Auto News 5

Andretti Autosport frontrunner Marco Andretti was the fastest amongst the 24 drivers that took part in the open IndyCar test at Pocono that will host the series next event this coming week-end.

Andretti had his best lap clocked at 220.963mph lap during the afternoon while Indianapolis 500 winner and Triple Crown contender Tony Kanaan (KV Racing) was second-fastest ahead of points leader Helio Castroneves (Team Penske).

Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. (Photo: IndyCar)

IndyCar officials made a late change to its aero specification for the weekend, with the teams now having the option to run an underwing strake to create more downforce.

Firestone, meanwhile, used the day to test solutions to track-specific tyre wear problems that were detected last week.

Cars will now run Indianapolis-spec tyres on the left of the car, and more durable Texas-spec tyres on the right side for Sunday's race.

Pos  Driver  Team/Engine  Time Gap
1. Marco Andretti  Andretti/Chevy  40.7308s
2. Tony Kanaan   KV/Chevy  40.9460s +0.2152s
3. Helio Castroneves  Penske/Chevy  41.0729s +0.3421s
4. Ed Carpenter  Carpenter/Chevy   41.1357s +0.4049s
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay  Andretti/Chevy   41.2290s +0.4982s
6. Scott Dixon  Ganassi/Honda   41.2425s +0.5117s
7. Sebastien Bourdais  Dragon/Chevy  41.2448s +0.5140s
8. James Hinchcliffe   Andretti/Chevy  41.2484s +0.5176s
9. Will Power  Penske/Chevy  41.2521s +0.5213s
10. James Jakes  Rahal/Honda   41.3221s +0.5913s
11. Simon Pagenaud  Schmidt/Honda  41.3280s +0.5972s
12. Charlie Kimball  Ganassi/Honda  41.3330s +0.6022s
13. Justin Wilson  Coyne/Honda   41.3594s +0.6286s
14. Ryan Briscoe  Panther/Chevy  41.3742s +0.6434s
15. Dario Franchitti  Ganassi/Honda  41.3757s +0.6449s
16. Alex Tagliani  Herta/Honda  41.3794s +0.6486s
17. Josef Newgarden  Fisher/Honda  41.4211s +0.6903s
18. EJ Viso  Andretti/Chevy  41.4274s +0.6966s
19. Takuma Sato   Foyt/Honda  41.4386s +0.7078s
20. Tristan Vautier  Schmidt/Honda  41.5274s +0.7966s
21. Simona de Silvestro  KV/Chevy  41.7007s +0.9699s
22. Graham Rahal   Rahal/Honda  41.7654s +1.0346s
23. Pippa Mann  Coyne/Honda  41.7928s +1.0620s
24. Sebastian Saavedra  Dragon/Chevy  41.8603s +1.1295s

From GMM

Paul Hembery on Friday insisted Pirelli can not take all the blame for the tire-exploding chaos of last weekend's British grand prix.

Some teams had hit back at their Italian supplier, after Pirelli pointed the finger at those running extreme tire pressures, wheel cambers and swapping rear tires left to right.

"Just to be clear," McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh told Britain's Sky on Friday, "we always ran within the correct pressures and the correct cambers and everything we did was agreed with Pirelli."

It's on Whitmarsh's last point that Pirelli boss Hembery does take some blame -- the tire-swapping, which teams reportedly discovered could add 20 per cent to the tires' lifespan.

"That's our fault," Hembery is quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "Early in the season we had a request from McLaren and saw no reason why we shouldn't allow it. We thought it was harmless."

Photo: Mercedes AMG F1 Team

But according to Pirelli, the practice ultimately caused most of the harm at Silverstone, with the internal steel belt no longer properly spreading the load in the fast corners.

As for the camber and pressures, Hembery added: "We could not verify the data, because the teams were not always open with us. But with the camber, you can tell just by looking that some were going over the top."

And he said he is "sure" some teams ignored Pirelli's recommendations about pressures.

The Red Bull German driver set the fastest time in front of his public on Friday, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was on top in the morning.

Photo: WRi2

The two Mercedes W04 had dominated the first free practice session in the morning, Lewis Hamilton leading Nico Rosberg. Mark Webber was third in his Red Bull, while Fernando Alonso was unable to complete a single lap. Due to an electrical problem, the Ferrari driver had to stop twice and wait in the garage.

Photo: Williams F1 Team

Rodolfo Gonzalez (Marussia) was the only reserve driver in action in the morning, driving the car of Jules Bianchi. The young Venezuelan covered 21 laps.

