30-04-08

Patrick Barratt and Mike Forrest finished 10th in last weekend's GT class in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No.16, this despite having lost 2 gears in the first half an hour..report..

A1GP Team USA are looking for a top 10 Championship finish to this seasons's World Cup of Motorsport after their win in China and expect to be challenging for another win this weekend at Brands Hatch..read more

Snap-on Stars of Karting Presented by IndyCar Series Western Division kick-off last weekend up at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Joey Wimsett and  Bryan Eady(pictured) put Intrepid on the top of the podium four times with two wins a-piece, while leading ICC  driver Jordy Vorrath took two second places  the series’ headline class.  

Freddy Nordstrom heads to Donington Park this weekend for the 5^th and 6^th rounds of the SEAT Cupra Championship. Freddy will be looking to make further inroads in his debut in his  SEAT Leon backed by www.plumbertraining.com.  As part of the package with the BTCC as the star attraction, the weekend is sure to draw a large crowd who will be looking to spot the Touring Car stars of tomorrow in the SEAT Cupra. Freddy and the Advent Motorsport always welcome spectators to see them on race weekends and the many questions people have on how a motor racing team works. Whatever questions people have this weekend, Freddy will be able to direct them to the answer with AQA (Any Question Answered). By texting your question to 63336 for £1, AQA will find the answer. AQA,  have published a second edition of the AQA Book which lists some of the fascinating, difficult and just plain odd questions they have answered in that time. AQA have 100 FREE copies of the book to be given out to visitors to Freddy’s pit this weekend (subject to availability). For those not attending the Donington Park race, live coverage from Sunday is available on ITV4 from 12.30pm. The SEAT Cupra Championship Brands Hatch race will be reviewed on ITV4 at 5pm on 29^th April.

At Buttonwillow Raceway Park in the second round of the SKUSA ProKart Challenge South program the Aluminos team's  G2 pilot Blair Chang earned his first PKC South podium of the year, while S3  driver Marc Elliott  picked up his second podium ofthe eyar..report

Bridgestone, exclusive tyre supplier to the GP2 Series, took all nine finalists of the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter young journalists’ competition to Barcelona to be part of the official GP2 Series launch event (on 24 April) ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. In 2008,..read more

29-04-30

SEAT Sport UK and FARO Europe, part of the global Florida-based FARO Technologies Inc, have joined forces in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. FARO is the world leader in portable 3D measurement technology, with its international subsidiaries designing, developing, and marketing software and portable computerised measurement devices. From Donington Park this weekend (May 3/4) FARO will be seen on the side of the SEAT Leon TDI cars of Jason Plato and Darren Turner,  while FARO guests will attend at least three race meetings.  Grant Clearwater, SEAT Sport UK Team Principal, said: “The Fusion FARO Arm is an important addition to our fabrication and engineering departments, as it gives us very accurate measurements enabling our engineers to transfer dimensions very quickly to the CAD for ongoing engineering projects. The new Fusion Arm gives us another dimension in our endeavour of turning out the best-prepared touring cars on the BTCC grid.” Kai Gärtling, responsible for FARO Europe’s involvement in motorsport, added: “By our partnership with SEAT Sport UK in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship we aim to support the team to perfect their race cars and set-ups in order to reach the highest possible quality standard. At the same time, we hope to get from the motorsport scene more inputs for the development of our measurement systems in the automotive sector. We wish the SEAT Sport UK team the very best for the season.”

British single seater racer Jon Lancaster returns to racing action in the second round of the F3 Euroseries at Mugello in Italy at the weekend.  The 19 year-old, who displayed enormous potential in the 2007 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship will drive for ART Grand Prix in the 20-round series. ..read more

Britain's latest intake of new racing drivers made their  debuts on Saturday (26 Apr), in the first round of The Daily Telegraph Caterham Academy, a sprint event at Aintree, Liverpool...read more

Bahraini racing driver Salman Al Khalifa was on the podium for the second time this season in the British F3  National Class at Croft last weekend..report

Alexander Rossi was the quickest runner in the weekend’s FBMW Americas test at Miller Motorsports Park, in Tooele, Utah. ..read more

After the first 4 races in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Michael Caine and Tim Bridgman have each won two races while Tim Harvey has picked up second place in each event. So as they ehad for Donington this weekend can Mr Harvey be the Bride this time rather than the Bbridesmaid...read on

Aston Martin will run in the iconic blue and orange Gulf colours at this year’s Le Man 24 hours. The team’ s 2 cars will be driven by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Andrea Piccini  and Karl Wendlinger in the number 7 Aston while David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner will drive the second, no 9

AIM Auto sport's Mark Wilkins(pictured) and Brian Friselle were right on the pace in the Grand-Am race at Virginia International Raceway before a backmarker and a stop-and-go penalty dropped them back to sixth …report

Kyle Busch took his second win of the season at Talladega in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the third win for Toyota. Second was Juan Pablo Montoya with Denny Hamlin third.

RLR/Andersen Racing and their driver JR Hildebrand both won their first Firestone Indy Lights race at the Kansas Lottery 100.

Columbian Gabby Chaves won both races in the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber series at the weekend , held at Virginia International Raceway…

Double win for Tambay in Barcelona. Barcelona was a very good place for BMW Junior driver Adrien Tambay (FR/Eifelland Racing). He won the first two races in the 2008 Formula BMW Europe. On Saturday he finished ahead of Daniel Juncadella (ES/Eurointernational) from Barcelona and Esteban Gutierrez (MX/Josef Kaufmann Racing). On Sunday he won, Gutierrez became second and Juncadella third. The French 17-year-old scored two extra points for two pole positions.

CR Scuderia's Formula Renault team will be racing  in Rounds 5 and 6 of the Formula Renault UK Championship this weekend.  DriversAdam Christodoulou and Ryuji Yamamoto will be hoping to extend their championship lead with another set of podium finishes  ..read more 

Sam Abay endured a torrid weekend in British F3 at Croft. After battling with fading wet tyres in the first race he was T-boned in the second, roll-on Monza.

28-04-08

Callum MacLeod will join the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for rounds five and six of the season at Donington Park this weekend (3/4 May). MacLeod, a finalist from the McLaren/Autosport/BRDC Young Driver of the Year award, will race the 911GT3 Cup car entered by PCGB and is looking forward to his sports car racing debut. The 20-year old dominated the 2007 British Formula Ford Championship and is working to conclude a deal for F3. The Carrera Cup at Donington will be his first competitive outing of 2008. "I thoroughly enjoyed driving the Porsche during the evaluation for the young driver awards and I think I got on pretty well with the car," said MacLeod. "I've just got to get out there and do as well as I can and I'd like to think that I can run near the sharp end of the grid."   Although F3 remains his prime target for 2008-9, MacLeod is also keen to broaden his race experience. "I wouldn’t rule out some more Carrera Cup races; I absolutely can't wait to get out there," he said.

In the two Dunlop Motorsport News Saloon Championship races at Snetterton Rob Birley dominated in his Escort Turbo(pic Paul Williams) winning the first with 4.7 seconds in hand over Darren Bly’s Nissan Skyline and the second by over 8 seconds from Rodd Kiddell’, Skyline GTR.  Kiddell also picked up a third place in Race one while Bly did the same in race two

SEAT Sport UK believes it is close to matching the power of its TDI race engine with the superb handling characteristics of the Leon’s chassis. The team plans to  use an untested set-up at Donington Park this coming weekend in order to try and find the car’s sweet spot…read more

Jonathan Wright took two wins from two starts in the Radical Club Cup at Snetterton in the Great and British meeting run by the BARC over the weekend.

Will Bratt will make his debut in the Spanish F3 Champoinship this weekend at Valencia for EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport..read more

Jack Stanford (below - pic Paul Williams)did the double in the Mini Challenge at Snetterton winning two races from three. Martin Depper, who had been second to Stanford in both races finally made it to the top step of the podium in the third and final encounter. Arthur Forster was second while Standford had to make do with third.  All three races were closely fought affairs, Stanford winning by 0.4 and 0.29 secs respectively in the first 2 races while Depper crossed the line only 0.3 secs up on Forster.

The Jonathan Wright/Rob Wheldon SR8 won the first of two Radical UK Cup races by1.820secs after 26 laps of Snetterton from the Derek Johnson/Stuart Moseley car. In the longer second race, held over 44 laps of the Norfolk circuit yesterday(Sunday), Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser beat Wright and Wheldon  with Jamie Patterson third.

