Acquiescing to concerns from the teams that the Super 2000 and Group N performance gap was becoming too wide, the FIA has proposed separating the two specifications for the 2010 season. The current production class of the WRC, which allows for both S2000 and N4 cars, will be split into two distinct championships. The S2000 cars will compete in the S-WRC class and the N4 cars will compete in the P-WRC class. These two will join the two-wheel drive Junior Championship, J-WRC as support classes for the WRC next season.…
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Episode 17 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun, Mike, Doug, and Andy (aka Frantic) as we talk the IZOD IndyCar series and Danica Patrick. We also talk about RHR to Andretti Autosport. We offer our thoughts on Kimi to Citroen if the deal goes through and we also try and hammer the Formula 1 news out including a stupid entry list and Andy offers his opinion on Bernie and the British GP.
Read MoreOP-Ed – My Moral Dilemma
Anybody who has ever known me inside the realm of F1 has known two things. First, Ferrari is my life blood hands down. Secondly, Michael Schumacher is not only a hero to me but is an idol who has nearly reached godly status. So here we sit in the middle of the Formula 1 silly season and I have reached an impasse of sorts as things unfold. Speculation is always something that exists inside the paddock for the F1 circus, but when you bring arguably the greatest racing driver of…
Read MoreMedia – NBC-Comcast Deal Nearly Complete
News came out today that a price for the Vivendi-owned portion of NBC has been agreed upon with GE. This was an important hurtle to the much rumored purchase of NBC-Universal by Comcast. Why are we, a motorsports blog, talking about television media industry news? Comcast is the parent company of the Versus network which airs the IZOD IndyCar Series along with ABC. For 2010, ABC will air five races, but the other twelve races will be broadcast on Versus. Here’s an excerpt from the article Vivendi, GE Agree on…
Read MoreIndyCar – IZOD IndyCar Broadcast Schedule
Now that the deal for the Brazil race is finally complete, the broadcast schedule for the IZOD IndyCar Series has been finalized and published. …sorta. The network allocations have been made, and the race dates have been finalized, but the race times are still being debated. Many things remain the same as last year’s schedule including ABC showing the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Most of the races will be on Versus, with only five races, including the 500, being picked up by ABC. There are some notable changes from 2009,…
Read MoreIndyCar – Danica’s New Ride
Not that its a big surprise, but Danica confirmed the three-year deal everyone knew she had with Andretti Autosport. The mild surprise is her change in primary sponsorship. Motorola is out and no where to be seen on the new car. GoDaddy.com is now featured prominently adding yet another green car to the grid. I guess Andretti Autosport either isn’t superstitious, or has never heard that green is an unlucky colour for race cars. Either way, as anticipated, Danica is back with the IZOD IndyCar Series for no less than…
Read MoreF1 – Schumacher Contract Free?
We here at openpaddock.net have been trying our best to keep up with the Michael Schumacher to Mercedes circus and an interesting development has been posted at motorsport.com that may make things a little easier for the now German outfit. In September it was though that Michael Schumacher had signed a contract extending his stay at Ferrari as a consultant/test driver. According to some suspect media statements by Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni, the German may have actually not signed the agreement. Colajanni indicated he was not aware of a physical…
Read MoreF1 – Canada is Back!
A deal to secure the Canadian GP has been made official after the Canadian Government stepped in to secure the race for another five years. The race which was absent for the first time ever in 2009, has been given a new life and will be back on the calendar for 2010. We heard a lot of the chatter all season as the promoters of the event worked to restore it to the calendar. The plan is for 8.5 million pounds annually for the five year deal. This is only…
Read MoreF1 – Qadbak Out; Sauber In
BMW announced earlier this year that they would not be returning to Formula 1 next year. Shortly after that, the team was purchased by Swiss firm Qadbak who had been considered suspect. That deal has failed and will now be purchased by the man who started it all, Peter Sauber. Originally the team had been sold to Qabak who had some suspect issues come up. In recent days it would appear as though the deal was going to fall through. Now with the Swiss firm gone, Peter Sauber will now…
Read MoreF1 – Force India Reveal Line-up
Force India made amazing progress with the Mercedes package in 2009. They now will retain their current line-up for the 2010 season in hopes of adding consistency. Adrian Sutil and Viantonio Liuzzi will pilot the Force India Mercedes for 2010 which adds yet another full driver line-up to the grid. Lost is Fisichella who jumped ship in the later part of the season to have a sorry run with Ferrari. Fisi gave the Indian team its best ever finish of 2nd at Spa. However, Liuzzi and Sutil both had strong…
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