Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

“I’ve seen plenty of the hate, plenty of the can’t do it, can’t compete with the kids, can’t whatever.”

That was one of the first sentences out of the mouth of Graham Rahal after he clinched the pole for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His first since 2017 and the fourth of his career, this pole marks a big comeback for the Ohio native after he was the sole driver bumped during qualifying for the Indy 500 in May.

Backing up Rahal on the front row is RLL teammate Christian Lundgaard, down one spot from the GMR Grand Prix in May where he grabbed his first career pole. Fellow Rahal driver Jack Harvey completed an impressive outing for the Ohio-based outfit, missing out on the top five by just a few tenths by qualifying in eighth. Speaking on his team’s positive performance, Lundgaard said “Every time we come to this racetrack, we know we’ll be able to fight for a win. Now we’ve just given ourselves two chances.”

Arrow McLaren and Andretti Autosport showed out during qualifying as well, with Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward putting their papaya orange cars in third and fourth for the McLaren outfit, and Devlin DeFrancesco flying to a career-best qualifying spot in fifth, followed by Andretti teammate Romain Grosjean.

Championship leader Alex Palou is set to roll off in ninth on Saturday afternoon, his third-lowest (or highest, whatever way you look at it) qualifying position of the season. His closest rival, Josef Newgarden had a rough practice in the morning and arguably a worse qualifying session, condemning the two-time series champion to 19th.

Darlington Raceway, also known as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame," is a historic NASCAR track located in Darlington, South Carolina, USA. Here are some key facts and information about Darlington Raceway:

1. History: Darlington Raceway is one of the oldest and most iconic tracks in NASCAR. It opened in 1950 and is considered to be the first superspeedway built specifically for stock car racing.

2. Unique Layout: The track features a unique egg-shaped layout with different banking in its turns. The turns are narrower at one end of the track, leading to different challenges for drivers as they navigate the corners.

3. Surface: Darlington is known for its abrasive surface, which leads to high tire wear and places a premium on tire management. The worn-out surface provides less grip and makes handling more challenging for drivers.

4. Southern 500: One of the most prestigious races at Darlington is the Southern 500. This Labor Day weekend race is known for its long history and is often associated with throwback paint schemes that pay homage to racing's past.

As Tom Blomqvist joins Meyer Shank Racing as a full-time driver in the IndyCar Series in 2024, Helio Castroneves is scaling back his racing efforts with the team. In a press conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before qualifying for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix, the four-time Indy 500 winner announced that 2023 will be his final full-time season in IndyCar as his focus turns to the Indy 500 and the “Drive for 5” (his campaign to win a record-setting fifth Indianapolis 500). Team owners Mike Shank and Jim Meyer also introduced Castroneves as a minority stakeholder in the team, with the Brazilian joining Shank, Meyer, and Liberty Media Group as those holding stakes in MSR.

Although he won’t be running every IndyCar race moving forward, Castroneves made it clear that this announcement is anything but retirement. “…my line is open now to do other series.” said Castroneves, reiterating his love for competing. “I can do SRX, IMSA, NASCAR, Stockcar Brazil, whatever the lines ring.” The 48-year-old will be with the team throughout the 2024 season and future seasons as a team advisor/driver coach, much like his fellow countryman Tony Kanaan with Arrow McLaren. Castroneves made sure that his position would be respected, jokingly making Blomqvist refer to him as “Boss”.

We began talking with Helio, I don’t know, more than a couple months ago. We had a couple of great conversations about what Helio wanted, what we thought was really good for our sponsors, what’s great for Meyer Shank Racing.

Castroneves currently sits at 20th in the points standings, ahead of Agustin Canapino and one point behind Santino Ferrucci. The 20+-year series vet has a singular top 10 so far in 2023, with a best qualifying result of eighth for the second race of the Iowa doubleheader.

IMSA standout Tom Blomqvist will move over to the IndyCar Series in 2024 for Meyer Shank Racing on a multi-year deal, the team announced in a press conference in Indianapolis on Friday morning. The announcement confirms rumors dating back to last year that the Brit would make the move from sports cars to single-seaters while staying inside the MSR program.

Blomqvist is set to take the full-time spot of Helio Castroneves, who will move to an Indy 500-only schedule at the conclusion of the 2023 season. The four-time 500 winner is also set to join MSR’s ownership group with a minority stake in the team in addition to take on an advisory/driver coach role, similar to Tony Kanaan‘s role with Arrow McLaren. The Brazilian made it clear that he was not retiring during Friday’s press conference, explaining that this announcement makes it so that he can race in other series such as NASCAR and SRX.

