inRacingNews Settings

Collapse

Main Content

Keep navigation bar on top
Show featured article box
Show Comments

Sidebar

Calendar
Series Standings
Recent
Most Viewed
Most Commented
Categories
iRacing TV
Facebook Fans
The Team
Blogroll
Save Settings
5dollarpromo_160x600 Main Performance PC Lionel Skip Barber Racing School Derek Speare Designs Dream Racing ROAR One Lap of America
M T W T F S S
  1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31  

Categories

Collapse Expand

iRacing TV

Collapse Expand

Facebook Fans

Collapse Expand

The Team

Collapse Expand
  • 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.

Raikkonen sets sights on Sepang podium

March 19th, 2012

8
Raikkonen sets sights on Sepang podium

Kimi Raikkonen has set his sights on fighting for a podium finish in this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The 2007 world champion rallied back from a difficult qualifying session to score points on his return to the sport in Australia last weekend

Continental Endurance Sports Car Series Round 3

by Stephen McPherson on March 19th, 2012

168
Continental Endurance Sports Car Series Round 3

Nearly two dozen sim racers took to the field for Round 3 of the Continental Endurance Sports Car Series (CESCS) at Homestead-Miami Speedway Road Course “B”on March 10.  The mixed class online racing competition features the Ford Mustang FR500S in the GS Class and Mazda MX5 of the ST Class. Practice and Qualifying Trace McRae was fastest in final practice with a 1:27.761, just a bit over 1/10th of a second faster than the similar Mustang of Brian Strodtbeck.  Ryan Worley was fastest in the MX5s with a 1:34.568, but that was only .02s faster than Giancarlo Lenzi. Trace continued his practice form with a 1:27.743 to take overall pole in the #69 Mustang ahead of Strodtbeck and Oscar Sahlin.  Unfortunately, Worley had a troubled qualifying session in his MX5, [...]

Gilham targets top 10 finishes

March 19th, 2012

11
Gilham targets top 10 finishes

British Touring Car racer Tony Gilham is targeting regular top 10 finishes after testing his newly acquired Honda Civic at Silverstone on Monday. Gilham scored points on his BTCC debut with a Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra last season. He switched to the Geoff Steel Racing BMW squad in the later part of the season and finished 19th in the standings

Newsham tops Silverstone test

March 19th, 2012

7
Newsham tops Silverstone test

Dave Newsham topped the British Touring Car media day test at Silverstone on Monday. Newsham drove BMW and SEAT machinery for Geoff Steel Racing and Special Tuning Racing in his rookie BTCC season last year. He has switched to Team ES Racing for 2012 and topped the test for much of the day with his turbocharged Vauxhall Vectra.

Unconventional Wisdom

by David Phillips on March 19th, 2012

403
Luis grabbed the lead from McLean and Huttu at the start.

Conventional wisdom has it that races are not won on the first corner, only lost.  Evidently Hugo Luis has never heard of conventional wisdom.  Round Two of the 2012 iRacing.com Grand Prix Series World Championship at Circuit Park Zandvoort saw the defending champion make a blinder of a start to grab the lead from pole-sitter Luke McLean into Turn One (aka Tarzanbocht).  From there, Luis motored into the distance, leading all but a handful of laps during the pit stop shuffles in an emphatic rebound from a disappointing result in the opening act in his title defense at Watkins Glen. Rest assured, McLean didn’t take Luis’ surge lying down.  Having thrown away a potential podium finish at the Glen, the Aussie never put a wheel wrong at Zandvoort and kept [...]

Webber encouraged by recovery drive

March 19th, 2012

7
Webber encouraged by recovery drive

Mark Webber says his recovery to fourth place in the Australian Grand Prix gives him confidence that Red Bull is in good shape this year, despite losing out to McLaren in the fight for victory.

Pommer makes F2 switch

March 19th, 2012

5
Pommer makes F2 switch

Markus Pommer has become the latest driver to announce a move into the Formula 2 Championship this year.

Lotus confident it can deliver

March 19th, 2012

8
Lotus confident it can deliver

Lotus has faith that it is on course for some strong results this year, judging by the pace its new car showed over the Australian Grand Prix weekend. Although Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean endured frustrations in qualifying and the race respectively to leave the team well adrift of the podium, Lotus chiefs are upbeat about the platform it has for 2012.

