Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The World Rally-Raid Championship heads to the Americas for the first time on 23–28 April for the Sonora Rally in Mexico. The provisional entry list features 116 total teams, 62 of whom are eligible to receive W2RC points (28 FIA, 34 FIM) while the remaining are domestic racers in the “National” classes (12 cars, 42 bikes) not competing for a title.

Yazeed Al-Rajhi will hope to go back-to-back after winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, while fellow T1 drivers Sébastien Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah duke it out for the points lead. Al-Attiyah looks to be the favourite as the reigning champion and Dakar Rally winner, and had been dominating the ADDC before crashing out; the latter, couple with Loeb’s stage wins at Dakar, give him the sixteen-point lead entering Sonora. Eugenio Amos will make his W2RC début for Overdrive Racing, as will brothers Cristian and Marcos Baumgart for X Rally Team. Each party is bringing two of the top T1+ vehicles in rally raid, with Amos in a Toyota Hilux while the Baumgarts unveil their new Prodrive Hunters.

Red Bulls still make up the bulk of the T3 entries and will be at full strength with the return of Francisco López Contardo, who missed Abu Dhabi to focus on raising his newborn. South Racing, Red Bull’s technical partner, brings back David Zille after he raced at Dakar and Mattias Ekström, who is racing for the W2RC in T3 after doing Dakar in T1 for Audi.

In T4, Rebecca Busi has joined FN Speed Team after running Dakar for HRT but missing Abu Dhabi due to logistical troubles.

The top three in RallyGP are separated by just eight points as Toby Price—almost three weeks removed from running the San Felipe 250 in neighbouring Baja California—hopes to keep ADDC winner Adrien Van Beveren at bay. However, third-placed Kevin Benavides arrives with a renewed vigour after missing Abu Dhabi due to a broken femur in testing days before the race. Reigning champion Sam Sunderland and his GasGas team-mate Daniel Sanders return now that they have recovered from injuries that sidelined them at Abu Dhabi. With the healed trio’s entries, every RallyGP regular is in the field. Tosha Schareina is also entered, now a Honda rider after departing KTM earlier in the week.

The Stewards of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix have received a letter from Nikolas Tombazis, Single-seater Director of the FIA, attaching a petition by Competitor Scuderia Ferrari dated 6th April 2023 under Article 14 of the FIA International Sporting Code (“Petition”), seeking a review of the Stewards decision n°46 made within the framework of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix and requesting that the Stewards:

“consider such request and to make a determination whether or not a significant and relevant new element exists (Article 14.3 of the Code) in relation to the decision/incident”.

The Stewards, after having extensively considered the matter, including examining the annexures to the Petition and the available telemetry, summoned and heard the team representative(s) namely Laurent Mekies, Fred Vasseur and Carlos Sainz (Document no. 58) and determine the following:

Decision

There is no significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned. The Petition is therefore dismissed.

Reason

Our decision that SAI was in breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 d) of the FIA International Sporting Code for causing the collision with ALO was made in-race (Document no. 46). We decided that SAI was wholly to blame for the collision.

Carlos Sainz Jr. still believes that the penalty handed out to him for clashing with Fernando Alonso at turn one on the lap fifty-seven restart in the Australian Grand Prix is ‘disproportionate’, and he feels the FIA should have given Scuderia Ferrari the opportunity to fight it.

Sainz spun his countryman around at the opening turn after a late restart at Albert Park, with chaos then ensuing behind them. The two BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers collided at the exit of the turn, while Nyck de Vries, Logan Sargeant and Sergio Pérez, amongst others, getting caught up in incidents.

Stewards in Australia put the blame for the incident firmly on Sainz, with a five-second time penalty relegating him from fourth on the road to twelfth at the chequered flag, meaning he missed out on the top ten.

Sainz was extremely vocal about the penalty in Australia, and Ferrari opted to put in a ‘right of review’ post-race, believing they had enough information to overturn the penalty.  However, after a hearing on Tuesday, the FIA threw out the review and confirmed the result.

The Spaniard will turn his focus now to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April but remains certain that the penalty was unjustified, and decision making within the FIA Formula 1 World Championship needs to be made clearer and more consistent going forward.

Maserati MSG Racing Team Principal James Rossiter has shared that everyone at the Monte-Carlo-based team “is in good spirits”, despite another point-less race in São Paulo.

Being the fastest team in pre-season has seemingly been a bad omen for Maserati, who have seriously struggled for consistency in the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Maserati were unfortunate to leave Brazil without any points, with Maximilian Günther having finished eleventh, whilst Edoardo Mortara retired after being hit.

