The Grid

Jonathan Adam bounced back from his puncture yesterday to win Round 17 of the SEAT Cupra Championship in style. After sliding off the track at the start and dropping to 5th, he put in a brilliant recovery drive to snatch the lead from Andrew Herron in the later stages of the race and close the gap to Championship leader Robert Lawson to 21 points. Andrew Herron hung on for second, just as he had on Saturday while Carl Breeeze was third.

Stefan Hodgetts won the first race of the day in the ELF Renault Clio Cup with a lights to flag win at Silverstone National circuit . Second was pole-sitter Paul Rivett who was beaten off the line by Hodgetts. Third was new 2008 Clio Cup Champion Ben Winrow.

Tim Harvey drove through the murk and the spray at Silverstone to take a fanstastic win in round 18 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Silverstone today (Sunday 31 August). After starting way down in 15th place Harvey stormed through to win and increase his lead at the head of the table to 7 points. Nick Tandy his debut win in the earlier round 17 with following im home in second.

Alexander Sims clinched his second win of the season to boost his title aspirations with a superb drive in round 17 of the 2008 Formula Renault UK with Michelin Championship. The Manor Competition driver led home series leader Adam Christodoulou and Dean Stoneman at Silverstone.

BMW have won both WTCC races at Oschersleben with

Augusto Farfus winning the first in his BMW Team Germany car by driving up the outside of the grid at the start and staying clear of any incidents to take the lead at the first corner where he stayed until the chequered flag,. In race 2 Italy-Spain driver Félix Porteiro managed to lead the race from pole to win his first race of the year .

Robert Lawson’s (Bardon/JHR) lead in the SEAT Cupra Championship has grown dramatically after his closest rival, Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) suffered a punctured on the opening lap of Round 17 at Silverstone. Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) made it a JHR 1-2 by coming home in second place.

Patrón Highcroft Racing continued its run of podium finishes to secure second overall and in the LMP2 class at round nine, the Detroit Sportscar Challenge presented by Bosch at Belle Isle, on Saturday, August 30. The latest stellar performance from the Patrón Highcroft crew helped drivers Scott Sharp and David Brabham to slash the LMP2 championship gap from 10 points to four heading in to the last two rounds of the season.

Dino Zamparelli claimed the initiative in the Ginetta Junior Championship at Silverstone yesterday(Saturday) with another excellent win, his ninth this year. His Championship rival, Thomas Carnaby retired from the race leaving Zamparelli with a 24 point lead with just five races to go.

The Daily Telegraph Caterham Academy series will go down to the wire in two weeks time at Castle Combe after Gordon Sawyer claimed his maiden win in Academy Group 1 at Donington Park yesterday. In Group 2 Kai Lo(below) was the victor

Ginetta Junior Championship driver Daniel Lloyd saw his race at Silverstone's National Circuit yesterday afternoon, (30th August), end somewhat prematurely after he and rival Dominic Pettit came together ending Daniels chances of a podium finish .

David Brabham was once again on the podium in the American Le Mans Series, finishing second overall and in the LMP2 class at round nine, the Detroit Sportscar Challenge presented by Bosch at Belle Isle yesterday,Saturday 30 August. Brabham and his Patrón Highcroft Racing teammate Scott Sharp are now only four points adrift of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas in the LMP2 championship..

Andrew Herron raced brilliantly to his fourth podium finish of the 2008 season at Silverstone National Circuit this afternoon, Saturday, 30th August – the SEAT Cupra Championship rookie claiming a richly deserved second place during round 17.

Alexander Sims just missed out on securing Manor Competition’s second pole position start of the Formula Renault UK season by the smallest of margins today, Saturday, 30th August, during qualifying for the 18th round of the season at Silverstone. With just 0.055 seconds splitting Simms from the top spot on the grid for the second of Sunday’s two races, everything will be to play for tomorrow as he bids to keep his championship hopes alive into the final event of the season three weeks from now at Brands Hatch.Qualifying for round 18 with a time of 54.941 seconds (107.39mph), Sims outpaced Manor team-mate Kris Loane by just a 10th of a second with the Northern Irishman recording the sixth quickest time following a lap of 55.067 seconds. Henry Surtees will start round 18 from 15th on the grid, even though his lap of 55.385 seconds was less than half a second shy of pole position, while Tom Armour will begin the weekend’s second race from 18th position after posting a time of 55.662 seconds.During the cooler round 17 session in the morning, Sims’ time of 54.298 seconds placed him on the third row of the grid in sixth place for the first of today’s races with Loane four positions further back in 10th – his best effort a lap of 54.453 seconds. Armour did very well to out-qualify team-mate Surtees, the Manor pairing 16th and 18th fastest respectively with times of 54.691 seconds and 54.795 seconds

Mark Wilkins drove the Exchange Traded Gold No. 61 Ford Riley to the front row yesterday*Saturday) afternoon with a time of 1:11.761 at 112.875 mph to record his second pole in the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Mark also earned the pole in at the Brumos 250 in Daytona. While teammate Brian Frisselle posted the fastest lap time in Saturday morning practice, Mark was mired in traffic and unable to get a good run. Only Daytona Prototypes would be on track during the fifteen-minute qualifying session allowing Mark to get open track and have a shot at the pole. The No. 61 Ford Riley would sit first halfway through the session yet others were closing. Mark broke into the 1:11’s then held back as he caught traffic in an effort to create a gap for a final run. On his final lap, Mark would run a 1:11.761 picking up two-tenths on his own time and opening the gap to second place.

Robert Huff took his first WTCC pole position in style in the sunshine at Oschersleben this afternoon. His time of 1:35.675 was even faster than Farfus' this morning and set a new record. He was the final car to cross the line as the Chevrolet team were careful to make sure that he was not plagued by traffic like his team mate Alain Menu, whose final lap was spoiled. Huff set a provisional fastest time early in the session as he dipped below 1:36, but Gabriele Tarquini, last year's polesitter, bettered the time just before the British driver went out for his final attempt. However, the Chevrolet driver hooked up the car for a lap where he extended the lead through each sector, eventually finishing nearly two tenths ahead of Tarquini's SEAT León TDI. Fellow SEAT Sport driver Tiago Monteiro took third position, with SUNRED's Tom Coronel in fourth place having had a very competitive day. Huff's team mate Nicola Larini took fifth position, with Augusto Farfus who seemed unbeatable in the practices this morning in sixth

AIM Autosport arrived in Millville, New Jersey ready to attack the brand new Thunderbolt circuit at New Jersey Motorsport Park (NJMP) for the penultimate round of the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. This is a brand new facility and the circuit is an unknown factor for all the teams. AIM Autosport, coming off its third consecutive podium with a third place at Infineon Raceway just last weekend, is looking to be on the pace early with the Exchange Traded Gold No. 61 Ford Riley. “Back to back race weekends on opposite coasts put us under a bit of pressure commented team principal Ian Willis. “We took an extra day in Sonoma to prep the car before sending the hauler straight to New Jersey and the team arrived at Thunderbolt early Wednesday to get the car ready for practice the next day. Being a new track, we needed to do a track walk with the drivers and engineers before we could come up with ideas for setup. We’ll get that setup on the car tonight and spend the first session sorting out the details.” The Thunderbolt circuit is 2.25 miles with twelve turns. A narrow course with only slight elevation changes, it will prove a difficult track when it comes to passing. After two races featuring only the Daytona Prototypes, this weekend the GT class will also be on track which will make passing even more of a challenge.

Strakka Racing will make a high-profile return to the 2008 Le Mans Series for the season finalé at Silverstone on September 14th. The team’s regular pairing of Nick Leventis and Peter Hardman will be calling upon the services of one of the trio of drivers who helped steer Aston Martin to a second successive GT1 victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, Darren Turner.

Daniel Lloyd produced the eighth quickest time at Silverstone National Circuit this afternoon, Friday, 29th August, during pre-event testing ahead of the weekend’s 19th and 20th rounds of the Ginetta Junior Championship. Marking the start of a highly important 10 days for the Ginetta Junior competitors – the subsequent two rounds of the campaign set to be contested next weekend at Mallory Park – today’s test saw 16-year-old Daniel unable to show his true pace in the end due to three stoppages interrupting each of his attempts to produce one of the quickest laps. Running at the head of the times for the opening 10 minutes of the session, the Scammonden based racer concluded the test with a best lap of 1m 14.514 seconds (79.18mph) which ended up being the eighth fastest time.

Acura Motorsports will enter the LMP1 class in the 2009 American Le Mans Series, company officials announced today. Acura’s entry into the most powerful and technically advanced division in ALMS will feature two Acura ARX-02a prototype sports cars developed by Honda Performance Development (HPD).

Patrón Highcroft Racing took its second overall American Le Mans Series pole position of the season at round nine, the Detroit Sportscar Challenge presented by Bosch at Belle Isle, on the day that Acura announced it will enter the LMP1 class in 2009. As one of two chosen teams, Patrón Highcroft Racing will compete in LMP1 with its current driver line-up of Scott Sharp and David Brabham, who secured the team’s Detroit pole position with a time of 1:13.483.

Phil Quaife stormed to a double pole position in qualifying at Silverstone on Friday 29 August 2008 ahead of rounds 17 and 18 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. The Jota Sport driver bagged his first ever Carrera Cup pole for round 17 and then made it a perfect session by posting a second best time that was good enough to take pole for round 18 as well.

Championship leader Michael Caine set the fastest lap in pre-race testing at Silverstone today (Friday 29 August 2008) ahead of rounds 17 and 18 of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. Meanwhile, in the pro-am1 category Nigel Rice narrowly headed the times from Tony Gilham and Steve Rance just pipped Glynn Geddie to be top of the pro-am2 category. In the slightly faster afternoon session, both Caine (Team Parker Racing) and title rival Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing) caused separate red flags after spinning into the gravel at Brooklands. "I thought I was losing time through there and now I know I'm not," said Caine after his spin at the very end of the session. Earlier, Harvey had brought the session to a halt with a similar error. "My fault," said Harvey. "The car's too full of gravel to run it again this afternoon and I hadn't done a new tyre run at that point," said Harvey, who ended the day fifth quickest. Second fastest overall was a strong result for Phil Quaife (Jota Sport), while PCGB VIP racer Nick Tandy was an excellent third fastest ahead of his Porsche debut. "The car is great," said the British F3 racer. "I just wanted to progress through the day and there is definitely more to come." Tim Bridgman (Team Parker Racing) was fourth fastest, "It's all fine and my time was set on old tyres," said Bridgman, who was just ahead of Harvey as Sam Hancock (Jota Sport) completed the top six, only a quarter of a second away from Caine's best time. Seventh fastest, after spending the morning session running in a rebuilt car following his accident at Knockhill was Charles Bateman (Team Parker Racing).

1961 World Champion Phil Hill passed away in Monterey, Californai yesterday, August 28, 2008. Born on April 20, 1927 in Miami, Florida. Hillwas 81 and suffered from Parkinson's Disease. His death came after he attended the Monterey Historic event where hel became ill and was admitted to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula where he died. The Hrid offers our condolences to all his family and friends

Registration for the 2008 Formula Renault UK Winter Cup opens this weekend with early interest as strong as ever and many teams already signing drivers for the four-round series. Rounds one and two take place at Croft on Saturday, 1st November, followed by rounds three and four at Rockingham seven days later. Dean Stoneman will race for Alpine Motorsport, which is planning a four-car team. Its Formula Renault BARC driver Isa Yousif will be one of Stoneman’s teammates. Last year’s winning team Hillspeed, which ran Richard Singleton to the title in 2007, has signed Formula Renault BARC drivers Michael Lyons and Menasheh Idafar to race in the UK Class, with KF2 kart racer James Thoedore entering the BARC Class. CR Scuderia and Manor Competition both have one driver signed of planned four-car squads, while Fortec Mo t o r s p o r t a l s o expects to enter four cars. Mark Burdett Motorsport anticipates three drivers will sign, while Apotex Scorpio Motorsport may run Ollie Hancock if the current championship leader wins the free registration on offer to the Formula Renault BARC champion.

The WTCC will have Atari as the Title Sponsor of the meeting this weekend at the Oschersleben Motorsport Arena which will now be called the "FIA WTCC Atari Race of Germany". Atari is the worldwide publisher of "Race Pro", the new WTCC video game, scheduled for pre-Christmas release and designed exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system. Developed by SimBin, RACE Pro recreates a breathtaking reality giving gamers the ultimate racing simulation experience. RACE Pro was successfully presented by Atari and SimBin to the press and fans last week at the Leipzig Game Convention. "Having personally taken the leap from twenty years of championship racing to racing simulation development, I am really excited for SimBin to be taking WTCC from PC to Xbox 360," said Henrik Roos, CEO of SimBin Studios AB.

Dutchman Duncan Huisman joins Wiechers-Sport in on of their BMW 320si’s for the German team's home race in Oschersleben. After clinching the Dutch championship title twice, Huisman finished runner up in the 2001 FIA European Super Production Championship, was crowned Independents' champion in the 2003 FIA European Touring Car Championship and claimed four victories in the infamous Macau Guia Race. He made occasional appearances in the WTCC with one win at Macau in 2005..

Oschersleben is the home event for BMW and their reigning world champion Andy Priaulx has claimed four victories at Oschersleben between 2003—7, "My personal memories are of wins, and also the emotions of 2005. That year I stood on the podium alongside Zanardi when he won his first WTCC race - there was not a dry eye at the track." Local hero Jörg Müller won here twice, in 03 and 06: "I just can't wait for my home race. The 15 points I scored at Brands Hatch came at the perfect moment. I'm far from giving up the fight for the title. Now I have to score as many points as possible in Oschersleben, though I'm aware this will be no easy task with 70 kilos of success ballast." In 2005, Alessandro Zanardi claimed his first victory after the crash that cost him both legs: "Quite obviously, my relationship with Oschersleben is a very special one. Being back on the highest step of the podium there, for the first time following my accident, will always remain unforgettable. However there's no reason for me to only look back. Following my good recent results I now want to score again in Germany."

Chevrolet has offered a very unique prize for the V-WTCC, the Virtual World Touring Car Championship based on SimBin's videogame Race. The competition's main prize is a Chevrolet HHR, in a special customised version that is also equipped with an environmental friendly LPG installation from the German company Fahrmitgas. Besides the car itself, the winner will also receive a voucher for Euro 500 worth of LPG.

Twin brothers Tim and Tom Coronel will team in the 2009 Dakar Rally, swapping roles as driver and co-driver. They will drive a Bowler Nemesis car, built and run by the Dakarsport.com team. The Rally will be held in Argentina and Chile with the Atacama desert providing the toughest challenge while the three final stages will be held around Córdoba in Argentina. The rally will come to an end in Buenos Aires on January 18th."It will be like learning how to race all over again. Everything in this car is different from what I drove in the past. We are bouncing and jumping all the time. Even in a WTCC race I am not shaken as much as I am here. It is a big challenge, and both Tim and I are very much looking forward to it," Tom Coronel commented.

Eurosport will air the Oschersleben qualifying session live, on Saturday from 15.00 to 15.45. The original plan was to air it on a delayed basis at 19.00. The revised schedule for WTCC coverage from Germany is the following:

Saturday, 30th:     Qualifying - LIVE                   Eurosport 2, 15.00/15.45
Sunday, 31st;       Warm up - LIVE                     Eurosport International, 08.45/09.15
                               Race 1 - LIVE                        Eurosport 2, 11.45/12.45
                               Race 1 - highlights                 Eurosport International, 15.00/15.30
                               Race 2 - LIVE                        Eurosport International, 15.30/16.30 (Times are Central European Time)

Drivers in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB are being offered the chance of an exclusive Human Performance assessment at the Porsche Driving Experience Centre Silverstone through a new partnership between the Carrera Cup GB and Technogym

Patrón Highcroft Racing will be at Belle Isle this weekend for round 9 of the American Le Mans Series and the Detroit Sportscar Challenge presented by Bosch. The team already has four wins in LMP2 this season, including last weekend whem Scott Sharp and David Brabham took then honours at Mosport, their second win ‘on the trot’ to close the gap to the top of the LMP2 points table to just 10 points . read more

The drivers for the opening round of the inaugural Superleague Formula championship have been finalised. Drivers joining the championship will include ex-Champ Car World Series race winner, Nelson Philippe (Borussia Dortmund); Brazilian driver, Tuka Rocha (Flamengo); Spanish GP2 ace, Andy Soucek (Corinthians); UAE-based Austrian, Andreas Zuber (Al Ain); Danish ace, Kasper Andersen (Olympiacos); Italian, Davide Rigon (Beijing Guoan) and young British stars, Craig Dolby (RSC Anderlecht) and Duncan Tappy (Tottenham Hotspur). The complete Superleague Formula field for this weekend's opening round will now feature:

3 AC Milan Robert Doornbos
4 Galatasaray Alessandro Pier Guidi
5 PSV Eindhoven Yelmer Buurman
6 Al Ain Andreas Zuber
7 Flamengo Tuka Rocha
8 Anderlecht Craig Dolby
9 Olympiacos Kasper Andersen
10 FC Basel Max Wissel
11 Borussia Dortmund Nelson Philippe
12 Beijing Guoan Davide Rigon
14 Corinthians Andy Soucek
16 FC Porto Tristan Gommendy
17 Rangers Ryan Dalziel
18 Sevilla FC Borja Garcia
19 Tottenham Hotspur Duncan Tappy
21 Liverpool Adrian Valles
22 AS Roma Enrico Toccacelo

Enrico Toccacelo driving for AS Roma, run by Fisichella Motor Sport International, were quickest yesterday in official testing at Donington.

Fabio Leimer headed yesterday morning's timesheet for team Jenzer Motorsport at the official Formula Master test day in Oschersleben, Germany. The Swiss driver completed a best lap in 1:21.323, followed by ISR's Tim Sandtler who posted a time of 1:21.565. Third fastest was Sergey Afanasiev for JD Motorsport with a 1:21.761 lap.

Audi Sport will offer a racing version of the Audi R8, developed for customer use in GT3, it is expected to be available from autumn 2009. "The R8 is the first production Audi bearing the name and genes of a successful racing sportscar and is therefore an excellent base from which to build up our first big customer sport programme," explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "Ever since the R8 was unveiled we've been inundated with enquiries about a race version. With the Audi R8 we will offer customers a racing sportscar equipped with high-calibre technology and the typical Audi qualities, but which is nevertheless easy to handle." The Audi R8 conforms to the production-based GT3 regulations allowing the car to be fielded in numerous national and international race series. Because the GT3 regulations prohibit the use of four-wheel drive the Audi R8 comes with the typical GT rear-wheel drive. The power is transmitted via a newly developed six-speed sequential sports gearbox

Nurburgring will host a weekend of Renault racing plus demonstrations of the ING Renault F1 team and races of all Renault categories, from Formula Renault 3.5 World Series to the Clio Cup, including the Northern European Cup(NEC) Formula Renault 2.0. For drivers and teams from the NEC, the two rounds at the Nurburgring mark the series' third and final visit of the year to Germany for the penultimate weekend of the season and the battle for the championship title is heating up. Valtteri Bottas, who won the first six races of the season and then scored another two wins at Assen, failed to score any points during the most recent weekend at Zolder and saw his Motopark Academy team-mates Antiono Felix da Costa and Tobias Hegewald close up in the points' standings. At Zolder, Hegewald scored his first win of the season on Sunday while Dutchman Stef Dusseldorp had taken the spoils for Van Amersfoort Racing on Saturday. Many drivers from the Northern European Cup Formula Renault 2.0 are on double duty as they will be racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 at the Nurburgring as well.

