Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Circuit of the Americas has become a playground for Front Row Motorsports, who remains the only team to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race there since the inaugural event in 2021. Despite the best efforts of Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain, Zane Smith won the road race for the second year in a row.

Chastain and Busch had qualified on the front row while Smith was further back in seventh. While a rather clean race due to a lack of stage cautions (a new caveat for road courses in 2023) and just two yellow flags, the second was a prime opportunity for Smith to seize the lead for himself after watching the Cup drivers trade it among themselves.

The second caution came for Parker Kligerman‘s truck suffering an electrical failure on lap 28, coincidentally when Stage #2 would have ended had stage breaks remained. Smith took the lead for the ensuing restart whereas Busch and Chastain were shuffled to the back. Thanks to their experience, with Busch having won the Xfinity Series race at COTA in 2021 while Chastain claimed the Cup event last year, the two eventually rejoined the top five. By that point, however, Smith was already cruising to victory and beat Busch by 5.4 seconds.

After winning, Smith did a burnout against the COTA pit wall, during which his truck caught fire before it was put out. It is his second victory of 2023 after the season opener at Daytona.

“It was definitely nerve-racking there, but I knew once [Kyle] was in that traffic, I needed to somewhat charge there but have enough at the end of the run,” Smith explained. “While he was trying to get through traffic, I was just trying to put down lap times and get a gap going. Fortunately, we worked up to about six-and-a-half seconds. I knew I was going to have to make a big mistake for him to get into striking distance. He is so strong under braking, and COTA is just all massive braking zones. That was my biggest worry, but I always enjoy racing him and it was fun this weekend racing with Ross. I’ve learned so much racing those guys, so hopefully in the near future, I can race with them every weekend.”

Mitch Evans finally kick-started his 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with a stunning victory at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, in a race which had absolutely everything, including, heartbreak for a title contender and a Jaguar powertrain 1-2-3.

Vandoorne Holds Lead in Hectic Start

As the lights went out, it was polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne who reacted best and led into the opening corner, whilst behind it was absolute carnage. Norman Nato drove straight into the back of Jake Hughes and suffered huge amounts of damage to his front wing, resulting in an instant retirement for the Frenchman. Edoardo Mortara was also forced to pit at the end of the opening lap after he too broke his front wing, as did André Lotterer. It was certainly a chaotic opening lap, with championship leader Pascal Wehrlein having made up seven places from eighteenth.

The third lap saw further carnage at the tight Turn Five as Sébastian Buemi went into the back of Maximilian Günther, making him the third driver to enter the pits for a new front wing. Vandoorne cooly led the way, though, whilst behind Sam Bird had worked his way from tenth to fifth. The race leader became the first driver to blink on Lap Five and activate his first Attack Mode, elevating António Félix da Costa into the lead. The Portuguese driver quickly lost the lead back to Vandoorne on Lap Seven following a dive down the inside of Turn One, putting the Belgian into an excellent position.

After a hectic start to the race, the first Safety Car was suddenly summoned on Lap Eight, after rookie Sacha Fenestraz grinded to a halt on the exit of Turn Six. It meant both Nissan Formula E Team drivers’ had retired within the opening ten laps, marking a disappointing day for the Japanese manufacturer. Elsewhere, Wehrlein and Jake Dennis ran tenth and eleventh, whilst at the front Vandoorne led from Evans and Nick Cassidy, with Da Costa having slipped to fourth.

Agony For Dennis as Lead Changes

The Safety Car finally pulled back into the pits at the end of Lap Eleven, with Vandoorne having excellently restarted the race. There was action behind as Da Costa moved back into third after a great move on Cassidy, with the Cape Town winner having then overtaken Evans for second at the opening corner of the very next lap. Cassidy was clearly keen to follow Da Costa, with the New Zealander having overtaken Evans for third moments after Da Costa made his move.

Jaap Bolk plans to take his second stab at the Dakar Classic while achieving an environmentally friendly milestone. He recently acquired a Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution that he will modify for the 2024 edition to, as he wrote on social media, “reach the finish co2 neutral.”

