| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, March 30th 2014, 18:17 GMT |
Zach Veach took the first Indy Lights win of his career with a dominant performance in St Petersburg
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| Sunday, March 30th 2014, 21:12 GMT |
Kurt Busch recovered from an early spat with Brad Keselowski to take his first NASCAR Sprint Cup win in two and a half years at Martinsville
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| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, March 30th 2014, 22:18 GMT |
Will Power opened the 2014 IndyCar season with a commanding win on the streets of St Petersburg
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| By Peter Mills | Saturday, March 29th 2014, 20:36 GMT |
Team Engstler has signed former Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Pasquale Di Sabatino to complete its 2014 World Touring Car Championship driver line-up.
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| By David Evans | Saturday, March 29th 2014, 20:48 GMT |
World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier took victory in the Fafe Rally Sprint, in the Frenchman's first outing in the Portuguese event.
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, March 29th 2014, 23:27 GMT |
Takuma Sato secured pole position for the IndyCar season-opener at St Petersburg in delayed qualifying session.Takuma Sato backed up his early weekend speed by charging to pole for Sunday's IndyCar's season-opener in a rain-delayed qualifying session at St Petersburg.
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| By Ben Anderson | Thursday, March 27th 2014, 16:36 GMT |
Fernando Alonso feels uncomfortable discussing the merits of Formula 1's new regulations, because of the potential for disgruntled fans to turn their ire on him.
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| Thursday, March 27th 2014, 17:35 GMT |
Dino Zamparelli set the pace on the opening day of 2014 pre-season testing for the GP3 series at Estoril.
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| By James Roberts | Friday, March 28th 2014, 03:38 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend with the quickest time in the opening free practice session for Mercedes
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| By Glenn Freeman | Wednesday, March 26th 2014, 19:45 GMT |
Pietro Fantin topped the final day of Formula Renault 3.5 pre-season testing at Jerez on Wednesday
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, March 26th 2014, 20:03 GMT |
Denny Hamlin will return to racing at Martinsville this weekend after NASCAR received medical clearance from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's doctors
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| By Gary Watkins | Wednesday, March 26th 2014, 22:14 GMT |
Audi reserve driver Marc Gene will race for the Jota Zytek LMP2 team in the Le Mans 24 Hours
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, March 25th 2014, 17:14 GMT |
Formula 1's new style of racing is more enjoyable, according to Australian Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg.
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, March 25th 2014, 16:02 GMT |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan's preparations for this weekend's IndyCar season-opener at St Petersburg suffered a setback when the team's transporter caught fire
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| Tuesday, March 25th 2014, 22:54 GMT |
Oliver Rowland set the pace on the second day of Formula Renault 3.5 testing at the Jerez circuit on Tuesday
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| By Gary Watkins | Monday, March 24th 2014, 17:51 GMT |
Five-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Derek Bell has been named as grand marshal for the Silverstone 6 Hours World Endurance Championship round next month
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| By Glenn Freeman | Monday, March 24th 2014, 16:25 GMT |
Carlin is prepared to take a sabbatical from Formula Renault 3.5 if it cannot put together a suitable financial package with drivers for the 2014 season
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| By Glenn Freeman | Monday, March 24th 2014, 20:03 GMT |
Jazeman Jaafar topped the opening day of the final Formula Renault 3.5 pre-season test at Jerez on Monday
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| Sunday, March 23rd 2014, 22:52 GMT |
Kyle Busch held off a determined Kyle Larson to claim his first victory of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup at Fontana Auto Club Speedway
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| Sunday, March 23rd 2014, 21:20 GMT |
Valentino Rossi insists there was no sense of disappointment about missing out on victory to Marc Marquez in MotoGP's Qatar season-opener by just a quarter of a second.
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| Sunday, March 23rd 2014, 21:33 GMT |
Marc Marquez admits the crash-strewn start to this year's Qatar Grand Prix threw his confidence and convinced him to adopt a cautious early approach to his MotoGP title defence
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| Saturday, March 22nd 2014, 20:03 GMT |
Alvaro Bautista admits he had expected to be fighting for the second row of the Qatar Grand Prix grid given the pace of the Open bikes during MotoGP practice.
