< Previousautobabes.com.au MOTORSPORT GT ASIA SERIES POSTPONE SEASON OPENER 2017 GT Asia Series Competitors in the one-make Audi R8 LMS Cup have been given some additional incentive to extend their 2017 competition schedules. Motorsport Asia Limited - the promoter of the GT Asia Series - offers travel support including freight to and from the series’ blue ribbon event in September. Already the program has attracted entries from within the Cup, with Absolute Racing submitting at least one entry alongside their three-car program in GT Asia for 2017, Absolute team boss Ingo Matter confirming that the new arrangement made it very attractive to teams that wanted to extend their existing programs for more valuable race miles. “We think that this is a great offer and provides a very manageable solution for us to offer our customers variety, whilst maintaining budgets that are within achievable limits,” Matter explained. “At present we have three Audis entered in GT Asia this season, but one of our Audi R8 LMS Cup teams is looking to add the GT Asia program to their schedule as well, because it gives them the chance to compete with another driver and get more valuable time behind the wheel at many of the same circuits.” KCMG - who entered the Audi R8 LMS Cup for the first time in 2016 - are another team that are looking closely at the program to extend the offering to their drivers, and also extend their current roster of drivers. “Audi China wisely worked their calendar around other events in which teams could compete, which allows us to have them join us at events like Sepang, Fuji, Shanghai and Zhejiang, but we also have another blue-ribbon event which is sure to attract a large number of entries from across Asia, and we will align with Audi to freight the cars too and from this event in September”, Motorsport Asia CEO David Sonenscher explained. The 2017 season gets underway in early March, with a two-day official test at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on 7-8 March, followed by the first two rounds of the season at the same venue on 10-12 March. The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s autobabes.com.au leading GT Championship. It is solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul and Race Room. GT ASIA Series Postpone season opener Motorsport Asia Limited - the promoter of the GT Asia Series - has confirmed that they will postpone the start of the 2017 season which was scheduled for Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on 10-12 March. An announcement concerning the revised calendar for the 2017 GT Asia Series season will be released in the coming days, once teams, stakeholders and partners have been consulted, however the Series will continue into a seventh season. Despite the fact that GT Asia will not be on the programme for Sepang, the opening round of the 2017 TCR Asia Series will continue at the venue as scheduled. CMRT EurAsia and Aston Martin commit to GT Asia With the festive season now sadly a distant memory, teams and drivers are in full swing preparing for the 2017 GT Asia Series, with a number of established stars being joined by some new teams looking to make a name for themselves in Asia’s premier GT championship. Reigning Team’s champions Absolute Racing were the first to announce that they would be returning, looking to add the driver’s title to their consecutive victories in the team’s race, but they will have some stiff competition coming from a team with significant past experience in GT Asia (2010 team’s champion), with a marque that has established itself as a powerful force in past seasons - Aston Martin. CMRT Eurasia already have one confirmed entry in GT Asia for James Cai and Kenneth Lim and they have confirmed that they are looking to secure a second Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for the 2017 Series which kicks off in Malaysia on 10-12 March. “It’s great to be back in the GT Asia Series with a car in which we had so much success in the past,” Eurasia’s Mark Goddard admitted. “After a three year break, we’re looking forward to getting back into the battles which have been the hallmark of the Series in recent years. GT Asia is a fantastic championship which is very professionally run with a great media package. “Our relationship with the successful British manufacturer sees us come in to GT Asia as an Aston Martin Partner Team, with the full technical backing of the factory in the UK, so we really have the opportunity to take the fight to the established teams and I believe, be in a position to go after the Team and Driver’s championships.” “It’s great to have James and Kenneth back with us after the terrific job they did in 2015 in a GTC class Ferrari 458 Challenge,” GT Asia Series CEO David Sonenscher explained. “They were regularly amongst the front-runners in their class and often hassling the rear of the GT3 field, so we expect with the support and experience of Eurasia Motorsport - themselves winners in Asia with Aston Martin - that they will put the mighty Vantage right in amongst the front