It flies as The Mercedes Benz AMG into the air, at Road Atlanta, USA!
Monday, December 29, 2008
IndyCar Series Tribute to Paul Newman
A tribute to Paul Newman, and his many years of racing, and as team owner.
Monday, December 8, 2008
TC 2000 - Punta del Este - 2008-12-07
Final race of 2008. Martin Basso, a specialist in street circuits makes the checkered flag in Punta del Este, Uruguay, with his Ford Focus and Jose Maria (Pechito) Lopez is crowned champion with Honda.
Results
1. M. Basso
2. G. Ortelli
3. N. Fontana
4. M. Rossi
5. C. Ledesma
Final Standings:
Pos Nr Driver Team Pts
1 37 LOPEZ, JOSE M. H. NEW CIVIC 169.00
2 9 SILVA, JUAN M. H. NEW CIVIC 145.00
3 2 ORTELLI, GUILLERMO R. Mégane 135.00
4 5 LEDESMA, CHRISTIAN C. Astra 123.00
5 1 ROSSI, MATIAS R. Mégane 111.00
6 3 BASSO, MARTIN F. FOCUS 81.00
7 4 P. DE LEON, GABRIEL F. FOCUS 68.00
8 8 PERNIA, Leonel H. NEW CIVIC 58.00
9 13 DI PALMA, JOSE F. FOCUS 57.00
10 11 FONTANA, NORBERTO T. COROLLA 53.00
11 10 OKULOVICH, CARLOS H. NEW CIVIC 51.00
12 33 BUGLIOTTI, Marcelo C. Astra 48.00
13 12 WERNER, MARIANO T.COROLLA 46.00
14 6 RISATTI, RICARDO C. Astra 42.00
15 14 CARDUCCI, LEANDRO F. FOCUS 25.00
16 17 YANNANTUONI, FABIAN C. Astra 13.00
17 38 CACERES, JUAN H. NEW CIVIC 7.00
18 18 CANAPINO, AGUSTIN C. Astra 6.00
19 19 VENTANA, SANTIAGO H. NEW CIVIC 5.00
20 34 CORSA C. Astra 5.00
21 20 FINESCHI, DAMIAN H. CIVIC 2.00
22 41 LLAVER, BERNARDO H. CIVIC 2.00
23 15 COSCIA, FRANCO H. NEW CIVIC 2.00
24 27 BELLI, DANIEL H. CIVIC 2.00
25 39 BENAMO, LUCAS H. NEW CIVIC 2.00
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
FIA GT figures laud San Luis track
By Matt Beer (Autosport) Monday, November 24th 2008, 11:58 GMT
The FIA GT Championship finale at San LuisFIA GT Championship figures believe the San Luis track used for this year's season finale will become a legendary circuit like Spa-Francorchamps and Bathurst.
The 3.896-mile Potrero de los Funes track is a semi-permanent circuit built around a volcanic lake, and was constructed in under a year. Its fast and undulating layout received lavish praise from drivers during the FIA GT title-decider last weekend.
Series promoter Stephane Ratel believes San Luis will rapidly become a world-renowned venue.
"This circuit will be a landmark in world motorsport," he said.
"The legendary circuits are usually very fast, very challenging, natural circuits, not designed by computers. Circuits like Le Mans, Spa, Bathurst - and now San Luis will be part of these big circuits of the world."
Fabrizio Gollin, who finished second in the race and the championship with co-driver Mike Hezemans, was one of many drivers who lauded the circuit layout, although he admitted that the current level of dust made it treacherous.
"The track is unbelievable," he said. "I think it's one of the best tracks in the world.
"The only thing is it's completely new so there is only one good line. Off-line is very slippery."
Series champion Michael Bartels agreed that the dust had made the race difficult, but was still full of admiration for the San Luis track.
"The track's condition was really difficult and this turned the race - which should have been a stroll in the park - into a sort of lottery in which anything could happen," he said.
"I'd also like to emphasise the great job the San Luis community did in creating this circuit in just nine months."
Ratel was also amazed by what the San Luis authorities had achieved.
"About 18 months ago, I had a very pleasant dinner with Carlos Garcia Remohi (head of Argentine motorsport) in Paris, and we discussed the opportunity to bring international circuit racing back to Argentina," said Ratel.
