Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Mike Krack admitted third and fourth place at the Australian Grand Prix was a ‘brilliant reward’ for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team, with the Silverstone-based outfit now out on their own in second place in the Constructors’ Championship as a result.

Fernando Alonso secured his third consecutive top three finish on Sunday, while Lance Stroll was the first of those to benefit from a five-second time penalty for Carlos Sainz Jr. to inherit fourth place. 

Sainz’ penalty was as a result of contact with Alonso at turn one after a late race restart following a red flag that had initially seen the Spaniard fall down to eleventh place, only for red flags to fly once more and the running order return to the order as they were at lights out.  Stroll was also fortunate for the red flags, the Canadian having run off track at turn three to fall to twelfth.

Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, says it was a relief that the order was reset after the red flag as both drivers were able to resume their positions, with more relief that both Alonso and Stroll were able to survive the chaos without any damage that could have ended their races.

“What a race! There was just about everything you could imagine this afternoon so to come away with third and fourth places – and 27 points – is a brilliant reward for the team,” said Krack.  

Fernando Alonso secured his third consecutive third place finish in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, but his afternoon was not without drama, with a red flag saving him from falling out of the points altogether after contact with Carlos Sainz Jr.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team driver was in podium contention for much of the afternoon in Albert Park and was shadowing Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s Lewis Hamilton in the second half of the race.  Without a mistake coming from the seven-time World Champion, however, Alonso was forced to settle in behind him.

“It was a rollercoaster of emotions today with the red flags and incidents,” said Alonso. “It was probably my craziest race here in Melbourne but it’s great to come away with another podium.

“There were many things going on all afternoon and we had an interesting battle with Lewis [Hamilton] for second. The pace of the car was good and we kept up the pressure on Lewis, but he did a good job and didn’t really make any mistakes.”

However, a restart after a late red flag for an accident for Kevin Magnussen saw Alonso be spun out by his fellow Spaniard Sainz, and had the positions been retained after that incident, the two-time World Champion would have ended the day in eleventh. 

X Rally Team‘s swanky new ride will race in international competition for the first time in two weeks. On Tuesday, the Brazilian outfit announced they will début their Prodrive Hunter at the Sonora Rally in Mexico on 24–28 April, with brothers Cristian and Marcos Baumgart as the drivers of two cars. Team CEO Beco Andreotti will serve as Cristian’s co-driver, while Kleber Cinea is Marcos’.

“It’s the start of a new chapter for X Rally Team,” said Cristian Baumgart. “We wanted to take this step forward and we are taking it step by step. It will be a test of adapting to the car and the terrain, so everything will be new for us.”

The team purchased two Hunters in February while also setting up a shop in Évora, Portugal; one of the Hunters was driven by Sébastien Loeb to seven stage victories at the Dakar Rally the month prior. X Rally Team previously used the NWM Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux Overdrive T1, winning five Sertões Rally Championships in the process.

The Baumgarts will also race the Hunters in the Sertões Rally. Cristian is a four-time winner while Marcos has one and finished runner-up in 2022.

“It’s a different terrain than what we’re used to: desert, dunes, lots of sand,” Marcos commented. “The last time we competed in such a place was the 2019 Dakar, on a UTV. Together with that, we will debut the new cars. There is a lot to understand and analyze and being in this race goes precisely towards these objectives.”

Gymkhana GRiD will make its return this fall in the United States in honour of its late creator Ken Block. The revival was announced Monday as part of “Ken Block Day”, a celebration of his life as 3 April (April 3, or 4/3, in MDY format) can be read as Block’s trademark #43.

The event was founded in 2010 and ran through 2019 before being shuttered due to COVID-19. Consisting of all-wheel-drive and two-wheel-drive classes, it was a one-on-one format on a special obstacle-filled course that maximises drifting and showmanship. The original run attracted many names from multiple disciplines, with champions including twice victor Dmitrij Sribnyj (2012 and 2015 AWD), rally star Tanner Foust (2010 and 2013), Dakar Rally veteran Nani Roma (2013), twice World Rally Champion Petter Solberg (2016 and 2019), rallycross legend Johan Kristoffersson (2017 and 2018), and drifting ace Daigo Saito (2010 RWD).

