TOYOTA RETURN TO TESTING AS AUDI DEBUT AT SPA

Although they won't be at Spa for round two of the World Endurance Championship the Toyota TS030 hybrid will be a the track this weekend. The team will complete a functionality test of its new chassis at the Magny-Cours circuit in France. Following the accident at Paul Ricard on 4 April, which damaged the monocoque of the first TS030, the team has worked hard to accelerate production of a second car. This will be completed directly before transportation to the one-day functionality test. A total of seven test days were cancelled in April as a result of the testing accident, giving the team no opportunity to validate the aerodynamic and hybrid system specifications intended for its first race. So the team had no choice but to miss the WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps event, which takes place on 3-5 May. Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President: “I would like to express my thanks to the staff members at Toyota Motorsport GmbH who have worked so hard to deliver our second monocoque ahead of schedule. Now we have a very intense testing programme to prepare for Le Mans, beginning with an initial functionality test to shakedown our systems.”

AUDI RULE THE ROOST IN GT1 OPENER

The Audi team of Stephane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor secured a double victory with a win in both races for the opening round of the new look 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship at Nogaro. “I never expected, even in my best dreams, that we would achieve this result at the first race." said Vanthor after the race. "I am still quite speechless, but I think it is because we did a great job, we worked hard together, and we did a lot of testing. Audi have put a lot of effort into it, as well as Belgian Audi Club WRT, and then the co-operation with Stephane (Ortelli), everything is going the perfect way at the moment. I am really happy, this is one of the most beautiful victories I have had, so I hope we can continue in this direction.” The second WRT car, the No.33 of Frank Stippler and Oliver Jarvis finished second as they had done on Sunday to round out a perfect Easter weekend for the German manufactuer. Third was the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Mercedes SLS of Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock, from sixth on the grid, just ahead of their team-mates Nicky Pastorelli and Thomas Jager.

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.

FIA GT1 & EUROPEAN GT3 LIVE FROM NOGARO

It’s the opening round of the FIA GT1 and European GT3 championships. Watch the action LIVE from Nogaro in France.

TALBOT’S NEW TRANS-AM

A welcome addition to the local Sports Sedan ranks is a new Trans-Am Corvette for Melbourne driver Chas Talbot. Built by US chassis builder Howe engineering, the car was originally built for a group of enthusiasts in the US, who ran into financial problems. Talbot purchased the car, which has never raced, from them and it now sits in his outer Melbourne workshop. Talbot says the Trans-Am machine has several practical advantages over a traditional Aussie style Sports Sedan. "The car is easier to work on, simpler suspension, the bodywork comes off easily, that's the main reason for the Corvette." he said. Safety is also an issue with Talbot convinced that the car will offer better protection than his previous Commodore. "The safety on the Trans-Am car is much greater because the diameter of the tubing is much bigger, there's much more room between the driver and the bars on the inside... if you hit something, the more space between you and the bars the better your chance of survival."

LE MANS: THE GREATEST RACE

REITER ROCKS WITH RAD CAMARO

International GT racing will see a spectacular and powerful package in 2012. The German company SARENI United is now offering the newly designed Camaro GT. The US car will make an impression on racing tracks all around the world with its 800 Nm from up to 650 HP. The power is transmitted to the rear tyres from a 7.9 litre eight-cylinder (V8) by a newly designed HOLINGER gear box. The HOLINGER speed shift system with paddle shifts on the steering wheel is extremely light, weighing only 37 kg, shifts gears very fast and is designed for high torque. The US engine developer KATECH received clear specifications: close-to-production, low cost, service performance of 10,000 km and maximum power. The car was developed under the direction of Reiter Engineering in Germany. Founder and owner Hans Reiter got the idea when he went to the USA in 2010. “I was immediately fascinated by the design. The Camaro is a real men’s car, a muscle car, it is designed to be on a race track”, says Hans Reiter who founded SARENI United especially for this project.

ALL THE GT1 ACTION FROM BEIJING

LE MANS DAY 1: Peugeot pounce on provisional pole

Just when it looked like Audi was set to dominate practice & qualifying fir the 2011 Le Mans 24 hours, along came Stephane Sarrazin. With half an hour of the first session remaining, Sarrazin grabbed provisional pole position with a lap of 3’27’’033. And with a strong chance of rain for tonight's final session it may well be good enough to give Peugeot the coveted pole position. Earlier in the day Audi dominated the opening practice session with all three R18s at the top of the time sheets. The team, which had set the fastest times in the April test session looked set to continue it's advantage over the Peugeot but that was until Sarrazin's last minute charge.

HUGE FIELD SET FOR PHILLIP ISLAND SPORTSCAR CLASSIC

Philip Island's CUE one hour Sportscar Enduro next weekend is shaping up to be one of the biggest and best Sportscar races ever seen in Melbourne. A highlight of PIARC's 20th anniversary Island Magic, the one hour race has attracted a quality field of cars and drivers from all over Australia. Former Australian GT Champion Mark Eddy leads the entries in his spectacular Audi R8. The R8 is just made for this type of event and reliability is unlikely to be a problem give Audi's reputation for longevity. Lamborghini will be represented by the Gallardo's of Victorian State Champion Ted Huglin and Mark Seamons. Huglin's car is the current model racing in the European GT3 championships and as such is not eligible for the Australian titles. The fight between Huglin and Eddy will be a highlight. The race will also feature the return to racing of veteran competitor Murray Carter. At an age when most people have long since retired the 79 year old will debut his new Corvette Z06. The car features plenty of ideas from the GT1 & 2 cars of the ALMS and Carter certainly knows his way around the Island track. Fans of the classic Ford GT40 will be thrilled to see the return to Melbourne of NSW State Sportscar star Iain Pretty in his Roaring 40's replica.