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News archive

If the news section on the main page of the portal does not contain what you are looking for, you may find it here. This archive contains all the previous news items that have appeared on the main page in approximately the last two to three months.

• March 10 – Kyle Busch provided Toyota's first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta ahead of Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt, Jr..[1] The Nationwide Series race was won by Matt Kenseth, who led home Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton in a close finish.[2]
• March 10 – MotoGP champion Casey Stoner began the new season with a win in the championship's first night race. Stoner, who had qualified in 4th position, led the Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail from lap 8 onwards.[3]
• March 3 – Carl Edwards won the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas on Sunday, but his team is likely to be penalised for a technical infringement. In the post-race inspection, scrutineers found that the lid of the oil tank was not secured in place.[4]
• March 2 – Troy Bayliss won both races in round 2 of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island, Australia. The Ducati rider currently leads the points standings ahead of Yamaha's Troy Corser.[5]
• March 2 – SEAT drivers Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini won a race each in the first round of the 2008 World Touring Car Championship season in Curitiba, Brazil. Reigning champion Andy Priaulx finished 2nd and 5th.[6][7]
• March 2 – Sébastien Loeb achieved his third Rally Mexico win in succession after the event's early leader Jari-Matti Latvala was hampered on day two by a drop in turbo pressure.[8]
• February 27 – Forsythe Championship Racing is set to close after the last ever Champ Car race takes place. The title-winning team has failed to secure the funding that it needed to compete in the IndyCar Series after the recent merger of the two championships.[9]
• February 26 – Carl Edwards dominated the second part of a rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.[10] Tony Stewart was the winner of the Nationwide Series race.[11]
• February 25 – V8 Supercars driver Ashley Cooper has been killed in an accident during a support race at Adelaide, Australia.[12]
• February 24 – Neel Jani of Switzerland and Robert Wickens of Canada have shared the race wins in the A1GP series' seventh round of the 2007-2008 season at Durban, South Africa.[13][14]
• February 19 – Reports in the US media suggest that the long talked about merger between Champ Car and the IRL (the two leading open wheel series in the United States) has come to fruition. IRL boss Tony George is reported to have offered free chassis and engines to the Champ Car teams, together with a $1.2 million bonus to any team which agrees to compete in all of this season's events.[15]
• February 18 – The future of former Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher has been confirmed. As anticipated, he will compete in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters as part of the Mercedes-AMG line-up.[16]
• February 18 – Ryan Newman led a one-two finish for Penske Racing in the 50th running of the Daytona 500, followed by the Toyotas of Joe Gibbs Racing. It was Penske's first Daytona victory.[17]
• February 16 – Sebastian Buemi has inherited his first race win in the GP2 Asia Series round at Sentul in Indonesia following the exclusion of the winner on the road, Luca Filippi, due to an error in which he used a set of tires from his team-mate's allocation.[18]
• February 15 – Denny Hamlin achieved Toyota's first NASCAR Sprint Cup win in the second Gatorade Duel qualifier for the Daytona 500, which is the first championship round of the season.[19] The first qualifying race was won by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.[20]
• February 10 – Factory Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala has become the WRC's youngest event winner (at 22 years old) by winning the 2008 Swedish Rally. He beat his team-mate Mikko Hirvonen by nearly a minute and set fastest times on all of the Friday's stages. Citroën's Sébastien Loeb retired with engine problems caused by accident damage.[21]
• February 10 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made a good start with his new team Hendrick Motorsports by winning the Budweiser Shootout exhibition event at Daytona.[22]
• January 29 – Former Champ Car champion and Indy 500 winner Gil de Ferran is coming out of retirement to establish a new team and compete in the American Le Mans Series. De Ferran last competed in 2003 and later moved into team management with BAR Honda.[23]
• January 27 – WRC champion Sébastien Loeb has won the Monte Carlo Rally for a fifth time. Mikko Hirvonen and Chris Atkinson completed the podium.[24]
• January 27 – The 24 Hours of Daytona has been won by Chip Ganassi Racing for the third year in succession. The winning car was crewed by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett.[25]
• January 26 – GP2 rookie and F3 Euroseries champion Romain Grosjean started the new season in style. He won both races in the first round of the GP2 Asia Series.[26]
• January 23 – MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa may have to miss the remaining pre-season tests during what is expected to be a six-week recovery period after a recent crash. He has had surgery today to repair a broken bone in his right hand.[27]
• January 20 – The races of the New Zealand round of the A1 Grand Prix series were won by Jonny Reid for New Zealand and Christian Vietoris for Germany.[28][29]
• January 15 – The threat of terrorism that prompted the cancellation of the Dakar Rally may spell the end of the event as we know it. From 2009 onwards, it may be supplanted by a new event in South America, which has a history of hosting other "Rally Raid" events.[30]
• January 10 – After SEAT's successful adoption of diesel engines in the WTCC last year, the Spanish car maker's British Touring Car Championship team will also adopt the alternative powerplant in 2008. Diesel engines are not normally used for racing, but are permitted under Super 2000 touring car rules.[31]
• January 4 – Organisers of the Dakar Rally have announced its cancellation in response to an elevated risk of terrorist attacks.[32]
