JANUARY 1999

1998 PPG INDY LIGHTS CHAMPION MATTA SUPPORTED BY MITEL IN ROOKIE SEASON!
JAN 31 - Cristiano da Matta, Indy Lights champion, who will be driving for Arciero-Wells Team have agreed for sponsorship with Mitel Semiconductor company. "The VIP executive programs are key to our business strategies. It provides an excellent opportunity to network and share knowledge with our customers in a dynamic environment," says Glenn Stanley, Vice President Mitel Semiconductor. "CART sponsorship has increased Mitel Semiconductor's profile with our customers immeasurably and has given us a new and exciting focus for our marketing programs - one that exemplifies our core values of teamwork, performance and technology with which our customers can readily identify." Sharing information is important to developing exciting technological road-maps that set the pace for the future - Mitel Semiconductor will be part of that future," adds Mitel Semiconductor Marketing Director, Geoff Norbury.

DOOHAN SEND EARLY WARNING TO ALL RIVALS!
JAN 31 - Over twenty riders, mainly from 500cc and 250cc competitions took the part in the first of the scheduled IRTA Pre Season's Tests on Tuesday, January 26. Mick Doohan set new track record at Phillip Island track, Australia on second day (Wednesday) of testing in 500cc class, same did Olivier Jacque in 250cc competition. Doohan will drive for Honda in '99 as Jacque too. On third day Japanese drivers, Norick Abe in 500cc for Yamaha scored fastest time, but slower than Doohan's record, posted one day earlier. Max Biaggi continued to show progress on his new Yamaha 500 and scored the fastest time on the final day of the first winter testing at Phillip Island, less than 0.1 second slower than Mick Doohan’s unofficial record, set by the Australian world champion on Wednesday (second day). Biaggi said after bussy week: "We keep improving and I'm satisfied with the way things are working. I feel more comfortable every time and I understand better the bike's reactions. This result is not so important because I think that the lap-times could have been improved, but it's important for us to see than we are close to the front".
Best lap times for full week of testing: 1 Mick Doohan AUS Honda 1:32:197 2 Max Biaggi ITA Yamaha 1:32:286 3 Norick Abe JPN Yamaha 1:32:422 4 Alex Barros BRA Honda 1:32:726 5 Kenny Roberts USA Suzuki 1:32:960

COULTHARD READY TO BOUNCE BACK AFTER DISAPPOINTING '98 SEASON!
JAN 31 - Many F1 fans are doubtful about Coulthad's driving abilities, especially when he finds himself under the pressure from other challengers. Even more skeptical are fans about his title abilities. But there are no question that Scot can be sometimes damn quick driver. He scored first victory for McLaren team in '97 season, after full five seasons of waiting, when Senna scored last victory for McLaren-Ford in Adelaide, 1993. 'The feedback that I've been getting is that the new McLaren is a big improvement over last year's. The engineers have been working hard over the winter to get everything in shape but the proof of it all will be in Melbourne,' said Coulthard. 'I know that I have got a great opportunity to win the championship this year and I intend to go out there absolutely focused on the job in hand and hit the ground running.' If David can find piece of his best driving performances from the past seasons and put those performances for the full season and will be there a little bit more of the luck, then he can be surely treated as serious '99 title contender.

FINN MIKA SALO CAN LOSE SEAT AT ARROWS TEAM!
JAN 31 - According to the rumors from Arrows team, now owned by Tom Walkinshaw and Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim is the Finn's seat, still reserved for '99 season in big question. Both pay-drivers, Japanese driver Taranosuke Takagi and Spaniard Pedro de la Rossa were equally or even quicker in past training's in Spain as Salo. Mika Salo was very highly rated driver, but '98 season showed us, that pay-drivers can be as quick as Finn at the moment is. We can not forget that pay-driver Pedro Diniz scored two times points for Arrows team last season (Monaco and Spa), Mika Salo only once in Monaco, where he finished race on fourth place. African owner Malik is in favour to drop Salo from the team and get two very quick pay-drivers for the time of rebuilding in the team through full '99 season. Malik and Walkinshaw are both trying to get serious engine supplier and to rate Arrows team higher on priority list. Both are of opinion that good drivers are driving only for perspective teams. And they want to be again one of them!

ERNIE IRVAN WILL START FROM 38 SPOT, MCNISH FROM 3 AT DAYTONA 24H!
JAN 31 - Ernie Irvan, who regularly drives the No. 36 Pontiac, will take the wheel of the No. 6 BMW for the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona, the season opener for the SCCA's United States Road Racing Championship less than a week before NASCAR Winston Cup cars take to the track in preparation for the Daytona 500 on February 14. Irvan will team up with Mark Simo and Boris Said. They qualified on 38 spot for the race. Said is a defending champion in GT3 class and the team has won the class the last two years.
Leading spots for Rolex 24h race: 1. (16) Dyson Racing Weaver, Hayner, Schroeder, Dyson R&S Ford, 1:40.869, 127.055. 2. (72) Doran/Lista Racing, Lienhard, Theys, Baldi, Luyendyk, Ferrari 333SP, 1:42.070, 125.560. 3. (7) Doyle-Risi Racing, Angelelli, de Radigues, McNish, Taylor Ferrari 333SP, 1:42.478, 125.061. 4. (36) Doran/Matthews Racing, Matthews, Johansson, Vasser, Papis, Ferrari 333SP, 1:42.493, 125.042. 5. (20) Dyson Racing Wallace, Dyson, Forbes-Robinson Leitzinger, R&S Ford, 1:42.557, 124.964.

FERRARI WILL NOT RUN F399 TILL END OF NEXT WEEK!
JAN 31 - After launch of new F399 challenger many of reporters in Maranello were surprised how this year's car is similar to last year's Ferrari car. And answere is here. New car is NOT JET completed. Luca di Montezemolo said at the very end of presentation in Maranello: "The test programme will begin at the end of next week on the Fiorano circuit and will then continue on the Mugello track. A second F399 will be ready by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the F300 will be used, equipped with components used on the new car." Is is still very unclear, was on the presentation only half of the new F399 challenger's or not. Many reporters said that this is possible as Ferrari team did not manage to finish new car jet, but made presentation as it was scheduled earlier in the year.

KNAPP'S SEVENTH PLACE IS BIG BOOST FOR PDM RACING TEAM!
JAN 30 - Steve Knapp's seventh-place finish in the season-opening TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway on Jan. 24 in Orlando, Fla., went virtually unnoticed in the hubbub over Indy 500 champion Eddie Cheever Jr.'s victory. Paul Diatlovich, co-owner of the PDM Racing team for which Knapp drives, hopes it stays that way for a while, at least. "Steve Knapp is truly a great race driver," Diatlovich said about Knapp, last year's Indy 500 Bank One Rookie of the Year.

FERRARI TEAM PRESENTED NEW F399 CHALLENGER!
JAN 30 - The F399 is based on last years F300. According to chief designer Ross Brawn explained that they kept the good parts of the F300 and concentrated on the areas where they needed improvement. Car has a new suspension and improved aerodynamics because of extra fourth grove on front tyres. Ferrari will use new 048 engine, that also has lower gravity center for better handling of the car. The exhaust system stays the same, but they will use new gearbox. All parts of the car are smaller and lighter in order to perform easier setting up of the car for different circuits. New engine can produce over 750bph and is significant step forward, many also expect that new engine will be able to produce over 800bph before the end of '99 season. Ferrari team will have bussy week at Fiorano for the initial shakedown tests. While the factory is working full speed to construct the remain F650's which need to be ready for shipping to Australia on February 27th, the test team will move to Barcelona for further testing. "I've got a 50 percent chance this year of winning the championship," said German Michael Schumacher in Maranello factory. "This is a sport and you cannot predict anything." Schumacher added that he was not tempted by big-money offers from rival teams and that his devotion was in winning the world championship with Ferrari. "Winning a third championship is not as important as winning the championship for Ferrari," he revealed.

RUSTY WALLACE WILL NOT MAKE ANY PREDICTIONS FOR '99!
JAN 30 - Rusty Wallace, very talented Winston Cup driver for Ford team is ready for Daytona, 199 season opener. He was in last two seasons almost every race on top spots, with many victories, but was not able to fight for Winston title. Last season, he was close to Jeff Gordon, but was not able to push more pressure on Gordon, like Mark Martin in another Ford car. Ford company hopes for more luck this season and Rusty Wallace spoke out: I've made predictions before and it seems like I've put my foot in my mouth most of the time when I did that I've learned not to make predictions." Wallace posted one week earlier in Daytona pre season testing fastest lap.

RAUL BOESEL READY TO DRIVE TRACY'S REYNARD HONDA CAR!
JAN 30 - Brazilian Raul Boesel, ex CART champion and now IRL series driver is ready to drive in Paul Tracy's Kool Green Reynard Honda as Canadian Tracy was suspended from the opening event of the 20-race 1999 FedEx Championship Series by CART officials following an incident during last October's Honda Indy Australia."While we're extremely disappointed Paul won't be driving for us at Homestead, we're fortunate to have a driver of Raul's talent and experience available. He's very well liked by everyone on the team. Through no fault of Raul, we didn't have the best of seasons together in 1996, so we're really looking forward to giving him a competitive and reliable package," said team boss Barry Green.

JUNIE DONLAVEY TEAM IS HARD TO WAIT FOR DAYTONA OPENER!
JAN 29 - Donlavey team is ready to begin new Winston Cup season as high as possible. Of course they are ambitious as they hired new Rookie Mike Harmon. Mike was competing in the Slim Jim All Pro Series, a part of the NASCAR Touring Division in the past few seasons and improved his driving ability gradually over the last three years. So, he may be Rookie on the drivers list for this season, but surelly not at the Daytona speedway. He will be fighting for Rookie of the Year title with Tony Stewart, Buckshot Jones, Elliott Sadler and Dan Pardus. He and his no. 90 Ford Taurus car are ahaead of hard task, but nothing here can not be impossible right ahaed of season opener. Main goal might be to finish as much races as possible and later on fight for higher spots, especially on those circuits, they will run more than once this season.

FEW WORDS ABOUT NEARLY SWEDISH RALLY.
JAN 29 - Next year it will be exactly 50 years since the Swedish Rally was first time arranged. Carl Fredrik Cederbaum, winning in a BMW would have made big eyes if he had participated today. Then the rally started in different towns in Sweden, much similar to the Monte Carlo Rally. When the field had gathered the goal was to match an ideal time all the way to the finish. And the race was held on public roads. 1951 there were only two special tests, the equivalent of todays special stages. One was an acceleration and brake test at the finish in Kiruna and the other was a hill-climbing test. Last season we could watched real winer event, that was more similar to the conditions in North pole. Ice, big cold, snow, everything went into the hands of later 1998 champion T. Makinen. We also need to mention there, that few Swedish rallyist were in lead, but later on retired due accident.

WILLIAMS '98 CHALLENGER WILL BE SEND TO BMW TESTING TEAM!
JAN 29 - Williams' and BMW's new test team will direct its activities in Munich, the home of BMW road car division. The team, who will use one of the '98 FW20 Williams cars to test, will work from a workshop just near the huge German car factory. F1's testing restrictions are unlikely to hamper the team's progress, following BMW Motorsport director Gerhard Berger's comments that they will not be 'connected to F1 next year'. Former Sauber tester Jorg Muller will undertake testing duties for the the team, expected to commence in April this year.

ROLEX 24 HOURS OF DAYTONA ENDURANCE RACE!
JAN 29 - Briton James Weaver just snatched away pole position for 24h race in Dyson Racing Can-Am car from Belgian Didier Theys, who finished second quickest. Weaver will team up with Rob Dyson, Stuart Hayner and Dorsey Schrader for the endurance race that begins at 1800 GMT on Saturday. Weaver and Dyson were on the winning team in 1997 season. "The track is speeding up very, very quickly," Weaver said. "This is the easiest race to lose of any place in the world because there are so many cars and it's easy to make a mistake."

MINARDI'S FIRST RUN AT THE MUGELLO CIRCUIT!
JAN 29 - Still not officially presented new M01 car was driven in Mugello by Italian driver and official Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer in Mugello yesterday.New Minardi will be powered by latest version of Ford V10 engine, similar engine that will be used by Stewart team. Because no drivers jet signed for Minardi team, there was only chance to drive just for Luca Badoer. The temporarily all-black car went through the basic shakedown without major problems. Testing continues today.

RALF SCHUMACHER QUICKEST FOR WILLIAMS TEAM ON FINAL DAY!
JAN 28 - Young German, brother of Michael Schumacher was able to finish on top of times list on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain. But there were no McLaren cars, as Coulthard and Hakkinen are waiting for new car that will be launched on March 8. Italian Alessandro Zanardi finished second quickest, behind his team mate. Third quickest was again very impressive Spaniard de la Rossa for Arrows team. Fourt and last was Brazilian Pedro Diniz, running for Sauber team in new car. We need to mention that Zanardi was driving new FW21 chassis, Schumacher older version FW20. Diniz also was running new Sauber chassis, Rossa was driving in slightly revised Arrows car. "As McLaren left early it has been difficult to judge the pace today, but overall this has been a positive test for us," commented Williams engineer James Robinson. That was final day of testing in Barcelona for this week. Times, posted on Thursday: 1 Ralf Schumacher Williams FW 20 1.23.15 31laps 2 Alex Zanardi Williams FW 21 1.23.81 33laps 3 Pedro M. de la Rosa Arrows A19 1.24.70 14laps 4 Pedro Diniz Sauber C18 1.24.76 34laps

SCHUMACHER DEMANDS MORE GRIP FROM TYRES!
JAN 28 - Michael Schumacher again pointed out that he is not happy about extra fourth groove on front tyres as the grip from the tyres is now really on crusal point. He is ready to take action with all F1 drivers to help in reduction of aerodynamic downforce, but at the same point to bring out the tyres, that have a lot more grip. German said: 'It is very clear that the drivers do not like the new rules, but other people obviously have other opinions, and we have to respect that. The closer you get to another car 'the more aerodynamic grip you lose and the more you depend on the tyres. With less grip from the tyres it will be even more difficult to overtake.'

GUALTER SALLES WAS TESTING FOR NEW TEAM!
JAN 28 - New team, that's still without name and was formed by ex IRL champion Tony Stewart, did not begin season as they wanted. Salles crashed out due engine failure from Indy 200 race very early in the race and retired. But Brazillian was already testing at Walt Deasney speedway and hopes that he will be able to stay in competition for full season. The still unnamed team ran under the title of sponsor TECO Energy using a leased Dallara-Aurora.

