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From GMM

Dietrich Mateschitz has announced that he will join F1's board of directors once the sport is floated in Singapore.

It has been reported that, as part of Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren's new Concorde Agreement deals, the three top teams have been promised places on F1's decision-making executive board.

"If that is the case, I would go myself," energy drink mogul and billionaire Mateschitz said in an interview with Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

"And I would suppose that for Ferrari it would be Luca di Montezemolo himself," he added. "But it's still in the deliberation phase."

According to the Reuters news agency, that phase might continue for some time, due to volatility in the financial markets.

"If the next two weeks are as bad as the last three, it will be unlikely it (the floatation) will go ahead this summer," an unnamed source said at the Circuit de Catalunya.

"If markets are on a negative trend every day, it's hard to sell an IPO," he added.

More confident is Toto Wolff, the minor shareholder of the Williams team, who is tipped to one day replace team boss Sir Frank Williams.

Asked about F1's planned IPO, the Austrian told Kleine Zeitung newspaper: "I would buy straight away.

It was hard to tell whether Jimmie Johnson was happier for his boss, Rick Hendrick, for Hendrick Motorsports 200th victory or ending a 16-race winless drought on Saturday night in Darlington.

Since Johnson won in Kansas, last October, neither the five-time champion nor his team owner had been to victory lane.

"I can't believe we've won 200 of these things. I can't believe it took this long after 199," said Mr. Hendrick.

Johnson led a race-high 134 laps, pulling away from Denny Hamlin on a restart with three laps to go. It was his 56th Sprint Cup win putting him eighth on the all-time list.

"That guy's something," Johnson said about Hendrick in Victory Lane. "He said, 'We won 200. Let's get 250.' So glad to have it behind us and glad for this moment to be here for Rick, the company, all the people that have contributed to the 200th win. It's a special day," added Johnson.

But his biggest nemesis earlier was Tony Stewart. Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, gambled at an earlier caution to stay on the track to keep his number one position. Johnson was told to save gas.

"In a fuel mileage race, when you see that No. 14, (Stewart) you always second guess yourself because he's so good at it. I was really concerned. I was just pacing myself in the mirror on what he was doing. Hoped that I had saved enough."

Stewart himself admitted he had fuel issues on the last stint allowing Hamlin to finish second. Kyle Busch was fourth.

Danica Patrick finished 31st in her second Cup race.

The race was caution free for the first 172-laps the longest green flag period, at the track known as "too tough to tame," since NASCAR has kept records.

After the race there was an incident in the pits involving members of the Kurt Busch's team and Ryan Newman's. NASCAR is investigating the facts leading up to that incident. No immediate action was taken.

Hendrick Motorsports first victory goes back to Martinsville, VA. with Geoff Bodine at the wheel in April of 1984. While that paper clip-shaped track has seen the most HMS victories - 18 -, sadly, it was on the way to a race there in 2004 that ten family members and HMS team members perished in a plane crash.

Hendrick dedicated the win to lose lost in that accident. After the race he was presented with a helmet autographed by all of his drivers (or family members) in HMS' 28-year history.

Michael Schumacher was penalized for his clash with Williams' Bruno Senna during the Spanish Grand Prix.

As Schumacher was trying an overtaking manoeuvre on Senna, he found himself ramming the back of the Brazilian's car under braking for turn one.

The stewards judged he was responsible for the collision and handed him a five-place grid penalty ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, in two weeks time.

"Obviously I am not happy with the outcome of the race as I think we could have achieved some nice points today," said Schumacher, who disagreed with the officials, in his team's press release.

"But then this is sometimes what you have to go through in racing. It is not easy to see from the TV replays but what happened from my viewpoint was that he went to the right to defend the inside line, and then suddenly, shortly before the braking point, went to the left."

From GMM

F1's astonishing season continues to live up to the hype, as a fifth driver and constructor on Sunday won the fifth grand prix of 2012.

Not only is the victory Pastor Maldonado's first, his walk up the steps at the Circuit de Catalunya was the first taste of the podium in his two-season F1 career.

It's also the first Venezuelan triumph in the sport's history, and a hugely popular victory for Williams, the once-great British team headed by Sir Frank Williams, whose 70th birthday was warmly celebrated in the paddock on Saturday.

"Boy did we need that," said Williams on BBC television.

And asked how he feels on Sky television, he smiled: "Relief."

"Some said Maldonado was a pay driver and he didn't deserve his place in formula one but they'll be eating their words now," commented former team driver David Coulthard.

"That was a fantastic drive," added Coulthard, referring to Williams' first win since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004.

