Rolfsracing.com - News Blog

Munich.The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season. Resources freed up as a result are to be dedicated to the development of new drive technologies and projects in the field of sustainability. BMW will continue to be actively involved in other motor sports series. The landmark decision to restructure BMW Motorsport’s activities was made at the Board of Management’s meeting yesterday.

“Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it’s a resolute step in view of our company’s strategic realignment,” explained Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. “Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us. Mario Theissen has been in charge of our motor sports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this,” said, Reithofer.

>>>>>Read the full Press Release in RolfsRacing.com News Page.

Le Mans: Audi “factory” driver Allan McNish has received the “Segrave Trophy” – one of the highest-ranking awards in British motorsport – by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) for his outstanding achievements in the 2008 season. The Scotsman succeeds the reigning Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in receiving this honor.

Zandvoort. In qualifying for the fourth DTM season round at Zandvoort in The Netherlands, British driver Oliver Jarvis caused a big surprise. With his 2008-spec Audi A4 DTM, the 25-year old set the fastest time. Thus, a year-old car will be on pole for the first time in history of the DTM. In the final heat of the four-way qualifying, Jarvis outpaced Gary Paffett (GB) and Bruno Spengler (CDN), both with current-spec AMG Mercedes C-Class cars, who ended up second and third respectively. “I am very proud. We knew that we were quick and that it would be very close between the new cars and the year-old cars. Tomorrow’s race will be very difficult. But I am not worrying too much, because starting from pole, I have it all in my hands”, the Brit said, happy about his maiden pole position in the DTM. For Audi, it was the 48th DTM pole. Second-placed Paffett commented after qualifying: “We expected the Audis to be quicker today. But we have a quick car and we have the right pace. Still, I hadn’t expected to end up second. Today, the car was very good and so it will be tomorrow.”

German Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller, also with a year-old car, showed a convincing performance, ending up fourth fastest. He was followed by Paul Di Resta (GB/Mercedes-Benz), Alexandre Prémat (F/Audi), Norisring-winner Jamie Green (GB/Mercedes-Benz) and German Martin Tomczyk with his Audi A4 DTM.

Three Audi drivers with new cars were rather disappointed. Last year’s race winner at Zandvoort, Mattias Ekström (S), and his fellow Audi drivers Tom Kristensen (DK) and defending champion Timo Scheider, were already out after the second qualifying heat. They will be starting from ninth, tenth and eleventh place into the first race outside of Germany of this season. After scoring his best DTM result to date in the Norisring round, Ralf Schumacher had a setback. The team of the Mercedes-Benz driver opted for a wrong strategy and the ex-Formula 1 driver will be last on the grid.

The race on Sunday is scheduled for 41 laps, a total of 176.587 kilometres. The start is at 14.00 h (ARD live from 13.45).

Hans-Joachim Stuck will co-drive the Audi R8 LMS #98 for Phoenix Racing May 23- 24, 2009 on the Nuerburgring. He says:”In 1970, I won the first 24-hour race on the Nuerburgring. While browsing through Audi’s media booklet, I noticed that eight of my current driver colleagues had not even been born then! Although I’ve contested as many as 60 single 24-hour races, there’s always something new: The start next weekend will be my first with Audi at a 24-hour race. I’m really looking forward to that.”

Facts and figures

The 24-hour race Nürburgring will be staged for the 37th time this year …

Hans-Joachim Stuck was part of the winning team at the race’s first edition in 1970 …

The combination of the Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife is 25.378 kilometers long; it has 33 left- and 40 right-hand turns …

Last year, 220,000 spectators witnessed the 24-hour race …

Some 180 vehicles have been nominated for the race …

Audi has been providing the official vehicles for the 24-hour race since 2002 …

>>>>>For all the latest news see our Rolfsracing.com News Page.

FROM USF1.COM
02.24.09 Welcome to USF1.com - welcome to your behind-the-scenes access to the newest and most ground-breaking team on the F1 block.

Join us as USF1 evolves from being just a name and a burning ambition into the first made-in-America F1 car since Dan Gurney’s Eagle first flew from Santa Ana, California; share the selection process as we search for the next American F1 World Champion; enjoy the best of US technology as we stream on line the design and build process of the USF1 team and chassis. And, above all, give us your thoughts and ideas as the team begins to grow: because USF1 is for all of you out there who love F1, who love the idea of proving that American racing technology is on par to compete at the highest levels of the sport globally. And it is for those of you who, like us, just have a yearning to pit one human being against another in exotic pieces of machinery.

We hope you enjoy this still-young story - and we hope you will be with us for many years to come.

Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor

RolfsRacing.com welcomes some new competition to F1. All the
best to Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor.

Circuit Ricardo Tormo,Valencia, Spain.

Nick Heidfeld (GER) in the BMW Sauber F1.09.© BMW AG

Jan. 23, 2009/ With gusty winds reaching 50 km/h, the scheduled test programme had to be changed and the main focus of the morning’s work switched from set-up to reliability. Nick Heidfeld completed several long runs to put more mileage on the new F1.09. After the weather improved slightly in the afternoon, Heidfeld was at last able to work on the mechanical set-up.

