Audi sets pace in Spa practice

Audi topped the opening practice session for the second round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, but also suffered a setback as one of its other brand new R18 TDIs wound up damaged after a collision with the tyres.
Dindo Capello set the pace in 2m03.844s in the car that he shares with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, putting their car a shade under two tenths of a second up on the sister car of Mike Rockenfeller/Romain Dumas/Timo Bernhard as the German manufacturer locked out the top two positions.
It was not to be a 1-2-3 on the R18's competitive debut, however, as Benoit Treluyer, driving the car he is sharing with Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler, suffered a moment of snap oversteer while passing a slower GTE car.
Treluyer spun into the gravel and nudged the tyres, damaging his machine's front end and bringing out the red flags.
The car's best time was, however, good enough for fourth behind the best of the factory Peugeot 908; that of Simon Pagenaud/Sebastien Bourdais/Pedro Lamy.
The other Peugeots of Franck Montagny/Stephane Sarrazin/Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene/Alex Wurz/Anthony Davidson completed the top six, while the championship-leading ORECA 908 was next up with Olivier Panis/Loic Duval/Nicolas Lapierre.
The Strakka Racing HPD of Jonny Kane/Danny Watts/Nick Leventis set the pace in LMP2 while Hope Racing led the way in the FLM class.
It was a Ferrari one-two-three in the GTE Pro category as the AF Corse machines of Giancarlo Fisichella/Gimmi Bruni and Jaime Melo/Toni Vilander led the way, ahead of the Rob Bell/James Walker JMW car.
Porsche's best representative was the Felbermayr car of Marc Lieb/Richard Lietz in fourth, while the best BMW was that of Andy Priaulx/Uwe Alzen, a second off the pace in fifth.
Ferrari also led the way in GTE Am, the CRS Racing 430 of Adam Christodoulou/Klaas Hummel/Phil Quaife setting the pace.

Pos  Cl     Drivers                       Team/Car                     Time
 1.  LMP1   Capello/Kristensen/McNish     Audi R18 TDI                 2m03.844s
 2.  LMP1   Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller   Audi R18 TDI                 2m04.054s
 3.  LMP1   Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud        Peugeot 908                  2m04.217s
 4.  LMP1   Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer     Audi R18 TDI                 2m05.329s
 5.  LMP1   Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian   Peugeot 908                  2m05.392s
 6.  LMP1   Gene/Wurz/Davidson            Peugeot 908                  2m05.925s
 7.  LMP1   Lapierre/Duval/Panis          ORECA Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP    2m07.205s
 8.  LMP1   Jani/Prost                    Rebellion Lola-Toyota        2m08.833s
 9.  LMP1   Belicchi/Boullion             Rebellion Lola-Toyota        2m09.011s
10.  LMP1   Amaral/Pla                    Quifel-ASM Zytek             2m09.901s
11.  LMP1   Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues          Oak Pescarolo-Judd           2m10.275s
12.  LMP2   Leventis/Watts/Kane           Strakka HPD ARX-01d          2m11.332s
13.  LMP1   Cortes/Geri/Piccini           MIK Corse Zytek-Hybrid       2m11.417s
14.  LMP2   Mailleux/Ordonez/Ayari        Signatech ORECA-Nissan       2m12.118s
15.  LMP2   Perez Companc/Russo/Kaffer    Pecom Lola-Judd              2m13.444s
16.  LMP2   Erdos/Newton/Collins          RML HPD ARX-01d              2m13.576s
17.  LMP2   Kraihamer/de Crem             Boutsen Energy ORECA-Nissan  2m13.893s
18.  LMP2   Beche/Thiriet/Firth           TDS ORECA-Nissan             2m14.442s
19.  LMP1   Collard/Tinseau/Jousse        Pescarolo-Judd               2m14.713s
20.  LMP2   Ojjeh/Chalandon/Kimber-Smith  Greaves Zytek-Nissan         2m15.020s
21.  FLM    Moro/Marroc/Zheng             Hope ORECA                   2m15.210s
22.  LMP2   Barlesi/De Roche/Lafargue     Oak Pescarolo-Judd           2m15.219s
23.  FLM    Hartshorne/Keating/Keen       Neil Garner ORECA            2m15.265s
24.  LMP2   Gates/Garofall/Philipps       RLR MG Lola                  2m15.792s
25.  FLM    Julian/Zugel/Petersen         Genoa ORECA                  2m17.711s
26.  LMP2   Rosier/Luco/Basso             Extreme Limite Norma-Judd    2m18.806s
27.  FLM    Rodrigues/Menahem/Misslin     JMB ORECA                    2m19.628s
28.  LMP2   Tucker/Bouchut/Barbosa        Level 5 Lola Coupe-HPD       2m20.669s
29.  GTE P  Fisichella/Bruni              AF Corse Ferrari             2m20.911s
30.  GTE P  Melo/Vilander                 AF Corse Ferrari             2m21.077s
31.  GTE P  Bell/Walker                   JMW Ferrari                  2m21.718s
32.  GTE P  Lieb/Lietz                    Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    2m22.049s
33.  GTE P  Priaulx/Alzen                 BMW M3                       2m22.078s
34.  GTE P  Beltoise/Jakubowski/Deletraz  Luxury Racing Ferrari        2m22.569s
35.  GTE P  Ortelli/Makowiecki            Luxury Racing Ferrari        2m22.596s
36.  GTE P  Farnbacher/Simonsen           Farnbacher Ferrari           2m22.905s
37.  FLM    Schultis/Simon/Schell         Pegasus ORECA                2m23.243s
38.  GTE A  Christodoulou/Hummel/Quaife   CRS Ferrari                  2m23.612s
39.  GTE P  Farfus/Muller                 BMW M3                       2m23.679s
40.  GTE P  Goossens/Holzer               Prospeed Porsche             2m23.723s
41.  GTE A  Kauffman/Aguas                AF Corse Ferrari             2m23.726s
42.  GTE P  Pilet/Henzler                 IMSA Performance Porsche     2m23.986s
43.  GTE A  Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel       Larbre Porsche               2m24.117s
44.  GTE A  Armindo/Narac                 IMSA Performance Porsche     2m24.133s
45.  GTE A  Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret       AF Corse Ferrari             2m24.973s
46.  GTE A  Broniszewski/Peter            Kessel Ferrari               2m25.280s
47.  GTE P  Dolan/Hancock                 Jota Aston Martin            2m25.616s
48.  GTE A  Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright      Gulf Aston Martin            2m25.783s
49.  GTE A  Ehret/Lynn/Wills              CRS Ferrari                  2m26.505s
50.  GTE A  Ried/Hammerson                Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    2m26.579s
51.  GTE A  Felbermayr Jr/Miller          Felbermayr-Proton Porsche    2m26.981s
52.  GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson                 Krohn Ferrari                2m27.882s
53.  GTE P  Hirschi/Rossiter/Mowlem       Jetalliance Lotus Evora      2m29.590s
54.  GTE P  Rich/Slingerland              Jetalliance Lotus Evora      2m37.486s
55.  LMP2   Frey/Meichtry/Rostan          Race Performance ORECA-Judd  no time

