http://inpitlane.com In Pit Lane Fri, 18 May 2012 15:37:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en http://inpitlane.com/archives/13596 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13596#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 21:24:42 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3596 Austrian Formula One driver Christian Klien will co-drive with Russell Ingall at the V8 Supercar Endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst this year. Klien, who made 41 F1 starts for teams including Jaguar and Red Bull will drive the Supercheap Autos Commodore with the two time Bathurst winner. The 1000 kms enduro around the Mountain won't be Klien's first look at the famous track, earlier this year he drove a production Lotus at the famous circuit although that's a long way  from the 640 BHP that he'll need to deal with in the Commodore. Although he is best known in Australia for his F1 career, Klien has considerable endurance experience with a best result of a third place at Le Mans in the factory Peugeot in 2008. Klien had a secret test with Walkinshaw Racing recently and will drive the Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore in the enduro co-driver practice session at Phillip Island this Friday ahead of the weekend's fifth round of the V8 Supercar Championship, the Phillip Island 300.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13596/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13593 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13593#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 15:06:45 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3593 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13593/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13589 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13589#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 14:58:07 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=3589 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13589/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13564 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13564#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:44:39 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3564 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13564/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13506 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13506#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:30:30 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=3506 Second generation driver Nico Rosberg has completed a textbook lights-to-flag victory to take his maiden win in Formula One. The win also marked Mercedes' first win as a constructor since Juan Manuel Fangio's victory at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Rosberg backed up his stunning qualifying lap with a flawless start, ensuring his second-placed teammate Michael Schumacher had no chance to challenge for the lead. 'Unbelievable feeling. Very cool, very happy, very excited,' said a joyous Rosberg. 'It's been a long time coming for me and for the team.' The first-time winner also paid tribute to his Mercedes team. 'Big thanks to the whole team, because all of the engineers have been working very, very hard on improving the set-up. It's very nice to see how quickly we are progressing." Rosberg controlled the gap between the front and the myriad of drivers that filled second place over the course of the 56 laps. Initially it was his Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher, who followed Rosberg to his first stop on lap 13. However, a pit stop error during the seven times World Champion's pitstop forced him to stop on track with a loose front right wheel. Jenson Button did well to improve from his fifth-place grid slot to finish the race on the second step of the podium.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13506/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13443 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13443#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 06:15:28 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3443 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13443/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13438 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13438#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2012 01:48:07 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3438 It's an all Australian front row for the "Grand Prix" of St Petersburg with Queensland's Will Power lining up alongside team-mate and fellow aussie Ryan Briscoe for the opening round of the 2012 Indy Car season. Power set a new circuit-qualifying record of 1 minute, 1.3721 seconds on his way to his third pole in consecutive years.  He won the race in 2010 and was runner-up to Dario Franchitti in 2011. Briscoe will start alongside his Team Penske teammate on the front row, while Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe will occupy Row 2. It's the best start in the race for all three (Hinchcliffe didn't compete in 2011). Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud qualified fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Firestone Fast Six. But because Pagenaud's Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports team made an unauthorised engine change after practice, he will be penalised 10 spots on the starting grid.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13438/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13432 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13432#comments Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:52:56 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3432 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13432/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13413 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13413#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:02:49 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=3413 Jenson Button took home the first 25 points of the 2012 season after a dominant dominant drive at the Australian Grand Prix. The 2009 World Champion and now three times Melbourne winner rocketed from P2 on the grid to lead the race home, virtually leading from start to finish. Button swiftly passed his team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the way down to the first corner after the younger Briton pulled slowly off the line. He quickly established a three second buffer, from which point he remained untouchable. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel hauled his Red Bull into second place, despite an uncompetitive qualifying session that had him starting from P6. Vettel jumped one place to fifth off the line after Mark Webber suffered from a problematic getaway, from which point he applied pressure to fourth-running Nico Rosberg, and quickly passed him. Although Vettel succumbed to an early and uncharacteristic mistake in the chase for third-placed Michael Schumacher, a brief excursion onto the grass triggered a mechanical failure in the W03, gifting the younger Champion P3.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13413/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13409 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13409#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:05:42 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=3409 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13409/feed