| By Jamie O'Leary | Thursday, January 31st 2013, 14:33 GMT |
GP3 champion Mitch Evans will make a one-off return appearance to New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series this weekend.
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| By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer | Thursday, January 31st 2013, 12:51 GMT |
Jenson Button believes his issues with qualifying pace will be solved for 2013 with the change in Pirelli tyre specification.
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| By Edd Straw | Thursday, January 31st 2013, 15:11 GMT |
Lotus technical director James Allison believes his team's driver line-up will prove to be its "trump card" in 2013.
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Wednesday, January 30th 2013, 13:26 GMT |
Nick Tandy will drive for the Walker Racing-run Falken team at the American Le Mans Series-opening Sebring 12 Hours.
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| By Sam Tremayne | Wednesday, January 30th 2013, 11:54 GMT |
Italian Formula 3 champion Riccardo Agostini will contest the 2013 Auto GP season with MP Motorsport.
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| By Edd Straw | Wednesday, January 30th 2013, 14:45 GMT |
McLaren will become the second Formula 1 team to reveal its 2013 car when the MP4-28 is launched tomorrow
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| By Edd Straw | Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 14:36 GMT |
Lotus technical director James Allison will remain with the team in 2013 despite being linked with a move to McLaren, according to team principal Eric Boullier
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 14:20 GMT |
A group of Canadian and American investors are pushing to try and secure HRT's entry slot in Formula 1, AUTOSPORT can reveal, but they may have to wait until 2014 before being allowed to join the grid
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| By Marcus Simmons | Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 14:54 GMT |
Formula 3 aces Alex Lynn and Harry Tincknell have both said that they could be open to contesting the slimline four-round British F3 International Series this season
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| Monday, January 28th 2013, 14:02 GMT |
Cardion AB has revealed the Aprilia ART with which it will contest the CRT class of this year's MotoGP championship
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, January 28th 2013, 14:21 GMT |
Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli believes it can help teams overcome mounting concerns about costs in the sport
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| By Matt Beer | Monday, January 28th 2013, 15:19 GMT |
Susie Wolff will increase her development role with the Williams Formula 1 team in the 2013 season
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| By Gary Watkins | Sunday, January 27th 2013, 05:04 GMT |
Scott Pruett and Chip Ganassi Racing topped the leaderboard of Daytona 24 Hours at one-third distance
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| By Gary Watkins | Sunday, January 27th 2013, 12:44 GMT |
Max Angelelli led the Daytona 24 Hours in thick fog at three-quarters distance aboard Wayne Taylor Racing's Dallara-Chevrolet
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| Sunday, January 27th 2013, 13:08 GMT |
Casey Stoner says MotoGP riders have become 'puppets' and the atmosphere in the sport would have to change substantially for him to consider going back
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| Saturday, January 26th 2013, 11:24 GMT |
Juan Pablo Montoya is convinced that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will start the NASCAR Sprint Cup season in far better shape than it began 2012
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| By Edd Straw | Saturday, January 26th 2013, 12:31 GMT |
Narain Karthikeyan believes that the oval racing experience he gained in the NASCAR Trucks will help him if his planned switch to IndyCar comes off
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Saturday, January 26th 2013, 14:15 GMT |
Max Mugelli will remain with BMW outfit Team Dinamic for this year's Superstars International Series
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| By Gary Watkins | Friday, January 25th 2013, 13:36 GMT |
A total of 71 entries have been received for the 55 remaining spaces on the Le Mans 24 Hours grid
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| Friday, January 25th 2013, 14:16 GMT |
A new trophy for Asian drivers competing on a race-by-race basis will be awarded in this year's World Touring Car Championship.
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Friday, January 25th 2013, 15:33 GMT |
Eddie Cheever has completed Prema Powerteam's line-up for this year's European Formula 3 Championship.
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, January 23rd 2013, 13:00 GMT |
Formula 1 fans have been promised more 'uncertainty' in 2013 thanks to aggressive new tyres from Pirelli, but the company is ruling out a repeat of last year's scenario of seven different winners in the first seven races.
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, January 23rd 2013, 13:31 GMT |
Jaime Alguersuari and Lucas di Grassi are set to remain as Pirelli's main Formula 1 test drivers for 2013
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, January 23rd 2013, 13:48 GMT |
Pirelli says it is 'ready' to extend its contract with Formula 1 beyond this year, even though there remains the chance that the matter could go out to tender.
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| By Gary Watkins | Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 13:21 GMT |
Multiple Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Tom Kimber-Smith will race a GTE class Porsche in the American Le Mans Series with the CORE Autosport team in 2013
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| By Matt Beer | Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 13:41 GMT |
Robert Kubica is not yet physically ready to test a Formula 1 car, according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, whose company is giving Kubica a DTM run this week
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Tuesday, January 22nd 2013, 14:26 GMT |
Raffaele Marciello will, as expected, remain with Prema Powerteam for this year's European Formula 3 championship
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| By David Evans | Monday, January 21st 2013, 12:12 GMT |
Monte Carlo Rally winner Sebastien Loeb says he has no regrets over his decision to retire from the World Rally Championship despite starting his part-time season with a victory
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| By Gary Watkins | Monday, January 21st 2013, 12:36 GMT |
Audi will kick off its 2013 LMP1 prototype campaign with an assault on the Sebring 12 Hours
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| Monday, January 21st 2013, 13:29 GMT |
American outfit Attack Performance will return to MotoGP for all three United States races this year.
