|
What's on?
3-5 September Brands Hatch – DTM
Knockhill - BTCC
4 September Oulton Park - BRSCC
Kentucky 300 - Indycar
4-5 September Oschersleben – WTCC, F2
Cadwell
Park - MGCC
Brands Hatch – DTM
11 September Anglesey – BRSCC
Oulton Park MSVR
11-12 September Rockingham – BARC
Eastern Creek – Australian F3
Cadwell
Park – CSCC
17-19 September – Goodwood Revival
Donington Park – BTCC
Silverstone GP Renault World Series
17-18 September Motegi Japan - Indycar
18-19 September Brands Hatch GP MSVR
Oschersleben – DTM
25 September Oulton Park – BARC
25-26 September Anglesey - BRSCC
Snetterton – BARC
Brands Hatch GP – F3/GT
1-2 October Road Atlanta – Star Mazda
1-3 October Silverstone GP – Britcar
1-2 October Homestead Miami - Indycar
2 October Castle Combe – CCRC
1-3 October Dijon-Prenois – Trophee Historique de Bourgogne
3 October Mallory Park – BARC
9 October Donington Park – AMOC
9-10 October Croft – BARC
Brands Hatch – BTCC
10 October Donington Park – MGCC
15-17 October PFInternational - Formula Kart Stars
16 October Oulton Park – BRSCC
16-17 October Pembrey – BARC
Hockenheim – DTM, F3
Brands Hatch Indy – BRSCC
Snetterton – CSCC
22-24 October Gold Coast, Queensland - V8s, FF1600
23-24 October Snetterton – BRSCC
Los Arcos – Superleague Fornula
Sandown – Australian F3
Brands Hatch Indy – MSVR
30 October Donington Park – BRSCC
Snetterton - MSVR
30-31 October Okayama Japan – WTCC
Thruxton - BARC
31 October Donington park – CSCC
6 November Snetterton – BARC
6-7 November Silverstone – Walter Hayes Trophy
Brands Hatch Indy – MSVR
7 November Symmons Plains – Australian FF1600
13 November Brands Hatch Indy – MSVR
Rockingham - BARC
13-14 November Pembrey – BARC
Jerez – Superleague Formula
19-21 November Sandown – FF1600
Macau – F3, WTCC
20 November Silverstone Arena GP - BRSCC
Motors TV -
Programmes'
Digital and 545 on Virgin Media. Please find below a link
to the Motors TV programmes’ schedule between 3-23 April 2010.
Please note some small changes to the programming between 3-14
April. These changes are highlighted in red.
Click the link below to download the schedule.
Motors TV 03-23 April 2010
Get your
car insurance
quote online from Compare the Market
Sat Nav Deals
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Quoteline Direct
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Moneysupermarket.com you can
compare over 60 leading car insurance companies quickly
and easily online
Photographers
Power Images
Photography
www.power-images.co.uk
Dennis
Goodwin Photography
http://www.dennisg-photography.co.uk/
www.raceinstructors.com
UK based race driving instructors website
ARPRO® improves impact
resistance in motorsport
Classified
Championship winning team, Unitec Motorsport, are seeking to complete
their 2010 line-up
and currently have 2 drives available for the 2010 BRSCC FF1600
National Championship. So for prospective drivers, to ensure
that you're at the sharp-end of such a highly regarded
championship, why not take advantage of one of Unitec
Motorsport's drive offers. If you are serious about your racing
and feel as though FF1600 is the category for you in 2010, then
this opportunity is far too good to miss.
read more
Motorsports-Events
can now offer your son or daughter a chance to learn to
drive at their airfield events. This is an opportunity for
junior drivers aged 12 -16 to be taught the basics and get a
head start with learning all important driving skills.
-
Motorsports Events
-
announce their Track days for 2010
Souriau to launch “convenience” and “performance” motorsport
connectors at Autosport International
read more
Zircotec coating cools hot racing cars
Zircotec
presents new range of colours and finishes for high-technology
ceramic coating A new range of colours and metallic
finishes is being developed by Zircotec for its successful
plasma-sprayed ceramic coating. …read
more
A cost-effective
tyre pressure monitoring system for touring cars has been
developed by industry leaders BERU f1systems.
Specifically for closed- wheel, road car-derived saloons and
sports cars, the system provides accurate tyre pressure and
temperature information for drivers and engineers to optimise
tyre pressures and wear, as well as offering puncture detection…more
|
Club Racers mail your news to
editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk
NEWS
02/09/2010
 Historics:
Out of all the meetings organised in Belgium for veteran,
vintage and classic cars, the F1 Historic & Spa Six Hours event
tops the bill.
Over the years, the Roadbook team headed up by Alain Defalle and
Vincent Collard has shown its savoir-faire, to such an extent
that it has now attracted the best promoters of race cars of
years-gone-bye, with the majority originating from abroad. The
2010 edition, scheduled for 24-26 September will as usual
welcome the best in Historic motorsport. " We are particularly
proud to offer a complete panel of all single-seater
categories", Vincent Collard commented. "Ranging from the Grand
Prix Masters and their F1 built between 1968 and 1978, through
to Formula Junior of the Formula Junior Historic Racing
Association, passing by the F3, Formula Ford and FF2000 of the
’Historic Sport Car Club Open Wheel, Grand Prix cars of the ‘20s
through to the ‘60s offered up by the Historic Grand Prix Cars
Association, is definitely the best of the single-seaters of the
past to be enjoyed by all aficionados. Williams, McLaren,
Fittipaldi, March, Arrows, Brabham, Lotus, Shadow and many
more", he added. Sports cars, GTs and Touring will be sharing
the limelight in the other series, notably the Ford Capri which
won the 24 Hours of Spa in 1971,entered in the British Sports-GT
& Saloon Challenge by its new Belgian owner Thierry de Latre du
Bosqueau, The Spa Six Hours, run on Saturday between 16.00hrs
and 22.00hrs, will be top of the bill with no less than 108 cars
on the grid, with Ford GT40s, AC Cobra, Jaguar E Type, Chevrolet
Corvette anda Ford Mustang Shelby. A major event in historic
racing, the F1 Historic & Spa Six Hours is looking to entertain
the general public. The Paddock Village has been extended, a
convivial area, more welcoming and colourful than ever and where
one can spend some enjoyable time, and to take a breather
between races. To discover more about the F1 Historic & Spa Six
Hours 2010, rendezvous on
www.roadbook.be
 Ginetta
Jnrs:
Tom Ingram has moved into the lead of the Ginetta
Junior Championship as his rivals have hit troubles. Next
stop Knockhill this weekend. At Silverstone Ingram netted two
wins a fortnight ago and they have moved him into a modest
17-point lead in the championship. The Hillspeed driver, based
in High Wycombe, began his season with a win at Thruxton but
since then had been a front-runner if not an outright winner.
