Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

For the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series‘ Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Race on 8 April, G2G Racing will have series newcomer Jerry Bohlman in the #46 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. He will be sponsored by EcoPile.

Bohlman initially disclosed plans of racing at Bristol in December, which was contingent on sponsorship, before revealing the team in January. G2G owner Tim Viens confirmed the news on Monday.

“It’s on at Bristol Baby. Thank you to my wonderful wife for her support, couldn’t have done it without her and of course Zack (Morris) has been a true blessing,” wrote Bohlman in his January announcement. “Eco Pile non polluting environmental friendly pilings for dock building, what a great company.”

Bohlman mainly competes in late models in his native Florida, especially at Five Flags Speedway where his father Gary competed in the 1970s. While Gary had stopped racing on a regular basis as Jerry grew up, the two and Jerry’s brother Gary Jr. have competed together in vintage cars.

Off the track, Bohlman oversees Bohlman Marine Construction, a boatlift and dock installation/repair business. EcoPile is a partner of the company that provides non-polluting pilings, which are used to provide stability for docks and houses.

There are several famous race car mountain courses around the world that are popular among car racing enthusiasts. Here are a few examples:

1. Pikes Peak International Hill Climb: This race takes place annually in Colorado, USA, and covers 12.4 miles of road to the summit of Pikes Peak at an elevation of 14,115 feet. The course has 156 turns and a total ascent of 4,720 feet, and is known for its challenging hairpin turns and narrow sections.

2. Mount Panorama Circuit: Also known as Bathurst, this Australian track is 6.2 km long and includes a 174-meter vertical difference between its lowest and highest points. The course is located on the side of a mountain and is known for its steep inclines and challenging turns.

3. Nürburgring Nordschleife: This famous German circuit is located in the Eifel Mountains and is 20.8 km long, with 73 turns and significant elevation changes. The course is known for its long straights, technical sections, and challenging curves, and is often considered one of the most difficult race tracks in the world.

4. Hillclimb St. Ursanne: This Swiss mountain race covers a 5.2 km stretch of road in the Jura Mountains, with elevation changes of over 400 meters. The course includes tight hairpin turns, fast straights, and blind corners, making it a challenging course for drivers.

Jake Dennis is “super excited” to be back this weekend at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, after the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship took a four week break following the most recent round in Cape Town, South Africa.

The start of the Gen3 era has been incredibly mixed for Dennis, who is undoubtedly one of the quickest drivers this season. The Avalanche Andretti Formula E driver proved that in the opening three races of the season, where he claimed a victory and back-to-back second place finishes. Things started to go wrong for Dennis, though, in the last couple of rounds in India and South Africa, damaging his title chances.

Dennis was on-track for some big points in Hyderabad until he was taken out by René Rast, whilst in South Africa he had to serve a drive-through penalty after his team failed to respect the minimum tyre pressures. As a result, he’s failed to score points in the last two races; however, championship leader Pascal Wehrlein also failed to score any points in Cape Town.

It means that going into this weekend in Brazil, Dennis finds himself eighteen points behind the German, but with double Formula E Champion Jean-Éric Vergne hot on their heels.

The four week break has given Dennis a chance to breathe after the hectic start to the year, with the Briton now “looking forward” to getting back in the car at what should be an incredibly exciting weekend in Brazil.

After a four week break the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team are more than prepared for this weekend’s inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, as the Woking-based side set their sights on catching Avalanche Andretti Formula E, who currently sit third in the Constructors’ Championship.

Life in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship has started well for McLaren, with the British team having claimed a podium and a pole position already this season. They’ve established themselves quickly as one of the strongest teams on the grid, thanks to strong performances from rookie Jake Hughes and René Rast.

Reflecting on the first five rounds of the 2022/23 season, Team Principal Ian James believes his team have made a “solid start” with “some impressive results”, but that there have been some situations where they “could have done better”.

