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From GMM

Adrian Newey chose overcast Silverstone over smoggy Shanghai for the weekend of the Chinese grand prix.

Speed Week reports that Red Bull's technical boss was not on the Shanghai pitwall on Sunday because he was actually trackside at Silverstone.

It is at the British grand prix venue that the season opener of the world endurance sports car championship (WEC) is taking place, and Newey has been spotted chatting with Red Bull's newly-retired driver Mark Webber.

Mark Webber, Porsche 919 hybrid (Photo: Porsche)

This weekend, Australian Webber is kicking off his new career as Porsche's lead prototype driver.

"It was just a shorter journey to Silverstone than it was to Shanghai," a smiling Newey explained.

Lexus unveiled the production version of the Lexus NX compact crossover at the Beijing auto show Sunday, offering a U.S. sales forecast of 2,200 units a month.

Ford is showing a seven-seat, mid-sized SUV concept at the Beijing auto show that previews a new vehicle to tap booming demand for crossovers in China.

The

BMW's Vision Future Luxury concept car closely previews a new brand flagship that will go on sale in global markets called the 9 series.

BMW's Vision Future Luxury concept car closely previews a new brand flagship that will go on sale in global markets called the 9 series.

McLaren will stick to building sports cars and ruled out following rivals such as Lamborghini, Bentley and Maserati that are adding SUVs to their lineups.

Rolls-Royce will probably post a fifth consecutive year of record sales, helped by demand in China and Japan, CEO Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said. Sales also may rise in Russia this year, he added.

Fiat plans to begin making Jeeps in China, the brand's second-largest market, by late 2015 after reaching an agreement with local partner Guangzhou Automobile. Fiat will produce three new Jeep vehicles in the southern city of Guangzhou.

News 19 Apr, 2014

Citroen wants to move the DS brand further away from Citroen, with bespoke advertising and more luxurious showrooms

News 19 Apr, 2014

Citroen CEO reveals HybridAir cuts economy by 30 per cent, and other manufacturers could get the tech

Volkswagen forecast that its sales in China will increase 10 percent or more in 2014, signaling that it will outsell General Motors in the world's biggest auto market for a second straight year.

This is the Volkswagen Golf R400, VW's spectacular new 395-hp version of the seventh-generation Golf. Unveiled at the

Discussions between the NHTSA and GM went back and forth for months, and GM eventually sent out two batches of recall notices to owners of about 7,000 cars.

When AutoNation fully rolls out its so-called digital storefront, the following scenario may not be all that far-fetched.

Lear Corp. wants motorists to sit up straight. The seat maker is developing a "smart" seat that adjusts itself automatically to correct a motorist's posture, important for comfort on long trips.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's decision not to sell the DS 6WR compact crossover in Europe is strange.

From press release

Lewis Hamilton continues to dominate in F1. He won his third race of the season, this weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix, also beating his Mercedes teammate for the third consecutive time.

Hamilton led from lights to flag on his way to his career 25th win, putting him 8th on the all-time list equal with Niki Lauda and Jim Clark.

Photo: WRi2

He used a two-stop strategy, pitting first on lap 17 and again on lap 38.

"The team have done an amazing job and all the hard work both here and at the factory is really paying off at the moment," said the 2008 world champion.

Photo: WRi2

"This car is just unbelievable; in the final laps, I was pushing a little bit more to keep up the tire temperatures and it just felt great to drive. I'm so, so happy today."

Mercedes' motorsport boss Toto Wolff added: "From the beginning, Lewis was a man on his own planet, looking quicker than everyone else and making the tires last longer than we thought. It's a great result for the team to get the third 1-2 in a row."

Photo: WRi2

Despite a telemetry failure, Nico Rosberg brought the second Silver Arrow home in second place, in front of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Race results* - Chinese Grand Prix (race 4 of 19)
1 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W05) - 56 laps 1.36'52"810
2 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W05) - 18”686
3 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F14T) - 25”765
4 - Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 26”978
5 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 51”012
6 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 57”581
7 - Valterri Bottas (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 58”145
8 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F14T) - 1'23”990
9 - Sergio Perez (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'26”489
10 - Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1 lap
11 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/29-Mercedes) - 1 lap
12 - Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1 lap
13 - Kevin Magnussen (McLaren MP4/29-Mercedes) - 1 lap
14 - Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1 lap
15 - Felipe Massa (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1 lap
16 - Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1 lap
17 - Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham CT05-Renault) - 1 lap
18 - Jules Bianchi (Marussia MR03-Ferrari) - 1 lap
19 - Max Chilton (Marussia MR03-Ferrari) - 2 laps
20 - Marcus Ericsson (Caterham CT05-Renault) - 2 laps

Fastest lap of the race: 1'50”402 by Nico Rosberg

Photo: WRi2

Retirements
Lap 24 - Adrian Sutil
Lap 27 - Romain Grosjean

Drivers' championship
1. Rosberg 79; 2. Hamilton 75; 3. Alonso 41; 4. Hulkenberg 36; 5. Vettel 36; 6. Ricciardo e Bottas 24; 8. Button 23; 9. Magnussen 20; 10. Perez 18; 11. Massa 12; 12. Raikkonen 11; 13. Vergne e Kvyat 4.

Photo: WRi2

Constructors' championship
1. Mercedes 154; 2. Red Bull-Renault 57; 3. Force India-Mercedes 54; 4. Ferrari 52; 5. McLaren-Mercedes 43; 6. Williams-Mercedes 36; 7. Toro Rosso-Renault 8.

*Unofficial scoring

Photo: WRi2

From press release



Toyota Racing will start the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship on pole position after an exciting qualifying session for the Six Hours of Silverstone.

Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima qualified the #7 TS040 HYBRID, which they share with Stéphane Sarrazin, at the head of the field by a tiny margin of just 0.005secs.

Photo: Toyota

The #8 car, qualified by Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre as Sébastien Buemi watched from the pits, will start the eight-race season from fifth on the grid, having missed most of final practice due to a super capacitor change.

Like last season, the WEC qualifying format requires two drivers from each car to set a minimum of two flying laps each. The grid is decided by the combined average of each driver's fastest two laps.

Photo: Toyota

Alex and Anthony started the 25-minute session and it immediately became clear that all three LMP1 manufacturers were part of a close battle for pole position.

Two flying laps from each driver put both in contention before Kazuki took the #7 while Nicolas swapped with Anthony in the #8.

Photo: Audi

With traffic and tyre degradation coming into play, the fight for pole intensified. Kazuki improved consistently and used his final lap to snatch pole by the narrowest margin while Nico, who faced traffic on his stint, took fifth.

The six-hour race will begin at midday tomorrow with Toyota looking to add to the five wins it has already achieved in its one-and-a-half seasons of WEC competition.

Photo: WEC

Qualifying results* - Six Hours of Silverstone
1 Nakajima/Sarrazin/Wurz (Toyota) 1m 42.774s
2 Di Grassi/Duval/Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 42.779s
3 Dumas/Jani/Lieb (Porsche) 1m 43.087s

4 Fässler/Lotterer/Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) 1m 43.137s
5 Buemi/Davidson/Lapierre (Toyota) 1m 43.189s

6 Bernhard/Hartley/Webber (Porsche) 1m 43.226s
7 Belicchi/Kraihamer/Leimer (Lola-Toyota) 1m 44.285s
8 Beche/Heidfeld/Prost (Lola-Toyota) 1m 44.392s
9 Canal/Pla/Rusinov (Morgan-Nissan) 1m 49.156s
10 Bradley/Howson/Matsuda (Oreca-Nissan) 1m 49.439s
*Unofficial timing