GOODYEAR TYRES NOT SO USEFUL FOR OVAL TRACKS!
JAN 28 - American star and ex champion Michael Andretti is not very happy about new Goodyear tyres for oval track. While he was testing in Homestead with new Swift Ford car, he has found out that driving on oval track is very difficult with new tyres. He was quickest with his team mate Christian Fittipaldi in Sebring, but at Homestead oval happened things in contrary to prediction from Newman Hass team. They were not up with best times posted by other teams and Michael Andretti spoke: 'The new car is good, 'but Goodyear is not there on the ovals yet. They've got a good road-circuit tyre, but they've got to improve the speed and consistency of the oval tyre.'

NEW MCLAREN '99 CHALLENGER WILL BE ONE TO BEAT!
JAN 28 -McLaren's 1999 car will be really big step forward according to the news from McLaren team. McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh said that new MP4 -14 project is a little delay, but not because of any problems in development of new car, but because they have recently found a large step forward at the front of the car. McLaren technical director Adrian Newey is working very hard on new car, and both current drivers, Hakkinen and Coulthard expressed big praise for new '99 challenger, even they did not have a chance to drive '99 McLaren jet. McLarens' first test for new MP4 - 14 is scheduled for February 8th in Barcelona, Spain.

WHY DRIVERS CAN BE TRULY BIG FRIENDS:
JAN 28 - All Nascar fans know that many drivers in the field are big friends, even in race competing to each other. But many friendly relationships ended after fight for victory place between those two, three or even more. But mayor element to continue good relationship with other drivers is certainly help from your 'rivals'. For example they can talk about race strategy, about weather forecast, about qualifying settings, about plan between two team mates and so one. From this view of point it is not hard to predict why many drivers can not allow to be without such important source of information. But anyway, we can look even from another side of that point. Many drivers in Nascar field are over 50, and many of those are really big friends also outside of racing circuit. Mark Martin and Jeff Burton are surely big friends, not on race day, but outside of cars for sure. Same we can say for Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. And more experienced team mates many times help theirs fresh team mates, and ironically many times happened that they are beaten because of that. Really strange things can happen in life of racing driver. When you are young you are looking to beat everyone, with more years you are more experienced and you are able to see wider life around you as racing driver, and finally you even help other's to beat you. That's for sure one step forward for all those experienced drivers to find for their teams good successors. Why, because team can use those most experienced drivers for later to help team produce even better cars and drivers. And many of them finished driver's career as new team bosses or something close to that.

FERRARI TECHNICAL BOSS TODT ABOUT NEW FERRARI CAR.
JAN 28 -"We concentrated our efforts on weight reduction," explained Jean Todt, in order to improve weight distribution and work on the center of gravity. Then we looked at the aerodynamic efficiency, the driveability of the 048 engine, the gearbox and the suspension. If the car is coming out later than the 1998 version, it is because we have made the most of all the time available in the technical department to get the very most out of the project. We have done a lot of simulation work on the test bed and in the new wind tunnel. Furthermore, the new season does not present us with any major changes to the technical regulations and several elements of the car remain unchanged. We will see how the 1999 results compare to those in 1998, given that everyone is on the same tyres now. Personally, I think it will be very evenly balanced, even though the McLaren will be very strong, which is what I hope will also be true of the Ferrari."

BROMLEY SAFETY TEAM READY FOR NEW SEASON!
JAN 27 - Safety is nowadays very important area in high speed sports all over the world. In the past we could watched really hard impacts on oval tracks, tight road circuits and also at open wide circuits, like Imola in 19994, where Ayrton Senna lost his life. The CART Safety Team under the leadership of Safety Director Lon Bromley starts its season at Homestead Motorsports Complex with CART's Spring Training, set for Feb 3 and 4. Bromley will lead his team of over 40 members into there 15th anniversary season in PPG CART competition. Last season we can see few hard crashes, but thankfully no one finished tragically. Two years ago Christian Fittipaldi, Paul Tracy both injured, but with great action form safety crew we can watch those guys driving in CART competition also today and tomorrow too. We can just wish clear and safe season ahead of us in all mayor competitions.

MCLARENS DOMINATE BARCELONA TEST ON WEDNESDAY!
JAN 27 - We can report in just few words, total McLaren domination, still not in new cars for new season, but in slightly revised McLaren cars both drivers, Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard posted best times, ever posted in this winter tests at Barcelona circuit. But that's not enough. Jean Alesi also posted spectacular time in new Sauber car and beats both Williams cars and Arrows duo. Mika Hakkinen posted best time of one minute 21.74 seconds, with team mate Coulthard not so far behind in 1.22.17. Jean Alesi in Sauber posted time of 1:23.01, that's almost one and a half of second back, but ahead of Williams drivers Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher. Alex posted time of 1:23.01, just slightly ahead of very quick Arrows test driver de la Rossa from Spain, who is also in contention for second seat so far. He outpaces his team mate Mika Salo, so that may be also green light for Rosa to get drive for this season. Ralf Schumacher did not lap any time on Wednesday. "The feedback that I've been getting is that the new McLaren is a big improvement over last year's. The engineers have been working hard over the winter to get everything in shape but the proof of it all will be in Melbourne. I know that I have got a great opportunity to win the championship this year and I intend to go out there absolutely focused on the job in hand and hit the ground running." said second placed David Coulthard in Spain. Testing times posted on Wednesday: 1 Mika Hakkinen McLaren MP4/13 1.21.73 46laps 2 David Coulthard McLaren MP4/13 1.22.17 102laps 3 Jean Alesi Sauber C18 1.23.01 49laps 4 Alex Zanardi Williams FW 21 1.23.05 78laps 5 Pedro M. de la Rosa Arrows A19 1.24.12 20laps 6 Mika Salo Arrows A19 1.24.19 53laps

NEW FTT SYSTEM BIG ISSUE FOR RIVAL TEAMS!
JAN 27 - Williams technical director Patrick Head already signaled to Benetton team that new Front Torque Transfer system, developed by Benetton team, that was already used in Jerez tests few days ago may not be allowed from FIA organization as many teams are ready to protest against new FTT system used only by Benetton team. So much chanted FTT system transfers all braking force to the wheel that can most handle into the corner. Usualy that is outside front wheel, but depends also on the circuit angle and speed of the car that comes into the corner. Alexander Wurz, Benetton driver said: 'The car is well-balanced, but it's not perfect because we still haven't worked on the set-up. I don't know how to explain it but I have a good feeling about the car.'

MALIK ADO IBRAHIM AIMS FOR PODIUM PLACES IN SHORT TIME!
JAN 27 - Malik Ado Ibrahim, new Arrows team boss, first black man in history of F1 competition is sure his team will be very competitive in year or two. Main target for Arrows team should be to finish regularly on podium position in short time also commented African. Malik will work on commercial area, Walkinshaw, ex team boss will work on the technical side of the team. '1999 is a foundation year,' Malik said. 'We see ourselves moving forward within the next two and fighting for podiums in the third. 'We are working with a financial institution. With the City you need to be able to present yourself in a predictable manner, they've got to know you are going to set yourself goals and hit those targets,' added African.

HELIO CASTRO NEVES JOINS HOGAN TEAM!
JAN 27 - News from Hogan racing teams are that Brazilian Castro Neves will be their new driver in 1999 season. Last year was driving for them Finn J.J. Lehto, with no mayor success. Helio Castro Neves will drive Lola - Mercedes package in '99 season. His best result in Rookie season has been produced in Milwaukee, where he finished second. He finished five races into top five. "We're very excited to have Helio join Hogan Racing and look forward to working with him. He has shown the skill and raw talent necessary in this sport to be a winner and we hope together we can take each other to the next level. I'm very impressed with Helio's aggressive nature on the track and his desire to win races and perform well." said happy Hogan.

WALTRIP TO BE CONSISTENTLY INTO TOP FIVE!
JAN 27 - Darell Waltrip is rookie, again? Why? Because this is the first time for him in nine years of his entire Winston Cup career to drive car that will not be in his own. Waltrip, now ages of 51, explained that he will drive no. 66 Haas-Carter Kmart Ford car completely in new fashion. He won't need to carry out full intension on financial side and will have all time in his head only one target. That will be to finish more consistently into top five (last season only once) and if luck is on his side he can even snatch podium position in new season. "I'm not looking to knock Jeff Gordon off his throne or anything else, but I'm looking for just a teenie-weenie little bitty piece, a little slice, a little corner of the pie," comented Darell Waltrip.

VOLKSWAGEN READY TO BRING DIESEL CAR INTO COMPETITION!
JAN 27 - Volkswagen will make British Rally Championship history this year by fielding a diesel car in the series for the first time. The 190bhp Golf TDI will be driven by British driver Neil Simpson. Neil Simpson will compete only in BRC competition. But there are still no decision made from Golf team about participating in WRC for RAC British rally event, scheduled for November 21 this year.

JAMES THOMPSON FIRST RUN IN PREPARATION FOR 1999 SEASON!
JAN 27 - British ace from BTCC competition drove last week in Jerez, Spain for the first time new Honda Accord car, but he was not lucky man. He was only able to do 25 laps in four days of testing, thank's to electrical problems on the new Honda car. 'It's frustrating that the first car was ready at the end of November, but I didn't drive one until the middle of January,' he said.

COSWORTH PUSH VERY HARD FORD COMPANY!
JAN 27 - Ford engine builder Cosworth are full of work not only because of nearly new season in F1 but also because the reason they want to be the best or in top list for new BTCC competition. Both new drivers for Ford are impressed with all work and passion shown by Cosworth company to build even more powerful V6 engine. 'They know we want to win, and that's given them a kick up the arise,' said first driver Alain Menu. 'What I hadn't released was that last year Ford didn't make the resources available to Cosworth to get the job done,' added second racer Anthony Reid. Ford Mondeo car was last season driven by Radisich and in few occasions also by Mansell.

ZONTA QUICKEST IN JEREZ, HAKKINEN QUICKEST IN BARCELONA, STEWART TEAM FEEL RELIEF!
JAN 27 - Brazilian star Zonta, already star we can say now, beats all rivals today in Jerez, Spain, running in his new BAR car for only fourth time. He clocked new test record time of 1minute 24.89seconds, full half of a second ahead of Fisichella in Benetton car. Anyway we can say that Fisichella brings to Benetton camp big relief for the first time this season with time that was very close to those times, clocked yesterday by Joss The Boss in Honda car. Jacques Villeneuve clocked third fastest time, but he was outpaced by his team mate for half of a second. Rendon finished fourth fastest for second Benetton car. Honda team does not take part in tests today. Greg Field, manager for BAR team said after busy week in Spain: "The drivers are doing a very good job. We have encountered small problems but nothing has cropped up that could not be solved by the engineers and auctioned by the mechanics. The guys have worked very hard throughout the test, day and night. We have ended up quickest in the course of the four-day test in Jerez, but now we have to go back to Brackley and continue to prepare ourselves for the first race, in Melbourne."
Finn Mika Hakinen clocked fastest time in Barcelona in his first run this season in '98 spec. McLaren car. He lapped just few inches ahead of Ralf Schumacher, who is now driving for Williams team in new FW21. Third fastest was second McLaren driver David Coulthard and fourth fastest Italian Alessandro Zanardi, also driving for Williams team. Finn best lap was of one minute 22.6 seconds, Ralf Schumacher of Germany in a Williams clocked just 0.03 second off the best lap time.
Stewart drivers Barichello and Herbert both have praised new SF-3 car, comparing to old SF-2 car. Also Ford company is happy about first test in Spain. Williams team technical director Head also expressed positive words about new Stewart car and engine. Barrichello said: 'The traction is so much better than last year's car and now I can feel a lot more of the car.' Herbert said: 'It's definitely better than 1998. We are making progress but we've only just got going. The car is nice to drive, so much nicer than last year's.' Head from Williams said: 'I was told that the car was considerably overweight last year, which slowed it down quite a lot. With the Ford engine being quite a lot lighter, I would expect the Stewart to improve.'

JEREZ TESTS REPORT AFTER DAY THREE, JOSS VERSTAPPEN IS THE BOSS IN HONDA CAR!
JAN 26 - Joss The Boss again clocked best time on third day of testing at Jerez circuit, Spain. This time he bettered his best time for another half of a second and was almost one second clear of next driver Ricardo Zonta in BAR car. Third fastest was Jacques Villeneuve in second BAR car. Verstappen made 41laps, Zonta 29 and Villie 36laps. Johnny Herbert finished as fourth fastest for Stewart team, but almost two second off best time posted on Monday. Giancarlo Fisichella finished day as fifth quickest for Benetton team, close behind Herbert's Stewart car. Redon, test driver, clocked slowest time on Monday for second Benetton car. Herbert made most laps on Monday, 49 laps, Fisichella 15 and Redon 23 laps. With increasing air temperature in Spain there were a number of minor incidents as drivers began to explore the limits of their new cars, several of these bringing out red flags so that vehicles and drivers could be retrieved from the circuit. Jacques Villeneuve said: “We started to do some good work on the car, but then nearly every time we went out, there was a red flag! It would then take some time to get going again and, as a result, I feel we just didn’t do enough running.” Ricardo Zonta spoke: “My engineer and I are still trying to get to know the car, there are many things to test. Today was a good day, though, and we had a good result. Even the weather was great, which made the circuit very fast. I am getting more confidence with the car and, at one stage, did a solid 10-lap run. I thought the car felt very good to drive. Now we need to make more tests for reliability and practise pit stops as part of our preparations for the first race.” Williams team also made few laps with new FW21 car in Barcelona with no mayor problems.

KEN SCHRADER HOPES FOR VICTORY AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF WAITING!
JAN 26 - Many may say that no. 13 is unlucky one. For sure, I have not seen in Formula One no. 13 on car for a long, very long period. But Ken Schrader uses no. 55, and I am sure nobody will not use that number after his retirement from racing. Why, because he is probably one of the most unlucky drivers in Winston Cup Series. He is big talent, but with no luck and probably with a little bit too lousy head in some occasions. Chevy is certainly good car, but still not enough for Ken. Gordon uses very the same machinery. OK, he is in different team, but anyway differences are too big between those two drivers. While Jeff lives on the Moon, Ken lives in hard reality of big talent that never comes close to the best drivers. But Ken is very much decided that he will end this style of driving and forget what happened to him in last eight seasons. Ken Schrader's last visit to victory lane in a Winston Cup race was June 2, 1991 when he took the checkered flag in the Budweiser 500 at Dover, Del., for Hendrick Motorsports. If there is one driver in the Winston Cup Series who can claim to be the hungriest for a victory, Ken Schrader could certainly be that person. He will or won't, wait for few more races and we are going to see what he is capable of doing in '99 season.