“It’s been a few weeks since the last race in Cape Town, so the team is eager and ready to hit the track again. However, the time has allowed us to invest effort in reviewing the first few races of the season; a good opportunity to dig deep into the data and continue to find opportunities to improve. All in all it has been a solid start to the season for the team, in which we scored some impressive results – most notably our first Pole Position and Podium finish as the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team.

“Having said that, we have also experienced some tough weekends, where we know we could have done better. Our aim is clear: putting together all the elements for the remainder of the season, so we can perform to the best of our ability, right up until the season finish.”

Rookie Jake Hughes is delighted to be back in the car this weekend at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, after the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship took a four week break following the most recent round in Cape Town.

This weekend’s inaugural race in Brazil is the third consecutive new venue, meaning Hughes will enter the sixth round of the season with as much experience of the circuit as everyone else. The NEOM McLaren Formula E Team driver has been one of the stars of the season so far, with the rookie having often been towards the front of the field. So far this year he’s finished in the points at four of the five completed races, with his only retirement having come in India.

The new venues haven’t been too kind to Hughes in the last two rounds, with the Briton having crashed in India following a bizarre incident, before hitting a wall during qualifying in Cape Town. Hitting the wall at the opening corner in South Africa somewhat ruined his weekend, as he struggled to climb any higher than tenth. The four week break will have likely been a blessing for the rookie, who admitted ahead of this weekend that “everyone needed the break”.

With Hughes having had plenty of time to rest and reflect on the start of the season, the British driver is “feeling quite confident” heading into Brazil, a country he’s “always wanted to visit”.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car after a month off. I feel like everyone needed the break after such a hectic first two months of the year. Looking back at those first five races it’s been very positive overall, although you can always do better. The key thing has been our performance so far this year, both from the team and myself. It’s been very strong and we’ve attacked everything with the right work ethic.

Derek Kraus will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series début at Richmond Raceway on 1 April when he drives the #10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. The team announced the addition on Tuesday.

Kraus posted on social media, “Really looking forward to this opportunity with Kaulig Racing! All starts at Richmond next weekend! Ready to get to work!”

The 2019 ARCA West champion, Kraus was a longtime face in Bill McAnally’s regional series programme and Craftsman Truck Series arm McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. After finishing eleventh in the 2022 Truck standings with seven top tens and two poles, he was replaced by Christian Eckes for the 2023 season.

He signed a one-race deal with Young’s Motorsports for the 2023 Truck opener at Daytona, where he finished eighteenth. In the month since Daytona, he has mainly focused on the ASA STARS National Tour, where he races for his family team.

Kaulig’s #10 serves as the multi-driver car: the team’s Cup drivers A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Haley have or will make starts in the car as well as those from ally Richard Childress Racing Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon. All but Allmendinger ran the first five races, and their efforts yielded a fourth-place standing in the owner’s championship, with Busch holding its best finish of fourth at Las Vegas. Allmendinger will take over the car for his first of five starts on Saturday at Circuit of the Americas, where he won in 2022.

NASCAR announced Tuesday that Cory Roper has been reinstated and may return to action. He was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR in February for violating the sanctioning body’s substance abuse policy.

What specifically resulted in Roper’s suspension was never publicly revealed, but substance abuse infractions are dealt with by undergoing NASCAR’s Road to Recovery programme. Rules on substance use are outlined in Section 4.1 of the rulebook while Section 10.1.A on “general procedure” can also be cited.

Roper raced for his family team Roper Racing between 2018 and 2021, scoring three top tens with his most notable being a third at Daytona in 2021 after losing out in a photo finish. The other two came at Texas (ninth in 2019) and Talladega (sixth in 2021).

He did not run a race in 2022, having originally planned to enter Talladega but withdrew due to weather concerns. In the meantime, he focused on being team manager as the outfit signed Kaden Honeycutt to run the first six races of 2023. After failing to qualify at Daytona, Honeycutt finished twenty-fifth at Las Vegas and thirty-third at Atlanta, the latter coming after a piece of metal punctured his radiator and spoiled a day in which he led his first career lap. Like Roper, Honeycutt hails from Texas; coincidentally, Roper’s reinstatement comes on the same week that the #04 team races at the Texas-based Circuit of the Americas.

Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe has also raced for the team, scoring a fifth at Bristol in 2021.

Samuel LeComte is zero-for-three in qualifying for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts, but hopes he can finally get on the board this weekend when he pilots the #8 Chevrolet Silverado RST for NEMCO Motorsports at Circuit of the Americas.

LeComte had intended to make his NASCAR début at the 2021 COTA race for CMI Motorsports but did not qualify, followed by another failed attempt later in the year at Watkins Glen. He tried again the following year for G2G Racing only to miss the show a third time.

The 62-year-old Texas native mainly competes in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, where he befriended NEMCO’s owner Joe Nemechek. The two finished 1–2 at the SVRA Chattanooga Motorcar Festival in October 2022, with LeComte placing second in a Chevrolet designed to resemble the #24 rainbow livery of Nemechek’s former NASCAR Cup Series team-mate Jeff Gordon.

LeComte also has experience in the Trans-Am Series’ TA2 class.

“It’s official! Sam will be competing in the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck series at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX this coming weekend,” posted his wife Selina LeComte on social media. “Qualifying will be on Friday, March 24th and the race will be at 12:30 on Saturday, March 25th. Sam is so grateful for this opportunity and so thankful to have the support of a great crew at Concierge MotorSports and Joe Nemechek with Nemechek MotorSports & Engineering as his crew chief as well as his wife, Andrea and his crew. Thanks also to all the Sponsors that helped make this possible – Cherokee Lumber, Duff’s Jewelry, Elite MororSports and Multi Building. Wishing him all the best!”

Josh Williams parking his damaged car and walking away on the frontstretch during Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway may have turned him into a folk hero, but NASCAR is unsurprisingly not too thrilled with his action. On Tuesday, DGM Racing announced NASCAR had suspended Williams for Saturday’s Circuit of the Americas event. Alex Labbé will fill in and drive the #92 Chevrolet Camaro.

Williams was collected in a wreck on lap 29 that resulted in damage to his hood which his team tried to piece together using tape. After riding around during the caution laps, NASCAR stopped scoring him due to debris coming off his vehicle. In response, he parked the #92 along the start/finish line and walked away, greeting the fans as he left. NASCAR immediately threw the rulebook at Williams as the action violated Section 8.8.9.I: “If a damaged vehicle elects not to enter pit road on the first opportunity or if a damaged vehicle exits pit road before sufficient repairs had been made and thereafter causes or extends a caution.”

Cup Series drivers Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher offered to cover any fine for him, though only the one-race suspension has been confirmed.

“Thank you to all of the fans for sticking by my side and showing love,” reads a statement from Williams after the ruling. “I stand behind what I did and I don’t regret any decision I made. I stand behind NASCAR for these decisions and will continue and always continue to support them. I am not going anywhere any time soon! I hope the loyal fans of NASCAR continue to fill the infields and grandstands. We will be back stronger than ever and ready to get the 92 DGM Racing team Chevy back up front!”

Labbé, a regular for DGM since 2016, missed the season opener in their #36 before joining RSS Racing for the next two races at Fontana and Las Vegas, respectively finishing twenty-eighth and eighteenth. Although he was a full-timer at DGM in 2018 and 2021 and consistently ran in the top twenty in points, unstable funding has prevented him from continuing his efforts.

Carson Hocevar‘s NASCAR Xfinity Series début will come a month earlier than planned. On Tuesday, SS-Green Light Racing announced Hocevar will replace Blaine Perkins in the #07 Chevrolet Camaro for the Xfinity race at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday.

Perkins had joined SSGLR for his Xfinity rookie season, but sat thirty-fourth in points after the first five races—behind five drivers who are not running the full schedule—with a best finish of twenty-second at Atlanta.