Bolk is not shy about his push for alternative energy solutions, competing in the Nederlands Kampioenschap Autocross (Netherlands Autocross Championship) with an Audi A1 that runs on eighty-five percent bioethanol fuel, also known as E85. He made his Dakar début in 2023 with a Pajero Evolution, which competed in the main Dakar Rally from 1983 to 2007 and won the overall a record twelve times; Bolk’s car was built in 1997 and a former Dakar Classic competitor. Although he had hoped to add biofuel capability to the Pajero, he received permission from race organiser Amaury Sport Organisation too late to begin installation and had to push that plan to 2024.

With Marcel van Wort as co-driver, Bolk finished forty-fourth overall among eighty finishers and third in the H3 subcategory for vehicles with higher average speed. Bolk was often among the first in H3 to start a stage, which is a natural disadvantage as early starters have to “pave” the route which those after them could follow (hence. Despite occasional errors and mechanical snags like needing to replace the rear shocks ahead of the final stage, Bolk remained on the H3 podium as the category’s higher speeds are difficult to consistently maintain on such a technical route. He was one of three Pajero Evo competitors alongside Stefano Moro, who finished thirtieth overall and thirteenth in H2, and Herman van Oldenmark, who retired after seven stages.

He had hoped to build an electric off-road vehicle for the rally but opted for biofuel as a more affordable option and one that he is already familiar with thanks to his autocross career. Bolk purchased his Pajero 3.5 V6 MIVEC from Kaeve Cars, who put it up for sale in September.

Interest in “greener” fuel sources has grown in both consumer and racing circles, and rally raid is no exception with Dakar competitors like the electric Audi RS Q e-tron E2, GCK Motorsport’s upcoming hydrogen-based e-Blast H2, and the hydrogen/diesel-powered KH-7 Epsilon truck. In contrast to these, Bolk argues bioethanol is a more practical option especially for smaller teams hoping to make the switch due to its compatibility with combustion engines and easier storage and maintenance. Bolk’s prior experience with it also allowed his team to address concerns like lower energy density than diesel and petrol, the risk of corrosion, and poorer performance in cold weather.

Reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne claimed a sensational pole position at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, with the Belgian starting in the best position for the sixth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, whilst he’ll be joined by on the front row by António Félix da Costa, for what looks set to be an incredibly exciting race.

Group A

Kicking-off qualifying in São Paulo were all the drivers holding an odd position in the Drivers’ Championship, meaning current championship leader Pascal Wehrlein was joined by double Formula E Champion Jean-Éric Vergne, Nick Cassidy, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team duo René Rast and Jake Hughes, André Lotterer, reigning World Champion Vandoorne, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Oliver Rowland, Edoardo Mortara and Nico Mueller.

Following every drivers initial run it was the DS Penske duo of Vergne and Vandoorne who sat at the top, with Wehrlein and Rast having been in third and fourth. The session was then stopped, though, with six minutes remaining after Sette Câmara came to a halt on-track. He was then able to return to the pits. When the session resumed a few minutes later there was a flurry of action, as the drivers quickly got back out onto the track, including, Sette Câmara.

There were improvements across the board as the opening group entered its final two minutes, as Cassidy and Mueller both moved into the top four, at the expense of Wehrlein and Rast. Mortara then jumped into fourth ahead of Mueller as the session moved into the final thirty-seconds; however, he was almost immediately demoted outside the top four by Hughes.

Mortara had yet more time in him, though, as he moved back into the top four, demoting Vergne out. Vandoorne made a further improvement to top the group from Cassidy, whilst Mortara and Hughes held onto third and fourth. It meant Wehrlein and Vergne were eliminated, with the championship leader set to start the race from fifteenth.

Mike Krack believes the performance of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend confirmed that the team have the potential to be competitive on any kind of track during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Fernando Alonso secured his second consecutive top three finish at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to add to his third place from the Bahrain Grand Prix, whilst Lance Stroll was on course for another strong result before a mechanical problem ended his day.

Krack says the performance shown by Aston Martin at the Bahrain International Circuit and at Jeddah proves the AMR23 is a strong car, and although not underestimating the competitors, he believes the team could be able to challenge for more podiums this season.

