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What's on? April 29 Snetterton - Dunlop Great and British
April 29
Brands Hatch -
A1GP, UK
Formula Ford, Britcar, Formula Palmer Audi April 28/29 Rockingham – Thunder Sunday May 5/6 Thruxton – BTCC & TOCA Tour May 5/6 Willow Springs – Formula TR Pro Series May 18th 2007. Miller Motorsport Park - Formula BMWUSA championship May 20 Cadwell Park - VSCC Shuttleworth & Nuffield Trophies Meeting
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News Archive 23 April 07 mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk 25/04/2007 22-04-07 Jon Ali and Simon Tilling shared the honours in the Powertec Radical Challenge at Brands hatch today(Sunday). Ali won the opening race by just 0.373 seconds from Tilling while in race 2 the pair reversed positions, Tilling crossing the line with 0.241 seconds to spare. Jonathon Wright was third on both occasions. In the Toyo Tyres Pre 93 Touring cars John Willcocks took 2 wins from 2 ahead of Stacy Vicker's Mazda RX7. The winning M3 won the opening race by 2.9 seconds and the second by a mere 0.7secs. Anthony Gorman completed the top 3 in race 1 while Brian Stevens was third in race 2. In the Hammerite Racing Classic Grp 1 Touring cars Vickers was no longer the 'Bridesmaid' and took the top spot. His RX7 beating the XJ12 of David Howard by 9 seconds whiel Mark Fowler came third in a Capri 12 seconds off the leader. The Production BMW encounter was won by Dean Spurr ahead of Andrew Partridge and Andy Schultz. The 2CV Parts.com Championship race at Brands Hatch was won by Philip Myatt after early leader Wayne Cowling dropped back to 5th with just a few laps to go. Cowling had led the race from the off before letting Myatt into the lead, he did recover to second but it was poor consolation.Trevor Williams was third. In the BARC Thermex Classic Saloons race on Saturday David Hall's Lotus Cortina won from Phil Manser in a Mini Cooper but only after Roger Sanford retired on lap 8 while leading. Jason Plato achieved his aim of extending his lead at the top of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Rockingham Motor Speedway by scoring a 3rd, a 5th and a 1st race finish today. Having won half of the races this season, Jason doubled his points advantage at the Northamptonshire circuit, as he arrived with a nine point lead and is now 18 points ahead of Fabrizio Giovanardi. full story
ULTIMATE MOTORSPORT SECURED THEIR FIRST EVER POINTS WITH TWO
THRILLING TOP-TEN FINISHES IN THE SECOND ROUND OF THE SEASON AT
DONINGTON PARK.
 The
team, which made their motorsport debut just two weeks ago at Oulton
Park, claimed sixth place thanks to a strong drive from Argentine
driver Esteban Guerrieri in the opening race of the day, winning
French manufacturer Mygale their first ever F3 points.
full storyHitech Racing dominated the latest two rounds of the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series at Donington Park as its Estonian driver Marko Asmer scored lights to flag victories, extending his championship lead to 34 points after just four rounds of the series....full story Marko Asmer (#7 Hitech Racing Dallara F307 Mercedes) took his second win in three races in a lights to flag victory but he had to fight off a last lap challenge from Stephen Jelley (#1 Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara F307 Mercedes). The Mansell name returned to the British Formula 3 podium for the first time since 1979 with Greg Mansell (#50 Fortec Motorsport Dallara F307 Mercedes) finishing in third ahead of his rapid Fortec teammate Sebastian Hohenthal (#5 Fortec Motorsport Dallara F307 Mercedes).In the National Class Michael Meadows (#55 Master Motorsport Dallara F304 Mugen Honda) came under some early pressure from Sergio Perez (#31 T Sort Dallara F304 Mugen Honda) but pulled away from the Mexican in the latter half of the race. Alistair Jackson (#35 Raikkonen Robertson Racing Dallara F304 Mugen Honda) was a new face on the podium after a three way battle with 'Frankie' Cheng (#39 Performance Racing Dallara F304 Mugen Honda) and Alex Waters (#34 Promatecme Dallara F304 Mugen Honda). Romain Grosjean (ASM Formule 3) is the winner of the second season round of the Formula 3 Euro Series at the 4.574 kilometres long Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg. Yelmer Buurman (Manor Motorsport) and Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport) finished second and third respectively. Charlie Hollings dominated round two of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star at Oran Park. Astuti driver Hollings capped off a perfect day yesterday by securing two commanding race victories under heavy skies to vault up the championship standings. Bbehind Hollings Tim Macrow’s 2f second-place finishes takes him clear in the championship race for the Australian Drivers Championship with Hollings now second and a consistent Stuart Kostera third. Hollings won the first race by over two seconds after commanding early-race pace. Leanne Tander, after starting from the front row, slipped behind Tim Macrow after the start and despite placing pressure on the Victorian for a good portion of the 15-lap affair was unable to pass and settled for her first podium of the season. The second race was more of the same for the top three, with Hollings clearly leading a closely matched Macrow and Tander to the line at the end of the race. 101,000 spectators enjoyed an action-packed DTM season opener at the Hockenheim where Mattias Ekström iwon the frist race of the season. The Swedish Audi driver and 2004 DTM champion scored his tenth victory and the 40th for Audi. "My tenth victory in the DTM certainly is a reason to celebrate tonight", Ekström said about his first place. Audi won a DTM race at the Hockenheimring for the first time since April 2002. 3.826 seconds behind Ekström, German Martin Tomczyk completed a 1-2 victory for Audi. Daniel La Rosa claimed the final podium place with his AMG Mercedes. La Rosa moving up after having finished fourth when the stewards judged a collision on the final lap between Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) in third and fourth-placed Audi driver Timo Scheider as avoidable. Spengler was given a 50 seconds' time penalty and thus was classified 14th. Scotland's Paul Di Resta was a very respectable sixth in a 2 year old Mercedes. Adam Carroll walked away from a massive crash in the race which saw two drivers taken to hospital and four cars very badly damaged. The accident happened on the first lap of the race in which Adam was making his DTM debut for Team Futurecom-TME in the 2005 Audi A4. Fellow Audi drivers Tom Kristensen and Alex Premat were both taken to hospital for further checks after being hit heavily. Mercedes driver Susie Stoddart and Adam both walked away from the crash. Adam said: "I could see something had happened in front of me and all of a sudden I was in a cloud of smoke and everything was black. I tried to move away from the smoke and get some vision and then I hit someone hard. I don't know who. I got out and spoke to Alex (Premat) and switched of his car which was still running. I am fine but my car definitely is not -- that will be a big job." Jeff Gordon finally won his first 2007 NASCAR Nextel race yesterday(Saturday)at Phoenix International Raceway. It was the icing on teh cake of what was his best weekend of the year to date. