ISSUE_002

APRIL 8TH

THE DOVER ISSUEPage 6

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

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Putting together the first issue of Ignition was the equivalent of giving birth. It didn’t just happen. There was a mutual agreement that led to months of gestation as to what form this publication should look like. Even with all the best insight there was no way to

know the final appearance until it popped out of the womb that was my mind. Would it look as I imagined? Would it be as what the publishers wanted, or would it be an amalgam of both. Thankfully, Ignition draws on both, but just as in genetics there has to be a dominant characteristic.

That trait is quality.

Much love has gone into starting Ignition in order to allow that love of the topic to be passed to you, our readers. We’ve assembled the best team we could to bring you the best publication possible. From top fresh writing talent, to awesome photography that only the best layout style could bring to life. All with the aim of making sure every issue will never fall below a certain standard, much like bringing a child to adulthood. However, don’t think for a second that issue number two is day two of young ignition’s life. As I click the mouse to upload this publication the though process isn’t one of the constant slog we call life, it’s rebirth. Once again, Ignition bursts forth, fresh, new, and excited to be in this world.

We missed Dover. No getting around that, so we’ve gone ballistic, Ignition-style. Our crack team hit the Easter weekend event as if it was the last thing happening on earth. Memory cards were filled, pens bled dry, smartphone batteries drained to offer something others can’t, eight, damn right, eight virtual pages of Carnival of Speed coverage. That’s a whole publication in itself. On top of that Ignition is doing so in a usual, simple, but unique format for the Motorsports fan.

Don’t worry we haven’t forgotten the rest of the car universe. That’s what the other pages are for. Please remember Ignition is free to distribute via our Issuu PDF reader, we’re also on good old Facebook. So like, link, scream, shout, or slap a sticker on a homeless person, whatever it takes to get the word out.

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grillUp in yah INSIDE

ALL OVER DOVER

Pole to flag coverage starts at p6

INTERNATIONAL

MINI model shake up - 14

Touring Car Season kicks off - 15

Ready for theRoadBy John Bridge

It was announced on March 26 by In-teramericana Trad-

ing Corporation (ITC) that exciting new Su-zuki models will roll out from as early as December 2013 for the Caribbean and Latin America. Stewart’s Auto Sales Limited, exclusive dealers of Suzuki in Ja-maica, is expected to receive updated models from the popular Japa-nese automaker shortly thereafter. “We are elated to learn about the new models we will be receiv-ing,” says Diana Stewart, Man-aging Director of Stewart’s Auto Sales. “Jamaicans are already familiar with the reliability and value that a Suzuki provides and we now look forward to promot-ing their new designs and inno-vation,” Stewart added. New for 2014 is the all-new SX4, which recently debuted at the Geneva International Motor-show this year. Now transformed into a larger, cross-over SUV, the SX4 will start production for the Caribbean in December of this year followed closely by an excit-ing new MPV with three rows of seating in April 2014. Suzuki will also offering an all-new mid-size C-Segment Sedan which will commence production in Sep-tember 2014,

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The Juke was everywhere.

All were encouraged to experience the Juke.

DJ Bambino kept the night going with his own brand of musical humour.

The new look for the next generation Suzuki SX4.

The interior now reflects higher quality design.

Strong new caribbean line-up for Suzuki in 2013followed closely by the new gas-sipping Celerio in November 2014. An SUV will start production in August of the follow-ing year (2015) with more variants to follow. “Within the next eighteen months,

[the Caribbean] will see four new prod-ucts join the current Suzuki model line-up, followed closely by an all new SUV.” stated David Simpson, Chief Operating Officer at ITC in a press release. The group of upgraded models to

the Caribbean is welcome news follow-ing the announcement that Suzuki will cease production and new car sales op-erationsfor North America including Canada and the United States territory of Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