A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has a new team, A1 Team Monaco will race in Season Four. Not only will the red and white colours of the Monaco flag adorn the car, but the venture also has the personal blessing of His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco. The team will be headed by joint seat holders, Clivio Piccione and Hubertus Bahlsen. A former F3 and GP2 race winner, Piccione will also be only the second person in the series’ history to take on the dual role of being the race driver as well as seat holder. Piccione says: “I am very proud to have been able to put this project together and I believe this new enterprise will bring a lot of excitement and glory to our country. It is a unique situation to be able to take on these two roles. I believe it is a great asset for me not just to be the driver, but to also have a real involvement within the team structure. I am really looking forward to racing for my country in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car.”Monaco resident Bahlsen, from Switzerland, races his own personal collection of historic F1 cars, winning his group in the 2005 FIA Historic Formula One series. The team will be run on a day-to-day basis by its Team Principal, Graham Taylor who has worked in the sport for 21-years, and has engineering and management experience from Formula 1 to Touring Cars.

Plans for a street circuit for A1GP’s return to Indonesia in Season Four have been announced. Lippo Village, near Jakarta will host the series only street race of the season, A1GP Indonesia, on 6 – 8 February 2009. This will be the first time Indonesia has seen a street race of this scale. It will be held in the downtown area of Lippo Village, which was formerly known as Lippo Karawaci. “This is a very exciting occasion not just for Lippo Village, but also Indonesia as a whole,” said Mr. Gordon Benton, Senior Executive from PT. Lippo Karawaci Tbk. “Lippo wanted to bring a top international event to Indonesia like A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, and we are working very closely with the Ikatan Motor Indonesia (IMI), the Ministry of Youth & Sport and rights holder Carbon Worldwide to make this event the pinnacle stop on the A1GP calendar for years to come.” Lippo Village will be modifying parts of the town near the famous Pelita Harapan University (UPH). The track is being designed by Tilke Gmbh, the company responsible for circuits in Shanghai and Sepang where A1GP has also raced. “The track designers have conducted the initial site visit, and are currently completing the final design. We intend for the track to be of the highest quality and through good planning, offer minimal disruption to our residents and commercial enterprises,” said Mr. Gordon Benton.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs' Bank Holiday started off well when she qualified her Porsche, dubbed Pink Panther' second in class in teh Porshce Club event at Castle Combe. Things improved with a fine second place in the Sprint race but come the longer second race it all went 'pear-shaped' when she got caught up in someone else's accident and T-Boned Ian Oliver.

Nick Sanderson Racing (NSR) in association with Kempster Ford have purchased a CAT D (accident damaged) Fiesta ST road car that will be delivered to the Kempster Ford HQ next month. After initial assessment, this will be built into a THIRD team car with the intention of entering it into the championship in 2009.

At Brands Hatch last weekend Nick Sanderson moved up to fourth place in the Fiesta ST Championship after finishing in 3rfd and 4^th places in the two races held at the Kent circuit. The two races were marred by red flags which caused considerable damage to various competitors (Photo courtesy of Snappyracers.com ).

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB should feature live on ITV4 this Sunday (31 August 2008) when rounds 17 and 18 of the championship are run at Silverstone. The races will be broadcast on ITV4 alongside coverage of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. Highlights of round 17 from Sunday morning will be shown before live coverage of round 18. Providing that the BTCC action and the timetable runs to plan, round 18 of the Carrera Cup race go out live to at approx 3.55pm. The BTCC programme runs from 12.30pm to 5.30pm.The Silverstone Carrera Cup races are set to be thrillers as Michael Caine, Tim Harvey and Tim Bridgman continue their season-long battle for the crown, with Caine now leading Harvey by just five points.The action from both rounds 17 and 18 of Carrera Cup at Silverstone will feature as usual in the Motorsport UK series, with the half-hour programme going out on both ITV4 and ITV1 in October.

Last weekend at the Snap-on Stars of Karting Seattle Grand Prix. Champion Racing/Intrepid saw their TaG driver Joey Wimsett take wins in two finals in both wet and dry conditions . The Intrepid USA works teams - Leading Edge Motorsports and Checkered Flag Racing saw their drivers Bryan Eady and Timmy Bachman take a win apiece with Eady claiming the Western Division TaG ICC title Pic On Track Promotions - otp.ca)

Formula Renault BARC championship points leader Ollie Hancock is off to Thruxton next weekend looking for just 4 more points to clinch the title His Nearest rival Johannes Seidlitz is 47 points behind so it should be 'in the bag'...but in racing anything can happen and often does

Lister makes racing return with Masters. Former international GT racer Geoff Lister has ended a 6-year sabbatical from racing to return with a Lola T210 in World Sportscar Masters races this season. Lister had his first race in the 2-litre Lola in the evening race at the Silverstone Classic in July and hopes to race at Spa in late September in the final WSM race of the season. "I'd been hankering after doing something and I bought the Lola two years ago," said Lister after giving the car its first proper run during qualifying at Silverstone. "I last raced in a Saleen GT car six years ago," said Lister, who took a break from the sport after a major accident in the Saleen during a British GT race at Castle Combe. Before racing at Silverstone, Lister tackled Classic Le Mans in the 'chocolate drop' Chevron B26 owned by John Ruston, but will now concentrate on the Lola, which was raced by Terry Croker when new in 1970. Lister acquired the car from Sweden, where it has been for many years and it is thought to have been un-raced for over 20 years. It has probably done less than 30 races since it was first built. Following a rebuild by marque expert Chris Fox, with assistance from Bob Houghton, the Lola is now immaculate again and is a fine addition to the WSM grid in Lister's experienced hands.

Two former British Formula Ford Championship race winners are this week celebrating career-enhancing successes in Formula 3. They are Jay Bridger, who has been crowned the British F3 International Series National Class Champion, and Thor-Christian Ebbesvik, who won the European Grand Prix-supporting Spanish F3 race on the Valencia street circuit. Bridger clinched the UK title during the championship's visit to the Romanian circuit of Bucharest on Sunday (24 Aug), where he achieved a brace of podium finishes for the Fluid Motorsport team. Jay's Farm Refrigeration-backed Dallara has taken four class victories this season and a further 12 National podiums. "I owe a lot of my success to my years in Formula Ford," said Bridger, "in particular to learning the need to bring the car home in one piece!" Bridger will be bidding for further success in British F3's final rounds, at Donington Park in October - the venue also for the deciding races in British Formula Ford.

Norway's Thor-Christian Ebbesvik - like Bridger a race winner with Fluid Motorsport in the Ford-backed championship - was as impressive as he was quick in Valencia last weekend. He took the pole at the wheel of his Team West-Tec machine, despite a crash in qualifying, and led all the way to record his maiden Spanish F3 win. "My crew did a great job to rebuild the car overnight," said Christian. "It was every bit as good as in qualifying. What a great place and time to win my first race!" West-Tec team principal John Miller said: "Christian was stunning. With his attitude, skill and determination he deserved this success and I am sure he is going to go far."

Hillspeed aims to make its long overdue return to the Formula Renault BARC podium next Sunday, 7th September, when the championship visits the fastest track on the 2008 calendar – Thruxton. The penultimate race meeting of the season, Thruxton could well throw up one or two surprises as the teams will head straight into qualifying without any pre-race testing. Hillspeed’s drivers, Menasheh Idafar, Ahmad Al Harthy and Michael Lyons, all ran strongly at Thruxton during the official testiong in April with Idafar and Al Harthy (pictured)

both producing pace-setting performances. For Lyons, the outing marked his first ever run at Thruxton but he impressed with the eighth fastest time. At present in the championship standings, British-born Bahraini Idafar is in fourth place on 61 points with Omani racer Al Harthy is 16 points further behind in fifth. Lyons, meanwhile, is 14th. Looking ahead to the 10th race of the season, Hillspeed team principal Richard Ollerenshaw said: “We’re not totally sure what to expect at Thruxton, I think we might see a few surprises with none of the drivers and teams having been able to test at the track since April – the race meeting could be a bit of a lottery. We’re hoping for some good results for Mick, Ahmad and Menasheh. The team aim is to get all three cars inside the top 10 and we want to be back on the podium too. Ahmad and Menasheh both have the pace to make that happen and top three finishes are what they need for their championship positions.”

Hillspeed was testing with BARC cars and also the squad’s full Formula Renault UK specification car with 17-year-old Idafar at the wheel at Snetterton on Wednesday, 27th August, and he showed good progress, lapping just a second shy of front-running Formula Renault UK pace with a time of 1m 06.3 seconds. Michael Lyons tested in his brand new Formula Renault BARC car with the shakedown going well. Lapping around eight 10ths of a second shy of Idafar’s BARC pace. Also taking part was newcomer James Theodore, the Formula Renault BARC rookie evaluating his options ahead of a potential graduation to the series next year. Speaking after the test, Ollerenshaw added: “Menasheh did very well in the UK-spec car and ran comfortably in the low 1m 06 second bracket. With some small changes and without the head wind along Senna Straight we’re confident he would have been able to lap in the low to mid 1m 05 second bracket. Mick enjoyed a good shakedown with the new car and completed about 250 miles in total on Wednesday. Everything went problem free and we’re hopeful he can have a trouble free run at Thruxton now next weekend. James continued his testing programme very nicely and hopefully he’ll be back out with us in September. It was his first dry day in a BARC car and he did a good job to lap with a best time of 1m 10.4 seconds" Speaking of the test himself Idafar said “It’s been another good test, I really enjoyed it”, said Menasheh, “The car felt great and although there were quite a few other types of car on the circuit we still managed to consistently lap well. I’ve had three runs now in a UK car and I’ve really enjoyed them all, I think we’ve shown we’re very competitive". Track conditions at Snetterton yesterday weren’t ideal for fast times with a strong head wind blowing down the Senna Straight. Therefore, to conclude the day just a second shy of front-running Formula Renault UK pace underlined Menasheh’s continued progress.

Andrew Spencer and Simon Pryke continued their fierce battle at the front of the Westfileds races at Brands Hatch over the Bank Holiday. After two close races it was Spencer who took the laurels and with these wins he moved ever closer to the Championship title .

PSL Karting had Fritz Leesmann and Jess Peterson in actions at the Snap-on Stars of Karting Western Division Finale at the Seattle Grand Prix last weekend. Leesmann, recently crowned Formula Senior champion at the Canadian National Championships picked up a seventh and a fifth place while Peterson endured a couple of 'offs' and a thirteenth place

It has been a difficult season for 2007 CAMSO V8 champion Jean Vasseur, he has struggled to find pace from the #07 Profil+ Ford Taurus and a string of unfortunate incidents have left him an uncharacteristic 5^th in the championship.

Last Sunday, however, he was flying, finishing second in both heats and taking the final in style. Kurt Dyjardin was going to be the man to watch at the meeting with drivers trying to gauge the pace for the Budweiser 200 in September. Dyjardin took the third step of the podium for the final with Gary Ellis in the number 2 spot. Dyjardin made it quite clear afterwards that he intends to win the Budweiser race. Ellis also made it quite clear that he wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Expect a titanic battle at the next CAMSO V8 round! Ellis won both the heats and might have made it a hat trick had the race been a little longer. The yellow flags came out early when Anton Gonnissen got it all wrong on the exit of turn four Xavier Vandermeersch (pictured) braked hard to avoid the collision but was collected by Xavier Verquin of the Teufteuf team. Vandermeersch continued with the bodywork of his Dodge Intrepid somewhat incomplete to finish 4^thbut Verquin, sadly, had to retire. Tony Roots fought his ill handling Pontiac around to finish fifth. Round 8 is at Warneton Speedway on Sunday September 7th

Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR) heads for Slverstone for this weekend’s SEAT Cupra Championship races leading the series by 14 points, but once you put the two mandatory dropped scores into the equation his lead drops to just 5 points. The man leading the chase, Jonathan Adam also drops scores but not as many.

After a 8 week break, Hitech Junior returns to racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship at the Nürburgring this weekend. After a strong showing last time out in Hungary the Silverstone based team has high hopes of a return to the podium in Germany. The David Hayle-led team will once again field four cars,.one for 16 year-old Spaniard Miki Monras, who secured the team’s first podium finish and Colombian Esteban Jacobo and two for Richard Singleton and Luciano Bacheta. In Hungary no fewer than 26 cars were covered by just one second with 20 year-old Singleton setting the early pace for the team during practice. Monras led the team in the qualifying getting into the superpole session. In the qualification race Jacobo posted the second fastest time in the race while Race Drivers Academy driver Bacheta had his storming drive cut short after being taken out two corners from home. All four drivers have impressed team owner David Hayle as he looks to a repeat performance this weekend. “We are a new team in a new championship with young rookie drivers and have been very impressed with their performances. The Eurocup is so strong but all four drivers have throughout the season shown some incredible pace and great maturity. As always qualifying is critical and this is one area that we are working on to ensure the drivers can maximise their time in the session and so give them an early advantage when it comes to converting that into race results.” This weekend kicks off with free practice and qualifying on Friday prior to two races around the famous Grand Prix circuit on Saturday and Sunday.

David Brabham took his second consecutive ALMS class win and fourth victory of the season for Patrón Highcroft Racing at Mosport last weekend. As the premier series heads to Belle Isle and the Detroit Sportscar Challenge presented by Bosch this weekend, 29&30 August, the LMP2 championship battle is set to ignite with Brabham and team mate Scott Sharp now just 10points behind the class leaders. ..read more

Nick Williamson held off Mal Davison to win in the LMA Euro Saloons race at Snetterton over the weekend. Rhys Lloyd, Ian Craig and Jim Mepham all picked up class wins but it’s Andrew Neal who is the new championship leader

The Porsche Club Championship was racing at Castle Combe on Bank Holiday Monday, the series getting two races at the Wiltshire circuit. It turned out to be a good holiday for Ian White, Scott Kavanagh and Jeremy Clarke who all won their classes in both rounds…read report

Once again Doran Racing got it's cars into the top 10 in Grand-Am in last weekend's Armed250 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. The team's remarkable finishing record, eleven top-10 places, eight of them in a row is testament to the reliability of their cars, the #77 Kodak Doran/Dallara Ford co-driven by Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger, which finished 7th, and the #47 Brach's Candy / CDOC Dallara Ford of Burt Frisselle and Ricky Taylor which came home in 10th.

Next TV slots for Heritage GT Car Challenge. Schedules for the next round of TV coverage of the 2008 Charterhouse Heritage GT Car Challenge have been announced. Highlights of the races at Silverstone on 16/17 August will first be screened on Sky Sports Extra during the early evening of Tuesday 9 September, with a further five repeat broadcasts.
The provisional broadcast schedule is as follows:
Tuesday 9 September at 18.00 on Sky Sports Xtra
Tuesday 9 September at 23.30 on Sky Sports Xtra
Wednesday 10 September at 02.30 on Sky Sports 3
Wednesday 10 September at 09.30 on Sky Sports 2
Wednesday 10 September at 14.30 on Sky Sports Xtra
Wednesday 10 September at 17.30 on Sky Sports 2

Jonathan Wright continues to dominate in the Radical Club Cup, the winner of 7 of the last 10 races too two wins from two starts at Brands Hatch over the Bank Holiday weekend despite red flags and the weather trying to put a damperner on the proceedings..read report

Felix and Josh Fisher dominated the Melton Concrete Products Formula Ford race at Castle Combe yesterday. The former took a lights-to-flag victory in his Swift SC92 from Josh's Mygale SJ03 by just 0.408secs. Nelson Rowe was a distant third 9 seconds up the road driving a Can Dieman RF99. In the AMOC Intermarque race Chris Scragg won the first of two races in his Aston Martin V8, Charlie White was second in a Ferrari F355 while Tim Mugridge was third in a similar car. Scragg's second victory came in the AMOC Championship encounter where he demolished the opposition winning by 29 seconds from Bob Searles DBS V8. The fight for second was much, much closer however as third place finisher Robert Rawe, in a DB4, was just half a second behind Searles while fourth, another DB4, this time driven by Nicholas King, was again only half a second adrift.

In the Powertorque Morgan Motor Company Challenge race at Castle Combe Rick Lloyd won from Keith Ahlers and Tony Lees, all three in Plus 8s. While the Pirelli Ferrari Challenge went to Gary Culver who beat Nigel Jenkins by 0.522seconds. Third was David Tomlin 2.4 seconds off the leader. In the Sports Racing and GT Challenge at Combe Nick Taylor came up trumps, his Cobra winning from Cheng Lim's Ram by 17 seconds.

Chris Ward and Richard Bernans grab a deserved podium for Juno Racing at the 6hrs of Euro-speedway Lausitz in torrential rain when the V de V European Endurance Series visited Germany at the weekend. Their Counter Solutions backed Juno SSE-CN was plagued with set-up dramas throughout qualifying and they only managed 16th on the grid. Ward started the race well, charging up to 8th position by the end of the first hour. Unfortunately this was followed by a trip to the gravel, following an incident with a backmarker, resuling in the car dropping to 13^th. Ward pressed on, handing the car to the Richard Bernans in 9th after 2 hours of racing. Bernans then took over and proceeded to storm through the field in torrid conditions, passing 5 cars to take 4th by the end of his 2 hour stint. Championship leaders Julien Schell and David Caussanel in their Ligier JS49 had a 1 lap lead at the head of the field leaving the Juno to battle it out with the IRS Norma M20 of Robert/Deperez and the similar car of Ian Ford and Ross Kaiser. The fight for 2nd and 3rd was quite a battle with Ward and Kaiser exchanging fastest lap after fastest lap, eventually Kaiser/Ford took 2nd and Ward/ Bernans 3rd. At the end of the race Ward and Kaiser’s fastest laps were 4 seconds quicker the 3rd fastest time. Ward and Bernans now lie 4th in the Championship. The next round is at Ledenon in September.

Simon Norris was the winner of the National Mobile Windscreens Saloon car race at Castle Combe. The race, clearly a 'Mitsubishi Evo benefit' as the manufacturer 'locked-out' the podium with Norris in an Evo 9 winning, Laurence Kilby second in an Evo 8 and Brain Cox third in an Evo 5. Kevin Bird was fourth overall, but first in Class B driving a SEAT Cupra R. Class C was won by Nick Charles in a Peugeot 106 Gti while class D went to Jason Cooper in a Fiesta. In the Savesometax.co.uk Special GTs Shane Marshal's Jade took the honours by 25 seconds from Josh Fisher in a Mantis and Guy Woodward in another Jade.

