shenington in Oxfordshire this coming weekend (9/10 May).
Formula Ford racer American Josef Newgarden will make a one-off appearance in the Formula Palmer Audi championship this weekend at Brands Hatch as part of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event. Newgarden is contesting his first full-season of junior formula car racing in Europe in the Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain. However due to the Donington postponement he has been offered a chance in FPA. The18 year-old recently tested a Formula Palmer Audi at Bedford Autodrome so his backers have elected to enter him in the season-opening tripleheader at Brands Hatch, driving the No. 33 Robo-Pong/Racer of Tomorrow Ltd. Car. "Formula Palmer Audi is a great championship and it will be big event on a fantastic circuit," stated Newgarden. "It is a good opportunity for me to race in front of the A1GP guys and a big crowd. I would love to represent my country in A1GP at some point in the future." Newgarden will resume his MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain title with Joe Tandy Racing on May 30-31 at Rockingham.
Mustang Challenge heads for New Jersey Motorsports Park alongside the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, KONI Sports Car Challenge, and World Challenge races. One of the closest battles this weekend could be in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge 45 minute race on Sunday morning as the Ford Mustang FR500S machines go door to door for round five of the 2009 championship. With Caddell carrying 213 points into this weekend, he boasts a 19 point advantage over Ted Anthony, Jr. But for Anthony, who has won four of the last five Mustang Challenge races going back to the last event of the 2008 season, he knows that he will have to keep his hot streak going if he's going to track down and pass Caddell for the championship lead. With bonus points available for taking the pole as well as for leading the most laps, Anthony will look to make the most of every lap to do just that. "It's mathematically possible, so I just have to keep doing what we've been doing and hopefully we can make the ground up," said Anthony Jr. "We had a bad race 1 at Homestead and that put us behind a bit, but there's nothing we can do about it except just get as much out of every race we have left. Andrew is a fast and smart guy, though, so I think it's going to be tough but I'm not going to give up trying until we hit the last lap of the season."
The European Late Model Series will be coming to Motors TV, starting this Saturday at 6pm. This new series will have a regular Saturday afternoon or evening slot through to the championship’s conclusion in October. While the majority of the rounds will come from the 3/8 mile banked American-style oval at Warneton Speedway in Belgium, the series will also visit Britain’s Lydden Hill and the short ovals of Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich, and Hednesford Raceway during the summer. Tony Roots, European Late Model Series promoter said, “We’re delighted that Motors TV is giving us such prominent coverage and I know the fans will not be disappointed. This is the closest you’ll get to American-style oval racing in Europe.” The European Late Model Series is truly international with drivers from France, Belgium, Holland, UK and USA. The cars all utilise US-built tubular steel framed chassis clothed in “the sheet metal” of Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Dodge. All are powered by V8 Chevrolet engines. Programme 1, which features Easter Sunday’s season-opener, is on Saturday 2 May at 6pm, repeated the following day at 10 a m. Further broadcasts are on throughout the week. Full details can be found at www.motorstv.com.
Dane Cameron and Bryce Miller driving for the Racers Edge team at Virginia International Raceway last weekend put their Mazda RX8 second on the grid before leading the opening laps. Despite running in the top 5 for most of the race things all went awry towards the end when their strategy, which was dependent on a late race yellow, fell apart when no yellow appeared. The result was a disappointing 8th in the GT Class. Team Autotecnica's two drivers Alex Ellis and Gianmarco Raimondo each took a third place in last weekend's Formula BMW America's series at Virginia International Raceway.
The opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily shared by 11/56 MotorSport or any of theGrid team
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The
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
Tim
Bridgman
Tony's
Triumph
Tim
Bridgman has won his third race of the year round seven of the
2009 Porsche Carrera Cup GB
Fabio
Leimer
Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship at
Symmons Plains Raceway. As the cars came out of the first
corner Percat had already passed poleman Chaz Mostert for the
lead to take yet another victory this afternoon.
