Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

After eight years away from cross-country rally, Nunzio Coffaro will make his return at the Rallye du Maroc. He will serve as the co-driver of the #421 Polaris RZR piloted by Andrea Schiumarini, which is entered in the SSV category by TH-Trucks.

Coffaro last did an international rally rad in 2016, when the discipline was held under the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies prior to the current World Rally-Raid Championship. As a Toyota Motorsport driver, he won the 2012 World Cup in the T1.2 subcategory for 4×2 cars followed by the T1.1 4×4 title the following year.

The Venezuelan made his cross-country début in 2009 after competing in off-road races like the Outback Challenge in Australia and other events in South America.

2012 also saw his first Dakar Rally, finishing thirty-eighth and best among T1.2 entries in a Toyota Hilux with Daniel Meneses as navigator. After moving up to T1.1, the two improved their finish to twentieth in 2013.

His most recent action came in 2016, finishing thirty-first overall at Dakar followed by the World Cup’s Baja Russia Northern Forest and Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Despite the hiatus, he hopes to resume his career and head to the Dakar again.

Carla Scaglioni will try her hand at cross-country rally for the first time when she heads to the Rallye du Maroc next week. She is slated to race a Fantic 450 Rally for Fantic Rally Team in the Rally2 class.

Scaglioni, an Argentina native, primarily competes in the Italian Enduro Championship as well as the FIM Enduro European Championship. In 2023, she represented her country at the International Six Days Enduro. However, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in a crash during the 2024 Enduro European season opener in March.

In an interview with Somos Dakar, she explained doctors told her the injury could require surgery that would prevent her from racing but had a “one percent chance of rehabilitating and trying, so I took that path.” While this prevented her from doing most of the calendar anyway as she recuperated, she eventually touched base with a former enduro mechanic employed by Fantic.

While she was interested in rally (which was reinforced when the Dakar Rally ran through South America in the 2010s), it was not something in her immediate plans at the time. Nevertheless, when the offer came, she “didn’t hesitate to say yes” because “I felt it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

With her leg healed up, she now heads to Morocco. Most of her Fantic Rally Team colleagues also come from enduro backgrounds including fellow newcomers Tomás de Gavardo and Sandra Gómez. Scaglioni and Gómez are also the only riders entered in the Women’s Trophy.

After an arduous two-year fundraising process, Motorsport UK finally delivered the Pinzgauer 6×6 to the Armed Forces of Ukraine‘s 46th Airmobile Brigade in late September.

“It is thanks to the support and solidarity expressed by our UK motorsport community that we have met our fundraising goal and successfully delivered the Pinzgauer to Ukraine,” commented Motorsport UK CEO Hugh Chambers. “Motorsport UK stands united with Aleksandr Feldman, the President of the FAU, the Ukrainian motorsport community and the Ukrainian people, and the resounding interest we have had in our collective fundraising effort shows our community’s willingness to provide a small gesture of our support to a nation in need.”

The fundraiser began in the spring of 2022 with the goal raising £60,000. David Richards CBE, the head of Prodrive and chairman for Motorsport UK, kicked off the donations with a £25,000 contribution. Various communities including plenty in Northern Ireland like the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs chipped in as well, the latter providing one of the larger donations of £2,000.

However, the donations stagnated over time. The FAU attributed the delay to what they called “literally hellish” bureaucracy and maintenance, though an FAU steward told The Checkered Flag he is not entirely sure what the specific cause was.

The project regained steam when British rallycross driver Fynn Watt, who has donated over 130 vehicles to Ukrainian medical services as part of Driving Ukraine, came aboard. In June 2023, the Pinzgauer was put on display at Flywheel on Bicester Heritage, where in-person donations heavily contributed to helping the fundraiser reach its goal.

AO Racing has confirmed its commitment to the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, announcing the return of their fan-favourite dinosaur-themed entries across two classes.

The American outfit will continue their assault on both the LMP2 class with ‘Spike’ and the GTD PRO category with ‘Rexy’, building upon an impressive sophomore season that has seen the team fighting for championship honours.

As they prepare for the season finale at Petit Le Mans, Team Principal Gunnar Jeannette reflected on their remarkable progress: “It’s a little bit surreal to think that the 2024 season is almost over and that we head into Petit Le Mans leading the GTD Pro Championship. The team has had a lot of growth this year, and it’s been a massive effort from everyone involved to get to where we are.”

The 2024 campaign has proven particularly fruitful for the squad, with their LMP2 entry ‘Spike’ securing four pole positions and a podium finish in the hands of PJ Hyett and Paul-Loup Chatin. Meanwhile, ‘Rexy’, their distinctively-liveried Porsche 911 GT3 R has dominated the GTD PRO class with two poles and three victories, leading the championship standings for much of the season.

