November
22


Buckingham-based Apex Motorsport is now on its way back from Dubai in the UAE where two of their beautifully feline Jaguar XKR GT3 cars recently made their debut in the final round of the highly competitive 2007 FIA GT3 European Championship.

Apex Motorsport’s Team Principal, Richard Lloyd, was buoyed by the performance of the cars despite not being able to secure higher placings in the overall classifications. “It was a tough weekend for us, with the high ambient temperatures hurting our engine performance perhaps more than others, but it’s given us a valuable chance to evaluate the competition first hand.

“I’m encouraged by our continued reliability – the non-finish by the no. 46 car in the first race was due to accident damage – and it was good to see Jaguar drivers on the podium, as winners of the (albeit limited) Jaguar Cup class. Overall we’ve made good progress during these past two months and we’ll now be concentrating on getting more performance from the car during the coming months.”

As a key supporter of the Jaguar XKR programme from the outset, Stuart Scott was delighted to have been able to race in Dubai, particularly as his key sponsor, Silverjet, was celebrating the launch of a new service to the desert Kingdom. “It was a great weekend, with the bonus of getting on to the podium after race one. I’m now looking forward to a few days rest out here!”

Scott’s co-driver, Chris Ryan, was one of many drivers to comment on the high desert temperatures but that did not detract from a good weekend’s racing. “It was HOT in the car but a great experience at a great circuit, and I’m happy to finish both races.”

Neil Cunningham, taking part in his second race with the team, was also encouraged by progress made over the weekend. “We improved our times by almost five seconds during the weekend which was good. I made a good start in race two but got tagged by a Ferrari and, a bit later, out-braked myself and spun, losing a few places, but I was happy to finish with Karim.”

Apex Motorsport’s newest driver, Karim Al-Azhari, brought valuable local knowledge to the team but was unfortunate to be bulldozed by two Lamborghini Gallardos. “I really enjoyed working with such a professional team. I’m just annoyed with myself for getting caught up with those Lamborghinis in race one, but it’s my first experience of racing with these guys!”

Results:

Race 1 23rd no. 47 Scott/Ryan
DNF no. 46 Al-Azhari/Cunningham
Race 2 19th no. 46 Al-Azhari/Cunningham
23rd no. 47 Scott/Ryan

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November
4

Saloon car sensation Andrew Herron remains confident of challenging at the front of the field during Saturday’s opening two rounds of the 2007 ELF Renault Clio Cup Winter Championship after topping the times during the first of today’s two official test sessions at Donington Park National Circuit.

The JHR Developments ace, from Dromore in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, shrugged off early session driveshaft problems to produce the quickest lap of the opening test period with a time of 1m 19.223 seconds (88.94mph), 0.155 seconds faster than ELF Renault Clio Cup regular and reigning Winter Champion Niki Lanik.

“It was good to be fastest in the first session, especially as we had some problems with the driveshaft early on”, explained Andrew, “We only managed 12 laps in total and I didn’t feel that my best lap was all that good anyway, there’s much more to come from me and the car so I’m feeling very confident for Saturday.”

In session two, the 19-year-old racer set a best time of 1m 19.436 seconds (88.70mph) and although slipping to sixth fastest – fourth on combined times – Andrew isn’t concerned as he and his Dronfield based team opted to use the period to try set-up variations on the Brian Herron Contracts-backed Clio.

“We didn’t push for a quick time during the second session, we wanted to take the opportunity to try a lot of different things with the car”, said Andrew, “Taking that into account though, we were still quickest in the middle of the session when the track wasn’t at its best, we were consistently fastest lap after lap at that point.

“At the end when (Harry) Vaulkhard and (Alex) MacDowall went quicker we weren’t even on track so it’s not a problem, we know we have the pace. I’m really looking forward to Saturday, I’m confident we have consistently strong pace with which to challenge for some good results. Two podiums would be great but I aim to fight for wins too.”