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| Saturday, March 22nd 2014, 20:25 GMT |
Marc Marquez has downplayed his chances of taking victory in this year's MotoGP season-opener despite taking a surprise pole at Losail.
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| Saturday, March 22nd 2014, 21:58 GMT |
Valentino Rossi says his fourth row starting berth for MotoGP's season-opener in Qatar disguises the 'good step' he has made compared to 2013
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| By Gary Watkins | Friday, March 21st 2014, 19:07 GMT |
Former FIA GT1 World Champions Marc Basseng and Markus Winkelhock will return to the championship in its latest guise as the Blancpain Sprint Series
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| By David Evans | Friday, March 21st 2014, 19:29 GMT |
Pictures have emerged from Toyota's first test of the Yaris WRC in Italy this week
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| Saturday, March 22nd 2014, 02:01 GMT |
Matt Kenseth captured his first pole of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup following a close-fought qualifying session at Fontana Auto Club Speedway
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| By Matt James | Thursday, March 20th 2014, 17:15 GMT |
Alain Menu says that the opening British Touring Car Championship meeting of the season at Brands Hatch on March 30 will be an extended shakedown for him
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| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, March 20th 2014, 17:00 GMT |
McLaren is eyeing a half-second per lap improvement for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but knows it will not totally close the gap to Formula 1 pacesetter Mercedes
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| Thursday, March 20th 2014, 18:03 GMT |
Aleix Espargaro continued his storming start to 2014 by topping the first practice session of the year in Qatar
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| Wednesday, March 19th 2014, 16:39 GMT |
Marc Marquez believes it would be foolish to say he can win MotoGP's Qatar Grand Prix season-opener this weekend given his leg injury
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| By Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, March 19th 2014, 16:25 GMT |
McLaren will instigate a "very aggressive" development push in a bid to close its deficit to Formula 1 rival Mercedes, according to its new racing director Eric Boullier
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, March 19th 2014, 17:08 GMT |
Red Bull believes it can make a massive step forward in form once engine partner Renault gets on top of its ongoing problems in Formula 1
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, March 18th 2014, 16:17 GMT |
Red Bull believes there is no obvious explanation as to why Sebastian Vettel had the brunt of his Formula 1 team's reliability problems in Australia.
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| By Matt James | Tuesday, March 18th 2014, 17:24 GMT |
Reigning champion Andrew Jordan was the fastest man in the official British Touring Car Championship test session during media day at Donington Park
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, March 19th 2014, 00:04 GMT |
Will Power remained on top in the second and final day of IndyCar testing at Barber Motorsports Park on Tuesday
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| By Peter Mills | Monday, March 17th 2014, 19:09 GMT |
Lada completed a maiden test of its 2014-spec Granta TC1 World Touring Car at Magny-Cours last week
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| Monday, March 17th 2014, 15:40 GMT |
Gary Bettenhausen, a 25-time Indianapolis 500 participant and a member of one of US single-seater racing's prominent families, has died in Indiana at the age of 72.
Bettenhausen, son of 1940s and '50s racing great Tony, was a regular at the 500 between 1968 and '94, qualifying for the race on all but five occasions.
He never managed to win, although he made a place for himself in the event's history books by becoming one of the small club of drivers to have set the fastest qualifying time for the race without starting from pole.
In Bettenhausen's case, it happened in 1991, 30 years to the day after his father was killed at the same track. His 224.468mph effort was better than Rick Mears' 224.113mph pole time, but came 24 hours too late.
His brother Tony Jr, who also raced and owned a CART team, observed at the time that "it was typical Bettenhausen luck. High speed. Wrong day."
Bettenhausen's best result at Indy came in 1980, when he raced through the field from 32nd on the grid to finish third, although he led for 138 laps in 1972 before dropping out with an ignition failure.
