Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Nearly a decade after losing his right leg in combat, former Ukrainian paratrooper Sergey Romanovsky will call the shots for Vadim Pritulyak at the Rallye TT Cuenca in Spain on 20/21 October.

Captain Romanovsky was a platoon commander with the 80th Air Assault Brigade when the Russo-Ukrainian War began in 2014. During the fall, his unit was fighting pro-Russian forces along the Siverskyi Donets River when his right leg was pinned between two armoured personnel carriers, one of which he was riding atop; in a 2017 special for Viva! Magazine, he recalled feeling a sudden shock of pain before noticing the wounded limb dangling from its skin. He was transported from Shchastia to Severodonetsk followed by airlift to Kharkiv, where he underwent five operations in the intensive care unit, before being transported to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Twenty more operations to save the leg took place over seventeen days in Kyiv’s Central Military Hospital before life-threatening blood loss from a ruptured artery forced it to be amputated.

Despite losing the leg, Romanovsky continued to stay in shape by doing pull-ups on a metal bar attached to his hospital bed. After his discharge, he began running and triathlon training with a prosthetic leg, with his ultimate goal being to compete in the Paralympic Games. In 2016, he took part in the 22 Pushup Challenge, a global campaign of doing twenty-two pushups over twenty-two days to raise awareness for veteran suicide. Romanovsky received an Austrian-developed sports prosthesis from boxing legend and current Mayor of Kyiv Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, and the two often jogged together in preparation for that year’s Kyiv Marathon.

He has helped organise the Games Heroes, a multi-sport competition for military personnel with disabilities, since 2016. In 2021, Romanovsky and fellow ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation, the term for Ukrainian military actions in Russian-occupied territory) veterans Volodymyr Voropai and Igor Zastavnyy successfully climbed Mount Kazbek, one of the highest peaks in the Caucasus Mountains.

Now, the captain faces a new challenge. The opportunity to run the Rallye TT Cuenca arose when the inclusivity committee of the Real Federación Española de Automovilismo extended an invitation to wounded Ukrainian troops to participate in the ParaBaja category as co-drivers; ParaBaja Step by Step is a non-competition class for people with reduced mobility, celebrating their participation regardless of where they finished. Pritulyak, a former Dakar Rally rider, is bringing two SKARLAT XTRM side-by-side vehicles to the rally; the SKARLAT Raptor 1000 is used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to evacuate injured soldiers.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake’s Valtteri Bottas said he is “hungry” for more points after taking tenth at the Italian Grand Prix, and hopes that the new upgrades coming through from the factory can help the team move forward. 

The Finnish driver said that the points result at the team’s home race was a source of motivation after a run of tough weekends. The outfit has not cracked the top ten since the Canadian Grand Prix. 

“It was good to get back into the points in Monza: we all needed that, after a few difficult races, and being at our home Grand Prix with the support of our colleagues on the grandstands made it even more special.”

“A point, however, is not enough, and I am hungry for more: we still have eight races to go before the end of the season, and we will push until the very end to achieve our targets.”

With the Singapore Grand Prix up next, Bottas said that the “unique” Marina Bay Circuit will be a challenge for the drivers, being a twisty track with minimal run-off. He looks forward to testing out the new package, which he expects will help the team regain some ground. 

After running the Dakar Rally in January as the co-driver for Pato Silva, Xavier Flick will return to Saudi Arabia in 2024 on a Kove 450 Rally bike. Now a Kove Moto factory rider, he will make his début at the Rallye du Maroc in October to prepare for the 2024 Dakar Rally.

Flick ran his first Dakar in 2021; competing in the G2 (now Rally2) category in the Malle Moto class for solo riders, he overcame an early crash to finish thirty-second overall among all bikes. The effort came after honing his skills in France’s national enduro series, while his father François Flick ran the Dakar from 1998 to 2005.

He eventually began dabbling in navigating. Michael Metge, who mentored Flick ahead of his first Dakar, connected him with Silva and FN Speed Team for the 2023 Dakar Rally. The duo finished sixteenth in the T4 class.

Flick is the second French rider with Kove factory backing. Neels Theric aligned with the Chinese manufacturer ahead of the Sonora Rally in April, where he finished fourth overall in Rally2. He also plans to race in Morocco alongside Flick ahead of Dakar the following January.

