Sauber F1 Team's Italian test driver Raffaele Marciello drives during the first practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya on May 8, 2015 in Montmelo on the outskirts of Barcelona ahead of the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix. AFP PHOTO / JOSEP LAGO (Photo credit should read JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images)

Marciello pleased with practice progress at Sauber

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By Luke SmithMay 8, 2015, 11:00 AM EDT

MONTMELO – Sauber reserve driver Raffaele Marciello was pleased to have enjoyed another successful practice outing for the team on Friday ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix as he continues to make steps towards a Formula 1 seat.

The Ferrari-backed youngster is tipped to be one of the future stars of the sport, and is currently balancing a reserve driver programme at Sauber with a full season in GP2.

Marciello took part in practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix at the end of March, and followed this up with a second run-out in Spain on Friday ahead of this weekend’s race.

“[It was] quite busy but it was quite good,” Marciello said when asked about his session by MotorSportsTalk. “My FP1 session was good, I think. I was quite close to Felipe [Nasr].

“I did improve a lot on the second run, it was not easy to do all the constant speed plus also warm up the tires. But I think it was not bad for me.

“Compared to Malaysia, it was better, I know the track here so it was better for me. Also I had already the feeling of the car from Malaysia so I knew where the limit was and it was easier, for sure.”

Immediately after the session, Marciello had to take part in GP2 practice for Trident, where he finished in ninth place. However, he did not feel affected by doing the sessions so close to one another in different cars.

“No, it was quite close,” Marciello said, comparing his Sauber F1 and Trident GP2 cars. “There was not much difference.

“Only two seconds, also the braking point was not much different because with F1 you arrive faster, so you arrive at the same point as GP2. So I think it was good to do F1 after GP2 because it is quite similar.”

Marciello’s next outing for Sauber will come at next week’s in-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and he is relishing the opportunity to enjoy some longer runs behind the wheel of the C34 car.

“During FP1 you don’t have a lot of time,” he said. “You’re afraid to crash or something. During a test you have all day, so you can do warm up laps. You can do long runs, of course during a normal day you have more chance to improve.

“I also improve myself when I test new parts. We need to improve together so we will do a bit of everything.”

Power paces Penske top four sweep in Long Beach third practice

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By Tony DiZinnoApr 16, 2016, 1:52 PM EDT

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Team Penske’s four drivers swept the timesheets in the final practice session before qualifying for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Will Power clocked in a 1:06.8892 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet to lead teammates Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Mikhail Aleshin completed the top five as fastest Honda.

There were two incidents in the session involving two American stars.

Ryan Hunter-Reay went wide at Turn 9 in the No. 28 DHL Honda, where he hit the tires with the left rear, but returned to the pits. That brought out the first red flag of the session.

With just five minutes to go, Graham Rahal clipped the curb on entry into Turn 9 and knocked the left front wing askew, plus damaged the left front suspension. It was a fairly substantial hit for the No. 15 PennGrade Honda, and will force the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing crew to make repairs.

Takuma Sato told IndyCar Radio, meanwhile, he had an issue with the drivetrain in the No. 14 ABC Supply Co. Honda.

Qualifying is next from 2 p.m. PT and local time, and will air on NBCSN at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET.

Times are below:

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Audi upsets Porsche to lock out front row for WEC Silverstone opener

Audi R18 (2016) #7 (Audi Sport Team Joest), Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer
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By Luke SmithApr 16, 2016, 1:33 PM EDT

Porsche’s 11-race pole position streak in the FIA World Endurance Championship came to an end on Saturday at Silverstone as Audi locked out the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s six hour race.

Porsche enters the 2016 season with a refined version of its all-conquering 919 Hybrid car from 2015, while Audi and rivals Toyota have completed aggressive overhauls of their challengers.

Practice suggested that the status quo from the end of 2015 remained as Porsche finished well clear of Audi, sweeping to a one-two finish in both sessions on Friday.

However, both the no. 1 and no. 2 cars had no answer to the pace delivered by the Audi R18s in qualifying, with the esteemed trio of Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler taking pole by one-tenth of a second.

Lotterer and Fassler split driving duties in qualifying and were so evenly matched that their lap times were just 0.006 seconds apart, delivering a two-lap average of 1:53.204.

Although Lucas di Grassi clocked the quickest time of qualifying in the sister Audi, he and Loic Duval could only finish one-tenth of a second further back, but did enough to secure second place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

As a result, for the first time since the 6 Hours of Spa in 2014, neither Porsche will start on the front row of the grid as the no. 1 car finished nine-tenths of a second off the pole time in third place. The no. 2 will start fourth, while the two Toyotas start fifth and sixth after struggling in qualifying.

