James Allison to stay at Lotus?
James Allison, Lotus technical director, doesn’t wish to leave the Enstone outfit, despite interest from three top teams – Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari.
The British designer is believed to have been approached as a possible candidate to replace Paddy Lowe at McLaren should Lowe leave for Mercedes after they made contact with him earlier this month.
A Lotus spokesperson however reports that Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has in fact been chasing Allison for a move to Mercedes, but says Allison doesn’t wish to leave the Genii Capital owned outfit and has a contract to remain with them.
Bernie Ecclestone calls off talks with Nurburgring
Bernie Ecclestone has reportedly ended negotiations with the organisers at the Nurburgring. The 82-year-old had been in talks to renegotiate the financial aspect of their contract amid their current financial troubles.
He is quoted as saying the deal put forward isn’t “financially feasible” and is therefore awaiting a new offer.
If a deal cannot be struck before the start of the season, the race will likely go to Hockenheim which has offered to take the event on, despite having hosted it the year previous.
Timo Glock secures BWM DTM seat for 2013
Timo Glock has secured a seat with the BMW DTM (German Touring Cars) team for the 2013 season after he was dropped by Marussia earlier this week.
The German, who admitted he lost out on his Marussia seat due to the team’s finances, jumped into one of BMW’s M3’s on Thursday and impressed them enough to be offered a drive.
“It is very exciting for me to drive for BMW again after all these years – and in such a top-class racing series as the DTM,” he said of the offer.
Robert Kubica says DTM an option, still eyeing F1 return
Polish driver Robert Kubica says he is weighing up his choices for 2013. The 28-year-old will compete in the European Rally Championship and is hoping to also compete in DTM after a successful test.
However, the two series have calendar clashes, which Kubica is hoping to resolve before committing himself to a seat with Mercedes.
During the test, he reportedly went faster than one of Mercedes’ current drivers, Gary Paffett, despite this being his first time behind the wheel of the AMG C-Coupe.
He is still setting his sights on F1 though, telling F1 Racing: “I still believe I can come back. It’s not just a dream. Right now I have limitations driving single-seaters but they are less than they look from the outside.
“Day by day, rally by rally and test by test I see fewer limitations and my goal is one day to drive properly. I don’t think pace will be a problem.”
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