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| Saturday, January 19th 2013, 11:57 GMT |
Frontrunning Superstars team Solaris will enter a Chevrolet Camaro in the 2013 series, with an eye to persuading Chevy to launch a works Superstars programme
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| By Gary Watkins | Saturday, January 19th 2013, 12:22 GMT |
The HVM Status GP LMP2 squad has confirmed its graduation to the World Endurance Championship in 2013
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| Saturday, January 19th 2013, 15:09 GMT |
Multiple GT champion team Risi will return to the American Le Mans Series for 2013 after a one-year hiatus
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| By Matt Beer | Thursday, January 17th 2013, 14:21 GMT |
The Kodewa-run Lotus LMP2 team has committed to a full-season World Endurance Championship programme with two of its new T128 cars.
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| By Matt Beer | Thursday, January 17th 2013, 14:27 GMT |
Moroccan driver Mehdi Bennani will stay with Proteam in the World Touring Car Championship for a third successive season.
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| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, January 17th 2013, 15:38 GMT |
Toyota will run just one car in the full World Endurance Championship in 2013
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, January 16th 2013, 12:59 GMT |
Pedro de la Rosa says he is extremely motivated by his new role at the Ferrari team after being signed as a development driver for the 2013 Formula 1 season
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| By Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 16th 2013, 15:44 GMT |
The Monte Carlo Rally running order is a mystery at the end of day one of the World Rally Championship season-opener with a timing problem leaving teams and fans in the dark.
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| By David Evans | Wednesday, January 16th 2013, 15:45 GMT |
British fans will not be able to watch television coverage of this week's Monte Carlo Rally as no deal has been agreed between the World Rally Championship promoter and any broadcaster
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| By Dieter Rencken and Pablo Elizalde | Monday, January 14th 2013, 12:50 GMT |
Pirelli wants to stay in Formula 1 for several years, but only as long as it makes sense financially, according to its motorsport boss Paul Hembery.
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| By Glenn Freeman | Monday, January 14th 2013, 13:25 GMT |
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson believes Sebastien Loeb's departure from full-time competition in the World Rally Championship will be "fantastic" for the sport.
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| By Jamie O'Leary | Monday, January 14th 2013, 13:36 GMT |
Maxime Martin has joined BMW's American Le Mans Series line-up for the coming season, as well as being named its DTM test driver.
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| By Dan Cross | Sunday, January 13th 2013, 13:44 GMT |
Jolyon Palmer believes that all the ingredients are in place for him to win this year's GP2 championship
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| By Matt Beer | Sunday, January 13th 2013, 14:34 GMT |
Jackie Stewart believes Lewis Hamilton is taking a risk for his long-term future by joining a manufacturer team in Mercedes
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| By Dan Cross | Sunday, January 13th 2013, 14:52 GMT |
Gary Paffett says missing out on the 2012 DTM title was painfully frustrating given that he felt it was his best ever season-long performance
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| By Matt Beer | Saturday, January 12th 2013, 13:22 GMT |
Andy Priaulx believes he can show his true ability in the DTM in 2013 now that he has learned the series' 'tricks of the trade'
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| By Matt Beer | Saturday, January 12th 2013, 15:35 GMT |
Anthony Davidson has admitted that he had mental hurdles to overcome when making his comeback after injury in Daytona 24 Hours testing last week
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| By Glenn Freeman | Saturday, January 12th 2013, 15:41 GMT |
Former British Touring Car champion Matt Neal believes that NGTC cars will win all of the races in the championship this year
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| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, January 11th 2013, 14:44 GMT |
Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the first images of the 2014 Formula 1 power unit that it believes will put the 'motor back in motorsport'
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| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, January 11th 2013, 14:48 GMT |
AUTOSPORT Group F1 Editor Jonathan Noble's verdict on the 2014 engines
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| By Adam Cooper and Matt Beer | Friday, January 11th 2013, 15:34 GMT |
Heikki Kovalainen feels his underdog heroics with Caterham were overlooked by Formula 1's top teams, and is surprised to be facing 2013 on the sidelines.
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| By Glenn Freeman | Thursday, January 10th 2013, 15:08 GMT |
Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip has joined new NASCAR team Swan Racing for the Sprint Cup season opener.
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, January 10th 2013, 15:21 GMT |
Formula 1 fans will no longer have access to the popular FanVision sets during 2013 after the company in charge of the devices could not agree terms with Formula One Management.