ALL MAYOR TEAMS ARE PREPARING FOR SPRING TRAINING ON FEBRUARY SECOND.
JAN 26 - Only one month and few more days separate us from the first race in PPG CART 1999 competition, scheduled for March 21 in Miami. Jimmy Vasser, 1996 champion made in Phoenix more than 460 miles in two days of testing. He clocked best time of week in his new Target Reynard Honda car. All test concentrated mainly on Firestone tires and new single element wing which will be used in 1999 season for ovel tracks. Jimmy said: "I'm especially pleased with the results we've been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. The team has been putting in a lot of hard work and it is really paying off in the car's performance." Pac West Reynard Mercedes drivers Gugelmin and Blundell both completed over 800 miles in three days of testing also in Phoenix. Gugelmin just comment: "We continue to run strong and get a lot accomplished. Every time we test, we make steady progress - the team is doing a really great job." Forsythe Reynard Meredes team has test new car at Firebird circuit, few miles outside of Phoenix city. Greg Moore completed 187 and Patrick Carpentier 175 laps. "As far as I'm concerned, I have now passed to another level of racing," said Carpentier. In Sebring were testing Gil de Ferran for Cummins Honda Reynard team, Al Unser Jr. for Mercedes Penske team, Michel Jourdain Jr. in Ford Lola car, JJ Lehto for Hogan Mercedes Reynard team and '98 Rookie of the Year Tony Kanaan for new Forsythe Honda Reynard team. Gil de Ferran expressed afterward: "It's nice to be back! We had several long runs and the tires were very durable. I'm very pleased with the progress of Goodyear. What we learned here will carry over to the '99 car. I'm very excited and looking forward to continuing our test program."

JAPANESE GIANT YAMAHA SIGN UP ITALIAN MAX BIAGGI.
JAN 26 - The Yamaha 500cc Racing Team have announced that Italian Max Biaggi will be their second rider for the upcoming Grand Prix season. Biaggi, who will partner Spaniard Carlos Checa, has already tested the YZR5000 bike in Japan before Christmas He said: 'My first impressions of the bike were good. We did a lot of work at Suzuka and Twin Ring Motegi and I'm now looking forward to testing the latest improvements.'

FRENCH DRIVER PATRICK LEMARIE SIGNED FOR BAR AS TEST DRIVER!
JAN 26 - Frenchman Patrick Lemarie signed on Monday as the official test driver for the new BAR team for full 1999 season. Thirty years old Lemarie was driving in Formula three and F3000 last season. He was also driver for BAR prototype, which he was driving in Silverstone, on July 1998. "He proved to be a quick learner and consistent in his lap times and those are important attributes for a test driver. It's also useful that his taste in chassis set-up and driving style are known to be very close to those of our drivers," expressed test team boss Robert Synge. His main job will be to provide BAR team more reliability and to check all new components, that will be put on new cars during '99 season.

HAKKINEN HUNGRY FOR ANOTHER TITLE, PANIS HAPPY ABOUT NEW SEASON AND HEALTHY LEG!
JAN 26 - 1998 champion Mika Hakkinen said for the press that he is very hungry for more titles, first on list is this year's title. That may be red alert for Scott Coulthard, as he talks or have illusions to be champion after this season. But fight will be hard said Hakkinen, ready to begin with tests at Barcelona circuit this week. "I've been working on my weaknesses over the winter, I've been doing plenty of exercise and I'm ready for the new season," he said. "I am hungry like no tomorrow, even though I am probably a bit more laid back than other drivers. "I've been talking to a lot of people and I'm being careful in my mental preparation so as not to be in a situation where I think I will win the title automatically. This year won't be any easier than last year." Hakkinen flew into Barcelona from his home in Monaco and said it was his first time back in the racing car since winning the title. "Some people have even joked that I should have gone to a driving school before coming here," he said.
Olivier Panis said on today's launch of new Prost car that he was last season all time under the pressure how to drive car with not healthy leg. But now he is happy to be free of all screws in his leg. "Now I feel it is much better," said the 32-year-old, who won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. "I've had them taken out and I feel as if I have my 1997 legs back again on duty. I am 100 per cent fit now. It has lifted a dark cloud that was in my head all the way through 1998. "I never felt totally at ease and they told me it was a risk, that if I had another blow at any time last season it would end my career."

WILLIAMS AND PROST TEAMS HAVE LAUNCHED NEW '99 CHALLENGERS!
JAN 25 - "The team has plenty of confidence already and we are looking for a new opportunity and a very exciting season," said Frank Williams. "I always felt that humiliation does us good. There are a lot of determined people at the factory and we are approaching the season with the aim of winning races."
Alain Prost, presented new AP02 and said his French team had doubled in size in the last year and had made a 'quantum leap in technology'. Prost said he did not wish to raise the hopes of French fans unreasonably but expected a massive improvement after a disappointing '98 season. "It is always difficult to say exactly what a team's objectives are and I don't want to be too specific. But if we have Ferrari and McLaren within reach, that will be reasonably good."

PORSCHE STAR MCNISH WILL DRIVE FOR FERRARI AT DAYTONA!
JAN 25 - Britain's Allan McNish, winner of last year's Le Mans, will race for Ferrari in this month's Daytona 24-hour sportscar race foollwing the one-year withdrawal of Porsche. The 29-year-old Scot is contracted to Porsche but will drive for Ferrari this year because of Porsche's self-imposed exile from motor racing for 12 months. McNish and his co-drivers won the GT category at Daytona at last year and finished second overall.

PETTY ENTERPRISES STILL IN SEARCH FOR POSITIVE RESULT.
JAN 25 - John Andretti and Kyle Petty are sure about their chances for more successful 1999 season after positive winter test runs. Key personnel changes and the big move of the No. 44 Hot Wheels Pontiac team to the Petty Enterprises compound in Randleman, N.C., have brought about a new air of confidence. Petty Enterprises team has scored last victory in 1986, when Bobby Hamilton won Phoenix event. In early ninethes Richard Petty retired from racing and team fall in big crysis and still need to get so much wanted victory and title after all those long seasons of racing!

EDDIE CHEEVER WINS INDY RACING LEAGUE OPENER, DIVERSIFIED SERVICES INDY 200!
JAN 25 - Eddie Cheever Jr. won today's TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway. Scott Goodyear finished second. By winning, Cheever became the first two-time winner of the event.Third place goes into the hands of Ward, fourth to Sharp and fifth spot to Boesel. Top ten finishers: 1 Cheever 2 Goodyear 3 Ward 4 Sharp 5 Boesel 6 Dismore 7 Knapp 8 Hamilton 9 Boat 10 Lazier

FEW DETAILS FROM GERMAN SUPER TOURING COMPETITION AHEAD OF SEASON OPENER!
JAN 25 - The STW championship will go well ahead even after some manufacturers have withdrawn from the series. The ADAC wants to concentrate on professional teams and tuners.
Audi will concentrate on Le Mans in 1999 and has decided to stop its Super Touring Car project.
Former STW champion Lauren Aiello will switch from Peugeot to Nissan for next year's BTCC.
The ADAC has anounced a 10 race schedule for the 1999 STW Championship which will start on May 9 at Sachsenring. The calendar includes races at Zweibrücken, Oschersleben, Norisring, Lahr, Wunstorf, Nürburgring, Salzburgring and Hockenheim.
BMW concentrates its efforts on the Formula One project in 1999 and will not enter the German Super Touring Car Championship.
The TV-coverage for 1999 is perfect: VOX will broadcast all ten events live. RTL shows the race-highlights during the Grand Prix-commentary and Eurosport broadcasts the training on saturday live and will also show 50 minutes race-summary on sunday. Altogether Fans can watch 4.5 hours STW-action eyery race-weekend.
Opel is planing for the next season: Uwe Alzen, Eric Hélary and Manuel Reuter will be the three works-drivers for 1999.

REPORTS FROM ALL FORMULA ONE TEAMS AHEAD OF BUSSY WINTER TESTS!
JAN 24 - Scuderia Ferrari-Marlboro will unveil their new 1999 F1 challenger on January 30th at Fiorano and will begin testing there the following week. "The '99 car looks very similar to last year's car," revealed Jean Todt. "Ferrari has refined the brakes and aerodynamics and we are using a new suspension concept," he added.
The new Williams FW21 will be unveiled in Barcelona, March 25th, at the Catalunya circuit where the team are due to test with Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher during the week. Both drivers were testing in past weeks revised FW20 chassis, one fitted with new Supertec 1999 V10 engine.
Stewart team are working hard to prepare the new SF3 chassis for Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert for testing in Jerez for today and next few days. In past days they were testing new SF3 chassis in Silverstone, UK. But bad weather, rain and fog, low temperatures did not allow them much of useful testing hours.
Prost team will be launching their 99 car at their Guyancourt base near Paris tomorrow, January 25. New car will then be shipped to Barcelona for testing. John Barnard also helped to develop new chassis.
Arrows team will be testing in Barcelona in coming week with two 98 spec chassises and new '99 specificated E version engines. Drivers for testing will be Salo and Rosa.
BAR team announced yesterday that second BAR chassis is ready for Villeneuve and Zonta for testing in Jerez this week where the team are planning a four day test for both drivers.
McLaren team will present on tests in next few days at Barcelona circuit with both regular drivers Hakkinen and Coulthard. Both will run in '98 spec McLaren cars. 1999 McLaren car will be launched after February 8.
Jordan team will not test till early February as new '99 car will be launched on February 1 in London. After presentation they will have three day shakedown programme and after that they have in plan few weeks of testing in Spain.

SENSATIONAL FIRST AND SECOND DAY OF TESTS IN JEREZ!
JAN 24 - After first day Joss The Boss was on top of time sheets for new Honda team, after second day we have the same story, but Joss is not so much in dominant form. He leads the pack for good half of a second. And who finished second. Well, second day of running was very good for Brazilian new star Ricardo Zonta, who finished ahead of '97 champion Villeneuve in the same BAR car. Fourth quickest was Brazilian Rubens Barichello and big relieve for Stewart Ford team for sure after difficult first week of testing for the new car. Alexander Wurz finished fifth quickest for Benetton team, but two second off best time.

ANDRETTI FAMILY HAVE A LOT OF BUSSINES TO DO!
JAN 24 - Michael and Mario Andretti are not only great racing stars in USA, but also big bussines family. Father and his son have built up in San Francisco new gas station. The newly constructed "superstation" includes an Andretti SpeedMart convenience store, 10 Texaco fueling points, a Starbucks coffee shop, a Burger King restaurant and an Andretti Winning Finish car wash.

CHINESE GP MAY BE BACK INTO 1999 CALENDAR AFTER ARGENTINA CANCELLATION!
JAN 24 - The Argentine Grand Prix, scheduled for 28 March, will not be held this year, according to the Argentine Ministry of Sport. The race organizers failed to reach agreement with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone on financial matters. There is now a possibility that the replacement race could be scheduled in China, who are on standby to stage a race in 1999. The season begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 7 March.

SCOTT SHARP WILL START FROM POLE POSITION WALT DISNEY 200!
JAN 24 - Scott Sharp earned the PPG Pole for the TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 on Saturday, covering the 1-mile tri-oval at Walt Disney World Speedway in 21.007 seconds at 171.371 mph. Sharp’s best lap in the Delphi Automotive Systems Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear broke the track record of 21.685, 166.013 set by Tony Stewart in 1997. It was Sharp’s second career Indy Racing League pole and first since August 1997. Top times: 1 Sharp 171.371mph 2 Ray 170.697 3 Goodyear 169.731 4 Brack 168.563 5 Ward 168.350

SENSATIONAL FIRST DAY OF TESTS IN JEREZ!
JAN 24 - What a day for Honda team on their first real head to head test. New Honda prototype has been driven by Joss the Boss and clocked best time after first day of tests in Jerez. But, he was a full second ahead of BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve , 1997 champion. Third quickest was very impressive Ricardo Zonta, who drove new BAR car for the first time. Both Benettons followed top three pack, but were full 2,5 seconds off best time clocked on the first day. Stewart team did not perform well on first day. Leading times on first day from Jerez: 1 Verstappen Honda 1:26.61 2 Villeneuve BAR 1:27.55 3 Zonta BAR 1:29.04 4 Fisichella Benetton 1:29.06 5 Wurz Benetton 1:29.17 6 Herbert Stewart 1:30.52 7 Barrichello Stewart 1:31.44

SCHUMACHER CRITICIZED NEW TYRES FOR 1999 SEASON!
JAN 23 - Schuey just said for the press: 'We are taking the wrong way, if one thinks to make Formula One more attractive. With the new, harder tyres overtaking will be additionally difficult, with drivers struggling with less grip and higher chances to skid off the course.'

WALLACE SHOWS THE WAY TO GORDON IN DAYTONA!
JAN 23 - Rusty Wallace toped times at Daytona winter tests and is ready to begin new season next month with top place. Three-time and defending series champ Jeff Gordon was not far from Wallace's speeds, and he figures to be a major threat next month at Daytona. Final times from Daytona: 1 Rusty Wallace Ford 193.129 2 Jeff Gordon Chev. 192.452 3 Kyle Petty Pont. 192.341 4 Dale Jarrett Ford 192.139 5 Jerry Nadeau Ford 192.082 6 Rusty Wallace Ford 191.984 7 Wally Dallenbach Chev. 191.636 8 Ward Burton Pont. 191.595 9 Terry Labonte Chev. 191.465 10 Mike Skinner Chev. 191.343

ARGENTINIAN GP FOR 1999 SEASON IN DANGER!
JAN 23 - It now appears that the financial problems surrounding the Argentine race have not been solved. Patrick McNally, Bernie Ecclestone's special envoy, was quoted as saying that the race was "not financially viable". It is not known whether the cancellation of the race had anything to do with Argentine driver Esteban Tuero's decision to leave the Minardi team.

KELLEY RACING TEAM ON TOP OF TIME SHEETS IN WALT DISNEY 200 PRACTICE!
JAN 23 - Kelley Racing teammates Scott Sharp and Mark Dismore were first and second fastest in practice Friday, respectively, for the Pep Boys Indy Racing League’s season-opening TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway. "The car ran great," said Sharp, from Carmel, Ind. "I love this track. You can really hold the car down and hustle the car around. We’re excited for the race."

BMW READY TO COMPETE IN LEMANS 24H!
JAN 23 - German company from Munchen is ready to compete in the most prestigious durability race on the world in 1999 season despite have full hands of work in preparation for entering in F1 in 2000. The car is expected to be virtually all-new following the less than successful V12 LM. The only major component carried over from the previous car is the six-litre 12-cylinder engine, formerly used in the McLaren F1 GTR sportscar.

