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Frenchman Sébastien Ogier (Volkswagen) extended his lead in the World Rally Championship (WRC) by winning his fifth event of the season, in the forests of Finland.

Ogier seemed less than his usual dominant at the start of the rally, sharing the lead with as many as three other drivers on the first day of action. But as rivals Mads Ostberg (Ford), Thierry Neuville (Ford) and Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën) ran into problems of their own, the championship leader disappeared in the distance.

Sébatien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC (Photo: VW Motorsport)

Aboard his Polo R WRC, he crossed the finnish line in Jybaskyla some 36 seconds ahead of Neuville, who climbed on the second step of the podium for a second consecutive rally.

Ostberg, who went off the road near the end of the event, had to settle for third because of his mistake, but nevertheless beat Hirvonen, the fourth and last driver of the leading quartet to reach the end.

Kris Meeke was quick aboard Sébastien Loeb's Citroën DS3, until eventually flipping the nine-time champion's mount. Fifth place therefore went to Dani Sordo, in the third Citroën.

Final results* - Rally Finland (WRC)
1. Ogier-Ingrassia (VW Polo Wrc) in 2.43'10”4
2. Neuville-Gilsoul (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 36"6
3. Ostberg-Andersson (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 57”6
4. Hirvonen-Lehtinen (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 1'21”6
5. Sordo-Del Barrio (Citroen DS3 Wrc) + 6'08"5
6. Novikov-Minor (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 8'39”7
7. Ketomaa-Lindstrom (Ford Fiesta R5) + 11'19”2
8. Andersson-Axelsson (Ford Fiesta RS Wrc) + 11'41"5
9. Kubica-Baran (Citroen DS3 S2000) + 12'48”1
10. Mikkelsen-Markkula (VW Polo Wrc) + 13'42”0

*Unofficial

Audi's Mike Rockenfeller ended up first of the qualifying session that preceded the first ever DTM race in Russia. Amazingly, the session was cut short by the Russian president himself.

It was cut short after three of four segments because a ban in the airspace over the track grounded the rescue helicopter. The unscheduled ban was allegedly to allow Russian president Vladimir Putin's plane through.

The ground rescue helicopter (Photo: DTM.com)

The starting order was therefore set by the results of Q3, which had championship leader Rockenfeller in first, his teammate Mattias Ekström in second and BMW's Augusto Farfus in third.

Reigning champion Bruno Spengler (BMW) ended up fourth.

Bruno Spengler, BMW M3 (Photo: DTM.com)

Former F1 driver Timo Glock (BMW) will start only 17th, one place ahead of Canadian Robert Wickens (Mercedes-Benz), who finished a career-best second at the Norisring last month.

The start of the much anticipated first ever DTM race in Russia, which will cover 74 laps of the Hermann Tilke-designed Moscow Raceway, is scheduled for Sunday.

Mike Rockenfeller, Audi RS 5 (Photo: DTM.com)

Qualiyfing results - Moscow Raceway (Russia)
1.Mike Rockenfeller (Audi RS5) - Phoenix - 58"423 - Q3
2.Mattias Ekstrom (Audi RS5) - Abt - 58"604 - Q3
3.Augusto Farfus (BMW M3) - RBM - 58"677 - Q3
4.Bruno Spengler (BMW M3) - Schnitzer - 58"694 - Q3
5.Jamie Green (Audi RS5) - Abt - 58"749 - Q3
6.Dirk Werner (BMW M3) - Schnitzer - 58"779 - Q3
7.Gary Paffett (Mercedes C-Coupé) - HWA - 58"831 - Q3
8.Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes C-Coupé) - Mucke - 58"843 - Q3
9.Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes C-Coupé) - Mucke - 58"985 - Q3
10.Christian Vietoris (Mercedes C-Coupé) - HWA - 59"038 - Q3
11.Miguel Molina (Audi RS5) - Phoenix - 58"907 - Q2
12.Adrien Tambay (Audi RS5) - Abt - 58"910 - Q2
13.Filipe Albuquerque (Audi RS5) - Rosberg - 58"914 - Q2
14.Timo Scheider (Audi RS5) - Abt - 58"954 - Q2
15.Joey Hand (BMW M3) - RBM - 59"013 - Q2
16.Edoardo Mortara (Audi RS5) - Rosberg - 59"133 - Q2
17.Timo Glock (BMW M3) - MTEK - 59"177 - Q1
18.Robert Wickens (Mercedes C-Coupé) - HWA - 59"285
19.Martin Tomczyk (BMW M3) - RMG - 59"286
20.Marco Wittmann (BMW M3) - MTEK - 59"400
21.Andy Priaulx (BMW M3) - RMG - 59"442
22.Roberto Merhi (Mercedes C-Coupé) - HWA - 59"467

Eight drivers will race in two, and some in three, categories, when the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and Grand-Am championships visit Road America next weekend, in the first shared weekend for the two series that are merging next year.

