Auto News 5

Reigning Dakar winner Nani Roma's start to the 2015 race turned into a disaster.

His MINI broke down just ten kilometres into the opening competitive section and had to wait for his assistance truck to arrive and make repairs. His car broke down yet again further along the stage, having to be towed home by his support team.

In all, Roma lost some 7 hours and 25 minutes to the leaders and sits a distant last at the bottom of the leaderboard, ending his hopes for a third Dakar crown.

Nani Roma's MINI at the first stage. (Photo: Dakar.com)

Meanwhile, his teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah and Orlando Terranova cruised to a one-two finish over a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

However, Al-Attiyah was given a two-minute penalty to speeding.

That handed the event lead to Terranova, with American driver Robby Gordon elevated to second overall and South Africa's Giniel de Villiers third in his Toyota, while under a minute separated the first five cars.

Peugeot managed a pair of top ten stage finishes, former World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz the best of their fleet of 2008 DKR buggies with eighth place.

RESULTS - Stage 1, 2015 Dakar Rally
1. Orlando Terranova (ARG)  MINI  1h13m12s
2. Robby Gordon (USA)  Gordini  +42s
3. Giniel De Villiers (RSA)  Toyota  +50s
4. Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)  MINI  +54s
5. Emiliano Spataro (AUG)  Renault  +56s

Business journalist Christian Sylt revealed in an article published by Forbes that Marussia Formula 1 team lost quite a bit of money in a failed attempt to participate in the final race of 2014 in Abu Dhabi.

Sylt based his article on recently released company financial documents.

Late last year, Marussia F1 Team - operated by Manor Grand Prix Racing (MGPR) - ceased trading and missed the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix.

The small team however intended to compete in the final race of the season in hopes to race in 2015.

The team, cars and equipment were reportedly on their way to the UK airport for the flight to Abu Dhabi when it was forced to turn back.

Official documents from Marussia's administrators FRP Advisory, dated December 18th, reveal that, in fact, the brakes were put on the team's revival when a key investor withdrew support.

“On Tuesday 18 November 2014, I received a commitment by a prospective investor to inject sufficient cash into MGPR to enable the team to race in Abu Dhabi,” says Geoff Rowley, one of the joint administrators at FRP.

“To enable this to happen, the race team had to be reformed and arrangements made to travel to the race. A significant amount of work was carried out over a 24-hour period by both MGPR's staff and the joint administrators. However, ultimately the prospective investors were not able to provide sufficient funds. The prospective investor agreed to pay the costs of the staff (and ancillary costs) in this period, although at the date of this report, these total £29,443 [$45,129] and remain unpaid.”

Last week British newspaper the Daily Telegraph revealed that Marussia owes $48.1 million to more than 200 unsecured trade creditors.

We were extremely sorry to hear of the passing of former Formula 1 driver, Frenchman Jean Pierre Beltoise.

The winner of the 1972 Monaco Grand Prix sadly died when on holiday near Dakar, Senegal.

His brother-in-law was another famous former F1 driver, François Cevert.

Beltoise began his racing career on two wheel, racing motorcycles.

He then switched to sports car and endurance racing. His career almost ended with a huge crash in the 12 Hours of Reims sports car race, in which he lost the usage of his left arm, which was permanently blocked at a 90-degree angle.

Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Matra MS11, Grand Prix de France 1968 at Rouen (Photo: WRI2)

Despite his handicap, Beltoise contested 86 Grands Prix between 1966 and 1974, winning on the streets of Monaco for BRM under heavy rain in 1972.

In 1975, he was involved in a controversy when Guy Ligier choose Jacques Laffite and not him to drive his new Formula 1 car.

His racing career over, Beltoise became heavily involved in promoting road safety.

He leaved his wife Jacqueline and his two sons, Anthony and Julien, and friend in deep sorrow.

From GMM

Delaying a start-of-season engine 'freeze' may be nowhere near enough for Mercedes' rivals to catch up in 2015.