BOBBY RAHAL AWARDED AS 'NICE BOY'!
JAN 22 - American Bobby Rahal, three time PPG Cup champion, who concluded an outstanding 17-year FedEx Championship Series driving career last year, was honored with Miller Brewing's "Nice Guy" Award during the 34th annual Red Smith Sports Banquet held Tuesday in Appleton.

'HEY GUYS, I AM BACK IN FRONT OF YOU!' SPEKS GORDON AFTER DAYTONA TESTS
JAN 22 - Thirty NASCAR Winston Cup Series teams got the same view Wednesday of Jeff Gordon's No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet that they saw for most of his 1998 championship season. Gordon ended the pre-season test schedule at Daytona by clocking the fastest speed of the 30 Chevrolet and Pontiac teams -- and the second-quickest of the winter -- when he posted a lap of 46.765 seconds, at 192.452 mph. Top times from Daytona on Wednesday:1. 24A Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 46.765 192.452 2. 44A Kyle Petty Pontiac 46.792 192.341 3. 25 Wally Dallenbach Chevrolet 46.964 191.636 4. 22A Ward Burton Pontiac 46.974 191.595 5. 5T Terry Labonte Chevrolet 47.006 191.465 6. 31A Mike Skinner Chevrolet 47.036 191.343 7. 40A Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 47.068 191.213 8. 43A John Andretti Pontiac 47.143 190.909 9. 20 Tony Stewart Pontiac 47.146 190.896 10. 60A Geoffrey Bodine Chevrolet 47.180 190.759 More details on NASCAR.COM.

ARGENTINIAN JOUNGSTER IN F1 RETIRED!
JAN 22- Whole Argentina is in little shock today, as their F1 star retired just in the age of 19. Personal reasons were criticised for driver's move, but anyway there is big question why such young and talented driver left F1. He has began his F1 career in F1 just one season later as Italian Fisichella, in fact when Fisichella moved to Jordan from Minardi Esteban get an oportunity to tast high tech motorsport. The Argentinean, who has a contract that expires on the 31st December 2000, told the team that due to 'irrevocable personal grounds' he would not be taking any further part in F1. The news comes as a blow to the small Italian outfit, due to the money from personal sponsorship he brought, which helped with Minardi's budget. The likely candidate to take over from Tuero is Marc Gene, a young Spaniard who impressed in a test for Minardi prior to Christmas. Good luck Esteban.

SWEDE RYDELL AGAIN IN ACTION AT JEREZ IN SPAIN!
JAN 22 - Rickard Rydell drove to top spot in pre-season testing at Jerez, Spain, this week. The Volvo man, reigning BTCC titlist, was the first and only driver to break the 105-second barrier over the four-day test session. Best times from Sapin: Rickard Rydell Volvo S40 1m 44.69s Gabriele Tarquini Honda Accord 1m 45.12s Jason Plato Renault Laguna 1m 45.21s JC Boullion Renault Laguna 1m 45.62s James Thompson Honda Accord 1m 46.46s Anthony Reid Ford Mondeo 1m 47.13s Paula Cook Honda Accord 1m 47.48s Alain Menu Ford Mondeo 2m 30.44s

JORDAN GRAND PRIX TEAM READY FOR BUSSY FEBRUARY!
JAN 22 - With less than two weeks to go to the launch of the new Jordan Mugen-Honda 199, all departments at Jordan Grand Prix are working around the clock. There is much midnight oil being burnt in the drawing office where Chief Designer Mike Gascoyne and his team are finalising the details of the new car. And with the build of the new chassis well under way the factory floor is buzzing with activity. Meanwhile, in Jordan's marketing department, the final deals with new sponsors are being done. With deadlines running out for companies to lend their support to Jordan in time to be included in activity for the launch, contracts are flying to and forth on the fax machines for final approval. The PR and Media department is flat out with RSVPs from the 500 plus media invited to the launch. Interviews and photo shoots with the drivers and Eddie Jordan are being arranged, and plans are also being put in place to have live links on the morning of the launch into the various breakfast programmes - The Big Breakfast, BBC Breakfast News, GMTV etc. With the launch dominating everyone's mind, the first Grand Prix in Melbourne, now just over a month away, has not been forgotten. Work will continue throughout the coming weeks in the Jordan wind tunnel and the race team mechanics have been practising pit stops on the factory floor. There will be five new mechanics joining the team for racing in 1999 so practice to ensure a slick team operation is imperative! Both Damon Hill and Heinz-Harald Frentzen have been at Jordan in the past week, both for seat fittings of their new car. They will return to London for the launch when they will enjoy a busy schedule of interviews from 6 o'clock in the morning! More news on JORDANGP.

ANDRETTI HOPES FOR SECOND PLACE, UNSER AGAIN IN TOP FORM FOR PENSKE!
JAN 21 - "Winning at Miami hasn't been a good omen for the rest of the season the past two years," admits Andretti, who went winless the remainder of the past two seasons. "Sometimes I wonder if we might just want to finish second and not win (at Homestead) and win the rest of the races after that!"
Champ Car veteran Al Unser Jr has maintained his run of winter testing form to outpace his rivals at Sebring. The 1990 and '94 champion lapped his Penske-Mercedes in 51.2s on the airfield track, quicker than Reynard-Honda drivers Tony Kanaan and Gil de Ferran who were there with the Tasman and Walker teams respectively.

SCHUMACHER WILL NOT QUITE FERRAR!
JAN 21 - Lauda said two weeks ago: 'If Michael doesn't win the World Championship next year for technical reasons, he will change teams or retire. And then it will all be uphill for Ferrari.' But Schuey said again:'Everything is clear. We have been close to winning the title twice, so we obviously have a strong team. My confidence in Ferrari is not at all shattered. I have a contract until 2002 and there is no reason to change that.'

JAPANESE COMPANIES BRIDGESTONE AND TOYOTA FRIGHTENING FORMULA ONE COMPETITION!
JAN 21 - Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone estimate that their Formula One costs will double this season, as a result o Goodyear's withdrawal from the sport. Bridgestone Motorsport director Hirosh Yasukawa said that some teams would now have to pay for their tyres. With all 11 teams to supply Bridgeston estimate that their costs will double. They have yet to finalise contracts with some of the teams because Goodyea did not formally pullout of Formula On until November.
Reports suggest that Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation plan to enter Formul One racing over the next five years. The largest car maker in Japan will announce the decision when president Hiroshi Okuda and other executives mee the press on Thursday to 'brief on their motor sports activity,' claims the Sports Nippon daily. Toyota joining the race would enable Japanese car fans to watch a 'dream showdown' between Toyota and Honda.

FIA PROTOTYPE CUP MAY GET GREEN LIGHT AND GO HEAD!
JAN 21 - 'I said I would release all the details in the third week of January, and that's what I've done,' said Ratel, FIA Prototype Cup boss. 'Then it will be the turn of the teams to act.' Ratel has been tasked with assembling a 20-car entry by the FIA, but is confident that the series will go ahead even if he falls short of this number at the mid-February deadline. 'I'm confident that I will get 15 privateer cars and then Mercedes will follow with three more. I don't think that the FIA will abandon the series for the want of two cars.'

BIAGGI DRIVES F300 AT FIORANO FOR 56 LAPS AS WE SAID PREVIOUS WEEK!
JAN 21 - Biaggi surprised everyone with a very respectable best time of 1m06.5s, and enjoyed his time at the wheel. 'This was a completely new sensation for me. The acceleration and braking parameters were completely different from anything I am used to and I have never experienced anything like it.'

MINARDI MAY BRING SPANIARD TO F1, BERGER NOT FOR COULTHARD IN 1999!
JAN 21 - Marc Gene is close to be partnered with Minardi team for 1999 season. Team bosses Gabriele Rumi and Giancarlo Minardi are expected to meet with the Spanish Minister of Industry to see if it is possible to find more sponsorship money for the Spaniard, who impressed Minardi in a pre-Christmas test.
Berger said about Coulthard chances for 1999 title: 'I don't think David will be on that level for the whole year and 'I have the impression that when the car isn't perfect, Mika's better at getting more out of it than David!'

FINN MAKINEN, 1998 WORLD RALLY CHAMPION, WINS MONTE CARLO RALLY!
JAN 20 - World champion Tommi Makinen has finally secured his first win in the Monte Carlo rally, finishing one minute and 44 seconds ahead of fellow Finn Juha Kankkunen. The Mitsubishi Lancer driver's victory was made almost certain when his closest rival overnight, Frenchman Gilles Panizzi, retired after his car overturned on the first stage of the final day. Colin McRae in the new Ford Focus finished an impressive third. Frencman Didier Auriol finished fourth for Toyota team, Delecour in Ford Escort scored fifth place and Thiry for Subaru final point. 'It is one of my most important wins,' has said Finn. 'I have often led the race but something would happen to rob me of victory. To finally win is fabulous.'

IRVINE RATHER TO WIN FIRST GP FOR ITSELF THAN HELP SCHUMACHER, ALESI ALSO IN GAME!
JAN 20 - Irish driver for Ferrari team Eddie Irvine said for German Television that he has enough time to adopt to the Ferrari car in past three seasons and that now is for him the time to win his first GP of career. But main question is that about Schumacher's main target, title for Ferrari team. Ferrari still uses Irvine as second driver that must help German star to clinch title for Ferrari team, but Irvine is more and more against those words. He has clearly said that he wait enough and that now is the time for his first win. Jean Alesi was also mentioned in connection with Ferrari team, despite he has signed two year's contract with current Sauber team. Ferrari tries somehow put more pressure on Irvine to be more 'open' for cooperating with German ace. Everything seems this way!

STEWART CHASSIS NOT IMPRESSIVE!
JAN 20 - According to the 34-year-old Johnny Herbert, the new SF-3 is 'better than last year's car in braking traction', but he suffered from some understeer, a view echoed by his team mate Rubens Barrichello. Both men emphasised that it was impossible to tell whether that was a characteristic of the car or the winter temperatures which didn't allow enough heat into the front tyres.

FORSYTHE AND TASMAN FORM NEW TEAM!
JAN 20 - Forsythe Championship Racing builds on the foundation developed by Horne's Tasman Motorsports Group, utilizing the structure and personnel already in place. Forsythe will serve as chairman and Horne as president of the new team, which will field 1998 Rookie of the Year Tony Kanaan in a Honda-powered Reynard entry on Firestone tires. Forsythe Championship Racing also will enter two cars in the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship.

SAUBER TEAM LAUCHED NEW '99 CHALLENGER!
JAN 19 - Formula One team Sauber - Petronas presented today new C18 car for 1999 season fight. Team boss Peter Sauber expressed his feelings about this season expectations. Team main target is to become in short time top five team and to be close to the first ever victory for them too. Sauber team cars will be driven by Frenchman Jean Alesi and Brazilian Pedro Diniz. Sauber said: "Our new Red Bull Sauber Petronas C18 will be powered by one of the most powerful and successful Formula One engines. With Jean Alesi and Pedro Diniz we have two experienced and strong drivers, and during the past months we have been able to strengthen the team in terms of personnel, technical, organisational and financial resources. "This should provide us with the necessary qualities to catch up with the top Formula One teams. We have no illusions: the 1999 season will be a difficult and demanding one. However, we will rise to this challenge, and we are optimistic that we will make progress. The goal at the end of the road is simple: We want to be one of the top teams in Formula One, which means winning races as soon as possible."

NEW DRIVER BOULLION FOR WILLIAMS LAGUNA TEAM QUICKEST!
JAN 19 - The 28-year-old Frenchman topped the order in his Laguna after three days of the test at Jerez in Spain, with just Tuesday to go. Frenchman anyway drove still not fully prepared new 1999 specificated Laguna car. Best times: 1 J-C Boullion (Renault Laguna) 1m45.66s 2 Gabriele Tarquini (Honda Accord) 1m45.87s 3 Jason Plato (Renault Laguna) 1m46.10s 4 Rickard Rydell (Volvo S40) 1m46.41s 5 James Thompson (Honda Accord) 1m47.16s 6 Alain Menu (Ford Mondeo) 1m47.33s 7 Tom Kristensen (Honda Accord) 1m47.34s 8 Paula Cook (Honda Accord) 1m47.89s 9 Anthony Reid (Ford Mondeo) 1m50.95s

JORDAN AND PEARL EXTENDED SPONSORSHIP, SOUTH AFRICA WILL HOST TEST, HONDA IN ACTION!
JAN 19 - Jordan team and Pearl, a UK based insurance company will continue with cooperation in 1999 season, Pearl will also sponsor Jordan's web site, opened on February 1st.
Williams and BAR team will test in South Africa next month. Bernie Ecclestone allowed both teams to held test in Africa in try to help build up the infrastructure for African GP in 2001.
Honda F1 team is close to try first head to head comparsion with regular Formula One teams this week in Jerez, Spain. Honda car will be driven by Joss Verstappen and Satoshi Motoyama.

JAN 19 - World champion Tommi Makinen regained the lead in the Monte Carlo Rally midway through the second day. The Finn, driving a Mitsubishi, was almost a minute ahead of overnight leader Gilles Panizzi. Panizzi was given a 20-second penalty and then his privately entered Subaru broke down at a bend on the eighth timed special stage. Finnish veteran Juha Kankkunen was third and Italy's Piero Liatti fourth. Colin McRae was up to fifth. Leaderboard after ten stages: 1 T Makinen Fin Mitsubishi three hours 48 minutes 56.5 secs 2 G Panizzi Fr Subaru +1:45.6 3 J Kankkunen Fin Subaru +2:05.8 4 C McRae GB Ford +2:47.7 5 F Delecour Fr Ford +4:09.0 6 B Thiry Bel Subaru +4:36.9

REFUELING ISSUE STILL BIG TOPIC IN FORMULA ONE!
JAN 18 - Jackie Stewart described refueling in F1 as unnecessary risk in high tech motorsport, but Rocco Benetton just comment about refueling with the words: 'I believe we are at the beginning of the discussion, so at this moment it's difficult. Formula One is reaching maximum levels in some areas of technology, so safety becomes a major issue and the FIA is evaluating all of these risks and trying to help us to create a good environment where we can see who really is the best, but at the same time taking away the risk.'

BUZZ CALKINS DIRECTLY FROM UNIVERSITY TO THE RACING CAR FOR INDY 200 RACE!
JAN 18 - As Buzz Calkins pursues his master’s degree in business administration at Northwestern University, he’s also returning to the books as a Pep Boys Indy Racing League driver. His first grade will come Jan. 24 in the season-opening TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway, and he hopes its more than just passing. In fact, he hopes to do a lot of passing during the race.