Whilst they weren’t rewarded with any points, Maserati can take some confidence into this weekend’s Berlin E-Prix double-header, with the side having shown strong pace in Brazil. As well as that, Günther and Mortara are both previous Berlin winners, with Mortara having won the race for Maserati (known last year as ROKIT Venturi) last season.

Maserati’s previous success in Berlin means they enter this weekend knowing they’ve got what it takes to claim a strong result, something which they desperately need to elevate them from tenth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Rossiter is “confident” that is his side can achieve a big result in Berlin, with the team having enjoyed a “positive preparation period” ahead of the double-header.

The FIA have rejected the right of review request from Scuderia Ferrari surrounding the penalty handed to Carlos Sainz Jr. during the Australian Grand Prix despite the Italian team believing they had a case to have the penalty overturned.

Sainz was handed a five-second time penalty for colliding with Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team’s Fernando Alonso on the chaotic lap fifty-seven restart at Albert Park, which began a chain reaction behind him.  The race was red-flagged due to crashed cars and a lot of debris covering the track and the order taken back to the restart, but stewards opted to penalise Sainz.

The race resumed for one lap to the chequered flag with Sainz running in fourth, but the time penalty relegated him to twelfth and outside of the points-paying positions.

Ferrari believed they had a case to have the penalty overturned and presented their case on Tuesday, only for the FIA to throw out the request, feeling there was no significant new information given to them by the Maranello-based team. 

“There is no significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the parties seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned,” read the FIA statement.  “The Petition is therefore dismissed.

Maximilian Günther heads into his home E-Prix this weekend targeting his first points of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, after enduring a disappointing start to the Gen3 era.

Günther heads into the Berlin E-Prix in desperate need of points, with the German being one of only a few drivers yet to finish in the top ten. He came close to scoring points in São Paulo after finishing eleventh; however, he certainly had the pace to end his point-less run. Regardless of that, Günther will have the added boost of a home crowd this weekend in Berlin, something he’ll get a double helpful of due to it being a double-header.

On the whole, Günther’s record at the Tempelhof Street Circuit is pretty poor, with the exception of his home victory in Season Five. He’ll be hoping to replicate his magical performance from one of the six races that took place in Berlin in Season Five, at the venue which “holds a very special place in my heart”.

“As my home race, Berlin holds a very special place in my heart, and I’m excited to race in front of my home crowd. I had the honour of winning here in 2020, and while it’s one of the proudest moments of my career, it was during the pandemic, without fans in the grandstands. We’re expecting a big crowd this weekend, so I can’t wait to go out there and perform a great weekend together with the team.“

“I’m expecting the field to be very closely grouped” – Edoardo Mortara

On the other side of the Maserati MSG Racing garage, Edoardo Mortara is also targeting a stronger weekend, after retiring in São Paulo. Mortara endured considerable bad luck in Brazil, with the Swiss driver having damaged his front wing on the opening-lap, before being taken out by Nico Mueller mid-race.

Mike Krack says Fernando Alonso has brought a lot of ‘positiveness’ to the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team since his arrival at the Silverstone-based team ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Alonso made the surprise move from the BWT Alpine F1 Team to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin and has started the year with three consecutive podium finishes, which sees him also sit third in the Drivers’ Championship behind only the two Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers.

Aston Martin also sit second in the Constructors’ Championship thanks to his performances, and Team Principal Krack says Alonso has led by example since his arrival and has given everyone a lot of motivation.

“I think it was a confirmation basically, of where he’s standing in the team,” Krack is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “He brought a lot of energy, a lot of positiveness when he arrived.

“He is leading by example at all times. He’s there very early, he’s working really hard, and it is this lead by example that everybody just sees and grabs on and gives an extra level of motivation.

Mahindra Racing CEO Frederic Bertrand is hopeful that the team’s hard work since the São Paulo E-Prix will help “the drivers feel more comfortable”, with the side targeting points at this weekend’s Berlin E-Prix double-header.

Since Lucas di Grassi‘s podium at the season-opener in Mexico City, the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship has been massively disappointing for Mahindra. They enter this weekend in Berlin on the back of a point-less race in São Paulo and seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, highlighting that they have work to do.

Mahindra have only scored points in two out of six races so far this year; however, with both Di Grassi and Oliver Rowland having won at the Tempelhof Street Circuit, Mahindra can perhaps be optimistic of a better weekend in Germany. The side are targeting points in Berlin having made some “improvements” during the recent break, with Bertrand aware that his side must “aim higher”.

