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From GMM

Rubens Barrichello's return to formula one could even happen this season.

It emerged late last week that the Brazilian veteran, who lost his Williams seat at the end of 2011, could be a shock contender to race alongside the highly inexperienced Sergey Sirotkin at Sauber next year.

Rubens Barrichello, in Brazil 2011, for his last grand prix. (Photo: WRi2)

But the highly respected Brazilian correspondent Livio Oricchio claims 41-year-old Barrichello - the most experienced driver in F1 history - could even race the Sauber at his home race at Interlagos for November's 2013 finale.

Oricchio said Barrichello is currently not answering his phone.

"He just sent a message saying 'who knows'," he wrote in O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper.

And Oricchio said F1 chief executive Ecclestone answered "good" when told of the prospect of Barrichello's return.

Monticello, NY - If you consider yourself a fan of Ford's Mustang, the name Roush likely creates a warm feeling. If not, know that this company was founded by Jack Roush in 1976 and has been dedicated to making cars go fast ever since.

At this year's IMPA Test days, Roush had a sampling of two of its coolest products on hand: One was a 590 horsepower Ford SVT Raptor and the other, a Stage 3 Mustang.

Of the 3 stages available for the ‘Stang, the 3rd is the most badass. This car is the fantastic result of go-fast bits that put some show up front, but tonnes of go at the slightest touch of the throttle. As mad as this Mustang is, it can easily be tamed for daily drives, but it would be a shame not to mash the gas and soak in the rush -- sorry, Roush.


What is a Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3?
As mentioned, one does not get higher up on the Roush ladder than Stage 3. This car is nearly as close as a street-legal, race-prepped Mustang can get.

Roush's vision of the true American sports car is embodied in the 2014 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 (RS3) where power, performance and handling all come together with purpose.

Roush Enterprises are based in Michigan and through its many branches including aerospace and engineering, employs 4,000 people.

This car is nearly as close as a street-legal, race-prepped Mustang can get. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

2014 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 Price and Specs
The 2014 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 is all about the supercharger. Sitting on top of Ford's Coyote 5.0L V8 is Eaton's Twin Vortices Series (TVS) R2300 charger. It, along with Roush's intercooler and ECU “boost,” push the V8's output to 575 horsepower and 505 lb-ft of torque.

Should one be so inclined, 625- and 675-horsepower versions are available.

The tested car (like all RS3s) received a complete complement of comprehensive upgrades to put all that power to good use. The upgraded sport suspension is matched to a larger front stabilizer bar and rear anti-wheel hop upper control arm. The suspension keeps specially developed Cooper Zeon RS3-S tires in constant contact with the tarmac.

The Roush Stage 3 package adds $17,000 USD to the price of a 2014 Ford Mustang GT. From there, thousands more can be added for brake upgrades, wheels, interior accent and more. As tested, the car in the pictures retailed for just under $60,000 USD.

The 2014 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3 is all about the supercharger. Sitting on top of Ford's Coyote 5.0L V8 is Eaton's Twin Vortices Series (TVS) R2300 charger. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

Driving the Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3
The promise of a special Mustang driving experience was lure enough to get me to drive the car. Then, I heard the car start and sanity left me thanks to the dual-chamber performance exhaust system which itself is not street-legal in some States, and likely some Provinces.

The cataclysmic burble and thunder that escapes is but a taste of what this car does. Don't think that this is an unruly big-muscle-car. My drive on the roads surrounding the Monticello Motorsports Club demonstrated how civilized it can be. Over rough surfaces, the car remained poised and comfortable.

Clutch and shifter action are barely heavier than the base GT's, and brake pedal response is good, not grabby. Honestly, I expected to have my hands full, but didn't. In fact, I wanted more charger whine and more drama, but none was had.

However, on the track at wide-open throttle the Roush Stage 3 gobbled volumes of air and covered ground at a massive pace. Power delivery was linear and predictable which made punching it out of corners highly possible.

Never out of control, the Mustang stayed true to the line I wanted it to take. My biggest complaint was the lack of bite from the front end on turn-in. In fact, this is where the Roush lost what was otherwise a favourable comparison to my beloved Boss 302. I went out on the track numerous times and negotiated the car quite well to find that its limits were still slightly beyond my own. Even at my own 8/10, the Mustang was barely beginning to slide out of its comfort zone.