Invited guests and media were all ready for the

2013 Nissan Juke as the popular soca song heralded its first official intro-duction to the Ja-maican market. In front of a small crowd at a venue that screamed ex-clusivity, chic and cozy – Bel-mont Road’s Zen Lounge – the newest addition to local Nis-san dealers Fidelity Motors got the double unveiling. Car number one lay covered under black until the fateful mo-ment, at which point another Juke was driven out onto a second staging area, giving the packed house two vehicle to examine. They didn’t wait to sample both, one in Nissan’s Black Night, and the other in Devil Red. With ample drinks from the bar, and finger food all around the launch moved into high gear. Set up next to the main stage was a big screen, on which Fidelity Motors Mar-keting Officer David Crawford encouraged the guests to log on to the company’s social me-dia sites. Live comments from the crowd, via Facebook, and Twitter to name a few were f lashed up adding further to the interactive nature of the event.

Things got even more fun as host DJ Bambino started the random give away section, calling on those present to answer Nissan related questions for their bags of branded swag. Bambino eventually morphed from his hosting duties into his other more musical per-sona, Trevor Off Key. He started to belt out his parody hits getting the crowd dancing and carrying the proceedings

late into the night. Mingling with the crowd were Fi-delity bigwigs Major Gregory Webster, Managing Director, and Sales Manager Leslie Nembhard. Both sung the praises of their latest piece of merchandise. The Juke fills a big space in the Nissan product line-up due to its size and SUV-like capabilities. It fits in as the smallest of the Crossovers the com-

pany sells, below the Qashqai, but as it’s also car based it’s between the March and the Versa compact sedan. At 3.6 million it has features not available in this price range from equivalent cars, such as full-time intelligent all-wheel drive and the ground clear-ance to make use of it. Other pulls are the stylish design el-ements, full leather interior, and three driving modes to make the best of the 117bhp 1.6-litre motor. Nissan is fa-mous for its performance and fans will be drawn to the 190bhp turbocharged ver-sion of that very same engine available at a later date.

This lucky guest receives a gift bag from host DJ Bambino courtesy of Fidelity Motors.

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Now sponsored by Rubis/Shell Helix, 2012 Dover Champion Sebastien Rae has moved up a from Modified Production 2 into the Modified Production 3 after purchasing the record-breaking VW Magnum once driven by late Dover Raceway owner Alfred Chen and more recently David Summerbell Jr.

Refreshed, the Audi came hunting for the lap record, and got close.

Summerbell’s Lancer Evolution continues to evolve in a bid to stay ahead of the Audi TT-R DTM.

Age continues to make its presence felt on Peter Rae’s Mazda RX-7.

A Rae of hopeDefending Jamaica Race Drivers Club

(JRDC) Circuit Champion, Sebastien Rae wasn’t too bullish on his ability to defend his 2012 title, or even win races this year due to his purchase of a new car, but his first event back, Carnival of Speed, clearly showed his potential. Rae began the new season straddling two fences, a bracket class championship with his old Modified Production 2 Mitsubishi Mirage RS, and the overall title in the ex-Summer-bell Jr. VW Magnum. Either car couldn’t be more different and only confirmed the fact that Rae is looking up the ladder at the up-per echelons of the sport for the future. The Mirage is a full chassis front-wheel drive vehi-cle, while the Magnum is a converted single-seater with the potential to regain the lap re-

cord it held for more than a decade at Dover Raceway. A clean sweep of Bracket 32 and one MP2 podium only ended in tears as on the second MP2 race of the day his Mirage caught on fire bringing him to an immediate halt in dramatic manner by the main spectator stands. In MP3 he could only manage one win, but went on to thrill the crowd during the Thundersport race in an exciting battle to second-place overall with Kyle Gregg. He makes no bones that that learning curve will be high in the Magnum as its driv-ing mechanics are much different than the Mirage given the more powerful Honda K20 motor driving its rear-wheels. However, with the Mitsubishi out of commission and on the auction block, Rae should have more focus.