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| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, January 10th 2013, 15:47 GMT |
The newly-named FIA GT Series has been slimmed down to six races with only one flyaway outside Europe at the behest of the teams.
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| By Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 9th 2013, 14:00 GMT |
Drayson Racing has become the first team to commit to the FIA's new all-electric Formula E series.
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| By Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 9th 2013, 15:04 GMT |
Robert Visoiu will complete MW Arden's line-up for the 2013 GP3 Series.
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| By Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, January 9th 2013, 15:41 GMT |
The Brabham family has won its legal battle to protect the Brabham name through the German Higher Courts
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| By Dieter Rencken and Matt Beer | Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 12:31 GMT |
Marussia believes Formula 1's major regulation changes for 2014 need not price smaller teams out of the market if decisions are made wisely
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| Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 12:36 GMT |
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko doubts Mark Webber has what it takes to cope with the intense pressures of a Formula 1 title fight
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| By Peter Mills | Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 13:43 GMT |
Team Engstler will again run Charles Ng alongside team owner Franz Engstler in the World Touring Car Championship this year
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| By Dieter Rencken and Matt Beer | Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 12:31 GMT |
Marussia believes Formula 1's major regulation changes for 2014 need not price smaller teams out of the market if decisions are made wisely
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| Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 12:36 GMT |
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko doubts Mark Webber has what it takes to cope with the intense pressures of a Formula 1 title fight
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| By Peter Mills | Tuesday, January 8th 2013, 13:43 GMT |
Team Engstler will again run Charles Ng alongside team owner Franz Engstler in the World Touring Car Championship this year
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, January 7th 2013, 12:33 GMT |
Formula 1 teams are facing an increasingly tough call on whether or not to pursue passive double DRS in 2013, despite rules tweaks that should theoretically boost its advantage.
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| By Glenn Freeman and Charles Bradley | Monday, January 7th 2013, 12:18 GMT |
AJ Allmendinger believes he has "unfinished business" in NASCAR following his drugs ban in 2012.
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Subscribe to Premier Sports TV to watch all Sprint Cup events live in the UK. Visit www.premiersports.tv for more information.
| Monday, January 7th 2013, 14:35 GMT |
Lotus owner Gerard Lopez believes Kimi Raikkonen managed to deliver so much for the team last year because it gave him the atmosphere he needed to thrive.
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| Saturday, January 5th 2013, 17:07 GMT |
Jan Kopecky sealed victory in round one of the new-look European Rally Championship by just half a second in a final-stage thriller in Austria
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| Saturday, January 5th 2013, 21:44 GMT |
Carlos Sainz set the pace as the 2013 Dakar Rally got underway with a short eight-mile stage in Pisco
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| Sunday, January 6th 2013, 02:10 GMT |
Sahlen was fastest on the second day of Daytona 24 Hours testing on Saturday, as Dane Cameron's morning best proved the day's benchmark
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| By Gary Watkins | Friday, January 4th 2013, 17:54 GMT |
Daytona Prototypes and LMP2 machinery will go head to head for overall honours in the new-for-2014 unified US sportscar series, as revealed by AUTOSPORT.
Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series, which will merge at the end of this season, have confirmed that DPs, LMP2s and production versions of the lightweight Nissan DeltaWing experimental racer will make up the top class of the unified championship in 2014 and '15.
The announcement, made on the first day of the official test ahead of the Daytona 24 Hours Grand-Am opener on January 26/27, also firmed up the remainder of the class structure for the first two years of the new series.
The ALMS one-make LMPC prototype class for the ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09 will continue as a separate category, while the ALMS GT (nee GTE) division will be distinct from the Grand-Am GT class.
The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars that form the GTC class in the ALMS will be amalgamated into the Grand-Am category. Grand-Am's new GX category for so-called experimental cars could be absorbed into this group or run as a separate, fifth class.
Grand-Am managing director of competition Richard Buck explained that the two bodies had taken an inclusive approach to allow as many competitors from each series to move forward into the unified championship.
"This is a best-of-both-worlds approach that reflects the fact we have a true merger evolving on a daily basis," he said. "This announcement is only a first step in solidifying our class structure.
"Our organisations' respective competition departments are working diligently on balance of performance for the top prototype class, plus overall class specifications across the board."
It is unclear how DPs and LMP2 cars, which are significantly faster on most circuits, will be balanced.
Grand-Am boss Ed Bennett told AUTOSPORT in December that the DPs would be made faster in 2014.
"The performance of the DPs has to go up," he said. "We have to look at the aero - we could give them more downforce - and we think the power will increase, and we are taking a hard look at the tyres that both types of car [DP and LMP2] run on."
There will be no place for LMP1 cars in the unified series, which was made clear in the announcement of the merger in September.
AUTOSPORT says
Gary Watkins, sportscar correspondent
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Sorry to plagiarise Sir Winston Churchill, but Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series have only firmed up the starting point for the rulemaking process with this announcement.
They have told us, more or less, what we already knew and laid out the future of the unified US sportscar series in a broad-brushstroke kind of way.
