| Saturday, August 30th 2014, 16:58 GMT |
Mini driver Vaclav Pech found himself in the Rally Zlin lead after all the usual European Rally Championship frontrunners had near-simultaneous disasters on day one in the Czech Republic
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| By Marcus Simmons | Saturday, August 30th 2014, 17:05 GMT |
Santino Ferrucci dominated the first race of the British Formula 3 Championship weekend at Brands Hatch to take a pole-to-flag win
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| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, August 31st 2014, 00:05 GMT |
Mikhail Aleshin's condition has been upgraded to stable following his huge IndyCar practice crash at Fontana on Friday
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| Saturday, August 30th 2014, 00:26 GMT |
Kevin Harvick claimed his sixth pole position of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season in qualifying for Sunday's Atlanta Motor Speedway night race
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 30th 2014, 00:35 GMT |
IndyCar technical advisor Tony Cotman has carried out a track inspection at Mosport in anticipation of the likely need for a back-up venue for Toronto due to 2015 scheduling conflicts
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 30th 2014, 03:24 GMT |
Final practice for Saturday's IndyCar season-finale at Fontana was cut short by a massive accident involving Mikhail Aleshin at Turn 4
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, August 27th 2014, 22:51 GMT |
IndyCar has confirmed that NOLA Motorsports Park will join its schedule in 2015, marking the first time that the series has raced in New Orleans
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| By Mark Glendenning | Wednesday, August 27th 2014, 15:09 GMT |
Outgoing IndyCar champion Scott Dixon believes that internal distractions over the winter played a role in his Chip Ganassi team's slow start to the 2014 IndyCar season
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, August 27th 2014, 15:56 GMT |
McLaren thinks a major update programme that kicks off at the Singapore Grand Prix could lift it on terms with Red Bull by the end of the 2014 Formula 1 season.
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, August 26th 2014, 15:29 GMT |
JR Hildebrand is in the frame to join Josef Newgarden at the newly-merged CFH Racing team in next year's IndyCar season
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| By Ben Anderson | Tuesday, August 26th 2014, 14:11 GMT |
Kimi Raikkonen believes the Ferrari Formula 1 team is becoming stronger as the 2014 season wears on, after recording his best result of the campaign at the Belgian Grand Prix
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| By Jonathan Noble and Ben Anderson | Tuesday, August 26th 2014, 16:20 GMT |
McLaren is weighing up 2015 Formula 1 options for its junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne, but has not ruled out keeping him in GP2 for another season
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, August 25th 2014, 16:37 GMT |
Nico Rosberg has denied Lewis Hamilton's claims that he confessed to deliberately not avoiding the collision with his Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate at the Belgian Grand Prix
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| By Edd Straw | Monday, August 25th 2014, 18:52 GMT |
Sebastian Vettel has become the first Formula 1 driver to lap the new Sochi circuit, which will host October's Russian Grand Prix
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| By Mark Glendenning | Monday, August 25th 2014, 21:32 GMT |
IndyCar teams will be limited to 14 test days and no in-season, on-track team testing under new regulations for 2015, although open tests prior to selected races will be reintroduced
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| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, August 24th 2014, 19:16 GMT |
Jack Harvey dominated Sunday's Indy Lights season finale at Sonoma, although the Brit's win was not enough to prevent title rival Gabby Chaves from securing the championship on a countback
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| Sunday, August 24th 2014, 23:20 GMT |
Giancarlo Fisichella made a last-lap pass on Wolf Henzler to claim victory for himself and Risi Ferrari team-mate Pierre Kaffer in a thrilling all-GT United SportsCar encounter at Virginia
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| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, August 24th 2014, 23:30 GMT |
Scott Dixon emerged victorious from a bizarre Sonoma IndyCar race, while Will Power recovered from a mishap to salvage 10th and maintain the points lead into next weekend's Fontana finale
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| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, August 24th 2014, 01:29 GMT |
Will Power will start the IndyCar race at Sonoma from pole position for Penske after a dramatic qualifying session late on Saturday afternoon
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 23rd 2014, 21:21 GMT |
Helio Castroneves was quickest in a busy second IndyCar practice session at Sonoma on Saturday
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| Sunday, August 24th 2014, 02:48 GMT |
Joey Logano claimed his third win of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season by holding off team-mate Brad Keselowski in a Penske one-two in the Bristol Motor Speedway night race
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| By Edd Straw and Andrew van Leeuwen | Friday, August 22nd 2014, 17:18 GMT |
Andre Lotterer declared himself happy with his first day as a Formula 1 driver, following his solid showing for Caterham through Friday's Belgian Grand Pix practice sessions
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| By Ben Anderson | Friday, August 22nd 2014, 17:29 GMT |
Renault says reigning Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel will escape a grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix by reverting to the engine he used in Hungary.
