It’s Monday. It’s the middle of April. It is supposed to be nice outside. It is still @$#%ing snowing. Now that I have gotten that off my chest, let’s do this Monday Morning Rundown thing………
The next big thing, also known as the Global RallyCross Championship, was back in action this past weekend in Washington state. While the videos of the event aren’t showing up on the net yet, by all accounts it was a pretty interesting weekend. The 2WD guys sound like they stole the show while Tanner Foust ended up with the AWD Main event win, even after dislocating his shoulder on Friday.
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Keeping on the topic of Foust and RallyCross, Foust spoke about is new multi-year commitment to Ford and RallyCross before taking to the track on Friday for practice. This all but confirms that he won’t be back in Formula D anytime soon, and if he is, it won’t be in a Scion.
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Round 4 of the WRC schedule finished up on Saturday in Jordan with Sebastien Ogier finishing in 1st Place. Latvala and Loeb followed behind in the second and third positions. Ken Block sat this one out which was actually planned long before he made a mess of his car in Portugal. The next round takes place in Italy May 5th – 8th.
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The tentative 2012 WRC Schedule has made it’s way onto the internet and it includes a new “Long Distance” event in Argentina and a “Cross-Borders” event shared between Sweden and Norway. Abu Dhabi also gets an event thanks in part to its growing rally fan base and gobs of available money for sponsorships.
The tentative schedule will include the following events (In alphabetical order):
Abu Dhabi*
Argentina (long distance event)
Finland
France
Great Britain*
Germany
Greece
Mexico
New Zealand
Portugal
Spain
Sweden – Norway
* Subject to FIA Approval
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After a quick turnaround after Last weeks Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastien Vettel managed to claim another poll in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix. Believe it or not Vettel finished the race in second place allowing Lewis Hamilton to take first and Mark Webber third. Next up is the Turkish Grand Prix on May 8th.
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A Promo video of the new Formula 1 track in Austin, Texas was uploaded to YouTube Last week. It looks like I may have to visit. Check it out:
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The IRL season made it’s stop in Long Beach this past weekend and a British chap by the name of Mike Conway won. Ryan Briscoe finished 2nd and Ashley Judd’s hubby Dario Franchitti ended up 3rd. Canadian rookie James Hinchcliffe pulled of a fourth place finish in his second IRL start. The IRL next travels to Sao Paulo, Brazil on May 1st.
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The 2011 Race of Champions Exhibition will take place in Frankfurt, Germany this December inside the 50,000 seat Commerzbank Arena.
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The Lotus Elise and Exige appear to be on their death bed. Their supply of the Toyota 2ZZ-GE motor is drying up and the current variation of the Lotus will die in July with a couple of special editions.