CANADIAN CARPENTIER VERY HAPPY ABOUT POSITIVE HOMESTEAD TEST!
JAN 18 - Canadian Carpentier, teammate to Moore is very happy about things around Forsythe team. He pushed his Reynard - Mercedes car around Homestead circuit very nicely and without mayor problems. He hardly waits for the first race of season on March 21st in Miami Dade. He expressed: "We're running good. We're really fast. I can't wait to open the season. I want to be here and compete with the guys. I think this year we're going to fight much harder than we did last year, and it's going to start here."

SKINNER HOPEFUL BUT ALSO REALISTICALLY ABOUT NEW SEASON!
JAN 18 - Two years ago we could watch new driver in Winston cup pack, rookie Mike Skinner. Now he is ready to be close to the top drivers, but his main target for this season is to be regularly in top ten and to win race or two. He do not want to find himself now in position to be a title contender as in the past season, because it is all in counting all points together and with a bit of luck, he can be, what are his secret wishes for sure even that, what at the moment is Jeff Gordon. "If we can carry some momentum into the season and have some good runs and have some racing luck, then maybe we can get to Victory Lane a couple of times and make some headway," Skinner said.

Frenchman Panizzi, driving for Subaru team leads the way in Monaco event. His appeal against 30sec penalty was enough to ensure him 5sec lead over Finn Makinen in Mitsubishi car. Our weather forecast was the right one. Under the zero we predicted yesterday and just that 'pain' feels right now Spaniard, runner up in 1998 championship fight Carlos Sainz: "The conditions were terrible and there was complete ice on the first corner. "We went straight off and damaged the front end of the car. Fortunately we managed to get back on the road but, because of the earlier damage, the bonnet worked lose and flew up. I couldn't see a thing, we hit more ice and under-steered straight off. We were just too far off the road to continue. This is not a good way to start the season and obviously I feel very disappointed. On a positive note though, every year I have won in Monte Carlo we have not won the Championship. Maybe this means our luck will change." Rally will continue till Wednesday, January 20th.
Leading times after five stages: 1 G Panizzi Fr Subaru 1 hour 51 minutes 5.9 second 2 T Makinen Fin Mitsubishi +5.9 sec 3 J Kankkunen Fin Subaru +1m 13.7 4 P Liatti It Seat +1:14.1 5 B Thiry Bel Subaru +1:45.0 6 C McRae GB Ford +1:54.0 Finn Makinen could become first Finn after 1986 to win Monte Carlo Rally.
Leaderboard after 162km of 1613km long event: T Makinen Fin Mitsubishi 1 hour 51 minutes 11.8 seconds 2 G Panizzi Fr Subaru +24.1seconds 3 J Kankkunen Fin Subaru +1min:13 4 P Liatti It Seat +1min:14 5 B Thiry Bel Subaru +1min:45 6 C McRae GB Ford +1min:54 7 F Delecour Fr Ford +2min:20 8 D Auriol Fr Toyota +3min:48

SAINZ OUT, McRAE ALLOWED TO RACE UNDER APPEAL, SKODA ALSO OUT!
JAN 18 - Defending champion Carlos Sainz has crashed his Toyota on the first bend of the opening timed special stage and was forced to pull out eight kms later. The bonnet of the Spaniard's car opened as he went into the bend, completely blocking his view and causing him to crash off the road in pouring rain. Former world champion Colin McRae was allowed to race in the Monte Carlo Rally under appeal after his Ford Focu car was initially declared illegal. Officials of the ruling body FIA said the Scotsman's Focus, making its debut had a water pump that infringed the rules. The same was true of his French team-mate Simon Jean-Joseph's vehicle. Both the Octavia cars of Skoda, competing in the full series for the first time, suffered engine problems that forced their withdrawal. Skoda blamed software problems in the engine management system which was installed for the first time on Saturday.

RALLY GRANADA DAKAR 1999 IS OVER, FRENCH DRIVER AND RIDER ON TOP!
JAN 17 - Jean-Louis Schlesser claimed a maiden triumph for a two-wheel drive vehicle as he drove his own Schlesser-Renault buggy to victory in the Dakar Rally. The Frenchman, fourth in the final stage won by Spain's Salvador Servia, finished more than 33 minutes ahead of another Spaniard, Miguel Prieto, in th overall standings. The last leg of the bikes' section was canceled, which allowed Richard Sainc of France to give BMW its first win in the race since 1985. Miran Stanovnik from Slovenia finished rally in motorcycle competition as 43rd quickest overall. Well done, all finishers.

ABOUT NEW 1999 FERRARI CAR, ONLY F1 RUMORS!
JAN 17 - Rory Byrne, who described the 1999 season challanger as "revolutionary", used the long-wheelbased F300 chassis as the base of the new car. Therefor it is expected to be a development which has all the positive characteristics of the successful regular F300 and the long-wheelbased version. The new design will also exploit all the advanced technologies gathered by the Italian team with renewed and reinforced economical support by the Fiat concern. Every aspect of the car from the new 048 series engine to the suspensions, passing through brakes and especially the aerodynamics are more an evolvemant rather than a completely new design. The current F300 is a winning car, therefor next season's project 650 will be a natural evolution of it.

PPG CART PACWEST TEAM COMPLETED THREE DAYS OF TESTS IN PHOENIX!
JAN 17 - Mark Blundell and Mauricio Gugelmin both presented on tests at Phoenix raceway on Jan 10 - 13. Both drivers completed more than 850 miles and posed best times of 20,3s for Blundell and 20,6s for Gugelmin. The PacWest team tested two '99 Reynard Chassis outfitted with the Mercedes-Benz IC108E engine. The test week was trouble-free for both drivers allowing the team to learn more about the new short oval aerodynamic regulations implemented by CART.

SAINZ AIMS FOR THE FIRST VICTORY IN NEW SEASON!
JAN 17 - "I guess Monte Carlo is the event which every rally driver in the world dreams about winning. It is the most famous rally of them all and it is not easy to win. The weather conditions are normally difficult. Even though it can be a straightforward rally if the conditions are kind, when the conditions are bad it is extremely difficult. The most challenging aspect of the event is the tyre choices, the complexity of which are incredible. You can't imagine what experience and testing is necessary and how many parameters must be considered before a decision is made," said Carlos Sainz.

CZECH TEST DRIVER FOR JORDAN TEAM IN 1999 SEASON.
JAN 16 - British based Jordan team have signed Tomas Enge as the their new test driver. The 22-year-old Czech racer, who competed in 5 F3000 races last year with a best result of sixth, will again be driving in the F3000 championship whilst testing for Jordan. He is also supported by two Czech sponsors.

DAKAR - GRANADA REPORTS:

JAN 16 - Frenchmen Jean-Louis Schlesser and Richard Sainct have all but secured victory with one stage left in the Dakar Rally. Schlesser, in a Buggy, was third in th 15th stage from Nouakchott to Saint- Louis, and leads by 31 minutes 52 seconds from Spaniard Miguel Prieto. Sainct, who won the latest stage by 30 seconds from closest rival Thierry Magnaldi, has bolstered his overall advantage. Magnaldi must make up four minutes on the final stage.

JAN 15 - The Schlesser buggies and Richard Sainct's BMW tightened their grip on the Dakar Rally with two stages left. Spaniard Jose Maria Srevia drove his Schlesser to victory in the 14th stage from Atar to Nouakchott in Mauretania, with Jean-Louis Schlesser coming third and increasing his overall lead to 27 minutes 46 seconds. Sainct was fourth in the motorcycle section but opened up a lead of more than three-and-a-half minutes over compatriot Thierry Magnaldi.

JAN 14 - German Kleinschmidt wins13th stage, but Schlesser extends lead over second placed Prieto from Spain. Mitsubishi team have hard task to find extra time for overall lead in remaining last three days of Dakar rally. Motorbike competition is still big fight between BMW single rider Sainct that's still in overall lead and KTM army close behind him. Competitors in the Dakar Rally were also held up and robbed at gunpoint on Wednesday, organisers have revealed. Fifty drivers fell into a trap laid by a 20-strong group of well-armed men 50 kilometres from the end of the 12th stage in Tichit, Mauritania, which was won by Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser. The robbers escaped with four cars, three trucks, a motorcycle and money, while the remaining vehicles had their fuel tanks emptied. Thursday's 13th stage is to go ahead as planned.

JAN 13 - French duo extended lead after today's 12th stage. Frenchmen Jean-Louis Schlesser and Richard Sainct consolidated their lead in the Dakar car and motorcycle classe respectively with 12th stage wins on Wednesday. Despite getting his car stuck in the sand of Mauritania, Schlesser still hung for victory. Jose Maria Servia of Spain was second. Sainct, meanwhile, had fewer problems on his BMW bike and romped home to widen his lead to two minutes and 40 seconds overall.

6 J Arcarons Sp KTM -1:12:4

JAN 12 - Japanese driver for Mitsubishi team, Shinozuka wins today's 11th stage, long exactly 548km from Timbuktu to Nema, Mauritania. Overall lead stays in hands of Frenchman Schlesser as Kleinschmidt and Prieto both finished few seconds behind him. Motorcycle competition is now tightening up as BMW rider, Sainct is just good 2 minutes ahaead of KTM rider Magnaldi. KTM army has closed up to the BMW rider dramatically after today's race.

JAN 11 - Frenchman Fontenay, last year's Dakar - Granada champion wins today's Gao - Timbuktu stage ahead of fellow Mitsubishi driver and Prieto from Spain. Overall leader stays Frenchman Schlesser, who finished today's long stage as third quickest, five minutes off time posted by Fontenay. German woman Klinschmidt was way, way back today and is now 45 minutes of Schlesser's overall time. Too much time lost today, to try first real fight for overall lead for German.
In motorcycle competition we can not see nothing today as 10th stage was canceled due safety reasons.

JAN 10 - Jean-Louis Schlesser destroyed his rivals by winning the 300km timed section on Stage Nine by more than seven minutes. The Frenchman is nearly nine-and-a-hal minutes ahead of Spain's Miguel Prieto in the overall standings after the journey from Burkina Faso to Mali. In motorcycle competittion overall lead is still in head of BMW rider Sainct, close behind him are KTM riders.
A policeman, who died on Saturday following a crash between a Nissan rally car and a Burkina Faso police car 24 hours before, became the 40th victim in the 20-year history of the race.

JAN 08 - Miguel Prieto moved within two minutes of race leader Jean-Louis Schlesser by winning the eighth leg.The Mitsubishi driver from Spain claimed his third stage victory as the race left the desert and entered the African bush. Frenchman Schlesser lost ground as he was troubled by dust on the 1,000km journey from Mali to Burkina Faso. Thierry De Lavergne was second and Jean-Pierre Fontenay third. The motorcycle leg was cancelled because so many riders arrived very late at the end of the previous stage.

JAN 07 - Yesterday was strange day. But not because of racing, there happened something very unusual. Desert's pirates attacked two Austrians in Mitsubishi car. And nothing unusual happened after that, as pirates took car with them and now the jeep car is probably lost.
And not just car was lost, also people lost here today. Few completely lost navigation and of course finished way, way down in standings list or even retired from competition. Slovenian motorcyclist Miran Stanovnik is overall 34th.

CARS - Mitsubishi is back, but Schlesser team is in nice lead over Mitsubishi pack of Kleinschmidt, Prieto and Masuoka. German women moved up to the second spot. Second schlesser car lost ground and fall out of top five in overall timing list.

MOTORCYCLES - KTM is back we can say after seventh stage. Yes, here is still sign about BMW in top three, best only one BMW is lying in top four, but that's in lead man! Frenchman Sainct maintained lead for BMW motorbike.

JAN 06 - German Kleinshmidt lost overall lead and dropped down to third place. Overall leader in motorbike competition is still Gallardo, in car competition lead goes to Spaniard Servia.

MOTORBIKES - In the motorcycle class Slovakian enduro rider Katrinak won his first ever Dakar special ahead of Magnaldi and KTM 'water carrier', the Finn Kari Tiainen. Overall however the first three places remain unchanged, with the two BMWs of Gallardo and Sainct (1'33) leading South African Cox (2'34).

CARS - In the car class Jutta Kleinschmidt hands over her overall lead to Jose Maria Servia and slips to 3rd behind the 2nd buggy of Jean Louis Schlesser. Mitsubishi driver Masuoka started off strongly, passing CP1 ahead of Schlesser and Servia. But by CP2 the two Schlesser buggies had overhauled the Japanese competitor, as had Fontenay, Prieto and Shinozuka. In the end Servia conserved his lead, 4'43 ahead of team mate Jean Louis and 5'55 in front Prieto.

JAN 05 - Shinozuka and Arcarons win today's fifth stage. That was the longest stage to be held in this year's Pariz - Dakar Rally.

CARS - Japanese Kenjiro Shinozuka won the Dakar rally's fifth and longest stage, a 624 kms timed section between Bir Mogrein and Atar in Mauretania. Despite a puncture the Mitsubishi driver, winner in 1997, clocked six hours 14 minutes and 32 seconds. Team mate Jutta Kleinschmidt of German who was third, kept the overall lead by 10 minutes 13 seconds.

MOTORBIKES - In the motorcycle section Spain's Oscar Gallardo, on BMW, retained the overall advantage. But another Spaniard Salla, who was big hero yesterday as he won fourth stage has retired with an injured hand after big fall. Slovenian Miran Stanovnik is overall 50th.

SAINZ FULL OF HOPE FOR MONTE CARLO
JAN 16 - After the heartbreak of last year Carlos Sainz is full of hope for the new season which starts in Monte Carlo this weekend. The world title was dashed from his grasp on the last day of the final rac in 1998 when his car broke down with the finish in sight. Sainz won in Monte Carlo last year, hi third success in the event, and like Frenchman Didier Auriol he will be keen to make it four. World champion Tommi Makinen wants his first win.

ITALIAN FERRARI TEAM ANNOUNCED DATE FOR PRESENTATION OF NEW CAR!
JAN 16 - Now Italian team finally decided to confirm new date for presentation of 1999 specificated Ferrari car. Probably most interesting news for all Tifosi is that the 1999 Ferrari F1 car will be presented to the press on Friday 29th January 1999 at 10:30 am, at the Auditorium "Enzo Ferrari" at Maranello.

GIL DE FARRAN QUICKEST AT SEBRING IN 1998 PACKAGE!
JAN 16 - Brazilian Gil De Ferran, driving a 1998 Reynard - Honda package, recorded a fast lap 51.4 seconds on the Sebring road course, which made him fastest of a group which included Al Unser Jr., driving for Penske Mercedes tam, Michel Jourdain Jr. who is curently driver for Lola Ford Viva Mexico team. So, words from Penske team, that new car is big step forward for them may be in big question after Sebring test. Ferran still work on setting up car for the first race in Nazareth and test also Goodyear tires.