Hollywood block-‘busted’After a masterful display at JamWest there were

still questions if the Audi TT-R would be competi-

tive at Dover Raceway, a circuit much less suited to

it, but it was obvious that the car was much easier

to drive with driver Douglas Gore laying down the

gauntlet by dipping into the 17-second range during

Sunday qualifying, a time better than its fastest ever

a 1:18.1. Gore would take three commanding wins at

the event leading from start to finish. Unfortunate-

ly, in a move that the head of the JRDC called a de-

liberate attempt to gain an advantage in the media,

Gore had circumvented the class tyre regulations in

race two and was formally protested by rivals Total

Summerbell Racing (TSR). Three victories became

two as he was disqualified raising tensions between

both camps to an all time high.

De-EvolutionWhen the AMS built TA-1 made it to local shores, it was a

force to be reckoned with. The other Lancer Evolutions

struggled to keep pace, many of them breaking, and one

case in particular forcing the owner to seek a completely

different brand. Currently, the shoe seems to be on the

other foot, as the TSR mechanics were busy all weekend

like Doctor Frankenstein trying to keep an experiment

alive. This all culminated with a spectacular turbocharg-

er failure in the second MP4 race denying fans any hope

of the Gore/Summerbell Jr. match up they wanted for

the last race of the day, Thundersport. Summerbell Jr.

hinted in the media that his team might scale back their

racing efforts to just Modified Production class four.

One can only speculate that this could be a move to

reduce the racing stress on car, team, and pocket.

Absolute diff-erencePeter Rae continues to be a mixed

bag. Like Summerbell Jr. he contin-

ues to show flashes of brilliance,

when the machinery co-operates. It

didn’t this meet around as the Mazda

RX-7, while a competent challenger

to the others, is starting the show

its age. Rae’s first problem came as

his regular tyre size is no longer in

production forcing him to have to

develop the car around a new brand

and compound, something that

doesn’t work well in the short sharp

Jamaican circuit racing season. Even

a third place finish, his highest for the

weekend, wasn’t enough to offset an

early Thundersport retirement from

an exploding rear differential.

C A R N I V A L O F S P E E D 2 0 1 3 , D O V E R R A C E W A Y , S T . A N N

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The moment that changed the shade of the event, TSR’s TA-1 suffers turbocharger failure in the second Modified Production 4 race, from which it was unable to recover in time for the final Thundersport race.

Bracket 45T driver Kirby Smallhorne winning the first race.

Bracket 45N belonged to the Honda Civic of Dwight Spence, who won both races.

Bracket 38 race one went the way of Brian Shor.

Andrew Delapenha takes Bracket 38 race two.

Andre Norman reprsenting Honda in the Motorbikes.

Bracket 45 continues to be heralded as the development class allowing roll-cage

free racing within the mandated 1:45.0 lap time. Othniel Lawrence threw all that

out the window during race one as he flashed to the front of the pack in his Lancer

Evolution VI impressing everyone, except his fellow competitors in the B45 forced-

induction class, with his speed. Seasoned B45 racer Kirby Smallhorne in his trusty

turbocharged Toyota Starlet was there to pick up the pieces as Lawrence broke out

of the bracket with a 1:42.5. It would take race two for him to learn his lesson and a

more sedate pace had him fighting, and winning, against Smallhorne, 1:46.585 and

1:46.736 respectively.

In B45, for naturally aspirated cars, Dwight Spence in his Honda Civic continued

to rule the roost besting the Honda Accord of Cruise Lewis in both races.

Time stampedReal racing starts here, in Bracket 38. Race one saw the E39 BMW M3 of Brian Shor

beat Andrew Delapenha to the finish. The second race was a different story as De-

lapenha’s 240SX took the win with Shor nowhere in sight. The points collected put

him in the lead for the class championship.

Deadman racing

Bikes backAn injection of sponsorship by Dekal Wireless into the Motorbike category saw a

pretty good turn out, minus the 2012 class champion Adrian Blake. Always an active

and competitive group, they had three races to stretch their very fast legs. Robert

McDonald broke Dennis Chin-Quee’s shot at a trifecta denying him that one win in

the first event. From then on McDonald was just a runner-up. The class B bikers Cas-

well Lewis did the same to Jason Campbell.

