Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/12/red_bull_set_to_dominate.html
Bob Anderson Conny Andersson Mario Andretti Michael Andretti
Thursday
Wednesday
2012 Jerez Moto2 And Moto3 Test Day 2 Repsol Press Release
The daily press release from Repsol, covering Maverick Viñales, Miguel Oliveira and Alex Marquez, the three riders they are backing in Moto3:
Year:
2012
Reduce Fleet With 51 Cars
The full Connell approved reduced by more than 50 percent of the fleet depends on the Government to move from 112 to 51 vehicles, it was announced Friday at a news conference Connell vice president and spokesman, Joseph Cascara. Connell spokesman explained that this action “falls within the savings and rationalization plan,” which was released [...]
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/155-reduce-fleet-with-51-cars.html
John Wes Townley suspended by RAB Racing after DUI arrest
John Wes Townley's NASCAR comeback is on hold after he was suspended by RAB Racing after being arrested for DUI early Friday morning in Georgia.
Townley crashed his car into a pole and was arrested after knocking on the door of a nearby residence.
In a statement Friday afternoon, RAB Racing with Brock Maggard owner Robby Benton said that Townley would be suspended indefinitely. Townley, 22, was set to drive in the Camping World Truck Series in 2012.
"Obviously, this is an unfortunate situation," Benton said in the release. "However, we have to react to the severity of the incident accordingly. His actions do not reflect those of RAB Racing, nor the sponsors associated with the team.
"John Wes has accepted full responsibility, and will take the necessary personal steps in order to correct his actions, among other internal sanctions," Benton continued. "We stand by John Wes, and will welcome him back to the team at the appropriate time."
After scoring a ride with Richard Childress Racing to start 2010, Townley parted ways with the team after five races, and came back and ran four more for RAB in the latter half of the season, before leaving the team. He didn't race in 2011.
Last year, Nationwide Series driver Michael Annett was arrested for DWI shortly before the season-opening race at Daytona and was not suspended by Rusty Wallace Incorporated, his team at the time. (Annett will drive for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2012).
Unfortunately, this isn't Townley's first incident involving alcohol. While with Childress in 2010, he was cited for underage possession of alcohol during the Las Vegas race weekend. At the time, Townley said that he learned a "valuable lesson" from the incident.
Bravo to Benton and the rest of RAB Racing for making the right decision in suspending Townley, one made more obvious by the fact that this is Townley's second alcohol-related offense in the past two years. And we hope that Townley can seek the appropriate help and treatment and eventually resume his racing career.
More sports news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:
Vettel: McLaren ?look strong? in testing | F1 Fanatic round-up
In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel is impressed by McLaren's long-run pace in testing.
Tuesday
2012 Jerez CRT Private Test Day 1 - De Puniet Leads As Development Continues For CRT Bikes
Preseason testing is almost on a round-the-clock schedule at the moment: after the World Superbike machines were rolled off the track and into the garages at the end of day 1 of the official WSBK test, garage doors at Jerez, on the other side of the world, were flung open, and the MotoGP CRT teams rolled onto the track for the first day of a three-day test at the Spanish circuit.
The second CRT test is an all-Aprilia affair, with Aspar's Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro continuing the development of the ART machine, Mattia Pasini getting his second run out on the Speed Master Aprilia ART, and Danilo Petrucci taking the trellis-framed IODA Aprilia out in the afternoon. James Ellison was also at the circuit, but got no further than sitting on the bike, as the team took delivery of their ART machine and spent the first day setting it up properly. As he has been so far throughout the CRT tests, De Puniet was the fastest man on the day, a full second quicker than his teammate Aleix Espargaro, though the Spaniard was also slowed up by the flu. Pasini ended the day 1.7 seconds off the time of De Puniet, while Danilo Petrucci made a solid start on his MotoGP debut by matching the pace of Pasini.
Ownership group acquires Red Bull Racing owner?s points
Landon Cassill will be locked into the Daytona 500 after an ownership group formerly involved with the now defunct TRG Motorosports team bought the assets and owner's points from Red Bull Racing.
Cassill said he has a deal with the new team to drive all year.
"It's my first time going into a NASCAR season with a signed deal knowing I'm going to be in the car every week," Cassill said. "It's my first time attempting the Daytona 500?wait, I am locked into the Daytona 500. That's a pretty big dream came true."
Team name and sponsorship information is still to come. While owner's points are involved in the deal, this is much different than the points swap ? a tactic unliked by many ? that got Danica Patrick's No. 10 guaranteed into the field for the Daytona 500. (Patrick is in the field via the points from Tommy Baldwin's No. 36 car.)
Cassill will have the points from Brian Vickers' No. 83 last year, while the possibility remains for the team to field a second car at Daytona, as it would be locked in via Kasey Kahne's owner points from the No. 4.
The move, which had been in the works for a few weeks, officially means that all 35 of the guaranteed starting positions from 2011's owner points are spoken for if the team runs a second car.
In January, Michael Waltrip Racing attempted to buy the owner's points from Red Bull but a deal didn't work out. If the team that just acquired the Red Bull points fields a second car, one of Waltrip's cars will need to qualify for the 500 on speed. Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 56 is locked in, and the team has the owner points from David Reutimann's No. 00, for either new MWR driver Clint Bowyer or the No. 55 that Waltrip is sharing with Mark Martin.
Roush Fenway Racing is running the No. 6 for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the Daytona 500 because the team has the points from David Ragan last year. And while Richard Childress Racing has scaled back to three full-time teams, it's running the No. 33 for Elliott Sadler at Daytona and Brendan Gaughan for the next four races.
