QUICK LAPS THE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP
Kyle Busch secured his spot in the NASCAR Cup Series championship decider at Homestead this weekend by winning at Phoenix. The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver dominated the final segment after a crash in Stage 3 took out a number of playoff contenders. Joining him in the ‘championship four’ will be Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano… Two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi completed a first test in preparation for his return to US racing in next year’s Daytona 24 Hours. The Italian tried a specially-adapted BMW M8 GTE at the Miramas test track in France ahead of his one-off race at the IMSA Sportscar Championship opener in January… Black Falcon Mercedes drivers Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz have been crowned Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup champions after their win in the Barcelona series finale was reinstated. Their Mercedes-amg GT3 was initially excluded for a homologation infringement involving the use of selfadhesive tape to seal part of the car’s air-intake system. The disqualification was downgraded to a fine… Aston Martin has taken orders for 20 of its new Vantage GT3 racers for next season. Deliveries of the car developed from the GTE Pro Vantage racing in the 2018/19 World Endurance Championship are about to start ahead of its homologation in March 2019…. Porsche’s unrestricted 919 Hybrid Evo LMP1 car, which took the unofficial lap record at the Nordschleife, will have “carryover” into its Formula E programme that begins in 2019/20. The manufacturer ended its participation in the World Endurance Championship at the end of 2017 to prepare for its entry into FE and Porsche will develop its Gen2 FE car in the same electric lab... The driverless racing car initiative Roborace will commence its inaugural season with an upgraded version of its autonomous development car. ‘Season Alpha’ is due to launch in spring next year, supporting some Formula E events and will likely comprise fewer than 10 rear-wheel drive cars, which will be driven by a human for one part and controlled by artificial intelligence for the rest...