NEWS // ROSBERG SIGNS WITH MERCEDES

Merecedes GP today made official the news that Nico Rosberg will drive for the team in 2010. The 24 year old will have to wait a little longer for news on his potential team-mate however, as Nick Fry has said that the team are in no particular hurry to announce who will be filling the second seat. Rumours still persist with regard to a Michael Schumacher comeback but this was flattly denied by Fry at the weekend.

Follow the link for a short resume of Nico's career so far and reaction to his move.. [read more]

From the 2010 season, German driver Nico Rosberg will drive for the new Mercedes team in the Formula 1 World Championship, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport officially announced today.

Three years after his father Keke had won the Formula 1 World Championship, Nico Rosberg, 24, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany on 27 June 1985, inheriting his racing DNA from his father.

At the age of eight, Nico Rosberg began racing karts. From 1997 until 2000, he raced for the MBM team (the talent support programme of Mercedes-Benz McLaren); with this team, the two Formula 1 partners encouraged young talents. Nico’s team-mate at that time was Lewis Hamilton, McLaren Mercedes driver since 2007 and 2008 Formula 1 World Champion. In 2000, Nico was runner-up in the Formula A European Championship. Two years later, he entered his first car races in Formula BMW ADAC and clinched the title in his debut year with nine victories out of 18 races. A Williams Formula 1 test drive was the reward for the championship win - at the age of 17, Nico was the youngest driver ever to get such an opportunity.

In 2003 and 2004, Nico Rosberg participated in the then new Formula 3 Euro Series; in his first year he came home second in the rookie rankings and in 2004 he finished fourth overall. One year later in 2005, he moved up to the GP2 series which is staged alongside Formula 1 events and won the title.

The 2006 season opener at Bahrain on 12 March was Nico’s first Formula 1 race; he finished seventh and posted the fastest lap. To date, he has taken part in 70 Grands Prix, all for the Williams team; scoring a total of 75.5 points and achieving second place at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix as his best Formula 1 result. The 2009 season was Nico’s best in Formula 1 so far; finishing seventh overall with 34.5 points.

Nico Rosberg grew up in Germany, Monaco and at Ibiza; in addition to his mother tongue he is fluent in English, Italian and French.

Nico Rosberg: “I am really happy to be a part of the Silver Arrows re-launch in 2010 as a driver for Mercedes. No other brand in Formula 1 can look back on such a long and successful tradition in motor racing. I am very proud that I will now drive for the new Mercedes team and work with Ross Brawn. I am more motivated than ever and can hardly wait to start testing with the new Silver Arrow and for the first race of the new season at Bahrain on 14 March 2010.”

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: “We are delighted to welcome Nico Rosberg to our Mercedes team and are very much looking forward to working with him. Nico is a great talent, and with four years of experience in Formula 1, is a driver who will be able to make a valuable contribution to our team right from the outset. I had the pleasure of working with his father Keke during his Formula One career and it is great to see Nico following in his footsteps. 2009 was Nico’s best season in Formula 1 to date and we look forward to seeing his development continue with us at Mercedes next year.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “I saw Nico
racing karts alongside Lewis Hamilton and later in the support programme of the DTM events - I have known him since he was a young boy. Early on it was obvious that he would make his way as a race driver and we are glad that after four years with Williams he will now be one of our drivers at Mercedes. It makes our re-start even nicer, that we have as talented and sympathetic a driver as Nico in our line-up. Nico has positive ambitions, we have positive ambitions and together we want to achieve a great deal. I am really looking forward to working with him.”

Editorial: Neil Tozer
Photo: Mercedes GP

NEWS // GLICKENHAUS TO RUN P4/5 @ NURBURGRING 24HR

Following the completion of James Glickenhaus’ Pininfarina Ferrari 612 P4/5, which Mr.Glickenhaus had commisioned for $4 million dollars, rumors began filling the forums suggesting that a race car was to be built out of the P4/5. However, those rumors have since been silenced, when Glickenhaus posted to a thread on FerrariChat, telling everyone he had no intention of racining his one-off P4/5, and instead would commision yet another car in order to go racing. And while no details have been released, there are more than 20 pages of Q&A with Glickenhaus on FerrariChat, giving us some idea of what’s to come... [read more]

According to the FerrariChat forums, Glickenhaus’ new P4/5 Competizione will not be based on the Enzo/FXX/MC chassis and will instead be based on a ‘standard’ Ferrari chassis and will be powered by a V8, not a V12 like his Pininfarina Ferrari 612 P4/5.

According to the thread, engineering on the car has already begun and it is scheduled to make it racing debut at next years Nurburgring 24 Hour race. Racing in an open class that allows one-off chassis, Glickenhaus’ P4/5 race car will be an example of engineering and excess. Stay tuned!

WTCC @ MACAU // TARQUINI & SEAT TAKE WORLD TITLE

Italian Gabriele Tarquini became the oldest ever man to capture an FIA World Championship title today at Macau. The 47 year old SEAT driver stayed clear of trouble during the two WTCC races to claim his first drivers title, while manufacturer Seat retained their slender points advantage over BMW to register their second successive crown... [read more]

The hugely experienced and amiable Italian was overjoyed at the end of a shortened race two and said "Maybe this was my last chance to be world champion and I took it. It was a tough season especially against great drivers like Yvan (Muller) and Augusto (Farfus). I became the champion without knowing – the team was smiling and crying but I didn’t have a radio so realised a little bit later. I started the weekend with a crash which is obviously not the best way to win a championship. The mechanics were fantastic and spent all night and one day to re-build the car better than it was before! I must say thank you to the team who are unbelievable.”

