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Winning at the Monaco E-Prix eluded Mitch Evans for the third consecutive season on Saturday, with the Kiwi having been forced to settle for second-place behind Nick Cassidy once again.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver put in another exceptional display at the Circuit de Monaco, with the championship contender having looked quick right from the start of the day. He was the only driver in the top eight of the Drivers’ Championship to make the duels and ended up starting the race from sixth, giving him a great chance of another big result.

He quickly got himself amongst the leaders and actually found himself at the front briefly, before he was overtaken by Cassidy into Turn One. Unfortunately for Evans, he just didn’t quite have the time to make a move on Cassidy, with a last lap battle having been stripped from him due to a late Safety Car. The result means he’s finished second at the last two races in Monaco, whilst he finished third three years ago.

Given how special a Monaco win is for any driver, Evans was understandably “a little disappointed” to have come so close to the win yet again, only to fall short. Despite the mild disappointment, Evan’ second-place finish marked his third rostrum from the last four races, following his wins in São Paulo and Berlin. The Jaguar driver is certainly a real contender for the title now once again, with him having risen to fourth in the standings.

He sits twenty-seven points behind his fellow Kiwi who is the new leader of the championship, with Evans having been quick to give Cassidy “huge credit” for his second consecutive win.

Dylan Parsons will enter new territory for the 2023 Championship Off-Road season as he moves from the 1600 Single Buggy to Pro SPEC trucks. Parsons was one of the top drivers in his previous class, winning the 2021 title and finishing second in last year’s points battle, but expects the transition to bring its own challenges.

The Checkered Flag had the opportunity to speak with Parsons on Friday about the switch and plans for the year.

Making the Switch

The plan to graduate to trucks started to form even before the 2022 season started as he acquired a truck chassis, though he was initially skeptical of the idea. Besides buggies, he also had a side-by-side programme to run part-time in the Pro Stock SxS class.

“We had built a new side-by-side and I was racing Pro Stock, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know if I could do both,’ and it just was too much,” he recalled. “And then this chassis came up for sale and one of my buddies was like, ‘Hey, you should go buy that,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ Then I told Matt Gerald and then he’s like, ‘Go talk to Mike Vanden Heuvel.’ And so I went, I stopped over at the shop that night and he’s like, ‘Go buy it.’

“So we kind of had it planned all last summer and we really didn’t tell anyone, and then on the Champ Off-Road Podcast (in July), I said I’m building a Pro SPEC for next year.”

Nick Cassidy is the new leader of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship following a “special” performance at the Monaco E-Prix, with the Kiwi having once again timed his attack to absolute perfection.

Cassidy claimed a stunning win at the Circuit de Monaco on Saturday to take the lead of the championship by a handy twenty points, after Pascal Wehrlein endured a day to forget. The New Zealander actually suffered a disastrous start to the day in Monaco after failing to set a single hot lap across both free practice sessions, meaning he entered qualifying somewhat blind.

Despite this, the Envision Racing driver did well to salvage ninth on the grid, a position he knew he could win from. That is exactly what the twenty-eight year-old did, after timing his charge to the front sublimely, just like he did two weeks ago in Berlin. After making his way to the front, Cassidy simply managed his pace and energy to the point where he could remain in the lead from Mitch Evans, who couldn’t find a way past.

The Envision driver has seemingly figured out the trick to winning races this season, given he’s now won two in a row. To highlight his sensational recent form, Cassidy has finished on the rostrum in five of the last six races, a run of form which has seen him take control of the championship. It was delight for the team in general, with the Silverstone-based team having moved to the top of the Constructors’ Championship, by thirteen points.

Cassidy and Envision are certainly the power couple as things stand, with the driver having been left “lost for words” after winning the most famous race of them all.