Although the rule 'loophole' championed by Ferrari and Renault will now allow them to develop their turbo V6 engines beyond February 28, it will also apply to Mercedes, F1's dominant champions of 2014.

"We're not going to give up. But given the size of our deficit, as well as the fact that Mercedes are going to develop as well, significantly reducing the gap in 2015 is going to be difficult," Christian Horner, boss of the Renault works team Red Bull, is quoted by Russia's f1news.ru.

"If you believe the rumours," Horner added, "there is a risk that not only will the gap not be reduced, but it could even get bigger."

Indeed, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that Mercedes' engine division at Brixworth has uncovered a further 50 horse power boost for 2015 over and above the German marque's dominant 'power unit' of last season.

Mercedes V6 turbo hybrid engine. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

Williams' test driver, Susie Wolff has revealed she will drive Williams' new 2015 Mercedes-powered car, the FW37, at the Barcelona test in mid-February.

The 32-year-old Scot, née Stoddard, drove during Friday practice at the British and German Grands Prix in 2014.

“With 6 weeks until my first test in the @WilliamsRacing #FW37 its full focus on fitness & preparation,” Susie Wolff tweeted from her official account.

Susie Wolff is expected to take the wheel of the FW37 during the second winter test.

The first test will take place at Jerez from February 1, with the two other Barcelona tests to be held February 19-22, and Feb. 26-March 1st.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas remain the team's race drivers for this year.

Susie Wolff aboard the Williams FW36. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Less than a month before official winter testing begins, the future of the ailing backmarkers Marussia and Caterham remains unclear.

Marussia's administrators have auctioned team equipment, and the factory at Banbury could even be sold to the new American team for 2016, Haas.

That is to pay back a long list of creditors, with Forbes journalist Christian Sylt saying even staff are still owed more than $72,000 in pay.

But administrator Geoff Rowley insists there "continues to be dialogue with a number of parties who are considering making an investment into the company".

To date, however, Rowley admitted that "no satisfactory offer or strategy has been offered to presently allow racing to continue". Sylt concluded that it is "unlikely" Marussia's redundant staff will be returning to work.

Meanwhile, Caterham's administrators have in the past days and weeks sounded more bullish about the future of the Leafield based team.

But the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat reports that a significant percentage of the team staff have in fact already moved on, for example to jobs at Williams and Lotus, who are also both based in Oxfordshire.

Sauber C33-Ferrari. (Photo: WRi2)

Finally, Switzerland's Blick reports that Sauber is also fighting for survival, helped by the three drivers for 2015 who are bringing a collective $50 million to Hinwil for 2015.

Paying racers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr are joined by the new reserve and Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello, who correspondent Roger Benoit said is accompanying a $10 million subsidy for Sauber's 2015 engine deal.

Roger Benoit wrote: "Actually, Ferrari had also planned to promote Jules Bianchi from Marussia to Sauber for 2015."

GM will introduce a service this year that gives OnStar subscribers feedback on their driving habits, potentially allowing responsible drivers to qualify for discounted insurance.

France's floundering economy pushed car sales 7 percent lower in December, while Spanish sales jumped by 21 percent, helped by a subsidy scheme. Sales rose 2 percent in Italy.

France's floundering economy pushed car sales 7 percent lower in December, while Spanish sales jumped by 21 percent, helped by a subsidy scheme. Sales rose 2 percent in Italy.

Car designers and actors have at least one thing in common: The lead roles tend to become harder to land with age.

The 707-hp Hellcat-powered Challenger and Charger had auto reviewers scrambling to outdo each other last year in their lusty appreciation of what one website called Dodge's "rolling middle finger to common sense."

From WRC

The 2015 season will start in a few days and that promises to be an absolute belter.

Timing revolution on WRC with the split times no more available in the cars during the stage sessions.

In recent years, thanks to improvements in mobile data and timing systems, WRC drivers have been able to monitor their rivals' speed during a live stage via a stream of data messages sent from their team. By receiving splits, which were taken from the official timing system, drivers could speed up or ease off if necessary - modifying their strategy on the go.