Bill Auberlen, John Edwards and Spencer Pumpelly will race in the ALMS, Grand-Am and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, where as Leh Keen, Patrick Long, Maxime Martin and Tristan Nunez will "only" race in two series.

"The most important rule is to pay attention," warned Pumpelly, who will drive three different Porsche cars (a Cayman, a 911 Carrera and a GT3 Cup car) over the weekend. "You have to remember which pit pox you need to pull in to, and some of the particular rules of the series."

The one driver that will have to be especially careful is Tristan Nunez. The 17-year-old Floridian will have to switch between an FLM09 prototype in ALMS, and a diesel-powered Mazda 6 in Grand-Am.

In order for the eight men to be able to switch back and forth between race teams, officials have split the weekend in half days, each featuring a specific championship.

Tristan Nunez, ORECA FLM09 (Photo: Darren Pierson/DPerceptions)

From GMM

Red Bull has confirmed a meeting about Fernando Alonso took place with the Ferrari driver's manager at the Hungaroring last weekend.

Initially, the sensational story of a potential move to Red Bull for the two-time world champion was dismissed by some, as Alonso's manager Luis Garcia Abad also handles the career of rising Red Bull-backed youngster Carlos Sainz jr.

But when told his meeting with Garcia was obviously simply about the 18-year-old Sainz, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Sport Bild: "Nonsense.

"Why would I talk to him about Sainz jr, who has long been in the Red Bull junior team?"

Sainz jr drives for the GP3 team MW Arden, a collaboration between Mark Webber and Horner.

Clearly, Garcia and Horner might have something to talk about other than Alonso, but Red Bull is not hiding the fact the Hungaroring meeting was about Ferrari's number 1.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F138 (Photo: WRi2)

"I can't remember if we talked about Red Bull or Spanish red wine," a mischievous Dr Helmut Marko, the head of Red Bull's driver programme, told German television Sky.

With Australian Webber heading to Le Mans, Red Bull is weighing up a new teammate for Sebastian Vettel next year.

Earlier, although Kimi Raikkonen is also still in the running, it was believed Daniel Ricciardo had sped into pole position for the seat.

But Horner insists: "We have never been under pressure to take one of the junior drivers.

"We have won the world championships for the past three years, and we want to ensure we can carry on doing so in the future."

Nothing has been heard from Alonso's manager Garcia since the Hungaroring meeting, but still involved in the 32-year-old's driver career is the former Renault boss Flavio Briatore.

He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "He has a contract and contracts must be respected.

"Alonso has never said he wants to leave."

From WRC.com

Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier will start Saturday's final leg of Neste Oil Rally Finland with a 38 second lead after a perfectly-managed performance on Friday's nine stages.

The Frenchman began Friday's action second in his Polo R, trailing Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville by 5.2sec, and nestled near the top of a pack of seven drivers separated by less than 23 seconds.

Things remained tight all morning, with Ogier trading stage wins with Citroen DS3 driver Mikko Hirvonen and Mads Ostberg in a Fiesta RS, so that just 11.4 seconds covered the top four at the midpoint service. 

But it was all change in the afternoon, when Ogier upped his pace on the rutted surface of the repeated stages, winning all of them while one-by-one his rivals hit trouble. 

Sébastien Ogier, Volkswagen Polo R WRC (Photo: VW Motorsport)

Overnight leader Neuville lost the position on today's opener, but remained close until the 13km Mokkipera (SS13) when he slipped more than 30 seconds behind after driving most of the stage with a punctured left front tire. Another tire related-problem followed on SS14.

Ostberg is third, less than one second behind Neuville. The Norwegian was right with Ogier until SS15 - the day's final forest stage - when he hit a rock, shattered his Fiesta's front left wheel and dropped 45 seconds.

Hirvonen is fourth 1m04.4s off the lead, and the first to fall out of the victory battle. The Finn clipped a bank and had a massive spin on SS11, losing 20 seconds and damaging two tires and his DS3's rear suspension.

Citroen's stand-in driver Kris Meeke is fifth on his debut in a DS3 World Rally Car. The Brit was slowed on SS10 when he caught - but was unable to pass - the damaged Ford of Evgeny Novikov, but was second-fastest on two stages.

