WEC – Toyota Answers the Call

The new FiA World Endurance Championship (WEC) received a much needed shot in the arm today as Toyota officially announced their “entry” in this year’s maiden championship. The new TS030 HYBRID will still compete with a single entry at Spa and two machines at Le Mans as originally planned with maybe more on the schedule. The news was announced today and now gives the FiA the two manufacturers needed in the LMP1 division. This will put Toyota one on one with Audi for sports car supremacy. No small order to say…

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WRC – Junior Squads Get a Face Lift

For the first time in a couple seasons, 2012 will see proper “junior” squads making a return in the World Rally Championship. These teams are often manufacturer efforts put forth to develop the future stars of the WRC. Jari-Matti Latvala and Sebastien Ogier are a couple of the most recent graduates from Ford and Citroen respectfully. These teams are rarely given the chance to compete for victories, but will see some of the best and brightest pushing the car to the absolute limit. The goal is to leave that lasting…

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Episode 117 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Mike as they welcome back Doug from the fall semester! We talk about Ford signing a new deal and hiring Petter Solberg joining M-Sport. We also talk about the latest driver signings in WRC, F1, and the IZOD IndyCar Series! There is also a lot of discussion involving the upcoming schedule for the 2012 IndyCar season. Doug has your Mazda Road to Indy update and the next trivia question in our AcceleRace promotion! Thanks as always for the download and enjoy…

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Episode 114 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Mike for all of the hot news this week in motorsport. We talk Ogier going to Citroen and Shaun tries to rationalize the Ford/M-Sport situation. We also look back and talk about the Brazilian Grand Prix. Where will Kimi go? Well we found out today Renault. We talk about it during the show. Join our Mazda Road to Indy editor Doug Patterson as he talks with Accelerace’s very own Ardie Greenamyer. Listen for details in the show about how you can…

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Episode 110 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin the Paddock trio as they discuss the Indian Grand Prix! What a fantastic venue for a motor race! We will breeze through some IZOD IndyCar Series news as well. Doug gives a proper run down of the Mazda Road to Indy testing going on at the IMS road course. As always, we appreciate the download and hope you enjoy this week’s show!

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Episode 108 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Mike as they talk about Formula 1 from Suzuka and Vettel’s title. They break down the race that was the always amazing Japanese Grand Prix. The boys also look ahead to the INDYCAR World Championship from Las Vegas and ask the question…will this be a real race? How will race control influence all of the events that will be going on? Is race control positioned for world domination? Where they the ones who secretly plotte dthe assasination of the Saudi ambassador?…

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Episode 97 – OpenPaddock.net podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Doug as they recap this past weekend’s rally action as well as rumors surrounding Subaru and the WRX. Doug has all of the Firestone Indy Lights news from the week as well as a look ahead to Edmonton. We cover Foyt and Honda as well as who else will pick what. As always, sit back and enjoy the show!

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Audi On Pole, Clinch Front Row

Frenchman Benoit Tréluyer set pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans piloting the #2 Audi Sport Team Joest. It is Audi’s first pole at Le Mans since 2006. Tréluyer benefited from a clear lap to best the #1 Audi Sport Team Joest of Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller. The Team Peugeot Total of Simon Pagenaud/Sebastian Bourdais/Pedro Lamy will start third. The Audis and Peugeots traded fast times but as often the case at Le Mans, traffic hampered flying laps for both teams.   The final session wasn’t without incident…

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Le Mans Notes 06/08/11; Sarrazin Peugeot Set Pace

Just as it appeared Audi had lay claim to the top three positions during provisional qualifying Peugeot Sport Total‘s Stephane Sarrazin peeled off a blistering lap that undercut the German squad by nine-tenths of a second during an incident packed session. The Audi Sport Team Joest R18 TDI’s and Team Peugeot Sport Total 908’s were fastest throughout the session. The 908 of Sebring winners Team Oreca Matmut were seventh in LMP1. The Pescarlo Judd was the fastest of the petrol powered LMP cars, in eighth position, nearly two seconds ahead of…

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