“Finally I could drive the F1.09 for the very first time,” Heidfeld said after completing 92 laps. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we are making progress with each kilometre and the reliability is already there. Overall the F1.09 handles quite differently to last year’s car. Fortunately I managed to work on the set-up in the afternoon. The most important result after my first day of testing is that the car reacts as intended to set-up changes.”

Read more on our F1 Page in RolfsRacing.com.

Sebastian Loeb wins the 21st. Race of Champions Sunday Dec. 14th. at Wembley Stadium in London, England over David Coulthard by 3/10th of a second. The Race was seen by millions live on many world networks. In North America it could by seen on a netcast on raceofchampions.com.

Earlier in the day, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel retained Germany’s title in The Race Of Champions Nations Cup with a win over Tom Kristensen and former German DTM champion, Mattias Ekstrom of Team Scandinavia.

See more on this story and News on our RolfsRacing.com News Page.

December 5, 2008 – We, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., have come to the conclusion that we will withdraw from all Formula One activities, making 2008 the last season of participation.

This difficult decision has been made in light of the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry, brought on by the sub-prime problem in the United States, the deepening credit crisis and the sudden contraction of the world economies.

Honda must protect its core business activities and secure the long term as widespread uncertainties in the economies around the globe continue to mount. A recovery is expected to take some time.

Under these circumstances, Honda has taken swift and flexible measures to counter this sudden and expansive weakening of the marketplace in all business areas. However, in recognition of the need to optimize the allocation of management resources, including investment regarding the future, we have decided to withdraw from Formula One participation. We will enter into consultation with the associates of Honda Racing F1 Team and its engine supplier Honda Racing Development regarding the future of the two companies. This will include offering the team for sale.

In its third era of Formula One activities, Honda has been participating in Formula One races from the 2000 season, initially with BAR, by adopting a new format of jointly developing racing machines. Subsequently, in a move to meet the changing environment surrounding Formula One, we switched to running a 100% Honda-owned team commencing with the 2006 season.

Surmounting many challenges, the Honda Team achieved a Grand Prix victory in 2006, enabling Honda to receive overwhelming support from Honda fans around the world that were looking forward to greater success. It, therefore, has been an extremely difficult decision for us to come to this conclusion without having been able to fully meet the expectations of our fans.

By making the best of what we have learned during these times of economic turmoil, coupled with the spirit of challenge gained through active participation in racing, we intend to continue with our commitment in meeting new challenges.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our fans and all those who have supported Honda’s Formula One efforts, including everyone in the world of Formula One.

Thank you very much.

Takeo Fukui
President and CEO
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

All of us at Rolfsracing.com are disappointed, no North American race dates and the loss of a major team. Lets hope Formula 1 survives.

The Race of Champions will take place at London England’s Wembley Stadium on the 14 December. This year will see 7 countries with 14 drivers take part. More could be named later. At stake is the title of “The Champion of Champions”. The winner will be chosed using identical cars on a parallel track, which has proven to be exciting and decisive in determining an individual “Champion of Champions”. Here is the impressive list of drivers entered so far.

         TEAM GERMANY
         MichaelSchumacher
         SebastianVettel

         TEAM AUTOSPORT GREAT BRITAIN
         Jenson Button
         Andy Priaulx

         TEAM AUSTRALIA
         Mark Webber
         Troy Bayliss

         TEAM FRANCE
         Yvan Muller
         Sebastien Loeb

         TEAM SCANDINAVIA
         Tom Kristensen
         Mattias Ekstrom

         TEAM USA
         Carl Edwards
         Travis Pastrana

         TEAM F1 RACING GREAT BRITAIN
         David Coulthard
         *Yet unnamed*

Good luck to all drivers.

See more Racing News in RolfsRacing.com News Page.

22 November, 2008

Mark Webber was involved in a collision with a motor vehicle while cycling on the roads around Port Arthur, Tasmania, Friday November 21st, on the penultimate day of his annual charity adventure racing event, the Pure Tasmania Challenge, today.

The  charity event, the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, is a 175-mile challenge using mountain bikes, kayaks and trekking.

Mark was treated immediately at the scene by event medical staff before being transferred to a Tasmanian hospital where a rod was inserted in his right leg. The surgery was a success and Mark is now very focussed on his rehabilitation. Mark suffered no other injuries from the accident, other than some bruising and a scratch on his left arm.

It is likely that Mark will remain in Tasmania for a few days before continuing his recovery in Europe.

While it looks like Mark is out of the winter testing programme, it is fully expected he will make the starting grid in Melbourne next March.

Mark has said he’s relieved to know the driver of the motor vehicle was uninjured and expressed his thanks to the many well wishes from family, friends and supporters.

Courtesy - markwebber.com