The BARC Westfield race, held on Saturday at Snetterton, was won by Andrew Spencer from Simon Pryke with only 0.137 secs to spare. Third was Nick Flowers just over 4 seconds behind the leading pair

In the BARC Dunlop Sports Maxx Cup at Snetterton. John Thorne, driving a BMW M3(pictured - pic Paul Wiliams) won both races. In the first he headed Shaun Hollamby’s SEAT Leon Cupra by 5.4 secs while in the second Martin Wallbank was the runner-up in an Astra VXR, 8 seconds behind. Simon Gusterson was third in a Megane in race one while Hollamby completed the top three in race two.    

Leanne Tander is back in the winners circle after taking her first win of 2008 in the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship season at  Oran Park Raceway just outside Sydney

John Quartermaine will sample the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during rounds five and six of the season at Donington Park on 3/4 May. The seasoned saloon car racer is looking at joining the series for selected races this season and will race the PCGB pro-am2 car for his series debut.   "I've loved the Carrera Cup for some time," said Quartermaine, who is supporting current pro-am1 championship leader Tony Gilham and the ReDesign Racing team this season. "I can't do a full season due to clashes with my existing programme, but if I enjoy the Donington weekend it's quite probable that I'll be looking for a pro-am2 car."    If Quartermaine does join the Carrera Cup on a regular basis, the ReDesign team would grow to a two-car operation. "I last raced a Porsche years and years ago," said Quartermaine, who has now been racing for 31 years. "This is an educational weekend for me and I can't say how excited I am at the prospect. I've always liked the Carrera Cup from the outside and I drive a Porsche on the road."  Quartermaine has been racing since 1977 and has enjoyed considerable success, mainly in saloon cars. More recently his son Adam has started racing and now competes in Formula Ford. "I've do so many years of racing; I just love it. It's the ultimate adrenalin buzz!"

The Classic Saloons and Touring Cars were also part of the Great and British meeting at Snetterton over the weekend and Brian Stevens(pictured below - pic Paul Williams) won two races in his Jag XJ12.  He took the Hammerite Classic Group 1 race beating Roger Stanford’s BMW 2002 and Mark Fowler’s Capri  as well as the IBIS Packaging Post Historic event where he led Nigel Garratt’s Doly Sprint over the line with just 0.585secs to spare. Third was Steve Primett in an Escort , 8.6 seconds behind the leader. In the Track and Car Pre-93 race Nigel Philpotts won in a Starion Turbo from Chris Randall’s BMW CSL and Andy Davie M3. The Dunlop Mini se7en race was won by Paul Thompson (right - pic Paul Williams) with Max Hunter second and Kane astin third while the Mini Miglia race saw Tony Le May just beat Colin Peacock by 0.396secs with Andrew Hack third. 

RLR Andersen driver J.R. Hildebrand won yesterday’s April 27th) Firestone Indy Lights Kansas Lottery 100., his and RLR Andersen’s first win in the Indy Lights.  "I'm so happy, for myself and for the team," exclaimed Hildebrand, "a win in only our fourth race together has put us in the lead for the championship. We'll keep going right onto Indy." Guthrie Racing's Robbie Pecorari was second spot with Arie Luyendyk Jr third.

Nick Whale will make his Porsche Carrera Cup GB debut in rounds five and six of the season at Donington Park on 3/4 May. Whale, the dealer principal at two Porsche Centres, will race with Team RPM for his debut in the championship, before handing the car over to Alex Mortimer for selected other Carrera Cup races. Whale has an extensive motor sport history, having started in speed events and has also raced and rallied with great success. More recently, he has concentrated on historic racing in a McLaren M1 Can-Am car as well as historic rallying in his 1974 Porsche 911RS. Now, Whale will sample the Carrera Cup GB and will race in the pro-am1 category at Donington Park. "I like to challenge myself with doing something different. I'm learning about racing on slicks and getting a big kick out of it, and this fits very well with our business activity," said Whale, who is the dealer principal for Porsche Centre Solihull and Porsche Centre Leicester. It is then expected that Alex Mortimer will campaign the car in other races. "I'm a member of the British Racing Drivers' Club and Alex is one of our rising stars," said Whale. "So I'm trying to back someone who also has the club behind them." Although racing is his prime focus for 2008, Whale is also likely to contest one or two asphalt rallies this season, co-driven by Sally Wood. "I married my navigator last summer, so we're going to do a couple of rallies as well."

Reigning Academy Champion Jonathan Walker has made the best possible start to his Caterham Roadsports Championship winning both the Roadsports A races at Croft in the Motorsport News Challenhge series

Hitech managed put in a good recovery drive in British F3 at Croft. After a poor qualifying session by their very high styandards the team’s drivers managed  to climb through the field to record 3 points scoring finished and a fastest lap..

Five drivers from the Aston Martin Asia Cup (AMAC) ran their  Aston Martin N24s into the latest round of the Asian GT Championship as a warm up ahead of the first round  of the AMAC Championship later next month( 23-25 May)

The Northern European Cup Formula Renault 2.0 season started at the "Jim Clark Revival" meeting at Hockenheim over the weekend and Valtteri Bottas got off to a flying start with 2 wins from 2 starts

Thomas Erdos and Mike Newton, co-driving the RML AD Group's MG Lola EX275, were delighted with another fourth place in Round 2 of the 208 Le Mans Series, staged today at Monza in Italy.  The team had endured a troubled two days of practice, starting with a blown engine just two minutes into the first session. From that disheartening low, they'd worked back into contention, and looked set for a possible podium before an horrific accident for Stephane Ortelli in the #5 Team Oreca Courage brought out the safety car, and bunched up the field..

Harold Primat and Christophe Tinseau finished in a superb third place  at Monza in Round 2 of the Le Mans Series , the first petrol powered car home.

Brendon Hartley won Round 4 of the British Internation F3 Series beating Mexican Sergio Perez by just 0.8secs. The Mexican now leads the Championship after having won round 3 earlier in the day .

27-04-08

Graham Carroll and Alan Kirkcaldy were the FF1600 winners today in the SMRC's race meeting at Knockhill. With a record breaking entry(137 cars) at the Spring meeting there was entertainment a-plenty. The Smartycars.com Minis saw Ian Milton win twice with Mark Dryden taking the third race while Andrew Gallacher and Rob Pritchard shared the spoils in the Sports/Saloons. In the XR2 Championship David Sleigh and Peter Cruickshank battled it out over two races, each picking up a win while in the Classics Stan Bernard's Porsche may have been the class of the field but it was the younger Bernard, Adam and Matthew Gordon who entertained.   In the Legends Carol Brown dominated in the first group of races winning the A final  

Wayne Boyd netted a second hat-trick of wins in the British Formula Ford Championship at Croft today (Sunday) wile his team-mate Tim Blanchard was second in the first two races before retiring in race three after clipping a tyre wall..

Frederic Vervisch kicked-off his German ATS Formula 3 Cup campaign at Hockenheim with a podium finish.

A1GP was in London's Regent Street today to make a pit-stop in front of a huge crowd to help promote next weekend's Championship decider at Brands Hatch....read more

AIM Autosport's Brian Frisselle  will start today's Grand-Am race at Virginia International Raceway from the front row afre a superbn qualifying session put the team up front for the second race in a row.  read more

Oxia Carlin driver Sam Abay will start rounds 3 and 4 of the 2008 British Formula 3 Championship from 9th and 5th on the grid, following two frantically fought qualifying sessions at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire .  The youngster, who competes in his second Formula 3 meeting this weekend, put on a mature display in qualifying, despite admitting he wasn't able to make the most of his tyres in the first session.  Eventually Abay secured a respectable 9th place starting position in the highly competitive field of 29 cars.  The second session saw the Australian rookie top the time sheet for much of the 30 minutes of qualifying, finally claiming the 5th grid position, two-tenths of a second away from the eventual pole time. "The window in which the tyres are at their optimum for a quick lap is very narrow.  The approach you have to use in qualifying is quite different from  what I've been used to in Formula BMW. Naturally this is an area which I'll be looking to improve on as we gain more experience, but it's good to start the weekend with two solid qualifying positions." said Abay.