Williams enthused: "I didn't see him (Maldonado) make one single mistake."

"You can't really fault him," agreed Williams' 1996 world champion Damon Hill.

Amazingly, however, away from the champagne, Sebastian Vettel's sixth place leaves him at the top of the drivers' championship, and he is now neck-and-neck with Fernando Alonso, who finished second on Sunday in the improving Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton, who started dead last on Sunday and finished eighth, is third in the points classification, ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen.

Finn Raikkonen finished third on Sunday, and is the favourite to become F1's sixth different winner of 2012 in Monaco in a fortnight.

"We showed we still have the speed," the Lotus driver said after the Spanish grand prix. "If we had a few more laps, we could have fought for a victory."



Race results - Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)

1 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW34-Renault) - 66 laps in 1h39min09.145s
2 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F2012) - 3.195s

3 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E20-Renault) - 3.884s
4 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E20-Renault) - 14.799s
5 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C31-Ferrari) - 1min14.641s
6 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1min17.576s

7 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes MGP W03) - 1min27.919s

8 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1min28.100s

9 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/27-Mercedes) - 1min25.200s

10 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1 lap

11 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB8-Renault) - 1 lap

12 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1 lap
13 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR7-Ferrari) - 1 lap

14 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM05-Mercedes) - 1 lap
15 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F2012) - 1 lap
16 - Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap
17 - Vitaly Petrov (Caterham CT01-Renault) - 1 lap
18 - Timo Glock (Marussia MR01-Cosworth) - 2 laps
19 - Pedro De La Rosa (HRT F112-Cosworth) - 3 laps



Fastest lap by Romain Grosjean in 1min26.150s



Retirements

Lap 38 - Sergio Perez
Lap 36 - Charles Pic
Lap 23 - Narain Karthikeyan
Lap 13 - Michael Schumacher

Lap 13 - Bruno Senna




Drivers' championship


1. Vettel e Alonso 61; 3. Hamilton 53; 4. Raikkonen 49; 5. Webber 48; 6. Button 45; 7. Rosberg 41; 8. Grosjean 35; 9. Maldonado 29; 10. Perez 22; 11. Kobayashi 19; 12. Di Resta 15; 13. Senna 14; 14. Vergne 4; 15. Hulkenberg 3; 16. Ricciardo, Massa, Schumacher 2



Constructors' championship

1. Red Bull 109; 2. McLaren 98; 3. Lotus 84; 4. Ferrari 63; 5. Mercedes e Williams 43; 7. Sauber 41; 8. Force India 18; 9. Toro Rosso 6

From GMM

The drama stepped up a notch even after the chequered flag in Barcelona.

A couple of hours after Williams' first win since 2004, something exploded in the British team's garage, triggering a major fire.

Team members and fire crews battled the blaze as paddock regulars scrambled away from the heavy smoke and police arrived on the scene.

The Telegraph's Tom Cary said on Twitter there are "multiple injuries".

It is believed Williams, Force India and Caterham staff - some of whom bravely fought the fire - are being treated in the medical centre, some for smoke inhalation.

An emergency helicopter will ferry others to hospital.

"Couple of our guys got injuries, burns and maybe one broken wrist, no news on Williams guys I hope they're ok," wrote Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen on Twitter.

Rumours indicated the fire could have been caused by a KERS explosion, or possibly fuel, as a burned fuel rig was pulled from the gutted garage.

Lewis Hamilton has qualified on pole for the Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Maldonado and Alonso

Pastor Maldonado will start the Spanish Grand Prix from pole, as penalty means Lewis Hamilton starts last

Porsche has dropped plans to build a two-seat vehicle that would have been smaller and cheaper than its Boxster model, CEO Matthias Mueller told a German newspaper.

The first Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works GP was produced in 2006 to mark the end of the first generation of the Mini developed by

MINI has unleashed its fastest car ever, in the form of the limited-run John Cooper Works GP II

Ramped-up capacity by Chinese automakers during the heady days of 30-50 percent annual growth has bumped headlong into a domestic slowdown, and indigenous firms are now seeking buyers in far-flung corners of the world -- from Egypt to Ukraine to...

Daimler is flooding Berlin with Smart cars to claim a greater share of Europe's burgeoning rent-by-the-minute urban auto market.

The World Touring Car Championship could present two rounds in Russia and India in 2013.

The arrival of Russia on the calendar would be quite normal, considering that the country has been involved in WTCC for several years, via the Lada work team - the Russian brand being set to come back full-time next season -, but also throughout the oil company Lukoil, which backs Gabriele Tarquini and Russian driver Alexei Dudukalo.

