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News 20 Apr, 2013

Bentley could launch a Mercedes CLS rival - but not before 2016

European luxury brands count on continued growth in China to offset slumping demand in their home markets. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said Europe faces long stagnation but an expanding Chinese market will boost premium automakers.

News 20 Apr, 2013

BMW could make a rival to the recently launched Audi A3 Saloon

News 20 Apr, 2013

Peugeot could build a new 308 GTi hot hatch, Auto Express has learned

News 20 Apr, 2013

Audi is working on a luxurious SUV to rival the Range Rover, according to boss Wolfgang Durheimer

News 20 Apr, 2013

A Maserati version of the Alfa Romeo 4C sports car could be on the cards

Morocco is aiming to become a major auto-producing market in the North African region.

Hyundai unveiled the Mistra concept for a midsized family sedan at the Shanghai auto show today. The production car will go on sale later this year only in China.

From GMM

Toyota could be set to follow its old Japanese rival Honda back into formula one.

Having pulled out of the sport amid the global financial crisis in late 2008, it is expected Honda is preparing a return for 2015 for the new turbo V6 rules.

"I think we've all heard the stories that Honda are coming in and there are other people looking at joining formula one," Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn said.

"I think it (the V6 rules have) regenerated that area, which it needed."

Honda is expected to team up for a works engine deal with McLaren, while Sauber has been linked with a customer supply of Japanese power.

Toyota, meanwhile, withdrew from F1 a year after Honda, at the end of 2009.

Swiss newspaper Blick's veteran correspondent Roger Benoit said in Bahrain: "Yes, even Toyota is toying with a comeback.

"The Japanese have Williams in sight, and they could get Japanese favourite Kamui Kobayashi back in a race cockpit."

From GMM

McLaren has denied Lewis Hamilton's claim the team "threw" him out of its pit garage at a pre-season Jerez test.

Recalling his effort to stay in touch with his former team, Hamilton revealed that he walked into the McLaren pits in February and "Sam Michael threw me out".

"That wasn't very positive and I don't feel very good about that," said the 2008 world champion.

McLaren spokesman Matt Bishop, however, said Hamilton's depiction of the incident is exaggerated.

"Sam didn't throw Lewis out of our garage," he is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

"Rather, he gently guided him out, since our car was being worked on by our mechanics at the time, with a number of its dismantled components clearly visible, which no one from a rival team should see.

"Lewis knew he shouldn't have been in our garage in the first place, just as all team personnel know they shouldn't enter rival teams' garages," added Bishop.

He claims Hamilton has been "warmly welcomed" when he visits McLaren's hospitality areas, leading team boss Martin Whitmarsh to describe the reports of Michael throwing him out as a "storm in a teacup".

Whitmarsh told the Independent: "I would never consider going into Ferrari's garage even though I have a very good relationship with team boss Stefano Domenicali.

"I suspect if I did that I would politely be asked to leave.

"I think Lewis was asked to leave in a good-natured manner in Jerez, and (he) may have been slightly naive.

"But he is always welcome in our hospitality and other appropriate areas."

Heavy rains have forced the cancellation of qualifying, ahead of the Grand Prix of Atltanta.

The grid was therefore set by championship standings, which means Memo Rojas and teammate Scott Pruett (BMW/Riley Ganassi) inherited the first spot on the starting grid.

The rain ended Jon Fogarty's run of two consecutive poles. Luckily for Fogarty, he and teammate Alex Gurney (GAINSCO Corvette DP) are second in the championship, so they can at least start second.

John Potter and Andy Lally (Magnus Porsche 911) will start first in GT, alongside Jeff Westphal and Alessandro Balzan (Scuderia Corse Ferrari 458).

Jim Norman and David Donohue (BGB Porsche Cayman) lead the standings in GX.


Starting order - Grand Prix of Atlanta (Grand-AM)
1.Pruett-Rojas (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi
2.Fogarty-Gurney (Corvette DP/Riley) - Stallings
3.Angelelli-Taylor (Riley-BMW) - Taylor
4.Dalziel-Popow (Riley-Ford) - Starworks
5.Taylor-Westbrook (Corvette DP) - SpiritOfDaytona
6.Lamy-Sarrazin (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star
7.Frisselle-Frisselle (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx
8.Cameron-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen
9.Fittipaldi-Barbosa (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx
10.Hartley-Legge-Mayer (Porsche 997) - Starworks
(...)

From GMM

Dr Helmut Marko insists Red Bull will not consider Mark Webber's future until the summer.

Amid suggestions Webber's place alongside Sebastian Vettel is now untenable in the wake of the 'Multi-21' affair, the 36-year-old Australian has been linked with a move to Le Mans with Porsche.

"People are putting two and two together and getting a bit more than they should," the driver told the BBC in Bahrain.

Still, Kimi Raikkonen is being strongly linked with Webber's race seat for 2014.

But Marko, Red Bull's driver manager who is famously much closer to German Vettel, told Kleine Zeitung newspaper in Bahrain: "It's April -- the fourth race.

"We traditionally make driver decisions in the summer. Everything else is just rumours."

