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Canadian Robert Wickens (Mercedes) clinched his first pole position in DTM at the Norisring, ahead of fellow country man Bruno Spengler.

Spengler set the pace in the first part of the session, after he was quickest in Saturday morning's free practice session.

But the French-Canadian driver made a little mistake while approaching the first corner in his flying lap in Q4, losing about 0.15s in the first sector, concluding the lap 0.059 thousands of a second slower than Wickens.

That was a good qualifying session for Mercedes, as Gary Paffett was third quickest, just ahead Edoardo Mortara's Audi. 18-year-old Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes) missed by almost nothing his qualifying for Q4, to finally classify in 5th position, his best qualifying result in DTM so far.

The German leads Andy Priaulx's BMW, Daniel Juncadella's Mercedes and Filipe Albuquerque's Audi.

Meanwhile, that was a disappointing session for championship leader Mike Rockenfeller (Audi), who failed to qualify for Q2, and qualified only in 19th position.

Bad day also for Jamie Green (Audi), the best performer at the Norisring (he won four races here in five races), who could not do better than the 14th performance in qualifying.

Robert Wickens, Mercedes C Coupé DTM (Photo: DTM.com)

Qualifying classification
1. Robert Wickens (Mercedes C Coupé DTM - AMG) - 48''384
2. Bruno Spengler (BMW M3 DTM - Schnitzer) - 48''443
3. Gary Paffett (Mercedes C Coupé DTM - AMG) - 48''460
4. Edoardo Mortara (Audi A5 DTM - Rosberg) - 48''490
5. Pascal Wherlein (Mercedes C Coupé DTM - AMG) - 48''356
6. Andy Priaulx (BMW M3 DTM - RMG) - 48''406
7. Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes C Coupé DTM - AMG) - 48''410
8. Filipe Albuquerque (Audi A5 DTM - Rosberg) - 48''454
Etc.

Steele Auto Group, Atlantic Canada's leading automotive group, has joined SiriusXM Canada's pre-owned vehicle program, which helps participating dealerships market pre-owned inventory by offering a complimentary 90-day SiriusXM subscription with any purchase of a pre-owned vehicle equipped with satellite radio.

“We are very pleased to welcome Steele Auto Group to SiriusXM's pre-owned vehicle program,” said James Byun, Vice President, OEM, SiriusXM Canada. “The program helps dealerships add value to pre-owned vehicles and gives more drivers the opportunity to experience SiriusXM's incredible content and programming.”

Steele Auto Group owns and operates 14 dealerships in the Atlantics:

• Audi Halifax
• Halifax Chrysler
• Land Rover Halifax
• MacPhee Chevrolet
• Porsche of Halifax
• Steele Chrysler
• Steele Ford Lincoln
• Steele Hyundai
• Steele Jaguar
• Steele Mazda
• Steele Premium Preowned
• Steele Subaru
• Steele Volkswagen
• Volvo of Halifax

SiriusXM Canada is inviting other car dealers to participate in its pre-owned vehicle program, so expect this type of offer to become available elsewhere in Canada in the near future.

Ganassi's Dario Franchitti will be starting from the front line as he earned pole position for the upcoming IndyCar's first race in the Toronto double-header.

Franchitti clocked a time of 59.5756s, which was definitely good enough to let Sebastian Bourdais (Dragon Racing) finished second just 0.09s off Franchitti's lap.

Will Power (Team Penske) finished third while KV Racing's Tony Kanaan will start from fourth in front of James Jakes (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) who will probably get a 10-place grid penalty for an unauthorized engine change.

Franchitti's teammate Scott Dixon completed the top six.


