A.J. Allmendinger in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ford/Riley takes the checkered flag for the Daytona Prototype class and Richard Lietz in the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 brings it home for GT-class at the 50^th anniversary Rolex 24 hour race at Daytona.

For the golden year anniversary, the Rolex 24 hour race marks its 50^th year with an open field of Daytona Prototypes and GT-class Grand-Am series racecars.

It was a diverse group of great teams and drivers from all over the world behind the wheel of machines powered by Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Porsche, Ferrari, Mazda and others. Dominating the podium was Ford/Riley vehicles for Daytona Prototypes and Porsche GT3 vehicles for the GT-class.

The final podium standings for the 50^th anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona include the following:

Daytona Prototype

1. #60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian / Ford Riley – A.J. Allmendinger, Ozz Negri, John Pew, Justin Wilson
2. #8 Starworks Motorsport / Ford Riley – Ryan Dalziel, Lucas Luhr, Allan McNish, Alex Popow, Enzo Potolicchio,
3. #6 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian / Ford Riley – Jorge Goncalvez, Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr, Gustavo Yacaman

GT-class

1. #44 Magnus Racing / Porsche GT3 – Andy Lally, Richard Lietz, John Potter, Rene Rast
2. #67 TRG / Porsche GT3 – Steven Bertheau, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Marc Goossens, Wolf Henzler, Spencer Pumpelly
3. #59 Brumos Racing / Porsche GT3 – Andrew Davis, Hurley Haywood, Leh Keen, Marc Lieb

The 2010 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. Image: DoomWarrior

When Peugeot entered the Le Mans endurance racing series in 2007, Audi was the 800 pound gorilla. Audi’s R10 diesels were unstoppable, and it seemed like Peugeot would be relegated to the also-rans, at least for its first season. Then came Peugeot victories at the Nürburgring and Spa, followed by wins at Silverstone and Interlagos. In 2009, Peugeot took victory at Le Mans, and it followed this up by winning the series title in both 2010 and 2011.

Now comes word that Peugeot is withdrawing from endurance racing, citing the economic environment in Europe. The money saved will be put into the launch of five new Peugeot models, which the ailing company hopes will boost its bottom line. Peugeot has stated that it will try to relocate team members into new positions within the company, but that seems unlikely given the automaker’s previously announced layoffs of up to 6,000 employees.

Racing is an expensive way of gaining market share, but it also drives the development of technology and materials. It can be hard to justify the expense of an international racing series when profits are down and expenses are up, so Peugeot’s exit from competition was probably a wise business decision. It begs the question, though, of “who’s next?”

Don’t expect to see changes from Audi or Porsche, since sales and profits are up. The same is true for most mainstream automakers, too, but 2012 may well be a make-or-break year. While things may be getting better in the U.S., they may actually be getting worse in the rest of the world, and automakers remain a bit gun-shy from the collapse of 2008-09. If sales don’t continue their upward trend in 2012, we’d expect that racing programs will be the first victim.

Image credit: Wikipedia user DoomWarrior

It is a rather inevitable that we would see the new Scion FR-S, along side of the Subaru BRZ, on the Formula Drift circuits burning up the rear tires. Considering that most Formula D vehicles have a substantial amount of power, the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ’s powerplant in its stock form just isn’t going to suffice when it comes to competitive drifting. Motor Trend seems to have captured the Scion FR-S in a turbocharged flavor making rounds at Laguna Seca by what is speculated to be the Scion drift team.

Strapping a turbo onto the 2.0-liter boxer engine in the Scion FR-S makes perfect sense for drifting and for enthusiasts who await “more power” from Toyota and Subaru’s new hot rear-wheel-drive coupe before they pull the trigger on buying one. Could this be the turbo version of the Scion FR-S that will make its way to production? We can only hope so. Can’t wait to see what comes of this Turbo Scion FR-S “testing”, which Motor Trend has captured on video posted below.

Want an earful of what the new Subaru BRZ GT300 Race Car sounds like on the track? Then look no further than the video below taking us for a short ride and glimpse of Japan’s newest sports car. Enjoy!

The MINI Cooper B-Spec racer. Image: BMW AG

If you want to race cars beyond the ChumpCar, LeMons and SCCA Improved Touring levels, B-Spec may be the most affordable way to turn a wheel in anger. Sanctioned by the SCCA, Grand Am, NASA, and World Challenge, B-Spec is essentially a showroom stock series that pits subcompact automobiles from Honda, Ford, Mazda, Kia (and now MINI) against one another in evenly-matched competition. Engines are left stock, but modified suspensions, brakes, wheels and tires are allowed.

MINI has recently announced that it’s building a car for B-Spec competition, too. Based on the MINI Cooper (and not the Cooper S), the turnkey racer will only make 121 horsepower from a normally aspirated 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, but comes with a KW coilover suspension, front camber plates, Carbotech brake pads, braided stainless brake lines and lightweight Kosei wheels with series-specified Hoosier tires. Inside, the car comes with a driver’s racing seat, a harness, window and cage nets and a full roll cage.

The MINI Cooper B-Spec racer. Image: BMW AG

MINI will sell the B-Spec cars through its dealer in Charleston, SC, since that’s also who’s building them. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but we’d expect the cars to sell in the $30,000 range, which makes B-Spec one of the more affordable pro racing series on the planet. MINI is offering up contingency money for a podium finish, too, but they have worked out all the details on their program yet. The B-Spec MINIs will be available prior to the start of the 2012 racing season.