The 2022 IMSA DPi champion made his IndyCar debut in July on the streets of Toronto in place of the injured Simon Pagenaud, qualifying 20th before getting caught in a Lap 1 pileup, ending his race. Blomqvist had his first IndyCar experience in a test with MSR at Sebring in October. Speaking on the move to the media, Blomqvist stated “I’ve been itching to make the step up to IndyCar and this is an opportunity I’m eager and motivated to make the most of. IndyCar is an incredibly competitive series and I’m under no illusions in how difficult this championship can be, but I am extremely motivated to make the most of this exciting new challenge.”

With one seat locked up at MSR for next season, there is another left unoccupied for now. The aforementioned Pagenaud’s seat in the #06 is still in the balance, as drivers like Blomqvist, Conor Daly, and Linus Lundqvist have filled in for the Frenchman since his incident at Mid-Ohio in July. Lundqvist is set to make his second IndyCar start on Saturday at Indianapolis.

Mike Krack has defended the performances of Lance Stroll during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, feeling that no one outside of the team knows the full story.

Stroll has failed to score a podium in the first twelve races of the season whereas his Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team team-mate Fernando Alonso has taken six, including a couple of second place finishes in Monaco and Canada. 

Alonso currently sits third in the Constructors’ Championship and Stroll ninth, with the gap between them one hundred and two points.

Stroll started the year on the back foot after suffering broken wrists in a pre-season cycling accident but took a remarkable sixth place in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix despite only driving the AMR23 for the first time in practice.

However, he has only scored a better result once, courtesy of a fourth-place finish in Australia, but Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, says the Canadian has not had the best of luck so far in 2023 and the championship standings do not tell the whole story.

Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner has hinted that the Red Bull Junior Team roster will be reduced at the end of the current season.

There are currently six drivers backed by Red Bull racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2023 – Dennis Hauger, Ayumu Iwasa, Jak Crawford, Isaak Hadjar, Enzo Fittipaldi and Zane Maloney, while Sebastian Montoya also has their support in FIA Formula 3. 

Outside of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship support paddocks, Liam Lawson remains a part of the programme racing in the Japanese-based Super Formula championship, while Red Bull also have a presence in Italian Formula 4 with Arvid Lindblad, the GB3 Championship with Souta Arao, F4 Spanish Championship with Enzo Deligny, and in karting with Enzo Tarnvanichkul.

Horner has praised the work the Junior Team programme, led by Dr. Helmut Marko, has done in bringing through a lot of drivers to Formula 1, but he believes the end of 2023 will see a number of its current members released, possibly surrounding some of its six Formula 2 racers.

“I think that look, I mean, things go in waves, it produced Sebastian Vettel, it’s produced Max Verstappen,” said Horner on the ESPN Podcast.

Andrea Stella believes the current aerodynamic regulations within the FIA Formula 1 World Championship have generally had a positive effect on racing, particularly around corners, but they have had a negative effect at low-downforce circuits.

The regulations were changed ahead of the 2022 season in a bid to help drivers follow others more closely through corners and offer more opportunities to overtake, and where this has helped at tracks such as the Hungaroring, those that require low downforce set-ups, such as the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium have not had the same benefits.

Stella, the Team Principal at the McLaren F1 Team, says the return to ground effect aerodynamics works at some circuits more than others, but he acknowledges something needs to be done in order to have the same effects at low-downforce circuits.

This is a problem he is foreseeing in the Italian Grand Prix at the beginning of September, with the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the circuit that requires the least amount of downforce of any other track on the calendar.

“I wouldn’t talk about limitations of the regulations,” Stella is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “I think what we have observed already last year with this new generation of cars is it’s definitely easier to follow in the corners.

Warren Johnson is a legendary figure in the world of drag racing, particularly in the Pro Stock category. Here are some key highlights and facts about Warren Johnson:

1. Early Life and Career Start: Warren Johnson was born on July 6, 1943, in Virginia, Minnesota. He began his racing career in the late 1960s, initially racing on local tracks.

2. Pro Stock Dominance: Johnson is often referred to as "The Professor of Pro Stock" due to his deep knowledge of engine tuning and chassis setup. He is considered one of the pioneers of Pro Stock drag racing.

3. Championships: Johnson's career is highlighted by six NHRA Pro Stock championships, which he won in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2001. His consistent success and attention to detail made him a formidable competitor.