With Perkins out, SSGLR turned to Hocevar, who is in his third season of Craftsman Truck Series competition for Niece Motorsports. After three races, he sits ninth in points. Both of his career Truck starts at COTA ended with top tens in seventh and eighth.

“Obviously we are disappointed with how the season has started, but after talking with Blaine and his group, we feel that it is in the best interest of all parties involved to mutually part ways, and work to build some momentum heading into the next few weeks,” said team owner Bobby Dotter. “We are extremely grateful for Carson, Al (Niece), and everyone involved in this decision, helping us move swiftly as the #07 team prepares for this weekend.”

Prior to the development, Hocevar was set to make his Xfinity début on a six-race schedule for Spire Motorsports, who is also new to the division, starting at Dover in April.

As a result of the recent four week break ahead of this weekend’s inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, Constructors’ Championship leaders TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team have supposedly made “further progress”, with the Germans targeting a fourth victory of the season this weekend.

After several years of being Formula E’s sleeping giant, Porsche have certainly been the motorsport powerhouse that they are known to be so far this season, with the side having won three of the five completed races. The side sit comfortably at the top of the standings by a staggering forty-two points, thanks to having claimed three wins and a further two podiums. Pascal Wehrlein also sits top of the Drivers’ Championship heading into this weekend, with the German sitting eighteen-points clear at the top of the leaderboard.

Gen3 has certainly been kind to the Germans so far this season; however, after such an intense start to the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the four week break ahead of the sixth round of the season this weekend has given the team a chance to enjoy some “time off”. As well as enjoying some time away, Team Principal Florian Modlinger has revealed that the team has made “further progress” with their car since Cape Town, where António Félix da Costa claimed his first win for the team.

“After such a demanding start to the season with five races within six weeks in four different cities, some time to breathe was very welcome. But we’re still on a steep learning curve with our new car. The break gave us the chance to make further progress. Having time off is definitely necessary, too, because our competitors have also used that time to continue working on their packages.”

Porsche probably can’t believe quite how well they’ve started the Gen3 era, with pre-season testing having shown nothing special from the Stuttgart-based team. Whilst they have been very dominant, Porsche certainly have some areas to work on, with qualifying being the biggest of the lot. There is no doubt that Porsche have the best race car; however, Wehrlein and da Costa have both tended to struggle during qualifying, something which makes fighting through the field for victory that much harder.

The last time Aric Almirola raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, he was in his first Cup Series season with Stewart-Haas Racing. Five years later, having put off retirement plans, he will return to the series for Circuit of the Americas on Saturday.

He will drive the #08 Ford Mustang for SS-Green Light Racing. The start will provide him with additional preparation ahead of the Cup race at COTA the following day, especially as road courses are not a particularly strong suit for him with just two top tens in thirty-four tries and COTA finishes of twenty-sixth and nineteenth.

Almirola last raced in the Xfinity Series in 2018 when he ran the Daytona and Watkins Glen races for his Cup team Stewart-Haas Racing, crashing out of the first and finishing fifth in the latter. He made sporadic starts for Biagi-DenBeste Racing from 2014 to 2017 until the team was absorbed by SHR, winning twice at Daytona in 2016 and Talladega in 2017.

He ran the full schedule in 2011 for JR Motorsports and finished fourth in points. He has three career wins in the series, with the first coming at Milwaukee in 2007 under controversial circumstances after being replaced mid-race due to sponsor demands.

At the Cup level, he sits twenty-seventh in the standings with a best run of sixteenth at Las Vegas. He had earned a head start after winning his Daytona 500 qualifying duel to begin the season with ten bonus points. Almirola, now in his sixth year with SHR and twelfth as a full-time Cup driver, planned to retire after 2022 but elected to return for 2023. Like in Xfinity, he is a three-time Cup race winner.

Championship leader Pascal Wehrlein is targeting a strong weekend at the inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, after the German made a costly error at the most recent round in Cape Town.