Dan Wheldon visits the White House, 2010. Image: Jim Greenhill

Dan Wheldon was born to be a racer. He took up karting at the age of four, and progressed through multiple ladder series before landing in the IndyCar series (then called the Indy Racing League) in 2002. His first two seasons, with Panther Racing and then with Andretti Green Racing, saw the English driver get progressively faster, and by 2004 Wheldon was a legitimate contender for the series championship. In 2005, Wheldon won both the Indy 500 and the series title, proving that he could go head to head with the best drivers in the world.

In 2006, Wheldon moved to Chip Ganassi Racing, where he remained a title contender until being released by the team for the last race of 2008. Wheldon rejoined Panther Racing, giving the under-funded team a second place finish in the 2009 and 2010 Indy 500s.

Racing, though, is as much about sponsorship dollars as it is about talent, and Wheldon was cut by Panther Racing at the end of 2010, in favor of the less experienced but better funded J.R. Hildebrand. Wheldon would get the last laugh at the 2011 Indy 500, when a rookie mistake by Hildebrand caused the young driver to crash while passing a slower car in the final corner. Wheldon avoided the melee, passing the driver who had taken his ride and winning his second Indy 500.

Wheldon’s victory opened doors for the unemployed driver, who proved talented at color commentary for Versus TV. He was recruited to shake down the new Dallara chassis that IndyCar would be using in 2012, and he agreed to participate in the IndyCar season ending race, for a chance at a $2.5 million purse. Better still, Wheldon was in negotiations with Andretti Autosport, and seemed a sure bet to fill the seat vacated by Danica Patrick. For Dan Wheldon, it appeared things had come full circle.

But then came the now-infamous crash on lap 11 at Las Vegas. Two rookies made contact in mid-pack, at speeds north of 200 miles per hour. Racing three wide, there was no room for drivers to avoid what was the most horrific crash I’ve ever seen in professional motorsports. When Paul Tracy slowed in front of Wheldon, the English driver ran out of real estate and luck at the same moment: contact with Tracy’s car launched Wheldon into the air, where no amount of driving talent could save him from the inevitable. After tumbling along a catch fence, Wheldon’s destroyed race car came to rest mid track, among the burning wreckage from other cars.

IndyCar has perhaps the best medical team in all of racing, and they were attending to Wheldon within seconds after the crash. His car was swarmed by first responders, and I knew the news was bad when the extraction dragged on and on. After getting Wheldon out of the cockpit, crews covered his car with a yellow tarp, and I began to suspect the worse. Nearly two hours would pass before IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard delivered the news that no one wanted to hear: Dan Wheldon was dead, leaving behind a wife and two small children.

In the off-season, there will be much discussion about what caused the accident, and how to prevent another one. While open-wheel racing has gotten much safer over the years, it remains a dangerous sport where even minor mistakes can have tragic consequences. It deserves leadership that has the driver’s best interests at heart, not leadership concerned primarily with boosting attendance and growing TV ratings at the expense of driver safety.

Dan Wheldon was one of those rare talents that never had an unkind word to say about another driver, and always seemed to look on the bright side of things. At 33, he was in his racing prime; young enough to still push the envelope, but experienced enough not to take unnecessary chances. His death is a tragedy, but here’s my opinion: the real tragedy is that those ultimately responsible for Dan Wheldon’s death won’t be punished for it.

Image credit: Jim Greenhill, Creative Commons 2.0

Vettel in Monaco, 2011. Image: Nick J. Webb

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Red Bull Renault star Sebastian Vettel tied up his second world championship in two years with a third place finish in yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix. While the title race had been all but locked up for the past several events, it was still mathematically possible for McLaren Mercedes driver Jenson Button to grab the title at the start of yesterday’s race. To do so, however, Button would have needed a victory in every remaining race, with Vettel finishing in tenth spot or lower.

Mathematically possible and likely are two different things; Button did indeed take the victory in Japan, but Vettel’s third place finish assured his spot in history as the youngest driver to ever win two F1 championships. Watching the German drive this season, there’s no doubt that he earned the victory with talent that appears to be head and shoulders above the rest of the F1 grid. While the Red Bull Renault chassis is competitive, it’s far from flawless, and the mark of a truly great driver is his ability to overcome the shortcomings of any car he’s piloting. By that standard, Vettel is a truly great driver.

If you own Gran Turismo 5 for the PlayStation 3, Vettel’s win is a victory for you, too. In honor of his second championship, Polyphony Digital is giving away the Red Bull X2010 hypercar, for a very limited period of time. When you log in to the PlayStation network, head on over to the Community section to claim your free car, which you can then use in a special time trial event at the Suzuka circuit. A gold finish is worth 5,000,000 credits, so it’s certainly worth a little time and effort.

I am like any other car enthusiast; I enjoy a good drag race especially if one of the cars is an exotic or true classic. Well, one car that happens to be a hodgepodge of a classic, exotic and dragster is a highly modified Lamborghini Countach sporting a front engine and a blower big enough to swallow little children whole. During a recent run down a Sydney Dragway in Sydney, Australia, this ridiculous Lamborghini hits the wall at full throttle ending the potentially epic finish for this Countach which has obviously seen better days. Hit the jump below below to check it out.

[sources: Symbolic Motor Car via Youtube]