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LARGE FIELDS SEE ALMS PITSTOP CHANGE

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Big fields at this weekend's American Le Mans Series round at the famous Mosport circuit in Canada have forced series organisers to make changes to pit stop procedures. The large grid of 30 cars will mean a realigned pitlane operation for the race. During yellow-flag caution periods the pit entrance will be closed immediately, as is standard practice. Once the Safety Car has the overall leader and field in tow, IMSA officials will open the pits with LMP and LMPC cars only allowed to pit on the first lap. On the next lap, all GT and GTC cars may pit. For subsequent laps, any car may come in to pit lane.

CARRERA CUP RETURNING DOWN UNDER

Friday, July 30, 2010

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It's official, The Carrera Cup is set to return to Australia's racetracks for 2011. In a media release issued late this afternoon, Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) announced that they would seek dates for a series, hopefully next year. The announcement means that PCA can now enter formal discussions with all key stake-holders for a possible return to the V8 Supercar calendar from as early as next year. Carrera Cup was introduced to Australia in 2003 and ran up to and including 2009 through a third party service provider. The reintroduction of Carrera Cup would this time be exclusively managed and operated in-house by PCA. “We have the chance for a fresh start, with an all-new race car and an all-new approach for Porsche Carrera Cup Australia,” says PCA Managing Director Michael Winkler.

THE PROFITS OF CAPTAIN PENSKE

Friday, July 30, 2010

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Success on the racetrack is not the only source of good news for US racing legend Roger Penske. Penske’s US based Auto sales and dealer network, has reported an impressive $29.4 million second quarter operating profit. Penske Automotive Group Inc. is the United States’ second-largest dealer holding company, and it has seen a 16% rise in [...]

PEUGEOT POWERS BACK IN PORTUGAL

Sunday, July 18, 2010

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After playing second fiddle to the Peugeot factory team for most of 2010, the Oreca Peugeot team of Stephane Sarrazin, Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre have won the Algarve 1000 kms in Portugal, the third round of the 2010 Le Mans Series. It was a dominant performance by the works assisted team, winning the race by five laps after starting from pole. "It's good to win!." said Sarrazin after the race. "The team did a super job. We were under a little pressure but we did what we had to. The refuelling stops were excellent and we dove the right kind of race - a good pace and no mistakes. It's also worth underling the way the team's matured since the Le Castellet 8 Hours. I'm delighted to taste the joys of victory again." Second place went to the Rebellion Racing Lola of Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani, It was a great performance by the team who drove their way through the field after starting the race in last place. Aston Martin was third today with Team Signature coming back strong after the retirement at Le Mans. The third place was also a great result for Vanina Ickx who shared the drive with Pierre Ragues and Franck Mailleux.

BRABHAM, PAGENAUD WIN UTAH ALMS

Monday, July 12, 2010

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Australian David Brabham and team-mate Simon Pagenaud have raced to their third consecutive victory in the American Le Mans Series with a hard-fought victory in the Utah Grand Prix. Pagenaud drove the final 1:45 in the team’s HPD ARX-01c, and the Patrón Highcroft crew took advantage of a quick final pit stop to beat Drayson Racing’s Emanuele Pirro to the line by 19.116 seconds at Miller Motorsports Park. Pagenaud and Brabham haven’t lost since the Long Beach round in April and increased their championship lead in LMP to 11 points over Muscle Milk Team CytoSport’s Klaus Graf. He and Greg Pickett, driving a Porsche Spyder, were third, 90 seconds behind the winning car.

AUDI WIN RECORD BREAKING LE MANS

Monday, June 14, 2010

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If you keep your head when all around are losing theirs, you'll be the tallest person in the room. Audi kept their head and were rewarded with a remarkable 1, 2, 3 finish at the 2010 Le Mans 24 hour classic. The victorious Audi R15 TDI with Timo Bernhard (Germany), Romain Dumas (France) and Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) at the wheel, completed a total of 397 laps and setting a new distance record of 5,410 kilometres. Second place went to Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and local driver Benoît Treluyer. Their R15 TDI lost time in the pits when the front bodywork had to be changed twice after contact with the track barriers. In third place was the most experienced team in the Audi line up Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish. Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen lost time when he had to evade the GT2 BMW of Andy Priaulx and slid backwards against the track barrier of the Porsche corners. With fast lap times, Capello, Kristensen and McNish pushed back into the group of the front runners and in the end were rewarded with a podium result.

