RENAULT WARNS FIA: AU REVOIR FORMULE UN

  Renault have issued the strongest warning yet to the FIA that they will withdraw from the sport at the end of the season unless plans to set up a two tier F1 system are scrapped. In a statement issued by the company Renault said that the decision of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to introduce two sets of Formula One technical regulations for the 2010 Formula One season had caused the company to reconsider its entry in next year’s FIA Formula One World Championship. Unlike some other statements from other manufacturers and teams, there is absolutely no ambiguity in Renault's statement. Drop the new rule or we're out. The company expressed its frustration that FOTA’s proposals, including major cost saving measures had been completely ignored without any form of consultation by the FIA. "Renault believes that it is paramount that the governance of the sport is co-ordinated with a spirit of consultation with all parties (FIA, FOM, FOTA) in order to achieve a better balance between the costs and the revenues." The statement also reinstated the company's belief that all entrants in the World Championship must adhere to and operate under the same regulations. President of the ING Renault F1 Team, Bernard Rey, commented: “Renault has always considered Formula One as the pinnacle of motor sport and the perfect stage to demonstrate technical excellence. We remain committed to the sport, however we cannot be involved in a championship operating with different sets of rules, and if such rules are put into effect, we will be forced to pull out from next season.” ING Renault F1 Team Managing Director, Flavio Briatore, commented: “Our aim is to reduce costs while maintaining the high standards that make Formula One one of the most prestigious brands on the market. We want to achieve this in a co-ordinated manner with the regulatory and commercial bodies, and we refuse to accept unilateral governance handed out by the FIA. If the decisions announced by the World Council on the 29th of April 2009 are not revised, we have no choice but to withdraw from the FIA Formula One World Championship at the end of 2009.” Ferrari, Toyota, Red Bull, BMW and Williams have all attacked the proposed regulations, Mercedes, whose McLaren team was recently given a firm but some say inadequate slap on the wrist over the "Lie Gate" affair have been strangely quiet on the topic. With: Renault F1 Media Release  

MOSLER MONSTERED OUT OF AUSSIE GT

The Australian GT series has lost one of it's major drawcards with the withdrawal of John Teulan's Mosler team. Teulan hit out at Australian GT organisers, saying that that despite encouragement to enter the series, it had now become pretty clear they wanted to get rid of the car.   "The organisers want us out there to help the flash car parade, but this way we may as well drive a local taxi" he said.   Teulan said that the car had undergone no less than 8 parity changes in it's short two meeting local history that had created confusion and made the car potentially dangerous to drive.   "the standard car is 1200 Kilos, in Europe they run at 1300, by the time we're finished we'd be carrying an extra 450 kgs at Phillip Island and that's not to mention the ride height and air restrictors."   Teulan said that changes to the car after the first race in Melbourne had already slowed the car by around three seconds a lap "now they want to slug us another 80kg"   Air restrictors had already cost the car around 35% of it's power and the ride height changes had left the car in a potentially dangerous racing condition.   "These things are not touring cars, they are designed with a certain ride height and if you start messing to much with it the car can become almost undrivable at high speed."

ASIAN LE MANS SERIES CONFIRMED

Great news for fans of sports prototype & GT racing with the news that the innaugural Asian Le Mans Series scheduled for later this year will go ahead.   Speaking at the Spa 100KMs race the ACO announced an official entry list of 31 cars for the events which will take place at Okayama Japan and the Shanghai International circuit in China.   Among the 8 LMP1s, a 6-sided battle looks on the cards between the Sora-Racing Pescarolo Sport Peugeot HDi FAP 908, the 2 Courage Oreca AIMs entered by the Team ORECA Matmut AIM, the 2 Sora Racing Pescarolo Judds, the Speedy Racing Team Sebah’s Lola Aston Martin without forgetting the Signature Plus Courage Judd and the Tokai University Courage Oreca YGH Power, which will seize any opportunity that comes their way.   The attraction for many of the smaller teams is the prize of automatic selection for the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours for the winners of the LM P1, LM P2, LM GT1 and LM GT2 categories.