His points scoring consistency kept him in the hunt during the
summer and now, thanks to two wins at in Northamptonshire, he is
back in the lead of the title race with six races to go.Part of
Ingram’s story is his own pace and consistency but also his
rivals have hit trouble, notably Jake Hill (Tollbar Racing with
WIRED) who failed to finish at Silverstone in race two and finds
himself in third place in the championship with 45 points to
make up. It is not an insurmountable gap but it will be hard
work and the Goudhurst driver will need to stay out of trouble
to achieve it. The other recent winner, Louise Richardson, was
also in the wars in a frantic second race at Silverstone after
she ran wide on the opening lap and plummeted to 15th/ Louise
worked her way back to second before a spin and was happy to be
third when the red flags flew. She is Ingram’s nearest rival and
thanks to her exceptional racecraft should have her TJ
Motorsport car in the mix this weekend.Other drivers to watch
include double winner Jody Fannin (TJ Motorsport) and Tom Howard
(Tollbar Racing with WIRED) who has also been a winner, at
Rockingham in April.Add in the Eurotech Racing-run Moores, David
and sister Sarah, the reigning Ginetta Junior champion, plus
perennially quick-but-unlucky Chris Swanwick (Team Parker
Racing) and Alex Austin (FML) and there will be plenty of drama
up front. Adam Bonham (Team Parker Racing) and team-mate Finlay
Ractliffe have also shown pace this year and should be fighting
up front as well.As ever, the teenage aces are set to deliver
some of the best racing of the weekend. Remember not to blink.
G50 Cup:
Just 13 points split Carl Breeze and Frank Wrathall
in the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup with nine races to go. It’s wide
open as teh teams head to Knockhill
this weekend.When Carl Breeze and Frank Wrathall made contact at
Silverstone, Wrathall’s Dynojet car ended up in the gravel and
Breeze (TCR) continued to the flag. With a zero to Frank and
Breeze finishing sixth and taking 18 points, King’s Lynn’s Carl
leads the championship by just 13 points.Breeze may count
himself fortunate to have survived the clash and to have a
championship lead at all, but Breeze is a survivor: he’s been a
feature on the TOCA package since 2000 and knows how to win
championships and how to score points. That he and Wrathall are
so evenly-matched just adds to the drama and young Frank, far
less experienced than Breeze, is doing a magnificent job to
maintain the pressure on Breeze for the title. Midseason it
looked as though Wrathall’s challenge was fading a little but
his robust move to snatch the lead in Silverstone’s opening race
was proof that he is up to the task. That secured his fifth win
of the year - and he’s had another two maximum points hauls
thanks to race winner Rob Huff being ineligible for points at
Thruxton as a guest driver. When you consider that both drivers
have scored over 500 points, a gap of 13 is the equivalent of
loose change! But there’s more to the Michelin Ginetta G50 Cup
than just Breeze and Wrathall. There’s recent winner Benji
Hetherington (Century Motorsport) who benefitted from the
Breeze/Wrathall clash at Silverstone to take his maiden win; Tom
Sharp (IDL) who did a double at Croft and Adam Morgan (Dynojet)
who was also a winner in North Yorkshire.Then there are other
cameos to look for as Freddie (brother of Benji) Hetherington is
improving all the time in his Century Motorsport car while Chris
Dittman is quick if unlucky. A broken driveshaft sidelined his
Chris Dittman Racing-run car at Silverstone after he’d qualified
on pole.And don’t ignore the Chairman’s Cup, aimed at the over
40s. Colin White (CWS) is the man to beat but Cheshire driver
Tony Hughes (Speedworks) is getting faster all the time and may
give the Glastonbury driver a hard time here. Mind you, just
spare a thought for White and his team: Glastonbury to Knockhill
works out at 443 miles, each way. That’s commitment for you!
Saloons:
John Findlay and the NSR/Kempster Ford Fiesta team had a tough
weekend
at Brands Hatch on 21-22 August in the Fiesta Championship.
Findlay enduring his worst results of the season and losing a
few points against his rivals for 5th place in the championship.
He didmaintain his 100% finishing record this season however, a
testament to the work the team puts in to the car. His team-mate
Ian Fletcher had a mixed weekend with a good start in practice
and qualifying, a disappointing Round 11 and then a good drive
in Round 12 that netted him the Driver Of The Day award! Ian was
clearly delighted with this and dedicated the award to the team
for the excellent work on the car and the ‘pep-talks’ they gave
after the first race disappointment.
Read report
 Historic
automobile specialist Fiskens will display a selection of cars at the inaugural Chelsea
Auto Legends at the Royal Hospital Chelsea on Sunday 5
September. The first edition of the new event will celebrate the
spirit of Le Mans by gathering a number of period cars and
drivers at the iconic West London venue. With names like Sir
Stirling Moss OBE and Derek Bell MBE already confirmed to
appear, Fiskens will be wowing the crowds with a selection of
cars on its stand.One of two very special cars among Fiskens’
display will be the Tommy ‘Scrap’ Thistlethwayte Bentley 3 litre
that competed at the 1926 24 Hours, only the fourth running of
the race. Being the only Supersports, short chassis example to
have competed at Le Mans, ‘Number Nine’ is regarded as one of
the most important Bentleys still in existence, especially
having been a factory supplied, private entry that was piloted
by Thistlethwayte and famous Bentley engineer Captain Clive
Gallop. The other is a 1961 Ferrari 250 Short Wheel Base that
competed in that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours at the hands of famous
British privateer Graham Whitehead and former Formula One driver
Henry Taylor. The car is one of the very rare aluminium bodied
examples of the seminal 250 Short Wheel Base and its competition
career continued from La Sarthe to Goodwood, Spa and Montlhery
as well as the Rouen and Angola Grands Prix. Fiskens will also
display cars from some of the world’s most celebrated
manufacturers, including a Porsche 910, Aston Martin DB4 GT,
Allard J2X and Ferrari 275 GTB Competition.In addition to the Le
Mans theme, the event will also hold a special charity auction
from which the proceeds will go to help the Chelsea Pensioners.
 GP3:
Atech CRS Grand Prix’s Roberto Merhi drove a storming
opening GP3 race at Spa on Saturday to take second place from
11th on the grid. Briton Oli Oakes took tenth in race two but
there was disappointment for Italian Vittorio Ghirelli who was
punted off on the opening lap in both races, after a promising
start netted the ninth fastest lap in practice.
read report
Undaunted by the continually changing weather at this year's
Belgium Grand Prix, GP3 driver Alexander Rossi, made his way
back to the podium with a 2nd place finish on Sunday securing
the team championship for ART Grand Prix. Read
report
Karts:
For the second year in a row, SODI chassis won the 24 HOURS
OF LE MANS, the most prestigious karting endurance race in
the world! read report
Strawberry Racing Team Manager Warwick Ringham applauded Jack
Barlow
after the Jnr Max star settled for 2nd behind team-mate Jack
Marshall, rather than risk a crash going for victory at
Shenington last weekend.
Read report
01-09-10
 Michelin
Formula Renault UK
Championship racer Thomas Hylkema faces a brand new test
this weekend when he makes his first outing at Knockhill in
Scotland for rounds 15 and 16 of the season. The 1.27-mile track
welcomes Formula Renault UK back this year for the first time
since 2005 and so the pre-event test day on Friday, 3rd
September, will be 22-year-old Thomas’ maiden experience.
Currently 11th in the driver standings, just six points shy of
the top 10, the Club Car, TORO and Geothex supported driver had
a mixed weekend at Silverstone last time out. Forced out of a
season best fifth place during the first of the event’s trio of
races, the Dutchman hit back strongly during the 14th round with
an excellent top six drive from 13th on the grid. Thomas is
looking forward to his first visit to the home of Scottish
motorsport. “I’m really looking forward to the weekend at
Knockhill, the track looks quite different to anything else I’ve
experienced in terms of the height differences and the blind
corners but I think it will suit me”, said the Manor Competition
driver. “I definitely feel confident ahead of the weekend, last
time at Silverstone we had good pace in the final race and had a
good finish so I think we can be on for the top six again at
Knockhill. We need to make sure qualifying will be good as, from
what I’ve seen, I don’t think the overtaking opportunities will
be big – we’ll see though!” With a total of six races remaining
in the 2010 campaign, there are still plenty of championship
points to be contested so the top eight in the driver standings
remains a realistic target for Thomas to aim for.
pic Jakob Ebrey Photography
Motorsport Asia: The
Organisers of the GT3 Asia and GT4 Asia Cup
announced a partnership with exclusive watch company
Graham-London today. The company will be the official timepiece
for the two Championships for the remainder of the 2010 season.