runners.autobabes.com.au “Aston Martin and GT Asia have had a strong relationship in past seasons, having claimed multiple wins and the 2015 GT3 driver’s championship crown for Darryl O’Young. The car is still a proven winner, and will be a strong addition to the 2017 field.” The 2017 season gets underway in early March, with a two-day official test at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on 7-8 March, followed by the first two rounds of the season at the same venue on 10-12 March. The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s leading GT Championship. It is solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul and Race Room. BENTLEY TEAM ABSOLUTE CONFIRM THREE CARS FOR GT ASI Reigning GT Asia Series Team’s champion Bentley Team Absolute have confirmed that they will return to a championship in which they have been very much a force over the last two seasons, with a three car Bentley Continental GT3 programme, mirroring the team which claimed the most round wins in season 2016. “During the 2016 end of season presentation I told our rivals that we were going to come back in 2017 and claim not just the Team’s title, but this year we want the Driver’s title as well,” Absolute Team Bentley’s Ingo Matter said. “We’ve had a fantastic relationship with the GT Asia Series and been the most successful manufacturer in the Series across the last two seasons with any one of our teams in the battle for the podium across each of the circuits we’ve travelled to, so we’re going into 2017 full of confidence.” Since they made their debut in the GT Asia Series during the penultimate round of the 2014 season with the mighty twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 Continental GT3, Absolute’s drivers have been right in the title battle, winning an impressive seven events across the ensuing two seasons, claiming 22 podiums in the process. Last season Japan’s Keita Sawa and Australia’s Jonathon Venter won a season-high three rounds, whilst Hong Kong’s Adderly Fong added a third win to the two he enjoyed in 2015 alongside Sawa on their way to second in the Driver’s championship. Across the ensuing two plus years, Bentley Team Absolute have enjoyed the presence of some serious contenders behind the wheel, with England’s Duncan Tappy, Spain’s Andy Soucek, Briton Andy Meyrick, Germany’s Christer Jöns, Dane Benny Simonsen and France’s Jean-Karl Vernay amongst those on the rotating driver’s roster, but none have enjoyed more success than Sawa, Venter and Fong. The final driver lineup for 2017 is still very much a team secret, but based on past seasons, it is likely to include a selection of drivers more than capable of taking the fight to their rivals. “As we have in past seasons, we’ll reveal the lineup on the eve of the opening round, but let’s just say, there’s a few names there to instil fear into the hearts of anyone thinking they’re going to have an easy time of it this season,” Matter explained in his typical laconic style. “Absolute Racing are a powerhouse in Asian motorsport, and have been a regular podium finisher and outright title contender every time they’ve entered GT Asia,” Motorsport Asia Limited CEO David Sonenscher said. “They’ll be right at the top of their game this year, and if past season’s are anything to go by, they will be hard to beat, but I’m sure there will be no shortage of teams looking to push them all the way to the final round.” The 2017 season gets underway in early March, with a two-day official test at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on 7-8 March, followed by the first two rounds of the season at the same venue on 10-12 March. FIST - TEAM AAI COMMIT FOUR CARS TO GT ASIA aai motorsports are a powerhouse in Asian motorsport, with a roster of GT machinery the envy of teams all over the world, but whilst their major commitment to GT racing in past seasons has been to attracting an entry in the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours [which they achieved in 2015 and 2016] and to Asia’s jewel in the crown - Macau, they’ve only contested intermittent events in GT3 competition - but all of that is about to change. “We’re proud to reveal that aai motorsports have entered four cars for the full 2017 GT Asia Series,” David Sonenscher, the CEO of Motorsport autobabes.com.au Asia Limited confirmed. “They’re such a high profile team in Asia, and always provide a competitive challenge to the established teams in whatever championship they contest, and are sure to be amongst the front-runners in GT Asia this year.” Over recent seasons aai have made cameo appearances in the GT Asia Series, most famously last season with AMG Customer Racing with a two car Mercedes-AMG GT entry for the August Shanghai event, the debut in the region for the new Mercedes GT3 weapon, but aai have been more strongly associated with another leading German manufacturer, BMW. “We’re proud to be returning to the GT Asia Series - a championship with it’s foundations firmly established in Asia - and bring a full compliment of drivers to go after the 2017 Team’s and