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| Friday, August 22nd 2014, 22:56 GMT |
Kevin Harvick took his fifth pole position of 2014 and set a new track record at Bristol Motor Speedway in NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying
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| By Ben Anderson | Thursday, August 21st 2014, 19:16 GMT |
Jean-Eric Vergne says he will bounce back from losing his Toro Rosso seat to Formula 3 prodigy Max Verstappen and prove he deserves to continue his career in Formula 1
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| By Ben Anderson and Dieter Rencken | Thursday, August 21st 2014, 19:09 GMT |
Max Verstappen will likely make his Formula 1 debut in free practice for November's United States Grand Prix, according to Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost
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| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, August 21st 2014, 21:26 GMT |
Toyota has pledged to improve its NASCAR Sprint Cup performance following criticisms from Denny Hamlin at Michigan Speedway last weekend
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| Wednesday, August 20th 2014, 14:09 GMT |
FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting says the Sochi Autodrom is ready to host the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix later this year
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| By David Evans | Wednesday, August 20th 2014, 15:11 GMT |
Marcus Gronholm says there is no chance he will compete again in the World Rally Championship despite his recent appointment as Volkswagen's test driver
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| By Ben Anderson | Wednesday, August 20th 2014, 15:51 GMT |
Toro Rosso technical director James Key believes his former team Sauber has "all the fundamentals" necessary to bounce back from its difficult start to the 2014 Formula 1 season.
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| Monday, August 18th 2014, 19:41 GMT |
Max Verstappen will race in Formula 1 at the age of 17 when he joins the Toro Rosso team next year, the Red Bull-owned squad announced on Monday.
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| Monday, August 18th 2014, 19:21 GMT |
Leon Camier will stay on with Aspar Honda for his home MotoGP round at Silverstone after Nicky Hayden delayed his return.
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| By Marcus Simmons | Monday, August 18th 2014, 19:56 GMT |
Analysis: Why Max Verstappen can handle F1
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 16th 2014, 21:54 GMT |
Zach Veach gave his championship hopes a boost by securing pole position for this weekend's Indy Lights race at Milwaukee
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 16th 2014, 21:38 GMT |
Two of IndyCar's single-car teams have confirmed plans to merge at the end of 2014, with Ed Carpenter Racing and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing set to become a multi-car entity
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 16th 2014, 23:19 GMT |
Will Power held off Tony Kanaan to secure pole position for this weekend's IndyCar race at Milwaukee
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| Friday, August 15th 2014, 21:37 GMT |
Jeff Gordon took a second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup pole in Friday's qualifying session at Michigan Speedway, while all his Hendrick team-mates struggled for speed
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| By Richard Asher | Friday, August 15th 2014, 17:28 GMT |
Max Verstappen delivered on the damp-weather promise he showed in morning practice by topping evening European Formula 3 qualifying in similar conditions at the Nurburgring
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| Friday, August 15th 2014, 20:12 GMT |
British Rally Championship driver Timothy Cathcart has died following an accident on the Ulster Rally on Friday.
The 20-year-old crashed on the third stage, Fardross, while running in 12th position overall on his home event.