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led a a Chevvy clean sweep of the top three places. "The whole weekend has just been a pleasure. It's been so much fun. I've been more fired up this year than I've ever been. It's been frustrating and disappointing what we haven't got the wins when I felt we've been capable of it," commented Gordon. "I told Stevie, I owed him one from last week, and, you know that, one got away from us. So that was pretty disappointing." Following Gordon across the line was Tony Stewart with Denny Hamlin hard on their heels in third. Gordon's teammate and current champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth. "To be able to come back and do it here at Phoenix, from the pole, to get 76, oh, man, I can go on and on with all of the things that are just fired up about with this win," expressed a relieve but happy Gordon tonight. Tony Kanaan has won the Indy Japan 300 at the Metegi circuit in Japan after holding off a strong challenge from second-place Chip Ganassi driver Dan Wheldon. Kanaan won by just 0.482secsonds. After teh race Kanaan said he was in control of the race. "You don't need to win by five seconds, you just have to win," he said. "He short fueled his car to get ahead of me, said Kanaan. At the end "I put pressure on him (Wheldon) to make him use more fuel and make him wear his tires." Wheldon had been leading before he made a splash and dash stop with 14 laps allowing Kanaan into the lead. Dario Franchitti used a different fuel strategy to finished third. "As sometimes can happen here at Motegi, it came down for us to a fuel-mileage race," said Franchitti. "My car was the equal of Tony's and Dan's. It was a good gamble because the result would have been third, unless the gamble paid off." Turner takes first BTCC pole on a perfect day Having posted the fastest time in both the morning’s free practice sessions, Darren Turner completed a perfect day’s work at the Rockingham Motor Speedway by setting the fastest time in qualifying to score his first ever pole in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Darren was the only driver to break the 1min 25sec barrier in all three sessions around Rockingham’s new 1.94 mile International Super Sports Car Circuit. Having set a 1:24.948 best in Free Practice 1 and a 1:24.790 in Free Practice 2, Darren’s last flying lap in the closing seconds of the 30 minute qualifying session saw him set a 1:24.908 – knocking Fabrizio Giovanardi into 2nd place by +0.028s. ..read more After starting from pole position, Brendon Hartley (Epsilon Red Bull) triumphed in the first Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 race of the season. The New Zealander was followed by the French rookie Tristan Vautier (Graff Racing) and the Dutch driver Henki Waldschmidt (Prema Power Team). Hitech Racing dominated the two qualifying sessions for rounds three and four of the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series at Donington Park this weekend. Estonian Marko Asmer carried his impressive testing pace into the weekend to clinch pole position for both races tomorrow. His team-mate, Austrian Walter Grubmüller, also made an impressive mark on the British F3 field, ending both sessions inside the top ten with ninth and seventh places for the two races. The Dallara F307 Mercedes HWA drivers’ turn of speed pleased team boss David Hayle, who, along with both Marko and Walter, is looking forward to the two races on Sunday. David Hayle: "We're really pleased that we've managed to bring the pace from testing through into qualifying, especially with Marko taking pole for both races. The first session was easy for him, but we made some changes to the car for the second session and maybe it wasn't quite right as he had to work harder. "It's a big improvement from Walter, though. Another tenth of a second in the second session and he would have been into the top six, which is fantastic. He's closed the gap to Marko, which we're really happy about. If Marko can get away from the rest of the grid at the start of the two races tomorrow, with Walter fighting too it should be good for us." Marko Asmer: Car #7 "The first session was a good run. The car was very good and the times just came really easily. The second session was definitely harder. We changed the set-up on the car between the two and it was not as good, it was a poor lap to get pole. Speed-wise we are good and hopefully I can get away at the start in the two races tomorrow.” Walter Grubmüller: Car #6 "The first session was quite busy and I had to find a place in the traffic to get a good lap. I maybe could have gone another tenth of a second faster, which would have moved me up a place for race one. The second session was really good. I'm pleased with my position and if we stay where we are or move up then we will score some good points."
ULTIMATE MOTORSPORT CONTINUED TO CLOSE IN ON THE
COMPETITION WITH THE NEW MYGALE CAR AT DONINGTON PARK . The team,
which came close to scoring points on its debut at Oulton Park two
weekends ago, quickly gelled with the new machine around the Midlands
circuit and were able to run closer than ever to the leading pace.
Drivers Esteban Guerrieri, of Argentina, and Irishman Michael Devaney
will line up 13th and 14th on the grid for
Sunday's first race after a trouble-free first qualifying while race
two will see them starting 15 th and 18th
respectively.
Team Principal Simon Armstrong said: "It was a very satisfying morning
session and after some fantastic work coming into this race the team
showed we have made progress on the issues we experienced at Oulton
Park and increased the pace of thecar.
"It was a shame that Esteban spun off the track in the afternoon
qualifying because he was certainly showing some excellent pace while
Michael struggled a little to dial in his car during that session and
we are looking into the reasons for that.
"We have achieved a step improvement and feel we have a car that could
secure points this weekend. It was good that the team was able to get
the cars in a position, at least for race one, where we can fight to
achieve exactly that."
Both drivers enjoyed a trouble-free morning, completing a total of 49
laps between them. In the afternoon Guerrieri was pushing hard and
spun at the Old Hairpin after six laps, leaving Devaney as the team's
sole runner for the rest of the half-hour session.
Guerrieri said: "The car was good in the morning and even better in
the afternoon and there was lots of time to be gained in that session.
I had a good space in front of me but I kissed the kerb at the Old
Hairpin and lost control of the rear. I tried to do a 360 and keep
going, but I just touched the wall and the car stopped."
Devaney added: "The morning was good and puts us in a good position to
fight for points if we get a good start – although it could have been
even better because we did not get the best from the tyres. The
afternoon was the complete opposite. The team are looking into why the
car did not perform and hopefully we will be back on it for the race."
QUALIFYING TIMES
Guerrieri – Q1: 13th, 1m02.594s Q2: 15th,
1m03.122
Devaney – Q1: 14th, 1m02.640s Q2: 18th, 1m03.315
21-04-07 Motorsport legend Derek Bell today announced that he will be one of 600 competitors heading to Silverstone on 27-29 July for this year’s prestigious Silverstone Classic meeting. The five time Le Mans and triple Daytona 24 hours winner was speaking at the official launch of the 2007 Silverstone Classic, in association with Bonhams, where he confirmed that he’ll be jumping back behind the wheel for two races at the three-day event. On the Saturday Bell will be driving a Group C Porsche in the Hagerty World Sportscar Masters Race, a Le Mans-style evening dusk race which will celebrate the ‘Sportscar and Endurance Racing’ theme of this year’s event. He also confirmed that he’d be racing John Monson’s 1972 Surtees TS 9B on the Sunday, competing in the Daily Express Silverstone International Trophy for Invitation Formula One cars with GPM...read more The current Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3
International Series points leader Marko Aster Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport) scored a lights-to-flag victory at Hockenheimin the opening round of the Formula 3 Euro Series ahead of Nico Hülkenberg (ASM Formule 3) and the best-placed rookie, Franck Mailleux (Manor Motorsport). In the first few metres of the race Buemi pulled clear of his rivals, while Mailleux overtook his team mate James Jakes at the start. Nico Hülkenberg (ASM Formule 3) passed Renger van der Zande and slotted into third place where he stayed until Mailleux made a mistake on lap 23 and spun. The rookie kept control of his car and came home third behind Hülkenberg. Sébastien Buemi “Winning a race in the Formula 3 Euro Series again is a great feeling. My motto: “Keep cool and be quick” has worked out quite well. The start of the race was very important. After that, I remained concentrated and drove it home with constant lap times.” Nico Hülkenberg : “Finishing on the podium is a good result. Yesterday evening, we were sitting together for a long time, discussing why things didn’t work out that well in qualifying. Today, we made a big step forward. Thanks to Mailleux’ mistake, I came second in my maiden race in the Formula 3 Euro Series.” Franck Mailleux “This is a great day for me. Not even in my dreams, I had thought about making it onto the podium upon my debut in the Formula 3 Euro Series. The reason for my spin was my lack of experience in Formula 3, but being on the podium is still a great result.” Charlie Hollings needed just five kilometres – two laps – to lock away a pair of pole positions for the second round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship. Hollings will start from the front in both of tomorrow’s two races after narrowly topping today’s two sessions in warm and hazy conditions in Sydney. Hollings came under intense pressure from both Leanne Tander and Tim Macrow today and ended up fastest by less than one-tenth in each session. 