Given his speed in B45T Othniel Lawrence may have thought MP stood for Modified Production.

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Kirk Diaz (153) injects himself into the Bracket 32 rivalry between Sebastien Rae (27) and Natasha Chang (104).

Diaz would eventually prove too fast for the class and break out in race two posting a 1:30.374.

Natasha Chang had Modified Production 1 all to herself.

Modified Production 2 race one going the way of Kyle Gregg.

Heath Causwell (31) collected a Modified Production 4 race win after Douglas Gore was excluded from the second race due to his tyre rule infringement.

Not a frequent particpant in circuit racing, Jeffrey Panton still made an impact grabbing second place in Modified Production 4 race two.

With Summerbell Jr. out for the day it was left to rest of the drivers to put on a show in the Carnival of Speed finale, the Thundersport race.

Gore’s only other competition, Peter Rae fell out early leaving him a clear run to the end and a second race win for the event.

One of the dangers of bracket racing is

the constant fear of going faster than

the mandatory time to stay under, re-

sulting in a losing effort. However,

having to deal with other cars of dif-

fering speeds and strategies can dis-

tort things. This happens a lot in the

combined B27 and B32 races, especially

given that many of these cars compete

against each other in the MP classes.

For Bracket 27, Andre Anderson had

it all to himself, literally, as he was the

only car class. Even with a host of me-

chanical problems all weekend he kept

it together long enough to win both

races. Bracket 32 wasn’t as clear-cut.

Sebastien Rae fought hard to stem the

approaching Honda tide over the two

events to eventually win them both.

The first was a close battle against Pe-

ter Jaggon’s Honda Integra. Race two

saw Kirk Diaz flex too much muscle

posting a 1:30.374. He dragged Nata-

sha Chang into a speed battle while the

experienced Rae held his ground. At

race end the Civic on the podium next

to him was that of Samantha Summer-

bell, Chang having broken out with a

1:31.032.

Too fast to race

When the cat’s awayLast year, Tarik Minott in his Suzuki Ignis, ruled MP1 at times turning in faster

laps than even the MP2 cars ahead of him. For Carnival of Speed he was MIA

leaving Chang the run of the class, and she took full advantage collecting dou-

ble victories over Guy Fraser and Don Gilbert.

Two words, no contest.

That wasn’t the case in MP2. Kyle Gregg was back in his old stomping

grounds mixing it up with rival Alan Chen. His first race was a carefree run to

the flag as mechanical issues sidelined Chen. The second race, however, Chen

showed why he’s one of the sport’s finest with a magnificent charge from the

back of the grid to race body panel to body panel with Gregg to win.

Mixed bagMP4 was where the excitement was expected to

be, and the opening race gave the crowd a hint as

the driving between the Audi and Evolution had the

stewards questioning if motor racing was a non-

contact sport. However, with Gore’s indiscretions

and Summerbell’s second-race retirement, the rest

of the field had to pull their weight in racing gold.

Gore took race one from Summerbell, while his

race two DQ elevated the Subaru Impreza of Heath

Causwell to the top spot on the podium. Behind

him, making his circuit racing debut was rally driver

Jeffery Panton, who despite taking home a few tro-

phies wasn’t enjoying himself in his Evolution VII.

Sebastien Rae’s first MP3 outing in the Mag-

num drew success, a fact that changed in race two

where the win went to Peter Jaggon.

No thunder some sport, finallyFans should have been disappointed, as Summerbell Jr. was unable to take to the

track, since he couldn’t complete repairs in time. That disappointment should have

doubled when the only person close enough to Gore, Peter Rae, fell out of the run-

ning on the first lap. Gore, left all alone, should have made Thundersport a dull finale.

