AUDI ON POLE IN SPA SHOOTOUT

Audi has dominated qualifying for round 2 of the FIA World Endurance Championship at the famous Spa-Francochamp circuit. Marcel Fässler (CH), Benoît Tréluyer (F)  and André Lotterer (D) are on pole with a four lap average of 1m 59.961s. The number 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro were the only driver squad to break the two-minute mark. An impressive performance by Lucas di Grassi (BR), Marc Gené (E) and Oliver Jarvis (GB), they share the number 3 car which has been aerodynamically optimized for the upcoming run at Le Mans. But even on the track in the Ardennes that is less suitable for this body version, they qualified for the front row with a time of 2m 00.236, missing the best time by only 0.274s. di Grassi even set the fastest time of the day at 1m 58.934s. Third place is shared by the series leaders Tom Kristensen (DK) and Allan McNish (GB). They are contesting the race together with Loïc Duval (F). As Audi’s best immediate rival, the number 7 Toyota in position four missed the best time by 0.986s. It was a frustrating day for Toyota as its two TS030 HYBRIDs qualified fourth and fifth for the race.

PEACE IN OUR TIME OR DEATH OF A SOLDIER: US SPORTSCAR RACING TO ‘MERGE”

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), organisers of the Le Mans 24 Hour classic and the World Endurance Championship, have welcomed the planned "merger" between American sportscar groups GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series. In a statement issued today The Automobile Club said that the merger, "will increase the already large audience for endurance racing in North America and at the same time boost its international impact." In its role as creator and organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours since 1923 and promoter of the FIA World Endurance Championship, the ACO will play an active role in the development of this new championship. The ACO has been a major player in endurance on the North-American continent and it launched the ALMS with its partner Don Panoz in 1999, after the creation of the Petite Le Mans race in 1998 on the Road Atlanta circuit in Georgia. In 2013, the American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM will continue to run separately like in previous seasons. The details of this unified series under the same banner will be announced later on by the promoters of this new championship. It will begin with the 52nd Rolex Daytona 24 Hours in 2014.

GT1 (well GT3 actually) FROM SENSATIONAL PORTIMAO

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.