4. Record-Setting Runs: Throughout his career, Johnson set numerous records in the Pro Stock category. He was known for his ability to extract maximum performance from his engines and vehicles.

Ignacio “Livingstone” Corcuera will return to the Dakar Classic for a third time in 2024, but has swapped the Toyota Land Cruiser for a Mercedes Unimog 424. While Dakar Classic vehicles typically have unique histories as they must be built prior to 2000, meaning they tend to be restorations of former Dakar Rally challengers, Corcuera’s Unimog has a background in public service.

The Unimog is based in Bilbao like Corcuera and his Equipo Euskadi 4×4 Dakar Team, where it served as a snowplow for the Province of Biscay. At the time Corcuera purchased the truck, a driving school had been using it to train fire brigades and firefighters.

Even under personal ownership, Corcuera continued the Unimog’s philanthropy by bringing supplies to Ukraine. He has made four trips there since the invasion began in 2022 with the most recent in February, and another round is set to take place in October once the truck is in race condition. His efforts are in partnership with Ukrania SOS and the Sociedad Geográfica La Exploradora’s (Exploradora Geographic Society) Eutsi Ukrania programme, both overseeing transport of humanitarian aid between Basque Country and Ukraine.

After Dakar, he hopes to bring the truck on a globetrotting journey akin to the book Around the World in 81 Days, written by the late journalist Manu Leguineche and based on Jules Verne’s work.

To get the truck race ready, his team had to reduce as much weight as possible, such as replacing firefighting components with rally-specific parts. The axles are also wider to allow for more stability under higher speeds than it was originally designed for. Other upgrades are to meet standard FIA safety regulations.

In his first season with the team and just his second as a full-time driver in the IndyCar Series, Kyle Kirkwood has emerged as the best out of the Andretti Autosport camp so far in 2023. The 24-year-old clinched his second win of the season yesterday at Nashville’s Music City Grand Prix, adding to his maiden IndyCar triumph on the streets of Long Beach back in April.

Sunday’s result pushed Kirkwood to ninth in the championship standings, five points clear of his closest teammate, Colton Herta, and well clear of the remaining Andretti drivers, Romain Grosjean and Devlin DeFrancesco, who sit at 13th and 22nd in the standings, respectively. With Kirkwood ahead of Herta in the standings with just four races left in the season, the Floridian could have taken the symbolic torch from Herta as the leader of the four Andretti drivers.

Perhaps that torch was passed in April, when Bryan Herta, Colton’s father and race strategist since 2021, moved over from his son’s #26 car to Kirkwood’s #27. While Colton owns the most wins of any Andretti driver since 2021, a team decision was made following the opening race of the season at St. Petersburg, breaking up the father-son duo whose working relationship was marred by frequent mid-race spats over the radio.

Speaking on the new pair’s working relationship after their win in Nashville., Kirkwood said “It’s clicked right from the start. We’ve done super well together. Bryan is a wealth of knowledge. I always trust.. him to call the best strategy, no matter what. I’ve never doubted him, not for one minute.”

As he serves his indefinite suspension, Noah Gragson has elected to split from Legacy Motor Club. Both parties stressed Thursday that he requested the release.

“I have asked Legacy Motor Club to release me from my contract so that I can take time to work through the NASCAR reinstatement process,” reads a statement from Gragson. “I love racing, and I am looking forward to a second chance to compete for wins at the highest level of NASCAR—and most importantly, make my family, my team and the fans proud of me once again.”

Gragson was suspended on Saturday after he was discovered to have liked an Instagram meme in May that mocked the murder of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked wide-scale protests that also extended into NASCAR. While Gragson subsequently apologised, he will still have to undergo the reinstatement system that includes sensitivity training and partaking in social programmes before he could be allowed to return.

Josh Berry replaced Gragson in the #42 car for Michigan, where he placed thirty-fourth due to a crash. Mike Rockenfeller will fill in for the next two races at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen.

“Noah has a ton of talent and has a great personality,” commented CEO Cal Wells III, who joined the team in late July. “This is a difficult situation, but we are proud that Noah has taken ownership of his actions and are confident he will work through this process with NASCAR and come back stronger.”

Otmar Szafnauer should have been given more time to succeed at the BWT Alpine F1 Team, according to current Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Pérez.

Szafnauer was sacked as Team Principal at Alpine ahead of the summer break, with the American being followed out of the door by Sporting Director Alan Permane. 