The partnership will begin from the next race, to be held on
12th September at the Fuji International Speedway in Japan ,
onwards. Graham-London will then follow the series to the Asian
Festival Of Speed Event at the newly built Korean International
Circuit and then on to Autopolis International Circuit for the
final two rounds, before the season finale, held as part of the
Macau GT invitational race, at the Macau Grand Prix.
Graham-London has confirmed that they will provide one Graham
Chronofighter RAC / FLYBACK timepiece to each of the 2010
Champions of the GT3 Asia and the GT4 Asia Cup. These
magnificent timepieces will be presented to the winners during
the year-end celebrations scheduled during the Macau GP in
November. Graham-London has a long history that dates back to
1673, the year the master watchmaker, George Graham was born. At
14-years old, Graham began working on creative ideas and various
inventions that then made him a veritable pillar of the
scientific and clockmaking establishment. He then became the
Master of the Clockmakers ' Company in 1722. The next round of
the GT3 Asia and the GT4 Asia Cup will be held at the Fuji on
the 10-12 September 2010.
 F2000:
One double-header event remains as the F2000
Championship Series heads to Mid-Ohio this weekend to decide
the 2010 championship as the summer swing draws to a close.
Thirty cars are entered and 17-year old sophomore driver Victor
Carbone has been in control of the standings the entire way.
Carbone won the opening race of 2010 at VIR, and took two wins
at Road Atlanta before notching single victories at Mosport,
Lime Rock and Road America to make it six wins in 12 races. The
Alegra Motorsports driver has a 79 point lead over Cole Morgan,
with 110 points up for grabs at Mid-Ohio.pic
Janice Eakin
Read more
 Karts: MiniMax driver James Walkington
travelled to Shenington
for last weekend's Rotax Super One meeting with high hopes of
building on his strong showing in the recent Kartmasters GP.
Driving for Dan Holland Racing he finished in an excellent 6th,
from 27th on the grid in his first final of the
weekend. Sadly his second was quite so good as he wasn’t able to
hold onto his sixth place starting position slipping back to a
24th at the flag. Nevertheless his combined points haul from the
2 finals gave Walkington his best Super One result to date.
Pic: Paul Mabbutt - pixelero.co.uk Read
report
Siena in Tuscany hosted the new WSK Master Series last weekend
and Beitske Visser was in then thick of it! Putting in a
phenomenal display she snatched a victory at the very end of the
race driving her Intrepid-TM.
read report
 LMS:
Aston Martin Racing will be heading to the home of British
motorsport on 11/12 September
for the final battle of the season against the Le Mans Series
contenders in the Autosport 1000kms of Silverstone. Driving the
Aston Martin 007 car will be factory drivers, Adrian Fernandez (MX),
Harold Primat (CH) and newly-signed Andy Meyrick (GB). Sam
Hancock (GB) and Juan Barazi (DK) will partner to pilot the 009
car. Meyrick, who competed in the LMP2 class at this year’s Le
Mans 24 hours said: “It’s a real privilege to be a British
driver competing with Aston Martin at our home circuit. The car
has proven to be competitive as it’s performed well in the
earlier 2010 Le Mans Series races. I have two great team mates
in Adrian and Harold, so overall I’m hoping for a good result.”
George Howard-Chappell, Team Principal for Aston Martin Racing
said: “It’s always good to return to Silverstone – our home
race. The fan support is outstanding and we expect six hours of
extremely tough competition. Andy has fitted in well with the
crew and existing drivers during testing, and has got to grips
with the LMP1 car. I am pleased to welcome him to the team.”
The Autosport 1000kms will also see Aston Martin official
partner teams
contesting the annual endurance test with Signature Racing in
the LMP1 class, and JMW Motorsport with their Vantage in the GT2
class. Team Signature has everything to play for, currently
lying just two points behind the series leader. A successful
race could see the French team echo last year’s factory Le Mans
Series overall win.The Autosport 1000kms of Silverstone
qualifying session starts at 13:10 on Saturday 11 September with
the race commencing at 11:55 on the Sunday.Live race coverage
can be found during the race at
www.astonmartinracing.com
with additional behind the scenes updates on Facebook;
www.facebook.com/astonmartin
and through Twitter at
www.twitter.com/astonmartin.
 V
de V
: The Paul Ricard HTTT event marks the mid-season for all V de V
Challenge races. All the drivers
will be going flat to score valuable points for the
end-of-season ranking. The past two VHC Endurance Challenge
races have gone to Bernard Moreau and Miguel Langin at the wheel
of their superb Porsche 911 RSR while in the GT/Tourime races
the Ferrari N°1 of Jean-Paul Pagny and Thierry Perrier heads the
points table by almost fifty points over occasional team-mate
Anthony Beltoise, and Challenge rivals Pascal Gibon and
Christophe Bourret driving the Porsche 997 RSR Imsa Performance.
In the Proto Challenge,with a lead of 60 points, is Mondolot and
Zollinger who look to be out of reach. However, there are still
four races to go and their closest rivals, Cavailhes and Romecki,
will not be handing over their title of double champions without
a fight. In the Funyo races the season’s fourth stage promises
some exciting scraps amongst the field and could establish a
favourite for the final standings. After coming through thick
and thin at Lédenon, François Hériau extended his lead in the
Challenge and will do all he can to hold onto the top spot
through to the end of the season.
Read preview
Mini Challenge:
Lee Allen’s dominance of the S Class this year was
finally confirmed in the Mini Challenge at Thruxton, when
another triple class win crowned him overall champion. For Luke
Caudle there was disappointment, despite two wins out of three,
he was a few points short in the race for the overall title.
Chris Smith meanwhile came away with his fiorst win in the
second of the three races.
Read report
Dunlop Sports Maxx:
Just the points for starting were enough to crown Adrian
Churchill this years Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup Champion, but
unable to kerb his natural racing instincts, he still won two
out the three races. Criag Currie took the honours in race 2
with Churchill having to settle for second.
Read report
 Indy
Lights:
Jean-Karl Vernay's end-of-season target is the Indy Lights
Championship title, which he has led since the first event.
