The state of the art track that should be completed in time for 2012 United States Grand Prix, held in November, will host, in the spring after, an ALMS race.
According to both parties, the partnership is a match made in heaven, since they each pursue the same goal of making racing more green.
"The American Le Mans Series is the model for sustainability in the motorsports industry," said Edgar Ferrara, sustainability director for the Circuit. "The Series' commitment to environmental stewardship matches our own."
The track is located about 24 km from Austin, the capital of Texas. It features 20 turns, a 133-foot elevation change and some $400 million facility that will accommodate 120,000 fans.
"The opportunity to partner with the Circuit of The Americas and bring North America's premier sports car racing series to fans across Texas, at what is going to be one of the finest road-racing facilities in the world, is a natural fit for all involved," ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton said.
Source: ALMS.com
Jon Fogarty (Corvette DP) notched Grand-Am's Detroit 200 pole at the Belle Isle street course, leading a Corvette top four sweep.
Fogarty recorded a record 20th Rolex Series' pole tanks to a lap of 1min22.369s aboard his No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP.
Friday's qualifying session turned out to be the first dry outing of the day.
"It's great that the weather cleared," said Fogarty. "We felt like we had a pretty good car in the wet and just kind of figured it would be a good car in the dry, and it was."
Max Angelelli, winner of the last two races, came second in his No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP. Terry Borcheller and Darren Law line up third and fourth, completing the top four sweep for Chevrolet.
Guy Cosmo drove his No. 03 Tequila Patron Ferrari 458 to pole in the GT class. John Edwards (No. 57 Steven Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R) and Andrew Davis (No. 59 Brumos Companies Porsche GT3) are respectively second and third.
Source: Grand-Am.com
Qualifying results - Grand-Am (Detroit)
From ItaliaRacing.net
1. Fogarty-Gurney (Corvette DP) - Stallings - 1min22.369s
2. Angelelli-Taylor (Corvette DP) - SunTrust - 1min22.445s
3. Donohue-Borcheller (Corvette DP) - ActionExpress - 1min23.013s
4. Barbosa-Law-France (Corvette DP) - ActionExpress - 1min23.074s
5. Pruett-Rojas (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi - 1min23.176s
6. Valiante-Westbrook (Corvette DP) - Spirit of Daytona - 1min23.768s
7. Luhr-Popow (Riley-Ford) - Starworks - 1min24.616s
8. Dalziel-Potolicchio (Riley-Ford) - Starworks - 1min25.180s
9. Negri-Pew (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 1min26.166s
etc.
It seems Gabriele Tarquini (Seat Leon) has found a way to beat the Chevrolet cars.
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| Pole-sitter Gabriele Tarquini (Photo: FIA WTCC.com) |
An impressive Tarquini bested Yvan Muller (Chevrolet) to pole for the Portugal World Touring Car Championship (WTC) round, held this weekend at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.
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| Alain Menu as Michel Vaillant (Photo: FIA WTCC.com) |
Zengö Motorsport's Norbert Michelisz made his way up to third, leaving Chevrolet's Rob Huff and Alain Menu - racing this weekend as Michel Vaillant, the comic book hero "making" his WTCC debuts - to take some disappointing fourth and fifth spots.
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| Alain Menu as Michel Vaillant for the weekend (Photo: FIA WTCC.com) |
Local hero Tiago Monteiro qualified eighth.
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| Alain Menu as Michel Vaillant for the weekend (Photo: FIA WTCC.com) |
Qualifying results - WTCC (Portugal)
From ItaliaRacing.net
1.
Gabriele Tarquini - Seat Leon WTCC - Sunred - 1min53.966s
2. Yvan Muller - Chevrolet Cruze - RML - 1min54.232s
3. Norbert Michelisz - BMW 320 TC - Zengo - 1min54.598s
4. Robert Huff - Chevrolet Cruze - RML - 1min54.932s
5. Tom Coronel - BMW 320 TC - Roal - 1min54.982s
6. Alberto Cerqui - BMW 320 TC - Roal - 1min55.036s
7. Gabor Weber - BMW 320 TC - Zengo - 1min55.087s
8. Tiago Monteiro - Seat Leon 1.6 T - Tuenti - 1min55.088s
9. Alain Menu - Chevrolet Cruze - RML - 1min55.114s
10. Pepe Oriola - Seat Leon WTCC - Tuenti - 1min55.323s
Etc.