“I think this weekend confirmed,” Krack is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “I think we need to be careful with such conclusions.

“We have two data samples, from two completely different tracks. And in these two tracks, we were competitive, but there are some others. And we must also not underestimate it, because it’s a relative game, it could also be that one of the competitors has had issues that we are not aware of, and that could remix the order.

Otmar Szafnauer believes the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix highlighted the positives and the areas that the BWT Alpine F1 Team need to improve on as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly delivered a double-points finish for the Enstone-based team.

Ocon ended the race eighth for this first top ten finish of the season, with Gasly following home ninth to maintain his one hundred per cent scoring record since joining Alpine ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Szafnauer, the Team Principal at Alpine, feels the team made progress with the A523 in between the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekends, but there is still pace to come from the car, with upgrades coming in the not to distant future aimed at helping the team close the gap to the four teams currently ahead of them.

“Today’s race highlighted many things: areas where we know there are positives and other areas where we need to improve,” said Szafnauer.  “Finishing with Esteban in eighth and Pierre in ninth was probably the best we could achieve today and we’re making steps in the right direction towards our targets.

“We’re not where we want to be right now, that is clear, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us if we’re to take the fight further up the grid. We’ve reeled in some of the teams who were in front of us in the championship last year and we must continue to chip away at that gap and close it.

Esteban Ocon secured his first points finish of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season with an eighth-place finish in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the Frenchman believing that it was the best possible outcome for the BWT Alpine F1 Team at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

After a penalty filled Bahrain Grand Prix, Ocon was able to show more of his and the A523’s potential in Saudi Arabia, and he was a genuine top ten contender throughout the fifty-lap race.

Ocon feels there is a lot of potential within the car that they have yet to unlock, and with their ambitions to fight higher up the grid, it will be important to learn more about the car quickly if they are to drag themselves into the battle for the podium places.

“Overall, I would say it’s been a reasonable race for the team,” said Ocon. “The final result reflects our performance in the race and eighth place is the maximum we could have achieved today.

“Having both cars in the points is definitely positive, especially after Bahrain, but we must not be completely satisfied with where we are at the moment. Our car has potential and we will continue learning and building to catch up to our competitors.

Cape Town E-Prix winner António Félix da Costa made the perfect start to Saturday at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, as the Portuguese driver topped Free Practice Two at the sixth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

As Saturday’s only free practice session got underway, it was Jake Hughes who led the field out, with all the drivers being very aware that qualifying takes place in just over an hour. Sébastian Buemi was the pacesetter during Free Practice One Friday afternoon, with the Swiss driver having set a 1:12.341, a time which will likely be beaten as rubber continues to be laid down.

The drivers were met by stunning sunshine Saturday morning, with the air temperature having been twenty-three degrees by 07:30 am. No stunning times were set in the opening five minutes of the session as all the drivers settled into the session, with René Rast having sat on top of the leaderboard but over 1.3 seconds behind Buemi’s time from Friday. Both Envision Racing drivers’ were the first to get within a second of Friday’s best time, suggesting that they’re a side to watch come qualifying.

Envision’s Nick Cassidy remained at the top as the session moved into its final twenty minutes; however, reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne suddenly became the first driver to break into the 1:12s, after setting a 1:12.611, just three-tenths behind Buemi’s time from Friday. Speaking of Buemi, the Swiss driver then hit the top with a 1:12.544, as the times continued to get closer to Friday’s best lap. With eighteen minutes remaining, Buemi’s fastest time from weekend was smashed by Brazilian Lucas di Grassi, who set a 1:12.203, the best lap of the weekend so far.

The home hero remained at the top as the session moved into its second half, with the Mahindra Racing driver having boasted an advantage of over three-tenths. Buemi is clearly loving the São Paulo Street Circuit, as the former Formula E Champion went back to the top on a 1:12.073, hinting that the first 1:11 of the weekend wasn’t too far away. It certainly wasn’t far away, as Norman Nato broke into the 1:11s after setting a stellar 1:11.763, launching him to the top of the leaderboard with twelve minutes remaining.

