| By David Evans | Wednesday, January 30th 2013, 16:29 GMT |
Next week's Rally Sweden will be a key event in the future of the timing and tracking of the World Rally Championship, with FIA rally director Jarmo Mahonen promising a conclusion after the event
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, January 30th 2013, 17:11 GMT |
Christian Horner will remain as team principal of the Red Bull team after extending his contract with the outfit
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| By Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, January 30th 2013, 17:16 GMT |
Trevor Carlin believes motorsports governing bodies must shoulder a degree of responsibility for the current plight of British Formula 3.
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| By Marcus Simmons | Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 14:54 GMT |
Formula 3 aces Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell have both said that they could be open to contesting the slimline four-round British F3 International Series this season
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 18:16 GMT |
Schmidt Peterson Motorsport has completed its long-planned expansion to two cars by signing rookie Tristan Vautier alongside compatriot Simon Pagenaud for the 2013 IndyCar season
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| Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 18:33 GMT |
Porsche will return to the Superstars International Series this year, with Petri Corse entering two Panameras
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| By Edd Straw | Monday, January 28th 2013, 20:03 GMT |
Lotus will run the passive DRS system that it trialled last season on the newly-launched E21.
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| By Edd Straw | Monday, January 28th 2013, 20:52 GMT |
GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi has been appointed as Lotus's third driver for the 2013 Formula 1 season
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| By Matt Beer | Monday, January 28th 2013, 21:14 GMT |
Kimi Raikkonen sees no reason why he will not continue his Formula 1 return into the 2014 season
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| By Gary Watkins | Sunday, January 27th 2013, 20:56 GMT |
Chip Ganassi Racing claimed a fifth victory in its 10 years of competing at the Daytona 24 Hours after Juan Pablo Montoya came through to seal the honours in a thrilling final hour
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| Sunday, January 27th 2013, 13:08 GMT |
Casey Stoner says MotoGP riders have become 'puppets' and the atmosphere in the sport would have to change substantially for him to consider going back
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| Sunday, January 27th 2013, 23:12 GMT |
Patric Niederhauser will stay with Jenzer for the 2013 GP3 campaign
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Saturday, January 26th 2013, 14:15 GMT |
Max Mugelli will remain with BMW outfit Team Dinamic for this year's Superstars International Series
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| Saturday, January 26th 2013, 21:13 GMT |
Casey Stoner has confirmed that he will, as expected, race in the V8 Supercar Development Series with Triple 8 this year
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| By Gary Watkins | Saturday, January 26th 2013, 22:05 GMT |
Chip Ganassi Racing dominated the first hour of the 51st Daytona 24 Hours on Saturday
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| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, January 25th 2013, 17:09 GMT |
Marussia sporting director Graeme Lowdon says his outfit can still look forward to the new season with some confidence, despite having had to take the tough decision to end its contract with Timo Glock.
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Friday, January 25th 2013, 17:21 GMT |
Jake Rosenzweig has completed the Addax line-up for this year's GP2 Series.
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| By David Evans | Friday, January 25th 2013, 17:57 GMT |
This year's Acropolis Rally has undergone significant changes and will feature a night stage in its itinerary.
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| By Matt Beer | Thursday, January 24th 2013, 17:58 GMT |
Formula 1 refugee Timo Glock felt he settled in quickly as he made his DTM testing debut with BMW at Valencia on Thursday
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| By Matt Beer | Thursday, January 24th 2013, 17:16 GMT |
Robert Kubica said his DTM test with Mercedes posed no physical problems at all.
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| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, January 24th 2013, 22:12 GMT |
Chip Ganassi Racing blocked out the front row for this weekend's Daytona 24 Hours
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| By Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 23rd 2013, 16:45 GMT |
Ken Block intends to contest a three-round World Rally Championship programme again in 2013
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| By Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, January 23rd 2013, 17:34 GMT |
MotoGP will trial its new spec ECU system in a special two-day test at Sepang on 3-4 February.
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| By Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 23rd 2013, 17:36 GMT |
Lotus has chosen to launch its 2013 Formula 1 car, the E21, online
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| By Matt Beer | Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 13:41 GMT |
Robert Kubica is not yet physically ready to test a Formula 1 car, according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, whose company is giving Kubica a DTM run this week
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 14:26 GMT |
Raffaele Marciello will, as expected, remain with Prema Powerteam for this year's European Formula 3 championship
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| By Matt Beer | Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 16:04 GMT |
MotoGP returnee Hiroshi Aoyama has sustained a fractured wrist in a motocross accident
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| Monday, January 21st 2013, 22:41 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton says the 'incredible determination' of his new Mercedes team spurred him through the winter after his first meeting with his 2013 crew before Christmas
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| Monday, January 21st 2013, 23:02 GMT |
The IndyCar Series has altered the heat qualifying system for its Iowa Speedway round, lengthening the races, offering points and allowing drivers from opening heats to progress to the pole-deciding final
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| Monday, January 21st 2013, 23:12 GMT |
Ducati was frustrated by rain at Jerez as it tried to get three days of running in ahead of next month's first official MotoGP test of the year at Sepang
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| By David Evans | Sunday, January 20th 2013, 15:04 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier has admitted his second place on the Monte Carlo Rally was as good as a win for the all-new Volkswagen Polo R WRC.