His co-driver Dai Roberts was injured and is currently being treated in hospital.
Cathcart was in his first season in the BRC's top class this year, having stepped up to a Citroen DS3 R3 from his previous Ford Fiesta R2.
He had a number of misfortunes in the early rallies, although he was classified sixth among the BRC competitors on the season-opening Pirelli Carlisle Rally.
BRC chief Mark Taylor said: "We are all in deep shock following this very sad news.
"Timothy was a very popular competitor and a budding young talent. He is a huge loss to the sport.
"The thoughts and condolences of the MSA British Rally Championship are with Timothy's family and friends.
"Our thoughts are also with his co-driver Dai Roberts. We all wish him a speedy recovery."
The remainder of the Ulster Rally has been cancelled following the accident.
Cathcart's death is the second tragedy in the BRC this year. Three spectators lost their lives in an accident on the Jim Clark Rally in May.
| By Ben Anderson | Thursday, August 14th 2014, 16:01 GMT |
Force India boss Vijay Mallya says he cannot make sense of Formula 1's decision to award double points for the final race of 2014.
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| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, August 14th 2014, 13:32 GMT |
Martino Finotto, who has died at the age of 80 after a long battle with cancer, made his mark in our sport as a driver, a team owner and engine constructor.
The high point of the wealthy Italian's 20-year racing career came with victory in the 1979 European Touring Car Championship aboard a self-run BMW 3.0CSL entered under the Jolly Club banner. He claimed the title with long-time co-driver and business partner Carlo Facetti after winning five of the final six rounds.
Finotto, who won a total of 12 ETC races in 1977-79, had already contested the blue-riband 24-hour enduros at Le Mans and Daytona and turned his attention to sportscar racing after winning the touring car crown.
He raced a privateer Group 5 Lancia Beta Montecarlo in the 1980 World Championship for Makes and ran a Ferrari 308 GTB turbo, which was reputed to have 1000bhp in qualifying trim, alongside the Lancia the following season.
The Ferrari was developed by Finotto and Facetti's CARMA operation - the name of which was derived from the opening letters of their christian names - and this tiny organisation subsequently built a bespoke four-cylinder turbocharged engine for the new Group C Junior category for 1983.
Badged a Giannini after the Fiat special tuner because CARMA needed a manufacturer for homologation purposes, this engine claimed back-to-back World Endurance Championship titles in the secondary Group C category in 1983-84 together with Italian racing car constructor Alba.
Finotto took a total of four class victories in the first season sharing with Facetti.
Almo Coppelli, who drove for the CARMA Alba set-up in the second of those seasons and subsequently raced with Finotto in the US IMSA series, remembers a man who was at once passionate for motorsport and a hard taskmaster.
"Martino was driven by his passion, but he always gave me a hard time," says Coppelli.
"He and Facetti were old-school guys and really tough with me, but I learnt a lot - racing with them was part of my schooling.
"Facetti did everything in the team: he was the driver, the manager and the engineer. Finotto paid the bills, but we was a decent driver who was never far off the pace."
Finotto continued racing at the wheel of Albas for much of the 1980s before driving for other marques in the IMSA Camel Lights category through into the early 1990s.
He competed at Le Mans on six occasions without breaking into the top 10, but had a best finishes at Daytona of second in 1977 driving a Porsche 935 and a fifth in 1981 at the wheel of his Lancia.
Finotto, who made his fortune in the chemical industry, started racing in 1972 and briefly flirted with Formula 1.
He bought a pair of Brabham BT42s, but decided against racing them after a solitary test at Monza at the end of 1973.
Instead they were fielded by ex-Formula 3 star Jurg Dubler under the Scuderia Finotto banner for a number of drivers through the '74 season, though two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Gerard Larrousse's start at the Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles was the only time the team made it onto the grid.
Finotto continued to race into the 1990s, making his last sportscar appearance at the 1995 Sebring 12 Hours.
| Thursday, August 14th 2014, 16:29 GMT |
Will Power believes the 2014 IndyCar championship run-in is the first time that he can go into a title decider with "no weakness".
