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Tag Archive | "Ferrari"

PEUGEOT ON TOP AGAIN IN ZHUHAI LE MANS FINAL

Saturday, November 12, 2011

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PEUGEOT ON TOP AGAIN IN ZHUHAI LE MANS FINAL

<strong>Peugeot have kept their recent edge on Audi alaive with a one, two in qulifying for tomorrow's 6 hour race at Zuhai in China.</strong> Anthony Davidson set a fast lap of 1:22;038 to edge out team-mate Stephane Sarrazin and the Audi pair of Tom Kristensen and Macel Fassler. Neel Jarni in the rebellion Toyota was the quickest of the petrol cars in fourth place just ahead of the Oak Pescarolo Judd of Neel Jarni. Stefan Mucke had a dissapointing run in the Aston Martin and will start back in seventh place.

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VETTEL ON POLE AGAIN AT MONZA

Sunday, September 11, 2011

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Speculation that Red Bull's dominance over pole position this season would come to an end in Italy proved wrong, with Sebastian Vettel taking his least-predictable P1 of the year at Monza. The German, who almost lost his car as he slid through the Ascari chicane, recovered to bank an unbeatable lap time of 1m 22.275 seconds. 'We thought it would be much closer than that,' said Vettel. 'We are quite quick throughout all three sectors, so we just had to put it together.' The German was stuck in traffic as all cars but Senna left the pitlane at once, but mistakes by Hamilton, Button's decision to abandon his fast lap, and teammate Mark Webber unable to extract the same pace from the Red Bull meant that he kept the RBR7's 100 per cent pole record for 2011 alive. 'We were not expecting, not thinking of being on pole by that margin,' he continued. 'This year, I have to say the car is very good here. The balance is perfect.' The pace promised by McLaren in the lead up to the Italian Grand Prix was only good enough P2, with Hamilton pipping teammate Button to the front from by half a tenth. 'Sebastian was mega quick today. It looked like we'd be quite competitive in the weekend, but that last lap was untouchable for me,' elaborated Hamilton. 'I didn't have another half a second in the bag. We perhaps could have got another couple of tenths out of the car.' Button noted that despite Red Bull running a seemingly lower downforce package than McLaren, they still managed to move faster in the high speed turns.

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NEW GT ENDURO FOR ABU DHABI

Saturday, August 6, 2011

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NEW GT ENDURO FOR ABU DHABI

The growing popularity of GT endurance racing has received another boost with a new major race announced for Abu Dhabi. The new Gulf 12 Hours is an invitation-only event aimed to support the continued, sustainable growth of motorsport in the United Arab Emirates whilst attracting a wider variety of teams and drivers to the region, without [...]

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AUDI ENDURANCE DOMINANCE CONTINUES AT SPA

Monday, August 1, 2011

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AUDI ENDURANCE DOMINANCE CONTINUES AT SPA

Audi have backed up their 2011 Le Mans victory with a win in the most important endurance race for GT cars, the Spa 24 hours. The Audi R8 LMS GT3 of DTM stars Mattias Ekström (Sweden) Timo Scheider (Germany) and Belgian endurance specialist Greg Franchi led home teams from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Experts agreed before the race started that the endurance classic, held since 1924, had never fielded so many potential winners as this year. A total of 62 cars representing 13 different manufacturers joined the grid, including no less than 57 cars of the booming GT3 category. The opening stages of the endurance classic fulfilled all expectations. Spectators lining the 7.004 kilometre track and in front of television screens enjoyed tough battles for position, countless overtaking manoeuvres, retirements and small and big dramas which are typical for a 24-hour race. The Audi R8 LMS was the fastest car in the field from the very beginning. After just a few hours it was clear that the V10 powered R8 sports cars where the favourites for victory. The race of the victorious #33 R8 LMS fielded by Audi Sport Team WRT was particularly impressive. The car driven by Mattias Ekström, Greg Franchi and Timo Scheider ran like clockwork for 24 hours, while many other GT3 cars were no match for the stresses and strains of the hard fought endurance race. The brake discs and pads were changed twice as scheduled. Apart from this, the R8 LMS only entered pit lane to refuel, change tires and to swap drivers. At the start of the tenth hour Ekström/Franchi/Scheider took the lead which they duly held all the way to the checkered flag. At the finish the trio had a two-lap lead over the closest rival.