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| By Jonathan Noble and Jamie O'Leary | Sunday, January 20th 2013, 18:44 GMT |
Toto Wolff is set to take a senior role in the management of Mercedes-Benz's motorsport activities, senior sources close the German car manufacturer have revealed to AUTOSPORT.
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Sunday, January 20th 2013, 21:39 GMT |
Andy Priaulx will make his Daytona 24 Hours debut next weekend, driving a BMW in the GT class of the famous race
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| Saturday, January 19th 2013, 20:18 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel clinched his 11th Dakar Rally victory with a calm run to the finish in Santiago on Saturday
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| Saturday, January 19th 2013, 20:44 GMT |
NASCAR Sprint Cup organisers are optimistic that the new Gen-6 car will deliver better racing than its predecessor following pre-season testing
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| Saturday, January 19th 2013, 21:00 GMT |
NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip's GT team is unlikely to be seen in Europe and the World Endurance Championship this season
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| By Kevin Turner | Friday, January 18th 2013, 16:12 GMT |
British Touring Car race-winner Rob Collard is certain the return of Colin Turkington will boost the WSR squad for 2013
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| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, January 18th 2013, 15:36 GMT |
It is all too easy in the days before the new cars hit the race track for the first time to talk up hopes of the forthcoming Formula 1 season
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| Friday, January 18th 2013, 21:51 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel is on the verge of an 11th Dakar Rally victory after driving cautiously through the event's penultimate stage on Friday
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| Thursday, January 17th 2013, 20:04 GMT |
The FIA has appointed Dr Ian Roberts as Formula 1 medical rescue coordinator, after deciding not to renew Gary Hartstein's contract at the end of 2012
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| Thursday, January 17th 2013, 20:52 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel remained on course for another Dakar victory as his X-raid Mini team-mate Nani Roma surged into third on stage 12
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| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, January 17th 2013, 22:04 GMT |
IndyCar and Dallara have reached an agreement to freeze the cost of spare parts for the coming season
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| By David Evans | Wednesday, January 16th 2013, 19:00 GMT |
World Rally Championship manufacturers have reacted angrily to the timing and tracking issues that caused major confusion on day one of the Monte Carlo season-opener
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, January 16th 2013, 18:00 GMT |
Formula 1 stalwart Steve Nielsen is to join Toro Rosso as sporting director, AUTOSPORT has learned
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| Wednesday, January 16th 2013, 20:36 GMT |
American Robby Gordon went fastest on the 11th stage of the Dakar Rally, which was shortened due to the poor weather conditions
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| By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer | Tuesday, January 15th 2013, 19:29 GMT |
Ducati has unveiled its 2013 MotoGP bike at its annual Wrooom media event in Italy
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, January 15th 2013, 19:41 GMT |
Marco Andretti is optimistic that changes to his driving style will help him to rebound from his worst IndyCar season ever after returning to testing at Sebring earlier this week
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| Tuesday, January 15th 2013, 19:51 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel continued to cruise in the lead of the Dakar Rally as his X-raid team-mate Orlando Terranova set the pace on stage 10
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| By Glenn Freeman | Monday, January 14th 2013, 13:25 GMT |
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson believes Sebastien Loeb's departure from full-time competition in the World Rally Championship will be "fantastic" for the sport.
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| Monday, January 14th 2013, 22:19 GMT |
Nani Roma went fastest on the ninth stage of the Dakar Rally while his X-raid Mini team-mate Stephane Peterhansel opened up his lead as chief rival Nasser Al-Attiyah hit trouble
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Monday, January 14th 2013, 13:36 GMT |
Maxime Martin has joined BMW's American Le Mans Series line-up for the coming season, as well as being named its DTM test driver.
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| By Dan Cross | Sunday, January 13th 2013, 13:44 GMT |
Jolyon Palmer believes that all the ingredients are in place for him to win this year's GP2 championship
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| By Matt Beer | Sunday, January 13th 2013, 14:34 GMT |
Jackie Stewart believes Lewis Hamilton is taking a risk for his long-term future by joining a manufacturer team in Mercedes
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| By Dan Cross | Sunday, January 13th 2013, 14:52 GMT |
Gary Paffett says missing out on the 2012 DTM title was painfully frustrating given that he felt it was his best ever season-long performance
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| By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, January 12th 2013, 16:26 GMT |
Formula 1 should do much more to bring fans closer to the sport, reckons former Williams chairman Adam Parr
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| Saturday, January 12th 2013, 23:09 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel looks set to keep the Dakar Rally lead as a flooded riverbed threw stage eight into chaos
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| Saturday, January 12th 2013, 23:30 GMT |
Greg Biffle was quickest among those who stayed on for the final day of NASCAR Sprint Cup pre-season testing at Daytona on Saturday
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Adam Cooper and Matt Beer | Friday, January 11th 2013, 15:34 GMT |
Heikki Kovalainen feels his underdog heroics with Caterham were overlooked by Formula 1's top teams, and is surprised to be facing 2013 on the sidelines.