20-04-07 Freddie Hunt, the 19-year-old son of 1976 World Champion James Hunt, will make his motor racing debut in the British Formula Ford Championship this weekend (21/22 April) at Donington Park….read more Frédéric Vervisch reached an agreement with JB Motorsport, the only Belgian team competing in the German Formula 3 Championship. The team from former DTM driver Yves Olivier has a Belgian in its ranks for the first time since Jan Heylen in 2004. JB will compete in German F3 with two Lola B06/30 Formula 3 cars. Robbie Kerr will race for A1 Team Great Britain in its home race at Brands Hatch, the team has confirmed. Speculation was rife as to who would be awarded the prestigious drive in the British squad, after both of the team’s drivers won races in the last two meetings. However, Shanghai Sprint race winner Robbie Kerr has been given the nod to race over Mexico Feature winner Oliver Jarvis. RICHARD Keen returns to the Formula Renault UK paddock this weekend, teaming up with Will Bratt at Apotex Scorpio Motorsport. The 20-year old raced in 12 rounds last season and also raced in Formula Renault 3.5 at the World Series by Renault at Donington Park. Keen finished sixth in the 2006 Formula Renault UK Winter Championship. BRITAIN has 4 representatives in the 2007 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, which starts this weekend in Zolder Jon Lancaster, Oliver Oakes, Oliver Turvey and Martin Plowman all take to the track in Belgium, while reigning Formula Renault UK Graduate Cup champion Fabio Onidi also lines up on the first grid of the season. RECORD entries mean the Formula Renault BARC Championship is set for its most competitive season with 37 drivers entered in time for round one at Donington Park on Sunday 29th April. In the series’ third season under the wing of Renault Sport UK, 2007 sets a new mark for the most drivers registered pre-season. The entry-level series has proved its value with reigning champion Richard Singleton and runner-up Jordan Oakes making the transition to Formula Renault UK. Qualifying for the A1GP Brands Hatch will start slightly later than usual. Due to local television commitments, the session will begin in the afternoon, at 15.45 local time (14.45 GMT). The four 15-minute A1GP qualifying sessions will then take place as usual, with the final one scheduled to finish at 17.00 local time (16.00 GMT). Both races on Sunday take place at the usual times, with the Sprint beginning at 11.00 (10.00 GMT) and the Feature starting at 15.00 (14.00 GMT). A maximum grid of 32 cars will be seen at Donington Park in Leicestershire this weekend for Rounds 3 & 4 of the 2007 Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series. Estonian Marko Asmer currently leads the championship after the opening races two weeks ago, holding a seven point lead over race winner Maro Engel from Germany and Britain’s Stephen Jelley. Hitech Racing posted the quickest time in official testing at Donington Park today ahead of this weekend’s second round of the Lloyds TSB Insurance British Formula 3 International Series. The Silverstone based team with Championship leader Marko Asmer headed the 32-car field by half a second. His team-mate, Austrian Walter Grubmüller, completed 63 laps in his first ever season in F3, setting his fastest time five laps from the finish. Walter Grubmüller: “We struggled a bit and had a couple of red flags during the new tyre runs in testing today but hopefully it will be better on Saturday. There’s a bit to find in the car and in me but if we work on that I’m sure we can go a lot better. I like the Donington circuit, I’ve been here a few times, and it’s a nice fast, flowing track. If we start off this weekend where we left off at Oulton and make it into the top ten, I think that will be good.” Marko Asmer: “We had a good day at Donington today and I have to say things look good for the weekend. But, we have to see how things go on Saturday. If the others don’t improve too much and if everything stays the same as it was today, then we should be on pole, but it’s too early to say too much at the moment.” David Hayle: “Testing was as we expected with Marko. We’ve now become accustomed to being quickest in testing, but the fact that we were so quick today proves not only that he has a good car, but that he is also a very talented and experienced driver. I can’t explain why we’re so far off with Walter though. It’s not a difficult circuit and there are only five corners, but we’re nearly two seconds off, it just doesn’t make sense. However Walter is relatively inexperienced and sffered a number of stop-start red flag situations which didn’t allow him to get into a rhythm.” Testing times from Donington Park 1. MARKO ASMER 1:01.177 The Carlin F3 team got its season off to a great start at the first race at Oulton Park two weeks ago, with driver Maro Engel taking the first win of 2007 and F3 rookies Sam Bird and Niall Breen scoring solid points on their debut. The team is aiming to continue the good form this weekend at Donington. Maro Engel has happy memories of the track, "I'm looking forward to going back to Donington as I recorded my first ever podium position there last year. It was fantastic to take the first win of the season at Oulton Park, and we should be capable of fighting for race wins again this weekend. I'd like to leave Donington with two podium positions, which is our aim at every race." Team Principal Trevor Carlin said. " "Oulton Park was a great start for the team. Maro did a fantastic job to take pole position and the win with such little testing," Sam and Niall were also very impressive in their first ever F3 race, and I think we can expect a strong season from both of them. Lauren Gray made her on-track debut on the famous Mount Panorama circuit at Bathhurst last weekend in a works supported drive in the WPS Bathurst 12 hour endurance race. Driving an all girl Bendon sponsored Astra Diesel CDTi factory entry for Holden Motorsport, 19-year-old Gray was an impressive member of the four-driver team throughout the weekend. Now she hopes that her strong performance will rub off with some strong results when she shifts back to F3 Oran Park this weekend for the second round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship. It will be Gray’s second outing in the National Class / Scud Racing entry and she believes that the Bathurst experience will only serve to motivate her as she aims to win her class this weekend. 12 hours was always going to be a test of endurance and with a strong race setup and strategy, a strong result was on the cards for the Bendon Astra team. Lauren took the wheel at the seven-hour mark with the car inside the top 20. Sadly the car unfortunately failed to make it to the finish, Gray however was pleased with the effort. "Unfortunately in Motorsport things like this happen, it's just a shame it happened before I could get much time behind the wheel," said Gray of her 12 hour experience. "It was going very well and the team and the girls had done a fantastic job. It's certainly disappointing but I think we proved a point and showed how competitive both our Bendon Holden Astra Diesel CDTi and us as drivers were. I'll be turning my attentions back to the Formula 3 car now because I'm very keen to take my first National Class win at Oran Park Raceway next week and I think that my Bathurst experience will only motivate me further. The Scud Racing team has put a lot of effort into preparing my car and I’m confident that we will be quick at Oran Park. I feel like I’m ready to win in the National Class and I think Oran Park could be the round.” STEFAN Hodgetts replaces Sean Brown at the Elf Clio Cup Momo UK team as of this weekend. Hodgetts, son of former BTCC champion Chris Hodgetts, has acted as driver coach to Momo’s Robert Brown and his younger brother, Daniel, who may race in Clio Cup this year. 19-04-07