“Our aim in Berlin is to be firmly within the points. Our race results in Sao Paulo were not what we expected to come away with, so we need to aim higher and improve as a team to not make the mistakes that we did in Brazil. We have been working very hard in the factory since the last race to make some improvements to the cars, so the drivers feel more comfortable.

“We are hoping that the double header in Berlin is as positive as the weekend in Brazil began. That’s where we need to be as a team.”

Lucas Di Grassi heads into this weekend’s Berlin E-Prix knowing that perfection will be needed for Mahindra Racing to score points, with the Indian manufacturer having endured a challenging round in São Paulo.

Di Grassi’s home E-Prix certainly didn’t go to plan, with the Brazilian having started last after clipping the wall during qualifying, damaging his car in the process. He did well to recover to thirteenth in the race; however, he wasn’t able to score points in front of his adoring fans. At least this weekend Di Grassi will have two chances to score points, with Berlin being the second double-header of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The Tempelhof Street Circuit has been a very strong venue for Di Grassi in the past, with the former Formula E Champion having claimed two wins at the circuit. He views it as a “Formula E classic” and is hoping that the team can “secure the best result possible”, but that to do so they’ll need to “work harder than ever”.

“Berlin is a Formula E classic and I’m looking forward to returning to the track. I’ve won there many times before but as a team, we will need to get everything right to score points. We don’t give up and we will work harder than ever to secure the best result possible.”

“I won my first race in Berlin” – Oliver Rowland

Oliver Rowland is also targeting a better weekend in Berlin than he had in São Paulo, after the Briton started nineteenth and could only manage sixteenth in the race. Rowland’s season has certainly started poorly, with only one points finish from the opening six races.

Esteban Ocon has full belief that his BWT Alpine F1 Team can contend at the front of the field much like the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team, and if he didn’t, he says there would be ‘no point in racing’.

Aston Martin made a big jump in performance ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season and currently sit second in the Constructors’ Championship after the first three races of the season, three races where Fernando Alonso has finished on the podium.

Alpine, on the other hand, have only scored eight points in the opening three events, four apiece for Ocon and his new team-mate Pierre Gasly, with the duo colliding and crashing out of the Australian Grand Prix at the beginning of the month.

Ocon says that Alpine’s engineers should have the same kind of belief that they can make a big leap forward after seeing what Aston Martin have done, and they should give up in they lose that belief.

“We have to in our mind think it is possible, otherwise there’s no point racing,” Ocon is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “If you think about it, we finished the season in December and when we restarted it was end of February, beginning of March. So it’s about three, four months.

NIO 333 Racing have confirmed that former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat will complete Monday’s Formula E Rookie Test for the Chinese team, with reigning WTCR Champion Mikel Azcona alongside him.

Kvyat’s appearance Monday’s Rookie Test at the Tempelhof Street Circuit will be his first time driving a single-seater since he was dropped by Scuderia AlphaTauri at the end of the 2020 season. Most recently Kvyat has been gaining experience racing in NASCAR and in the World Endurance Championship, a series he is competing in this season.

The Russian driver – who’s since obtained an Italian racing licence – is competing in the LMP2 class this year for Prema Racing, with the former Oracle Red Bull Racing driver having already claimed a podium at Sebring. Kvyat is “really excited” to drive a Gen3 car next week and is clearly a fan of the all-electric series, with him noting that the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is “very competitive”.

“I’m really excited to be trying the Formula E car for the first time ever and with NIO 333 Racing,” said Kvyat, as per fiaformulae.com. “I think Formula E has proved for many years to be a very competitive, high-level championship, with very interesting environmental goals as well.

“The racing is very fast, and very competitive. The team has also been making a lot of progress, especially this year, and has room to grow and fight for even stronger positions in the future. It’ll be interesting to see what we can do together at this test.”

With the first Formula E Rookie Test since 2020 taking place in Berlin next Monday, Jaguar TCS Racing have announced who’ll be representing the Coventry-based team at the Tempelhof Street Circuit.

Taking part in the test a day after the eighth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will be Jaguar I-PACE e-TROPHY Champion Simon Evans and reigning DTM Champion Sheldon van der Linde, both of which are brothers of two drivers to have featured this season.

