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From wrc.com

The devastating fire that destroyed Mikko Hirvonen's Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car at Rally Italia Sardegna will cost his M-Sport team more than $675,000, team boss Malcolm Wilson revealed.

The Finn's car caught fire on the road section between stages 3 and 4 on Friday afternoon and within minutes it was a blackened shell.

Flames spread to the surrounding forest and the event was delayed for 80 minutes as fire crews fought the blaze.

“The financial implications to replace it are huge. You're looking in excess of £400,000 ($675,000) and we don't insure the rally cars, so that's a big hit,” Wilson told wrc.com.

Mikko Hirvonen's M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC after the fire (Photo: WRC.com)

“If you have a big crash then nearly all the mechanical components are usually OK. But with what happened here, there is absolutely nothing we can reuse. Everything is destroyed and it's a big loss.”

Wilson said that while the most important point was that neither Hirvonen nor co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen were hurt, the cause of the fire could remain a mystery.

“If it had happened on a stage then you could say something has taken an impact. But to clear the stage with a good time and for this to happen while cruising down the road section, it's quite difficult for everyone to understand.

“Mikko thinks it started from within the right rear wheel. We'll take the car back to the UK but it will be difficult to identify anything, unless something like the propshaft has broken and gone through the fuel tank. Then it will be pretty obvious, even though the car is destroyed,” he said.

Original designs often times set the bar. Their innovative lines and style entice consumers to visit showrooms and is often enough to convince them to sign on the dotted line.

Sadly, follow-ups to these standard-setting looks fall way flat of the mark set by the previous generation of the vehicle.

Here are 10 of our favourite redesign disasters:

Hyundai Genesis Coupe (2010-12 / 2013-)
The first coupe was subtle and elegant. Now it's just too gaudy and boy-racer. Too much is too much.

Photo: Hyundai

Photo: Hyundai

Continue reading Top 10 Botched Refreshes/Redesigns from the last 15 years

From nascar.com

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in position to pounce Sunday, all but punching his ticket to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by winning his second race this season and his first-ever at Pocono Raceway.

It took a little racing luck.

Runner-up Brad Keselowski was terrific in clean air. What he lacked was a clean grille.

When Keselowski's car began to overheat due to a piece of trash on his front end, Earnhardt roared by, becoming the fourth consecutive Hendrick Motorsports driver to put a Chevrolet in Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway.

Dale Earnhardt leads at Pocono. (Photo: Getty Images/NASCAR)

Earnhardt's triumph in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Pocono 400 gave him two victories this season, his first multiple-win campaign since 2004 when he won six times. He has seen and appreciated the gradual-but-steady strides his team has made.

Keselowski led 95 of Sunday's 160 laps and led Earnhardt by more than one second when his engine temperature forced him to take decisive action with five laps to go. Keselowski tucked in behind the lapped car of Danica Patrick, hoping to draw the debris off his grille. It did not work.

Kurt Busch finished third, polesitter Denny Hamlin fourth and rookie Kyle Larson took fifth. Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson, winner of the previous two Sprint Cup races, started 20th, overcame a pit road collision with Marcos Ambrose that dropped him as far back as 31st, and wound up sixth.

From Andretti Autosport

Scott Speed and Andretti Autosport are now 2-for-2 in Red Bull Global Rallycross this season after the ex-Formula 1 driver captured the X Games gold medal at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Speed, driving the No. 77 7Up Volkswagen Polo, ran the table in today's elimination rounds, winning his quarterfinal and semifinal heats before beating skateboarding icon Bucky Lasek and another F1/NASCAR veteran, Nelson Piquet Jr., in the final.

“This thing is so fast - it's always so fast,” Speed told ESPN. “It's just a matter for us to stay clean and if we can get out in front, they can't catch us...Our car is so good, it makes my job easy.”

Speed opened the season with a win last month at Top Gear Festival Barbados.

Scott Speed (Photo: VW)

In today's final, Speed won the holeshot heading into the first turn with Liam Doran and Piquet following in second and third. Those front three plus Austin Dyne took the joker on the opening lap of the 10-lap final, but on Lap 3, Dyne sustained contact with Patrik Sandell in the hairpin when the latter tried to pass him on the inside.

Dyne was left with a broken suspension and could not continue. That brought out a red flag and also led to Race Control barring Sandell from the remainder of the final.

Speed, Doran, Piquet and Lasek lined up again for the restart with eight laps left, but Doran ran his Citroen wide in the rush to Turn 1 and fell all the way to last.

