Towler Honored at NASCAR Sprint Cup Finale
 Richard Towler, inaugural winner of the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship, hoists the champion’s trophy for NASCAR’s first global championship, while iRacing.com’s Steve Myers and NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr. present the winner’s check for $10,000. NASCAR managing director Blake Davidson looks on. The presentation to NASCAR’s first virtual racing champion took place at the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, just prior to the start of the Ford 400.
Towler, of Hull, England, won four times – at Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Richmond International Raceway – on his way to a hard-fought 18-race championship over a field of 50 of the best virtual racers and racing gamers in the world. Earnhardt, a regular in the series, won the online season-opener at Daytona International Speedway in February.
21:02:16 28 November 2010 Permanente link Reacties (0)
Alonso Fastest On Final Day Of Pirelli Tests
Fernando Alonso was the fastest man on the second and final day of the Pirelli tyre tests at Abu Dhabi.
The Spaniard, who came close to winning the 2010 World Championship,
set a fastest time of 1.40.529. That was around a tenth quicker than
second placed man Michael Schumacher who has clearly taken to the
Pirelli tyres better than team mate Nico Rosberg.
World Champion Sebastian Vettel was third, while McLaren testers Gary Paffett and Oliver Turvey were 6th and 7th.
Pastor Maldonado, linked heavily with a 2011 Williams drive, was out
for Hispania once again and finished in 14th place just ahead of
Virgin’s Timo Glock.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m40.529s 105
2. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m40.685s 74
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m40.825s 66
4. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m41.294s 100
5. Robert Kubica Renault 1m41.614s 91
6. Gary Paffett McLaren 1m41.622s 46
7. Oliver Turvey McLaren 1m41.740s 30
8. Paul di Resta Force India 1m41.869s 35
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m42.110s 43
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m42.145s 97
11. Tonio Liuzzi Force India 1m42.416s 46
12. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m42.777s 46
13. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m44.521s 83
14. Pastor Maldonado Hispania 1m44.768s 65
15. Timo Glock Virgin 1m44.783s 82
18:14:38 20 November 2010 Permanente link Reacties (0)
Buurman aiming at F1 future
 Yelmer
Buurman hopes that his Force India test this week will help bring him
back on course for a Formula 1 future after spending the 2010 season in
Superleague Formula.
The former GP2 driver has been one of the stars of the
football-themed single-seater series, having won six times during
Superleague’s first three seasons. In 2008 and ‘09 he was able to
dovetail his Superleague campaigns with GP2 programmes, but this year he
did not race in any of the traditional F1 feeder series.
“It was a bit difficult this year and I struggled for budget to do
GP2, so I did Superleague - which is quite a good alternative, They’re good cars with a lot of power.
“We’ve got to see [about 2011]. So far we’ve just been focusing on
this test. Obviously it’s my first test and we have to see what happens
after this, but I think this is going to be a real positive for whatever
I do after this.”
The 23-year-old Dutchman felt that a mechanical problem had stopped
him showing what he could really do during his Force India run.
“I think the team was pretty pleased. We had a problem where I
stopped on-track, and it was the run before my last run, which was a
shame because obviously the last run is when the track’s at its best,
you put new tyres on and you really push for a time,” said Buurman, who
ended up 10th on the timesheets.
“I think it would have been easily top six, even if I only did a lap
like I had in the afternoon - considering that the temperature dropped,
the tyres and a couple of other factors. But that’s racing.”
He said his first taste of F1 performance had been everything that he hoped it would be.
“I always knew that I wanted to be a racing driver and once you know
what F1 means that you always want to be in F1,” said Buurman. “So to
finally drive the car is awesome, of course. It was a really awesome
day.
“It didn’t go completely to plan, which was a shame. But still the first day in the car was amazing.
“Everyone tells you it’s so much better than GP2 and everything else,
but you don’t know it until you’ve done it and it’s really a lot better
than anything else and a lot more than you expect.”
17:48:02 18 November 2010 Permanente link Reacties (1)
Pirelli ready for first team test in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi will play host to Pirelli's debut as Formula One racing's
official tyre supplier this week, as the Italian company returns to the
sport following a 19-year absence. The 12 teams will test Pirelli’s
tyres for the first time from Friday over a two-day session at the Yas
Marina Circuit.
 Pirelli have already carried out eight private
tests at Mugello, Monza, Barcelona, Valencia, Jerez and Paul Ricard as
they refined the different tyres that will be supplied to the teams next
year. The company used a Toyota TF109 to rack up 7000 kilometres with
Nick Heidfeld, Romain Grosjean and Pedro de la Rosa at the wheel.
"We
come to these tests with plenty of confidence and satisfaction with our
work carried out so far," said Pirelli motorsport director Paul
Hembery. "The tests in Europe have given us all the data we needed at
this current phase of development. From tomorrow, the drivers and
engineers from every team will give us their opinions and feedback,
which are of vital importance for the second phase of testing: a
challenge that we are already well-prepared for."
