Rallying: Jari-Matti Latvala Audi quattro onboard video


By Johan Laubscher

Jari-Matti Latvala, Volkswagen Motorsport factory WRC driver, took victory at the 2013 Lahti Historic Rally. He was triumphant behind the wheel of an Audi quattro rally car.

The 2013 Lahti Historic Rally was held last weekend, with Latvala emerging the victor in the Audi quattro.

A new onboard video has been uploaded onto the official Jari-Matti Latvala YouTube Channel. The video features Latvala on Special Stage 5 of the Lahti Historic Rally, and also includes telemetry and two video angles. Enjoy this video as the WRC ace tames the quattro in Finland.



Thanks to: audi-motorsport-blog.blogspot.com.es

Rolex Series: Fall-Line Motorsports Grand-Am Rolex team ready to tackle Kansas Speedway

Fall-Line Motorsports Press Release
Kansas City, KS (August 15, 2013) – The Fall-Line Motorsports GT program rolled into Kansas Speedway earlier this week with high expectations. With just two full events under their belts, the newly-formed Fall-Line GRAND-AM Audi R8 team will contest the SFP Grand Prix at the brand new road course configuration at the Kansas Speedway.

The Kansas track is a high-speed/low down-force track well suited for the R8. Fall-Line is hoping to better last month’s top-ten finish at the Indy race which shares similar track performance properties to Kansas. Behind the wheel of the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports entry will be team owner Mark Boden along with his regular Continental Sports Car Challenge driver Bryan Sellers.
Bryan Sellers: “I am really looking forward to driving the Audi R8 GRAND-AM this weekend. Audi and Fall-Line Motorsports teamed together is a great combination. They have both come together with the same goal of having a competitive race package and I’m excited to play a role in it.”
Mark Boden: “I am looking forward to my turn to get behind the wheel of our sweet new machine! It is always great to drive with Bryan (Sellers) and I am looking forward to seeing all of the hard work we put into the car the past few months to use. We know that this car had success at Daytona earlier this year so we are hopeful that we can expect similar success this weekend. I am looking forward to the challenge of driving in both series (CTSCC and Rolex) and also racing under the lights! It should be a good weekend.”
Michael Harvey, Team Manager:
“Kansas brings many unknowns since it is the first time any series has used the track for major competition. In a short amount of time Fall-Line and our Audi Sport Customer Racing partners have analyzed an immense amount of data and subsequently we anticipate Fall-Line will be competitive. The support we have received from Brad (Kettler) and his team at Audi Sport Customer Racing has been unbelievable as we continue to evolve our racing team’s performance.”
Fall-Line Motorsports is a premiere builder and fabricator of race cars for all levels of competition. Fall-Line specializes in BMW, Porsche, Audi and other high-performance makes. Fall-Line Motorsports unveiled their Grand-Am team in 2006 and won the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS Championship title in 2010. In addition to fielding 3 GS BMW M3’s in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Fall-Line also prepares and fabricates cars for other CTSCC teams, SCCA and NASA drivers, track day prepared and high performance street vehicles. www.fall-linemotorsports.com
@FallLineMotors www.facebook.com/Falllinemotorsports
ABOUT AUDI
Audi of America, Inc. and its U.S. dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. AUDI AG is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. Audi was a top-performing luxury brand in Europe during 2012, and broke all-time company sales records in the U.S. Through 2016, AUDI AG will invest about $17 billion on new products, facilities and technologies.Visit www.audiusa.com or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicles and business topics.
ABOUT THE B+ FOUNDATION: The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation honors the memory of Andrew McDonough. Andrew’s mom, dad and sister founded The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation. The overall goal of The B+ Foundation is to “Do Good”. During the racing season, Al Carter and Hugh Plumb visit kids with cancer in hospitals before racing events to make a positive difference and keep the “B+” message alive through outreach efforts and talks. The B+ Foundation provides financial assistance to families of children with cancer nationwide. In the last two years, The B+ Foundation awarded over $1,000,000 to families of children with cancer while giving over $500,000 to support research efforts. Information about the Foundation and its activities can be found at www.BePositive.org.