Meanwhile, Speed earned the holeshot again and went on a relatively easy cruise to the win, while Lasek picked up the silver medal in his Subaru after Piquet earned a black flag for running the joker twice (a no-no in GRC racing).

From GMM

Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team insists its chief designer, Adrian Newey is not retiring.

On Sunday, off the back of reported huge-money poaching efforts by Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, the world champion team announced that Newey has agreed a new "multi-year" deal.

But Red Bull also said 55-year-old Newey will be working on "new Red Bull Technology projects", while merely "advising and mentoring" the F1 team "as it develops its formula one cars over the next few seasons".

And interviews given by Newey in the hours before Sunday's Canadian grand prix made it sound as though the Briton is stepping away from F1.

Renault's Remi Taffin and Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey (Photo: René Fagnan)

Indeed, Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko admits Newey is "disappointed" at the state of today's F1, where unbridled technical inspiration is a thing of the past.

"One must understand that whatever he has done has been banned or restricted by the rulemakers shortly thereafter," he lamented.

"The technical rules have clearly restricted his work, which has frustrated him, but instead of losing him, we have found this solution.

"Newey will remain active with Red Bull Racing for another year," Marko told Germany's Sky, but at the same time he will be fronting what Marko referred to as the new 'Advanced Technology Centre'.

How Newey will split has time has "not yet been fully defined", Marko admits, "but Adrian's genius and incredible wealth of experience will still be available to the team."

Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa had a huge accident in the last moments of the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday.

Shortly after the race, stewards blamed Perez for the accident, judging that the Mexican had changed his racing line going into the Senna corner.

Monday, Perez, who drives for Sahara Force India, said he'd left his Williams rival enough room to overtake.

“It was very disappointing to lose such a strong result through no fault of our own,” Perez declared.

“I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps and I just got hit from behind by Massa. There was plenty of space on the left of my car to attempt a clean overtake and I cannot understand why he had to scrape by.

“I watched several replays of the incident and I can't help but notice how Felipe turns right just before he hits me. I can only think he must have changed his mind and wanted to rejoin the racing line, his misjudgement cost us a big amount of points.”

The team posted this screen capture showing Massa turning his steering wheel slightly to the right moment before the impact.


Near the end of the race, Perez' Sahara Force India developed braking problems. However, the Mexican refuted the suggestion made by Williams that he shouldn't have been on track in the first place.

"Also, I'm not happy about comments saying we should have retired the car,” he continued.

“It was perfectly driveable with just some adjustments and we showed it up until the moment in which we were taken out. Other cars out there had been in similar conditions for way longer than us and they finished the race without problems”.

Sergio Perez's Sahara Force India, Montreal (Photo: WRI2)

From GMM

Formula 1 will scrap plans to return to Bahrain for pre-season testing next winter.

To guarantee good weather for all-important running of the radically new cars and engines, this year the teams headed to Bahrain's Sakhir track for eight days of running ahead of the season opener in Australia.

But with cost cutting now such a high priority, the sport will not be returning to the island Kingdom ahead of the 2015 season, Speed Week claims.

Pirelli chief Paul Hembery backed the move.

"Bahrain is much further away from everything than Spain is," he said, "so testing there is more expensive.

"Logistically, Bahrain is a nightmare," Hembery added. "If you have a problem, it takes a lot more time to fly out new parts. Six hours flights, not two."

Speed Week correspondent Mathias Brunner said team bosses agreed in Canada at the weekend that three pre-season tests will take place next winter -- all of them in Spain.

The precise dates have not yet been decided, but it is believed the winter testing will begin at Jerez and end with two sessions in Barcelona.

It is also reported that, also for cost reasons, F1 could once again axe in-season testing, despite the fact the concept of post-race tests at some key grand prix circuits was only introduced this year.

Brunner said: "It (the in-season test ban) is not yet set in stone. There are team bosses who want at least two tests during the season."

Roughly 300 dealers in the New York and Los Angeles metro areas will offer no-haggle pricing below sticker on their new-vehicle inventory this week, in a promotion organized by Edmunds.com.

Lincoln aims to reinvent itself as a brand attuned to the needs of 21st-century luxury customers -- And for those customers, smaller is often better.

The future of the Canadian grand prix has been secured for the next ten years.

As expected, a new deal worth more than $200 million, including plans to renovate the ageing facility by 2017, was announced at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday.

"I think it (the news) is great," said world champion Sebastian Vettel on Saturday.

"I think it's one of the few places on the calendar where the whole city really parties all weekend long and really appreciates the grand prix being here."

"It's great," agreed championship leader Nico Rosberg, "because Montreal is one of the best races of the year.