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| Friday, January 11th 2013, 18:59 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel brought his Dakar Rally lead back up to over three minutes by winning stage seven on Friday
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| Friday, January 11th 2013, 23:52 GMT |
The second day of NASCAR Sprint Cup testing at Daytona on Friday was marred by a massive accident that has ruled several teams out of the final day
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Jamie O'Leary | Thursday, January 10th 2013, 16:57 GMT |
A one-make series for the new carbon-neutral Aspid SS sportscar, which runs on fully-synthetic fuel, is a possibility, according to leading figures behind the machine.
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| Thursday, January 10th 2013, 19:56 GMT |
Nasser Al-Attiyah reduced the gap to Dakar leader Stephane Peterhansel to just over a minute after winning Thursday's sixth stage of the event.
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| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, January 10th 2013, 19:58 GMT |
Takuma Sato's long-expected switch to AJ Foyt Racing has been confirmed, with the Japanese driver moving across from Rahal Letterman Lanigan for the 2013 IndyCar season.
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| By Kevin Turner | Wednesday, January 9th 2013, 17:52 GMT |
British Touring Car squad AmD hopes to target the Jack Sears Trophy for S2000 machines in 2013, despite recently launching an NGTC Vauxhall Astra project.
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| Wednesday, January 9th 2013, 19:58 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel's Dakar Rally lead stretched to nearly 10 minutes on Wednesday's fifth stage as closest rival Nasser Al-Attiyah went off course and lost time
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| Wednesday, January 9th 2013, 21:12 GMT |
The Mini World Rally Car will still be present for the full 2013 World Rally Championship season despite the loss of factory backing, with Michal Kosciuszko securing a complete programme with erstwhile works team Motorsport Italia
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| By Peter Mills | Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 13:43 GMT |
Team Engstler will again run Charles Ng alongside team owner Franz Engstler in the World Touring Car Championship this year
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 16:03 GMT |
Ferrari will launch its new Formula 1 car at its Maranello base in early February, prior to the first pre-season test at Jerez in Spain
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| Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 17:14 GMT |
Nasser Al-Attiyah slashed Stephane Peterhansel's Dakar Rally lead to a little over five minutes by going fastest on the event's fourth stage on Tuesday
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| Monday, January 7th 2013, 17:16 GMT |
Lotus owner Gerard Lopez insists he is not looking at selling the outfit, despite having held talks with potential investors last year.
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| By Peter Mills | Monday, January 7th 2013, 18:20 GMT |
Work on Arena Motorsport's World Touring Car programme has been suspended, as the team seeks to secure major backing for the year
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| Monday, January 7th 2013, 19:02 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel moved into the lead of the Dakar Rally as Carlos Sainz ran into problems on the third day of competition
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| Sunday, January 6th 2013, 02:10 GMT |
Sahlen was fastest on the second day of Daytona 24 Hours testing on Saturday, as Dane Cameron's morning best proved the day's benchmark
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| Sunday, January 6th 2013, 19:34 GMT |
Stephane Peterhansel surged into the Dakar Rally lead on the 2013 event's first full-length stage as most of his main rivals hit trouble
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| Sunday, January 6th 2013, 21:29 GMT |
Last year's winner Michael Shank Racing completed testing for the 2013 Daytona 24 Hours on top after leading both Sunday sessions
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| Sunday, January 6th 2013, 02:10 GMT |
Sahlen was fastest on the second day of Daytona 24 Hours testing on Saturday, as Dane Cameron's morning best proved the day's benchmark
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| Saturday, January 5th 2013, 17:07 GMT |
Jan Kopecky sealed victory in round one of the new-look European Rally Championship by just half a second in a final-stage thriller in Austria
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| Saturday, January 5th 2013, 21:44 GMT |
Carlos Sainz set the pace as the 2013 Dakar Rally got underway with a short eight-mile stage in Pisco
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| By Gary Watkins | Friday, January 4th 2013, 17:54 GMT |
Daytona Prototypes and LMP2 machinery will go head to head for overall honours in the new-for-2014 unified US sportscar series, as revealed by AUTOSPORT.
Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series, which will merge at the end of this season, have confirmed that DPs, LMP2s and production versions of the lightweight Nissan DeltaWing experimental racer will make up the top class of the unified championship in 2014 and '15.
The announcement, made on the first day of the official test ahead of the Daytona 24 Hours Grand-Am opener on January 26/27, also firmed up the remainder of the class structure for the first two years of the new series.
The ALMS one-make LMPC prototype class for the ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09 will continue as a separate category, while the ALMS GT (nee GTE) division will be distinct from the Grand-Am GT class.
The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars that form the GTC class in the ALMS will be amalgamated into the Grand-Am category. Grand-Am's new GX category for so-called experimental cars could be absorbed into this group or run as a separate, fifth class.
