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News Archive 03 May 07

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16/05/2007

10-05-07

Rupert Lewin Racing Ltd's Team Manager Sarah Bennett-Baggs has her inaugural Porsche Race this weekend in the Britcar support series Production S1 where she will be contesting a 3.6 litre air cooled Porsche 993 -  in class 1 of the championship run by Steve Winter of Jaz Motorsport.   Rupert Lewin Racing Ltd is home to the Porsche 911 Experience which host a series of days for Corporate Entertaining and Porsche Enthusiasts to drive a range of Porsche Supercars on circuits throughout the UK under the careful instruction of our professional instructors. Sarah's involvement in the events include sales, marketing and organising the days. She says "Despite running these events for 4 years, and racing for 3 years I have still never managed to get out racing a Porsche, but the marque is in the blood now and despite limited time in the car I am really looking forward to the weekend immensely".  The yellow Porsche 993 has been leant and sponsored by Euro-Mill - a Polish based company specialising in the fabrication of steel component structures for the machine tool and construction industry. Company owner and fellow racer Craig Wilkins will be contesting his 996 Cup in the big brother series Britcar with race partner Pete Morris.   

750 MC caterhams were at  Cadwell Park on 6th May.  A dry but cloudy Cadwell saw 13 Caterhams take the grid, 2 x 2.0 Ltr Cosworth powered C400's, 10x1.8K Series cars and a single 1600K.  Ben Shalders qualified his R400 a second ahead of the C400 of Ian Thompson. Kevin Williams & Carl Woodwiss followed in R400's ahead of the C400 of Jamie Constable.     The first race saw Ben Shalders dominated and he was never seriously challenged, he finished a country mile ahead of the two pursuing C400's of Ian Thompson and Jamie Constable who were in a four way battle with Matt Shires and Kevin Williams R400's.   Mondays Race saw a change of fortune, after Ben Shalders was muscled off the line by a hard charging Jamie Constable.  Shalders pursued but he suffered a misfire after 10 laps and retired leaving Jamie to take honours ahead of the similarly powered C400 of Ian Thompson. Carl Woodwiss kept a close watching brief for third.

Caterham is planning a birthday party with a difference to celebrate the Seven's Golden Jubilee, taking over the Donington Park circuit next month for a full weekend of high-speed excitement. Read more

TOP HAT ON SILVERSTONE's HISTORIC GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT. SATURDAY 19th MAY   There are still places on the Grid so if anyone wishes to complete please contact Top Hat;  For more details read on 

Next weekend. May 19-20th will see the first overseas races of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series. Rounds 5 and 6 will take place on the streets of Bucharest and at nearly 2000 miles, the Vodafone Bucharest Challenge event in the Romanian Capital will be the furthest that the British F3 grid has travelled in the 43-year history of the championship  read more

The Wanganui Meritus driver Earl Bamber continued his Formula V6 Asia driver development programme yesterday and set the fastest ever unofficial recorded lap for Formula V6 Asia on the Sepang F1 North circuit in Malaysia. On Monday, Earl tested in the Formula V6 car,previously driven by Matt Halliday and raced over the weekend by Marchy Lee. During Earl’s second period of testing yesterday, he beat the lap time that Lee Marchy set in qualifying the previous day by 0.80 second with a 00.59.40 and now holds the unofficial lap record on the Sepang North Circuit. Earl says: “It was great to drive the 370bhp Formula V6 Asia car on the Sepang F1 circuit and the straight line speed was incredible at 275kph. Braking at the 70-metre marker into Turn 1, I was able to change gears with the steering-wheel-mounted F1-type paddle-shift going through the corner, with the on-board computer automatically blipping the revs allowing me to focus on my race lines through the corner.”  “And when I heard the team offered the drivers a bonus if they broke the 60-second lap barrier, I spent the entire weekend watching the testing, qualifying and racing and I found what I thought was a better overall average lap race line. When the team bolted on my new set of tyres on my second full lap I couldn’t believe when the computer was flashing the sub 60-second lap time” he said.

Team Sonic are pleased to announce that they have, with the support of both IVECO Trucks and IVECO Finance been able to upgrade their Euro Tec 4100 Cursor for a new IVECO 505 STRALIS The ever expanding Sonic Motor Racing Services team will debut the new prime mover at the Winton round.  Commencing 2007 it was decided to consolidate the team’s logistics’ into one prime mover, hauling the team’s cars to each venue. Hence the original trusty pantec has been sold, and the standard setting “SONIC 4” prime mover replaced with “SONIC 5”. The smaller IVECO Cursor has served the team well, and naturally when it was time to upgrade the team returned to local IVECO Dealer the Melbourne International Truck Centre, in  Dandenong.   Sonic Motor Racing Services prepares 8 cars in 3 different championships, National Formula Ford, Carrera Cup and the ever building GT Championship. This involves around 80,000km of use per season, although not a huge distance by heavy haulage standards, it is further than most race teams will travel in a number of seasons. This growth forced the team to upgrade to a larger and more comfortable unit to tow either of the purpose built trailers to and from the venues, stretching from, Perth, Darwin and Brisbane, to the Apple Island.

Dual NZV8 champion Andy Booth has successfully completed his first V8 Supercar test for Tasman Motorsport. Booth, who drives a Holden for Tasman in the NZV8 series, completed 10 laps of the Winton Motor Raceway circuit in north-east Victoria in fellow Kiwi Greg Murphy's #51 VE Commodore. It was the first time 32-year-old Booth had driven a V8 Supercar. "Until yesterday I hadn't even sat in a V8 Supercar, let alone driven one in anger," Booth said. "The day wasn't about pushing hard, more becoming comfortable in the car and experiencing what V8 Supercars are all about. The V8 Supercar wasn't too surprising; they are obviously more powerful and responsive than what I am used to and they do everything the NZV8s don't - they are a nicely refined race car in comparison. "If anything was surprising, it was that they require a fairly similar driving style." Booth said he quickly became comfortable in Murphy's car. "In the short spurt out of pit lane to the first corner I felt comfortable, the car just felt right." Tasman Motorsport managing director Kevin Murphy said he was pleased with Booth's performance. "Andy was smooth as we expected, made no mistakes and did a terrific job. We'd like to give him more of an opportunity and we'll be keeping a close eye on him," Murphy said. "This is a further strengthening of our on-going association with Andy's NZV8 team where we also intend to provide engineering race assistance in the future." The next round of the V8 Supercar Series, round four, takes place at Winton on 18-20 May.

Dominik Jackson will head to next weekend's third meeting of the Visma Formula Palmer Audi Championship at Snetterton aiming to make amends for a difficult start to the season.  The 22-year-old former Formula BMW Germany race-winner has yet to score his first FPA podium after five races, having come fourth on two occasions, and finished his Brands Hatch challenge last weekend in the gravel at Druids in Round 5. read more

09-05-07

James Winslow won his first race in the Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship at Phillip Island alongside 2 poles and a second place to move into contention in the title race. Read more

Ball wins at Curborough, Atkins-Willes assumes sereis lead.  Nineteen-year-old Ben Atkinson-Willes moved into the lead of Circuit Driver Caterham Academy Group 1 on Saturday (5 May) thanks to a third-place finish in the championship's final sprint event, at Curborough in Staffordshire. ..read more

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced today the partnership with A1 TEAM USA owner Rick Weidinger for the No. 15 entry in the the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on Sunday, May 27, 2007.  The Honda-powered Dallara driven by 2004 Indy 500 Champion Buddy Rice  will be known as the A1 TEAM USA/Dreyer & Reinbold Honda throughout qualification and the 200-lap classic.

Lauren Gray continues to remain positive despite a tough weekend behind the wheel at Phillip Island over the past weekend.  Gray was able to take a decent points haul and a National Class podium to leave her in second in the class championship in the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship.  A positive test session gave Gray hope that she would be able to contend for the class honours  but the weekend failed to meet her high expectations after a number of problems throughout the weekend.  After qualifying second in class on Saturday morning, Gray was unable to improve later on after a gear selector fork broke first forcing her to start from the rear of the grid in race one. She was able to work her way to 12th position in race one before a stall at the start of race two her trailing by a considerable margin, despite this Lauren brought the car home third in class.

Corvette Racing have re-united Ron Fellows and Andy Pilgrim for the Grand Prix of Mosport on August 26, 2007 at Mosport, Ontario.  Both drivers are pleased to be back together in Canada for the first time since 2000 when they finished second. The pair will drive an Arctic White CR.6 that celebrates the limited edition Ron Fellows ALMS GT1 Champion Corvette Z06. Both Fellows and Pilgrim recalled their first race together on the fast 2.459-mile Canadian circuit. "The race at Mosport was the first time I'd driven with Ron, and we almost pulled off the first win for Corvette," Pilgrim recalls, "We had a good effort, but lost the lead late in the race."