"We had this discussion and he told me about the project in San Luis. I came here to discover Potrero de los Funes, which was undoubtedly an amazing place to spend a week's vacation. But after the first lap we did together on the small road around the lake, I had to be very inventive to imagine that we could ever do a race here.
"Eighteen months later, I am delighted I took that decision, which sounded a bit crazy at the time, because I am absolutely amazed and I want to thank everybody involved."
TC2000 - San Luis - Potrero de los Funes - 2008
Before the FIA-GT race, the Argentine TC2000 inaugurated the wonderful Potrero de los Funes circuit in San Luis. Pechito Lopez won the race. At the end of the video you will hear the broadcaster praising Lopez as the 2008 champion, but the stewards penalized Risatti with 30 sec., so Silva was third postponing the championship's definition for the next race in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on 12 December.
Race Results:
1. J.M. López
2. C. Ledesma
3. J.M. Silva
4. L. Pernia
5. M. Rossi
Race Results:
1. J.M. López
2. C. Ledesma
3. J.M. Silva
4. L. Pernia
5. M. Rossi
Monday, November 24, 2008
FIA-GT - Potrero de los Funes - 2008 - Last race of the season
FIA-GT - Potrero de los Funes - 2008 - Argentina. New excellent circuit and quite an interesting race under the sun (very hot day).
Vitaphone duo take title in crazy race
By Matt Beer Sunday, November 23rd 2008, 18:26 GMT
Andrea Bertolini, Maserati's Herbert Wester, and Michael Bartels on the San Luis podiumPK Saleen duo Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen ended a miserable season on a high by taking a shock win in the dramatic FIA GT Championship finale in Argentina, as Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini clinched the drivers' title in fifth place.
Fabrizio Gollin and Mike Hezemans (Phoenix Corvette) finished a close second, but their title hopes depended on Vitaphone Maserati duo Bartels and Bertolini finishing outside the top six.
In the event their conservative fifth made Bartels and Bertolini champions for a second time, and gave the team their third straight drivers' crown.
Marcel Fassler and Ricardo Risatti had looked set to take a dominant win for Phoenix at the breathtaking new San Luis track, only for Fassler to crash out of the lead with just 22 minutes remaining - having controlled most of the race.
Pole-winner Fassler was beaten away by Larbre Saleen's Frederic Makowiecki at the start, with the Frenchman - in only his second FIA GT1 appearance and his first since Dubai 2006 - fending off Fassler's pressure over the opening laps before briefly pulling out a three-second lead.
But as the first stops approached, the Corvette calmly closed back onto the Saleen's tail, with Fassler slicing ahead on lap 18.
Mackowiecki stayed in touch, only for his co-driver Roland Berville to end Larbre's hopes of victory when he hit the wall on the first lap of his stint.
That left Fassler and Risatti with an enormous lead over their teammates Gollin and Hezemans, who had moved up from an early sixth place thanks to good pit work and other teams' problems.
They lost second to Kumpen's PK Saleen just before the final stops, but Hezemans was able to re-pass Kumpen's co-driver Longin early in the final stint.
That pass turned out to be for the race lead, as at the same moment Fassler ran wide at the final corner and clouted the wall, costing him and Risatti a comfortable win.
Hezemans therefore picked up the lead, but could not shake off Longin, who slipped back ahead with eight minutes to go and subsequently resisted huge pressure from the Dutchman to claim the victory.
The race then came to a bizarre end when the two leaders tangled amid traffic on the slowing down lap, with the victorious PK Saleen sustaining broken suspension and spinning into the wall. The stewards are investigating both drivers' actions.
With the second Vitaphone Maserati retiring after Alexandre Negrao hit the wall avoiding a GT2 car, Maxime Soulet and Christian Ledesma came through from the back of the grid - having lost their qualifying times due to a tyre infringement - to complete the podium for SRT Corvette.
Fellow back row starters Jose Maria Lopez and Esteban Tuero took fourth. Lopez tore through the field in the ageing ACA Argentina Ferrari in the first stint, getting as high as third before losing time with a slow pit stop.