Grand-Am managing director of competition Richard Buck explained that the two bodies had taken an inclusive approach to allow as many competitors from each series to move forward into the unified championship.
"This is a best-of-both-worlds approach that reflects the fact we have a true merger evolving on a daily basis," he said. "This announcement is only a first step in solidifying our class structure.
"Our organisations' respective competition departments are working diligently on balance of performance for the top prototype class, plus overall class specifications across the board."
It is unclear how DPs and LMP2 cars, which are significantly faster on most circuits, will be balanced.
Grand-Am boss Ed Bennett told AUTOSPORT in December that the DPs would be made faster in 2014.
"The performance of the DPs has to go up," he said. "We have to look at the aero - we could give them more downforce - and we think the power will increase, and we are taking a hard look at the tyres that both types of car [DP and LMP2] run on."
There will be no place for LMP1 cars in the unified series, which was made clear in the announcement of the merger in September.
AUTOSPORT says
Gary Watkins, sportscar correspondent
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Sorry to plagiarise Sir Winston Churchill, but Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series have only firmed up the starting point for the rulemaking process with this announcement.
They have told us, more or less, what we already knew and laid out the future of the unified US sportscar series in a broad-brushstroke kind of way.
The devil is going to be in the detail — balancing DP and LMP2 cars across a range of circuits is going to be a devil of a job.
A P2 car is, for example, seven seconds a lap quicker around Laguna Seca than a DP. Bridging that gap will take some doing, especially when reducing the power of the DPs is not an option, something Bennett has already admitted.
The techies at Grand-Am and the ALMS have ideas on how to balance two types of car that achieve their speed in entirely different ways, but I suspect there's still a lot of hard work ahead of them.
Click here for Gary Watkins' full analysis of the challenge of equalising LMP2s and Daytona Prototypes
| Friday, January 4th 2013, 19:04 GMT |
Jan Kopecky withstood miscellaneous challenges from rivals and the weather to end day one of the European Rally Championship's new era in the lead in Austria.
The first loop of Janner Rally stages posed a tyre choice headache as the rain of Pierbach was followed by snow and ice on Liebenau and St Oswald.
Veteran Raimund Baumschlager went for narrow studded rubber and lost nearly a minute on stage one, before closing to within two seconds of leader and fellow Skoda man Kopecky over the next two stages, where the latter's wide tyres struggled.
Baumschlager, reigning Austrian champion, maintained his pace after the first service break and briefly took the lead, but fell back in the heavy rain and fog of the afternoon and pondered settling for national series points.
Czech driver Vaclav Pech was right on Kopecky's tail in his Mini until a headlight problem amid poor weather on Schonau-St Leonhard cost him a minute. He also spent a while off-course on the final stage.
Bryan Bouffier then became Kopecky's main challenger. He had lost ground on the first loop's snow and ice, but judged the wet conditions well to close to within nine seconds of Kopecky.
But four-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge runner-up Kopecky stepped up his pace on the final two stages after dark, and ended the day 20.2s clear of Bouffier's Peugeot. Baumschlager is a further 18s back.
Former World Rally star Francois Delecour had a troubled start to his international comeback with Kronos Peugeot.
A broken gear lever forced him to improvise with the car's jack jammed into the gearchange hole for several stages, and he also incurred a penalty for checking into service early and had some offs. Those dramas leave him sixth.
Click here for David Evans' view on the ERC's new start
Leading positions after SS10: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jan Kopecky Skoda 1h30m36.5s 2. Bryan Bouffier SC Ateneo Peugeot + 20.2s 3. Raimund Baumschlager BRR Skoda + 38.9s 4. Vaclav Pech Invelt Mini + 2m24.7s 5. Francois Delecour Kronos Peugeot + 2m49.3s 6. Kajetan Kajetanowicz Lotos Subaru + 2m53.3s 7. Beppo Harach DiTech Mitsubishi + 3m20.6s 8. Jaroslav Orsak GPD Mit Metal Mitsubishi + 3m50.3s 9. Jaromir Tarabus Ak Brno Skoda + 4m03.5s 10. Jan Cerny Czech Skoda + 4m24.6s
| Friday, January 4th 2013, 22:08 GMT |
AJ Allmendinger was quickest in Michael Shank Racing's #60 Riley-Ford on day one of testing for the 2013 Daytona 24 Hours.
Allmendinger teamed up with Justin Wilson, John Pew and Ozz Negri to score MSR's first Daytona win in last year's event.
The NASCAR regular's best time of 1m42.918s edged out Ganassi's Memo Rojas and Dario Franchitti in a top three covered by 0.069 seconds.
Marcos Ambrose also had a run in the pacesetting MSR car. The Australian was standing in for Negri while he recovers from a training injury. It is not yet clear if NASCAR race-winner and former V8 Supercars champion Ambrose will be part of the team's line-up for the 24-hour race on 26-27 January.
MSR's second car was fourth in the hands of Michael Valiante. Starworks' #2 Riley-Ford, shared between Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Dalziel, Allan McNish and Alex Popow, completed the top five.