It was a handy tool, and far superior to the old system that involved team personnel lurking on the roadside with stopwatches and pit boards. But from 2015 the drivers will have to do without it.

Photo: WRC

At its meeting in December, the FIA World Motor Sport Council decided that ‘from 2015, the transmission of performance data or information to or from a competing car, not in relation with safety, is forbidden during special stages to help promote greater competition.'



So, although the live split times will continue to be available to teams the drivers will have to rely on their intuition alone to judge their speed. And that's going to make the familiar Sunday driver quote “I'm just keeping an eye on the pace of the guy behind” a thing of the past.

And that's great news.

Pirelli boss Paul Hembery expects improvements in pace this season.

Since its arrival as a tire supplier in 2011, Pirelli has been asked to deliver races with two or three pitstops to increase the show.

After a controversial 2013 season, Pirelli was more conservative in 2014 to allow the teams to focus on the new power units and less on tires strategies. However Paul Hembery warns the situation will be different for the coming season.

"2012 was probably the most exciting with all the different winners - seven or eight winners - that was fascinating," Paul Hembery told Crash.net.

"This year, we did come in to a year of a little bit of unknown technology. We had a reasonable idea of what to expect but there's no substitute really for actually seeing what it translates to in track performance."

Pirelli engineer at work. (Photo: WRi2)

"If anything, probably next year if we took the same choices everywhere what was maybe conservative this year we feel might start becoming aggressive because the pace evolution for next year is going to be pretty dramatic. We've seen big improvements already towards the end of this season and that's without them really being able to get anywhere near the powertrain in the way they'd like to.

"So we expect quite a big jump again in performance next season. If you're talking a second or even up to two seconds a lap speed improvement that dramatically changes the way the tyres are used. So we have to be wary of that and follow that, but overall this year we feel we got the balance about right considering such a big change and the forefront technology this year was quite rightly the new hybrid powertrains which is a fascinating technology," added Pirelli motorsport director.

From GMM

Toto Wolff has singled out Williams as the most dangerous opponent for title defenders Mercedes in 2015.

Mercedes utterly dominated the first year of the new turbo V6 era last season, with 2010-2013 world champions Red Bull in second place.

But it was Mercedes-powered Williams that ended the season as arguably the works team's closest challenger.

Asked by Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport to name the "most dangerous opponent" for Mercedes in 2015, team boss Wolff answered: "I would put Williams at the top of the list.

"But I also fear Red Bull; they won four titles in a row and will put every resource into fighting for the world championship again," he added.

Williams FW36-Mercedes. (Photo: WRi2)

Next best in 2014 was the beleaguered F1 giant Ferrari, but Wolff refuses to write off the Maranello team despite the current slump and turmoil.

"I think it's normal that when there are changes of this type, there may be difficult times," he said.

Toto Wolff also said Sebastian Vettel's move to Ferrari must be taken seriously.

"Sebastian brings four world titles, enthusiasm and experience," he said. "It will be an incentive for the people of the incredible Ferrari.

"Never write them off. Ferrari is an icon and it's important that soon they are able to win again. I am convinced they will return to being competitive, and perhaps as early as 2015."

Toto Wolff also told La Gazzetta that Fernando Alonso is a threat at the wheel of any car, even though McLaren's early tests with the new Honda engine were not successful.

"The problems they (Honda) had were not associated with the engine, but the electronics. Difficulties of that type are unavoidable in the first tests -- we've all been through it," he said.

From press release

The countdown has reached zero and 406 vehicles have been cleared to compete in the 37th running of the Dakar following Friday afternoon's final technical scrutineering. Of the 406 that will take the start this Sunday, in Buenos Aires, there will be 161 motorcycles, 137 cars, 45 ATV Quads, and 63 Active Roadside Assistance Trucks. For the fourth time in their career, Canadians David Bensadoun and Patrick Beaulé of the ALDO Dakar Racing Team, will cross three South American countries in 14 days battling for top honours against private entries registered in their car class.

