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  • David Phillips
    Editor and Chief
    David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
  • Chris Hall
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
  • Jameson Spies
    Contributing Writer
    19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
  • Jason Lofing
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
  • David Ifeguni
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1988 and moved to Midland, Michigan when I was two years old. I stayed there until third grade when I moved to Farmington Hills, Michigan and now I currently live in Naperville, IL where I'm attending Metea Valley High School as a 9th grader. In the past, I have participated in soccer and this year I plan on joining swimming or water polo. My family includes my 15 year old sister, a 7 year old sister and my mom and dad. I have been writing since 6th grade and have participated in many writing contests in my school and have received several awards for writing.
    My fascination for motorsports began when I was nine. The first NASCAR race I watched on TV was the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, won by Kasey Kahne. My favorite NASCAR drivers are Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson. I have watched all the races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series since 2010. I currently have three wins on iRacing, two of them in the Nationwide car at Daytona and one in the Street stocks at Charlotte. My favorite car and type of track on iRacing is the Nationwide Series (B Class) car and superspeedways.
  • Katier Scott
    Contributing Writer
    I am a veteran sim racer who first started racing way back in 1993 on the SPRTSIMS section of Compuserve with a league who can trace themselves all the way to the present. Within that league I act as Chief Steward and try to bring the unique viewpoint that this experience gives me into my articles.
    I have a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Editorial design and have been writing for seven years and currently cover the Lotus 79 CTC and Radical series alongside my freelance work. Living in the UK, as well as motorsports I love Photography, Arts and Crafts and reading.
  • Dylan Sharman
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I'm studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.

    I've always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I've won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
  • Nathan Aljoe
    Contributing Writer
    Nathan's passion for motorsport first began in the late 1980s, captivated by the season in which Aryton Senna won his first F1 title with McLaren. Over the years his interest widened to include the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship, NASCAR and various other forms of motorsport. Nathan began sim-racing in the mid 1990s using games developed by Papyrus. He later moved onto SimBim simulations such as GTR, GTR2 and GTR Evolution and has most recently joined the iRacing community.

    When he's not working or sim racing, Nathan enjoys spending time and relaxing with his family. Other hobbies include going to festivals, tinkering with his car and doing up his house.
  • Austin Hartenfels
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I have always had a serious passion for cars and motorsports. Hoping one day to become an automotive journalist for a magazine, I constantly crave the exciting competition that comes along with racing and sim-racing. Having participated in a mere test session in a Legends car at Old Dominion Speedway, I have not been able to get into any real-life competition . . . yet.

    As a sim racer, my interests date back to "GTR Evolution." My goal is to have fun and win some races. I made it to Oval Pro in 2010, but did not become very successful. I enjoy any mixed road racing competition and love racing the Silverados around almost any track.
  • Jordan Hightower
    Contributing Writer
    Jordan began sim-racing in 2005 with the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season sim and then joined the iRacing community in June of 2008. He hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas where he is currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, after which he plans to attend the University of Arkansas to earn his MBA. Although he enjoys watching and playing basketball, most of Jordan's focus is on motorsports, particularly NASCAR: "Anything that burns gas and goes fast, I like."
  • Scott Kelly
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, Scott Kelly has had a love for motorsports ever since his father did the right thing by introducing auto racing into his life. No longer able to quench his need for speed by spectating NASCAR races on TV and watching dirt track stars slide around local tracks, Kelly eventually picked-up sim racing in his teens, wheeling cars found in Ratbag Games' "Dirt Track Racing" and "World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars" while also becoming introduced into multiple Papyrus sim-racing series. Joining the iRacing ranks in late 2011, Kelly set his sights on the short track racing he was familiar with, focusing on the sprint car, while also driving the Legends and street stock in multiple iRacing.com leagues.

    Kelly brings not just his enthusiasm for racing to the highest-rated motorsports simulation, but also his B.A. degree in English; he covers the action seen in the iRacing.com Sprint Car Series, while also placing the spotlight on various leagues within the service. Enjoying his start to a career in motorsports journalism, Kelly also doesn't mind visiting victory lane from time-to-time.
  • Kenneth O'Keefe
    Contributing Writer
    Kenneth was born in Smithville, Ontario on December 23, 1994. A major racing fan, he enjoys competitive kart racing in the Rotax Max category at Mosport International Karting. Kenneth also tunes into Formula One and NASCAR races on those Sundays when he is not at the kart track.