The devil is going to be in the detail — balancing DP and LMP2 cars across a range of circuits is going to be a devil of a job.
A P2 car is, for example, seven seconds a lap quicker around Laguna Seca than a DP. Bridging that gap will take some doing, especially when reducing the power of the DPs is not an option, something Bennett has already admitted.
The techies at Grand-Am and the ALMS have ideas on how to balance two types of car that achieve their speed in entirely different ways, but I suspect there's still a lot of hard work ahead of them.
Click here for Gary Watkins' full analysis of the challenge of equalising LMP2s and Daytona Prototypes
| Friday, January 4th 2013, 19:04 GMT |
Jan Kopecky withstood miscellaneous challenges from rivals and the weather to end day one of the European Rally Championship's new era in the lead in Austria.
The first loop of Janner Rally stages posed a tyre choice headache as the rain of Pierbach was followed by snow and ice on Liebenau and St Oswald.
Veteran Raimund Baumschlager went for narrow studded rubber and lost nearly a minute on stage one, before closing to within two seconds of leader and fellow Skoda man Kopecky over the next two stages, where the latter's wide tyres struggled.
Baumschlager, reigning Austrian champion, maintained his pace after the first service break and briefly took the lead, but fell back in the heavy rain and fog of the afternoon and pondered settling for national series points.
Czech driver Vaclav Pech was right on Kopecky's tail in his Mini until a headlight problem amid poor weather on Schonau-St Leonhard cost him a minute. He also spent a while off-course on the final stage.
Bryan Bouffier then became Kopecky's main challenger. He had lost ground on the first loop's snow and ice, but judged the wet conditions well to close to within nine seconds of Kopecky.
But four-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge runner-up Kopecky stepped up his pace on the final two stages after dark, and ended the day 20.2s clear of Bouffier's Peugeot. Baumschlager is a further 18s back.
Former World Rally star Francois Delecour had a troubled start to his international comeback with Kronos Peugeot.
A broken gear lever forced him to improvise with the car's jack jammed into the gearchange hole for several stages, and he also incurred a penalty for checking into service early and had some offs. Those dramas leave him sixth.
Click here for David Evans' view on the ERC's new start
Leading positions after SS10: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jan Kopecky Skoda 1h30m36.5s 2. Bryan Bouffier SC Ateneo Peugeot + 20.2s 3. Raimund Baumschlager BRR Skoda + 38.9s 4. Vaclav Pech Invelt Mini + 2m24.7s 5. Francois Delecour Kronos Peugeot + 2m49.3s 6. Kajetan Kajetanowicz Lotos Subaru + 2m53.3s 7. Beppo Harach DiTech Mitsubishi + 3m20.6s 8. Jaroslav Orsak GPD Mit Metal Mitsubishi + 3m50.3s 9. Jaromir Tarabus Ak Brno Skoda + 4m03.5s 10. Jan Cerny Czech Skoda + 4m24.6s
| Friday, January 4th 2013, 22:08 GMT |
AJ Allmendinger was quickest in Michael Shank Racing's #60 Riley-Ford on day one of testing for the 2013 Daytona 24 Hours.
Allmendinger teamed up with Justin Wilson, John Pew and Ozz Negri to score MSR's first Daytona win in last year's event.
The NASCAR regular's best time of 1m42.918s edged out Ganassi's Memo Rojas and Dario Franchitti in a top three covered by 0.069 seconds.
Marcos Ambrose also had a run in the pacesetting MSR car. The Australian was standing in for Negri while he recovers from a training injury. It is not yet clear if NASCAR race-winner and former V8 Supercars champion Ambrose will be part of the team's line-up for the 24-hour race on 26-27 January.
MSR's second car was fourth in the hands of Michael Valiante. Starworks' #2 Riley-Ford, shared between Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Dalziel, Allan McNish and Alex Popow, completed the top five.
The morning session had been affected by rain. Times were of little relevance as most waited for the weather to improve, but 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray was quickest in Ganassi's #1 car by 1.3s.
Andy Lally set the GT pace in Magnus' #44 Porsche.
Testing continues on Saturday with four further sessions including night practice.
Between test sessions on Friday, organisers of Grand-Am and the American Le Mans Series confirmed the class structure for their merged 2014 championship, with Daytona Prototypes and LMP2 equalising to form the headline category.
| By Matt Beer | Friday, January 4th 2013, 10:49 GMT |
The World Touring Car Championship is considering introducing a 'push-to-pass' system as part of its next generation regulations.
The series will revamp its Super 2000 rules package for 2014, with changes including power increases and styling alterations to give the cars a more 'aggressive' look.
WTCC chief Marcello Lotti said an overtaking boost system was on the agenda as a further update, along with hybrid technology.
"We are not talking of a new generation of cars, but of a technical evolution of the Super 2000s that were launched back in 2002," he said.
"Further implementations will be studied for a later application, such as the 'push-to-pass' and a common hybrid system."