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| Wednesday, August 13th 2014, 16:10 GMT |
MotoGP has confirmed that it has signed a five-year deal with the Circuit of Wales to host the British round of the championship from 2015, although an alternative track will be used next year.
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| Wednesday, August 13th 2014, 14:38 GMT |
Briton Bradley Smith will remain with the Tech 3 team in 2015 after extending his deal with the MotoGP squad
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| By Edd Straw | Wednesday, August 13th 2014, 15:45 GMT |
Daniel Ricciardo's performance during the first half of the Formula 1 season have exceeded all expectations, according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
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| By Ben Anderson | Tuesday, August 12th 2014, 14:25 GMT |
The Mercedes Formula 1 team reckons the lack of mistakes made by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as they've fought each other for the 2014 world championship is "incredible"
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| By Gary Watkins | Tuesday, August 12th 2014, 14:59 GMT |
Millennium Racing is still aiming to compete in the second half of this season's World Endurance Championship, despite its absence from the entry list for next month's Austin round
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| Tuesday, August 12th 2014, 15:09 GMT |
Formula 3 European championship frontrunner Max Verstappen has joined the Red Bull Junior Team with immediate effect
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| Monday, August 11th 2014, 15:48 GMT |
Two-time World Rally champion Marcus Gronholm has joined Volkswagen as a test driver to help develop the German manufacturer's Polo WRC.
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| By Edd Straw | Monday, August 11th 2014, 13:27 GMT |
The Red Bull Formula 1 team does not need to appoint a technical director to work under Adrian Newey, according to team principal Christian Horner.
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| By Ben Anderson | Monday, August 11th 2014, 16:06 GMT |
Force India boss Vijay Mallya has hailed Williams driver Valtteri Bottas "the star of the season" in Formula 1
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| Sunday, August 10th 2014, 21:48 GMT |
Joao Barbosa held off a determined Oswaldo Negri Jr to claim victory for himself and Action Express team-mate Christian Fittipaldi in a crash-strewn United SportsCar race at Road America
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| By Ben Anderson | Sunday, August 10th 2014, 21:36 GMT |
Mercedes does not believe engines have become the dominant factor in Formula 1 car performance this season, despite the advantage it has enjoyed over Ferrari and Renault
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| Sunday, August 10th 2014, 22:05 GMT |
AJ Allmendinger won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race following a thrilling duel with Marcos Ambrose that went down to a final two-lap shootout
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| Saturday, August 9th 2014, 16:58 GMT |
Jeff Gordon claimed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole position of 2014 at Watkins Glen, beating road course specialist Marcos Ambrose in the process
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| Saturday, August 9th 2014, 18:57 GMT |
Marc Marquez claimed his eighth pole of the 2014 MotoGP season at Indianapolis, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati
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| Saturday, August 9th 2014, 22:55 GMT |
Ryan Dalziel snatched pole from Richard Westbrook with a final-lap effort in United SportsCar qualifying at Road America
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| Friday, August 8th 2014, 18:55 GMT |
Marc Marquez ended day one of MotoGP's Indianapolis weekend on top as he set the Friday afternoon pace
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| By Jonathan Noble and Ben Anderson | Friday, August 8th 2014, 15:50 GMT |
Double grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo reckons Red Bull stablemate Carlos Sainz Jr would benefit from making his Formula 1 debut with a backmarker team
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| By Hal Ridge | Saturday, August 9th 2014, 01:34 GMT |
Petter Solberg dominated the seventh round of the World Rallycross Championship at classic Canadian street venue Trois-Rivieres and in the process became the 2014 season's first repeat winner
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| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, August 7th 2014, 20:14 GMT |
Honda believes that IndyCar fans will be surprised by the visual differences when the manufacturers finally introduce their own aerodynamic body kits in 2015.
