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Swiss Ski World Cup winner Didier Cuche will also be celebrating his debut in an Audi R8 LMS ultra during the finale of the Blancpain Endurance Series - the 1,000-kilometer race on the Nurburgring, September 21st.

Cuche, the Super-G world champion, will be tackling his first car race in an Audi.

The 40-year-old race rookie will be relying on the support of two fellow Swiss, as Rahel Frey, who has been clinching success in motorsport with Audi since 2011, and Nico Muller, who is in his first year of racing in the DTM with Audi, are sharing the cockpit with the former professional ski racer from Le Paquier.

Cuche is the most recent example of a number of newcomers receiving professional training by the Audi race experience. They complete a systematic educational program for race drivers, from license training through to actually competing in a race.

Audi R8 LMS. (Photo: Didier Cuche/Facebook)

From press release

As the excitement of the day finally subsides, the results at the end of the Lucas Oil North East Avalon Leg 1 of competition at the Targa Newfoundland.

The Grand Touring, Equipped leaders are the surprise story so far. The 2015 Nissan Micra SR M/T co-driven by Keri Potipcoe and Michel Crepault (below), who are both auto journalist selected by the Nissan backed factory team to be the team for that entry, are showing poise and handling the early pressure of the time-distance-speed calculation aspect of the division.

They have a 4-second lead over Targa veterans of John Hume Sr. and Craig MacMullen in their 2013 Mini GP, who will certainly be pressuring the rookies in the coming days to see if they'll crack and give up the lead.

The Grand Touring, Unequipped leader is the brother team of Geoff and Lester Pike, who are members of the 'Racing with the Reverend' entry.

Their 2014 Scion FR-S is showing great handling and is standing up to what the Newfoundland weather can throw at it with the wet conditions on the stages. They currently have a 9-second lead over their teammates, so bragging rights are currently on the line between the teams.

In the Classic division, the 1965 Ford Mustang of Americans Jack Rogers and CJ Strupp are on top with a 16-second lead over the local entry of Edison and Marg-o Wiltshire in their 1977 Porsche 911.

The American team had to retire mid-event last year due to engine failure, so they are hoping for a much better result in the 2014 event. The first ever pickup truck in Targa is also in the division, with the Ontario team of Mark Bovey and Miles Markovic in their 1971 GMC 1500 in 3rd.

The bad luck award goes to the 1959 Corvette of the Brown brothers, who went off the stage in Conception Harbour/Colliers in the morning. No injuries to the crew, but the car did suffer front-end damage that did not allow them to complete any other stages on the day. They will however, be at the start line Tuesday morning as the car has since been repaired.

Modern division has a 5-way tie at the top after Leg 1. The entries of Hume Jr./Crant, Jullian/Andrews, Oldford/Oldford, Mepham/Solecki, and Hartling/Proudfoot are all at the top. That will certainly change after tomorrow's northern Burin Peninsula stages.

Another eyebrow raiser is the 5-way tie at the top of the Open division. With two, all rookie teams (Stewart/Smith and Knott/Knott) along with three veteran teams with at least a couple Targa's under their belts (Rittenhouse/Laitenberger, Davenport/Benson, and Atkinson/Corbett), the mixture of savvy young guns against the wise, capable veterans will be a great storyline to watch in the coming days.

The City Tire/Goodyear North Burin Leg 2 on Tuesday will certainly spread out the teams in all of the divisions. The mixture of short, tight stages mixed with the longer, spread out routes will give the entries chances to show their stuff and get some distance on their rivals.

A favorite area for Targa Newfoundland, the northern Burin stages will certainly be an exciting day for the volunteers and the teams involved.

The small world of Formula 1 changed dramatically in early 1978 when Colin Chapman introduced the stunning and gorgeous (and very fast!) Lotus 79.

1
Only 5 full aluminum chassis of the Type 79 were built, and none were destroyed. The Type 79 was the first full ground effect F1 car with sliding skirts. It was able to generate 4450 pounds of downforce at 200 m/h.

2
Mario Andretti won two Grands Prix in 1978 with only front brakes operational on his Lotus 79. The rear callipers were made of magnesium. Once heated up, it would became porous, producing a spongy brake pedal.

Lotus 79, Mario Andretti, Grand Prix des Pays-Bas 1978. (Photo: WRi2)

3
Veteran engineer and designer Martin Ogilvie designed the Lotus Type 79 with inputs from Colin Chapman, aerodynamicist Peter Wright, Geoff Aldridge and Tony Rudd.

4
The Lotus Type 79 was originally fitted with a Lotus-Getrag gearbox with sequential shift mechanism. However, the unit proved to be insufficiently strong and was abandoned.

