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AUSTIN, Texas, (May 18, 2013) – Team Cadillac driver Johnny O’Connell drove his No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe to the Pirelli World Challenge Series Cadillac Sports Car Challenge GT win at the Circuit of the America’s (COTA) this afternoon. Teammate Andy Pilgrim finished third.

O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) got a great start from his pole position.  The strong start had O’Connell leading up the steep hill of COTA into Turn One.  Just two corners into the race the caution flag flew, the first of two, bunching the field back up.  The Georgian’s No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V handled the restarts and led the 50-minute race from start to finish.

Teammate Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) had to work twice as hard to find his way onto the GT podium in third place.  At the start, the No...

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BMW driver Martn Tomczyk wasn’t able to celebrate his maiden pole position for BMW for too long. After his fastest time in qualifying for the second DTM season round at Brands Hatch, it was found in scrutineering that the 2011 champion’’s BMW M3 DTM was underweight. As a result, the stewards of the meeting excluded the 31-year old from qualifying, but he is allowed to start the race on Sunday (12.30 hrs local time/13.30 hrs CET) from last place on the grid.

Because of Tomczyk’’s exclusion, pole position went to Mike Rockenfeller with the Audi RS 5 DTM, who will be starting from first place on the grid for the second time in his DTM career. The first was also at Brands Hatch in 2011. Augusto Farfus with the BMW M3 DTM will be lining up alongside Rockenfeller on the front row of the grid...

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Some revealing numbers after the first day of racing at Circuit of the Americas Friday. We’ve learned that the V8 Supercars, making their U.S. debut at COTA, are a little faster than the World Challenge GT cars on the marquee with the V8s this weekend.

World Challenge pole sitter Johnny O’Connell, the 2012 GT champion, pushed his No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe to pole position with a time of 1:33.539 for tomorrow’s first of a double race weekend. But an interesting number deeper in the standings is .992. That’s the difference separating O’Connell, the top qualifier, from Jeff Courtney who qualified 10th in an Audi R8 LMS at 1:34.531.

For comparison, the fastest in V8 Supercars practice Friday was V8s fan favorite Craig Lowndes who pushed his Holden Commodore to a 1:32.094...

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Australia’s V8 Supercar stars have had their first on-track experience at the spectacular Circuit of The Americas with fan favorite Craig Lowndes setting the pace for Red Bull Racing Australia.

The Holden Commodore driver stopped the clocks at 1 minute, 32.904 seconds in the final session of the day to become the first driver to get down into the “32s” for the Circuit of The Americas short course. Here’s Lowndes during pre-event publicity in Texas:

Ford’s Will Davison was second fastest ahead of Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander. Techno Autosport driver Jonathan Webb bounced back from an spectacular engine failure earlier in the day to set the fourth fastest time in the final session of the day.

Earlier sessions today were led by Fabian Coulthard (Lockwood Racing), Scott McLaughlin (Fuji...

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AUSTIN, Texas, (May 17, 2013) – Team Cadillac driver Johnny O’Connell drove his No. 3 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe to pole position for tomorrow’s first of a double race weekend at the Pirelli World Challenge Series Cadillac Sports Car Challenge at the Circuit of the America’s (COTA).  Teammate Andy Pilgrim will start fourth.

O’Connell (Flowery Branch, Ga.) posted a final practice time on Thursday of 1:34.816 placing him third on the GT time sheet.  Taking to the new COTA circuit in 90-degree temperatures this afternoon, he managed to post a pole position time of 1:33.539. Pilgrim (Boca Raton, Fla.) had limited running on Thursday’s promoter test day with car issues, missing the final practice session.

Despite the limited running, the Floridian put in a lap of 1:34...

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May 17th, Barcelona, Spain: As he prepares to head into round two of Global X Games in Barcelona, Spain, this weekend, two all-new videos of Hoonigan Racing Division’s Ken Block dropped this week.

The first video comes from The Hoonigans and features the Head Hoonigan in Charge, Mr. Block himself, racing at Rally America’s Oregon Trail Rally with only three wheels on the car in full #aintcare mode. Sparks fly and the fans go wild while Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino “press on regardless” and go on to eventually still take second overall at the race.

The second video is number two in Block’s ESPN Pro Series and features Block answering an internet call-out from War in Afghanistan veteran and quad-amputee, Taylor Morris...

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Here are Some Things You Should Know:

Prodrive has confirmed it is working on a Dakar entry for 2015. The British-based firm has already completed initial modelling work for a car, but it’s not yet known whether the project will become a manufacturer car entry or a Prodrive buggy. Prodrive staff members were present in South America in January, reporting back on what was needed for the firm’s first assault on a cross-country rally car. Business development director Richard Taylor said: “We have already done a lot of research into this project and it is very interesting to us. Here’s more:

Formula DRIFT returned to Road Atlanta for Round 2 | Road to the Championship on May 11, 2013. Vaughn Gittin Jr...

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Ingolstadt, May 16, 2013 – Five more weeks until the Le Mans 24 Hours celebrates its 90th anniversary. Over the period of 14 years, Audi has won this classic race eleven times and in doing so has consistently been delivering top performances in aerodynamics as well. They are a major reason for excellent lap times being achieved again and again despite the reductions of engine output due to the regulations.

A look at Audi’s first sports prototype is quite revealing, as the concept of the Audi R8R from 1999 clearly differed from the current R18 e-tron quattro – not only because the first race car had an open cockpit as opposed to the closed one of the current car.

On the road from the past to the present, not a single aspect of aerodynamics has remained untouched:

-The radiators of th...

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Los Angeles, Calif. (May 16, 2013) – After an action-packed season opener four weekends ago, Global Rallycross continues its 2013 season at X Games Barcelona on Sunday, May 19. Fans looking to catch all the action can tune into exclusive rallycross coverage at 10:00 AM ET on ESPN.

X Games Barcelona marks the second of four Global Rallycross events to be affiliated with the worldwide action sports tour. This weekend’s race will be held in the world-famous Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, which has hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics and numerous world concert tours.

Global Rallycross opened the 2013 season as part of X Games Foz do Iguacu on April 21...

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May 15, 2013 (Los Angeles, Calif.) – Duncan Ende may be the only driver looking for a boring weekend as the Pirelli World Challenge championship visits the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the first time this weekend.

In three races this year in the no. 24 STANDD / Merchant Services Audi R8 LMS, Ende has dealt with an engine failure, starting at the back of the field, and a brake malfunction which have hampered his ability to put up strong finishes. At Long Beach, however, despite a brake problem which dropped him through the field at the start, Ende was able to set the race’s fast lap, which was a GT class record, and finish in fourth position – an exciting day in which Ende twice fell to the back of the field yet narrowly missed getting on the podium.

The result helped Ende ...