Gymkhana GRiD was global in its original run, with the most recent edition in 2019 being held in Poland, though the revival will focus on its roots in America. The inaugural final was at Irwindale Speedway in California, which also hosted the 2013 final as part of the X Games.

Details such as a race format and locations were not immediately revealed.

According to a report from DirtFish, Brian Scotto and Ron Zaras are expeted to take part and are therefore the first known names for the revival. Both are close friends of Block and work for his Hoonigan Racing Division.

Constructors’ Championship leaders TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team have announced their full driver line-up for this month’s Formula E rookie test, which will take place a day after the Berlin E-Prix.

Berlin will host rounds seven and eight of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, as well as the first Formula E rookie test since 2020. Completing the test for Porsche will be twenty-two year-old Chinese driver Yifei Ye, who is set to compete in this season’s FIA World Endurance Championship in a customer Porsche 963 hybrid prototype. Ye is a former Renault F1 Junior driver who’s career now is spent almost entirely in sportscars, with his most recent appearance in a single-seater having been in 2020, when he won the Euroformula Open Championship.

Despite this, the young Chinese driver is very much looking forward to driving a Formula E car at the Tempelhof Street Circuit, with him being “very grateful” to Porsche for the opportunity.

“I’ve always wanted to drive a Formula E car and I’m grateful that Porsche is giving me that opportunity. For me, this is an interesting new challenge that I’m really excited to get stuck into. Beforehand, I’ll follow the races in Berlin closely from the pits and try to learn as much as possible from António and Pascal.

“That will definitely help me to familiarise myself with the Porsche 99X Electric as quickly as possible. With Porsche, I’m concentrating on the WEC for now. But I’m still young and can certainly imagine contesting Formula E races one day. Electric motorsport has a bright future.”

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Principal Toto Wolff feels that the Australian Grand Prix marked a significant step forward for the team, having shown great potential to keep up with the front-runners during qualifying and the race– ultimately securing second place with a great drive from Lewis Hamilton. 

“We had strong pace today and it was really close with the Aston Martins and the Ferraris. That is good news for us, and I think we have made a step forward this weekend, both on one-lap and race pace.”

Their efforts at Albert Park Circuit will also offer the team valuable knowledge regarding the direction they will take when it comes to development, Wolff adds. 

“We maximised what we have, and we need to now comb through the data and continue to learn about the car. This will help bring the upgrade packages and that will be the key in challenging the leaders more often.”

On the other side of the garage, Wolff said that George Russell lost a great opportunity to compete for the victory due to his power unit failure– He had started from the front row and took the lead off of Max Verstappen soon after the lights went out. 

Luke McMillin traded in #83 for #1 as the 2022 SCORE International champion, and kicked off 2023 on a high note when he won the San Felipe 250 for the second year in a row.

McMillin qualified fourth but he only needed less than a quarter of the race to take the lead as the manifold absolute pressure sensor broke on qualifying winner Toby Price‘s Trophy Truck, knocking him out of the race. McMillin’s cousin Dan McMillin was eliminated from contention just two miles in with a power steering pump failure, while his Baja 1000 team-mate Rob MacCahren broke an axle after thirty miles.

Other victims were claimed as close as the final ten miles like the Trophy Trucks of Kyle Jergensen, whose truck had its portal hub lock up, and Mikey Lawrence‘s broken rear axle. Christopher Polvoorde was the Trophy Truck Spec leader in the closing stages before running out of fuel, while Branden Sims led in Pro UTV Open until a mechanical failure resulted in a rollover.

In contrast, McMillin and Alan Ampudia stayed out of trouble with near flawless runs, the former winning by over seven minutes. Bryce Menzies, who battled six flat tyres, held off Andrew Meyers and Tavo Vildósola for the final Four-Wheeler podium spot. Vildósola’s truck lost power after reaching the finish, prompting Menzies to tow him onto the finish ramp.

Upon getting his issue repaired, MacCachren decided to link up with his son Cayden MacCachren, only for the latter’s studs to break two miles from the finish. When the elder MacCachren attempted to help, his Trophy Truck got stuck in the dirt and the two had to wait for outside assistance. Rob finished eighteenth in class.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s Lewis Hamilton earned the team their first podium of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship with a second place finish at the extraordinarily eventful Australian Grand Prix. 