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| Thursday, August 7th 2014, 15:23 GMT |
Jorge Lorenzo has completed a new two-year deal with Yamaha MotoGP team
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| By Ben Anderson and Jonathan Noble | Thursday, August 7th 2014, 16:13 GMT |
Jenson Button says he has no interest in racing in any other categories outside Formula 1, despite his ongoing contractual stalemate with McLaren
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| By Ben Anderson | Tuesday, August 5th 2014, 15:48 GMT |
Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn says it will be "unacceptable" for her Formula 1 team to finish 10th in this season's constructors' championship
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| By Kevin Turner | Tuesday, August 5th 2014, 16:57 GMT |
British Touring Car Championship leader Colin Turkington topped Tuesday's Snetterton test with his WSR BMW
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| By Mark Glendenning | Tuesday, August 5th 2014, 21:20 GMT |
Former Indy Lights champion Tristan Vautier hailed the new Dallara IL-15 Lights car after putting it through its paces in its first public test at Mid-Ohio on Monday
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| By Gary Watkins | Monday, August 4th 2014, 13:33 GMT |
Mike Smith, who has died from complications following heart surgery at the age of 59, was a driver whose talents were always overlooked as a result of his TV fame
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| By Edd Straw | Monday, August 4th 2014, 14:14 GMT |
Lotus will be able to fight for points more regularly when Formula 1 returns following the August break, according to Pastor Maldonado
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| By Ben Anderson | Monday, August 4th 2014, 16:39 GMT |
Sergio Perez says his difficult season at McLaren came at "the worst possible moment", because the dip in the Formula 1 team's fortunes meant he couldn't realise his full potential
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| By Ben Anderson | Sunday, August 3rd 2014, 21:57 GMT |
Kimi Raikkonen still believes he is fast enough to fight at the front in Formula 1, despite struggling to find his form with Ferrari this season
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| Sunday, August 3rd 2014, 20:35 GMT |
Dale Earnhardt Jr emerged in front through the late strategy gambles and restart jostles to win at Pocono for the second time in the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season
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| By Mark Glendenning | Sunday, August 3rd 2014, 22:24 GMT |
Scott Dixon came from last on the grid to take an extraordinary IndyCar win at Mid-Ohio on Sunday
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 2nd 2014, 19:55 GMT |
Sebastien Bourdais survived a tricky qualifying session at Mid-Ohio to secure his second IndyCar pole position in two weeks
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| By Peter Mills | Saturday, August 2nd 2014, 20:07 GMT |
Jose Maria Lopez responded to the pressure of an expectant home crowd to earn his fourth 2014 World Touring Car Championship pole at the refurbished Termas de Rio Hondo circuit
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 2nd 2014, 21:06 GMT |
Jack Harvey dominated the opening race of this weekend's Indy Lights double-header at Mid-Ohio to claim his first career win in the USA
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| Friday, August 1st 2014, 18:09 GMT |
Jari-Matti Latvala extended his Rally Finland lead to 19.7 seconds by the end of Friday, as Kris Meeke grabbed second from Sebastien Ogier.
Reigning World Rally champion Ogier felt running first on the road was much more costly for him amid the afternoon's fully dry conditions.
Latvala countered that being second in the start order was little different for him, and felt his Volkswagen team-mate and title rival had outpsyched himself.
As well as falling away from the flying Latvala, Ogier was also reeled in and overhauled by Meeke's Citroen, which grabbed second halfway through the afternoon loop.
Meeke will go into Saturday with a 1.6s advantage over Ogier after his best drive of the year so far.
Kubica and Ogier quiz each other
Fourth place remains very hotly contested. Mikko Hirvonen began to escape from the battling Mads Ostberg and Andreas Mikkelsen, only to fall back again with a spin on the Paijala stage.
The trio were briefly covered by just 0.8s before spreading out on the closing Harju stage. Mikkelsen is now 1.2s ahead of Ostberg, with Hirvonen another 1.9s apart.
Hyundai had to retire Thierry Neuville's car during the lunchtime service when rollcage damage was discovered from his morning incident.