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WEBBER ON POLE FOR GERMAN GP

Sunday, July 24, 2011

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WEBBER ON POLE FOR GERMAN GP

Mark Webber has taken his third pole position of the season to start from P1 for the second consecutive race at the Nurburgring. Webber set his lap within the first five minutes, which saw Alonso and Hamilton swap fastest times before the RBR-7 put four-tenths between the Australian and his nearest competitor. "The form's been getting a little bit better over the last couple of races," said Webber post-qualifying. "The boys did a great job with the car. They had some pretty late nights in the lead up to this event. "If someone was to get me, they'd deserve it because I couldn't have gotten much more." Despite starting from pole twice this season, Webber has failed to lead a single lap so far in 2011, often conceding his position off the line. "I'll be in there [tomorrow] pushing very, very hard, don't worry," he said confidently. The first stint of Q3 saw Sebastian Vettel follow him closely, slotting in behind his teammate by little more than a tenth, keeping Fernando Alonso's Ferrari at bay by a further 0.4 seconds. It was Hamilton, however, who throw his unlikely hat into the ring to compete for pole during the Q3's second stint, posting a time faster than anyone in the first sector. "It was one of the happiest and most comforting laps I've ever had, it's just incredible" commented a joyful Hamilton. The Englishman, however - who spent most of the weekend talking his chances down - fell painfully short, with less than one-tenth separating him from Webber, not that he seemed to mind. "That was a good lap," he said over team radio as qualifying finished. "That was a wicked lap." "We definitely underestimated how good the car would be when we went to light fuel," he added in the post-qualifying press conference. "A huge congratulations to my team, a fantastic effort. I'm really happy I could put it up here for them." Hamilton's last-ditch efforts meant that Vettel was relegated beyond the first row of the grid for the first time this season, breaking a fourteen race streak.

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VETTEL VICTORIOUS IN VALENCIA

Monday, June 27, 2011

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VETTEL VICTORIOUS IN VALENCIA

Sebastian Vettel led home the longest field in Formula One history to claim his sixth victory of the season in a largely uninspiring European Grand Prix. The German, now well accustomed to the sensation, dominated from pole to flag in flawless style as Red Bull's closest rivals in McLaren and Ferrari failed to make in impression on the leader. 'I tell you I enjoyed it so much,' he said. 'When it's just between you and the car... for some reason I enjoy this track.' 'We managed to put everything together for a faultless weekend. 'From beginning to the end, fantastic.' The most Vettel had to battle with was traffic as he set about lapping a full-length field, with all 24 cars finishing to make it the greatest number of drivers to complete a race. Fernando Alonso did well, however, to prove Ferrari's progress thus far this season to finish a confident second after a number of position changes with Australian Mark Webber, who managed third. 'It was an interesting race, for the fans and for the people watching on the TV, to see the fight with Webber all the way through,' reflected the home crowd favourite. 'The teams did a very good strategy by keeping the car out a few laps longer on the soft tyre. 'In the end I think the second place is the maximum we can have.' Webber held on to second place on the first lap after a spritely start from Felipe Massa, but eventually succumbed to a combination of KERS problems and Alonso's pace on the soft tyre. His gearbox would prevent him from challenging the Spaniard later in the race. 'I think we should have [been able to score a Red Bull one-two], but in the end we didn't,' conceded Webber. The fight between the two culminated in the final pit stop, which saw Webber gamble on an early switch to the prime compound. His pace on the opening few laps saw Alonso maintain his place after his stop, while a gearbox fault saw any chance of a fight back neutralised. 'It was my fault to miss second today. It was not really known how the medium tyre would perform on the out lap. '[But] I think it was my best race of the year, to be honest.'