The Martelli Brothers announced Friday the creation of Unlimited Off-Road Racing, which will be a three-race series of major desert races in the United States under their wing. It will begin in 2024 with the Parker 400 in January, followed by the Mint 400 in March and California 300 in October.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be announcing this new league and championship points series,” commented Matt Martelli. “The Parker 400 is one of the oldest and most historic races in our sport and we’re excited to have that become part of our calendar as we take yet another massive step forward in our league’s development. We’re preparing to take the same assets and marketing power that we have used to make the Mint 400 the biggest spectacle in the sport, and apply that to our entire league. Racers, partners, and fans can expect us to deliver the best experience, media coverage and value in the industry as we continue to grow and expand our offering. That includes industry-leading production from our team at Mad Media, livestream team, and events group.”

The project is an expansion of the Unlimited Off-Road Racing Triple Crown Championship, which débuted in 2023 for Unlimited Trucks, Unlimited Truck SPEC, and Classes 10 and 11. The Triple Crown also has the Mint 400 and California 300 as legs, but began with King of the Hammers overseen by Hammerking Productions. Adam Householder currently leads the Triple Crown standings after winning his class at KOH and the Mint.

The Parker 400 began in 1971 and has been overseen by the likes of SCORE International and SNORE; it ran in the vicinity of the Parker Dam along the Arizona/California border, hence its original name of “Dam 500”. The Legacy Racing Association will also race at Parker a month after the 400, restoring two races to the area after Best In The Desert’s Parker 250 and Parker 425 were axed from the 2023 calendar due to land disputes; ironically, BITD replaced the lost dates with KOH.

Founded in 1968, the Mint 400 in Nevada has long been regarded as one of the top off-road races in the U.S. The Martellis took over race sanctioning in 2011 and later partnered with BITD for a decade. Eric Hardin won the Unlimited race earlier this month.

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur was disappointed with the outcome of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where the team struggled to find the pace to challenge competitors ahead for a stronger haul of points. 

“Overall, we can’t be satisfied with today’s result. We did not have the pace we were expecting from our car, especially on the Hard tyre. There was also a big gap in our performance level between qualifying and the race.”

Ferrari found themselves behind the likes of Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, with Carlos Sainz crossing the line in sixth place, dropping down from a starting position of fourth, and Charles Leclerc finishing just behind in seventh. 

Though displeased with their finishing position, Vasseur pointed out that there were some highlights amid the team’s effort in Jeddah, including Leclerc’s swift recovery from his grid penalty, which saw him improve well into the points from down in twelfth. 

As well, the team boss noted strategy as another strong element of the Scuderia’s race, though the mid-race safety car diminished some of its return.

Race day at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix proved to be a difficult campaign for Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who finished in sixth place, dropping back two positions from his grid slot of fourth. 

Sainz said that the team’s lack of race pace was unexpected, with previous sessions and a relatively strong qualifying indicating otherwise. Paired with the unfortunate timing of the safety car that was brought out to retrieve Lance Stroll’s car, Sainz would not be able to improve from sixth by the checkered flag. 

“It was a tough Sunday. Going into the race and looking at the sessions over the weekend, we were expecting a better race pace.”

In spite of the underwhelming result at the second round, Sainz remains optimistic about the team’s ability to move forward and make the adjustments necessary to improve SF-23’s competitive pace. 

“We have work to do and we know the car is not where we want it to be at the moment. However, we will keep pushing and I am fully confident we can improve the situation.”

Former Formula E Champion Sébastian Buemi made the perfect start to this weekend’s inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, as the Envision Racing driver set the fastest time in the opening session of the weekend.

After a four week break, the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is finally back this weekend with the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, the third consecutive new host city this season. The circuit looked stunning during Free Practice One as the sun beamed against the bumpy track. The venue will likely be one of the fastest on the calendar, with the circuit boasting two long straights. It’s also expected to be the hottest of the season, with track temperatures expected to reach sixty-degrees celsius.

As the first session of the weekend got underway, it was René Rast who led the field out onto the circuit which included the returning Robin Frijns, who hasn’t raced since the season-opener in Mexico City. Mahindra Racing and the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team are also back this weekend, after addressing their rear suspension concerns. To no surprise the times tumbled at the start of the session, with championship leader Pascal Wehrlein having sat top after the opening five minutes on a 1:14.883.

