Auto News 5

From GMM

Two tenths of a second could ensure Fernando Alonso is able to win the 2012 world championship.

"We need to find at least two tenths," Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Although Alonso's fastest race lap in Korea last time out was four tenths off the fastest Red Bull, Felipe Massa was just two tenths adrift the ultimate pace in the sister F2012.

Reports have indicated the Brazilian was at the wheel of a new exhaust layout that will be added to Alonso's red car in India next weekend.

Domenicali said the step needed by Ferrari to compete with Red Bull and track down Sebastian Vettel's 6-point lead is small.

"We do not need to reinvent our car," said the Italian.

The ultimate Ferrari F2012 version in Korea. (Photo: Pirelli)

Red Bull's advantage has looked significant at the last few races, but designer Adrian Newey is cautious.

"It is not certain that we will maintain this advantage over Ferrari," he is quoted by Italy's La Stampa.

"No team this year has dominated for more than two consecutive grands prix," added the Briton. "In Korea we were very concerned about the excessive consumption of tyres."

Fernando Alonso is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace: "Five races ago McLaren was the favourite to win everything else this year but in Korea they were almost out of the points. We are six points behind but there are still 100 in the game. We have a good chance of winning the championship."

Second in the point standings, Canadian Bruno Spengler Friday set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the final and decisive race of the DTM.

The weather was perfect today in Hockenheim with a bright sun and a temperature of 20 degrees.

Spengler in his BMW M3 DTM did two very long runs before going out in the last moments of the session on a set of new Hankook tires to set the fastest time of the day in 1m34.971.

Bruno Spengler, BMW. (Photo: René Fagnan)

Spengler is second in the standings, just three points behind Mercedes top man Gary Paffett. The Briton also did long runs, byt only managed to set the 16th fastest time in 1m36.649.

The other title contender, Jamie Green of Mercedes, third in points, set the 17th time of the day.

Gary Paffett, Mercedes. (Photo: René Fagnan)

Spengler' teammate at BMW, reigning DTM champion Martin Tomczyk ended up second fastest in 1m35.776, eight tenths of a second slower than the Canadian.

Third was Mike Rockenfeller of the Audi squad, followed by Mattias Ekstrom (Audi), Augusto Farfus (BMW) and Dirk Werner (BMW).

American Joey Hand was 12th in his BMW. David Coulthard, running his last DTM race, was 13th today and fastest Mercedes runner. The other Canadian entered, Robert Wickens, set the 15th time in his Mercedes.

Auto123.com will provide a live description of the qualifying session tomorrow.

Tiago Monteiro is aiming for a position in the top 10 this weekend, for the race debuts of the new works Honda Civic WTCC in Suzuka.

Honda, that will enter WTCC with a full program in 2013 with Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro, will run the last three rounds of the 2012 season in Suzuka, Shanghai and Macao with a Civic driven by Monteiro.

Tiago Monteiro, Honda Civic, in Suzuka. (Photo: FIA WTCC)

The Portuguese driver was confident and was determinated to work with method ahead of Suzuka, "We must not lose sight of our goal for this first appointment: we need to gain experience and test several technical solutions that could be beneficial for the 2013 season. We need real information. Getting a good result is not our goal, but in our true spirit, the top 10 should be a reachable target."

From GMM

Michael Schumacher has admitted his former protege and friend Sebastian Vettel might accept the "new challenge" of a Ferrari cockpit.

Felipe Massa's new contract for just 2013 has only intensified speculation that the Ferrari door for Red Bull's double world champion is wide open.

Some think the 25-year-old German has signed some sort of 2014 'option'.

Schumacher is quoted in Berlin by DPA news agency: "Seb speaks in high tones about Ferrari, but I don't know what the future holds."

Ferrari stand. (Photo: Pirelli)

Michael Schumacher, returning to retirement at the end of the year, is Ferrari's most famous and successful driver, having won five consecutive championships with the Italian marque.

Also as a two-time champion with a different team, Schumacher agreed to join the then-struggling Ferrari as a 26-year-old in 1996.

Referring to the Vettel rumours, Schumacher added: "At some point, it may be that he is looking for a new challenge too."

In addition to the Hyundai Genesis coupe we talked about last month, ARK Performance is customizing a Veloster hatchback for the 2012

Volkswagen Group of America's electronics research laboratory is teaming up with Silicon Valley's Plug and Play Tech Center to create an incubator for next-generation automotive technologies.

Stanford Ovshinsky, an inventor and founder of Energy Conversion Devices who dedicated his life to finding alternative forms of energy, died Wednesday of cancer at his home in suburban Detroit. He was 89.

A fund that covers medical costs for GM's unionized retirees said its funding shortfall widened last year partly as a result of the declining value of its investments in GM, government documents show.

Also in this episode: The DeltaWing race car flips out at Road Atlanta, and a rough European economy opens up options for American

A federal judge in California tossed out a suit challenging the use of Albert Einstein's image in a General Motors advertisement, a Detroit newspaper reported today.

At times it seems that there is a vast and well-coordinated conspiracy against fun. Come up with something bold, unique and thrilling, and bureaucrats and regulators will come out of the woodwork to tell you why it is illegal.

If you're going bench racing, you may as well go all the way. That's why for this edition we're checking in on super SUVs with more than 500 hp. Price is no option and fuel mileage should range from laughable to sad.

GM is frustrating the hell out of Wall Street.

General Motors said it will hire 3,000 Hewlett-Packard employees as part of its ongoing effort to bring most information-technology work back in-house.

New vehicle sales in Thailand jumped by 52.5% year-on-year to 132,680 units in September, from 87,012 in the same month a year earlier, according to data released by the Federation of Thai Industries.

Italian union sources maintain the upcoming meeting between Fiat CEO, Sergio Marchionne and Italian labour bodies to detail a new business plan for the automaker, will not see plant closures unveiled.

BMW plans to build a new assembly plant in Brazil, tapping into the growing market for luxury cars in Latin America's largest economy.

BMW plans to build a new assembly plant in Brazil, tapping into the growing market for luxury cars in Latin America's largest economy, "We are on track and will now submit an investment plan with the Brazilian government," finance chief Friedrich...

Valeo presented a number of major innovations at the Paris Motor Show recently. Ian Henry, just-auto/QUBE analyst, spoke with Patrick Sega, Transversal Projects Director for Group R&D at Valeo about some of these innovations. Here, we report on the new electric supercharger.