http://inpitlane.com In Pit Lane Thu, 23 May 2013 14:24:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en http://inpitlane.com/archives/14470 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14470#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 14:24:03 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4470 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14470/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14465 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14465#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 01:28:48 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4465 NO DECISION ON MOTORSPORT FUTURE, YET! Ford Australia have announced their decision to withdraw from manufacturing in Australia with both Geelong and Broadmeadows plants to close in October 2016. Rumours of the withdrawal have been rife within the local car industry for several years now, with most talk centring around the future of the iconic Ford Falcon. The move comes after years of declining sales for the Falcon and the failure of other nameplates to capture the market. Bob Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Australia, told the media that the company had lost $144 mil. Last year alone making a loss of $600 mil. Over the past five years. Mr Graziano confirmed that the Falcon nameplate would cease when production of the car ends in 2016. He sais the the decision to end local production followed a comprehensive review process of the companies operations in Australia. In it's media staement Ford said: "Given the changing dynamics of the auto industry, a number of business scenarios were reviewed during the past year to determine next steps for Ford’s Australian business....]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/14465/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14456 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14456#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 08:50:59 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4456 It's official. Honda will return to Formula One with McLaren for the 2015 season. After months of speculation the official announcement will see the Japanese manufacturer back at the top level of motorsport after it quit the sport in 2008. Honda President and CEO Takanobu Ito, said that Honda was delighted to be back in F1. “Honda has a long history of advancing our technologies and nurturing our people by participating in the world’s most prestigious automobile racing series. The new F1 regulations with their significant environmental focus will inspire even greater development of our own advanced technologies and this is central to our participation in F1." he said. Mr Ito thanked both the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone for their support, indicating that the new engine regulations for F1 were a major influence in the companies decision to return.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/14456/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14451 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14451#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 05:16:25 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4451 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14451/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14446 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14446#comments Sat, 04 May 2013 07:59:02 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4446 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14446/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14441 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14441#comments Sat, 04 May 2013 07:45:55 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4441 Audi has dominated qualifying for round 2 of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the famous Spa-Francochamp circuit. Marcel Fässler (CH), Benoît Tréluyer (F)  and André Lotterer (D) are on pole with a four lap average of 1m 59.961s. The number 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro were the only driver squad to break the two-minute mark. An impressive performance by Lucas di Grassi (BR), Marc Gené (E) and Oliver Jarvis (GB), they share the number 3 car which has been aerodynamically optimized for the upcoming run at Le Mans. But even on the track in the Ardennes that is less suitable for this body version, they qualified for the front row with a time of 2m 00.236, missing the best time by only 0.274s. di Grassi even set the fastest time of the day at 1m 58.934s. Third place is shared by the series leaders Tom Kristensen (DK) and Allan McNish (GB). They are contesting the race together with Loïc Duval (F). As Audi’s best immediate rival, the number 7 Toyota in position four missed the best time by 0.986s. It was a frustrating day for Toyota as its two TS030 HYBRIDs qualified fourth and fifth for the race.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/14441/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14431 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14431#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:59:20 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=4431 Sebastian Vettel has won back-to-back Bahrain Grand Prix in a display of renewed Red Bull dominance. Vettel was always in the box seat to capitalise on Mercedes' poor race pace from P2 on the grid, but his job was made easier by the neutralisation of Alonso's threat thanks to a DRS failure. "Fantastic race. A big thank you to the team today," said Vettel. "A faultless, seamless race from start to finish." "The pace we had today, we surely didn't expect that. But we managed the gaps and still had enough tyres to push to the end." While tyre strategy played a less significant role than it did in China, second place was secured by Kimi Raikkonen courtesy of a two-stop strategy - one of only two drivers to do so. While Raikkonen found solid pace during the race, Lotus must surely hypothesise what could've been if the Finn had delivered the goods during qualifying. "I think yesterday wasn't ideal, so we planned to do two stops because it felt okay," said Raikkonen.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/14431/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14429 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14429#comments Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:55:44 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=4429 Nico Rosberg has taken a surprise pole position in Bahrain, fending off Championship favourites Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Rosberg looked feisty in his Mercedes all weekend, but the half-second gap between him and teammate Lewis Hamilton was an unexpected, to say the least. "It's a fantastic result, it's great for tomorrow," said Rosberg. 'I think as a team we worked really last night to improve the car, as yesterday we were really struggling." "Tomorrow is going to be a tough race for sure, with rear tyre degradation especially." "We're not going to be as quick as we were in qualifying compared to everybody else. I think it'll be much closer tomorrow on race fuel - but you just have to wait."

]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/14429/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14423 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14423#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2013 23:01:45 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4423 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14423/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/14415 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14415#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2013 09:29:15 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=4415 http://inpitlane.com/archives/14415/feed