In addition to his IndyCar exploits, Bettenhausen also dabbled in NASCAR and made eight Winston Cup starts; a dalliance that resulted in four top-10 finishes and a best result of fourth at Michigan in 1974.
Tony Jr was killed in a plane crash in 2000, while another brother, Merle, was badly injured in his only Champ Car start at Michigan in 1972.
| Monday, March 17th 2014, 16:02 GMT |
Formula E has agreed a deal with ITV4 that will ensure free-to-air live television coverage for all 10 rounds of its inaugural championship.
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| By Ben Anderson | Sunday, March 16th 2014, 13:46 GMT |
The FIA says Red Bull ignored requests to reduce the fuel flow rate of Daniel Ricciardo's car during the Australian Grand Prix
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| By Jonathan Noble | Sunday, March 16th 2014, 13:48 GMT |
The Red Bull Formula 1 team has no doubts that its fuel flow rate was within the maximum limits laid down by the FIA, despite its exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix
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| Sunday, March 16th 2014, 20:33 GMT |
The NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway has been red-flagged at quarter-distance due to rain, with Matt Kenseth leading
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| By Gary Watkins | Saturday, March 15th 2014, 20:55 GMT |
The Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD squad led the Sebring 12 Hours under the safety car at half distance
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| By Gary Watkins | Sunday, March 16th 2014, 03:22 GMT |
Chip Ganassi Racing claimed victory in the Sebring 12 Hours at the first time of asking in a dramatic 62nd running of North America's oldest enduro
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| By Edd Straw | Sunday, March 16th 2014, 03:26 GMT |
Scott McLaughlin claimed the Volvo S60's maiden V8 Supercars victory in the final non-championship support race for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne
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| Friday, March 14th 2014, 21:38 GMT |
Denny Hamlin ended Penske's run of pole positions in a close-fought NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway
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| By Gary Watkins | Friday, March 14th 2014, 22:14 GMT |
IndyCar driver Sebastien Bourdais claimed pole position for the Sebring 12 Hours aboard the best of the Action Express Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DPs
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| By Ben Anderson | Saturday, March 15th 2014, 03:23 GMT |
The Lotus and Marussia Formula 1 teams broke curfew on Saturday morning, as they battled to prepare their cars in time for the final practice session at the Australian Grand Prix
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| By Stuart Codling | Friday, March 14th 2014, 03:25 GMT |
Fernando Alonso prevailed over Jenson Button as McLaren and Ferrari traded places up front in the first Formula 1 practice session of 2014 at the Australian Grand Prix
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| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, March 14th 2014, 03:38 GMT |
Williams sees no reason why it will not be able to match the development rate of its bigger Formula 1 money rivals if its pre-season promise is realised.
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| By Ben Anderson | Friday, March 14th 2014, 03:58 GMT |
Shane van Gisbergen made it two wins in a row in the second V8 Supercars Formula 1 support race at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Friday
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| Wednesday, March 12th 2014, 19:01 GMT |
The Nurburgring has been sold for "in excess of 100m Euro" to a group that will take over the Formula 1 circuit in 2015
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| Wednesday, March 12th 2014, 20:09 GMT |
GT racer Hunter Abbott will drive Rob Austin Racing's second Audi A4 in the British Touring Car Championship this season
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| By Ben Anderson | Thursday, March 13th 2014, 03:55 GMT |
The FIA has rubberstamped proposals to alter the Formula 1 qualifying format ahead of this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix
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| Tuesday, March 11th 2014, 16:14 GMT |
Marc Marquez admits he will not be "100 per cent fit" for the 2014 MotoGP season opener at Qatar.
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| Tuesday, March 11th 2014, 16:34 GMT |
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has warned that Formula 1 risks emulating "taxi-cab driving" due to fuel and tyre conservation concerns.