Carl Edwards takes victory in Las Vegas

A mistake in the pits by Tony Stewart's crew gave Carl Edwards the chance he needed to put the frustration of the first two Sprint Cup Series races of the season behind him.


Capitalizing on a penalty to Stewart, who dragged an air wrench from his stall under caution on Lap 155, Edwards powered his No. 99 Ford across the finish line 1.246 seconds ahead of Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.


The victory was an effective salve to the disappointment Edwards felt after finishing second in the Feb. 20 Daytona 500 and having his pole-winning car knocked into the fence early in last week's race at Phoenix.


Edwards took the lead from Stewart during a cycle of pit stops late in the race. Stewart, who had taken two tires in a track-position play on his previous stop, had to pit early for four tires during the final run.


Edwards had the luxury of taking two tires on his last stop, and that gave him the margin he needed to beat the fast-closing Stewart and third-place finisher Juan Montoya to the finish line.


The victory was the 19th of Edwards' career and his third in the past five races, dating to Phoenix in November.


Marcos Ambrose ran fourth, and Ryan Newman came home fifth. Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.


"This means a lot, coming off Phoenix," said Edwards, who led the final 23 laps. "After last weekend, I had no clue -- I just didn't know how things were going to go from there. You don't get a good race car like that very often, but I had another one [Sunday].


"I've got to thank the Air Force, the Thunderbirds. They let me fly with them on Thursday, and this trophy is going over there in that hangar (a reference to nearby Nellis Air Force Base). They taught me a lot about discipline and about believing in what you do. I can't thank them enough."


Stewart restarted 24th on Lap 157 after his pit-road penalty, but the two-tire call on Lap 198 (under caution after Jeff Gordon's Chevy pounded the Turn 4 wall), returned Stewart to the lead, and the No. 14 Chevrolet was good enough to pull away from cars with four tires.


With 40 laps left in the race, Stewart held a 3.5-second lead on Montoya, his closest pursuer. Stewart, however, knew it wouldn't last.


"I don't know what happened on the pit stop there, but we had a miscue and had a penalty and had to go to the back, and unfortunately it kind of dealt our cards for us," said Stewart, who led 163 of 267 laps. "[Crew chief] Darian [Grubb] made a good call getting us the track position back, but it also showed everybody else that they could do it, too, and we couldn't run two-and-a-half runs on a set of left-side tires."


