Brazilian race car driver Rubens Barrichello has confirmed Thursday that he is leaving the IZOD IndyCar series to race in his native Brazil in 2013.
On his official web site, the former Formula 1 driver confirmed that he will contest the full season in the Copa Ciaxa Brazilian V8 stock cars series next year.
Rubens Barrichello (Photo: Copa Ciaxa)
Barrichello was part of the Williams Formula 1 team in 2011. After a disastrous season, he was released by Williams and decided to join his life time friend Tony Kanaan at KV Racing in the IndyCar series.
But after a disappointing season, Barrichello said he'll now move to Brazil for good and contest the 2013 Copa Ciaxa, driving a Peugeot sponsored by Medley and entered by Full Time Sport.
The winner of 11 Formula 1 Grands Prix contested some rounds of the Brazilian stock car series this fall. Unable to find the sponsorship required to continue racing in the IndyCar series in 2013, Barrichello elected to switch series and go back home.
According to international reports, British engineer Pat Symonds' paddock exile is about to end.
Although working as a crucial technical consultant with Marussia in the last couple of seasons, the Briton -- who worked for Renault with Fernando Alonso -- was officially serving his F1 ban in the wake of the 2008 Renault 'crashgate' scandal.
But the Spanish newspaper ABC, and Italy's specialist Autosprint magazine, said Symonds will return to the paddock with Marussia in a direct role in 2013.
ABC said the 59-year-old veteran will be Marussia's technical director.
Insiders have told Reuters that the Blue Oval will offer a preview of the 2015 Ford F-150 at the upcoming NAIAS in response to General Motors introducing the new 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra last week.
Both trucks are scheduled to go on sale next summer, while Ford plans to release the next-gen F-150 in the fall of 2014.
Look for the latter to keep focusing on fuel economy like the rest of Ford's lineup. Back in July, we reported that the automaker was considering dressing up the popular F-150 in aluminum, which would help shed 700 pounds and increase efficiency.
According to Reuters, the show truck in Detroit will provide ''strong visual clues'' to the design of the future production F-150.
Mercedes-Benz Canada is launching the nationwide B-The Face Contest to find new ambassadors for the brand and the all-new B-Class in particular. The selected winners will receive behind-the-scenes access to exclusive company events, as well as a one-year lease of a Mercedes-Benz B 250.
Four associated lifestyles have been defined for the search: B-Seen, B-Adventurous, B-Spontaneous, and B-Playful. If that sounds like you, visit www.MB-TheFace.com and complete the online contest entry form. You must provide a Tumblr address and are encouraged to submit a list of social media sites you are currently active on.
Mercedes-Benz Canada will accept entries until February 15th, 2013. Five finalists for each of the four lifestyles will be selected, and from there the public will help pick the winners by voting for their favourite personalities.
Vitaly Petrov's hopes lie with Caterham, as the Russian bids to stay in Formula 1 for a fourth consecutive season in 2013.
His manager, Oksana Kosachenko, admitted that while there is also still a race seat vacancy at Force India, the 28-year-old driver is only waiting on Caterham's call.
"At the moment, all the necessary work on our part is done -- and it's for Caterham to decide," she told Russian web site sportbox.ru.
Admitting that talks with other teams had all fallen through, Kosachenko insisted it is "difficult to say" whether Caterham will make its decision in the days immediately after Christmas.
She told f1news.ru: "Yes, Vitaly is among the contenders, however, so are six drivers."
Toyota is setting aside $1.1 billion to settle various lawsuits and other claims in the United States stemming from reports of unintended acceleration that plagued the automaker in 2009-2010.
Ford faces a federal lawsuit that contends the new C-Max and Fusion hybrids fail to deliver promised fuel economy claims. Ford's 2013 C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid mid-sized sedan are EPA rated at 47 mpg city/47 highway/47 combined.
The humble Volkswagen Beetle has served as a blank canvas for a staggering range of offbeat projects, from the Meyers Manx dune buggy to a museum's worth of art cars.
Volkswagen AG will vie with General Motors for the sales crown among foreign automakers in China next year, gaining share as Japanese carmakers led by Toyota struggle to recover amid a territorial dispute.
John Fitch had hoped his Corvair-based Phoenix would prove to be the and#8220;American Porsche.and#8221; Instead, it proved that timing is everything, and Fitch's couldn't have been worse.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR BOB GRITZINGER: Talk about your major hoots. I'm not sure anybodyand#8212;anybodyand#8212;needs this much power at hand for their day-to-day drives. It could only lead to trouble.
Toyota, poised to regain its title as the world's biggest carmaker this year, said its vehicle sales may rise 2 percent next year to a record, led by demand from overseas markets.
From an infamous Texas house fire, to the death of one of the greats, autoweek.com's top-12 most read stories of 2012 offer a look back at a wild year.
Construction of the $200 million US Russian Formula 1 circuit for the first Grand Prix of Russia is on schedule, according to Formula Sochi officials.
A press release published by Formula Sochi said: "Many massive Olympic venues are already built, some sport facilities have been put in commission, while the motorsport venue is in the active phase of construction. Construction crews are making good progress with the preparing of groundworks and laying of the asphalt coat. The first layer of pavement has been laid in some areas."
Construction of the pit building. (Photo: Formula Sochi)
German architect, Hermann Tilke, said to DPA News agency: “I can say that everything is going according to schedule. Everything is fine. We'll be able to build the track in time, which means by 2014.”