Lotti also confirmed that arrangements would be made to allow current-spec cars to continue in the series, and insisted cost increases would be kept to a minimum.
"Some will be happy, considering this as a simple updating of the championship, some will disagree, claiming that an increase of costs will follow," he said.
"However, I believe that Super 2000 proved that the FIA is capable to maintain the stability of technical regulations for a long period. And their efforts, joined with ours, made also possible to keep the costs stable.
"This evolution will continue to keep the running costs under control, however in the beginning investments on the new cars will be requested.
"And I can grant that, like it happens every time a motorsport series is undergoing a technical evolution, we will study a way to assure a balanced cohabitation between the current and the new cars."
| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, January 4th 2013, 11:24 GMT |
The fight for Formula 1's leading seats may have been over months ago, but the battle for cockpits further down the field remains intense as judgements loom on the final two vacancies.
Force India and Caterham are the only remaining outfits that have yet to finalise their line-ups, but with just one month to go before the start of 2013 testing, decisions are now expected within days.
The increasingly tough economic climate worldwide means that teams at both ends of the grid have had to be more mindful of commercial considerations when it comes to drivers, which is why neither outfit is having an easy time making its choice.
Force India: Bianchi vs Sutil
The Force India vacancy is a plum seat, with Nico Hulkenberg having shown at the Brazilian Grand Prix that the team has the capability to fight right at the front.
Although Paul di Resta has not yet been confirmed, his performances last year left the team in no doubt that he justified another opportunity for 2013, so his place is secure.
Towards the end of last season, the list of candidates for the seat alongside di Resta stretched to double figures though, as youngsters like Luiz Razia, out of work men like Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, and current racers like Bruno Senna and Kamui Kobayashi vied to fill Hulkenberg's place.
Although each driver had varying amounts of sponsorship behind him, Force India CEO Otmar Szafnauer told AUTOSPORT at the end of last season that the decision would ultimately rest on ability rather than backing.
He made it clear his preference was for speed to ultimately win out, because that would be the only way of ensuring both its men performed.
"I am a believer that you need someone like that," he said. "Not everyone does, and it is a subconscious thing.
"You think you are driving the best you can, but there is nothing like competition for us humans to really sharpen our focus, attention and skills in all sort of stuff. If you have competition you end up driving yourself more."
That process has culminated in the selection whittling down now to what appears to be a straightforward decision between veteran Adrian Sutil and rising star Jules Bianchi.
Sutil: No legal issues preventing return Bianchi 'ready for F1'
Sutil has the experience and speed to keep things moving forward after Hulkenberg, and would bring some funding from his long-term backers.
Bianchi would be more of a gamble on the driving front - because he has yet to race in F1 – but he has the added attraction of closes ties to Ferrari.
The Frenchman has been retained as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy for 2013, and a long-term deal could tie in to a potential engine partnership for 2014 and beyond.
Ferrari is currently working on sorting out its future customer engine plans, and may need to secure another partner with Scuderia Toro Rosso likely to make the move to Renault after this season.
The final call on Force India's drivers rests with team principal Vijay Mallya, who will need to weigh up both the short-term and long-term benefits of either candidate.
Caterham: Petrov, Senna or van der Garde?
At Caterham, there is an equally tough decision to be made as to who will partner youngster Charles Pic.
The Leafield-based outfit may have secured its 10th place in the constructors' championship at the 11th hour with Vitaly Petrov's result in Brazil, but it remains eager to bolster its commercial situation even more.
Heikki Kovalainen is unlikely to be kept on for another year, with the leading candidates for the role now being Petrov, Bruno Senna and Giedo van der Garde.
Kovalainen accepts 2013 chances slimVan der Garde 'making huge strides'Senna: I would be stronger in 2013
Petrov added nearly $10 million to Caterham's coffers with his 11th-place finish at Interlagos that got the team back in the top 10 of the constructors' championship, so there is an obvious reason to retain him.
Furthermore, Petrov has the potential to unlock more sponsorship from Russia with the Sochi Grand Prix looming on the horizon for 2014.
However, Senna has valuable backing behind him right now, and has the kind of profile and attitude that the team would benefit from.
Like the decision facing Mallya, Caterham has candidates who each easily justify their place, but in the end there is only space for one man.
2013 Formula 1 line-up so far: Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber Ferrari Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa McLaren Jenson Button Sergio Perez Lotus Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean Mercedes Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Sauber Nico Hulkenberg Esteban Gutierrez Force India Paul di Resta seat still available Williams Pastor Maldonado Valtteri Bottas Toro Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne Caterham Charles Pic seat still available Marussia Timo Glock Max Chilton
| Friday, January 4th 2013, 12:14 GMT |
Aprilia believes that MotoGP has a 'big chance' to seize upon its recent structural changes and attract more manufacturers back into the sport.
The Italian manufacturer has not had a prototype presence in MotoGP since 2004, when it finished sixth in the constructors' championship, despite dominating the 250cc category with Jorge Lorenzo in 2006 and '07.