Local duo Matias Russo and Luis Perez Companc (Advanced Engineering Ferrari, see photo) took a popular home win in GT2, but only after the AF Corse Ferrari slowed dramatically in the flying laps.
Until then, GT2 champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander had appeared to be on course to take class victory from the back of the grid following Vilander's qualifying crash. Pole-sitter Russo had pulled away early on, but his co-driver Companc lost the lead to the flying Vilander just before half-distance, only for the AF Corse car's huge lead to disappear in the final moments, allowing Russo and Companc to take the win after all.
Christian Montanari and Thomas Biagi completed the podium in the second AF Corse Ferrari, while Emmanuel Collard and Richard Westbrook's Prospeed Porsche was an early retirement.
Race Results
2008 Final Standings
Vitaphone duo take title in crazy race
By Matt Beer Sunday, November 23rd 2008, 18:26 GMT
Andrea Bertolini, Maserati's Herbert Wester, and Michael Bartels on the San Luis podiumPK Saleen duo Bert Longin and Anthony Kumpen ended a miserable season on a high by taking a shock win in the dramatic FIA GT Championship finale in Argentina, as Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini clinched the drivers' title in fifth place.
Fabrizio Gollin and Mike Hezemans (Phoenix Corvette) finished a close second, but their title hopes depended on Vitaphone Maserati duo Bartels and Bertolini finishing outside the top six.
In the event their conservative fifth made Bartels and Bertolini champions for a second time, and gave the team their third straight drivers' crown.
Marcel Fassler and Ricardo Risatti had looked set to take a dominant win for Phoenix at the breathtaking new San Luis track, only for Fassler to crash out of the lead with just 22 minutes remaining - having controlled most of the race.
Pole-winner Fassler was beaten away by Larbre Saleen's Frederic Makowiecki at the start, with the Frenchman - in only his second FIA GT1 appearance and his first since Dubai 2006 - fending off Fassler's pressure over the opening laps before briefly pulling out a three-second lead.
But as the first stops approached, the Corvette calmly closed back onto the Saleen's tail, with Fassler slicing ahead on lap 18.
Mackowiecki stayed in touch, only for his co-driver Roland Berville to end Larbre's hopes of victory when he hit the wall on the first lap of his stint.
That left Fassler and Risatti with an enormous lead over their teammates Gollin and Hezemans, who had moved up from an early sixth place thanks to good pit work and other teams' problems.
They lost second to Kumpen's PK Saleen just before the final stops, but Hezemans was able to re-pass Kumpen's co-driver Longin early in the final stint.
That pass turned out to be for the race lead, as at the same moment Fassler ran wide at the final corner and clouted the wall, costing him and Risatti a comfortable win.
Hezemans therefore picked up the lead, but could not shake off Longin, who slipped back ahead with eight minutes to go and subsequently resisted huge pressure from the Dutchman to claim the victory.
The race then came to a bizarre end when the two leaders tangled amid traffic on the slowing down lap, with the victorious PK Saleen sustaining broken suspension and spinning into the wall. The stewards are investigating both drivers' actions.
With the second Vitaphone Maserati retiring after Alexandre Negrao hit the wall avoiding a GT2 car, Maxime Soulet and Christian Ledesma came through from the back of the grid - having lost their qualifying times due to a tyre infringement - to complete the podium for SRT Corvette.
Fellow back row starters Jose Maria Lopez and Esteban Tuero took fourth. Lopez tore through the field in the ageing ACA Argentina Ferrari in the first stint, getting as high as third before losing time with a slow pit stop.
Local duo Matias Russo and Luis Perez Companc (Advanced Engineering Ferrari, see photo) took a popular home win in GT2, but only after the AF Corse Ferrari slowed dramatically in the flying laps.
Until then, GT2 champions Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander had appeared to be on course to take class victory from the back of the grid following Vilander's qualifying crash. Pole-sitter Russo had pulled away early on, but his co-driver Companc lost the lead to the flying Vilander just before half-distance, only for the AF Corse car's huge lead to disappear in the final moments, allowing Russo and Companc to take the win after all.
Christian Montanari and Thomas Biagi completed the podium in the second AF Corse Ferrari, while Emmanuel Collard and Richard Westbrook's Prospeed Porsche was an early retirement.
Race Results
2008 Final Standings
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