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Every red-blooded car fan knows that wagons are the business, serving drivers and fashionistas far better than SUVs can. And after years of obscurity, the appeal has reemerged for blue-blooded car fans as well. Ferrari?s Geneva debut of the shooting-brake FF ups the ante for the prancing horse?s primary antagonist and raises the question, ?Why not [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/5a5EHYhqAdo/

Toyota Kimmy

Mercedes is closer to the pace than its pace in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix suggests, according to Nico Rosberg. The German qualified seventh, 1.892s off Sebastian Vettel's pole time, but Rosberg has no doubts that a combination of car problems - including difficulties with the KERS system - driver error and the unusual Melbourne track configuration have stretched the deficit to Red Bull. "We are not as bad as we look today," said Rosberg when asked by AUTOSPORT whether the gap to the front is really almost two seconds, as the timesheets suggest

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/rosberg-mercedes-closer-than-it-looks/

Matthew Roy Kenseth Alan Dennis Kulwicki Travis Wade Kvapil Robert Allen Labonte

Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team RALLY DE Portugal Day 3 Sun, Mar 27, 2011 Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team retained the lead of both the manufacturers' and drivers' standings in the FIA World Rally Championship in Portugal today....

Source: http://www.motorsportsjournal.com/archives/2011/03/ford_retains_wrc_lead_as.php

Mike Hailwood Mika Häkkinen Bruce Halford Jim Hall

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has admitted that he is as surprised as everyone else about the strong form his team's new RB7 has shown in Australia. Although the reigning world champions had headed into the Albert Park event as favourites, it is the team's advantage over the rest of the field that has raised eyebrows - with Sebastian Vettel eight tenths clear of his nearest challenger. Horner says that he too did not expect such a level of dominance ? as he once again took a cheeky swipe at comments from Lewis Hamilton about Red Bull just being a drinks company rather than a full-on racing team.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/horner-surprised-by-red-bull-pace/

Horace Gould Jean Marc Gounon Emmanuel de Graffenried Lucas di Grassi

Kamui Kobayashi believes a place in the top six on the Melbourne grid would have been achievable had he been able to save some new soft tyres for Q3. The Sauber driver used the best of his rubber reaching the final part of qualifying, but still took ninth on the grid.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/kobayashi-top-six-slot-was-possible/

Bruce Kessler Nicolas Kiesa Leo Kinnunen Danny Kladis

Will Power was quickest again in the final practice session before qualifying for the St Petersburg IndyCar race. The extremely competitive hour saw countless changes of lead, but in the end it was established road and street course master Power who emerged on top once again. Mike Conway maintained his excellent form for Andretti Autosport to take second - meaning the British returnee has been in the top three in all three sessions this weekend

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/indycar-news/indycar/power-stays-on-top-in-practice-three/

David Lee Blaney Michael Duane Bliss Kurt Thomas Busch Kyle Thomas Busch

Will Power started his 2011 IndyCar title bid with another commanding street course pole position in St Petersburg. The 2010 series runner-up had been quickest in two out of three practice sessions, and after his Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe and Ganassi's Scott Dixon briefly held provisional pole in the 'fast six' final session, Power produced the fastest lap of the weekend to take pole with a 1m01.962s. Two Ganassi cars will chase Power off the start, with champion Dario Franchitti shrugging off a morning practice crash to get closest to the Australian with a lap 0.3328 seconds away from pole and 0.1s ahead of team-mate Dixon

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/indycar-news/indycar/power-takes-st-petersburg-pole/

Out! Pet Care Toyota Jason Leffler David Carl Allison Gregory Jack Biffle

Lewis Hamilton hailed his second place in the Australian Grand Prix as a 'great achievement' for McLaren given its poor winter testing form and last-minute redesign. Following a build-up during which it looked unlikely to even break into the top 10, McLaren shelved its radical exhaust system and brought a new exhaust and floor to Melbourne for the season-opener. That transformed its performance, and Hamilton was able to qualify and finish second in Australia, while his team-mate Jenson Button started fourth and came home sixth following a penalty

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/hamilton-thrilled-with-teams-progress/

Yuji Ide Jesús Iglesias Taki Inoue Innes Ireland

Sebastien Loeb has apologised to Mikko Hirvonen for driving into the back of the Finn's Ford Fiesta RS WRC at the end of the second stage of day two of the Rally of Portugal. The Frenchman was caught in Hirvonen's dust after the Finn had stopped to change a puncture on the Ourique test.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/world-rally-championship-news/wrc/loeb-apologises-to-hirvonen-after-row/

Clint Bowyer Zaxby s Chevrolet Brad Keselowski Ruby Tuesday Dodge

Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala says he can now see how the biggest accident of his life happened, after driving the Rally of Portugal's Felizes test again this morning.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/world-rally-championship-news/wrc/latvala-now-understands-09-crash/

Theo Helfrich Mack Hellings Brian Henton Johnny Herbert

Filed under: Motorsports, Sedan, SUV, Porsche, Police/Emergency, Racing

At any of the myriad Le Mans series races around the world, you're guaranteed to see more than a proportional sampling of Porsches. Those are usually one manner of 911 GT3 or another; less so Panameras and Cayennes, but the latest additions to the American Le Mans Series paddock are exactly those.

