Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Shane van Gisbergen is the top driver in the Supercars Championship today as the reigning champion, but he solidified his standing as one of the best racers in general on Sunday as he won the NASCAR Cup Series‘ inaugural Grant Park 220 on the streets of Chicago in his first ever stock car race.

Riding on newer tyres, Gisbergen consistently set the fastest lap times in the closing twenty laps before catching leader Justin Haley. Despite a late caution for Bubba Wallace and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.‘s crash that triggered overtime, Gisbergen cleared Haley after just two corners and pulled away for the walk-off win.

He is the first driver in NASCAR’s modern era to win in his Cup début and seventh all time at the top level after Jim Roper (1949, inaugural Cup race), Jack White (1949), Harold Kite (1950), Leon Sales (1950), Marvin Burke (1951), and Johnny Rutherford (1963). The Kiwi also joins fellow Supercar veteran Marcos Ambrose, Mario Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Earl Ross, and Trackhouse Racing team-mate Daniel Suárez as the six international-born Cup winners.

Trackhouse’s #91, operated as part of PROJECT91 to attract global racing stars to NASCAR, became the first part-time Cup vehicle to visit Victory Lane since Wood Brothers Racing‘s #21 won the 2011 Daytona 500 with Trevor Bayne. The number had also last won a Cup race in 1953 at Hickory courtesy of Tim Flock.

“This was so cool. This is what you dream of. Hopefully I can come and do more,” said Gisbergen. While his Supercars obligations keep him in Australia for 2024, the triple champion has been keen about committing to NASCAR on a more regular basis afterwards. “When we had that back strategy back to eighteenth, I started to worry a bit but had some full stands on some people and the racing was really good, everyone was respectful. It was tough but a lot of fun.

Pascal Thomasse is one of the Dakar Rally‘s early pioneers, making his début in 1983 and competing eighteen more times over the next forty years. Now in his seventies, he will make his twentieth start at Dakar in 2024 with MD Rallye Sport, driving an MD Optimus EVO 5.

Thomasse entered five Paris–Dakar Rallies during its youth in the 1980s, between which he starred in the French rally scene with a national championship in 1986.

After only running twice in the early 1990s and retiring from both, he did not return to Dakar until 2005 when he made the event an annual stop through 2015. His best finish came in the 2013 Rally of ninth overall. During this stretch, Thomasse won the 2009 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies title (the predecessor to the current World Rally-Raid Championship) for 2WD competitors.

Thomasse did another attempt in 2020 and finished thirty-first before taking a hiatus due to Mauritius’ COVID-19 travel restrictions. His longevity means he has competed at all three Dakar host locations, with the Paris–Dakar route between 1983 and 2007, South America from 2009 to 2015, and Saudi Arabia in 2020 and 2023.

The 2023 edition, forty years after his maiden Dakar, he returned in an Optimus EVO 4.5 for MD Rallye Sport with former Dakar bike rider Gérard Dubuy as his navigator. The duo placed nineteenth in the T1 category with a best stage finish of tenth in Stage #2.

Mother Nature must not be a fan of NASCAR competing on street circuits. After the final thirty laps of the Xfinity Series‘ The Loop 121 were postponed to Sunday due to lightning, severe flooding in the morning and tight scheduling with the Cup Series event have forced the sanctioning body to cut short the former despite not reaching halfway.

When a race is impacted by weather, NASCAR typically attempts to get as much racing in until it crosses the halfway point, and would postpone to the soonest possible day if the laps have not hit that mark. The Xfinity race had only completed 25 of 55 laps, meaning lap 27 would be the midpoint, prior to the delays and eventual cancellation of the remainder.

Cole Custer, who led all twenty-five laps from the pole, was declared the winner as the race leader. It is his second win of 2023, both coming on road courses after Portland in June.

Although it came due to extenuating circumstances, the race is the first in NASCAR’s national divisions without a lead change since the Xfinity Series’ fall Richmond round in 2014 when Kyle Busch never relinquished the top spot for all 250 laps. Joey Logano also led flag to flag at the series’ Bristol spring stop the following year, though he started second.