The Moscow Raceway, which will welcome Formula One soon, could host two rounds next season.

Website TouringCarTimes also revealed that WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti was in talks with India's Buddh International Circuit repsentents to present the opening round of the 2013 championship.

Moreover, Lotti said, although it was a last minute deal in 2012, Slovakia could be back in 2013 - since the race that was used to replace the aborted Argentinian weekend was a great success - 41 000 people showing up over the week end, among which the president of Slovakia.

Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières veteran Marc-Antoine Camirand has taken fourth place in race 1 of the Grand Prix Électrique de Pau.

The Canadian is taking part in his first ever race weekend on European soil. Just like Gilles Villeneuve, back in 1976, Camirand was given the chance to attend the Grand Prix de Pau by the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières organizers.

Camirand qualified fifth, aboard his all electric Andros Car Evo 2, and finished fourth in race 1.

"Of course, I would have prefer a podium finish. But considering this is my first time in this car and on this track, I'm satisfied," Camirand said.

The race was won by DTM driver Adrien Tambay, who is also the son of Patrick Tambay - who himself used to be very good friend with Gilles Villeneuve -.

Start of the second race of the weekend is scheduled for 3:00 pm, local time - 9:00 am, Canadian time -.

History/Description: The Dodge Nitro brought a bit of toughness and manliness to the utility vehicle scene occupied by models like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-7. With a driver-selectable four-wheel-drive system, plenty of ground clearance and a solid rear axle, this was a tough truck ready for towing and off-road use - though it was intended equally for use on the road more travelled, too.

Nitro packed standard V6 power, namely from a 3.7L or 4.0L V6 making 210 or 255-260 horsepower, respectively. Though rare, a manual transmission was available on some models. Automatics were fitted otherwise.

2007 Dodge Nitro (Photo: Philippe Champoux)

Feature content included a slide-out cargo tray in the trunk, heated leather, premium audio, a household power outlet, a sunroof, automatic climate control and plenty more. Trim levels started with SE for a ‘basic' Nitro, with SXT, SLT and R/T filling the model range from less to more loaded, respectively.

What Owners Like: Nitro owners rate the ride, handling, sense of confidence, and all-season traction highly. The upgraded stereo is well liked, as is the styling and overall ‘bang for the buck' where feature content is concerned. Many owners also enjoy the ability to switch into and out of four-wheel drive ‘on the fly.'

What Owners Dislike: Common complaints include limited footwell space, limited headroom for taller drivers, and a long reach for the shifter - which is mounted to the passenger side of the centre console. Some owners wish for a higher quality feel to the cabin, too.

Common Issues: On a model with the automatic transmission, be sure to ‘feel' for any signs of slippage or a ‘shudder' at lower speeds and under light loads - which could indicate a problem with the transmission or torque converter itself, or the computer that controls the gearbox. If the transmission exhibits any of these symptoms, be sure to have the vehicle checked by a professional.

Additionally, some owners have reported transmission or torque converter replacement under warranty.

2007 Dodge Nitro (Photo: Philippe Champoux)

Continue reading 2007-2011 Dodge Nitro Pre-Owned

From GMM

A third team has decided to join Red Bull in Abu Dhabi for the young drivers' test.

Due to the calendar congestion at the end of this season, and also to cut costs, most teams have opted to drop the Abu Dhabi option in favour of testing young drivers in July, at Silverstone.

But Red Bull, and its second team Toro Rosso, are sticking with the original November plan, amid criticism July is too early to be assessing young drivers.

McLaren is now following suit.

"Our plan at McLaren at the moment is to test in Abu Dhabi," said the British team's sporting director Sam Michael, who said another factor against Silverstone is that teams are only half-way through their engine mileage allocations in July.

"Engines is a significant factor," the Australian explained.

"If you want to test at the end of the year, you have so many part-mileage engines that all have a little bit of mileage on them so you can effectively do it for free, in terms of your race engines," said Michael.

"If you try and do that in the middle of the year, you can't use your race engines so you have to prepare a special test engine."

Carroll Shelby, famous for his forward-thinking in sports car racing, has passed away at the age of 89, ShelbyAutos.com has announced.

Shelby, a Texan whose father was a mail carrier, made a name for himself by becoming, in 1959, the second American-born racer, after Phil Hill, to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"Unlike so many racers, he didn't come from a rich family[.] When I was a kid, American cars were big, clunky things, until Carroll used his ingenuity to make them compete with European cars," Jay Leno told the NY Times.