Stewart found little consolation in having the fastest car and heading for the fourth race of the season, March 20 at Bristol, tied for the series points lead with Kurt Busch.


"It kills me to throw a race away like that, especially at a place we haven't won at yet," Stewart said. "This was a big deal [Sunday], and when you lead that many laps and have a car that's that fast and you lose it ... I'm sure [Monday] when the emotion dies down we'll look back and say it was a great weekend. But, man, it does not sit good right now."


The race went awry early for polesitter Matt Kenseth, who came to the pits with a cut tire on Lap 13 and lost a lap. During a long green-flag run that followed a restart on Lap 19, Kenseth was trapped one lap down as Stewart, then the leader, began lapping back markers.


Not until Lap 201 did Kenseth get his lap back as the lucky dog, the highest-scored lapped car. By then, Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle also had fallen off the lead lap after running out of gas because of a pit-road fueling mistake.


Kenseth's and Biffle's issues, however, weren't as dire as those of Kyle Busch, who entered the race as the series points leader. The engine in Busch's No. 18 Toyota detonated on Lap 108, spewing flames from beneath the car.


"On the restart there [on Lap 107], I was going to bide my time and try to get back through traffic with plenty of time to go, and 'kablooey' -- it just broke," Busch said.


Busch finished 38th and fell to 14th in the standings.


Earnhardt scored his second consecutive top-10 and climbed from 17th to 10th in the series standings. Five-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson fell a lap down when Stewart passed him on Lap 91 but rebounded to run 16th. Kevin Harvick worked his way into the top five from the 26th starting position, but a pit-road speeding penalty cost him dearly. Harvick finished 17th and is 20th in points.

Results - 267 laps:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 2h57m20.000s
2. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 1.246s
3. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 2.465s
4. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford + 2.922s
5. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 6.271s
6. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota + 6.416s
7. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota + 9.003s
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet + 10.648s
9. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge + 12.321s
10. Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota + 14.342s
11. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford + 14.607s
12. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet + 15.690s
13. David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota + 16.184s
14. Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota + 17.488s
15. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet + 18.481s
16. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet + 20.445s
17. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet + 21.214s
18. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet + 21.991s
19. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford + 24.966s
20. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford + 25.852s
21. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet + 26.345s
22. David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford + 26.788s
23. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota + 1 lap
24. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota + 1 lap
25. Casey Mears Germain Toyota + 1 lap
26. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge + 2 laps
27. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 3 laps
28. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford + 3 laps
29. Mike Skinner FAS Lane Ford + 5 laps
30. Bill Elliott Phoenix Chevrolet + 5 laps
31. Robby Gordon Gordon Dodge + 6 laps
32. Andy Lally TRG Chevrolet + 6 laps
33. Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford + 6 laps
34. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet + 7 laps
35. Tony Raines Front Row Ford + 9 laps

Retirements:

Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 193 laps
David Gilliland Front Row Ford 147 laps
Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 107 laps
Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 77 laps
JJ Yeley Whitney Chevrolet 45 laps
Michael McDowell HP Toyota 41 laps
Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 34 laps
Landon Cassill Germain Toyota 32 laps

New Aston Martin AMR-One Revealed

Aston Martin has revealed its new LMP-1 challenger the AMR-One!
The car and powerplant are the result of an intense design process that began in earnest last September when AMR received guarantees of parity between petrol and diesel-powered machinery.

The aerodynamics of the open-top design include, according to AMR team principal George Howard-Chappell, "a number of interesting solutions". He said that AMR had opted for a two-litre straight-six turbo engine because it offered "the best potential within the petrol regulations".

Six AMR-One chassis will be built over the next two years. Five of the cars have already been pre-sold to collectors and customer teams, one of the means by which the project has been financed.

The new car, which replaces the Lola-based AMR contender powered by an Aston V12, will race for the first time in the opening round of the Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard on April 3.
Plans to take the car to the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup opener at Sebring later this month for what Howard-Chappell described as "a test race" were abandoned this week.
AMR has a mixed programme for the remainder of the 2011 season. It will field two cars at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, at least one car in all other ILMC events and is expected on the grid for a short programme of American Le Mans Series races in the second half of the season.

Rookie Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500!

Rookie Trevor Bayne caused a major upset in the Daytona 500 by taking his maiden NASCAR win in only his second Sprint Cup Series outing while becoming the youngest winner of the blue riband event.

With just a single Cup race under his belt before entering events at Daytona, Bayne, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Saturday, made history by becoming the seventh driver to win the Daytona 500 at his first attempt while ending a 10-year win-less streak for Wood Brothers Racing.

