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LE MANS CLASSIC LOOKS TO THE ELECTRIC FUTURE

7. July 2010

The Le Mans classic is a bi-annual event featuring a stunning collection of classic sportscars from Le Mans legendary past. But this year, the classic will see the on-track debut of what many believe will be the racecar of tomorrow. French manufacturer Citroen will debut the "racing" version of it's Citroen's all-electric concept car, The Survolt. Appropriately the car will be driven by one of the most famous surnames in all Le Mans history. Vanina Ickx, daughter of multiple Le Mans winner (and one time Bathurst winner) Jacky Ickx will be behind the wheel of the new car when it makes it's international on-track debut.

ELECTRIFYING GULLWING FROM MERCEDES AMG

5. July 2010

The push towards high performance all electric vehicles takes another step forward as Mercedes Benz announces the SLS AMG E-CELL. With 392 kW and 880 Nm of torque, the car offers exceptional performance. The gullwing with electric drive is part of the company strategy entitled "AMG Performance 2015" which aims to continually reduce fuel consumption and emissions. With the SLS AMG E-CELL, Mercedes-AMG is providing a glimpse of its latest development project – a powerful and locally emission-free super sports car. Finished in fluorescent "AMG lumilectric magno" paint, the gullwing offers the prospect of a possible small series production run and at the same time reflects the innovative strength and development competence of the AMG performance brand. "We take social responsibility very seriously and with the SLS AMG E-CELL we are demonstrating a further milestone in our "AMG Performance 2015" strategy. It is our goal to continually reduce the fuel consumption and emissions of new models in the coming years, while at the same time enhancing the core brand value of performance", explains Ola Källenius, chairman of the board of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.

PRUETT/ROJAS TAKES DAYTONA GRAND-AM

4. July 2010

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas of the TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team celebrated the 100th race for the Daytona Prototype class by scoring an impressive victory in Saturday's Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway, adding to their record win totals in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series' leading division. Pruett took the lead with one hour remaining and led all but one of the remaining laps in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley started by Rojas. Pruett beat Rolex 24 At Daytona winner Ryan Dalziel to the checkered flag by 24.304 seconds, extending his DP-leading total to 28 victories; it was the 29th triumph for the Ganassi team. "It's great for our team to win the 100th DP race - that's incredible," Pruett said. "That says a lot for GRAND-AM for what they've achieved and where it's going. It's a special mark for our team. Today we didn't have the fastest race car, but we raced smart and we raced clean and we did what we had to do. Good things happen to good people." The victory came only four days after a penalty resulting from post-race inspection at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course cost the team 25 points, cutting their lead to seven points in the battle for the DP championship title. Pruett and Rojas now lead Ryan Dalziel by 13 points.

PIKES PEAK: MONSTER MAULS THE MOUNTAIN

30. June 2010

It was to be the heavyweight title fight of international hillclimbing. In the red corner from Japan The Monster Nobuhiro Tajima and in the blue corner from New Zealand "Son of a Gun" Red Bull Rhys Millen. On paper it looked like a battle for the ages, the defending champion in his wild looking Suzuki based special up against Millen's even more extreme off road prototype powered by Hyundai. In the end though it became a no contest. Mechanical problems plagued the challenger leaving the 'Monster' as King of the Hill once again. The win to the Japanese driver was his 5th consecutive at the peak with a fastest time of 10:11.490. Both Tajima and Millen had hoped to break the magic 10 minute mark but neither really got close.

PIKES PEAK THE ULTIMATE HILLCLIMB ?

25. June 2010

The 88th edition of the venerable Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday morning will put the elusive 10-second barrier under intense pressure again. The thousands of fans who will view the USA’s second oldest motor sports race along its 12.42 mile course will be paying a lot of attention to the Unlimited division, where four-time champion Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima will be looking over his broad shoulders at veterans Rhys Millen and Paul Dallenbach, both entering this discipline for the first time after years of success in other classes. Millen wants to bring the record on the Hill back to the family as he attacks Pikes Peak in a new, never-before-seen race car, the 2010 RMR Hyundai Genesis PM580. His father, the legendary Rod Millen, once owned the overall mark of 10:04.06 (1994) until Tajima broke it in 2007 with his clocking of 10:01.41. “The main focus now is to be the fastest car up the hill, slay the Monster and get the record back in the family name, the Millen name,” he said during recent practice runs.