"It's a great track, the fans are fantastic, so I'm very happy and I'm sure everybody is that we're going to be coming here a lot more often in the future."

Start of the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Ferrari sources have reacted swiftly to extinguish the latest big rumour as the 'silly season' steps up a gear in Montreal.

Swirling around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve paddock on Saturday were whispers that, having failed to match Fernando Alonso's pace in the first third of 2014, Kimi Raikkonen could be set to be axed by Ferrari.

However, that move would be an echo of Raikkonen's last Maranello exit, when the fabled Italian team had to pay the Finn millions to end his solid 2010 contract.

Likewise in 2014, Raikkonen is firmly under contract not only for this year, but also 2015, when he is expected to be paid some $30 million whether he races or not.

"Ferrari will not fire Kimi a second time," a Ferrari source told the German magazine Sport Bild.

Recalling the amount of money it cost Ferrari to oust Raikkonen in 2009, the source added: "Ferrari doesn't want to do that again."

A driver manager also told Sport Bild: "It would cost Ferrari up to $30 million because he has a contract until 2015 with an option for another year."

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari F14 T. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Carlos Sainz jr is well on the road to formula one.

After Daniil Kvyat made his impressive F1 debut in 2014, 19-year-old Spaniard Sainz, whose father is the world rallying legend, is now the cream of Red Bull's junior driver programme.

He is expected to step up to Toro Rosso next year.

But Sainz's father, who is in Montreal this weekend, told the Spanish sports daily AS: "There's no hurry -- the later the better.

"I have had no notice from Red Bull or anyone regarding anything other than the (Renault) World Series for Carlos," he added.

After four rounds of the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 series, Carlos Sainz jr is clearly leading the championship.

But his father Carlos Sainz continued: "We go step by step, with confidence, trying to do things right."

Carlos Sainz Jr, DAMS, Monaco. (Photo: WRi2)

However, Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost has acknowledged that Sainz does appear to have a future in F1 -- and logically one that starts with the Faenza team.

"Nothing is decided," he said, "but I think that sooner or later he will be on the track with us. I hope he drives with us on a Friday, but I cannot confirm this yet because we are still early in the season and trying to solve our reliability problems.

"Carlos will be in the car one Friday," Austrian Franz Tost then added.

From GMM

Red Bull has confirmed reports Adrian Newey is staying with the team beyond 2014.

Earlier on Sunday, it was reported that the reigning champion team had devised a cunning plan to keep the highly sought-after engineer out of the clutches of its big-paying key rivals.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said Red Bull is building a new technology centre near its F1 factory in Milton-Keynes, where new and innovative technical projects will be born -- with none other than Newey in charge.

Reportedly, the projects will range from innovative road cars to aircraft, "with the secret hope that someday he will miss competition and crawl back to F1", said correspondent Michael Schmidt.

Shortly after those reports emerged, Red Bull announced in Montreal that it has inked a new "multi-year agreement" with the Briton.

The team confirmed that Newey, 55, will work on "new Red Bull Technology projects", as well as "advising and mentoring" the F1 team "as it develops its formula one cars over the next few seasons".

"The details of the new projects will be announced in due course," a media statement added.

Christian Horner and Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

The FIA is looking into what happened in Graz, Austria, between the final Bahrain test and the season opening Australian grand prix.

A whistleblower last week circulated letters to the governing body and some rival teams about an alleged illegal six-day test on Austrian automotive company AVL's 'rolling road' facility.

Red Bull have denied conducting the test, but it is believed sister team Toro Rosso was indeed in Graz, along with Red Bull development driver Antonio Felix da Costa.

Engine supplier Renault's Remi Taffin is quoted by APA news agency: "We just had to work with our partner AVL, because our own facilities were at full capacity."

The French marque argues that the 'test' was in fact just perfectly legal engine bench testing, amid reports the Toro Rosso car was not fitted with front or rear wings.

Nonetheless, an FIA spokesperson said: "We will look into the matter carefully and then answer any questions."

Remi Taffin, Renault. (Photo: WRi2)

Presented by Continental Tire, the CTCC held two races at the Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit this weekend as part of the prestigious Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix. A doubleheader that was filled with plenty of action and a few surprises gave everyone involved something to talk about.

Mathieu Audette won the first race in Super Class before getting dethroned by Roger Ledoux during the second round. Michel Sallenbach and Jocelyn Hébert split the Touring Class honours while Normand Boyer won both times in the Spec-B Class.