Russell Small joins FPA. When the 2007 schedule for the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda was released Sierra Sierra Enterprises driver Raphael Matos (#6 ProWorks) probably wondered how he would feel heading into the third race of three-in-a-row to start the season. After competing at two of the most high-profile and hectic street circuit events on the series calendar at Las Vegas and Long Beach on consecutive weekends to open the year Matos, like the rest of the Atlantic competitors, couldn't be blamed for feeling just a bit drained heading into this weekend's third race in three weeks….read more This weekend, the Formula 3 Euro Series kick off at Hockenheim looking for a successor to Paul di Resta? The list of the 2007 Formula 3 Euro Series favourites is long. In the first official tests held in early April at Hockenheim, Romain Grosjean and Kamui Kobayashi (both ASM Formule 3) proved to be the quickest on day one, with Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport) setting the fastest lap on the second day of testing, followed by Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Karl Vernay (both Signature) in second and third positions respectively. Austrian team HS Technik Motorsport have also moved up from the German Formula 3 Cup to make their debut in the series. The team’s yellow and blue Dallara-Mercedes will be raced by Latvian Harald Schlegelmilch. The Augsburg based squad AM-Holzer Rennsport is going to make its Formula 3 Euro Series comeback following a one-year break and enters a Dallara-Opel for rookie Marco Holzer. This season also sees the introduction of a longer race on Sundays. With immediate effect, the Sunday races will be held over the same distance as the Saturday rounds, 40 minutes, 10 more than in last year. Sébastien Buemi (Mücke Motorsport): “Hockenheim is a nice track, featuring numerous challenges for the drivers. It feels particularly great to enter the ‘Motodrom’ with its packed grandstands. I know the Hockenheimring very well. Actually, I always have been quick, there, despite having failed to win a race, so far. But I’m confident to have a good chance of doing so, this year. The tests were successful and now it’s about repeating this performance in a race weekend.” Oliver Jarvis put in another solid performance for TOM’S Toyota in the All Japan F3 Championship at the weekend in Rounds 3 and 4 in Suzuka finishing second and third respectively, leaving him in second place in the Championship. Changing track conditions in the first qualifying session meant that Jarvis had to be content with starting the first race from third position on the grid. His second qualifying session proved stronger in terms of pace but couldn’t quite match that of pole sitter, Roberto Streit and a slight error on his quick lap allowed Kazuya Oshima and Hiroaki Ishiura to go second and third on the grid, leaving Jarvis fourth. Wheelspin off the line in the first race prevented Jarvis from moving up at the start leaving him third. He pushed hard pursuing Streit, applying pressure on the Brazilian which eventually resulted in a mistake by Streit giving Jarvis an opportunity to pass on the inside of turn one. He then set about closing the gap between himself and TOM’S team-mate Oshima. Despite closing it was too much and he had to settle for second. In the second race, Jarvis made a superb start allowing him to power past Oshima. He then set about challenging Ishiura for second place but wasn’t far enough ahead into the first corner allowing Ishiura to maintained his position. “I just hit the limiter as I was overtaking Oshima which cost me a bit of time so I didn’t get the gap I needed into the first corner which was a shame and in the early stages I was struggling with car balance and oversteer,” explained Jarvis.Jarvis soon adapted his style and set about closing the gap between himself and Ishiura, conscious that Oshima was now pushing hard behind in fourth. Despite the pressure and Oshima closing right up in the slipstream, Jarvis defended his position to finish the race in third. “It’s not often you come away from a weekend disappointed with two podiums but after pre-season testing I was expecting more!” comments Oliver Jarvis Team Meritus’s 14-year-old Malaysian driver Jazeman Jaafar has set the pace for the first event of the forthcoming season which will take place on 5-6 May. He was the quickest overall (1.05.724sec) of the 2007 drivers at the Formula BMW Asia introductory tests at Sepang on 13 - 14 April.Second quickest during the testing was Zahir Ali (Indonesia: TARADTM) with a time of 1.05.885 and Meritus-trained driver Kyle Mitchell (now with Eurasia) set the third-quickest time of 1.06.065. Jazeman’s team-mate James Grunwell (Thailand) was fourth quickest on 1.06.227.Jazeman however was top of the time sheets for four out of the nine sessions followed by Zahir Ali who had three top times. Meritus driver James Grunwell had one quickest time followed by Kyle Mitchell who had one top session time.Says Jazeman: “This was my first time testing against the full BMW grid on the Sepang north track. It was great experience for me and its my dream since I was six years old to be racing with Meritus - the only Malaysian team in the Championship. I’m sure we could have had the fastest time in every session but we didn’t run on new tyres due to race development programmes. James Grunwell and I worked well with the team’s engineers and I feel we have a good race set-up.” 18-04-07 Mark Dryden is embarking on a season in the Smartcars.com Mini Cooper Cup which races in Scotland, N Ireland and Oulton Park this year Starting at Knockhill just over a week ago(8 April) Mark qualified on Pole for the opening round. You can folow his season here on 'theGrid'..So read on Racing For Ireland's recently signed Irish Karting star Cillian McMullen is to make his TV debut on the 'Scealta Sraide' programme, produced for Ireland’s TG4's 'Sile'. McMullen from Limerick talks about Irish Karting and his goals for 2007 and beyond. The 3 minute programme will be broadcast this coming Wednesday April 18th on TG4 between 6:15pm and 6:30pm.
Ultimate Motorsport
Ex British F3 driver Martin Kudzak has decided to turn his attention to Carrera Cup and GT racing. He will contest Carrera Cup Scandinavia in Class B Porsche 911/996 GT3 Cup car. Martin is looking also into FIA GT, British GT and BELCAR racing series in near future. Martin won Class B classification in recent Carrera Cup Scandinavia common test at Karlsoga and is looking forward to start new season.Martin had and still has financial difficulties and that's why he decided to turned his attention to GT class. He may come back next year, but as of now he's looking at GT. 18 young drivers took part in the second official test for the 2007 Formula BMW USA season which starts on May 17 at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. The test , held last week at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), saw the drivers complete a total of 6000 miles under cool conditions. At the top of the timing chart was 2006 Rookie Champion Daniel Morad of AIM Autosport. Sebastian Saavedra of the EuroInternational team was only .013 seconds behind and newcomer Hearn Motorsports’ Alexander Rossi rounded out the top-three. Three Rookies were among the -10 fastest with Jeffrey Petriello (Team KMA Racing) fourth, Esteban Gutierrez (Team Autotecnica) fifth and Eric Morrow (Hearn Motorsports) ninth. Petriello and Morrow are 2007 Junior scholarship drivers. Overall the top-13 times were within only one second promising another competitive Formula BMW USA season. Formula BMW USA driving coach Pete Argetsinger said, “The series seems to go from strength to strength. This season looks like it will be even better than last year with strong returning drivers and some strong newcomers. I am very excited for the season to start.” Edil Cris Racing Team has signed Michele Rugolo for the 2007 FIA GT Championship. Born in Treviso, Rugolo previously raced in the "Campionato Italiano F.3" winning twice at Imola. At Silverstone next month he will partner Matteo Cressoni at the wheel of one of the two Ferrari F430 owned by the Italian team. The race also sees the debut of the French driver Damien Pasini who will substitute for Raffaele Giammaria who is unavailable for the race. Picking a winner for the 2nd round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship at Oran Park isn’t easy.Up to 9 drivers head into the race with a realistic chances of winning races at the challenging 2.8km circuit just outside of Sydney. Read more 17-04-07
Charterhouse backs Heritage GT Challenge.