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| By Matt Beer | Tuesday, March 11th 2014, 17:14 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier admitted that he briefly considered allowing Jari-Matti Latvala to retain the World Rally Championship lead at the end of Rally Mexico
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| Sunday, March 9th 2014, 19:49 GMT |
MotoGP rookie Pol Espargaro sustained a broken collarbone in a crash during the final pre-season test day in Qatar on Sunday
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| Sunday, March 9th 2014, 20:26 GMT |
Espargaro brothers Aleix and Pol were first and second on the final day of 2014 pre-season MotoGP testing, but the latter ended the session with a broken collarbone
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| Sunday, March 9th 2014, 22:18 GMT |
Brad Keselowski earned his first NASCAR Sprint Cup win of the 2014 season after Dale Earnhardt Jr ran out of fuel on the final lap at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
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| By Scott Mitchell | Saturday, March 8th 2014, 18:12 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier extended his Rally Mexico lead and Thierry Neuville moved Hyundai into the top three after a dramatic pair of Saturday morning stages
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| Saturday, March 8th 2014, 19:57 GMT |
Alvaro Bautista topped the times on the second day of the 'non-factory' MotoGP test in Qatar on Sunday
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| By Scott Mitchell | Sunday, March 9th 2014, 00:23 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier dominated Rally Mexico's afternoon loop on Saturday as Volkswagen home in on a one-two finish and Thierry Neuville edges closer to a maiden podium for Hyundai.
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| Friday, March 7th 2014, 21:16 GMT |
Aleix Espargaro underlined the pace of Forward's Open class Yamaha as he led the 'non-factory' MotoGP test in Qatar on Friday
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| Friday, March 7th 2014, 23:30 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier ended an action-packed first day of Rally Mexico with a strong advantage as Mads Ostberg faltered and Robert Kubica rolled out of fourth
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| Saturday, March 8th 2014, 00:54 GMT |
Joey Logano will start the third round of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season from pole position after setting a new lap record in Las Vegas
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| By David Evans | Thursday, March 6th 2014, 20:33 GMT |
Jari-Matti Latvala made the perfect start to this week's Rally Mexico with fastest time on Thursday's pre-event shakedown.
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| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, March 6th 2014, 17:23 GMT |
Lexus is to join the growing list of manufacturers represented in the GT3 sportscar category.
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| Friday, March 7th 2014, 02:53 GMT |
Sebastien Ogier holds the early Rally Mexico lead after topping Thursday night's Guanajuato street stage
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| By Edd Straw | Wednesday, March 5th 2014, 16:49 GMT |
Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds has admitted his team can go into next weekend's Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix with "some confidence"
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, March 5th 2014, 17:07 GMT |
Oriol Servia has joined Rahal Letterman Lanigan to drive a limited schedule in the team's second car for the 2014 IndyCar season
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, March 5th 2014, 19:20 GMT |
Jack Hawksworth will step up to IndyCar in 2014 after signing to race for Bryan Herta Autosport
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, March 4th 2014, 20:07 GMT |
KV Racing Technology has entered into a formal association with former Indy Lights racer Mikael Grenier, although there is no short-term guarantee of any seat time for the Canadian
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| By Glenn Freeman | Tuesday, March 4th 2014, 16:32 GMT |
Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat says he is heading to the Australian Grand Prix relieved with how his team's difficult Formula 1 pre-season improved on the final couple of day
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| By Sam Tremayne | Tuesday, March 4th 2014, 20:00 GMT |
Formula 2 race winner Jack Clarke will move into the British Touring Car Championship in 2014
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| Monday, March 3rd 2014, 16:09 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton is to become a judge in a new road safety campaign competition being launched by the Motor Sports Association (MSA)
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| By Mark Glendenning | Monday, March 3rd 2014, 13:58 GMT |
Leading IndyCar drivers believe the changes made over the past two years have put the series on the road towards recovering its former glory
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| Monday, March 3rd 2014, 16:26 GMT |
NASCAR says it will not rush to make any changes to its new full-field qualifying format despite some drivers' concerns over near-misses at Phoenix.
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| Sunday, March 2nd 2014, 17:35 GMT |
Pirelli has announced tyre allocations for the first four 2014 Formula 1 races, with just a single 'step' gap between the compounds used.