The morning session had been affected by rain. Times were of little relevance as most waited for the weather to improve, but 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray was quickest in Ganassi's #1 car by 1.3s.
Andy Lally set the GT pace in Magnus' #44 Porsche.
Testing continues on Saturday with four further sessions including night practice.
Between test sessions on Friday, organisers of Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series confirmed the class structure for their merged 2014 championship, with Daytona Prototypes and LMP2 equalising to form the headline category.
| Thursday, January 3rd 2013, 14:05 GMT |
MotoGP rookie Michael Laverty admits he never expected to get a shot at motorcycle racing's top level.
The 31-year-old British Superbike frontrunner is stepping up to MotoGP with Paul Bird Motorsport's new self-built CRT chassis this season.
Laverty said that even after BSB champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne turned down the seat, he did not imagine he would be top of the list of alternatives.
"I know I wasn't first choice for the ride, Shakey was," Laverty told the official MotoGP website.
"And when he turned it down I was actually surprised to get the call, but it was a nice surprise."
He added: "Honestly it's something I never expected I'd get the opportunity to do.
"I'm a realist I reckon, and once you pass your mid-20s you think that if you haven't got to GP by then, then it's not going to happen, so I kind of thought that if I ever got a shot at a world championship that it would be in World Superbike, so it's nice that things have changed."
PBM had a tough 2012 season with James Ellison on its Aprilia. Yonny Hernandez will continue to ride that bike in 2013 while Laverty takes the new PBM design.
Laverty's bike will run the spec ECU that will be mandatory from 2014. He hopes this will ensure strong support from Aprilia, which dominated CRT with its lead squad Aspar last year.
"They seem happy to let the team work on the new project and work on the new electronics," said Laverty.
"Aprilia will have in mind that from 2014 they are going to have to run the Magneti Marelli system, so it's useful for them to have another team using it as it gives them a lot of data.
"They seem happy to help the team sort out the engine management with the Magneti Marelli system so overall I think the relationship with Aprilia is quite good, so hopefully we'll be even, or as close to even as possible to them."
| By Pablo Elizalde | Thursday, January 3rd 2013, 15:05 GMT |
Sauber will unveil its 2013 challenger on 2 February, the Swiss squad announced on Thursday.
The team said the Ferrari-powered C32 will be presented to the public in Hinwil, Switzerland, where its factory is located.
Pre-season testing commences at Jerez three days later.
Sauber finished the 2012 season in sixth position after four podium finishes.
The Swiss outfit's drive line-up for 2013 will be Nico Hulkenberg and Mexican rookie Esteban Gutierrez.
2013 pre-season dates
Car launches Team Date McLaren January 31 Force India February 1 Sauber February 2 Testing
Venue Date Jerez 5-8 February Barcelona 19-22 February Barcelona 28 February-3 March
| By Matt Beer | Thursday, January 3rd 2013, 16:19 GMT |
X Games and American rallying star Travis Pastrana has secured a full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series deal with Roush Fenway Racing as he bids to break into stock car racing's top level.
Pastrana made a one-off Nationwide start with Roush at Richmond last year, while also contesting several races with a RAB/Michael Waltrip Racing entry.
He originally made his name in motocross before adding rallying to his repertoire, ultimately winning four American rally titles, two motocross crowns and multiple X Games medals.
"I am very serious about making this move, running competitively and ultimately winning races in NASCAR," said Pastrana.
"No team can claim the success in the Nationwide Series that Roush Fenway has, and I know driving an RFR Ford will provide me with the maximum opportunity to develop my skills behind the wheel of a stock car."
Team boss Jack Roush said he was determined to help Pastrana progress towards the Sprint Cup.
"Travis is a champion," said Roush. "It takes a great deal of drive and determination to reach that level of greatness in any field.
"He is serious about this move to NASCAR and we are committed to doing everything we can to see his career develop in NASCAR. We would certainly expect to see a great level of excitement brought to the table as he progresses within our sport."
Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Sam Tremayne and Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 2nd 2013, 12:14 GMT |
Red Bull has admitted that it took too long to get to grips with the changes in Formula 1 at the start of 2012, as it strives to ensure a stronger start to its title defence this year.
After dominating 2011, Red Bull did not win until round four of last year's world championship in Bahrain.
Eventual three-time champion Sebastian Vettel was as low as sixth in the points at one stage, and by mid-September only had one win to his name.
He then went on a four-race victory streak to set himself up for another title. Prior to that, he had looked hard-pressed to catch Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and also faced times when McLaren looked a stronger contender than Red Bull.
Team boss Christian Horner conceded that it had taken a while for designer Adrian Newey to get to grips with the 2012 rule tweaks and the new Pirelli tyre specification.
"There was a big regulation change where the exhaust effect was reduced dramatically, and that particularly had a significant impact on our car because arguably our use of exhaust gases was more advanced than other teams," Horner said.
"So it took a while to understand that, and that combined with a different tyre took Adrian and his team time to get his head around.
