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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LeMans – DeltaWing Partners with Gurney and Highcroft for 2012’s 24 Hour
Ben Bowlby’s DeltaWing concept has not faded into the past, as much as many IndyCar fans may wish it. The concept lives and will make an appearance in a place where we here at OpenPaddock had thought it was best suited from the beginning, endurance sports car racing. After all, the concept originally produced and displayed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2010 could only very loosely have been called an open-wheel car. It genuinely does resemble a prototype sports car more than a single-seater formula car. However, that…
Read MoreINDYCAR – Don’t Look to the Olympics
Yesterday the Indianapolis Business Journal released an article in their sports section where it was opined that NBC’s recent win for the next few Olympic installments would help INDYCAR/Versus ratings. An assessment that I believe is a little bit of a stretch and probably wishful thinking at best. No disrespect to the author obviously, but I just don’t see how this is going to help anything. The Olympic Games is a massive television draw that is usually spread out over a number of networks. Swimming on one channel and track…
Read MoreLe 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…
Read MoreIndy Hump Day Report: Life after the Indy 500, and the Texas two step
Most of us in America are sweating heavily from the weather. (Well most are weather related). Although the weather is not as hot as the INDYCAR Series was at the last round. The 2011 Indy 500 was by far the most exciting in years. The race finish was the most exciting since 1995, with a Pole & Bump Day that were arguably the most exciting in closer to three decades. When the checkered flag fell at the Indy 500 no one was talking about; Ryan Hunter-Reay in the 41 car,…
Read MoreEpisode 92 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin the OP trio this week as they cover all the rally action from STPR to Ukraine. We also talk the decision to hold Bahrain as well as the adopted 2013 technical regulations. Are you over your 500 hangover yet? We have a Texas preview as we look at the 30 car field! Sit back and enjoy as always!
Read MorePreview; Le Mans 24 Hours
And so it begins this Saturday. The 79th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, without question the world’s greatest sports car race and arguably the world greatest racing event, 56 cars, in four classes, lapping the famed Circuit de la Sarthe at nearly 75% full throttle per lap. 28 LMP cars (Le Mans Prototype) will start. New LMP1 cars from Audi, Peugeot and Aston Martin will battle for the overall win. Even with new regulations to bridge the gap between diesel and petrol powered cars, the factory teams hold…
Read MoreMazda Road to Indy – Jensen Motorsport back on track in Montreal
After the flurry of activity during the Month of May, the Mazda Road to Indy program is set to take a race weekend off as all three series, the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear, and the Firestone Indy Lights Series all will skip the IZOD IndyCar Series event at the Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. The next race for all three series will be the weekend of June 17th at the Milwaukee Mile. Until then, the teams…
Read MoreINDYCAR – SSM Engineer Leaves for Andretti
Curt Cavin reported yesterday that Alex Tagliani’s race engineer Allen McDonald had left his current SSM operation in favor of a return to Andretti Autosport. McDonald has a history with Andretti including winning the Indianapolis 500 in 2007 with Dario Franchitti. It was also reported that both Andretti and McDonald wanted this deal which further prompted Sam Schmidt to make some rather pointed comments at Michael in regards to his Shanghai tactics. The fact of the matter is while I respect the hell out of Sam Schmidt, he does not really have any room…
Read MoreWinning the 500 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin me as I sit and talk with Emily Jones about her summer internship with Bryan Herta Autosport. She gives us a first hand account of what it was like working with the team that won the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500! She also answers accusations of nearly assassinating 2/3rds or the Paddock crew. All in all it is a great account from start to finish of May and all the hard work that goes into winning the ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’! We…
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