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From wec.com

The No.14 Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1-H car took a second consecutive pole position in Bahrain Friday evening.

Neel Jani and Romain Dumas split their qualifying duties in the 25-minutes session to combine an overall four lap average time of 1m43.145, some 0.264s clear of title leaders Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson in the No.8 Toyota Racing TS 040 Hybrid.

Jani, who set a clear fastest time in FP2 and FP3 at the Bahrain International Circuit started the early run in the Porsche 919 Hybrid rapidly, peaking with a 1m41.897 to set the best ever LMP1 lap at Bahrain International Circuit.

Romain Dumas then took over the cockpit after 11 minutes of the session and contributed a succession of quick laps to lower the average time and ultimately seal the overall pole position and the extra point.

The Porsche Team is confident that some small but significant mechanical changes to the 919 Hybrid since Shanghai will contribute a sustained challenge to Toyota Racing in the race tomorrow, as they aim to score their first race victory in their return to the premier class of endurance racing.

Davidson and Buemi, minds fixed firmly on their 2014 World Endurance Championship title quest, will line up alongside the #8 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid on the rolling front-row tomorrow afternoon. The pair need to finish fifth or higher in the LMP1-H class to seal the 2014 FIA WEC crown.

The first row of the grid is mirrored by the second row, as the No. 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Marc Lieb head the No. 7 Toyota Racing entry of Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway.

The No. 1 Audi driven by Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler in qualifying today will start in fifth place on the starting grid. As the closest challengers to Davidson and Buemi for the FIA World Endurance Championship for Drivers', the #2 Audi crew have a mountain to climb if they are to pull off an unlikely late title challenge.

In the LMP1-L class, the in-house Rebellion Racing qualifying battle was won by the No. 12 Rebellion R-One Toyota, as Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost bettered the sister No. 13 Rebellion R-One driven by Fabio Leimer and Dominik Kraihamer by six-tenths of a second.

Competing in this weekend's WEC 6 Hours of Bahrain, Audi is hopeful that it has solved the issue that's caused chassis damage to three of its R18 e-tron quattros over the past two weekends in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The German car manufacturer was forced to replace the tubs of both the Nos. 1 and 2 R18s, while its No. 1 car underwent a second tub change due to damage sustained in Thursday's practice session.

The team explained that the problem is happening after running over certain type of kerbs.

“It looks like it's a central hit taken with the way the design of the floor,” said Ralf Jüttner, technical director, Audi Sport Team Joest.

Car No. 1 of Tom Kristensen, Loic Duval and Lucas Di Grassi missed qualifying due to the tub change.

With no warm-up session prior to Saturday's 6-hour race, the rebuilt No. 1 car will head into the event without any track time.

Adapted from GMM

Friday's deadline looks set to come and go without Caterham Formula Team raising the $3.7 million it needs through crowdfunding.

The small team, in administration and fighting to keep its official entry alive by making the Abu Dhabi grid, has raised only just over $2 million within hours of its self-imposed deadline expiring.

Gerard Lopez, who as owner of Genii and Lotus is frustrated that F1's income model and high costs are threatening the survival of small teams, said it is "sad" Caterham even had to revert to the controversial use of fans' hard-earned money.

"Formula 1, which is a $1.6 billion business, and distributes over $900 million, and we're being asked if crowdfunding is a good idea to bring a team back. Seriously?" he is quoted by the Telegraph.

"Then it's even more disastrous than I think it is, in terms of ethics."

But even though Caterham may miss its crowdfunding target, the team's administrator and interim boss Finbarr O'Connell is still sounding confident.

He is quoted by the Times newspaper as saying the shortfall could be made up elsewhere.

"We are talking to a number of parties, who could make a substantial investment," said O'Connell.

In that case, he said the fan-sourced funding would only have to raise slightly more and "then we could make an executive decision to go" to Abu Dhabi.

"I still strongly believe we will be racing," said O'Connell.

Others think Caterham would be better off quietly closing its doors, as even if it does make Abu Dhabi, questions remain over its ability to produce a reasonable car for 2015.

"I have been talking to the administrator regularly," said Bernie Ecclestone.

"I wonder even if they can stay in, then what shape are they going to be in after such a layoff?" Ecclestone added.

In an interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific magazine, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone declared the sport does not need to chase a younger audience.

The 84-year-old Briton believes it is difficult to ascertain what exactly the youth market wants and that in any case they are the wrong target audience for many of F1's big sponsors such as Rolex, UBS, Mercedes, Ferrari and others.

“I don't know what the so-called ‘young generation' of today really wants,” the controversial Ecclestone told reporter Atifa Silk.

“You ask a 15 or 16-year-old kid, ‘What do you want?' and they don't know. The challenge is getting the audience in the first place.”

Bernie Ecclestone (Photo: René Fagnan)

Ecclestone continued: “You have a brand that you want to put in front of a few hundred million people, I can do that easily for you on television. Now, you're telling me I need to find a channel to get this 15-year-old to watch F1 because somebody wants to put out a new brand in front of him? They are not going to be interested in the slightest bit.

“Young kids will see the Rolex brand, but are they going to go and buy one? They can't afford it. Or our other sponsor, UBS - these kids don't care about banking. They haven't got enough money to put in the bloody banks anyway. Most of these kids haven't got any money. I'd rather get to the 70-year-old guy who's got plenty of cash. That's what I think,” the billionaire explained.

The owner of the F1 commercial rights admitted that the sport needs to make better use of social media to promote itself.

He also conceded that today people have a bigger range of activities to spend their free time on.

“You're right that we should use social media to promote Formula One. I just don't know how,” Benie Ecclestone said.

“They say the kids watch things on [tablets and phones], but it doesn't mean they're watching F1. And even if they are today, will they still watch it when they are 40?

