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During Thursday's press conference at the McLaren Technology Centre, company's CEO Ron Dennis declared he wanted to avoid his team to run a third Formula 1 car in the near future.

Dennis said his team had the intention of helping F1's struggling teams in order to avoid running a third McLaren-Honda as early as 2015.

The issue of the financially struggling teams (Marussia, Caterham, Sauber and Lotus) was on the agenda of the Formula One Commission meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday after the last race of the season.

Ron Dennis talking for the press conference at McLaren. (Photo: McLaren)

“As is widely known now there are certain teams, one of which is McLaren, there are three teams who have a contractual obligation to run three cars in the event the grid world championship entry falls under 16, or 16 or less,” Ron Dennis explained.

“I still feel two teams have great challenges left to get to next year's grid,” he continued.

”It is actually my intention to try and assist them to that position because I think third cars are not good for F1. ”

Although Dennis stated he would run a third car if required to by his contract with FOM (Formula One Management), he does not believe it would be positive for F1.

“I actually absolutely believe that the fastest way to eliminate the back of the grid would be to run three cars,” he explained.

Ron Dennis told why running a third car is by far more complicated than it seems.

“If you run three cars you will absolutely try to optimize the experience. The third car would have a lot more function to it than just fulfilling the contract.

“You've then got to try and use it as a development tool, et cetera et cetera, so you'd only get stronger from the process in all areas except one - which is it would cost us money. No question. So as it's going to cost us money there's a high incentive to avoid that cost by trying to help the other teams successfully survive,” Dennis concluded.

From indycar.com

Series' officials announced that the Mazda name will be on the 2-liter, turbocharged engine that will be paired with the new Dallara IL-15 chassis for the 2015 Indy Lights season.

It is the Mazda's latest development in its commitment to motorsports, which includes the Mazda Road to Indy development system that incorporates Indy Lights, the Pro Mazda Championship and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.

The engine, developed in conjunction with Advanced Engine Research, was first campaigned by Mazda in the American Le Mans Series. Further development by AER was designed to produce 450 horsepower and last an entire season without a rebuild for Indy Lights.

The 2015 Indy Lights season kicks off March 27-29 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., in conjunction with the Verizon IndyCar Series opener and concludes Sept. 11-13 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California.

The engine-chassis package went through extensive evaluation and confirmation during the summer. Verizon IndyCar Series drivers Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Conor Daly and Tristan Vautier, along with 2014 Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves, tested the car on multiple racetracks.

From press release

The World of Outlaws Late Models Series is set for a return to Brighton Speedway in 2015.

After a very successful debut at the 1/3-mile dirt oval in 2013, the top stars of Late Model racing in North America will invade Brighton on Saturday, June 20th for a full night of action.

Joining the 900-horsepower Late Models will be the Southern Ontario Sprints presented by Sanderson's Tire and Automotive and the OilGARD Anti-Rust Canadian Modifieds to provide a full night of racing action.

The Outlaws' stop at Brighton will be part of northern swing for the tour through upstate New York and Ontario. The full World of Outlaws Late Models tour 2015 schedule will be announced in the coming days.

Darrell Lannigan of Union, KY, the winner of the 2013 Excel Tower Service 50 at Brighton and the 2014 series champion, has already committed to running the entire World of Outlaws campaign in 2015. He will have the opportunity to defend his win in search of the winner's $10,000 paycheck.

Battling Lannigan will be World of Outlaws regulars Josh Richards of Shinniston, WV, Chub Frank of Bear Lake, PA who won a special dash race at Brighton in 2012, and Tim McCreadie of Watertown, NY.

Brighton Speedway weekly standouts Greg Belyea, Charlie Sandercock, Phil Potts and more will try to make a name for themselves as they defend home turf against the best in the business.

The Southern Ontario Sprints presented by Sanderson's Tire and Automotive provided some of the best racing of any series that visit Brighton in 2014. The SOS shows no signs of stopping in 2015 as they continue to grow for their 20th anniversary season.

From GMM

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone refuses to give up his crusade against F1's current turbo hybrid engine formula.

Meeting with a select group of reporters on Thursday including Forbes' business journalist Christian Sylt, the F1 chief executive revealed that he intends to propose the sport brings back loud "normally-aspirated" engines for 2016.

He said he will table the matter at the December 18 meeting of the powerful Strategy Group.

