Shank not giving up on IndyCar

Michael Shank insists his team’s IndyCar ambitions remain alive, despite his eponymous squad selling its unused DW12 chassis to Schmidt Peterson Motorsport.

MSR attempted to enter the series last year with driver Paul Tracy, but could not secure an engine deal.

The team sold its chassis to SPM, which recently expanded to two cars to accommodate rookie Tristan Vautier, but Shank says that he hopes to collaborate with another team on an Indianapolis 500 entry.

“There are a lot of teams that are focused on the Indianapolis 500, and this group [MSR] could be a way for some of these teams to partner up and support that effort while not having to commit to that kind of infrastructure for the full season,” said Shank.

“We’ve moved on from car ownership at this point, but we are working to continue to do what is right for my guys and try to find the right opportunity in the future.”

Shank, whose Grand-Am squad was recently penalised for a technical infraction after finishing third at the Daytona 24 Hours with AJ Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose, Oswaldo Negri Jr, Justin Wilson and John Pew, said that the decision to not pursue a full-time IndyCar entry had been difficult, but that it was in the best interests of his team.

“I can’t tell you how much blood, sweat, and tears went into building this team to even be in a position to try to go IndyCar racing,” he said.

“But we also have to make some tough decisions along the way to make sure we have the footing we need to continue to grow, and this was just another of those decisions.

“I don’t see this as the end [of our IndyCar aspirations] at all. You simply can’t be in my position and not be completely driven to want to compete in the Indianapolis 500, so we will just have to keep working and exploring all the options and see what happens.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/indycar-news/indycar/shank-not-giving-up-on-indycar

Boy Hayje Willi Heeks Nick Heidfeld

Pedrosa ends Sepang test on top

Dani Pedrosa completed a clean sweep of fastest times on the final day of 2013′s opening MotoGP test at Sepang.

While times had been extremely close on Tuesday and Wednesday, Pedrosa moved clear on day three.

The Honda rider set the best time of the week with a 2m00.100s lap, 0.329 seconds clear of Yamaha rival Jorge Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi was only 0.113s behind Lorenzo on the second Yamaha in third place. The Italian felt on Wednesday that he was already up to speed and would have matched his team-mate but for a mistake on his best lap.

Rookie Marc Marquez had his first blip when he crashed at the final corner during the morning. He was unhurt and rejoined later to secure fourth.

Cal Crutchlow was best of the rest once again on the Tech 3 Yamaha, with his new team-mate Bradley Smith eighth behind Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista.

The works Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso fell back to being two seconds off the pace in ninth and 10th, while Pramac’s Andrea Iannone was outpaced by CRT leader Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia.

Iannone was the only Pramac rider in action as Ben Spies chose to skip the final day to rest his still-recovering shoulder.

One of the best performances of the test came from Paul Bird’s rookie rider Michael Laverty, who was second-fastest among the CRTs, only 0.2s behind Espargaro.

Pos  Rider               Bike                    Time               Laps
  1.  Dani Pedrosa        Honda                   2m00.100s            44
  2.  Jorge Lorenzo       Yamaha                  2m00.429s  + 0.329s  60
  3.  Valentino Rossi     Yamaha                  2m00.542s  + 0.442s  60
  4.  Marc Marquez        Honda                   2m00.636s  + 0.536s  54
  5.  Cal Crutchlow       Tech 3 Yamaha           2m00.734s  + 0.634s  3
  6.  Stefan Bradl        LCR Honda               2m01.003s  + 0.903s  43
  7.  Alvaro Bautista     Gresini Honda           2m01.502s  + 1.402s  48
  8.  Bradley Smith       Tech 3 Yamaha           2m02.093s  + 1.993s  48
  9.  Nicky Hayden        Ducati                  2m02.184s  + 2.084s  60
 10.  Andrea Dovizioso    Ducati                  2m02.277s  + 2.177s  43
 11.  Katsayuki Nakasuga  Yamaha                  2m02.616s  + 2.516s  21
 12.  Aleix Espargaro     Aspar Aprilia           2m02.628s  + 2.528s  47
 13.  Andrea Iannone      Pramac Ducati           2m02.864s  + 2.764s  35
 14.  Kosuke Akiyoshi     Honda                   2m03.082s  + 2.982s  28
 15.  Michael Laverty     Paul Bird Aprilia       2m03.874s  + 3.774s  47
 16.  Randy de Puniet     Aspar Aprilia           2m04.066s  + 3.966s  39
 17.  Wataru Yoshikawa    Yamaha                  2m04.137s  + 4.037s   8
 18.  Hector Barbera      Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    2m04.211s  + 4.111s  41
 19.  Takumi Takahashi    Honda                   2m04.288s  + 4.188s  46
 20.  Danilo Petrucci     Ioda Suter-BMW          2m04.531s  + 4.431s  34
 21.  Karel Abraham       Cardion Aprilia         2m04.766s  + 4.666s  65
 22.  Hiroshi Aoyama      Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    2m04.915s  + 4.815s  51
 23.  Claudio Corti       Forward FTR-Kawasaki    2m05.107s  + 5.007s  41
 24.  Lukas Pesek         Ioda Suter-BMW          2m05.321s  + 5.221s  40
 25.  Yonny Hernandez     Paul Bird Motorsport    2m05.407s  + 5.307s  48
 26.  Colin Edwards       Forward FTR-Kawasaki    2m05.913s  + 5.813s  46
 27.  Bryan Staring       Gresini FTR-Honda       2m05.970s  + 5.870s  41

