Auto News 5

Audi plans to begin production in Russia as premium-car sales take off in the country. The automaker will start building cars at parent Volkswagen's factory south of Moscow in 2013.

Luxury cars to indulge the rich were the stars as the Moscow auto show opened on Wednesday, but it is the normal Russian citizen that the world's carmakers are targeting, as they hope to profit from one of Europe's few growing markets.

Josef Kral is GP2's most recent winner, having won the series' sprint race Sunday morning in Belgium. Marcus Ericsson was the winner of the feature race the day before.

It was the combination of a good start by Kral with a bad start for front row starters Felipe Nasr and Julian Leal that put the Czech driver in the lead. He was also helped by multiple crashes throughout the field. James Calado, Luiz Razia and Davide Valsecchi all lost time in scuffs.

The suspense therefore was not to see who would win, rather who would complete the podium, and in what order. As it happened, going into the final corner, Nasr put the move on Calado and out-dragged him at the exit.

Photo: GP2Series.com

The day before, Ericsson played the safety car outings to perfection to win the feature race.

The Swede was quick off the line and rapidly on the back of pole-sitter Rio Haryanto. He eventually grabbed the lead from him on the second lap, on the approach to Eau Rouge.

Nigel Melker then brought the safety car out when he crashed around the same corner. On lap 6, when the pit-lane opened, Ericsson decided to stop, which proved to be the right decision since the race was later red-flagged for the workers to finish fixing the barriers damaged by Melker.

When the race resumed, all those who hadn't pitted were force to go in, giving Ericsson a clear track to work with. He cruised to the checkered, followed in the distance by Calado and Valsecchi.

In the championship, Razia and Valsecchi are now tied for first place (204), ahead of Calado (160) and Gutierrez (150).



Feature race results - GP2 (Spa-Francorchamps)
1 - Marcus Ericsson - iSport - 25 laps 1:55'35"519
2 - James Calado - Lotus - 11"530
3 - Davide Valsecchi - Dams - 13"604

4 - Josef Kral - Addax - 15"093

5 - Giedo Van der Garde - Caterham - 15"482
6 - Luiz Razia - Arden - 16"903
7 - Julian Leal - Trident - 26"615
8 - Felipe Nasr - Dams - 28"903

9 - Stephane Richelmi - Trident - 29"230
10 - Rio Haryanto - Carlin - 29"558
11 - Esteban Gutierrez - Lotus - 31"182
12 - Max Chilton - Carlin - 32"160

13 - Daniel De Jong - Rapax - 37"340
14 - Nathanael Berthon - Racing Engineering - 39"130

15 - Simon Trummer - Arden - 49"935

16 - Fabio Onidi - Coloni - 54"918
17 - Johnny Cecotto - Addax - 58"783

18 - Ricardo Teixeira - Rapax - 1'25"639

19 - Rene Binder - Lazarus - 1 lap
20 - Stefano Coletti - Coloni - 3 laps

Fastest lap by Esteban Gutierrez 2'00”083



Retirements
Lap 21 - Victor Guerin
Lap 18 - Jolyon Palmer
Lap 11 - Sergio Canamasas

Lap 2 - Nigel Melker
Lap 1 - Fabio Leimer

Lap 1 - Rodolfo Gonzalez

Sprint race results - GP2 (Spa-Francorchamps)
1 - Josef Kral - Addax - 18 laps 36'59"474

2 - Felipe Nasr - Dams - 5"109
3 - James Calado - Lotus - 5"290

4 - Marcus Ericsson - iSport - 6"335
5 - Fabio Leimer - Racing Engineering - 11”041
6 - Stephane Richelmi - Trident - 24"694
7 - Rio Haryanto - Carlin - 25"227
8 - Stefano Coletti - Coloni - 25”957
9 - Julian Leal - Trident - 26"257