The Charterhouse Group, the Human Capital Management Specialist, will be
title sponsor of the 2007 Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge. Avon Tyres British GT team Damax has announced that two of their top drivers will appear alongside the team’s Ascari GT3 car on Wednesday 18 April at Coopers Square Shopping Centre, Burton upon Trent. British GT front-runner James Brodie and former British GT Champion and Le Mans 24-Hour LMP2 class winner Thomas Erdos will be taking time out from their hectic schedule to meet with Coopers Square shoppers. The pair will be signing autographs in the Main Square before the Damax team and drivers head to race at Donington Park on 21&22 April. Erdos and Brodie will be joined by fellow British GT GT3 hotshot Bradley Ellis. Just 19-years of age, Ellis is a former British karting champion and finished third in the 2006 GTC class in what was his maiden British GT season. The Team RPM Dodge Viper driver will be dropping in to chat with Coopers Square visitors and sign autographs on Wednesday at around 2.30pm. Stock-Car Montréal s.e.c. announced today that the - NAPA AUTO PARTS 200 - will be the official name of the inaugural NASCAR BUSCH Series race on August 3-4 at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Officials from both organizations made the announcement at a press conference held Monday in downtown Montreal. Attending the media event were principals of UAP Inc., a Canadian leader in the sale and distribution of auto parts under the NAPA brand, and NASCAR BUSCH Series driver David Reutimann. During the press conference, it was also announced that Reutimann will drive the # 99 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry in the Montreal race. "We are pleased to officially welcome today UAP Inc. and the NAPA brand in this new chapter of Canadian and Quebec motorsport history," said Mr. Martin Spalding, General Manager, Stock-Car Montréal l.p. "As title sponsor of the first-ever NASCAR BUSCH Series race in Canada, the NAPA brand has partnered with an event that has a great future. With UAP and the NAPA AUTO PARTS 200, we have found the ideal partners with a network of stores across Canada that will enable us to reach racing fans nationwide," concluded the Stock-Car Montréal spokesperson. "We are very happy to partner with the inaugural NASCAR BUSCH race in Canada - the NAPA AUTO PARTS 200," said Robert Hattem, President and Chief Operating Officer, UAP Inc. "We are also pleased to have David Reutimann as the driver of the #99 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry. This combination will offer motorsport fans a unique experience at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal. We will do everything possible with our UAP NAPA stores and our customers across Canada to make this NASCAR racing weekend an exceptional annual event." One week after Las Vegas, Champ Car Atlantic was back in action on the streets of Long Beach California. Over 90,000 fans attended Sunday's race on a circuit just under two miles long on the city streets of this suburban city within Los Angeles. One of the biggest stars of the event was possibly Chandler Team Jensen driver Frankie Muniz, Holywood star that is as Long Beach is effectively his home race. In only in his 14th month racing anything Muniz set competitive times to within 1.8 seconds of the race leader, a truly major achievement. Finishing the race in 19th and on the lead lap was an equally good result. Muniz stated "I was very careful in the race mostly because I just wanted to finish. It was disappointing to get crashed out at Las Vegas last weekend, and this weekend I wanted to prove to myself that I could drive the full one hour race. I accomplished that objective, and next week in Houston we will push quite a lot harder to move up the grid." Jensen Motorsport’s second driver Dominick Muermans unfortunately was blocked in qualifying leaving him in a lowly grid position. In the race, Dominick moved up to 17th position, but was caught up in an accident on a re-start, and had to pit for a new wing. Dominick lost a lap in the incident, and finished a disappointing 23rd. Tom Sutherland the remainingTeam Jensen driver also made contact in the race causing significant damage to his front wing. He soldiered on to finish 14th, and to collect valuable points in the championship During the month of May Motorsport Events are pleased to run the third annual event to raise much needed funds for Beds Autism, a charity based in Bedfordshire who help and support children with autism and their families. This small charity benefits hugely from the money we raise every year and as well as those taking part in the track day we would of course welcome as many people as possible at this event to drive out Lotus Elise to help raise money, have passenger rides or just to make a donation! read more Ryan Lewis' Champ Car Atlantic season finally got going at Long Beach last weekend. After the wait for his US visa to come through he was delighted to finally get his Championship back on track. The results weren't what he had hoped for but at least he's racing again. Qualifying was disappointing as the red flag came during his fastest lap leaving him in a lowly 17th place. He showed his true form with fourth fastest time in morning warm up and fought hard during the race, steadily making his way through the field from 17th to 10th. Unfortunately he was battling oversteer and a brush with the wall at turn eight, after 23 laps of the 31-lap race, ended Ryan's afternoon. "We were looking really strong during the race," said Ryan. "Things were looking good, but I had a lot of oversteer and the car was sliding around, progressively getting worse. I hit a bump in the middle of turn eight and just slightly tapped the wall, bending the toe link and that was the end of our day unfortunately." Ryan moves straight on to Houston, Texas for the next round this coming weekend..
British motorsport’s biggest names have raced at Donington Park and next
week’s Unipart F3/GT Festival (21/22 April) continues the trend with
Formula 1 champion Nigel Mansell’s sons, Leo and Greg, competing in the
Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Championship.
As well as the Avon Tyres British GT Don Truman celebrates his 60th anniversary as a BRSCC member this year and to mark this magnificent milestone the Mallory Park meeting on Easter Monday was re-named the ‘Don Truman Classic’ in his honour. The whole event was a complete surprise to Don who only found out about it when he arrived at the circuit that morning. This was some achievement by his Midlands Centre colleagues who organised the tribute! A full report on the day and a look back at Don’s racing career will appear in the May edition of BRSCC Racing News.
BRSCC 60th ANNIVERSARY BOOK . On the subject of 60 years, BRSCC members will have received in the post recently a book commemorating the Club’s sixtieth anniversary which was of course last year. Written by respected Motorsport journalist Paul Lawrence and published by Cloverleaf Media the book is a honest and frank account of the BRSCC’s history up to and including the 2006 season. Lavishly illustrated with many excellent photos the book will undoubtedly become a work of great reference in future years. A limited number of copies are available to non BRSCC members at £9.99 each, including postage & packing. Cheques, made payable to the BRSCC, should be sent to BRSCC, Homesdale Business Centre, Platt Industrial Estate, Maidstone Road, Borough Green, Kent TN15 8JL.
Jamie Pankhurst left the BRSCC HQ staff just before the Easter break to pursue a career with AXA PPP Healthcare. Jamie joined the Competitions Department in December 2004 shortly after graduating from the University of Southampton with a degree in IT. Jamie will be known to many Racing Members whom he would have helped over the two years in getting their race entries in – particularly the late ones! Jamie’s ready wit and unconventional hairstyles will be much missed at HQ and we wish him the very best of luck with his future career.