British F3 Qualifying Rounds 3 and 4 -  Croft

RACE ONE (Top 10)

1.  Marcus Eric sson (SWE)           1:12.733

2.  Sergio Perez (MEX)                 1:12.867

3.  Sebastien Hohenthal (SWE)     1:12.937

4.  Michael Devaney (IRL)             1:12.965

5.  Esteban Guerrieri (ARG)          1:12.979

6.  Brendon Hartley (NZL)            1:13.015

7.  Oliver Turvey (GBR)                1:13.077

8.  Ricardo Teixeira (ANG)            1:13.077

9.  Sam Abay (AUS)                    1:13.142

10.  Jaime Alguersuari (ESP)         1:13.222 

RACE TWO (Top 10)

1.  Brendon Hartley (NZL)            1:13.237

2.  Marcus Eric sson (SWE)           1:13.280

3.  Sergio Perez (MEX)                 1:13.446

4.  Oliver Turvey (GBR)                1:13.495

5.  Sam Abay (AUS)                    1:13.502

6.  Atte Mustonen (FIN)               1:13.566

7.  Sebastian Hohenthal (SWE)     1:13.589

8.  Esteban Guerrieri (ARG)          1:13.649

9.  Jaime Alguersuari (ESP)           1:13.720

10.  Alistair Jackson (GBR)           1:13.794

James Winslow has taken over at the top of the Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship after he and Leanne Tander  won a race a-piece at Oran Park  today. In the national Class Chris Gilmour dominated winning both races from pole.

Hitech Racing endured a frustrating day during qualifying for Round 3 and 4 of the British International F3 Championship at Croft. Red-flags, traffic and set-up problems all combined to hamper their efforts..read more

The Volkswagen team is celebrating another resounding rally victory after Carlos Sainz and his co-driver Michel Périn today (Saturday) guided their TDI-powered Race Touareg to a two-minute win on the Central Europe Rally in Hungary. Volkswagens topped the timesheets on all seven legs of the week-long event.  Sainz regained the lead from Mitsubishi's Stephane Peterhansel by a slender margin on Friday and today rammed his advantage home with another stage victory, his fifth of the event.  'I'm incredibly happy about this victory,' said Spanish double World Rally Champion Sainz. 'Recovering more than eight minutes after our problem on the second day in this high-calibre field was a tough job. But exploits like this are always a result of teamwork as well. I have to thank Volkswagen Motorsport, my mechanics and, first and foremost, my co-driver Michel Périn from the bottom of my heart. With all of us working together, we did an outstanding job.' Germany's Dieter Depping was third for Volkswagen, and the customer team Race Touareg of Portugal's Carlos Sousa placed fifth. The other Volkswagens, of South Africa's Giniel de Villiers and the USA's Mark Miller, were both sidelined in accidents. Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen said: 'The Central Europe Rally was the toughest and most thrilling rally we've ever contested. It was great advertisement for this sport and a good start to a new era. With overall results in first, third and fifth place against extremely fierce competition, we're more than happy. They show the potential of the Volkswagen Race Touareg as well as the fact that we were perfectly prepared for the 2008 Dakar Rally as a serious contender for victory.'  The Central Europe Rally, which began in Hungary on Sunday and took in several stages in Romania, featured more than 1000 competitive kilometres in its 2600 km overall distance.

Central Europe Rally provisional final standings
1, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, 11h 18m 8s
2, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, +2m 1s
3, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +6m 34s
4, Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (FRA), Mitsubishi, +7m 28s
5, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +33m 45s

27-04-08

Graham Carroll and Alan Kirkcaldy were the FF1600 winners today in the SMRC's race meeting at Knockhill. With a record breaking entry(137 cars) at the Spring meeting there was entertainment a-plenty. The Smartycars.com Minis saw Ian Milton win twice with Mark Dryden taking the third race while Andrew Gallacher and Rob Pritchard shared the spoils in the Sports/Saloons. In the XR2 Championship David Sleigh and Peter Cruickshank battled it out over two races, each picking up a win while in the Classics Stan Bernard's Porsche may have been the class of the field but it was the younger Bernard, Adam and Matthew Gordon who entertained.   In the Legends Carol Brown dominated in the first group of races winning the A final  

Wayne Boyd netted a second hat-trick of wins in the British Formula Ford Championship at Croft today (Sunday) wile his team-mate Tim Blanchard was second in the first two races before retiring in race three after clipping a tyre wall.

Frederic Vervisch kicked-off his German ATS Formula 3 Cup campaign at Hockenheim with a podium finish.

A1GP was in London's Regent Street today to make a pit-stop in front of a huge crowd to help promote next weekend's Championship decider at Brands Hatch....read more

AIM Autosport's Brian Frisselle  will start today's Grand-Am race at Virginia International Raceway from the front row afre a superbn qualifying session put the team up front for the second race in a row.  read more

Oxia Carlin driver Sam Abay will start rounds 3 and 4 of the 2008 British Formula 3 Championship from 9th and 5th on the grid, following two frantically fought qualifying sessions at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire .  The youngster, who competes in his second Formula 3 meeting this weekend, put on a mature display in qualifying, despite admitting he wasn't able to make the most of his tyres in the first session.  Eventually Abay secured a respectable 9th place starting position in the highly competitive field of 29 cars.  The second session saw the Australian rookie top the time sheet for much of the 30 minutes of qualifying, finally claiming the 5th grid position, two-tenths of a second away from the eventual pole time. "The window in which the tyres are at their optimum for a quick lap is very narrow.  The approach you have to use in qualifying is quite different from  what I've been used to in Formula BMW. Naturally this is an area which I'll be looking to improve on as we gain more experience, but it's good to start the weekend with two solid qualifying positions." said Abay.

British F3 Qualifying Rounds 3 and 4 -  Croft

RACE ONE (Top 10)

1.  Marcus Eric sson (SWE)           1:12.733

2.  Sergio Perez (MEX)                 1:12.867

3.  Sebastien Hohenthal (SWE)     1:12.937

4.  Michael Devaney (IRL)             1:12.965

5.  Esteban Guerrieri (ARG)          1:12.979

6.  Brendon Hartley (NZL)            1:13.015

7.  Oliver Turvey (GBR)                1:13.077

8.  Ricardo Teixeira (ANG)            1:13.077

9.  Sam Abay (AUS)                    1:13.142

10.  Jaime Alguersuari (ESP)         1:13.222 

RACE TWO (Top 10)

1.  Brendon Hartley (NZL)            1:13.237

2.  Marcus Eric sson (SWE)           1:13.280

3.  Sergio Perez (MEX)                 1:13.446

4.  Oliver Turvey (GBR)                1:13.495

5.  Sam Abay (AUS)                    1:13.502

6.  Atte Mustonen (FIN)               1:13.566

7.  Sebastian Hohenthal (SWE)     1:13.589

8.  Esteban Guerrieri (ARG)          1:13.649

9.  Jaime Alguersuari (ESP)           1:13.720

10.  Alistair Jackson (GBR)           1:13.794

James Winslow has taken over at the top of the Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship after he and Leanne Tander  won a race a-piece at Oran Park  today. In the national Class Chris Gilmour dominated winning both races from pole.

Hitech Racing endured a frustrating day during qualifying for Round 3 and 4 of the British International F3 Championship at Croft. Red-flags, traffic and set-up problems all combined to hamper their efforts..read more

The Volkswagen team is celebrating another resounding rally victory after Carlos Sainz and his co-driver Michel Périn today (Saturday) guided their TDI-powered Race Touareg to a two-minute win on the Central Europe Rally in Hungary. Volkswagens topped the timesheets on all seven legs of the week-long event.  Sainz regained the lead from Mitsubishi's Stephane Peterhansel by a slender margin on Friday and today rammed his advantage home with another stage victory, his fifth of the event.  'I'm incredibly happy about this victory,' said Spanish double World Rally Champion Sainz. 'Recovering more than eight minutes after our problem on the second day in this high-calibre field was a tough job. But exploits like this are always a result of teamwork as well. I have to thank Volkswagen Motorsport, my mechanics and, first and foremost, my co-driver Michel Périn from the bottom of my heart. With all of us working together, we did an outstanding job.' Germany's Dieter Depping was third for Volkswagen, and the customer team Race Touareg of Portugal's Carlos Sousa placed fifth. The other Volkswagens, of South Africa's Giniel de Villiers and the USA's Mark Miller, were both sidelined in accidents. Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen said: 'The Central Europe Rally was the toughest and most thrilling rally we've ever contested. It was great advertisement for this sport and a good start to a new era. With overall results in first, third and fifth place against extremely fierce competition, we're more than happy. They show the potential of the Volkswagen Race Touareg as well as the fact that we were perfectly prepared for the 2008 Dakar Rally as a serious contender for victory.'  The Central Europe Rally, which began in Hungary on Sunday and took in several stages in Romania, featured more than 1000 competitive kilometres in its 2600 km overall distance.