Adrien Tambay was at Oschersleben in North Eastern Germany at the weekend to begin his 2007 ADAC Formula BMW season.  Over the weekend he ran as high as 6th fastest, but qualified a disappointed 13th,(although just 0.7secs off pole) after making a few errors in qualification.  On the approach to the first corner in race one on Saturday Tambay was hit from behind, suffering damage to both his rear wing and suspension. In spite of this, he continued to race moving up 4 places on his way to 9th position Sunday's race two saw another clash when he was again hit by another car, breaking the steering and ending his race at the first turn.  Adrien did however remain positive, "I learned a lot this weekend, especially about the importance of qualifying well. I didn't manage that this time, and put my 27 car in a more risky place for the first turn in each race, paying a heavy penalty for other people's subsequent mistakes. Looking ahead, I've gained a lot, and take 24 series points with me to Lausitzring in two weeks time. We will reach there even better prepared, and much wiser."

Liam Kenney enjoyed a successful weekend at Willow Springs on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th May, as the 15-year-old racer won both Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2007 Formula TR Pro Series 2000 Championship in California.  Having set the pace in testing earlier in the week  Kenney's form at Willow Springs was evident in qualifying when he stuck his car on the front row alongside poleman Billy Goshen.  In Round 5 Goshen and Kenney initially fought for the lead before Goshen ran wide allowing Kenney to nip into the lead which he held when the race was stopped four laps early thanks to a red-flag incident. Kenney was joined on the podium by Jeremy Braun in second and series leader John Knudsen in third. Round 6 saw Kenney on pole  allowing him a clear track which he made the most of building a 3 sec lead before a pace car period. This didn’t deter him and at the re-start he pulled away again to win from Goshen and Braun in second and third. "This is definitely a first for me," stated a jubilant Kenney. "It's my first sweep in racing and it's proof that my 2-litre campaign is alive and kicking now. We've applied what we learned as a team at Fontana and had a great weekend at Willow Springs as a result. I'm really happy we've bounced back with these wins and can't wait to get back on-track next month."

08-05-07

Last week-end at the Nürburgring, 17 year-old Charles Pic secured pole position for races 1 and 2, took 2nd place on Saturday and a stunning lights to flag win on Sunday.

Connell Racing got a fine start to the new endurance motor racing season when his family team won the first Uniroyal Cup race at Croft on Saturday. Driving with sons Richard and Marc, along with Peter Cate the team. which races a SPAR backed VW beetle, took the win after beating the other 31 cars by just 1.5 seconds after 3 hours of endurance racing.  Elder son Richard who is Takuma Sato`s race engineer at Super Aguri F1 team took the chequered flag in the Abbey Motorsport prepared car, while younger son Marc a graphic Designer took the teams fastest lap of the race. Ian is an ex BRSCC marshal and has won over 70 races since starting racing in 1988, while Pete is a Nurburghring 24 hour specialist and forer class b BTCC podium winner. Highlights of the race will be shown on Sky Sports TV in a few weeks. The next race for the team will be at Mondello Park in Ireland on June 10th. The team are trying to rise £25,000 for the NSPCC at the Spa 25 hour race : See http://www.justgiving.com/SPARConnellraceteam for details

Freddy Nordstrom took two wins in the latest rounds of the SEAT Cupra Championsip at Thruxton. Driving his Advent Motorsport prepared SEAT Leon R Class, the Surrey teenager dominated both events

Ryan Booth and Liam Kenney dominate in Formula TR at Willowsprings to close up on the leaders in the title battle..read  more

Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in the World Series Drivers' Championship last weekend, finishing race two at the Nürburging in seventh place. Vettel took the maximum points haul from Saturday's race; securing pole position, the fastest lap and the race win, leaving Germany with a ten point lead from second placed man Alvaro Parente. Team mate Mikhail Aleshin suffered a frustrating weekend, but scored four valuable points to help Carlin increase its lead in the team championship.

Team Peugeot Total have won their second race of the year in the 1000 km of Valencia held at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana in Spain. Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin drove the winning Peugeot 980 HDi to victory with over a lap in hand over the rest of the field...

Majorspeed.com, the Ottawa based team of Formula BMW USA driver Philip Major is giving back to its roots in motorsport by sponsoring two events on the 2007 National Capital Kart Club schedule. "I think it's important to remember where you came from," Major said. "I started my karting career at the National Capital Kart Club. When the opportunity to sponsor a few of their events this year came up, we jumped right in." Major started his racing career at the National Capital Kart Club, and club president Chris Healey is thankful for what Philip Major and the Major family are doing for the Club. "The Major's are a big supporter of the National Capital Kart Club," Healey said. "On behalf of the entire club, I thank them for their continued support of the National Capital Kart Club." The first Majorspeed.com sponsored race will be held on August 18 at Quyon, and the second on September 9th at Karters Corners. For more information on the National Capital Kart Club, visit their website at www.nckc.net   

Nigel Mansell made his return to Ferrari today in the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone. The British champion had a lot of fun in the two-hour race which he started before handing over to his team-mate, Chris Niarchos. Nigel jumped in for the final stint of the race and brought the Ferrari across the line in seventh position. The Scuderia Ecosse sister car of Andrew Kirkaldy and Tim Mullen finished in fifth place after both cars suffered with handling problems.  Read more

Team Apex Racing USA has signed Texas native Lindsey Adams to contest the 2007 Formula BMW USA Championship. Adams, who started her career in karting, competed in the Southwest Formula Mazda Series notching two wins and nine podium finishes in 2006. Adams is ready for her next challenge in the ultra competitive Formula BMW USA series. "I am super excited about working with Team Apex and racing in the Formula BMW USA series in 2007. My driving style and work ethics mesh perfectly with the guys at Team Apex and I feel that our goals for this year most definitely coincide. Formula BMW is a very competitive series and a great place for me to learn. Though I am excited about every race in the series, I am most looking forward to racing at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway" said Adams.

Gary Paffett raced to his first win of the season as he drove his Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class to victory in the DTM touring car championship race at Oschersleben, Germany. British driver Paffett, whose car will carry the Laureus logo for the rest of the season, crossed the line in the 44 lap race ahead of fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Paul di Resta and Mike Rockenfeller.  The victory lifted him to within one point of the leaders in this year's championship - Paul di Resta, Mattias Ekström and Martin Tomczyk, who each have 12 points. Paffett, who is also a test driver for the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team, said: "It was a dream result. I had never expected to win in only my second DTM race after a one-year break. My perfect start and the team's great strategy were the key factors. The car ran really well and I thank everybody for their super job." At the end of the season, Paffett's Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class car will be auctioned to raise funds for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said: "Congratulations to Gary for a great drive. You can be sure everyone at Laureus is watching how Gary does with intense interest. If he can win the DTM championship, the car is bound to raise a lot more money when it is auctioned, which will help underprivileged young people around the world." The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation uses the power of sport to address social challenges through a worldwide programme of sports related community development initiatives. Currently Laureus supports 48 projects globally, which have helped to improve the lives of almost 150,000 young people. Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said: "A great race. Congratulations to Gary Paffett on his win. At the top of the drivers' ranking we have now a situation like in Formula One, with three drivers tied for points at the top. Prior to and at the next race at the Lausitzring in two weeks, excitement is guaranteed. It is a great pleasure for us at Mercedes-Benz to be able to support the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in Germany and around the world."

Race winning driver Timmy Megenbier returned to the cockpit last weekend (April 27-29), contesting the third and fourth rounds of the Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda. Competing at the picturesque Virginia International Raceway road course, the talented teenager emerged from the doubleheader tied for third in the championship standings after a weekend long struggle with his car that fought both braking and handling issues. A pair of impressive top-10 recoveries has kept him in the championship hunt. Read more

07-05-07

After winning his first race in Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship, Dean Smith went on to take his econd in Round 6 at Thruxton yesterday( Sunday, 6^th May). The Fortec Motorsport driver also took the two bonus points for the NGK Laser Platinum fastest lap. His team-mate Duncan Tappy  was second in round 6 with AKA Cobra’s Jeremy Metcalfe third.

Casper Elgaard started his title defence with a win for Team Essex in the  opening round of the Danish Touring Car  series at FDM Jyllandsringen. The BMW driver won the first qualification heat, moving from eight to fifth in the second before dominating the final from pole position.  "It was a fantastic start to the season. Last year I felt I got a good start to the season, but this one is even better," Casper Elgaard said."