Fernando Alonso was able to capitalise on Max Verstappen’s and Charles Leclerc’s misfortune in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, to secure his second front row start of the season. For Lance Stroll, the Canadian endured a qualifying session to forget as he failed to make it past Qualifying One for the first time in the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Verstappen’s mishap heading into turn eight caused the Dutchman to abandon his first run of Qualifying Three, opening a path in which Alonso was able to place down a strong lap time which placed him behind only Sergio Pérez.

Alonso, equipped with a new set of soft tyres, was improving on his original time but the untimely red flag, as a result of Leclerc’s incident, would deny the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team driver any chance of claiming his first pole since the 2012 German Grand Prix.

“It was a very good qualifying session. Things have been a bit up and down for the last few events – Baku was very difficult – but, over a regular weekend format, we’ve been able to experiment with a few different options on the car. We put it all together for qualifying – the car felt good. And there was still a lot more pace in the car because my Q3 lap was done on used Softs. On my second run, on fresh rubber, I was already a few tenths up – but then the yellow flags came out.“

The last time Alonso lined up on the front row of the grid at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he was joined by Pérez, who once again will be joining the Spaniard on the front row for Sunday’s race.

Race Two is complete at Brands Hatch as the 2023 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) continues with Ash Sutton joining Colin Turkington in sealing his first win of the season on Sunday.

Sutton kept Tom Ingram at bay for most of the race as he commanded the field after a superb diving move on the opening lap to get past Colin Turkington going into Druids.

Ingram was the next to pick off Turkington as he took the place on the run through Surtees to come from initially fifth place on the grid. The top three remained unchanged from there with Ingram unable to make the run at Sutton and instead banked second with points on the board.

The action came further back with Jake Hill and Dan Cammish fourth and fifth respectively ahead of Rory Butcher in sixth who anchored the trio of Toyota Corollas, with Sam Osborne who up to now has looked superb this weekend after his maiden podium last time out making one move too many making contact with Ricky Collard on the final corner.

It was Josh Cook who initially lost the place to Osborne who ended up the beneficiary, finishing ahead of Osborne, George Gamble, and Collard who came out of it worse off. Reverse grid-wise, number 11 was picked out meaning Bobby Thompson heads onto pole position alongside Tom Chilton who won the same race last time out at Donington Park.

Sérgio Perez claimed Oracle Red Bull Racing’s fourth pole position of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Miami Grand Prix. While for Max Verstappen, an error on his first run of Qualifying Three would prove to be a costly one as Charles Leclerc’s crash at the end of the session meant that the two-time world champion was unable to register a time. Forcing Verstappen to settle for a start on the fifth row of the grid in ninth place for Sunday’s race. 

Pérez had largely struggled to match the pace of his team-mate through the practice sessions but a late setup change prior to qualifying allowed the Mexican to feel more comfortable inside the cockpit of the RB19.

Despite feeling more comfortable with his setup come the time of qualifying, Pérez elaborated on how he still had to face the challenge of the freshly laid tarmac at the Miami International Autodrome, when putting together his pole lap.

“Overall, I was happy with today, we delivered when it mattered and under a lot of pressure. It was good. We had a difficult weekend up until qualifying it has been a struggle. The track was improving but this tarmac has only recently been laid and is really sensitive, it has made things a little tricky so I needed that second lap. I knew coming into Turn 3 that you cannot leave anything on the table and it was important to make sure it was a strong lap.”

Pérez’s pole lap would go unchallenged by the front runners after Leclerc forced a red flag in the closing stages of Q3, which left the stewards with no other choice but to not resume the session due to the limited amount of time left on the clock.

Team BMW‘s Colin Turkington is in business with his first win of the 2023 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season on Sunday morning at Brands Hatch.

Turkington had to complete the start twice, with Dan Cammish initially on pole but a 45-minute delay paid heed to initial progress as a four-car melee saw the race neutralized for 45 minutes.

As Stephen Jelley was stopped out on the circuit after going into the pit wall carrying Andrew Watson, Adam Morgan, and Dan Rowbottom with him.

All now have work to do to salvage their days, especially in the case of Jelley and Morgan, but while it was a disheartening start for one side of the garage. Turkington provided some joy as he again took the top spot from Cammish at the start.