• January 4 – Subaru's WRC team has announced that former WRC driver Markko Martin will be its official test driver this year. The 32 year old Estonian last competed in the championship in 2005.[33]
• January 3 – Spanish Champ Car driver Oriol Servia will return to PKV Racing this season. He was in its 2006 line-up and started two races with the team last year.[34]
• December 9 – Rafael Sperafico has been killed in a crash during a Stock Car Brasil supporting race.[35]
• December 2 – Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb has secured his fourth World Rally Championship title in succession after finishing in third position in the Wales Rally GB behind the Ford drivers of Mikko Hirvonen and Marcus Gronholm. Gronholm had to outscore Loeb by at least seven points if he was to win a third title before his retirement.[36]
• December 2 – Garth Tander has won the 2007 Australian V8 Supercar championship. Fourth position in th final race of the season was enough to claim the title with a small margin of two points.[37]
• November 28 – IndyCar Series driver Helio Castroneves has won the "Dancing with the Stars" competition on US television.[38]
• November 28 – NASCAR has announced a drive to attract drivers from ethnic minorities in an effort to diversify from the series' traditional demographic.[39]
• November 26 – Dan Pettit, the current owner of Champ Car team RuSPORT, has entered into a partnership with Jerry Forsythe of Forsythe Championship Racing. RuSPORT's closure was announced earlier this year, after just one season under Pettit's ownership.[40]
• November 26 – The British Touring Car Championship will adopt a CO² emissions limit for its entrants in 2009.[41]
• November 18 – Jimmie Johnson was crowned the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion. Former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya was named the series Rookie of the Year. The series will be renamed the Sprint Cup series for the 2008 season. The race marked the final event using cars based on the 1964 Holman Moody template. All future races will utilize cars fitting the Car of Tomorrow template.[42]
• November 18 – Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb has won the Rally Ireland to take the lead of the World Rally Championship standings by six points with one event remaining.[43]
• November 18 – Oliver Jarvis won the Macau Formula Three Grand Prix from pole position, leading from lights to flag.[44]
• November 18 – Defending WTCC champion Andy Priaulx has secured a third world title in succession in the series finale in the Macau Guia. He finished in eighth position in the first race, which gave him pole for the second race, while his title rivals failed to finish. He then went on to win the second race and win the title with a margin of 11 points.[45][46]
• November 18 – The final NASCAR Busch Series race of the season (and the last event to be run under that title, prior to a change of sponsor) was won by Jeff Burton at the Homestead Miami Speedway. Burton came through from ninth position after the last restart.[47]
• November 16 – WRC championship leader Marcus Gronholm has retired from the Rally Ireland in a heavy accident that prompted a precautionary check in hospital. Sébastien Loeb currently leads the event.[48]
• November 13 – MotoGP will host its first night-time event in 2008. The on-track action in the Qatar GP will take place under floodlights during the evening of each of the three days.[49]
• November 13 – Ryan Briscoe has been confirmed as the replacement for Sam Hornish, Jr. at Penske Racing in the IndyCar Series.[50]
• November 12 – WTCC champion Andy Priaulx will stay with Team BMW UK (run by Racing Bart Mampaey) in 2008.[51]
• November 12 – Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene won the final round of the Le Mans Series at Interlagos, Brazil. Their team-mates Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin]] secured the title with second position.[52]
• November 12 – Jimmie Johnson needs only an 18th position in the final round of the NEXTEL Cup in order to retain his title, after his fourth win in succession.[53]
• November 11 – Sébastien Bourdais ended his Champ Car on a high by winning the final round of the season in Mexico. He had already secured his fourth title a few weeks ago.[54]
• November 11 – Kyle Busch has won the NASCAR Busch Series round at Phoenix; it is his fourth win of the season.[55]
• November 9 – Former WRC champion Carlos Sainz is due to make a one-off return to competition in a rally in which he first competed 27 years ago.[56]
• November 8 – Former IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish, Jr. has confirmed that he will move into stock car racing on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2008. He will be staying with the Penske Racing organisation.[57]
• November 5 – The final race of the MotoGP season in Valencia was won by Honda's Dani Pedrosa, ahead of champion Casey Stoner (Ducati) and John Hopkins (Suzuki). Valentino Rossi, who was competing with a hand injury, retired with engine failure.[58]
• November 5 – Jimmie Johnson took the points lead in the NEXTEL Cup with win number nine at Texas Motor Speedway. Main rival Jeff Gordon finished in seventh place and was left with a 30-point deficit to Johnson.[59]
• November 4 – Carl Edwards has won his first NASCAR national title in the second-division Busch Series.[60]
• November 4 – Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes shared the wins in the Australian V8 Supercar series' first visit to the Bahrain International Circuit. Lowndes is now within 20 points of Garth Tander's lead in the standings.[61]
• November 3 – Two-time Formula One World Champion and DTM race winner Mika Häkkinen has announced his retirement from racing at the age of 39.[62]
• November 1 – Valentino Rossi has abandoned his plan to enter the Rally GB at the end of the WRC season at the request of Yamaha, due to a clashing commitment in the final MotoGP test of 2007.[63]
• October 31 – Title-winning IndyCar Series team Andretti Green Racing has signed Hideki Mutoh to complete its four car line-up. The former Indy Pro Series driver is virtually a series rookie with only one IndyCar start to his credit.[64]
• October 31 – Former Champ Car driver A. J. Allmendinger (who now competes in NASCAR) has added his voice to calls for a reunion between Champ Car and the IndyCar Series. The two leading US open wheel championships parted company in 1996 and have since struggled commercially against the increasing success of NASCAR's NEXTEL Cup.[65]