"But they relentlessly stuck at it and the performance came."
Before Vettel's dominant September/October run, Red Bull trailed McLaren five-three in the 2012 win stakes, but Horner believes his team's performance was always better than the statistics suggested.
"Even when we weren't winning we were able to be securing sensible points," he said.
"We should have won in Valencia, that was probably our biggest frustration of the year.
"The points we gave away not only the 25 points we should have had for the win but also the points it gifted Fernando."
He added: "There were some challenges but getting that performance from the car and particularly for the last third of the championship was crucial."
* Click here for AUTOSPORT's guide to what's new in F1 for 2013
| Wednesday, January 2nd 2013, 14:55 GMT |
MotoGP rookie Bradley Smith will contest a round of the Qatar International Championship at Losail this weekend.
Smith steps up to MotoGP with Tech 3 Yamaha this season after two years in Moto2.
The Briton will take part in promotional events at Bahrain and Abu Dhabi's Formula 1 venues during the week before racing a Yamaha R1 against Qatar national riders on Saturday.
"I've been pushing really hard to make this happen," Smith said.
"Of course it's great preparation for me before MotoGP testing gets underway in Sepang but also I'm certain there is some real racing talent in that part of the world.
"You only have to see how MotoGP has exploded in Malaysia to understand what the success of local riders can achieve."
Smith joins countryman Cal Crutchlow at Tech 3, taking the seat vacated by Valentino Rossi's Ducati replacement Andrea Dovizioso.
| Wednesday, January 2nd 2013, 17:07 GMT |
Ben Spies has revealed that he left Yamaha after one of his employers told him the team had lost confidence in him.
Spies announced via his own Twitter feed last July that he was quitting Yamaha's factory MotoGP team.
After a period of uncertainty about his future, he signed for Ducati's revamped second squad.
In a column for American magazine Cycle World, Spies said the crunch moment with Yamaha came when he was suffering from food poisoning at Mugello.
"Yamaha stayed in Italy and tested the next day, but I didn't ride. I couldn't ride. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything," Spies wrote.
"A senior Yamaha employee - that's as specific as I'm going to get - said to me 'we've invested a lot of money in you. Don't come to Laguna Seca if you aren't 100 per cent.'
"Then, he added: 'we've lost confidence in you.'
"That was the moment when I decided I wasn't going to ride for Yamaha in 2013. I have a lot of good friends at Yamaha, but when someone talks down to you like that, you lose respect for them."
Spies had a disastrous last season with Yamaha, failing to reach the podium and finishing just 10th in a championship won by team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.
He suffered a run of mechanical failures, admitted he struggled to make his riding style work with the 2012 M1, and then missed the final rounds due to injury.
The 28-year-old said he came close to giving up on MotoGP.
"After my engine blew up while I was running second at Indianapolis, I thought I wanted to leave MotoGP," Spies said.
"I started paying attention to World Superbike. That series was great to me when I was there in 2009, and the previous director, Paolo Ciabatti, is a good friend of mine.
"He would have loved to see me back in SBK. I still might go back there one day."
But despite offers from BMW and Ducati, he ultimately chose to stay in MotoGP, choosing Ducati's Pramac squad ahead of a possibility at Gresini Honda.
"I started thinking a lot and finally concluded that I haven't reached my full capabilities in MotoGP," Spies said.
"What that is, I don't know. I'm not going to say I can win this many races or a championship, but I don't want to walk away and in five years say, 'I could have done this or that.'"
He is optimistic that the Ducati will give him a better chance to show his potential than the Yamaha.
"The Yamaha is a great bike, but it likes a lot of corner speed. If it moves, if the wheels get out of line, it gets upset," Spies said.
"Both the Honda and the Ducati look like they can be ridden a little more 'wild'."
| By Glenn Freeman | Tuesday, January 1st 2013, 11:48 GMT |
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robin Frijns believes that Kevin Magnussen and Antonio Felix da Costa will lead the fight to succeed him in the series this year.
Frijns took a surprise title in 2012, beating the strongest field in the championship's history as a rookie for Fortec Motorsports.
And the Dutchman, who has been signed as a Formula 1 reserve driver by Sauber, believes that 2012 race winners Magnussen (pictured) and da Costa will lead the running in FR3.5 next season.
"It's Magnussen and da Costa," Frijns told AUTOSPORT of the likely contenders for the title. "They were always up there this year, and they are both really quick.
"The speed that Kevin has is impressive. And he always goes for the win. He's capable of dominating races.
"I think da Costa is similar, and he won a lot of races last year. I don't think there will be as many guys going for the title as there was this year, but the ones at the front will be really quick and that's good for the championship."
Magnussen has dominated winter testing so far with DAMS, for which he will race this year. Macau Grand Prix winner da Costa, meanwhile, is expected to retain his Red Bull backing and remain with Arden Caterham.
Da Costa finished fourth in the points and won four races in the series with the team, despite only contesting the second half of the season. Magnussen was seventh overall with Carlin.
Frijns offered some words of warning for both of his title tips though, pointing out that neither had to race with the pressure of going for the championship in FR3.5 last year.