PENSKE POWERS SATURN ?

  Roger Penske has always been ambitious in his business pursuits and this week it has been announced that 'The Captain' is set purchase all of Saturn. However after being told that he could not legally purchase the hydrogen filled luminous body, he decided to simply to turn his attention to the defunct GM brand of the same name.  General Motors is in the midst of a fire sale, yes thats right, all the big brands, Saab, Hummer, Pontiac and more, have all got to go! As the automotive giant remains on a $15.4billion government subsidised life support system, its restructure has meant bargains are to be had!. Considering their dire financial situation, the announcement made last week of GM's brand restructure, surprised noone. The move will see GM offload several brands in a move to focus their attention to their 'core four', Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC. Saturn is one of the brands that didn't make the cut. Saturn Corporation was established in 1985 to combat the success of  Japanese imports in the small car market. First dubbed as 'The different kind of car company', it was always the poor cousin to GM's more premier brands such as Chevrolet and Cadillac. Like much of the US Automotive industry, Saturn suffered heavily from mismanagement and the imports it was designed to compete with, eventually accounted for its demise. Saturn spokesman Steve Janisse has revealed that several bids for the company have been made, however they wouldn't be revealing any of the interested parties until early June. A cautious Tony Porson, spokesman for Penske Automotive Group has stated they are considering the Saturn purchase, “It's very premature to assume anything will be done. I can confirm to you that we are looking at it”. Roger Penske has achieved virtually everything in the automotive world, however resurrecting a car company may be too much even for 'The Captain'.  Saying that, Roger Penske's motorsport interests are as vast as they are succesful, with teams running in IndyCar, NASCAR and ALMS. His stint into Formula One in the mid 70's recorded a victory and he has more Indy 500 than any other team owner. Off the track the Penske Empire also includes the world's second largest automotive dealer network, Penske Automotive, representing over 250 franchises. If anyone can do what General Motors couldn't, It'd be Roger Penske to do it.  

FIA GT3: THE STARS COME OUT AT NIGHT IN ITALY

After two thrilling races at Silverstone, the teams and drivers competing in the 2009 FIA GT3 European Championship head to Italy for the first visit by the series to the Adria International Raceway near Venice.    The 2.7km circuit is one of the most technically demanding on the 2009 calendar and, in another first for the FIA GT3 European Championship, will also feature a night race on Saturday evening. Last week at Silverstone, the opening round of the 2009 championship saw 37 cars line up to take the start behind the AutoGT Racing Morgan of Dimitri Enjalbert, who claimed Morgan’s first ever GT3 pole position. Enjalbert lost the lead to the Hexis Racing Aston Martin of Thomas Accary on the run into the first corner but fought back at Maggotts to emerge onto Hanger Straight back in front. Accary had to fend off the attentions of the two Audi’s of Christopher Mies (Team Rosberg) and Nicolas Armindo (Team Rosberg). After the pitstops Johan-Boris Scheier in the leading Morgan was caught and passed by Christopher Haase in the Team Rosberg Audi. However the young German was denied a debut win by a transmission failure six laps from home and victory went to the Morgan, the manufacturer’s first international win since 1962 at Le Mans and a first for AutoGT Racing.

SPEED TV LOOK’S AT F1 2010 & BEYOND

FERRARI SEES RED

Ferrari has raised serious doubts over the FIA's new voluntary 'Budget Cap' system, with President Luca di Montezemolo questioning the path Formula One is headed, even alluding that the Scuderia's involvement in Formula One is 'not a never ending story'   The World Motorsport Council ratified the new £40 million 'Budget Cap' at a meeting in Paris last week, a move to stem unnecessary spending from teams. Parties who sign onto the budget cap will gain exclusive technical benefits (See previous story), benefits which are not available to those who remain 'free spenders' It is this 'two tiered' approach that has upset di Montezemolo, as he believes fans are likely to be confused and that the regulations may simply be a knee jerk reaction to the global climate.“Any controversy [regarding] the actual respect of the cost cap would undermine the image of Formula 1 and could seriously damage any involved team”, said the Italian in a letter to FIA Presdient, Max Mosely. The letter, sent on the April 28th, two days before the details of the 'Budget Cap' were announced, declared that Ferrari's powerful status within F1 allowed them the right to air the grievances, something that the FIA should not take likely.

