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[ Click Me ] | The adventures continue for the PaddockTalk photography team! The first MotoGP photos from our photogs have arrived! PaddockTalk photographer Paul Hurley had the honor shooting the MotoGP talent testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
Check out OVER 12,000 exclusive photos at --> Ptalkphoto.com |
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“But it’s the age-old story: you never lost a race, you just ran out of laps.”
-- Ted Musgrave, Feb. 2007 after a last-lap battle at California Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series |
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| PaddockFocus (Feature Articles) |
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· McLaren's Kovalainen Wins First Career F1 Pole!
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Martin Marches on with Hendrick Switch in ‘09
(Jul 05, 2008)
· DEI and Menard on Pole at Daytona for the Coke Zero 400
(Jul 05, 2008)
· British GP: Formula One Practice 3 Results - Alonso Fastest, Rain Coming
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Senna Keeps His Word With Strong Silverstone GP2 Pole!
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Interdependence Day
(Jul 04, 2008)
· British GP: Formula One Practice 2 Results - Finn Fastest, Trulli Smashes
(Jul 04, 2008)
· Daytona, the Site of McMurray’s Last NACAR Victory
(Jul 03, 2008)
· F1 Tyre Talk: When The Going Gets Rough
(Jul 01, 2008)
· NASCAR Is Always In Season
(Jun 27, 2008)
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Briscoe Wins Watkins Glen IndyCar Pole, But Can Anyone Beat Dixon ?
Penske driver Ryan Briscoe took the IRL IndyCar Pole during qualifying at Watkins Glen.
Courtesy of IRL IndyCar
Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe survived three rounds of knockout qualifications to win his first PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award in the IndyCar Series since 2005.
Briscoe survived the unique qualifying format that narrows the field from 26 to 12 to six. In the Firestone Fast Six session, Briscoe surpassed Justin Wilson in the final minute of the 10-minute session with a lap at 1 minute, 29.3456 seconds, 135.787 mph.
"It came down to the last lap," Briscoe said. "The team was telling me on the radio how we were progressing through the lap. There were one or two quicker lap times by other drivers, then all of the sudden they said, ‘You're P2. P1 is a 1:29:38.’ I knew I had to pull it all together. I'm really happy for Team Penske and all the effort they've put in to getting the car ready. It was a great last lap, and it's great to be on the front row with Justin Wilson. After seeing how this race can play out, it's a big help to start on the pole."
The pole is the fourth in a row for Team Penske at Watkins Glen. Helio Castroneves, who won the previous three poles, had mechanical difficulties during the first qualifying segment and did not turn a lap. He will start a career-worst 26th.
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GP2 Asia Series 2008-2009 Season Calendar Announced
After a successful opening season which started in Dubai last January and ended at the same circuit in mid-April, the GP2 Asia Series will see its second season open in Shanghai on October 18th and 17th 2008, and will be a part of the Formula One race weekend. Going to China will be a first for the championship. There will be a two-day test in that same circuit prior to the event on October 8th and 9th. Then, the Series will fly to its headquarters in Dubai on December 5th and 6th.
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Pantano Storms To GP2 Feature Race Victory
GP2 victor Giorgio Pantano celebrates his feature win at Silverstone.
Courtesy of GP2
Giorgio Pantano has laid down a huge marker to the rest of the grid after exploding past his rivals to steal an incredible victory ahead of Lucas di Grassi and Karun Chandhok.
The Italian started from fifth on the grid, but kept his head while all around him the others were losing theirs, managing his tyres and timing his challenge to perfection to take the win from di Grassi, who looked certain to claim his first win of the season until Pantano took it from him with six laps to go and then sailed serenely on to the chequered flag.
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McLaren's Kovalainen Wins First Career F1 Pole!By Mike Sulka
McLaren Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen celebrates his first F1 career pole after dominating qualifying at the Silverstone circuit.
Courtesy of McLaren
Despite the dire weather predictions for round nine, today’s light rain played little factor in the outcome of today’s Formula One qualifying for the British Grand Prix running at the legendary Silverstone circuit.
To his credit, Heikki Kovalainen became the first driver in 29 years to win his first career F1 Pole at the British Grand Prix. The Finn was extremely fast and crushed the field by over a de-moralizing half second with a lap of one minute 21.049 seconds, and he did it in the dry.
“It’s great to make my first Pole here,” said the happy second year driver. “It’s been going really well all weekend. We’ve managed to put some more pace to the car last week, and all week here it has carried on.”
But it certainly wasn’t easy. The Q1 session was extremely unpredictable, and with all 20 cars on track trying to avoid the impending rain. There was little room to get a clean lap.