And that exhaust note! Good God!

The cataclysmic burble and thunder that escapes the dual-chamber performance exhaust system is but a taste of what this car does. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

Inside and out of the Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3
The 2014 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3's cabin is generally unchanged from the stock car. It can, however, be spec'd out with aluminum pedals (yes), suede steering wheel (yes), illuminated door sills (no), and vent-mounted boost gauge (no).

The outside gets a Roush aero body kit and high-flow upper grille that immediately sets the car apart from the regular GT. The 20” wheels (optional) are a must as is the hood scoop (standard with the RS3). Of the available shell colours and graphic package colour options, none are wrong.

The Roush Stage 3 looks special, as it should, as a low-volume tuner car.

The 2014 Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3's cabin is generally unchanged from the stock car. (Photo: Mathieu St-Pierre)

Comparing the Ford Mustang Roush Stage 3
The car competes against many other tuned pony cars. The issue is that a 1,000-horsepower Camaro or Mustang is possible so long as money is not a problem.

If you are in the market for this kind of car, consider Lingenfelter, Callaway or Hennessey as some of the better-known aftermarket companies that make these great cars even better.

From GMM

Kimi Raikkonen is unable to say if he will definitely be fit for the weekend's Korean grand prix.

Albeit ultimately on the podium, the Finn struggled through the last event in Singapore with a back injury.

His trainer Mark Arnall said late last week that Raikkonen will be fit for Korea, but the 2007 world champion has admitted: "We will have to see how it is when I get out on track on Friday."

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus, Singapore. (Photo: WRi2)

Korea will be the 33-year-old's sixth-last grand prix for Lotus before switching to Ferrari for 2014.

Team boss Eric Boullier insists he is in no rush to name the successor, amid reports Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa are the frontrunners.

"When it comes to drivers, we are not simply looking for a short-term replacement for Kimi," he said. "We are looking at where we are going to be in the next five years."

Eric Boullier is referring to reports Lotus' immediate priority is its future on the financial front.

Referring again to the 2014 driver vacancy, he said: "We can afford to be patient -- to ask the candidates to wait as we formulate our strategy for the coming years."

General Motors, introducing its first redesigned pickups since 2006, can't make enough of the most popular versions of its new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, three people familiar with the effort told Bloomberg.

Mazda is recalling 161,400 Mazda6 sedans in the United States over defective door latches. The recalls affect Mazda6 models built before Aug. 24, 2012, for the 2009-2013 model years.

America's love affair with the automobile was on full display this weekend as thousands of people converged on a muddy field in rural Nebraska for the auction of one of the nation's largest collections of vintage Chevrolets

Editors note: The auction is done, and so is the live stream. Be sure to check out our look at the top sales from day 2 here.

Day 1 of the

Lapo Elkann, whose older brother John is Fiat chairman, has become as a global ambassador for Italian design after a past as the wild child of Italy's billionaire Agnelli family.

Bulgaria is stepping up efforts to win more auto industry investment to build on the success of attracting a new vehicle plant for China's Great Wall Motors.

Carmakers in Brazil are anticipating leases will spur demand for new models as a tax incentive expires and companies such as Audi start local production.

Mitsubishi's U.S. dealers desperate for compelling new product will instead be getting the Mirage.

The dashing Lapo Elkann is one of Italy's most eligible bachelors and habitué of male best-dressed lists. He has flirted with scandal and nearly died of a drug overdose in 2005. But those days are long gone.

Lexus' F Sport lineup is moving into a higher gear.

Rudolf Diesel, who invented the engine that bears his name, disappeared under strange circumstances on the evening of September 29th, 1913, while crossing the English Channel on the Dresden post office steamer.

Was it a suicide? A murder? No one knows exactly, even to this day, but Diesel was a German engineer born in France, and pre-WWI tensions were already high.

Diesel obtained patents for his design in Germany and other countries in 1897. Three years later, at the Exposition Universelle (world's fair) in Paris, he presented the first ''heavy oil'' engine on the market.

Mercedes (1936) and Peugeot (1938) sold the first Diesel-powered passenger cars in history.

From press release

Kevin Magnussen wins race 2 at circuit Paul Ricard, getting closer to title before the last round in Barcelona.