PERCAT POWERS ON AT WINTON

  Nick Percat continued his dominance of the Australian Formula Ford Championship when he took out race one of round two at Winton Motor Raceway three hours north east of Melbourne this afternoon. Percat came home ahead of Chaz Mostert and Sonic Racing teammate Geoff Uhrhane. After being challenged in the early stages of the race by Queenslander Mostert, Percat pulled away in the last laps to an unassailable lead to take his fourth race win for the season. "That pretty much went to plan," Percat said. "I was a bit shaky off the start but had the inside line on Chaz so I managed pull through that ok ... once I found some space I just concentrated on looking after my tyres for tomorrow's races." Percat also posted the race's fastest lap with a 1min26.39secs. Spectrum pilot Mostert will be searching for some more speed tomorrow if he is again to challenge Percat for line honours. "I was giving it a good go out there today but unfortunately the car just wasn't in it," Mostert said. "My tyres held out until about half way through and then they just went off really quickly and I was fighting massive understeer for the rest of the race". Scott Pye and Mitch Evans rounded out the top five after defending their qualifying positions. In a race devoid of any of the carnage that marred round one's race at the Australian Grand Prix, all 21 entries will again line up to do battle for races two and three tomorrow.   SOURCE: Australian Formula Ford Media Release  

LOWNDES ON TOP AS TANDER HITS OUT

It was no surprise that a Triple 8 Falcon crossed the line first in today's V8 Supercar championship race at Winton, what was surprising is that it wasn't Jamie Whincup. Craig Lowndes drove a superb tactical race to lead home his team-mate as Fords took the top three places. In the debut race for the new soft option tyres Lowndes and his team picked the perfect strategy, starting on the normal control tyre before switching to the new option tyre late in the race. The move allowed Lowndes to move from fifth though to the lead late in the race as Whincup who switched tyres on the opening lap of the race struggled for grip. "We spent about one and a half or two hours last night trying to figure out what the best strategy would be because no one knew." Lowndes said after the race. Third place went to Ford Performance Racing driver Steven Richards who also chose to switch to the option tyre late in the race and it nearly paid off as he just missed out on second place. Rick Kelly was the first Holden home in fourth place. Kelly started on the option tyre before switching to the control tyre late in the race. Despite missing the podium he was relatively happy with his race. "... when you finish fourth it’s always extremely frustrating because you're so close to getting a podium and it would have been fantastic to get the first ever podium for Kelly Racing here today. he said.  “Not to worry - we should be happy with the job we've done and we’ll do our very best to make sure we're in the top 10 again tomorrow."

FORMULA ONE: PUT A CAP ON IT ?

The FIA has announced Formula One's sweeping new financial changes at The World Motorsport Council. Most notably, the FIA has introduced a £40 million 'budget cap' program to guarantee the future of current teams, while creating financial intensives to entice potential new teams into Formula One. The penny pinching goes so far as to also include the banning of re-fuelling and tyre warmers for the 2010 Championship.     While not compulsory, those teams who do sign up to the program will receive numerous technical freedoms. These include unlimited wind tunnel testing and pre-season track time, along with movable front and rear wings as well as their engines being free of rev-limits. FIA President Max Mosely is quoted as saying “I think they may find it attractive because like everybody else they need to save money. They've got to think of their shareholders' money, and not just spend like in the old days.”    Supporter of the concept of a budget cap, Sir Frank Williams, has raised concerns over the optional implementation of the initiative. “We would like to see all the teams operating to one set of regulations and under a budget cap in 2010 and that is the position we will be advocating within FOTA when we meet next week”. The Q&A media release on the FIA's website, stated that “There is one set of technical regulations and as always there are choices for all teams as to how they decide to attack the championships,”