“It was difficult conditions in Q1,” continued Kovalainen. “I had a bit of traffic and didn’t manage to do a good lap at the beginning. So, I had to go back out and make sure we didn’t get knocked out!”
The key to Kovalainen’s Pole was his exceptional speed in the final slow Silverstone sector. Kovalainen attributed that quickness to the team “putting in a lot of effort into sorting out that particular area (slow corners).”
“I think they have done a brilliant job!”
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Martin Marches on with Hendrick Switch in ‘09By Brad Gerhart
Hello again, and again, and again.
Mark Martin simply refuses to give in, or give up. After numerous years of retirement talk, nearly going into retirement, driving half years, switching to Ginn to DEI and now Martin makes the full-time move next season to one of NASCAR’s top tier teams in Hendrick Motorsports.
Recently Casey Mears was informed by Hendrick that he will not be with the team following the end of the current Sprint Cup season, a short period of time later his replacement has already been announced. Mears really did not fit well with the Hendrick team as he posted only one top five finish (a fifth in the Toyota/Save Mart 350), a week before the official announcement
Martin is scheduled to take over the No. 5 car previous driven by Mears and Kyle Busch who raced to five victories in 2007. The deal included a full-time position with the team for next year, along with a part-time schedule of 26 races in 2010, which Martin might turn into a full-time schedule (again), depending on his position in the championship point’s standings.
During last year’s Nationwide series Martin actually drove three races for Hendrick so his previous relationship should help the transition rather smoothly going into the Cup program, especially with highly touted crew chief Alan Gustafson, someone who Martin obviously looks to work with on a daily basis.
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DEI and Menard on Pole at Daytona for the Coke Zero 400By Brad Gerhart
Paul Menard.
Yes. Paul Menard won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Coors Light pole at Daytona for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400, his very first NASCAR pole in 57 attempts.
As a matter of fact the No. 15 Chevrolet driver’s previous best starting position was a mediocre 13th at Dover earlier this season, he started 21st at the 500 to begin the season.
Many around the NASCAR circuit were shocked to see Menard’s car on top of the charts when the session ended, needless to say Menard himself was happily surprised with the out come. “We didn’t focus at all on qualifying yesterday. All we did was draft practice so honestly I had no idea how we’d run by ourselves but obviously pretty good,” said the DEI driver.
On a day he announced a full-time switch to Hendrick Motorsports after the current season Mark Martin earned a front row spot in his No. 8 DEI U.S. Army Chevrolet, for an all DEI sweep of the front row.
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British GP: Formula One Practice 3 Results - Alonso Fastest, Rain ComingBy Mike Sulka
In what is fast becoming a Saturday morning tradition, Formula One's rainy final practice session seemed to be no real indicator of what will actually will occur in qualifying.
This time around it was the Renault of Fernando Alonso who topped the timesheets of a drying track. The two-time Formula One World Champion turned a lap of 1:20.740 around the Silverstone circuit. Though his Renault team has seemed to put a solid grip on being the fourth best team on the grid, most won't be picking the Spaniard to land today's Pole position....
That is unless its wet....
Which it seems it is going to be. Yesterday, the weather prediction was 60% during the morning practice, but only 20% for the afternoon qualifying. That has changed, and light rain is predicted for the afternoon qualifying at nearly 70%. Tomorrow's race also appears that it is going to be a wet one with a 70% chance predicted during the race hours.
Sit back and enjoy qualifying, teams are going to have to guess what is best for them today, but also what will be best for them tomorrow. Will any team gamble on a dry setup hoping that once again the weatherman is wrong ?
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Senna Keeps His Word With Strong Silverstone GP2 Pole!By Rick Volman
It didn't take long for iSport's Bruno Senna to make good on the pledge he made after taking the pole at the recent French Grand Prix.
“I crashed at the end of my pole position lap in Magny-Cours two weeks ago and promised I’d do the job properly here by keeping all four wheels on," he said. "I kept my word."
Senna thundered to the pole for the British Grand Prix by making a marked improvement over his practice time earlier in the day. At the end of the session he was the only driver to run under 1:27, edging rival Romain Grosjean, of ART Grand Prix, by a little more than a tenth of second to take the front-row honors.
"The car wasn’t handling perfectly during this morning’s free practice session," Senna said. "We went the wrong way with car set up, we saw the problems we had and made a few changes for qualifying. All the small changes made a positive difference and the balance felt absolutely perfect in qualifying. It was a fantastic team effort.”