Beyond their on-track success, AO Racing has carved out a unique position in the paddock with their prehistoric-themed approach to motorsport, attracting fans of all ages and bringing a fresh perspective to the sport’s traditional environment.

In a groundbreaking move for motorsport, Formula E has unveiled plans for the first-ever all-women test session in FIA Championship history, set to take place at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia on 7 November.

The pioneering initiative will see up to 22 elite women drivers take the wheel of the championship’s latest GEN3 Evo machinery, which boasts impressive acceleration figures of 0-60 mph in just 1.82 seconds – some 30% quicker than current Formula 1 cars.

Each of the 11 Formula E teams will be required to field at least one woman driver for the half-day test, with encouragement to run two drivers where possible. Crucially, they will have access to current-season machinery, ensuring they can showcase their talents in equivalent equipment to the championship’s regular drivers.

The test forms part of Formula E’s broader strategy to address the stark gender imbalance in motorsport, where currently only 3% of top-tier racing licences worldwide are held by women. Beyond the track action, participants will engage in media activities including press conferences, briefings, and content creation, aimed at raising their profiles within elite motorsport.

Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds emphasised the importance of providing equal opportunities: “Unlike other series where women drivers have to use old or restricted machinery, they’ll be using the state-of-the-art GEN3 Evo car that accelerates 30% faster than an F1 car, just as our Championship drivers do.”

Due to an injury he sustained earlier in the year, Amine Echiguer will have to follow his home country’s World Rally-Raid Championship round from the sidelines.

Echiguer has struggled with injuries since 2023 when he broke his collarbone at the Morocco Desert Challenge. He expressed hope of being back on the bike in July, though he found he was still not in shape to race.

Rally Raid Spirit reported his withdrawal from the Rallye du Maroc on Wednesday, which Echiguer confirmed shortly after.

In 2022, he won four of five stages in Rally3 at the Rallye du Maroc. A third at the season-ending Andalucía Rally clinched him the inaugural W2RC Rally3 title.

The Moroccan mainly focused on national rallies in 2023 before entering the 2024 Africa Eco Race in January. After taking the Over 450cc class lead early on, he was forced to retire three days in when the rear wheel and shock broke on his bike. Mechanical issues also knocked him out of the MDC in April. He won the Carta Rallye between the AER and MDC.

The stars of the Australian desert motorcycle racing scene have joined forces to see how they fare in America’s toughest desert race. David Walsh, Ben Grabham, Liam Walsh, and Jacob Smith will race the #10X Pro Moto Unlimited bike under the Team Australia banner at the Baja 1000 in November.

David Walsh is one of the greatest riders in Australian off-road bike racing history. In June, he won the bike overall at the country’s legendary Finke Desert Race for a record-tying fifth year in a row. Walsh not finished worse than third at Finke since 2012, and is only one win away from tying Toby Price for the most on two wheels.

His cousin Liam, eleven years younger, won the Prologue stage at Finke but was knocked out by a crash that broke his wrist. Nevertheless, he has established himself as a rising star in the discipline after racing in the Australian Motocross Championship and winning the 450cc class at Finke in 2021.

Like the older Walsh, Grabham is a Finke icon with four bike wins to his name. He won three straight from 2007 to 2009, then added a fourth in 2011; he finished sixth and won the Masters class at the 2024 edition. “Grobbo” has also won titles in the Australian Off-Road Championship, the Hattah Desert Race, and the Australasian Safari rally raid thrice. Until 2016, he worked as team manager for KTM’s enduro and desert racing programmes.

While victory at Finke has eluded him, Smith has over a decade of experience in the event. He won the Australasian Safari in 2009 and 2012, while also finishing runner-up to his brother Todd in the 2011 race.

Like many of those entered, Isidre Esteve plans to use the Rallye du Maroc as a dress rehearsal for the 2025 Dakar Rally. However, the historically severe floods that pervaded Morocco in September have thrown a bit of a twist into everyone’s preparations.

Torrential downpours in mid-September resulted in catastrophic flooding that killed over twenty people in Morocco and neighbouring Algeria. Much of it was concentrated near Merzouga, a popular hotspot for Moroccan cross-country rallies and resulted in massive pools of water being created inside what are usually dry lakes. The Baja Morocco, which took place a week before the Rallye du Maroc, had to readjust its route to go around the affected sites.

Rallye du Maroc director David Castéra stressed last week that the race will proceed as scheduled, though officials have been scanning the course to analyse the damage ahead of time and tweaks to the route can be made if necessary.