Qualifying for the opening two races of the ELF Renault Clio Cup Winter Championship will take place at approximately 09.00 on Saturday, 3rd November, with round one itself set to start at 11.00 and round two expected to get underway at 14.05.

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October
23

Elk Motorsport on the podium thanks to Ricci and Cecotto Jr.
Grand Finale in Barcelona on November 11th

Davide Rigon (Minardi/GP Racing): “I had a great start, but Ricci’s was better. But I was clearly faster than him and soon I managed to overtake him. I thank once again the Minardi team: a perfect car, which also allowed me to get the fastest lap.”

Giacomo Ricci (Elk Motorsport): “The car improved consistently throughout the weekend, but I were loosing too much time on the straight comparing to Rigon. Now I hope to be able to race also in the last event in Barcelona.”

Johnny Cecotto jr (Elk Motorsport): “After the problems in Race 1, when I damaged a tyre, today things went much better. I improved from the eighth to the fourth place, then Razia had a problem and I overtook him, racing alone in the last part of the race.”

RACE 2 – MONZA
1. Davide Rigon (Minardi/GP Racing) in 26’53”352
2. Giacomo Ricci (Elk Motorsport) at 8”594
3. Johnny Cecotto Jr (Elk Motorsport) at 19”471
4. Omar Leal (Engineering Durango) at 23”025
5. Jimmy Auby (ASR) at 25”552
6. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (ASR) at 29”160
7. Francesco Dracone (2G Racing) at 50”613
8. Diego Nunes (Minardi/GP Racing) at 11 laps
9. Luiz Razia (Elk Motorsport) at 12 laps
10. Kasper Andersen (G-Tec) at 14 laps
11. Oliver Martini (R.C. Motorsport) at 14 laps
12. Martin Kudzak (G-Tec) DSQ
Fastest lap: Davide Rigon (Minardi/GP Racing) in 1’39”875

EUROSERIES 3000 – Drivers’ rankings (after 14 races)

Rigon (99 points) - Nunes (62) - Razia (51) - Martini (32) - Danielsson (32) - Ricci (23) - Arabadzhiev (23) - Merchan (16)
- Maldonado (12) - Saez Merino (11) - Leal (11) - Tahinci (9) - Bennani (9) - Mikola (8) - Tuka Rocha (6) - Miguez (6) -
Andersen (6) - Auby (6) - Kudzak (5)- Cecotto Jr. (4) - De Villota (3) - Sposito (2) - Dracone (2) - Amaduzzi (0) - Fausti
(0) - Sebastiani N. (0) - Sebastiani V.(0)

EUROSERIES 3000 – Teams’ rankings (after 14 races)
Minardi by GP Racing (161 points) - ELK Motorsport (109) - G-Tec (58) - RC Motorsport (32) - Fisichella Motor Sport by
Durango (30) - ASR (29) - Durango (11) - 2G Racing (2) - DueppÏ/Paragon (0) - Racing Box (0)- Facondini (0)

CAMPIONATO ITALIANO F.3000 – Drivers’ rankings (after 8 races)
Rigon (58 points) - Nunes (32) - Danielsson (26) - Razia (26) - Martini (23) - Arabadzhiev (16) - Ricci (13) - Maldonado
(12) - Merchan (12) - Mikola (8) - Leal (8) - Kudzak (5) - Cecotto Jr. (4) - Bennani (3) - Auby (2) - Tahinci (1) - Dracone
(0) - Amaduzzi (0) - Fausti (0) - Sposito (0) - Andersen (0)
CAMPIONATO ITALIANO F.3000 Teams’ rankings (after 8 races)
Minardi by GP Racing (90 points) - ELK Motorsport (62) - G-Tec (26) - RC Motorsport (23) - Fisichella Motor Sport by
Durango (20) - ASR (18) - Durango (8) - 2G Racing (2) - DueppÏ/Paragon (0) - Facondini (0)

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