Qualifying results - IndyCar (Toronto, ON)
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi/Honda 59.6756s
2. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon/Chevy 59.7701s +0.0945s
3. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1m00.0612s +0.3856s
4. Tony Kanaan KV/Chevy 1m00.1179s +0.4423s
5. James Jakes Rahal/Honda 1m00.1430s +0.4674s
6. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Honda 1m00.3228s +0.6472s
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Chevy 1m00.1954s Round 2
8. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 1m00.2866s Round 2
9. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 1m00.2954s Round 2
10. Ryan Briscoe Panther/Chevy 1m00.3843s Round 2
11. Marco Andretti Andretti/Chevy 1m00.6027s Round 2
12. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 1m02.3831s Round 2
13. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 1m00.4303s Group 1
14. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Chevy 1m00.5083s Group 2
15. EJ Viso Andretti/Chevy 1m00.4556s Group 1
16. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Honda 1m00.6569s Group 2
17. Alex Tagliani Herta/Honda 1m00.4586s Group 1
18. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 1m00.6868s Group 2
19. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 1m00.5822s Group 1
20. Mike Conway Coyne/Honda 1m00.9526s Group 2
21. Tristan Vautier Schmidt/Honda 1m00.9053s Group 1
22. Simona de Silvestro KV/Chevy 1m01.1553s Group 2
23. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 1m01.2367s Group 1
24. Sebastian Saavedra Dragon/Chevy 1m01.2939s Group 2

Caterham has launched a new version of the Seven dubbed the 620 R, and it will be shown to the public for the first time this weekend at the

The Auctions at Amelia Island

Amelia Island, Florida | March 8-9, 2013

FEATURE CAR

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Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz probably won't win the luxury car sales race in the United States this year, CEO Dieter Zetsche said.

Hyundai is raising prices on the refreshed 2014 Equus by 3 percent, or $1,750, to reflect additional standard equipment on the luxury sedan.

General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky reiterated that the automaker doesn't plan to invest further in PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and called speculation about expanding ties between the automakers a distraction.

General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky reiterated that the automaker doesn't plan to invest further in PSA Peugeot Citroen and called speculation about expanding ties between the automakers a distraction.

General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky reiterated that the automaker doesn't plan to invest further in PSA Peugeot Citroen and called speculation about expanding ties between the automakers a distraction.

Toyota, seeking to raise awareness of the Prius Plug-in hybrid's fuel economy, this week launched the second phase of the Prius Plug-In MPG Challenge, a 30-day contest among seven eco-friendly groups and individuals to achieve the highest overall...

After Robert Doornbos took home the 2007 Champ Car World Series trophy at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant, second-place finisher Sébastien Bourdais cried foul.

General Motors announced that its president of GM Southeast Asia, GM Thailand and Chevrolet sales in Thailand will leave the automaker at the end of the month to pursue other interests.

Posting an ad from a dearly departed automaker is always bittersweet. Though it pains us to recall the Nashes and

During the glory days of Alfred Sloan's "Ladder of Success" for General Motors marques, the

Remember Fiat's 2011 Super Bowl commercial, "Seduction," in which a beautiful woman turned out to be a Fiat 500 Abarth? Well, you won't be fooled this time.

Future Deck / New Sounds

In-car technology has advanced so quickly that a new Chevrolet Spark makes some five-year-old luxury cars feel quaint. Enter the aftermarket.

In-car technology has advanced so quickly that a new Chevrolet Spark makes some five-year-old luxury cars feel quaint. Enter the aftermarket. Although no one yet offers an all-in-one solution -- there's no BMW iDrive retrofit kit for a 1989 7-series, for instance -- these products can meet or beat some of the features in new vehicles.

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Hyundai is "on track" to see sales rise 4.4 percent to 734,000 vehicles in the U.S. this year, even as factory capacity constraints have limited the automaker's sales growth to just 1.2 percent in the first half, the carmaker's U.S. chief said today.

Update: Looks like video embedding is down, but you can watch the episode here until we figure out a workaround.

The Godfather of the F-Body: Scott Settlemire

In the real world, Scott Settlemire is a midlevel, fifty-nine-year-old General Motors lifer who manages auto shows.

In the real world, Scott Settlemire is a midlevel, fifty-nine-year-old General Motors lifer who manages auto shows.

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