Central Europe Rally provisional final standings
1, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, 11h 18m 8s
2, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, +2m 1s
3, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +6m 34s
4, Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (FRA), Mitsubishi, +7m 28s
5, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +33m 45s

26-04-08

Neil McFadyen claimed pole position for both races in Sunday's third round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship at Oran Park. ..read more

Formula BMW Americas driver Alexander Rossi, 16, of Nevada City, California., has begun a unique program to increase excitement at California BMW centres. One of this country’s rising young open-wheel racing stars, Rossi will be making appearances in support of BMW Product Launch and Salon shows....read more

25-04-08

The A1GP Season ends next weekend at Brands hatch with two teams, Switzerland and New Zealand in contention for the overall honours, although it has to be said Switzerland only have to pick up a couple of points to clinch it...read more

The Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge will be part of the support for next weekend’s (3/4 May )A1GP at Brands Hatch and it should be a real treat for the fans..read more.

Larbre Competition has taken the difficult decision to withdraw from the 2008 Le Mans Series due to an increasing workload in other championships. The French team has been a strong supporter of the series since its inception, winning the GT1 drivers’ and teams’ championships in 2006, and fielded a single Saleen S7R, which finished second in class, in the opening round of the season at Barcelona this year.  However, after being asked to run Scuderia AC Argentina’s FIA GT Championship programme in 2008, alongside its existing FIA GT and FFSA GT commitments, the decision to leave the LMS has reluctantly been taken. Team Principal Jack Leconte said: “It is with regret that we are leaving the Le Mans Series, of which we have been staunch supporters in recent times. However, our programmes in the FIA GT and FFSA GT Championships provide a number of date clashes, meaning it is no longer viable for us to continue.”  The team will once again be on the grid at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June as part of the ACO family

A huge accident in practice for  round three of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship put the dampers on everyone at  Oran Park today. ..read more

There will be Seven Lola LMP sportscars at the  Autodromo Di Monza this weekend for the Monza 1000kms, round 2 of the 2008 Le Mans Series..read more

As a result of their domination in the WTCC, SEAT’s drivers will be carrying the most ballast at the next round in Valencia..read more

The British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) today confirmed that the Club is on schedule to complete Silverstone's new Grand Prix Pits complex in time for the 2010. FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX. Club President, Damon Hill OBE said: “I am delighted to report that we are close to finalising our plans to build new pits in time for the 2010 British Grand Prix, thus satisfying FOM's pre-requisites to granting us a new F1 GP contract. Silverstone's new state-of-the-art facilities are therefore moving from aspiration towards reality. The BRDC and Silverstone team has achieved an enormous amount over the last year. I am personally both impressed and proud of the commitment shown by the BRDC and by all our team members engaged in this project. In particular, the role played by the BRDC membership has been pivotal in this our 60th Year at Silverstone. Commitment by our members to retain the Grand Prix at Silverstone is as strong now as it has ever been.  The BRDC share this desire and enthusiasm with thousands of British racing fans and we are doing everything within our power to keep the Grand Prix at the home of British Motor Sport. The negotiations with FOM are ongoing and reasonable terms on a new contract will help us to fulfill our ambitions.”

The 2007 SEAT León Supercopa champion Josè Manuel Pérez-Aicart will make his FIA World Touring Car Championship debut in the next race meeting at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo on May 18th. The 26-year old Spaniard will drive a petrol-powered SEAT León run by SUNRED Engineering and entered by SEAT Sport. Pérez-Aicart is the fourth young driver who has been given the chance to race in the WTCC as a reward for the brilliant results achieved in SEAT's own trophy, after Marc Carol (in 2005), Florian Gruber (in 2006) and Oscar Nogués (twice in 2006 and 2007). The young Spaniard had his first drive in the León WTCC last week, during the official test days in Valencia. "It was the best gift I've ever had. I had the chance to complete 45 laps and discovered that the car is fantastic. Everything has been perfect in the test and I hope to have as much fun in the races as I can," he said.

Golden Motors Honda Dealer Team from St.Petersburg, Russia will take part in the WTCC Spanish event at Valencia with two Honda Accord Euro R cars built by JAS Motorsport and run by the Estonian team Artman Racing.  Alexander Lvov and Andrey Smetsky, who were classified first and second in the 2007 Russian Touring Car Championship, will be at the wheel of the two Japanese machines. They had already participated in last year's WTCC round at Anderstorp. Golden Motors have planned to take part in four other WTCC events.

Scuderia AC Argentina made it’s FIA GT Championship debut at Silverstone last  weekend. The team’s GT1 Ferrari 550 Maranello driven by Gaston Mazzacane and Esteban Tuero finished 13th in class..read more.

Singapore driver Melvin Choo completed his first test in the Thunder Asia BMW 320si car that he will drive in this year's Asian Touring Car Series and the two last rounds of the FIA WTCC at Okayama and Macau.During a three-day testing on Sepang's Grand Prix circuit's north course, Choo clocked some encouraging times, including a fastest lap of 1:08.898 that smashed the previous record for Super 2000 cars set by WTCC regular Franz Engstler.  Choo will take part in a few other test sessions before the start of the Asian series, at Sepang on May 18th. "We hope that we will be competitive by the time we make our first WTCC appearance, in October at Okayama," team manager Raja Zaini said.

The Team Aluminos kart racing team will be at Buttonwillow Raceway Park this weekend for the second round of the Superkarts! USA ProKart Challenge South program with  eight drivers..read more

Champion Racing/Intrepid USA are racing in the  Western Division opener at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah this weekend with new signing Cody Jolly joining the team..read more

PSL Karting are traveling to Miller Motorsports Park  to support Kohilo Racing with drivers Fritz Leesmann, Josh Schreiber and Jordan Jadallah at the Western Division opener over the weekend…read more .

The stage is set for a thrilling finale to the Central Europe Rally today (Friday) and tomorrow, with Carlos Sainz celebrating another leg win for Volkswagen and his promotion to second place overall, just 22 seconds off the lead.  Sainz and his TDI-powered Race Touareg beat their rivals to the end of yesterday's fifth leg by more than a minute. Overall leader Stephane Peterhansel was only fourth fastest on the day in his Mitsubishi and lost a considerable chunk of his advantage. Sainz was pleased: 'I am very happy with our achievements. We are lying 22 seconds behind the leader and we are in a promising position now. It's maximum attack for the final two days.'  Today competitors face 157 timed kilometres and there is a further stage of 155 km tomorrow ahead of the finish near Lake Balaton, Hungary. Sainz's team-mate Dieter Depping holds fourth place overall after losing time and at least one overall position yesterday with a puncture. The Team Lagos Race Touareg of Carlos Sousa is sixth.South African Giniel de Villiers rolled out of the rally yesterday after his Race Touareg hit an unmarked deep bump. 'Despite somersaulting six times my co-driver and I were completely unharmed, which is a big compliment to the strength of the Volkswagen,' said de Villiers, who had held second position overall.The Volkswagen team has so far won every leg of the seven-day rally, which began in Budapest on Sunday.

Central Europe Rally provisional standings after leg 5
1, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, 7h 29m 53s
2, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, +22s
3, Nani Roma / Lucas Cruz Senra (ESP), Mitsubishi, +2m 38s
4, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +3m 7s
5, Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (FRA), Mitsubishi, +3m 8s
6, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +21m 11s

24-04-08

The SEAT Cupra Championship will be at Donington Park next weekend(3-4 May) and the 2 early front-runners, Robert Lawson and Martin Byford look like the the men to beat. ..read more

Andrew Herron is hoping to get his SEAT Cupra Championship back on track at the next round on 3-4 May at Donington Park, after on picking up 21 points at the first 2 events this year..read more

Todd Wanless will drive in the Australian Mini Challenge at Barbagallo in the Motorline Mini Garage entry..read more

Damien Faulkner, the 2006 Carrera Cup GB champion, and Danny Watts, winner of 10 Carrera Cup races in the same season, will be racing in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup this weekend (26/27 April) as part of the Spanish GP support.  Barcelona.  read more

Aussies stop the lawnmower, put the paintbrush down, grab a cold one from the fridge and mark the halfway point of the ANZAC Day Long Weekend with highlights from round two of MINI CHALLENGE. The stars and their cars come out to play on Goulburn’s Wakefield Park Raceway this Saturday afternoon on the Seven Network from 2:00pm wherever you are in Australia. Be sure to check your local guides!

