http://inpitlane.com In Pit Lane Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:44:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 en http://inpitlane.com/archives/13291 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13291#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:05:17 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3291 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13291/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13282 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13282#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:17:16 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3282 England's Michael Lyons (Lola T400) won all four MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series races at the first New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing - celebrating BMW Motorsport meetings at the Hampton Downs circuit south of Auckland over the weekend but series point leader Steve Ross (McRae GM1) added the icing on the cake with a new outright track lap record. Lyons, who with father Frank and mother Judy, has been traveling from the UK to contest rounds of the New Zealand-based MSC series for the past four years, showed an inkling of what he could do at the two New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing meetings last year and took up where he left off this, claiming pole position in the qualifying session on Friday then leading all four races - including the feature 15-lap final - from start to finish. "The weekend has gone pretty well hasn't it" the 20-year-old from Essex north of London said after his meeting clean sweep. "Last year we weren't quite as well prepared and it was all a bit last minute. Also I hadn't really driven the car much that year. This year we did most of the British championship, which we won, so we were better prepared with the car so it's great to be able to come out here and be able to do so well." After winning both races in hot, dry conditions on Saturday, the first from Steve Ross, Ken Smith (Lola T430) and Clark Proctor (March 73A) and the second - after Ross and Proctor tangled at the first corner - from Smith, Mark Dwyer (Lola T400) and Brett Willis (Lola T330), Lyons led home a fired up Smith, Proctor and Ross in the rain-delayed third race just after lunch time and 15-lap feature final later in the afternoon on Sunday. While the third race was very much a non-event because of the intervention for four of the eight laps of the Safety Car (while Kerry McIntosh's bent Begg FM2 was retrieved from the safety barriers on the run up to the start/finish straight) the 15-lap feature saw Lyons, Ross, Smith, Proctor and Dwyer set a cracking early pace, a sign of just how quickly the leading cars were circulating, Steve Ross breaking the new outright track lap record Lyons had set during the first race on Saturday.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13282/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13278 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13278#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:36:46 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3278 Young British driver Michael Lyons (Lola T400) has made a winning return to New Zealand's MSC F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series, dominating the first day of competition at the third round at Hampton Downs. In front of a large crowd gathered for the first of two New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing - celebrating BMW Motorsport meetings at the 2.8 km circuit south of Auckland the 20-year-old second-generation racer from just outside London topped the time sheets in qualifying on Friday afternoon and won both today's eight lap MSC series races, the first - in the morning - from series points  leader Steve Ross (McRae GM1), defending series champion Ken Smith (Lola T430) and high-profile former NZV8 and now Targa driver Clark Proctor (March 73A), and the second from Smith, regular UK visitor Mark Dwyer (Lola T400) and Rotorua driver Brett Willis (Lola T300).]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13278/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13266 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13266#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:14:01 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3266 Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara have unveiled their new Formula Three challenger for 2012. The new Dallara F312, currently on display at the Autosport Show in Birmingham, is the result of a fundamental rethinking of the aerodynamics and the key mechanical components. According to Dallara the F312 is a hugely important car charged with upholding the winning tradition of decades of world-wide Formula 3 competition. The Main New Features of the Car are:]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13266/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13239 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13239#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:04:07 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3239 Is this the moment that cost Jamie Alguersuari his drive at Toro Roso? This footage from the 2011 Official F1 Season wrap up shows the irascible Dr Helmut Marko in heated discussion with the young Spaniard at the Korean GP. Marko was furious with Mr Alguersuari  for holding up Sebastian Vettel during Qualifying and had no hesitation in telling him so, What may have made it worse for Jamie is daring to argue his case, Marko has shown several times in the past with Mark Webber that he does not have time for impertinent F1 drivers.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13239/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13236 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13236#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:27:23 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3236 After yet another year of disappointing fields in the Australian Formula Three Championship, New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series has drawn another great field. The series, the first FIA 2012 International Calendar event of the New Year, starts at Teretonga in Invercargill on January 14-15 and continues through to the New Zealand Grand Prix finale at Manfeild on February 11-12. Drivers will cover in excess of 2,500 kms of testing and racing over five consecutive events from the deep South to the North of New Zealand. Drivers are competing to win the coveted Chris Amon Trophy, and the Kiwi Formula 1 legend believes New Zealand is set for a “brilliant” summer season of International single seater motor racing with the largest, and youngest field of drivers ever. “The 2012 Toyota Racing Series has attracted a record field which is great news for New Zealand motorsport. This rivals the very best years of the old Tasman series,” enthused Amon.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13236/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13224 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13224#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:58:31 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3224 In a massive blow to the already shaky Indycar series, Newman-Hass Racing have announced that they will not be taking part in the 2012 season. In a short statement issued on the team website Carl Hass said that "The economic climate no longer enables Newman/Haas Racing to participate in open wheel racing at this time," The team was expected to take part in the series next year which will use the controversial new Dallara designed chassis the DW12. Founded by legendary Hollywood actor Paul Newman and US Lola importer Carl Hass, the team has been the one of most successful Champcar/Indycar teams ever. The team won eight championships in CART/Champ Car with Mario Andretti (1984), Michael Andretti (1991), Nigel Mansell (1993), Cristiano da Matta (2002) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007). It accumulated 107 race victories and 109 pole positions. The withdrawal of the team from Indycar comes only one day after the series announced a massive shake up of it's organisational structure.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13224/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13222 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13222#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:43:18 +0000 Michael Lamonato http://inpitlane.com/?p=3222 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13222/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13208 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13208#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 02:17:52 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3208 Spanish driver Daniel Juncadella has won the biggest event of his career so far with victory in the Macau F3 Grand Prix on Sunday. Juncadella was running fourth early in the race but a safety car restart on lap five, moved the young Spanish driver into position to challenge for the lead. He took the top place from pole-sitter Marco Wittmann after another safety car restart on lap 10. From there, Juncadella extended his advantage over second placed Felipe Nasr of Brazil, until a third and final safety car period on the penultimate lap guaranteed him the victory. “I didn’t really expect to win but this feeling is amazing,” said the Prema driver. “I still can’t believe it. On the last lap when we were behind the safety car, I have never cried that much in my life.” Wittmann, who had started from pole position and had built up a 2.7 seconds advantage before the second safety car period, dropped down to fifth at one stage after being overtaken at the restart – he recovered to finish third.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13208/feed http://inpitlane.com/archives/13198 http://inpitlane.com/archives/13198#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:12:47 +0000 Brett Ramsey http://inpitlane.com/?p=3198 Roberto Merhi secured provisional pole position during a wet qualifying session for the “SJM” Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix on Thursday, but his session ended in disappointment after he crashed into another car and was given a ten car penalty. Merhi, who was more than 1.6 seconds quicker than the next quickest drivers was one of a number of drivers to be penalised after the session. With rain falling for the start of the 30-minute first qualifying session, drivers were keen to deliver their fast lap while the track was in its best condition. And it was Merhi who led the way early on, moving to the top of the session after 10 minutes and then improving on his best to deliver a lap that was 1.675 seconds quicker than nearest rival Marco Wittmann. But with track conditions deteriorating, Merhi made a mistake in the braking zone for Lisboa and slid into the back of Felix Rosenqvist’s car – with the pair crashing into the escape road at the corner. The incident brought out the red flag for a few minutes and, when the session resumed, it was then Wittmann who hit trouble on the wet track as he slid into the barriers at Lisboa too.]]> http://inpitlane.com/archives/13198/feed