Racing for NASCAR's oldest team, Bayne survived a chaotic race that saw a race-record 16 caution periods, and then made the right moves in the green-white-chequered finish.

Following a first attempt to finish the race under green, Bayne inherited the lead from Roush Fenway's David Ragan, who got penalised for jumping the penultimate restart while trying to quickly get in tandem formation with Bayne, hoping to break away from the field.

Once in the lead in the legendary #21 Ford, Bayne found his new drafting partner in JTG Daugherty's Bobby Labonte, the Toyota pushing him from the final green flag all the way to the last corner, as the chasing tandem of pre-race favourite Kurt Busch (Penske) and Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya ran out of steam along the back stretch on the last lap.


Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, pushed by a second Ford of David Gilliland, closed on the leaders and Edwards was able to place the nose of his car right on the inside of Labonte's out of the last corner, leaving Bayne up front without a push from behind.

However the rookie from Knoxville, Tennessee was able to keep enough momentum while guarding the inside line, preventing Edwards from getting a run on him as the chequered flag waved ahead of them after 208 laps.

"I can't even describe it," said a stunned Bayne, who struggled to find his way to Victory Lane. "It's our first time coming here so I feel a little undeserving. It's just unbelievable. It's the craziest thing I've ever experienced.
"Honestly I didn't think I had a chance. Every time it seemed like the second pack would catch the guys at the front. This is a race where you've got to have to have somebody helping you to win it. Everybody that helped me there, I can't thank them enough.

"I felt like I was in the worst possible place I could be, leading on the last lap. But coming out of Turn 4 I said 'there's no way, we're leading this Daytona 500 coming to the chequered'.

"Then I had this incredible push from [Labonte] and actually I was kind of worried when David Ragan had to do the black flag penalty there. I thought we had lost our help and we were going to be in trouble but it just worked awesome for us."

Results - 208 laps
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 4h03m32.000s
2. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford + 0.118s
3. David Gilliland Front Row Ford + 0.172s
4. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota + 0.343s
5. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge + 0.762s
6. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 0.929s
7. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet + 2.170s
8. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota + 2.228s
9. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet + 2.711s
10. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet + 2.737s
11. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford + 2.769s
12. Bill Elliott Phoenix Chevrolet + 2.832s
13. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 3.825s
14. David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford + 5.094s
15. Terry Labonte FAS Lane Ford + 5.335s
16. Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Dodge + 5.679s
17. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet + 12.263s
18. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 16.208s
19. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota + 33.421s
20. Steve Wallace Rusty Wallace Toyota + 34.097s
21. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota + 1 lap
22. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 2 laps
23. Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Toyota + 2 laps

Retirements:

Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 202 laps
Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 199 laps*
Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Chevrolet 198 laps
Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 189 laps*
Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 173 laps*
Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 166 laps
David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota 164 laps*
Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 160 laps*
Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford 153 laps
Andy Lally TRG Chevrolet 149 laps*
Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 133 laps
Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 126 laps
Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 92 laps
Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 82 laps*
Robert Richardson Jr Front Row Ford 45 laps
Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 29 laps
Michael Waltrip Waltrip Toyota 28 laps
Brian Keselowski K-Automotive Dodge 28 laps
Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 22 laps
JJ Yeley Chevrolet 10 laps

Bahrain Grand Prix canceled

The opening race of this years Formula One championship has been canceled due to the unrest of the country the past few days.
The Crown Prince informed Bernie Ecclestone of the decision by telephone earlier today.
"At the present time the country's entire attention is focused on building a new national dialogue for Bahrain," said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.

"Although Bernie Ecclestone had graciously made clear that a decision on the race was entirely Bahrain's to make and was not yet required, we felt it was important for the country to focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting of Bahrain's Formula 1 race to a later date.
"I would like to extend my personal gratitude to Bernie Ecclestone for his support and understanding.

"After the events of the past week, our nation's priority is on overcoming tragedy, healing divisions and rediscovering the fabric that draws this country together; reminding the world of the very best that Bahrain is capable of as a nation once again united."
Ecclestone added: "It is sad that Bahrain has had to withdraw from the race, we wish the whole nation well as they begin to heal their country.

"The hospitality and warmth of the people of Bahrain is a hallmark of the race there, as anyone who has been at a Bahrain Grand Prix will testify. We look forward to being back in Bahrain soon."
The postnement of the Bahrain Grand Prix means that the new season will now kick off two weeks later in Australia with the Australian Grand Prix.
The new date of the Bahrain Grand Prix (if it is to be rescheduled) has not been decided yet.

Williams reveals new livery!

Williams today revealed their new livery for 2011.
Williams's livery resembles that used by the team back in the 1990s, when it was sponsored by Rothmans. 

  

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