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| Alain Menu as Michel Vaillant for the weekend (Photo: FIA WTCC.com) |
At the age of 53 there's very few things which scare Mark Martin. Perhaps Dover, Delaware's Monster Mile track is one of Martin's scary things.
Or maybe he scared himself a little.
After Martin won his 54th career NASCAR Sprint Cup pole the ageless driver was out of breath when he was interviewed.
"I would never try that again," said Martin with a laugh. "I anticipated the car being loose, but I didn't ask Rodney (Childers, crew chief) if he tightened it up. I knew the conditions were looser than they were in our mock qualifying run yesterday and I didn't want to ask him because I didn't want to get concerned.
"I knew that I only had to make it one mile without wrecking and I was going to drive to the limit and slightly beyond and I felt like I did that."
Martin, who drives a Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing on a part time schedule averaged 158.297 mph (22.742 seconds), for his third pole of the season and fifth at Dover.
Even five-time Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson was shaking a little when he got out of his second place Chevrolet after a lap of 158.263 mph.
"Yeah, I've still got that qualifying tremble going on. Regardless of how many times you come here when you get a good lap it gets your attention."
Ryan Newman, was third fastest in the Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet matching a career best qualifying effort. Clint Bowyer's Michael Waltrip Toyota was fourth fastest, his best qualifying spot at the track.
Series point's leader, Greg Biffle will start seventh in a Roush Fenway Ford. His teammate, Matt Kenseth, who is second in the standings will start fifth.
Josh Wise and Cole Whitt did not qualify.
From GMM
F1's governing body has declared illegal the 'holes' in the floor of Red Bull's 2012 car.
Rivals teams including Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes had raised concerns about the design at Monaco last weekend, but opted not to protest on the promise that the FIA would issue a clarification prior to Canada next weekend.
"I think the regulation is quite a grey area," Red Bull's Christian Horner acknowledged to Sky Sports, "and I think a clarification will come out before Montreal that will tidy it up through a technical directive."
The crux of the highly-anticipated technical directive was reported by the German media on Saturday.
Named 013-12, the directive reportedly said there is a "misunderstanding" on the basis of a technical regulation about the meaning of a "fully enclosed hole".
It concluded that the design featured on Mark Webber's winning Monaco car is in fact not allowed.
The team and Australian Webber will keep the win, but the RB8 will have to be modified in order to pass scrutineering next weekend in Montreal.
Edoardo Mortara (Audi) takes his first DTM pole by being quickest in qualifying at Spielberg, Austria, fourth round of the season.
The Italian driver bested championship leader Gary Paffett (Mercedes) and his Audi teammate Mattias Ekström, who was quickest in Q3, but lost time after few mistakes in Q4. Last year Spielberg race winner Martin Tomczyk was fourth fastest aboard his BMW.
Behind them, Bruno Spengler (BMW) struggled to qualify for Q3, but the Canadian driver clinched the tenth position at the last moment of Q2, and then finally took the sixth spot on the starting grid for tomorrow's race.
It was a tough qualifying session for Robert Wickens, the other Canadian on track, who only managed to set the 19th best performance.
"We took a bit longer to get going here than at the three previous races," Spengler said.
"It took a while to find a good set-up in the free practice sessions. It is nothing out of the ordinary to have a more difficult weekend, however. With this in mind, sixth is a good result. A lot is possible from the third row of the grid. I will certainly be on the attack."
