Auto News 5

The parent of Subaru said it will reach its mid-term sales target in North America at least three years ahead of plan, helped by demand for the Forester crossover and Legacy sedan.

News 13 Nov, 2014

Designer Henrik Fisker is bouncing back from the ill-fated Karma, and bringing what looks like a Mustang rival to Los Angeles this month

Daimler's Car2Go car-sharing unit will have more than 1 million registered users by the end of the year, a company executive said, up from 900,000 now.

A new policy at Volkswagen's U.S. assembly plant would let organized labor groups hold regular meetings at the factory and engage with plant executives but stops short of extending collective bargaining rights to any particular labor union.

The Mini five-door variant targets customers who need more space. Available for the first time with the option of a head-up display and adaptive cruise control, Mini says the five-door hatchback could become its best-seller.

Hoping to harness customer data to offer more services without eliciting an outcry over the misuse of personal information, major automakers have agreed to industrywide principles to handle consumer data and safeguard individual privacy going...

Hoping to harness customer data to offer more services without eliciting an outcry over the misuse of personal information, major automakers today agreed to industry-wide principles to handle consumer data and safeguard individual privacy going...

The VW Group plans to add a proving ground for autonomous driving to its test track in Ehra-Lessien, Germany, Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche has learned from company sources.

From GMM

Sebastian Vettel has admitted he weighed up switching to another team versus quitting formula one altogether ahead of the 2015 season.

It is an open secret that the quadruple world champion, having already confirmed his departure from Red Bull, is switching to Ferrari next year.

But while the man he is replacing - Fernando Alonso - continues his contractual impasse with Maranello, German Vettel is still unable to say anything.

"I am hoping to announce what is happening soon," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, "but right now we have to be patient."

Still, Vettel is now giving hints away that his next overalls will definitely be red.

"I am aware that a big task is lying before me, especially at a time when Mercedes has a huge competitive advantage," said 27-year-old Vettel.

He said staying at Red Bull would have been the "easiest decision" to make.

"Doing something else is a step into the unknown," said Sebastian Vettel, "and therefore a risk. But I thought about it a lot. If I was not convinced that I am able to be successful there, I would not be doing it. So this is not a decision against Red Bull, but to do something new."

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB10-Renault. (Photo: WRi2)

It does sound as though Vettel, beaten this year by Red Bull's new signing Daniel Ricciardo, needed a new challenge.

He admits he even thought about quitting the sport altogether following the controversial move from V8 to turbo V6 power.

"Naturally you think about everything," said Vettel. "Suddenly you have two (engine) cylinders less and the team doesn't restart your car but reboots it like a computer."

He said the process of harvesting energy from the brakes has been a particular struggle as it "just does not feel like a normal car to me".

"You do find yourself wondering 'What has this got to do with racing?'

"But what is the alternative?" Vettel continued. "Yes the cars have become slower, but they are still the fastest you can race."

McLaren Formula 1 team will debut its Honda powered interim car during a filming day at Silverstone on Friday.

Just a few days ago, McLaren's director of racing, Eric Boullier, told Auto123.com: “We are still talking about it. We have to take a decision about now”.

A message sent on Twitter by McLaren Thursday confirms that the British team based in Woking would run “the interim Honda-engined MP4-29H/1X1” at Silverstone tomorrow.

McLaren's message on Twitter

Next year's car will be code named MP4-30/Honda.

The running will be limited to just 100km due to the Sporting Regulations. The car will also need to be fitted on Pirelli demonstration tires.

“This car is designed to validate the processes for Honda, which is something fairly major,” Boullier told Auto123.com.

Neither race driver (Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen) will take part with the driving shared between test driver Oliver Turvey and GP2 series' competitor, Stoffel Vandoorne.

The team will also run two classic McLaren Hondas, the MP4/4 of 1988 and the MP4/7 of 1992 at Silverstone alongside their interim car.

From GMM

The crisis of collapsing and complaining teams looks set to once again spoil plans for F1's stock market floatation.

The sport's majority shareholder CVC wanted to float formula one in Singapore in 2012, but the plans were delayed amid market uncertainty and Bernie Ecclestone's high profile legal troubles.

