Category: Motorsports

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MINI Challenge

BMW Australia withdraws support for MINI Challenge

MINI Challenge, Townsville

In disappointing, but perhaps unsurprising news, BMW Australia today announced the MINI Challenge series would not continue beyond the current season. Originally set up in 2008 with a five-year commitment commercial realities have influenced BMW Australia’s position.

MINI national manager, David Woollcott, explains, “Motorsport is becoming increasingly expensive and, together with a contraction in the television exposure, this has meant the race series has become financially unviable.

“MINI would also like to recognize the contribution of all those who participated in MINI Challenge including V8 Supercars, CAMS, our series sponsors Hertz and Pizza Capers and most of all, the teams and drivers who made MINI Challenge such a thrilling spectacle.”

This means the upcoming round on Sydney’s streets at Homebush (3–5 December) will be the last round for the series.

AUSmotive passes on its best wishes to the organisers (Toleman Motorsport), the team owners and all the drivers. Here’s hoping Homebush is a great celebration of a category that has provided some thrilling entertainment over the last three years.

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Motorsports

2010 Macau Grand Prix highlights

2010 Macau Grand Prix

The Macau Grand Prix has a long and proud history. Many of the drivers to win the event have gone on to enjoy stellar Formula One careers, including Riccardo Patrese (winner in 1977, 1978), Ayrton Senna (1983), and Michael Schumacher (1990). Even a few Australians have stood atop the winner’s podium, Kevin Bartlett (1969), Vern Schuppan (1974, 1976) and David Brabham (1989).

Since 1983 Formula Three cars have been the main event and last weekend was no different. If you missed the 57th running of the race fear not, there’s a short highlights package for you after the break. The opening segments were filmed on a Canon 7D, too, pretty amazing, really.

[Source: Cinema5D]

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Formula 1

Daniel Ricciardo to drive for Toro Rosso in 2011?

Daniel Ricciardo

There is a rumour developing that says Daniel Ricciardo could make his Formula One debut in 2011 with Toro Rosso. The Red Bull junior team has already confirmed Jaime Algesuari and Sebastien Buemi as its driver lineup for next year. However the door was opened for Ricciardo when team boss, Franz Tost, said, “You never know what will happen in F1.” It’s understood Buemi is the driver who would make way for the young Aussie.

Tost’s comments follow those of Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull motorsport advisor, who said, “We pushed Bernoldi, Klien, Liuzzi and Speed without a breakthrough. Daniel Ricciardo is the next top talent. A new Vettel? I don’t know.”

Ricciardo is the official reserve driver for both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso. He has twice tested for Red Bull, at the end of the 2009 season and again earlier this month. Both times the 2009 British F3 champ has impressed by putting his name at the top of the time sheets.

In Abu Dhabi Ricciardo was asked for his thoughts on making his F1 debut following his recent test program, the 21-year-old said, “I think I’m probably as ready as I can be.”

It would be great to see the young West Australian join Mark Webber in Formula One next year, so we hope this emerging rumour is on the money.

[Source: Eurosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Lotus

Lotus Racing looking for a new name?

2010 Singapore GP

The Lotus position seems to have worsened for the Lotus Racing F1 team with an Autosport article claiming Proton-owned Group Lotus is now unwilling to work with 1 Malaysia Racing Team, otherwise known as Lotus Racing.

Technical boss Mike Gascoyne is perplexed at the stance from Group Lotus, “We don’t really understand why Group Lotus don’t want to support us in doing that job for them. We’ve brought great value to the brand and the shareholders invested something like £80 million into the brand and the development of the team, and we’re a little bit failing to understand why Group Lotus seem to want to try to kick us out.”

Group Lotus wants to cast its motorsport arm wider than F1, something which Gascoyne can’t understand, “Because they seem to want to do every racing series that there is, and for a loss-making car company, that seems to be slightly perplexing. But if that’s what they want to do, good luck to them.”

Unless some very big hatchets are buried soon the future of Lotus Racing as we know it looks increasingly likely to be operating under a different name. With a new Renault engine deal and gearboxes supplied by Red Bull Tony Fernandes and his merry men are keen to get ready fir the 2011 season. Gascoyne added, “We’ll be firing the car up on 25 January in readiness for the first test in February.”

[Source: Autosport]

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Formula 1 McLaren

VIDEO: Ayrton Senna’s first Formula One tests

Ayrton Senna

Here is some rare archival footage of Ayrton Senna undergoing his first tests in Formula One back in 1983 when he was dominating in British Formula Three. Senna’s F3 dominance was creating headlines and he was granted testing opportunities with several teams, including Williams, McLaren and Toleman.

With driving contracts already in place at Williams and McLaren it was with Ted Toleman’s team that Senna made his F1 debut in 1984. Senna’s words at the end of this clip proved true, when he claimed podium finishes at Britain and Portugal.

Senna would go on to secure three World Championships with McLaren (1988, 1990, 1991) before, fatefully, suffering a life-ending accident in a Williams at Imola in 1994.

[via Motorsport Retro]

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Formula 1 Lotus

The Lotus position

Lotus F1 history

Earlier this month a new website called Save Team Lotus was launched. If you’ve been keeping up to speed on this sorry tale you won’t be surprised to learn of the new site. If not, you’d better read on to see what all the fuss is about.

Lotus is Lotus right? The people who made the famous Formula One cars of old are the same folks that made the road cars? Nope. It wasn’t then, and it most certainly isn’t now.

While it’s true that Colin Chapman was the driving force behind both companies, it is also true that Team Lotus (the F1 team) and Group Lotus (the road car manufacturer) were, and still are, separate entities. A move originally taken by Chapman to protect the road car manufacturer from the racing team in case of any damages brought about by insurance or accident claims.

