Ford’s new (or should that really be returning) factory driver for 2012, former World Champion Petter Solberg, has done it again. He was busted for speeding on his way back to the service park after the last competitive stage of Rallye Monte-Carlo. Apparently frustrated by a slower car in front of him, he accelerated to 106 kph (66 mph) while in a 50 kph (31 mph) zone. Not only that, passed the car on a stretch where there was a solid center line. It means the same thing there as…
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Star Mazda – Formula Car Challenge Winning Streak Shorts Out for Veach
Andretti Autosport’s Star Mazda driver, Zach Veach, came to the Auto Club Speedway for the final three rounds of the Formula Car Challenge Presented by Goodyear Winter Series with an 11-point lead having won the first two rounds held at Infineon Raceway from pole position. Veach picked up where he left off in Sonoma by taking pole again for both the regional and national races, this time on the rain-soaked road course at Fontana. Rain has never bothered the young racer, quite the contrary, he enjoys it. “I have always…
Read MoreRally – WRC Promotion Contract: How It All Went Wrong
At the beginning of this month, the World Rally Championship was thrown into enormous turmoil after the FIA prematurely terminated its contract with promotor North One Sport. The sequence of events that lead up to this is rather convoluted, but let’s see if we can’t untangle the mess that ended up with the premier rally series in the world, the WRC, making its triumphant return to the premier rally in the world, the Rallye Monte-Carlo. Arrival of North One Sport and Convers Sports Initiatives In 2009, North One Sport, a…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Team Pelfry Expands to Three Cars with Petri Suvanto
Team Pelfrey had an outstanding inaugural season in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear with Connor De Phillippi and Nick Andries who finished 2nd and 3rd in the season championship, respectively. Now, they’re expanding their operations to a three-car effort for 2012 and have come loaded for bear in seeking the series championship. Earlier this off-season, the team signed Jack Hawksworth and Gustavo Menezes. Gustavo joined us for Episode 120 of the OpenPaddock Podcast to discuss his signing and expectations for 2012. Today, the team announced the signing…
Read MoreGrandAm – Anders Krohn Lands Rolex24 Ride with Yellow Dragon Motorsports
After spending several seasons in the Mazda open-wheel development system culminating with his 2011 Firestone Indy Lights season with Belardi Auto Racing, Anders Krohn transitions to world of sports car racing. He was picked to drive Yellow Dragon Motorsports’ #36 Mazda RX-8 GT-class entry along with John and Jarett Andretti and fellow Mazda driver Taylor Hacquard. While we are a bit biased and would love to have seen Anders in an open-wheel ride this year, we’re happy to see him land any kind of driving gig. Its a task that’s…
Read MoreRally – MINI Monte carlo Leg 2 Release
Valence (FR), 19th January 2012. After day two of the Monte Carlo Rally, and another 131.76 kilometres of stages, Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) were still fighting with Petter Solberg (NO) for the second podium position and had snatched the place back as the cars returned to Valence for the last time. Meanwhile the MINI WRC Team’s French crew, Pierre Campana and Sabrina de Castelli, were still in seventh after a trouble free day. In his MINI John Cooper Works WRC number 37, the same number carried…
Read MoreRally – David Higgins and Subaru To Defend Championship
The record-setting large field for the upcoming Sno*Drift Rally, first round of the Rally America National Championship, just got a little bit bigger. David Higgins will return to the series with the Subaru Rally Team USA to defend their 2011 championship title. David Mirra will also be back, but will focus on the RallyCross event due to several schedule conflicts with Mirra’s BMX events. “I’m excited to defend my title with Subaru as we have made some great progress in the development of our STI rally car in the off-season,…
Read MoreRally – MINI World Rally Leg 1 Release
Valence (FR), 18th January 2012. At the end of a challenging day one of the Monte Carlo Rally the MINI WRC Team crews of Dani Sordo (ES) and Carlos del Barrio (ES) and Pierre Campana (FR) and Sabrina de Castelli (FR) were second and eighth respectively after 134.70 kilometres of competition over four stages. The weather was cold and dry with a little snow and some icy patches on the stages. The story of the rally was always going to be about tyre choice and so there was a lot…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Veach to Keep Pressing in Formula Car Challenge Winter Series
Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach took left Infineon Raceway 11-point lead after the first two rounds of the Formula Car Challenge Winter Series presented by Goodyear, winning from the pole position in both races in the the Formula Pro Mazda class which uses the Star Mazda series equipment. Now, the young hot shoe will be heading to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA for the final three rounds of the winter series to try and secure the championship. While this hasn’t been Zach’s only experience in a Star Mazda machine,…
Read MoreEpisode 121 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin the Paddock trio as they discuss all things WRC. We prepare for the return of Monte Carlo and cover a star studded list of drivers that will be hitting the stages this week. We also talk Mazda Road to Indy and Doug prophetically speaks about the season finale at VIR! We cover IndyCar and F1 as well! The off season is heating up in both as the open-wheel world turns! Sit back and enjoy the show and thank you for the download as…
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