THE LINE

March 9, 2011

LATE-BREAKING NEWS: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC and INDYCAR have announced that Firestone will continue to serve as the sole tire supplier to the IZOD IndyCar Series through the 2013 race season. "At the end of last week, we had reached the deadline where both organizations had to make a decision regarding the future to prepare our individual operations for the long term," said Randy Bernard, chief executive officer, INDYCAR. "This is one of those decisions that it is imperative that you have the team owners 100 percent behind you. Early this week we called a meeting to walk the team owners through the process and hear their input. I'm happy to say we walk as one with Firestone." Firestone has supplied tires to the IZOD IndyCar Series since 1996.

(Photo©2011, Nigel Kinrade Autostock)
Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing No. 99 Scotts/Kellogg’s Ford Fusion) captured the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, his 19th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. Tony Stewart encountered pit-related troubles but finished second in his Chevrolet after dominating the race. "The key to winning today was my team, my Ford team, these guys are unbelievable. Roush Fenway is great... It is unreal," Edwards said. "When you are a kid you dream about this and how cool it would be to go to Vegas and fly a bunch of women there in a private plane and race cars and I did it. I brought my mom, my mother-in-law and my daughter and we came here and raced and I am having a blast.”

(Ford)
The Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) / Jarmo Lehtinen - Ford Fiesta RS WRC gets serious air on day two of the 2011 Rally Mexico over the weekend. Hirvonen and Lehtinen finished second behind the winning Citroen DS3 of Sebastien Loeb/D. Elena of France. It was Loeb's fifth Mexican Rally win. Loeb, a seven-time world champion, assumed the lead after Citroen teammate Sebastien Ogier crashed out in the first of the final day’s three stages. Ogier had led after the opening two days. Loeb finished 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Hirvonen, who won three bonus points by finishing the final Power Stage in Mexico quickest in the gravel debut of the new Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car. Hirvonen's teammates, Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila, finished 45.5 seconds behind in third. The opening dirt event of the season was punishing.  Rocky roads in the Sierra de Lobos mountains near León, 400km north-west of Mexico City, combined with temperatures of 33ºC to take a heavy toll on competitors. The teams faced 22 speed tests covering 364.97km over four days.  The roads climbed to more than 2700 meters, and the thinner air deprived cars of up to 20 per cent of their normal power. With its 2-3 finish Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team extended its lead in both the manufacturers' and drivers' standings in the FIA World Rally Championship. Ford now leads the manufacturers' series by 26 points after the second round of the 13 event series.  Hirvonen, winner of the opening round in Sweden last month, stretched his lead in the drivers' championship to nine points.

(Ford)
Third-place finishers Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN) / Miikka Anttila in their Ford Fiesta RS WRC on day one of the 2011 Rally Mexico over the weekend.

(GRAND-AM)
The Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas No. 01 Ganassi Racing TELMEX BMW/Riley gets serviced in the pits on the way to winning the Grand prix of Miami, their latest GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series victory. Pruett passed Max Angelelli in the closing minutes and led the final seven laps to give he and co-driver Rojas their fifth consecutive victory in GRAND-AM. Pruett and Rojas won the final three races in 2010 - when they scored a record nine victories and their second Daytona Prototype championship - and opened 2011 by winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Attendance was optional, apparently.

(GRAND-AM)
The No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 driven by Bill Auberlen/Paul Dalla Lana led 80 of the final 82 laps to score the GRAND-AM GT class victory in Miami. It was Dalla Lana's first career Rolex Series triumph but the 21st for Auberlen.

(ALMS)
Tequila Patrón returns again as the Presenting Sponsor of the nine-race American Le Mans Series for the 2011 season. The company will also be the lead sponsor of the Extreme Speed Motorsports GT team, owned by veteran driver Scott Sharp. The Tequila Patrón-sponsored Extreme Speed Motorsports team will sport new livery to go with its two new Ferrari F458 GTs. The 01 car will again be driven by team owner Scott Sharp, along with Johannes van Overbeek. Ed Brown and Guy Cosmo will be in the 02 team car. For the season’s two endurance races - at Sebring and Road Atlanta - the team has again signed Dominik Farnbacher for the 01 car, and new team member Rob Bell for the 02 Ferrari.

(Sebring International Raceway/ALMS)
An early arrival at Sebring International Raceway for the 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on March 19th. We assume that he does have a media credential.

(Racing In America)
The recently conserved Lotus-Ford 38/1, owned by The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, will be on display one day only, Sunday, March 13, at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, Amelia Island, Florida. Bob Casey, automobile historian and curator of transportation at The Henry Ford, will be at the event and serving as one of the concours judges.