But the team was able to revive Juho Hanninen's i20 - which did actually roll in his earlier crash, unlike Neuville's - and the Finn was immediately back on the pace after service.
Power steering issues then set in, slowing his recovery, and Hanninen ended the day ninth, edging closer to Elfyn Evans.
That means rookie Hayden Paddon is now established as Hyundai's lead runner in seventh.
A string of punctures for Henning Solberg and a crash for Martin Prokop mean Craig Breen now completes the potential points-scorers in 10th.
M-Sport has successfully repaired Robert Kubica's Ford following his crash at the start of Friday's action.
He will rejoin under Rally2 on Saturday, albeit far down the order with heavy penalties.
Leading positions after SS13: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 1h34m42.4s 2. Kris Meeke Citroen +19.7s 3. Sebastien Ogier VW +21.3s 4. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +1m04.2s 5. Mads Ostberg Citroen +1m05.4s 6. Mikko Hirvonen M-Sport Ford +1m07.3s 7. Hayden Paddon Hyundai +2m11.6s 8. Elfyn Evans M-Sport Ford +2m39.4s 9. Juho Hanninen Hyundai +2m51.1s 10. Craig Breen Kel-Tech Ford +2m39.4s
| By Mark Glendenning | Friday, August 1st 2014, 19:12 GMT |
Sebastien Bourdais ended the opening day of practice for this weekend's IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio by going fastest in Friday afternoon's session.
The Frenchman, who earned his first US single-seater win since Champ Car at Toronto two weeks ago, finished the afternoon on top with a best lap of 1m06.8271s.
"It was good," Bourdais said. "We finally had a good weekend in Toronto and capitalised on our pace, and it's great to be at the front here at Mid-Ohio.
"It's a fun place and a challenging track. We had a good test here last week and we're still digging, still looking for stuff."
Andretti's Carlos Munoz was second-fastest ahead of Takuma Sato, who himself had led the session earlier on.
Officials ended the session slightly early after Carlos Huertas spun and stopped at the entry to the final corner, bringing out a red flag with less than a minute remaining.
It was the second red flag of the afternoon, following on from a similarly harmless spin at Turn 4 by Simon Pagenaud.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap Laps 1. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 1m06.8271s 17 2. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 1m06.8810s 0.0539s 16 3. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 1m06.9065s 0.0794s 13 4. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 1m07.0583s 0.2312s 15 5. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 1m07.0840s 0.2569s 21 6. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 1m07.0943s 0.2672s 12 7. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 1m07.1077s 0.2806s 14 8. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 1m07.1917s 0.3646s 19 9. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 1m07.2178s 0.3907s 13 10. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 1m07.2588s 0.4317s 12 11. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 1m07.2846s 0.4575s 19 12. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 1m07.3298s 0.5027s 14 13. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1m07.4218s 0.5947s 19 14. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 1m07.4590s 0.6319s 14 15. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 1m07.5643s 0.7372s 17 16. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 1m07.5934s 0.7663s 20 17. Mike Conway Carpenter/Chevy 1m07.6579s 0.8308s 22 18. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 1m07.6748s 0.8477s 21 19. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 1m07.7580s 0.9309s 19 20. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 1m07.8989s 1.0718s 15 21. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 1m07.9722s 1.1451s 15 22. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 1m07.9916s 1.1645s 18 All drivers use Dallara chassis
| Friday, August 1st 2014, 20:49 GMT |
NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie Kyle Larson will start from first place for the second time in his top-level career after topping qualifying at Pocono.
The Ganassi driver had also led the field away at Richmond in April, although on that occasion rain in qualifying meant his pole was secured via practice times.
At Pocono he fended off Penske's Joey Logano - who had been quickest in the first two qualifying segments - by 0.008 seconds to claim his first pole in a traditional session.
While most of the pole contenders took their one shot at the start of the decisive five-minute session, Logano's team-mate Brad Keselowski left it until there were just seconds to spare before making his bid, but could only manage third.
