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David Phillips
Editor and ChiefDavid 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 WriterChris 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 Writer19 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 WriterJason 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 WriterI 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 WriterI 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 WriterI 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 WriterNathan'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 WriterBorn 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 WriterJordan 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 WriterBorn 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 WriterKenneth 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 WriterI 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 WriterAfter 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.
Rosberg tops final Monaco practice
May 26th, 2012
Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the final free practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, which was brought to a halt prematurely following an accident for Pastor Maldonado at Casino Square.
The Spanish Grand Prix winner appeared to be involved in an incident with Sergio Perez’s Sauber on the lap before at Portier and then lost control of his Williams on the entrance to Casino Square. He lost his left rear wheel as the car went out of control, before parking the FW34 at Mirabeau with three minutes of the session remaining.
An impressive Felipe Massa was second fastest ahead of a late-improving Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the second Ferrari.
Unsurprisingly there was a little more urgency about getting on with the business of working through set-up programmes at the start of this session, and none was more in a hurry to get on with it than Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn did not even bother with an installation lap and was the first to record a time – that of 1m18.993s.
That mark did not last long at the top of the times as the two Mercedes joined him and Rosberg moved to the top, just six hundredths faster.
Force India’s Paul di Resta had a brief moment in the sunshine just before quarter distance, but only until one of the stars of the weekend so far – Romain Grosjean – fired in a 1m16.812s.
The Frenchman, super confident in the switched on Lotus, worked that down to a 1m15.811s, and notably that remained the best time anyone did on the soft prime Pirelli tyre.
Just after half an hour Rosberg moved the mark forward with a super soft option lap of 1m15.751s. The Chinese Grand Prix winner then backed off for a lap before going even faster – the result a 1m15.159s. That would be enough to settle the argument.
Behind him Massa – looking much more secure in the cockpit of his Ferrari than of late – Alonso and Grosjean all also improved on the red-walled Pirellis.
It was only in the last 10 minutes that Vettel, who had a sideways moment on the exit of the Swimming Pool on a previous lap, finally moved into third place in a Red Bull that does not look easy to use on the Monaco streets.
Behind this quintet, Jenson Button’s best super soft effort could only net him sixth fastest ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Perez (whose best lap was baulked by Nico Hulkenberg) and Mark Webber, who completed the top 10.
Raikkonen spent the session focusing on race set-up and was 12th quickest.
Maldonado’s was not the only late session incident. Di Resta, who ended up 18th fastest, crashed into the barriers under braking for the chicane as the car snapped left over the bumps, but he was able to return to the pits under his own power with significant nose and front wing damage.
As for the Venezuelan, it remains to be seen whether he will be called to discuss his Perez incident with driver steward Nigel Mansell, which could cost him dearly on a track that is all about grid position.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m15.159s 25
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m15.197s + 0.038s 21
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m15.209s + 0.050s 20
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m15.210s + 0.051s 20
5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m15.445s + 0.286s 18
6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.471s + 0.312s 19
7. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m15.734s + 0.575s 19
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m15.893s + 0.734s 23
9. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.110s + 0.951s 14
10. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m16.219s + 1.060s 19
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.226s + 1.067s 20
12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m16.301s + 1.142s 21
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.311s + 1.152s 19
14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.479s + 1.320s 20
15. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m17.027s + 1.868s 20
16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1m17.055s + 1.896s 26
17. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m17.276s + 2.117s 25
18. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m17.390s + 2.231s 19
19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m17.404s + 2.245s 22
20. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m18.259s + 3.100s 18
21. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m18.488s + 3.329s 22
22. Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m19.099s + 3.940s 17
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m19.147s + 3.988s 19
24. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m19.151s + 3.992s 19All timing unofficial