Team boss Christian Horner, who co-owns a GP3 team with Webber, insisted the 'Multi-21' affair doesn't necessarily mean Webber and Vettel need to be broken up.

"They've never really got on but they push each other, they're competitive and it's worked," he said.

"Before changing anything I want to see how things settle down and how we move forward."

Andretti Autosport got the best in both Friday's practice sessions for the upcoming Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach with James Hinchcliffe leading P1 in the morning and Ryan Hunter-Reay during the afternoon session.

Hunter-Reay set the fastest lap of the day followed by returnee and 2011 Long Beach winner Mike Conway (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) trailing by 0.037s.

Contrary to P1, P2 saw quite a lot of action. Many red and yellow flags slowed down the session: Sebastian Saavedra, Justin Wilson, Simona de Silvestro, Scott Dixon and E.J. Viso all hit either the wall, the tire barriers or another car.

Team Penske's Will Power finished third while Schmidt Peterson's Tristan Vautier found the right settings to clock the fourth time in the afternoon.

Power's teammate Helio Castroneves completed the top 5.

Force India's Paul di Resta will start a career best fifth in tomorrow's Bahrain Grand Prix following grid penalties for Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber.

The Scot originally qualified seventh, but following Hamilton's five-place grid drop after a gearbox change and Webber's three-place penalty as a result of his collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in the Chinese Grand Prix, the Scot will line up fifth for tomorrow's race, a career best result and Force India's best result of the 2013 season.

“We looked strong throughout all the sessions,” he said after qualifying. “As the tracked gripped up we didn't quite have the speed we expected, but I'm still pretty happy with what we've achieved, especially as I will move up to fifth with the grid penalties.”

Di Resta also believes there is every chance for Force India to score a good haul of points, given teammate Adrian Sutil - following Hamilton's and Webber's penalties - will line up one position behind in sixth.

“We're in a great position for tomorrow; the car is strong and our long run performance yesterday gives us every reason to be hopeful of challenging for some good points,” he concluded.

Sutil echoed his teammate's comments and believes both cars can move forward in tomorrow's race.

“The track suits us, we like the warm weather and things look promising for tomorrow,” he said.

“It's a good starting position to have both cars on the third row and we will be looking to move forward in the race.”

Neel Jani and Dominik Farnbacher delivered pole for their respective team, ahead of the 2013 Long Beach Toyota Grand Prix.

Jani, driving Rebellion Racing's No. 12 Lola-Toyota coupe, turned his quickest lap 1min12.600s, over five tenths quicker than his quickest LMP1 rival, Guy Smith (Dyson Racing).

Smith's consolation prize was beating reigning champion Lucas Luhr (Muscle Milk), who had to make due with third on the grid.

In GT, Farnbacher's performance brought more than just a pole to Viper. It brought the returning manufacturer its first pole since coming back to the series last year.

"One year ago the car didn't exist," the driver reminded everyone.

Bryan Sellers (Team Falken) lines up beside him, followed by Jonathan Bomarito, in a second Viper.

By beating Extreme Speed's Scott Sharp, Ryan Briscoe (Level 5) earned himself a second consecutive pole in P2.

Bruno Junqueira (RSR Racing) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (Alex Job Racing) are the respective pace setters in LMPC and GTC.

Long Beach (Photo: Rebellion Racing)

Qualifying results - Long Beach Grand Prix
1.Heidfeld/Jani (Lola B12/60 Toyota) - Rebellion - 1'12"600
2.Dyson/Smith (Lola B12/60 Mazda) - Dyson - 1'13"282
3.Graf/Luhr (HPD ARX-03c) - Pickett - 1'14"004
4.Tucker/Briscoe (HPD ARX-03b) - Level 5 - 1'16"014
5.Junqueira/Ende (Oreca FLM09) - Rocketsports - 1'16"167
6.Bennett/Braun (Oreca FLM09) - CORE - 1'16"222
7.Guasch/Diaz (Oreca FLM09) - PR1 - 1'16"630
8.Marcelli/Cumming (Oreca FLM09) - BAR1 - 1'16"654
9.Nunez/Shears (Oreca FLM09) - Preformance Tech - 1'16"834
10.Drissi/Mitchell (Oreca FLM09) - BAR1 - 1'17"176
(...)
13.Goossens/Farnbacher (SRT Viper) - SRT - 1'18"845

Nico Rosberg has claimed a surprise pole position for Mercedes ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

The German set his fastest time of 1m32.330s, despite the Mercedes seeming unable to match the pace of the front running Ferraris, Raikkonen's Lotus and the Red Bulls in the weekend's free practice session.

However, in Q3 he set an unexpectedly quick banker lap of 1m32.4s which proved impossible to beat, despite facing a challenge from Vettel who set a fastest lap of 1m32.584s.

Later in the session, Rosberg once again went faster by improving his time to 1m32.3 and confirmed his third career pole position. Alonso, despite setting the fastest time in FP3 settled for third and failed to set a fastest time in the final qualifying session.

Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth in the second Mercedes ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull, but both drivers will take respective five and three place grid penalties, ahead of tomorrow's race. Felipe Massa qualified sixth on hard tires ahead of the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil.