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| By Ben Anderson | Sunday, March 2nd 2014, 16:40 GMT |
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali says rivals Mercedes and Williams have prepared better for the start of the new Formula 1 season than the Scuderia
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| Sunday, March 2nd 2014, 23:19 GMT |
Kevin Harvick claimed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory for Stewart-Haas at Phoenix in only his second event with the squad.
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| By Edd Straw and Matt Beer | Saturday, March 1st 2014, 15:34 GMT |
Sebastian Vettel admits he did not expect Red Bull's plight to remain so bad in the final week of 2014 pre-season Formula 1 testing.
The world champion missed out on another day of running in Bahrain on Saturday when electrical and battery issues with the RB10 meant he first stopped on an installation lap, then failed to get out of the pitlane when Red Bull made a second attempt to begin its programme.
Vettel's problems came after Red Bull managed an encouraging 66 laps with his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo on Friday.
Bahrain test day three report
"We thought we would be in a much better place this week compared to last week. That hasn't really been the case," said Vettel.
"There's no point being too emotional at this stage. We really have to take it step by step.
"We know how serious it is, especially inside the team - on Renault's side and our side. We've been a team the last five years and things have been fantastic.
"There were difficult days and difficult times - when we had the engine blow up with two races to go [in 2010], nearly deciding the championship, which wasn't great. There were other faults on our side, and on the driver's side. We are a team. These things happen.
"There's no reason to paint everything black. We know that it's a difficult time but everyone is aware of that and motivated to get out of it, get going and find out where we are."
F1 testing in pictures
Red Bull's problems have been exacerbated by the second and third tests taking place back to back so far from the team's European base, reckons Vettel, giving it little chance to recover from earlier faults.
"I think some things will calm down just by the fact that in two weeks' time we'll have lots of new parts," he said.
"Obviously we've had quite a lot of problems and therefore damaged quite a lot of parts which are not available overnight, and also we are in Bahrain so it's not that easy to fix things. That will get better once we get to Australia."
He also believes the RB10 has decent potential when it is able to run cleanly.
"With the very, very few laps we did, the car felt good," said Vettel.
"I was very happy with the car.
"Obviously it's a step back from last year in terms of overall grip, but it wasn't too bad.
"There's hope on that front."
| By Edd Straw | Saturday, March 1st 2014, 16:15 GMT |
Sauber has recalled Adrian Sutil to drive tomorrow morning after a disastrous third day of the final pre-season test in Bahrain.
Sutil suffered an engine problem on his installation lap in the morning and the decision was made to change it, meaning that the German failed to complete a lap today.
The team had planned to give team-mate Esteban Gutierrez the full day, but because of the engine problem the decision has been made to split Sunday between the two.
F1 testing in pictures
"Unfortunately today we have encountered an anomaly on the engine and as a precautionary measure we decided to change it, which meant we could only manage one lap in the morning," said head of track engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara.
"However, assembly takes considerably longer and at a certain stage during the afternoon we decided to focus on tomorrow and be ready for the final day of testing."
Gutierrez, who drove yesterday, was upbeat about the progress the team was making, but still felt Sauber had a lot of work to do.
"Overall, we've been making some progress," said Gutierrez.
"Today, we didn't look at performance, we looked more at racing and going through procedures, covering areas to prepare for the race for the mechanics and engineers.
"We managed to complete our full programme, which is a positive, but obviously we still have a lot of work to do in terms of the car, the reliability.
"There is nothing specific, we just need to keep doing the steps we are."
| By Edd Straw and Dan Cross | Saturday, March 1st 2014, 16:11 GMT |
Romain Grosjean believes Lotus is on the backfoot with its 2014 Formula 1 challenger and is likely to struggle in the opening rounds of the season.
He had his first outing of this week's final pre-season test on Saturday, but his running amounted to just 33 laps amid two lengthy interruptions.
The Frenchman was first hindered by an electrical problem with the gearbox fan in the morning and his day was later curtailed by an issue with the E22's energy recovery system that proved too problematic to fix in time.