In LMP2, defending champions G-Drive started the season in style by taking class pole thanks to a strong display by Rene Rast in his first qualifying outing for the Russian team. The no. 26 car finished 1.2 seconds clear of Pipo Derani and Chris Cumming in the no. 31 ESM car, while the debutant RGR team qualified third.

Ferrari’s AF Corse team gave the new 488 GTE car an impressive baptism by taking class pole courtesy of the no. 71 car shared by Davide Rigon and Sam Bird. The result marks Bird’s third WEC pole at Silverstone, all coming in different classes after successes in GTE Am and LMP2.

The fastest time of qualifying in GTE Pro was set by James Calado in the sister no. 51 Ferrari, yet an engine failure meant that Gianmaria Bruni was unable to set a lap time, leaving the car at the back of the field and with a three-minute penalty in the race so that the unit could be replaced.

The only Porsche on pole at Silverstone surprisingly came in GTE Am as the no. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing car headed its class, followed by another 911 RSR in the shape of the new Gulf Racing entry.

To see the full results from qualifying, click here.

Vasser, Unser Jr. and more promise a show for final celebrity race

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Papis and Unser Jr. Photo: IndyCar
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Associated PressApr 16, 2016, 1:30 PM EDT

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) A tradition will come to an end at the Grand Prix of Long Beach when the checkered flag waives for the final time on the fan-favorite Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race.

The race Saturday will be the 40th and final of the longest-running corporate-sponsored charity race in the country. The event, which has helped Toyota donate more than $2.3 million to “Racing For Kids” since 1991, will be celebrated with an all-star field that includes 18 previous winners.

Included in the field are Stephen Baldwin, Frankie Muniz, Brian Austin Green and last year’s overall winner, Alfonso Ribeiro.

But so are retired racers Jimmy Vasser and Al Unser Jr., who swept the front row in qualifying Friday. The two then learned the field will be inverted for the green flag, and they’ll start in the back on the 1.97-mile street course. Vasser and Unser will have 10 laps to try to make it to the front. Vasser, the pole-winner, was the overall winner in 2010 and owns three Toyota dealerships, while Unser was the overall winner in 1985 and 2009 and the pro winner in 2014.

“It makes for a fantastic show, it gets exciting,” said Unser, the “King of the Beach” because he’s the winningest driver at Long Beach, with six IndyCar wins and three Pro/Celebrity wins.

“It’s going to be carnage for 10 laps.”

Added Vasser, the pole-winner: “We’re going to burn it down, the last race.”

It wasn’t the forecast Bob Carter, Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations for Toyota Motor Sales, wanted to hear. Carter, who has zero racing experience, is one of only two drivers in the field who have never won this event. He’ll make his racing debut on Saturday and will start near the front in the inversion with the hard-charging pros coming after him.

“I originally thought (the inversion) was a good idea, but now I realize you two guys are behind me,” Carter said.

Carter spent four days of training with the other drivers in the field at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, which is about an hour north of Los Angeles. He’s so enjoyed his experience with the other drivers, he dubbed the event “the top weekend of my entire life. This is a really special group of people.”

Vasser said he’s holding out hope that a title sponsor will come aboard and take over the event so that Saturday’s race is not the last. He said he remembered the race from his days at Long Beach, before he had a professional ride, and they were always enjoyable.

“It’s been a laugher,” he said. “I remember Donny Osmond rolled it in Turn 1. There’s Donny Osmond climbing out of a car.”

PWC: Parente scores pole in Long Beach

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By Tony DiZinnoApr 16, 2016, 1:27 PM EDT

LONG BEACH, Calf. – Alvaro Parente, driver of the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3, which maintains its technical partnership with Flying Lizard Motorsports, has scored the pole for the fifth race of the Pirelli World Challenge season on the streets of Long Beach.

Not bad considering the Portuguese driver had never seen the track before.

Parente laid down a best time of 1:18.947, which edged Johnny O’Connell in the No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-V.R at 1:18.955 and Colin Thompson in the No. 13 K-PAX McLaren at 1:18.988.

“It’s a great feeling to be on pole position. We were so close in St. Petersburg, and we’ve been performing well all the time,” he said.

“This is great for K-PAX Racing and Flying Lizard Motorsports. Again, the third time was the qualifying, and it was really close, by a few hundredths of a second or something. I’m happy to be in this position on a street track.”

Three Porsche 911 GT3 Rs were next, with Patrick Long, Andrew Davis and Michael Lewis. The two EFFORT Racing drivers – Long and Lewis – are both California natives.

Martin Fuentes led the GTA field in his No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia. Meanwhile O’Connell’s Cadillac teammate, Michael Cooper, did not post a time during the session.

The race runs at 10 a.m. PT and local time on Sunday. Times are linked here.