Patrick Barrett proved this weekend that he has the tricky Buttonwillow Raceway Park all figured out, as he took the pole, set fastest lap and led flag-to-flag en route to victory in Sunday's 15-lap Round Six of the Pacific F2000 Championship, duplicating his winning performance in Saturday's Round Five. The 17-year-old driver from California collected his third consecutive series win behind the wheel of the No. 3 Russell Racing School/Alpinestars/GoPro/PR1 Motorsports Van Diemen and enters the midway point of the season with a 38-point lead in the championship chase

Strong qualifying by Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) meant the Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship leader looked in good shape to increase his lead even further. And he didn’t let the opportunity slip, winning both Rounds 5 and 6 at Thruxton. In the Leon Cupra R Class, young Freddy Nordström (Advent Motorsport) mirrored his achievements.

Stefan Hodgetts  won his second race on the trot in the third round of the ELF Renault Clio Cup at Thruxton on Sunday, 6^th May. Once again it was an incident charged affair with the race red-flagged in the latter stages abd a safety car period early on. Hodgets led from lights to flag , although he had to hold off a hard charging Martin Byford and third-placed Ben Winrow towards the end. 

Jimmie Johnson won the rain delayed NASCAR Nextel Cup series race, the Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 at the Richmond International Raceway on Sunday.  The win was Johnson's fourth this season and the 27th of his career This gives the Hendrick teama clean sweep in the  Car of Tomorrow races to date. "Our car was strong all day," the winner said. "I followed (Kevin) Harvick, (Denny) Hamlin and (Jeff) Gordon early in the race, and I found a few things (from them) that helped me. I knew where I needed to be at the end, and it all came together for us."  His team mate Kyle Busch was second in the Kellogg's/Carquest Chevrolet o.7secs down on the leader. Denny Hamlin was third in the FedEx  with Bud Pole winner Jeff Gordon fourth after Hamlin tookthird off him 17 laps from the flag. "We've got to be proud of that, as this has been one of our worst tracks," he stated. "At one point, I thought we had the car to beat and then we made adjustments that hurt us." Kurt Busch was fifth in his Dodge with his teammate Ryan Newman sixth.

06-05-07

With wins for Richard Hay/Clive Richards, Oliver Bull and Graham Fennymore, Saturday's (5 May) French rounds of the evo Caterham Eurocup provided excitement and drama in equal measure.

Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) took full advantage of his front row grid position for Round 5 of the 2007 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship at Thruxton. Despite Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport) having pole position, Adam got the better start, catapulting himself into the lead. Welch made sure he kept in the hunt for victory by continually looking for ways past and setting the quickest lap time of 1:20.354secs in the process, but eventually Adam managed to make enough of a gap to keep the lead until the finish line.

Roy McCarthy in a MGB GT V8 won the MGCC Henry Recruitment Thoroughbred Sportscar race at Brands Hatch today(Sunday) beating Steve Watton's TVR Griffith by over 20seconds. Andy Green came third in a Morgan Plus 8. In the SEMSEC single seater race on Saturday Steve Cave took his Spreads RMO7 over the line ahead of the Jedi of John Lord with Jeremy Goodman driving a Ralt RT3 was third.Today(Sunday) Lord had his moment of glory winning from Goodman with Adrain Desoutter's Reynard third.  Richard Dorlin and Simon Lewis shared the spoils in the Vredestein Soilmec Jaguar Saloon car races. Dorlin winning race one by 0.436 seconds from Lewis the latter's margin of victory in race two was considerably larger, at 0.867seconds!. Chris Boon was third in the first race and Dave Bye in the second.

Also at the Brands Hatch  CSCC meeting were the SEMSEC Sport/Saloons and it was the Jade trackstar of Graham Cole who came out on top, 9.5 seconds ahead of Alexis Cole's Nemesis. In teh BARC vs CSCC Tin Top race John Willcocks BMW M3 won from the BMW 325 of Nigel Innes by 4 seconds. Stephen Dann was a close third, 2 tenths behind the second placed car.  In the Swinging Sixties race John Muirhead took a comprehensive victory in his Lotus Super 7 from the TR5 of Mark Campbell and the Camaro of Simon Lane while the Powertorque Morgan Challenge race was won by Rick Lloyd with Chris Wiliams second and Phil Hollins third.

Vauxhall driver Fabrizio Giovanardi and SEAT's Jason Plato shared the race wins at Thruxton today. The Vauxhall Vectra driver taking the first 2 races with Plato claiming the third from fifth on the grid in the final event.

The Dutch rounds of the 2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship saw Gabriele Tarquini score the first victory of the season for SEAT Sport by winning the second race at Zandvoort in front of an estimated 20,000 spectators.
The other headline from Holland as far as SEAT Sport is concerned was the performance of Portugal’s Tiago Monteiro, who was making his WTCC debut at Zandvoort. Fastest in one of the two free practice sessions, Tiago qualified 5th and then rounded off a great weekend by finishing 4th in Race 1. read more

After starting from pole position, Charles Pic (SG Formula) has taken his first Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 victory. The rookie finished ahead of Henki Waldschmidt (Prema Power Team), who moves to the top of the overall standings. As yesterday, Mika Mäki (Red Bull Epsilon) took the third podium spot.

A remarkable fight for the 2007 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 championship is looming after a day of high drama and superb racing at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in Victoria today. full story

Italian Davide Valsecchi won Round 4 of the World Series by Renault 2007 at the Nurburgring. Second was  Red Bull Junior Filipe Albuquerque who moved up from from 6th on the grid. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel  extended his lead with sixth place.

05-05-07

Five drivers swapped round the top spots on the grid for Rounds 5 & 6 of the 2007 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship at Thruxton, Hampshire after two full-throttle bouts of qualifying. The morning session saw Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport) in his re-shelled number 4 car set a blistering 1:19.089sec lap time (with an impressive average speed of 107.28mph) to clinch pole position. Championship leader Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) continued his knack of qualifying on the front row of every grid to date with a 2nd place, while Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/CMS Motorsport), Fulvio Mussi (Total Control Racing) and Neil Waterworth (Total Control Racing) took the next three spaces in that order. read more

Darren Turner (below)has maintained his record of all-top three qualifying places in the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship by putting his SEAT Sport UK Leon on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Round 7 at Thruxton. read more

Fortec Motorsport’s Dean Smith  took pole position for round five of the Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship at Thruxton on Saturday, 5^th May. AKA Cobra’s Adam Christodoulou will start from pole in round six after the day’s second qualifying session at the Hampshire circuit, the fastest on the Formula Renault UK calendar. It is the first pole position of the 17-year-old’s car racing career. read more

Sebastian Vettel (Carlin Motorsport) has taken his first victory of the season at he Nurburgring in the World Series by Renault after an impressive solo effort out front. Leading the race from start to finish, the young German's win also puts him top of the Championship standings. Ben Hanley (Prema Power Team) will be happy to be back on the podium, while Alvaro Parente (Tech 1 Racing) scored valuable points by finishing third.

Bridgestone, exclusive supplier to the GP2 Series, has today announced the seven finalists of this year’s Bridgestone e-reporter competition for aspiring young journalists. read more

04-05-07

Championship leading Hitech Racing underlined its domination of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British Formula 3 International Series by topping the times in the two-day test at Snetterton this week, posting the quickest ever F3 lap at the Norfolk track.   Read more

Dunboyne teenager Niall Quinn heads to Oschersleben this weekend as one of the favourites for honours in the first two rounds of the German Formula BMW Championship.Quinn has been selected to spearhead the title attack by top German squad AM Holzer Rennsport on this year's series. The 18-year-old, who finished third in last season's Formula BMW UK Rookie Cup with five victories, travels to Germany buoyed by strong form in pre-season testing and is looking forward to his first outing in the German series. "I'm really pumped and I can't wait to get going," says Niall. "Pre-season testing has gone well and there's a great atmosphere in the team. "There's a massive standard of team and driver in this series and it won't be easy but everything I've seen so far leads me to believe that we can be frontline challengers this year.