Those concerns have since lifted, and the financial news service Bloomberg claims that CVC was back on track to float F1 early in 2015.

The report said CVC has commissioned Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS to work on the possible initial public offering.

But now two teams, Marussia and Caterham, have collapsed, and other struggling small outfits Lotus, Sauber and Force India are complaining loudly about F1's controversial income distribution model.

Oliver Weingarten, the former general secretary of the F1 teams alliance FOTA, said CVC will "want the negativity surrounding the sport to go away, and for there to be some stability, before they go to the market".

From GMM

Ferrari has given the strongest sign yet that Kimi Raikkonen will definitely still be wearing red in 2015.

With many prominent Ferrari figures having departed this year, and Fernando Alonso and a flurry of his engineers to be the next, it has been rumoured Raikkonen's future might also be in doubt.

The 35-year-old Finn is already signed up for 2015, but he has notably struggled alongside Alonso this year and at the end of 2009 was ousted by Ferrari despite having a year to run on his contract.

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

Team boss Marco Mattiacci, however, hailed the 2007 world champion's performance last weekend in Brazil, and a report posted on Ferrari's official website on Thursday gave more evidence that Raikkonen is staying put.

It said Raikkonen flew straight to Maranello after the Interlagos race "to begin preparations for the final race of the season and testing for 2015 in the days directly after it".

Ferrari revealed that he also met with technical boss James Allison "to discuss about the new car" and the forthcoming winter test period.

From GMM

Romain Grosjean has followed Sebastian Vettel's lead in jumping the gun on his 2015 plans.

This week, it has already emerged that although Vettel's switch from Red Bull to Ferrari is not yet official, the German told Italian broadcaster Sky in a television feature in Brazil that he is "a driver for Scuderia Ferrari".

The Italian team, however, is not yet ready to announce either Vettel's arrival, or even the departure of the apparently McLaren-bound Fernando Alonso.

"Neither I or anyone else (at Ferrari) have talked about it. I haven't said that Alonso is going," new Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne insisted this week in Italy's Corriere dello Sport.

Another open secret in F1 circles is that, despite his earlier candidature to join McLaren-Honda next year, Frenchman Grosjean is now set to stay at Lotus.

In fact, he announced via Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday that he is "proud to announce that I'll be racing with Lotus in 2015".

The announcement accompanied a graphic captioned with 'Together in 2015', but the social media postings were quickly deleted and a Lotus spokesperson said a "miscommunication" had occurred.

Interestingly, Grosjean's new deal could even be related to fellow Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne's chances of staying with the second Red Bull team Toro Rosso in 2015.

Grosjean is strongly backed by the French oil company Total, but with Lotus' new engine deal Mercedes comes Petronas-supplied lubricants and oils.

Cepsa partner of Toro Rosso. (Photo: WRi2)

According to Speed Week, Total could be heading to Toro Rosso, whose own oil backer Cepsa looks set to leave F1 altogether in order to sponsor the top Spanish football team Real Madrid.

Speed Week reports that Cepsa, a Spanish company, decided to leave Toro Rosso due to disappointing results and the decision to sign the unprecedentedly-young and inexperienced rookie Max Verstappen over the better-prepared Spaniard Carlos Sainz jr.

In other F1 sponsor news, a European Union-backed public health group has written to Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone demanding that alcohol sponsorship be banned.

"A ban is only a step away," wrote Times correspondent Kevin Eason, claiming lucrative deals enjoyed by Sahara Force India, Williams and McLaren are now at risk.

Eurocare secretary-general Mariann Skar confirmed: "Allowing alcohol sponsorship in formula one seems to contradict many official guidelines for the marketing of alcohol and runs against the EU directive, which states that marketing for the consumption of alcohol should not be linked to driving."

Williams Martini Racing. (Photo: WRi2)

From wec.com

The title-chasing No. 8 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid driven by Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson topped the times during Free Practice 1 in preparation for this weekend's 6 Hours of Bahrain.