“The chotts have flooded, and lakes have formed in front of the dunes of Merzouga, something I’ve never seen before,” said Esteve. “All the main tracks, which used to be visible, have disappeared. No track is obvious. This will make the rally very challenging in terms of navigation. We like that; we’ll see what pace we’re capable of maintaining.”

Esteve finished thirteenth in the Ultimate class at the 2023 Rallye du Maroc, ahead of his ninteenth career Dakar Rally in January; he placed thirty-sixth overall in that event. The 2025 Dakar will be his twentieth total and tenth in a car after starting his career on a bike.

When Aliyyah Koloc was sidelined by surgery in the summer, her father Martin Koloc got behind the wheel for the first time since before her birth. Now, the two will race together, albeit in different categories.

Aliyyah is set to make her racing return at the Rallye du Maroc, the final race of the World Rally-Raid Championship, in the Red-Lined REVO T1+. Whereas her entry is in the Ultimate category, Martin will drive the Red-Lined REVO+ GT-R in the Open class. Both will be fielded by the family-run Buggyra ZM Racing. Sébastien Delauney will once again serve as Aliyyah’s navigator while David Schovanek does so for Martin.

Martin took over the REVO T1+ in August while Aliyyah was recovering from her surgery, the Hungarian Baja marking his cross-country rally début and his first race since retiring from the European Truck Racing Championship at the end of the 1999 season. However, he withdrew halfway due to safety concerns surrounding the course which he felt were validated by a pair of driver injuries due to rollovers.

He went the distance in his second rally later that month at Baja Poland, where he finished tenth among competitors signed up for the Polish Cross-Country Rally Championship and fifth in the Ultimate class. Buggyra also brought two trucks to Poland for Martin Šoltys and Karel Poslední, both of whom will be racing the Rallye du Maroc in the same vehicles.

If things go well in Morocco, the plan is for Aliyyah to drive the REVO+ GT-R full time in 2025. As the name suggests, it uses an engine from the Nissan R35 GT-R, specifically a 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V6 VR38DETT engine. Although it has seen action in the South African Rally-Raid Championship, the engine is too powerful for FIA regulations unless it is de-tuned, meaning it is thus entered as an Open car in the meantime.

The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) has pulled the covers off its 2025 calendar, revealing a six-race schedule that promises to deliver high-octane endurance racing across the continent. In a move that’s sure to excite British motorsport enthusiasts, Silverstone is set to make a grand return to the series after a six-year hiatus.

For the first time since 2021, the ELMS will touch down in six different countries, offering teams and drivers a diverse challenge across some of Europe’s most iconic circuits. The season will kick off with the traditional Prologue and opening round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in early April, setting the stage for what promises to be an thrilling year of competition.

Following the Spanish opener, teams will make their way to the south of France for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet in early May. The calendar then takes a strategic pause in June, allowing teams and drivers to focus on the pinnacle of endurance racing – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As summer heats up, so too will the championship battle. The series resumes with the 4 Hours of Imola in Italy, before tackling the longest and one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar – the 7km rollercoaster that is Spa-Francorchamps in late August.

September marks the much-anticipated return to British soil, with Silverstone hosting the penultimate round of the championship. This race replaces the previous fixture at Mugello and is set to be a pivotal moment in the title fight. The season will then reach its climax at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, where champions will be crowned under the warm October sun.

In a move that’s sure to please fans and teams alike, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) has revealed its calendar for the 2025 season, sticking to its roots with a lineup of tried-and-tested venues. The championship will feature a total of 16 races spread across eight action-packed events, promising another year of high-octane touring car action.

Kicking off the season will be the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, hosting the opening round from 25th to 27th April. As drivers and teams shake off the winter rust, they’ll be vying for those crucial early-season points that could set the tone for their championship campaigns.

Following the traditional format, the season will conclude with a thrilling finale at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg from 3rd to 5th October. This earlier date, compared to recent years, adds an extra element of excitement as teams will have less time to develop their cars throughout the season.

While the majority of the calendar focuses on German soil with six race weekends, the DTM will also venture beyond borders. Fans can look forward to international outings in the Netherlands and Austria, adding a touch of variety to the championship’s landscape.

ADAC Motorsport Director Thomas Voss expressed satisfaction with the calendar, stating, “The fans’ enthusiasm for the DTM is high, which shows that we are on the right track when it comes to the calendar. Over the past few months, we have carefully scrutinised exciting venues for the DTM. However, as all the events in Germany have experienced a significant increase in popularity among visitors, we will stick with the tried-and-tested venues for the 2025 season.”