The
LADA 110 2.0 cars
The
Star Mazda Championship were testing at Iowa Speedway
SG
Formula made their Formula Renault 3.5 debut
In
two decades, the Val de Vienne track 
Jonathan
Ridley-Holloway
Today(Wednesday),
the media were at Sepang or the first Asian Festival Of Speed
Shootout
In
the Performance and Economy Chip Tuning Sports Saloons Ric
Wood won comfortably in his Audi RS 6, finishing the race 9
seconds ahead of Paul Sheard's Ginetta G50. Peter Davies came
third driving a Caterham R400 just 1.5 seconds in front of
Robert Chalmers similar machine. (pic
Richard Pascal 11/56 Motorsport) 
At
Castle Combe yesterday (Monday) Martin Morris won the Lenham
Cars MG MIdget race when Paul Sibley retired won the eighth lap
after leading from the off. This left Morris leading Richard
Perry with the former crossing the line with 2 seconds to spare.
David Weston was third , 13 secs behind the winner. In the Moss
Europe MGCC BC V8 race
(below)
won the open Sports and Saloon car race in his Lotus Exige,
Second was Stuart Dixon followed by Keith Dunn in third, both in
Caterhams.(pics R Pascal 11/56 Motorsport)
Tom
Ingram fears his career could be stalled due to a desperate lack
of funding – just six races into his 2009 Ginetta Junior
Championship campaign
Ben
Norton triumphed in the Castle Combe FF1600 race today(Sunday)
after a thrilling race that saw three leaders and the top 5 cars
all crossing the line in 'line astern!' Poleman Felix Fisher led
the early laps in his Swift SC92 before Marcus Allen took over
on the third lap. Allen then led the next 5 laps, three from
Fisher, Norton and Nelson Rowe in a Van Dieman RF99 before
Norton's Spectrum moved to second. He stayed there for just 2
more laps before he took over at the front. took over. This left
Allen in second with Steven Jensen now into third, having
moved through from seventh on the grid. In fourth now was
Fisher followed by Ed Moore in fifth. The top five proceeded to
circulate as one for the remaining laps crossing the line
together after an excellent and highly entertaining 12 laps in
the same order. (Pics Richard Pascal 11/56 Motorsport)
the
National Mobile Windscreens Saloon Car race at Castle Combe Gary
Prebble dominated the proceedings in a Mitsubishi Evo
winning by 8.2 seconds form the similar machine of Barry Squibb.
Making it an all Evo podium was Brian Cox, 24 seconds behind the
leader at the end. Squibb had led the first two laps before
Prebble got by and simply vanished up the road to win. Tom
Dolley won Class B in his Peugeot 205 GTi finishing fourth
overall while Class C went to Will Di Claudio's Peugeot 106GTi
in fifth. Sixth and second in Class C was David Kift in another
106GTi, while Class D went to Jason Cooper in a Ford Fiesta
The
Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship was also at Castle Combe and
Tim Lewis continued his winning ways in his Alfasud Sprint.
The fight for second was much closer with Adie Hawkins Alfa 33
and Neil Smith( pictured left) fighting it out in the
early laps. In fact Hawkins had had the audacity to lead Lewis
for a lap and a half at the start before he was passed and as
Lewis pulled away he became embroiled with Smith's 156 Veloce.
Smith did get passed him once, albeit briefly, under braking
going into Bobbies Chicane early in the race, but it was only
for a few yards Hawkins retaking second immediately the pair
left the chicane. Eventually Hawkins pulled away to finish 12
seconds behind Lewis and 4 in front of Smith. Earlier
Josh Fisher had dominated the Special GT race in his Juno
setting a new lap record in the process. Second driving a
Radical was Andrew Shanley some 8 second behind. In third for
most of the race was Simon Tilling's Radical SR3 until he had a
big crash at Quarry on lap 13 bringing out the red flag. This
left Darcy Smith in third in a Nemesis. In practice during the
morning
Keith
Sprules' Ferrari 360 was very badly damaged when it caught fire
(pic Neil Dolman)
American
rookie Benjamin Searcy took his second win of the 2009 F2000
season
Canadian
racer Michael Furfari, at 16 the youngest driver in Star Mazda
Aston
Martin has completed qualifying for the Nürburgring 24 hour race
Former
truck racing champion Richard Walker
Demonstrating
once again that the Star Mazda Championship
The
Avon Tyres British GT Championship moves to Rockingham
The
9th and 10th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place in Spain, at
Valencia's Circuit
The
Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series will be at
Rockingham
AIM
Autosport has signed Indy Car driver Bruno Junqueira
The F2000
Championship Series heads to Lime Rock Park this weekend for
rounds three and four of the 2009 season. The F2000 Series last
visited the Connecticut track in 2007 for the season finale
which saw Cole Morgan take the championship crown by winning
both races on the challenging seven-turn 1.53 mile circuit.
