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Sabine Schmitz to compete in WTCC race at Nurburgring, hopes for rain

The World Touring Car Championship is set to return to the Nurburgring this year after a 30-year absence. Who better, then, to lead the pack than Sabine Schmitz? One of the most skilled drivers around the Norschleife, 45-year-old Schmitz has been known to compete in the VLN series and in the 24-hour race at the Nurburgring (which she's won twice), and regularly drives tourists on hot laps around the Green Hell. Nobody can drive the circuit better than Schmitz when the rain starts to fall, and fall it often does in the German spring, but she'll have a new challenge on her hands when she makes her WTCC debut in a Chevy Cruze for the Munnich Motorsport team for the German round next month. It'll be interesting to see how Sabine does in the race, given that she has no experience with the vehicle she'll be driving, but has immense knowledge of the notoriously difficult track. She'll have the chance to acclimate a little during the WTCC test session at the 'Ring later this month, and hopes to compete in one of the two races – in Morocco or Hungary – before tackling her home track in unfamiliar machinery. News Source: WTCC via YouTube, BridgeToGantry.comImage Credit: Newspress Celebrities Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Motorsports Chevrolet wtcc

Suzuki recalls 2 million cars globally

Suzuki is recalling two million vehicles across the globe, including a number of Chevrolet Cruze sedans that it builds for General Motors, because the ignition switches may begin to smoke. None of the Cruzes being recalled were sold in the US, though. This recall is limited to the Japanese, European and Australian markets. In Suzuki's home market, 1,873,000 vehicles are being recalled, including the Cruze and a number kei cars built for Mazda (the Carol and AZ-Wagon), as well as the automaker's own Alto, Wagon R and Swift. Affected vehicles were built between 1998 and 2009. The remaining 133,000 vehicles include Cruzes and other Suzuki products sold in Europe and Australia. There have been no reports of injuries or accidents due to the 67 reported incidents, all of which come from the Japanese market, a Suzuki spokesperson told Automotive News. Related Video:

Fernando Alonso sputters in his Indy test

INDIANAPOLIS — Helio Castroneves and Fernando Alonso kept waiting around Wednesday. Now both international stars have some unfinished business to take care before qualifying for this year's Indianapolis 500. After enduring a rain delay of more than four hours then watching IndyCar regulars turn laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for two more hours, Castroneves and Alonso finally made it onto the track — but couldn't quite complete their refresher course. "Happy to be back here because this place is great," Alonso said after posting a fast lap of 218.690 mph — the slowest of the nine-driver evening session. "We were slow because the weather and some of the decisions people made on running time and things like that." He faced a bevy of problems in his first trip back to Indy since an impressive rookie performance in 2017. The rain delay forced organizers into rescheduling the one-day test, moving the rookie and refresher driver time from midday to the evening, cutting a significant amount of practice time for Alonso and the others. And when the green flag finally waved, Alonso's No. 66 car stalled in the warmup lane forcing the two-time Formula One champion from Spain to be towed back to pit lane where his crew worked feverishly to fix an electrical problem while sat in the cockpit. Eventually, he did get out and passed the first of two refresher phases. He'll have to wait until opening practice of the 500 on May 14 to pass the second. "It was frustrating for everyone because it was a brand new chassis and a brand new car, so we expected to run a lot," said Alonso, who drives for McLaren Racing. "If we could have had this at midday, you could work on your issues in the afternoon and then go out again." To put his day in perspective, Takuma Sato, the 2017 Indy winner from Japan, posted the fastest lap of the day at 226.993 mph and Colton Herta was the fastest rookie at 226.108. Castroneves, as usual, was good right from the start and posted a fast lap of 225.565. The three-time Indianapolis 500 winner looked smooth and fast on his favorite track and wasted no time passing the first phase. That much should have been expected from the popular Brazilian, who has recorded seven top-three finishes in 18 Indy starts and will make his season debut May 11 in the IndyCar Grand Prix. The weather and yellow flags prevented four of the five veterans — Castroneves, Alonso, Oriol Servia and JR Hildebrand — from passing phase two. Only Indy native Conor Daly made it.