That didn’t happen. Key performances by the Magnum, Kyle Gregg, Alan Chen, Natasha

Chang and even Jeffery Panton confirmed that if you give competitors the chance for

full racing, excitement can happen.

Anderson had the B27 race all to himself.

Chen, stationary for most of the day, until it counted.

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible sold for charity for USD$1 millionRick Hendrick, owner of NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports placed the winning bid of $1,000,000 for the first production 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible at a recent Palm Beach Barrett-Jackson auction. Hendrick won rights to the first retail open-top two-seater production model, allow-ing him to choose both color and options before his V8 sports car rolls off the assembly line in the near future. Hopefully, by the time that happens, we will all know more about its soft convertible top, double-bubble tonneau and the mechanism that opens and lowers the fully automatic roof at speeds upwards of 30 mph. Proceeds from the sale of this first C7 drop-top will benefit the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer institute.

GM warning 800,000 owners that their cars may need oil changes more frequently than they sayAccording to Autoweek, certain 2010-2012 Buick La-Crosse, Regal, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain models equipped with 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines could be going too long in between oil changes re-sulting in a higher-than-normal number of warranty claims for the engine’s balance chain. The balance chain links the balance shaft to the crankshaft, and a worn one can produce higher noise levels. As a fix, GM dealers will be reprogramming the software for the monitors in an effort to reduce the interval between oil changes, which varies based on driving habits and conditions. Through February 2015, the software update will be done at no cost to vehicle owners, but since this is not a recall, after that point, it will be up to the discretion of dealers as to whether or not they will charge for the service..

MINI may have overexpanded, some models may not be replacedAccording to Edmunds, MINI may be looking to re-duce the total of seven offerings of vehicles in its range, not to mention the copious varieties of con-

figurations found within each line. When MINI relaunched in the early 2000s, it did so with one model, the Cooper Hardtop, and has since added the Convertible, Clubman, Countryman, Coupe, Road-ster and Paceman. The brand’s core models right now are the Hardtop and Countryman, and of the roughly 66,200 vehicles that MINI sold in the United States last year, these two vehicles accounted for some 75 percent of total sales. “When we start to replace models, I think you will see that we won’t replace every model exactly,” Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA, told Ed-munds in an interview. McDowell declined to men-tion any specific models that may not be replaced in the lineup’s next generation.

Lexus to debut small hybrid CUV at 2014 Geneva Motor ShowFollowing rumors that Lexus has been working on a small crossover, Automotive News Europe reports that the production-ready CUV will bow at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show next March. Later this year, Lexus will preview this new crossover by way of a concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show in November.Specific details have not been confirmed, but AN states that the entry-level CUV will be powered by the same 2.5-liter gasoline-electric hybrid driv-etrain found in the Lexus ES 300h and will ride on the smaller architecture that underpins the Toyota RAV4. This also hints that the a second-generation RAV4 EV may be on the way. Until now, there has

not been a Lexus crossover below the RX, and this new model will compete with oth-er new players in the class including the BMW X1 and Audi Q3.

Mazda’s first profit in five years due to weak yenMazda is set to turn a profit for the first time in five years. The automaker is more dependent on exports from Japan than

other automakers based in that country, and as a result, it has long suffered at the hands of a strong yen. But the currency has declined in value by some 16 percent over the past six months and Mazda’s shares have tripled in value to their highest level since 2008. Contrast this situation to a year ago when Mazda printed 1.22 billion new shares to raise cash. The move was

equivalent to 70 percent of the company’s then-out-standing stock, and values tumbled to record lows as a result. Now that the yen has fallen to a value of around 96 per dollar, Mazda operations in the US are more profitable and the company now projects it will earn around $279 million for the next fiscal year. Auto-motive News says a one yen change against the dol-lar can have a 9.1 percent impact on Mazda operating profit compared to 4.7 percent at Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries or 3.1 percent at Toyota. Those au-tomakers better insulate themselves from currency f luctuations with overseas manufacturing facilities.