Starting from third place on Sunday morning, his highest start of the season so far, Hamilton was able to secure second after making it through a race full of shock events, from his team-mate George Russell’s fiery power-unit failure to the major crashes at the restart after the day’s third red flag. 

After securing the “amazing” result, Hamilton said that he is excited to have been able to compete with the strong Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team from qualifying through to the race in spite of their being “down on performance” this year. 

“To get a podium today is amazing; I definitely didn’t expect to be second this weekend, so I am super grateful. Considering we’re down on performance, to be fighting with the Aston Martins is amazing for us at this point in the season.”

Hamilton is keen to continue the battle for results with the team, with hopes that they can come nearer to the season’s frontrunners. 

Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner was pleased with the team’s finish at the Australian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen giving the team their first win in Melbourne since 2011.

Verstappen took victory after starting from pole position but it wasn’t as easy as it might seem. The Dutchman lost out to both of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the first lap, and had to work his way back up to first place.

“It was a complicated race made up of three parts. The first start didn’t go our way but in the restart Max was able to hold position, battle Lewis for the lead and really control the race from there.”

The race was a chaotic one, with a number of red flags and Horner was critical of that labelling it frustrating but he was thankful it didn’t have an effect on Red Bull.

“While the marshals are always acting in the interest of safety, and driver safety is paramount, the restart at the end of the race was a little frustrating. Thankfully, it didn’t cost us anything, we had great pace with the car and Max was on great form.

Max Verstappen left Melbourne delighted after his first Australian Grand Prix win despite a chaotic race that saw three red flags.

Verstappen lost his place on the start, after starting in first place after an eventful Saturday qualifying. Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton overtook the Dutchman as Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team looked like they may be battling for their first race win of the season.

However, the former lost out under the red flag having already pitted and then later had to retire from the race with a mechanical issue. As for Hamilton, the seven-time world champion showed some good pace but was unable to keep Verstappen behind, who had incredible straight line speed with DRS.

“My start today wasn’t amazing and then on lap 1 I was very careful as there was a lot on the line, I had a lot to lose and a lot to win. But after that restart, we had good pace and a decent gap for the majority of the race.

“It’s my first win in Australia which feels really good, it’s also been a while for the Team so it means a lot to us all, especially as Checo also had a good recovery drive today. It’s been a chaotic day but it’s great to see that the fans had a great time despite the long wait!”

The MoneyGram Haas F1 Team protested the result of the Australian Grand Prix after the late race red flags, with the team claiming the positions at the final red flag should have stood rather than the positions at the restart.

Had Haas’ protest been successful, Nico Hülkenberg could have been in line for his maiden podium finish in the Formula 1 World Championship, the German having been running fourth on the road behind Carlos Sainz Jr., who would be handed a five-second time penalty for colliding with Fernando Alonso at turn one.

The likes of Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would also have benefitted had the order remained the same, with Alonso and Lance Stroll eleventh and twelfth.

However, after much deliberation post-race, the stewards believed there was no clear cut way of determining the true running order of the field, the red flags having come out before the first sector of the lap had been completed.

As a result, the order on the grid for the restart was used as the order for the final lap tour to the chequered flag, meaning Hülkenberg ended down in seventh, with Alonso and Stroll reclaiming their positions in third and fourth.

Since the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series added two dirt races in 2021, Jessica Friesen has entered both at Bristol Motor Speedway and Knoxville Raceway, driving the #62 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for Halmar Friesen Racing. This will continue in 2023 as she hopes to make Saturday’s Bristol Dirt Race with sponsorship from Aim Autism.

Her husband Stewart Friesen has been a Truck Series regular since 2016 and is coming off back-to-back sixth-place points finishes; five races into the 2023 season, he is currently thirteenth in points with a best finish of third at Texas on Saturday. The Friesens have competed against each other on dirt, though Stewart is mainly a modified car racer while Jessica mostly runs sprint cars.

Friesen will hope to turn her luck around at Bristol as she missed the 2021 and 2022 editions, the former due to the heat races being rained out while she finished eighth of nine in her heat at the latter. While she has yet to qualify at Bristol, she raced both editions at the other Truck dirt event at Knoxville, finishing twenty-sixth in 2021. The 2022 Knoxville race ended in bizarre fashion when Friesen hit a berm along the apron and did a barrel roll before landing on her wheels.