The Abu Dhabi
tests will be led by the teams, who have determined the programme they
would like to cover. Both the medium and soft compound slick tyres will
be used, distinguishable by a coloured stripe on the sidewall. Every
team will have eight sets of tyres available, four for day one and four
for day two, which adds up to a total supply of 384 Pirelli tyres.
During
the test, the teams will be fully supported by Pirelli's engineers and
technicians. In particular, each team will have an assigned engineer as
well as being able to rely on the back-up of the entire Pirelli
contingent, which numbers 30 people in Abu Dhabi.
Ahead of the
tests the Pirelli personnel will meet all the teams for a general
briefing, during which details of the forthcoming test programme will be
discussed, whilst after each day of testing there will also be a
debrief between all the teams and Pirelli in order to compare
information.
After the Abu Dhabi test, the Italian company will
move on to Bahrain in early December for more private testing, in
preparation for the first official 2011 tests with the teams next year.
Throughout 2011, Pirelli is expected to supply 50,000 tyres to the
Formula One paddock.
17:44:36 18 November 2010 Permanente link Reacties (0)
Ricciardo dominates rookie testing
 Daniel
Ricciardo completed his domination of the Formula 1 rookie test in Abu
Dhabi, by setting a time 1.3 seconds faster than world champion
Sebastian Vettel pole position lap for last Sunday's grand prix.
Driving Mark Webber's Hungarian Grand Prix-winning Red Bull RB6, the
Australian was fastest in the morning session before Mercedes driver Sam
Bird knocked him off top spot in the afternoon by five thousandths of a
second.
Ricciardo reclaimed the top spot shortly after the one hour to go
mark before setting his best lap with two minutes to go after a
mechanical problem for Yelmer Buurman brought out the red flags with 20
minutes remaining.
Although track conditions are estimated to have improved by up to 1.5
seconds, the Australian's lap was impressive on only his fourth day of
testing in F1.
Renault's Jerome D'Ambrosio recovered from a spin earlier in the day,
which led to the session briefly being stopped, to set the
second-fastest time in the closing stages of the day. After driving for
Virgin yesterday afternoon, the Belgian was seven tenths of a second off
Ricciardo's pace and four hundredths faster than Mercedes driver Sam
Bird.
Gary Paffett was fourth-fastest for McLaren, returning to action for
the team for the first time since February in place of junior driver
Oliver Turvey. Paffett finished just ahead of Ferrari tester Jules
Bianchi, who set some good times today after focusing on development
work yesterday.
Sergio Perez was sixth fastest for Sauber on his F1 test debut,
pipping Force India driver Paul di Resta, who set his time early in the
morning before handing over to Buurman, with his last flying lap.
Pastor Maldonado made his debut for Williams, switching from HRT. He
spent the morning doing aerodynamic work but went faster in the
afternoon, lapping three quarters of a second off Rubens Barrichello's
qualifying time from last Saturday - although his afternoon was
interrupted when a sensor warning forced a precautionary shutdown of the
engine.
Jean-Eric Vergne completed his second day of running for Scuderia
Toro Rosso. He was ninth fastest but missed the second half of the
afternoon session as he had to leave early to travel to Macau for this
weekend's Formula 3 grand prix. The British F3 champion also lost time
in the afternoon when he stopped on track as a result of an engine
warning, forcing a precautionary shutdown because of the age of the
powerplant. He finished ahead of Buurman.
Davide Valsecchi made his debut in the HRT F110 in the afternoon
session, fresh from winning the final GP2 race of the season on the
track three days ago. The Italian caused a red flag when he spun while
on course to improve his lap-time, but set his best time - two seconds
faster than Bruno Senna's qualifying time from Saturday - at the end of
the day.
Also making their F1 debuts were GP2 racer Luiz Razia and Josef Kral
for Virgin and HRT, along with Bulgarian Vladimir Arabadzhiev for Lotus. Pos Driver Car Time Laps
| 1. | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1.38'102'" | 77 |
| 2. | Jerome D'Ambrosio | Renault | 1.38'802'" | 83 |
| 3. | Sam Bird | Mercedes | 1.39'220'" | 82 |
| 4. | Gary Paffett | McLaren | 1.39'760'" | 84 |
| 5. | Jules Bianchi | Ferrari | 1.39'916'" | 93 |
| 6. | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 1.40'543'" | 91 |
| 7. | Paul di Resta | Force India | 1.40'901'" | 27 |
| 8. | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1.40'944'" | 81 |
| 9. | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1.40'974'" | 61 |
| 10. | Yelmer Buurman | Force India | 1.41'178'" | 67 |
| 11. | Davide Valsecchi | HRT | 1.43'013'" | 32 |
| 12. | Luiz Razia | Virgin | 1.43'525'" | 70 |
| 13. | Josef Kral | HRT | 1.44'143'" | 61 |
| 14. | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Lotus | 1.44'312'" | 41 |
| 15. | Vladimir Arabadzhiev | Lotus | 1.45'723'" | 49 |
23:05:23 17 November 2010 Permanente link Reacties (0)
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