Pedro de la Rosa

Kimi is getting divorced.

http://fantasygames.nascar.com/news/sign-in-update

HURRY UP I WANNA JOIN!!!!

/caps

Hamilton Wreck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?f ... bedded&v=waLwFmZIlt4#!

Quote from Speedcafe :

Stone Brothers Racing isn’t ruling out taking legal action against former driver Shane van Gisbergen, claiming that the Kiwi’s new Tekno Autosports deal violates his release agreement.

Van Gisbergen recently announced that he will compete in the V8 Supercars Championship with Tekno this year, little over a month after leaving the Stone Brothers team citing personal reasons.

In what could be a sensational twist to the saga, SBR founder Ross Stone has today responded to enquiries from Speedcafe.com by providing a statement outlining his team’s position on the matter.

The statement claims that a termination document releasing Van Gisbergen from a three-year contract with the squad was signed on the proviso that the 23-year-old did not “test, practice or race any V8 Supercar in 2013.”

The statement concludes that “SBR is considering its legal position and whether it is worthwhile holding SVG to his promises.”

Van Gisbergen declined to comment on the SBR statement when contacted by Speedcafe.com.

Any legal case is likely to be complicated by the fact that the makeup of Stone Brothers Racing has changed dramatically over the off-season, with Betty Klimenko’s Erebus Motorsport concern purchasing the squad’s hardware and infrastructure, in addition to one of its Racing Entitlements Contracts.

The long-time Ford outfit will compete with Mercedes-Benz E63 AMGs in 2013 under the Erebus Motorsport banner.

Stone Brothers Racing, however, continues to own the RECs that the #9 competes under, while Ross Stone has remained with the team and is acting as the general manager of its V8 Supercars operations.

See below for the complete statement provided to Speedcafe.com by Stone Brothers Racing.

“At Winton, Friday morning 16th November 2012, Shane van Gisbergen asked if all the SBR travelling race crew could be assembled first thing in the morning,” the statement reads.

“SVG informed the race crew that he wasn’t enjoying his racing and he was going to take a year off and might race quad bikes for fun.

“SVG’s statement that he was not enjoying his racing was no surprise. This was clear enough at the previous race meets at Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600 where it was almost impossible to get SVG to attend autograph sessions and sometimes even communicate with his engineer and crew.

“SVG was very clear that he wanted a year off and wasn’t going to race again unless he wanted too, not because others wanted him to race. He was going to live in his parent’s pool apartment and “chill out” for a year.

“In the circumstances, SBR agreed to release SVG from his 2013, 2014 and 2015 driving contract. SBR and SVG signed a brief termination document.

“To protect itself and its sponsors SBR required SVG to agree not to test, practice or race any V8 Supercar in 2013. The termination document allowed SVG to race anything other than a V8 Supercar in 2013 if he so wished. The termination document allowed SVG to do whatever he wished from 2014 onwards.

“The last time Ross Stone of SBR spoke with SVG was in early December when SVG returned the keys for his car. SVG was returning to New Zealand the next day. On that occasion again SVG confirmed he needed a break from racing.

“SBR took steps it considered were in the best interests of SVG’s health and well-being to the detriment of SBR and stakeholders by releasing SVG from his three-year driving contract.

“Less than two months later SVG now proposes, through the media, to race a V8 Supercar for another team in 2013 contrary to the termination agreement. SVG has explained his move on the basis of dissatisfaction with the direction in which SBR was heading. At no time during the termination process did SVG express any such dissatisfaction with SBR; in fact the opposite was communicated to SBR management on numerous occasions.

“To say that SBR is displeased with the conduct of SVG is to say the least.

“SBR will not be making any further comment regarding this matter. SBR is considering its legal position and whether it is worthwhile holding SVG to his promises.”

Sauber.

Force India 2013 car on track.

Also, 45 minutes until Force India reveal.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Tomorrow is an exciting day for Le Mans.

What's happening?

Sweet! Hoping to see two LFS guys in F1 in the next few years. (Bottas and Korjus.) Maybe even the same team?

By the way, how do you pronounce "Korjus"?

nascarcasm @nascarcasm
Being told "Montoya's on your bumper" probably feels the same as being told "THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE." #RHR #Rolex24

Quote from Cornys :

The 2 rookie of the year Sprint Cup contenders are hooked up now as well (as stated above). I'm not sure if that takes away from the Rookie of the Year battle, or adds to it

Whoever wins ROTY gets last name rights in the marriage? haha

Yep. It's now confirmed pretty much everywhere. Danica Patrick is dating Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nasca ... ricky-stenhouse-jr-012513

Quote from Fox Sports :

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. (AP)

Danica Patrick's personal life is no longer a secret - she's dating a fellow driver.

Patrick revealed to The Associated Press she and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are a couple, ending widespread speculation about the nature of their relationship.

''I have a boyfriend, his name is Richard,'' she said during an exclusive telephone interview with AP.