The Porsche Panamera Turbo has been selected as the official safety car for ALMS, outfitting a stock model with a dome light and special paint scheme. It's joined in its duties by a set of Cayennes that will act as medics' emergency response vehicles, a task to which the Porsche SUV is already perfectly accustomed. See for yourself in our high-res image gallery below.



[Source: Porsche via World Car Fans]

Porsche sets the pace in ALMS with Panamera, Cayenne support vehicles originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 11:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/27/porsche-sets-the-pace-in-alms-with-panamera-cayenne-support-veh/

Charles Robert Hamilton V Kevin Michael Harvick Virgil Ernest Irvan III Kenny Dale Irwin Jr

Audi has completed the first test of what it referred to as the 'evolution 2' version of its new R18 Le Mans car. The closed-cockpit machine ran at Sebring this week following the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup-opening 12 Hours last weekend. All 10 works Audi drivers took part in the test, which also featured an old-style R15 TDI for comparison purposes.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/3rdparty/audi-tests-evolution-2-r18/

Bob Gerard Gerino Gerini Peter Gethin Piercarlo Ghinzani

Kamui Kobayashi believes a place in the top six on the Melbourne grid would have been achievable had he been able to save some new soft tyres for Q3. The Sauber driver used the best of his rubber reaching the final part of qualifying, but still took ninth on the grid.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/kobayashi-top-six-slot-was-possible/

Mike Harris Cuth Harrison Brian Hart Gene Hartley

@import url(http://www.catchfence.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-table/wp-table.css); Kyle Busch - Photo Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images for NASCARWith momentum from last week’s sweep at Bristol, and a tire gamble on pit road today, Kyle Busch captures the victory in the NNS Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway. This was Busch’s 3rd series win of the 2011 season, his 46th series career win,...more»

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2011/nationwide/03/26/2011-nns-royal-purple-300-race-results/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2011-nns-royal-purple-300-race-results

David Hobbs Gary Hocking Ingo Hoffmann Bill Holland

By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif.?Kyle Busch drove it like he stole it over the final 13 Laps at Auto Club Speedway, because that?s exactly what happened in Saturday?s Royal Purple 300 Nationwide Series race. About the only thing he didn?t get was a grand larceny charge. Thanks to a two-tire [...]

Source: http://finallapradio.com/2011/03/26/the-2011-nascar-kyle-busch-series-continues/

Brian Gubby André Guelfi Miguel Ángel Guerra Roberto Guerrero

Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg have escaped grid penalties despite being found guilty of impeding other cars during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. The FIA stewards, including three-time grand prix winner Johnny Herbert, opted only to warn the trio despite having the power to demote them on the grid for Sunday's race after viewing video evidence and hearing evidence from the drivers themselves

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/hamilton-schumacher-get-warnings/

Cecil Green Keith Greene Masten Gregory Cliff Griffith

British rookie Paul di Resta says his Formula 1 debut was 'definitely worth the wait' after a strong showing in his maiden grand prix for Force India. The 24-year-old Scot outqualified his more experienced team-mate Adrian Sutil, and then ran ahead of the German in the race before moving over twice to allow for varying strategies. Di Resta finished in 12th bu was elevated to 10th after the Sauber drivers were disqualified.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/di-resta-delighted-with-gp-debut/

Timo Glock Helm Glöckler Paco Godia Carel Godin de Beaufort

Rubens Barrichello says he was not trying to pass Nico Rosberg when he made contact with the Mercedes GP driver during the Australian Grand Prix. Barrichello crashed into Rosberg's car in what looked like an optimistic passing move at Turn 3

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/barrichello-blames-tyres-for-collision/

Kyle Busch Toyota Kimmy Z Line Designs Toyota Parker Kligerman

Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his sixth Sprint Cup Series pole position in qualifying for Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. The Colombian had run seventh fastest in a rain-delayed practice, which gave him one of the late slots to complete his qualifying run. On his first and only lap he knocked off Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano from provisional pole with a lap time of 38.992s - the only driver breaking the 39-second bracket - at an average speed of 184.652mph

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/nascar-news/nascar/montoya-claims-fontana-cup-pole/

Hans Klenk Peter de Klerk Christian Klien Karl Kling

25 Cars Worth Waiting For. What it is: Saab?s new entry-level compact whose styling recalls the original Saab 92 but conceals an up-to-date powertrain and platform. Keep Reading: 2014 Saab 92 – Feature

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/PJ9sot3RFIo/

Kyle Thomas Busch Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven Kerry Dale Earnhardt