“With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the race track and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations,” reads a NASCAR statement. “Throughout the entire planning process for the Chicago Street Race, our relationship with the City of Chicago has been strong and among the most valuable assets in reaching this historic weekend. In the spirit of that partnership, returning on Monday for the completion of a NASCAR Xfinity Series event two laps short of halfway was an option we chose not to employ. Based on several unprecedented circumstances, NASCAR has made the decision to declare Cole Custer the winner of the race.”

Johan Kristoffersson further cements his status as a motorsports legend with every race weekend in the 2023 FIA World Rallycross Championship. The Swedish superstar romped to victory at his home event in Höljes, Sweden, in a spectacular return for the Magic Weekend. Hansen World RX Team have been reinvigorated by a p2 finish for Timmy Hansen, while Kristoffersson’s teammate, Ole Christian Veiby, rounded off the podium.

Kristoffersson really was the class of the field all weekend. His almighty unbeaten SuperPole run continues unabated, having overcome a small error to pip Veiby to the post. He never looked challenged on Saturday, taking both heat wins with ease. On Sunday, in trickier conditions, he managed almost frighteningly consistent times, setting practically identical times for both his heat races, and then for both semi-final and final.

Hansen overcame a difficult start to the season, finishing second behind Kristoffersson in both semi-final and final. His brother, Kevin Hansen, also demonstrated great pace, finishing second in heats 2, 3 and 4. He also won his semi-final but unfortunately was just pipped to the final podium spot by Veiby. However, the Hansen team will surely be very happy with the results from this weekend. They may now have the pace, in the right circumstances, to take the fight to the Kristoffersson Motorsport team in future events.

Timo Scheider, podium finisher at the last event in Hell, Norway, impressed again by getting his SEAT Ibiza into the final. Bearing in mind the SEAT is a 2022 model, once the new car comes in later in the year, he will surely be a contender for wins every time. Guerlain Chicherit continued the trend of a Special ONE Racing Lancia Delta Evo-e RX getting into the final. For all that he didn’t finish the race, the beautiful Lancia continues to be very rapid.

Less happy with today’s results will be the Construction Equipment Dealer Team. Niclas Grönholm, who had been working his way up, finishing third in Montalegre, then second in Hell, was surprisingly knocked out in his semi-final, as was his teammate Klara Andersson. Grönholm will feel that he could have gone quicker, having spent a large portion of Saturday stuck behind a very well-defending Timmy Hansen. Still, as always, it’s the final timesheet that counts, and it will show that Grönholm has taken a knock in the championship standings.

Max Verstappen dominated the Austrian Grand Prix to take his fifth consecutive victory for Oracle Red Bull Racing as he extends his Drivers’ Championship lead over Sergio Pérez, who returned to the podium with an excellent drive after starting fifteenth on the grid.

Charles Leclerc also returned to the podium for the first time this season for Scuderia Ferrari in second place, just over five seconds behind Verstappen, although the gap would’ve been higher if the Dutchman hadn’t stopped late on to secure the fastest lap.

What Happened in the Race?

Lap one was full of excitement, much like the Sprint Race on Saturday, this time it was the Ferraris that were challenging Verstappen for the lead. Although Verstappen got the better start, Leclerc was all over the Dutchman on the run into Turn Three but as ever Verstappen managed to keep his lead.

Before Verstappen was able to race into the lead though, the Safety Car was brought out. Yuki Tsunoda tapped the rear of Esteban Ocon and damaged his front wing before skating through the gravel at Turn Four, and the stewards were needed to clear up the debris.

Later, on lap fourteen, the Virtual Safety Car was brought in as Nico Hülkenberg had to retire due to a severe problem. While some drivers decided to make a pit stop including both Ferrari drivers, the race leader Verstappen chose to remain on the track. This strategic choice resulted in Sainz losing positions to Pérez, who also stayed out without pitting, as well as Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. Carlos Sainz Jr. expressed his frustration over team radio, as he had shown impressive speed behind Leclerc prior to the pit stop, but wasn’t allowed to challenge his teammate for the position.

David Tieppo competed at the final Desafío Ruta 40 before it entered a hiatus, but will not be able to take part in its return in August after suffering multiple fractures in a crash in early June.

Tieppo wrecked at the Rally Santafesino, resulting in a broken femur and left hand. He was hospitalised at Sanatorio Laprida in Rosario as a result, and revealed Saturday that he has already undergone eight treatment sessions.