    O'Keefe has been sim-racing since 2005, starting on the Live For Speed simulator. After moving to iRacing in 2008, he was able to qualify for the NASCAR iRacing Pro Series (NiPS) in both 2011 and 2012. He will continue to compete and write about the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series throughout the coming year before taking another run at the NiPS in late 2013.
  • Chris Owens
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1989 and have lived here my entire life. I've been around racing since I was a young kid watching with my dad on Sundays. In 2009 and found my local track, Florence Motor Speedway and started working for them as a PR guy the same year. At the end of that season, I started writing for RACE22.com, a Late Model Stock Car news site. In 2010, I picked up my first DSLR camera and started shooting races. To this day, I've experienced some of the best races from behind the camera.

    I've been with the iRacing service since its public beta in 2008, back when the top oval car was the Late Model. I've been in over 500 races on the service with 70+ wins on both oval and road. My favorite car on the service is the Chevrolet Silverado. Darlington Raceway and Concord Speedway are my favorite tracks simply because everybody hates them.
  • George Wood
    Contributing Writer
    After beginning his racing career with go-karts at age seven, George then turned wrenches on street stocks until he could finally turn the wheel. Following the successes of his friends and family, George has since retired from real-world racing, where he is now a science and mathematics faculty member for several local community colleges. When George isn't grading laboratory reports or iRacing, he is performing at bluegrass festivals in the Northeast, making fishing lures, playing golf, and rooting for his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

Motorsport Stars Gravitate to iRacing at Autosport International

by Chris Hall on January 16th, 2012

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Gary Paffett gets some virtual seat-time before the Sky cameras.

Last week saw iRacing make their first “full” appearance at the Autosport International Show with a dedicated booth.  In the opening two-days (reserved for the motorsport trade patrons), the iRacing stand (72465) was one of the busiest at the NEC, Birmingham show.With a pair of VRX 3D motion simulators, the iRacing display brought delight to sim-racers, race fans and drivers alike. The first professional driver to dip his toe into the iRacing Motorsport Simulator was Mercedes-Benz DTM driver/McLaren F1 tester Gary Paffett.  Paffett found himself pitted against Sky Sports correspondent Craig Butler in a demo race featuring the HPD ARXo1cat Spa-Francorchamps.  With the benefit of some guidance from Kevin Bobbitt, iRacing Director of Marketing, Butler and Paffett started their three-lap sprint. Following a close start, Parfett was able ro break [...]

Button to get first run in new McLaren

January 16th, 2012

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Button to get first run in new McLaren

Jenson Button will be the first driver to sample the new McLaren MP4-27 at next month’s Jerez test. McLaren has confirmed that Button will take the wheel on February 7 for the first run of the car at the Spanish track

Pro Series Finales Broadcasts on Tap

by David Phillips on January 16th, 2012

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Live Broadcast

iRacing.com will broadcast the finales of the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) and iRacing.com Pro Series Road Racing (iPSRR) this week on Tuesday and Saturday.  In addition to crowning iRacing’s two newest Pro champions, the races will determine the final 25 qualifiers for iRacing’s upcoming online racing World Championship series, the 2012 NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship and the 2012 iRacing.com World Championship Grand Prix Series. First on tap is the NiPS finale at Kentucky Speedway at 9 pm (Eastern) start on Tuesday, January 17 (02:00 GMT January 18).  The race will feature 43 starters going for the final checkered flag of the season over 133 laps of the 1.5 mile speedway under the stars.  At the forefront of the competition will be the battle for the NiPS title.  Alex [...]

Edwards to focus solely on Cup

January 16th, 2012

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Edwards to focus solely on Cup

Carl Edwards hopes that his decision not to contest the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series will help his Sprint Cup campaign in 2012. Last year’s Cup runner-up has traditionally raced in Nationwide as well, winning the title in the latter division in 2007, when it was still called the Busch Series, and taking eight Nationwide race victories in ’11. Edwards committed to a Nationwide campaign last year before NASCAR’s decision that drivers could only score points in one series per season, and feels that as it is now impossible to take a title double, he will be better off focusing solely on Cup

Ragan signs for Front Row

January 16th, 2012

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Ragan signs for Front Row

David Ragan will join David Gilliland in Front Row Motorsports’ line-up for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup. Ragan had driven for Roush Fenway since 2006, but was released at the end of last season – a year which had seen him score his first Cup win in the July Daytona race. “Front Row has made great progress in the last few years, and I look forward to helping them advance to the next level,” said the 25-year-old.

Sakhir welcomes reinstated staff

January 16th, 2012

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Sakhir welcomes reinstated staff

The Bahrain International Circuit has formally welcomed back the employees who were dismissed during last year’s protests in the nation. The Sakhir track reinstated the staff members on the advice of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, which is examining events around 2011′s political tensions

Byford still keen on BTCC return

January 16th, 2012

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Byford still keen on BTCC return

Martin Byford has not ruled out returning to the British Touring Car Championship despite committing to a GT deal in the UK. Byford made his BTCC debut last year, driving the AmD Milltek VW Golf, but budget issues have so far scuppered a deal for 2012. He has now signed to race a Lotus Evora in the British Endurance Championship, but still hopes to compete in the BTCC in future.