For the second free practice session, Sebastian Vettel quickly placed his Red Bull at the top, with soft tires. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) is second again, just as Mark Webber third again, ahead of the two Lotus and the two Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton ranks eighth with the other Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel. (Photo: WRi2)

German Grand prix - Nurburgring
Friday, July 5, 2013

Free practice session 1 - Results*
1 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'31"754 - 25 tours
2 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'31"973 - 25
3 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'32"789 - 22
4 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'32"822 - 22
5 - Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'32"956 - 18
6 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'33"065 - 18
7 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'33"139 - 24
8 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'33"213 - 20
9 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'33"260 - 27
10 - Sergio Pérez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'33"456 - 18
11 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'33"493 - 18
12 - Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'33"810 - 20
13 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'33"901 - 23
14 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'33"976 - 26
15 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'34"025 - 20
16 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'34"200 - 22
17 - Esteban Gutiérrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'34"437 - 24
18 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'35"674 - 23
19 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'35"987 - 19
20 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'36"078 - 23
21 - Rodolfo Gonzalez (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'37"459 - 21
22 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - no time - 2

Photo: WRi2

Free practice session 2 - Results*
1 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'30"416 - 39 laps
2 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W04) - 1'30"651 - 38
3 - Mark Webber (Red Bull RB9-Renault) - 1'30"683 - 41
4 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'30"843 - 32
5 - Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus E21-Renault) - 1'30"848 - 27
6 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F138) - 1'31”056 - 39
7 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F138) - 1'31"059 - 41
8 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W04) - 1'31"304 - 35
9 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'31"568 - 37
10 - Paul Di Resta (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'31"797 - 40
11 - Adrian Sutil (Force India VJM06-Mercedes) - 1'31"824 - 34
12 - Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'31"855 - 42
13 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR8-Ferrari) - 1'32"055 - 39
14 - Sergio Pérez (McLaren MP4/28-Mercedes) - 1'32"086 - 36
15 - Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'32"495 - 39
16 - Esteban Gutiérrez (Sauber C32-Ferrari) - 1'32"762 - 44
17 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'32"879 - 35
18 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams FW35-Renault) - 1'32"880 - 36
19 - Charles Pic (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'33"695 - 38
20 - Giedo Van der Garde (Caterham CT03-Renault) - 1'33"804 - 40
21 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'34"017 - 10
22 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR02-Cosworth) - 1'34"667 - 39

* Un-official timings

Tesla Motors wants to sell its cars directly to consumers without going through an independent dealer network (as stipulated by state franchise laws), and has so far collected more than 105,000 names on a petition asking the U.S. government to allow this business model in all 50 states.

Started by one Tesla supporter on June 5th, the petition required at least 100,000 signatures in a month to be presented to the House of Representatives. Mission accomplished.

You're probably aware that dealer associations in several states have been fighting Tesla's factory stores for quite some time now. Heck, the North Carolina Senate even went as far as to propose a new law that would make it illegal for Tesla to e-mail its customers and answer their questions on the phone.

The saga continues...

Source : www.greencarreports.com

Photo: Sébastien D'Amour

Toyota and its dealers are quietly maneuvering to allay risks from periodic eruptions of anti-Japan sentiment in China, even as recent sales data suggest a slow but steady recovery for Japanese automakers since the latest flare-up last year.

During this week, we had the 2004 Toyota Sienna XLE, 2004 Chrysler

An easy call for me: My favorite American cars -- ever-- are the 1970 Plymouth Superbird and its stablemate the Dodge Daytona.

Chrysler will recall a total of 841,000 vehicles worldwide to fix a variety of mostly software or electronic control module problems.

Volkswagen is recalling more vehicles with a gearbox problem in China supplementing a recall of 384,181 vehicles that started in April, according to China's quality watchdog.

The labour union at GM Korea staged a partial strike for six hours on Thursday following failed talks with the management over wages and production plans.

The hybrid version of Honda's next generation Fit (Jazz in some markets) will be the world's most fuel-efficient car, beating current leader Toyota's Prius c (Aqua in Japan).

Fiat's Serbia plant in Kragujevac has lowered its annual forecast for 500L production from 180,000 to between 110,000 and 140,000 because of a delay in sales starting in Russia.

Ford China's sales in the first half of 2013 soared 47% year on year to 407,721 units, driven by continued strong demand for the Focus, Kuga and Transit, the automaker said. June sales rose 44% to 75,254.

The GM-Avtovaz joint venture in Russia said it built 27,097 in the first six months of 2013.

Sales at Geely's Volvo Car Group fell 2.6% year on year in June to 40,939 units with year to date volume off 5.5% to 209,118.

After gut-wrenching deliberation with my esteemed colleagues, I extended a confident middle finger and proclaimed the 1965 Buick Riviera GS as my top domestic pick.

News 4 Jul, 2013

Our spies have snapped an almost production ready version of the BMW i3 in Munich

News 4 Jul, 2013

Even more practical Skoda Rapid Spaceback estate set for Frankfurt Motor Show

News 4 Jul, 2013

Pictures of the all new 2014 Honda Jazz have leaked online, revealing new styling and interior details

SENIOR ONLINE EDITOR RORY CARROLL: What a fantastic car. I'll be sad to see this generation of Mustang go.