Qualifying results - DTM (Spielberg, Austria)
1. Edoardo Mortara (Audi) - 1min26.171s - Q4
2. Gary Paffett (Mercedes) - 1min26.292s - Q4
3. Mattias Ekström (Audi) - 1min26.319s - Q4
4. Martin Tomczyk (BMW) - 1min26.408s - Q4
5. Joey Hand (BMW) - 1min25.927s - Q3
6. Bruno Spengler (BMW) - 1min25.963s - Q3
7. Jamie Green (Mercedes) - 1min26.022s - Q3
8. Filipe Albuquerque (Audi) - 1min26.294s - Q3
9. Dirk Werner (BMW) - 1min26.309s - Q3
10. Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1min26.340s - Q3
(...)
19. Robert Wickens (Mercedes) - 1min26.725s - Q1
Etc.
Mazda Motorsports announced earlier this week it would make its new SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine available to racers of the new Rolex Sports Car Series GX class.
Mazda customers are already looking forward to working with the new unit.
"As a motorsports engineering firm, we love a challenge," said Sylvain Tremblay of SpeedSource Engineering. "Starting a new program with a stock-block SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine gives us a wonderful opportunity."
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| Mazda Motorsports' latest baby (Photo: Grand-Am.com) |
The GX class is the latest addition to the Grand-Am family. It's a category made specifically for alternative technologies cars. GX competitors will be on track with both the Daytona Prototypes and the GT cars.
Mazda's SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine boasts a 14:1 low compression ratio, a new two-stage turbocharger and a 5,200 rpm redline. Compared to Mazda's production 2.2L diesel, the SKYACTIV-D unit is 20% more fuel efficient and 10% lighter.
"This opens a new chapter in racing for us," said Jay Amestoy, vice president of Mazda Motorsports. "We've won with rotary technology, and now we're looking to again put our customers in the winner's circle with what we believe will be the most advanced and cleanest production-based power-plant the sport has ever seen."
Source: Grand-Am.com
From GMM
Sergio Perez is not a leading candidate to replace Felipe Massa next season, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has said.
"We never take a decision before the second half of the season," the Italian told Reuters.
Montezemolo acknowledged Brazilian Massa's surge of form in Monaco last weekend, amid speculation Sauber's Perez - already the cream of Ferrari's driver development programme - might nonetheless be fast-tracked into the race seat for 2013.
"No," he said of the 22-year-old Mexican.
"Perez is a good driver but to drive a Ferrari you need more experience."
That is where 35-year-old Australian and Monaco winner Mark Webber might come in, with multiples sources indicating a one-year Ferrari deal for 2013 would pave the way for Perez to step up a season later.
But Red Bull's Webber insisted: "This (speculation) always happens around this time of year.
"Only rarely does anyone do anything now, or make any major decisions," he is quoted on Saturday by AFP news agency.
The Chevrolet Volt was the best-selling rechargeable auto in the United States in May, topping Toyota's plug-in Prius and Nissan's all-electric Leaf hatchback. Sales of the GM plug-in sedan more than tripled to 1,680 units from 481 a year earlier.
The president of Audi of America, Johan de Nysschen, today said he is stepping down after nearly 20 years with the brand. De Nysschen, 52, announced his departure in an e-mail, without saying what he would be doing next.
The president of Audi of America, Johan de Nysschen, said Friday he is stepping down after nearly 20 years with the brand. De Nysschen, 52, announced his departure in an e-mail, without saying what he would be doing next.
A 1933 Alfa Romeo took home the top-prize and#8220;Gold Cupand#8221; from the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este this past week.
Longtime Audi veteran Johan de Nysschen, who rose to become president of the company's U.S. unit, has resigned for another job that is unknown at this point.
The saga of a rare 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K roadster has taken yet another intriguing turn.
Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz held onto the United States luxury-vehicle sales lead for the year over BMW's namesake brand, as Mercedes deliveries in May jumped 19 percent.
Ohio today became the 39th state to ban texting while driving. Warnings will be given to offenders for the first six months, but it will become a secondary offense for adults and a primary offense for minors.
General Motors said today that it will offer a lump-sum pension buyout to one-third of its retirees in the United States and shift the remaining retirees to a group annuity run by an outside administrator.
Also in this episode: Ferrari stages an auction to raise funds for earthquake victims, the McLaren F1 turns 20 and strap in for a
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