JIMMY VASSER COMPLETED SECOND WINTER TEST!
JAN 16 - Jimmy Vasser , Target Chip Ganassi driver continued his second test at the one-mile oval at Phoenix International Raceway earlier this week in preparation for new season. Runner up in 1998 CART championship completed more than 460 miles during the two-day session, which have concentrated mainly on the new Firestone tyres. Second test mainly concentrated on setting the car for the single-element wing package required at the Nazareth, first race of 1999 season. Vasser said: "I'm very happy with the car at this point in our testing and especially pleased with the results we've been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. The team has been putting in a lot of hard work and it is really paying off for the car's performance." Following Spring Training ON February 2 - 4, Montoya will next test at Laguna Seca Raceway on February 23-24 with Vasser testing again at Sebring on February 24-25.

BENETTON TEAM ALREADY LAUNCH THE NEW B199!
JAN 16 - The Benetton team launched their 1999 challenger today at their factory at Enstone. The B199 is a completely new car, the design is more revolutionary than evolutionary, like former Benetton cars. Technical Director Pat Symonds is very happy with the new car :" In 1998 we had two new drivers and the design was under new leadership, so the B198 was intended to be a simple, conventional car that would be able to adapt to the needs of the new regulations and particularly, the new tyres. In the intensely competitive state of Formula One, it has been necessary for us to re-double our efforts in the search for victory in 1999. To this end, our latest B199 sets new standards of aerodynamics performance and ingenuity to enable us to meet the opposition head on." Giancarlo Fisichella: "I cannot wait to get back behind the wheel and try it. I think it is also very important that we have a brand new engine for this season. Another team has already tried the unit and it went very well." "I have had some input into the design of the B199 in terms of feedback myself and Giancarlo provided at the test sessions towards the end of last year," said Alexander Wurz.

SPONSORS WERE DRIVING PACWEST REYNARD MERCEDES CAR!
JAN 15 - PacWest sponsors got the opportunity to drive the Hollywood and Motorola Champ Cars. PacWest conducted its fourth annual "Drive Day" on Derek Daly's 0.8 mile road course at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Over thirty executive partners took part in the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

VILLENEUVE AND POLLOCK HOPE FOR TITLE FIGHT!
JAN 15 - BAR team boss Pollock hopes for title fight, including his star Jacques Villeneuve. Villeneuve also feels that he is capable of winning in 1999 season with his new team. 'You always shoot for the top, and from what I've seen it's going to be good. We can be challenging for race wins from the start of the season.. The plan is to be competitive in Melbourne,' said Villeneuve, 'but we'll definitely go out there thinking we have a small chance of winning. But if we don't win, as we know we have done our best and can improve on it, we'll be happy.'

NEW MOTORSPORT SEASON IS HOTTING UP, RALLY MONTE CARLO PREWIEV:
JAN 15 - The rally covers 1,613 kilometres and starts in Monaco on January 17 for the first leg to Gap without special stages. However, the first special stage is held the following morning well to the north of Gap and it is the longest of the rally, at no fewer than 48 kilometers! The second leg has a total of 161 km of stages - more than any other leg - and a greater chance of bad weather, as it is the most northerly. The third leg takes competitors back to Monaco via formidable stages such as Sisteron-Thoard, which has often played a decisive role in the past, and a lengthened version of the Col de Turini. Its five stages cover 154 km. The fourth and final leg is the shortest, with just four stages and 109 of the 425 km of flat-out driving, but it is far from easy, for it uses some of the most difficult roads in the Alpes-Maritimes.

VILLIE AGAIN FASTEST FOR BAR TEAM IN SPAIN ON FRIDAY!
JAN 16 - Jacques Villeneuve was fastest in testing for the second consecutive day in his British American Racing car at the Circuit de Catalunya. He clocked one minute 23.89 seconds and was closely followed by Italian Alessandro Zanardi, who recorded 1:23.09 in his Williams. Zanardi said: 'I am very encouraged by today. It is a little step - but it is a step forward. Third fastest was Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer, whose time was 1:24.01.

ANTHONY RIED CRITICISED NISSAN TEAM FOR LOST OF THE 1998 TITLE!
JAN 15 - Anthony Ried, runner up in 1998 season to Rickard Rydell criticized his ex team Nissan that title has been lost at the beginning of the last year's season because he did not have enough time to settle into the new car. Ried just speaks: 'Getting the car in the week of the first meeting was a decided disadvantage for me, and on reflection, is one of the major factors that cost me the championship last year.'

PEDRO LAMY TO DRIVE FOR MERCEDES AT LE MANS 24 HOURS.
JAN 15 - According to the news from Mercedes motorsport area Portuguese Pedro Lamy, currently driver for Viper GT2 team is close to sign deal with Mercedes motorsport team for driving at Le Mans 24 hours. Mercedes team also confirmed that runner up drivers in '98 season, Schneider and Webber will continue to drive for Mercedes in 1999 season. Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug said, 'We are about to finalize our drivers. There's no decision, but Pedro is a possibility.'

TOYOTA MAY ENTER INTO F1 IN SHORT TIME!
JAN 15 - Toyota is expected to announce its F1 intentions on January 21 and is said to want to enter Formula 1 in the near future. The possible dates for entering to F1 competition are years between 2000 and 2002. Toyota's Toyota Team Europe base in Cologne increased workforce and everything here seems they will work on new and big project. That must be only F1. They also compete in PPG CART competition and 24h of Le Mans.

KYALAMI HAS PASSED AN FIA INSPECTION.
JAN 14 - The Kyalami circuit has passed an FIA inspection, but a return to the South African circuit could be locked by a proposed ban on tobacco advertising. The last South African Grand Prix was staged in 1993. However, Williams and British American Racing are keen to test at the circuit next month in preparation for the Australian Grand Prix on March.

WILLIAMS SAID: 'RALF WILL BE A CHAMPION!'
JAN 15 - Frank Williams is confident about young German driver performance in his team. He feels that both Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher are the right choice for its team future. 'Journalists write that I chose Ralf because the BMW engine is arriving,' said Frank Williams. 'That's completely wrong. I chose him because he is damn fast and very young. He will be looked after and kept in line and then he will be champion. The German market is an important one for F1, but I do not choose drivers because of that, and BMW's only interest is that the drivers who race with its engine win.'

RUSTY WALLACE TOPS FORD TEST TIMES AT DAYTONA!
JAN 14 - Rusty Wallace tops Wednesday test times ahead of Dale Jarrett and Jerry Nadeau. Kenny Irwin finished fourth fastest, top five was filled up by Jeremy Mayfield. Top times from Daytona speedway test: Wallace 193.129mph, Jarrett 192.139, Nadeau 192.082, Irwin 191.115, Mayfield 191.030 , Martin 190.759, Trickle 190.686, Pressley 190.577, Musgrave 190.488,Little 190.130

JACKIE STEWART CRITICISED GRAND PRIX DRIVERS' ASSOCIATION!
JAN 14 - Jackie Stewart said that drivers from GPDA group are not living in reality. They hope for more safety, but they want to make changes immediately before GP weekend and that's not smart move. GP organozers are unable to change safety barriers and zones in one day, they need at least one good week to settle all safety elements into the right level. He also gives complement to Schumacher, Hill and Coulthard for their positive attitude towards safety.

J.J. LEHTO, EX F1 DRIVER FOR SAUBER AND BENETTON TEAM PUSHED LOLA ON TOP SPOT!
JAN 14 - Finn Lehto, now second season in row driver for Hogan racing with Hogan Racing B99/00 - Lola - Mercedes package posted fastest lap times on two out of three days of testing on the Homestead oval. Finn, last season not so impressive finally find right balance on new Lola chassis and is very impressed with handling of the new car. Finn is still in wait for his first ever podium position in American series.

VILLENEUVE PREDICTS WILLIAMS IN 1999 SEASON AS VERY STRONG CONTENDER!
JAN 14 - Yesterday's times from Barcelona tests show us that Williams is certainly on the right way to come back and fight for victories in 1999 season. Jacques Villeneuve, now BAR driver said about Williams chances: 'Williams will be part of the top teams this year, more than last year as they have worked hard at the end of last season and in the winter. I'm sure they will be very, very competitive. They'll be a team to beat.'

VILLENEUVE QUICKEST IN SPAIN ON THURSDAY, SECOND DAY OF TESTING!
JAN 14 - Jacques Villeneuve was fastest on the second day of testing in Spain, driving the new British American Racing team car around the Circuit de Catalunya in one minute 23.8 seconds. The French-Canadian, whose boss Craig Pollock says the team aims to win its first race, outpaced Ferrari's Eddie Irvine by five hundredths of a second. Villeneuve said: 'The car is responding well to the set-ups. On the whole reliability is also improving.'Williams driver Alessandro Zanardi was third. Check F1 test times on left side.

FORD FOCUS CAR READY FOR MONACO DEBUT!
JAN 14 - Ford's new Focus world rally car is ready to make its debut at the Monte Carlo Rally, but Colin McRae, who will be making his first appearance for the Ford team, said: 'We have to accept that we're not going to win.' McRae said the Focus had the potential to be an excellent rally car but added 'To finish is our first target and it would be nice to be in the top six and score points.' Thirteen months of design and evolutio have gone into the building of the car.

ARROWS TEAM WANTS MORE MONEY FROM BRAZILIAN PEDRO DINIZ!
JAN 14 - Tom Walkinshaw, now 25% owner of Arrows team is ready to begin legal action against ex Arrows driver Diniz at the High Court in London. Arrows team boss said that Brazilian signed 2 years contract and was broken by Brazilian driver. British team wants US$7 million penalty clause. But Brazilian's manager Morelli said for press: 'There was a performance clause that allowed Pedro to leave with no penalty if the team did not achieve the right level of performance and I can assure you that the team was very far from achieving it.'

SUPERTEC ENGINE WILL BE ENOUGH STRONG TO MATCH MERCEDES AND FERRARI!
JAN 13 - Ex Benetton boss, Italian Flavio Briatore, now boss of Supertec engine company, said that new Renault's revised customer engine will be a match for Mercedes and Ferrari this year. But drivers and teams, who used last year's engine and new revised version said there's no much improvement in power of machine. It seems Italian boss is a little bit too much optimistic about new Supertec engines. Renault was nearly 50bhp behind the best works engines last season.

EARNHARDT JR. IS READY FOR THE DEBUTE IN WINSTON CUP!
JAN 13 - The son of the seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt will make his series debut at the Coca-Cola 600 on May 30 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Earnhardt Jr. will also run the Jiffy Lube 300 at New Hampshire on July 11; the Pepsi 400 at Michigan on Aug. 22; the Winston 500 at Talladega on Oct. 17; and the season-ending NAPA 500 at Atlanta on Nov. 21. The number eight also holds major significance for the Earnhardt family, as Earnhardt Jr.'s grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt, raced with that number.

AMERICAN ROBBY GORDON WILL RUN HIS OWN SWIFT-TOYOTA PACKAGE!
JAN 13 - Robby Gordon has become one of the youngest PPG drivers to be already owner of his new team at the age of 30. He will run Swift - Toyota package in 1999 season. He said:"I may be a team owner on paper, and my name will appear on the side of the transporter, but in my eyes I'm a driver, period. We are fortunate to continue our relationship with engine supplier Toyota, which believed in our abilities from day one, joined by great additional sponsors in Panasonic, Johns Manville, Menards, and Duracell."

CASH BOOST FOR ARROWS TEAM FROM NIGERIAN PRINCE, ZAKSPEED ALSO IN GAME!
JAN 13 - Nigerian businessman Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim has joined Tom Walkinshaw in a new consortium to increase the funding of the Arrows Formula 1 team to 110 million pounds sterling ($183.7m). Finance company Morgan Grenfell Privat Equity also teams up with the group while Walkinshaw, who retains a 25 per cent holding in the new company, is to continue as its chairman. 'The partnership will provide long term operating viability for a team with untapped potential,' Prince Malik said.

NEW ONE CONTROL TYRE RULE CAN BE VERY PROBLEMATIC!
JAN 13 - New tyre rule, that may change a lot of things in British Championship series will be seriously considered by Alan Gow, BTCC boss who said: 'If someone raises it we'll consider it, but for me the perfect scenario would be to have three tyre manufacturers fighting it out.' Tyre rule for 2000 season will allow only one tyre manufacturer for all TOCA teams. But a lot of things are still unclear and because of that BTCC will use Australia's Super Touring series as control-tyre guinea.

FERRARI ARE HYPOCRITES SAYS FRANK WILLIAMS!
JAN 13 - Ferrari team are trying to ban exotic metal from the motorsport in attempt to reduce McLaren advantage, especially those in Mercedes engines that are produced from beryllium and other exotic metal components. Great Williams boss just said: 'I can list you the components of an F1 car that are more poisonous than beryllium: resins, compounds, carbon-fibre dust. To say it should be banned on safety grounds is simply hypocrisy. If Ferrari want to ban it on the cost it engenders, that is even greater hypocrisy, given the incredible sums it spends to pay its drivers.'

WILLIAMS - WINFIELD COOPERATION IN DANGER.
JAN 13 - Williams could lose the sponsorship of it's title sponsor Winfield, if two of the world's biggest tobacco companies merge. British American Tobacco, who are major shareholders in BAR, and Rothmans, owner of Winfield are apparently planning a merger. 'It'd be relatively unlikely for the enlarged group to continue to sponsor two teams,' said a spokesman. Williams however, will not be badly affected thanks to it's major new deal with BMW, who will supply engines, and most likely funds to the British outfit starting in 2000.

SOMETHING NEW FOR STEWART TEAM TOO!
JAN 13 - Stewart team will be using new Ford V10, CR1 engine that is ultra light comparing to the other competitors. New version weights in just at 100kg and should ensure the Stewart team to have greater flexibility when setting up its new SF - 3 car. Engine can produce arround 775bhp, that's just 20bhp less than last year's Ferrari and Mercedes engine. But Mercedes and Ferrari will use this season engines that will provide more than 800bhp. Really frightening power will be there this season.

BARNARD HELPS PROST TEAM ON DEVELOPING NEW 1999 SPEC. CHASSIS.
JAN 13 - 'I would like to think we could compete at a Benetton-style level next season as Peugeot engine certainly has reasonably good power, I will be interested to see how it works out.' said 52 years old englishman Barnard, who was designer in the past for McLaren, Ferrari, Arrows and Ligier team. However, Prost's chief designer Loic Bigois has retained overall control of the car and Barnard is understood to have limited input into the car's aerodynamics.