Another of his aims is to win a race on a speedway. On his third
attempt on this type of circuit he came home fourth in
Chicagoland, 12/100s behind the winner! Read
report
Superleague Formula by Sonangol returns
from its month-long summer break this weekend when the
championship touches down at Adria International Raceway, Italy,
for round eight. The 1.679-mile, 13-turn circuit on the Adriatic
coastline of northern Italy’s Veneto region is a tight, twisty
and technical affair which rewards those capable of stringing
together a series of corners in quick succession. Although this
last month has been quiet on the racing front, there's still
been plenty of talking points, not least the media fallout from
Chris van der Drift's huge Brands Hatch accident at the
beginning of August. Unsurprisingly, the Kiwi hasn't recovered
from his injuries in time to contest the Adria races, leaving
Olympiacos with a seat to fill. His Supersub for this weekend
will be former Formula Renault 3.5 runner-up and current GP2
development driver Ben Hanley. Despite his accident, van der
Drift scored another impressive points haul in Britain to sit
just 57 adrift of leaders Yelmer Buurman and AC Milan. After
trailing for the first four rounds, the Dutchman finally prised
top spot away from Craig Dolby and Tottenham in Zolder, only for
the British driver to reclaim the league lead after Brands
Hatch's opening race, before Buurman's exploits in race two and
the Super Final eventually guaranteed him a two-point advantage
going into the summer break. One man hoping to turn the title
fight into a three-way scrap this weekend will be Davide Rigon (RSC
Anderlecht) who should go well on home soil. The Italian is only
36 points off the championship pace in third. In other driver
news, European F3 Open runner-up Celso Miguez is the latest man
to sample Olympique Lyonnais' surroundings, while Duncan Tappy
retains his seat at Flamengo for a third race running in
preference to Franck Perera.
 BTCC:
'Home hero' Gordon Shedden believes Scotland's round of the
Dunlop MSA BTCC at Knockhill this Sunday (5 September) is a
must-see event for both die-hard motoring racing enthusiasts and
casual sports fans alike. The Dalgety Bay racer currently lies
fourth in the drivers' standings and knows Sunday's three races
will be crucial to his chances of joining past greats such as
Jim Clark and John Cleland as a BTCC Champion. Shedden, who
races a Honda Civic for the factory-supported Honda Racing Team
squad, commented: "It is one of Scotland's biggest sporting
events of the year, no doubt about it. Today, tomorrow and
Thursday there are going to be hundreds of these huge race
trucks that spend the year travelling around the UK this time
crossing the Forth Road Bridge and then descending on Knockhill,
not just for the BTCC teams but for all the teams in the support
series as well. That's the beauty of this event. The public are
getting three BTCC races on Sunday and then loads more on top
with the supporting categories and I'm proud to say we've got
some really good Scottish drivers in those as well.” He added:
"The championship's been coming here for nearly 20 years now and
I don't think in that time the crowds have ever had one dull
race. I recall watching John Cleland win here many years ago and
being part of the crowd - the atmosphere is something I'll never
forget. It was a huge inspiration for me and now I'm the one
they're cheering for around the track which is an amazing
feeling.
We've just got what are possibly our worst two circuits out of
the way - at Snetterton and Silverstone - but are still in touch
with the leaders and now comes Knockhill, a circuit that we
believe will be much better for the Honda. It's twisty and up
and down - a bit like a rollercoaster ride but you don't know if
you're ever going to reach the end. The Honda is fantastic on
the brakes and cornering so hopefully it's our kind of
territory." Adding to the non-stop entertainment during the
event this weekend will be races for Ginetta Junior, Ginetta
G50, Porsche Carrera, Renault Clio and Formula Renault support
series. Notably, Inverness's Dave Newsham can be crowned Renault
Clio Cup champion at Knockhill, while Lewis Williamson (Golspie)
is gunning for the Formula Renault title. Rapid youngster Glynn
Geddie (Aberdeen) and, making a one-off appearance, Rory Butcher
(Kirckaldy) will be out for Porsche glory and ex-BTCC racer
Jonathan Adam (Kinghorn) will race the Ginetta G50 series'
'guest car'. pic Dennis Goodwin
31-08-10
  Renault Sport:
Dave Newsham(left) and Lewis Williamson are hoping to shine in
front of their home crowd this weekend as Renault Sport’s
two BTCC support race championships return to Knockhill after a
four year absence. Dave from Inverness and Golspie racer Lewis
will lead the home grown talent at the 1.3-mile Dunfermline
track on 4th/5th September when the ELF Renault Clio Cup with
Michelin series and the Michelin Formula Renault UK Championship
join the BTCC. Clio Cup racer Dave, 43, has dominated the
one-make series with 12 poles and 10 wins to his name and could
secure the 2010 title on home soil. Meanwhile 20-year-old
Formula Renault UK driver Lewis is just 11-points behind the
championship leader with three race wins to his name together
with a string of podiums. To date, the two front-runners have
had to travel thousands of miles from their homes to compete at
tracks such as Thruxton in Hampshire and Kent’s Brands Hatch and
for once both are looking forward to having the rest of the
Renault Sport field come to them. Indeed, it’s been four years
since the two championships last raced at Knockhill due to
calendar clashes with World Series by Renault. Back then
Sebastian Hohenthal and Sam Bird secured the Formula Renault UK
honours while Paul Rivett and Tom Onslow-Cole shared the spoils
in the Clio Cup. Dave, who races for leading Clio Cup team Pyro,
said: “I can’t wait to be racing in front of my home crowd and
to have so many friends, family members and sponsors cheering me
on. This weekend I can secure the title which would be amazing
so I’m going all out for the wins. In fact I would be absolutely
gutted if I didn’t take at least one victory this weekend so
expect some very close racing and for me to be on two wheels a
lot!” Lewis, run by Tony Shaw’s Manor Competition team, added:
“Having spent so much of the season travelling to circuits in
the south it’s great that we’re going to be on my turf this
weekend and I can’t wait to get back in the car and hopefully on
to the podium.”
Ginetta Challenge:
George Murrells and Dominic Pettit took the victories
at Snetterton in three dramatic races in the Ginetta Challenge.
Pettit won a re-started opener before Murrells triumphed in race
two but on-the-road winner Pettit was excluded from the third
race giving victory to Murrells.
Read report
The 2010 Porsche Club Championship
made its annual visit to Castle Combe’s Bank Holiday Monday
raceday
for the penultimate meeting of the season, and in-form man
Marcus Carniel kept up his winning ways with another two
victories. The Cheshire racer has now won six of the previous
seven rounds, and was also voted ‘Driver of the Day’ for the
whole Castle Combe race meeting.In two exciting 20-minute races
Carniel came home clear of Scott Kavanagh and Mark McAleer early
in the afternoon, before heading a train of cars race long in
race two to win from Richard Lambert and Mark Sumpter. Chris
Dyer took Class Two in race one, Richard Bennett winning later
in the day after Dyer retired.
Read report
 Formula Ford:
Australian Scott Pye took a pair of fantastic Dunlop MSA Formula
Ford Championship of Great Britain race victories
at Snetterton on Monday to narrow the points gap between himself
and series leader Scott Malvern to just 25 points. In reality
they are even closer on points when ‘drop scores’ are taken into
account: Pye then has an advantage of three points with eight
rounds remaining. Pye produced an excellent wet-weather drive
during the day’s opener, round 16, to see off a determined
challenge from Daniel Cammish. Round 17 was the highlight of the
Bank Holiday weekend though; vintage Formula Ford at its very
best with Pye and Finnish star Antti Buri duelling
wheel-to-wheel, lap after lap. Pic:
Jakob Ebrey Photography
Read report
 VW Cup: Paul Taylor came away from
the Snetterton Bank Holiday weekend with his first win of
the season in the Volkswagen Racing Cup with Fuchs Lubricants
but it could easily have been two. Taylor was leading the wet
opening race comfortably when he was given a drive-through
penalty for not observing the track limits at Sear corner. This
handed the lead to Dziurzynski who despite being on slicks on a
wet track, was driving superbly. However the Golf GTI of Peter
Felix on wet tyres was soon haulng him in. “There was no way I
could live with Peter’s pace,” he said. “But it was an awesome
race for me, even though I was on the wrong tyres.” Felix had
seen the penalty flags waving at Taylor: “I saw the penalty
being issued so I knew that if I could get past Didge it would
be for the lead.” So it proved and Felix went on to take his
third win of the year by a 1.6s from Dziurzynski. Pic:
Jakob Ebrey Photography
Read report
 Karts: Jack Hawksworth concluded his 2010
German DKM Championship campaign
with a brilliant podium finish at Hahn near Frankfurt – to set
himself up for what he refers to as ‘the big one’, the CIK-FIA
World Cup at Braga in Portugal in the middle of September.pics Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net
Read
report
Young Guns:
Russ Danzey, having been accepted onto the prestigious,
MSA-supported Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE),
finished on the podium in third place in the Autosport Young
Guns series at Thruxton on Sunday, in what was only his third
car race meeting since stepping up from karts!