10 - Jolyon Palmer - iSport - 27”441
11 - Daniel De Jong - Rapax - 32"681

12 - Fabio Onidi - Coloni - 35"830

13 - Esteban Gutierrez - Lotus - 35"928

14 - Rodolfo Gonzalez - Caterham - 37”222
15 - Ricardo Teixeira - Rapax - 37"867

16 - Simon Trummer - Arden - 38"347
17 - Rene Binder - Lazarus - 41”470

18 - Victor Guerin - Ocean - 47”175
19 - Nathanael Berthon - Racing Engineering - 52"735
20 - Luiz Razia - Arden - 56"434

21 - Giedo Van der Garde - Caterham - 1'19"121
22 - Max Chilton - Carlin - 1'22"927



Fastest lap by Max Chilton 1'59”201



Retirements

Lap 9 - Sergio Canamasas

Lap 9 - Davide Valsecchi
Lap 1 - Johnny Cecotto
DNS - Nigel Melker 


Championship

1. Razia & Valsecchi 204 points; 3. Calado 160; 4. Gutierrez 150 5. Van der Garde 141; 6. Chilton 124; 7. Leimer 103; 8. Ericsson 89; 9. Nasr 85; 10. Cecotto 80

Frederic Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp have won the latest FIA GT1 World Championship round aboard the Hexis Racing No. 1 McLaren MP4-12C by over 25 seconds at the Moscow Raceway.

Heavy rains forced the officials to bring out the safety car for the start. When the green flag did drop, the track was so wet the race had to be stopped after only four laps, until visibility improved.

Alvaro Parente and Gregoire Demoustier placed the sister in second place, making it a 1-2 for Hexis Racing. Frank Stippler and Oliver Jarvis rounded out the top 3 in the No. 33 Audi R8 of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.

Championship leaders Michael Bartels and Yelmer Buurman (Vita4One BMW) had a tough weekend, bringing the car home only eighth.

Photo: Petr Gabriel/SRO

Race results - GT1 (Moscow)
1 - Makowiecki/Dusseldorp (McLaren MP4/12C) - Hexis - 29 laps
2 - Demoustier/Parente (McLaren MP4/12C) - Hexis - 25"411
3 - Stippler/Jarvis (Audi R8) - WRT - 31"828
4 - Ortelli/Vanthoor (Audi R8) - WRT - 32"470
5 - Basseng/Winkelhock (Mercedes SLS) - Munnich - 40"146

6 - Ide/Castellacci (Ferrari 458) - AF Corse - 55"900

7 - Amorim-Campanico (Audi R8)-Novadriver - 1'16"545
8 - Buurman/Bartels (BMW Z4) - Vita4One - 1'24"240
9 - Pastorelli/Jager (Mercedes SLS) - Munnich - 1'25"256

10 - Basov/Grossman (Ferrari 458)-Esta - 1'26"191
11 - Skryabin/Pier Guidi (Ferrari 458)-Esta - 1'27"459
12 - Lyons/Gai (Ferrari 458)-AF Corse - 1'40"751
13 - Baumann/Buhk (Mercedes SLS)-Heico - 1 lap

14 - Leganov/Afanasyev (Lamborghini Gallardo)-Rhino - 1 lap
15 - Nilsson/Vahamaki (Mercedes SLS)-Heico - 1 lap

16 - Lariche/Ebrahim (Ford GT) - SunRed - 1 lap

17 - Mayr-Melnhof/Lauda (BMW Z4) - Vita4One - 1 lap



Retirements
Lap 27 - Vilander/Salaquarda
Lap 27 - Toril/Ryabov
Lap 18 - Maleev/Ladygin
Lap 13 - Ardagna Perez/Cirò
Lap 4 - Proczyk/Mengesdorf

Championship

1. Bartels/Buurman 127; 2. Basseng/Winkelhock 121; 3. Dusseldorp/Makowiecki 110; 4. Ortelli-Vanthoor 90; 5. Jaeger-Pastorelli 86.

From GMM

An unnamed engineer has alleged that some teams broke the 'gentleman's agreement' governing the factory shutdowns during F1's recent August break.

As per an unofficial cost-cutting pact, the twelve competing teams all agreed to close their doors for a full 14-day period.

During that time, the teams pledged to do almost no official F1 business -- not even the sending of a single email.

