De Villiers claims historic Dakar win

De Villiers claims historic Dakar win

By Matt Beer
Saturday, January 17th 2009, 14:16 GMT

Giniel de Villiers has clinched a historic Dakar Rally victory for Volkswagen, taking the first diesel-powered win in the event in its first year in its new South American location.
Mark Miller completed a VW one-two, as this year’s dominant team cruised through the [...]

Honda remains committed to MotoGP

Honda remains committed to MotoGP

By Pablo Elizalde
Friday, January 23rd 2009, 09:50 GMT

Honda Motor Co. has no plans to leave MotoGP, but the company admitted it is considering withdrawing from other categories.
“We have not formally decided yet but we have been looking into the option of pulling out,” Honda spokesman Akemi Ando told Reuters.
“It is something [...]

Abu Dhabi circuit well on schedule

Abu Dhabi circuit well on schedule

By Jonathan Noble
Friday, January 23rd 2009, 10:18 GMT

Abu Dhabi’s new Formula One track is on schedule to be finished by the summer – well ahead of its first Grand Prix that takes place in November.
The £250 million circuit, which is based on Yas Island, will be completed alongside the hotels, [...]

Massa encouraged by F60’s form

Massa encouraged by F60’s form

By Michele Lostia and Pablo Elizalde
Friday, January 23rd 2009, 14:25 GMT

Felipe Massa gave the thumbs-up to Ferrari’s new F60 car after this week’s test at the Mugello circuit.
The Brazilian driver, last year’s championship runner-up, was the man in charge of taking the new car to the track for the first time [...]

Bridgestone frustrated by poor weather

Bridgestone frustrated by poor weather

By Pablo Elizalde
Thursday, January 22nd 2009, 16:49 GMT

Bridgestone’s technical manager Tetsuro Kobayashi is confident Formula One teams will have sufficient time to be ready for the start of the season despite a frustrating week of testing in Portugal.
The first group test of 2009 has been ruined by the poor weather at [...]

Roma wins stage 13 for Mitsubishi

Roma wins stage 13 for Mitsubishi

By Matt Beer
Friday, January 16th 2009, 20:39 GMT

Joan ‘Nani’ Roma took the new diesel Mitsubishi’s first stage win of the 2009 Dakar Rally on the penultimate day, as Volkswagen edged closer to victory.
VW duo Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller will go into the final stage two minutes and 20 [...]

Ezpeleta expects Kawasaki bikes to race

Ezpeleta expects Kawasaki bikes to race

By Matt Beer and Michele Lostia
Wednesday, January 14th 2009, 13:24 GMT

Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta says he expects a Kawasaki team to race in 2009, having confirmed that he has agreed to let the company withdraw from its commitment to stay in MotoGP until 2011 provided it participates this season.
Kawasaki has [...]

Ducati reveal Desmosedici GP9

Ducati reveal Desmosedici GP9

By Matt Beer
Wednesday, January 14th 2009, 15:59 GMT

Ducati have released the first official images of their 2009 MotoGP challenger, which features a radical carbon fibre chassis.
The Desmosedici GP9 replaces the traditional tube frame with a carbon design, an innovation first tested by the team last summer.
“Some changes we’ve made to the cycle [...]

MotoGP to make radical cost cuts

MotoGP to make radical cost cuts

By Matt Beer and Michele Lostia
Wednesday, January 14th 2009, 08:35 GMT

Ducati team boss Livio Suppo says that the MotoGP manufacturers will follow Formula One’s example and make radical cost-cutting changes, but that most of the measures will have to wait until 2010.
The constructors met in Japan last week, but so [...]

Hayden sure he can adapt to Ducati

Hayden sure he can adapt to Ducati

By Matt Beer
Tuesday, January 13th 2009, 19:55 GMT

Former world champion Nicky Hayden is confident he will be able to get to grips with the Ducati GP9, but admits that he is not yet up to speed at his new team.
Casey Stoner has comfortably out-paced recent teammates Marco Melandri and [...]