“I’m only now accepting what happened to me,” Tieppo wrote in an Instagram Story on Friday. “I didn’t expect it and it leaves me out of @desafioruta40, apart from the feelings that bother me, not being able to work, train, play with the boys, etc.”

In 2015, he finished runner-up in the Campeonato Argentino de Rally y Navegación (CaNav) M1 championship by just two points to Elías Árabe. The following year, he ranked third in the M1 standings.

He also has Dakar Rally experience, making his début in 2014 but breaking his clavicle in a Stage #2 accident. Tieppo hoped to return in 2019 but ultimately did not despite completing the 2017 Desafío Ruta 40. The 2018 Ruta 40, the last before being revived for 2023, saw Tieppo take part in a T3 instead as the navigator for Nicolás Gogg, where they finished fifth in class and ninth overall among all cars.

When the Dakar Rally ran through his home country of Argentina, Gustavo Gallego was one of the top riders on quads with a podium in 2019. As the World Rally-Raid Championship heads to Argentina for the first time in August for the Desafío Ruta 40, Gallego will be there, albeit on a slightly different four-wheel vehicle as he will drive a Can-Am Maverick X3 for South Racing Can-Am. Grupo GRP will sponsor his entry.

As a former leg on the Dakar Series, the Desafío Ruta 40 was where Gallego earned his ticket to the 2017 Dakar Rally as a quad rider. He scored a runner-up in Stage #5 but failed to finish the rally. He returned to Dakar in 2018 as the reigning Argentine Cross-Country Rally champion, but broke his fibula in Stage #10.

His most recent Dakar in 2019 was his best. Despite not winning a stage, he notched five quad podium stage finishes and ran as high as second in the overall before settling for third in an Argentinian top three sweep. Incidentally, the winner Nicolás Cavigliasso has also since switched to racing side-by-side cars; while Gallego will be in T4, Cavigliasso will make his début in T3 at the Desafío Ruta 40.

In 2022, Gallego rented a Can-Am from GG Competición to compete in the South American Rally Race. Sergio Lafuente, also a quad rider turned T3 co-driver, worked alongside him for the effort. In a 2022 interview with La Nueva, Gallego explained the switch came for both for health and in response “to the fact that in recent years the influx of quads has dropped a lot whereas this not-so-innovative new category is becoming more and more attractive.

“They are very fun vehicles to drive, with a lot of suspension work. You have to take great care of it, because having so much power and being so light it is more prone to breaking. In these races, where you try to go deep and on such rough terrain, you have to be extremely careful.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series‘ inaugural race on a street circuit didn’t even make it halfway before lightning ruined everyone’s Saturday. After completing twenty-five of fifty-five laps, lightning strikes within the radius of the Chicago area forced the remainder of The Loop 121 to be pushed to Sunday at 10 AM Central Time.

While NASCAR can race street and road courses in the rain, a lightning strike automatically causes a thirty-minute delay. The strikes occurred within eight miles of the Chicago Lakefront on which the track is located, hampering track drying efforts.

Pole sitter Cole Custer led all twenty-five laps prior to the delay, with points leader John Hunter Nemechek in tow. At the back, Sheldon Creed worked his way up from last to eleventh; he was forced to start at the rear in a backup car after crashing while over-driving his car in qualifying despite already being the second fastest driver.

Andre Castro and Justin Marks are the lone retirements so far. Marks, running his first Xfinity race since 2018, suffered an engine failure after just three laps. Castro’s NASCAR début came to an end when he spun into the tyre barrier on lap 18.

Running order at delay

Factory backing is a major boon for any motorsport operation, especially if the manufacturer is fielding the team themselves. Ural Automotive Plant (UralAZ) is the latest company to throw their hat into the factory racing team ring, announcing Wednesday the creation of UralMotorSport.

The team will make their début at the Silk Way Rally, which begins on 5 July and runs through 15 July. Yury Nayman will serve as driver alongside navigator Dmitry Vikhrenko and mechanic Alexey Popov. Nayman mainly competes in Russia’s ice racing championship, while Vikhrenko is a multi-time rally raid champion in his home country of Belarus, earning the title of Master of Sport.