These troubles came after team-mate Pastor Maldonado only completed 31 laps on both days he was behind the wheel, due to problems with a new exhaust configuration and a Friday fire.
"In terms of preparation, we are not quite ready," Grosjean admitted.
"There are plenty of things we would like to try and do before we get to Melbourne, but tomorrow's session is only a few hours and we'll need to get on top as many things as we can.
Bahrain test day three report
"It's not going to be perfect for Melbourne, or even Malaysia, but we will try our best to improve everything.
"It will be nice if we can get a few points, but if we don't, then we understand that it's a chance to move forward,
"But honestly, it's not going be a straightforward season for anyone."
Grosjean said long delays incurred when trying to resolve issues hampered Lotus's progress, echoing other teams' comments about the complexity of problem-solving on the 2014 cars.
2014 F1 cars take twice as long to fix
"If you have a small leak or need to change the battery, for example, it takes about three hours," he explained.
"It's been a big change in the regulations and it's hard for all of us - engine suppliers and teams.
"But the more we run the more we discover things and the more we can solve them.
"It's not ideal, but at least we can tick a few boxes in terms of reliability."
| By Mark Glendenning | Friday, February 28th 2014, 20:45 GMT |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan has vowed to "vigorously fight" the lawsuit issued last week by IndyCar rival Panther Racing over the reallocation of the National Guard sponsorship.
RLL was one of four defendants named in the lawsuit, which was initiated a few weeks after Panther's protest over the awarding of the National Guard deal to Bobby Rahal's team from 2014 was denied by the US Government Accountability Office.
"RLL believes it is unfortunate and disappointing that Panther has filed a lawsuit making serious allegations against the National Guard's decision process," read the statement.
"RLL also believes that Panther's lawsuit has no merit as a matter of fact and law.
"RLL's lawyers will vigorously defend RLL so it can focus on what matters most - representing the courageous men and woman of the National Guard and winning races."
Panther was the incumbent holder of the National Guard deal when six teams were invited to submit proposals for the new contract last year.
The John Barnes-led team argued that it was unfairly prejudiced by the fact that the National Guard based its final decisions on summaries of the team proposals provided by a third party, rather than on the proposals themselves.
However this argument was rejected by the GAO, which noted that RLL outperformed Panther in three of the criteria upon which the proposals were being judged, and was rated equally with Panther in the fourth category.
It also noted that RLL's base price for the sponsorship was cheaper than Panther's by nearly $5 million per year.
| By Kevin Turner | Friday, February 28th 2014, 21:38 GMT |
British Touring Car Championship Jack Sears Trophy winner Lea Wood will race an NGTC Toyota Avensis in the series this season.
Wood was the top S2000 runner in the 2013 BTCC, but with the class being made obsolete this year there had been doubt over the 29-year-old's continued participation.
But Wood will now race an Avensis, run by his family operation under the Houseman Racing banner.
"We've worked so hard to make this happen over the winter," said Wood. "Without the Jack Sears Trophy last year and the increased exposure we gained from that then this would not have been possible.
"Our existing family run team, JWT Performance, has joined hands with Rob Houseman, the CEO of The Houseman Group, which is fantastic."
Wood hopes he can challenge for points despite his lack of experience in NGTC machinery.
"There's going to be a learning curve for sure, as the NGTC car will be new to us, but we'll be trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible," he added.
"It won't be easy as the championship is looking extremely competitive - we'll be targeting points in the first instance and then really looking to build on some solid results."