Evans is the brother of current Jaguar driver Mitch Evans, who claimed victory at the most recent round in São Paulo. Evans won the I-PACE trophy back in 2020, with him having competed in the Toyota Finance 86 Championship ever since. Evans is actually being used in the Rookie Test as part of his reward for having won the Jaguar I-PACE trophy in 2020, a title he claimed in Berlin funnily enough.

He’s “incredibly excited” for the test and is looking forward to having “some great memories” resurface, with Berlin holding a special place in his heart.

“I’m incredibly excited to be taking part in the official rookie test for Jaguar TCS Racing. The Jaguar family has always meant a lot to me, and I’m really looking forward to this opportunity. It’s the first time I will have been back to Berlin since I won the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY at the Tempelhof circuit.

Jason White will run his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race in two years as he enters Saturday’s Talladega Superspeedway event in the #13 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports. He will be sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings.

“Southern Wings is proud to join MBM again this year,” said Tim Spencer, COO of Buffalo Wild Wings parent Southern Wings Inc. “Having the two closest Buffalo Wild Wings locations closest to Talladega in Oxford and Pell City, it is the perfect opportunity to get our brand in front of some incredible race fans and team up with the MBM team for a fun and successful weekend.”

White ran the four superspeedway races at Daytona and Talladega in 2021 for RSS Racing and MBM, scoring a tenth in the Daytona season opener for the former team in what was his first Xfinity start since 2014. He suffered a suspension failure in his lone race in the #13 at the first Talladega race before moving to MBM’s #66 for the next two races, finishing fifteenth and crashing out in twenty-eighth.

He signed with TRICON Garage to race the 2023 Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona, where he finished fifteenth after nine years away from the series. Interestingly, the race featured a second Jason White who raced for Reaume Brothers Racing, and RBR had previously partnered with RSS to field this Jason White’s 2021 Daytona 1 car.

MBM’s #13 entered the Daytona race with Timmy Hill but failed to qualify. It went silent since as the team mainly focuses on the #66, whose carousel of drivers has struggled to start the year. Dexter Stacey, who missed the show at Daytona, will return to the #66 for Talladega.

After only doing one-offs, Ryan Beat will run multiple Stadium Super Trucks rounds in 2023. Following last weekend’s season-opening Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his next planned start will be the Music City Grand Prix on 4–6 April.

Beat finished sixth in Race #1 at Long Beach; despite running in the top three early on, he drifted into the turn seven tyre barrier shortly before the competition caution. He failed to finish Race #2 after an engine failure.

“Had a good time here in Long Beach. I learned a lot this weekend, my third weekend total ever doing SST so obviously still on the learning curve but had a good time,” said Beat in a post-race Instagram Story. “Unfortunately, today, Day Two, we had a motor expire on, started going on like the third lap. I tried to kind of keep it going, I was hoping it would clean up or something—I don’t know, just as a racer, I always have that hope to be able to keep racing but kept going. Unfortunately, motor expired on fourth lap or so, fifth lap and ended our day.

“But what can I say, what a what a fun time. Kudos to Robby Gordon and Stadium Super Trucks for putting on such an awesome event here at Long Beach Grand Prix.”

Bilstein Shocks, who sponsors Beat’s Championship Off-Road Pro 2 truck, appeared on his #51 stadium truck at Long Beach. For Nashville, his truck will be adorned with ZYN Nicotine Pouches branding (and the mandatory health warning labels that come with the product) once again after the company sponsored his SST return at the 2022 edition.

Ardit Kurtaj earned a ticket to the Dakar Rally when he completed the Rallye du Maroc in 2022, which he will redeem in 2024 in what will be his first time competing in the legendary rally. Of course, there was a year in between those two races, which he will use to further hone his repertoire.

He finished seventieth overall in Rally2 at the 2022 Rallye du Maroc, racing a Husqvarna bike for HT Rally Raid, to secure his Dakar eligibility. The event is a leg on the Road to Dakar, a programme intended to reward riders with no prior Dakar Rally experience with free admission.

Since Kurtaj did not win the RtD, he will have to cover the expenses of taking part on his own, which can run over €124 thousand for Husqvarna. In his interview with The Checkered Flag prior to the 2023 Dakar Rally, Rally2 rider Ace Nilson explained such costs include race registration, renting a bike and crew, medical and food, and fees for travel and lodging.

While intending to pay a chunk himself, Kurtaj launched a fundraiser to help cover costs.

He will take part in the upcoming Sonora Rally on 23–28 April in the Rally3 class, racing the #36 KTM. Coincidentally, his bike will be co-prepared by Nilson’s High Desert Adventures and DUUST.CO.