Kevin Magnussen (DAMS), the dominant force all weekend, was stripped of his Formula Renault 3.5 Series race victory on Saturday after his car was found to have breached technical regulations.

But the Dane bounced back on Sunday with victory in race two, finishing ahead of Nico Müller (International Draco Racing) and Antonio Félix da Costa (Arden Caterham).

The championship leader goes into the next round in Barcelona with a 43-point lead over Stoffel Vandoorne (Fortec Motorsports), who retired towards the end.

From press release

Brendon Hartley and Jonatha Hirschi won the last round of the European Le Mans Series at Le Castellet in the Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan, as Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues clinched the title driving their Signatech Alpine.

Natacha Gachnang and Christian Klien took second place driving their Morand Racing Morgan-Judd ahead of the Jota Sport Zytek driven by Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey.

However the day belonged to the Signatech Alpine team and the driver line up Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues who were crowned 2013 ELMS Champions despite finishing 4th overall after a unscheduled pitstop for a replacement steering wheel.

Photo: Signature-team.com

Their nearest rivals for the title, Thiriet by TDS Racing and Pierre Thiriet had a torrid race after Mathias Beche lost a rear wheel forcing the car into the pits for several laps and destroying any title hopes they had.

The LMPC title went to Gary Hirsch and Paul Loup Chatin but the victory belonged to Soheil Ayari and Anthony Pons again despite technical issues for the championship winning car, forcing the team to take the car to the paddock for repairs.

However the Team Endurance Challenge crew got the car back on track and they secured enough points to be confirmed as 2013 champions.

Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem dominated the LMGTE proceeding to take the 2013 title in style with their third win of the season in the No. 52 RAM Racing Ferrari.

In GTC  the No. 69 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Fabio Babini, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin took their 4th win from four starts in the 2013 ELMS to take the GTC title for the Russian team in their inaugural season on the European stage.

The "unflappable" Sébastien Loeb has overtaken Walter Rohrl as the best ever rally driver, according to the boss of M-Sport, Malcolm Wilson, as the World Rally Championship (WRC) gears up for the Rallye de France, probably Loeb's last ever WRC appearance.

It's a special relationship that bonds Loeb and Wilson, himself a former rally driver and two-time British champion, as the 57-year-old heads a rival team. Wilson's M-Sport is Ford's official partner in the WRC since 1997.

"I feel privileged that I've been here to see all of his nine championship wins," he admits in an interview with WRC.com, before adding "and sad too, because he's probably cost me seven out of the nine."

But Wilson doesn't seem to hold a grudge against the Frenchman: "He's my all time number one. It used to be Walter Rohrl, but then, sadly, his achievement was way surpassed.

The legendary Walter Rohrl (photo: WRC.com)

"To win nine consecutive championships is incredible."

Loeb is better than anyone else in the eye of Wilson because of the way he deals with pressure, and because of the way he deals with all types of surfaces.

"I think he's the complete all-rounder. He's won on every surface possible and has always had the speed," Wilson analyzes.

"But for me, the most important thing is the way that he's managed his rallies and, in fact, his whole career. He's totally unflappable and pressure just doesn't seem to faze him."

Sébastien Loeb is now looking for new challenges (Photo: V-Images.com/Eric Fabre)

From Grand-Am.com

Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor ended the 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series season with an exclamation point, winning Saturday's GRAND-AM Championship Weekend Presented by BMW at Lime Rock Park by 13 points to clinch the Daytona Prototype (DP) championship with their third consecutive victory.

At the Kansas Speedway race in August, Taylor held off Scott Pruett throughout the final half-hour to win the race in the No. 10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette DP to take the lead in the standings. In the most recent race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Taylor led the final 29 laps to extend that lead.

Saturday, the 22-year-old Floridian led the final 69 laps, winning by five seconds over Gustavo Yacaman with Pruett taking third.

DP winners (photo: Grand-Am.com)

Pruett and Memo Rojas of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebates' No. 01 Telcel/TELMEX BMW/Riley finished the season 14 points ahead of GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing's Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, drivers of the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Corvette DP to round out the top three in points.

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates won its seventh DP team championship in 10 years and fourth in a row, finishing six points ahead of Wayne Taylor Racing.

In GT, Alessandro Balzan and Scuderia Corsa did exactly what they needed to do to win a championship of their own, taking advantage of a second-lap crash by Magnus Racing's John Potter and Andy Lally.

