IN PIT LANE IS “ON THE ROAD”

From Australia's longest running live motorsport show In Pit Lane comes "ON THE ROAD" a new weekly online news update featuring the latest news from the world of general motoring, the automotive industry and road safety issues. OTR will feature new product reviews, consumer tips, interviews and road tests. The show has come from the demand of many In Pit Lane viewers for more general motoring news, but without the need to sacrifice In Pit Lane's traditional hardcore motor racing and high performance focus. "There's lots of interesting news comes in every week about new models, new technologies and interesting products and services." said In Pit Lane producer Brett Ramsey.

FERRARI ON POLE FOR GT1 OPENER

Ferrari is on pole for the opening round of the new look GT1 World Championship at Nagaro in France. Finnish driver Toni Vilander put the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia grabbed pole early ahead of the WRT Audis of Stephane Ortelli/Laurens Vanthoor and Frank Stippler/Oliver Jarvis. “First of all it is good to be in the championship,” Vilander said. “Even in the testing I found many very good drivers, great cars and great teams so I think it’s going to be a very tight year. I only got to know Filip (Salaquarda) on Monday and we started to build our confidence together. “These cars are a bit special to drive, ABS and stuff like that is completely new to me. I am looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we have the pace to get a good result.” Mercedes will start out of fourth place with the Munnich Mercedes of Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock just ahead of the second AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci and Enzo Ide.

IT’S OFFICIAL: NISSSAN JOIN V8 SUPERCARS (now we can all get some sleep)

WEEKS UNVEILS FORD GT FOR AUSSIE TITLE TILT

Kevin Week's Supaloc Racing Team will today unveil it's new weapon for the 2012 Australian GT Championship. The Supaloc Racing Ford GT will make its first public appearance at today’s Clipsal 500 launch at the historic Adelaide Oval. The sophisticated and distinctive Supaloc Racing livery has been combined with the classic, low-slung lines of the GT to produce a mouth-watering piece of automotive artwork. The GT3-spec version of the Ford GT combines the traditional styling and a rich racing heritage of the original Le Mans wining GT40 with the latest technology. This will be the only Ford GT competing in the 2012 Australian GT Championship, and it is in fact the last example that has been produced.

HOLDEN WIN BATHURST AGAIN

Holden Racing Team drivers Garth Tander and rookie Nick Percat have taken a thrilling win in the 2011 Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama. Tander held off the challenge of a fast finishing Craig Lowndes to win by less than a second. With only one lap remaining Lowndes, last years race winner, was right on the tail of [...]

TANDER QUICKEST ON THE MOUNTAIN AS HOLDWORTH IS PENALISED

Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander has set the pace for this weekend's Bathurst 1000 with fastest time in Friday's final Qualifying session. Tander will be the final runner in Saturday's single flying lap shootout for the top ten after taking his HRT Commodore around the Mountain in 2:07:664. Mark Winterbottom gave Ford fans hope by setting the day's second quickest time with a 2:07:718. The 2010 pole sitter knows that while there is great prestige and some handy prize money for pole, it counts for little come Sunday. "I'd love to be on pole position and it is a big thing, so we'll try and put it on pole and try and lead the race on Sunday and see how we go." Series leader Jamie Whincup placed his car third after hard work from his crew after he put the car into the wall in morning practice. Fourth place went to David Reynolds setting the time on the final lap of qualifying. "I threw it on the line, chucked it down the hill, stomped out of it on Conrod and ended up P4." said an emotional Reynolds.

RAIN DAMPENS BATHURST PRACTICE

Thursday's practice session at a wet Mount Panorama has been cancelled due to a dispute over wet weather tyres. Two different batches of the control Dunlop tyres are present at the track, leading to concerns by some teams that one batch could be better than another, giving the teams that use them an unfair advantage. According to the website Speedcafe.com, unattributed "Paddock speculation" is suggesting that the newer of the two batches could prove up to four seconds per lap faster than the older tyres. Teams have now agreed to new regulations that will see them restricted to using just five sets of wet weather tyres in the race. The original supplementary race regulations stated that an unlimited amount of wet tyres could be used. Weather Reports for the weekend indicate wet and cold conditions will continue with heavy overnight fog and the chance of afternoon storms over the weekend.

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.

IN PIT LANE Podcast “A Chat with Martin Whitaker”

V8 Supercar CEO Martin Whitaker joins us for a chat about the Car of the future, International expansion, New Manufacturers and TV Rights.

IN PIT LANE March 8 Marcus Zukanovic (Full Audio)

We’re back for another season of Australia’s longest running primetime motorsport show In Pit Lane. Tonight our guest is V8 Supercar Fujitsu series driver Marcus Zukanovic fresh from the two day test at Winton. Also all the latest news plus we take you to Geneva for the famous Motorshow. (trust me sometimes it’s better not to have [...]