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Hamilton set the fastest time of the second practice session at the Nurburgring

Lewis Hamilton surprised everyone by setting the quickest time in the second practice session for the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. 

 The reigning World Champion who, unlike his team-mate is running in the latest spec of the McLaren MP4-24, planted himself at the top of the timesheets on his final run of the session ahead of Sebastien Vettel’s Red Bull.

 After setting the quickest time in morning practice, Mark Webber looked to be on form again at the beginning of P2 but the Australian fell away as the track rubbered in after a quick rain shower and could only manage the fourth quickest time.

Jenson Button’s name appeared at the top of the times on more than one occasion as well, but, although the Brit struggled to get heat into his Bridgestone tyres, he still ended up in a respectable third place.

But, compared to his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barichello, Button had a easy time of it, as the Brazilian and his engineers tried desperately hard throughout both of today’s practice sessions to cure a lack of front-end grip - both Brawns suffered with similar problems at the British Grand Prix also. The problems experienced by Barichello are reportedly down to the relatively low ambient temperatures of Germany and Britain, compared to other countries Formula 1 has visited so far this season.     

Nick Heidfeld gave his home crowd something to be cheery about too, as he showed some promise by posting consistently quick lap times in his BMW Sauber on super soft tyres, ending the session in fifth just behind the Red Bull of Webber.

A last ditch attempt by Vettel to move himself up the timesheets and above Hamilton wasn’t enough to dislodge the McLaren driver, although the young German will be confident about his chances of securing a second consecutive pole position in tomorrow’s qualifying session and of replicating his dominate performance of three weeks ago at Silverstone, in Sunday’s race. The Red Bull seems to enjoy the lower temperatures far more than the Brawn, but rain is forecast for Sunday and threatens to  upset things for the young German who will be keen to clinch his third race victory of 2009 in front of his home crowd.

Hamilton on the other hand remains realistic but has higher hopes for Sunday’s race than for previous grands prix, as he believes he can achieve a top ten finish or possibly even challenge for points.

Photo: britishgt.com

The SRO Motorsports Group have released a document that outlines their plans for the Avon Tyres British GT Championship in 2010.

The document was revealed to the teams and drivers who currently run in the series and those who are interested in entering next season, at a meeting in the Snetterton paddock on 3rd July.

The SRO’s main concerns are cost-cutting measures, such as a reduced calendar and a more compact format, and strategies which are aimed at attracting more entrants for next season, such as, reintroducing the GTC Class and increasing the size of the GT4 Class.

Among other things, the proposed format outlines a removal of the testing ban. On Saturday two 60 minute practice sessions will be followed by two 15 minute qualifying sessions and on Sunday, a single two hour long race will be scheduled.

The SRO have stated that plans won’t be finalised until they have received sufficient feedback from teams and drivers, both current and prospective, and that any revisions made to the current plans will be based on this feedback alone.

This will be Volvo’s third guest appearance in the WTCC since the series’ inception in 2005, as Dahlgren raced a S60 at Anderstorp in 2007 and a C30 at Brands Hatch in 2008.

On this occasion, Dahlgren and Tommy Rustad, who currently compete in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, will be laden with the maximum compensation weight and will not be eligible to score points during the event.

“Last year was an exploratory appearance. This year we are upping the stakes to give our British Volvo fans and customers a great show,” said Derek Crabb, Director of Motorsport at Volvo Car Corporation.

 Rustad – the first Norwegian to compete in the championship – is currently placed 2nd in the Swedish series and Dahlgren lies in 6th.

Senna and Montiero will pilot an ORECA 01 in the Algarve. Photo: oreca-racing.com

The Le Mans Series is heading to the Circuito de Portimao in Portugal at the end of July for the first time in its history.

Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM have announced that 2008 GP2 Series runner-up Bruno Senna and current Seat World Touring Car driver Tiago Montiero, will drive an ORECA 01, alongside the regular pairing of Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre who finished the Le Mans 24 Hours in fifth place with Soheil Ayari. 

Team boss, Hughues de Chaunac said he decided to continue ORECA’s relationship with Senna and Montiero at a post Le Mans review.

“When Tiago joined us for Le Mans we already raised the subject of Portimao, and Bruno let us know very quickly that he wanted to continue racing the ORECA 01. We won’t have Stéphane Ortelli for organisational reasons, as the practice is too short to enter a team of three drivers.

And de Chaunac believes Team ORECA will be strong in Portimao; “On Senna’s first appearance in Barcelona he finished on the rostrum with Stéphane Ortelli and ORECA.”