Alexander Chepurkó was supposed to be in Israel on his way to Jordan for some desert rally testing in the dunes. Unfortunately, he arrived at a bad time.

As he was heading down Highway 60 on his way to Eilat on Monday night, Israel was attacked by multiple waves of missile attacks from Iran. He received an early warning alert on his phone to take cover, but with no such options available where he was, all he could do was keep moving.

“It’s not like there is much cover here,” he quipped, “but I’m moving. I’m not in any one location. People kind of pull off the roads.”

In a video posted to social media following the attack, Chepurkó points out the sound of air raid sirens and air defence systems in operation. He also mentions “Iron Dome defences going off over there” (the Iron Dome is mainly for short-range missile interceptions, meaning it was not used by the IDF on Monday).

“It’s obviously shocking. A little bit scary, but it makes me angry actually,” he continued. “Maybe I asked for this, but it makes me angry. People really don’t understand what it’s like to see missiles launched at you from a foreign country.

The 57th Baja 1000 will be run on a course that might seem familiar to those who raced it a decade ago. The layout was revealed by SCORE International on Tuesday, spanning 869.13 miles (1,359.39 kilometres) for the Pro categories and 736.61 mi (1,185.45 km) for Sportsman.

After doing a point-to-point format to commemorate SCORE’s golden anniversary in 2023, the race returns to a loop format for 2024. The race will start and end in Ensenada, where the sanctioning body’s main headquarters is located, with a loop that runs counter-clockwise. This also means the race stays exclusively in the state of Baja California, as opposed to when it ran through Baja California Sur further south. The 2015 edition utilised a similar route with the same starting and finishing locations as well as direction.

Upon departing Ensenada, competitors will head south along the Pacific coast past Uruapan, Erendira, Cololonet, and Vicente Guerrero. The first physical checkpoint lies just outside San Quintin at Race Mile 209.69.

At RM 220, racers turn inland through El Canuto. Checkpoint 2 is located at RM 378.5 at Rancho San Martin. Once they hit the 400-mile mark, they turn northwards and go along the Gulf of California. The next seventy miles are on public roads, meaning competitors must follow the speed limit and cannot race until they exit the speed zone.

Once that is out of the way, they head back inland past Laguna del Diablo. Sportsman classes will take a shortcut just past RM 580, leading them to the third and final checkpoint at San Matias on RM 731.85. Another speed zone is followed by a dash through Valle de la Trinidad and Mike’s Sky Rancho.

Guillaume Chollet was hoping to use the Rallye du Maroc to refine his riding before the 2025 Dakar Rally, but that’s off the cards now. On Tuesday, he announced that due to low funding, he will not enter the Moroccan race and will spend the rest of the year focusing on preparing for Dakar.

“I would have preferred a different birthday gift, but unfortunately, with great disappointment and sadness, I am canceling my participation in the Rallye du Maroc due to a lack of budget,” he wrote. “Indeed, I prefer to prioritise the Dakar Rally and not compromise our chances of starting our ninth Dakar.

“The situation is difficult, and I fully understand that. Thank you to my team Xraids Experience for understanding my decision, thank you to my partners for also trying to find solutions, and thank you to the organisers of the Rallye du Maroc for their understanding as well.

“I’m back to fighting to avoid the same disappointment by having to cancel Dakar. For this reason, I’m reaching out to you. With 100 days left before the Dakar starts, all ideas are welcome.

“Worse than defeat… is giving up!!!”

František Brutovský‘s Dakar Rally début will have to wait until 2026 at the soonest. On Tuesday, he revealed that despite making progress on healing his fractured vertebra, he will not be fully healthy in time for the 2025 race.

Brutovský suffered the injury at the Hungarian Baja in August when he rolled his Ford F-150 EVO during the third Selective Section. The accident forced him to be airlifted to hospital, and was subsequently transferred to Motol Hospital in Prague where he was advised to undergo surgery.

Although the procedure was successful and his recovery is proceeding smoothly, there is not enough time for him to get back up to speed. The 2025 Dakar Rally is scheduled for 3–17 January, meaning he only has three months to get better, and this is further compounded by the risk of a second surgery if the vertebra fails to recover properly.

“Today’s check-up at the hospital brought mixed news,” wrote Brutovský. “Luckily, things are healing, but there’s still a risk of another surgery if it doesn’t heal properly. I’m also facing another 7 weeks of bed rest and waiting.

“It’s clear that I won’t make it to this year’s Dakar. The doctors are doubtful even about next season, but I’m giving it 100% to get back as soon as possible! Thank you all for your support and care, I truly appreciate it!”