A1GP World Cup of Motorsport have announced a new venue for the forthcoming season which will necessitate a change to the calendar for the Indonesian event currently scheduled for November. The new track is the Chengdu International Circuit which will now will host round two on the 7-9 November 2008, with the proceeds from the race going to the Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund .As already mentioned this date will see the race in Indonesia move to a new venue on the 6-8 February 2009.

The Clubmans register is actively seeking a young driver of 25 or under to take up the offer of a free Mallock Mk28 EBX to enter the ClubmansCup. The driver has to have some experience from karting upwards and have shown talent, but unable to fund the purchase of their own car. The project is funded by Meiji Techno, a Japanese optical company in conjunction with Mallock’s. “They do have to find their own expenses, like licence, fuel, brake pads, tyres, accident and running repairs, race entry and transport. But are we are looking to get someone out in the car as early as Thruxton on September 7^th,” said Clubmans secretary Marcus Bicknell.Initial contact should be made to Richard Mallock at mallock@mallocksports.freeserve.co.uk.

Once again the winners in the Radical UK Cup were Terrence Woodward/Ross Kaiser (pictured pic P Williams)and Derek Johnston/Stuart Moseley, each pair taking a victory at Brands Hatch over the Bank Holiday. It was the third meeting in a row that the two duo's had shared the honours.. .

Patrick Barrett returns to competition in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 this coming weekend, August 29-31 at the newly constructed New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville , New Jersey . The 2 ¾ hour Super Car Life 250 will be run on the 2.25 mile, 14 turn Thunderbolt road course recently built on the site of a former World War II fighter plane training base. Barrett and PR1 Motorsports co-driver Canadian Mike Forest will share the #32 Miracle Sealants/Konica Minolta/Kolliner-Long Gallery Pontiac GXP.R in the GT class at the trackt. The pair will attempt to rebound from their bad luck at Mid Ohio in June when Forest was taken out by a spinning GT car as the rain began to fall early in the race. Their best result so far this season is 10th at VIR in April. “I’m really excited about racing on the new track this weekend. I feel it will be a great opportunity for all of us at PR1 Motorsports to come away with a great result. All of the teams and drivers should be on a level playing field since the track is so new, so it will come down to whoever gets up to speed and figures out a good strategy the soonest,” said Barrett. PR1’s road racing car is a rear wheel drive Pontiac (G6) GXP.R with a tubular space-frame steel chassis and carbon-fibre and steel body which is home to a 6.0L LS2 V-8 that produces 450 brake horsepower and is mated to a 5-speed manual sequential gearbox.You can see the race live on SPEED Channel from 10 AM to 1 PM Pacific, 1-4 PM Eastern on Sunday August 31st

Asia SuperCar Challenge (ASCC) championship leader Rodolfo Avila travels to the final race at Sepang , Malaysia this week. The 21-years old Macanese driver is well positioned to claim his second Asian motor racing title after winning the Asian Formula Renault 2.0 Championship in 2003. The Macanese has fond memories of the circuit near Kuala Lumpur where he scored his first podium in the supercar series “I think we will tackle this race with the same approach we have done on the previous two rounds. I am quite confident and relaxed for the weekend, and I know what I have to do to win the championship. My focus is not just on winning the race but the title”, he said . The #20 Ferrari 360 Modena of Mastercar Italy is 8 ahead of Sam Yau’s Porsche 996 GT3 3.9L and 16 points in front of Siu Yuk Lung’s Lamborghini Gallardo GT3. “It's a risk to make any forecasts for the championship, considering that the first three drivers are only sixteen points apart the positions can change in a single race. My rivals may not be that famous in motorsport world but they certainly know how to be fast with their cars. The Yau’s Porsche and Siu brothers’ Lamborghini are much quicker than my car, and the gap is even bigger taking the track characteristics into account. Fortunately I don’t need to carry extra kilos in my car this event”, concluded the Macau SAR driver.

Kieren Clark, 19, from Cambridge, will race at Silverstone this weekend in Formula Renault UK at the penultimate BTCC meeting of the year. “It’s great having Silverstone so close, it makes it easy for friends and supporters to get to. We are on the national circuit, which is much shorter than the full GP circuit we did earlier in the year, but it will still be fun, with plenty of people coming along to watch,” commented KC. “We’ve only just sorted out the finances for the last 2 races, Silverstone and Brands Hatch, its been touch and go, but now I’m totally focused on this weekend, and looking to improve on my qualifying positions.” Qualifying will take place on Saturday 30th at 9.30 and 14.30, and rounds 17 and 18 will then follow on Sunday 31st at 09.30 and 15.25. The second race is to be shown live on ITV4 as part of the channel’s afternoon broadcast from the BTCC.

Walter Grubmüller converted his sixth place grid position into a sixth place finish in the second British Formula 3 International Series race at Bucharest on Sunday. His young team-mate Max Chilton, who started just ahead of him, made an impressive start to go into the first corner fourth

Jaime Alguersuari won the second of the two British F3 International Series races in Bucharest, Romania yesterday . The Spanird, driving for Carlin led Oliver Turvey and Brendon Hartley over the line to make it a Carlin Motorsport clean sweep in Romania. Stefan Wilson won the National Class from 4th on the grid. Brendon Hartley dominated the first race on Saturday, his team-mate Oliver Turvey was second to extend his championship lead with Alguersuari third. Salman Al Khalifa won the National class while third place for Jay Bridger gave him the 2008 British F3 International Series National Class title.

David Brabham claimed victory in the LMP2 Class in the American Le Mans Series yesterday (24 August). Brabham and his team-mate Scott Sharp were and third overall in the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport, Canada in the Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura’s after climbing from sixth to third in the final ten minutes of the race..

Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship Trophy Class winner Andrew Mill will race in an Astuti Motorsport Dallara F304 Renault-Sodemo entry in the F3 National Class at the season-ending Country Club Tasmania F3 SuperPrix to be held in Tasmania, this September.

The new A1GP Powered by Ferrari cars were in testing action again over three days last week - on UK soil for the first time at Silverstone International Circuit in Northamptonshire. The new black A1GP liveried machine made its debut running alongside the yellow test car as the first real comparisons could be seen on a circuit where the previous A1GP cars had clocked up extensive testing miles.

Andrew Kirkaldy and Rob Bell have taken victory in Bucharest, finishing off one of the best weekends yet for the CR Scuderia team. The team won both races in the FIA GT Championship races in Romania, Andrew Kirkaldy passing Jamie Davies in the first race to take the team';s first ever FIA GT victory on Saturday.

With the mercury hitting 37 degrees, more steamy conditions were in store for the drivers of the British Formula 3 Championship for race two of the weekend on the streets of Bucharest . Australian rookie Sam Abay's ambitions to back up his 5th place from race one on Saturday suffered a major set-back when he clouted the wall during qualifying on Sunday morning, leaving the youngster down in 9th on the grid "The poor grid position will make this afternoon really rough, but we just need to put the incident behind us, put our head down and focus on the race." said Abay. A great start saw Abay gain two positions on the first lap from Marc us Eric sson and E steb an Guerrieri and move into 7th position. The gain was short-lived with a mistake by the Australian dropping him back down to 10th on the second lap. With the race settling into a pattern, Abay would move up to 8th by the chequered flag, benefiting from a collision between Max Chilton and Sergio Perez.

Peter Dempsey has made it a 'hat-trick' of wins with his victory in yesterday's Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear round at Mosport. Dempsey took his #21 Andersen Racing / LotusWorks/ Allied Building Products Mazda to it's third triumph after wins at Trois Rivieres and Road America to become the only driver so far this season to win three races. Second was Joel Miller with his #20 JDC Motorsports / Mazda / K&N Air Filters Mazda and third Tom Gladdis in the second Andersen Racing/ Marrache & Co. / Allied Building Products Mazda. The Expert Series winner was Chris Cumming,with Gerry Kraut coming out ion top in theMaster Series class.

Hitech Racing's once again picked up points in the British F3 International Series, this time in Bucharest in Romania yesterday(Saturday). Max Chilton led the way with 6th place while his team-mate Austrian Walter Grubmüller was ninth. Chilton's finish re-enforces his second place in the Mirror.co.uk British Formula 3 Challenge Cup.

Will Bratt didn't quite get the result he wanted at Valencia this morning in the FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship at the new Valencia Street Circuit. After sticking his car on the front row during qualifying he went to take the lead from pole man Christian Ebbesvik on lap 3 but sadly the move cost him momentum and positions dropping him down the leader board.. He eventually finished fifth, no ideal but not too bad.

David Brabham put is Patrón Highcroft Racing Acura fourth overall and second in LMP2 during qualfying for round eight of the American Le Mans Series Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Motorsport. at Mosport in Canada The Australian has won at the Canadain track before but it was 10 years ago in IMSA GT, so a repeat is due.

John Edwards completed 2/3rds of his weekend mission by putting his #7 AIM Autosport Mazda on the pole with a lap of 1:15.890 (116.648 mph) for the start of this afternoon's Round 8 of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the Mobil1 Grand Prix of Mosport. This is his third pole of the 2008 season, including Miller Motorsports Park and Road America. Starting on the outside of the front row for the 45-minute race will be fellow American Joel Miller with a lap literally a hair slower – 0.081 sec. – in the #20 JDC Motorsports Mazda. Third on the grid will be the winner of the last two races in a row, Irishman Peter Dempsey with a lap of 1:16.077 (116.361 mph) in the #21 Andersen. Rounding out the top-5 were Tom Gladdis on 1:16.186 in the #5 Andersen Racing Mazda and current championship points leader Charles Hall, who turned a lap of 1:16.197.

American John Edwards was quickest in both the morning and afternoon sessions at Mosport in Canda for the Star Mazda Championship race. Edwards, who is currently 5th in the Championship points, did a 1:15.842 (116.722 mph) in the #7 AIM Autosport Mazda during the morning while in the afternoon he was still fastest, but with a slower 1:16.247 (116.102 mph). The driver who made a major leap forward during the afternoon as Billy Goshen, driver of the #82 Goshen Motorsports Mazda. He was 8th in the morning with a 1:17.179, but rose to second in the afternoon with a lap at 1:16.577. Moving from 6th to 3rd with a lap of 1:16.807 was points leader Charles Hall in the #77 Andersen Racing machine. Rounding out the top-5 were Tom Gladdis and Joel Miller. Gladdis, in the #5 Andersen Racing Mazda was 4th in both sessions, turning a 1:16.865 while Miller slipped from 2nd in the morning to 5th in the afternoon with a 1:17.045. The fastest driver in the Expert Series (ages 30 to 44) was again Phil Fogg, Jr., with 1:17.611. In the Master Series driver (ages 45 and older it was Chuck Hulse in the morning and Gerry Kraut tin the afternoon.

Brian Frisselle was on a mission on Friday in qualifying for the Grand-Am race at the Infineon raceway in California, and it seemed to be ‘mission accomplished’ after recording a lap of 1:25.659 (103.806 mph) in the Exchange Traded Gold No. 61 Ford Riley. Brian had the No. 61 Ford Riley at the top of the charts most of the session but late in the going, the 10-car recorded a very quick lap at 1:25.957. It should have been AIM Autosport’s second consecutive pole, the third of the season in the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. However in scutineering the No. 61 Ford Riley was judged to be too wide regarding front-end width regulations and Brian’s fastest time was tossed out. Net result the No. 61 was moved back to the fifteenth place on the grid.. The second car, the No 76, suffered the same fate and will start behind it’s sister car. The No. 16 Crown Royal car which did not record a time.

FIAT Spanish Formula 3 driver Will Bratt has secured a place on the front row for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix supporting ninth round of the season at Valencia. The EmiliodeVillota.com Motorsport pilot did a time of 2m 04.252 secs late in the session to go second fastest, just 0.018 seconds shy of the pole time set by Christian Ebbesvik. Will could have got on pole with his final lap as he w\s 0.2secs up halfway round the lap before red flags were shown costing him the lap. Afterwards he said. “We’re obviously really pleased to be on the front row, we’re in a great position to fight for the win now tomorrow and that’s the aim. It’s by far the biggest weekend of my career and if we can cap that off by taking my first Formula 3 win in front of the Formula One teams I’ll be ecstatic. Just missing pole by less than two 100ths of a second is a bit frustrating but I know we can be quicker than Ebbesvik as we were faster by two 10ths of a second on my last lap before the red flags came out. The team has done a great job with the car but there are still some small improvements we can make for tomorrow.” The race is tomorrow at 08.30 local time.

This year, three groups of karts representing the past, the present and the future of the sport will race on the Le Mans Alain Prost Kart circuit during the International 24 Hours for Karts meeting. The main event for the endurance specialists (including drivers from the Le Mans Series, Formula Renault 2.0, Porsche Carrera Cup drivers and Peugeot THP Spider Cup ) will race in the blue riband event of the karting season. Alongside this kart lovers since the sport’s beginnings up to the start of the 80swill drive historic karts in a demonstration race, while for the the young drivers, between 8 and 10-years old , there is a 24-minute Minikart event. The meeting is organised jointly by KMO, the promoter of the Euro Endurance series, and the ASK ACO of Le Mans.

Next weekend (30/31 Aug) Donington Park will play host to the biggest Caterham Motorsport gathering of the season, with more than 120 Sevens scheduled to compete in an 11-race celebration of the marque. The Caterham events are the chief support to the new SuperLeague Formula, which is scheduled to kick off at Donington.The weekend will host a brace of 30-minute races for the Avon Tyres Caterham Superlight Challenge, three 40-minute evo Caterham Eurocup encounters, twin Motorsport News Caterham Roadsport A Challenge events of 30 minutes apiece, plus double-header 20-minute sprints for Roadsport B and for the Daily Telegraph Caterham Academy..

The battle for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB title continues next weekend at SIlverstone with the two drivers leading the championship slit by just five points. With 16 races completed Michael Caine (Team Parker Racing) and Tim Harvey (Red Line Racing) sit at the top of the table with Tim Bridgman (Team Parker Racing) and Sam Hancock (Jota Sport) following behind, although it would need a major catastrophe for the leaders if either Bridgman and Hancock were to snatch the crown. After the Silverstone just two races remain at Brands Hatch in late September.

Volkswagen's new Formula 3 engine will make its maiden British track appearance next weekend (30/31 August) at Brands Hatch in the DTM meeting, where it will power the cars of six Formula 3 Euro Series contenders - including those of the championship leader, Italian Eduardo Mortara, and Britain's Martin Plowman. Dallara driver Mortara arrives in the UK with a one-point lead in the Series, 'I had a very good weekend at Brands Hatch last year,' said the 21-year-old. 'I scored my first F3 win from pole position. I like the track, especially the first corner, which demands a lot of courage. But it's very difficult to overtake, so qualifying will be very important.' Mortara will be supported in the Signature Team by Frenchmen Franck Mailleux and Jean Karl Vernay. Team RC Motorsport will meanwhile field Volkswagen-powered Dallaras for UK-based Chinese driver Congfu Cheng, Germany's Jens Klingmann and 20-year-old Tamworth racer Martin Plowman. 'Brands Hatch is completely new to me as I've raced almost exclusively in Italy for the last couple of years,' he says. 'I will have to learn the circuit as quickly as possible in practice. I'm well motivated for my home race.'

As well as the F3's there is the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup, the single-model race championship with 24 young drivers. Each driver handles an identical Racing Polo powered by a 150 PS 2-litre FSI engine equipped with a six-speed gearbox, limited-slip differential and adjustable racing suspension. All the cars are centrally maintained by one team, and they are even swapped among the drivers during the season. South Africa's Shane Williams leads the championship to Brands Hatch thanks to his wins at Oschersleben and the Norisring in Germany; he's just two points ahead of German Alexander Rambow, with Thor Qualmann of Denmark a distant third.

SEAT have now won six of the last nine BTCC races and they are looking for more f the same at Silverstone during the penultimate race weekend of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship on August 30/31

AIM Autosport has another full weekend in store with the Exchange Traded Gold No. 61 Ford Riley Daytona Prototype at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for round 12 of the Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 and the No. 7 Formula Mazda at Mosport in Canada for the next round of the Star Mazda Series presented by Goodyear. Both teams are coming off strong results. The DP car recorded back-to-back wins with Mark Wilkins and Brian Frisselle dominating the last race at Watkins Glen from the pole and John Edwards has a win and a second place result over the last two race weekends. The No. 61 Ford Riley is now sixth in the championship while drivers Mark and Brian have moved into the top ten in the driver's championship. Edwards is now fifth in Star Mazda championship but with the series allowing one drop this season, John is actually second overall at present, just ten points off the lead with five races to go. The Mazda team practiced at Mosport on Thursday and John was P2, just one-tenth off the lead. More practice on Friday (22nd) with qualifying and race on Saturday.

Four drivers will make their debut in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Silverstone in rounds 17 and 18 next weekend, 30/31 August. First up is Sean Paul Breslin, who joins Team Parker Racing for what is initially a one-off entry. Breslin has extensive experience in endurance racing, having competed regularly in VLN races as well as in four 24-hour races in Dubai and at the Nurburgring. He will make his Carrera Cup debut alongside title contenders Michael Caine and Tim Bridgman in the TPR squad. "I was looking to start racing in the UK and wanted a good platform for sponsors. I like the Carrera Cup cars," said Breslin, who has previously only raced once in Britain, which was at Brands Hatch back in 2005. Meanwhile, joining the Apex Tubulars/Qserv squad for Silverstone will be Alasdair McCaig, racing alongside Tommy Dreelan in the team's pro-am2 cars. McCaig is the son of Ecurie Ecosse patron Hugh, and has experience of racing in karts, Formula Ford and Caterhams. Lining up to race the PCGB entry in the pro category will be current British F3 contender Nick Tandy. Having cut his teeth in short oval racing, Tandy progressed through Formula Ford into British F3 and has been a podium finisher in recent F3 races. The final member of the quartet of newcomers is Mark McAleer, the 2007 champion from the Porsche Club Championship. He earns his prize drive weekend in the PCGB pro-am2 Carrera Cup car as part of the support given to Porsche Club GB Motorsport. The debut of this quartet of drivers will mean that 40 drivers will have raced in the 2008 Carrera Cup GB by the Silverstone weekend.

