Sahara Force India unveiled its 2012 challenger today as Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg pulled the covers off the VJM05 at Silverstone. They were joined by reserve driver, Jules Bianchi, as the team's new car was presented for the first time. The VJM05 is the second car to be created under the watch of Technical Director, Andrew Green, as the team seeks to build on its on its sixth place finish in the constructors' championship and take the fight to the teams that lie ahead.

"We have set our sights on challenging for fifth place," explained Team Principal and Managing Director, Dr. Vijay Mallya. "To do so we will need to begin the new campaign by delivering the kind of form we showed in the second half of 2011. I believe this is a realistic goal and that we have the talent and determination to realise these ambitions."

Spanish outfit HRT F1 announces that Indian driver, Narain Karthikeyan, will complete the team's line up for the 2012 season alongside Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa. These two drivers will contest the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship for the team, which gets underway on March 16th at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia.

The Chennai-born driver will thus compete in his second season with the Spanish squad, with whom he made history at last year's inaugural Indian Grand Prix, being the only Indian driver on the grid. A strong weekend with a great result ensued with his performance garnering international acknowledgement.

Jan Kopecký of ŠKODA Motorsport has been awarded the 2011 Sportbest from Autobest, a renowned international organisation. Three time IRC Vice Champion, the Czech rally driver received the honour for his long-standing excellence in motorsport. The 2011 Sportbest is Kopecký's second prestigious award within a short span of time after the Golden Steering Wheel he won in his homeland, the Czech Republic, two weeks ago.

According to the jury, the decisive criterion was Kopecký's long-standing excellence in rallying, particularly in the IRC championship where ŠKODA Motorsport's driver was Vice Champion in three consecutive years (over 2009-2011) and helped ŠKODA achieve two victories in the Manufacturers category (2010 and 2011). 2011 was the most successful year in the 111-year history of ŠKODA's motorsport efforts.

TOYOTA Racing can confirm it has expanded its plans for the 2012 season and has entered the FIA World Endurance Championship.

It was originally planned to enter only selected races, which would have fallen short of the number required to be considered a full-time entrant but due to the unexpected changes faced by the FIA World Endurance Championship, that plan has been revised.

The 24 hour race in Daytona remains Porsche territory: At the cliff-hanger 50th anniversary of the long distance classic in Florida/USA, the Zuffenhausen sports car manufacturer celebrated a convincing triple triumph in the GT class against strong opposition from the likes of Audi, BMW, Corvette and Ferrari. Victory went to Porsche works driver Richard Lietz (Austria) in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup fielded by Magnus Racing with teammates René Rast (Germany) as well as Americans Andy Lally and John Potter. After a thrilling finale in front of record crowds on the Daytona International Speedway, Lietz saw the flag 9.412 seconds ahead of his factory pilot colleague Wolf Henzler. The previous year's winner from Germany shared the cockpit of TRG Racing's Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands), Marc Goossens (Belgium), Spencer Pumpelly (USA) and Steven Bertheau (USA). Scoring third place was Porsche works driver Marc Lieb (Germany) with Americans Hurley Haywood, Leh Keen and Andrew Davis in the legendary starting number 59 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup run by the Daytona-winning squad Brumos Racing.

"Today we all witnessed why Daytona is one of the world's most fascinating races," said Wolfgang Hatz, Board Member for Research and Development at Porsche AG. "For me that was a 24 hour sprint. The front-runners were incredibly close right to the flag. I'm very pleased to see that we had virtually no technical problems with our cars and the teams and drivers did such a magnificent job under difficult conditions. Congratulations and well done to you all."

TOYOTA Racing today completed a successful first full test of the new TS030 HYBRID car which will compete in the LMP1 category in selected races of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The team spent three days at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France for the first full test of the TS030 HYBRID, following a three-day roll-out at the same circuit earlier this month.

Using the a configuration of the track which includes the complete Mistral Straight, all three race drivers - Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima - had the opportunity to test the new car, which features the THS-R (TOYOTA HYBRID System - Racing) powertrain.