''I think I am just finally excited to tell someone about this,'' Patrick laughed, sounding almost giddy as she said the two-time Nationwide champion's middle name is Lynn and he prefers she use his first name.

The couple waited until the end of Charlotte Motor Speedway's weeklong annual media tour to go public with their relationship, which started as a friendship as they raced each other the last two seasons in the Nationwide Series. Stenhouse became a mentor of sorts to the 30-year-old Patrick, who left IndyCar after the 2011 season to make the full-time switch to NASCAR.

''We are dating, and I know there's been a bit of a runaround this week at the media days and poor Ricky got grilled (with questions),'' she said. ''It was out of respect to NASCAR, to all the manufacturers, the new cars, the teams, the sponsors, just to allow all the news of the day to be about racing and not let anything interfere with that. So, it's Friday now, so that's why we waited until the end of the week to be up front about each other.''

Stenhouse confirmed the relationship.

''Yes we are dating,'' he said. ''I don't normally say too much about my private life, always been focused on the track. I didn't want to confirm at media day so that we could keep the focus on the season, the Gen-6 (car), my sponsors and team. That's what it's all about for me.''

Patrick remains one of the most recognizable drivers in auto racing, even if wins have been hard to come by. There was speculation that her appeal with advertisers had waned, but sponsor Go Daddy said Patrick will again appear in the website domain provider's commercials during the Super Bowl next month.

Patrick announced in November she and husband Paul Hospenthal were divorcing after seven years, and said in the Jan. 3 filing that her marriage to the 47-year-old Hospenthal was ''irretrievably broken.''

Speculation immediately shifted toward her relationship with the 25-year-old Stenhouse, who has never been married. While her policy has always been not to talk about her personal life, Patrick said she made an exception this time to end the gossip and so the two could be open about their relationship.

''I think that moving forward into the year, it's a matter of do you say anything at all, or do you just carry on?'' she said. ''As opposed to speculation and people making up their own stories or talking amongst themselves or us feeling uncomfortable walking into each other's (motorhomes) moving forward, or around our teams or anything, it's just easier to be up front and get it out of the way then to have any kind of awkward speculation.''

Stenhouse was asked during the media tour's stop at Roush Fenway Racing if he was dating Patrick. He dodged the question, saying ''we've got a great relationship'' and then turned attention back to racing.

The subject will be hard for the two to avoid as they compete against each other this season for rookie of the year honors in NASCAR's top Sprint Cup Series. Both are moving up from the second-tier Nationwide Series at the same time.

Patrick said she won't race Stenhouse any differently.

''Obviously, we've been racing together for a couple years now, him and I have always gotten along, we've always had a lot of respect for each other on the track, there's never been an issue out there,'' she said. ''I always say I'll race people how they race me until they do something to make me change my mind. I don't anticipate that changing at all, or us having any issues on the track.''

Stenhouse echoed that attitude.

''It won't affect how I race on the track. I want to go out and win, I race everyone hard,'' he said.

Patrick rocketed to worldwide prominence when she challenged for the Indy 500 win as a rookie, becoming the first woman to lead laps while finishing fourth in 2005. She finished a career-best third in 2009. She began dabbling in NASCAR in 2010 in the Nationwide Series, and moved full-time last year leaving IndyCar and the 500 behind.

Patrick has struggled in stock cars, notching just seven top-10s in 58 Nationwide races since 2010. Still, she was voted by fans the series' most popular driver last year.

In the Sprint Cup Series, where she'll drive this season for Stewart-Haas Racing, team co-owner Tony Stewart handpicked 10 of the hardest tracks for Patrick last season to force her to learn on the fly in preparation for this year. Her average finish in the 10 races was 28th and her best finish was 17th in her season finale at Phoenix.

Stenhouse has won eight races over the last two seasons to become the first driver since Martin Truex Jr. in 2004-05 to win consecutive Nationwide titles. He was promoted this year by Roush Fenway to the Cup Series to replace 2003 NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth.

Timo Glock has already secured a seat with BMW for the 2013 DTM season.

Edit: Exactly 24 hours from the previous post in this thread. haha

Quote from TFalke55 :

Well Shane changed his mind it seems and will race for Tenko Autosports in V8 Supercars instead: http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=8536

I think he is doing both.

Quote from Racer X NZ :

And according to the USSA all info on any .com, .net etc site is theirs and if you think that's a problem then f u says the US.

What about a site the has .com.au or something similar?

Quote from Mustafur :

The Twitter comment was the day before the news.

No it wasn't. It was the same day. (about 30 mins-1 hour ish after the news broke out.)

Shane Van Gisbergen is expected to announce in a few days that he is going full time with Tekno full time in the V8 Supercars this year while still running the SuperTourers. wow.

Quote from Cornys :

Entry List for the Charlotte test that begins today

LOLNOPE

@bobpockrass: Natl Weather Service predicts rain all day for CMS. 94%chc rain until 1pm and then 100% after that. #NASCAR

Last edited by Gougoodthing, Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:33.