Jenson Button rounded out the top-10 for McLaren one place behind Raikkonen's Lotus, despite the Woking team's low expectations for the weekend and failing to set a time in Q3. McLaren teammate Sergio Perez will continue the difficult start to his McLaren career as he lines up 12th, one place behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, Jean-Eric Vergne and Valtteri Bottas' Williams round out the top-16.

Q1 saw Williams' Pastor Maldonado and Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez join the backmarkers after qualifying in 17th and 18th place. However, in a shake up of the order, Charles Pic claimed 19th in the revised Caterham ahead of Jules Bianchi's Marussia and teammate Giedo van der Garde in the old spec car.

The second Marussia of Max Chilton will line up last of the 22 runners.


Qualifying results - Bahrain Grand Prix
1.Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'32"330 - Q3
2.Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'32"584 - Q3
3.Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'32"667 - Q3
4.Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'33"207 - Q3
5.Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'33"235 - Q3
6.Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'33"246 - Q3
7.Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'33"327 - Q3
8.Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'33"078 - Q3 ****
9.Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'32"762 - Q3 ***
10.Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - no time - Q3
11.Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'33"762 - Q2
12.Sergio Perez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'33"914 - Q2
13.Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'33"974 - Q2
14.Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'33"976 - Q2
15.Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'34"105 - Q2
16.Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'34"284 - Q2
17.Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'34"425 - Q1
18.Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'35"283 - Q1
19.Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'36"178 - Q1
20.Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'36"304 - Q1
21.Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'36"476 - Q1
22.Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'34"730 - Q1 **

* Unofficial
** Five-place grid penalty (Shanghai)
*** Five-place grid penalty (gearbox)
**** Three-place grid penalty (Shanghai)

It doesn't matter to Matt Kenseth if he's driving a Ford or a Toyota, he's still one of the best at Kansas Speedway.

Kenseth, who joined Joe Gibbs Racing this year, set a track qualifying record of 191.864 mph at the Speedway. Last year he won the fall race in a Roush Fenway Ford.

On the other hand this was only his ninth pole in 480 Sprint cup starts.

Trying to explain why he is so comfortable there the former Cup champion said "It's one of those tracks when you first get on it and you come here with them first couple of runs, you have a hard time feeling where the edge is.

"Whenever you go to a new race track, you have to bring a relatively hard and durable tire just because the track has so much grip. Here and Michigan, it gets a little better every lap you run and the longer you're here, but they're difficult tracks to get the balance right."

Edwards, one of two local heroes including Clint Bowyer and Kenseth's teammate last year, was second quick with a lap of 191.748. Rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified third in another Ford his best qualifying effort in the Cup series.

"We had the pole for two or three minutes there and that felt real good," Edwards said. "This is a special place and we've got a very fast Aflac Ford. Hopefully, it races as well as it runs in qualifying trim. I really messed up my first lap. My second lap was pretty good, but it still wasn't as fast as what we ran in practice.

"I think we'll hold up for second, so that's a great starting spot. I just want to win this race. That's it."

Sam Hornish took fourth place.

Four-time Sprint Cup champion, Jeff Gordon, crashed during the qualifying session, but was not injured.

Joe Nemechek, on the other hand, failed to qualify altogether.

The 2014 Acura MDX made its Canadian debut this week at the Edmonton Motor Show, where the automaker confirmed a mid-summer on-sale date.

Motivated by a 290-horsepower 3.5L V6 engine, the 2014 Acura MDX has fuel consumption ratings of 11.2L/100km city, 7.7L/100km highway, and 9.6L/100km combined. Expect enhanced dynamic performance, including quicker acceleration, more responsive braking, and even more precise steering feel.

Four trim levels will be available:

• MDX;
• MDX with Navigation package;
• MDX with Technology package;
• MDX with Elite package.

Pricing remains unknown.

Photo: Acura

Lewis Hamilton will take a five-place grid penalty ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix after, his team Mercedes having being forced to change the 2008 title winner's gearbox after the third free practice session.

Hamilton's WO4 suffered a left-rear puncture in the closing stages of final practice, as well as incurring suspension damage in a weekend where Mercedes have struggled to match the pace of the front runners.

Hamilton will be the third driver to incur a grid penalty this weekend in Bahrain along with Mark Webber and Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez who face three and five place grid drops following incidents over the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

Nico Rosberg expects a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix despite claiming pole position for tomorrow's race.

The Mercedes driver set a fastest lap of 1m32.330s ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in a car which seemed unable to match the pace of the front runners throughout free practice.

Following the qualifying session, Vettel described his compatriot as ‘unbeatable', but Rosberg expects a different story tomorrow given Mercedes' lack of pace in the previous sessions. He also expects tire wear to play a major role in the race.

“It's difficult to say if we have enough pace to win tomorrow,” he said. “It will be difficult, especially with the rear tyres, and we know that other teams were stronger than us on the long runs on Friday.

It will be a big challenge to stay ahead but starting from the front helps”

However, the pole sitter will be trying to convert his third pole position into his second win for the team.

“We are going to try and [and win, but] I look forward to starting first,” he said.