As part of the 50th anniversary of the 911, Porsche had hoped to assemble a convoy of 911 cars at Silverstone on July 28th. Well, there were 1,208 on the track, setting a new world record for the largest parade of 911s.

The event was kicked off by Mark Porsche, the great-grandson of company founder Ferdinand Porsche, who said: “It's been a family member over all the generations of the 911 series and I'm very proud to be here today to represent the Porsche family at this great event. I think that to have these 1,200 cars on track is the attention that the 911 deserves for its 50th birthday. I can't thank the Porsche Club GB enough for making this event possible.”

The celebration also served to raise funds for the Hope for Tomorrow charity, which brings mobile chemotherapy units to cancer patients.

Source : worldcarfans.com

The all-new 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is still hot from the oven, but that didn't stop BRABUS to increase output from its S 63 AMG model to 650 horsepower (BRABUS B63) or even 730 horsepower (BRABUS B63S), with maximum speed being electronically limited at 325 km/h.

Meanwhile, the S 500 gained 65 horsepower for a total of 520 (BRABUS B50). It can sprint from 0-100 km/h in 4.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 250, 275 or 300 km/h, depending on the selected kit.

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class by BRABUS will appear at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show from September 10-22.

Photo: Brabus

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550

Glides effortlessly, accelerates like a muscle car, grips like a sports sedan.

The CL reminds me of a killer whale, and not just because its air suspension sometimes emits a certain "pfft" that sounds like a blowhole. Rather, it's the way the CL glides effortlessly glide down the road, feeling every bit like the 4600-pound luxo-barge that it is, only to then accelerate like a muscle car or grip through a corner like a sport sedan. And this is the base model.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550

Glides effortlessly, accelerates like a muscle car, grips like a sports sedan.

The CL reminds me of a killer whale, and not just because its air suspension sometimes emits a certain "pfft" that sounds like a blowhole. Rather, it's the way the CL glides effortlessly glide down the road, feeling every bit like the 4600-pound luxo-barge that it is, only to then accelerate like a muscle car or grip through a corner like a sport sedan. And this is the base model.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550

Glides effortlessly, accelerates like a muscle car, grips like a sports sedan.

The CL reminds me of a killer whale, and not just because its air suspension sometimes emits a certain "pfft" that sounds like a blowhole. Rather, it's the way the CL glides effortlessly glide down the road, feeling every bit like the 4600-pound luxo-barge that it is, only to then accelerate like a muscle car or grip through a corner like a sport sedan. And this is the base model.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550

Glides effortlessly, accelerates like a muscle car, grips like a sports sedan.

The CL reminds me of a killer whale, and not just because its air suspension sometimes emits a certain "pfft" that sounds like a blowhole. Rather, it's the way the CL glides effortlessly glide down the road, feeling every bit like the 4600-pound luxo-barge that it is, only to then accelerate like a muscle car or grip through a corner like a sport sedan. And this is the base model.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

The electric-vehicle startup GreenTech Automotive is under investigation by federal authorities over its use of a government program that allows foreign investors to get special visas to the United States, according to a news report.

Richard E. Dauch -- the Volkswagen and Chrysler manufacturing chief who went on to co-found American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. -- died Friday at age 71. He died of an undisclosed illness at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550

Glides effortlessly, accelerates like a muscle car, grips like a sports sedan.

The CL reminds me of a killer whale, and not just because its air suspension sometimes emits a certain "pfft" that sounds like a blowhole. Rather, it's the way the CL glides effortlessly glide down the road, feeling every bit like the 4600-pound luxo-barge that it is, only to then accelerate like a muscle car or grip through a corner like a sport sedan. And this is the base model.

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

2013 Mercedes-Benz CL550 | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us

The July auto sales rate was slightly stronger than initially thought, new government data released today show.

This week in 1977 finds Gilles Villeneuve winning the Labatt Challenge at Edmonton International Speedway for the

We're not sure what was happening in the Pontiac division circa 1963.

Toyota launched production on Thursday of its redesigned 2014 Corolla and re-engineered 2014 Tundra, which will both be at dealerships in the United States starting in September.

Lead-generation Web site Autobytel boosted second-quarter net income and reported its highest second-quarter revenue in five years, with total revenue up 13 percent. Net income rose 67 percent to $386,000, from $231,000 last year.

American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings today said net income increased to $25.8 million in the second quarter, up from $4.7 million in the year-earlier period.