Toyota’s Le Mans car begins testing

January 16th, 2012

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Toyota’s all-new 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours contender hit the track for the first time last week.

Ezpeleta wants CRT bikes on the pace

January 16th, 2012

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Ezpeleta wants CRT bikes on the pace

MotoGP commercial chief Carmelo Ezpeleta is determined to ensure the gap between the works and CRT bikes in 2012 is not too large, and that the new class remains cost-effective. Nine of the 21 bikes in the 2012 MotoGP field will be running to the Claiming Rule Teams regulation, which allows for a greater element of production technology in what must remain primarily a prototype motorcycle, and Ezpeleta has opened admitted that he sees the lower-cost formula as the series’ future. So far in testing, the CRT bikes have been clearly slower than the traditional MotoGP machines, but Ezpeleta is adamant that the championship will not become a two-tier contest, and that the works teams’ pace and spending must be controlled.

NASCAR bans car-to-car radio

January 16th, 2012

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NASCAR bans car-to-car radio

NASCAR has banned car-to-car radio communications in its latest bid to prevent tandem drafting at Daytona and Talladega. Several changes have been made to the cars and engines ahead of this year’s Daytona 500 to make it more difficult for drivers to draft in pairs. Until now, drivers were able to tune in to each other’s radio frequencies to arrange drafting partners, but this has been outlawed by the governing body

Kubica leaves hospital after leg surgery

January 16th, 2012

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Kubica leaves hospital after leg surgery

Robert Kubica has returned to his home in Monaco to continue rehabilitation, following the latest operation required after a fall that injured his leg last week. Kubica reopened a fracture in his right tibia, originally broken in his horrific rally crash last year, when he fell near an apartment he was staying at in Viareggio in Italy.

Busch ‘refreshed’ by Phoenix move

January 16th, 2012

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Busch ‘refreshed’ by Phoenix move

Kurt Busch says he has been refreshed by his move to the small Phoenix Racing team and will emerge stronger as a driver and a person after the 2012 NASCAR season.

Evans retains MW Arden seat for ’12

January 16th, 2012

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Evans retains MW Arden seat for ’12

GP3 frontrunner Mitch Evans will stay with MW Arden for the 2012 season. The 17-year-old from New Zealand, a protege of Red Bull Formula 1 driver Mark Webber, was a race-winner and briefly led the GP3 championship last year in his first season of European racing, eventually finishing ninth in the standings. “I am really pleased to announce that I will be back with MW Arden in 2012,” said Evans.

DRS zones to be adjusted for 2012

January 16th, 2012

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DRS zones to be adjusted for 2012

Formula 1′s DRS rules will remain unchanged in 2012, AUTOSPORT has learned, but the FIA plans to tweak the overtaking zones on the back of the experience of last year. The Drag Reduction System was introduced at the start of 2011 as a means of helping overtaking – with drivers allowed to use the straightline speed boost at designated spots on the track if they get within one second of the car ahead of them at a set point

Virgin to carry Sky F1 channel

January 16th, 2012

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Virgin to carry Sky F1 channel

Virgin Media has confirmed that it will carry Sky Sports’ new bespoke Formula 1 channel when it launches this season. Sky Sports F1 will be available alongside the rest of the Sky Sports package for Virgin customers.

Morgan returns to Le Mans with OAK

January 16th, 2012

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Morgan returns to Le Mans with OAK

Morgan will return to the Le Mans 24 Hours this year in conjunction with OAK Racing. The revised version of the French team’s Pescarolo-based LMP2 prototype will be badged a Morgan LMP2 following a partnership deal with the British sportscar manufacturer

Peterhansel relieved to win again

January 16th, 2012

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Peterhansel relieved to win again

Stephane Peterhansel has admitted that he was starting to fear he would never reach a 10th Dakar Rally victory before winning this year’s event. The 46-year-old Frenchman had previously won the rally nine times – six in motorcycles, and three times the car category – but last triumphed in 2007, before the rally’s move to South America

McRae to make WRC return in Sweden

January 16th, 2012

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McRae to make WRC return in Sweden

Alister McRae will return to the World Rally Championship for the first time in almost five years when he tackles Rally Sweden with Proton next month. The February 9-12 event, round two of Proton’s Super 2000 WRC commitment, will be the Scot’s first ordinary rally outing of the season, although he has contested the Dakar cross-country rally already this month