Kia to green-light GT and Provo for productionKia is looking to inject a bit more performance life into its brand. The company is looking at creating sporty models based on two of its recent concept cars, the GT four-door from the 2011 Frankfurt Mo-tor Show and the Provo hybrid hatchback that de-buted in Geneva recently. “The GT is close to being approved and going into production, but, as with all our cars, they have to be developed on a sound financial footing,” Benny Oeyen, Kia Europe’s VP of marketing and product planning, told Auto Express. When it debuted, the GT four-door was powered by a turbocharged 3.3-lit-er V6, reportedly good for 389 horsepower and 394 pound-feet of torque, mated to an eight-speed auto-matic gearbox. The Provo, on the other hand, could stand as a sort of halo car for the company’s B-segment offer-ings. It would ride on the same front-wheel-drive platform as the Rio compact.

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The C7 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible.

The MINI Paceman may not be replaced in the next model cycle.

The Kia Provo, making it into production.

Bracket 45NRace 11st Dwight Spence2nd Cruise Lewis3rd Walton Small Jr.

Race 21st Dwight Spence2nd Cruise Lewis3rd Walton Small Jnr.

Bracket 45TRace 11st Kriby Smallhorne2nd Ocran Davis3rd Oshane Scott

Race 21st Othneil Lawrence2nd Kirby Smallhorne3rd Ocran Davis

Bracket 38Race 11st Brian Shor2nd Andrew Delapenha3rd Kayde Walker

Race 21st Andrew Delapenha2nd Everett Brady3rd Rhon Gayle

Bracket 32Race 11st Sebastien Rae2nd Peter Jaggon3rd Natasha Chang

Race 21st Sebastien Rae2nd Samantha Summerbell3rd Nigel Edwards

Bracket 27Race 11st Andre Anderson

Race 21st Andre Anderson

Modified Production Class 1Race 11st Natasha Chang2nd Guy Fraser3rd Don Gilbert

Race 21st Natasha Chang2nd Guy Fraser3rd Don Gilbert

Modified Production Class 2Race 11st Kyle Gregg2nd Sebastien Rae3rd Dean Corrodus

Race 21st Alan Chen2nd Kyle Gregg3rd Paul Chok

Modified Production Class 3Race 11st Sebastien Rae2nd Andre Anderson3rd Peter Jaggon

Race 21st Peter Jaggon2nd Nigel Edwards3rd Samantha Summerbell

Modified Production Class 4Race 11st Douglas Gore2nd David Summerbell Jnr.3rd Peter Rae

