TOYOTA SET THE EARLY PACE IN SHANGHAI

Toyota Racing continued their good run of form setting the pace in practice for the final round of the  FIA World Endurance Championship, the Six Hours of Shanghai in China. Following an exciting home victory at Fuji Speedway two weeks ago, Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre return in the TS030 HYBRID, although Kazuki Nakajima is absent [...]

AUDI STILL ON TOP BUT TOYOTA TEAM IMPRESSES

Alan McNish has set the fastest time at the  Le Mans test day, but Audi will leave the circuit with plenty to think about after several niggling mechanical problems and a crash to McNish late in the day. With a fastest lap of of 3m 25.927s, the Scotsman was half a second quicker than team-mate Andre Lotterer in the second Audi R18 e-tron quattro, which recorded a 3m26.468s. With the Hybrids on top in the intra team fight for the fastest lap it was Loic Duval who was the fastest non hybrid car with a 3m26.561. Again the main talking point in the second session was the speed of the new Toyota TS030 Petrol Hybrid. The car, driven by Alexander Wurz split the Audi R10 Ultras with a 3m27.204 in what was a most impressive debut.

SILVERSTONE BLANCPAIN ENDURANCE RACE: LIVE

The Blancpain Endurance Series has become one of the most successful GT series in the World. The latest round of the series is at the famous Silverstone circuit in the UK and once again the series has attracted a stellar field of some of the world's most exotic GT machines. The 11 brands assembled are Audi, Aston Martin, BMW, Dodge, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, Nissan and Porsche with teams and drivers representing more than 20 nations.

BMW ON POLE AS ALZEN MASTERS THE RING

Uwe Alzen in a BMW Z4 GT3  will start from pole for the 2012 Nurburgring 24 hour race. Alzen lapped the spectacular 25.378-kilometre combination of GP circuit and Nordschleife in 8:18.382 minutes. Second position on the grid was clinched by Chris Mamerow (Audi R8 LMS ultra, while the second row on the grid for the 40th edition of ADAC Zurich 24h Race will be shared by the Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 #15 and the car #65 of its fellow Mercedes-Benz squad, the Hankook-Team Heico.

NEW TTA SERIES GETS UNDERWAY

QUIET START FOR EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES

A new era for European endurance racing kicks off this weekend as the European Le Mans Series gets underway at the Paul Ricard circuit in France. The new series will feature LMP2 as it's premier category leaving the faster (and more expensive) LMP 1 machines to the new World Championship which got underway last month at Sebring. Five separate chassis will be represented including Lola, Oreca and the revived Morgan brand. There are at this stage only two engines being used. Nissan and well know endurance race engine specialists Judd. Attracting the most attention will be the new team of eight time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb. The last minute deal to put the team together has left then short of testing time but there's plenty of driving experience to overcome any shortfall.

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.

FIA GT1 2011 Round One from Abu Dhabi

GT1 Abu Dhabi Championship Race by GT1

BMW WINS SIXTH DUBAI 24 HOURS

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.

AUSSIE ICONS BACK IN PIT LANE

Classic Car Specialists Brooklands Classic Cars and iconic Australian Sports and Racing Car manufacturer Elfin have joined forces to bring C31's popular live motorsport tonight show In Pit Lane back to Melbourne's TV screens. The new series of In Pit Lane will commence 9.30pm Tuesday night September 7th, live from the studios of RMITV in the heart of Grand Prix City, Melbourne. Special guest will be popular V8 Supercar star Jason Bright driver of the Trading Post Commodore for Brad Jones Racing. Paul Sabine of Brooklands Classic Cars said that the sponsorship of In Pit Lane was a great choice for the company. “In Pit Lane has developed to be an icon in Australian motor sport and Brooklands Classic Cars are delighted to assist in fostering IPL’s ongoing success." he said. Mr Sabine said that Brooklands had been catering to car enthusiasts and owners of interesting and sporting cars for many years and clients could rely on that experience when searching for that special car. "The sort of hard core enthusiast and classic car lover that buys our cars and uses our services are the very same people who regularly tune into In Pit Lane." he said. In Pit Lane host Brett Ramsey said he was delighted to be able to continue with the show which is now in it's 15th straight year of production. The show finished it's last season in May and looked set to disappear forever due to a lack of sponsorship. Now thanks to Brooklands Classic Cars and Elfin, the show returns for a new 13 week series to cover a busy three months of local and international motorsport.