Doran
Racing/MacDonald's team's Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
continued last weekend in Round Four at the Verizon
Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Despite
problems with the gearbox and handling issues, drivers Memo
Gidley and Brad Jaeger qualified and finish 11th in their #77
Doran / McDonald's Doran-Dallara Ford.
Hexis
Racing's Aston Martin DBRS9 cars were not expected to suit
the twisty Adria circuit in Italy. However in the 3rd and 4th
rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship their drivers
Frédéric Makowiecki and Manu Rodrigues took third place in the
opening race before going on to win the second encounter,run in
the dark. This leaves them just one point behind the
championship leaders. Their team-mates 
Celtic
Speed will expand to field three cars in selected rounds of the
Porsche Carrera Cup GB
With
the 77th Le Mans 24 Hours just weeks away, Motors TV will
broadcast a special hour-long documentary
Lee Dwyer and Menasheh Idafar
both had a pretty dismal time
at the most recent rounds of the 2009 Michelin Formula Renault
UK Championship at Donington park. The Hillspeed duo had
hope for better things and a chance to increase the points tally
in the Championship. As it was they both got caught out in the
races, spinning and loosing time and places. 
Rio
Haryanto will race with Asia Racing Team
Tom
Ingram overcame both the weather and engine gremlins
Alexander
Rossi made his European debut in the International Masters
Series
Formula
Kart Stars (FKS) Championship racer Harry Crawley
Entering
the weekend with a 54-point lead in the club championship, Jay
Goodwin
The
Classic Saloons were in action at Silverstone over the weekend
The
Classic Thunder race at Silverstone
The
Pickup trucks 
In
the Classic Clubmans race at Silverstone 
Aaron
Williamson got his first victory in the Ginetta Junior
Championship
Robert
Lawson picked up his second class win of the season 
IN2Racing
and Paul Hogarth rejoined the Porsche Carrera Cup GB
Andrew
Herron came close to winning his first win
Manor
Motorsport started the 2009 Formula 3 Euroseries season in great
style
Michelin
Formula Renault UK racer Menasheh Idafar’s
Full
Speed Racing scored its first FIA GT Championship points of the
season at Adria
The
2009 Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship was turned upside
down
Cram
Competition's Alessandro Kouzkin took today's (Sunday) win in
Pau
Adam
Christodoulou re-asserted himself in the Star Mazda Championship
Andrew
Herron came close to winning the latest race in the Elf Clio
Cup. 
In
an exciting qualifying session that saw the pole locked up on
Lap 3, but the occupant of the outside spot on the front row
change four times in the final sixty seconds, it was Englishman
Adam Christodoulou who put an exclamation point on his
dominance of the pre-qualifying practice sessions with a lap of
1:43.761 (105.751 mph) in the #11 JDC Motorsports Mazda to take
the top spot on the grid for this afternoon's Round Three of the
2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Miller
Motorsports Park. Christodoulou, a rookie in the Star Mazda
Championship, was the 2008 U.K. Formula Renault champion and
winner of Star Mazda Round One at Sebring, was the only car to
break into the 1:43 range; that record, 1:43.650, was set in
2008 by American John Edwards (who went on to win the race from
the pole and win the championship).
Tim
Bridgman took a double pole position at Donington Park today
Scud
Racing’s Tim Macrow
ingaporean
single seat driver Suriya Bala
Jenzer
Motorsport's Fabio Leimer
Jake
Lloyd, who in only his second season of competition
Eurosport
Events, promoter of the WTCC
PartyPokerRacing.it
Euroseries 3000 racer Will Bratt
Hexis
Racing AMR's Aston Martin DBRS9s will be tackling their FIA GT3
rivals for the second time this season when they meet up in
Adria, not far from Venise, this weekend. An innovation is in
store for them because Race 2 will take place on the Saturday
night. During the winter, Hexis Racing travelled from France to
carry out a series of tests on this short but challenging
circuit. The field will comprise 40 entries in all, with 11
car-makers represented. As a reward for their achievements at
Silverstone, Accary & Rodrigues will have to carry a 5kg success
ballast on their Aston Martin No. 3. 