Aprilia has played down hopes it could return to the sport over the past few years, recently blaming the ever-changing rules of the sport's premier class for its continuing absence.
Technical director Luigi Dall'Igna says the recent announcement that Dorna will organise both MotoGP and its rival World Superbike Championship will be a 'big advantage' in facilitating the return of manufacturers like Aprilia, Suzuki and Kawasaki.
"This is a time of big changes [which] can represent the way for tomorrow's MotoGP," Dall'Igna told Motosprint.
Asked whether Dorna could attract manufactures including WSBK champion Aprilia back to the sport, he replied: "I think it can be done, and within reasonable time.
"Dorna now has a big chance, a big advantage it didn't have before: it manages both series, so it can draw regulations that suit both.
"With a bit more imagination on Dorna's part - in fact, let's call it a bit more resolve - it can really reach that objective [of manufacturers returning] now.
"It won't be easy, particularly in the short term. The last change was done a short while ago, and [those] who have developed the new 1,000cc bikes can't throw everything away.
"But if we think mid-term, in my opinion it can be done this time."
Dall'Igna said however that Dorna's proposed spec ECU and datalogger will do little to reduce costs and thereby make the series more appealing.
"I don't think the control ECU is a great idea the way it's been conceived. It's no advantage from a money aspect, because what costs is not so much the ECU itself, it's the software development," he explained.
"It's the numerous strategies that increase costs, because it means moving people like technicians and test teams, but it's also a big effort on the test bench.
"It takes plenty of time and money, but with the new rules the manufacturers are once again free to write their own software, and this doesn't lower costs."
(Translation by Michele Lostia)
| Thursday, January 3rd 2013, 14:05 GMT |
MotoGP rookie Michael Laverty admits he never expected to get a shot at motorcycle racing's top level.
The 31-year-old British Superbike frontrunner is stepping up to MotoGP with Paul Bird Motorsport's new self-built CRT chassis this season.
Laverty said that even after BSB champion Shane 'Shakey' Byrne turned down the seat, he did not imagine he would be top of the list of alternatives.
"I know I wasn't first choice for the ride, Shakey was," Laverty told the official MotoGP website.
"And when he turned it down I was actually surprised to get the call, but it was a nice surprise."
He added: "Honestly it's something I never expected I'd get the opportunity to do.
"I'm a realist I reckon, and once you pass your mid-20s you think that if you haven't got to GP by then, then it's not going to happen, so I kind of thought that if I ever got a shot at a world championship that it would be in World Superbike, so it's nice that things have changed."
PBM had a tough 2012 season with James Ellison on its Aprilia. Yonny Hernandez will continue to ride that bike in 2013 while Laverty takes the new PBM design.
Laverty's bike will run the spec ECU that will be mandatory from 2014. He hopes this will ensure strong support from Aprilia, which dominated CRT with its lead squad Aspar last year.
"They seem happy to let the team work on the new project and work on the new electronics," said Laverty.
"Aprilia will have in mind that from 2014 they are going to have to run the Magneti Marelli system, so it's useful for them to have another team using it as it gives them a lot of data.
"They seem happy to help the team sort out the engine management with the Magneti Marelli system so overall I think the relationship with Aprilia is quite good, so hopefully we'll be even, or as close to even as possible to them."
| By Gary Watkins | Thursday, January 3rd 2013, 13:45 GMT |
Sportscar star Anthony Davidson has no concerns about the back injuries he sustained at last year's Le Mans 24 Hours as he prepares to make his comeback behind the wheel of a racing car this week.
The 33-year-old Briton, who fractured two vertebrae when his Toyota TS010 Hybrid flipped at Le Mans in June 2012, will drive the 8Star Motorsports Coyote-Chevrolet at the official Daytona 24 Hours test, which starts on Friday.
The Briton is scheduled to share the Corvette-bodied car in the US enduro on January 26-27 with Stephane Sarrazin, Nicolas Minassian, Pedro Lamy and team boss Enzo Potolicchio.
Davidson, who has been re-signed by Toyota for its 2013 LMP1 campaign, said: "My back is strong, so I have no worries.
"I have been running and cycling for a while and have been in the Toyota and Mercedes Formula 1 simulators.
"It will be my first time back in a car, so it is going to give me a bit of a work-out before I get going with Toyota.
"It will be a good way to blow the cobwebs away; I can't wait to get going again."
Davidson said he is looking forward to the challenge of driving a Daytona Prototype and racing in one of the major sportscar events for the first time.
"I never driven a DP before, but I've spoken to enough drivers who have to know that it is going to be a new type of challenge," he said. "I'm expecting quite a specific car.
"I'm going into the race with my eyes wide open; anything can happen. Maybe I can have some of the beginner's luck I had at the Sebring 12 Hours when I won with Peugeot [on his debut in 2011]."
Davidson and the other five members of Toyota's 2012 Le Mans line-up have all been retained for the coming season.