Cockpit de la Lotus 79 (Photo: René Fagnan)

5
The T79 debuted at the Daily Express International Trophy race, held March 19, 1978 at Silverstone. Mario Andretti retired early when he skated off the wet track. Andretti gave the T79 its maiden win in May in Belgium.

6
The car was also known internally as the John Player Special Mark IV.

La Lotus 79 de Duncan Dayton en action sur le Circuit Mont-Tremblant. (Photo: René Fagnan)

Here some numbers of note regarding the 2014 Verizon IndyCar series season, which saw Team Penske's Will Power, take the title.

From indycar.com

1
Chief mechanic for Team Penske's last four IndyVar titles: Matt Jonsson, who also won titles with Gil de Ferran (CART series 2000, 2001) and Sam Hornish Jr. (2006).

2
Drivers to finish the season without a Did Not Finish: Will Power and Ryan Briscoe.

3
Number of races won by both Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay, tied for most of any driver.

Also, consecutive manufacturers titles for Chevrolet.

4
Number of teams to win races in each season in which the Verizon IndyCar series has used the Dallara IR-12 chassis (Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing).

5.59
Average running position of Will Power in the 2014 season.

7
Number of different teams to win races in the 2014 season.

11
Number of different winners in 18 races.

Also, number of top-five finishes recorded by Scott Dixon in 2014.

69.2
Percentage of races led by Will Power since 2012. Power has led at least one lap in 36 of 52 races in the last three seasons.

99.95
Percentage of laps completed by Will Power, who completed 2,394 of 2,395 possible laps, most of any Verizon IndyCar series driver in 2014.

247
Laps led by Tony Kanaan at Iowa, the most by a driver who didn't win the race.

623
Laps led by Will Power in 2014, most of any driver.

From GMM

Luca di Montezemolo says there is no correlation between Ferrari's successes as a business as opposed to success in formula one.

After 23 years as president, the Maranello marque's iconic leader is stepping down to be replaced by Fiat-Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne.

Defending his position, Marchionne said that while 67-year-old Montezemolo should be applauded for growing Ferrari as a road car business, the downwards trend of success in formula one needs to be addressed.

The implication is that, ultimately, Ferrari overall will suffer.

But, in an interview to be aired by Italian broadcaster Rai 1 later on Tuesday, Montezemolo challenged the view that Ferrari's road car and F1 successes can be tied together.

"I often hear people say 'If you win you sell more, if you lose you sell less'," said the charismatic Italian.

"My reply is that it is not so. Just think that the greatest growth Ferrari has had over the past 60 years was in the United States -- the country where formula one is almost unknown."

Montezemolo says that even applies to other markets.

"It would be said 'take a German driver, sell more in Germany'. But we had outstanding victories with a driver like Schumacher, but we didn't sell any more in Germany," he insisted.

The latest victory of Ferrari was in Spain, in 2013. (Photo: WRi2)

Meanwhile, as Montezemolo's decline is hotly debated in Italy and beyond, a member of the influential Agnelli family has backed the controversial news.

Andrea Agnelli, president of the Juventus football club, said Montezemolo made a "profound" impact on Ferrari, including "incredible achievements" for the Maranello marque.

But he said responsibility for Ferrari's failure to win a title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 "applies to everyone".

"Whenever you begin a process of renewal which relates to the medium and long term, it is right that it involves new people," said Agnelli, whose uncle was the great Fiat figurehead Gianni Agnelli.

"Ferrari must not be nostalgic but look to the future in a constructive manner with regards to the leadership," he is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I hope that Ferrari and Juventus win together perhaps already next year, as anyone who works in sports can set no other ambition than victory. Sport, from this point of view, is ruthless both on the football field and on the track," said Agnelli.

From wrc.com

Citroen Racing boss Yves Matton has criticised the penalty applied to Kris Meeke for cutting a corner at Rally Australia and believes that without it the Briton would have been able to finish on the podium.

Meeke completed Saturday's stages in fourth, locked in a back and forth battle with Volkswagen's Andreas Mikkelsen who was just 1.5sec ahead.

But the fight ended that night, when stewards hit Meeke with a 1min 01sec penalty, dropping him to fifth, for driving over a grass area on the repeated Valla stage (SS10).

At Rally Poland in June Mikkelsen was reprimanded by stewards for a similar corner cut, but his penalty was a 5,000 Euro fine and the threat of exclusion if he repeated the offence.

Yves Matton said: “I have no comment on Kris's penalty, other than to say that on similar facts the [stewards'] decisions are not consistent. But it's like that. There is nothing more we can do. I just hope if it happens again we have some more consistency with the decisions.”