Former
F1 Mechanic Kevin Poole has formed his own VW Racing Cup team -
KPM
The
first 2009 International Formula Master (IFM) Rounds
Hillspeed’s
Menasheh Idafar
Team
Pyro’s Daniel Lloyd
Last
week was a busy time for Mazdaspeed driver Conor Daly
JTR
Jack Goff went
well at Oulton Park last weekend in the two MG Trophy races
Alexander
Rossi has agreed to join Hitech Junior Team for the 2009
International Formula Master Championship,
French
Racing team SG Formula
Luis
Sa Silva, from Angola, has agreed a deal to join Asia Racing
Team
International
Formula Master (IFM) race winner Marcello Puglisi
JDC
MotorSports having won the season-opener
Jay
Goodwin has joined forces with leading outfit Evolution Racing
Full Speed
Racing is targeting a points-finish at Adria
Mike
Newton and Thomas Erdos in the RML AD Group Lola Mazda
David
Brabham will be back in action this weekend in the American Le
Mans Series
Jordan
King 
The
British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC) Northern Centre has
presented Cadwell Park
Adam
Christodoulou driving for JDC Motorsports
Rolex
Grand-Am star and Muscle Milk extreme athlete, Memo Gidley
Tom
Ingram’s 2009 season
Josh
Fielding
Sarah
Reader’s TFL Racing team
Jordan
King made an impressive impact at the recent CIK-FIA European
Championship
Andrew
Herron has his sights set on the top step of the ELF Renault
Clio Cup
Daniel
Lloyd’s ELF Renault Clio Cup car will have a new sponsor for
Last
Friday, (8 May) Hillspeed’s Ahmad Al Harthy, James Theodore and
Ellis Harkins
David
Brabham
Rodolfo
Avila
Craig
Wilkins and Aaron Scott claimed a long overdue maiden win in the
Avon Tyres British GT Championship today
Russian-based
team LADA Sport is experiencing its first season as an FIA
World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) registered manufacturer.
The team’s LADA 110s, equipped with Yokohama ADVAN tyres, have
made steady progress this season competing against the likes of
BMW, SEAT and Chevrolet. The next WTCC race weekend will see the
LADAs take to the street circuit of Pau, France, on 17 May. Last
year’s event was tough for LADA driver Jaap van Lagen, who
failed to score points, but with a year’s additional experience,
a stronger finishing position is predicted.“Pau is a special
race, not only because it’s a street circuit, but also because
of the atmosphere,” said 32-year-old van Lagen. “It’s a very
narrow circuit, with few overtaking opportunities, so getting a
good grid position is essential.”The Dutch driver has gained
extensive experience of the ADVAN race tyre over the last 12
months, and praised the way that the ADVAN performs on the
undulating road surface at Pau.“There are many bumps at Pau,
especially where pedestrian crossings are situated on the
circuit, but the Yokohama ADVAN tyres provide a consistent level
of grip,” continued van Lagen. “We struggled there in 2008, so
this year’s event will be like starting from scratch to find a
setup, but the Yokohama engineers have helped us throughout the
season to optimise the car’s handling.” Later in the season, at
Porto, Portugal, LADA Sport will replace the current 110 with
the new LADA Priora, a more powerful and aerodynamic model.
The
Racers Edge team and thier divers Dane Cameron and Bryce
Miller drove through a downpour of monsoon proportions at
the New Jersey Motorsports Park to bring their #30 Racers
Edge / Marquis Jet / Total Petroleum / Piloti Mazda RX-8 home in
9th place in the GT class at the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car
Series Verizon 250. 
Menasheh
Idafar
Total
Control Racing’s Alex MacDowall
Manor
Competition’s David McDonald continued his good run of form at
Croft
The
7th and 8th rounds of the FIA WTCC
Motors
TV will cover the 2009 Silverstone Classic coverage
The
European Late Model Series continued at Warneton International
Speedway
The
Scottish Mini Cooper Cup returned to their Scottish
base of Knockhill for rounds 3, 4 & 5 of the Championship. It
was great to see so many new drivers making their debut in the
series too. 
