The Grid.co.uk    the national & club motor racing website - est1998          

Home

  News

  Features   Calendar   News Archive 11/56 MotorSport
        Reports          Gallery         Links         Classified

 

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

Cheap car insurance  quotes from   Quoteline Direct

At 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.”

For previous news click on August  & July  Archives

Here for all Archives

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

Material Copyright © 2008 11/56 MotorSport

 

   
Home

  News

  Features   Calendar   News Archive 11/56 MotorSport
        Reports          Gallery         Links         Classified