Photo Credit: Wes Duenkel Motorsport Photography / Fall-Line Motorsports

Where’s the Kimi-to-Ferrari stuff coming from?

So what’s all this talk of Kimi Raikkonen going to Ferrari? A Finnish newspaper ran a blurb about it (and perhaps Google translation plays a role in determining speculation from reality) but When you consider Ferrari’s warning to Massa last week and former Lotus man, James Allison, signing on with the Italian team, you could see where the dots start to get connected.

According to the terrific Andrew Benson over at the BBC, the team says…nope. Here’s Andrew’s quote:

“Right now, we’re really not giving any thought to the driver-market situation,” said a Ferrari spokesman.

“That is our priority,” he said. “Drivers are not a problem for us even if we were to change Felipe.”

We mentioned it several weeks ago when the rumor of Allison heading to Ferrari popped up. We wondered if the delay in any Red Bull announcements meant that the Finn had chosen to look around a bit and perhaps Ferrari feel that he might be a guy to re-hire. Ferrari paid him to go away so they could secure the talents of Fernando Alonso but I have to think that Kimi’s approach to everything but driving the car might have rubbed Ferrari the wrong way.

Ferrari have a history of making moves such as this as Michael Schumacher was jettisoned to make room for Kimi and then Raikkonen for Alonso. Oddly, the guy who has survived all of Ferrari’s recent driver firings has been Felipe Massa and he hasn’t been on song since his head injury back in 2009.

Hungary’s rumor mill said that Alonso’s management were speaking with red Bull and that also added fuel to the rumor bonfire as to a possible return to Ferrari for Kimi. then there was the odd statement by Kimi himself in which he said that people might find his choice odd but he will be behind whatever team he goes to 100%. That sounded a bit strange.

Would it be odd to leave Lotus F1 for Red Bull? Not really. Would it be odd to stay at Lotus F1? No, that wouldn’t be odd. Would it be odd to leave Lotus F1 to return to Ferrari? Yes, that would be unexpected. So if we’re parsing words, a possible Ferrari return could be what he meant? You be the judge.

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Boullier: Costs must come down

Eric Boullier Lotus F1 2013Lotus boss Eric Boullier says the costs of competing in Formula 1 must be brought down in order to safeguard the future of the current grid.
Boullier believes that 80 per cent of teams are in favour of negotiating ways to reduce expenditure, but that a select few teams are preventing a consensus and creating an effective impasse.
That means smaller teams – including Lotus – face a financial deficit that they cannot plug indefinitely.
Lotus owner Genii Capital is in advanced talks to sell a 35 per cent stake in the team to Infinity Racing in order to secure its immediate future, while Sauber announced a major partnership with a trio of Russian investors in July following rumours it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
“The problem is that some teams – like Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes – can still afford the old way and can spend a lot on the car; we can’t,” Boullier told AUTOSPORT.
“To keep teams competitive, we need to keep a minimum budget with our resources, but this limit is above the revenue stream so we need our shareholders to bridge the gap.
“Don’t forget that in the beginning of the 90s, a top team was spending maybe £40 million; by 2008, a top team was spending £100 million.
“We have to put that cost down.
“The problem today is 80 per cent of the teams are in favour of this but 20 per cent are not.
“I don’t think it’s fair if only three teams can afford F1, so we should find a way to bring the cost down.”
Boullier said the fact there are ongoing discussions with the FIA regarding cost controls, coupled with his team’s tie-up with Infinity, mean he is optimistic about his own team’s long-term health.
“I am happy that some discussions have been moving forward in F1, [with] the FIA, speaking that we want this [lowering costs] done and we want it done by the regulations,” Boullier explained.
“We announced a new partner a few weeks ago, [which is] not completed yet but is on its way.
“Once this is done it will be a new era for Enstone because financially we will be secure for many years at another level.
“We still can’t spend the same money as Ferrari and Mercedes but as a team we can secure the level for where we now compete.”