"I don't know Kevin that well, but from what I saw maybe he takes too many risks. You can't win a championship if you only ever go for the win.
"Sometimes you have to settle for second place, third place, or even sixth if you have to. I don't know if he learned that this year, but we will see.
"It's the same for da Costa. He didn't have the pressure that we had going for the championship at the end of last year.
"He was free to do whatever he wanted and he won loads. He's really quick, but if he's in a position to fight for the championship he hasn't got that freedom anymore so he can't take as many risks."
| By Pablo Elizalde and Sam Tremayne | Tuesday, January 1st 2013, 14:03 GMT |
Marc Marquez has played down his chances of scoring a podium on his MotoGP race debut this year.
Both Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa managed debut rostrums after winning the 250cc World Championship - Moto2's predecessor - in 2007 and 2005 respectively.
Marquez dominated Moto2 in 2012, winning nine times and pulling off a number of remarkable rides, notably winning from the back of the grid at the Valencia season finale.
He also impressed in his initial MotoGP tests, lapping just over a second off the 2012 pole time at Sepang.
While he admitted he had adapted to Honda's MotoGP machinery faster than anticipated, the 19-year-old Spaniard stressed that breaking into the top three from the outset was unlikely, particularly as Honda wants him to ease into competition in the premier class.
"Right now I don't think it's doable, Marquez told AS when asked about his podium chances for the Qatar opener.
"I'm not ruling out anything - it's impossible to predict - but Honda has told me to be calm.
"What they want to see is progress, and me taking my time and improving.
"Testing has been better than I imagined. In Malaysia when I got there I thought it would be three tough days, but I started gaining confidence with the bike and began to try new things.
"I still have a long way to go though and I'm hoping to take full advantage of the remaining tests."
| By Jonathan Noble and Jamie O'Leary | Tuesday, January 1st 2013, 14:34 GMT |
Ross Brawn believes that mid-season changes in Mercedes' Formula 1 aerodynamic department were the root cause of the team's slump in form during the second half of 2012.
Mercedes, which took over the world champion Brawn squad in late 2009, scored its first F1 race win as a constructor since 1955 when Nico Rosberg dominated the Chinese Grand Prix from pole position.
By the halfway point of 2012, Rosberg lay sixth in the championshp, only 34 points behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
But the squad's form suffered during the second half of the year, Rosberg eventually trailing world champion Vettel by 189 points and Michael Schumacher's sixth place in Brazil its only points finish from the final six grands prix.
Team principal Brawn said that the departure of head of aerodynamics Loic Bigois, coupled with a change in windtunnel philosophy while the team experimented with Coanda exhausts and double DRS, also played a major influence.
Brawn said: "We made a decision to change the structure of the aero group. We had to wait for [new aero chief] Mike Elliot to join us because we had a notice period he had to fulfil at Lotus.
"We concluded the situation with Loic and there was a gap that we didn't fill very well."
"On top of that we were doing the transition from 50 per cent to 60 per cent models in the windtunnel, and there were a lot of other things in the aero group as well. It did have an impact."
Brawn said that the shift to 60 per cent models was necessary to increase the amount of technical data it could extract from Pirelli's tyres.
"Our conclusion was that we would get a much more representative tyre at 60 per cent than at 50 per cent," he added.
"Pirelli have to make 50 per cent and 60 per cent windtunnel tyres. There are only two teams that are still doing 50 per cent.
"Even with Pirelli's best efforts, they're going to be getting better feedback about 60 per cent tyres than 50 per cent. So we wanted to make the move.
"The other thing that has happened over the years is that you're putting more and more equipment inside the windtunnel model to measure, monitor and check. We just ran out of space in the 50 per cent model.
"There were things that we wanted to do that we couldn't do, and we needed the 60 per cent model to accommodate those features. Sixty per cent is the legal limit you can go to, there is no further step we can make."
| By Michele Lostia and Sam Tremayne | Monday, December 31st 2012, 14:02 GMT |
MotoGP's CRT class will not be rendered obsolete when radical changes - including a spec ECU - are brought in for 2014 according to Michele Pirro.
Pirro spearheaded Gresini Racing's CRT effort in 2012, one of nine entries accepted for the category's maiden season.
MotoGP's governing body the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme said the class - originally borne out of the need to combat rising prototype costs and boost grid numbers - would stay for 2013 but could change in 2014 when new rules are slated to come into effect.
Pirro labelled his own experience of CRTs as 'disastrous' after he finished third in class despite breaking into the top 10 just twice all season.
While he accepts that the gap between CRTs and prototypes must be reduced, Pirro says rule changes for both the coming season and beyond 2014 could ensure such a shift.
"CRT can have a future if the gap to the MotoGP prototypes is reduced, Pirro told Motosprint.
"The CRT I raced with was disastrous. We were too limited and too little money was spent.
"If you consider Aprilia, that's different: ART has shown it can get close to the MotoGP prototypes. CRT will have softer tyres in 2013, so it will benefit from that.