Their #311 truck uses a cab from an IVECO TurboTech with Ural NEXT badging. IVECO, an Italian truck manufacturer and 2023 winner of the Dakar Rally, had a partnership with UralAZ that lasted three decades before ending in 2022 amid the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As such, IVECO’s branding is replaced with the company’s heavy duty truck line Ural NEXT. The entry is one of eleven in the T5 category.

“We have serious plans to show our best efforts, to really test our strength,” said the team. “Our goal is to gain experience, and at the same time, to successfully cover the race distance, test the equipment, strengthen the team, and draw conclusions for the future. We thank the organisers for the opportunity to participate and hope for the support of our fellow participants.”

While the Silk Way Rally will be UralAZ’s first rally, the manufacturer has already enjoyed success in trial-based events. In November 2022, the team’s new Ural-43206 won the King of the Hill challenge, months after UralAZ provided support to KAMAZ-master’s Silk Way winning-effort.

Max Verstappen took a dominant win in a wet-to-dry Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Race today after a rather controversial opening lap with his teammate Sergio Pérez, which saw both drivers squabbling and squeezing each other for the lead.

Carlos Sainz Jr. took the final place on the podium, and further down the grid there was plenty of exciting racing action with some drivers choosing to pit and go onto slicks with the track drying up towards the end.

What Happened in the Sprint Race?

The opening lap saw some brilliant Formula 1 action. Verstappen started on pole position for the Sprint after a great performance earlier in the day in the Sprint shootout, but it was Pérez who got the better start off the line. Verstappen squeezed the Mexican on the run to turn one, but Pérez took the lead on the inside, there was a controversial moment on the exit on Turn One with Pérez seemingly pushing Verstappen onto the grass, which could have ended so much worse than it did, with both drivers coming away with no damage.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing duo continued to battle on the run to Turn Three, Verstappen sent it up the inside but went deep pushing Pérez off the track and into the run-off area. The Mexican rejoined the track and continued to battle Verstappen but the latter took the lead going into Turn Four and never looked back, going on to win the race.

The action at Turn Three saw plenty of overtakes behind the Red Bulls, Nico Hülkenberg managed to push his way through and battled with the two Red Bulls on the run to Turn Four later getting ahead of Pérez to move into second place. While Hülkenberg managed to gain from the conditions and action at Turn Three, Lando Norris lost out and fell all the down to tenth.

Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint, Charles Leclerc has received a three-place grid penalty, meaning he will start ninth on the grid.

Following the morning’s Sprint Shootout, the Ferrari driver was called by the FIA race stewards due to an alleged incident where he impeded McLaren F1 Team’s Oscar Piastri. After conducting a hearing, the stewards concluded that Leclerc was at fault, resulting in a three-place drop on the grid for the Monégasque driver. Consequently, Leclerc’s starting position shifted from sixth to ninth for the Sprint race.

Similar penalties were given a few weeks ago in the Canadian Grand Prix, with multiple drivers being given penalties for impeding and it appears the FIA have kept the same standards for the Austrian Grand Prix by handing Leclerc a penalty.

The stewards’ report on Leclerc’s penalty read: “The driver of Car 81 [Piastri] stated that as he approached Turn 9 he saw that Car 16 was travelling slowly and had to brake, reducing his speed by approximately 45 km/h over the previous push lap.

“This was verified by the Stewards referencing the telemetry of Car 81.

The Sprint Shootout in Austria, where Max Verstappen took pole position, offered plenty of excitement with shock exits and changing track conditions throughout the session. With only one hour of free practice before qualifying on Friday, we learnt a lot more as the teams prepare for the Sprint race later today and the traditional Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

Here are three talking points from Saturday’s Sprint Shootout action.

McLaren’s Upgrades Working Wonders for Norris

The weekend so far and especially the Saturday Sprint Shootout has seen Lando Norris showing exceptional pace around the Red Bull Ring, and it’s left many wondering how good the new McLaren F1 Team upgrades are.

The recent upgrades introduced by McLaren, including the floor, sidepod inlets, and bodywork, have promptly yielded positive results. However, it is important to note that the team’s success cannot be solely attributed to these modifications.