Race 21st Heath Causwell2nd Jeffery Panton3rd Marck Carey

Thundersport 11st Sebastien Rae2nd Kyle Gregg3rd Alan Chen

Thundersport 21st Douglas Gore2nd Jeffery Panton3rd Andre Anderson

Motorcycle Class ARace 11st Robert McDonald2nd Andre Norman3rd Dennis Chin-Quee

Race 21st Dennis Chin-Quee2nd Robert McDonald3rd Andre Norman

Race 31st Dennis Chin-Quee2nd Robert McDonald3rd Andre Norman

Motorcycle Class BRace 11st Jason Campbell2nd Caswell Lewis3rd Glenmore Dyer

Race 21st Jason Campbell2nd Norman Chung3rd Glenmore Dyer

Race 31st Caswell Lewis2nd Jason Campbell3rd Norman Chung

CARNIVAL OF SPEED RESULTS*

*RESuLTS ARE By CLASS

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DTM American styleAn American version of the Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft (German Touring Car Championship) or DTM as its popularly known, is set to be launched in the next few years after the organizers of the German series, ITR, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Grand-Am and the In-ternational Motor Sports Association – the sanctioning body of the merged United SportsCar Racing Series. The goal for the organizations is to create a North American version of the se-ries which could be launched as early as 2015 and would possibly feature as part of the United SportsCar Racing weekends. “On the heels of our United Sports-Car Racing and IMSA announcements, reaching this agreement adds to the momentum we’re experiencing right now,” Grand-Am president and CEO Ed Bennett said. “The next steps in this process will involve further discussions with various automotive manufactur-ers, whose commitment to this concept is essential if a North American DTM-style series is to become reality.” Whether the series becomes a real-ity is largely dependent on whether or not manufacturers are prepared to lend their support to the plans, which would see the proposed new series becoming the third to run to the latest DTM regu-lations. DTM chief Hans Werner Aufrecht said the new regulations introduced into the series had now provided the opportunity for manufacturers to work on a global platform covering the major automotive markets. The Japanese Super GT series has already entered into cooperation with the DTM which will start next year. “In addition to the six German and Japanese manufacturers - Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Nissan and Toyota - which are already involved, the new cooperation quite obviously also offers a new and extraordinary field of activity for the American premium manufacturers such as Cadillac, Lincoln or Dodge SRT within the framework of future motorsport programs.The DTM season starts on May 5 in Germany.

BTCC openerJason Plato declared himself pleased with the opening weekend of the Dun-

have got to be going to Donington Park in three weeks’ time looking for podiums at least.”

Despite loss of factory support Muller Cruze-es to double WTCC winsYvan Muller saw his 2013 world championship campaign get off to the best possible start as he won the both World Touring Car Champi-onship Races at Monza, Italy in another suc-cessful weekend for the Chevrolet Cruze and RML team. Muller, who started from pole position at the Italian track, led without fault and even a safety car period caused by Stefan D’Aste did little to dampen the Frenchman’s sterling drive to victory. He eventually finished just under a second up on new RML team-mate, Tom Chilton. Due to the reverse-grid qualification rules, Muller started race two from tenth place on the grid, but, by the end of the first lap, was up to sixth place and, at the end of lap four, the race was as good as won, as the Frenchman swept into the lead, finding grip and traction where others has failed. Nearest rival Michel Nykjaer finished over two seconds behind the former BTCC champion.

The next Colin McRae?Irish rally driver Keith Cronin will make his competitive debut in the World Rally Champi-onship next week when he kicks off his 2013 campaign on Rally de Portugal. “This event is going to be a tough start to my world rally career but I’ve worked hard to get this far and I plan to make the most of the opportunity,” he vowed. “WRC3 and the Citroen Top Driver cham-pionship will both be very competitive and my focus for this first event is to get some points on the board and just take it stage by stage. Cronin, already a triple British rally cham-pion, is contesting the WRC3 series this year – a special category within the main world championship for two-wheel-drive cars. He’s dominated the British championship for three years but the step up to the world level is not an easy one – especially in Portu-gal. “The step up to the world championship is an exciting move for me and it’s thanks to the support of my sponsors and supporters at home in Ireland that we’ve been able to get to this point.” Rally de Portugal is renowned for being tough on cars. The three-day event is based in Faro but most of the competitive action takes place in the hills above the popular holiday destination.

lop MSA British Touring Car Championship season having secured the early lead in the points standings. “After taking two wins and a fifth place I am over the moon,” he said. “It really validates all the hard work we have put in to this programme and I can only see things getting better from here.The MG KX Momentum Racing driver overcame a scare on the final lap of race one – when he was hit by the Honda of Andrew Jordan at the final corner – to open his account for the year and then re-peated the feat in race two, despite a late Safety Car period bunch-ing up the field behind and costing him a healthy lead. Although unable to make it a triple success in race three, Plato secured a solid fifth place to give him an early advantage in the title race and ad-mitted it had been the ideal start to the 2013 campaign, with new team-mate Sam Tordoff also taking to the podium over the course of the weekend. Youngster Tordoff, starting his first full season in the BTCC, secured a brace of top five finishes in the sister car including a fine third place in race three to sit third in the championship standings.“The car is good and I have settled in to the team really well. We

German’s premiere racing series, DTM, is making moves to bring on board North American Auto Manufacturers.