ALESHIN STRENGTHENS LEAD AT MAGNY-COURS WSR

20. June 2010

Carlin Racing's Mikhail Aleshin has strengthened his lead Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship with a win at a wet Magny-Cours in France. The talented young Russian star leads ISR’s Sebastian Guerrieri and Comtec Racing's Stefano Coletti. Guerrieri took advantage of disappointment for Tech 1 Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, Fortec Motorsport’s Sten Pentus and Tech 1 Racing’s Brendon Hartley to carve himself a solid second place in the championship. Conditions were tough for the drivers s they lined up on a track still wet from a morning of incessant rain. Fortec Motorsport’s Jon Lancaster stalled even before the warm-up lap and had to start from the pits.

AUDI WIN RECORD BREAKING LE MANS

14. June 2010

If you keep your head when all around are losing theirs, you'll be the tallest person in the room. Audi kept their head and were rewarded with a remarkable 1, 2, 3 finish at the 2010 Le Mans 24 hour classic. The victorious Audi R15 TDI with Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) and Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) at the wheel, completed a total of 397 laps and setting a new distance record of 5,410 kilometres. Second place went to Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and local driver Benoît Treluyer. Their R15 TDI lost time in the pits when the front bodywork had to be changed twice after contact with the track barriers. In third place was the most experienced team in the Audi line up Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish. Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen lost time when he had to evade the GT2 BMW of Andy Priaulx and slid backwards against the track barrier of the Porsche corners. With fast lap times, Capello, Kristensen and McNish pushed back into the group of the front runners and in the end were rewarded with a podium result.

PEUGEOT STAY ON TOP AT LE MANS

11. June 2010

Peugeot continued their domination of the timing sheets with a lock out of positions one to four for the starting grid at Le Mans. The Wednesday time of local hero Sebastien Bourdais was quick enough to keep pole position from team mate Alexander Wurz who was the quickest of the drivers in the second 908. Third place will see the combination of Frank Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and long time In Pit Lane favourite Nicolas Minassian start alongside the semi-works ORECA Peugeot of Panis, Lapierre and Duval. Audi closed the gap slightly to the French marque but will have to rely on reliability and their famous strategy to have any chance of regaining the Le Man crown.

NEW RULES FOR A CLEANER, GREENER LE MANS FUTURE

10. June 2010

Cleaner, Greener, More Quiet. Welcome to motorsport in the 21st century. The Automobile Club de la Ouest (ACO) have unveiled the regulations for the 2011 Le Mans 24 hour race and associated series. According to the ACO the new rules have been drawn up in the context of sustainable development and respect for the environment. The ACO and the motor industry have concentrated on two aspects that are crucially important from their point of view: • An endurance race like the Le Mans 24 Hours must enable entrants to test new technologies. • The focus of the Le Mans 24 Hours must be aimed even more strongly towards both the reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. The most noticeable change will be new rules to both control and encourage energy recovery systems. Under the new rules the recovery and release of energy will be restricted to two wheels only (front or rear axle). Energy from the system may be stored using either electrical or mechanical systems. This will no doubt please Porsche whose flywheel based William F1 designed system has already been tested and proven in last months Nurburgring 24 hour race.

ZUHAI CONFIRMED AS ASIAN LE MANS VENUE

10. June 2010

The ACO have confirmed that the Zhuhai circuit in China will be the venue for the third round of the new Le Mans Intercontinental Cup. The series which has already attracted entries from both Peugeot and Audi will start with the Silverstone1000 kms race in September before moving on to the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on the first weekend of October. The Zuhai race wil be held over the weekend of November 5-7. The 4.3 km circuit is situated in the Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China and is accessible to Hong Kong by a 70 minute Ferry ride. This should make the event popular with Australian motorsport fans who can base themselves in HongKong as well as with the growing band of race enthusiasts already living in the region. It'll be a busy month for motorsport in the region with the Macau Grand Prix on Nov 21 and the final round of the DTM in Shanghai a week later.