As afternoon turned to early evening and the sun began to set at the picturesque and atmospheric Bahrain International Circuit, Buemi's time of 1m45.447 just beat the sister No. 7 Toyota Racing entry by a mere 0.058s.

Claiming third place with a 1m45.510 was the No. 20 Porsche Team 919 Hybrid driven by Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard.

Earlier on in the session the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, which at the time was driven by Lucas Di Grassi, had briefly sat at the top of the timesheets, but soon after stopped on track.

The Brazilian, who is racing here in Bahrain for the first time since making his F1 debut in 2010, managed to make it back to the pits where the issue was rectified and the car continued.

The No. 1 Audi ultimately placed fourth on a 1m45.557, which ensured that the top four were covered by just 0.110s. Indeed, all of the LMP1-H entries were split by a mere 0.9s at the end of the session!

G-Drive Racing continued its recent good form by emerging quickest in the LMP2 class. Olivier Pla set a fastest time of 1m51.807 in the Ligier JS P2-Nissan to head the pair of SMP Racing entries, with the No. 37 Oreca-Nissan heading the sister No. 27 car.

KCMG, who still have an outside chance of challenging for the title, took a conservative approach to the session after a tremendous effort by the team to ready the ORECA-Nissan after a substantial rebuild following their Shanghai incident with the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari. They placed fourth in class.

Rebellion Racing ran 1-2 in the LMP1-L class with their only challengers, the Lotus entered CLM P1/01 AER, suffering a mechanical problem which stranded them on the track after 37 minutes, causing the only red flag of the session.

Free practice 2
The first session under the lights at the Bahrain International Circuit ended with the No.14 Porsche 919 hybrid of Neel Jani posting a time that was 0.8 seconds faster than the no8 Toyota TS040 and two seconds quicker than the best time set by the championship leading car in the earlier session.

Each driver was obliged to complete three full timed laps during the night session and everyone was able to do this.

From team press release

Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt underwent successful coronary bypass surgery Wednesday in Houston after being diagnosed with blockages on Monday.

Foyt, 79, had been admitted to the Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center on Friday with intermittent chest pains but initial testing results were inconclusive.

However, a cardiac catheterization procedure performed Monday revealed blockages in arteries where Foyt had several stents from past procedures.

Foyt has had a number of stays in various Houston hospitals in recent years, most of which were related to injuries stemming from his 1990 Indy car accident at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Last year he underwent back surgery and had his left hip and right knee replaced in separate surgeries, and in 2012, he battled back from a life-threatening staph infection after surgery to remove bone spurs in his artificial left knee, which had been replaced in 2006.

Foy also won the Daytona 500 NASCAR race in 1972, as well as the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Caterham's administrators launched a 'crowdfunding' project last week in an attempt to raise enough money for the small team to compete in Abu Dhabi, but the campaign ends tomorrow Friday.

The team has reached 54% of the required 3.7$ millions required to send the two CT05s in Abu Dhabi with equipment and personnel.

Without an FIA super licence, British driver Alice Powell, 21, wanted to take part in Friday's free practice session.

However, her dream faded Thursday when the team's administrators told Sportsmail that they would sign two drivers for the full three days rather than take on someone extra for the practice sessions.

“We have had five people show real interest in driving,” said Finnbar O'Connell, of administrators Smith & Williamson.

“Whichever two are picked will be involved in each practice session.”

Another young British driver, Jolyon Palmer, son of former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, is now a front-runner to race one of the Caterham-Renaults, according to one well-placed source.

Jolyon Palmer clinched the GP2 series' title last month.

Finnbar O'Connell also told Sportsmail: “I do believe we will be in Abu Dhabi”, adding that “one individual and one group of investors have made contact about helping in the long term”.

Will Caterham be in Abu Dhabi's garages? (Photo: WRi2)

The folks at Dumoulin Competition have offered us a fantastic package for our latest Facebook contest, including a t-shirt signed by LP Dumoulin, the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Champion!

The package includes a WeatherTech.ca Racing t-shirt, a second t-shirt signed by the champion, and an official team cap.


The contest is held on our Facebook page.