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/motorcycles/motogp/pedrosa-ends-sepang-test-on-top

Frank Gardner Billy Garrett Jo Gartner

Lanigan Emerges As Runaway Favorite In Sixth Annual World of Outlaws Late Model Series Pre-Season Media Poll

Source: http://www.skirtsandscuffs.com/2013/02/lanigan-emerges-as-runaway-favorite-in.html

Paul Goldsmith José Froilán González Oscar González

Kyle Larson looks to compete full-time In NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2013

Source: http://www.skirtsandscuffs.com/2013/02/kyle-larson-looks-to-compete-full-time.html

David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann

Dragon signs Saavedra for 2013

Dragon Racing has signed Sebastian Saavedra to partner Sebastien Bourdais for the 2013 IndyCar season.

The 22-year-old Colombian will drive the team’s #6 entry in what will be his second full season of IndyCar.

He raced for Conquest in 2011 before moving back to Indy Lights with Andretti last year, although he dovetailed that campaign with IndyCar starts at Indianapolis, Sonoma and Fontana in a car jointly run by Andretti and AFS.

Dragon team owner Jay Penske believes that his team will offer the perfect environment for Saavedra to progress.

“I have been watching Sebastian’s rapid progression through the various series and I truly believe he is the perfect team-mate for Bourdais,” said Penske.

“I look forward to seeing the results of their collaboration, and seeing them both on the podium many times this year.”

Saavedra, whose entry is backed by TrueCar, said that he is confident of a successful future with the team.

“I’m extremely excited about this new chapter in my life, and very thankful to everyone who made it a reality,” he said.

“Together with Sebastian and Jay’s dynamic approach to building a winning franchise, [it] makes me a strong believer in Dragon Racing’s future, and our ability to win championships together.”

Dragon started last year as a two-car Lotus-powered effort for Bourdais and Katherine Legge.

It was forced to scale back to one car after breaking ties with Lotus mid-way through the season, leaving Bourdais to race on road and street courses and Legge to take over for the ovals.

Bourdais delivered the team’s best result of fourth at Mid-Ohio.

The team has also expanded its operations to include a facility in Indianapolis, which AUTOSPORT believes to be the workshop owned by the HVM team.

2013 IndyCar Series line-up so far:

Team                       Engine Drivers
 AJ Foyt Racing             Honda  Takuma Sato
 Andretti Autosport         Chevy  Ryan Hunter-Reay/James Hinchcliffe/Marco Andretti/EJ Viso
 Bryan Herta Autosport      Honda  Alex Tagliani
 Chip Ganassi Racing        Honda  Dario Franchitti/Scott Dixon/Charlie Kimball
 Dale Coyne Racing          Honda  tba/tba
 Dragon Racing              Chevy  Sebastien Bourdais/Sebastian Saavedra
 Ed Carpenter Racing        Chevy  Ed Carpenter
 KV Racing Technology       Chevy  Tony Kanaan/Simona de Silvestro
 Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold  Chevy  JR Hildebrand/Oriol Servia
 Rahal Letterman Lanigan    Honda  Graham Rahal/James Jakes
 Sarah Fisher Hartman       Honda  Josef Newgarden
 Schmidt Peterson           Honda  Simon Pagenaud/Tristan Vautier
 Team Penske                Chevy  Will Power/Helio Castroneves
One-off entries:
Carlos Munoz – Andretti Autosport – Indianapolis
 Mike Conway – Rahal Letterman Lanigan – Long Beach
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/indycar-news/indycar/dragon-signs-saavedra-for-2013

Sam Hanks Walt Hansgen Mike Harris

Fast Facts: Mike Wallace

Source: http://www.skirtsandscuffs.com/2013/02/fast-facts-mike-wallace.html

Ryan Joseph Newman Kyle Eugene Petty Floyd Anthony Raines

Report: 2013 Range Rover already on huge wait list

Filed under: Car Buying, SUV, Land Rover, Luxury

Had your eye on Land Rover’s new all-singing, all-dancing 2013 Range Rover? You’re not alone – and hopefully you were smart enough to already put down a deposit. The capability- and lux-laden sport utility vehicle began trickling into dealers in December, but is already “sold out for six months to a year,” says Chris Marchand, executive vice president of operations at Jaguar Land Rover North America.

That’s according to Automotive News, which notes that limited supply issues have made Land Rover shift all North American deliveries to the $88,545 HSE trim or higher instead of the $83,545 base model. The move should not only help dealer profits, it apparently better matches the buying patterns established by the outgoing model – shoppers of the L322 generation skipped out on the base spec and went right for costlier models with more luxury trappings.