Dominik Jackson will head to next weekend's third meeting of the Visma Formula Palmer Audi Championship at Snetterton aiming to make amends for a difficult start to the season.  Read more

The Formula BMW Germany season will get underway in Oschersleben this coming weekend (4th-6th May). The first two of the season's 18 races will take place at the Motorsport Arena on Saturday and Sunday. This year's Formula BMW Germany drivers have prepared well and are eagerly awaiting the first race of the season. The popularity of the series is borne out by the large and international field of drivers. A total of 27 talented youngsters from 11 nations will line up on the grid, 16 of whom will be making their series debut. The sentiments of Jens Klingmann (Leimen/Eifelland Racing), who claimed the title of leading rookie last year, are shared by all the drivers: "We can't wait to finally get down to the serious business. Practice is enjoyable, but racing is as good as it gets." Klingmann is one of the favourites for this year's championship. The 16-year-old is looking to use victory in Formula BMW Germany as a springboard for the future: "The series has shown that it gives you everything you need for higher formulas of racing."  Klingmann is one of five up-and-coming drivers in the Formula BMW Junior ranks. As well as financial backing worth 50,000 euros, the recruits are given entry to BMW's Education and Coaching Programme. Here, experts school them in the intricacies of driving technique and tactics, car dynamics and chassis set-up, fitness and diet, media, and sponsoring and sports management. There will be four Formula BMW series once again in 2007, taking place in Asia, Great Britain, North America and Germany. The race weekends in Zandvoort and Barcelona will allow the drivers in Formula BMW Germany to pick up experience of tracks outside the series' host country as well. One of the highlights of the season will be the race at the Nürburgring, where the youngsters will perform on the support programme for the Formula One grand prix. The drivers are already looking forward to testing their mettle in these rarefied surroundings - even if no more than a maximum of 90 points are on offer here, just like the eight other venues on the calendar. As for who will ultimately be celebrating the championship title, we will have to wait until the final race of the season at Hockenheim on 14th October to find out...Calendar

The Carlin team are in Germany this weekend, for the second event in the 2007 World Series by Renault championship. Sebastian Vettel will be racing in front of a home crowd at the Nürburgring, as the only German driver in the championship. The 19 year old BMW Sauber F1 Team test driver won two races at the circuit last year on his way to second place in the F3 Euroseries. Meanwhile Carlin team mate Mikhail Aleshin returns to the track that gave him his first World Series pole position last season. The Russian Red Bull driver also finished third in race one in 2006.Last time out at Monza, the team got off to a flying start with Aleshin taking the first win of the season with a dominating performance from pole. Race two was a rather more frantic affair, Aleshin doing well from his 10th place grid slot to reach fourth place, but an overtaking manoeuvre on team mate Vettel in the closing stages of the race resulted in retirement.  Vettel also had a promising start to his 2007 World Series campaign, finishing race two on the third step of the podium.

Franck Lagorce will be taking a 4-strong squad of French KF1 musketeers to Italy this weekend for the first European event of the season. 2007 promises to be full of surprises as the karting world adapts to the challenge of the new KF engines. 125cc instead of the traditional 100cc, 16000 rpm and not 20000 rpm, clutch and starter motor - what a change! There is everything to play for and the established order is in danger, the leadership is likely to change from race to race. If the French team is to shine it will need its engine suppliers to be on top form. The Official FFSA French Kart Team comprises 2 old hands from Formula A days, Jean-Philippe Guignet and Alban Varutti and 2 sharp-shooting rookies, Anthony Abbasse and Mike Courquin

Mike Meadows, National Class British F3  driver sponsored by NewNet, will be running with Raikkonen Robertson Racing in Bucharest, the next round of the British F3 championship. Meadows began the season with Master Motorsport and together they have been leading competitors in the Series, with a pole, and first and second places in the last round, which put Meadows second in the overall championship standings. This success has led to an opportunity for Meadows to move to the successful Raikkonen Robertson Racing team, which won the Championship Class in 2006 with Mike Conway

The qualifying for the Fuji GT 500 km Race, Round 3 of the 2007 AUTOBACS SUPER GT, took place at Fuji Speedway (one lap 4.563 km) in Shizuoka Pref. on May 3. The TAKATA NOME NSX driven by Takashi Kogure won the GT500 class pole position (fastest qualifier) and will start from the front row in the race on the 4th.In the first qualifying session in the morning, Kogure ran the top time at 1 min. 33.697 sec. In the afternoon Super Lap for the top ten qualifiers (time trial run one machine at a time), he set a course record time of 1 min. 33.066 sec. to win the pole position. TAKATA NOME NSX also won the pole position in the last round at the Okayama International Circuit (Okayama Pref.), making it the pole starter for the second consecutive round. In the GT300 class, the AKTIO MURCIE RG-1 driven by Marco Apicella was top qualifier in class with a time of 1 min. 42.112 sec.

After qualifying 7th for Round 3 of the Star Mazda Championship series, Nick Haye was moved to the rear of the pack when his car was found to be 2 lbs underweight after qualifying. "I was so bummed and surprised by the technical error -- its never happened to me before. We just had a miscue and we wont ever let that happen again," remarked Haye.  Starting 26^th Haye said he had to really rethink his strategy and expectations for the race. "I knew I just had to keep my head down and get to work moving up through the pack. I wanted to avoid trouble going into the mid-pack congestion but I had to take some chances to move up enough to keep in the points," said Haye. Haye was quickly in the top-15, but lost valuable catch-up time due to the long full-course yellow after the incident midway through lap two.  After the restart Haye continued to make steady progress through the field and emerged in 8th position -- only to discover a long gap to 7th. He made rapid progress chasing the 7th place car and had shortened the gap significantly by the end of the race. "I was caught earlier behind a pack of 5 cars dicing for position and I'm sure this created the large gap between 7th and 8th position," Haye said.  "Everybody on the JDC team really worked hard to help me finish well in the race -- the car was great," commented Haye. "I'm looking forward to Salt Lake City in a few weeks. I'm definitely not starting from the rear at Miller," stated Haye.

The Formula TR Pro Series 2000 Championship roars back into life this weekend, Saturday 5th -- Sunday 6th May, with Rounds 5 and 6 hosted at California's Willow Springs Raceway. Virginia's Liam Kenney has had to wait patiently for a return to action, seven weeks passing since he last raced in Round 4 at the California Speedway, Fontana.  The season's opening back-to-back, double-header race weekends in March proved eventful for #95 Liam Kenney Motorsports entry. Graduating from a season in the Formula TR Pro Series 1600 Championship, Kenney's best finish so far this year is fourth place at Fontana. Setting leading lap times in Wednesday's open test session at the track, Liam's looking forward to unleashing his 200bhp Formula Renault in Saturday and Sunday's races. "Yesterday's test at Willow Springs went really well," Kenney reflected. "The car's running strong and we set some pretty fast lap times during the course of the day. It was a productive test and I feel pretty comfortable heading into this weekend's races. It's one of my favorite tracks, it has a really gutsy layout and I love the challenge of its fast corners. Overall I think it's going to be a great weekend for us and I hope to get back up there in the title fight."

MICHELIN GOES FOR DOUBLE STINTS. The FIA GT Championship is now back in Europe for the next round at Silverstone.  In the first round in China, Michelin took pole and the first three places on the rostrum in front a crowd of some 22 00 spectators who thronged the circuit near Macao. Victory in the GT category went to the Team All-Inkl.com Racing Lamborghini Murcielago driven by Christophe Bouchut and Stefan Mücke. In GT2, the AF Corse Motorola Ferrari cars team filled the first two places with Dirk Müller and Toni Vilander scoring their first victory of the year. With a field of 25 cars fourteen of which are fitted with Michelin tyres, the Clermont-Ferrand manufacturer must provide its partners with the best possible products, and study the best tyre strategies in order to beat its rivals in this very closely-fought category.  Gerard Bombled, the Michelin FIA GT director: "Silverstone requires fault-free grip at high speed. This circuit's layout necessitates quick changes of direction, and it's very important to have good stability. In addition, the asphalt is rather hard on the tyres. The Silverstone event is one of the toughest for the tyre manufacturers, mainly because of the high-speed corners, which create a lot of lateral loading and put a lot of stress on the tyres. These different parameters dictate the choice of fairly hard rubber."