Manor Competition continued to set a high standard in Formula Renault UK testing at Croft with Kris Loane the second fastest overall during the 2 day test....read more

Jonathan Ridley-Holloway set the 7th fastest time overall in Elf Clio Cup testing at Croft yesterday, while in wet conditions he was in the top 3..read more

Alexander Sims continues to set times at or near the top of the timesheets in testing. At Croft this week he was fastest overall on Tuesday and despite a minor accident yesterday he still managed to go quickest in the third session..read more  

The Volkswagen team enjoyed another successful day yesterday (Wednesday) in the Hungary and Romania-based Central Europe Rally, Carlos Sainz setting the pace to claim Volkswagen's fourth consecutive leg win.Sainz and his co-driver Michel Périn improved their overall placing to fifth. The Spaniard was delighted: 'We made up a lot of lost ground today. It could have been even more, but for a moment my co-driver and I misunderstood each other and we took a wrong turn and lost about a minute. Still, four minutes behind the leader at this point means that everything is possible for us in this rally.'Both Giniel de Villiers and Dieter Depping made useful inroads into the overall lead of Mitsubishi driver Stephane Peterhansel yesterday; de Villiers moved into second place, just ahead of his German team-mate.'Today we can be really happy with what we have achieved,' said Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. 'We reduced the gap to the leader and our chances of winning the event continue to be promising. It was a very good day for Volkswagen.' Today's fifth leg (of seven) involves 157 km of timed competition around Veszprem, near Lake Balaton.

Central Europe Rally provisional standings after leg 4
1, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, 5h 10m 35s
2, Giniel de Villiers (RSA) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (GER), Volkswagen, +1m 44s
3, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +2m 1s
4, Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Tina Thorner (SWE), BMW, +3m 35s
5, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, +3m 54s
6, Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (FRA), Mitsubishi, +4m 24s
9, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +17m 28s

Chris van der Drift set the fastest time in Formula Masters testing at Magny Cours yesterday with a  time of 1:32.414. just 0.134secs ahead of Fabio Leimer in second...read more

23-04-08

Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship's National Class is very close and just as exciting as the battle for the outright championship. Lee Farrell and Chris Gilmour are heading the title chase at the moment and they're back in action this weekend at Oran Park..read more

Speedy Racing – Team Sabah head for the second round of the Le Mans Series at Monza this weekend after a superb second place in the first round in Barcelona..read more.

Hillspeed’s Menasheh Idafar  dominated officially timed Formula Renault BARC testing at Croft yesterday, (Tuesday), ending the day almost 0.8secs faster than his nearest rival.  Backed in 2008 by Middle Eastern companies Ortolan, Gulf Computer Services and Gulfol, Idafar's quickest time of 1m 20.811 seconds (94.66mph) set in the morning session was over 0.5s clear of his team-mate Ahmad Al Harthy. In the afternoon, he  improved by 0.6secs with a lap of 1m 20.255 seconds (95.31mph). “The Croft test went very well and it was great to be so much quicker than our nearest rivals”, said Menasheh, “It’s been a fantastic start to the season for us so far and we made some great preparations yesterday for the Croft races in July. The team is doing a brilliant job and I have to thank them for all of their hard work.” Hillspeed’s driver coach, British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star Matt Shawyer, added: “Menasheh’s times were excellent, he did a fantastic job and ended the test almost eight 10ths of a second quicker than the next BARC driver. I’d be very surprised if anybody can match that speed when we come back to race at Croft later in the year.”

Sports car racer Chris Jolly has been elected chairman of the Masters Racing Club, the competitors' organisation for drivers racing with the Masters Racing Series. Jolly succeeds John Quenby as chairman, although Quenby will remain in the post of club secretary. "I was a grid ambassador last year for Sports Racing Masters," said Jolly. "John, who set it all up, wanted to step down as chairman, but stay on as secretary. So we can carry on calling on his expertise." The MRC achieved a major landmark over the weekend (19/20 April) by organising its first race, the 'Grande Passione' event at Donington Park. which ran very smoothly and was judged a great success by competitors. "Going forward, we're now able to run race meetings such as the Grande Passione, both on our own and in conjunction with the HGPCA," said Jolly. "The Racing Club is designed to give a focus to the drivers and represent them. The commercial side is the Masters Racing Organisation and there is a clear divide between that and the Masters Racing Club." Jolly says that one of the challenges he faces is ensuring that the MRC works well for drivers across the  Masters categories. "We've now got such a wide range of races, from relatively lower cost saloons in Top Hat through to the Grand Prix cars. Being able to cater for all of those people is a real challenge.  "The organisation is sensitive to what the drivers want and focuses on giving them a good experience. "  Jolly has been racing for 10 years, having started with an Aston Martin. He now campaigns a Cooper Monaco Chevrolet in Sports Racing Masters and will share the Chevron B26 of Steve Farthing in the new Proto 70s Series.

Formula Master's began an official two-day test at Magny-Cours yesterday with over 30 cars taking part. Jenzer Motorsport's Fabio Leimer was quickest in both morning and afternoon sessions with Tim Sandtler second in the morning and Norbert Seider in the afternoon..read more. 

It was Volkswagen driver Giniel de Villiers' turn yesterday (Tuesday) to win the day in the Central Europe Rally, the South African following the example of his Race Touareg-driving team-mates Carlos Sainz and Dieter Depping to claim the fastest time of the day.  Sainz topped the timesheets on Sunday and Depping on Monday, and de Villiers was 'truly delighted' to maintain Volkswagen's victory record yesterday. 'That's cross-country rallying for you,' said Giniel. 'On Monday we lost a lot of time due to a minor problem and now we have made up some of the lost ground.' De Villiers has improved his overall position to fifth, just over four minutes behind outright leader Stephane Peterhansel's Mitsubishi.  It was Sainz's turn to suffer problems yesterday: on the first stage of the day the gear lever broke and he was forced to cover more than half of the stage distance stuck in second gear. Carlos was eighth fastest on the day and slips to eighth overall.  German driver Depping maintains the Volkswagen challenge to Peterhansel; he lies second overall, just over two minutes off the lead.

Central Europe Rally provisional standings after leg 3
1, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, 3h 29m 47s
2, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +2m 8s
3, Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (FRA), Mitsubishi, +3m 6s
4, Nani Roma / Lucas Cruz Senra (ESP), Mitsubishi, +3m 36s
5, Giniel de Villiers (RSA) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (GER), Volkswagen, +4m 13s
8, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, +7m 52s
9, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +12m 30s

22-04-08

Nick Williamson, driving a Ford Escort, won his third race on the trot in the LMA Euro Sports/Saloons at Oulton park last weekend and now leads Julian Long by 16 points.

TanderSport is looking to team leader Leanne Tander’s consistent successes’ at Oran Park to help them have a strong showing in this weekend’s round of the  2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship. They will also be looking for a good performance from new signing Ben Crighton(right), in their TanderSport National Class entry, can give the team continued success in both top classes within Australia’s premier Open Wheel category. Read more

In the opening rounds of the FIA GT and FIA GT3  at Silverstone last weekend, Trackspeed Racing put in a promising performance on their debut in the FIA GT2 race while in the GT3 series things are also looking good ..

Phil Quaife had his first drive with Apex Motorsport at Silverstone last weekend in the 2008 FIA GT3 European Championship. Driving the team’s Jaguar XKRs with Stuart Hall, the pair picked up points in Race 1 and despite a number of glitches in race 2 they were on the pace throughout.

Auston Harris,17, from Hayward, California, has been signed by driver development guru Bob East to participate in 3 races in a USAC Ford Focus Midget.  Harris is scheduled to race on May 14 at Anderson Speedway, May 22 at Mt. Lawn Speedway and May 28 at Plymouth Speedway. "The folks at Ford asked me to test Auston in March last year," said East, and I was impressed by his natural ability but more by his attitude and maturity.  I'm excited that I will now have a chance to see Auston perform under race conditions.  I have a hunch that he is a real talent and now I will be able to confirm that."   "It's such an honour for me to have an opportunity to race with Bob," said Harris.  He is one of the most respected coaches in the business.  Although this is only a 3 race deal, it is an important step in my career and a chance for me to learn from the best." Bob East is no stranger to success or talent.  Over the years, Bob has been a part of multiple USAC race and championship wins with drivers Tony Stewart, Bobby East (his son), JJ Yeley and Bobby Labonte, to name a few. Auston Harris was born on December 11, 1990 and started racing Junior Dragsters at the age of 8 years old.  Since then, Auston has also raced in go-karts, formula cars, sports cars and touring cars.  Auston has achieved many podium finishes and impressed everyone that he has been fortunate enough to race with.