It isn’t immediately clear when Land Rover thinks it will be able to catch up to the Range Rover’s order bank, but keeping the vehicle in high demand should assure higher transaction prices. As Land Rover is still ramping up its marketing efforts for their latest range topper, it’s possible that wait lists could get even longer as more people find out about the new model.

Despite the shortage of vehicles, Automotive News says that Land Rover remains confident that its 2013 sales total will outpace last year’s 43,664-unit total.

2013 Range Rover already on huge wait list originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/12/2013-range-rover-already-on-huge-wait-list/

Max Jean Stefan Johansson Eddie Johnson

Official: Porsche celebrates 50 years of 911 with some excellent pics

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Porsche

The Porsche 911 is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time, and to celebrate the car’s first 50 years, Porsche has released a stunning set of photos showing how far the 911 has come from the original back in 1963 to its current 991 generation. Unlike the recent 60-year photo spread that Chevrolet put together for the Corvette, though, Porsche’s gallery only shows the original 911 and the current car.

Each time the 911 is redesigned, the car’s front fenders, roofline and the shape of the side windows are key focal points. Even some of the interior cues have remained the same over the years, including the positioning of the ignition key on the left of the steering column and the five-gauge instrument cluster layout.

Scroll down for Porsche’s press release breaking down the seven generations of the 911, and be sure to check out our gallery with plenty of high-res pics for you to download as a desktop wallpaper. In fact, we’re providing these at 1920-pixels-wide instead of our usual 1280 wide. Enjoy!

Continue reading Porsche celebrates 50 years of 911 with some excellent pics

Porsche celebrates 50 years of 911 with some excellent pics originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/12/porsche-celebrates-50-years-of-911-with-some-excellent-pics/

Joseph Francis Nemechek III Ryan Joseph Newman Kyle Eugene Petty

Viso lands Andretti Autosport seat

EJ Viso has been named as the driver of Andretti Autosport’s long-anticipated fourth entry in a car jointly run by Andretti and former Lotus-aligned squad HVM.

“After five years in the series I believe I have found the right environment and look forward to having Ryan [Hunter-Reay], James [Hinchcliffe] and Marco [Andretti] as teammates,” said Viso.

“I’m very proud to be able to move into the 2013 season with this new relationship; it’s a dream come true.”

The deal returns the reigning champion team Andretti Autosport to its traditional stable of four full-time cars after it scaled back to three for the 2012 season.

“We are happy to welcome E.J. to the team and to again be running four cars,” said team owner Michael Andretti.

“He has shown speed in his early years as a driver which we view as very promising, and his personality will lend well to the overall chemistry of the drivers and crew.

“I’d like to thank [HVM owner] Keith [Wiggins] and HVM for their assistance in this project.”

A team statement indicated that the collaboration with HVM could be a stepping-stone to Wiggins’ team returning to the series as a stand-alone entity in 2014.

HVM was left without an engine deal after Lotus withdrew from the series following a disastrous 2012 season.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/indycar-news/indycar/viso-lands-andretti-autosport-seat

Al Keller Joe Kelly Dave Kennedy

Mixed emotions for de la Rosa

Pedro de la Rosa admitted that his Ferrari debut was a day of mixed emotions after fearing that he would not be able to do more than a few laps.

The 41-year-old’s Ferrari F138 suffered a gearbox failure in the morning, which caused a small fire, and there were initially concerns that the damage might have prevented the car running again today.

But after a gearbox change, de la Rosa took to the track in the afternoon for his first serious laps.

“When I stepped out of the car on the installation lap after the gearbox broke, I was not feeling very happy because you wait for an opportunity like this for all your life, then suddenly after a few corners you have to step out of the car,” said de la Rosa.

“I was very, very excited but then I had a low, then the mechanics did a fantastic job to turn the car around and we had a sensible afternoon, which is critical because of how expensive one day of testing is nowadays.

De la Rosa added that he was happy with his own performance despite his programme including data gathering runs and aerodynamic tests that prevented him setting an eye-catching time.

“I was very happy at the end to do quite competitive laps, for the conditions we were running in,” he said.

“There is a scientific approach behind the test – it’s not just ‘throw Pedro in the car’.”

AUTOSPORT says
F1 editor Edd Straw

It was very strange to see Pedro de la Rosa decked in the red of Ferrari and even the man himself was clearly delighted by the experience of driving one of Maranello’s finest.

In a sport that is so often cold, clinical and cynical, to see a 41-year-old who knows in his heart that he has most probably started his final grand prix reveling in getting behind the wheel to do an important job for this great team, was a real feel-good moment.

The ex-Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT racer has a vital role to play and no less a judge than Fernando Alonso recognised that de la Rosa was the perfect man to play the central role in development of Ferrari’s simulator.

This was no charitable act from Ferrari, but a smart move that should help to close the gap in factory-based technologies that has played a part in it not winning a championship since the in-season testing ban.

And if it can give an affable, popular and very capable veteran an experience that he has waited for his whole career, and probably never thought was going to happen, then that can only be a good thing.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/mixed-emotions-for-de-la-rosa

Peter de Klerk Christian Klien Karl Kling