Team MER continued their strong championship run in the SCCA Sirius Satellite Mazda MX-5 Cup with another successful race weekend as three drivers took 2nd through 4th place at "The Mitty" Grand Prix this past weekend at Road Atlanta. Team drivers Jason Saini, Eric Foss and Andrew Caddell started the weekend off by qualifying in the first three positions, with Foss, an instructor at Road Atlanta's Panoz School, taking pole with a lap of 1:41.461 followed by Saini and Caddell.   In the race, both Foss and Saini took turns leading for nearly the entire race until the last lap where the two battled for the victory allowing the third place car of Ara Malkhassian to slip by with two corners to go to take the win. Saini (Team MER / TheAutobarn.com), the winner last week, picked up a bonus point for leading the most laps and finished second followed by teammate, Foss for third. Another Team MER driver, rookie Andrew Caddell finished in fourth.  "For a moment there Eric and Ara started to battle and I was able to pull away," said Saini. "They were able to close back up when they started to work together and I was unable to hold them off. It was a very close race and congratulations to Ara for a good run. He didn't make any mistakes and that is what it takes to win in this series. This series is just amazing and special thanks again to Team MER for another great weekend."   Team MER is already preparing for the next SCCA Sirius Satellite Mazda MX-5 Cup event on May 19-20 at MAZDA Laguna Seca Raceway for the 2007 US Sports Car Invitational.   Team MER drivers point standings: Saini (1st -- 63 pts), Smrz (5th -- 35 pts), Caddell (8th - 29), Foss (9th - 28), Bellew (13th - 25), Barber (15th - 22)

Joel Miller and Josef Newgarden had dramatic wins at Virginia International Raceway in rounds three and four of the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda. For Miller, racing under the 2007 Skip Barber/Snap-on Stars of  Karting Scholarship banner, it was his maiden National win. So  too for new guy Newgarden, who had come from impressive wins in  Skip Barber's Regional championships. Full story

In the Grand-Am Rolex VIR 400 feature race last weekend No. 87 Marquis Jet/IPC/Recaro Porsche GT3 co-drivers Bryce Miller and Dirk Werner broke through for their first career Rolex Series victory in Saturday's VIR 400.

No less than 20 thundering Porsche 917s and approximately 30 Porsche 956/962 prototypes plus the famous drivers who drove these legendary models to victories around the world top the first entries for the November 2-4, 2007, Porsche Rennsport Reunion III at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.   Read more

03-05-07

Formula Palmer Audi Driver Matt Hamilton is making good progress as he recovers from his leg breaking accident at Silverstone last month.   Hamilton had dominated the weekend's proceedings, setting pole position for both races, and comfortably winning race one, notching up the seventeen year olds first win in cars. However, disaster was to strike at the start of race two, as an error in the start light procedure saw Matt at the centre of a pile up on the grid. Matt was hit three times in the melee, the third time broadside at over 80mph. This impact broke Hamilton's right femur. The impact was so severe that it took the rescue crews forty minutes to cut him from the wreckage. He was then airlifted to hospital for emergency treatment. Hamilton is now out of hospital, and despite still needing crutches, he is working hard on his physiotherapy to regain fitness. 'I am very grateful to all of the emergency team at Silverstone, all the staff at Coventry hospital, and to the dozens of well wishers that have sent me get well cards, texts and e-mails' said Matt. 'I am determined to get back into the car as soon as I am fully fit, hopefully in June or July. Unfortunately, I realise that the Championship is now beyond my grasp, but I fully expect to get back to winning ways upon my return'

Championship winning F3 team Carlin Motorsport will be visiting Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands on Saturday 12 May, to test out the Mercedes road cars and meet visitors.Hampshire based team Carlin Motorsport, has won more races in British F3 that any other team, and took its 74th victory at the 2007 season opener at Oulton Park, powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine.The Carlin Dallara-Mercedes is capable of speeds of over 160mph, the Mercedes engine producing 210bhp taking the car from 0-60 in 3 seconds, making the Carlin F3 car five times more powerful that a normal 2 litre family car.

A1 Team Netherlands is to press ahead with plans to try and overturn A1 Team Italy’s third place in last weekend’s Feature race of the RAB Capital A1GP Brands Hatch, Great Britain. The team lodged a protest to the stewards after the race on Sunday, regarding whether Enrico Toccacelo pitted while the safety car was out on track, which is against A1GP rules. The stewards rejected the protest, however the Netherlands has now officially lodged its intention to appeal against that decision. That appeal will be heard by British motorsports’ governing body – the Motor Sport Association. A date for the appeal has yet to be set.

Earl Bamber, 2006 Formula BMW Asia champion, had a seat fitting in one of Team Meritus’ new Formula V6 Asia cars yesterday, spending a few hours with the race engineers to learn the car’s electronics. Bamber arrived at Sepang circuit hot from his best ever Formula Toyota New Zealand race. Bamber will take part in two days of testing on Wednesday and Thursday. Should all go well, the plan is for Bamber to join the championship winning team from the second Formula V6 Asia event, a support race for the Japan GT, at Sepang circuit on 23-24 June.

AJ Foyt Racing will team with two-time Indianapolis 500 winner (1992, 1994) Al Unser Jnr. to make a run at the 91st running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing when qualifying begins on Saturday May 12th at the Brickyard. Little Al, as he is known by millions of fans, joined four-time Indy 500 champion and racing great AJ Foyt by teleconference Wednesday (May 2nd) to proclaim he is ready to challenge the great race for the nineteenth time. "I'm real excited, especially driving for AJ," said Unser Jr. "He has been my hero since I was a little boy. For him to give me a call and ask me to drive for him, in his 50th anniversary, is a real honor. I am proud to be driving for him, and we'll give it everything we've got."  "I've known Al since he was born. He is a great driver. I don't know who I could have found that would be better, because he's a hell of a racer," said AJ.

Adam Carroll will be back in action this weekend in round 2 of the DTM at Oschersleben. After walking away from a horror smash at Hockenheim two weeks ago, which left two drivers in hospital, Adam cannot wait to get back behind the wheel of his 2005 Audi A4 for Team Futurecom-TME.  "I was absolutely fine after the crash and I cannot wait for this weekend. Hopefully I’ll get a better chance to show what I can do in the race. I have tested here before and it went quite well so I am looking forward to it."  Competing in his debut season in touring cars, the 24 year old, from Northern Ireland was impressed by the quality of the series and the passion of the DTM fans. "The series is so professional. The only thing which comes close is Formula One. And I was quite shocked by the support I had from the fans. They all knew my racing history, what I had done before and they were happy I had come to race in DTM, it was quite overwhelming. Now I would just like to give them and my team something to cheer about!"

Current Snap-on Stars of Karting Intercontinental A (ICA) National champion Joel Miller scored his first Skip Barber National victory this past weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Virginia. Along with the win, Miller used the double race format to score another podium result and garnered enough points to take over the Skip Barber National Championship point lead.

John Walko Racing fielded just two cars at Virginia International Raceway in the third round of the Star Mazda Championship with regular drivers Russell Walker and Charles Anti again showing they have the speed to compete at the front of a very competitive field. Read more

Adrien Tambay, the 16-year old son of F1 Grand Prix winner, Patrick, begins his single-seater career this weekend, at the opening round of the Formula BMW Deutschland championship at Oschersleben, Germany. Identifying the ultra-competitive FBMW Deutschland series as offering the best opportunity to gain experience and knowledge at this stage of his career, Tambay has signed with current champions, JK Racing, who previously ran F1 drivers Nico Rosberg and Adrian Sutil in the series. Racing with the iconic No.27, as did his GP-winning father, Tambay has support from Dutch property group, Hugenholtz, Motors TV, and Moulin Rouge, who are now enjoying their 26th year of partnership with the Tambay family.

02-05-07

Anne Walewska drove a gritty race at Brands Hatch last weekend in  Britcar, working her way through from 42nd to 2nd in class in front of the large A1GP crowd of over 25000...full story

Brilliant Bacheta extends points lead with Brands Hatch win. Brentwood racing driver Luciano Bacheta has extended his lead in the Formula Palmer Audi Championship to 18 points after taking a win, a second and a third on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
Bacheta, who celebrated his 17th birthday last week, picked up a second and a third place in the two Saturday races, before getting a great start in the third race on Sunday to pass Jolyon Palmer and take his second win of the season. With thousands of fans at Brands Hatch savouring the FPA races as part of the A1GP World Cup Of Motorsport final, Luciano was delighted to have taken victory in front of them."This was my first-ever win around Brands Hatch, and to be able to do it in front of such a big crowd on the GP circuit made it even more special," he said. "I had a great start but still had to use my turbo-boost to pass Jolyon, but I managed to make it stick around Paddock Hill Bend."
Luciano continues to impress onlookers in his first full season of single-seater racing, and is delighted to have kept up his 100% podium finish record in an extremely competitive series where all 22 drivers have identical 300bhp cars. "These three races have definitely been the toughest of my career so far, as I had to attack, defend and overtake at the top of my game, and I feel I have come away from it a much better driver."
The next three Formula Palmer Audi races take place at Snetterton in Norfolk next weekend (12/13 May).