“Bruno’s shown his talent,” said de Chaunac. “He’s an intelligent driver who analyses his performances with absolute objectivity. He’s an honest guy, a value dear to ORECA.

He added; “He gets on well with Tiago who drove a great 24 Hours. In addition, he already knows this circuit on which a lot of our rivals will be racing for the first time. It’ll be a big advantage.”

The team will run two ORECA 01′s in the 1000km of Algarve; Senna and Montiero will be behind the wheel of no. 10 and Panis and Lapierre will drive the no. 11 car.

Jelley slammed into the barrier at Riches at 130mph. Photo: btcc.net

Stephen Jelley emerged unscathed from a massive 130mph collision with the barriers during an official HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship test day at Snetterton yesterday.

The Team RAC driver slid sideways while under braking for Riches corner, which follows the long Start/Finish Straight at the Norfolk circuit, and slammed into the barrier at a frightening pace. 

He told btcc.net; “It had just started raining and I was hoping to experiment with a few different lines – it would have been important as this place can be unpredictable, weather-wise.”

“As I got to Riches I was moving down from sixth gear to fourth and maybe I just caught the white line on the edge of the track and I was a gonna,” he added.  

“I thought I was going head-on into the barier so tried steering towards the gravel-trap but that sent it sideways. I went in very hard on the drivers side and that’s probably why I’m feeling pretty dazed after the impact.”

Apart from biting his tongue during the crash, Jelley was completely unhurt in the incident and he is now looking forward to the next test day at Rockingham, which is to be held on Monday 13th July.

Tim Harvey (Centre) is looking to take the fight to Bridgman

The reigning champion in the Porsche Carrera Cup of Great Britain, Tim Harvey, will use the seven week mid-season break to find the extra pace that is required to take the fight to Tim Bridgman, who currently heads the championship table by three points.  

The Redline Racing driver is the most experienced competitor in the current field. He has an impressive and unrivaled record and the Brit is hoping that his experience will help him and his team find the two or three tenths of a second that will give him the edge when the action resumes at Snetterton for Rounds 11 and 12 of the season on 1st and 2nd August.

“Clearly Tim Bridgman, with pole for every race, has had the best pace and we’ve been a little bit off our pace from last year,” said Harvey. “I’m lacking two or three-tenths generally in qualifying. My season so far has been only one win and not really the outright pace.”

He added; “We’re using the summer break to do some testing and try and have a stronger second half to the season.”

“I’m doing okay in the points by dint of some strategic driving and getting the best results I can out of the races. But I haven’t felt in contention to win races, apart from at Thruxton, and Thruxton is a bit of a one-off circuit. I haven’t yet achieved what I want to achieve in terms of race pace. But points-wise, it’s been quite good.”

Harvey is confident about his chances at the Norfolk circuit and he is hoping it will be the beginning of a stronger second half of the season.

Farfus and Tarquini win on the streets of Porto

In front of the 120,000 spectators who turned out to watch the 99th an 100th World Touring Car Championship races at the Circuito da Boavista in Portugal, it was Gabrielle Tarquini (Seat Sport) and Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany) who successfully kept their cars out of the armco to take the spoils.

In a very eventful first race of the day in Porto, Tarquini managed to avoid the chaos of the opening lap to romp home to victory ahead of Rob Huff in his Chevrolet Cruze and series leader Yvan Muller in the second of the diesel Seats.

The first incident involved Sergio Hernandez (BMW Team Italy-Spain) and Japp van Lagen (LADA Sport). Hernandez hit a concrete wall sideways at high speed and was immediately taken to the local hospital for x-rays on his ankle. The Spaniard returned to the circuit later on, having been given the all-clear by doctors.

The armco barriers claimed more victims shortly after this incident, when no less than seven cars piled into each other.The crash was triggered when Farfus pushed Alain Menu’s Chevrolet Cruze into a spin at Turn 10. As Farfus recovered from the contact with Menu he swerved into the path of Tiago Montiero (Seat Sport) who was subsequently hit by Nicola Larini in the third Chevy; the Italian trying desperately to find a clear path through the carnage. The resulting pile up involving  Kirill Ladygin (LADA Sport), Franz Engstler (Liqui Moly Team Engstler), Diego Puyo (SUNRED Engineering), Mehdi Bennani (Exagon Engineering) and Tom Boardman (SUNRED Engineering) led to a quick decision from race control to stop the race until the blockage was cleared and the track made safe again.

