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Latvala wins Rally Sweden


Jari-Matti Latvala has taken his second Swedish triumph, his sixth career WRC victory.

After an early day 2 scrap with former team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, and despite a puncture on SS22, Latvala controlled from the front on day 3 to defeat Hirvonen by 16.6 seconds. In addition to picking up his first 25 points of the season, Latvala also picked up one point for third place in the Power Stage, which was won by Sébastien Loeb with Peter Solberg taking two points for second best time.

No one argue that this win was a long time coming for Latvala who has matured into a proper championship contender. Ford’s lead driver scored his first WRC victory in Sweden in 2008 and today he returns to the top step of the podium in the gorgeous white winter land.  "I won this rally four years ago and now I have won it again” said an ecstatic Latvala. “I am really happy for the team and Petter did a very good job. We still have a lot of work to do, but we want to fight with Citroen this season. It is really special to win here, four years after I won my first rally here. This is the first rally I have won two times. We had a lot of pressure following Monte-Carlo and this takes all that pressure off. I think we are going to really challenge Citroen, because we are working so hard," concluded the happy Finn.

Mads Ostberg made the most of a puncture from Petter Solberg as well as putting in a spirited drive on Sunday to complete the podium, his second such performance two-years running in Sweden after he took second in 2011. Solberg had to settle for fourth place ahead of Evgeny Novikov, who takes his second top five result of the season.   

Sébastien Loeb had a long weekend, including time lost with spin, getting caught in a snow bank and punctures, and had to push hard on Sunday to overtake Henning Solberg for sixth place. But he retains his lead in the championship thanks to his best time on the Power Stage. Patrik Sandell was the only Mini to finish in the points, after the engine in Dani Sordo’s JCW WRC gave out on day one. The Sweden gave his countryman something to cheer for with an eighth place showing. Martin Prokop scored points for a second consecutive round in taking ninth, while Eyvind Brynildsen scored a world championship point in his maiden WRC outing.

POWER STAGE
1 Loeb 3pts
2 P. Solberg 2pts
3 Latvala 1pt

TOP TEN
1 Latvala
2 Hirvonen +16.6s
3 Ostberg +38.8s
4 P. Solberg +1:14.3s
5 Novikov +2:41.4s
6 Loeb +2:55.0s
7 H. Solberg +3:49.5s
8 Sandell+5:08.9s
9 Prokop +5:30.0s
10 Brynildsen +6:27.1s

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP
1Loeb 39 points
2 Hirvonen 32
3 P. Solberg 29
4 Latvala 26
5 Novikov 21
6 Sordo 18
7 Ostberg 15
8 Delecour 8
9 Campana 6
= H. Solberg 6 

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Aston V12 Zagato reaches production

It first made waves at the Villa d'Este last May; from there it raced as a prototype in June at the gruelling Nürbürgring 24hrs, and last September made an appearance at the Frankfurt motor show. All as a full-blooded, big-winged cabin-less race car.

Next week, in Kuwait, Aston Martin will finally reveal the road-going production version of its lightly expensive and gently unique Aston Martin V12 Zagato. And it will look like this.

The new V12 builds on just over 50 years of history between the British and Italian firms, the first DB4 GTs with Zagato bodies appearing as racecars in 1961. Think of the new V12 Zagato as Aston's Golden anniversary present, to itself.

Aston Martin's chief, Dr Ulrich Bez, said: "Our relationship with Zagato stretches back more than 50 years. Together in that time we have created a series of very special cars. The first - the DB4GT Zagato - is a true icon: fast, beautiful and incredibly desirable. In the V12 Zagato I believe we have captured the spirit of that car and combined it with a confident twist of modernity to give it a character all of its own."

Each Zagato takes around 2,000 man hours to complete, and is constructed from hand-crafted aluminium and carbon fibre, just like the One-77. The car sits on a V12 Vantage platform with that body, complete with 'double-bubble' roof, bonded to the aluminium structure of the base car, designed by Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichmann's team in Britain. In fact, the Aston designer insists the new Zagato takes cues from the past, but forges a new design language for future Astons.

There's also a lovely bespoke interior, and the major hardware of the donor Vantage remains unchanged, so you're looking at a 6.0-litre V12 with 510bhp and 420lb of torque. Just 150 are being built, and they'll cost £330,000 plus taxes.

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Audi R8 GT Spyder priced at $211,200

Audi released last week pricing for the 2012 R8 GT Spyder. The all-wheel-drive, Lamborghini-V10-sporting convertible will sticker for $211,200 with destination. Only 333 examples will be built, with just 50 coming to the United States. Audi built the same number of hardtop GTs, with 90 coming stateside.

Output goes up to 560 hp in the open-top R8 GT, with 398 lb-ft of torque. The 5.2-liter, direct-injection V10 will sprint to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, with a top speed of 197 mph.

Audi dropped 187 pounds from the R8 V10, which not only improves acceleration but increases fuel economy. The engine cradle is made from ultralight magnesium, while the soft-top cover and rear side panels are made from carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer. The fixed rear spoiler is carbon fiber as well.

The GT Spyder is 10 millimeters lower than the R8 V10, and the suspension has a stiffer calibration. XYZ ventilated and cross-drilled rotors provide stopping power, with 19-inch wheels at all four corners.

Visual cues on the GT Spyder include a larger rear diffuser, front splitter and a fixed rear spoiler. The interior is black, only. Accent stitching can be ordered in gray or red. Alcantara trim adorns the seat inserts, flat-bottomed steering wheel, parking brake and windshield frame.

Deliveries begin this month.

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Ferrari reveals 2012 F1 car

 Here's the new one, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa's 2012 contender, launched just now. And what can we say? Possibly that it's best viewed from above?

Actually the plan photograph does show it to be an incredibly tidy design with an extremely narrow rear thanks to magical gearbox shrinking technology. The sidepods are also significantly abbreviated with some cute little aero tricks at the leading edge.


Unlike the McLaren, Ferrari is saying the F2012 is an evolution of last year's not-ever-to-be-called-the-F150. Like the McLaren, it massively borrows from the Red Bull book of making quick F1 cars quicker by going one step further in switching its rear suspension concept from ‘push-rod' to ‘pull-rod', all in the name, once again, of making the car clean in front of the rear wing.

Then there's the nose. The explanation for McLaren avoiding the blight of the platypus snout is apparently that the boffins at Woking have always followed a lower nose aero-concept, so making the tub work with this year's new 7cm lower nose was less of a challenge.

The F2012 won't be getting any shakedown miles any time soon. Fiorano is under a ton of snow. Next week, however, is the first official F1 test of the season. More significantly, Monday is the launch of the Red Bull RB8. It's going to be interesting to see if Adrian Newey goes ugly, too. We somehow doubt it.

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TOYOTA TS030 Hybrid - Onboard with Alex Wurz

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