More sports news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:
Behold the patriotic America Israel Racing paint scheme
Racing and politics generally don't get along too well, so credit America Israel Racing for bringing foreign-policy concerns right to NASCAR's doorstep. The No. 49 Robinson-Blakeney Racing Toyota will run in the Daytona 500, with JJ Yeley behind the wheel.
The paint scheme, as you can see above, blends both the U.S. and Israeli flags, in accordance with AIR's mission to promote America's continued support of Israel. No idea how well that's going to play amid the cacophony of sound and fury that is the Daytona 500, but give AIR credit for taking a stand where others haven't.
From a symbolic perspective, you'll note that the eagle looks like he's ready to swoop right down on you, but he's also clutching an olive branch, the symbol of peace, in his beak. So there you have it. For more on America Israel Racing, check out their Facebook page right here. The team hopes to continue racing after Daytona, but as yet has announced no future plans.
More sports news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:
JeanDenis Deletraz Patrick Depailler Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore
Join us for Valentine?s Day NASCAR chat, Tuesday at 1 ET
It's Valentine's Day! We'll be your sweetie, right here at Yahoo! Sports' From The Marbles. Join us for chatting about NASCAR and whatever else is on your mind Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. See you here ... and bring candy.
Mercedes W03 officially revealed in Spain | 2012 F1 cars
The Mercedes W03 has been shown off for the first time at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/02/21/mercedes-w03-officially-revealed-spain/
Monday
Darlington race to start a half hour earlier
The night race at Darlington Raceway will now start at 7 p.m. ET instead of the Sprint Cup Series' standard night race start time of 7:30 p.m.
Why was the move made? Well, the marathon 500 mile (plus one) race at Darlington has taken nearly four hours to complete the past two years and the 2009 race was even longer, clocking it at a whopping 4:11.
"We were able to move it 30 minutes, which is good," Darlington Raceway President Chris Browning said. "We're pleased about that. I think it will help our fans to get out of here a little bit quicker. That's really good for us.
"We were shooting for sometime around 11 o'clock [finish]. That is something the fans had asked for in our post-event surveys the last couple of years."
Changing the length of the race, Browning said, wasn't something that was considered, due to the tradition of the Southern 500. However, the Southern 500 was traditionally held on Labor Day weekend. That date went to Auto Club Speedway in California, and now Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts the Cup race on that weekend. When Darlington had two Cup Series events, the spring race had been 400 miles.
Pocono Raceway, a track that has been the brunt of many a snoozefest joke, announced in August that its two races would be shortened from 500 to 400 miles for 2012.
Moving up the start time of the Darlington race was the right move, as no race should ever end near midnight on the East Coast unless weather or some other delay is involved. And moving to shorten the race wouldn't have been the best course of action either. While some races could stand to be shorter -- Pocono made the right call -- there still needs to be some 500-mile races on the Sprint Cup circuit. And given Darlington's status and legend, it deserves to keep a 500-mile race.
Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
? Danica Patrick's Super Bowl commercial among viewers' least favorite
? Canadiens' Scott Gomez hits one-year mark in goal-less drought
? OMG: M.I.A.'s raised middle finger raises question: Why the provocation?
2012 Phillip Island Test Day 1 WSS Times: Foret And Sofuoglu Lead The Way
The Kawasakis lead the way after the first day of the official World Supersport test at Phillip Island, with Fabien Foret already closing in on his race lap record of 1'34.941 set last year. Foret finished a quarter of a second ahead of former WSS champion Kenan Sofuoglu, returning to the series after an unsuccessful foray into Moto2 in 2011. Ten Kate Honda's Broc Parkes was fastest in the afternoon session, but the Australian was unable to beat the outright times of the Kawasakis, falling just short of Sofuoglu's time, while Bodganka PTR's Sam Lowes ended both sessions a quarter of a second off the time of Parkes, and nearly half a second ahead of another Moto2 refugee, Jules Cluzel.
Testing continues tomorrow.
Results:
Required for Automotive Industry Social Networking
Currently the automotive industry is the integration constant factor access to various social networking platforms from every page of their sites, said JD Power and Associates. According to the site assessment study of the various car manufacturers in 2012 in the United States made all the sites for different car brands provide the user the [...]
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/159-required-for-automotive-industry-social-networking.html
Sunday
In case you missed it: F1 driver given suspended sentence for row with team co-owner
Earlier this week, Formula 1 driver Adrian Sutil was given an 18 month suspended sentence and fined for a nightclub altercation with Lotus co-owner Eric Lux.
And given the circumstances surrounding the sentence, it makes the confrontations that have occurred recently in the Cup Series pretty tame. Sutil and Lux were at a nightclub after the Chinese Grand Prix in April and the two got into an argument.
Sutil had told the court on the first day of proceedings on Monday that he had repeatedly apologised to Lux and denied it was his intention to hurt him but rather to throw a drink in his face.
The prosecution, however, had asked for a 21-month sentence and a 300,000 euro fine, saying that as a professional athlete Sutil should not have acted that way.
The glass hit Lux in the throat, resulting in 24 stitches to close the resulting wound. Sutil has maintained that the incident was an accident.
Fellow Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton was also at the nightclub when the incident happened, and didn't testify in the trial, citing previous commitments with his McLaren team.
For that, Sutil called Hamilton a "coward."
In other F1 news, the week has been filled with the reveals of the 2012 cars, with the most (negative or otherwise) reception given to the 2012 Ferrari. For more pictures of 2012 cars, head over to Yahoo! Eurosport.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)