Honda Racing’s assault on the British Touring Car Championship begins

The 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship blasts into life at Brands Hatch this weekend and Honda Racing drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden can’t wait to launch their campaign for glory.

Both racers will strap themselves in to the Honda Civic fitted with a new two-litre turbocharged engine for the new 30-race campaign. They are aiming to defend the teams’ and manufacturers’ titles that they scooped last season and claim the drivers’ trophy which they both narrowly missed out on last year.

Ford’s UK tech centre helps new Ford Focus global touring car prepare for action

The all-new Team Aon Ford Focus BTCC car has undergone its final shakedown tests ahead of this weekend’s opening race at Brands Hatch.

The fine-tuning took place at Ford’s Dunton Engineering Centre, in Essex – the home of Ford Team RS – as Ford continued its global support to independent touring car race teams running the all-new Ford Focus.

Developed by Arena Motorsport with technical support from Ford, the new Focus is the first product of this global initiative, which will see development of a common race car to S2000 specification, to compete in major touring car categories worldwide.

JRM aim to go one better in Wales

The JRM Rally Team will be in action again this weekend, when Tom Cave drives one of its Mitsubishi Evolution Xs on the second round of the 2011 Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, the Bulldog Rally of North Wales. Taking place on Saturday (2nd April), the team will be aiming to finish one-place-higher, after Cave scored an impressive second place on February’s opening round, the Bournemouth-based Rallye Sunseeker.

Cheshire school wins top 2011 karting championship

A trio of teenage students has won the fifth annual British Schools Karting Championship (BSKC) from the Altrincham Grammar School for Boys (AGSB) in Bowdon, Cheshire.

Just hours after Sebastian Vettel swept to victory at the Formula One season opener in Australia, Altrincham team-mates Max McGuire (17), Alex Wilson (14) and Zubair Hoque (14) fended off competition from more than 30 rival schools and colleges from around the UK to clinch the Go Motorsport supported BSKC title at the series finale at Daytona Milton Keynes.

Motorpoint officially unveils British Superbike team

Motorbike fans from across the Midlands flocked to Derby for the official unveiling of the Motorpoint Yamaha British Superbike team last Friday.

The car supermarket giant recently renewed its sponsorship of the Motorpoint Yamaha team for the 2011 season, which begins next month in spectacular fashion in front of the Eurosport TV cameras at Brands Hatch on April 25.

First session of the season down the Hatch!

-       Chevrolet Cruze ready to compete in first BTCC round this weekend
-       Plato and MacDowall to debut new Cruze at Brands Hatch
-       Live coverage on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, plus qualifying online

First podium for Paul Loup Chatin

First race of the year and first podium for the “EUROFORMULA VOLANT” 2010 who achieved a faultless round during this challenge fought out on the difficult MONZA track which he was discovering for the first time.

After some “studious” tests which saw him evolve to lead positions, Paul Loup CHATIN qualified 4th and 3rd respectively for the two races.

Petter Solberg and Kimi Räikkönen in the points

Petter Solberg and Chris Patterson were the best privately-entered performers at the end of the Rally of Portugal, leading a group of three Citroën DS3 WRCs entered by independent teams with the backing of Citroën Racing Technologies. They finished sixth, one place ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström in seventh. On their first appearance of the season, Peter van Merksteijn Jr and Eddy Chevaillier also reached the finish.

Solberg was extremely competitive from the very beginning, but lost all chance of winning at the end of the opening day. A double puncture on the front wheels meant that he was forced to retire from the opening day.

Promising progress for Clarke at Canada Heights

Maxxis Apico Suzuki, rider Steven Clarke, ended round two of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship full of optimism yesterday, as the RM-Z250 rider progressed steadily through race day, moving up the order to finish in eighth overall.

Clean sweep for the Citroën DS3 WRCs

A year after scoring their first victory in the FIA World Rally Championship in Portugal, Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia made it two wins in two attempts at the Algarve-based event. After driving the perfect race, the Citroën Total World Rally Team’s DS3 WRCs scored the first one-two of their fledgling career, with second-placed Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena now level with Mikko Hirvonen for the lead in the drivers’ world title chase.

The Citroën Total World Rally Team started the third and final day of Rally Portugal with a lead of more than four minutes over its rivals, and controlled the end of the race.