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clive@guadix circuit.com www.guadixcircuit.com CONTENTS

October 6 2011 – vol 206 no 1

“Romain took a jump into a hole that was only open for the Porsche” PEUGEOT’S FRANCK MONTAGNY EXPLAINS HOW ROMAIN DUMAS ENDED AUDI’S BID FOR PETIT LE MANS VICTORY WITH THE LATEST GT-BASHING CRASH

REPORTS

Up-to-the-minute news and reports from F1, WRC and more. Subscribe for must-read opinion, stats and images

COVER IMAGE: MASON/GETTY INSETS: GILHAM/ GETTY & WWW.MCKLEIN.DE

0.013Differenceinsecondsbetween

Jason Plato’s two race wins in the BTCC at Brands Hatch. That’s a pretty tiny discrepancy over

15 laps (and 23 minutes) of the Grand Prix circuit…

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FEATURES

COVER STORY

40 Rallye France-Alsace Loeb denied at home, and it’s nearly a Mini sensation 46 Petit Le Mans Peugeot wins the autumn sportscar classic in the US – and claims the ILMC title

50 BTCC Brands Hatch Plato back in the title hunt 54 Brands supports 60 DTM Valencia Ekstrom wins; Tomczyk champ 62 Formula 2 Monza Bortolotti wins crown at home

REGULARS

5 From the editor 6 Snapshot 21 Mark Hughes column 70 Subscribe for a free gift 104 Final drive Letters and Latest Gear

Mini lost to Citroen in the end in France

64 IndyCar Kentucky Carpenter beats Franchitti to win for new mum Sarah Fisher 66 World of Sport NASCAR; Auto GP; German GT; Euro F3; TC2000; Brazilian V8s; Super GT; Indy Lights

106 On track/on screen The best action in the next week 109 From the archive Jonathan Palmer, British F3, 1981 110 Race of my life Mark Skaife, Bathurst 1000, 2002

32 Nico Rosberg Here’s the dilemma: he’s got the better of Schumacher, but we still don’t know how good he is

Rosberg: can he reach the top with Mercedes?

36 Sam Michael The Aussie reckons he did the best he could with Williams 72 Rally of Scotland preview

R E A D

O L I V E R

&,T E E / L AT

. D E

:M C K L E I N

P IC S

NEWS

8 Vettel flat-out in Japan German wants to win title in style 10 New Merc men arrive Tech drive to move team to front 12 Fix Q3 anomaly Plan devised to force cars to run 15 David Coulthard column 16 Japanese GP preview

22 Michelin for DeltaWing ‘Bibendum’ boost for US project 24 Fabulous Macau entry Top junior stars to F3 classic 26 Phoenix fights for its man Team wants Tomczyk to stay 30 Mini’s maxi problem Funding shortfall for WRC car

SPORTS EXTRA

87 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Bernstorff, Blomqvist, Lynn, Malvern, Rowland, Zamparelli to fight it out for young-driver Award 88 British GT developments Uprated Ginetta and new Lambo team for series finale

94 Britcar 24 Hours Britain’s biggest day-night enduro 96 National reports Silverstone Britcar supports; ERC Sosnova; Snetterton MGCC; Castle Combe finals day; Rockingham BARC; Oulton Park CSCC

Ferrari 430 wins Britcar 24

October 6 2011 autosport.com 3