Sunier, a Chinese national, serves as Kove’s main factory rider. He led a successful Dakar début for the marque where he and team-mates Deng Liansong and Fang Mingji all completed the race with Sunier leading them in twenty-seventh among Rally2. Sunier later placed ninth in class at Sonora. A month after Sonora, Kove fielded six bikes for the Taklimakan Rally in late May for the Chinese trio, Theric, Shu Haoyu, and team director Zhang Xue.

After missing out on points during the Italian Grand Prix by under seven seconds, Liam Lawson says he is still adapting to life racing in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, with the New Zealander aiming for more from his performance this weekend in Singapore.

Lawson continues to stand in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at Scuderia AlphaTauri as the Australian recovers from the broken wrist he sustained during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, but after the race weekends at Circuit Zandvoort and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, he feels more at home behind the wheel of the AT04.

“I definitely felt more comfortable in Monza than in Zandvoort, even if there’s still a lot to learn,” said Lawson.  “When you get more comfortable in these kinds of cars, it can make quite a big difference.

“Having done two races now, I’m also getting a better understanding of the difference between the tyre compounds, which is so important. I’d say Monza was pretty successful, even if it was disappointing to finish so close to the points.

“I think if I had had a better start, perhaps things could have been different, but it’s something that I will learn from, and I’m just excited moving forward.”

Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola previewed the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix at the slightly modified Marina Bay Circuit, a venue that offers little room for error and a technical challenge for drivers. 

“The closing stages of this long season, taking Formula 1 to three continents and 16 different time zones, kicks off in Singapore this weekend. This was the first race to take place under artificial light: an idea that was later followed, in varying degrees, by other venues. 

“From a technical point of view, Marina Bay is a typical street circuit: very twisty (with 19 corners, many of them 90-degree) and little run off. As a result, even a small mistake can be costly, while the track layout also means that the cars run a high level of downforce.”

The track layout of Marina Bay will look somewhat different to years prior, with construction in the area prompting the creation of a straight where turns sixteen through nineteen once were. Isola said that this modification will result in a faster lap, and could potentially create a new overtaking opportunity. 

“This year, the lap takes on a new look due to some building work in the Marina Bay area: the part of the track that was previously turns 16 to 19 is now just a single straight, which is nearly 400 metres long. 

As German-owned 3F Racing prepares for their NASCAR Cup Series début, they will first tackle a NASCAR race on their home soil when Ryan Vargas enters the Whelen Euro Series‘ NASCAR GP Germany at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben on 23/24 October. He will drive the #30 Chevrolet Camaro in the top-flight EuroNASCAR PRO class with support from Team Bleekemolen.

3F Racing is co-run by three friends, hence the “3F” in the name, with lead owner Dennis Hirtz formerly serving as the marketing director of European GT team Phoenix Racing. The team originally hoped to begin Cup racing in 2022 with plans of going full-time by 2024, but eventually elected to start small by opening a late model programme first in partnership with Lee Faulk Racing. In August, EuroNASCAR 2 driver Max Mason tested a late model for the team at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Vargas joined 3F in July as the Director of Team and Driver Development. Besides running late model events, he will serve as a reserve driver.

He arrived at 3F with sixty-seven career Xfinity Series starts since 2019, including running much of the 2021 and 2022 calendars, with two top tens. For 2023, he is a consultant for Xfinity team CHK Racing while also racing part-time in the Craftsman Truck Series, running six races so far for On Point Motorsports.

“I am incredibly humbled to make the trip to Germany to run in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series race with my friends at 3F Racing,” said Vargas, “It’s always been a dream of mine to race overseas and to do that with the support of my friends at Critical Path Security makes it all the more special. I’ve been a fan of the series for quite some time and the idea of taking on a new challenge in a whole different car and track is an exciting one.

For the 2023 season, NASCAR elected to remove stage breaks for road courses as they were widely criticised for ruining races flow. After five road races, however, the sanctioning body is already throwing that idea out the window for the final such event of the year.

On Tuesday, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer revealed during his weekly appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that cautions between stages will return for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval weekend on 7/8 October. The Xfinity Series races on Saturday followed by the Cup Series the next day.

Stages have been polarising since their inception in 2017. Supporters praised them for rewarding drivers with points for running at the front throughout the day while critics decried them for breaking up races with unnecessary cautions, which some felt was especially egregious at road course races which are shorter than their oval counterparts. The cautions being removed for road courses was intended as a compromise of sort, still giving out stage points at select sections but otherwise continuing the race without stoppage.

