Block inspired by late McRae By David Evans Thursday, March 11th 2010, 08:53 GMT Monster World Rally Team driver Ken Block has talked about how Colin McRae inspired him to start rallying. Block, whose new team made its debut in the World Rally Championship on last week’s Rally Mexico, said he felt an affinity with the 1995 World Rally Champion, who he got to know as a friend and competitor at the X-Games competition in America.

Rahal to drive for Sarah Fisher By Matt Beer Thursday, March 11th 2010, 09:46 GMT Graham Rahal has completed a shock deal with Sarah Fisher Racing for two early season IndyCar races. The American had been searching for a new drive since the loss of sponsor McDonalds brought his Newman/Haas/Lanigan stint to an end last winter.

Haug calls for patience for new teams By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, March 11th 2010, 10:49 GMT Mercedes boss Norbert Haug has called for patience for the new teams coming into Formula 1 this year, but he admits they will have to make big steps to put on a decent showing. Teams like Lotus and Virgin have been over five seconds off the pace in testing, while the Spanish HRT squad has not even turned a wheel yet ahead of this weekend’s first race of the season

Pentus stays on at Fortec By Peter Mills Thursday, March 11th 2010, 11:46 GMT Fortec Motorsport has announced that Estonian racer Sten Pentus will contest a second consecutive season of Formula Renault 3.5 with the team. With limited previous experience, Pentus gained plaudits in his debut season by finishing second in the opening meeting at Barcelona, on his way to 12th overall in the standings. Fortec and Mofaz Racing, now Junior Lotus, ended their association in Formula Renault 3.5 over the winter but Richard Dutton’s team will continue in the series under its own banner.

Kubica: Renault resurgence needs time By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Thursday, March 11th 2010, 12:34 GMT Robert Kubica has warned that getting Renault back to the front cannot be achieved overnight as the squad has fallen a long way since its title-winning glory days. The team was only eighth in last year’s constructors’ championship, and was rocked by the fallout from the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix scandal

De la Rosa downplays tyre advantage By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, March 11th 2010, 12:51 GMT Pedro de la Rosa has played down the advantage his Sauber team may have with the use of the tyres ahead of the start of the season. An analysis carried out by Bridgestone suggested after winter testing that the Sauber C29 is very good at looking after its tyres, something that will be crucial this year, with refuelling banned. But de la Rosa reckons the conditions during testing have been very different to those the team will face in Bahrain.

Trulli says Lotus just aiming to finish By Edd Straw and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, March 11th 2010, 13:24 GMT Jarno Trulli admits his Lotus team’s target for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix is to make it to the finish of the race.

Barrichello: 2010 tougher for drivers By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Thursday, March 11th 2010, 13:26 GMT Rubens Barrichello thinks the 2010 season will not only be much more open and exciting than recent years, but also far tougher for the drivers than the last time they had to cope with full tanks in grands prix in 1993. The veteran Brazilian is optimistic that the end of mid-race refuelling will encourage overtaking on-track as disparities between cars’ performance will be greater as some handle better on low fuel and others when fully laden. “I think there will be more overtaking most probably,” he predicted

Castroneves: IndyCar getting closer By Matt Beer Thursday, March 11th 2010, 14:07 GMT Penske driver Helio Castroneves reckons his squad and main rival Ganassi are being reeled in by the rest of the IndyCar Series teams. Although Penske topped the times in the pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park ahead of Ganassi, Dreyer & Reinbold and KV Racing also had cars in the top six. Castroneves believes Penske and Ganassi have now reached the limit of the ageing Dallara-Honda package’s development potential, and with the car set to be used for another two years, the underdog teams will get ever closer

FIA re-opens 2011 selection process By Pablo Elizalde Thursday, March 11th 2010, 16:37 GMT Formula 1’s ruling body will re-open the selection process for a potential 13th team to join the sport in 2011, the FIA said on Thursday.