Practice pacesetter Kurt Busch secured fourth, with Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick - winner and polesitter respectively at Indianapolis last week - sharing row three.
Denny Hamlin took pole for the previous Pocono round in June, but narrowly missed the final qualifying cut this time.
Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson had come close to being eliminated in the first round, with a mistake and a blend line penalty hampered his early runs.
A last-gasp lap got him from 29th to 23rd, although he only managed 17th on the grid in the end.
Roush Fenway duo Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards were the biggest names knocked out in the opening segment, with their team-mate Ricky Stenhouse Jr responsible for edging Biffle out in the final moment. Not that Stenhouse got much further, as he only qualified 23rd in part two.
Two further practice sessions follow on Saturday before the race takes place on Sunday. Rain is a danger throughout the weekend but Friday's practice and qualifying were not interrupted at all - although a heavy shower struck just minutes after pole was decided.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet 49.063s 2. Joey Logano Penske Ford 49.071s +0.008s 3. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 49.261s +0.198s 4. Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 49.272s +0.209s 5. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 49.285s +0.222s 6. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 49.426s +0.363s 7. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 49.445s +0.382s 8. Jamie McMUrray Ganassi Chevrolet 49.446s +0.383s 9. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 49.521s +0.458s 10. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 49.547s +0.484s 11. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet 49.558s +0.495s 12. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 49.647s +0.584s 13. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 49.680s Q2 14. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 49.681s Q2 15. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 49.765s Q2 16. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 49.802s Q2 17. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 49.861s Q2 18. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 49.924s Q2 19. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Chevrolet 49.963s Q2 20. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Chevrolet 50.004s Q2 21. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 50.034s Q2 22. Justin Allgaier HScott Chevrolet 50.164s Q2 23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 50.194s Q2 24. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet 50.260s Q2 25. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 50.232s Q1 26. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 50.280s Q1 27. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 50.303s Q1 28. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 50.304s Q1 29. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 50.318s Q1 30. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 50.548s Q1 31. Josh Wise Parsons Chevrolet 50.646s Q1 32. Landon Cassill Hillman Chevrolet 50.654s Q1 33. Cole Whitt BK Toyota 50.687s Q1 34. Travis Kvapil FAS Lane Ford 50.733s Q1 35. Reed Sorenson Baldwin Chevrolet 50.746s Q1 36. Alex Bowman BK Toyota 50.991s Q1 37. Ryan Truex BK Toyota 51.012s Q1 38. Michael Annett Baldwin Chevrolet 51.017s Q1 39. David Ragan Front Row Ford 51.109s Q1 40. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 51.487s Q1 41. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 52.239s Q1 42. Alex Kennedy Circle Sport Chevrolet 52.265s Q1 43. Johnny Sauter BK Toyota 54.164s Q1
| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, July 31st 2014, 14:41 GMT |
Ferrari has confirmed a restructuring of its Formula 1 engine department amid its disappointing 2014 campaign.
With the team's new V6 turbo falling short of pacesetter Mercedes, the Italian outfit is aware of the need to make big changes for next season.
Part of that effort has included a new approach to the structure, with long-serving engine chief Luca Marmorini having left the team.
Ferrari has now announced that Mattia Binotto will become the chief operating officer of its power unit department. He will work closely with technical director James Allison.
Lorenzo Sassi, who has worked at Ferrari's engine department since 2006, will be chief designer of the power unit.
| By Ben Anderson | Thursday, July 31st 2014, 14:59 GMT |
The Williams Formula 1 team's downturn in competitiveness in the Hungarian Grand Prix should be taken as a one-off, says the Grove squad's performance chief Rob Smedley.
Williams has generally had the second fastest car on the grid in recent races, but it slipped back behind Ferrari and Red Bull at the Hungaroring and also lost third spot in the constructors' championship to the Italian outfit.
Smedley believes Williams did better than expected on a circuit that did not suit the FW36, and he expects the team will be back to its best once racing resumes at Spa at the end of August.