The Prema Powerteam was back in action on the 24th and 25th of April, with 2 official test days organised by the World Series by Renault on the French circuit of Magny-Cours. With summer finally kicking in and the track temperatures rising, Prema tested numerous set-up solutions with their driver's Ben Hanley and Xavier Maassen. The English Driver produced some impressive times on the second day that pleased the Grisignano based team. Xavier, on the other hand, made a big step forward in his development, improving on his position from pre-season.René Rosin - Team Manager:
"We had two intense days of work and technical meetings. The desire to emerge victorious after our poor showing at Monza is huge. Hanley made a lot of progress, running strongly on both new and used tyres, while Maassen is improving day by day, ac cording to plan".

The Oschersleben circuit hosts the second DTM race of the year this weekend. The 3.696 kilometre long circuit close to Magdeburg saw an  Audi win in 2006 with Tom Kristensen who also took the honours for the team back in 2004.

Formula 3 cars are now the fastest National Championship cars racing in Australia and are at their element when they visit the smooth, fast and flowing curves of one of Australia’s premier racing circuits. How fast?  Read on

James Walker has just returned from a very productive test at Magny Cours in France where he and the Fortec team made preparations for round two of the 2007 World Series by Renault in Germany this weekend (5/6 May).He finished day one in ninth place, running consistently in blistering track temperatures. He tried various set-ups and did plenty of runs on new and old tyres; his pace on old tyres being particularly good. A solid 12th place on day two cemented the efforts of James and the team who are now all looking forward to getting down to business in Germany. “We’ve got a good plan for the next race now,” said James. “I feel like I’ve got my confidence back after taking a bit of a knock at Monza.”

Ricky Occhipinti, the 2006 Australian Formula 3 National Class Champion, has confirmed that he will return to the seriesr nine months on the sidelines with the race winning Astuti Motorsport team at Phillip Island, where he hopes to tackle the established pacesetters in the series at one of his favourite circuits.  Melbourne-based Astuti are riding the crest of a wave at the moment, having dominated the recent Oran Park round of the series with Yorkshireman Charlie Hollings, who is second in the championship.  Occhipinti, 22, dominated last year’s National Class – for 2001 model cars – with his family run Formula Uno Racing outfit but received some support from the Astuti camp throughout the season. He will drive the #10 Astuti Motorsport / Whispers Studio / Formula Uno Motors Dallara F304 – Renault in the Gold Star class at the weekend.   Occhipinti’s last competitive outing in a Formula 3 car came at the 4.46km circuit last season,   ”It’s a track I know well,” he explained. Without having sat in a ’04 F3 car and taking into account the front runners this year have done plenty of miles I think our goals are very realistic.” Current championship protagonists Tim Macrow (the current points Leader driving for Scud Racing / Cooltemp), Charlie Hollings, Leanne Tander (Fleetcare TanderSport), Stuart Kostera (Team BRM) and James Winslow (Team Opes Prime) will all be looking to assert their claim to the title in the third round this weekend, whilst the likes of Mat Sofi (Total Developments) and Italian Marco Mapelli (Team BRM) will be looking for strong runs after tough weekends at Oran Park recently.  Phillip Island will also mark the championship debut of young Mathew Radisich, the nephew of V8 Supercar ace Paul.

GU-Racing Team International starts into its  second Formula BMW season this weekend. Alongside the  DTM at Oschersleben. Max Wissel (GER), Andrei Harnagea (RUM), Jens Höing (GER), Carlos Gaitan (COL) and Nikolay Varbitzaliev (BUL) all have different aims this weekend. After  testing Wissel, who was second in Oschersleben last year, and Höing are looking for outright  race-wins as well as the title, whereas. Gaitan and Varbitzaliev are hoping to move nearer the front. “I am the rookie in the team, but I want to reach the top-10 right now”, said Varbitzaliev. Team-principal Günther Unterreitmeier is looking for top 3 positions from his experienced team members „Podiums from Max and Jens and top-10 finishes from Carlos Gaitan and Nikolay Varbitzaliev. And all should reach the finish without accidents. That’s it.”

Team KMA Racing owners Ingo Strackerjan and Jon Lewis have been battling it out on the road courses of North America for over 20 years. However last weekend was a busy  for the entire team. Ingo, Team KMA’s Formula BMW manager was busy in Denver getting everything ready the their first event in Salt Lake City while Jon, Team KMA’s Indy Pro Series manager was busy in Indianapolis for the Open Test at the Speedway with driver Robbie Pecorari. Team KMA Formula BMW drivers Mike Hill, Julia Landauer and Jeffrey Petriello were also in Indianapolis for PitFit training.. “It was a pretty exciting weekend to say the least,” stated Lewis. “It was raining on and off all Friday morning in Indy and we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to get testing in or not. But, the rain let up just long enough for us to get approximately 80 miles in. Robbie really liked the set up on the car and felt he could push it quite a bit more, but why risk it on a very cold track when it was just a test day. So, he brought her in, hopped out and said, ‘No changes, it’s a winner!’

Stefan Wilson celebrates first car win at Brands Hatch . After his podium success in Round 2 of the Formula Palmer Audi series at Silverstone, Stefan Wilson continued to shine at the Brands Hatch GP circuit last weekend. He took victory in Round 4, his first in cars, as well as a brace of strong top five finishes in Rounds 3 and 5.  The victory came in only his 10th car race from second on the grid he passed Round 3 winner Tim Bridgman, in Pilgrim's Drop to take the lead with four laps to go. "It's an incredible feeling to win for the first time," said Stefan. "It means a lot to me, especially as I didn't win a race in karting last year. I've got to thank my dad Keith for being so supportive." Stefan is now second in the FPA championship and, with that first win under his belt, he can't wait to get to Snetterton for Rounds 6, 7 and 8 on 13th May.

01-05-07

TV deal for Heritage GT Car Challenge.  The status of the Charterhouse Heritage GT Car Challenge will be further enhanced by extensive TV coverage on Sky this season.   
The series is booming in 2007, with capacity grids of GT and saloon cars from the 1960s and 1970s delivering crowd-pleasing action. Now, all of the excitement of the races is being captured by Hay Fisher Productions for screening in a series of dedicated half-hour programmes across the Sky Sports channels. 
The coverage will include both races from each weekend as well as dramatic in-car footage. The action from the opening races at Donington Park (21/22 April) will be broadcast as follows:
 
Tuesday 8 May at 18.00 on Sky Sports 2
Tuesday 8 May at 21.30 on Sky Sports 2
Tuesday 8 May at 23.30 on Sky Sports Xtra
Wednesday 9 May at 01.30 on Sky Sports 3
Wednesday 9 May at 09.30 on Sky Sports 2
Wednesday 9 May at 16.30 on Sky Sports Xtra
Sunday 13 May at 05.30 on Sky Sports 2
Sunday 13 May at 14.00 on Sky Sports 3
Sunday 13 May at 17.00 on Sky Sports Xtra

James Blyth made his track racing debut in the 2007 Mini Challenge last weekend ending up with , taking two fifths and a third place in the  triple header at his home circuit of Snetterton.  Full story

Round 3 of the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup took a trip over the Irish Sea to Kirkistown. Nicknamed “Ireland’s Fastest Circuit” Kirkistown is an old airfield. It is very flat and has 2 very long and fast straights and some very challenging corners. This round was to be 30 lap endurance race, which was uncharted territory for the Scottish Minis. Full story

Stock-Car Montréal l.p., promoter of the NAPA Auto Parts 200, the first-ever NASCAR Busch Series race in Canada, is proud to announce that Dodge will be the presenting sponsor of the August 3-4, 2007 race event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. This sponsorship gives Dodge cars and trucks exclusive promotional presence at this milestone racing event, and makes Dodge the official supplier of the cars and trucks of the event.

The Masters Series will offer its drivers an opportunity to get on the podium whether they are class winners or the overall winner  Most of the hard-trying drivers in each series can only dream of reaching the overall race winners podium. So … The Masters Series have had come up with a solution – from now on, they will operate a  ‘MasterClass Podium Scheme’  The new scheme will be tested at Donington and Brands and it will work thus -:At the Drivers’ Briefing, a draw will take place – entirely random and impartial. Each class* will be ‘in the draw’. The winning, selected class then becomes ‘The Podium Class’ for that weekend as follows:

1. The selected class will then become the focus of the podium ceremony. The selected class’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place drivers will be treated to the winners full podium - cups, anthems and the champagne
2. The Series will still, of course, recognise the triumph of the overall race winner – who will be invited onto the podium too, with a garland while  the 2nd and 3rd placed drivers overall get their prizes at Masters’ own ceremonies in the Masters Hospitality, later that day.
3. How will it work at race finish? Answer:- during the last lap, Race Direction will ask the ‘pit in’ marshals to pick out not only the overall winning car to come along to the podium, but also the first 3 cars from the Selected Class.
4. So the 1st, 2nd and 3rd drivers from the pre-selected class get their moment ‘in the podium sun’.