Touring Car legends and past Champions from fifty years of the British Touring Car Championship will be back with their race cars at Silverstone’s round of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship next weekend(31 August), when they get together to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the BTCC along with Silverstone’s 60th and the British Racing Drivers’ Club 80^th

The battle for the 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship heads into the home stretch next weekend with the penultimate event of the season at Silverstone. 2007 Champion Jonathan Adam driving for Total Control Racing, has thrown down the gauntlet with his two wins at at Knockhill moiving him to just 14 points behind current leader Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR), who earlier in the season looked the man most likely to take the title. But it’s Adam who has the initiative as he is the driver who is doing all the winning at the moment

Daniel Lloyd will be looking for a repeat of the form he had at Knockhill next weekend at Silverstone in the Ginetta Jnrs where he could easily have come away from Scotland with two wins instead of just one. After his impressive victory last Sunday he now trails Josh Hill by 37 points for third place in the driver standings but with 35 points up for grabs at each race it could easily change…

The last races in the Elf Clio Cup were 4 weeks ago at Oulton Park and Jonathan Ridley-Holloway will be back racing at Silverstone next week looking for a good result as he strives to get into the top 10 of the championship

Current World Touring Car Championship leader, SEAT Sport's Yvan Muller, and BMW Team Germany's Jörg Müller, the winner of the first race in Brands Hatch, will both carry the maximum 70kg success ballast in Oschersleben. Gabriele Tarquini, who is trailing fellow SEAT man Muller in the Driver's Championship by one point, will be one kilo lighter. While BMW Team Italy-Spain's Félix Porteiro and Chevrolet's Alain Menu get 64 and 59 kilos of ballast respectively, with Alessandro Zanardi and Andy Priaulx both on 54. A total of twenty-two drivers will have success ballast in Estoril, including Proteam Motorsport's team-mates Stefano D'Aste and Sergio Hernández who appear for the first time in the ballast list because of the championship points they scored in Brands Hatch's second race.

The Petrol GT Racing Team and George Tanev are ready to make their first apperance in the WTCC at Oschersleben. This will mark the first ever Bulgarian entry in an FIA automobile World Championship. The 25-year old Tanev is the current leader of the Bulgarian Touring Car Championship; at Oschersleben he will drive a BMW 320si, a former BMW Team Italy-Spain's test car. The team plans to join the WTCC in Imola and Monza later in the year.

Andrew Herron is hoping for a better showing in the SEAT Cupra Championship next weekend at Silverstone. The Northern Irishman suffered from a down on power engine at Knockhill which probably cost him a couple of top 4 finishes in Scotland

The Russian team Golden Motors have changed their plan to join the WTCC in Oschersleben, Imola and Monza. Due to sponsor-related reasons, the two Honda Accord cars of Andrey Smetsky and Alexander Lvov will finish the season in the Finnish Super Touring Championship (in which Lvov is currently third) before taking part in the FIA European Touring Car Cup at Salzburg.

The German Wiechers-Sport outfit will enter a second car for their home WTCC race meeting in Oschersleben. After they were forced to skip Brands Hatch the team will run a pair of BMW 320si machines. Olivier Tielemans is due to take back the wheel of the #16 car, while the name of the second driver will be announced in the next days.

With four races top go in the 2008 Formula Renault UK Championship the smart money must be on Adam Christodoulou, however New Ollerton team Manor Competition have other ideas. Their driver, Alexander Sims is second overall, 55 points behind the leader but when one considers the category’s double ‘drop-score’ ruling this could all change at Silverstone next weekend if Christodoulou has an ‘off’ day and Sims a good on. We’ll find out in Rounds 17 and 18 and see if Sims has the opportunity to upset the applecart in the season finale at Brands Hatch next month

Last weekend the Le Mans Series restarted at the Nurburgring after a 3-month break. Luc Alphand Adventures' team had a fairly hectic fourth round, and thanks to the work of the mechanics Guillaume Moreau, Patrice Goueslard and Luc himself finished second in the LM GT1 category in their Corvette C6.R.

Sevilla FC will have an all-Spanish assault for its Superleague Formula entry with ex-Spanish Formula 3 champ Borja Garcia and the Valencia-based race squad, GTA Motor, headlining their attack. The driver and race team were unveiled in Seville this week where Garcia and GTA boss Domingo Ochoa met with the Sevilla playing squad and club President, Jose Maria del Nido.

With three races remaining in the battle for the 2008 Firestone Firehawk Cup, Raphael Matos is in familiar territory as he has been in this position before. In three of the last four years, Matos has claimed a championship and this year it’s the Firestone Indy Lights crown. Matos is just one of 13 drivers mathematically able to win the title, just four points behind leader Richard Antinucci. Matos has had the lead in his grasp in each of the last two race weekends. Following his win in the opening race of the Mid-Ohio doubleheader, Matos held the points lead. However it’s now Antinucci, who leads with 408 points, after scoring his series-best fourth pole at Kentucky on Aug. 8. He has held the points lead since the eighth of the 13 races this season, and hasn't been lower than second. The nephew of 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr., has two wins and seven podium finishes. Matos, though, has stayed in close contact all season with three victories, all in the opening race during the road/street course doubleheaders. Not to be discounted is Dillon Battistini, who has four wins, 1 more than Matos and Arie Luyendyk Jr., who climbed to within 57 points of Antinucci at Kentucky. Both drivers can use past history in their quest to win the title. Jeff Simmons made up 58 points in the last three races on Travis Gregg to take second spot in 2005, while second-place Jonathan Klein made up nearly 40 points over the final three races on eventual champion Jay Howard the following season.

Alexander Sims may be 55 points shy of Formula Renault UK Championship leader Adam Christodoulou but it is not inconceivable that he could close the gap, particularly as there are 32 points available for a win. All it would take is a couple of DNF’s for Christodoulou and he would be right back in the fight. So he has everything to play for at Silverstone next weekend..

A1GP Delays Start of Season Four. A1GP World Cup of Motorsport has moved A1GP Mugello, Italy from the opening round of the 2008/09 championship following a delay in the build schedule of the new chassis. The first time all the nations will be seen in action will now be on the 4 – 5 October at A1GP Zandvoort, Netherlands. The series set itself a tight schedule with less than 11 months to design, build and test the new car and make sure all the teams received identical machinery. Any delays in the schedule were always going to impact on the ability to deliver to all the teams. “It was always going to be an optimistic programme but we were confident we could achieve it. This in no way reflects on the work undertaken by the technical team and our partners, as it was due to circumstances beyond their control. I also want to thank all our technical partners for their support during our intensive testing programme, and especially Ferrari for the supply of engines,” said A1GP Chief Executive Officer, Pete da Silva.“We now have to concentrate on what we have ahead of us rather than behind. We still have some great announcements to make. In the near future we shall be able to announce our full race calendar, as well as some deals that will enhance the overall package we are presenting to our fans for Season Four,” said da Silva.

Jonathan Walker was on the podium for twice at Larkhall last weekend, his second double podium this season. His second and third places have moved him into 2nd place in the British Super 1 Championship

The UK’s three fastest virtual drivers hit the tarmac, facing real-life race conditions at the Silverstone Race Academy Starting on Wednesday 27th August 2008, the world of virtual racing breaks through into reality as the GT Academy rolls onto Silverstone’s starting grid. For the first time in the competition, contestants will have to prove that their skills go beyond virtual driving in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue™. Contestants will be getting behind the wheel of Nissan’s 350Z and GT-R to compete for the chance to be one of two drivers joining the Nissan racing team in the Dubai 24hr race in 2009.

After finishing in the top 10 for 6 races in a row the Doran Racing team is now looking for a podium place this weekend in the Armed Forces 250 at Infineon Raceway. This race is particularly important to the drive of the team's #77 Kodak Doran/Dallara Ford, Memo Gidley as he lives just down the road in Novato California.

The organizers of the Australian F3 Series have signed up with Country Club Tasmania, a hoiliday and entertainment centre in Launceston as the major sponsor of the Formula 3 SuperPrix scheduled at Symmons Plains raceway on September 19 – 21. The Country Club Tasmania Formula 3 SuperPrix as it will be known, is the final round of the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the CAMS Australian Drivers Championship. The F3 teams will have two races, a 20-minute sprint and a longer second SuperPrix event, which last year ran for 30 laps and almost 40 minutes and was won by Sydney driver Barton Mawer, driving for Team BRM.

PSL Karting claimed three Canadian national titles with two runner-up places at the 2008 ASN Canadian National Championships at the Karting Grand-Mère facility in Grand-Mère, Quebec on August 8-10. They also put three drivers on Team Canada for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals

Menasheh Idafar made a return to the cockpit of a Formula Renault UK car at Croft Circuit on Tuesday (19th August), where he racked up some vital testing miles in wet conditions. Idafar, who is racing this year in the Formula Renault BARC series, took part in a general test day at the North Yorkshire track and impressed his Hillspeed team with competitive performance in its 2008 specification Formula Renault UK car. With four of the day’s five sessions completely wet, he gained some essential experience in the rain and produced a best lap of 1m 30.3 seconds. During the driest of the sessions, which wasn’t completely devoid of moisture, the 17-year-old managed a time of 1m 20.9 seconds. Very happy with his day’s work, the Gulf Computer Services, Ortolan and Gulfol backed driver said: “It was great to be back in the UK car and we had a really good day without any problems. Obviously, we haven’t been our most competitive in the wet this year in the BARC car but I’m confident today has helped us make some good progress.”

Last Sunday, Millennium Motorsport Kart driver Carl Stirling took two podiums. a 1st and 3^rd, to edge closer to his goal of adding the British Super 1 title to his current British Open Championship crown.

More Superleague Formula teams will conduct shakedown runs this week at Donington Park. For some it will be their first opportunity to try the Panoz chassis on the circuit that will host the first round of the championship on August 30/31. Clubs expected to partcipate include FC Porto, Rangers, Sevilla FC, Tottenham Hotspurs, Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Al Ain and AS Roma.

Meanwhile the Superleague Formula roadshow took the unique football-themed motor racing championship to the British public last weekend. The Tottenham Hotspur car began a tour of Corby, Nottingham, Leicester and Derby accompanied by a squad of promotional girls -- the venues all major cities surround the venue for the opening round of the championship, Donington Park. Fans actually got the chance to win tickets to the Donington event, scratching a lucky panel on one of the thousands of fliers that were distributed over the weekend. This week, fans in Liverpool and Birmingham will get their chance to see the Superleague Formula cars and win tickets.

Nigel Moore has won the inaugural Ginetta G50 Sportscar championship at his first attempt, following on from his Ginetta Junior title success in 2007. Winning the first race of two at Silverstone on Sunday 17th August was enough to put the title beyond reach of his fifteen rivals, despite only qualifying eighth. The Long Marston teenager admitted the car set-up wasn’t quite right for the conditions whilst his Tockwith team were splitting their resources between Knockhill in Scotland and Silverstone in Northamptonshire. But he had it all sorted for the races. Two phenomenal laps on the tricky damp conditions in the first race sealed his victory, as the former karter and BRDC Stars of Tomorrow 2007 Will Hoy scholarship driver noted: “I came from eighth and walked it, by the second lap I was leading the race.” He also took fastest lap in the 160 mph sportscar, and said: “It’s a brilliant result, everyone doubted me at the beginning of the year as I was so young and it was a big step up.”

Lola sportscars were in action at the weekend’s Nurburgring 1000kms race with five Le Mans Prototype cars across the LMP1 and LMP2 classes battling it out with the rest. The Lola B08/60 LMP1 Coupe of Charouz Racing System was once again the quickest of the Huntingdon marque's cars taking 5th place overall,. the best of the non-diesels

Tom Dunstan when through a range of emotions at the weekend as he experienced the highs and lows of motorsport. Racing in the Ginetta G50 series at Silverstone he qualified on the front row for both races, including pole for race 2. He then ran at the front in both before he a spin in race 1 dropped him to fourth where he finished. In race 2 he again ran with the leaders before he was taken out towards the end of the race.

The layout for Autosport International, scheduled for 8-11 January 2009 , has put the Karting Show right in the middle. The show which is expected to attract large numbers of karters, particularly as all MSA karting licence holders under 16 get free entry. The new layout should ease visitors’ navigation of Autosport International and has the Karting Show in Hall 6 next to the Historic Hall and the National Motorsport area.

Asia Racing Team Motorsports had one of it’s best results of the season in the Formula Asia 2.0 with two 2nd places and a fastest lap at Bira in Thailand . passed it’s FIA Crash test. The car underwent not only sudden impact tests but also a chassis squeeze tests, with pressure applied to key parts of the car to ensure it’s strength.

VdeV UK will run two classes CN1 and the all new CN2 in 2009, both classes will race with each other but CN2 will be tailored specifically for the club racer. .

Liz Halliday was tenth in the LMP1 class at the Nurburgring 1000km despite 2 long pit stops for the Creation AIM she shared with South African Stephen Simpson

Team Aluminos were racing in the fifth round of the Superkarts USA ProKart Challenge North event last weekend(9 August), held at the Jim Russell International Karting Center Sonoma, California. Owner Rob Soares once again showed everyone how it was done in the Light classification, where he took both the class and overall victory in heat one, heat two and the 20-lap Final.

Michael Doyle wasn’t quite able to achieve the results he had hoped for at his local track Knockhill yesterday, Sunday, 17th August. Racing in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship the BTCC rookie from 'just along the road' at Gartocharn , was surprisingly, making his debut at the Fife track driving his Honda Civic Type R. However it didn't go as planned as at least one points-scoring finish slipped away with the recurrence of gearbox problems that have plagued his season lately.

Rory Butcher was one of the stars of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during rounds 15 and 16 of the championship at Knockhill on Sunday (17 August). Racing one of the PCGB cars, Rory finished fifth in both races and twice won the pro-am2 category to complete a highly impressive debut. He now hopes to use that performance as a springboard to racing in the Carrera Cup in 2009. The 21-year old is instructor at Knockhill, the circuit owned by his father Derek. Rory is also the brother-in-law of BTCC racer Gordon Shedden and has experience from saloon cars and Formula Ford 1600 single-seaters. "What an experience," said Rory of the weekend in the 911GT3 Cup car. "It lived up to everything I thought it would be. The team gave me a great car and I quickly got confident in it. The top six is so hard to get into, and I'm so happy to have achieved that. I feel that I've done myself proud." Racing in front of his home crowd as well as many fellow Knockhill instructors added to the pressure, but he coped extremely well. "There was a lot of pressure because so many people were watching me and I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life!" However, he delivered two excellent drives and is keen to return to the championship. "I just want to be in this paddock next year in a Carrera Cup car. It's all about finding the budget and getting a deal organised to try and go for it."

Oliver Bryant could only manage a single win at the weekend in the Charterhouse Heritage GT Challenge at Silverstone. The family's Morgan Plus 8 dominated the sprint race on Saturday but on Sunday the Sunbeam Tiger of Jackie Cochrane and Stephen Colbert was too quick .

Tim Harvey set a motor racing record when he contested his 100th race in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Knockhill on Sunday. To mark the event, Harvey was presented with a cake in the Carrera Cup GB race centre and then went out and scored his 69th podium finish in round 16 of the 2008 season. "It started in 2003 when I got invited to drive the guest car, which I thoroughly enjoyed," said Harvey of his first experience of the Carrera Cup GB. " I did my first race at Brands and they thought it would be a good idea if I commentated inside the car while I was racing. Just to prove that men can’t do two things at the same time, I had a disastrous race, so I pestered Porsche to give me another run, when I won at Donington. I then set my sights on competing in the championship in 2004 and I've been here ever since."
Harvey, currently contesting the overall championship lead with Michael Caine and Tim Bridgman, is also the most successful racer in the championship's six-year history.

Jeremy Metcalfe made it to yet another podium, his fifth, in his first year of racing in the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Silverstone yeserday(Sunday) when he took part in his first 2 hour race.

Andrew Herron’s first outing at Knockhill didn’t quite work out as he hoped at the weekend as engine problems blighted his performances in Rounds 15th and 16th rounds of the SEAT Cupra Championship.

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB featured in a double broadcast on ITV4 on Sunday (17 August 2008) when rounds 15 and 16 of the championship were broadcast from Knockhill. If you missed the action it will feature as usual in the Motorsport UK series, with the half-hour programme going out on both ITV4 and ITV1 in early October

BTCC Team Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk and their driver Martyn Bell didn’t have a great day out in Scotland at the weekend, so perhaps his team-mate Erkut Kizilirmak was right when Business commitmentws forced him to miss this one . The first race ended as soon as it began when Chris Stockton and Bell came together on the opening lap forcing retirement. Race two saw Bell finish just out of the points in 18^th which was where he ended the third and final race.

Daniel Lloyd had his third victory of the year in the Ginetta Junior Championship at Knockhill yesterday, Sunday, 17th August, This was just as well for his first race of the day had ended in disappointment when Lloyd had spun whilst leading handing the win to points leader Dino Zamparelli. However the weekend went downhill for Zamparelli after race 1 as Thomas Carnaby took advantage of a mistake by the erstwhile Championship leader in race 2 to move ahead in the title chase .

Daniel Lloyd could have, maybe even should have, won both races at Knockhill in the Ginetta Juniors yesterday, Sunday, 17th August, but a spin after an a jumped start’ handed the win in the opening race to Zamparelli, However in race 2 it all came together for the Huddersfield driver and he claimed his third victory of the year.

Tamworth’s Formula 3 Euro Series star Martin Plowman has pledged support to a Burton man’s mission to help raise money to build the first Footprints Orphanage in the Shimba Hills, near Mombasa in South East Kenya, founded by Kerry Watson who is also from Burton . Martin will join Coopers Square shopping centre Manager, Dave Chadfield, for part of Dave’s epic 300-mile sponsored cycle ride on Friday 5 September, which will follow Martin’s only UK motorsport round as the Formula 3 Euro Series visits Brands Hatch, Kent, on 30&31 August

Tim Blanchard gave his British Formula Ford Championship title hopes a boost at Silverstone yesterday when he took a win and a second-place in his Jamun Racing-prepared Mygale. The gap between himself and championship leader Wayne Boyd is down to 36 points with just three rounds remaining and Boyd hasn’t won since June, is the pressure beginning to tell?. In the second race Marco Sorensen(pictured) had his maiden British Formula Ford win, which surprisingly was the first of the year Van Diemen. …

Sam Hancock took his third Porsche Carrera Cup GB victory of the season in race 2 at Knockhill and enjoyed an excellent weekend overall with two pole positions and a second place finish in race 1.

Robert Lawson kept his lead in the SEAT Cupra Championship at Knockhill with two seconds places, however his main challenger, Jonathan Adam won both bringing the gap down to just 14 points with 4 races to go.

After moving to the Jo Zeller Racing team Frederic Vervisch dominated the sixth round of the German ATS Formula 3 Cup at the Nurburgring winning both race in style. In the opener hi8s lead at the flag was a massive 21 seconds whilst in the second it was ‘only’ 10…

The Volkswagen Racing Cup title is edging close to Joe Fulbrook after he claimed another win at Silverstone over the weekend increasing his lead in the Championship to 66 points over Jamie Perry . Fulbrook was only third in the first race however as Adrian Dziurzynski took the win in his Golf GTI from VW Cup returnee Steve Walker…

David Mayes continued his winning ways in the Avon Tyres Caterham Superlight Challenge at Silverstone over the weekend with two more victories, the first on Saturday when he led Chris Cappuccini over the line at a canter while on Sunday Will Mitcham kept him honest coming second less than a second behind.