But some teams broke the agreement, the unnamed engineer claims.

"The factories were, for the most part, closed," the anonymous source told the Spanish newspaper El Pais' correspondent Oriol Puigdemont at Spa.

"But what was done was that some work was put in the hands of suppliers, who continued to make parts in August," he claimed.

"I know firsthand that some teams, like Sauber and Williams for example, told their workers to shut down their computers on the last day of work and leave them at the factory.

"But there were others, like Ferrari, who never did that," the unnamed engineer said.

"The restrictions (of the shutdown) were very vague, and cheating very simple. You could just create a parallel email account.

"Also, if someone looked at the log of communications and you have talked to one of your colleagues, you could just argue that it's just your friend who is in the same team," the source added.

Will Power (Penske) continued to show why he is still leading the IZOD IndyCar Series championship with only two events to go by earning a dominant pole position during qualifying in Baltimore.

He was followed by AJ Foyt Racing's Mike Conway, who was nonetheless more than 0.5759s behind and who will lose his starting spot after being penalized for an unapproved engine change that will leave him 10 places down the order. 

Just after setting his best time, Conway crashed at the new chicane, exactly at the same spot where Ganassi's Graham Rahal had his during the opening phase of the session; forcing some early exits among them Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and Rubens Barichello who did not had time to post their fastest laps.

Four other drivers should also be issued 10-place penalties for unapproved engine changes or exceeding their engine allocation. Sato, Simona de Silvestro, Bruno Junqueira and Charlie Kimball all stand to have 10 places added to their qualifying positions.



Qualifying results - IndyCar (Baltimore)
Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time        Gap
1.  Will Power           Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m17.9750s
2.  Mike Conway          Foyt Dallara-Honda         1m18.5509s  + 0.5759s
3.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m18.6017s  + 0.6267s
4.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m18.8500s  + 0.8750s
5.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m18.9398s  + 0.9648s
6.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m19.3101s  + 1.3351s
7.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m19.3347s  Round 2
8.  Tony Kanaan          KV Dallara-Chevy           1m19.6788s  Round 2
9.  Justin Wilson        Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m20.3559s  Round 2
10.  Bruno Junqueira      Fisher Dallara-Honda       1m20.3826s  Round 2
11.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter Dallara-Chevy    1m20.4968s  Round 2
12.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt Dallara-Honda                  Round 2
13.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m21.7113s  Group 1
14.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m18.8872s  Group 2
15.  Alex Tagliani        Herta Dallara-Honda        1m22.2657s  Group 1
16.  Helio Castroneves    Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m18.9533s  Group 2
17.  Rubens Barrichello   KV Dallara-Chevy           1m22.7851s  Group 1
18.  Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy  1m19.3365s  Group 2
19.  Takuma Sato          Rahal Dallara-Honda        1m24.5395s  Group 1
20.  Marco Andretti       Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m19.4192s  Group 2
21.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM Dallara-Lotus          1m27.2226s  Group 1
22.  James Jakes          Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m19.5496s  Group 2
23.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi Dallara-Honda                  Group 1
24.  EJ Viso              KV Dallara-Chevy           1m19.8631s  Group 2
25.  JR Hildebrand        Panther Dallara-Chevy                  Group 2

Jenson Button (McLaren) was one of few drivers to race untroubled at Spa-Francorchamps during the Belgian Grand Prix.

Button started from pole and went on to win for the first time this season since the opening race in Australia, thanks to a perfectly played one-stop strategy. Being at the front for the start, the Brit escaped a spectacular first corner incident triggered by Romain Grosjean (Lotus) closing the door on Lewis Hamilton (McLaren).

In their clash, the pair took out Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (Sauber) as well. Kamui Kobayashi, in the second Sauber, and Pastor Maldonado, who as it happened jump the start, were involved too.

Spa marks Alonso's first retirement of the season.

In the crash's ensuing traffic jam, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) lost precious ground, but soldiered on with another neat one-stop strategy and clawed back to second at the finish, meaning Alonso's lead in the championship is now down to only 24 points.

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) were all in a heated battle for third place, which Raikkonen eventually won.