NB - * ‘Each class’ means only those classes with more than 3 starters. 

We look forward to seeing some 'new' smiling faces on the podium at Donington this weekend and in the future

The 2007 Formula TR Championship Series resumes this weekend with Rounds 5 and 6 on May 5 and 6 at Willow Springs International Raceway in California. While Sergio Pena is currently leading the 1600 Series and John Knudsen is on top in the 2000 Series there are still 16 rounds of competition remaining which means everyone in the series still has a chance at the titles. It promises to be an excellent week in the high desert of Southern California. Formula TR has an exclusive test day for series participants on Wednesday and the track has open testing scheduled for Friday. Steve Henry, series owner and chief steward explains, "We have two test days scheduled this week principally because the open testing on Friday does not allow drivers under the age of 15 and a half due to insurance restrictions. We will have scheduled the Wednesday test day and will use our insurance to ensure that the younger drivers in the series have the opportunity to test on this very quick circuit." While Formula TR has not seen action for several weeks several of its alumni have been very busy and doing well. Darryl O'Young was tenth in the opening round of the Porsche Super Cup Series in Bahrain while Brad Coleman took pole and finished 9th in the Busch Series race at Talladega. Colin Braun secured took pole with a new lap record and finished second in the Grand American Rolex Series at VIR and Carl Skerlong convincingly took 2nd in his third Champ Car Atlantic start on the streets of Houston.

Formula Renault UK team Manor Competition arrives at Thruxton this weekend, 5th/6th May, aiming to kick-start its 2007 campaign during the fifth and sixth rounds of the season. Richard Singleton is Manor’s best-placed driver in the title race, currently in sixth position overall and third in the ‘Graduate Cup’ standings, he heads to Thruxton on the back of a brace of good results at Rockingham where he achieved top six and top eight finishes. While Rockingham didn’t deliver the sort of results Alexander Sims was expecting, the multiple karting champion has high hopes for rounds five and six. Alex Morgan, meanwhile, battled adversity once again during the Rockingham race meeting and after overcoming difficulties with his engine in qualifying and the opening race – frustratingly, the third time the team has had a problem with down-on-power Renault F4R engines this season – he ran much more strongly in the second encounter.Of Manor’s four drivers, Kris Loane had the most exasperating weekend having seen a career-best performance in qualifying count for very little during the races – round three ending on the grid when he wasn’t able to get away from the line and the second race badly affected after contact with the circuit’s retaining wall on lap one. Speaking ahead of the first Thruxton event of the year, Manor team owner Tony Shaw said: “The first four rounds have been frustrating as we haven’t seen the sort of results our effort deserves but we’re aiming to turn that around at Thruxton which is a fantastic track and should offer some great racing.“Alexander, Richard, Alex and Kris are driving well but for a variety of reasons we didn’t have the best of weekends at Rockingham. Everyone is giving 100 per cent commitment and effort though and although the recent Thruxton test wasn’t as promising as we had wanted, we’re hopeful the race meeting will be a different story.”

Australian driver Lauren Gray hopes to use a positive test session at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit to lift her up the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship National Class pecking order  next weekend. Graycurrently sits 2nd in the National Class, for the ’99 – ‘01 model F3 cars,  standings after two rounds but will head into next weekend’s event  looking for a positive showing after a strong test at the weekend. Gray completed three sessions behind the wheel of her Scud Racing / Dodo / Powcon Dallara F301 Spiess entry and professed herself happy with a strong day at the high speed circuit two hours south of her home in Melbourne. “The track was very slippery in the morning and there was a cold wind which made it quite hard to get heat into the Tyres in the first session,” Gray explained.”But for us the day was very beneficial. Having a decent amount of heat in the Tyres, a clear track and a good car makes life easy! I found a lot of speed throughout the day and was really able to find my limits there.”Gray improved her best lap by over eight seconds over the course of the day as she gained mileage and conditions improved, driving the same car that scored pole position at the circuit in the F3 round there last August.“After sitting down with our data from the middle session I was able to find another second in the car and myself,” she said.”We will make some more changes to the car between now and the race weekend so hopefully when we unload the car from the truck Friday Morning it will be quick from the word go.”I’m confident that we can win the class at the weekend,” Gray confidently added.Lauren Gray Motorsport would like to thank the continued support of Powcon Pty Ltd, Kingsville Accident Repair Centre, Softelm Pty Ltd, Dodo Communications and Scud Racing.

The 2007 television schedule for the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series and the Avon Tyres British GT Championship has been unveiled, with improved weekend time slots and a repeat mid week show on leading British terrestrial television broadcaster Channel 4.  From Round 5 of the Championships onwards the weekend show on Sunday morning moves to 8am from the more traditional 7:30am time slot for the majority of the programmes. Channel 4 has also scheduled a mid week slot which will repeat the Sunday morning show. “This is excellent news for both Championships” said Mike Grime, Partnership Manager for championship promoters SRO. “Just moving the weekend show from 7:30 to 8am increases the audience by over 100,000, and along with the mid week repeat programme both British F3 International and British GT will more that double their overall Channel 4 viewing figures this season.” “Both Championships have a fantastic TV show produced by our partner Hayfisher, and it’s testament to that quality, along with the increased professionalism and spectacular racing from our competitors, that we have this positive news.” Mike Grime continued, “The new 2007 shows have already drawn praise from Channel 4, and at a time when British motorsport is finding it increasingly difficult to keep a terrestrial billing, we’re delighted both Championships are actually improving on existing terrestrial inclusion. We’re intent on improving the marketing and promotional value to our teams, drivers and sponsor partners, and this news does just that.”  The next race meeting is on May 19th / 20th when the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series travels to Eastern Europe where they will race on the streets on the Romanian Capital Bucharest. Channel 4 is due to broadcast these two races on Sunday 27th May at 8am, with a mid week repeat on Tuesday 29th May at 1am.

There is no doubt among the drivers in the Danish Touringcar Championship. That when the opening round is held on May 6th, it will mark the start of one of the most unpredictable seasons ever. A cocktail of rulebook modifications, new cars and new drivers indicate that 2007 will as well an unpredictable and very even year. Read more

30-04-07

Irish racers Jackie Cochrane and Stephen Colbert claimed an impressive double victory as the Charterhouse Heritage GT Car Challenge provided some of the best supporting action to the A1 GP feature races at Brands Hatch (28/29 April).  Cochrane's Sunbeam Tiger proved to be the class of the superb 40-car field, although stern challenges from Grahame and Oliver Bryant (Morgan +8) and Andy Rouse/Stuart Hall (Chevrolet Camaro) ensured that the huge crowd was well entertained by the Heritage field. 

Steven Taylor wins LMA Euro Saloon race at Rockingham yesterday(Sunday) after Joss Ronchetti throws away the lead in the final corner

Hywel Lloyd claimed the first victory of his single-seater career with a dominant display from pole position in round one of the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Donington Park on Sunday, 29^th April. The Welsh privateer led home series debutant Aaron Steele and Felix Fisher to take the early lead in the FR2000 Class drivers’ standings. Reigning Club Class champion Ian Pearson took the Club Class win ahead of newcomer Marcus Clutton and Adrian Dixon.

Great Britain has made A1GP history yesterday by dominating the Brands Hatch Sprint race from start to finish so becoming the first team to win a home race in the series. Driver Robbie Kerr led from pole, setting a new circuit record on his final lap, and closing the gap in its battle with New Zealand for second place in the championship.  Robbie Kerr stormed off the grid slipping the red, white and blue car ahead of Germany's Nico Hülkenberg and pulling away throughout to build a lead that was never threatened. Nico Hulkenberg did upset the party later on however when he took the chequered flag in the feature race after a spirited battle with Kerr. Hulkenberg got the jump on the  poleman Kerr at the start and  the pair stayed together throughout with no more that 2 seconds separating the pair at any time. Kerr did get ahead of Hulkenberg once, but the German was able to snatch back the lead and hold him off for the rest of the race. A1 Team Italy’s Enrico Toccacelo finished third in both races ahead of team India’s Narain Karthikeyan fourth in the feature event and Loic Duval of France in the Sprint.   Race winner Robbie Kerr said: 'It was a fantastic race and I had the race pace all the way through it. The car was handling well all the time. The handling changed a little bit during the race but you just change your style a little bit to cope with it and it was fantastic. I got a good start. I didn't really have to do anything, just drive a few corners and then keep my head down, a nice steady pace all the way through it and pull away.' Great Britain's win reduced the championship points gap with New Zeland to just eight points with 11 still available this afternoon. On the prospect of taking second Kerr continued: 'I am not focusing on the possibility of second in the championship as I just have to get out there and do my job.'

