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Alex Zanardi back in the driver's seat with BMW

If there's ever been an inspirational story in the pantheon of motor racing history, surely it's that of Alessandro Zanardi. The Italian driver worked his way up the motor racing ladder, making it into Formula One and winning two CART championships for Chip Ganassi Racing back before the series re-merged into IndyCars. Tragedy struck in 2001 when he lost both his legs in a crash at the Lausitzring in Germany, but rather than accept his fate, Alex pushed on. Fitted with prosthetic limbs, he learned to drive a racing car with hand controls and got back in the driver's seat.
Zanardi drove for BMW in the European Touring Car Championship and then in the World Touring Car Championship that replaced it, landing on the podium several times despite his physical disadvantage. He left racing in 2009 to train for the Paralympics, winning two gold medals in London, but Alex apparently couldn't shake the racing bug. BMW modified one of its M3 DTM racers with hand controls for him to test later that year. And now he's returning to motor racing full time.
BMW has just announced that Zanardi will be driving a Z4 GT3 in the Blancpain Sprint Series, the successor to the FIA GT Series and short-distance counterpart to the Blancpain Endurance Series. The car has been modified with the hand controls the Bavarian automaker's racing department fitted to the aforementioned M3 DTM and will be fielded by the ROAL Motorsport team with which Alex challenged for the European Touring Car Championship last decade.

Recharge Wrap-up: No Tesla Gigafactory deal with California, BMW i3 recalled

Before the Nevada announcement was hinted at, a deal to incentivize a Tesla Gigafactory in California fell through. Tesla was looking for around $500 million in incentives, which the California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development was willing to offer in tax breaks along with making the permit and environmental processes easier. According to Senator Ted Gaines, there still remained "a gap between what Tesla wanted and what California was willing to offer," the contents of which were undisclosed. California could still be chosen for another of Tesla's battery plants, should those ever materialize. Read more at The Desert Sun. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will consider allowing a bit of compliance flexibility to its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) regulations for some automakers. CARB will hold a hearing to discuss giving intermediate volume manufacturers (IVMs) - carmakers that do between 4,501 and 60,000 new vehicle sales in the state - some leniency catching up to the larger manufacturers when it comes to clean vehicle production. The ZEV regulation changes take into account the amount of revenue IVMs have available for developing the cars, particularly plug-in hybrids. Read more at Green Car Congress or see the notice from CARB here. Certain units of the BMW i3 are subject to an airbag recall. For cars built March 31, 2014, the passenger airbag inflator may have been assembled incorrectly, which could keep it from deploying when needed. Owners will be notified by BMW, and the problem will be fixed for free. The recall also affects certain 2014 Mini Cooper models. Learn more at the NHTSA website. The Renault-Nissan Alliance is providing 200 electric vehicles to telecommunications company Orange in France. The cars, which will include the Nissan Leaf, Nissan e-NV200, Renault ZOE and Renault Kangoo ZE, will be used mostly for carsharing. Through the program, Orange employees can book a car for work or personal travel using a smartphone. The Alliance will also help Orange install charging stations for the new cars. The addition of the EVs to the fleet will help Orange achieve its goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 20 percent by 2020. Read more in the press release, below. Jianghuai Automobile Company (JAC) is delivering its first 100 EVs to the US. The shipment is part of a larger order of 2,000 cars to be sold by GreenTech Automotive in the US market. Read more at ECNS.

BMW X4 order guide sneaks onto the web

Much like we gave you an early look at the ordering guide for the BMW M3 and M4 (you can now configure those two, as well), yet another list of BMW options has leaked out. This time, the upcoming X4 is the target. We told you last month that prices for the X3-sized, X6-shaped vehicle started at $45,625, and now, we can confirm everything else for the newest Bimmer.
Only two trim lines will be available when the X4 arrives - M Sport and xLine. The former starts at $2,300 for the xDrive28i model and $1,900 for the xDrive35i, and includes as standard, 19-inch wheels (or optional 20s for $950), sport seats, an M steering wheel, a more aggressive body kit, a black headliner and the option of brushed aluminum interior trim. The xLine is $1,500 for the 28i and $1,000 for the 35i, and is made up exclusively of 19-inch Y-spoke wheels and dark copper interior trim.
Metallic colors dominate the pallet, with just a pair of gloss options available alongside the $550 metal-flake colors. BMW offers a pair of SensaTec leatherette options, along side a wide variety of $1,450 leather trims.