Driver’s titles as we did with Motorsport Asia’s Asian Touring Car Series back in 2011,” aai Team Manager Mitoshi Kakimoto confirmed. “Our plan will be to compete with three GT3 cars - two BMW M6 GT3s, and a single BMW Z4 GT3 - and one GT4 car, details of which we’ll reveal shortly. We have a strong driver lineup planned - that will also be revealed soon - with our sole focus being to claim the championship titles and show once more just how competitive our team is on the world stage.” BMW have had a global resurgence in GT3 competition over the last 12-months, claiming victory in the grueling Spa 24-Hour race last year and they were recently amongst the pace-setters at the demanding Bathurst 12-Hour, so they can be expected to challenge the established stars of GT Asia with their mighty twin- turbo 4.4-litre V8 powered machines. For aai Team Principal Jun San Chen, he admitted the team were relishing the chance to return to competitive sprint racing. “Coming from an endurance race oriented Asian Le Mans Series in the past years, it is of a pleasure to return back to sprint racing in GT Asia Series where every fraction of a second counts in determining who takes home the win. With this stated we would use our experiences in endurance racing and adjust our technique to achieve the most successful outcome for the team.” The 2017 season gets underway in early March, with a two-day official test at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on 7-8 March, followed by the first two rounds of the season at the same venue on 10-12 March. The GT Asia Series is sanctioned by the FIA as an International Series and is clearly recognised as the Region’s leading GT Championship. It is solely managed and promoted by Motorsport Asia Ltd and is backed by Michelin, KW Automotive, Motul and Race Room.AT PLACE OF PEACE, DALE JR. STILL ‘CRAVES’ RACING By Kenny Bruce | NASCAR.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- He tested at Phoenix earlier this year, qualified on the outside of the front row for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and on Thursday he led the bulk of his Can-Am Duel qualifying race before finishing fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is officially back. Today marks his return to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points races, and no one is more pleased about it than the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. “I really had fun,” Earnhardt said Thursday evening after a strong return at a track where he’s typically one of a handful of drivers expected to run well. “I hated to lose but still we have to be aware of how far we’ve come to get back here. To go out there and lead all those laps and be able to make some good smart moves, it felt great.” The road back has been a long one for the 42-year-old Earnhardt, who missed the final 18 races of 2016 while recovering from concussion- like symptoms. It marked the second time he had been sidelined by such an injury, and he admitted there were times he questioned what his racing future held. “There was a lot of time during the recovery where there were days I was 90 percent sure I wasn’t going to drive again,” he said. “There were days when it was 50 percent. It was just moving all over the place depending on what I felt that day. Your recovery is up and down, you have good days and bad days. … “When it came down to it, I had to decide for myself if I wanted to drive anymore. I’m not going to race because of any other reason than I want to be out there.” Earnhardt will roll off second alongside Elliott, the pole winner, for the 59th running of the Daytona 500. He is a two-time winner of the “Great American Race” and one of the favorites based on past success and this year’s efforts thus far. Restrictor-plate races are breeding grounds for multi-car crashes, with cars running two-, three- and sometimes autobabes.com.auautobabes.com.au four-wide, a dozen or more rows deep at 200-plus mph. Earnhardt doesn’t dwell on the possibility of another accident and what might result. “I don’t want to wreck to sort of quantify my recovery,” he said. “I think should that happen and I come out the other side of it feeling great, that will add a ton of confidence. I can’t sit here and say that I know exactly how I’m going to react in those situations with confidence. So yeah, when I go through that process, there’s a box or two to check that aren’t checked yet.” Three-time series champion Tony Stewart hung up his NASCAR uniform at the end of the ‘16 season. Two of Stewart’s final four years driving for Stewart-Haas Racing were cut short due to injuries the Columbus, Indiana, native suffered in non-NASCAR events. But there was no apprehension about climbing back in the car following lengthy recovery periods, he said. “Never. It was more excitement to get back because you have to remember, we’re drivers,” Stewart, the winner of 49 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, said. “That’s what we want to do, drive. “When you have an injury, all it is is a pain in the ass. It’s keeping