"In 2014, with the rule changes, the level of the prototypes will decrease.
"That will make CRTs something else: they will become what satellite bikes are nowadays. That's the future."
| By Peter Mills | Monday, December 31st 2012, 15:38 GMT |
Tiago Monteiro says structural changes have been necessary at Honda to accommodate earlier-than-anticipated changes to the World Touring Car Championship's technical rules.
New regulations, aimed at making cars faster and more spectacular in a bid to attract new manufacturers into the series, were expected to come into force for the 2015 season.
But the FIA instead announced in December that a complete overhaul of the rules is to be completed and implemented in time for 2014 instead.
As a consequence, Honda's Civic WTCC, which made competed in Monteiro's hands at the final three rounds of the 2012 season, will be in service for just one more year before requiring major revisions itself.
"It is a big change," Monteiro told AUTOSPORT. "The Civic WTCC was designed to do two years, and of course there is a lot of internal change in the structure to accommodate these changes earlier than expected.
"There is a significant associated to this, because I am sure they calculated the cost of their investment based on a two-year situation.
"Now they are only going to do one year, or one year and a third [including the final three rounds that were contested in 2012]."
Despite the disruption, Monteiro believes Honda's squad, which is run by the Italian JAS team, is sympathetic to the new rules.
"As far as I know, I think Honda realised it was best for the championship, therefore the best for them as well," said Monteiro, who claimed the car's first podium finish at Macau in November.
"We have been looking into the new rules very carefully at Honda. My feeling is that the series is going in the right direction.
"There are many things that I have been thinking this touring car championship should have for a long time. A more aggressive look, a little bit more downforce, without being too downforce dependent like DTM could be.
"Bigger and wider wheels, and 10-20 per cent more power would be ideal. So we are getting there. Those main changes are positive and are only a plus for the future of the championship."
Monteiro also believes the WTCC's decision to distance itself from domestic touring car racing by adopting more aggressive machinery with higher performance levels is a logical one.
"We are talking about a world championship, with the top-level drivers," he said.
"That doesn't mean you don't have other top-level drivers in national championships, but the world championship should have the highest level and the best cars."
| Monday, December 31st 2012, 17:08 GMT |
Lotus was nothing if not bold in its 2012 driver selection, eschewing any hint of a 'safe pair of hands' approach and signing two men who hadn't raced in Formula 1 since 2009.
On paper, the combination of a former world champion with 157 grand prix starts to his name and a man with five feeder series titles on his CV plus a smattering of F1 experience shouldn't have prompted any frowns.
But this was Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.
Raikkonen whose penchant for off-track high-jinks and periods of disinterest in his day job threatened to overshadow his blistering speed, and whose sabbatical from F1 had featured a lot of dabbling in other categories with little to show for it bar some bent rally cars and memorable NASCAR Truck Series radio transmissions.
And Grosjean, who had to return to the junior categories with his tail between his legs after mixing on-track inconsistency with off-track unpopularity when he last tried F1.
It seemed a recipe for excitement and intrigue - and so it proved, as Lotus's returnee duo generated more headlines than almost any other driver pairing in 2012...
Grosjean: Just a 'nutcase'?
It took no time at all for Grosjean to erase memories of his disastrous 2009 part-season and prove that he really did belong in F1. Often the Lotus pacesetter in the first half of the season, he showed the speed of a potential champion as he appeared to complete a successful career rehabilitation.
But along the way, there were still a lot of mistakes - especially on opening laps. At first these went almost unnoticed, but gradually their frequency started causing concern, and when Grosjean triggered the huge Spa start crash, condemnation poured down on him, along with a race ban.
He finished the season a chastened man, overshadowed by Raikkonen, and kept waiting until December for confirmation that he would keep his seat. Yet still his supporters remain convinced that he has all the attributes of a superstar, if he can cut the mistakes.
Jonathan Noble: Grosjean is F1's real comeback kingDerek Warwick: Grosjean's ban is a warning to allEdd Straw: How Grosjean gets his season back on trackWebber slams "nutcase" Grosjean
Raikkonen: As if he'd never been away
When a qualifying mistake left Raikkonen outside the cut in Q1 for his grand prix comeback in Australia, there might have been some doubts about the wisdom of his return.
That was the only time all year those doubts were heard.
Tony Dodgins: Missing Kubica? Get Raikkonen. Why Lotus chose rightRaikkonen quickest in first test of 2012Edd Straw: Raikkonen galvanising Lotus already
Admittedly he was still slightly rusty early on, but it was rarely evident as Raikkonen became a relentless podium finisher, shock outside title contender, and eventually a grand prix winner again.
His character was as big a hit as his speed. His insistence that if he couldn't be champion, he'd prefer to be fourth in the standings so he didn't have to bother with the FIA prizegiving ceremony... The unforgettable "leave me alone, I know what I'm doing" radio rant on the way to his Abu Dhabi win... getting lost off-track in Brazil... All Kimi moments that the fans lapped up.
And he'll probably be even faster, and even more insouciant, in 2013...