“The world has changed so much in the last few years, and I doubt that's going to stop. But with all the technology out there are limits to what we can do and the amount of time people can watch something,” the Briton said.

From wrc.com

Sebastien Ogier held a slender lead over Jari-Matti Latvala after the Volkswagen duo dominated Friday's slippery opening leg at Wales Rally GB.

Both claimed four stage wins and although Ogier was never headed, he was unable to shake off his Polo R colleague and led by 6.6sec after eight muddy forest speed tests covering 145km in mid-Wales.

The newly crowned world champion won three of the four morning tests to lead by 9.5sec at the mid-leg service in Newtown, but Latvala took the afternoon honours as the polished surface made conditions even more slippery.

Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Polo-R WRC (Photo: VW)

“It was difficult to drive this morning but I really enjoyed the stages,” said Ogier. “This afternoon was just a question of surviving. Conditions were slippery and I was fighting the car all the way,” he said.

Ogier misjudged a hairpin on the afternoon's opening stage while Latvala admitted he was lucky not to roll after hitting a hole in the first test.

Mads Østberg and Mikko Hirvonen, tackling his last rally before retirement, fought over third for most of the day. The Norwegian held the advantage this morning but Hirvonen moved ahead to finish 1min 07.2sec off the lead in his Ford Fiesta RS.

Østberg became increasingly frustrated with the handling of his Citroen DS3, and dropped to fifth in the final stage. Kris Meeke benefited from his team-mate's struggles to climb to fourth, despite a 10sec penalty for a jump start in the opening stage.

He was 7.7sec behind Hirvonen and 0.7sec ahead of Østberg, despite twice making a mistake at the same hairpin.
Juho Hänninen - crashed out

Thierry Neuville was sixth in a Hyundai i20, the Belgian one of many drivers to lose time at a tight hairpin in the final stage. Elfyn Evans, Ott Tänak, Henning Solberg and Martin Prokop completed the leaderboard, all in Fiesta RS cars.

Solberg lost time with a morning misfire while Prokop spun into a ditch in the final stage.

Andreas Mikkelsen retired his Polo R with broken suspension after hitting a bank while in second and Juho Hänninen went out after going off.

Robert Kubica survived a brush with a bank, a spin and an overshoot to lie 11th, while power steering problems and front differential issues delayed Hayden Paddon's i20 in 12th.

Tomorrow's second leg comprises nine more stages covering 113.74km. There are two identical loops of four tests in north Wales, split by a short fan-friendly stage at Chirk Castle.

The Caterham F1 Team announced Friday that it will be racing at the final Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi next week.

The small team in administration thanked the fans who have helped raise enough money to make it possible through Crowdcube, the world's leading investment crowdfunding platform.

“We set ourselves a major challenge, but it's definitely been worth it! In only a week the fans have made the impossible, possible,” said Finbarr O'Connell of Smith & Williamson, joint administrator of Caterham Sports Limited.

“We now head to Abu Dhabi ready to show what a hard-working and positive group of people this is and to hopefully secure a future for the team. During the past few days the interest of many potential buyers has increased massively and by racing in Abu Dhabi the team will be showcasing itself as a live and functioning team that deserves to continue into 2015 and beyond,” O'Connell declared.

The freight, including the two Renault-powered CT05s, the spare parts, equipment and all must be shipped to Abu Dhabi this weekend.

Caterham has yet to confirm drivers for this last race of the year. No doubt that small team will rely on drivers who bring personal sponsorship money.

The deadline for crowdfunding has been extended to midnight (GMT) Sunday November 23rd.

Photo: Caterham F1 Team

Under heavy pressure to boost output of replacement inflators for airbags amid a recall crisis, Takata is preparing to build two new production lines at its plant in Monclova, Mexico.

Delphi Automotive agreed to give thousands of documents to lawyers suing General Motors over faulty ignition switches and to let the lawyers speak with the supplier's employees in exchange for being dropped as a defendant.

Mazda Motor Corp. will offer an unlimited mileage warranty to consumers who buy or lease a vehicle in Canada beginning with the 2015 model year, the automaker said today.

Local Motors, the company that 3-D printed and assembled a drivable car in just five days, is at it again -- this time with one less day and several more ambitious plans for 2015.

Features 15 Nov, 2014

We're at the 2014 Wales Rally GB bringing to an alternative access-all-areas view of the action

Mercedes-Benz ranked highest in sales satisfaction among luxury brands in the J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study released today. For a fifth consecutive year, Mini ranks highest among mass-market brands, with a score of 727.

Following are some key events leading to the recall of several million cars fitted with potentially defective air bags made by Japanese supplier Takata.

Takata is the subject of a US criminal investigation over potentially defective car air bags that have been linked to five deaths, a spokesman told a news agency.

Features 19 Nov, 2014

Auto Express met with MINI boss Jochen Goller to discuss all things MINI past, present and future

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles expects to get 2.25 billion euros ($2.81 billion) from Ferrari via transactions it will execute before it spins off the supercar maker from the group, a filing with regulators in the United States showed today.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles expects to get 2.25 billion euros ($2.81 billion) from Ferrari via transactions it will execute before it spins off the supercar maker from the group, a filing with U.S. regulators showed today.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles expects to get 2.25 billion euros ($2.81 billion) from Ferrari via transactions it will execute before it spins off the supercar maker from the group, a filing with U.S. regulators showed.

Japanese auto parts giant Aisin Seiki has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $36 million criminal fine for its involvement in a conspiracy to allocate customers of variable valve timing devices, the Department of Justice said today.

Belgian trade unions are resigning themselves to the imminent shuttering of Ford's Genk plant in Belgium with the loss of 4,300 jobs, but do not expect social unrest as a result.