Asked if he is contemplating V8s or V10s, and referring to the teams and manufacturers, 84-year-old Ecclestone answered: "It's up to them."

Ecclestone said to counter the argument that abandoning the quieter energy-recovery-boosted turbos would be a backwards step, the 2016 engines would be branded as 'Hybrid' and have KERS systems aboard.

And he played down suggestions carmakers like Honda and Mercedes will walk away by insisting it would actually be "a bit of a dream for them to build a normally-aspirated engine and develop it to about 1000 horse power".

Ecclestone denied that potentially putting off Volkswagen might be another obstacle, as the German giant has been "out there for long enough and haven't made a big enough effort to come in".

Fascinatingly, Ecclestone also said the FIA might not even be an obstacle to the move, given that president FIA president Jean Todt "sold the rights" in a recent commercial deal.

"The Strategy Group that we have got," he explained. "We made a contribution of $40 million a year to buy that actually.

"They sold the rights to have this new group set up in the way we thought it should be set up," Ecclestone added.

British motorsport publication Autosport revealed Friday that Steve Nielsen has left his position as sporting director at the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 team.

Steve Nielsen with Max Verstappen (Photo: WRI2)

The vastly experienced Nielsen had been a member of the Red Bull junior F1 team since the start of 2013, when he joined after a short period at Caterham.

Nielsen started his F1 career in 1987 as part of the Lotus test team.

He then worked for Tyrrell, Benetton, Arrows, Renault and Lotus, mostly at the position of team manager or sporting manager.

Autosport added that the small team based in Faenza declined to disclose the reason for Steve Nielsen's exit.

We, at Auto123.com, know that several members have left the team since last September.

From indycar.com

Carpenter Fischer Hartman (CFH) Racing will have a new driver in the No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series, replacing British driver Mike Conway.

“Mike [Conway] won't be back with us next year as he's under contract with Toyota in the FIA World Endurance Championship. They had an option on him that they did take so he'll be restricted in the events he can make,” said co-owner Ed Carpenter.

“It's unfortunate, but we thank him for what he did. We'll be going in a different direction and hopefully in the next month we'll be able to make a decision on a driver and make an announcement and have more success.”

Conway won at Long Beach and Toronto in the No. 20 car during the 12 road/street races he competed in 2014.

New York state's financial services regulator has subpoenaed financing divisions of automakers including Ford, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen, along with banks Santander and TD Bank, as part of a probe of possible consumer abuses in subprime auto...

General Motors is offering to repair customers' Chevrolet Cobalts and other older small cars to prevent keys from getting stuck in the ignition, but the company said it isn't issuing a recall because the problem doesn't pose a safety risk.

Automakers investigating the scope and cause of sudden ruptures in Takata airbags concluded their first meeting Thursday in metro Detroit without selecting an outside engineering firm to conduct the group's testing.

Manheim North America COO Janet Barnard has been named president of the auction company, effective immediately, the company's parent, Cox Automotive, said Thursday.

Ford CEO Mark Fields said 2015 will be 'a breakthrough year' for Ford after a large number of vehicle launches trimmed profit margins in 2014.

Tony Earley, CEO of utility Pacific Gas and Electric in California and a member of Ford Motor Co.'

Sam Swope, who acquired his first auto dealership -- a Dodge and Plymouth store -- in 1952 and went on to build a wide-ranging brand portfolio in Kentucky, died Tuesday, Dec. 9.

DriveTime has named Manheim and Go Auto Exchange, an auction that specializes in dealer-to-dealer sales of low-end used vehicles, as its exclusive sales outlet for remarketing vehicles.

Aston Martin is preparing to raise funds to expand its range of models into new areas including SUVs, Reuters reported, as the money-losing supercar maker steps up its turnaround efforts under a new boss.

Aston Martin is preparing to raise funds to expand its range of models into new areas including crossover SUVs, Reuters reported, as the money losing sports-car maker steps up its turnaround efforts under a new boss.

General Motors plans to invest $3.6 billion in Mexico to double its production capacity at its plants around the country, officials said today.

Opinion 12 Dec, 2014

Mike names his Car of the People 2014/2015

Kongsberg Automotive's Driveline business area has clinched a deal with "a major European OEM" to supply complete manual gear shifter systems.

Housed deep within the Renault Technocentre to the west of Paris is a group whose role is to create 'disruptive' future mobility concepts.