NEW RULES FOR A CLEANER, GREENER LE MANS FUTURE

Thursday, June 10, 2010

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NEW RULES FOR A CLEANER, GREENER LE MANS FUTURE

Cleaner, Greener, More Quiet. Welcome to motorsport in the 21st century. The Automobile Club de la Ouest (ACO) have unveiled the regulations for the 2011 Le Mans 24 hour race and associated series. According to the ACO the new rules have been drawn up in the context of sustainable development and respect for the environment. The ACO and the motor industry have concentrated on two aspects that are crucially important from their point of view: • An endurance race like the Le Mans 24 Hours must enable entrants to test new technologies. • The focus of the Le Mans 24 Hours must be aimed even more strongly towards both the reduction of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. The most noticeable change will be new rules to both control and encourage energy recovery systems. Under the new rules the recovery and release of energy will be restricted to two wheels only (front or rear axle). Energy from the system may be stored using either electrical or mechanical systems. This will no doubt please Porsche whose flywheel based William F1 designed system has already been tested and proven in last months Nurburgring 24 hour race.

AUDI DOMINATE NURBURGRING 24 QUALIFYING

Saturday, May 15, 2010

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The Audi R8 LMS looks to be the car to beat in the 38th running of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring with the first four grid positions filled by the German Sports Car. The two Audi customer teams ABT Sportsline and Phoenix Racing had the correct strategy in qualifying: After it had rained during first qualifying on Thursday and the Nordschleife was still very dirty and slippery at the start of Friday’s second qualifying session, the two teams only went gunning for lap times shortly before the end of the final two-hour qualifying session. Lucas Luhr (ABT Sportsline/8m 27.967s) and Mike Rockenfeller (Phoenix Racing/8m 25.782s) initially used the now considerably superior conditions to set new fastest laps before they were beaten by Marco Werner (ABT Sportsline) with 8m 24.753s. Rockenfeller was still able to improve to 8m 25.568s on his last lap, but remained in second position. Pierre Kaffer (Phoenix Racing) completed the Audi quartet at the head of the field after posting a 8m 29.250s lap. As a result, an Audi starts from pole position for the first time in the history of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. "That four of our customer cars occupy the first four grid positions underlines the qualities of the Audi R8 LMS on the world’s longest and most demanding race track and is fantastic advertising for our new customer car, which we have developed over the last two-and-a-half years," explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who follows the Audi customer teams’ preparations himself on location, and in doing so demonstrates how important the new customer sport programmed with the Audi R8 LMS is for Audi Sport.

PEUGEOT ON TOP IN SPA LE MANS WARM UP

Monday, May 10, 2010

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Peugeot won a chaotic Spa 1000 km race last Sunday as the teams prepare for the 24 hours of Le Mans in June. Late race rain and an on-track power failure made the day unforgettable in more ways than one. French driver Simon Pagenaud, along with co-drivers Pedro Lamy and Sébastien Bourdais, took their Peugeot 908 to the win, as the race was called at the six-hour time limit. Audi driver and seven time Le mans winner Tom Kistensen, looked set to grab a thrilling victory after a late race rain shower. Kristensen gambled on Intermediate tyres, and looked set to easily catch the lead Peugeot when the rain stopped and the track dried out. The Audi struggled on but couldn't hold out the second Peugeot of Stephane Sarrazin who came through to take second place. The Audi hung on for third. In LMP2, the Quifel-ASM Team took the win with drivers Olivier Pla and Miguel Amaral in a Ginetta - Zytek holding off the team RML Lola of Tommy Erdos Mike Newton and Andy Wallace.

PORSCHES ON TOP IN ADELAIDE GT OPENER

Friday, March 12, 2010

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Porsches have dominated the opening day's practice session of the first round of the Australian GT championship on the streets of Adelaide. Canberra driver James Koundouris in his Porsche 997 GT3 outpaced defending champion David Wall and Victorian Max Twigg to lead a big field of 31 GT cars. Tony Quinn in the controversial Mosler MT900 was the only car to challenge the Porsches which featured in five of the first six places. High profile Lamborghini driver Peter Hackett had to play second fiddle in the battle of the Gallardo's to local driver Andrew Taplin. Former GT champion Mark Eddy debuted his new Audi R8 LMS in 11th spot just ahead of the battling Dodge Viper pair of Greg Crick and Ross Lilley.