Meeke regained fourth on Sunday's opening test but was unable to close the gap to Mikkelsen. Without the penalty, Matton believes it was a fight Meeke would have won.

“I don't know if Andreas would have made the same tire choice on Sunday morning if he was still fighting, that will stay as a question mark, but for sure Kris was able to secure third place.

“If you take the penalty away, and you look at the times he was doing, I think it was possible for Kris to finish something like 30 or 35 seconds from the victory. And with the experience he has, for sure it was a great performance.”

Adapted from GMM

Andrea Caldarelli has counted himself out of the running to race for Caterham in the near future.

As the cockpit reshuffling continues in the wake of Kamui Kobayashi's missed race at Spa, it is known that the team's new leadership wants Roberto Merhi to drive the car under Singapore's lights this weekend.

But although the Spaniard drove on Friday morning at Monza recently, he still did not collect enough kilometres to automatically qualify for his F1 super license.

We reported last week that Japanese Kobayashi could return to the wheel of his car yet again in Singapore.

But other reports in Japan suggested a driver called Andrea Caldarelli could be another candidate, especially for the subsequent race at Suzuka.

The 24-year-old Italian was in the news recently when he was called up to race in the premier Japanese open-wheel series Super Formula when Andre Lotterer got his Caterham opportunity at Spa.

It is rumoured Caldarelli, who has tested F1 cars for Toyota and Ferrari, has the backing of Caterham's newly installed boss Manfredi Ravetto, and strong ties within Japan.

But he has now ruled out a Suzuka debut, insisting it clashes with his duties in the Japanese Super GT series.

"I can categorically exclude it," Caldarelli is quoted by Speed Week, "because on the same weekend is the GT race in Thailand and this is an absolute priority for me."

The TOM's Lexus, Super GT Series. (Photo: Andrea Caldarelli)

Indeed, driving a TOM's Lexus, Caldarelli is running second in that high-profile Japanese series, and Thailand is the penultimate round.

Andrea Caldarelli explains on his personal website : "In the last few days there have been lots of rumours regarding a possible debut in the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Japan with Caterham. The confirmation of the upcoming race in Thailand excludes this possibility as the Super GT is my first and prioritary program, especially now that we are fighting for the championship. That said, Formula 1 is a dream for every driver, and I don't exclude future collaborations as previously happened with Toyota and Ferrari."

Meanwhile, ahead of Singapore, the well-sponsored Caterham regular Marcus Ericsson insists he can give no insight into the identity of his forthcoming teammates.

"To be honest, when you're in the car and preparing for race weekends you're so focused on that you don't really think about it," he told Reuters.

"It's not been something that has influenced me but obviously now we have the new owners that have come in and they've been pushing really hard to continue developing the car, so that's been very positive," Ericsson added.

The agreement that ended a one-day strike at a Lear seat plant supplying Ford in Chicago would get rid of a wage structure that pays new-hires less than their veteran colleagues, a union official said.

Massachusetts' highest court on Monday threw out a lawsuit seeking to block Tesla from selling its luxury electric cars directly to consumers in the state, enabling it to bypass traditional dealerships.

One of Tesla's strongest supporters on Wall Street issued a cautious report on the maker of luxury electric cars today, sending its shares skidding 9 percent.

Cadillac has no plans to back off its sharply higher sticker prices or sweeten incentives to improve slumping U.S. sales, new brand chief Johan de Nysschen said.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned the Chinese government that a recent spate of antitrust investigations against foreign automakers and other companies could have serious implications for U.S.-China relations.

The Indian government will continue with the current excise tax cut beyond December.

The UAW's strike at a Lear Corp. seating plant that supplies Ford's assembly plant in Chicago was ended after one day.

Ford will debut the new S-Max at the Paris auto show on Oct. 2 ahead of the minivan's sales launch in Europe next summer.

The independent lawyer overseeing GM's program to compensate victims of accidents that involved defective ignition switches has approved claims for 19 deaths, at least six more fatalities than GM has officially linked to the faulty part.

News 15 Sep, 2014

An official-looking image of the forthcoming Fiat 500X SUV has surfaced online ahead of next month's Paris Motor Show

The European Union wants the World Trade Organization to rule on its dispute with Russia after Moscow imposed tariffs on vans imported from Germany and Italy. The EU said Russia is illegally protecting its own producers.

The EU wants the World Trade Organization to rule on its dispute with Russia after Moscow imposed tariffs on vans imported from Germany and Italy. The EU said Russia is illegally protecting its own producers.

ZF has reached a deal to buy TRW Automotive for $105.60 per share in a supply chain megadeal that has been in the works since mid-July.