GT champions (photo: Grand-Am.com)

Eric Curran and substitute co-driver Lawson Aschenbach were GT winners in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette, beating Balzan - and co-driver Leh Keen - by four seconds in Scuderia Corsa's No. 63 Ferrari 458.

Aschenbach took over for usual co-driver Boris Said, who missed the race due to travel difficulties. It was the second victory for Marsh Racing of Old Lyme, Conn., which will move to the Prototype ranks in 2014 in a Corvette DP.

After fixing their car, Magnus Racing and Lally and Potter went back out to finish 13th in class (106 laps down), and claim second in the team and driver points, respectively.

John Edwards and co-driver Robin Liddell entered the event third in points in the No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Camaro GT.R and had a fourth-place run to finish third in both the Rolex Series GT team and driver standings.

Jim Norman won the first GX championship, taking his ninth consecutive second-place finish in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Calcium Pro Porsche Cayman co-driven by Spencer Pumpelly, behind Tom Long and Sylvain Tremblay, who took their fourth GX victory in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/ SpeedSource Mazda 6. SpeedSource.

Race results - Grand-Am (Lime Rock)
1 - Angelelli-Taylor (Corvette DP/Dallara) - Taylor - 173 laps
2 - Wilson-Yacaman (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 173
3 - Pruett-Rojas (Riley-BMW) - Ganassi - 173
4 - Cameron-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen - 173
5 - Di Guida-Bourdais (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star - 173
6 - Negri-Pew (Riley-Ford) - Shank - 173
7 - Dalziel-Popow (Riley-Ford) - Starworks - 173
8 - Frisselle-Frisselle (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx - 173
9 - Taylor-Westbrook (Corvette DP) - SpiritOfDaytona - 171
10 - Potolicchio-Valiante-Sarrazin (Corvette DP/Coyote) - 8Star - 170
11 - Nonnamaker-Nonnamaker (Riley-BMW) - Sahlen - 167
12 - Fogarty-Gurney (Corvette DP/Riley) - Stallings - 163
13 - Curran-Aschenbach-Said (Corvette Z06) - Marsh - 162
14 - Balzan-Keen (Ferrari GTS3 458) - Corsa - 162
15 - Van Overbeek-Westphal (Ferrari GTS3 458) - Corsa - 162
16 - Edwards-Liddell (Chevy Camaro) - Stevenson - 161
17 - KimberSmith-Marsal (BMW M3) - Turner - 161
18 - Hedlund-Kaffer (Riley-BMW) - Starworks - 160
19 - Garcia-Magnussen (Chevy Camaro) - Stevenson - 160
20 - Tagliani-Segal (Ferrari GTS3 458) - AIM - 159
21 - Greenberg-Lietz (Porsche 997) - Muehlner - 156
22 - Long-Tremblay (Mazda 6) - Speedsource - 154
23 - Pumpelly-Norman (Porsche Cayman) - BGB - 152
24 - Lindsey-Long (Porsche 997) - Park Place - 151
25 - Miller-Nunez (Mazda 6) - Speedsource - 133
26 - Faulkner-Stanaway (Aston Martin Vantage) - TRG - 106
27 - Carter-Lux (Audi R8) - Fall-Line - 105
28 - Lally-Potter (Porsche 997) - Magnus - 83
29 - Barbosa-Fittipaldi (Corvette DP/Coyote) - ActionEx - 67
30 - Auberlen-Della Lana (BMW M3) - Turner - 50
31 - Dollahite-Dollahite (Lotus Evora) - SDR - 2
32 - Doyle-Marcelli (Porsche 997) - Muehlner - 1

Winner of the first round at Le Castellet, championship leader Kevin Magnussen was excluded after his car failed a post-race check. Victory went to Antonio Felix Da Costa.

The win, that would have been the third of the season for Mangussen, would have allowed the Dane to pull away in the championship race, at the penultimate round in France. But the championship leader, who started from pole position, was disqualified because of... the paint used on his DRS' flap.

That gave victory to Antonio Felix Da Costa, as Stoffel Vandoorne moved up to second, and remains in contention for championship battle. Andre Neagrao took the last podium spot.

Team DAMS will appeal, so the results of race 1 remain provisional.