That's why most remember Shelby better as car builder. His idea of fitting big and true American V8s together with light and nimble British chassis was ground-breaking. In no time, his Shelby Cobras were rivals to the likes of Ferrari, Maserati and Jaguar.

Carroll Shelby (1923-2012) (Photo: ShelbyAutos.com)

"In the history of our company there are a handful of men who have stamped their imprint on the heart and soul of what we do at Ford Racing and Carroll Shelby is definitely one of them," Ford racing director James Allison said to Autosport.com.

Before entering racing, Shelby was a fighter plane pilot during World War II. After the war, he went on to work in oil fields and farming, as well as racing, before starting in the 1960's a close relationship with Ford.

Shelby's legacy with the blue oval extends to today, many modern Fords bearing his name - the 2013 Shelby GT500 being one of them.

"Whether helping Ford dominate the 1960s racing scene or building some of the most famous Mustangs, his enthusiasm and passion for great automobiles over six decades has truly inspired everyone who worked with him," Edsel Ford II, grandson of Ford's founder Henry Ford, told the Chicago Tribune.

Source: ShelbyAutos.com

Klaus Graf was the man to beat during qualifying for round 3 of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS).

Aboard his Muscle Milk Pickett Racing HPD ARX-03a, Graf covered Laguna Seca's famous racetrack in just 1min13.575s.

ALMS.com

Saturday night, with the help of his teammate Lucas Luhr, he will try to capture his team's first win at the Mazda Raceway - and break free of a tie for first place with Dyson Racing in the championship.

Level 5 Motorsports' Christophe Bouchut won the P2 pole by qualifying the HPD ARX-03b he shares with Scott Tucker and ex-F1 racer Franck Montagny in third overall. However, Montagny also recorded a lap in the team's second car, which enabled Level 5 to lock the front row.

ALMS.com

On its debut ALMS race, Dempsey Racing - TV star Patrick Dempsey's team - qualified third in P2, thanks to Jonny Cocker's 1min17.494s lap.

In GT, Darren Turner, in his Aston Martin Vantage, edged out Tommy Milner's Corvette.

ALMS.com

Turner can be proud of his team, which competed at the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Spa round, last weekend.

"The guys put (the car) on the plane and had to change things out when we got here, but we also have the hardest working team on the pit lane," Turner said.

Jörg Müller took third in class for BMW Team RLL, while Bruno Junqueira won his second LMPC pole at the wheel of RSR Racing's ORECA FLM09.

ALMS.com

Source: ALMS.com



Starting grid - American Le Mans Monterey (Laguna Seca, Cal.)

First row

Luhr/Graf (HPD ARX-03a) - Pickett - 1min13.573s

Dyson/Smith/Mowlem (Lola B12/60-Mazda) - Dyson - 1min15.358s


Second row

Tucker/Bouchut/Montagny (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 1min15.846s
Tucker/Diaz/Montagny (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 1min15.935s


Third row

Dempsey/Cocker/Foster (Lola B12/87-Mazda) - Dempsey - 1min17.494s

Junqueira/Drissi/Gonzalez (Oreca FLM09) - RSR - 1min17.867s


Fourth row

Popow/Kimber-Smith (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1min18.092s

Guasch/Gidley/Hamilton (Oreca FLM09) - Pickett - 1min18.114s


Fifth row

Leitzinger/Dobson (Oreca FLM09) - PR1 - 1min18.396s
Bennett/Braun (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1min18.423s


Sixth row

Richard/Ende/Lewis (Oreca FLM09) - Dempsey - 1min18.466s
Marcelli/Downs/Stirling (Oreca FLM09) - Merchant - 1min18.500s


Seventh row

Nicolosi/Vera (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1min18.725s
Prendeville/Mitchell/Da Costa (Radical SR10) - Libra - 1min21.539s


Eighth row

Ducote/Downs/Burgess (Oreca FLM09) - Merchant - 1min21.645s

Fernandez/Turner/Mucke (Aston Martin Vantage) - Aston Martin - 1min22.229s


Ninth row

Gavin/Milner (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 1min22.661s

Mueller/Auberlen (BMW M3) - Rahal - 1min22.905s


10th row

Bergmeister/Long/Lietz (Porsche 997) - Flying Lizard - 1min22.919s

Magnussen/Garcia (Corvette ZR1) - Corvette - 1min22.919s


11th row

Sharp/Van Overbeek (Ferrari 458) - Extreme Speed - 1min22.923s
Hand/Mueller (BMW M3) - Rahal - 1min22.939s