Qualifying in pole position, the 2013 Super Class champion, Ontarian Scott Nicol (Honda Civic Si) had two very eventful races. During the first, he was quickly passed by Mathieu Audette, before the car's engine forced his retirement just after mid-race. Starting 3rd behind his older brother, Rémy Audette had an even shorter race, DNF' in during the first lap of the race after experiencing accelerator problems. In the lead, Mathieu Audette (Acura RSX) did not have it easy either. He took the chequered flag after holding off Roger Ledoux, who brilliantly finished second in his Subaru. The Lombardi Honda Racing Team completed the podium with third place going to Benjamin Distaulo who debuted a brand new Honda Civic Si and finished in front of teammate and series rookie, Valérie Chiasson. For his inaugural race, the young female driver was constantly improving while maintaining a “Top 8” placing despite gearbox problems during both races.

Rui Teixeira, Honda and Michel Sallenbach, MINI. (Photo: Phillip Sutherland/TouringCar.ca)

In Touring Class, the battle between Jocelyn Hébert (Honda) and Michel Sallenbach (Mini) was fairly intense before Hébert was forced to slow down towards the end of the race to prevent running out of gas.  Sallenbach eventually won ahead of Stuart Clark and rookie Samuel Laquerre.

With the B-Spec Class, the spectators that filled the stands at the Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit got their money's worth! The top of the leaderboard changed several times, with the win eventually going to Normand Boyer, ahead of Rui Teixeira and Manuel Boyer.

Presented at the end of Saturday afternoon (the first took place just before the Formula 1 qualifying session), the second race was reduced to an action packed eleven minutes under a blazing sun after Stefan Yasin's big crash in his Mini Cooper, resulting in a broken wrist for the Mississauga driver. Leading until the penultimate lap, Mathieu Audette missed a gear change and was then passed by Roger Ledoux. Completing the podium behind the battling duo was Scott Nicol, ahead of Benjamin Distaulo and Valérie Chiasson who fought off Rémy Audette's push.

Valérie Chiasson. (Photo: Phillip Sutherland/TouringCar.ca)

In Touring Class, Jocelyn Hébert won by only one tenth of a second over Michel Sallenbach! Samuel Laquerre, Hébert's young teammate, finished third.

Normand Boyer is the only double winner this weekend after two very eventful races. Rui Teixeira and Manuel Boyer finished once again behind the veteran driver.

The next round of the CTCC presented by Continental Tire will take place on June 21 and 22 in Ontario, at the Calabogie Motorsports Park, a 5.5 km road track located southwest of Ottawa.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing captured his maiden Formula 1 victory at the end of a wild, action packed Canadian Grand Prix Sunday.

From pole position, Nico Rosberg jumped into the lead. But moments later, both Marussias collided and were out of the race, bringing out the Safety Car. Every driver was asked to save fuel.

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Restart happened on lap 7. And Rosberg immediately started to pull away from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. At the of lap 9, Hamilton used his DRS to pass Vettel.

Behind them, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were running a strong race.

Rosberg stopped for a set of soft tires on lap 18, long after most rivals did. His teammate Hamilton stopped one lap later.

Meanwhile, Sahara Force India drivers, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, stretched their stint and ran 3rd and 4th, respectively. Then, there was a great battle for 4th place between “Hulk” and Vettel.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

On lap 24, Rosberg and Hamilton ran together. At the end of lap 24, Rosberg locked up his right front wheel, missed the last chicane and came back in front of his teammate! This led the race stewards to investigate Rosberg's move. Eventually, Nico was just warned for doing so.

Perez stopped finally, having completed 35 laps on a set of super softs!!

On lap 36, both Mercedes started running slower, some two seconds slower than most other front runners! “Loss of power” was their problem.

Feipe Massa, Wiliams (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

On lap 40, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) spun when exiting the hairpin, dropping him to 15th. Moments later Hulkenberg pitted from second place. The order was Rosberg, Hamilton, Massa, Fernando Alonso, Perez and Ricciardo.

Hamilton stopped for tires on lap 43. Hamilton pitted one lap later. He rejoined the track behind Massa and ahead of Rosberg!

Moments later, Hamilton's car began to smoke, having burned its rear brakes. He pitted and retired from the race. Rosberg was experiencing a similar problem.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Lap 49, Massa pitted for new tires. Rosberg retook the lead ahead of Perez, Ricciardo and Vettel, just 2.8 seconds apart.

The top 8 cars were just 7.2 seconds apart!

With 10 laps to go, the flying Massa - running on newer tires - was catching up the four leaders at a great pace.

On lap 65, Ricciardo passed Perez and give a chase to the leading Rosberg.

At the end of lap 67, Ricciardo passed Rosberg for the lead!