The race control building is said to be near completion, with installation works at the pit complex due to get underway in the spring.
The new road courses should be ready to host Russia's maiden Grand Prix in 2014, the same year as the Winter Olympics.
Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa found it hard to accept that the small Formula 1 team HRT closed its doors after the last Grand Prix of the season held in Brazil.
Taking to Spanish newspaper Marca, De la Rosa said he was sad not only for him, but especially for all the team members who gave everything, day after day depiste the difficulties.
“It was a nice project, very special, very humble. We knew we would be last, and that we could only fight against Marussia. However, we always gave our best,” said De la Rosa to Marca.
Interestingly, the team has yet to issue an official press release about the situation. “I am not the spoke person of the team. But I think that the team has ceased all operations and will soon close its doors. But no one knows for sure”, said De la Rosa.
“I am looking to get a ride for next year, but there are no full-time ride available. Caterham and Marussia are my only two options,” the Spaniard added. In mentioning Marussia, he confirmed that the Russian team may let go Timo Glock in favour of a paying driver.
De la Rosa ruled out Sahara Force India. “They signed a driver, but I don't know who he is”, he said.
“I will try to become a test driver or a reserve driver in a good team. I don't have sponsors however. Several teams out there are looking for money, and I don't want to start searching for money. McLaren? Sincerely, I don't know. We talked a lot but nothing really serious. I don't know if they interested in me or not”, said Pedro de la Rosa.
Two Toyota models fared worse on two measures of safety than the rest of the midsize cars subjected to a new frontal crash test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Both the Camry sedan and Prius v hybrid were hit with a "poor" overall rating as a result. In the former's case, the front wheel was forced sharply back toward the driver's feet, and the driver's side airbag failed to fully prevent a blow to the test dummy's head.
On a positive note, 13 midsize cars have earned high marks. The Honda Accord and Suzuki Kizashi led the way with a ''good'' rating, while 11 others were deemed ''acceptable.'' The Chevrolet Malibu, Hyundai Sonata and Volkswagen Jetta couldn't do better than a "marginal" rating.
During the Institute's first round of tests this summer, only three out of 11 luxury cars finished with a "good" or "acceptable" mention.
Ford, Subaru, Volkswagen and Honda all told the IIHS that they designed their vehicles to handle the new test. Toyota has made a commitment to follow suit.
The 34th Dakar will start from Lima, Peru, on January 5, 2013. The event features an 8,574km route, including 4,155km of competitive action, and finishes in Santiago, Chile.
The entry includes the past four winners of the celebrated cross-country rally, namely Stephane Peterhansel, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Carlos Sainz and Giniel de Villiers.
Peterhansel, who has won the event 10 times from 23 starts (six on two wheels, and four in a car), will spearhead the X-Raid Team effort which includes six MINI ALL4 Racings (new production three-litre bi-turbo diesel engine), 10 service trucks and two competing trucks.
The Frenchman will have a new co-driver, Jean-Paul Cottret, while Michel Périn will be back to navigate Spaniard Nani Roma who is still chasing after his first Dakar victory on four wheels. X-Raid Team's line-up also includes Russia's Leonid Novitskiy, Pole Krzysztof Holowczyc and rookies Boris Garafulic and Stephan Schotts. Argentina's Terranova will also be in the team, but in a BMW X3 CC.
In 2012, the new Toyota Hilux (V8 4.6-litre petrol engine) was surprisingly competitive for its debut. This January will see a six-car entry led by South Africans Giniel de Villiers and Vos Duncan (Toyota Imperial South Africa), along with four cars run by the Belgian team Overdrive for Lucio Alvarez, Peter Van Merksteijn and Poles Szymon Ruta and Adam Malysz.
Overdrive's boss Jean-Marc Fortin has dropped his role as co-driver to Holowczyc to better look after his team which collected an encouraging one-two finish on the Qatar Sealine Cross Country Rally, while Alvarez was fourth on the Silk Way Rally.
The newly-formed Qatar Red Bull Rally Team will have buggies (2WD, V8 seven-litre petrol V8 engines) for ex-winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz. Another top two-wheel drive runner will be the USA's Robby Gordon (Hummer) who was excluded in 2012.
SMG has entered five cars: three 2WD buggies (V8 petrol engine) for Guerlain Chicherit, Ronan Chabot and Bernard Errandonea, plus two 4x4 Great-Walls (based on the BMW X3 CC) for Carlos Souza and Yong Zhou.
Other leading entries include three Dessoude ‘prototypes: two new Juke buggies (2WD, diesel two-litre bi-turbo engine) for Christian Lavieille and Stephane Wintenberger, and an ‘Atacama' for Frederic Chavigny.
Eric Vigouroux returns in a Protruck Chevrolet, while Dutchman Bernhard Ten Brinke is back in a Ford HRX V8 prototype (Riwald Dakar Team). There will be Aston Martin-engined Mitsubishi prototypes, too, for Brazil's Guilherme Spinelli and Dutchman Erik Van Loon.
The seven-time German Rally Champion Matthias Kahle will be contesting the Dakar for the fifth time in a SAM-Mercedes (2WD, three-litre turbo diesel V6). MD Rallye Sport has entered eight buggies, including three Optimus V8s (five-litre Ford 380hp petrol engines) for Thomasse, Vasseur and Vandromme.
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