With places four, five and six on the grid, the Porsche pilots have secured good starting positions for the third round of the Le Mans Series. Fastest in the 911 GT3 RSR of the German Felbermayr-Proton team was Martin Ragginger (Austria) in fourth ahead of French Porsche factory driver Patrick Pilet (IMSA Performance Matmut). For the title defenders and GT2 points’ leaders after two wins, the qualifying at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve didn’t run as smoothly as expected: Competing for the Felbermayr team, works drivers Richard Lietz (Austria) and Marc Lieb (Germany) take up today’s 1,000 kilometre race at 17.00 hours (CEST 18.00 hours) from just sixth. Porsche Junior Marco Holzer (Germany) qualified the 911 from the Belgian ProSpeed Competition squad on the ninth spot.

“Sixth in qualifying is not exactly thrilling,” stated Marc Lieb. “But Richard made the most of our not so perfect set-up. We haven’t got a lot of time left to do something about it because the race starts this afternoon.” Richard Lietz added: “There is no reason to stress about it. Up to now we’ve always profited from our consistency and the reliability of the 911. We’re staying cool. Our goal is to stay at the top of the points and we’re confident we’ll achieve this.”

The new BMW X3 is set to raise the bar in the premium sports activity market this year when the latest model goes on sale in the Europe. With what will be the lowest-emission four-wheel drive model in the sector, the first to have start-stop with auto transmission, unparalleled agility, significantly upgraded cabin and a raft of sector-first technology, the new BMW X3 will set a new benchmark.

With a class-leading diesel engine, numerous chassis configurations courtesy of Variable Damper Control, as well as European specific equipment packages and innovations such as Head-up Display and online connectivity, thanks to ConnectedDrive, the new BMW X3 offers customers the perfect sporty four-wheel drive vehicle, whatever their activity.

The new BMW X3 combines BMW’s X character with a dynamically stretched silhouette to produce an elegant, durable and sporting car. The typically characteristic upright kidney grille and triangular headlight arrangement of BMW X models is reflected in the front end of the X3 ensuring a powerful presence, further emphasized by the flared wheelarches and short wheelbase. Meanwhile the horizontal rear lines on the rear emphasize the X3’s robust character.

Everything went perfectly for Nicholas Tandy: On the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, the local hero used his home advantage to grab his first pole position in the Porsche Mobil1 Supercup. In the fiercely-contested qualifying for the sixth round of the season, the Supercup newcomer was 0.167 seconds faster in his Konrad Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup than points’ leader René Rast (Germany), who has yielded four wins so far this season for the Al Faisal Lechner Racing team.

On the traditional 5.898 kilometre circuit, where the history of the Formula 1 World Championship began 60 years ago, Britain’s Sean Edwards (Abu Dhabi by tolimit) claimed the third grid spot ahead of Bleekemolen Harders Plaza pilot Jaap van Lagen from the Netherlands, who snatched the fourth quickest time. Austrian Norbert Siedler (VELTINS MRS Racing), winner of the Barcelona round, posted the fifth fastest time with Slovakian Stefan Rosina (Lechner Racing), and shares the third grid row on sixth for Sunday’s race.

BMW Group today announces its support for the new iPod Out feature, in iOS 4, the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system. The launch of a newly developed BMW Group interface technology will provide BMW and MINI drivers with an easy-to-operate, intuitive way of using their iPhone and iPod touch in future BMW Group vehicles.

iPod Out enables BMW and MINI infotainment systems to display and control the music playback feature in iPhone and iPod touch in the vehicle’s main display. The on-board monitor in BMW and MINI provides users with the simplicity and familiarity they have come to trust in their iPhone and iPod touch and the intuitive and integrated iPod navigation menu can be safely operated through the vehicle’s interface controls. Additionally, state-of-the-art iPod features such as custom playlists and Genius, which instantly creates a playlist of songs that go well together from a user's own library, is immediately made available to BMW and MINI drivers through the vehicle’s main display. iPod Out requires iOS 4 with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPod touch (second and third generation).