Jonathan Bomarito is closing in on the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship after a dominant win in the Grand-Prix de Trois-Rivieres. Starting from pole the No. 26 Del Taco/Stone Brewing/Discount Tire/RLM Investments car of Mathiasen Motorsports was never headed, Bomarito leading all 44 laps to take his third victory of the season. Second, 1.590 seconds behind was Jonathan Summerton. .

Greg Mansell matched the best finish of his Atlantic career with a ninth-place run in the No. 5 Sunseeker entry for Walker Racing. Mansell previously finished ninth in the first race of the Edmonton doubleheader.

BMW driver Jan Magnussen moved into the lead of the Danish Touringcar Championship when he won comfortably in the fifth round of the series at FDM Jyllandsringen.

Jason Plato, Darren Turner and SEAT dominated the HiQ BTCC event at Knockhill with Plato winning the first two races and Darren Turner the third..

On lap 22 of the second British F3 race at Silverstone this weekend Salman Al Khalifa, running second to Stefan Wilson, saw an opportunity to take his first ever National Class win. So he stuck the nose of his Dallara down the inside of Wilson's car at Brooklands wheere sadly the two collided. Although Salman going again(which is more than WIlson did!), it was in third place behind Hywel Lloyd and Jay Bridger, which is how they finished .

Phil Quaife took yet another Porsche Carrera Cup GB podium, this time at Knockhill in Scotland. He followed this up with a fourth in the second race

Peter Dempsey has won again in Star Mazda, just a week after his first win at Road America, he has won at Trois Rivieres in Canda, making him the first back-to-back winner this year. In second it was John Edwards with Alex Ardoin third.

Max Chilton claimed points in both British F3 races at Silverstone yesterday (Saturday) although his team-mate, Walter Grubmüller didn't quite make it, finishing just outside the points in 11th adn 13th. Chilton also consolidated his second place in the Mirror.co.uk British F3 Challenge Cup .

The Porsche Open series had two races at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit today and it was Paul Mace and Mike Johnson who came away with the victory laurels . The meeting also saw the award of the annual Bill Taylor Memorial Trophy, a long-standing traditional Porsche season highlight. The winner, based on combined times and an applied handicap, was Paul Follett in his 968 CS.

Ben Demetriou was the outright winner in the first race of the Porsche Club Championship at Brands Hatch today, is first outright victory in the series. And just in case anyone missed it, he followed it up with a second later on. In classes 2 and 3, Scott Kavanagh and Jeremy Clark were both double winners as well.

Jonathan Adam, driving for Total Control Racing, was the local hero once again at Knockhill when he won Round 15 of the SEAT Cupra Championship. Starting from Pole Adam took the lead at the start to win by over 11 seconds. Second was Championship leader Robert Lawson with Martin Byford third. In the second race Adam again shot away at the start, although his winning margin this time was only 5 seconds, again from Robert Lawson. Carl breeze was third afterf Welch and Byford got tangled up at Duffus Dip(SEAT curves) at the start .

Tim Bridgman was the winner of the first Porsche Carrera Cup GB races at Knockhill today. After making a great start to grab the lead from pole-sitter Sam Hancock at the first corner, Bridgman was never headed winning from Hancock who shadowed him all the way. Phil Quaife was third with Tim Harvey fourth. Fifth and pro-am2 victor was Carrera Cup debutant Rory Butcher who driver a superb race with the PCGB entry. In the second race Sam Hancock claimed victory with Bridgman second and Tim Harvey took third. Rory Butcher did it again in PCGB car winning pro-am2 with yet another fifth place overall. .

Carlin's Sam Abay had what could be called a character building afternoon at Silverstone yesterday, Sunday 17 August, as he just missed out on his maiden podium finish after a last lap contact with Nuick Tandy dropped him into the gravel trap while running in third.

Oliver Turvey won both British F3 International Series races at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon to take a 9 point lead in the Championship. Marcus Ericsson stayed with Turvey for the duration of the second race to take second with Nick Tandy third after poor old Sam Abay lost the position when the pair touched on the final lap putting Abay into the gravel trap. In the first race Turvey had a fight throughout the race with Brendon Hartley who made the better start, leading Turvey for 21 laps before he was forced into an error late on by Turvey which allowed the latter to re-take the lead. Marcus Ericsson was third .

Daniel Lloyd produced an outstanding performance at Knockhill this afternoon, Saturday, 16th August, during qualifying for the 17th and 18th rounds of the 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship. Taking a brace of front row starts for Sunday’s two 12-laps races, he lapped just eight 100ths of a second shy of pole-sitter, and championship leader, Dino Zamparelli. Posting a quickest time of 1m 04.721 seconds (70.71mph) to secure second on the grid for round 17, some 0.246 seconds clear of third placed Dominic Pettit, Daniel’s second best lap of the session of 1m 04.926 seconds was good enough for another front row start for round 18.

Having earned the nickname 'Fireball' in Thursday's final practice session when he first set the fastest lap and then had his car catch on fire, Peter Dempsey – winner of the last race, Round 5 at Road America, won the pole for the start of tomorrow's Round 6 of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Trois Rivieres. His lap of 1:01.788 (88.619 mph) in the #21 Andersen Racing / LotusWorks/Allied Building Products Mazda was a new track record, eclipsing the previous record of 1:02.106 set by Ryan Justice in 2006. His time was just 0.148 seconds clear of American John Edwards, who will start next to Dempsey on the front row in the #7 AIM Autosport Mazda with a lap of 1:01.936 (88.407 mph. Starting third on the grid will be Louisiana racer Alex Ardoin. with Joel Miller in 4th and Brazilian racer Ernesto Otero in 5th

Darren Turner and Jason Plato have qualified 1st and 2nd for Round 22 of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, the third straight qualifying 1-2 result for SEAT Sport UK. The team did a great job to get both Leon TDI drivers out onto the 1.3 mile Knockhill track in clear air, as avoiding traffic hold-ups was vital to a good lap time. In cool, cloudy and dry conditions, a stunning final lap by Jason got him onto 2nd place on the grid, a mere 0.013 seconds behind his team-mate, despite carrying extra weight. Tom Chilton (Honda Civic) qualified 3rd , but a six place grid slot penalty imposed for an accident in the previous race will see him start 9th . Championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra) qualified 7th , but will start from the third row. The quickest 16 cars (in a field of 22) qualified within a second of each other, suggesting that the three BTCC races tomorrow will be very close and exciting

Andrew Herron has plenty of work to do during tomorrow’s 15th and 16th rounds of the SEAT Cupra Championship at Knockhill after a lack of straight-line speed from his car totally compromised his qualifying performance. Although competing at the Fife venue for the first time in his short car racing career, the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland headed into qualifying today, Saturday, 16th August, confident of producing a top four effort. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for Andrew as his car visibly lacked pace on the all-important drag from the Real Radio Hairpin, up and over the start/finish line and down to SEAT Curves. In the end, he could only manage the 12th fastest time of 55.265 seconds (82.81mph) for the round 15 grid and the 11th best time of 55.386 seconds (82.63mph) during round 16 qualifying

The Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola-Judd number 33, driven by Andrea Belicchi qualified 3rd in the LMP2 prototype class for the fourth round of 2008 Le Mans Series at Nurburgring. Andrea Belicchi, speaking after qualifying, “ I was on a good pace and I made my fastest lap keeping a very little safety margin in some corners. After that I have tired to push a little bit more with the Essex Porsche just in front of me, I made a little mistake at the entry of the Bit-Kurve with no consequence. I am happy for the team, we are not far from the Porsche so we could have a good race tomorrow”. Team manager Bart Hayden, “Once again we proved that we are the best competitor against the Porsche RS spyder. The work carried out by the team during the summer allowed us to stay close to the Porsche in pure performance. The drivers are all ready to deliver strong and reliable driving, they are hungry for the podium, as is everybody in the team and our partners. We should have a great battle tomorrow, strategy and tyre choices will be key to staying in front and we are hopeful of a very good result.”

Sam Hancock has taken pole position for both rounds, 15 and 16, of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Knockhill today (Saturday 16 August 2008). With just 0.1 secs covering the top five drivers on the grid for round 15, the stage is set for some memorable racing in Fife this weekend.

Menasheh Idafar had his first ever run at Pembrey earlier this week in a two-day test in hisFormula Renault BARC car. Arriving on Wednesday, 13th August, the British-born Bahraini lapped in approximately 55.4 seconds in dry conditions and 59.8 seconds in the wet over the course of the two days. Around 0.4s faster than the last F Renault pole set in 2006. Menasheh’s coach Matt Shawyer. “The two days at Pembrey went very well indeed”, he said, “With half the test being dry and the other half wet, it was very useful and provided a good opportunity for us to try a lot of different things. It was a very productive couple of days”. Yesterday the team were at Brands Hatch. Although not quite as rapid as the last time he tested at Brands Hatch, he set a 46.6 seconds. Shawyer added: “Menasheh drove well at Brands and although the lap times weren’t as quick as the last time we visited, that was purely down to the track conditions. There were a lot of Formula Jedi cars out there, running on Avon rubber, and so that didn’t help Menasheh on Michelins. It was still a productive day though and he did very well.”

David Brabham notched up his third American Le Mans Series LMP2 victory at Road America last time out and the Australian is aiming for more of the same as the series heads to Canada for round eight, the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport, 21-24 August 2008. Brabham and team mate Scott Sharp are second in the LMP2 championship 24 points off leaders Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. The Acura ARX-01b and the Patrón Highcroft Racing team have gone from strength to strength throughout the season with the class win at Road America proof to its development programme. With just four rounds left Brabham and Sharp aim to push the Penske Porsche of Bernhard and Dumas and win each remaining round. “The Mosport circuit is without question the fastest track on the ALMS calendar. With much of the first part of the lap flat out throughout high g-force corners, it’s also a demanding race for the body and mind that literally takes your breath away. It’s fantastic,” said Brabs. “We’ll be testing at Mosport in the days running up to the race to try out the latest development parts from Honda Performance Development and Wirth Engineering. The win at Road America proves that we have the winning combination and that everyone is doing a fantastic job. At least with testing before the event we have the opportunity to fine tune the new parts and take a good shot at clinching our fourth win of the season.”

Both Tim Harvey and Michael Caine set the pace in pre-race testing at Knockhill today for this weekend's rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. The pair were separated by just 0.1 seconds while in the pro-am1 category Nigel Rice was quickest, In the pro-am2 Scottish Formula Ford competitor Rory Butcher made an impressive debut by going fastest in his category.

Will Bratt will take his place on the grid next weekend at Valencia when the 2008 FIAT Spanish Formula 3 Championship races as part of the support to the European GP(23-24 August). With two races on the agenda Will is hoping to make the podium and considering he is the F3 lap record holder, it is highly likely he could succeed.

F3 team Signature Plus used it’s 4 VW engined cars to take on the hoards of Mercedes powered machines art Zolder in the GP masters of F3 last weekend. Martin Plowman, ‘on loan’ for the weekend climbed 21 places in the race while Jean-Karl Vernay brought his car home in the top ten.

The British Super 1 Kart Championship returns to Larkhall in Lanarkshire this weekend (16/17 August) and the Scottish circuit holds happy memories for KF1 front-runner, Jonathan Walker. Last year the 19-year old won both finals and set the fastest lap of the day. Unsurprisingly, he wants to repeat that performance and close the gap on series leader, Mark Litchfield. With three races to go, the AMT Racing driver is just 29 points behind three-time British Champion Litchfield and is confident that he can win again at the track. “I was 3 or 4 tenths quicker than the other drivers testing there last week,” he said. “We tried different things, from engines to chassis, and found some good pace. I’m looking forward to the weekend

Carl Skerlong is a proven front-runner and contender in the 2008 Atlantic championship. He's scored a pole position and three podium finishes in seven races. His average starting position is third and he's finished in the top-five, five times. One achievement eludes the 19-year Seattle racer...his first Atlantic victory and Skerlong believes it could come this weekend, "We have a good street course car, and I think we've got a good shot at this event, not least with the track being new to virtually everybody. I've been studying the course with the computer games and I am definitely still in the running for the championship so I'm hoping we can put it all together this weekend and get a strong result. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and enjoying the passion of the Canadian race fans. They really love their racing here so it always makes for a great atmosphere!"

You wait for ages gor one, them two show up togther, that’s what it’s been like for Aim Autosport. Just a week since their first win in Montreal then they did it again, this time at Watkins Glen, In the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, AIM Autosport claimed victory last Friday as Brian Frisselle and Mark Wilkins led 78 of the 82 laps to win the Crown Royal 200, Round 12 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Series .

Fans, racers and ‘friends’ of motorsport in general might be interested in signing the latest on-line petition to appear on the official site of the Prime Minister’s office. The synopsis of the petition, instigated by Keith Watts, is as follows; ‘We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to introduce a green paper proposing ways, that, where complaints have been instigated by resident(s) against a long standing activity (for example, church bells, sports facility, local airfield and similar), and where residence has been taken up since the start of that activity (providing there has been no significant increase in activity), a presumption should be made to protect the continuation of that activity and reject such complaint’ You can add your name to the list at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/livewithit/

The BRSCC Midland Centre will be busy this weekend organising the latest round of the British F3 & GT Championships at Silverstone. Amongst the support races is the British Formula Ford Championship where 17 year old

Ulsterman Wayne Boyd will be bidding to clinch the title. Boyd has racked up 13 wins at the wheel of his Jamun Racing Mygale giving him a very healthy 54 point lead over his only remaining title rival, Australian Tim Blanchard. With five races to go it could be decided this weekend depending on how the two protagonists fare against each other.

Meanwhile, down at Brands Hatch the BRSCC South Eastern Centre will be running what is only their second Brands meeting of the year. There are 18 races scheduled over the two days and all of them will be vital now that we are at the ‘business end’ of the season. There is a wide variety of motorsport on offer with races for sports cars (Ferrari, Porsche, Irish Global Lights), tin-tops (Ford Saloons, Fiestas, Mighty Minis) and single-seaters (Formula Jedi). The full meeting timetable and Final Instructions can be found at: www.brscc.co.uk/calendar/85.html

Last weekend’s Silverstone double header in the Carphone Warehouse powering TalkTalk Club Formula Ford MS Championship in association with Richard Egger Insurance attracted a huge turn-out with 32 entries. With points also counting towards the National Club Formula Ford Championship this excellent entry underlined the BRSCC’s successful strategy in adding the national format to the calendar. Club Formula Ford manager Kevin Shortis was quick to pay tribute by saying, 'It has been a steady build up culminating in the largest Midlands South & National grid I have seen in recent years. This is down to the team work led by Drew Furlong at the BRSCC and the championship co-ordinators within Club Formula Ford; Ian Smith; National, Matt Hawkins; NW and Peter Ritchie; MS. They have all played an important part in making BRSCC Formula Ford racing such force in UK Motorsport”'

The promoters of POWERnights are offering a two-for-one ticket deal for the POWERnights Festival on Thursday 21st August. Adult Tickets are just £10 each on the gate but with accompanied children under 16 receiving free entry, a family of 2 adults and up to 4 children can get a whole evening of entertainment for just £10 in total if booked in advance on 08717 03 38 48 during office hours. POWERnights provides great motor racing entertainment from 5.30pm with 10 back-to-back races from 5 different race groups followed by music and the Awards Ceremony in the race paddock with hot & cold catering available until 10pm.

The South East Motors Sports Enthusiasts Club (SEMSEC) is running a sprint and race meeting at Brands Hatch on Saturday 6th September and is seeking support from members of clubs across the South East to marshal and officiate at the event, whether they are experienced or inexperienced. If you are interested in helping them out please contact their Chief Marshal, Adrian Dawkins, on 01304 823962 (before 9pm please) or email kathandade@aol.com

With 400 plus historic racing cars at Oulton Park this weekend, the HSCC's famous Gold Cup meeting will be the place to be for race fans next weekend of 24/25 August. Alongside the 16 races the event will also celebrate 50 years of Lola racing cars

After a three month break, the 2008 Le Mans Series restarts with the 1000 km of Nurburgring this weekend(15-17) August. SPEEDY RACING - TEAM SEBAH are approaching the fourth round of the 2008 Le Mans Series with high expectations. The pace of the #33 Lola B08/80 Judd earlier this season was encouraging, but the team were hindered in the last two rounds by new car “teething” problems. The team and their technical partners have worked hard during the summer to enhance the endurance of various components, while at the same time, carry out enhancements to performance. Bart Hayden, team manager,,”We really want to win at the Nurburgring and deliver on the potential that we have shown throughout the year thus far. We have now gained considerable knowledge about the car, and we intend to put this to good use in our quest for the win. The Nurburgring circuit will be challenging for the technical staff in terms of set up and tyre choices, but we are confident in our resources and we will be pushing for the best result possible. The drivers all have experience of the circuit and all three of them have won a Le Mans Series race there in the past. A good result will be the best way to start the last part of the 2008 Le Mans Series and thank all our partners and sponsors for their support “

After announcing a deal to race with Creation AIM at the final two rounds of the ALMS, Liz Halliday will get a much earlier opportunity to race the team’s CA07 chassis as she will drive in this weekend’s Nurburgring 1000kms. Halliday has been drafted in by the team to replace regular driver, Felipe Ortiz, who is unavailable due to a prior commitment. Halliday will partner South African Stephen Simpson in the team’s #14 car, giving the pair an early opportunity to drive together ahead of the Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca races later in the year. “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to get some time in the car under racing conditions,” said Liz. “The news that I would be driving at the Nurburgring has come quite late, but the chance to work with Stephen and the team, and the experience we’ll gain from that, will be very welcome. “The Nurburgring is a new circuit for me. I’ve been there before as a spectator, but never to drive, so that’s exciting as well. In fact, it’s going to be a weekend of firsts; my first race with Creation, first in an LMP1 car and first at the Nurburgring, so obviously I can’t wait!” Creation Team Principal Mike Jankowski welcomed Liz on board by saying: “When we found out Felipe was unavailable for this race, we thought of Liz straight away. It’s a welcome opportunity to work with her before our programme together in the US and we’re confident that she will do a good job this weekend

The Golden Motors team from Russia, will rejoin the championship at the end of August, for the next race meeting at Oschersleben followed by Imola and Monza. This will be their third appearance, having raced at Valencia and Brno already this year. Andrey Smetsky and Alexander Lvov will drive the team's Honda Accord Euro R’s.

Chevrolet's Alain Menu has claimed his fourth podium result on his fourth appearance at the Buenos Aires 200 Km, a round of the Argentine TC2000 championship. Menu finished in third at the wheel of a Chevrolet Astra shared with former TC2000 champion Cristian Ledesma. After an hour and 24 minutes of racing José Maria López and Anthony Reid won in a Honda Civic, 2.1 seconds ahead of the sister car of Juan Manuel Silva andLeonel Ugalde, with Menu and Ledesma a further nine tenths adrift. Menu's WTCC team-mate Robert Huff was classified sixth, along with Marcelo Bugliotti.