After a four week break the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is back this weekend, with Wehrlein aiming to further extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship after making a surprising error in South Africa. Wehrlein failed to even complete the opening lap in Cape Town, after crashing into the back of Sébastian Buemi, resulting in too much damage to his Porsche 99X Electric.

Luckily for Wehrlein, his lead in the standings took no damage, after Jake Dennis also failed to score any points in South Africa. It was certainly a lucky escape for Wehrlein, who can’t afford another point-less race in Brazil. Reflecting on the most recent round, Wehrlein admits that he wishes there wasn’t such a big gap between South Africa and Brazil, with the German having just wanted to climb “back in the cockpit” and right his wrongs.

Whilst he’s been unable to do this, he’s spent his four week break wisely following a “very demanding” start to the 2022/23 season.

“If it were up to me, I would’ve climbed back in the cockpit the next day. After a poor result, you always want to get back into the car as quickly as possible to replace the bad with a good performance. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to the break. The start of the season was very demanding – with a race every two weeks in different time zones plus simulator work in between.

1. Dale Earnhardt Sr. - Known as “The Intimidator,” Earnhardt Sr. won seven NASCAR Cup championships and 76 Cup races before his untimely death in a crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.
2. Richard Petty - Nicknamed “The King,” Petty is a seven-time NASCAR Cup champion and holds the record for most Cup wins at 200.
3. Jeff Gordon - A four-time Cup champion, Gordon won 93 Cup races and is considered one of the best drivers of his generation.
4. Jimmie Johnson - A seven-time Cup champion, Johnson won 83 Cup races and had a dominant run in the mid-2000s.
5. Tony Stewart - A three-time Cup champion, Stewart won 49 Cup races and was known for his aggressive driving style.
6. Cale Yarborough - A three-time Cup champion, Yarborough won 83 Cup races and was one of the dominant drivers of the 1970s.
7. Darrell Waltrip - A three-time Cup champion, Waltrip won 84 Cup races and became a popular NASCAR analyst after retiring from driving.
8. Kyle Busch - A two-time Cup champion, Busch has won 58 Cup races and is known for his aggressive driving style.
9. Kevin Harvick - A Cup champion in 2014, Harvick has won 58 Cup races and is known for his consistency and strong finishes.
10. Chase Elliott - The 2020 Cup champion, Elliott is considered one of NASCAR’s rising stars and has won 12 Cup races to date.

Thomas Biermaier, Team Principal of the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team is “delighted” to have Robin Frijns back for this weekend’s inaugural São Paulo E-Prix, after the Dutchman was ruled out of the last four rounds due to the hand he broke following his crash at the season-opener in Mexico City.

Having Frijns back for the sixth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will see a sense of normality return to ABT CUPRA, after reserve driver Kelvin van der Linde was used in the previous four rounds following Frijns’ crash. To his credit, van der Linde did exceptionally well given that he’d never raced a single-seater before, with Biermaier having been on hand ahead of this weekend in Brazil to offer the South Africa “a big thank you” for doing a “mega job”.

Of course, van der Linde was unable to race in his home event last time out in Cape Town, after ABT CUPRA pulled-out of the weekend. Following a safety concern with Mahindra Racing‘s rear suspension, Mahindra and ABT CUPRA pulled-out of the most recent round, with the Germans being a customer side of the Indian manufacturer. It means that ABT CUPRA have gathered less race data than their opponents, something which will make claiming points that much harder.

ABT CUPRA are the only team left this season on zero points, highlighting how challenging the start of Gen3 has been for the returning team. Nevertheless, with Frijns having finally recovered, Biermaier is confident that the team can “take a deep breath and gather new strength” in Brazil this weekend.

“The break was good for the whole team, everyone was able to take a deep breath and gather new strength. Now we are delighted that Robin is back on board and will certainly support us with his experience. At the same time, we say a big thank you to Kelvin, who has done a mega job on and off the track over the past two months and will of course remain part of the team.”