With Rob Huff taking a lights to flag victory in race one Tarquini (Above) moved past team-mate Jordi Gene to take second place at the flag effectively eliminating Augusto Farfus in the battle for the drivers championship.
With this in mind Farfus dropped back to take eigth place to take pole for race two hoping to now aid the BMW squad in their manufacturer's fight with Seat.

A rather worse for wear Yvan Muller quite plainly suffering from his qualifying accident came home in 5th place thus keeping his hopes of a second sucsessive crown alive for race two.

Race two saw Farfus and Jorg Muller (Above) record an easy one -two finish for BMW but with Yvan Muller only 3rd Tarquini wrapped up the championship with a solid fith place in a race that was not to go it's full distance due to a large shunt involving Franz Engstler on lap 9. With the race not restarting due to medical crews dealing with Engstler who had broken a collar bone, Seat had done enough and duly recorded their 2nd Manufacturers win.

With the Seat of Tom Coronel collecting the win in the 2009 Independents Trophy all in all Seat can be extremely happy with what effectively has been a tremendous year for them. The spanish squad are however scaling down their WTCC operation for 2010 and may well be just running only pair of Leon's come Curitiba next March.

Race One Top Ten Results:

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Robert Huff Chevrolet 23m02.627s
2. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 7.952s
3. Jordi Gene SEAT 8.996s
4. Alain Menu Chevrolet 10.328s
5. Yvan Muller SEAT 13.534s
6. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 15.517s
7. Jorg Muller BMW 15.782s
8. Augusto Farfus BMW 15.967s
9. Alex Zanardi BMW 16.301s
10. Sergio Hernandez BMW 16.527s

Race Two Top Ten Results:

Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Augusto Farfus BMW 22m20.166s
2. Jorg Muller BMW 0.801s
3. Yvan Muller SEAT 1.201s
4. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 1.980s
5. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 3.815s
6. Jordi Gene SEAT 5.018s
7. Nicola Larini Chevrolet 5.359s
8. Robert Huff Chevrolet 5.895s
9. Alex Zanardi BMW 6.167s
10. Rickard Rydell SEAT 6.712s


WTCC 2009 Final Drivers Championship Results :

Drivers:

01 Gabriele Tarquini 127
02 Yvan Muller 123
03 Augusto Farfus 113
04 Andy Priaulx 84
05 Robert Huff 80
06 Jörg Müller 76
07 Rickard Rydell 64
08 Jordi Gené 48


WTCC 2009 Final Manafacturers Championship Results :

1. SEAT 314
2. BMW 311
3. CHEVROLET 215
4. LADA 83


Photos: WTCC Media/SEAT Sport
Editorial: Neil Tozer

NEWS // TEAM SEATTLE LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE

We just received word from Team Seattle that they have launched an updated version of their website. Preparing for their return to the 24 Hours of Daytona, Team Seattle's new page features images and info from their recent 24 Hours of Le Mans effort, as well as their past Daytona campaigns.

Additional information on their new race car, the driver lineup and ways that you can support both Team Seattle and their benefactor, Seattle's Children's Hospital, is available on their new website, as well as information on how you can join the team in Daytona! // [comment]

NEWS // HUFF ON POLE FOR WTCC FINALE IN MACAU

In a dramatic afternoon of WTCC qualifying around the streets of Macau Robb Huff claimed pole position for the final round of the 2009 season.

After a session which ended in near darkness and was dominated by accidents and red flags Huff came through the carnage to take top spot in his Chevrolet Cruze.

The headlines however were created by both Seat title contenders in a freak accident which surely has dented their championship aspirations... [read more]

After easily making it through Q1 both Gacbriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller lost control of their TDI Leon's at faraway ploughing into the barriers and each other after being caught out on a trail of cement dust that had been laid down after a nasty accident in Q1 when James Thompson's Lada (Above) rear ended the stationary BMW (Below) of Stefano D'aste. Both the British driver along with Muller and Tarquini required a trip to hospital for medical checks before all three were released later in the evening. Also skating into the barriers at the same point was Alain Menu with he two being consequently not setting a time.

With both front running Seats eliminated on the spot and requiring major work before Sunday's race it was left to Augusto Farfus the third of the potential champions to stake his claim. Farfus would end the session in third just behind BMW team-mate Andy Priaulx and Huff who both bettered the Brazilian's time on their final laps.

British driver Huff was overjoyed as he spoke to the media, ""I've never in my life experienced a qualifying session like that, the track was dark at the end and you couldn't see anything. It was incredible. I've never done a pole on my third lap before, so it is just fantastic for Chevrolet. I'm really pleased."

With an extra day between qualifying and raceday Seat will be desperately hoping that the cars of Tarquini and Muller (Below) can be repaired to a race ready condition.


WTCC 2009 Final Round Macau Qualifying:

Pos Driver Car Q1 Q2
1. Rob Huff Chevrolet 2m31.282s 2m32.141s
2. Andy Priaulx BMW 2m31.734s 2m32.483s
3. Augusto Farfus BMW 2m31.505s 2m33.033s
4. Jordi Gene SEAT 2m31.171s 2m33.136s
5. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 2m31.357s 2m33.322s
6. Jorg Muller BMW 2m31.724s 2m34.091s
7. Yvan Muller SEAT 2m31.241s no time
8. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 2m31.150s no time
9. Alain Menu Chevrolet 2m31.842s no time
10. Rickard Rydell SEAT 2m31.859s no time


Photo: WTCC Media/SEAT Sport
Editorial: Neil Tozer