ITALIAN MAX PAPIS ALREADY DRIVING FOR RAHAL TEAM!
JAN 12 - Italian Max Papis, last year driving in Reynard - Toyota car has already driven for his new Rahal team, which uses Firestone, Reynard - Ford package. His main target in winter tests was to be as much as possible consistent in making lap times. He also tried race setup at Homestead Motorsport Complex and said: "Before Christmas, we ran a 25.4 (212.6 mph) here. This time we are exploring our race setup. In Spring Training (Feb. 2-4 at Homestead), everyone is going to be trying to maximize their speed and go fast. Now that we have time, we can concentrate on the race setup." Max Papis will be partnered in Rahal team by American Brian Herta, who scored first ever victory last season. Max still needs to finish onto the podium in CART competition.

FINAL TESTS FOR FORD TEAMS IN WINSTON CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES.
JAN 12 - At least 26 Ford teams will be on-hand Tuesday and Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway as they begin their final two-day NASCAR Winston Cup Series test at the 2.5-mile track before Speedweeks 1999. This is the final Ford test at Daytona before the teams return for the opening weekend of action.

FORMULA ONE TEAM MINARDI PASSED HOMOLOGATION TESTS.
JAN 12 - Minardi's '99 challenger has passed its homologation tests and is ready to be launched at the end of the month. The M01 passed impact tests at the first attempt on December 30 despite being considerably lighter than last year's chassis. Minardi team also confirmed news that their drivers for 1999 season will be Shinji Nakano and Esteban Tuero.

ARROWS TEAM PARTNERED BY ZAKSPEED, NO LAUNCH UNTIL MID FEBRUARY!
JAN 12 - According to the news from Arrows headquarters, British team will be in close relationship with German Zakspeed company in 1999 season. Zakspeed will share 25% of British team in 1999 season and will provide British team also mayor backup support.
Arrows won't be launching their '99 challenger, the A20 on Thursday, as originally thought. Simon Jennings, mayor aerodynamicist from Arrows team said for the press that new A20 chassis will be ready in mid February.

MAX BIAGGI WILL DRIVE F300 IN FIORANO.
JAN 12 - According to the news from Italian Ferrari F1 team, Max Biaggi will drive F300 car in January at Fiorano circuit. Italian motorcycle star was provided test drive after victory in 500cc class on the first race of 1998 season. Luca Montezemolo is now ready to give chance Italian rider to taste also F1 driving.

PPG CART COMPETITION REALLY WORKS AS TICKET FOR F1 DRIVING SEAT?
JAN 11 - Many American fans are in big doubt. Why all PPG Champions travell to Europe? But it is not just about that. Many CART drivers mention F1 as really high tech motorsport of worldwide scale. But much of those American, Brazilian and Canadian stars are also very critical about Formula One. Regulations are every year more and more impossible, overtaking is harder and harder. If you want to lap car in F1 you need time to do move on backmarkers at least one good lap, in CART you are through in two, maybe three corners. Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and now Alex Zanardi, maybe you can add here Nigel Mansell all came to F1 from CART as champions. Andretti spoilt American party in Europe, Villeneuve was big hero, winner of Indy 500 and F1 Champion, Zanardi is again big question. He will not be in best car, one trouble here and there, and he may be again European loser from America. Anyway what will happen to Zanardi in '99 season, there will be never any doubt that CART drivers are in close touch with F1 drivers, but technical side may be big advantage for drivers from F1.

SCHUMACHER CHANGES HIS MIND FOR 1999 SEASON.
JAN 11 - 'What has happened last year to me only makes me more determined for this year,' claimed the 30-year-old Michael Schumacher. 'This year I'm not going to say that I am starting out to win, but to lose. In this way perhaps I can really win the Championship.' Schumacher lost title fight second year in row, but is optimistic about new season. Anyway, he wants to push away all 'title' pressure on him for the '99 season.

STEWART TEAM FEEL PRESSURE, BAR AS NEW TEAM MUCH MORE INTERESTING!
JAN 11 - Stewart team symbol Jackie said about BAR two different liveries: "It could be appealing to potential sponsors who could split their budget between different products and I believe that neither my team or Ford would have any interest in operating a similar scheme - such as one car in Ford's colours and one in Jaguar's." It seems that both new teams are in little fight. It is well known that Jackie and his son Paul are not happy about new party in the mid F1 field. It will be even more difficult to score valuable points and Ford also was not happy about last season. This season will be for Stewar team vital as team need to show real potential for new sponsors. Many sponsors have contract with Stewart team for only one more season and new partners are welcome to Scottish team. But they will need to fight hard to show their real value. In other way BAR team used a lot of time to get few magnificent companies on their side and now they are sponsoring new team. Stewart again lose against BAR in that element. So, it everything seems there is a little game behind both middle classed Formula One teams.

HERBERT SAID COULTHARD IS TOO MUCH OF SOFT CARACTER.
JAN 11 - "David shouldn't have moved over and let Mika pass him at Melbourne last year. Even I wouldn't have done that. I think he undermined his own chances in that very first race. It sent out the wrong message. I have this reputation for being a joker but I only became like that after a big accident in 1988. It was my way of coping. I've always been serious about my racing. I've got to make sure no one has any doubts about what I want." Johhny also said that he will try to score points for Stewart team regularyin every race and maybe move onto the podium for race or two in 1999 season.

WCFC MEMBERS WILL GET EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO SPRING TRAININGS
JAN 10 - CART will offer a sneak preview of the upcoming 1999 FedEx Championship Series season to members of its Winners Circle Fan Club during the fourth annual Spring Training, scheduled for February 2 - 4 at the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex in Homestead, Fla. Click here for membership page.

TEAM BAR BOSS POLLOCK WILL FIGHT HARD FOR COMMERCIAL RIGHTS
JAN 10 - 'I don't intend to come in and run a team with over 200 people and just step back on the first day,' said Pollock. 'If I don't fight for my commercial rights, then I won't be able to pay my staff. It's the only way we can finance the team. We are paid by sponsors and we have to protect them. It's extremely critical, if it wasn't, we wouldn't have gone to arbitration. We do believe we have a very good chance of winning, otherwise we wouldn't have gone forward with the case.'

WHAT DRIVERS SAID ABOUT 1998 AND NEW SEASON (HILL, ALESI, ZANARDI, FISICHELLA)
JAN 10 - HILL: Today's motorsport has all become very business like and commercialised and Eddie Jordan try to maintain human element as strong as possible. Eddie has invested a lot into people, new technology and Hill had known that Jordan team was the right choice for him. He also said that victory in Spa was work of everything in Jordan team. He is very happy about 199 spec. car, but he can not said much about new car as only half of new parts were developed for the new Jordan car. He also expressed big thank's to Arrows team, especially to Bernard, with whom he had developed great '97 chassis, but do not have right engine to win race. First real test for Jordan 199 will be on February, at Silverstone track. Hill also said he will never run his own F1 team! Goals for 1999 season are clear. He wants to win two or three races, if cars prowed to be better, than everything is possible, even title fight.
ALESI: 'It was a very testing season for me because all the time for me I had been in top teams and suddenly I was working with Sauber with a not so good engine. In the beginning in was okay but near the end of the season it was impossible to compete with the top teams.' Alesi also said that Sauber team will run '98 Ferrari engine, version will be the same to the engine used last season in Monza. New car will be presented on January 24th, but he is a little bit scarred about new tyre regulations.
ZANARDI: He is of course very happy to be back in Europe. He also said that his 1994 Lotus F1 car was on level of CART 1996 cars. That also indicate us, how costing must be F1. His main goal for 1999 season is to do best all time. He does not want predict for future, because Williams car is still in development process. But he said that new Supertec V10 engine is big step forward. New engine will try on January 13 and 15 in Spain.
FISICHELLA: About last season he said, that first part of season was better for whole Benetton team, second part not so much. He also repeated that he was happy with his performance in Canada, Monaco and with qualifying in Austria. About physically hardest track said, that he would choose track like Silverstone, Hungaroring and Spa. New Benetton will be ready in few days, but presentation of new car is scheduled on January 16. Fisichella is happy about good relationship with Wurz and team boss Rocco Benetton. AutoSport newspaper link.

SCOTT QUICKEST AT WALT DISNEY SPEEDWAY JAN 09 - 'I should be home resting, at least that's what the doctors said, G Force has done a great job improving their chassis over the winter,' said happy but little bit ill Scott. 'It has improved grip over last year and better balance front to back.' First race of season is scheduled for JAN 24.

SCHRADER TEAM VERY IMPRESSIVE! JAN 09 - Ken Schrader, driver of the Skoal Bandit Chevrolet, might look at testing as a necessary evil, but he made the most of his last two days at Daytona, putting in a workmanlike effort that resulted in both of his Andy Petree Racing Monte Carlos being among the top-five cars on the speed chart after four days of testing for the season-opening Daytona 500.

MOORE HOT ON 1999 LIST! JAN 09 - More than 43.000 fans visited CART.COM homepage and voted for favour driver in 1999 season that will grab PPG Title. Canadian Greg Moore will win the FedEx Championship Series title if open wheel racing fans have properly evaluated the lineup of drivers who will contest the 20 races in CART's 1999 Champ Car series.

WILLIAMS DO NOT EXPECT BIG TURNOVER IN 1999, VILLENEUVE HOPES FOR WIN, REVOLUTIONARY - HILL AND GASCOYNE DESIGN NEW JORDAN 199 TOGETHER FOR MORE SUCCESS, NEW DEAL FOR WILLIAMS, BENETTON SIGN REDON, ZANARDI NEEDS SPEED. JAN 08 - Williams team boss Frank Williams hopes for win or two in 1999 season and do not expect to much from two new drivers Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher in their first season driving for his team. 'Clearly winning is very, very difficult,' he said. 'We will be seeking to always be on the podium and snatch a race or two when others make mistakes or stumble. This can happen, not frequently, but you must be ready for the main chance in the future. We won't have the very best equipment in 1999 as is well known but we never adopt a holding pattern because if you stand still in racing you are in fact going backwards very fast indeed.' Jacques Villeneuve is of opinion that his new BAR team is capable to win race in 1999 season. He also said that realationship inside the team is very important for team success. Villie said: 'I'm more confident than ever because I've seen what the beast is capable of,' the 27-year-old said. 'We can definitely be up there challenging for race wins. 1998 was a very difficult season but it was good mental training and I am looking forward to the new season. We can always have surprises. It's very difficult to judge from pre-season testing but from what I've seen it's going to be very good because we had nothing to work from, we didn't have the right things on the car. Damon Hill, now second year driving for Jordan team, is very optimistic for the coming F1 season. Brit, who helped Jordan make one of the most remarkable come-backs in a single F1 season last year, has said that the new car, the 199 is very promising, 'It will give me satisfaction if we are both right up there,' he said. 'I have been working closely with our designer Mike Gascoyne, and what I have seen so far thrills me.' He also added, 'I am totally confident we have the equipment and expertise to win several races and show everyone we are a true force to be reckoned with.' Mike Gascoyne and Hill both cooperate very close in winter tests last season and car might suit Hill in '99 season very well. Big improvement has been made on all areas, with same engine Jordan lapped for a half of second quicker laps than during the entire season. And they were even quicker as like Williams, Benetton and other teams presented on winter tests last season. In late January they will test Jordan car in Spain with all other teams presented here. The Nortel Networks company deals in equipment for telecommunications, rather than the actual networks as with BAR sponsor Teleglobe. The Company's chairman said that several teams had approached them for a deal, including it is believed BAR, but said the track record of Williams, plus their 'exciting' driver lineup swayed the decision in the Grove Team's favour. He also claimed that the 'high tech' image of Formula 1 and its global markets meant that the time was right to enter F1. Benetton have signed Frenchman Laurent Redon as test driver for 1999. He won the French formula three championship in 1995 and was test driver for Minardi last season. Indy car champion Alex Zanardi says he still needs to speed up on his return to Formula One racing. The Italian, who raced for Jordan, Minardi and Lotus before leaving in 1994, is back with Williams. He will drive with Ralf Schumacher and said that cars had changed a lot since his last grand prix. 'Right now I'm driving flat out and it's not fast enough. Hopefully, I'll get there some time soon,' said Zanard whose career-best finish was sixth.

MANSELL SAID 'Goodbye!' JAN 08 - Mansell about his future said: 'Unless there is a meaningful offer where I am guaranteed to be involved at all levels, contributing to engineering, development and association to the project I won't be going back. I believe the driving team at Mondeo did the best job we could and I was disappointed with certain people who promised to support the programme and then pulled the plug. I don't like people going back on their word. I've been involved in motor racing for many years and I've achieved a lot in my time so I would not go back to racing for the sake of it.'

BUDWEISER MAIN SPONSOR FOR DELLA PENNA. JAN 08 - Richie Hearn, very promising young driver from America is lucky man ahead of new season opener. Della Penna team, for which he is driving get big support from American Beer company and will be able to complete full winter and springtime tests. 'The additional support from Budweiser will allow the team to do a lot of testing it wasn't able to do in 1998. We will be able to take advantage of all the test days available to the team, and will add more personnel to the team for the 1999 season,' Della Penna said.

STEWART TEAM PRESENTED SF3 CAR! JAN 07 - The Stewart-Ford team launched their promising challenger for the 1999 Formula One season today at the Autosport International show. The SF3 designed by Alan Jenkins, who just left the team was completed and tested before Christmas at Silverstone. Before Jenkins left the team he had this to say about the new car :" Big steps have been taken in pretty much every part of the car, but the real quantum leap is going to be the engine. It wasn’t the worst part of the package last year by any means, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this one isn’t as good as anything out there. Cosworth has not only met everything we asked for, but exceeded it. The engine’s short length and light weight has enabled us to move things around for better weight distribution without going forever longer on the wheelbase. We’ve been able to mount the driver lower, too. I would say the biggest closing of the gap between our cars and the front runners will be the lower centre of gravity. The chassis is also twice as stiff, again largely because we have an in-house composites department and structural engineers. Aerodynamically it’s an improvement, but there’s still some work to do as we’re still optimising everything around the lower chassis. There were areas of driveability brought about by pitch sensitivity that were not right on the old car. It’s all to do with diffuser performance. We’ve moved ahead with the SF-3, but there’s a little door thereto unlock which will give us more." Ex-Jordan man Gary Anderson, who joined the Stewart Ford outfit in November last year, is positive about the new SF3 chassis after some trouble-free testing. "The SF3 surprised us all," said the new technical director. "It completed 20 trouble-free laps, which is a good indicator for things to come. The whole experience has left everybody very upbeat about the season ahead." Anderson, who joined too late to participate in the overall design of the new machine, has been involved in analysis and a proposed developmental programme to improve the performance of the SF3, "I've been able to look at various areas of the car and the team has given me it's full support to go ahead with the programme of developments we are planning to make."