Read report
 ALMS:
Round eight of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila
Patron – the Grand Prix of Mosport – came to a premature end for
Robertson Racing on Sunday after a GT class rival caused
substantial damage to the team’s Ford GT. The penultimate race
of the season also witnessed the Atlanta-based outfit’s first
retirement in 19 starts, an incredible statistic that had looked
set to continue before the accident involving Dirk Müller’s
Rahal Letterman Racing BMW M3 48 laps in. read report
Indycar: Dario Franchitti used a clever
bit of strategy to win the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300
at Chicagoland Speedway and close the gap on IZOD IndyCar
Series championship points leader Will Power. Franchitti picked
up the lead out of the final pit stop on Lap 173 -- relying on a
double stint of the Firestone Firehawks (62 laps) - and held off
Dan Wheldon by 0.0423 of a second for his third win of the
season. Power's No. 12 Verizon Team Penske crew had a fueling
equipment issue on the same pit stop and he had to duck onto pit
lane with five laps left for a splash. He was running fourth at
the time but finished a season-low 16th. Franchitti closed to 23
points of Power with three oval races left. Marco Andretti led
an Andretti Autosport trio in the top five with a
season-best-tying third place. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan
followed. Helio Castroneves finished sixth and Justin Wilson
advanced 16 positions to finish seventh.
 Grand-Am: Memo Gidley returns to Team Sahlen for the final round of the
2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown
Royal Cask No. 16 season to be held at Miller Motorsports Park.
Previously, Memo had joined Team Sahlen at the Crown Royal 200
at the Glen. At this event, Memo placed the #43 Team Sahlen
Mazda in 4th place with only 15 minutes to go in the
event when a loose wheel forced him to the pits for repair. At
Miller Motorsports Park, Memo will be teamed with team regular
Wayne Nonnamaker in the #43 Mazda RX-8. “Memo did a fantastic
job at Watkins Glen. It’s great to have him back behind the
wheel, teamed with Wayne in the #43. He was a great fit with the
team at the Glen, both on the track and in the paddock. He
drove a superb race up to the point of the loose wheel.
Hopefully everything can be in our favor this time, and Memo can
have a clear run to the finish. The GT class is extremely
competitive, and hopefully Team Sahlen will be mixing it right
up at the front. No matter what, it should be an exciting event
for the fans to watch.” – states Joe Sahlen. “I was impressed
with the winning effort that the entire Sahlen Team put in to
the race at Watkins and I am very exited to be back with them at
Utah. The Sahlens #43 Mazda RX8 was such a neat car to drive at
Watkins, I had a grin the whole time. Also, driving with Wayne
was awesome. He was very fast and we really worked together
well. We had such a nice run going at Watkins until the wheel
problem at the end of the race. I think we will be very strong
at Miller and I'm really looking forward to having another shot
to go for a win with the Sahlen Team" said Gidley. Team Sahlen
will also be entering the #42 Mazda RX-8 with a 3 driver
line-up. Joe Sahlen will be accompanied by the father and son
duo of Joe & Will Nonnamaker.
 F2000:
Daniel Erickson is aiming for his best ever international
championship result
as the F2000 Championship Series draws to a close at Mid Ohio
Sports Car Course this weekend. The young Sydney driver has two
goals going into Rounds 13 and 14: Rookie of the Year; and third
place – or higher – in the Championship. The first goal is
virtually assured, as he holds a substantial points advantage
over the next rookie, Chris Livengood. The second goal is less
certain, because although Erickson is currently third in the
‘corrected’ pointscore (with each driver’s two lowest-scoring
rounds deducted, according to the championship rules) no fewer
than five drivers are within striking range. He has a
mathematical chance of grabbing second overall from 2007
champion Cole Morgan, but with a 60-point deficit to make up it
would take results at opposite extremes for the drivers to swap
places.He wasn’t feeling under any pressure with the finale less
than a week away. “I’m quite relaxed – more than I was before
the final rounds of the British Formula Ford Championship last
year” he said.“Back then I had to beat my team-mate to finish
fifth in the pointscore after an up-and-down season; this time I
just have to maintain the consistency I’ve achieved in the past
three races. Maybe it’s also because I’m not in contention for
the championship win after missing four rounds.” His main tasks
at Mid Ohio will be learning the circuit and fine-tuning his
Primus Racing Van Diemen. “There are only two practice sessions
on Friday before qualifying and a race each on Saturday and
Sunday,” he said.“That means I need to have my car sorted, with
no driving errors or mechanical problems, by Friday night.
There’s very little margin for error in this championship with
around 30 drivers, including some fast and experienced F2000
veterans as well as younger drivers, at most rounds. But I’ve
struck a good rapport with my race engineer, Jon Baytos, so I’m
confident that we can finish the championship with two good
results.” Recently he was declared Hard Charger of the Month
for August by prominent USA ‘development’ openwheel racing
website eFormulaCarNews.com.
Radical UK Cup:
Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser returned to their
winning
ways at Thruxton, taking their 360 Racing SR8 to a dominant
double victory. If the first race had been dominant for Kaiser
and Woodward, in the second it was even more so as apart from
the lap they pitted, they led every one of the 33.
read report
Formula3:
The boys from Brazil, Gabriel Dias and Adriano Buzaid, showed their European
rivals the way to win Cooper Tires British F3 races on Monday at
Snetterton, Dias securing victory for Hitech in the 20-minute
sprint race and his countryman Buzaid winning the double-length
feature race for Carlin, ahead of his team-mate and the newly
crowned champion, Jean-Eric Vergne.
The latter had earlier turned in a champion's performance on
Sunday afternoon to claim his 13th race win of the season for
the Carlin team, depriving his team-mate Buzaid in tricky
drying conditions. Pole man Buzaid led all but the last four
laps of the race, making the better getaway from the line and
making the best of the streaming wet track conditions in the
early part of the race to build a lead of nearly five seconds by
the 10th lap. However Vergne recovered from a poor start to
pass team-mate on lap 23 and win by 3.6 secs.
Read report
 Menasheh Idafar increased his 2010 tally of race wins to 15 at Snetterton in
Norfolk today, Monday, 30th August, to not only completely
dominate the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series
National Class but also move into the points lead ahead of next
month’s all-important season finale. In supreme form throughout
the Bank Holiday weekend in East Anglia, the rookie F3
competitor was in a league of his own in terms of his National
Class rivals. Added to his comfortable win during round 25 on
Sunday, today’s pair of victories mean the 19-year-old has
sealed a weekend hat-trick for the first time at an F3 event.