LMA EURO SALOON GRIDS BOOSTED. The first race this season of the BRSCC LMA Euro Saloon Car Championship took place at Oulton Park on Saturday with a hugely impressive 33 cars lining up for a very early qualifying session. The race was won by Peter Challis in his Nissan Primera with Steven Taylor, David Roberts, Simon Taylor and Mitch Millett scoring class victories. It certainly looks like an exciting season ahead in the ‘catch-all’ saloon car series sponsored by LMA, the Bedford based motorsport and custom car parts & accessories retailer. Included in the mix are some of last years Clio Cup cars, ex Touring cars, a trio of Lotuses, a couple of Moslers and a host of other small saloons, coupes and hatchbacks. The Oulton race was filmed and will be broadcast in the next few weeks on Motors TV as will several other championship rounds due to the generosity of the drivers dipping into their pockets to fund it. (Race report on 'theGrid')
RACE FOR LIFE. Just a reminder that EERC race secretary Claire Williams has registered to do the 2007 Race For Life on 20th May in Richmond-upon-Thames to raise money for Cancer Research and needs your support! Claire’s mother was recently diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer and has unfortunately passed away. Claire raised £8,000 for the charity in 2006 with the generous support of many EERC & BRSCC members and this year she is aiming to top £20,000.It’s simple to make a donation – just click the link below and following the instructions www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/claireswilliams
BRSCC MEMBERSHIP CARDS. With the season now underway we would just like to remind all competitors that if you are racing in a BRSCC championship you must be a Racing Member of the Club. It is a mandatory requirement that all Racing Members produce their membership card when signing on at a race meeting. So if you are not yet a member or need to renew please contact the membership secretary Jo Ward on 01732 780100 or at jo@brscc.co.uk
BRSCC RACING @ ROCKINGHAM. The first five BRSCC Rockingham meetings is on 28/29th April and features the oval regulars of the Pick-Up Truck Championship and SCSA V8 Trophy, together with the VSR Super Silhouettes, Mighty Minis, Alfa Romeo, LMA Euro Saloons and Fiat Racing Challenge. The spectators amongst you might be interested to know that season passes, covering all five meetings including the British F3/GT season finale, are available for just £46. Season passes can be ordered over the phone by calling 01732 783141 or by downloading a form from www.brsccracingatrockingham.co.uk/tickets Individual tickets for each of the five meetings are also now available on line via our ticketing partner See Tickets. Just log-on to: www.seetickets.com 16-04-07 A capacity field for a pair of races to start the 2007 Heritage GT Car Challenge will be one of the highlights of the weekend at Donington (21/22 April) as the Heritage cars race on the British F3/GT programme. Read more British Formula Ford Championship leader Callum MacLeod plans to come out fighting this weekend (21/22 Apr) when the series resumes at Donington Park. Read more
Delphi Product & Service Solutions Less than a fortnight after the fraught opening rounds of the Volkswagen Racing Cup in association with Hankook the championship contenders are back in action again this weekend (21/22 April) at Donington .And it will be a crucial pair of races for many drivers – not least for reigning champion Paul Taylor and his 2006 runner-up, Martyn Culley….read more Peter Challis won the LMA Euro Saloons event in a Nissan Primera beating the similar car of mark Taylor with the Lotus Exige of Steven Taylor third....full story
Jeremy Ellis maintained his perfect win record in the Motorsport News
Caterham Shane Lewis and John Schmitt gave the Honda of America Racing Team (HART) its second Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series victory in Sunday's Miami ST 400k at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Driving the No. 22 Honda/Red Line Oil Honda Accord, Lewis led twice for a race-high total of 24 laps, and claimed the lead for good from Trevor Hopwood in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i in Turn 8 with 11 laps remaining. Lewis pulled away over the remaining laps and went on to win by 10.669 seconds. It was Lewis' third career KONI Challenge Series class victory, but his first since the 2002 season finale at Daytona International Speedway. The USG Sheetrock/Ramset Tools Ford Mustang GT co-drivers Tom Nastasi and Ian James conquered a 39-car field and deteriorating weather conditions to win the Miami GS 400k at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In a race featuring nine lead changes among eight drivers, James took the lead from James Gue in the No. 37 JBS Motorsports Ford Mustang GT with six laps remaining in the banked oval portion of the 2.3-mile road course as steady rains fell. James then held off Bill Auberlen in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 and cruised to the victory when the day's fifth and final full-course caution came with two laps remaining when David Russell went into the Turn 1 gravel trap in the No. 99 Automatic Racing BMW M3 and Michael Bavaro's No. 21 Bodymotion Racing Porsche 997 stopped on the back straight. The Penske Motorsports team took its second 1-2 overall finish in the American Le Mans Series as Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard drove to victory on Saturday at Long Beach. Dumas crossed the finish line 0.76 seconds ahead of Sascha Maassen in the team's other Penske entry. The win ended a nine-race overall winning streak for Audi's R10 TDI. Allan McNish and Dindo Capello won in LMP1 for the second consecutive race but the finished seventh overall. They also lead the class championship as Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner finished second in class, a lap down. Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin won GT1. Jaime Melo and Mika Salo also won their third straight race in GT2 for Ferrari and Risi Competizione. Roberto Streit Filho took a lights to flag victory in All-Japan Formula 3 Championship, round 4 at Suzuka, finishing ahead of TOM'S drivers, Hiroaki Ishiura, Oliver Jarvis and Kazuya Oshima.In the starting of the race, Oshima who started from the second grid and aimed to jump up made a mistake, and dropped down to the fifth place. Streit kept his position with good starting and jumped into the first corner, and Ishiura, Jarvis and rookie, Hironobu Yasuda (ThreeBond) followed him. Streit set the pace from beginning of the race, and TOM'S drivers were not able to get close to him. Ishiura who passed Yasuda in the lap 2 approached Jarvis severely, but Jarvis secured his position. Yasuda who showed us good performance, met with a misfortune. His car had a trouble of fuel injection and Yasuda lost his order gradually. After all, Streit took his first win in this season, Ishiura was the second place, Jarvis was the third and Oshima was the fourth. Marko Asmer barely tided over Tsukakoshi's hard offence and secured the fifth place. Raphael Matos wins at Long Beach for second straight Atlantic victory to start the season…full report Sebastien Bourdais won today’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach ahead of Forsythe substitute Oriol Servia of Spain and Team Ausrali’s Will Power, with Justin Wilson fourth and Tagliani fifth. The Peugeot 908 HDI FAP driven by Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian scored its first 1000-km race victory in the LMS Championship at Monza. Peugeot set pole and put both its cars on the front row and the winning team dominated the 173-lap race. The second Peugeot Sport Michelin 908 driven by Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin made a fabulous comeback to finish third after having dropped back to 12th place on lap 66. The Pescarolo, wionner in 2006 came home second in the hands of Collard- Bouillon. Robbie Kerr steered A1 Team Great Britain to its second consecutive A1GP World Cup of Motorsport victory today as the Burbage racer capitalized on his first pole position of the season to dominate Round 10’s Sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. Kerr, having watched Oliver Jarvis score the team’s maiden win at the previous round in Mexico City, finally broke his A1GP duck to savor his own top step podium triumph having come so close on numerous occasions. His biggest rival all weekend, New Zealand’s Jonny Reid, denied Kerr a clean sweep of the podium in the afternoon’s Feature race, Great Britain forced to settle for second place behind the Kiwi team after a fighting drive but finishing ahead of newly-crowned A1GP World Champions A1 Team Germany in third Performance Racing and Rodolfo Ávila have agreed to go their separate ways for the remainder of the season. Performance Racing and Rodolfo Ávila enjoyed a productive partnership over the past 14 months, and we would like to thank Rodolfo for that, and to wish him all the best for the future. The team is going ahead with the plans already made for the upcoming events, and is currently evaluating several driver options to take over the now vacant seat of the Dallara F307 Mugen/Honda in the British F3 International Series. Canadian racer Valerie Limoges, from Quebec, became the first female driver to earn pole position for a Grand-Am- race when she set a 1:28.800 (93.243 mph) in the No. 4 USG Sheetrock/Ramset Tools Ford Mustang GT to secure the top starting spot for Sunday's Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Miami GS 400k at Homestead-Miami Speedway. 15-05-07 On a day of doubles, James Neal took both overall wins as the Apex Tubulars Porsche Club Championship started its 2007 season at Oulton Park, while Marcus Carniel and Neil Harvey doubled up in Classes Two and Three respectively. Tom Segrue took the chequered flag in race two, only to be dropped to third in the results after a ten second penalty for an adjudged jump start. full story The HSCC was at Donington Park today (Sunday) and it was Nelson Rowe who won the Historic Formula FRord race in his Crossle 20f beating the similar car of Nigel Bancroft and Neil Fowler's Lola T200. In the Classic F3 race Richard Trott came up trumps ina Chevron B43 just 1.249 seconds up o second placed Benn Simms March 803B. Third was Keith White in a Ralt RT1. In the Guards Trophy Michael Schryver took his Chevron B6 to victory ahead of the Lenham Spider of Stuart Tizzard and David Beckett's Nerus Silhouette. The Derek Bell Trophy race was won by Simon Hadfield in a Lola T332 with peter Hadfield second in a March 782 and Mark Dwyer third , also in a March , although a slightly older on a 742. The Historic racing Saloons was won by Neil Wood in an Anglia with the Mustangs of Nigel Vaulkhard and Pete Hallford completing the podium. The Classic Racing cars encounter saw Matthew Watts win an a Brabham BT29 with Ian Grey second in a BT30 and John Monson third in a Crossle 19f. Charles Barter drove his Datsun 240z to victory in teh 70s Road Sports race, a mere 0.454 seconds ahead of Paul Anderson's Porsche 928 while Julian Barter was third 4 seconds further up the road in a TVR. The Hibberds dominated the Formula Junior event Michael winning in a Lotus 27 by 3.792 seconds from Andrew in a Lotus 22 while Robin Longdon a very close third in a Lola Mk5A. The Historic Road Saloons was won by James Patterson in a Morgan Plus 8 from David Randall in a Ginetta G4 and Martin Halliday in a Lotus 7. At Pembrey today(Sunday) Dominic Pettit won both the Playstation 2 Ginetta GT Junior Championship races from Tom Sharp. In race one the gap was 0.966 seconds with Nick Ponting third. Race 2 appeared slightly less stressful for the leader as he had a more comfortable 6 second gap over Sharp while Christopher Clayton was third. Rupert Lewin won the opening round of the 2007 Apex Tubulars Porsche Open at Oulton Park, Cheshire on Saturday April 14th, the full version of the circuit allowing him to stretch the legs of his 700BHP 996. Paul Hogarth was second in his 997, and went one better to win race two after Lewin retired. Peter Morris took Class Two in both races, and third overall in the second, while Mike Johnson continued his run of wins from last season with both Class Three victories. Full story A trio of exciting
evo Caterham Eurocup races at Hockenheim in Germany this weekend (13/14
April) brought an early CSR Masters championship lead for old hands
Clive Richards and Richard Hay,
Half a gallon of petrol stood
between
 Graham
Fennymore's Superlight and a clean sweep of evo Caterham Eurocup
race victories at Hockenheim on Friday and Saturday (13/14
Apr).Fennymore, the reigning UK Superlight champ, was racing his
Caterham overseas for the first time, but his lack of experience of
the German Grand Prix track failed to blunt his performance even in
the slightest.
full story
At Oulton Park yesterday(Saturday)the BRSCC's Alfshop Alfa Romeo Championship got underway with a win for Adie Hawkins in a Alfa 33 from Ian Stapleton in a Alfetta by just 2 tenths of a second. Bryan Shrubb was third in a 33Ti. Just 7 cars turned out for the Club F3 race and it was Dallara's to the fore as Jon Gray led Keith Baldwin and Chris Willie over the line while the Carphone Warehouse Club NW FFord race for the newer Class A and B cars was won by Tom Bradshaw on a Van Dieman RF04, 6.8seconds ahead of Stuart Gough in a Swift SC95 while a further 6 second back was Mark Chadwick in another RF04. The Class CD & E race was a much closer affair with the first 3 all driving Reynards. Stuart Jones just winning by the margin of 0.115secs from Lee Hannah. David Bailey came home in third just 0.8secs off the leader. 14-04-07 Two weeks ahead of round one of the 2007 Formula Renault BARC Championship, a record number of entries have been received for the entry-level single-seater category. Championship organisers have received a total of 35 registrations, the most ever prior to the first round. The flood of entries raises the possibility of capacity grids at all 12 rounds this season – the third since Renault Sport UK took over the running of the championship.. read more After the opening weekend of the 2007 Blaupunkt SEAT Cupra Championship at Brands Hatch there should be plenty more fireworks during Rounds 3 and 4 at Rockingham Motor Speedway near Corby. read more Will Power snatched provisional pole for the Long Beach GP in the Champ Car World Series Powered by Cosworth. After his win in Las Vegas last week set a time of 1:07.920 (104.311 mph), a smidgin faster than Bourdais 1:07.970, on his final lap of the Californian track. "On the first stint I was running really hard to find good balance in the car." Power said. "Sebastien was hot on his second run. I thought it was going to be really hard to beat him, even with the red tires. So I got a good run on the last lap and here we are on the pole." Simon Pagenaud, Power's teammate at Team Australia was third with a 1:08.200 followed by Alex Tagliani at 1:08.304 and Paul Tracy, 1:08.573. Britains Robbie Kerr took pole in qualifying for tomorrow's A1GP race in Shanghai. Jonny Reid was second for New Zealand and Jonathon Summerton third for the USA. The 2007 Visma Formula Palmer Audi grid has been further
boosted with the addition of Formula Jedi race-winner Russell Small to
the series. The 20-year-old, who combines his racing exploits with
a motorsport engineering degree at Oxford Brookes University, had been
impressive in testing at Bedford Autodrome throughout the winter.
