Lotus (Group Lotus, the car people, not Team Lotus the Tony Fernandez team) released news today that they will compete in a full North American and International schedule in the GT2 classe with the Lotus Evora GTE. They will race in the American Le Mans Series in a factory-backed effort through the newly formed Lotus Sport USA, and will also look toward fielding an LMP2 car by 2013. Heading up the new program are sports car racing veteran Ian Dawson and financial guru John Pritzlaff. “We are very happy to…
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Episode 93 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Shaun and Mike this week as they talk all things Texas duels. WE talk with our good friend Tyler from IndyCar Garage and ask him for his race experience. We also look ahead to Milwaukee and the picks get a little crazy. We also do a little recap of the Le Mans 24 hour race. We also look to bounce back from last week’s screw up and actual report correct on Formula 1 and discuss Lewis Hamilton’s tactics. As always, thank you for…
Read MoreAudi Wins Le Mans
Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler won the 79th Le Mans 24 Hours in the #2 Audi Sport Team Joest R18, 13.854 seconds ahead of the #9 Peugeot of Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy. It was an exciting race as Audi and Peugeot battled throughout, exchanging leads several times during the night and early morning. The race was marred by two serious incidents that took out two of the three font running Audis, both involved slower cars from the GTE-Pro class. Allan McNish crashed out in the…
Read MoreSecond Audi Involved in Horrific Crash
The #1 Audi R18 of defending Le Man winner Mike ‘Rocky’ Rockefeller has been involved in a violent shunt with a slower GTE car at the high speed kink between Mulsanne and Indianapolis corner. Audi Sport has confirmed that Rockefeller was able to get out of the car himself that he spoke to the team and has been taken to the hospital. Rockefeller was overtaking one the AF Corse Ferrari 458s on the straightaway leading up to Indianapolis when the Ferrari inexplicably started to move into the path of the…
Read MoreMcNish Survives Massive Crash
Allan McNish survived a massive crash that put the #3 Audi out of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours in the first hour of racing. McNish was attempting to pass teammate Timo Bernhard for the lead in the esses after the Dunlop Bridge, but as he past Bernhard’s Audi the Luxury Racing #58 Ferrari 458 GTE of Anthony Beltoise, also racing for position, moved over and clipped the Audi sending both cars off course. McNish’s Audi appeared to glide and skipped across gravel trap, becoming airborne and slamming into the…
Read MoreFIA Endurance Championship Official
More details of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship were shared today during an ACO press conference at Le Mans. ACO President Jean-Claude Plassart and FIA President Jean Todt presented the main championships guidelines during. As recently reported on openpaddock.net the new Championship series will mirror the current ILMC series. There will be six races plus Le Mans. Two will be in North America, most likely at Sebring and Petit Le Mans at the Road Atlanta circuit. Two will be in Europe in addition to Le Mans, and two races…
Read MoreAudi 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…
Read MoreLeMans – 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 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 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!
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