Without the breaks, the two most recent road course races at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen saw a single caution each.

Sawyer added the revival was partly to maintain consistency between all ten playoff races. Being the only road race, the Roval was the lone event in the postseason that would not have had breaks.

Noah Gragson is now eligible to return to NASCAR competition, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday after lifting his indefinite suspension.

He was indefinitely suspended in August after he was discovered to have liked an Instagram Reel mocking the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Gragson issued an apology before departing Legacy Motor Club five days later, abruptly ending his Cup Series rookie year.

At the time of his suspension, he was thirty-third in points. Legacy eventually tasked Josh Berry, Mike Rockenfeller, and Carson Hocevar to fill in the #42.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude to NASCAR for reinstating me,” reads a statement from Gragson. “Over the past several weeks, I have dedicated myself to personal growth and reflection, and I believe I have become a better person because of it. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family and the NASCAR industry. I am now more focused and committed than ever to representing my future team in the best way possible. I’m eager to get back behind the wheel and compete at the highest level, giving it my all on and off the track. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey, and I can’t wait to make the most of this second chance.”

Gragson has not revealed his future plans beyond competing in the ASA STARS National Tour race at Toledo on Saturday. Barring the highly unlikely scenarios of adding another car or firing Erik Jones, a return to LMC is out of the question as the team has signed John Hunter Nemechek to pilot the #42.

Williams Racing has announced its latest member of its Driver Academy, with fourteen-year-old champion karter Oleksandr Bondarev signing on to join their increasingly impressive roster.

Bondarev, a native of Ukraine, has already shown good pedigree during his karting, and he became the CIK-FIA Karting European Champion earlier this year having been driving karts since he was only five years of age.  He has already joined Prema’s karting team for the WSK Euro Series event in Franciacorta and will also race for them in the FIA Karting World Championship next month.

Bondarev will be given the full support from Williams, with the team aiming to nurture him through into single seaters in the upcoming years, and the teenager is excited for the opportunity.

“I am so excited to join the Williams Racing Driver Academy,” said Bondarev.  “Williams Racing is one of the most iconic teams in motorsport, having had some of the best drivers in the sport race for them and it is an honour to have the chance to be part of that history.

“Since I was five years old, when I began karting, I dreamt about Formula 1. I have a long way to go, of course, but this is a huge step for me.

Esteban Ocon is looking to rebound from a poor Italian Grand Prix this weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, and he is hopeful of returning to the top ten on Sunday evening under the floodlights to give himself a good birthday present.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team endure a difficult weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, their A523 being well off the pace not only of the frontrunners but of the midfield pack, and they left Italy without adding to their 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship points tally.

Ocon is expecting another physically demanding race in Singapore despite the track reducing from twenty-three corners to nineteen after it was redesigned ahead of the 2023 event, and he hopes to be in a position to capitalise on any opportunity that presents itself in order to maximise his result.

“I enjoy going to Singapore and, although this track poses some unique challenges, I do feel comfortable driving there,” said Ocon.  “It is physically very demanding on the body, which of course all drivers prepare for, but I think driving around any city streets under the lights is always exhilarating.

“Unlike Monza, the Marina Bay circuit is a slower, twisty track, making it a very technical circuit for us drivers. Furthermore, we know that a street track like Singapore can present opportunities to do well and we will be looking to maximise these chances and aim to get back into the points come Sunday and make my birthday extra special!”

Over a year since his last NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, Danny Bohn will make his return at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, driving the #44 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Niece Motorsports.

A Modified veteran, Bohn has competed in the Truck Series sporadically since 2019. After running the second half of the 2020 season for On Point Motorsports, he committed to nearly the entire 2021 calendar as he entered all but two races and finished twenty-second in points with two top tens. He scored another top ten of eighth at the 2022 season opener in Daytona with Young’s Motorsports, and his most recent Truck start came later that year at Darlington where he finished twenty-second.

In the sixteen months since Darlington, he increased his focus on Modifieds, particularly at his home track Bowman Gray Stadium where he has won track championships. He won a track-sanctioned Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Division race there in August.

Bohn also has Xfinity Series experience, finishing nineteenth at Daytona in 2021 for Big Machine Racing Team.

His best Truck finish at Bristol is twenty-fourth in 2020. He placed runner-up there in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour in 2012.

Toto Wolff insists the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team maximised their result in the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took fifth and sixth, but it is important to show better performance this weekend in Singapore.