Pic: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Read report
30-08-10
 Sportscars:
The Itchyfeet
Open Sportscar Championship was in action at Rockingham over
the weekend and Mike Jenvey won the opening race in his Gunn
Ts6. Second was Tony Sinclair in a Jade 3, over 20seconds
behind, while Patrick Sherrington was third in his MCR
Sportscar. Sinclair would go one better in race 2 winning
from Ginger Marshall and John Gray. pic Dennis Goodwin
 In
the SRCC Sports 2000 Duratec race at Rockingham on Sunday, Neil
Burroughs took the honours with his Gunn TS11 from Mike
Jenvey who was 8 seconds adrift of the winner at the flag.
Robert Oldershaw was third in his March 09R, just over 2 seconds
further up the road. pic Dennis Goodwin
ALMS: David Brabham
scored his eighth consecutive American Le Mans Series podium
to cap the celebrations surrounding his 100th ALMS race start at
Mosport International Raceway. The fourth second place finish of
the season sees Brabham and teammate Simon Pagenaud head into
the final Series round with a 16 point lead over CytoSport’s
Klaus Graf. Consistent form has delivered a faultless run of
podium finishes so far. Sunday’s result at the only Canadian
round on the ALMS calendar took Brabham’s impressive race tally
to 97 top 10 finishes and 59 podiums in 100 races. read
report
Radical Club Cup:
Colin Millar continues to inch towards a second successive title
in the Quaife Radical Club Cup at Thiruxton with
another double victory in his SR3 win at Thruxton In the
opening race Millar cruised to victory ahead of Darren Luke who
had looked like winning the second race until Millar nipped past
4 laps from home.
Read report
Autosport Young Guns:
It was all to play for between Patryk Szczerbinski and Max
Cornelius, as both arrived at Thruxton for the Autosport Young
Guns finale, with one hand on the title. Having won the first
race of the weekend Cornelius needed to head his rival in the
second too, but a desperate lunge at the chicane on the last lap
was one move too far. The pair collided and Cornelius was
excluded, handing Szczerbinski the inaugural title.
Read report
 Burgeoning
talent Max Cornelius just missed out on winning the Autosport
Young Guns
at Thruxton yesterday,29th August. In a dramatic final corner
tangle in the last race of the season the 16 year old lost out
by just 4 points. Driving to the seventh victory during the
opening race the 16-year-old had kept the title battle going
into the final encounter until an incident with arch rival
Patryk Szczerbinski at Club Chicane ended his chances of
becoming champion. Read
report
GP3: Adrian Tambay put in
one of the drives of the season to take victory
in the second GP3 race at Spa yesterday. On a track with both
wet and dry sections, the Manor Racing driver on slicks held off
a charging Alexander Rossi, who was on wet tyres, to take his
maiden win in the Series. The American's second place finish
helped seal the Teams' title for ART Grand Prix with one round
remaining. Canadian Robert Wickens won Race 1 in a very wet
conditions the day before in a damaged car. Starting from pole
he held onto the lead in spite of a damaged nose cone and a
torrential downpour. Series leader Esteban Gutierez finished
fifth. read report
 Adrian
Quaife-Hobbs finished third in the opening race of the GP3
Series in Spa on Saturday afternoon and followed that up
with fifth in race two on Sunday morning. The 19 year-old
started race one from the front row and made a good start to
hold a comfortable second place for the opening three laps.
read
report
 Karts:
James Singleton proved to be one of the leading contenders when
the British Super 1 Series visited Shenington at the weekend,
before a spark plug failure on the rolling-up lap for the first
final set the scene for a superb charge through the field in the
second final from 30th place to eighth, with fastest lap going
to show what might have been had he only been able to start
where he should have been up at the front. pic: Les McLuckie
Read report
 Jay
Goodwin might be more used to tearing up the track
in the two British karting championships, but the young
Sale-based racer recently got a taste of a different sport
altogether as he hung out with the Australian national cricket
team. A keen cricketer himself, Jay was introduced to the likes
of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke by his father Geoff, whose
Go Goodwins coach company transports the team around when they
come over for The Ashes – and when the boys returned to pay a
surprise visit this summer, it marked another opportunity for
the Ashton-upon-Mersey speed demon to rub shoulders with some
true sporting legends. “It was a pretty big deal at first but
it’s something I’m used to now, because my dad goes to the
cricket a lot,” the 13-year-old mused. “I know all the
Australian players, and obviously I’m really grateful for being
able to spend time with them. They’re a great bunch of guys, and
I really like hanging out with them all. They’ve always been
interested in my racing too, and they keep asking me all about
it and how it’s going.”
29-08-10
 GP3:
Dean Smith produced two very well judged drives
at Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend, to climb into the GP3
Series championship top five and just miss out on taking his
second podium finish of the 2010 campaign. Rounds 13 and 14 of
the season, running in support of the FIA Formula One World
Championship’s Belgian Grand Prix, were both affected by
atrocious weather – Saturday’s opening race, in particular,
badly hit by a torrential deluge which caused absolute
chaos.Threading his way through the order well from the back of
the grid, after an unfortunate accident in qualifying meant he
wasn’t able to post a representative time, the Racing Steps
Foundation backed driver also benefited from a good tyre-change
pit-stop to finish the outing inside the top 10. In Sunday
morning’s race, starting from third on the grid, the
22-year-old moved into an early lead but he had to settle for
fourth in the end when the wet-weather tyres he changed to
mid-race lacked the grip they should have provided. Pics:
GP3 Media Service/LAT
Read report
Formula 3:
Round 25 of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3
International
 Series
went completely to plan for Menasheh Idafar at Snetterton
Circuit in Norfolk this afternoon, Sunday, 29th August, as he
eased to a comfortable National Class victory – the 13th win of
his rookie F3 campaign. pic Jakob
Ebrey Photography
Read report
 GP2:
Alvaro Parente put in another good performance
with a second podium finish in GP2 of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps
on Sunday morning. Starting from seventh on the grid the
Portuguese climbed four places to take third at the flag. The
Coloni driver felt he could have fought for the win but with
several cars going off resulting in three Safety-Cars periods,
he preferred to play safe and settled for another podium result.
“The car was again very good and I could climb up in the order.
At a time I was side by side with van der Garde and Gonzalez and
I could feel that the track was still damp, so I decided not to
take risks, because it was very important another podium and end
the Spa-Francorchamps round as the driver who conquered more
points during the weekend. I think that, if I took some risks, I
could have fought for the win, but I would have to take many
risks”, underlined Parente. With today’s third place, the driver
from Oporto completed an amazing return to GP2 taking two
podiums from two starts. “It was fantastic! Being back to GP2,
fighting for the win at the first race achieving a second and a
third places and, above all, being the driver who scored more
points. I would like to thank to Coloni, to my sponsors and, of
course, to my fans who supported me during my entire career”, he
concluded. Pedro Moreira do Santos, the Portuguese driver
manager, was, understandably, pleased with his drivers
performance. “We believe that he will complete the GP2 season,
above all because he showed again that he can fight for wins in
any car, because it’s important to underline that Coloni, before
this weekend, was in the last position of the Teams Championship
standings, something that was changed by Alvaro’s results”.
