Audi R18’s Complete Test

Two Audi R18 “Evolution 2” racers made their first public appearance following the 12 hours of Sebring. All ten Audi drivers were involved in the four day test and the R15 was used to set test benchmarks. According to Audi all three cars generated “thousands of test kilometers to generate important findings relating to vehicle setup, aerodynamics, tires, cooling, and reliability.” The R18’s were scheduled to arrive at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt, Germany, Monday and will be dismantled and analyzed. It’s been reported that one of the R18 “Evolution 2” bested Peugeots…

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BMW Announce ILMC GTE Contenders

BMW Team Schnitzer will contest the European and China rounds of the ILMC. Drivers for the Team Schnitzer No. 55 BMW M3 GT are Augusto Farfus (BR) and Jörg Müller (DE). ALMS BMW Team RLL driver Dirk Werner (DE) will join them at Le Mans. Lead driver for the second Team Schnitzer (No. 56) BMW M3 GT will be three time world touring car champion Andy Priaulx (GB).  Priaulx will be reunited with his Sebring winning teammates, Dirk Muller and Joey Hand at Le Mans. Hand, winner at the Rolex…

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UFS2000 – Diverse Field Finds Parity

Race #2 this past Sunday on the Streets of St. Petersburg was the fourth race of the 2011 Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda season, and it saw its fourth race winner as Cape Motorsports’ driver, Petri Suvanto, would take the checkers after starting from pole and successfully defending his position as Andretti Autosport’s Spencer Pigot mounted a challenge during a restart. In addition for separate race winners, the season thus far has seen five separate drivers on the podium and nine different drivers finish…

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INDYCAR – St. Pete post race wrap up

The 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series started out much like the 2010 season; with a massive pile up into the first turn, taking out Marco Andretti. The crash would involve Andretti, Oriol Servia, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, and Mike Conway. Andretti and Conway would both DNF from the incident, the others would continue on with scares of the event.   Right as the crash happened in turn one, Mario Andretti grandfather of Marco was exiting the two seater he had just pulled onto pit road. He (Mario) shook his…

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Star Mazda – Connor Di Phillipi Picks Up Where He Left Off

Although the testing at Barber Motorsports Park and the early practice sessions on the Streets of St. Petersburg belonged to JDC MotorSports’ Tristan Vautier, today belonged to Team Pelfrey’s Connor Di Phillipi. Connor won the 2010 season finale at Road Atlanta, but as a member of a brand new team to the Star Mazda Championship it wasn’t surprising to see him and his team struggle for pace during testing. Apparently, it didn’t take them long as although Juncos Racing’s Martin Scuncio took the pole positions for today’s race, Connor won…

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Will Power takes the pole for St. Pete 2011

After a long cold wait, the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR season has officially begun. With the temperature reaching a sunny 80 degrees; the first qualifying session of 2011 looks very much like one from 2010, Will Power is P1.   Power took the top spot with a speed of 104.579 MPH, just beating out 2010 Champion Dario Franchitti who ran a 104.021 MPH lap. Followed by Dixon in P3, Mike Conway will start P4 with an impressive debut for Andretti Autosport being the only from Andretti in the “Fast 6”. Rounding…

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MRTI – School’s In Session at St. Pete

As an educator, I completely approve of this fantastic move by the Mazda Road to Indy program to help young aspiring racers to learn more about the profession, business, and craft of motorsports. So many of us fans forget that there’s far more to being a successful professional racing driver these days that simply being fearless and fast. There’s so much more that today’s drivers need to understand about the business of motorsports, and business in general. Drivers have to be not only fast on the track, but also public…

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USF2000 – St. Pete Practice and Qualifying

Today was the first on-track activity at St. Petersburg for all of the series racing there this weekend: US F2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights, IndyCar, and the SCCA World Challenge. I’ll talk about the World Challenge and other action later, but let me talk here about the US F2000 National Championship. You know that preview that I wrote yesterday? …yeah, chuck it out the window! The grid is ALL jumbled up, and that’s a great thing! The US F2000 grid increased by in size by a driver this weekend as…

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ALMS – Michelotto Test Ferrari 458 at Sebring

While the Risi Competizione 458 that raced at Sebring was headed back to the team’s Houston shop to begin preparations for Long Beach in two weeks, another 458 Italia was being purposely “beat up” at the circuit this week. The unliveried 458 arrived at the track race week from Michelotto, Ferrari’s division responsible for GT and sports prototype racing efforts and development. The car was secured in the Risi transporter, out of sight from the throng of fans and media during the race. That is until Monday when the car…

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MRTI – Mazda Road to Indy St. Pete Preview

This is a rare race weekend. All three elements of the Mazda Road to Indy are going to be racing on the Streets of St. Petersburg on the same weekend. This will be rounds three and four for the US F2000 National Championship, and the opening rounds for the Star Mazda Championship and Firestone Indy Lights. Driver assignments are pretty much settled now, so lets take a look at the grids and preview this weekend’s Mazda Road to Indy races! You can download this weekend’s schedule for all of the…

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