One of the most significant machines in American racing history, Scottish-born Formula One star Jim Clark drove the Lotus-Ford to a dominant victory in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. This was the first win by a rear-engine car in the 500, marking the end of the front-engine roadster’s era at The Speedway. It also was the first Indy 500 victory for a Ford-powered car. It changed the course of Indy car racing, with the application of rear-engine, European Formula 1 technology, a lightweight, aircraft-inspired Lotus chassis, four-wheel independent suspension, and a powerful, rear-mounted DOHC Ford V8 engine.

At the 2010 Goodwood Festival, the famous Lotus-Ford was driven for the first time since 1965 by a Jim Clark contemporary and friend, three-time Formula One champion Sir Jackie Stewart. Later in the year it returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time, where it was driven on the historic track by current Scottish racing star Dario Franchitti (pictured), the 2010 IndyCar champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. The Lotus-Ford will be a key component in Racing In America, a new, permanent exhibition planned for Henry Ford Museum. Racing In America will cover the history and innovation of American auto racing in an engaging, unique experience powered by highly interactive displays and frontier-stretching technologies. It will bring auto racing to life with the greatest and most significant historical vehicles, the personal stories and collections from the most legendary leaders and drivers, and with on-site demonstrations of today's technological advancements. For more information, please visit www.RacingInAmerica.com.

(Highcroft Racing)
Highcroft Racing unveiled its new Honda Performance Development ARX-01e LMP1 racing machine for next week’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. HPD’s latest entry into the overall LMP1 class is powered by a development of the 3.4-liter V8 engine, which has been the mainstay of its sports car activities since the debut of the Acura program in 2007. David Brabham, Marino Franchitti and Simon Pagenaud will wheel the ARX-01e in America's most prestigious endurance road racing event. Though Highcroft will do without the Patron Tequila sponsorship this season, the racing group will have branding for the new MICHELIN® Pilot® Super Sport tire appearing prominently on the side of the No. 01 machine at Sebring. The new MICHELIN® Pilot® Super Sport tire (Ultra High Performance street tires) will launch in the U.S. on April 1 and is the highest performing street tire that the french tire maker has ever offered. Though the tub and engine of the ARX-01e are carried over from last year’s championship-winning LMP2 ARX-01c machine, the new car features a heavily revised aerodynamic and suspension package design and built by HPD’s partner, Wirth Research. In LMP1 spec, the engine is fed by a larger air restrictor to combat the additional 50kg required for the LMP1 class (900kg). 



Since the partnership between Honda Performance Development and Highcroft Racing began in 2007, the Danbury, CT-based racing organization has recorded a major series of milestones for HPD - first overall ALMS win, first ALMS LMP1 victory, first LMP1 championship, first team to record back-to-back titles and the highest ALMS point-scoring team in every season of the initial Acura program. Over the past four years, Highcroft Racing has clinched 11 ALMS wins, nine poles, 27 podiums and two championships, all on Michelin tires. “Highcroft has been a tremendously successful partner with Michelin over the past four years and the forthcoming Sebring race presented an ideal opportunity to explain how the MICHELIN® Pilot® Super Sport tire was born from endurance racing,” said Silvia Mammone, Michelin & BFGoodrich Motorsports Manager. “We are extremely proud of what we have achieved with our partners at HPD and Michelin over the past four years,” Highcroft owner, Duncan Dayton said. “With these kinds of partnerships, HPD and Michelin don’t just provide us with a car and tires to go out and race. They have dedicated engineers who are part of the team on race weekends - these guys have really become part of the family. Together, we have been intricately involved in developing the race car to improve performance and reliability. These lessons learned go into the cars and tires of tomorrow," Dayton added. “I’m tremendously proud of what our team has achieved with HPD, Wirth Research and Michelin with the creation of this car and can’t wait to see how it will perform.”

The 59th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida is set for 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 19. The race will be shown live and in its entirety on ESPN3.com starting at 10 a.m. ET. ABC will provide coverage from 12:30 to 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20.

(Michelin)
A view of the Michelin bridge at Turn 17, at Sebring International Raceway, at night.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: If you really must keep up on all of the latest F1 developments and the potential U.S. GP in Austin, Texas, go here. - PMD

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE AE STORE

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links:

Subscribe via iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=311421319

Subscribe via RSS:

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/podcasts/feeds/afterhours-audio.xml



If you would like to read previous Autoextremist issues, click on "Next Entry" below.