Schumacher, second at one point, fell from grace all the way down to seventh, his one-stop strategy not playing out as it should have. Tire degradation meant he was forced to a late second stop.

Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo scored some long-awaited points for Toro Rosso, while Paul di Resta completed a good overall performance by Force India, coming in 10th.



Race results* - Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps)
1 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1.29'08"530

2 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 13"624

3 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 25"334
4 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 27"843
5 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 29"845

6 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 31"244

7 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W03) - 53"374 

8 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 58"865

9 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1'02"982
10 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1'03"783
11 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1'05"111

12 - Bruno Senna (Williams FW34-Renault) - 1'11"529
13 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1'56"119

14 - Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap

15 - Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1 lap

16 - Charles Pic (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 1 lap

17 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap

18 - Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 1 lap



Fastest lap of the race by Bruno Senna in 1'52"822



Retirements
Lap 30 - Narain Karthikeyan

Lap 5 - Pastor Maldonado 

Lap 1 - Sergio Perez

Lap 1 - Fernando Alonso
Lap 1 - Lewis Hamilton
Lap 1 - Romain Grosjean



Drivers' championship
1.Alonso 164; 2.Vettel 140; 3.Webber 132; 4.Raikkonen 131; 5.Hamilton 117; 6.Button 101; 7.Rosberg 77; 8.Grosjean 76; 9.Perez 47; 10.Schumacher 35; 11.Massa 35; 12.Kobayashi 33; 13.Hulkenberg 31; 14.Maldonado 29; 15.Di Resta 28; 16.Senna 24; 17.Vergne 8; 18.Ricciardo 4.



Constructors' championship

1.Red Bull-Renault 272; 2.McLaren-Mercedes 218; 3.Lotus-Renault 207; 4.Ferrari 199; 5.Mercedes 112; 6.Sauber-Ferrari 80; 7.Force India-Mercedes 59; 8.Williams-Renault 53; 9.Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12.

*Unofficial

Christophe Bouchut and Scott Tucker (Level 5 Motorsports) put their rivals' problems to good use, coming out of the Baltimore weekend with a 1-2 win not only in the P2 category, but also in the overall classification.

Pole-sitters Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr (Muscle Milk Racing) were stuck in the pits for five laps, fixing a gear actuator, they finished third in class. Their rival in the P1 championship Chris Dyson and Guy Smith (Dyson Racing) experienced handling issues, so ended up second.

Eric Lux and Michael Marsal in the sister Dyson car dropped a handful of places in a lap one traffic jam, yet won the P1 category. But that happened all behind Bouchut and Tucker, who obviously dominated their own class as well.

In GT, the day belonged to Team Falken Racing, now repeat winner in Baltimore thanks to Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers. The pair played its card perfectly on every restart and made the most of the team's pit stop strategy to keep Corvette Racing's Oliver Gavin at bay.

Extreme Speed Motorsports' Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek rounded out the top three in their Ferrari F458 Italia.

The PC win went to CORE autosport's Alex Popow and Ryan Dalziel, who finished third overall as well.

Al Carter and Patrick Pilet (TRG) won the GT Challenge race aboard their No. 68 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.



Race results - ALMS (Baltimore)
1 - Tucker/Bouchut (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 67

2 - Gonzalez/Diaz (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 67

3 - Popow/Dalziel (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 67

4 - Henzler/Sellers (Porsche 997) - Falken - 67

5 - Gavin/Milner (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 67

6 - Sharp/Van Overbeek (Ferrari 458) - Extreme Speed - 67

7 - Hand/Mueller (BMW M3) - Rahal - 67

8 - Bergmeister/Long (Porsche 997) - Flying Lizard - 67

9 - Magnussen/Garcia (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 67

10 - Junqueira/Drissi (Oreca FLM09) - RSR - 67

11 - Neiman/Holzer/Long (Porsche 997) - Flying Lizard - 67
12 - Mueller/Auberlen (BMW M3) - Rahal - 67
13 - Marsal/Lux (Lola B11/66-Mazda) - Dyson - 67

14 - Miller/Maassen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Miller - 66