It is expected but still unconfirmed that Toyota will field two cars in the full FIA World Endurance Championship.
| By Pablo Elizalde | Thursday, January 3rd 2013, 15:05 GMT |
Sauber will unveil its 2013 challenger on 2 February, the Swiss squad announced on Thursday.
The team said the Ferrari-powered C32 will be presented to the public in Hinwil, Switzerland, where its factory is located.
Pre-season testing commences at Jerez three days later.
Sauber finished the 2012 season in sixth position after four podium finishes.
The Swiss outfit's drive line-up for 2013 will be Nico Hulkenberg and Mexican rookie Esteban Gutierrez.
2013 pre-season dates
Car launches Team Date McLaren January 31 Force India February 1 Sauber February 2 Testing
Venue Date Jerez 5-8 February Barcelona 19-22 February Barcelona 28 February-3 March
| By Michele Lostia and Pablo Elizalde | Wednesday, January 2nd 2013, 10:38 GMT |
Alex Zanardi says he is only interested in one-off racing events, after ruling out a full-season motorsport return in the near future.
The 46-year-old Italian, winner of two golds and a silver at the London Paralympics last year, recently tested a BMW DTM car while considering a possible return to racing, but opted against a drive in the series.
Zanardi has also revealed he wants to compete in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.
The former Champ Car champion says he has had offers to return to World Touring Cars as well as his DTM option, but admits he is not willing to commit to a full season.
"The simplest option would be to get back behind the wheel," Zanardi told Gazzetta dello Sport when asked about his plans until the Rio games.
"I've had offers to race in high-level series like the DTM and the WTCC, but a full season is not what I really desire. Instead, a single event to be prepared well could represent the perfect challenge."
Zanardi has already been linked to an Indianapolis 500 bid, having not contested the event during his United States career, but is also eyeing Daytona.
"The Indy 500? Yes, but also the Daytona 24 Hours, in a team of friends, would be fun," he said. "However, I'm not giving up the handbike, that's true love."
Zanardi's former Champ Car team Ganassi, which had been mooted for his Indy 500 plan, is a dominant force in Grand-Am but has already announced its driver line-up for this year's Daytona 24 Hours.
| By Sam Tremayne and Matt Beer | Wednesday, January 2nd 2013, 12:14 GMT |
Red Bull has admitted that it took too long to get to grips with the changes in Formula 1 at the start of 2012, as it strives to ensure a stronger start to its title defence this year.
After dominating 2011, Red Bull did not win until round four of last year's world championship in Bahrain.
Eventual three-time champion Sebastian Vettel was as low as sixth in the points at one stage, and by mid-September only had one win to his name.
He then went on a four-race victory streak to set himself up for another title. Prior to that, he had looked hard-pressed to catch Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and also faced times when McLaren looked a stronger contender than Red Bull.
Team boss Christian Horner conceded that it had taken a while for designer Adrian Newey to get to grips with the 2012 rule tweaks and the new Pirelli tyre specification.
"There was a big regulation change where the exhaust effect was reduced dramatically, and that particularly had a significant impact on our car because arguably our use of exhaust gases was more advanced than other teams," Horner said.
"So it took a while to understand that, and that combined with a different tyre took Adrian and his team time to get his head around.
"But they relentlessly stuck at it and the performance came."
Before Vettel's dominant September/October run, Red Bull trailed McLaren five-three in the 2012 win stakes, but Horner believes his team's performance was always better than the statistics suggested.
"Even when we weren't winning we were able to be securing sensible points," he said.
"We should have won in Valencia, that was probably our biggest frustration of the year.
"The points we gave away not only the 25 points we should have had for the win but also the points it gifted Fernando."
He added: "There were some challenges but getting that performance from the car and particularly for the last third of the championship was crucial."
* Click here for AUTOSPORT's guide to what's new in F1 for 2013
| Wednesday, January 2nd 2013, 14:55 GMT |
MotoGP rookie Bradley Smith will contest a round of the Qatar International Championship at Losail this weekend.
Smith steps up to MotoGP with Tech 3 Yamaha this season after two years in Moto2.
The Briton will take part in promotional events at Bahrain and Abu Dhabi's Formula 1 venues during the week before racing a Yamaha R1 against Qatar national riders on Saturday.
"I've been pushing really hard to make this happen," Smith said.
"Of course it's great preparation for me before MotoGP testing gets underway in Sepang but also I'm certain there is some real racing talent in that part of the world.
"You only have to see how MotoGP has exploded in Malaysia to understand what the success of local riders can achieve."
Smith joins countryman Cal Crutchlow at Tech 3, taking the seat vacated by Valentino Rossi's Ducati replacement Andrea Dovizioso.
| By Pablo Elizalde and Sam Tremayne | Tuesday, January 1st 2013, 14:03 GMT |
Marc Marquez has played down his chances of scoring a podium on his MotoGP race debut this year.