At the race restart, Tarquini got away well. He kept his cool and refused to succumb to the pressure that was being applied by Huff, who was glued to the Italian’s rear bumper throughout the race. Farfus served a drive-through penalty for causing the earlier pile up that disrupted the race. 

Tarquini went on the win and was closely followed over the finish line by Huff and his team mate Yvan Muller, who currently leads the championship. 

In the second race of the day, Farfus led the field away from pole position with determination after some rookie errors at the last meeting in the Czech Republic and in the first race in Portugal.

Yvan Muller (Seat Sport) passed Larini at Turn 2 on the opening lap with a well-timed lunge up the inside of the corner – the Frenchman used the concrete wall on the inside to prevent Larini from closing the door on him. By the end of the race, Muller had moved up to second to take eight valuable championship points. 

The race remained clean until Turn 5 on lap 3 when Larini and race one winner Tarquini came together – the pair, both refusing to give way, ended up buried in the tyres.

Shortly after this collision, Bennani locked his brakes as he entered the same corner. The SUNRED driver missed the two stricken cars of Larini and Tarquini but, unfortunately rejoined the track directly in the path of Boardman who was unable to avoid hitting him.

In response to this incident, the Safety Car was deployed, but shortly after the restart on lap 9, there was a third collision between Engstler and Felix Portiero (Scuderia Proteam Motorsport). As Engstler recovered, Menu stormed up behind him and went to pass the Independent. Unfortunately contact between the two forced Menu into a spin and the works Chevrolet driver collided with the metal barriers, blocking the track and causing the race to be suspended.   

Farfus remained cool and focused despite having to endure two restarts and he eventually rewarded himself and his team with a victory and maximum points.

Despite his race win, Tarquini remains 14 points adrift of his Seat Sport team mate Yvan Muller and he has fallen into the clutches of Farfus who, despite dismal performances in the last three races, is still the top BMW driver and is now within one point of the Italian.  

The series moves on to Brands Hatch in Kent for Rounds 11 and 12 of the season, which will be held on 19th July. 

WTCC Championship Standings after Round 10

1.

Yvan Muller

80 pt.

2.

Gabriele Tarquini

66 pt.

3.

Augusto Farfus

65 pt.

4.

Rickard Rydell

46 pt.

5.

Robert Huff

43 pt.

6.

Jörg Müller

42 pt.

7.

Andy Priaulx

38 pt.

8.

Jordi Gené Guerrero

32 pt.

9.

Tiago Monteiro

31 pt.

10.

Sergio Hernández

29 pt.

Van der Zande took a lights to flag victory in Round 9

Renger van der Zande cruised to an easy lights to flag victory in Round 9 of the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series at Snetterton.

The Dutchman demonstrated Hitech Racing’s dominance at the Norfolk circuit by leading off the grid and building a comfortable one second lead over Henry Arundell (Carlin Motorsport) and championship leader Daniel Riccardo (Carlin Motorsport) by the end of lap two.

Arundell headed the chasing pack until lap 20 of 29, when his Carlin Motorsport Dallara was struck by gearbox issues, allowing Riccardo to cruise past and into second place.

By the time the chequered flag fell, van der Zande had a lead of 3.8s over Riccardo, who will be pleased with the points for second place. Despite his gearbox problems, Arundell held on to third ahead of the second Hitech car of Walter Grubmuller and the first of the Fortec drivers, Riki Christodoulou.

In the National Class, Daniel McKenzie with his Mugen-Honda powered Fortec clinched his sixth victory of 2009 in eighth position, nine places ahead of his closest challenger Victor Correa (Litespeed) who finished down in seventeenth.

Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Championship Round 9 Results

1. INT Renger van der Zande Hitech-Dallara-Mercedes 

2 INT Daniel Riccardo Carlin-Dallara-Volkswagen 

3. INT Hanry Arundell Carlin-Dallara-Volkswagen

4. INT Walter Grubmuller Hitech-Dallara-Mercedes

5. INT Riki Christodoulou Fortec-Dallara-Mercedes

6. Max Chilton Carlin-Dallara-Volkswagen

7. INT Jay Bridger Litespeed-Mygale-Mugen Honda

8. NAT Daniel McKenzie Fortec-Dallara-Mugen Honda

9. INT Adriano Buzaid T Sport-Dallara-Volkswagen

10. INT Daisuke Nakajima RR-Dallara-Mercedes