Carl Stirling was racing at Genk last weekend in Rounds 6 & & of the Stars of Tomorrow Kart series. After a fifth place in Saturday's final he went out at won on Sunday. In Saturday's races Carl won two heats before an engine problem intervened in the final dropping him from first to sixth. He fought back to fifth but that was as far as he got. On Sunday however, in the wet, he picked up a 5^th and 3^rd in his two heats before romping to victory in the final .

The V-WTCC, virtual version of the World Touring Car Championship, is expanding beyond Europe. Although most of its competitors are still from European countries and all the series' events are held in the Old Continent, a few overseas participants have joined. At the first event at Valencia, Brazil's Gabriel Bechtold qualified for the Semi-Finals, while Jason Pitts from the United States of America and Tony Gonzalez from the Canary Islands competed in Brands Hatch in the latest round. Bastien Bartsch from France won the Semi-Final race in England and the V-WTCC, and is now heading to Oschersleben for its fourth round. The fifth and last Semi-Final round will be held at Mantorp Park, Sweden, on September 27th during the Swedish Touring Car Championship's final meeting. Winners of the Semi-Final rounds will then meet in Monza for the V-WTCC grand finale.

SG Formula's Henkie Waldschmidt and Yann Clairay were both looking good at the Formula 3 Masters race at Zolder last wekend until the former came together with Richard Philippe and the latter tried to pass Alguersuari with 3 laps remaining but unfortunately ended up in the wall .

The Britiish Army will see their logo emblazoned across Getem Racing driver, Linton Stutely’s car this weekend, as he tries to take pole in the British Formula Ford Championship 2008 round at SIlverstone. Linton, 22, and Getem Racing approached the Army, to see if they would like to brand the car for Silverstone, as they wanted to support the Army, especially the troops. James Crofts, from Getem Racing comments: “The US has a great tradition of supporting its Army in various racing championships, so we thought why shouldn’t we do the same? “The British Army is the best Army in the world. We wanted to show our gratitude to all the soldiers out there who are doing a fantastic job for Queen and Country and this is our way of doing that. We are delighted to support them and Linton will drive proudly with Army branding on his car.” Lt Col David Hollas, commander of regional recruiting for the East of England, comments: “It’s fantastic that Linton and Getem Racing want to show their support in this way. When we were offered the opportunity, we jumped at the chance. Getem Racing have kindly invited us to the race at Silverstone on Sunday and our soldiers are excited to be attending to see Linton and his car in action. Silverstone have also generously offered half price tickets to all Army Soldiers who want to come and watch the racing this weekend”

Nick Sanderson had a reasonable weekend at Lydden Hill in the Fiesta Championship going home with a third and fourth place and no damage. The weekend also saw the racing debut of his sponsor, Kempster Ford Director, Ian Fletcher in John Finflay’s car

Dane Cameron’s run of success in the 2008 Atlantic Championship continued at Road America last weekend where he not only qualified on pole but took an execellent second place finish in the first race of the double header event. A spin in race two dropped him down the field and he finished a disappointing 17^th.

The legion of Chevrolet Camaro fans will have a new place to focus their enthusiasm next January at Daytona, as the legendary V8-powered classic Chevrolet performance machine will return to competition in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge GS Class in 2009. Riley Technologies has been named the exclusive builder for the Camaro for KONI Challenge competition. The entry will be closely based on the highly anticipated all-new 2010 Camaro, which was recently officially unveiled simultaneously at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan, and GM West Coast Advanced Design Studio North Hollywood, California. By entering the KONI Challenge, the Camaro will be competing head to head against a field of production-based racers. With that philosophy in mind, Riley will be offering four configurations to select from. Teams will be able to pick from a complete turn-key race car, a complete unassembled car kit, an unassembled car less purchased parts, and a Riley Technologies Body In White fitted with a roll cage. Riley Technologies Vice President Bill Riley said. "We will offer the same level of support for our Camaro KONI Challenge competitors as we do our Daytona Prototype and Rolex GT Class customers. The KONI Challenge is tremendously competitive and we are really looking forward to seeing our customers hit the track starting at Daytona in January." The machine will be delivered ready to race for $130,000, with deposits currently being accepted.

Alexander Rossi just keeps on winning in Formula BMW Americas. At Road America last weekend he added two more victories to his tally to take it to 9 wins and to increase his lead in the title chase to 32 points over Ricardo Favoretto.

Mark Charteris won again in the Classic Clubmans, this time at Castle Combe last weekend. After qualifying on pole Charteris was beaten away at the start by Steve Chaplin, buy by lap 2 he was past and thereafter crusied to victory

The Porsche Carrera Cup GB should feature live on ITV4 this Sunday (17 August 2008) when round 16 of the championship runs at Knockhill. The race, which comes at a critical time in the championship battle, is scheduled to start at 2.30pm and will be broadcast in the programme that features live coverage of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. The Knockhill Carrera Cup races should be good as Michael Caine, Tim Harvey and Tim Bridgman continue their season-long battle for the crown. Providing that the BTCC raceday timetable runs to plan, the Carrera Cup race will go out on ITV4. The programme starts at 12.30pm and ends at 5.30pm. The action from both rounds 15 and 16 of Carrera Cup at Knockhill will feature as usual in the Motorsport UK series, with the half-hour programme going out on both ITV4 and ITV1 in early October.

Gregor Fisken had a brief respite from Historic machinery to take part in the American Le Mans Series race at Road America at the weekend. There he joined up with Britain's Ryan Lewis and American John Faulkner where they finished just off the podium in fourth place.

There were wins for Mal Davison and Nick Williamson in the LMA Euro Sports and Saloons at Silverstone last weekend. With class wins for Rhys Lloyd, Douglas Ellwood, Ian Craig (2), Jim Mepham and Andrew Neal, the last anmeed moved into the overall Championship lead .

Doran Racing have once again finished in the top ten of a Rolex Sports Car race, extending their run of finishes to six in a row and 9 overall in 2008. This time they did it with a10th-place at the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen with the #77 Kodak Doran/Dallara Ford co-driven by Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger

Chevron founder to be remembered at Oulton Park Gold Cup. The life and work of Derek Bennett, the founder of Chevron Racing Cars, will be marked during the Oulton Park Gold Cup race meeting on 24/25 August. In the year when Bennett would have reached his 75th birthday, a special trophy will be presented for the best drive in a Chevron during the Gold Cup meeting.

The Gold Cup meeting is organised by the Historic Sports Car Club and Chevrons will be prominent in several races, with examples of sports-racing cars, Formula 2, Formula 5000, Formula 3 and Formula Atlantic cars all racing during the weekend. Wendy and Geoff Smith, Derek's sister and brother-in-law will present the trophy. The award is a special Waterford Glass cut crystal bowl known as the Derek Bennett Trophy 2008, and will be awarded only at this event by Helen and Vin Malkie of Chevron Racing Cars Ltd. Bennett, born in 1933, was a brilliant and intuitive engineer and started building the first customer Chevrons in 1965. The marque was hugely successful in both sports car and single-seater racing right through the 1970s, but sadly Bennett was killed 30 years ago in 1978 in a hang-gliding accident. It is hoped that a number of people with Chevron connections, including former employees and drivers, will attend be at Oulton Park over the weekend. For more details about Chevron Racing Cars Ltd, please visit http://web.chevron.biteus.net

Asia Racing Team (ART) Motorsports has added Mexican driver Karl Martinez to its driver line up for the third round of Formula Asia 2.0 on 16-17 August at the Bira track. After two days testing at Zhuhai International Circuit, Martinez is ready to for his first single seat race in the car, “I'm thrilled to be racing here. The Formula Renault 2.0 is very nice to drive. It is my first time to drive this car; I found it more complex. I had driven the Formula BMW before and this car is not the same as that. After getting used to it, I became more confident. With Philippe’s help, I ran faster and faster. I will try my best to get top 10 in the Thailand’s race”. ART Motorsports Team Manager Philippe Descombes added: “We are very pleased to have signed Karl, and we will do our best to make his first race as smooth as possible. Of course he has a lot experience to gain but that’s why we are here”.

Reigning SEAT Cupra Champion Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) returns to his home circuit of Knockhill on top form as he looks to erode Robert Lawson’s (Bardon/JHR) points advantage at the top of the table. Lawson has been consistent this season and stretched out a commanding lead early on, but Adam has found some serious pace since Thruxton where he completed a double victory, a feat he replicated at Oulton Park. Lawson isn’t the sort of driver to rest on his laurels though; he’ll be well aware of Adam’s potency here and will realise that a win on the Scottish track will be a huge blow to his challenger. Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport) won a round in Scotland last year and could still claim the crown. Despite dropping down the standings after Oulton Park, both Breeze and his nearest rival Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing) know they have the ability to win races. The undulating twists of Knockhill may prove to be a great leveller. In fact, the 2008 SEAT Cupra Championship grid is packed with drivers who believe they can win races such as Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) and Daniel Rowbottom (DRM M- sport), but time is running out this year. Into the mix comes Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport) and the improving drivers like Freddy Nordström (Plumbertraining.com/Advent Motorsport), Jamie Ackers (Total Control Racing), James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools) and Jeremy Gumbley (Millionpixeldriver.com/Welch Motorsport). Also hoping to impress in front of his home crowd will be Steve Mitchell from Letham near Forfar, who’ll be giving his JP Motorsport Leon Cupra its first run at Knockhill in its striking new colour scheme.

Brands Hatch hosts the next two rounds of the Porsche Club Championship on the Indy circuit. In recent races Ian White’s 964 C2 has taken on the massed ranks of the 968 CS models headed by 2007 champion Mark McAleer. White’s rear-engined 964 always gets off the line well, but is closely matched with the 968s on race pace, plus the front-engined cars tend to be kinder to their tyres. White has had to battled hard against Class One rivals, McAleer, Gary Duckman, Brian Robinson and Ben Demetriou, and the two 30-minute races at Brands should see him under pressure as grip fades in the final laps of the race. At least 19 class One cars expected on the grid, 11 of them the 968 variant that McAleer used to win last year’s title. Watch for Kevin Harrison in a 964 C2 and John Williams, aiming to take on the more modern cars in his 1973 911 Carrera. The Class Two of the Club runners will race with the Porsche Open field,t he 14-strong class dominated of late by the 944 S2, with Chris Dyer, Trevor Lewis and Charles Winterhalder taking wins. James Hilliard returns for Brands in his rapid 944. Jeremy Clark has been the man to beat in in Class Three in his 944. Adrian Stock, Dave Roberts and the distinctive pink 911 SC of Sarah Bennett-Baggs (pictured right - Pic Paul Williams) provide the opposition at Brands.

Jeremy Metcalfe want to win on Sunday (17th August), in round 13 of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship at Silverstone. In the first 2 hour race of the season both Metcalfe and his team-mate Luke Hines are confident ..

Ollie Hancock has nearly done it, won the Formula Renault BARC Title that is, he just needs to pick up four points to make sure. At Snetterton he not only took pole for both races, won one race and came second in another, he also set fastest lap as well.

Hillspeed picked up more points in the Formula Renault BARC rounds at Snetterton on Saturday, 9th August, Drivers Menasheh Idafar and Ahmad Al Harthy both picked up, points leaving them in fourth and fifth in the Championship.

Ben Clucas and Ivor McCullough mastered the conditions in the VdeV race at Brands Hatch to take the win as their main challengers Bryce Wilson/Ally McKever’s hit problems when their Ligier got stuck in gear.

Raphael Fiorentino won the first of the Caterham Roadsport B races at Silverstone in the wet on Saturday while Anthony Sidney-Woollett took his first victory on Sunday. In the Roadsport A, Phil Broad took a win and a fourth place to extend his Championship lead while James Sharrock took his maiden win from JJ O’Malley after an epic battle.

Trevor Fowell is still winning in the Caterham Academy Group 1, it was his fifth win in a row at the weekend. Matthew Draper threaten to upset the 'applecart' but a spin late on handed the win back to Fowell. Mark Fulford mucked up his start in the Group 2 race to drop to third, but within 5 laps he was back in front to take his first win.

Apotex Scorpio Motorsport’s Ollie Hancock is within reach of the 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship crown after a win and a second place in the latest rounds at Snetterton on Saturday, 9th August. The FR2000 Class leader finished second to Alpine Motorsport’s Isa Yousif in round eight before winning a rain-affected round nine.

A1GP make changes to regulations for the forthcoming season. Included is a mandatory pit-stop in the Sprint race

Liz Halliday will return to the American Le Mans Series later this year with British team Creation AIM to contest the Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca events.

Panther Racing driver Dillon Battistini jumped from sixth to third in the Firestone Indy Lights championship standings by scoring his fourth win of the season in the "Kentucky 100" tonight at Kentucky Speedway.

It was a re-run of Edmonton in the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda doubleheader at Road America at the weekend with Jonathan Summerton and Jonathan Bomarito sharing the spoils. A sixth-place in the second of the two races at Road for Markus Niemela allowed the Finn to maintain his lead over Summerton in the Rookie of the Year standings by 16-points. James Hinchcliffe meanwhile lost his lead in the overall Championship to Bomarito by just 3 points as the teams head north to Canada and Trois Riviers this weekend.

Canadian rookie Daniel Morad earned his fifth top-10 result of the season with a ninth-place performance in the No. 70 Metro Directories of Georgia/Grapeking machine for Eurointernational at Road America in the Atlantic series. In the same event Frankie Muniz picked up his best result of the season with a 10th-place run in the No. 41 PCM/USRT machine for Pacific Coast Motorsports. Muniz's previous best result was 11th in Round 3 at Mont-Tremblant.

Leanne Tander will be challenging for the Kumho Tyres Australian F3 title next month at Symonds Plains after her win at Phillip Island yesterday. It could have been even better for Tander as she had been leading the opening race of the weekend until she had a minor ‘off’ on the final lap which dropped her from first to eighth and handed the win to her Championship rival James Winslow.

Robert Pritchard and his Caterham Vauxhall were simply unbeatable in the Performance N Economy Chip Tuning Sports/Saloon Car at Anglesey. With his main competition not in action at the Welsh circuit, Pritchard winning bothr aces comfortably. ‘It’s not the way I like to win,’ he said, at the end of the race meeting. ‘But I’m still very pleased.’

Jason Plato and Darren Turner will be looking for the top step of the podium at Knockhill this weekend as the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship arrives at Scotland’s National Motorsport Centre this weekend (August 16/17). It’s been a ‘happy hunting ground’ for the SEAT drivers in the past so they’lll be hoping their Leon TDI’s will allow a repeat this weekend.

Max Chilton came back after a poor start in the RTL GP Masters of F3 at Zolder finishing down in 21st after he was brought in for dry tyres by his team Hitech Racing. Once on the new rubber Chilton's pace incresed and he set fastest lap of the race. The race was won by Jules Bianchi who led his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg over the line making it an ART Grand Prix 1 .2.

Graham Carroll won both races in the National Formula Ford 1600 Championship at Siliverstone yesterday (Sat) in difficult conditions. He started race 1 from 4th on the grid and passed pole man Gavin Wills for the lead.The safety car was deployed but Carroll still managed the win on a wet and slidey track. In race 2 he lead the race from start to finish extending his lead in the Championship which has the final round at Mallory Park in September. He has already won the BRSCC North West Championship overall and class 'B' and is currently leading the Scottish Championship.

James Winslow is now just a single point in front of Leanne Tander in the Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship after the pair shared the wins at Phillip Island today (Sunday). Winslow won the opener with a late -, late pass on Tander on the final lap while Leanne repaid the debt in race two to set up a thrilling conclusion to the Championship at the final round at Symonds Plains next month.

Manor Motorsport’s Sam Bird drove an exceptional race in the 2008 RTL GP Masters of Formula 3 race at Zolder. After a disapointing qualifying session that left him in 22nd place on the grid, Bird climbed all the way to seventh by teh flag.

Martin Plowman had a good debut in his first Masters of F3 race at Zolder this weekend,. bring his car home in 14th place. Plowman, racing for the Signature Plus rather than his usual team, RC Motorsport who had decided against competing, qualifed in 35th , between Signature's regular dirvers frenchman Jean-Karl Vernay in 30th and Franck Mailleux in 36th.

Alexander Rossi won his fifth Formula BMW Americas victory of the season yesterday at Road America placing him at the top of the Formula BMW Americas career win list with eight total. Starting from the pole, Rossi had a strong race-long challenge from Eurointernational teammate Adrien Tambay, but held him off to win by 1.928 seconds. The win increases Rossi’s overall point lead to 34 over Ricardo Favoretto and gives him the pole position for this morning’s Round 11 race. Rossi the fastest in both practice sessions and set a new qualifying record on his way to the Round 12 pole. However after the practice IMSA officials determined that the three Eurointernational drivers, Tambay, Rossi and Villarinho, had impeded another driver’s fast lap and penalised them fastest lap. This relegated Rossi to second on the grid for Round 12.

Menasheh Idafar got back into the points in the Formula Renault BARC Championship at Snetterton yesterday, Saturday 9th August, to pit himself back into contention for the runner-up spot in the Championship behind runaway leader Olly Hancock. In mixed weather conditions 17-year-old Menasheh took a good fourth place in race 1 followed by a sixth in race two after Ross Curnow was excluded from third .

Peter Dempsey has won the latest round of the Star Mazda Series at Road America in Winsconsin . Driving for Andersen Racing Dempsey won the race on the penultimate lap when he passed poleman Aim Autosport's John Edwards after a ding-dong battle the had raged from the start. Charles Hall followed the pair home in third to give Andersen racing a 1-3 finish.

The Star Mazda Championship and Mazda North American Operations have announced a 5-year extension of the car manufacturer’s title sponsorship of one of North America’s premier open-wheel driver development series. The deal runs until the 2013 season and formalizes 23 years of continuous cooperation between Mazda and the Star Mazda Championship. “Our relationship with Mazda is one of the principal strengths of our series,” says Star Mazda Championship founder and President, Gary Rodrigues. “And the length of that relationship, which has existed since the debut of the original Formula Mazda series in 1991, produces both credibility and stability in an otherwise confusing open-wheel environment. With this new long-term contract in place, the Star Mazda Championship can get on with its mission of advancing the careers of each new generation of drivers while having the resources to grow and develop to keep pace with the evolving structure of the racing industry in North America." Over the past 18 years, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear has grown into one of the most prolific and successful open-wheel driver development series in all of auto racing. In 2008, the value of series prizes totals $1.5 million and includes a full-season sponsorship from the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder for the Star Mazda series champion to move up and race in the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. Plus, courtesy of Mazda, a full scholarship into the Star Mazda Championship is awarded to the champion of the 2008 Skip Barber National Series Presented by Mazda.