Both Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa managed debut rostrums after winning the 250cc World Championship - Moto2's predecessor - in 2007 and 2005 respectively.
Marquez dominated Moto2 in 2012, winning nine times and pulling off a number of remarkable rides, notably winning from the back of the grid at the Valencia season finale.
He also impressed in his initial MotoGP tests, lapping just over a second off the 2012 pole time at Sepang.
While he admitted he had adapted to Honda's MotoGP machinery faster than anticipated, the 19-year-old Spaniard stressed that breaking into the top three from the outset was unlikely, particularly as Honda wants him to ease into competition in the premier class.
"Right now I don't think it's doable, Marquez told AS when asked about his podium chances for the Qatar opener.
"I'm not ruling out anything - it's impossible to predict - but Honda has told me to be calm.
"What they want to see is progress, and me taking my time and improving.
"Testing has been better than I imagined. In Malaysia when I got there I thought it would be three tough days, but I started gaining confidence with the bike and began to try new things.
"I still have a long way to go though and I'm hoping to take full advantage of the remaining tests."
| By Glenn Freeman | Tuesday, January 1st 2013, 11:48 GMT |
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Robin Frijns believes that Kevin Magnussen and Antonio Felix da Costa will lead the fight to succeed him in the series this year.
Frijns took a surprise title in 2012, beating the strongest field in the championship's history as a rookie for Fortec Motorsports.
And the Dutchman, who has been signed as a Formula 1 reserve driver by Sauber, believes that 2012 race winners Magnussen (pictured) and da Costa will lead the running in FR3.5 next season.
"It's Magnussen and da Costa," Frijns told AUTOSPORT of the likely contenders for the title. "They were always up there this year, and they are both really quick.
"The speed that Kevin has is impressive. And he always goes for the win. He's capable of dominating races.
"I think da Costa is similar, and he won a lot of races last year. I don't think there will be as many guys going for the title as there was this year, but the ones at the front will be really quick and that's good for the championship."
Magnussen has dominated winter testing so far with DAMS, for which he will race this year. Macau Grand Prix winner da Costa, meanwhile, is expected to retain his Red Bull backing and remain with Arden Caterham.
Da Costa finished fourth in the points and won four races in the series with the team, despite only contesting the second half of the season. Magnussen was seventh overall with Carlin.
Frijns offered some words of warning for both of his title tips though, pointing out that neither had to race with the pressure of going for the championship in FR3.5 last year.
"I don't know Kevin that well, but from what I saw maybe he takes too many risks. You can't win a championship if you only ever go for the win.
"Sometimes you have to settle for second place, third place, or even sixth if you have to. I don't know if he learned that this year, but we will see.
"It's the same for da Costa. He didn't have the pressure that we had going for the championship at the end of last year.
"He was free to do whatever he wanted and he won loads. He's really quick, but if he's in a position to fight for the championship he hasn't got that freedom anymore so he can't take as many risks."
| By Jonathan Noble and Jamie O'Leary | Tuesday, January 1st 2013, 14:34 GMT |
Ross Brawn believes that mid-season changes in Mercedes' Formula 1 aerodynamic department were the root cause of the team's slump in form during the second half of 2012.
Mercedes, which took over the world champion Brawn squad in late 2009, scored its first F1 race win as a constructor since 1955 when Nico Rosberg dominated the Chinese Grand Prix from pole position.
By the halfway point of 2012, Rosberg lay sixth in the championshp, only 34 points behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
But the squad's form suffered during the second half of the year, Rosberg eventually trailing world champion Vettel by 189 points and Michael Schumacher's sixth place in Brazil its only points finish from the final six grands prix.
Team principal Brawn said that the departure of head of aerodynamics Loic Bigois, coupled with a change in windtunnel philosophy while the team experimented with Coanda exhausts and double DRS, also played a major influence.
Brawn said: "We made a decision to change the structure of the aero group. We had to wait for [new aero chief] Mike Elliot to join us because we had a notice period he had to fulfil at Lotus.
"We concluded the situation with Loic and there was a gap that we didn't fill very well."
"On top of that we were doing the transition from 50 per cent to 60 per cent models in the windtunnel, and there were a lot of other things in the aero group as well. It did have an impact."
Brawn said that the shift to 60 per cent models was necessary to increase the amount of technical data it could extract from Pirelli's tyres.
"Our conclusion was that we would get a much more representative tyre at 60 per cent than at 50 per cent," he added.
"Pirelli have to make 50 per cent and 60 per cent windtunnel tyres. There are only two teams that are still doing 50 per cent.
"Even with Pirelli's best efforts, they're going to be getting better feedback about 60 per cent tyres than 50 per cent. So we wanted to make the move.
"The other thing that has happened over the years is that you're putting more and more equipment inside the windtunnel model to measure, monitor and check. We just ran out of space in the 50 per cent model.
"There were things that we wanted to do that we couldn't do, and we needed the 60 per cent model to accommodate those features. Sixty per cent is the legal limit you can go to, there is no further step we can make."