One lap later, Massa tied to pass Perez on the start/finish straight but he hit the left rear wheel of the Sahara Force India. The two cars spun out of control and smashed hard against tire wall of the Senna corner. Massa's Williams came within inches from collecting Vettel's Red Bull.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo collected his first victory in F1. He finished first ahead of Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and his Red Bull Racing's teammate, Sebastian Vettel.

Amazingly, Jenson Button (McLaren) recovered well and finished fourth in front of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

Jenson Button, McLaren (Photo: Rene Fagnan)

Race results*:
1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1h39m12.830
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +4.2s
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +5.2s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +11.7s
5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +12.8s
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +14.8s
7. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +23.5s
8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault +28.0s
9. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +29.2s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +53.6s
11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes -1 lap
12. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes -1 lap
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari -1 lap
14. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari -6 laps

Retirements
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 58 laps
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 47 laps
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 45 laps
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 22 laps
Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 21 laps
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 6 laps
Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 0 laps
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 0 laps
*Unofficial

From GMM

Red Bull has come up with a cunning plan to keep Adrian Newey out of the clutches of its key rivals, according to the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.

In the past weeks, there have been reports of audacious offers to woo F1's most highly rated designer.

Ferrari's offer reportedly topped $20 million per year, while it was also rumoured that Mercedes expressed interest.

"We made him no offer," team chairman Niki Lauda insists.

Nonetheless, Newey is understandably in high demand, given his astonishing title hit-rate.

But the 55-year-old is also unashamedly frustrated with the state of today's formula one, featuring ever-restrictive technical regulations.

"What you can do with the car to make the difference with good ideas is less and less," he said. "We're moving to more of a GP1 series."

Red Bull's factory at Milton-Keynes, UK. (Photo: Red Bull)

According to correspondent Michael Schmidt, Red Bull has come up with a clever plan to keep Newey inspired, and also firmly under contract, albeit on a long leash.

The team is apparently planning to build a new technology centre near its F1 factory in Milton-Keynes, where new and innovative technical projects will be born -- with none other than Newey in charge.

Reportedly, the projects will range from innovative road cars to aircraft, "with the secret hope that some day he will miss competition and crawl back to F1", said Schmidt.

Ed Carpenter won the Firestone 600 Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, scoring his first victory of 2014.

The race was a great battle between Ed Carpenter and Will Power following the final round of service stops in the Firestone 600.

Unfortunately, Power of Team Penske was penalised for a speeding violation with 35 laps left.

After gaining a 12-second lead over Juan Pablo Montoya on lap 242, Carpenter held on following a restart on lap 246 to win by 0.5247 of a second over Power.

Montoya, Power's teammate, finished a season-high third in the No. 2 car and Simon Pagenaud was fourth in the No. 77 dallara.

Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon placed fifth in the No. 9 Ganassi car, followed by teammate Tony Kanaan.

For Carpenter, it was his third Verizon IndyCar Series victory (his first since the 2012 season finale at Auto Club Speedway) and the second for Ed Carpenter Racing this season.

Ed Carpenter, winner in Texas. (Photo: IndyCar)

From press release

Ma Qing Hua, driving a fourth works Citroën car, wrote history today by becoming the first-ever Chinese driver to win a race of an FIA World Championship.

On the opposite end of the scale of happiness, WTCC points leader José Maria López stalled on the grid and retired; the first time this season the Argentine driver does not score any points.

The works Honda cars, too, had a race to forget with both Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro retiring for technical reasons while fighting for podium positions. Honda privateer Mehdi Bennani saved the day for the Japanese manufacturer by finishing in third.

Franz Engstler encored his victory in the TC2T class.

Ma Qing Hua, Citroën, winner in Moscou. (Photo: FIA WTCC)

From GMM

Tension between arch F1 rivals Mercedes and Red Bull is ramping up ahead of the forthcoming Austrian grand prix.

Recently, Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda criticised Red Bull for axing the 'Niki Lauda Kurve' at the refurbished Red Bull-Ring and naming it after a sponsor instead.

And now, a spat has broken out over Mercedes' accommodation for the forthcoming Austrian grand prix, where the race promoter is Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz.

A rumour circulated in the Montreal paddock on Saturday that Mercedes had cancelled its bookings near the Red Bull-Ring because it discovered that the new owner of the hotel was none other than Mateschitz.

But Mercedes' Toto Wolff is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper: "We were kicked out."

Mercedes team staff will instead stay in nearby Graz.

Toto Wolff complained: "Those who work the most and the hardest on the cars will now have to commute 70 kilometres each day."

Red Bull Ring. (Photo: Red Bull)