After scoring a second place in his debut race in the ATS Formula 3 Cup in Hockenheim on Saturday, Carlo van Dam dominated during Sunday’s race and scored his first victory of the season. After 9 years without a Formula 3 win it was Van Dam who gave Van Amersfoort Racing another victory! Thanks to these results Van Dam is now sharing the lead in the championship with 20 points after two races. In the Rookie Cup the S-T-A-R-T driver is also in first place, with 18 points.

Bill Brown has registered a Mk2 Golf GTI for the Golg Series of the 750 Motor Club. The build is currently underway and he is aiming to race for the first time at Cadwell Park on 1st July. The series is scheduled for only half the season this year, dates are: 1st July - Cadwell; 29th July; Brands; 18th August - Silverstone; 30^th Sept - Snetterton; 14th Oct – Mallory Park.  He now plans to do Stockhatch for a few races  in an XR2  before the Golf series begins in July.

Jeff Gordon broke Dale  Earnhardt Snr’s record at Talladega winning his his 77th NASCAR Nextel Cup race to move to sixth in the all-time winners list. Not only that but he did it on the Talladega Superspeedway, his fifth win on the 2.66-mile tri-oval.  "I'm overwhelmed! And I've got to thank my teammates. I have some awesome teammates. I hated to lose Casey Mears and Kyle Busch out there but I still had Jimmie Johnson and those guys were all awesome to work with today," Gordon said. "We were all working really well together. You can't do it without somebody pushing you and helping you and this victory certainly would haven't been possible without Jimmie helping us there at the end."  Sadly his win was marred by the usual Gordon ‘hate fest’ with fans booing and tossing beer cans onto the track. "The Dupont Chevy was so incredible today. At first, I never believed we could win this one today," expressed Gordon. "This is awesome, I'm so proud of the whole team. Steve Letarte and the crew really did the job today." The race ended in a some confusion after the final caution when the field took the green flag for the last three laps and two crashes occurred.  With 10 laps to go, Gordon down in 14^th spot he slipped into the lead during a late caution, (caused by a blown engine). That left the field with what should have been a green-white-chequered  shootout but on the green flag lap, Elliott Sadler hit the rear of Greg Biffle and in a separate incident Tony Stewart was knocked into the outside wall by Jamie McMurray or David Gilliland. As NASCAR rules allow for one attempt to complete a race, and there are no second chances. Therefore race ended the minute that incident initiated the final caution. When NASCAR sorted it out, Hendrick Motorsports ended up one-two with reigning champion Jimmie Johnson second.

Wayne Taylor's SunTrust Racing team scored its first victory when co-drivers Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen triumphed won the VIR 400 at Virginia International Raceway, the fourth race of the 2007 Rolex Series season. Dirk Werner and Bryce Miller drove their Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Shoes for Crews/Recaro Porsche GT3 Cup car to victory in the Rolex Series GT class.

Dane Cameron won his second consecutive victory in the weekend’s Star Mazda Championship event at Virginia International Raceway.  Starting third on the grid he moved his JDC Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda into second place before the first corner taking the lead on the re-start after a full-course yellow early in the race and there he stayed for the rest of the 45-minute race. Ron White was second, with Marco DiLeo third. "The team had the car balanced really well for the race and I won't say it was easy because we had to hustle all the way to the checkered flag," says the 18 year-old native of Sonoma, California. "But the car was much better than qualifying where we had a set of mis-matched tires that really upset the handling. We got it all back on track this morning and were fastest in the warm up session and maintained our winning momentum in the race.

The Kansas Lottery 300 was won by Chip Ganassi Racing's Dan Wheldon who overcame heat and fatigue to win the trophy in round four of the 2007 Indy Racing League. "I think it was a real team effort today," said the Englishman, who won the IndyCar Series championship in 2005. "Both cars, everybody involved did a really good job. We're raring to go for the big one, the Indianapolis 500, that's the big goal for us."  Andretti Green Racing's Dario Franchitti drove solidly to finished second while Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves was third. "Everyone at Andretti/Green did a great job for us today, all day," remarked Dario after the race. "The rubber from the truck race doesn't mate with our tires well, and the track was just horrible at the start," he added. "Toward the end of the first stint we could start running two-wide, but before you didn't want to go up there (the high groove of the track)."

29-04-07

Luciano Bacheta extended his lead in the 2007 Visma Formula Palmer Audi Championship to 18 points after taking his second win of the season in Round 5 at Brands Hatch. 

The BRSCC were at Rockingham at the weekend with a good mix of racing from the mighty SCSA V8s to the WWW.Gearbox.com FIAT Challenge, which unlike last year had a very small,(12 car) grid. Sandro Proietti still managed to come out on top though winning by 0;902secs from Simon McFie with Chris James completing the podium 4.8  second behind the leader. Colin White won both the SCSA encounters but only just. In race 1 he crossed the line 0.08seconds ahead of second placed Hunter Abbot while in race 2 the gap was even smaller at 0.037secs. Duncan Gray was third in race 1 while John Steward had the honour in race 2. Paul Poulter took the honours in both the Pickup races which, as is normally the case, were very close. The gap to second placed Nic Grindrod in race 1 was 0.191seconds while in race 2 Steve Dance was only 0.124 seconds off the leader. Gavin Seager as third in the opening race while Grindrod took the place in race 2.

The Mighty Mini's were also at Rockingham and it was Neil Slark who won their race beating Adrian Hollis with 2 seconds to spare. David Berney was third. In the Super Mighty Minis Gary Patterson won with a 3.8second gap to second placed Alex Comis. He however only just took the runner-up spot as in third just 0.002seconds behind him was Patrick Ford while Dave Rees in fourth was just 4 tenths behind them! In the Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship Ian Stapleton took his Alfetta to victory over the 156 GTC6 of Neil Smith with Brian Shrubb's 33 TI third. Lea Wood won both teh VSR Silhoutte races in a Vauxhall Tiga VXR. Steve Barnard was second in race 1 in a Audi TT while Mark Jones, in another Tiga was second in race 2.

ACADEMY ROOKIES TAKE TO THE TRACK.  Britain's newest racing drivers took their first tentative steps in competitive motorsport yesterday (Saturday) when they contested the opening round of the Circuit Driver Caterham Academy - an against-the-clock sprint event at Aintree.

LATER this week it is the turn of Caterham's most experienced drivers, the evo Caterham Eurocup competitors, to take to the stage. They will be in action on Friday and Saturday (4/5 May) at the Val de Vienne circuit in France, a new venue for the series.In the CSR Masters category it is Richard Hay and Clive Richards who lead the way with their Colards Motorsport CSR 260, while in the Eurocup Superlight division Graham Fennymore holds the advantage.

At Donington on Saturday Jonathon Greensmith came out on top in the MaX 5 race winning by 1.498 secs from Paul Sheard with John Diffey third, 2.389 secs behind the winner. In the Universal Racing Services FF2000 race Andy Huxtable took his Van Dieman RF83 across the line to win by just 1.176 seconds over the RF82 of Judd Coupland who was closely followed by Clive Wood in a similar car, a further 3 tenths of a second behind.  The 1600 Formula Fords saw the Crossle 45F of Rory Farrell take to the top spot on the podium with Paul Walton's Crossle  25F second and the Van Dieman RF81 of Simon Davey third.  In the MGOC race for Class B and Z cars the MGZR of James Perry beat the Maestro of Simon Byrne by just over 3 seconds while Doug Cole came home in third. In the Class A and F race the top 8 places were filled by MGF's Martin Wills winning by 2.8 seconds from Paul Savage. Ian Deaves was a distant third 17 seconds off the leader.

After a difficult race weekend one week earlier at the Reliant Park street circuit, Northwest Autosport drivers Lorenzo Mandarino and Eric Freiberg battled back at Virginia International Raceway this afternoon, with both drivers scoring top ten finishes in Round Three of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, finishing fifth and seventh respectively in the ultra-competitive development series...

Stefan Wilson followed in the footsteps of his elder brother Justin by taking his maiden Formula Palmer Audi win in Round 4 on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit..

A vast Brands Hatch crowd were this weekend treated to two terrific British Formula Ford races, Nick Tandy yesterday (Saturday) ending Callum MacLeod's unbroken streak and MacLeod bouncing back to take his fourth win of the season. 

28-04-07

Tim Bridgman made it three different winners from the first three Visma Formula Palmer Audi races of 2007 as he took victory in the first race of the Brands Hatch Grand Prix triple-header.