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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.

Drivers split over Bristol changes

March 31st, 2012

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Drivers split over Bristol changes

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers have expressed mixed views over planned changes at Bristol Motor Speedway, some suggesting it is minimal tyre degradation that has led to dull racing in recent events at the half-mile track. Bristol owner Bruton Smith has said the track is set to undergo changes before NASCAR returns for a second race next August, although specifics of the possible modifications to the track have yet to be revealed. The track was reconfigured with progressive banking and a new surface back in 2007 but for the past few years crowds have decreased notably at a venue where tickets were once much sought after.

Kahne on pole at Martinsville

March 31st, 2012

10
Kahne on pole at Martinsville

Kasey Kahne became the first repeat pole-winner of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season at Martinsville. The Hendrick driver narrowly beat Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Stewart-Haas’ Ryan Newman to the top spot. Harvick had come close to adding Cup pole to his first-place starting position for the supporting Truck Series race, before Kahne deposed him.

Hinchcliffe sure pole was possible

March 31st, 2012

3
Hinchcliffe sure pole was possible

James Hinchcliffe described qualifying second for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park as “bittersweet”, with his joy at having secured his career-best grid position having been tempered by that fact that he believes he could have taken pole. The Andretti Autosport driver’s previous best qualifying position was third at Kentucky last year, but he admitted that missing pole by just 0.04 seconds this weekend had left him ruing what might have been. “It’s one of those bittersweet things,” he said

Hildebrand praises Panther progress

March 31st, 2012

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Hildebrand praises Panther progress

JR Hildebrand paid tribute to the Panther Racing team after earning his highest-ever grid spot for a non-oval race, and the team’s best in seven years, during qualifying for this weekend’s IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park. Hildebrand will start Sunday’s race from fifth on the grid, and said that the result was the pay-off for work that the team had put in during the off-season. “We put a high priority this year on improving our road and street course programme,” he said

Castroneves: Team-mates a threat

March 31st, 2012

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Castroneves: Team-mates a threat

Helio Castroneves is not ruling out a challenge from Penske team-mates Will Power and Ryan Briscoe in Sunday’s IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park, despite both having a disappointing qualifying session on Saturday morning. Last weekend’s race-winner Castroneves will start from pole, while Power was relegated to ninth after being deemed to have set his best lap under local yellows, and Briscoe was left in 11th following a clutch control unit problem. But Castroneves said that despite having a better grid position, he would not be surprised if one of his stablemates proved to be a threat tomorrow

Quaife-Hobbs rues tyre choice

March 31st, 2012

3

Auto GP points leader Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was left to rue a last minute tyre choice decision that he felt hindered his chances of taking another race win at Valencia on Saturday. Polesitter Quaife-Hobbs (Super Nova) had originally planned to start the race on a new set of medium compound Kumho tyres, but opted to switch to soft tyres, in line with the rest of the grid, shortly before the start. Euronova Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin made an even later decision to change to fresh medium tyres, the only driver to do so, and the 16-year-old Russian duly became the championship’s youngest ever winner.

Hirvonen leads into final day

March 31st, 2012

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Hirvonen leads into final day

Mikko Hirvonen continues to lead the Rally of Portugal at the end of day two, as Petter Solberg grabbed the headlines with his charge up the order. It took just two stages of Saturday afternoon’s loop for Solberg (Ford) to achieve his target of jumping from ninth to fourth place – albeit assisted by Patrik Sandell crashing his Prodrive Mini out of fourth on Almodovar 2. But having reached fourth, Solberg then hit a new problem as power steering failure left him struggling through the leg-ending Loule stage, dropping him back to fifth again, behind Nasser Al-Attiyah’s Qatar Citroen

Newsham confident he can win

March 31st, 2012

2

Dave Newsham believes he can win the opening round of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday after taking his first series pole position. Former Renault Clio Cup champion Newsham stepped up to the BTCC last season. He joined the Team ES Racing squad for 2012 and put its turbocharged Vauxhall Vectra on pole earlier this afternoon with a time of 48.483s

Pigoli earns Monza Superstars pole

March 31st, 2012

2

Jaguar driver Max Pigoli secured pole position for Sunday’s first International Superstars Series race at Monza. The Italian was the only driver to break into the 1m55s bracket, setting the benchmark time of 1m55.962s with nine minutes remaining in the half-hour session

Castroneves takes pole at Barber

March 31st, 2012

4
Castroneves takes pole at Barber

Helio Castroneves followed up his St Petersburg win with pole position for round two of the IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park. James Hinchcliffe was a close second for Andretti Autosport in his best IndyCar qualifying performance yet, with Scott Dixon third for Ganassi and underdogs Mike Conway (Foyt) and JR Hildebrand (Panther) starring with impressive fourth and fifth places. Champion Dario Franchitti struggled with his set-up and was a shock early departure in the group stages, ending up only 18th on the grid.