FBMW:
Just as on Saturday, Facu Regalia saw his race ruined
by an accident with another driver, this time Petri Suvanto,
who hit him from behind on the fourth lap, which left him down
in twelfth position in the second Formula BMW Europe race at
Spa-Francorchamps.The Argentinean-Spanish driver ‘s luckj seems
t have deserted him and today the problem came from behind,
damaging the rear of his car and as a result a twelfth place
finish. He started well on a dry track from the sixth row of the
grid, but within four laps his luck ran out. “I reacted very
well to the lights. I decided to go on the outside of the first
corner so I could make up some positions, but I was blocked and
I had to brake a little earlier than I expected”, explain the
Eifelland Racing driver. Petri Suvanto, who was behind Regalia,
appeared to forget to brake and hit Regalia , who spun. Besides
loosing time, the damage slowed him down . “When I looked in
the mirrors I saw Suvanto very far away. But he must have
forgotten to brake, because he hit me hard on the back. I spun
and lost lot of time and the rear wing was damage, so I couldn’t
do anything in the five remaining laps”, said a very
disappointed Regalia. After today’s disillusionment, Facu
Regalia is already looking forward to Monza, where he expects
“to be luckier than in the last few races”
Clio Cup:
Sam Tordoff Joins The Tim Sugden Motorsport Stable.
Tim Sugden Management (TSM), specialists in motor racing driver
management, are pleased to announce a new addition to their
‘stable’ of up and coming motorsports stars with Leeds racing
driver Sam Tordoff joining their ranks. 21 year old Tordoff is
currently racing in the Renault Clio Cup and is lying third in
the Championship. The season so far has already seen him take
victory in round 12 at Snetterton and a further eight podium
finishes. Sugden, who continues to race professionally himself
alongside his management duties, has been quick to praise the
talents of his fellow Yorkshire driver. “Sam has a lot of
natural aptitude” says Tim, “which measured with determination
and a desire to learn, stands him in excellent stead. With hard
work and guidance I can see a strong future for Sam in
motorsport”. Sam’s next races are at Knockhill, Scotland, on 4-5
September. His season can be followed on his website at
www.samtordoffracing.co.uk.
 Star
Mazda:
Conor Daly has won the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by
Goodyear
with a win from the pole on Saturday afternoon's Round 12 at the
Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. Driving the #22
Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services
Ltd. Mazda, Daly with seven wins to his credit now has an
unassailable points advantage and in fact technically became the
champion the moment the race started. However rather than take
the safe option Daly took the title in style by leading from
the off to finish 0.764 seconds ahead of the 2nd-placed
Venezuelan Jorge Goncalvez. read
report
Grand-Am:
AIM Autosport’s Pacific Mobile/Biosign Daytona Proto. Read
reporttype
retired from the Montreal 200 after just one and a half laps on
Saturday when the car, damaged while going over a curb, spun and
hit the wall as it approached the hairpin turn at Circuit Gilles
Villeneuve. Ultimately classified 12th in class, the result
drops drivers, Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins to fifth equal
in the Championship. Read
report
 GP2:
Alvaro Parente showed on Saturday why he is well regarded
in world motorsport with a fantastic race at Spa-Francorchamps
by taking a superb second place. It was hard for the Portuguese
r to do better than he did as he fought head to head with Pastor
Maldonado, the championship leader and six times winner. After a
difficult qualifying session which included numerous red flags,
Parente started from sixteenth and after an excellent first lap
he was up to eleventh before, overtaking two more drivers in the
following laps. With a strategy based on a late stop Parente
soon found himself in first place and and he opened a good gap
to the following drivers. He then pitted just three laps from
the end,rejoining in second. However, he wasn’t about to settle
for second and in the remaining laps he closed down a 5 second
gap to the leader Maldonado who assumed a defensive position to
t hold on for the win. After an amazing drive from 16th
to 2nd the driver from Oporto was very happy with the
second place on his GP2 return. “It was an amazing race, it went
very well! I didn’t know the car in the dry, but it was very
balanced and, with a good strategy, we were in the fresh air,
something that allowed me to be very fast and open a gap to my
followers. When I left the pits I felt that I could try to win
and I gave my best – I ended on Maldonado’s back, but this
second place is fantastic! I want to thank to the team for this
opportunity and for a very balanced single-seater that put on my
hands. Today, Sunday, Parente will have another race starting
from the seventh on the grid. “As usual, I’ll give my best. I
think that we can have another good performance, the car is
good, but it’s possible to rain tomorrow and he have to be
careful so he can end in a good result”..
 Formula
3:
T-Sport’s Menasheh Idafar made a great start to the penultimate
race meeting of the 2010 Cooper Tires British Formula 3
International Series
during official testing at Snetterton on Saturday, 28th August,
by setting the National Class pace and lapping within the
overall top 10. With just nine points separating the 19-year-old
and National Class leader James Cole heading into the 25th, 26th
and 27th rounds of the championship, the Bank Holiday weekend
action could be crucial and Menasheh has started off on the
right footing by out-performing his chief rival.During the
opening 55-minute session this morning, the British-born
Bahraini lapped with a best time of 1m01.639 seconds (114.00mph)
which placed him six 10ths of a second ahead of Cole and within
an impressive half a second of James Calado’s outright
International Class pace.Rain interfered with proceedings in the
afternoon and so the vast majority of drivers were unable to
improve their times. Menasheh posted a best of 1m02.242 seconds
(112.89mph) to end the run 14th overall, still within a second
of the International Class pace and 0.5 seconds ahead of
Cole.“This weekend’s races are going to be really important so
it’s good we had a strong test today”, said Menasheh, “Our pace
was good and everything went well. Snetterton is one of my
favourite tracks so I’m hoping we can have a really strong
weekend and take away plenty of points.” pic Jakob
Ebrey Photography
 FBMW:
Facu Regalia, driving in Formula BMW Europe at Spa
yesterday(Saturday), put in an amazing first lap to move up
to fifth from eleventh before a clash with Jack Harvey ended his
race. After suffering a myriad of problems in qualifying that
left him eleventh on the grid, he made an almost perfect start.
“It was my best start ever. I was seventh at the end of the long
straight and I overtook Robin Frinjs and Marc Coleselli before
the Safety-Car came in”. Coming up on Jack Harvey , the current
championship leader, defended his position and Regalia ended in
the wall. “I came out of the first corner very well and I was on
his tail at Eau Rouge, but when I was trying to overtake him on
his right he closed me and when I tried to overtake him on the
left he did the same, after I tried my chance on his right again
we touched and went off track and on the wet grass it was
impossible to avoid the wall”, said Facu. For Regalia it was an
unhappy ending to what could have been a really good result. “I
knew at the beginning that this race could be good for me. I
feel more comfortable in this kind of track – damped – than when
the track is completely wet. With the laps still to complete, I
think that I could end in the podium or even maybe win the race.
Frinjs, who I had just overtaken, finished second, that’s why
I’m so disappointed”, concluded Regalia.
28-08-10
 Star
Mazda:
Continuing his record-breaking pole position streak,
championship points leader Conor Daly scored his ninth pole
of the season for this afternoon's Round 12 of the 2010 Star
Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the Mobil 1 Presents
the Grand Prix of Mosport. The young American turned a lap of
1:15.342 (117.496 mph). Starting alongside Daly, in his
first-ever appearance on the front row of the Star Mazda
starting grid, is Venezuelan racer Jorge Goncalvez with a lap of
1:15.481 (117.280 mph). Both drivers turned their quick time on
Lap 3 of the session, as did 3rd-place qualifier French racer
Tristan Vautier with a lap of 1:15.504 (117.244) in the #38
Andersen Racing Mazda. Vautier has scored two wins this season,
but several finishes outside the top-10 have dropped him to 6th
in the championship. Starting on the outside of the second row
will be young Quebec racer Mikael Grenier with a lap of 1:15.768
(116.836 mph). Grenier is 4th in the championship and won from
the pole in Round 8 at Autobahn.