Although a shortage in funding meant he missed last weekend's opening
rounds at Silverstone, Russell will join the field for the next round at
Brands Hatch in just over two weeks' time. 13-04-07
SEAT
duo aim for more BTCC wins at Rockingham Champ Car Atlantic Championship driver Matt Lee (#44 Integrated Structures) of Conquest Racing has been penalised five championship points by Atlantic officials following infractions committed at last weekend's opening Round of the 2007 Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda at Las Vegas. Lee finished 10th in Sunday's season opener and had earned 11 points for the finish, but following the penalty he now has only six. As the lights went green at the start of the second Formula Palmer Audi race at Silverstone, pole-sitter Matt Hamilton was left stationary on the grid. This was due to the red starting light, which illuminates to indicate the approaching start and extinguishes to begin the race, staying on for a much shorter time than is normal. His stranded car was hit by several unsighted drivers and was spun around; it was then hit broadside at full racing speed by a car from the back of the grid. The Silverstone medical team were on the scene immediately and Matt received excellent care. He was cut from the car and airlifted to hospital in Coventry, where he was diagnosed with a broken right femur. None of the other drivers involved in the accident were injured and the race was restarted as soon as the circuit was cleared. Matt did not suffer any other injuries and is expected to recover fully. He has also stated that he wishes to resume racing in Formula Palmer Audi after his recuperation, and is targeting the DTM support meeting at Brands Hatch on 8/9/10 June for his return SEAT BTCC driver Darren Turner celebrates his 33rd birthday today(Friday 13 April). He shares his birthday with the FIA President, Max Mosley (who is slightly older at 67). Drivers believe the new section of the Shanghai International Circuit could be a major talking point at this weekend’s penultimate A1GP event of the season. A shorter, 2.9-mile (4.6km) alternative layout is being used for the World Cup of Motorsport’s second visit to the circuit, with drivers negotiating a new chicane after the twisty Turn 2-3 complex. Cars then rejoin the main circuit afterwards at Turn 6 (Turn 8 on the longer, 3.4-mile version. Several drivers believe that faster lap times could be achieved by driving the car completely over the shallow kerbs at the fast chicane, a practice which is banned. "I looked at it yesterday and there are three different ways you can approach the chicane," A1 Team Canada’s Sean McIntosh told A1GP.com. "You will have to run over the kerbs to get a good time. You will have to attack them and maybe even be a bit ragged. It is something that if you do right you are going to gain loads of time and it would be easy to lose a lot if you don’t." Having two of the cars’ wheels on the wrong side of the white track boundary line is acceptable. However, as drivers continue to push, some fear that an advantage could be gained by having all four wheels the wrong side of the line, thereby effectively short-cutting the corner. Team KMA Drivers Julia Landauer, Jeffrey Petriello and Mike Hill took to the track last weekend at the second Official test for the 2007 FBMW USA Championship. Petriello posted the fastest time of the second session during the final day to finished 4th fastestl for the test, while Landauer set 4th quickest time of the final session of the second day to end up 8th overall. Hill missed almost all of the first day due to an engine failure and finished 15th fastest for the weekend. “It was a successful test for our drivers who have never seen this track before this weekend,” stated Jon Lewis, Team KMA co-owner. “We put a lot of miles on these cars this weekend, more than we would have liked and it was unfortunate that Mike’s engine blew apart on the morning of the first day. These engines are pretty reliable and it was a surprise to everyone.” In one of the first developments of its kind the FIA WTCC is set to run on bio-fuel from 2009 after the FIA World Motor Sport Council gave unanimous support for the initiative. Bio-ethanol fuel will be introduced to the FIA WTCC alongside unleaded petrol and diesel in 2008, before a switch to an exclusive bio-fuel powered championship in 2009. Jacques Behar, Chairman and CEO of championship promoter KSO, said: "With the close relationship between touring cars and their road-going equivalents we believe that the WTCC is the logical platform to raise public awareness of bio fuels. Alternative fuels will also play a major role in motor sport’s future and it is our goal to be at the forefront of this technology." ADM Motorsport has signned the former European Karting Champion Nick de Bruijn from the Netherlands for its Formula Masters campaign. "Nick will be definitely one of the top-drivers in International Formula Master", said Team Principal Renato Melchioretto. “We are well prepared to running four cars this year and given that our track time will be very limited, due to testing limitations, we will gain a lot more information by comparing the data. I am very confident, that our drivers will learn from each other and keep pushing to get the results we are expecting." Nick de Bruijn agrees: "My goal is to gain as many podiums as possible and I am very happy with our decision to race for ADM. The series looks extremely promising with a decent TV coverage, a professional management and cars that are running on a high technical level. I am looking forward to the start of the season." 12-04-07 Robert Lawson was quickest overall in official ELF Renault Clio Cup testing at Hampshire’s Thruxton circuit on Wednesday, 11th April. The JHR Developments driver lapped the 2.36-mile circuit in a time of 1min 24.232s (100.68mph). Total Control Racing’s Ben Winrow (Earls Barton) was second quickest on combined times 0.151s behind, while Team Eurotech-John Guest Speedfit’s Andrew Jordan (Sutton Coldfield) was third, a further 0.032s adrift. …read more ORAN PARK Raceway’s F3 lap record could well be obliterated when the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Gold Star returns to racing next weekend at the circuit near Sydney.Pre-event testing for the second round of the championship ended with a number of competitors beating the existing time of 1m03.97s, held by Michael Caruso. One such driver was Leanne Tander, who scored her career first pole position at the circuit last season and put in the quickest time in testing.Leanne took her Fleetcare TanderSport Dallara F304 Spiess to a best time of 1m03.3s. “Our day went pretty well and we were able to achieve most of what we wanted,” Tander, 25, said. “On new tyres the setup of our Fleetcare TanderSport entry was very good and we were able to set some good lap times given the track was pretty slippery and not as good as it can be. I’m fairly happy with the package we have and I know that I could’ve gone quicker on our best lap.” Second-fastest time went to Charlie Hollings, whose Astuti Motorsport Dallara – Renault did a 1m03.7s on old tyres. “It was our first real test day with the team and It was good to get a day’s running under our belts,” he said.“Fellow Briton James Winslow had a difficult day as his Opes Prime supported team continues to get to grips with their Dallara F304 Mugen. His car suffers from niggling mechanical problems but did show pace in race at the Australian Grand Prix. He posted a best of 1m04.2s to tie with Sydney driver Mat Sofi and Italian youngster Marco Mapelli. “It wasn’t the best day but it was good to get back in the car,” Said Sofi of his Total Developments / R-Tek F3 Mugen-powered Dallara. Mapelli survived a few minor offs’ throughout the day to complete his second ever test day with Team BRM. The second round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship will be contested over the April 20 – 22 weekend. After a frustrating weekend that saw Ryan Lewis miss the opening round of the Champ Car Atlantic Championship in Las Vegas, Lewis is finally on his way to Los Angeles, the proud owner of a brand new US visa! "What a relief", said Ryan. "My season starts here so I hope to put in a good showing at Long Beach. It was unbelievably difficult to sit at home while everything was happening in Vegas last week so now I can't wait to get out there and race!" Dean Smith set the quickest time in both sessions of official Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship testing at Thruxton on Wednesday, 11th April. The Fortec Motorsport driver lapped the 2.36-mile circuit in 1min 10.591s (120.13mph) in the morning, improving to a mark of 1min 10.372s (120.51mph) in session two. Overall, Smith set the three fastest laps of the day, with team-mate Riki Christodoulou second and a third Fortec driver, round two winner Duncan Tappy in third…read more Last weekend’s opening round of the 2007 Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda at Las Vegas brought so many positives and so much excitement for the season at hand that it had be considered a rousing success.A full field highlighted by some of the top rising racing stars from across the globe, new sponsors and series partners enjoying the dawning of a new season at a fabulous new street circuit in downtown Las Vegas. Read more On the heels of his victory in the 2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series season-opening Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway, car owner/driver Tom Nastasi will lead a field of 45 Grand Sport (GS) class race cars to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for Sunday's Miami GS 400k. ..read more
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Heritage Touring Cars, Sports 2000
of Hitech Racing controlled qualifying for Round 3 from the front,
posting the fastest lap 12 minutes into the 30 minute session. The
Estonian then proceeded to better his time on three more laps to finish
0.482 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Stephen Jelly in the Raikkonen
Robertson Racing Dallara F307 Mercedes. Fortec's Greg Mansell was
third quickest, despite having to pit to replace a punctured tyre
following a coming together with another competitor early in the
session. Mansell was just six hundredths of a seconds adrift of a front
row start for only his 5th British Formula 3 race. Despite the lack of
running due to blown engine in testing and the car being rebuilt
following Oulton Park, the National Class was dominated by Michael
Meadows who finished 16th overall and four places ahead of Sergio
Perez. 
T
pushing
for points in Round 2 Of British F3 Championship this weeknd at
Donington. 
Championship and the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International
Series the meeting also features the BRSCC’s Volkswagen Racing Cup and
British Formula Ford Championship. Additional support races are provided
by Belcar and the Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge
Roadsport Challenge at Silverstone at the weekend (14/15 April), taking
victory in both races to extend his Roadsport class points lead. In
Roadsport B there were twin wins for Gareth Thomas, who accelerates into
the championship lead.
plus a race victory for 18-year-old newcomer Ed Morris - the
championship's youngest ever winner.