you from doing what you want to do. That’s why you heard so many drivers praise Junior last year (when) he chose not to run. And that’s hard.” Fellow driver Martin Truex Jr. has a close relationship with Earnhardt -- the two were teammates from 2004- 07 at Dale Earnhardt Inc. and spend time away from the track each fall on hunting trips. “I know he’s got a lot on his shoulders,” Truex said. “A lot of people put a lot of pressure on him, obviously. I think in a lot of ways he sometimes feels like he needs to be here for other people. But hopefully he made the decision based on what’s best for him. I think he did. I know he’s excited about racing still. He obviously still loves it and wants to do it and hopefully things will all work out for him.” It has been 20 races since Earnhardt won his last race and just five -- due to his shortened ‘16 season -- since his last top five. Sunday affords the opportunity to reset both those streaks. After that? He’s yet to win a championship at NASCAR’s top level, but has finished as high as third. And, yes, he did say if he wins the title in ‘17 “it would be hard to not call it a career.” He has a new outlook and seems to be at peace with the road he’s traveled. For the longest time, he said “I let racing be who I was instead of what I did. “Like Richard Petty said, ‘I’ve got a whole other life beyond driving’ and I really believe that,” Earnhardt said. “I’ve got a lot of things I’d love to do. Even outside of having a family, there are a lot of things in business that I’d love to see if I could succeed at. I think we got a glimpse of what that would be like; it looks pretty awesome.” For now, though, the Daytona 500 and another season of crisscrossing the country await. And Earnhardt is more than OK with that. “Like I said, I crave to drive the car,” he said. “I love the position I’m in with the team I’m with, (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and the guys, and until that feeling … and that ‘want’ to be there is gone, I want to keep going.” Continue Online >>Nico Hulkenberg Q&A: Racing 2017’s ‘big beasts’ will be tougher - formula1.com Nico Hulkenberg has a lot to get used to right now - a new team, a new car, a new power unit and a new set of regulations. No surprise, then, that the Renault star is not trying to run before he can walk. However, having sampled the French squad’s R.S.17 machine in Spain this week, Hulkenberg is definitely excited by the challenge posed by the coming season. We sat down with the German for an exclusive chat in Barcelona… autobabes.com.au Q: Nico, wider, louder, and faster cars: is that a synonym for better? What do you make of the 2017 machines? Nico Hulkenberg: Yes, sounds like it - at least I think it does. Faster is always welcome with drivers and when the challenge level rises, then you get a separation of the men from the boys. Yes, I am all for it! And yes, that increase in downforce is really something that you feel with your whole body. Q: What about wider cars? The tracks have not changed - what will that mean? Will we see more collisions? Or less overtaking and more strategic manoeuvring? NH: Well, I cannot answer that question yet… Q: …because this is a test and at tests you don’t get challenged for track position. But what about racing? NH: Ha, I have been on an in-lap and another car passed me and I thought, ‘Wow, what big beasts these cars are - with these huge black tyres!’ We definitely have to get used to them in the rear-view mirror! And, of course, we are all curious what impact that will have on the racing side. There is definitely less space compared to previous years. So yes, when I think about it my guess is that racing will get tougher. The braking zones will be shorter - and you have less time as the lap times drop. I am curious about Melbourne. Q: The question of increased training needs has been much hyped over the last couple of weeks. Was the heavy training really a must, or was it just an easy topic for the media? NH: It was necessary - I can confirm that! And that is after only two days of running. In the course of the season the teams will find so much more performance on the car. And I can confirm that I am fitter now than 12 months ago! Q: In the last couple of years racing has partly been about who is best at driving slow in crucial phases of the Grand Prix: to save fuel, to stay in the right engine mode, to look after the tyres… NH: When you recap the situation like that it really sounds mean! (Laughs) But believe me, that will change this season. From what I have experienced so far the tyres were consistent and the degradation was not too high, so we will all be able to push much more than in the past. But at this stage it all feels very different and new for me: a team change, a car change - that is already quite some load - but then on top these new cars. It is all very interesting for me. And I have to say in this new situation I have only just started to walk! (Laughs) Q: You have come from a team that finished fourth last year to one that finished ninth - autobabes.com.auNext >