David Brabham and Scott Sharp came home the first LMP2 runner at Road America in round seven of the American Le Mans Series,the Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable. In a race that included 7 safety car periods Brabham and Sharp drove a great race helped by a clever strategy from the Patrón Highcroft Racing team which saw then team finish third overall .

Formula Asia 2.0 top team Asia Racing Team (ART) Motorsports is at the Bira circuit in Pattaya,

Thailand, for rounds 6 & 7 of the AFOS championship. Yoshitaka Kuroda, Ryan Booth, Ryan Haryanto and the debutant Karl Martinez Vergara will get their first taste of the Thai circuit in this weekend’s event. Yoshitaka Kuroda was 3rd in Race 2 at Sepang, and sits is 5^th in the Championship. Indonesian Rio Haryanto, , the youngest of the lot, enjoyed a strong outing in Malaysia, and after two test days at Zhuhai Circuit he feels more confident than ever. Ryan Booth continues to impress in his rookie year. Mexican Karl Martinez makes his first appearance in single seaters and promises to give his best shot to keep up with the front-runners. Team Manager Philippe Descombes commented ahead of the weekend, “We head into this round with the motivation and determination that we have each weekend. We expect to fare equally well at the Bira as we did on the Sepang Race 2 despite our very inexperienced line up. Fortunately we have done some training sessions at home with Ryo and Karl, and it should pay off in Bira. This is going to be the first time for the championship there, and our first time too. I am sure this will be a great event”.

Hitech Racing topped the British runners in qualifying for the RTL GP Masters of F3 at Zolder with Max Chilton posting the sixth quickest time. Spaniard Roberto Merhi, on his first outing for the reigning British champions and his first time in an International class F3 car, also easily progressed through the pre-qualifiers and wound up 17th from 37 runners. For both 17 year-olds the event marked the first time ever on Kumho tyres and for Max the first time ever at the Belgian circuit. Team Principal David Hayle was understandably delighted with the performance of both his young charges as they compete against the cream of Formula 3 drivers from across the continent. “Both drivers have driven exceptionally well all weekend. It is their first time on the Kumho tyres and they adapted well to the changes. Max was on the pace right from the start and in the earlier wet free practice sessions was running P1 or P2 for most of the session. And in the dry he also underlined the same pace and performance and that ultimately netted him a strong third row start for the race tomorrow. Roberto has been particularly impressive considering it’s his first time with us, the first time in an International-spec car and his first time on Kumho’s. Just to get through the pre-qualifying when several of the top line drivers didn’t is a remarkable achievement.”

Leanne Tander flew to pole position in the Kumho tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship for the first of the races tomorrow at Phillip Island. In race 2 Team BRM driver James Winslow came back from a dismal first session, where his engine failed, to take pole for race 2.

AIM Autosport's John Edwards claimed pole yesterday for Round 6 of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Road America. Setting a timer of 2:05.313 (116.291) he was just over 2 tenths quicker than the 2007 Walter Hayes Trophy winner Peter Dempsey, the Andersen Racing drivers' best qualifying position of the year. Tom Gladdis was third quickest giving Andersen Racing two of the top three places ..

Menasheh Idafar heads into rounds eight and nine of the Formula Renault BARC season at Snetterton Circuit today, 9th August, in confident mood after a very competitive run during testing on Friday. Taking part in three 30-minute sessions the Hillspeed racer produced a best lap time of 1m 08.2 seconds which placed him two or three 10ths of a second ahead of almost all of his rivals. Menasheh is confident his own pace will enable him to qualify high up the order during the sole 20-minute session. Speaking after the test, the Gulf Computer Services, Gulfol and Ortolan backed driver said: “It’s been a very good day for us, we had good speed and I’m happy with the lap times we achieved compared to our main championship rivals. It’ll be busy tomorrow with qualifying and two races but I’m really looking forward to it.” Hillspeed’s driver coach, BRDC Rising Star Matt Shawyer added: “Menasheh did a good job today, his best lap was about two or three 10ths of a second faster than most people so we’re happy we’re in good shape for tomorrow. We’re not sure what the weather will do but, whatever happens, we’re feeling positive

The Charterhouse Heritage Grand Touring Car Challenge will be racing at Silverstone next weekend (16/17 August) as part of the British F3./GT event. Once again the fight at the front is likely to be a family affair between the Bryant's Morgan Plus 8 and the Arthur and Boysie Thurtle's Camaro hotly pursued of course by the Sunbeam Tiger of Jackie Cochrane and Stephen Colbert . Chris Scragg's Aston Martin V8 and the Mustang of Robin and Zoe North will also be in the mix.

David Brabham was fourth in his class and sixth overall in qualifying yesterday at Road America for the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series, the Generac 500 presented by Time Warner Cable. After a tense fight for grid positions the top 7 cars were covered by just 1 second with the Audi of Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner taking pole

Michael Caine and Tim Harvey are separated by just 9 points in the Championship as the Porsche Carrera Cup GB heads north to Knockhill in Scotland. Caine won both races last time out after Harvey had done the same trick at Snetterton.

Harold Primat and Christophe Tinseau will be at the Nurburgring next week hoping to keep their place as the top non-diesel car in the Le Mans Series standings. Running out of petrol was the problem for the team at Spa causing them to loose third place in the LMP1 rankings when their Pescarolo-Judd cut out just 1 kilometre from the line. Now they hope to rectify matters in Germany..

Wayne Boyd could win the 2008 British Formula Ford Championship title next weekend (16/17 Aug) at Silverstone. It's more likely he'll have to wait until October and the triple header at Donington Park but it could happen next week. Boyd with13 wins under his belt, needs to increase his championship lead over his team-mate Tim Blanchard to 96points(from 54 today) to claim the title. Given Blanchard's speed and previous record that's unlikely to happen..

The principal protagonists in the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship, Leanne Tander, Nathan Caratti and James Winslow, led the way in practice for this weekend's round of the championship at Phillip Island today(Friday). Fastest was Tander followed by her two rivals, the trio separated by les than two tenths of a second.

David Mayes is very much the 'man to beat' in the Avon Tyres Caterham Superlight Challenge this season. Since winning the first race at Castle Combe he has won 3 more times and been on the podium in the remaining two races putting him 9 points clear in the title chase. At Silverstone next weekend his main contenders should therefore be queuing up to get in front the man from Kent!..

Rounds 15th and 16th of the FIA WTCC will take place at Oschersleben Motorsport Arena on August 31st. The German track, located some 30 km from the city of Magdeburg, is a traditional venue for the FIA Touring Cars having hosted the European Touring Car Championship from 2001 to 2004 and the WTCC from 2005. Oschersleben is regarded as BMW's home circuit. Not only because it is in Germany, but also because the BMW drivers have managed to win ten out of the twelve races held there so far, with Andy Priaulx claiming four victories. The Bavarian cars have only been beaten there by SEAT, once in 2004 ETCC by Rickard Rydell in a Toledo Cupra and last year by Yvan Muller in a León TDI, the first win for a diesel in a World Championship.#

Daniel Lloyd is looking forward to next weekend’s 17th and 18th rounds of the 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship at Knockhill in Scotland , his first experience of the Fife track. Hungry for a couple of strong results to help his bid to end the season inside the top three in the Championship, Daniel travels to Knockhill confident in the knowledge he has been competitive this year at other circuits he has never previously visited. “Knockhill will be a totally new experience for me but I’m confident it shouldn’t take us long to adapt to the track and hopefully we’ll be able to qualify on the first couple of rows, that would be an ideal start”, commented Daniel. It would be fantastic to get back on the podium next weekend and although we always aim high, if we can achieve two solid finishes in the top four places it’ll be a job well done. Of course, I always want to win every time I’m on track but without any prior experience of Knockhill we’re being realistic. Hopefully it’ll go really well.”

On Sunday Chevrolet WTCC drivers Alain Menu and Rob Huff will take part in the Buenos Aires 200-kilometre race in support of Chevrolet Argentina's title bid in the TC2000 championship. The last time Alain Menu did the race was in 2006 where he won alongside co-driver Matías Rossi. For Menu it was the completion of his personal Argentine podium, after a third place finish in 2004 and second in 2005. Rob Huff will join him this time along with Hoover Orsi, a Chevrolet driver in the Brazilian stock-car championship. Menu will partner Cristian Ledesma, who is currently fourth in the TC2000 standings, while Huff shares driving duties with Marcelo Bugliotti. The third Chevrolet Astra is driven by Orsi and Ricardo Risatti.

Steve Walker will race in the VW Racing Cup in the next round at Silverstone with a Mk IV Golf 1.8 Turbo which he built in 2004. Walker last raced in the series back in 2004 and was second in the championship 2 years earlier Joe Fulbrook could wrap up the title at Silverstone provided he gets his lead out to 95 points (its 82 at the moment), should he fail he will need to wait for the season's finale at Donington Park in October.

A Formula 1 car last raced by Graham Hill 35 years ago returned to racing during the Silverstone Classic (26/27 July) in the Grand Prix Masters. Somerset-based Daryl Taylor became only the second driver to race the Shadow DN1 that Hill raced during the 1973 season, and gave the rebuilt car its first race at Silverstone on Saturday 26th. Taylor acquired the Shadow DN1 in America and spent many months rebuilding the car. “We bought it towards the end of last year and it has been quite a project,” said Taylor. “It had been stored in the States and, apart from a few demonstration runs, hadn’t been used since Graham Hill raced it in 1973. “I’m the first person other than Graham Hill to race the car. It is quite an honour. I could probably have bought cheaper or more competitive cars, but I’d never have had the chance to buy something like that again.” Taylor plans to race the car again in selected Grand Prix Masters races over the balance of the season before a fuller campaign in 2009. The Silverstone race was his first in a F1, although he has experience of both F2 and F5000.

Aim Autosport’s Star Mazda team was at Portland recently twith driver John Edwards trying to make up some points after his sixth palce at Watkins Glen. Afer qualifying well the first race was a big disappointment with John retiring after just 6 laps. However on Sunday it all came together with a front row start which was soon translated into first place and a comfortable win

Superleague Formula have got Tottenham Hotspur to join in the football-themed championship, the first Premier League club to sign-up The north London club becomes the 15th Superleague Formula outfit and the second UK club alongside Scottish giants, Rangers. Spurs' blue and white livery will be carried by one of the 750 horsepower, V12 powered Superleague Formula Panoz cars at the championship's debut round at Donington Park on August 30/31.

Silverstone Circuit had two of Britains most famous Saloon car drivers at the circuit today (Wednesday). The first British Touring Car Champion Jack Sears, who won the first title back in 1958, and 2001 Champion and current BTCC driver Jason Plato. The pair had the unique experience of driving each others cars, Jack Sears in Jason's SEAT Leon and Jason out in Jack's Austin Westminster. The pair swapped cars as part of the celebration for the 50th, 60th and 80th anniversaries of the BTCC, Silverstone Circuit and British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) respectively.

The Masters Racing Series had five races at the biggest historic racing festival in Britain this year, the Silverstone Classic (25-27 July). In those races there were over 180 cars and over 350 drivers, all helping make the event a great successs. pic Paul Williams

Tim Harvey will contest his 100th race in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB during the next event scheduled for Knockhill on16/17 August. Harvey, currently fighting for the championship lead with Michael Caine and Tim Bridgman, is the most successful racer in the championship's six-year history. In 2003, the first year of the Carrera Cup, Harvey tackled four races in the VIP car and will complete rounds 15 and 16 of the 2008 season at Knockhill. In the course of his 98 races to date, Harvey has finished on the podium no less than 68 times, compared to the 52 podium finishes by Richard Westbrook. Harvey has also scored 19 race wins and taken 22 fastest laps. His most recent race wins came in rounds 11 and 12 at Snetterton in July when he turned in a peerless performance in his Red Line Racing 911GT3 Cup car.

Dane Cameron, the 2007 Star Mazda Champion is showing that his prize of a Mazda-sponsored drive in this year's Atlantic Championship has been put to good use. To date he has taken 3 top five places at Mont-Tremblant and the double-header at Edmonton, where he also stuck his car on the front row in qualifying. Cameron now heads for one of America's most daunting tracks Road America at Elkhart Lake, Winsconsin..

Martin Plowman is set to race in the Zandvoort Masters of F3 for the first time on 8-10 August at the Belgium circuit of Zolder. The prestigious annual event attracts the best drivers from Formula 3 championships across Europe , particularly from the Formula 3 Euro Series and British F3 International Championship, ensuring fierce competition. Plowman’s Formula 3 Euro Series team, RC Motorsport, will not be entering the event and so the team has given its blessing for Plowman to race with fellow Volkswagen powered team, Signature. A rookie in the Formula 3 Euro Series, Plowman is relishing the opportunity to compete in Europe ’s most important Formula 3 race but will be treating the outing as an experience-building exercise. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be a part of Formula 3’s biggest event,” said Plowman. “I’m not expecting to achieve outstanding results in my first year competing in this prestigious race but the experience will be invaluable; not only competing against the cream of Formula 3 drivers but also in learning the Zolder circuit in preparation for next year’s Euro Series round. None the less, I am looking forward to it.” The Zandvoort Masters of F3 at Zolder action starts with practice on Friday afternoon followed by qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.

Alexander Rossi will be at Road America in Elkhart Lake Winsconsin, for Rounds 10 and 11 of the Formula BMW Americas Championship this weekend, Rossi, who drives for Eurointernational, currently leads the series by 19 points from Ricardo Favoretto.

Andersen Racing's Jonny Baker backed up his victory at Mid-Ohio with another podium finish in the F2000 Championship Series presented by Hoosier Racing Tire on Saturday at Road America. The 23-year-old from Buckinghamshire started fourth and finished third in his factory Van Diemen sponsored by Allied Interior Products. Kyle Marcelli won the race by 0.416 secs over Chris Miller. Only six of the 12 laps around the 4-mile track were run during the event's time limit. Andersen Racing's Anders Krohn, the series' leader with five wins was involved in a controversial accident with polesitter Niki Coello at the start that knocked both drivers out . Nikki Coello beat Marcelli by just over a second to win the second race on Sunday.

Total 24-hours of Spa endurance race had a few surprises in store for Scuderia Ecosse at the weekend but after completing 503 laps the team crossed the line in 8th place. Throughout the first twelve hours of the race the team had to cope with a variety of weather conditions and constantly changing track conditions. As the clock hit 4am on Sunday the team, despite having had to overcome a spin, a broken exhaust manifold, electrical problems and blocked air in-takes, was sitting in 6th place. The second half of the race brought new challenges and the team ended up holding onto 8th place for the final six and half hours of the race. The team’s three drivers, Babini, Davies and Monfardini each did double stints behind the wheel and all three managed to push car to its limit. After the race Jamie Davies said, “After such a good start and with such a capable car at our disposal it was undoubtedly the difficult conditions that hampered our progress this weekend. It was a tough race and so still to be on the track at the finish was in itself quite an achievement.” Team Principal Stewart Roden commented shortly after the race finished,”We had a really good car this weekend and once again all of the guys did an excellent job; unfortunately luck was not on our side. We have made considerable progress with the development of the car this weekend and the support we received from Pirelli was excellent. Getting to the end of any 24-hour endurance race is always something of an achievement so scoring the points we did today is, in some ways, a bit of a bonus.”

One of the closest title battles in Firestone Indy Lights history is also one of its most competitive. With 4 races remaining for the 2008 Firestone Firehawk Cup, 15 drivers are mathematically able to win, with Raphael Matos, Ana Beatriz, J.R. Hildebrand all within 48 points of points leader Richard Antinucci. Antinucci, with 376 points, has a 1-point advantage over Matos. Antinucci has two wins and seven podium finishes. Matos, who is hoping to add his third championship crown in four seasons, has stayed in close contact all season. Matos has 3 victories. Beatriz, the first female driver to win a Firestone Indy Lights race, moved from sixth to third following her win at Nashville. She has had 5 top-five finishes in the last six races and Antinucci by 41 points. Hildebrand is just seven points behind Beatriz for third and has more top-10 finishes than any other driver in the series (10) and a victory at Kansas Speedway in April. The next race is this weekend in Kentucky

AIM Autosport did it! They won their maiden Rolex Sports Car race on home soil at Montreal on Saturday by the closest margin in the series history, just 0.064secs. To top it off they had ended the first lap dead last after being spun through 180 degrees between turns 1 and 2 at the start!.

The fourth edition of the FIA European Touring Car Cup will take place on October 19th at the Salzburgring, Austria. This will be the first FIA event at the 4.2 km superfast racetrack located 15 km East of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's home town for 23 years when the track was still used as a regular venue for the European Touring Car Championship (from 1970-85). Austrian ace Dieter Quester claimed three ETCC victories there, in 1975, 1977 and 1980 at the wheel BMW’s.

Doran Racing’s Dallara Ford co-driven by Burt Frisselle and Ricky Taylor and the second car of Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger finished 9thj and11th respectively at Montreal in the 2008 Rolex Series at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal at the weekend..

Gregor Fisken will drive a LMP1 Lola B06/10 AER alongside Ryan Lewis and John Faulkner for Intersport Racing in this weekend’s ALMS race at Elkhart Lake. The 4 hours race will be the Scot’s first foray into modern racing this eason.

Robert Foster-Jones took a win, two second places and a third to qualify second overall for first Final in the European Kart Championship at Braga in Portugal. From there he took second place to reach the grand final where he was runnerup to eventual winner Flavio Camponeschi.

Andrew Spencer won the Westfields race at Donington park last weekend beating Michael Ellis after the pair had a terrific scrap from the start. Ellis did in fact get in front on the last lap, albeit briefly, before Spencer regained the lead at the Old Hairpion..

Salman Al Khalifa put in a first class performance at Spa over the weekend in the National Class of the British F3 International Series.’ The Bahraini claimed two podiums from the two races, a second and a third, his best so far this year

The BBC TV programme Dragons Den will feature 18 year old Robert Hall (pictured right) on BBC2 Monday 11th August pitching for £50,000 and assistance in introducing new investors to Motorsport to progress his career.

On Friday 1 August, visitors to this year’s British International Motor Show cheered on 20 of the country’s fastest and most talented PlayStation® racers, who were battling it out at the tense showdown for the ultimate driving prize - a factory supported entry into the 2009 Dubai International 24 Hour Endurance Race driving a Nissan 350Z.

Silverstone is celebrating the 50th, 60th and 80th Anniversaries of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), Silverstone and British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) respectively on 31 August at the penultimate round of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship

Once again Jonathan Wright and Ross Edwards fought it out in the Radical Club Cup just as they had at Castle Combe last time out. And once again, this time at Donington they shared the spoils with a win apiece .

SEAT Sport UK, in conjunction with Dunlop, the official tyre supplier of the SEAT Cupra Championship, is lending a helping hand to all the competitors in the series for the races at Knockhill on August 16-17. Each competitor will get 6 new Dunlop control tyres free, tyres they can use in qualifying sessions and the races at the Fife track. Basically this is SEAT’s way of thanking the drivers for supporting the Knockhill event and to help reduce their costs .