Fast forward to 1994 and Team Lotus was forced into administration. The left over bits, including the rights to the Team Lotus name, were purchased by David Hunt and his business partner. Hunt was involved with Team Lotus prior to their demise and this, along with the fact he is the brother of 1976 World Champion James Hunt, has given him a great respect for Team Lotus history.

In 1996 the Malaysian auto maker Proton purchased Lotus under the assumption they were getting the road car outfit and the former F1 team as well. As it turned out, for reasons just explained, Proton’s purchase didn’t include any of the race team’s assets or intellectual property. Worse, Proton only discovered their position on the day their takeover was announced.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Ricciardo sets blistering pace to stay on top

Daniel Ricciardo

On the second and final day of young driver testing Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo, driving for Red Bull Racing, stayed on top of the time sheets by setting a fastest lap time of 1:38.340 – a blistering effort that bettered Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by 1.3 seconds.

Ricciardo was driving Mark Webber’s chassis which won the Hungarian Grand Prix and the 21-year-old used it to his best advantage by setting the quickest times in both the morning and afternoon session. A full list of times can be seen after the break.

The F1 teams will have a rest day before commencing testing with new Pirelli tyres on Friday.

[via Autosport]

UPDATE: A new statement from the Ricciardo stable has been added below.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel talks about winning the World Championship

Sebastian Vettel

Here’s a brief video of Sebastian Vettel talking about his Formula One World Championship success. He starts by talking about his relationship with Mark Webber, before discussing his emotional response to discovering he had just won F1’s biggest prize.

[Thanks to Wes for the tip]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Ricciardo returns to the top

Daniel Ricciardo

Last December young Western Australian Daniel Ricciardo made a name for himself by topping the time sheets at the Formula One end of season testing held in Jerez. That was enough to earn him a spot as the Red Bull reserve driver for the 2010 season. Now, Daniel is back behind the wheel of an F1 car taking part in the Young Driver Testing taking place at Abu Dhabi. Daniel was expected to do well, given his access to the title winning RB6, and he has met expectations by returning to the top of the time sheets.

Ricciardo says it’s great to be back, “I’m really happy to be back in the car after such a great experience last year. 12 months may be a long time ago, but it felt good to be out there again and I was surprised at how quickly I felt comfortable. We still have a few sets of tyres to work through which is nice and means I will be able to have another good run tomorrow.”

Impressively, Ricciardo’s best time of 1:39.616 would have qualified him in third place for last week’s Abu Dhabi GP and was just a quarter of a second off Sebastian Vettel’s pole position time. But that’s not enough for the young Aussie, “The car feels amazing and to be given the opportunity to test the car that has just clinched two championship titles is a real honour. I’m happy with the progress I made today and can’t wait to get back in the car. I’m still a little bit off Seb’s time so hopefully I can find a bit more tomorrow.”

Speaking to Autosport, Ricciardo says he is ready for a full-time role in Formula One, “I think I’m ready and tomorrow we’ll try and do a few more long runs, maybe prepare more for a race situation to see how the body holds up, but I think I’m probably as ready as I can be.”

More pics after the break, as well as a brief statement from the Ricciardo stable. A full report from the first day of testing is available at Formula1.com.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Renault

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Here is our last image gallery from the 2010 Formula One season. Bringing you these pics has been a fun, albeit labour intensive, addition to the AUSmotive routine and we look forward to bringing you more great pics in 2011.

For now, though, here are 101 photos from the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It is Sebastian Vettel’s time to shine; Mark Webber fans – you may want to look away now.

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Formula 1 McLaren Red Bull Racing

2010 Abu Dhabi GP – Post-race press conference

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Unfortunately for Mark Webber fans, and Ferrari fans too, the decision to pit early for fresh tyres at last night’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has not become any wiser. Seventh for Alonso, and eighth for Webber, left those two in places that are darker than they could have imagined before the race began. However, it’s nothing but sunshine for Sebastian Vettel.

At 23 years, 4 months, 12 days, Vettel’s victory on the Yas Marina circuit saw him become the sport’s youngest ever World Champion. On balance the young German has been the quickest driver across the season, his 10 pole positions and five race wins attest to that.

It seems a long time ago now, but poor fortune through mechanical failure robbed him of victory in the first two races at Bahrain and Australia. Then, the recent engine failure in Korea stole another race win from his grasp. Add 75 points to his tally of 256 points and take 50 points away from Alonso, who was the man to benefit with a win in two of those three races, and all of a sudden you can see how the 2010 season may well have been a procession, much like last night’s race.

Sadly, this means it wasn’t to be for Mark Webber, who must be congratulated for running Vettel right down to the wire. Webber wasn’t given much chance at the start of the year and his five pole positions and four race wins certainly made quite a few people stand up and take notice. Especially those in his own garage. Here’s hoping Webber proves to be solid nuisance value again in 2011.

For now, you can read the post-race press conference including Vettel’s comments and those of the McLaren pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Perhaps, a nice sight to see the two most recent World Champions on the podium to crown the sport’s newest king.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel wins 2010 World Drivers Championship

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel is the 2010 Formula One World Champion. He is the youngest man to reach the summit of motorsport’s highest peak. Vettel claimed his crown by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was Vettel’s fifth race win of the year and he had never led the Championship until this race.

While his nearest rivals, Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber (8th) and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso (7th) faltered due to poor pit strategy, Vettel drove a masterful race. Simply, the least experienced driver in the hunt for the title was the most controlled diver all weekend.

Red Bull Racing won the Constructors’ Championship last weekend in Brazil, and Vettel’s success has capped off a phenomenal year for the team.

Post-race press conference and image gallery from Abu Dhabi to follow later today.

[Pics: via OneHD]

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