Beche gives TDS Ricard ELMS pole

March 31st, 2012

5

Switzerland’s Mathias Beche claimed pole position for the opening round of the European Le Mans Series at Paul Ricard this weekend. Beche posted two laps good enough for pole to head the 11-car LMP2 field in the TDS Racing ORECA-Nissan 03 he shares with Pierre Thiriet.

Newsham on pole for BTCC opener

March 31st, 2012

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Newsham on pole for BTCC opener

Dave Newsham will start on pole for Sunday’s opening British Touring Car round at Brands Hatch after topping qualifying.

WRC tyre fears as rain looms again

March 31st, 2012

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WRC tyre fears as rain looms again

There is growing concern that a return to heavy rain for the final leg of the Rally of Portugal will leave the leading crews short of suitable tyres.

Saavedra takes Barber Lights pole

March 31st, 2012

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Saavedra takes Barber Lights pole

Sebastian Saavedra secured pole position for this weekend’s Indy Lights race at Barber Motorsports Park.

Ostberg counting on more rain

March 31st, 2012

2
Ostberg counting on more rain

Independent Ford drivers Mads Ostberg and Evgeny Novikov have both admitted they will need the weather to deteriorate if they are to stand any chance of overturning Mikko Hirvonen’s Rally of Portugal lead. The Citroen-driving Finn is 52 seconds ahead after the first stage of the afternoon, but the Fiesta RS WRC pair chasing him have not given up on upsetting Hirvonen’s plans to take his first win in a DS3 WRC on the Faro-based event

Fisher wraps up Academy win

March 31st, 2012

2
Fisher wraps up Academy win

Alastair Fisher has become the first Briton to win a WRC Academy rally, after he dominated the Rally of Portugal round of the series. The WRC Academy does not contest the full length of the main WRC round, allowing the Northern Irishman the chance to celebrate his maiden series win this afternoon

Solberg: Fourth place achievable

March 31st, 2012

1
Solberg: Fourth place achievable

Ford’s Petter Solberg is targeting fourth place on this week’s Rally of Portugal as he attempts to make up for crashing out of the lead in the rain on Friday. The Norwegian slid off the road on the second stage yesterday, but has bounced back with fastest times today. The 2003 world champion is currently running in ninth place, more than two minutes down on Patrik Sandell’s fourth-placed Mini, but he is sure he can bag more points over the second half of the event.

Cadei takes Monza Ferrari pole

March 31st, 2012

3

Niki Cadei will start Sunday’s first Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli race from pole position, after topping both qualifying sessions at Monza. The Italian set his best time of 1m51.170s in qualifying one, and while he could not eclipse that time in qualifying two, he was still the fastest driver in the field, putting pole position beyond doubt

BTCC Honda team admits struggles

March 31st, 2012

25
BTCC Honda team admits struggles

British Touring Car team boss Steve Neal says the works Honda squad is still fighting problems ahead of the new Civic’s first qualifying at Brands Hatch this afternoon. Reigning champion Matt Neal was second in the NGTC Civic in the second free practice session, behind the Eurotech example of Andrew Jordan, but there have been issues for the new car. Neal Jr’s team-mate Gordon Shedden has yet to record a proper flying lap thanks to a mysterious electronic problem.

Plato plays down practice speed

March 31st, 2012

3
Plato plays down practice speed

British Touring Car star Jason Plato believes qualifying in the top six at Brands Hatch this afternoon will be a struggle, despite going fifth fastest in the brand new MG in second practice. On its first proper day of running, the Triple Eight-prepared NGTC MG6 was less than half a second slower than Andrew Jordan’s pacesetting Honda Civic.