15 - Sweedler/Bell (Lotus Evora) - Alex Job - 66
16 - Richard/Ende (Oreca FLM09) - Dempsey - 66
17 - Brown/Cosmo (Ferrari 458) - Extreme Speed - 66
18 - Goossens/Kendall (SRT Viper) - SRT - 65
19 - Pilet/Carter (Porsche 997 Cup) - 65

20 - MacNeil/Keen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Alex Job - 65

21 - LeSaffre/Faulkner (Porsche 997 Cup) - Green Hornet - 65

22 - Pumpelly/Bunting (Porsche 997 Cup) - TRG - 65

23 - Dyson/Smith (Lola B12/60-Mazda) - Dyson - 65
24 - Luhr/Graf (HPD ARX-03a) - Pickett - 62

25 - Downs/Downs (Oreca FLM09) - Merchant - 58

26 - Plowman/Hansson (Morgan-Judd) - Conquest - 56
27 - Cumming/Valiante (Porsche 997 Cup) - JDX - 49
28 - Marcelli/Burgess (Oreca FLM09) - Merchant - 43

29 - Bennett/Braun (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 31

30 - Younessi/Matos (Oreca FLM09) - Younessi - 0

From GMM

The Lewis Hamilton 'Twittergate' affair deepened on Sunday.

On Saturday, 'Tweets' posted by the 2008 world champion and featuring the obscenity-acronym 'WTF' suggested Jenson Button had been given a better front wing in qualifying.

The Tweets were deleted.

Then, ahead of Sunday's Belgian grand prix, the 'Twittergate' affair shifted into a higher gear when Hamilton posted via his social media account an image of a confidential McLaren telemetry sheet.

The sheet was apparently evidence of Button's qualifying advantage at Spa-Francorchamps, with hand-written remarks making clear Hamilton lost '6 tenths on the STRAIGHT' to the sister McLaren.

It also included sensitive team information, including the MP4-27's ride height.

"He was asked to take it down and he did it immediately," team boss Martin Whitmarsh is quoted by the BBC.

The affair comes amid Hamilton's reported tense negotiations with McLaren over his new contract for 2013.

"This is effectively a war," an unnamed paddock member said.

Whitmarsh, adding that Hamilton apologised, explained: "He misjudged the (telemetry) situation.

"He wasn't thinking clearly, obviously."

The 27-year-old British driver crashed at the first corner on Sunday, and did not appear for interviews during the race.

Afterwards, he said: "I really don't want to talk about the start. People can see what happened."

Frenchman Tristan Vautier ended-up his day's work Saturday with pole position at the end of a shortened Indy Lights qualifying session for the upcoming event in Baltimore.

When Emerson Newton-John crashed his Fan Force car in the new chicane, officials were forced to flag the session to clean everything up; causing the session to be shortened by no less than 7 minutes. 

Vautier, who was at the top of the timesheet then, earned pole in front of his teammate Esteban Guerrieri by more than 0.8 seconds.

Andretti's Sebastian Saavedra was third-quickest alongside team-mate Carlos Munoz.



Qualifying results - Indy Lights (Baltimore)
Pos  Driver               Team          Time        Gap
1.  Tristan Vautier      Schmidt       1m23.6893s
2.  Esteban Guerrieri    Schmidt       1m24.4943s  + 0.8050s
3.  Sebastian Saavedra   AFS/Andretti  1m24.5318s  + 0.8425s
4.  Carlos Munoz         Andretti      1m24.9580s  + 1.2687s
5.  Oliver Webb          Schmidt       1m25.0699s  + 1.3806s
6.  Gustavo Yacaman      Moore         1m25.2456s  + 1.5563s
7.  Adderly Fong         Brooks        1m26.4568s  + 2.7675s
8.  Juan Pablo García    Jeffrey Mark  1m26.6107s  + 2.9214s
9.  Jorge Goncalvez      Belardi       1m26.9396s  + 3.2503s
10.  David Ostella        Moore         1m27.3890s  + 3.6997s
11.  Emerson Newton-John  Fan Force     1m29.7625s  + 6.0732s
12.  Peter Dempsey        Belardi       1m29.9690s  + 6.2797s
13.  Victor Carbone       Schmidt

When Nationwide Series regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the checkered flag from the dominant Sprint Cup driver, Kevin Harvick, it seemed like déjà vu all over again on Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Only on Friday night it was dominant Sprint Cup driver, Kyle Busch, losing out to Truck Series rookie Ty Dillon.