Read report
Porsche Carrera Cup GB
: The tenth programme in the dedicated television
coverage of the 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup GB will be broadcast in
the Motorsport UK programme on ITV4 at 5pm on Tuesday 31 August,
on ITV1 on the night of Sunday 5 September and will also be
repeated on ITV4 on Sunday 5 September. The Motorsport UK
series, which features hour-long programmes, is covering all of
the Carrera Cup GB action again this season. Round twelve of the
season at Snetterton will feature in this programme.
Motorsport UK will be broadcast as follows:
Tuesday 31 August at 5pm on ITV4
Sunday 5 September at 10.25am on ITV4
Monday 6 September at 3.25am on ITV1
Grand-Am:
Burt Frisselle has secured a fourth-place start for the Pacific
Mobile/Biosign car
in today’s Montreal 200, the eleventh round of the Grand-Am
Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16.
With a time of 1m 32.224s, averaging 170.182 km/h (105.746 mph),
around the 4.36km (2.709 mile)-long Circuit Gilles Villeneuve,
the team is optimistic the car is poised for a good result in
today’s race. Working on keeping the car settled on the
temporary street circuit which is notoriously hard on brakes,
AIM Autosport managed to improve the pace of it’s car through
the day, peaking with their best time during the 15-minute
qualifying session at 5pm. Looking happy and relaxed after
qualifying, Chief Engineer, Ian Willis, explained that the team
had spent the day focused on race set up and said that he was
happy with the car. “We always want to go faster, but I’m happy
with qualifying on the second row,” he said, wearing a confident
smile. “I’d be happier on the front row, but we’re in good shape
for the race.” Burt said “The car feels good.“We’re a tenth of
a second off third place, but the 99 car, on pole, is the class
of the field this week. We’re going to use the final practice to
make some small changes so that Mark and I can be more confident
with the car, but the crew has done great work and the Ford
power is excellent.” Co=Driver Mark Wilkins added, “We’ve been
going in the right direction all day, getting faster in every
session, Burt did a great job to qualify on the second row and
I’m hoping we can finish on the podium. The last few races
haven’t been good in terms of finishing, but it would be nice to
get a top-three here in Montreal.” The two-hour-long Montreal
200 is scheduled to begin at 2:15pm, Saturday. Live coverage
will be provided by SPEED TV and MRN radio.
 FBMW:
Torrential rain at Spa-Francorchamps prevented Facu Regalia
from showing his true potential, however he intends to
overcome his poor qualifying positions with some good results
in the weekend’s races. Sadly he only managed eleventh and the
twelfth for the two races. It all started to go wrong in the
practice for the Spanish–Argentinean driver. “We were with new
brake pads and the others were already in used ones. The track
was very wet and kept raining. All drivers made their lap times
in the beginning of the session when I couldn’t push. However,
the feeling is good”, However, the optimism would be transformed
in pessimism, with the rain, affectied qualifying. “It’s hard
to understand. The track looked like a swimming pool, with lot
of standing water, but I can’t understand the qualifying
results. I was fourth at the beginning, but the others improved
their times, something that I wasn’t able to do” he said. “We
have to improve a lot, the team and myself, if we want to
achieve any result this weekend. We have to study the telemetry
so we can see where are the problems that I felt, because I
thought that I was being fast but, as we can clearly see, I
wasn’t. We are missing performance to achieve a good result”.
 GP2:
After showing an impressive pace in the morning practice on
his return to the GP2 Series, Alvaro Parente saw his
performance in the qualifying for the Spa-Francorchamps’ race
spoiled by mechanicals gremlins and by the large number of red
flags. The Portuguese began on high in practice, held in a wet
track, where he was the third fastest, being beaten just by
Pastor Maldonado and Dani Clos, first and third, respectively,
in the drivers’ standings. After this Parente tackled
qualifying, also on a wet track. However, four red flags during
a thirty minute session prevented him from doing more than one
real flying lap, that and a mechanical problem, put him in the
sixteenth place of the grid. “It was a very strange qualifying
and very frustrating. Every time I was on a flying lap someone
would go off track and I had to abort my lap – it was
frustrating! To make everything even harder, my car engine was
working in just seven cylinders. With these circumstances it was
hard to do better, but we had the potential to do much more, as
we showed in the morning practice”, he underlined . “It will be
a hard race, because we will start from the middle of the pack
and it’s easy to have a small contact. We showed that we can be
competitive in the wet, but it’s very difficult to race in the
spray, mainly in this kind of circuit, as the water lift by the
cars remains in the air for many time. The only thing that I can
say is that I’ll give my best and I’ll try to grab any
opportunity that may arise”.
 Star
Mazda: Continuing
a high-speed duel that began last weekend
when they qualified side-by-side on the front row for Round 11
at Road America, Star Mazda Championship leader Conor Daly did a
last-lap flier in the final practice session for Round 12 at
Mosport to top the time sheets and bump Connor De Phillippi down
to second… but it was a close thing; Daly's lap of 1:15.413
(117.386 mph) was the fastest lap of the weekend so far, but
only 0.2secs quicker than De Phillippi's 1:15.567 (117.007
mph). read more
 Formula
3:
Irish racing driver Gary Thompson is hoping to make a ‘big step
forward’
when the Japanese F3 Championship resumes at Okayama next
weekend (4-5 September) following a four-week break. The
18-year-old scored the best result of his rookie season so far
prior to the series’ summer hiatus with a fine second place
National Class finish in race 2 at Motegi, but he and his
Achievement by KCMG Racing team have refused to rest on their
laurels. During the month of inactivity on-track, the Hong
Kong-based squad has worked extensively on Thompson’s Cebu
Pacific Air-backed Dallara chassis in an attempt to find more
speed and the Dubliner is hoping that the hard work pays off
with a strong run in the final three race meetings of 2010.“It’s
hard to make predictions because it’s difficult to know exactly
where we’ll be in Okayama compared with everybody else, but
certainly we’re looking for a big step forward in terms of our
overall pace,” said Thompson.“We’ve been a bit frustrated with
our ultimate speed so far this season, even though our results
have been quite good, but the team has worked really hard over
the past few weeks and I’m aiming to reward them with a strong
performance at the weekend.”Thompson, who is also supported by
Aviation Display, heads to Okayama with the advantage of knowing
the track having raced there in Formula BMW Pacific last season,
something which hasn’t been the case in the previous rounds this
year.“So far in 2010 I’ve had to learn each circuit in practice
while a lot of the other drivers on the grid have had prior
circuit knowledge,” he explained. “However, I’ve been to Okayama
before in Formula BMW, in fact I had a pretty strong weekend
there last year which saw me finish on the podium. That
definitely helps but we’ll still have to work hard in the
practice sessions on Friday to make sure we have the optimum
set-up bearing in mind all the changes we’ve made.”The
mountainous Okayama International Circuit, which twice held the
Pacific Grand Prix - won on both occasions by Michael
Schumacher, has a reputation as a tight and twisty track,
particularly on its infield section, but Thompson is confident
that its layout will still be conducive to exciting racing.“I
quite like it and the layout is good,” he said. “There are
places where you can overtake which should make it good for
racing. The key thing for us is the weather. It hasn’t been
great for the last few days and I’m hoping it’s dry in practice
so we can get through our workload without any delays.”
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