While Stewart’s #52 is the only full-time truck for HFR, the #62 has only been used on occasion since its introduction for Jessica in 2021. She, Todd Bodine, and Layne Riggs entered a combined eleven races in 2022 with two top tens and a best run of seventh at IRP with Riggs. Bristol will be the #62’s first race of 2023.

Kyle Larson claiming Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway was more than just him scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph of 2023 and twentieth of his career. As he led Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Josh Berry to the finish, team owner Rick Hendrick had another reasons to cherish the day as the 1–2 finish came on what would have been the forty-third birthday of his late son Ricky.

Ricky Hendrick raced in what is now the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series at the turn of the millennium before transitioning into an executive role at Hendrick Motorsports, helping oversee the team until his death in a plane crash in 2004. Larson’s blue/white livery, with which he has almost exclusively used since joining HMS in 2021, is directly based on the younger Hendrick’s car during his driving days.

“I think days like today makes you wonder what Ricky’s presence would do for us if he was here with us today and what his leadership,” said team vice chairman Jeff Gordon, whose former Xfinity team JG Motorsports employed Ricky as a driver. “He was so passionate about Hendrick Motorsports and racing, so it’s nice, days like today, when you do something special on his birthday. I was talking to Rick, and he was emotional and excited, and so his presence is still here.

“Certainly our folks try to do everything they can to make Rick Hendrick proud, but when you know what Ricky’s impact could have been on our company and the people and the #5 car and that paint scheme and what that means to the whole company, it’s very rewarding to know that we’re still kind of thinking of him and paying tribute to him as often as we can. Maybe he is looking down on us as well.”

It was a banner day for Hendrick as all four drivers led laps, with William Byron recording the most of the entire field of 117 including the Stage #1 win though a wreck with Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain twenty laps remaining knocked him out of contention. Larson took the top spot from Byron shortly before said accident and led the rest of the way on the ensuing restart with Berry in tow. The team’s fourth driver Alex Bowman started on the pole and finished eighth.

The NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series raced at different tracks on Saturday, but both had the same constant: a driver winning for the first time in their respective division.

At Richmond Raceway, Chandler Smith led a race-high 83 of 250 laps but faced stiff pressure from his former Truck team-mate John Hunter Nemechek. Smith kept Nemechek at bay on the final restart, which came shortly after a five-car wreck with ten laps remaining, to secure the win seven races into his Xfinity rookie season.

Smith is the second Xfinity rookie to win in 2023 after Sammy Smith at Phoenix three rounds prior. The former could have been the first the week before at Las Vegas when he won the pole and led the most laps but the win slipped away in the closing laps.

“This goes to testimony as to Vegas, dominated that race but didn’t win and said, it was all in God’s timing,” said Smith. “Here we are in Richmond, my favorite race track and we’re sitting in Victory Lane.”

Later in the day at Texas Motor Speedway, Carson Hocevar took advantage of a chaotic finish to visit Victory Lane for the first time. In contrast to Smith winning early into his Xfinity career, Hocevar had fallen short on multiple occasions before finally breaking through in his fifty-ninth career Truck start.

Max Verstappen took a dramatic victory at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in an action-packed race that saw multiple red flags throughout.

The Dutchman took pole position on Saturday ahead of George Russell and Hamilton, but he had to have his work cut out with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team pair getting ahead of him at the start of the race. The two-time World Champion had to work his way back to the front from third with a number of safety cars and red flags along the way.

Hamilton finished second and drove an impressive race after starting third, albeit he was helped by a cruel end to the grand prix for his team-mate, Russell, who got caught out by the first red flag after pitting early and then had a mechanical issue that saw his car set on fire.

Fernando Alonso rounded off the podium, despite losing a lot of positions after the final red flag restart. The FIA ruled that the race order would return to the one that restarted the race on lap fifty-six, meaning the Spaniard climbed back onto the podium from eleventh place after he was spun around on the restart.

Pointless Ferrari Left Stunned

The biggest loser of the weekend was the Scuderia Ferrari team, who came away from the Albert Park circuit pointless, a track that Charles Leclerc won at just last season. Leclerc, who started seventh after an out-of-character qualifying, was tagged by Lance Stroll on the opening lap sending the Ferrari driver into the gravel, meaning his race was over.