| By Kevin Turner | Sunday, August 3rd 2014, 14:24 GMT |
Jason Plato took his second win of the day in the second British Touring Car encounter at Snetterton after a great tussle with Colin Turkington
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| By Marcus Simmons | Sunday, August 3rd 2014, 14:43 GMT |
Antonio Giovinazzi made up for his disappointment earlier in the day to finally claim his first Formula 3 European Championship win at the Red Bull Ring
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| By Kevin Turner | Sunday, August 3rd 2014, 15:41 GMT |
Reigning British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan will not contest the final race at Snetterton on medical grounds
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 2nd 2014, 15:22 GMT |
Jack Harvey leads an all-Schmidt front row after securing the first Indy Lights pole position of his career at Mid-Ohio on Saturday
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| Saturday, August 2nd 2014, 15:12 GMT |
Citroen's Jose Maria Lopez and Yvan Muller set the pace in World Touring Car Championship practice at the Termas de Rio Hondo track in Argentina on Saturday
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| By Mark Glendenning | Saturday, August 2nd 2014, 15:42 GMT |
Juan Pablo Montoya is open to the idea of attempting the Indianapolis 500/Charlotte 600 IndyCar/NASCAR double next year if team owner Roger Penske gives him the opportunity
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| By Edd Straw | Friday, August 1st 2014, 13:29 GMT |
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has hailed Daniil Kvyat's Formula 1 rookie season as "sensational".
Kvyat was promoted from racing in GP3 and European F3 in 2013, with some question whether he was ready to make the step up.
But the 20-year-old - who won the GP3 title last year - scored points in his first two grands prix and has often been in the top 10 during his maiden season.
Horner believes Kvyat's form is testament to the strength of the Red Bull junior scheme.
"He has been sensational and has been the rookie of the season so far," Horner told AUTOSPORT.
"His raw pace and speed, considering the jump he has made from GP3, is hugely impressive.
"He had little pre-season testing and Jean-Eric [Vergne] is a very quick driver, so the benchmark he's up against is good as well.
"And we have got some great talent coming on beneath that with Carlos Sainz Jr, Pierre Gasly and Alex Lynn, so there is some very positive talent on the junior programme."
The Red Bull junior programme has been criticised in some quarters for its ruthlessness.
Sebastian Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari, Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi have all been axed from Red Bull's F1 programmes in the past.
But Horner believes the success of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in his team shows how effective the scheme is.
"Both of our race drivers have come through the junior team and they are both there on merit," said Horner.
"The junior programme can be perceived as tough at times, but F1 is not a soft business and you get found out in the end.
"The great thing about the Red Bull programme is that if the guys are seriously talented, they find their way and they are supported."
AUTOSPORT SAYS...
Edd Straw, Grand Prix Editor (@eddstrawF1)
On the face of it, Christian Horner talking up a Red Bull junior should be no surprise, but the glowing praise he has heaped on Daniil Kvyat is merited.
The Russian had to take a giant leap to move from F3/GP3-level into F1 and with Toro Rosso's troubled pre-season testing offering relatively little time for him to hone his skills, it was in at the deep end.
His results, four top 10 finishes and five Q3 appearances, would have been even better but for the Italian team's reliability record.
Kvyat has also shown well relative to Jean-Eric Vergne, who is also having a good season after improving his mental approach.
But what is really impressive about Kvyat is his mature attitude. He speaks like someone who has been knocking around in F1 for five years and, crucially, is always focused on areas where he can improve rather than talking up his own performances.
That allows him to improve consistently and learn from when things have gone wrong.
It also justifies Helmut Marko's claim last year that it was the constructive way Kvyat responded to things going badly that earned him the nod over other candidates from the Red Bull stable.
It's still early days for Kvyat, but Horner has rightly recognised him as a driver who has the potential to race for his team in the future.
| By Marcus Simmons | Friday, August 1st 2014, 13:46 GMT |
Antonio Giovinazzi topped both free practice sessions for this weekend's Formula 3 European Championship round at the Red Bull Ring.
The Carlin-run Jagonya Ayam protege bounced back from a recent run of poor results to head championship leader Esteban Ocon by just under a tenth of a second in his Dallara-Volkswagen.
Lotus F1 junior Ocon can theoretically wrap up the championship this weekend in Austria, in the unlikely event of his outscoring closest rival Max Verstappen by 60 points across the three races, and the Frenchman was always towards the front in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.
Jake Dennis proved the strength of the Carlin package on this circuit, the Racing Steps-backed Brit going second in the opening 40-minute session and running Ocon very close in the second period.
So too did team-mates Jordan King and Tom Blomqvist, who ended the running fourth and sixth respectively.
Verstappen squeezed himself between the Carlin flotilla, the Dutchman going fifth quickest in his Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara-VW.
Prema also looks strong, with Dennis van de Laar and Antonio Fuoco backing up Ocon with seventh and eighth fastest times respectively.
Ed Jones made his Euro F3 return from injury - after warming up with a triple win last weekend at Spa in British F3 - to make it five Carlin runners in the top nine, while home hero Lucas Auer (although the Norisring is actually closer to his Kufstein home) rounded out the top 10 in his Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Merc.