Traffic was a big problem at the start of the session as all the drivers tried to learn the circuit, with many having conducted two push laps followed by a cooldown lap. Reigning World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne was one driver who was clearly pushing, with the Belgian having crashed into a barrier at the opening corner, breaking his front wing in the process. He was able to reverse out of the barrier before returning to the pits.

After ten minutes it was Wehrlein’s team-mate António Félix da Costa who moved to the top of the timesheets by breaking into the high 1:13s, with the Cape Town E-Prix winner targeting another strong weekend. He was quickly displaced by Jake Hughes and Mitch Evans, who both enjoyed a strong start to the session. Hughes remained at the top on a 1:13.816 as FP1 moved into its second half, with the majority of the field having turned their attention to data gathering rather than one-lap pace.

Two months after completing his first Dakar Rally, Iader Giraldi is already training for the next. The Italian rider finished fifty-fifth overall in the Rally2 class in his Dakar début in January, and he is eager to return to the race in 2024.

Celestini Moto, a motorcycle dealership specialising in KTM and GasGas bikes, will sponsor his effort.

“The beauty of this sport is that every training day, even the furthest from the next race, is a day full of celebration and joy,” wrote Giraldi. “As soon as I got on, I threw myself onto the track with the usual moderate fear: the fear of having forgotten everything. Instead, after two bends and three jumps I was already in the special. Crazy how now the eye is used to the speed and the gas no longer fears channels and mounds of sand.

“Last time I lapped here I had six seconds more per lap. The Dakar was excellent training: we started with a different rhythm.”

Giraldi became eligible for the 2022 Dakar Rally via the Road to Dakar at the 2021 Andalucía Rally, but had to wait a year as race organisers felt he needed more experience. In addition to racing the World Rally-Raid Championship legs, he spent 2022 developing a programme called Dealing with the Unexpected to document his physical and mental training for Dakar. Giraldi stressed the importance of mindfulness and inner body stress management to deal with the grueling conditions of the rally.

Toto Wolff felt the performance from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend proves the team are heading in the right direction, even though they could not manage a podium finish.

George Russell finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with both the Oracle Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team’s ahead of them.  However, they were able to beat both Scuderia Ferrari drivers on merit.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, reckons they could have shown a little more pace than they did had they not forced both drivers to manage their tyres as much as they did, but on the back of a poor showing in Bahrain, it was a much better weekend for the German team.

“I think we saw some performance gains to Bahrain which is encouraging,” said Wolff.  “It shows us that the development trajectory is going in the right direction.

“I think both of our drivers under our guidance probably over-managed their tyres a bit, and we had a little more pace. Bahrain is still in our heads, and we could have maybe pushed more.

James “Jim” Pearson was among a five-man team at the 2023 Dakar Rally hoping to be the first Americans to complete the race in the Malle Moto class for riders without any outside assistance. While his effort came up short this year, he is keen to try it again.

“With a first participation at the Dakar, Jim almost made it all the way,” posted OCD Custom Cycles & Auto Repair LLC, a motorcycle repair shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Tuesday. “Bike troubles kept him from crossing the finish line at stage 11 from 14. Jim said ‘I will be back in 2024!’

Pearson and his brother David formally made their Dakar débuts in 2023 alongside American Rally Originals team-mates Morrison Hart, Kyle McCoy, and Paul Neff. All competed together in Malle Moto, also known as Original by Motul, but only Hart reached the finish in fifteenth overall as the final finisher in the category. Pearson bowed out after eleven stages as mechanical problems struck his KTM 450.

At the time of his exit, he was running sixteenth in class with his best daily finishes being in the same position in Stages #6 and #10.

While Hart completed the race, Pearson was the only retirement of the other four to do so for bike problems as injuries from accidents befell his colleagues. McCoy, the only rider of the quintet with prior Dakar experience, broke his leg on the fourth stage while David suffered a C7 fracture a day later, whereas Neff broke his ribs and wrist in Stage #10.