Cammish again was the one to suffer on the restart in a truncated 18-lap affair, as he dropped to fourth behind Turkington, Hill, and Sutton in the end.

Kris Wright‘s spin set up a restart with thirty-six laps remaining, which Grant Enfinger capitalised upon in such an impressive manner that he led the rest of the way and beat Corey Heim by over four seconds to score his eighth career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory and first at Kansas Speedway.

Enfinger started eleventh but quietly worked towards the front, eventually finishing Stage #2 in second behind Ty Majeski. However, Majeski’s race came to a sudden end when he was trying to lap Rajah Caruth while pursuing Enfinger; Caruth placed multiple blocks on Majeski before being clipped by the latter and sent into the wall.

“We got back up front there with a little bit of strategy. Thought we may have made a wrong adjustment when we were racing the #24 there,” commented Majeski. “He was ultra aggressive blocking, so he blocked once, then twice, and I had a run and he was a little late.

“We weren’t very good the first run, missed our balance from practice a little bit, and we got a good adjustment and we had two-lap fresher tyres than everyone else, which made the truck better. It was a combination of both things, having a little bit fresher tires, but also making those adjustments. Overall, I think we had a good, capable truck to win tonight. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Caruth explained, “It was really close, and we had a long way to go. I was trying to cover the top, and he just kind of hooked me there. I didn’t double-move or anything. I picked the top there, and he just took me.”

In a thrilling end to Q3, Sergio Pérez claimed the pole position for the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. However, it was not without drama as Charles Leclerc’s late spin resulted in a red flag and Max Verstappen qualifying in ninth place.

Fernando Alonso will start alongside Pérez, with his fellow countryman Carlos Sainz Jr. starting third on an insane grid for Sunday’s race.

Q1 – Shock Exit for Stroll, Double McLaren Exit

The first qualifying session at the Miami International Autodrome didn’t disappoint, with so much drama and many drivers leaving it late to put in the lap times they needed to secure their place in Q2.

Logan Sargeant, who was born in Florida, will start last on the grid in Sunday’s main event after he couldn’t put a good enough lap together to get himself out of Q1 at his home race. There wasn’t just disappointment for Sargeant, McLaren F1 Team saw both drivers knocked out. Despite showing impressive pace on Friday, it was not good enough for either cars to get through. Oscar Piastri will start nineteenth on the grid, while his team-mate Lando Norris will start sixteenth.

The biggest shock in Q1 though, was Lance Stroll getting knocked out. The Canadian driver has been having an impressive season as has Aston Martin Armaco Cognizant F1 Team; however, the Canadian simply took the unnecessary risk of making it through Q1 on just one set of Soft tyres.

It was a real stop-start affair throughout Qualifying on Saturday afternoon at Brands Hatch around the Indy circuit, but what is not stopping is Dan Cammish‘s fine form with the NAPA Racing UK driver who leads the BTCC Drivers’ Championship claiming pole position.

Cammish left it late in a last-gasp lap during the Top Ten Showdown, with a potential Team BMW top two being ripped away in the final seconds as the top four cars were separated by just 0.070s until Cammish came along and sealed it by a quarter of a second.

This is ahead of Colin Turkington and Jake Hill with the former producing some stellar laps amid going off track multiple times. Cammish’s teammate, Ash Sutton sits fourth ahead of Rory Butcher.

Team HARD. Racing‘s Autobrite Direct with Millers Oil side of the garage had a superb day with Bobby Thompson and new recruit Dan Lloyd making the top ten showdown and Jack Butel sealing 13th in a career-best. Ronan Pearson too who had a podium snatched away last time continues to impress and also made the Showdown.

His teammate and current champion, Tom Ingram sat seventh ahead of Josh Cook who span at the end but still was involved after a poor weekend last time out.