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Daytona II: NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying Results - Menard, Chevrolet On Pole
Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Paul Menard captured his first career Sprint Cup pole Friday to lead an all DEI front row in qualifying for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Remarkably, Menard’s Pole is the first by any Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver at Daytona International Speedway. In addition, the pole is the first by a DEI driver in the Sprint Cup Series at either of the two NASCAR restrictor plate tracks (Daytona or Talladega Superspeedway).
Menard is joined on the front row by veteran Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Mark Martin, who will start on the outside of Menard in the second position.
Menard recorded a time and speed at the 2.5-mile oval of 48.409 seconds at 185.916 miles per hour. Martin's numbers were 48.421 and 185.870
“It’s obviously a good position to be in,” said Menard. “We didn’t focus on qualifying at all during practice, so I didn’t know what we would have. I was really happy with how the car drove in the draft and just how fast it was. It had good speed, so I thought we would qualify really well.
“Hats off to everyone at DEI and Earnhardt Childress Engines,” added Menard. “We had great power. The car was fast at Talladega, but we had a little more power in the engine today and that’s what did it for us.”
Martin's qualifying result was his fifth top-four and second outside pole in 13 Cup races this season.
“We have a really good car here this weekend,” said Martin. “I’m having a blast driving these cars and (crew chief) Tony Gibson and everyone at DEI continues to give me great cars to drive each week. This really says a lot about our engine program and kudos to the Earnhardt-Childress program for the gains they have made since February.
“Speed here is mostly done in the engine shop, so I just want to give those guys credit,” added Martin. “We have a really good car here. I was able to pass cars on the outside in practice – without help. If the car races anything like it practiced on the last run, we are going to have some big fun tomorrow night.”
Last weekend's hero, found out how much that was worth in practice at Daytona.
Credit: CIA Stock Photo
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IndyCar Points Leader Scott Dixon Tops Friday Practice at 'The Glen'
Watkins Glen has been raced with IndyCars three times, and won all three times by Scott Dixon, who just so happened to lead today's practice sessions.
Courtesy of IRL/IndyCar
The IRL IndyCar series is back road racing after seven straight oval affairs. Even better, Watkins Glen is a wonderful, scenic place to celebrate the Independence Day weekend by getting back to nature, and enjoying your favorite past-time... Racing!
During the opening practice session, Dan Wheldon led his Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon with a lap of 1:30.6586. But for the day, it was Scott Dixon who didn’t hold anything back.
The winner of all three previous IndyCar Series events at Watkins Glen International topped the combined speed charts as 26 drivers participated in 2.5 hours of practice on the 11-turn, 3.37 mile circuit.
Dixon, who has won at The Glen from second and fourth twice, recorded a best lap of 1 minute, 30.1947 seconds, 134.509 mph in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine.
Just behind, was Helio Castroneves, who has won all three PEAK Motor Oil Pole Awards at Watkins Glen, was second fastest with a best lap of 134.368 mph.
Wheldon's top time ended up being third quickest overall, while Panther Racing’s Vitor Meira was fourth and KV Racing Technology’s Will Power rounded out the top five times.
Dixon and Castroneves are first and second, respectively, in the IndyCar Series point standings, and both drivers will be gunning to lead Sunday's race from the Pole!
or maybe not...
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· New Chassis For Glock
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Hamilton Can't Figure Out Why He Couldn't Catch Kovalainen
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Final Pieces Of Super Aguri Going To Highest Bidder
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: IRL Indy Lights Race 2 Results
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Will Power IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Spins Into 12th
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Silverstone: Durango GP2 Feature Race Recap
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Dale Coyne IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Junqueira Starting 11th
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: IRL IndyCar Post-Qualifying Driver Quotes
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Izod Celebrates New IndyCar Partnership
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: IRL Indy Lights Race 1 Post-Race Notes & Quotes
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Danica Patrick IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - 'Frustrating'
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Tony Kanaan IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - 'Happier Than 7th'
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Penske IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Briscoe On Pole
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Hideki Mutoh IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Tough Weekend
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: AFS/AGR IRL IndyCar Race 1 Recap - Victory!
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Panther IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Meira Narrowly Misses Fast Six
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Briscoe Wins Watkins Glen IndyCar Pole, But Can Anyone Beat Dixon ?
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Silverstone: DAMS GP2 Feature Race Recap - Opportunities Missed
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: NHL IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Wilson On Front Row
(Jul 05, 2008)
· GP2 Asia Series 2008-2009 Season Calendar Announced
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Firestone IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - Briscoe On Pole
(Jul 05, 2008)
· Watkins Glen: Rahal Letterman IRL IndyCar Qualifying Recap - 'Massive Improvement'
(Jul 05, 2008)
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