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AUDI ON POLE AS ALENCON LOCAL WEAVES HIS MAGIC

Friday, June 10, 2011

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AUDI ON POLE AS ALENCON LOCAL WEAVES HIS MAGIC

Audi will start this weekend's Le Mans 24 hour race from pole with local driver Benoit Treluyer setting the quickest time in an exciting final qualifying session. Treluyer, from the town of Alencon, 50 minutes north of the track, took advantage of a relatively clear track to record a time of 3m25.799s to take the coveted pole. "I am very happy. I just really realise now that it is just fantastic for me." he said/ "I was born so close to here and the 24 Hours is such a challenge and I was not even thinking about the pole position and then I did and it is just fantastic." Alongside Treluyer on the front row will be his team mate Romain Dumas who held out the Peugeot of Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy. "The car was quick" said Dumas, "but unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a perfect lap. The first row for Audi - that is very nice and shows clearly that we are competitive. We were fast with new tires and old tires and that is a good sign for the race." Pagenaud looked set to challenge for the pole but traffic held him up on for several laps and he was forced to settle for third place. Wednesday's provisional pole winner Stephane Sarrazin was also hampered by traffic and could only manage fourth for and all Peugeot second row. Dindo Cappello, Alan McNish and seven time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen were next in their Audi R18 alongside the Marc Gene, Alex Wurz and Anthony Davidson Peugeot.

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FORD SUES FERRARI OVER NEW F1 CAR

Friday, February 11, 2011

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FORD SUES FERRARI OVER NEW F1 CAR

In  one of the silliest lawsuits of its kind, Ford is suing Ferrari over the name of its new F1 racer the F150. The Formula One car was named to commemorate this year's celebration of the unification of Italy 150 years ago. The US car maker is claiming that the F150 moniker is too close to its F-150 pick-up truck. According to the law suit Ford claims that Ferrari is using the F150 name “in order to capitalise on and profit from the substantial goodwill that Ford has developed in the F-150 trademark, and in order to trade off of Ford's famous and winning trademark,” While Ford are not willing to comment publicly Ferrari are stunned. We are simply speechless," a Ferrari spokesman told Automotive News Europe in response to the lawsuit. He noted that the F150 is a racing-only Ferrari model, which is not for sale, either for private customers, or for racing teams.

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FERRARI DEBUT 2011 F1 CHALLENGER

Friday, January 28, 2011

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Ferrari have released the first pictures of it's 2011 Formula One challenger. The F150 is the fifty-seventh single-seater built by Ferrari specifically to compete in the Formula 1 World Championship. The company chose the name as a tribute and celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Unification of Italy. The project, which goes by the internal code name of 662, represents the Scuderia’s interpretation of the technical and sporting regulations that apply this year. Various factors influenced the design of the car, especially on the aerodynamic front, to the extent that the F150 can be seen as severing ties with the recent past. The innovative aspects are in part dictated by changes to the regulations and partly down to original thinking from our designers. As far as the rule changes from 2010 are concerned, the double diffuser and the blown rear wing are banned, as is the use of apertures in the front part of the floor, while the use of an hydraulically controlled adjustable rear wing has been introduced. After an unofficial agreement saw its use banned for 2010, KERS is back this year, thanks partly to the increase in the car’s minimum weight and stricter controls on weight distribution figures. The Scuderia has decided to incorporate this technology on the F150 and this has had a significant impact on the design, also taking into account that the dimensions of the fuel cell are very different to what they were in 2009.

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BMW WINS SIXTH DUBAI 24 HOURS

Sunday, January 16, 2011

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DUBAI (January 15th, 2011) The Need for Speed-Schubert team from Oschersleben, Germany has won the sixth running of the Dunlop 24H of Dubai, the first international endurance race of the year for GTs, touring cars and 24H specials. After 24 hours of racing at the 5.390 kilometres long Dubai Autodrome, Claudia Hürtgen drove the car across the finish line. The team had with Hürtgen, Augusto Farfus, Edward Sandström and Tommy Milner racked up a total of 594 laps with the BMW Z4 GT3. This success makes BMW the most successful car brand in history of the Dunlop 24H of Dubai with a total of three race wins following earlier successes in 2006 and 2007. Second place in this year’s race was taken by the Italian AF Corse team with Eppe Perazzini, Michal Broniszewski, Lorenzo Case and Marco Cioci driving the Ferrari F430 GT2. The Black Falcon team with Thomas Jäger, Kenneth Heyer, Jan Seyffarth and Sean Paul Breslin ended up third with their Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.

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