Sandro Zeller parked his car early with a rough-sounding engine, while John Bryant-Meisner has started the weekend with a new Mercedes powerplant in his Fortec Motorsport car, and will take a trio of 10-place grid penalties as a result.
As predicted by AUTOSPORT, GP3 regular Alfonso Celis Jr is standing in for this round in the other Fortec car in place of Mitch Gilbert, who has quit the series.
Double R Racing is not at the Red Bull Ring as it was unable to find a replacement for Felipe Guimaraes.
Practice one: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.843s 2. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.867s +0.024s 3. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.870s +0.027s 4. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.014s +0.171s 5. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.074s +0.231s 6. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.275s +0.432s 7. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.278s +0.435s 8. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.377s +0.534s 9. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.488s +0.645s 10. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.488s +0.645s 11. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m26.646s +0.803s 12. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m26.809s +0.966s 13. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m26.823s +0.980s 14. Ed Jones Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.845s +1.002s 15. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara-Merc 1m26.934s +1.091s 16. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m27.044s +1.201s 17. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m27.051s +1.208s 18. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 1m27.078s +1.235s 19. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara-Merc 1m27.150s +1.307s 20. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m27.163s +1.320s 21. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m27.182s +1.339s 22. Santino Ferrucci Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 1m27.315s +1.472s 23. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m27.379s +1.536s 24. Michele Beretta Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 1m27.407s +1.564s 25. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m27.757s +1.914s 26. Alfonso Celis Jr Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m28.259s +2.416s Practice two: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.347s 2. Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.441s +0.094s 3. Jake Dennis Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.486s +0.139s 4. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.526s +0.179s 5. Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m25.638s +0.291s 6. Tom Blomqvist Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.837s +0.490s 7. Dennis van de Laar Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.858s +0.511s 8. Antonio Fuoco Prema Dallara-Merc 1m25.877s +0.530s 9. Ed Jones Carlin Dallara-VW 1m25.962s +0.615s 10. Lucas Auer Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m25.983s +0.636s 11. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.051s +0.704s 12. Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m26.102s +0.755s 13. Felix Serralles West-Tec Dallara-Merc 1m26.112s +0.765s 14. Sean Gelael Carlin Dallara-VW 1m26.141s +0.794s 15. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m26.147s +0.800s 16. Nicholas Latifi Prema Dallara-Merc 1m26.189s +0.842s 17. Tatiana Calderon Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m26.313s +0.966s 18. Santino Ferrucci Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 1m26.421s +1.074s 19. Jules Szymkowiak Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m26.459s +1.112s 20. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m26.481s +1.134s 21. Alexander Toril T-Sport Dallara-NBE 1m26.610s +1.263s 22. Alfonso Celis Jr Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m26.943s +1.596s 23. Hector Hurst West-Tec Dallara-Merc 1m26.952s +1.605s 24. Michele Beretta Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 1m27.171s +1.824s 25. Sandro Zeller Jo Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m27.273s +1.926s 26. John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m27.457s +2.110s
| By Mark Glendenning | Friday, August 1st 2014, 15:07 GMT |
Ryan Hunter-Reay set the pace in the opening practice session for this weekend's IndyCar round at Mid-Ohio.
The Andretti Autosport driver waited until his final lap to post a fastest time of 1m06.5316s, beating Simon Pagenaud's previous benchmark by 0.1415 seconds.
Scott Dixon waited longer than any other driver to emerge from the pitlane, the reigning champion making his first appearance with around 10 minutes left on the clock, but that was still enough time for him to finish the morning third-fastest.
Mikhail Aleshin and Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the top five on a morning notable mostly for how little running most of the drivers completed. In a 45 minute session, only Bourdais and Graham Rahal registered 20 or more laps.
The limited running was likely a side-effect of the fact that Firestone has only allocated five sets of tyres to each car for the weekend instead of six, which was the previous norm for events that have three practice sessions.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap 1. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 1m06.5316s 2. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 1m06.6731s +0.1415s 3. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 1m06.7140s +0.1824s 4. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 1m06.7280s +0.1964s 5. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 1m06.8192s +0.2876s 6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 1m06.8669s +0.3353s 7. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 1m06.8675s +0.3359s 8. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 1m06.8686s +0.3370s 9. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 1m06.8962s +0.3646s 10. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 1m06.8977s +0.3661s 11. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 1m07.0099s +0.4783s 12. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 1m07.0233s +0.4917s 13. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1m07.0248s +0.4932s 14. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 1m07.0276s +0.4960s 15. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 1m07.0967s +0.5651s 16. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 1m07.1100s +0.5784s 17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 1m07.1596s +0.6280s 18. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 1m07.2238s +0.6922s 19. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 1m07.3629s +0.8313s 20. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 1m07.3968s +0.8652s 21. Mike Conway Carpenter/Chevy 1m07.7806s +1.2490s 22. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 1m08.0129s +1.4813s All drivers use Dallara chassis
| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, July 31st 2014, 14:41 GMT |
Ferrari has confirmed a restructuring of its Formula 1 engine department amid its disappointing 2014 campaign
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