Craig
Breen returned to Irish Fiesta Sporting Trophy duties in last
weekend’s (2/3 May) Killarney International Rally of the
Lakes - and was once again the man to beat. 
he
Asian Festival Of Speed
Adria
will host the second race weekend of the Porsche Carrera Cup
Italia this weekend, with Emanuele Naspetti
Sarah
Bennett Baggs claimed her first trophy of 2009 at Brands
Hatch in the GT Cup with a fine second place( in her class).
After qualifying 2nd (in class) Sarah had had an eventful first
race initally leading her class before being 'tapped' into a
spin which dropped her to the back of the field. However it all
came good in race 2 and she took a deserved second place. 
After
coming away with two podium finishes at Shanghai in the Porsche
Carerra Cup Asia
As
well as racing the 
Former
Avon Tyres British GT Champion Bradley Ellis
Snetterton
was the venue for the second meeting of the Competition Car
Insurance Ford Fiesta Championship
The
French V De V Championship went to Paul Ricard at the end of
April and despite some appalling weather on the Sunday
everyone agreed the meeting was a success and it has already
been penciled in for 2010. In the Endurance Proto race on
Saturday 
The
first visit of the WTCC to the new street circuit in Marrakech
provided two exciting races and hailed double success for
the new Chevrolet Cruze. On its third event since the maiden
appearance in Curitiba two months ago, the blue and white saloon
run by RML made a big leap forward, which resulted in Robert
Huff and Nicola Larini winning one race apiece.After a four race
winning streak in Brazil and Mexico, the SEAT TDI cars had to
settle for podium positions and points. However, reigning world
champion Yvan Muller managed to stretch his leading margin in
the Drivers' Championship to 12 points ahead of his team-mate
Gabriele Tarquini. In the second race Jörg Müller had the chance
to claim BMW's first win of the season as he led from Chevrolet
and SEAT; however the German driver could not rebuff the
pressure from his chasers. The first edition of the WTCC Race of
Morocco ran smoothly. The efforts made by the event promoter and
the local authorities ensured the event took place without
issues and was attended by a crowd of 48,000.The championship
will resume in Pau, France, on May 17th, for rounds 7 and 8..
A1
Team Ireland’s Adam Carroll is on pole position for both of
today’s A1GP
The
performance freight train that is Nick Percat
Percat pulled away in the last laps to an unassailable lead to
take his fourth race win for the season."That pretty much went
to plan," Percat said."I was a bit shaky off the start but had
the inside line on Chaz so I managed pull through that ok ...
once I found some space I just concentrated on looking after my
tyres for tomorrow's races." Percat also posted the race's
fastest lap with a 1min26.39secs.Spectrum pilot Chaz Mostert
will be searching for some more speed tomorrow if he is again to
challenge Percat for line honours."I was giving it a good go out
there today but unfortunately the car just wasn't in it," the
happy-go-lucky Mostert said. "My tyres held out until about half
way through and then they just went off really quickly and I was
fighting massive understeer for the rest of the race," he
added."We'll shape up again for tomorrow and have another crack
... regardless, I'm pretty stoked with second today," Mostert
said.Scott's Transport racer Scott Pye and Banklink's Mitch
Evans rounded out the top five after defending their qualifying
positions. In a race devoid of any of the carnage that marred
round one's race at the Australian Grand Prix, all 21 entries
will again line up to do battle for races two and three
tomorrow.
SEAT
Sport's Yvan Muller
When
the Avon Tyres British GT Championship visits Spa next weekend
it will be with a Ford GT 5 Litre V8 Supercar for Michael
Bentwood and Philip Walker. Run by RPM Motorsport the car could
be a serious rival for winners of the first 2 races, Stuart Hall
and his partner Daniel Brown and their Momo Mosler. Alongside
the Ford could be a 
Bradley
Ellis, has signed a last minute one-race deal to contest the
opening rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship at
Silverstone this weekend, 2&3 May
Daniel
Lloyd
Francis
Tuthill Ltd are delighted to announce that Paul Howarth has
joined their team
The
#77 Doran Racing / McDonald's Dallara Ford driven by Memo Gidley
and Brad Jaeger
AIM
Autosport’s Star Mazda squad left Virginia International Raceway
with the win on Sunday and had all three drivers in the top
ten for the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.