Recently, the Paul Ricard HTTT has been holding the penultimate test for the  Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series before the 2008 season gets underway at Spa on the first weekend in May.It was the same group of drivers who came to the fore once again with Spaniard Roberto Mehri (Epsilon Euskadi) quickest ahead of Valterri Bottas (Motorpark Arena), Andrea Caldarelli (SG Formula), Tobias Hegewald (Motorpark Arena) and Daniel Ricciardo (SG Formula). The competition is definitely looking like it will be tight this season!

Round 1 of the 2008 FIA GT Championship got off to an eventful start at Silverstone on Sunday, as the Scuderia Ecosse team made the most of the damp and trying conditions in poor visibility.  The experienced driver pairing of Jamie Davies and Fabio Babini performed well against the odds throughout the two-hour race, ending the day in 10th place. Unfortunately, the team were unable to solve the engine management glitch that blighted running all weekend. However, there was much for the team to take encouragement from, as they look forward to Round 2 of the Championship at Monza next month. Scuderia Ecosse team principal Stewart Roden said immediately after the race “The first race of every new season is always exciting but challenging. More importantly however, is that it provides the team with valuable information that will strengthen our position and improve the performance in the Championship, as the season rolls on to Monza”.

Will Power won the last ever Champ Car race on Sunday at Long Beach after making an excellent start from 4th on the grid to take the lead

Volkswagen driver Dieter Depping followed the example of his team-mate Carlos Sainz yesterday (Monday) to set fastest time on the second leg of the Central Europe Rally in Romania.  German Depping and his Volkswagen Race Touareg completed the 112 km special stage with a time 30 seconds better than that of his nearest rival, BMW pilot Nasser Al-Attiyah. Depping's stage win promotes him to third overall, just seven seconds behind Sainz and 29 seconds behind new overall leader Stephane Peterhansel and his Mitsubishi. 'The special stage suited my driving really well,' said Depping, 'and my co-driver Timo Gottschalk did a fantastic job navigating. We made some suspension modifications during the second running of the stage and my Race Touareg ran even better. This move was certainly a key factor in our success.'  Sunday's stage winner and early rally leader Sainz suffered as a result of running first on the road: 'The stages were extremely muddy and slippery and we were first out on them, which didn't prove to be an advantage. All things considered I am happy; we did not lose much time and there is a long way to go yet.'  The Race Touaregs of Carlos Sousa and Giniel de Villiers hold eighth and ninth places respectively. De Villiers lost time yesterday with a faulty windscreen wiper.  Today the rally heads back to Hungary with two special stages totalling 152 km of competitive action. The event features a total of seven legs and is scheduled to finish on Saturday. 

Central Europe Rally provisional standings after leg 2
1, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, 2h 6m 4s
2, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, +22s
3, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +29s
4, Luc Alphand / Gilles Picard (FRA), Mitsubishi, +1m 31s
8, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +4m 50s
9, Giniel de Villiers (RSA) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (GER), Volkswagen, +5m 14s

As part of the build up to the A1GP season finale at Brands Hatch in just over a week's time (2-4 May), A1 Team Great Britain's Robbie Kerr was in London to celebrate St George's Day and drum up support for his nation. Kerr brought the British A1GP car to St Katharine's Dock by one of London's most iconic venues - Tower Bridge - to gather support for A1 Team GB ahead of his home race. Kerr has already made A1GP history as the first driver to win a race on home soil when he took won at in the Brands Hatch Sprint race in 2007. Kerr said  'It's great to be back at Brands Hatch as we always receive tremendous support from the crowd.  It was wonderful to win on home soil last year and I'm hoping this year we can go one better and win both the Sprint and Feature race.'  Ahead of the final round at Brands Hatch on 2-4 May, A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will make a pit stop in London's West End on Sunday 27 April. Lower Regent Street will be transformed into an A1GP grid with all 22 nations' single-seater race cars lining up. As part of the festivities, fans will be able to purchase tickets for the main event at Brands Hatch the following weekend.

21-04-08

Guest driver  Keith Gent came, saw and conquered ,at Rockingham in the  Performance N Economy Chip Tuning Sports/Saloon Car Championship despite triggering a first corner stramash .

Hexis Racing’s Aston Martins were in the weekend's opening rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone, the Ledenon team taking home an Aston Martin Manufacturers Cup class win on the Sunday.

James Appleton won the the second round of the BRDC Stars of Tomorrow Championship at PFi yesterday (19/20 April) and now he's after the title  

Scottish chicken producer Steve Mitchell is aiming to ruffle some feathers in this year’s SEAT Cupra Championship when enters the series at Donington Park. The 41-year old from Letham, Forfar, was won the top novice award and finished 6^th  overall (out of 17 cars) on his debut racing season in the 2003 Scottish Mini Cooper Cup, and after five years racing the chirpy 120bhp machines, he has plucked up the courage to race a left-hand drive 300bhp turbocharged SEAT Leon Cupra.  He has already tested his ex-Stewart Whyte car at Mallory Park and at Thruxton, where the speed of the new Leon Cupras exceeded 140mph. Family and business commitments prevented Steve racing at Brands Hatch and Rockingham, but he hopes to make a flying start when he flexes his wings on his SEAT Cupra debut at Donington on May 3/4. The car will be run and prepared by Forfar-based JP Motorsport. Steve Mitchell: “The SEAT Cupra is very enjoyable to drive and racing in the series is going to be a big challenge for us, as the car is a lot different to the Mini Coopers I’m used to. I’d never set foot in Thruxton before, so during testing we were a little off the pace, but I’m particularly looking forward to racing at Croft, Knockhill and Silverstone, because I know my way around those circuits fairly well.  We did a one-off race in the Cooper Class of the main Mini Challenge at Croft last year and finished on the podium, so once we get used to the Leon I think we could have a few good results.

Ollie Hancock has taken over at the head of the  Formula Renault BARC championship race after winning bothr aces held at Rockingham yesterday.

Hitech Racing will be hoping to get back to winning ways this weekend in the British Formula 3 International Series to add to driver Max Chilton's second place last time out at Oulton Park..read more

The CR Scuderia team got their 2008 FIA GT Championship campaign underway at Silverstone over the weekend, taking second and fifth places in the race.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs picked up her 2nd Class Win in the Porsche Club Championship at Oulton Park on Saturday in her distintive Pink Porsche 911SC.

Bradley Ellis and Ed Morris had a tough start in their FIA GT3 European Championship races at Silverstone over the weekend(19-20 April),. They did however climb from 25^th on the grid to 11^th on Saturday abefore grabbing some poins with a seventh place on Sunday..

Formula Renault BARC competitor Aaron Steele showed considerable pace at Rockingham picking up a good sixth place after a couple of incidents dropped him down the field early on,

Paul McLean won an exciting Porsche Open race at Oulton Park, after battling with Mike Johnson for the lead. Paul Winter claimed third and Class Two honours after Paul Livesey clashed with a backmarker and retired with four laps to go. 

The 964 C2s dominated in the Porshce Club Championshipat Oulton Park, Marcus Carniel tleading early on before Ian White got ahead to claim another win in the series.. The ever-rapid Brian Robinson came through for second ahead of Mark McAleer,

Formula Renault BARC Championship team Hillspeed returned from a wet Rockingham yesterday, Sunday, 20th April, with its 100% podium finishing record still in one piece after their driver Menasheh Idafar claimed to third places.

Howard Payne and Daniel Gibson fought over the lead in the Clubmans Cup at a wet Rockingham yesterday(Sunday) nad although Gibson managed to get in front once or twice it was Howard Payne who prevailed winning by less than a second.

Australian Mini Challenge race winner Nathan Geier will move to the Sherrin Rentals car for the remainder of the season starting at the next round at the Barbagallo Raceway (May 9-11) in  Western Australia.

The Kumho Tyres Australian F3 Championship resumes this weekend at Narellan's Oran Park Raceway just outside Sydney..read more

Patrick Barrettwill make his Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series debut in the Bosch Engineering 250 at Virginia International Raceway this Sunday, April 27th.

Ollie Hancock came out on top once again in round three and four of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship at Rockingham yesterday. Despite only starting down in eighth place in Round 3, the Apotex Scorpio Motorsport driver took a big lead to win by a massive 35 seconds. Mark Burdett Motorsport’s Johannes Seidlitz did a similarly impressive job climbing from 9th on the grid to second while Hillspeed’s pole-sitter Menasheh Idafar was third.In round 4 Hancock made a late pass on Brett Parris to snatch the win while Idafar was third once again..