Although the circumstances were very different it was the same result with different drivers on succeeding nights.

Stenhouse took the victory away from Harvick, who had led 157 laps of the 190-lap race, after the seventh and final caution for a crash among Danica Patrick and James Buescher.

To make matters more confusing, a television replay has Harvick (who ended up third) blaming Sprint Cup rival, Brad Keselowski (who finished second) for his defeat.

After his fourth victory of the year, the defending Nationwide Champion laughed at the partial cause of his win: "Heck, yeah, we stole it," Stenhouse said of his last lap run to win.

As the drivers circled on their cool down lap after the race Harvick saw a replay of Keselowski tossing out his water bottle and he blamed his rival for that final yellow.

"It's pretty obvious," said Harvick, who had words with Keselowski on pit road after the race. "They put it on TV and showed when the caution came out on the same lap. ... He told me it was intentional, so it is what it is."

Turning to Keselowski in the post-race interview, Harvick added, "Sleep good tonight."

In his own defence Keselowski argued that Harvick got the time and place of the water bottle incident wrong.

"It went out of my car 15 to 20 laps before the yellow came out," Keselowski asserted. "I guess that's why I was caught off guard with the comment that the water bottle caused the yellow.   

TV spokesmen confirmed that the replay of the water bottle toss was from laps before the final caution and a NASCAR official confirmed that the final caution was not due to the water bottle.

With his victory Stenhouse has closed to within 12 points of series leader, Elliott Sadler, who finished fourth. Sam Hornish Jr., who finished ninth, is 32 points behind in third place.

Carsharing service subscribers are 3.7 times less likely to use an automobile for their daily commutes than people who own a car, according to a new study by Polytechnique Montréal published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation.

Single members rely on a car for 17% of their trips compared with 64% among single car owners. The gap is even greater when looking at couples. Carsharing members use a car for just 14% of their daily trips, while couples who own one (52%) or two (78%) vehicles are much more dependent.

About four couples out of 10 turn to public transit, riding their bicycles or walking, while just one out of four couples who own a car (and one out of 10 with two cars) do the same.

After undergoing a significant refresh for the 2011 model year, the 2012 Corolla looks remarkably unchanged. Four versions -- the CE, LE, S and XRS -- are offered in Canada. Minor changes in the various trim levels, such as an auto-down feature on the driver's power window and steering-wheel mounted audio controls, are hardly noticeable. More importantly, Toyota Corolla LE trim models get a new audio system with USB and auxiliary inputs as well as Bluetooth™ connectivity.

Keep in mind that these are just fine-tuning items in response to customer demand. When the refresh was done in 2011 that's when the biggies, such as the Star Safety System, were made standard across the lineup. Individual items such as 16” wheels were added to the Toyota Corolla LE and a “performance” engine was installed in the Toyota Corolla XRS.


Powertrain
The only engine for the Toyota Corolla LE is a wet-sleeved, aluminum, inline-four that puts out 138 hp; and the only transmission available is a 4-speed automatic. As the last vehicle to be replaced amongst it competition (Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra or Ford Focus) expect to see more power and more gears in the transmission when the current Toyota Corolla is replaced.

Interior
Bucket seats up front and a bench in the back is standard fare for the Toyota Corolla lineup, and the Toyota Corolla CE is no exception. However, seating materials and interior trim do take a step up from the basic Toyota Corolla CE.

Unseen changes include the ability to order heated front seats with the cloth interior via the “Upgrade Package” that also includes an 8-way power adjustable driver's seat. The stereo also gets upgraded to a six-speaker system with XM satellite radio.