Mercedes were obviously the third fastest team at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza behind Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari, but they were still able to score some good points to consolidate their second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, says it was encouraging to have a good Italian race despite the track not suiting the W14, and it bodes well for the upcoming events that should see the team perform at a higher level.

“We maximised the result in Monza with the package we had,” said Wolff.  “That will be important across the rest of the season to secure second in the Constructors’.

“At a circuit that didn’t necessarily suit the characteristics of our car, we were still competitive. It’s encouraging to see that the W14 is performing well across a range of tracks. We’ve had some time to debrief an intense double header and we’re now heading into another one.”

Reigning Extreme E champion Sébastien Loeb will once again fill in for Nasser Al-Attiyah at ABT CUPRA XE for this weekend’s Island X Prix #2 in Sardinia.

Al-Attiyah missed the first Island X Prix in July as he was competing in the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas’ Italian Baja that weekend, and he turned to his World Rally-Raid Championship rival Loeb to take his place. Likewise, Al-Attiyah has other obligations for this upcoming weekend as he focuses on the Rally of Lebanon.

Having not having raced all season as he departed X44 at the end of 2022, Loeb returned to a more competitive playing field. After getting re-acclimated to the series, he and new team-mate Klara Andersson produced results by making the Grand Final in Race #1 followed by winning the Redemption Race the next day. Still, Loeb describes his return as looking to complete unfinished business.

“It’s great to be back in Sardinia with ABT and CUPRA for two more races,” said Loeb. “I’m really looking forward to meeting Klara and the team again, because I have very good memories of the last time.

“We didn’t get the results we expected and probably deserved, so we’ll do our best to do better this time.”

With the Baja 1000 on the horizon, the 2023 SCORE International season has reached the “qualifying race” stage in the form of the fourth Baja 400. The finishing results from the 400 are used to set the starting order for the 1000, meaning one must still perform well in the former if they want the early advantage for the latter in November.

The race takes place on Saturday, 16 September. The three Trophy Truck classes (the main TT, TT Legends, and TT Spec) will have qualifying two days prior on Thursday. All other categories conducted a random draw for starting order.

Bryce Menzies is the defending victor on four wheels while Juan Carlos Salvatierra is such on two.

The Course

The Baja 400 remains a loop as it has been since the inaugural edition, continuing to start and end in Ensenada. At 384.66 miles for pro classes (619.05 km), it is slightly shorter than the 2022 race. The Sportman categories have a shorter course at 372.24 miles (599.06 km) that bypasses Mike’s Sky Rancho.

The course runs in a clockwise direction along the west of Highway 3, with a lone physical checkpoint at the 222nd mile at Llano Colorado. Elevation changes include climbing the Cerro Blanco mountain, which tops out at 4,741 feet (1,445.05 m).

Despite leading the Portuguese Cross-Country Championship (CPTT) standings in the T8 class, Nuno Matos will switch to the T3 category for the rest of the season in a very unique vehicle. Although T3 is for Light Prototype side-by-side vehicles, he intends to enter the division with a heavily modified Volkswagen Amarok dubbed the Volkswagen Amarok PROTO.

The Amarok is a pickup truck whose rally raid experience is mainly in the T1 and T2 categories for prototype cars and production vehicles, respectively. It first appeared at the Dakar Rally in 2010 to drive Volkwagen Motorsport’s support crews before it even arrived in showrooms. In 2018, Hennie de Klerk was the highest finishing rookie at the Dakar Rally in an Amarok, which he continued to race in domestic events in his native South Africa before switching to a Toyota Hilux for 2023. Miguel Casaca currently pilots an Amarok in the CPTT’s T1 class.

Matos’ Amarok PROTO, fully developed in Portugal and has a factory engine from Volkswagen, will make its début at the Baja TT Sharish Gin on 22–24 September. The final two races, the Baja TT Oeste and Baja Portalgre 500, are respectively scheduled for 6–8 October and 27/28 October.

Prior to switching to T3, Matos had been atop the T8 standings in an Opel Mokka Proto. He won the Baja TT Norte de Portugal in May to take the points lead, which he will now surrender as he commits to his new class. Ricardo Claro will remain his co-driver.

“Naturally, it is with great regret that we leave behind the work we did to be at the front of the T8 category, but in truth this was a very interesting opportunity for us thinking about the future, and we had to grab it tooth and nail,” Matos commented. “The fight in the T8 category was getting to be very interesting and that’s why we know the title will be in good hands.