Szafnauer had only been in the role for just over eighteen months having left a similar role with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team, but the target of making Alpine competitive by 2026 was not quick enough for the management team, who believe success can come quicker than that.

Esteban Ocon had taken a podium finish in the Monaco Grand Prix in May, but results elsewhere had not been as strong, and it was only after the announcement of Szafnauer’s departure that Pierre Gasly was able to bring home a third-place finish in the Sprint race in Belgium.

Pérez, who raced under Szafnauer when he was Team Principal of the Racing Point Formula 1 Team that eventually became Aston Martin, says he should have been given more time to turn the fortunes of the Enstone-based team around as bringing success to a team does not happen overnight.

The IndyCar Series returns to the Hoosier State this weekend for the Gallagher Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s the series’ third race overall in Indy this season and it’s second on the road course. This weekend also marks the third year of the late July/early August tripleheader at IMS, with NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series action taking place Friday through Sunday.

Last Sunday on the streets of Nashville, Andretti Autosport‘s Kyle Kirkwood captured his second win of both the season and his career, besting the likes of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou in what was a relatively tame race in the Music City. Speaking of Palou, the Spaniard extended his championship lead over Josef Newgarden by four points, making the gap 84 between the two drivers. Scott Dixon, McLaughlin, and Marcus Ericsson trail the two frontrunners, sitting in third, fourth, and fifth respectively.

Will Power and Simon Pagenaud have owned the Road Course at Indianapolis since IndyCar started racing on it in 2014, with the former claiming foir victories at the track and the latter owning three. Pagenaud is set to miss his sixth consecutive race following a violent crash caused by a brake failure last month at Mid-Ohio, with Linus Lundqvist occupying the #60 seat for the second weekend in a row. One year ago, Alexander Rossi snapped a losing streak of over three years at IMS, his last before moving to Arrow McLaren over the offseason.

If you love racing, Indianapolis is the place to be this weekend. Read on for all you need to know about Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix.

Motorcycle safety gear is crucial for protecting yourself while riding, whether you're cruising on the open road or tackling off-road trails. Here's a list of essential motorcycle safety gear:

1. Helmet: A DOT-approved helmet is the most important piece of safety gear for motorcycle riders. It protects your head from impact and helps prevent serious head injuries.

2. Riding Jacket: A durable, abrasion-resistant riding jacket offers protection against wind, debris, and road rash in case of a fall. Look for jackets with armor inserts for added impact protection.

3. Riding Pants: Like the jacket, riding pants provide abrasion resistance and impact protection. Choose between textile or leather pants, and consider options with built-in knee and hip armor.

4. Gloves: Motorcycle gloves protect your hands from abrasions, impacts, and weather elements. They also provide a better grip on the handlebars.

The inclusivity committee of Spain’s automobile federation Real Federación Española de Automovilismo has extended an invitation to the Automobile Federation of Ukraine to bring a Ukrainian soldier wounded in action to the Rally TT Cuenca on 20/21 October and have them become a cross-country rally co-driver. The veteran and their driver will compete in the non-competition ParaBaja class, part of ParaBaja Step by Step to provide racing opportunities for people with reduced mobility.

ParaBaja Step by Step is scheduled to appear at six of the seven rounds on the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship, with the Rally TT Cuenca being the season finale. Participants are not classified alongside the CERTT or FIA Cross-Country Bajas competitors and are instead part of their own category. Due to the nature of the programme, it is not a racing-based class and finishers are celebrated regardless of performance.

Founded in 2014 to run the Baja España Aragón, it was nominated for the FIA President’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2022. The Baja Aragón in July, the latest CERTT race, had eleven ParaBaja teams for twenty-one individual racers: sixteen were in the eight cars while five comprised the trio of bike and quad entries.

“Participating in motorsport can be an effective way for people injured in war to find their way to recovery and return to a fulfilling life,” reads a statement from the FAU. “The presence of a Ukrainian soldier at the CERTT Championship will undoubtedly inspire others who face similar challenges. This will serve as a testimony to the indomitable spirit of people who are determined to overcome difficulties and fulfill their desires.”

It is estimated that over 130 thousand Ukrainian troops have been wounded in the year and a half since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country. Among cross-country rally drivers who have taken up arms in defence are Viacheslav Ponomarenko, who received the Hero of Ukraine for his service, and Master of Sport Igor Kalinovskaya, who passed away last week after serving since the war began in 2014.