The Volkswagen team made a successful start yesterday (Sunday) to the Central Europe Rally, the Race Touareg of Carlos Sainz winning the opening stage and the sister Volkswagens of Giniel de Villiers, Carlos Sousa and Dieter Depping finishing in the top six. Spain's Sainz and his French co-driver Michel Périn completed the 63 km sprint stage between Budapest, Hungary, and Baia Mare, Romania, 41 seconds quicker than their nearest rival, Robby Gordon and his Hummer.  'It was a truly demanding special stage,' said double World Rally Champion Sainz. 'We didn't take major risks but succeeded quickly in finding a good rhythm. Everything went fine for us.'  A fifth Race Touareg, driven by American Mark Miller, was an early casualty when he lost control at a sharp right-hander and the Race Touareg somersaulted out of the rally. Neither Miller nor his co-driver Ralph Pitchford was hurt. Today's second leg features a 100 km special stage around Baia Mare which competitors will tackle twice. The rally ends on Saturday.

Central Europe Rally provisional standings after leg 1
1, Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), Volkswagen, 39m 56s
2, Robby Gordon / Andy Grider (USA), Hummer, +41s
3, Giniel de Villiers (RSA) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (GER), Volkswagen, +56s
4, Stephane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Mitsubishi, +1m 02s
5, Carlos Sousa (POR) / Andreas Schulz (GER), Volkswagen, +1m 39s
6, Dieter Depping / Timo Gottschalk (GER), Volkswagen, +2m 12s

Thomas Mutsch and Ian Khan brought the Matech Racing #20 Ford GT home in first place in both races in the FIA European GT3 Championsip at Silverstone.

Eric De Doncker  was back at the wheel of his Ford Mustang FR500C Thermosulit Motorsport 98 for the first race in the European GT4 Cup at Silverstone, The 2007 Champion had an eventful weekend taking home a 5th and 2nd place in the two races.

20-04-08

Menasheh Idafar continued good start to the 2008 Forrnula Renault BARC season by maintaining a 100% record of podium finshes with two third places at a wet Rockingham today (Sunday, 20th April)..read more.

Andy Huxtable won the Universal Racing Services Classic FF2000 race at Pembrey this weekend driving a Van Dieman RF83. Second in a Reynard SF79 was Clive Wood , 5.923 seconds behind the winner. Just on his tail , 5.996 secs off the leader, was Tom Pope in a Van DIeman RF81 with Scott Temple fourth, just half a second behind. In the URC Classic FF1600 race Keith Davey won in a Van Dieman from the Hawke DL11 of Jonathan Davis and Stuart Kestenbaum's RF79.

The Carphone Warehouse Post 89 Formula Ford (NW) Championship encounter at Oulton Park on Saturday was won by Tom Bradshaw driving a Van Dieman DP08. Second, 2.6 seconds behind was Gavin Wills in another Van Dieman, a RF00 with Peter Barrable's Ray GRS05 third.  Also at Oulton Oliver Stirling won the Sports 2000 Historic Championship  race in a Tiga from Nick Johnson's Lola 592F by just 0.l3 secs. Third was Jim McDougall. In the Sports 200 Pinto's Paul Streat won in a Swift DB2 from Paul Tickner's Carbir and once again, Jim McDougall was third.,

Andrew Kirkaldy kept up the winning reputation of the CR Scuderia team at Silverstone yesterday by putting the no.56 Ferrari 430 on pole position for the opening round of the FIA GT Championship. Chris Niarchos, in his first competitive track action for almost eight months, secured tenth place for the sister CR Scuderia Ferrari.
“This is a fantastic result for the team,” said Andrew. “Since last season ended we have worked very hard to get this team up and running and I must say it’s good to be behind the wheel again rather than behind a desk. We have two other teams, in British GT and Formula Renault, and they have both been winning so we are under immense pressure to do well here. There are a few GT1 cars between me and Richard (Westbrook – in the second placed Porsche) so hopefully we’ll have a good day again tomorrow.”“This is a dream start to our FIA weekend,” said Chris. “We came into this Championship knowing that we had the tools to do well but actually converting that knowledge into results is a much harder exercise. Unfortunately for myself and Tim we were on the back foot a little as we were hit in session two and lost a lot of this morning’s track time. I’m starting the race tomorrow and I can’t wait to see how we get on in the race. The guys all deserve a good result as they have been incredible and exceeded all my expectations over the past weeks.”

Formula Renault BARC Championship leader Menasheh Idafar qualified on on pole position for today's(Sunday) third round.  The 17-year-old racer, driving for  Hillspeed, produced a stunning lapt during qualifying to seal his second career pole by  0.263 seconds  with a lap of 1m 18.948 seconds (88.85mph).  During this afternoon session for Round 4, Menasheh qualified on the front row once again and just missed out on a double pole position by a mere six 100ths of a second. Speaking at the conclusion of qualifying, Menasheh said: “Being on pole again is great, I’m really very pleased and I must thank the guys at Hillspeed for giving me a fantastic car. It would have been nice to have taken pole position for both races but being on the front row for race two is obviously good.We’re ahead of the guys who are closest to us in the championship so that’s important and I’m confident we can fight for a couple of podiums tomorrow. We’re not certain what the weather will do, and I’m sure the races will be hard, but I’m looking forward to it.”  read more

American racer Jonathan Bomarito was quickest in qualifying for the  Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach by taking the  pole position for Sunday's 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda season-opener. Second was Simona de Silvestro with Carl Skerlong third. 

Also at Long Beach the curtain comes down on Champ Car with Britain's Justin Wilson on pole . Second was Alex Tagliani followed by Franck Perera in third.

Danica Patrick has won her first IndyCar Series race at the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi in her 50th Indycar start. She beat Penske's Helio  Helio Castroneves into second with Scott Dixon third. The Andretti Green racer was clearly over the moon, "Finally, this is a long time coming. It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I know I was on the same strategy as Helio and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous.  "I want to thank my family," said Patrick. "They have been there for me, supported me and always believed I could do this."

In the DTM at Oschersleben Timo Scheider, Tom Kristensen and Martin Tomczyk clinched grid positions one to three for Audi. Youngster Oliver Jarvis in Audi Sport Team Phoenix's A4 from last year in fourth position ensured that the first two rows on the grid are firmly in Audi's hands

The Formula Renault World Series gets going next weekend at Monza and at the moment it's pretty dificult to pick a winner from the 26 drivers,..read more

19-04-08

Phil Quaife has been signed by Apex Motorsport to race one of their Jaguar XKRs. in this weekend's FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone ..read more

Bridgestone,  exclusive  tyre  supplier  to  the  GP2  Series,  has  today  announced  the  nine selected finalists for the 2008 Bridgestone e-reporter young journalists’ competition. read more

Hillspeed’s Menasheh Idafar prepared perfectly for this weekend’s third and fourth rounds of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship during unofficial testing at Rockingham. The 17-year-old championship leader lapped strongly throughout the day’s four sessions and using the team’s own unofficial timings, Menasheh ended the test run with a highly creditable best lap of 1m 19.5 seconds.Importantly, the Gulfol, Ortolan and Gulf Computer Services backed racer produced his fault-free performance using old tyres. Some other front-runners did produce comparable times but only when using new rubber, putting the British-born Bahraini in a strong position ahead of qualifying at Rockingham today. “We couldn’t have prepared for the weekend any better than we have today so I’m really looking forward to qualifying”, said a buoyant Menasheh, “We used old tyres throughout the test and we still set some very good laps times so I’m confident for the weekend. Everything is going really well, the team is working perfectly and the car feels fantastic every time we take to the track. We’re not over-confident for this weekend’s races as we’re sure it’ll be tough but I do think we have a good chance to fight for the podium.” 

Brian Frisselle set  a  lap of 1:19.823(112.749 mph) for Aim Motorsport in the  Grand-Am Mexico City 250 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.  His co-driver Mark Wilkins qualified with a1:19.537 at 113.155 mph to secure the front row position for today's. He would fall just 29/1000ths off pole. "I didn't feel quite right in the car at first" offered Mark. "We made some significant changes from Thursday to deal with suspension issues so it was a matter of getting used to how the car reacted. In the end, we had the setup just right and it looks good for the race."   The Exchange Traded Gold #61 Ford Riley was one of only two cars to get into the 1:19's which reinforces Ian Willis' comments that "We have the car to win this weekend." Mark commented after the press conference: "We are really happy for the team that we put the car on the front row and in just three races so far, we have qualified in the top five. We now have a shot from the front row to bring the #61 Ford Riley to the podium." He continued, "We had a very solid race here last year coming from the back so we are felling pretty good about starting from the front row tomorrow."