Nick Cassidy is the new leader of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, after the New Zealander claimed victory at the iconic Monaco E-Prix, marking back-to-back wins for the Envision Racing driver. Joining Cassidy on the podium was Mitch Evans and Jake Dennis, who were robbed of the chance to fight for the win on the final lap.

Cassidy Goes on the Charge

With Sacha Fenestraz‘s time from the Final having been deleted for an overuse of power, it was Jake Hughes who led the all-rookie front row, with both drivers targeting their first podium in the Formula E. Could either driver go even further and claim their maiden Formula E win at the Circuit de Monaco or would the title favourites work their way to the front?

As the lights went out for the ninth round of the season, it was Hughes and Fenestraz who got away the cleanest, with the pair having remained first and second on the run up to Massenet. Norman Nato also remained in third on the opening lap, meaning Nissan maintained their powertrain 1-2-3. For the championship contenders, Evans found himself in sixth with Cassidy and Dennis in eighth and ninth, whilst standings leader Pascal Wehrlein was all the way down in thirteenth.

The man on the move, though, was Oliver Rowland, who extraordinarily made up seven places on the opening lap, before becoming the first driver to activate their Attack Mode. The Mahindra Racing driver found himself in ninth after activating his Attack Mode, with him having been sixth before taking it. An early yellow flag was briefly needed after André Lotterer pulled into an escape road to retire from the race, as a result of damage to the front of his car after crashing at the final corner.

Back at the front and the pace was visibly being managed in a bid to preserve energy, something which bunched the field up. Cassidy was busy making the most of the bunched field, with the Kiwi having overtaken two cars at once on Lap Five around the outside of the Grand Hotel hairpin, to promote himself to sixth. Two laps later and the Berlin Race Two winner was suddenly in third, after overtaking Dan Ticktum and Nato at consecutive corners.

Following an investigation into Sacha Fenestraz‘s pole lap at the Monaco E-Prix, it has officially been confirmed that the Frenchman’s time will be deleted, due to an overuse of power. It means that fellow rookie Jake Hughes will start the ninth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship from pole position, due to having been beaten in the Final.

Hughes actually failed to set a lap in the final against Fenestraz, after the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team driver locked-up and cut across the Nouvelle Chicane. Fenestraz’s lap was ultimately deleted by the stewards, though, after he was found to have experienced a “power usage over regulatory limit of 350kW”. The Frenchman will therefore start from second for this afternoon’s race at the Circuit de Monaco, with a Nissan powertrain front row remaining the same.

The Japanese manufacturer will actually have one of their cars in the top three spots on the grid, after Norman Nato qualified third. The penalty means that Hughes has now claimed two pole positions in his maiden Formula E campaign, whilst Fenestraz remains on just the one.

Both rookies will face a huge amount of pressure during the race to remain amongst the podium places, with several championship contenders coming from the mid-pack.

Rookie Sacha Fenestraz claimed pole position for the Monaco E-Prix, following a sublime qualifying performance in the ninth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. It will be an all-rookie front row for Saturday’s race, as Jake Hughes was defeated by Fenestraz in the Final. It was a session to remember for Nissan, with their powetrains having secured a 1-2-3. Elsewhere, it was a messy qualifying for several championship contenders.

Group A

Kicking-off qualifying at the iconic Circuit de Monaco was all the drivers currently occupying an odd position in the Drivers’ Championship, meaning championship leader Pascal Wehrlein was joined by two-time Formula E Champion Jean-Éric Vergne, São Paulo and Berlin winner Mitch Evans, Sam Bird, René Rast, reigning World Champion and last season’s Monaco winner Stoffel Vandoorne, André Lotterer, Norman Nato, Dan Ticktum, Fenestraz and Berlin Race Two polesitter Robin Frijns.

As the opening group got underway, Evans, Vergne, and Vandoorne were arguably three of the favourites to make it into the top four places necessary to progress to the duels, having shown good pace in the two Free Practice sessions. As the twelve drivers completed their out-laps, there was an ominous rain cloud looming over the circuit, something which threatened to throw up some challenging conditions.