Here is the basic details:

- The contest begins Thursday November 13, 2014 at noon and ends Wednesday November 19, 2014 at noon (Montreal time).
- The contest is open to people 13 and over.
- One (1) entry per Facebook user per day.
- The contest is available in English and French. It is the same contest, for which the same prize is up for grabs.
- To participate in the draw, individuals must visit the Concours / Contest tab on Auto123.com Racing / Course Facebook page.
- The winner will be drawn Wednesday November 19 at 1pm (Montreal time) among all participants. The winner will be contacted via Facebook private message, will have 48 hours to claim the prize and his name will be posted on the Auto123.com Racing / Course Facebook page as soon as he claims his prize.

Click here to enter the contest. Good luck!

Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire series' Champion (Photo: Dumoulin Compétition)

From press release

Tom Blomqvist claimed provisional pole for this Saturday's qualification race for the 61st running of the Macau Grand Prix.

The runner-up in this year's FIA Formula 3 European Championship moved up to the top of the timing screen around the halfway point in the 40 minutes' first qualifying session at the 6.12 kilometres long Guia street circuit and managed to hold on to this position until the chequered flag was out.

In second place, Italian Antonio Giovinazzi completed the 1-2 for the Jagonya Ayam with Carlin team.

In the closing seconds of the session, Nick Cassidy moved up into third place from Lucas Auer.

Tom Blomqvist (Photo: Macau GP)

The final starting grid positions for the qualification race will be known after second qualifying tomorrow at 15.10 hrs local time (8.10 hrs CET). The fastest time set by each driver in any of the two sessions will decide on the grid position.

Rather unusually for Macau, the entire qualifying session ran without any red flags.

The only major incident were impacts by Tatiana Calderón, who crashed into the barriers at the police station corner and damaged the front suspension of her car, and a crash by Martin Cao who hit the barriers at Fischerman's Bend early in the session.

After free practice, Max Verstappen (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Esteban Ocon (SJM Theodore Racing by Prema) were given penalties for failing to come in for their cars to be weighed. The two will be dropped two places each on the grid for Saturday's qualifying race.

From GMM

Yet another week is threatening to pass with Fernando Alonso's future still unclear.

Most insiders are utterly convinced that the Spaniard is heading to McLaren-Honda, amid reports the 33-year-old is even scheduled to visit Woking this week to sign what is expected to be the most lucrative deal in F1 history.

But Fernando Alonso has posted photos to his Facebook and Twitter accounts of what is obviously a post-Brazil break in Dubai, some 7,000 kilometres from the UK.

"Sunny in Woking today!" one of his Facebook followers commented cheekily.

At the same time, Ferrari is also continuing the apparent contractual impasse with its number 1 driver.

New president Sergio Marchionne, pressed by the media about Alonso this week, is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I do not talk about the drivers, that is the task of the team management."

The uncertainty is also prolonging the wait for Jenson Button, who could be the existing McLaren driver who is pushed aside for Alonso and out of F1 altogether.

"Hopefully soon I'll be able to give you more info about my future," the Briton said this week on Twitter, adding the hashtag 'ExcitingTimes'.

If his 15-year F1 career does end, it is believed 34-year-old Button will either become a full-time triathlete or switch to Le Mans prototype sports cars.

Speed Week linked him with the 2015 Le Mans competitors Porsche, Toyota, Audi or Nissan.

Mark Webber, who made the switch from F1 to Porsche this year, 'tweeted' to Button: "Matey, just sign that sports car contract and get on with it.

"Be mega to have you with/against us next year," the Australian added.

Verizon IndyCar Series entrants have submitted a 25% deposit of the $75,000 package price with their aerodynamic bodywork kit order to respective suppliers Chevrolet and Honda.

Manufacturer track testing of prototype components opened Oct. 6 and continues through Jan. 18, 2015, which is the same date as homologation.

Production will ramp up to meet the March 1 deadline for one road and street course/short oval kit to be delivered to each entrant.

The speedway aero kit, according to the INDYCAR timeline, will be delivered by April 1.

The 2015 aero kit (Image: IndyCar)