Their ALDO Toyota Tacoma Overdrive #380 will cover 9,111 kilometres during the world toughest rally raid, of which 4,578 km will be special stages designed to separate contenders from the "also ran".

Patrick Beaulé and David Bensadoun ready for the Dakar. (Photo: ALDO Racing)

"The team is in great spirits - the atmosphere in our pits is just great. We really do have a dream team this year," said David Bensadoun. "Both support trucks are ready, and our Toyota Tacoma Overdrive rally vehicle is almost there. We had a last minute issue with the hydraulic system, which operates the automatic car jacks, and the crew fixed it. The engineers from Overdrive Racing delivered a wonderful New Year's present: a new 37 mm restrictor, 1 mm more than last year and part of the new rules, which are designed to equalize the field with the diesel-powered cars. It doesn't sound like a lot but if you remember geometry, 36 mm x 3.14 = 113 sq mm and 37 mm x 3.14 = 116.5 which is a 2.6% difference and worth 10 horsepower. For gear heads like us 10 hp is a lot! So we are good to go on Sunday."

"The Toyota is ready and so are we," said co-driver Patrick Beaulé, who has spent his nights in the ALDO Racing camper truck. "The new air conditioning works wonders, and this will make all the difference in the world during the hot nights in the bivouacs. I have been sleeping in the paddocks since my arrival here in order to keep a watchful eye on our equipment. Some of our fellow-competitors have had their vehicles parked in the bivouac, visited by thieves. The economy is at a real low here." 

On Saturday at the Technopolis Centre located in the Bicentennial Park in Buenos Aires, drivers and teams were introduced to an estimated crowd of 1 million fans.

The very young Toro Rosso driver wants to score points for his first season in Formula 1.

On his end, Franz Tost, Toro Rosso team boss, tips Max Verstappen to promptly get on the scoreboard.

"Scoring points is a realistic goal for me," Max Verstappen told De Telegraaf.

"With finishes between eighth and 10th, I will basically be doing a good job. For anything higher than sixth, you need luck. Of course it can happen with rain, crashes and dropouts, but you cannot expect us to battle with Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Williams - they are all teams with much bigger budgets."

"Fortunately, the first wind tunnel results of our new car are good," he added in the Dutch newspaper.

Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso. (Photo: WRi2)

Jos Verstappen's son is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

"Occasionally I hear or read things as if miracles are expected. But I'm a driver, not a magician. Wins or podiums are out of the question next season," to conclude Max Verstappen.

With its dream of self-driving shuttles for public use, Google is diverging more sharply than ever before from automakers, which intend to gradually roll out autonomous-driving features in personal cars while keeping the driver in control.

Bernhard Maier, Porsche's global sales and marketing boss, commutes daily to company headquarters near Stuttgart using a Porsche Cayenne plug-in hybrid or a Panamera with a low-carbon dioxide powertrain.

Protecting the secrets of industry rivals while simultaneously working with them to outshine one another can be a peculiar position.

From GMM

Jean-Eric Vergne insists his new Ferrari test role is better than a race seat at struggling backmarker Caterham.

The 24-year-old Frenchman was dropped by Red Bull after contesting the last three seasons for the energy drink company's second F1 team Toro Rosso.

Ferrari has signed him for 2015 to be primarily a simulator driver, as Mexican Esteban Gutierrez will be the official reserve.

"Of course it is a good way to stay in touch with the paddock," Vergne told the French sports daily L'Equipe.

"But my motivation is also to help Ferrari to win again. I will work for the most prestigious team and do my best to help them in the simulator," he added.

"That is great. I would rather sit with Ferrari on the bench than to race for a team like Caterham," Vergne insisted. "I'm still very young and there are still many years in formula one in front of me. I enjoyed Formula E, but Ferrari now has priority."

Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti Autosport. (Photo: FIA Formula E)