PLATO PARTNERED BY FRENCHMAN BOULLION! JAN 07 - Williams Renault touring car team signed deal with French ex Formula One driver J.C. Boullion. Frenchman was running for Sauber Petronas team in 1997 season. After not successful performances he lost contact with F1 competition and now is ready to drive in TOCA British Touring Cars Competition for 1999 season. 'I'm very pleased to join the team,' said Boullion. 'Williams is like an old family for me. When I did the test two years ago I missed the seat for two reasons: I wanted to do F1 testing and Frank Williams didn't want me to; and the team already had a French guy, even if he was Swiss.'

DELLA PENNA IN SWIFT-TOYOTA COMBINATION FOR '99, PENSKE '99 CAR TEST WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL. JAN 07 - John Della Penna, team boss of Della Penn team announced yesterday that his team will run in 1999 season with Toyote - Swift package and that they will use Firestone tyres. Their driver will stay American Richie Hearn and will run with #10 car in PPG CART field. Team boss said for the press: "We've had a great working relationship with Ford the last three years including the team's first win in Las Vegas (1996 IRL season finale), a pole at New Hampshire (1996 IRL event) and eight top-10 finishes throughout the 1998 CART season. It was a difficult decision for me to make. I've struggled with it for the better part of the year, but I believe that this opportunity with Toyota is best in the long run for the growth of Della Penna Motorsports." Penske team chief designer John Travis has concentrated during winter break on improving transmission reliability, engine is better placed into the car and even new GoodYear tyres are big step forward for new season. After leaving F1, American tyre company works with full hands in American competition to find extra edge over Japanese tyre company Firestone. 'Penske Car has really built a beautiful car for us,' said Al Unser jr. 'We ran four days with good reliability and no major mechanical issues. The new car has good power down, and the new engine and transmission look good as well.'

STEWART WANTS TO BE GOOD AS WILLIAMS, SPA MAY LOSE GP STATUS, JORDAN-MUGEN LINK IN QUESTION, DE LA ROSA PROBABLY TO DRIVE FOR ARROWS TEAM! JAN 07 - Stewart team has main target for the 1999 season to be competitive as Williams team. They are very confident about new Ford engine. Chief designer Gary Anderson has described the new SF-3 as a 'major step forward' compared with last year's troublesome SF-2. Optimism is high that the car could be a regular contender for points with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert. 'I think we'll be there with Benetton, British American Racing, Jordan and Williams,' said Anderson. Wallonia is trying to delay the court's hearing of the case until after this year's Belgian GP in Spa, on August 29, but if the federal government wins, the FIA would be likely to cancel the race's World Championship status. Anyway that I am big Jordan and DHL fan I am very surprised about Honda decision to try with their own team in F1 after all what Jordan team invested together with Mugen organization into the new Honda V10 engine. Honda is trying into the  two ways, but that is not any good sign for 1999 season, for all involved in this game. But biggest disharmony is that Jordan was on last testing all time in top three places and all signs are in the way that Jordan is ready to fight for the first time for top spots and victories with 1996 champion Damon Hill and very good second driver H.H. Frentzen in 1999 season. If Jordan lost its Mugen deal, it would be a big blow for a team that has just clawed its way up into the 'big four' for the first time. Good engines are hard to come by in F1, and at the moment there doesn't appear to be one available at a comparative level to the latest Mugen Honda V10. Former Jordan test driver Pedro de la Rosa has confirmed that he has been talking to the Arrows team about driving for them next season. The Spaniard denied reports in the press that the deal was already done because Arrows would not make any set decisions before the start of February De la Rosa has been testing with the Arrows outfit and is due to continue on 13 and 14 January at the Montmelo circuit in Spain.

GM TEAMS READY FOR DAYTONA TEST! JAN 07 - At least five General Motors NASCAR Winston Cup Series teams will open the company's first two-day test session at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday. No less than four teams using Chevrolets, and one Pontiac team, are scheduled to participate in the final "optional" test for the three series manufacturers at the "World Center of Racing."

DAMS READY TO ENTER INTO COMPETITION. JAN 07 - The DAMS F3000 and sportscar team is ready to commit to the new FIA International Prototype Cup for 1999. 'I think the championship will happen and I plan to do it,' said team boss Jean-Paul Driot. The new series for GT1 cars and open-top sports racers needs a confirmed of entry of 20 cars by mid-February to get the go ahead. 'We have talked to Lola, but there are other opportunities. It is too early to speculate about the chassis or engine until I have finalised sponsorship.'

NEW BAR TEAM PRESENTED CAR FOR '99. JAN 06 - Later today British American Team presented new car for the 1999 season fight. The launch takes place at the teams new headquarter in Brackley in the centre of England. Both cars are in different liveries, but that is still not fully finalised because of FIA rulling. One car has the Lucky Strike sponsoring while the other is painted in Estate 555 colours. Moser, head of sponsor for BAR team explained. "It follows that we adopted a similarly unique approach when we decided to enter Formula One with British American Racing. Two of our most important international brands are Lucky Strike and State Express 555, and it seemed perfectly logical to promote each of them via our Formula One programme. This approach has generated controversy in Formula One circles, but from our standpoint it’s difficult to understand why. After all, Formula One teams have in the past run dual-liveried cars. It certainly doesn’t detract from the overall show – if anything, it enhances it.". Malcom Oastler, head of design in the team said: "The new car was born on a computer screen, with the help of the latest 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. Once the concept was finalised, a 50 per cent wind-tunnel model was produced to check and hone the all-important aerodynamic performance. The British American Racing-Supertec 01 is the result of 1500 hours spent in wind tunnels at the Auto Research Centre in Indianapolis and at the University of Southampton. We produced car in the way to be easely set up for different occasions." Team will test new car in January and February with all others Formula One teams. But they will already run new car!

TARSO MARQUES STUNNED COMPETITION! JAN 06 - Ex Minardi driver in Formula One, his last drive was in Suzuka '97 for Minardi and was very impressive on tests for Payton - Coyne team. Marques reportedly lapped the team's Reynard only 0.3s slower than former champion Michael Andretti in a 50-lap stint at the Sebring speedway. It was his first drive for 12 months, his last competitive race at Suzuka in 1997.'The test was amazing,' said Payton-Coyne boss Dale Coyne. 'I expected a period of Tarso building himself up but after only five laps it was clear that he could be Formula 1's loss and Champ Cars' gain.'

DATES FOR '99 CARS, BAR IS THE FIRST ONE! JAN 05 - All details and pics will be posted on our site at the same day that new car will be launched. Few rumours are that McLaren new chassis and new Mercedes engine are almost ready and that this might be another big step forward for McLaren team, in contrary Ferrari have few problems in designing field, also new engine for the '99 is not fully completed jet. Launch dates: January : 06/01 - British American Racing 10/01 - Stewart 14/01 - Arrows 15/01 - Williams 16/01 - Benetton 19/01 - Sauber 20/01 - Minardi 21/01 - Prost 29/01 - Ferrari February: McLaren and Jordan

BADOER FOR FERRARI IN '99, BAR SPONSORSHIP DEAL, FERRARI WILL GET 200 TYRES FOR FREE TESTS, TODT ACCUSED OF MISSLEADING, FIA WON TV RIGHTS FIGHT. JAN 05 - Luca Badoer is to stay at Ferrari team for another season after talks with Minardi and Marlboro sponsor for Italian driver were unsuccessful. Minardi will maintain same driver's line up as last season, Esteban Tuero and Shinji Nakano. BAR and Teleglobe cooperation, both reached agreement about new sponsorship deal that will last for five years and see the organization become the team's main secondary sponsor and logos of the company will appear predominantly on the car, the driver's suits, and associated accessories. Ferrari team confirmed the news that they reached three year agreement with Bridgestone company to held their private tests in Fiorano. The Bridgestone company will supply to the Italian team 200 tyres for free winter and spring tests. Other teams are in agreement to held tests together at the specific place and time. Ex champions for the Ferrari team, Argentinean Reuteman and Austrian Lauda accused Italian team boss Jean Todt not to be at the right place in the right time. They spent a lot of money on Schumacher and even Irvine, but there's anyway no title jet. Both champions feel that Ferrari need to use all money they get more for development on the car. They have two great drivers, one to whom is not allowed to win and good back support from technicians and designers. Now they need to find right balance on the '99 car from the beginning of the season said both ex champions for RAI television. FIA organization won the TV rights to a whole range of motor sports after Wolfgang Eisele lost his legal battle for control of the exclusive TV rights to truck racing. Also in France, FIA won the same legal battle as French court give all right to FIA organization to exclude Franch GP from Championship season if there did not happened to be signed all agreement around television right before race can be scheduled for the next season.

DAVIS RACING TEAM IN MONEY TROUBLES! JAN 05 - PPG Cart Davis Team is in big financial troubles. German Arnd Meier, last year driver for Davis Team in Lola Ford package is not jet confirmed to drive in '99 season. Team boss said that he is ready to compete only a full season and not to be here just in few events and look his driver how he is driving at the back of CART pack. Gerald Davis just said: 'At this point we don't have adequate funding. We're still trying to put it together, but if we don't have the money by mid-January, it'll be too late to do it properly.'

COMPETING WITH HARDER COMPOUNDS REQUIRED! JAN 05 - A less grippy tyre is being requested by drivers to improve racing and cut costs, because with the entire field on Michelin rubber, performance is identical and there is no see-sawing between different tyre makes in different conditions, as was conspicuous in the early 90s.

BARNARD COMPANY NOT JUST FOR PROST! JAN 04 -Contrary to popular belief, John Barnard is not joining the Prost outfit. Instead Barnard's B3 Technologies has signed an exclusive deal with Prost Grand Prix to help develop the Prost AP02. In 1998, Barnard was employed directly by Arrows, though his company continued to work for several teams including Prost.

SWIFT AND LOLA OVER THE REYNARD IN '99? JAN 04 - There's time for changes in PPG CART competition feel many American fans. But will be really this way in 1999 season. According to the close resources to the CART teams, Swift Chassis is one of the best choices for '99 season and Newmann Hass team has made great improvement on the chassis over 1998 season to build completely redesigned but very effective new version of 011C Swift Chassis. Lola will be also here to try big come - back action after disastrous 1997 and 1998 season.

VILLENEUVE AGAINST 2001 RUBBER PLANS! JAN 04 - 'For a tyre to work in the dry it would have to be as hard as a rock,' said the Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, now driver for the new BAR team. 'If we lose control of the car in the wet it will be like skating on ice. We'll end up in the wall even if it's 500 yards away. I don't understand why the FIA, having seen that the 1998 regulations didn't achieve anything, has carried on with the same argument. They want us to use road tyres but we're driving racing cars.'

WALLACE'S NEW TEAM INCLUDES TWO CARS JAN 04 - Just like President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" policies were aimed to improve America, Kenny Wallace feels his new deal for 1999 will certainly improve his fortunes on the track. In the first of a six-part series leading up to Speedweeks 1999 at Daytona, Wallace explores going from a single-car to a two-car team.

WOMAN KLEINSCHMIDT LEADS DAKAR RALLY! JAN 03 - Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first woman to win a stage in the Paris-Dakar rally in 1997, reached an historic new peak in this year's 230km third leg in Morocco. The Mitsubishi driver from Germany took advantage of mishaps to her team leaders to win the stage and snatch the overall lead. There were countless punctures on the rocky trail and Jean - Pierre Fontenay and Kenjiro Shinozuka both suffered. Spain's Joan Roma won the bikes competition to strengthen his overall lead. Leading times after day three: Cars: (overall - after third stage) 1 J Kleinschmidt Ger Mitsubishi 3h 43m 17sec 2 H Masuoka Jpn Mitsubishi +1m 55sec 3 JL Schlesser Fr Schlesser +6.00 4 M Prieto Sp Mitsubishi +7.07 5 JP Fontenay Fr Mitsubishi +8.21 Motors: (overall - after third stage) 1 J Roma Sp KTM 3h 31m 16sec 2 H Kinigadner Aut KTM +1m 29sec 3 A Cox SA KTM +6.07 4 G Sala It KTM +9.34 5 R Sainct Fr BMW +9.54

FORD TEAMS BEGIN AS FIRST TESTING FOR '99! JAN 03 - Here we are, into 1999 season. Crowns were just one month back presented to the best drivers in the World for 1998 season. But now is the time for first serious test also in Winston Cup series ahead of Daytona 500 event, set for FEB 14. Five Ford teams are expected to test at Daytona Speedway circuit. Drivers Dick Trickle, Ricky Craven, Robert Pressley, Mark Gibson and Mike Harmon are scheduled to test at the 2.5-mile track for two days, Sunday and Monday. The Ford test begins nearly a solid month of testing that leads up to Speedweeks '99. The Ford teams return to test at Daytona JAN 12-13, while the General Motors contingent is set to test JAN 6-7 and JAN 19-20.

BEST BET FOR 1999 SEASON MAY BE MOORE! JAN 03 - Canadian driver Greg Moore leads the way on priority list for '99 PPG Champion ahead of American Jimmy Vasser. Third place goes to Canadian Paul Tracy, fourth to Scott Dario Franchitti and fifth to another American Michael Andretti. Moore won two, Jimmy three, Tracy no wins, Franchitti five and Andretti one GP in 1998 season. Decision for your favour driver in '99 is on you. Enough help here!

BENETTON TEAM KEEN TO SEE RENAULT BACK! JAN 02 - Rocco Benetton, boss of team Benetton said for the press: "When we talk to them we get the impression that they will come back one day, and we want to be the team they choose." Renault company is believed to try come back action after the year 2000. It is no doubt they will be back, but Renault will be ready to supply engines only for one team. According to the close resources to the French company there will be big fight for Renault engine between Benetton and BAR team. Mecachrome engine, supplied by Supertech is believed to be in '99 even more underpowered comparing to Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda engine. Williams team will also use Supertech engine in 1999 for one more season.

HAKKINEN ABOUT '98 SEASON AND TITLE DEFEND. JAN 01 - Finn Mika Hakkinen, 1998 Champion, 30 years old has said for German Die Welt newspeper that he is not nervous about comming season and that title defend season is for him even stronger motivation. He also said '98 was full of success for McLaren team, but they also need to be ready for closer fight with Ferrari and maybe from even other teams in 1999 season.