Confirmed 2014 British Touring Car line-up so far: Team Car Drivers Eurotech Honda Civic Andrew Jordan/Martin Depper Honda (Team Dynamics) Civic Tourer Gordon Shedden/Matt Neal MG (Triple Eight) MG6 Jason Plato/Sam Tordoff/Marc Hynes Ciceley Racing Mercedes A-class Adam Morgan Motorbase Performance Ford Focus Fabrizio Giovanardi/TBA/TBA AmD Ford Focus Dave Newsham Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 Rob Austin/TBA Welch Motorsport Proton Gen-2 Dan Welch/Ollie Jackson United Autosports Toyota Avensis James Cole/Glynn Geddie Rotek Racing Audi S3 Robb Holland Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis Simon Belcher Team BMR Vauxhall Insignia Jack Goff Team BMR VW Passat CC Alain Menu/Aron Smith WSR BMW 125i M Sport C Turkington/R Collard/N Foster Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis Tom Ingram Houseman Racing Toyota Avensis Lea Wood
| Saturday, March 1st 2014, 00:41 GMT |
Brad Keselowski claimed the first pole position under the NASCAR Sprint Cup's new Formula 1-inspired qualifying system at Phoenix.
The previous one-at-a-time format has been dropped for 2014 in favour of a knockout structure.
At Phoenix, the whole field had a 30-minute session after which the top 12 went forward into a pole shootout.
Penske duo Joey Logano and Keselowski had put their Fords first and second as soon as the first part of qualifying began and held those positions throughout.
They did the same in part two, but this time Keselowski was able to improve on his second run and beat his team-mate's 25.850-second lap by 0.022s.
"Boy that feels good, we've put a lot of effort to being as good as we can be after a very long 2013," said '12 champion Keselowski, who failed to make the Chase last season.
Ganassi had a strong day, with Jamie McMurray third and rookie Kyle Larson seventh.
Jimmmie Johnson took fourth, ahead of his Daytona 500-winning Hendrick team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had been quickest in practice, and Roush Fenway's Greg Biffle.
While the Penske drivers opted to go out immediately in the pole segment, others held back in the pits until the last moment.
Denny Hamlin took this tactic furthest and did just one lap, but ended up 12th and last among the group.
Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman led those who missed the cut at the end of first qualifying.
Although some drivers voiced concerns about traffic, particularly with cars running slowly to cool down between flying laps, the only incident was an early spin into the wall by Justin Allgaier.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 25.828s 2. Joey Logano Penske Ford 25.850s +0.022s 3. Jamie McMurray Ganassi Chevrolet 25.905s +0.077s 4. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 26.021s +0.193s 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 26.022s +0.194s 6. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 26.023s +0.195s 7. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet 26.027s +0.199s 8. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 26.027s +0.199s 9. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 26.034s +0.206s 10. Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 26.078s +0.250s 11. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 26.108s +0.280s 12. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 26.217s +0.389s 13. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 26.122s Q1 14. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 26.123s Q1 15. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 26.126s Q1 16. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 26.127s Q1 17. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 26.136s Q1 18. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet 26.165s Q1 19. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 26.173s Q1 20. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 26.185s Q1 21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 26.187s Q1 22. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 26.211s Q1 23. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 26.236s Q1 24. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet 26.239s Q1 25. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Chevrolet 26.243s Q1 26. Michael McDowell Leavine Ford 26.265s Q1 27. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Chevrolet 26.296s Q1 28. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 26.303s Q1 29. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 26.317s Q1 30. David Ragan Front Row Ford 26.318s Q1 31. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota 26.330s Q1 32. Brian Scott Childress Chevrolet 26.331s Q1 33. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 26.365s Q1 34. Ryan Truex BK Toyota 26.495s Q1 35. Alex Bowman BK Toyota 26.546s Q1 36. Parker Kligerman Swan Toyota 26.591s Q1 37. Blake Koch Front Row Ford 26.615s Q1 38. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 26.670s Q1 39. Reed Sorenson Baldwin Chevrolet 26.687s Q1 40. Travis Kvapil Go FAS Ford 26.712s Q1 41. Michael Annett Baldwin Chevrolet 26.836s Q1 42. Morgan Shepherd Shepherd Toyota 27.908s Q1 43. Justin Allgaier HScott Chevrolet Did not qualify: Josh Wise Parsons Chevrolet 26.610s Q1 Landon Cassill Hillman Chevrolet 26.644s Q1 Dave Blaney Humphrey Ford 26.818s Q1