Following the the first real push laps, Evans topped the group from Vergne, Vandoorne and Bird; however, both DS Penske drivers were under investigation for a technical infringement. With three minutes remaining, Lotterer and Wehrlein demoted Vandoorne and Bird out of the top four, leaving the duo with work to do. It quickly became clear, though, that faster times were possible, as Nato, Fenestraz and Ticktum moved into the top four, demoting Vergne, Lotterer and Wehrlein.

It meant the final push laps would determine the top four of what was a frantic session, with several drivers having posted strong sector times. As the chequered flag was flown it was a shock Nissan Formula E team 1-2, as Nato topped the group from Fenestraz, Ticktum and Evans, who claimed the top four spots. It meant Wehrlein was once again eliminated in the group stage of qualifying, with the German set to start from eleventh. It was announced after the group that all of Vergne’s and Vandoorne’s lap times had been deleted for the technical infringement, to the disappointment of DS Penske.

Two years after his last NASCAR Cup Series race, Ryan Newman will make his return at Darlington Raceway on 14 April, driving for Rick Ware Racing. He will run multiple races for the team, though a specific schedule was not immediately revealed.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Rick Ware Racing and Ford,” said Newman. “I think this will be good for all of us with our combined experience and knowledge.

“Being part of the Throwback Weekend at one of my favorite tracks in Darlington is pretty special. After recently being named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers, it carries even some significance.”

Newman’s last Cup action was in 2021 when he finished twenty-eighth in points for Roush Fenway Racing before his seat was taken by Brad Keselowski, who purchased a stake in the team and rebranded it to RFK Racing. Since his departure, he returned to his roots in dirt track racing while also running the Superstar Racing Experience, a series founded and operated by his former employer Tony Stewart, and was second in the championship with a win at Stafford. He will once again race in SRX in 2023.

He was named one of the seventy-five greatest drivers in NASCAR’s history by the sanctioning body in recognition of his accolades including eighteen Cup wins, the 2008 Daytona 500, 2002 All-Star Race, a 2014 Cup championship runner-up finish, and being one of forty-one drivers to have won in all three national series. Newman has also won in the ARCA Menards Series, International Race of Champions, and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Nicknamed “Rocket Man”, he has fifty-one poles in his Cup career, once again making him the active leader for the most in the series and ranking him ninth all time.

Maserati MSG Racing‘s home weekend has started in sublime fashion, after Maximilian Günther topped Free Practice 2 at the Monaco E-Prix just an hour ahead of qualifying. Elsewhere, there were concerns for the top two in the Drivers’ Championship, with Pascal Wehrlein having finished the session in fourteenth with Nick Cassidy in twenty-first.

Just an hour following the conclusion of Free Practice 1 and it was already time for Free Practice 2, highlighting how jam-packed the schedule was at the Circuit de Monaco for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Unlike in the opening session of the day, the sun had fully risen for the start of Free Practice 2, with the weather having been glorious.

With qualifying following the session, all the drivers were quick to get out onto the legendary circuit, most notably all four Porsche-powered cars after they lost significant time in Free Practice 1 to diagnose a software issue. Mitch Evans topped the first practice session after posting a 1:30.361, with the likelihood being that the Kiwi’s time would be comfortably beaten due to the warmer track conditions.

It was Evans who topped the second practice session following the opening ten minutes; however, his leading time was still four-tenths slower than what he managed early in the morning. As the session hit its halfway point, though, the fastest lap from the opening practice was finally beaten, as Sébastian Buemi went to the top before rookie Sacha Fenestraz posted a 1:29.788.

Apart from Fenestraz and Buemi’s fastest laps, the opening twenty minutes of Free Practice 2 were somewhat sluggish, with it appearing that the sides were focusing on energy management for this afternoon’s race. Buemi improved on his best lap with eleven minutes remaining in the session after setting a solid 1:29.679, putting him a tenth clear of Fenestraz.