The all new AIGP Ferrari has completed many hours of wind tunnel testing testing as part of it’s development for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport’s forthcoming season.

Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser should have won both races at Donington park in the Radical Cup but brake and tyre problems put paid to their ambitions in race 1 leaving Derek Johnston and Stuart Moseley to taste the victory spoils. It all came together for the pair in the second race however, but only just..

Current GT4 Champion Eric De Doncker was at Spa in the GT4 European Cup over the weekend and came away with three podiums from 3 races, further cementing his lead in the championship..

Formula Renault BARC Championship team Hillspeed is looking for a much better result at Snetterton this weekend after the disaster in the last race at Croft which saw all three of it’s cars wiped out in a first corner Shunt at Croft

Hitech Racing will run two cars for British series regular Max Chilton and Spanish Formula Renault/F3 star Roberto Merhi this weekend at the RTL GP Masters F3 race

Ian Donaldson had what might be called a ‘mixed result’ in the Scottish Sports Saloons yesterday(Sunday). After winning the first race in the morning, when he took the lead on the penultimate lap from Warren Dunbar, the Lamborghini Gallara driver had a huge off at the John R Weir chicane hitting the tyres hard and causing a lot of expensive damage to his Italian Supercar. Glynn Geddie (pictured right) won from Warren Dunbar who yesterday seemed destined to be the bridesmaid and not the bride.

John Marshall won the final of the Scottish Legends yesterday(Sunday) from Tony Caig and Scott Hynds. Marshall had started the day as he intended to continue by winning the opening heat from Championship leader Carol Brown. Caig won the second race after an almighty accident eliminated 8 cars on the opening lap, fortunately no one suffering serious injuries. In the final Marshall come through once again beating to take a well deserved victory.

Vic Covey won two from three Mini Challenge races at Knockhill with Ken Thirwall second on each occasion, the first time he was 0.8 secs behind while in race 2 he was even closer, just 0.252 secs adrift. In the final race however Chris Knox came good and led home Mark Dryden while Thirwall was once again on the podium in third.

Rory Butcher

finally got his first FF1600 win of the year under his belt at Knockhill yesterday as he comprehensibly beat Alan Kirkcaldy and Graham Carroll into second and third respectively in the first of two races. He picked up a second place behind Carroll in race 2 while Kirkcaldy had to settle for third. Meanwhile David Sleigh won both Scottish XR2 races ahead of Geraint Jones on both occasions.

Brendon Hartley won the second race at Spa,Round 16 of the British F3 International Series, after getting past Sergio Perez on the final tour. Nick Tandy was third, his first British F3 podium finish. Jay Bridger won the National Class also with a last lap move on Steven Guererro.

Dennis Johns won both races at Kyalami in the South African Formula Vee series with Championship leader Alan Holm second in both. Results are however provisional as the scrutineers removed parts from several cars at the end to be measured, etc.

In the Mini Challenge at Donington Park Shaun King won the first of three races beating Martin Depper by just 0.141 seconds while Jake Packun (pictured left) was third 2.7 secs behind the leader. In race 2 Packun took the spoils ahead of Andy Beever by 0.608 secs while Depper was third. In the final race Jake Stanford came out on top with Packun completing his collection of podium places with second while Ant Scragg was a distant third.

In the Thermex Classic and Historic Touring Cars at Donington Park Nick Jones driving an Anglia won from Phil Manser’s Mini Cooper by 1.288secs Thomas Lailey de Vil third in a Lotus Cortina.

Stephen Primett won the IBIS Packaging Solutions Post Historic encounter at Donington, his Escort beating the RS2000 of Jason Christie by over 7 seconds. Mark Osborne brought his Dolomite Sprint home in third hard on the heels of Christie. Meanwhile in the Hammerite Racing Classic Group One Championship Jim McLoughlin claim victory once again in his Ford Capri leading Roger Stanford’s BMW 2002 over the line by only 0.2 seconds. Mark Fowler was third in a second Capri, albeit 9 seconds behind the leading pair. Andrew Deving (pictured right)was the winner in the Dunlop Mini Se7en championship race holding off Paul Thompson to win by 1.99 secs with Max Hunter third 2 seconds further back. The Sport Maxx Cup race on Sunday saw Martin Wallbank(pictured below) in the winners circle in his Astra VXR followed by John Harrison’s BMW m3 and Shaun Hollamby’s SEAT Leon Cupra -( All Donington pics Paul Williams ; Knockhill - Richard Pascal

Sam Abay was right up the sharp end of the grid in the British F3 Championship at Spa. The Aussie rookie qualified in 4th and 3^rd for the two races and fought hard for a podium place in the opening race eventually finishing 4^th. Race 2 promised even more but a puncture at the first corner forced dropped him down the field and effectively out of the running.

A huge crash involving 8 cars halted proceedings at Knockhill for a while this afternoon in the second of the Legends races. Scott Braidwood, Andrew Donald, Sanford Imrie, Frank Off, Alex Knight, Sasha Peral and Michael Hogg were all involved in the accident which occured on the opening lap at Duffus Dip(SEAT). The last two named, Pearl and Hogg were extracated from their wrecked cars(Hogg after the roof was removed) by the Rescue teams and taken to hospital for check-ups. At the time there were no reports of serious injuries. The restarted race was won by Tony Caig from Carol Brown

Australian F3 team Astuti Motorsport have signed up Mat Sofi for the rest of the 2008 Kumho Tyres Australian Formula 3 Championship after he parted company with Graham Watson’s RALT Australia team.

SEAT Cupra Championship leader Robert Lawson was in action at Knockhill today in the DDMC's Northern Saloons and the SMRC's Sports/Saloon Championship. Lawson was taking advantage of the meeting to re-acquaint himself with the Fife track prior to the SEAT Cupra's visit in 2 weeks time at the BTCC meeting. Out in his old Clio Cup car Robert enjoyed himself immensely and took a well deserved 5th place in the Northern Saloons.

The Northern Saloons race itself was won by David Headen in a Caterham after Tommy Dreelan, driving a Porsche 997, spun out of contention(pictured) at the hairpin on the opening lap

. Headen, who had taken the lead from the off then simply vanished into the distance finishing 10 seconds ahead of Andrew Morrison's SEAT Leon Cupra. Mind you for Morrison second was a close run thing. For much of the race he had had to fend of the Sylva Phoenix of Tim Evans who was on his tail through the 15 minute race, even managing to get in front on the penultimate lap before Morrison re-asserted himself. But it wasn't just Evans who threatened Morrison's runner-up spot,.Dreelan, now up to fourth after recovering from his first lap spin, had scythed through the pack to close on the second and third placed cars in the final laps and he looked as though he might just get by. As the trio exited the hairpin on the final lap the Porsche's straight line speed up to the line took it to within 0.4 secs of the SEAT but 0.2 seconds in front of the Syklva and with it third place.

In the SMRC's Classic Sports and Saloons Willie Robertson did the double at Knockhill today(Sunday) winning both races in his Datsun 240Z. In the first race Championship leader and winner of most of the races this year failed to finish leaving Robertson to win with nearly 10 seconds in hand over second placed Brian Morris in a second Datsun 240Z. Third was Olly Ross in his Lotus Europa. In race 2 Robertson led all but one lap, the first, after Kenny Allen got the jump on him at the start. Robertson resume his front running position on lap 2 and was never headed winning by 13.391 seconds from Matthew Gordon's Porsche. Allen came home was just a second behind Gordon with Tommy Gilmartin's Capri fourth a further second up the road. The trio had circulated almost as one for most of the race alongside Jimmy Crow's Escort, with no quarter expected of given. Until, that is, the Escort expired on lap 10 right on the edge of the track at Butchers, forcing a red flag. With only 2 laps remaining the officials decided that was that and ended the race.

Hitech Racing picked up more points at Spa in the second British Formula 3 International Series race, this time with Max Chilton who came in ninth. His team-mate Walter Grubmüller didn't fare so well, his race ending almost as soon as it started with a first corner crash involving John Martin and Atte Mustonen.

This season Hexis Racing is combining FIA GT3 European Championship racing with ADAC GT Masters, and very well it's doing too. The French team is sitting nicely in the Top 3 both in the European and German series and intends to stay there! Now that the summer break is with us and the race season reaches mid-term, it’s time to take a look back at events at the Norisring, Oschersleben and Assen, and assess the prospect for the next meetings, in Nürburgring and Brno.

Oliver Turvey scored his second win of the 2008 season after a race long battle with Brendon Hartley at Spa in Round 15 of the 2008 British F3 International Series. Jaime Alguersuari completed a podium lockout for Carlin Motorsport, with Sam Abay coming home in 4th to complete a Carlin 1-2-3-4. Stefan Wilson also took his second win of the year, passing Salman Al Khalifa on lap 7 after the Bahraini made up six places on the opening lap.

Hitech Racing’s Walter Grubmüller grabbed ninth place in the first of the British Formula 3 International Series races at Spa today. His team-mate Max Chilton was back down in 17th after receiveing a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.

Hillspeed’s Menasheh Idafar is eyeing a double podium finish at Snetterton next Saturday, 9th August, as he aims to get his 2008 Formula Renault BARC Championship campaign back on track. Idafar is currently equal third on points in the headline FR2000 Class endured a luckless weekend at Croft a fortnight ago but is focused on making a return to the rostrum at Snetterton having been there 4 time already this season. “We went well in testing at Snetterton recently so I’m looking forward to next weekend, hopefully we can be on the podium in both races”, said the 17-year-old, “Croft was a bad weekend but that’s forgotten about now, we know we can be quick at Snetterton.”

Idafar has maiden test miles in FRUK car making his debut appearance at the wheel of a 2008 spec car, a possible destinations for the Ortolan, Gulfol and Gulf Computer Services backed driver in 2009. Testing at Donington on 31st July and at Silverstone yesterday Menasheh enjoyed some valuable track time at the wheel of a new, Hillspeed-prepared, 2008 Formula Renault UK car and showed great promise. Menasheh commented: “It was fantastic to have a couple of days in the Formula Renault UK car, it’s obviously quicker and the aerodynamics are different to a BARC car but I adapted well. I can’t wait to have my next run!”

In just over 24 hours time the 2008 Total 24 Hours of Spa will get underway and the CR Scuderia team is ready to race. The team had a good run in the two night-time qualifying sessions yesterday and a clear run in the final session this afternoon. Andrew Kirkaldy qualified the no.56 Ferrari in fourth place and Tim Mullen qualified no.55 in eighth place.CRS Team Principal, Chris Niarchos, is happy with the team’s performance in qualifying and looking forward to the first 24 hour race for his team.“Overall qualifying went extremely well for us,” said Chris. “Pole position was never the objective as we were not driven by the need to be fastest. This is not a sprint race so all you need is a solid starting position and we have got that. We wanted to have a smooth lead up to the race so we can go into it fully prepared for anything Spa throws at us. We have a squad of very strong drivers and a fantastic team behind them all the way so we’re looking forward to a great race tomorrow.” The 2008 Total 24 Hours of Spa begins tomorrow at 1600hrs local time.

Want something fun and different to do on 3--31st August? Fancy some great historic racing in a relaxed atmosphere? The first-ever running of the Masters Classic GP at Magny Cours is just calling out for entries.

Team Aluminos competed in the SKUSA ProKart Challenge South program last weekend (July 26), at the 1.1-mile temporary circuit in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium, the home of the San Diego Chargers. With 6 drivers running in karts prepared by the team it was Blair Chang(left) and Nicola Galloni who picked up the podiums, with a second place each…

The Doran Racing team will be in Montreal this weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the next round of the 2008 Rolex Series. In their most recent outings, at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Daytona and Barber Motorsports Park the Doran Dallara Ford co-driven by Memo Gidley and Brad Jaeger finished 5th at Watkins Glen and 6th Daytona, while their team-mates Burt Frisselle and Ricky Taylor in the second Dallara Ford were 7th at Mid-Ohio and 5th at Barber...read more

Television coverage for the Porsche Carrera Cup GB continues next week with more highlights in the Motorsport UK series. The Carrera Cup coverage in the series continues with action from the Croft races and will be broadcast as follows: Tuesday 5 August at 5pm on ITV4
Friday 8 August at 1.15am on ITV1
Saturday 9 August at 12noon on ITV4 (exact time to be confirmed)
In addition, Motorsport UK is also screened on the Men and Motors channel on Friday evening. Motorsport UK can also be watched at itv.com and is available for viewing for 28 days after the initial broadcast date.

In Indonesia Formula BMW Pacific provided spectators at the Sentul International Circuit on 19th and 20th July with a thrilling race weekend. The four races produced three winners. Ross Jamison from Hong Kong won two races and said "It was a lights-to-flag victory, but it wasn't easy. My engine cover was loose, which gave me extra drag on the straights." With Jamison winning races nine and eleven, Sean McDonagh from the US was victorious in race eight. Melvin Moh (MY) also had a huge smile on his face after his first success in Formula BMW Pacific. "I've been waiting for this win for some time," said the 20-year-old, who lined up in the Formula BMW Asia series last season. Jamison leads the Drivers' Championship with 150 points, ahead of McDonagh (128) and Moss (90).

Sportscar driver David Brabham heads for round seven of the American Le Mans Series, the Generac 500 at Road America on 8-9 August, with the intention of taking vital championship points from LMP2 class leaders Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas. After a pole to flag victory at Lime Rock and a second in class one week later at Mid-Ohio, Brabham and team mate Scott Sharp are second in the LMP2 championship with 94 points just 28 behind leaders Bernhard and Dumas. “A lot of preparation has gone into this next race but a lot depends on whether some new parts will be available in time for Road America ,” said Brabham. “We have an intensive ongoing development programme in place and although we are clearly competitive, with a great run and outright victory at Lime Rock followed by second in class at Mid-Ohio, we need to go even better at Road America If we can get the development parts ready in time we will definitely improve on last year’s result. Obviously our aim will be to win at Road America and every remaining round in order to beat the Porsches and win the championship.”

Formula BMW Americas next round is on 9th August for Rounds 9 and 10 at the Road America circuit. The young drivers will share the circuit for the race weekend with other series, including the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). Alexander Rossi (US) travels to Road America as the championship leader. Eight races into the season he has 122 points to his name, giving him a lead of 19 points over Ricardo Favoretto (BR). The Brazilian, who started the season with the EuroInternational team, will be making his debut for the Autotecnica team at the Road America circuit.

Eight races, six victories: this is Esteban Gutierrez's

impressive record in the 2008 Formula BMW Europe season. When the junior series appeared at the Hockenheimring as part of the Formula One weekend, the Mexican once again dominated proceedings, claiming pole position in both races, before going on to clock the fastest laps and win the races. "A perfect weekend," was how Gutierrez described his double hat-trick. "Although I have now won six times in a row, I am still trying to take it one race at a time. I am putting aside any thoughts of the overall victory at the end of the season." Adrien Tambay (FR) and local hero Marco Wittmann (DE) finished second and third respectively in both races. Gutierrez now has 226 points overall, and has extended his lead over Tambay (180) and Wittmann (150).

The FIA GT championship is in Belgium this weekend for the Total 24 hours of Spa with Italian Open GT driver Ferdinanado Monfardini joining Ecurie Ecosse as the third driver alongside Jamie Davies and Fabio Babini,. Qualifying will be in the hands of Jamie Davies who said, "Spa is a very important race for the team and myself. Being a 24-hour endurance race there are double points up for grabs. We must make sure we continue to work well as a team and try to achieve consistent lap times. Spa can usually throw up some tricky weather so we need to be alert and be prepared for some surprises along the way. I'm looking forward to the challenge, it's a big team event and that gives me confidence as we have a very close knit team at Scuderia Ecosse". The trio were 14th in second qualifying yesterday.

Justin Wilson escaped uninjured from a crash at Kentucky Speedway on Thursday during a test at the 1.5-mile oval. It was the first test on an oval for the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team since their pre-season test at Homestead-Miami Speedway back in March. After completing an installation run and a subsequent pit stop to analyse the car, Justin returned to the track and was near the end of his first run when he lost control of the car between Turns 1 and 2 hitting the Turn 2 wall. "I had run about 8 or 9 laps and was just up to speed and was in the middle of Turns 1 and 2 and suddenly I felt the car straightening out," said Justin. "It no longer went where I was steering. I'm not sure what broke, but I had no steering and I was heading straight into the wall." The car, a new chassis which made its debut in Watkins Glen, sustained a substantial amount of damage and is unlikely to be repaired in time for the IndyCar Series Meier Indy 300 race at Kentucky on August 9. Justin's other McDonald's race car was being driven by teammate Graham Rahal at the test while his own race car is being repaired after being hit two separate times at last weekend's IndyCar Series event in Edmonton "Obviously I'm disappointed because we didn't even get any testing done and there is a lot of damage to my good race car that we had determined would be my road racing car," added Justin. "The plan was initially not to run it here or on the ovals in general and keep it as good as possible, but Graham's only car was damaged in Edmonton so he had to use my oval car at the test while his is being repaired. The new car was already proving to be faster and I was enjoying it, but it didn't last for long."

Japanese driver Yukinori Taniguchi will join James Thompson in a second Honda Accord Euro R car developed in collaboration with JAS Motorsport at two FIA WTCC events this season: Monza and Okayama. Taniguchi, whose racing experience includes wins in the Super Taikyu Endurance Series and the Japan Classic Car Challenge. He also finished second in the Japan Le Mans Challenge last year in a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR LMGT-2. He will test with N.Technology at Adria on 24 and 25 September, before heading to Monza the following week.
"We have been looking into running a second car for some time," said N.Technology Team Manager Andrea Muller. "We believe Yuke will be a worthwhile addition to the team. His experience at Okayama, where he finished first last year in the Japan Le Mans Challenge, will be extremely valuable to us." Alessandro Mariani, JAS Managing Director, added: "The Honda Accord has raced in the WTCC since the Championship started and finally, for 2008, there is a Japanese event. The only thing missing was a Japanese driver and so we all are very pleased that Yuke will be part of this project in Monza and in Okayama."

SEAT Eurocup driver Marin Colak from Zagreb, Croatia has won a place in the WTCC at Oschersleben on Aug 31. Colak won the Eurocup's second race in Brands Hatch and took the championship lead. He will drive a SEAT León run by SUNRED Engineering

Andy Priaulx will compete inThe Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, December 14. The WTCC triple champion beat F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen and fellow WTCC star Yvan Muller in the 2007 before being eliminated in the semi-finals by Michael Schumacher. The BMW Team UK driver will renew his Nations Cup partnership with Honda Racing's F1 star Jenson Button.

The opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily shared by 11/56 MotorSport or any of theGrid team

Home	^News	^Features	^Calendar	^{News Archive}	11/56 MotorSport
Home	^Reports	^Gallery	^Links	^Classified	11/56 MotorSport