18-04-08

Defending Clubman’s Cup Champion Daniel Gibson took the win Oulton park but only after Mike Evans spun on the last lap …read

Richard Kingsnorth, will race 3.2-litre V6-engined Beetle RSI in the VW Cup this year while Irish driver Sam Maher-Loughnan (pictured below) will trade his Vento VR6 for a 1.8-litre turbocharged Polo

In the Performance N Economy Chip Tuning  Sports and Saloons Championship at Oulton Park last month  both Paul Dobson’s Mazda RX7 and the Caterham Vauxhall of Robert Pritchard share the spoils..

Classic Clubmans – Mark Charteris continued his winning ways at Donington last weekend just as he hasd at Thruxton back in March for the opening rounds of the year where he claimed a double win in his Mallock,

Daniel Morad has been kept busy recently testing his Eurointernational Atlantic Swift 016.a and driving at A1GP in South Africa, Mexico and China as A1 Team Canada's rookie driver.  So he is probably pretty pleased to be able to get down to the more serious business of actually racing this weekend in the first round of the Cooper Tire presents the Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda this weekend in Long Beach…read more

The 2008 season got underway for N.technology at the WTCC test this week. It was a promising debut for the team's new Honda Accord Euro R that James Thompson will drive from the next race meeting in Valencia next month(May 18^th) On Tuesday the team completed 54 laps, working through set-ups and the car's general balance and grip. "We had a lot of work to do as this was our first official test," said Thompson. "We were working hard, completing good runs and making sure we'll be competitive for the race debut. I felt like a kid with a new toy!"
The development programme was completed on Wednesday, with Thompson setting the fastest lap of the session at1:43.500,  eighth fastest overall and only 0.6secs off Alain Menu's best lap. "This week's trackside work has been really encouraging," said the Thompson, "There are a few things that will need working on back at the factory, but otherwise we are really pleased with our progress."

Hitech Racing were second fastest with Max Chilton in F3 testing at Rockingham on Thursday, Chilton was just 0.2secs off the quickest .

Denmark-based Poulsen Motorsport will join the 2009 FIA World Touring Car Championship. This  yeat they will concentrate on the Danish Touring Car Championship and the FIA European Touring Car Cup and three events of the FIA WTCC with four BMW 320si cars. Team owner and driver Kristian Poulsen has been joined by reigning Danish Touring Car Champion and FIA European Touring Car Cup winner Michel Nykjær, 1999 DTC champion Jesper Sylvest, and Irish youngster Emmet O'Brien. ."We have a busy programme for this year, but we have more ambitious plans for 2009 as we intend to take part in the full WTCC season with three cars," declared Poulsen.The drivers for Poulsen Motorsport's 2009 WTCC move are O'Brien, Nykjær and Poulsen himself.

The Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship will be a feature on this Sunday's edition of Network Tens' flagship motorsport program, RPM.  RPM, hosted by Greg Rust, will air a feature detailing V8 Supercar driver Cam McConville's drive of the Transwest Racing Dallara at Oran Park last Monday.
Wired for sound, McConville's car also had several onboard cameras to capture all the action. RPM also chatted to several drivers and behind the scenes personnel within the championship to get the thoughts and views about F3 racing, and the Australian championship, in general. Si if you’re in Australia tune in to RPM, this Sunday, between 1 - 2PM on Network Ten... Don't miss it!

Alain Menu's Chevrolet Lacetti was quickest in the WTCC test this week at Valencia. The Swiss replaced team-mate Nicola Larini on the second day and posted a fastest time of 1:42.886, one tenth faster than Farfus' time on Tuesday (1:42.990), and Jörg Müller's best lap (1:42.994) on Wednesday."I worked mainly on different suspension settings, but we haven't decided on anything final yet. The engineers will take the data home and come up with a good package for the race," said Menu.  Tom Coronel surprised everyone by posting the fourth best time at the wheel of his SUNRED petrol-powered SEAT León. The Dutchman, who took part for the first time in a WTCC official test, completed his best lap in 1:43.335; only 0.4s off Menu's but faster than local heroes Jordi Gené and Félix Porteiro.  Spaniard José Manuel Pérez-Aicart tested the SUNRED car in preparation for his WTCC debut next moth, an award for the winner of the 2007 SEAT León Supercopa.  At BMW, Farfus, Müller and Andy Priaulx altogether completed an impressive 643 laps.

The Aluminos kart racing team go it’s ProKart Challenge North campaign underway last weekend at the Infineon Raceway Karting Center in Sonoma, California.

The International Formula Master season will start in Valencia on 18 May and  Trident Racing will be one of the teams making it’s debut in the series. The team has  two more tests to sort it’s cars  starting at Magny-Cours on April 22-23 followed by Valencia just 5 days before the season gets underway(May 13-14) The team has two confirmed drivers, Kasper Andersen and Harald Schlegelmilch, while talks are still in place for the third ride of the team.

Two-time Le Mans winner Hans-Joachim Stuck and the two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz are leading Volkswagen's line-up of drivers for the 24-hour race at the Nurburgring. The three factory-developed racing versions of the Scirocco, which is making its debut on the race track before its market launch, will be piloted by an unusual mix of seasoned rally and circuit drivers as well as young talent and journalists at the legendary motorsport marathon staged at the "Green Hell" on 24 and 25 May. Alongside Sainz, his rally team-mates Giniel de Villiers and Dieter Depping are part of the line-up as well as Volkswagen Junior Jimmy Johansson and the touring car racers Florian Gruber, Thomas Mutsch and Francois Verbist. Prominent support from the Volkswagen Group will be provided to them by Stuck, who has been the company´s motorsport representative since the beginning of this year, as well as by Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Volkswagen board member for technical development. Other Scirocco drivers are journalists Bernd Ostmann (auto motor und sport) and Matthias Malmedie (Grip - das Motormagazin) .

Will Power is aiming to get a third Champ Car win as the Australian participates in the historic final Champ Car race in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach at the famous seaside beach circuit in Long Beach, California this weekend.  The lateness of the merger created a unique one-off ‘double’ race weekend for Round 3 of the newly unified 2008 IndyCar Series, with existing IndyCar Series teams racing their Dallara IndyCars at the oval in Motegi, Japan while the Champ Car teams will run their 2007-spec DP01 Champ Cars on the streets of Long Beach on the same weekend. The historic event will be remembered for some time, with 20 cars entered for the race. Power is keen to post the win not only to make history by winning the final Champ Car event, but also to score maximum points torwards the 2008 IndyCar Series standings, as both the Long Beach and Motegi events will count for full IndyCar Series points

A fundraising event will take place the week of D-Day 2009(June 1-6^th).  An ex-patient of  DMRC Headley Court who has sustained a spinal injury laving him paralised from the waist down, Cpl Lee Cairns is planning to take a hand cycle ride along the beaches of Normandy on the D-Day anniversary to raise money for The Army Benevolent fund, RAFA and the RBL.  He will also be laying a wreath in rememberance of those who have lost their lives and have been injured at each landing point along the coast. Cycling with him will be a range of celebrity guests along with 2 other ex-patients and a small number of cyclists from the RAF team. Celebs include Tom Chilton (BTCC), The Hoosiers and Leon Haslam (British Superbikes) The fundraiser is expected to pan over 5 days and a 'celeb' will accompany Lee and the other cyclists on each leg of the trip. 

17-04-08

Next Saturday is the start of The Daily Telegraph Caterham Academy season. This year's crop of 55 motorsporting novices, ranging in age between 22 and 56, will start their track careers at Aintree, Liverpool, with a sprint event. After more sprint events and a hillclimb they will race for the first time in July at Oulton Park..

Caterham Motorsport is expecting a huge 73-car grid when the  series kicks-off at  Croft next week(26/27 Apr) for the first round in the Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport Challenge.

Menasheh Idafar is looking forward to this weekend’s next two rounds of the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Rockingham. After a near perfect three-day test run with Hillspeed earlier this week the current championship leader is looking for  a win.

The Le Mans Series Trading Performance Team left Barcelona last week after a very positive weekend where they picjled up,their first championship point. .

16-04-08

With just a few days to go until the latest instalment of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship, leading entrant Russell Racing is in a positive frame of mind as it aims to build on its solid start to the campaign at Brands Hatch three weeks ago...