The McLaren team has historically fared well at this particular circuit, benefiting both the team and Norris. The presence of three DRS zones along the straights allows for a strategic compromise in terms of wing levels, which aligns with McLaren’s preferred type of circuit.

Max Verstappen took pole position in the Sprint shootout, which sets the grid for the Sprint race later today. Sergio Pérez bounced back from his Q2 exit in qualifying on Friday to put himself on the front row alongside his teammate.

Lando Norris once again put in an impressive performance around the Red Bull Ring and managed to secure a second-row start for McLaren F1 Team. The biggest story of the session though was a nightmare for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team with neither car starting in the top fourteen for the Sprint race.

Shootout 1 – Track Limits Sees Hamilton Eliminated

The first part of the Sprint Shootout saw constant running and excitement with the track drying up from rain earlier in the morning. As the track evolved, the drivers kept getting quicker and quicker, putting some big names at risk of a first-round exit.

Everyone expected Carlos Sainz Jr. to be eliminated after he had to pit with a brake issue, however excellent work from the Scuderia Ferrari saw him get one flying lap at the end of the session, and remarkably the Spaniard put his Ferrari top of the timesheets ahead of Verstappen.

The biggest story of the session was the exit of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, his best laptime was deleted due to track limits and his final run saw him caught up in traffic and impeded by Verstappen, meaning he will start on the second to last row of the grid for the Sprint race in eighteenth.

T1+ represents the best of the best when it comes to rally raid vehicles with upgraded 4×4 machinery like the twice reigning Dakar Rally victor Toyota GR DKR Hilux. Their success, however, makes the disparity between them and standard T1 cars rather glaring, so much so that the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship (CERTT) announced Friday plans to separate T1+ into their own category for 2024.

“During the last meeting of the Delegate Commission, one of the topics proposed within the point reserved for regulatory modifications was the inclusion of Group T1+ vehicles in the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship for the next season,” begins a statement from the championship. “In this way, and at the proposal of the Cross-Country Commission, said vehicles will have their own group, not being within the T1 group, and be eligible for the Spanish Cross-Country TT Car Rally Championship.

“The application of this regulation change will begin on 1 January 2024.”

Generally, T1+ is included as a subcategory of T1 for “Modified Cross-Country Cars” as labelled by the FIA. T1+ cars are usually bigger and faster than their T1 counterparts, the latter of which can be split into T1.1, T1.2, T1.3, and T1.4 with variations such as T1.2 permitting 4×2 drive and adhering to 2009 rules, T1.3 meeting SCORE International regulations, and T1.4 for expired homologation.

Examples of T1+ vehicles that have raced in CERTT in 2023 are the Toyota Hilux, Mini JCW Rally Plus, and Ford F-150 EVO, many of which ran the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura in April as non-CERTT entries since it was the opening round of the FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. Tiago Reis won that round among the European Cup competitors in a Hilux T1+.

Ken Schrader is the ninth driver to enter the 2023 Superstar Racing Experience championship fight, announcing his full-season entry on Friday.

“After being involved the last two seasons, it amazes me how competitive the series is, how nice the facilities we go to are, and how enthusiastic the large crowds are that come out for the SRX events,” said Schrader. “Thursday Night Thunder live on ESPN brings the sport back in time, and I’m glad to be part of it.”

Schrader has been involved with SRX even before the inaugural season in 2021 as the main test driver. He made his competition début in 2022 at I-55 Raceway, a track he co-owns with Ray Marler, as a guest driver. He won the first heat race and scored a podium in the feature by placing third.

I-55 is a one-third-mile dirt track, and Schrader has long competed in the discipline with success in the ARCA Menards Series’ dirt races and other late model events. His success also extends to pavement as a two-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner and one of forty-one drivers to score a win in all three NASCAR national divisions (Cup, Xfinity, Truck).

“This is an announcement that just feels right,” SRX CEO Don Hawk commented. “Having Ken in an SRX car full-time is an ode to short track and grassroots racing in America. Kenny will be a threat to win at every race track, both pavement and dirt, and we are so blessed to have his talent and commitment to SRX as we enter our third year. Kenny’s been here from day one of this series and he deserves the opportunity to race full-time as Thursday Night Thunder returns to ESPN.”