12th row

Brown/Cosmo (Ferrari 458) - Extreme Speed - 1min22.942s

Henzler/Sellers (Porsche 997) - Falken - 1min23.356s


13th row

Miller/Maassen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Miller - 1min23.448s

Sweedler/Bell (Lotus Evora) - Alex Job - 1min24.473s


14th row

Neiman/Holzer (Porsche 997) - Flying Lizard - 1min26.787s
LeSaffre/Faulkner/Bleekemolen (Porsche 997 Cup) - Green Hornet - 1min27.495s


15th row

Hedfunf/Krohn/Tandy (Porsche 997 Cup) - 1min27.670s

Curtis/Bleekemolen/DI Guida - 1min27.673s


16th row

Cumming/Marsh/Ragginger (Porsche 997 Cup) - JDX - 1min28.155s
Faieta/Avenatti/Wagner (Porsche 997 Cup) - Competition - 1min28.618s


17th row

MacNeil/Lazzaro (Porsche 997 Cup) - Alex Job - 1min28.641s

Sofronas/Welch/Villeneuve (Porsche 997 Cup) - GMG - 1min29.298s


18th row

Plowman/Hansson/Pizzonia (Morgan-Judd) - Conquest - no time

Source: ItaliaRacing.net

Like the law of unintended consequences, Joey Logano thought he'd help push Elliott Sadler on a restart with five laps to go at Darlington on Saturday night.

Only when Sadler spun his tires the push didn't go as planned and then the Nationwide race leader, Sadler, spun to the right into the wall wrecking his car.

"You just don't bump draft every place you go, especially not at a place like Darlington," Sadler said. He had been the series points leader entering the event.

Logano apologized to Sadler on his in-car radio moments after the incident. "Tell Elliott that I didn't mean to do that," he said. "I was trying to push him out ahead like the last restart. He started spinning his tires."

The race then went into a green-white-checker mode Logano blasted off on the restart holding off teammate, Denny Hamlin, by .255 seconds, for his second straight win, third of the season in a Toyota. Hamlin said he was running on seven cylinders at the end and couldn't keep up with his teammate.

Logano said it felt like "heart dropped" when spun Sadler added: "You don't want to be the guy that does something like that."

Logano denied any intentional harm. "At no point in my mind did I think, 'Man, I'm going to wreck him to win the race.'"

Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish Jr. were third and fourth in Dodges, respectively.

Austin Dillon finished fifth in a Chevrolet.

Danica Patrick finished 12th and extreme sports star, Travis Pastrana finished 17th in his second NASCAR race.

"With rally, there's certain times that there's a 100-foot cliffs or trees or snow or fog or whatever and that's scary," Pastrana said "But this, you know what's coming up and the fact that it is still scary is still overwhelming."

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the polesitter in a Ford Mustang, finished sixth, taking over first place in the standings from Sadler by a margin of 23-points.

Greg Biffle has always been a tough competitor in a Sprint Cup race. Only as a qualifier - not-so-much. On Friday, he bumped Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne off the pole at Darlington, the track known as "too tough to tame."

Once again Biffle credited his crew chief Matt Puccia for the change in his qualifying results: "I've said it three times in these interviews now, I'm having such a great time driving these race cars. My guys and Matt Puccia are doing such a great job. This is what a race car driver looks forward to is showing up every weekend and having a really fast car to drive."

Biffle, driving a Ford, turned a lap of 180.2557 mph around the 1.366-mile oval - also known as the lady in black - to wrest his 11th career pole from Johnson and Kahne who were each at 179.566 mph.

"It was a pretty uneventful lap," Biffle said. "The car just had a ton of grip - it stuck to the race track really, really well. I felt like I was a little bit light down in Turns 1 and 2 - I should have been a little bit quicker down there - but I got a lot out of it in 3 and 4, so it was a great lap."

Five-time champion Johnson gets to start on the front row on the basis of his points standings breaking the tie with Kahne. Both are driving Chevrolets.

Johnson said "Greg certainly went down there and found it. I was watching. He had a blistering fast 3 and 4, and came back around and got us. But it was a productive day. We're learning a lot. I wish it was a Hendrick front row, but it was a solid day...”

Kahne added "I didn't necessarily think it was going to be a pole at the time, and then the speeds; everybody was really close from about a .40 to a .45; there were a lot of cars right there. And then Greg went out at the end and beat us."

Ryan Newman will start fourth. Danica Patrick, in her second Sprint Cup race qualified 38th. She said "I know the starting spot won't be great, but it was a step forward for me and those are the things I'm looking for along the way."