Teams optimistic over new F1 deal

March 19th, 2012

14
Teams optimistic over new F1 deal

Leading Formula 1 teams are optimistic that talks to frame a new Concorde Agreement with Bernie Ecclestone are progressing in the right way, amid talk that some competitors could even take a shareholding in the sport. A story that broke on the Sky News website, which was subsequently removed, suggested that Ferrari and Red Bull were on the verge of agreeing favourable financial terms with Ecclestone – which could hand Ferrari shares in the sport, plus both outfits a seat on the F1 board. Neither team was willing to speak openly about the situation, but both said that talks were heading towards a successful resolution

A Study in Contrasts

by Michael Booth on March 19th, 2012

195
Niek Versteege holds-off Kimmo Suominen through Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew.

Weeks 5 and 6 of the iRacing.com Prototype and GT Challenge visited the longest and shortest tracks on the schedule – Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California – to round-out the first half of the season.  With a history of multiclass endurance racing, and featuring in the World Endurance Championship this year, the 7km Spa track allowed all three cars, especially the GT classes, to stretch their legs on the straights. Laguna Seca on the other hand measures in at just 3.6km in length, the short lap presenting LMP2 drivers with lots of traffic to deal with over a race distance.  Laguna Seca and its famous “Corkscrew” turn have been a permanent fixture on the American Le Mans Series calendar since its inception and a venue on [...]

MG’s BTCC challenger hits the track

March 19th, 2012

133
MG’s BTCC challenger hits the track

MG’s new British Touring Car challenger hit the track at the championship’s media day at Silverstone today. The Triple Eight-developed MG6 will be driven by double BTCC champion Jason Plato and Andy Neate this season. Although the project started relatively late, MG’s first NGTC machine did appear on track

Zeller to make Euro Series return

March 19th, 2012

7
Zeller to make Euro Series return

Jo Zeller Racing will make a full-time return to the F3 Euro Series this season after three years away with a pair of Mercedes-powered Dallara F312s The team was a racewinner in the Euro Series with Peter Elkmann in 2006, but has made only sporadic appearances since, with its main programme being in the German championship. Austrian F3 champion Sandro Zeller, the son of the team boss, will be one of the drivers

Maldonado: Top teams not far away

March 19th, 2012

7
Maldonado: Top teams not far away

Pastor Maldonado thinks Williams has Red Bull and McLaren in its sights after he produced the surprise performance of the Australian Grand Prix. The Venezuelan crashed out in Melbourne on the final lap as he tried to harry Fernando Alonso for fifth place, but he had already done enough in the race to show how big a step forward Williams has made over the winter. And with the team now knowing just how competitive its Renault-powered FW34 is, Maldonado says ambitions have moved up a level

Rob Austin signs Hazell for 2012

March 19th, 2012

7
Rob Austin signs Hazell for 2012

British Touring Car squad Rob Austin Racing has signed Mark Hazell for this year’s championship. RAR ran two NGTC Audi A4s last year and former Porsche Carrera Cup and Renault Clio Cup racer Hazell is the first 2012 driver to be confirmed for the squad

Rosberg: Degradation issue can be cured

March 19th, 2012

5
Rosberg: Degradation issue can be cured

Nico Rosberg believes his Mercedes team can quickly get on the top of the tyre degradation issues which hampered its chances in Australia. The Brackley-based team had looked a serious threat for a podium finish in Melbourne – especially with Michael Schumacher and Rosberg running in third and fourth places after the first corner of the race.

Red Bull: McLaren will not dominate

March 19th, 2012

5
Red Bull: McLaren will not dominate

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner thinks the battle between his outfit and McLaren will fluctuate on a race-by-race basis this year. After seeing Sebastian Vettel be unable to stop McLaren’s Jenson Button winning the first race of the season, Horner says he does not expect that pattern of form to remain for the rest of the season. “We saw it last year where there were swings and roundabouts – with some circuits suiting different cars and different characteristics,” he explained.

Ferrari spurred on by Australian GP form

March 19th, 2012

4
Ferrari spurred on by Australian GP form

Ferrari believes its performance in the Australian Grand Prix should act as a spur to get on top of its issues as quickly as possible. After a disastrous qualifying, with neither of its drivers making it through to Q3, the Italian outfit enjoyed improved fortunes in the race as Fernando Alonso fought hard to take fifth place. Although that result was better than Ferrari had expected after Saturday, team principal Stefano Domenicali has urged his squad to do even more now so it does not lose too much ground in the world championship chase

Teams seek final ruling on rear wings

March 19th, 2012

7
Teams seek final ruling on rear wings

Lotus and Red Bull are keen to get a final ruling on the legality of DRS-activated f-ducts ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, amid the ongoing row over the Mercedes design.

McLaren: Title hopes in our own hands

March 19th, 2012

3
McLaren: Title hopes in our own hands

McLaren’s world championship hopes now rest in its own hands following Jenson Button’s performance in the Australian Grand Prix, according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh. With the Woking-based team having delivered on its target of starting the season with the quickest car, Whitmarsh says it is now in control of its own destiny as it pushes to improve the MP4-27.

Karthikeyan confident HRT will improve

March 19th, 2012

5
Karthikeyan confident HRT will improve

Narain Karthikeyan is confident his HRT team will enjoy a better weekend in Malaysia than it did in Australia. The Spanish squad completed very little running in Melbourne as was hindered by problems with its car, which had only completed a shakedown prior to the grand prix weekend. Both Karthikeyan and team-mate Pedro de la Rosa failed to qualify for the race