"Our target is to be second in the championship and that's still achievable," Smedley said.
"I think we had a race that was a little bit anomalous if you look at our results over the last five races.
"We've got two races [Spa and Monza] coming up where we've got to capitalise on the characteristics of the car.
"We think those circuits will suit us. We have to capitalise on that and put ourselves in a good position."
Smedley started work with Williams in April, following a period of gardening leave from his former team Ferrari, and he reckons Williams has now evolved to the point where it can keep pace with bigger outfits in the car development race.
"Development speed and testing methodology has improved and allowed us to keep pace with the others, or even get ahead of them at times," Smedley added.
"At the track, testing and racing, we're making steady progress.
"There are big areas we've looked into and we have a certain evolving structure we're improving all the time.
"Certain things you want on the car have a long lead time and you can't have them at the next race, or even until the next year.
"Some of it with the operations group you can solve in 10 minutes and some of it you need a lot longer.
"It's a constant juggling act."
CULTURAL SHIFT
Valtteri Bottas started third for the Hungarian GP, but he only finished eighth after a slow first pitstop and a questionable call on tyre strategy.
Smedley said the culture of self-improvement instilled in Williams meant it would bounce back from its mistakes for future races.
"I reckon we're 60 per cent of where we need to be in terms of operations, so it's not just when everything goes horribly wrong that I turn around and say we need to sharpen up operations," Smedley said.
"We need to sharpen up operations full-stop.
"The important thing for Williams now, perhaps a slight change of culture, is that we'll go away, try to understand all the things we did, understand what we did well, see what we didn't do so well, and improve.
"Every single race we learn something and we get better.
"Even when we're first and second by a margin we won't stop trying to improve."
| Thursday, July 31st 2014, 18:18 GMT |
Jari-Matti Latvala narrowly leads his home World Rally Championship round from Volkswagen team-mate Sebastien Ogier following the first afternoon of Rally Finland.
Latvala won Thursday afternoon's wet first two stages, shared the SS3 stage win with Ogier as they set identical times and then lost eight tenths of a second to his rival when he had a brush with a hay bale on the city-based Harju stage that finished the day.
That left Latvala 4.5s ahead of Ogier going into Friday's nine-stage itinerary.
Citroen's Kris Meeke is the only man able to keep VW's lead duo in sight so far, completing the evening just 4s behind Ogier after a very encouraging start to the first of the three rallies that will determine whether he gets a 2015 deal.
Juho Hanninen was right with Meeke initially as he made a superb start to his home rally for Hyundai. But the Finn lost ground in the ruts that developed for those further down the start order on the repeat run of the Lankamaa stage and dropped behind Mikko Hirvonen to fifth by the end of the day.
Just 0.8s covers Hirvonen, Hanninen and a cautious Andreas Mikkelsen in fourth to sixth places, with Mads Ostberg right behind them. Hirvonen and Ostberg in particular were frustrated with their Thursday performances and to have fallen half a minute adrift of the lead already.
Thierry Neuville is not far away from this group in the second Hyundai, despite feeling his pace notes were far too cautious initially. Robert Kubica is setting consistent stage times in ninth on his first attempt at Finland in a top-class car.
Two other members of the M-Sport stable have already hit trouble. Henning Solberg fell from eighth to 12th when he punctured a tyre on a rock on SS3, while WRC returnee Jarkko Nikara crashed out of 11th place on the same stage.
Leading positions after SS4: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jari-Matti Latvala VW 29m17.9s 2. Sebastien Ogier VW +4.5s 3. Kris Meeke Citroen +9.2s 4. Mikko Hirvonen M-Sport Ford +26.4s 5. Juho Hanninen Hyundai +27.1s 6. Andreas Mikkelsen VW +27.2s 7. Mads Ostberg Citroen +30.9s 8. Thierry Neuville Hyundai +38.8s 9. Robert Kubica M-Sport Ford +52.1s 10. Hayden Paddon Hyundai +1m06.0s