Getting into these well upholstered cloth seats in the 2012 Toyota Corolla is made easy with doors that open wide when there is enough room to do so. In the average parking lot, the doors are never opened to full width, so the fact that the doors are short overall is the best of both worlds. When crowded, a short door opens far enough to let you in fairly easily, and if you are out in the open picking up your wealthy aunt, the door will open wide enough to let her get in easily.

If you don't happen to have a wealthy aunt, but you do have a couple of small children in car seats, there is enough room in the Toyota Corolla to let you bend and twist to make sure seats and seat belts are done up properly. The only thing that would make the back seat even better is a bit more width so that a referee could sit between the kids comfortably.

Getting into these well upholstered cloth seats in the 2012 Toyota Corolla is made easy with doors that open wide when there is enough room to do so. (Photo: Charles Renny)

City driving
In the city, you notice the lethargy of the Toyota Corolla LE's 1.8L engine when coming off a stop, even if it has 138 horsepower. It is a bit of a chicken and egg situation: 138 horsepower is plenty, but the motor needs to rev a bit to get to peak power. It takes a while to get the rpms up because there aren't enough gears in the box to make things happen quickly.

Once you are moving, all it takes is enough right foot and a tolerance for the engine noise that penetrates the otherwise quiet interior. Part throttle kickdown will come into play, and you can then zip around to your heart's content.

Ride quality on the LE is supposed to be soft and a bit on the “luxurious” side. If you look at the average Toyota Corolla driver, you will see that the settings are right on. Things like automatic climate control are much more important than being able to zip around a corner at high speeds.

Toyota Corolla has increased in size over the past few generations, so that zipping into a parking space is no longer a no-brainer. You will still fit into mall parking spaces and angled parking spaces, but when you parallel park you are going to need to pay attention. The corners of the car are not always visible and it isn't always easy to judge where they are.

Ride quality on the LE is supposed to be soft and a bit on the “luxurious” side. (Photo: Charles Renny)

Highway driving
The flip side of being larger, with a soft ride, is that on the highway the Toyota Corolla LE offers a very comfortable trip. You do sacrifice some crispness in handling, but it is less susceptible to crosswinds and being moved about by 18-wheelers. If you get out of your comfort zone, the Toyota Corolla LE will still corner hard enough to get your adrenaline going. Passing might take a bit longer than you think it should, but the Toyota Corolla LE will get the job done.

Summary
The Toyota Corolla LE may not be an industry leader in every category for 2012, but it is a solid car that does everything well in every category.

News 1 Sep, 2012

Jenson Button takes pole position, with a stunning performance in qualifying for the Belgian GP

News 3 Sep, 2012

First official pictures have been released of the production-ready 197bhp Peugeot 208 GTi

Pictures 3 Sep, 2012

At its just-opened $450-million factory in Thailand, Ford prides itself on being "fork-free." Eliminating forklifts, which can have big blind spots, from the floor improves worker safety, the automaker says.

Japan Inc. has a new export market: Japan.

European auto workers returning from their summer break may not be back on the factory floor for long, as carmakers order temporary shutdowns in response to a protracted sales slump.

From GMM

British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has described one contract offered by McLaren for the 2013 season as "sh*t".

The expletive is an insight into the 2008 world champion's delicate negotiations with the British team, but Hamilton ruled out letting the impasse become a "sabbatical".

"There are lots of sticking points," the 27-year-old said at Spa, where the 2013 'silly season' has shifted into a higher gear.

"You never just sign the first contract that's given to you because most of the time it's sh*t," he is quoted by the Sun.

"Nothing's signed, nothing's decided."

Although his alternatives appear limited, Hamilton is not ruling out a switch to a rival team.

"You don't know what is going to happen because in 2014 the regulations change quite heavily. So you don't know what is going to be the (right) place," he said.

The Times' Kevin Eason said that comment could tie in with speculation McLaren is happy to increase Hamilton's pay, but the team wants him to sign a long-term deal.

Hamilton ruled out letting the impasse result in him being left with no seat in 2013.

"I'm not going to walk away from F1. Plus, why would I take a sabbatical? I am too young. That is definitely not going to happen," he said.