Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team were brought down to earth in 2022 when their run of eight consecutive World Constructors’ Championships ended as they got caught out by the new aerodynamic regulations.

After being the dominant team during the turbo hybrid era, the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season saw them win only once throughout the year, with George Russell taking the chequered flag first in Brazil.  And for the first time in his career, Lewis Hamilton ended the year without taking a single victory.

Toto Wolff, the Team Principal of Mercedes, admitted that pre-season testing did not go as smoothly as the team would have hoped, but he goes into the year more confident than they did in 2022, although he says Mercedes are still likely to be playing catch up on their main rivals early on.

“We didn’t have the smoothest winter test in Bahrain,” said Wolff ahead of this weekend’s season opening Bahrain Grand Prix..  “We had some reliability problems and struggled with the car set-up on day two.

“But the key objective was to learn about the car, and we did lots of learning. We made good progress on the final day, which gave us directions to work on in the short period between the test and this weekend’s race.

Max Verstappen being his bid to win a third consecutive World Drivers’ Championship this weekend in Bahrain, and he feels Oracle Red Bull Racing are starting the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship in a good position.

Verstappen dominated the 2022 season, taking a remarkable record breaking fifteen race victories, and the Honda-powered RB19 appeared to be the car to beat during pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Heading into the Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen says everyone at Red Bull are still fully focused on improving and developing the RB19 to ensure they have the best car possible to fight at the front.

“I stayed out in Bahrain after the test, so it’s been a nice lead up to the race weekend,” said Verstappen.  “With all the testing we have completed, we are heading into the weekend in a good position.

“There’s a lot to be said about reading into the data at testing, each track is very different in terms of how a car can behave, so I think as a Team we will focus on improving and always trying to do better and that’s what we have to keep doing throughout the year.

Volcon Inc. has teamed up with tyre maker BFGoodrich to develop an off-road racing programme for the former’s line of electric UTVs, known as Volcon ePowersports. A vehicle built for competition will be showcased at the Mint 400 vehicle parade on 8 March followed by the Off-Road Festival the following day, both in Las Vegas.

“Off-road racing is a demanding sport that requires not only speed and agility, but also toughness and durability,” commented Volcon ePowersports CEO Jordan Davis. “We believe that our electric vehicles are more than up to the task, and we can’t wait to prove it on track. It also serves as the perfect test bench for our vehicles and partner technologies to be pushed in the most challenging environments, so we know we’ve done due diligence before customers take delivery.”

The company was founded in 2020 with the goal of being the first all-electric off-road powersports manufacturer, building electric vehicles such as dirt bikes and UTVs; the Grunt motorcycle was first delivered for customers in September 2021. Volcon’s Volcon Tech Innovation Group division partnered with BFGoodrich in May 2022 to develop tyres and suspension systems for the UTVs. Volcon’s flagship UTV model, the Stag, uses BFGoodrich’s T/A KM3 tyre, a common use for off-road UTVs and the tyre of choice for those competing in the Dakar Rally’s T3 and T4 categories.

The Stag, which will also be utilised by the United States Army’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory beginning in mid-2023, plans to be equipped with BFGoodrich’s technologies like ActivAir and the Central Tire Inflation System that make adjustments for tyre pressure on its own.

“Something like off-road racing creates the perfect grounds for testing BFGoodrich’s ActivAir system considering these situations have a constant scenario of driving at various speeds, in changing environments, especially when you pre-run a course and can anticipate terrain changes, like a lake bed, or elevation,” commented Volcon co-founder Christian Okonsky. “With this dynamic technology able to be programmed to adjust based on upcoming terrain and conditions, imagine the enormous value drivers will have for conserving battery and range based on the amount of travel they want to do.

Christine GZ and Timo Scheider ended the 2022 Extreme E season working for the series as its Championship Drivers, and will now begin the 2023 season as team-mates at Carl Cox Motorsport. The new team announced the lineup on Thursday.

After spending the inaugural XE season in 2021 with XITE Energy Racing, during which she and team-mate Oliver Bennett finished ninth in the championship, GZ moved to Veloce Racing for 2022. After missing the season opener when she broke her foot in qualifying, she and Lance Woolridge ran the next three rounds with a best finish of eighth in the first Island X Prix. The two were replaced by Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen at the season-ending Energy X Prix, though GZ remained involved with the series as an advisor and reserve.

“I love Carl’s genuine passion for motorsport and his contagious enthusiasm,” said GZ. “It feels even more electrified to be teaming up with Timo, his experience and attitude are the perfect ingredients for a great partnership. I can’t wait to join this awesome family on track and get started! In Carl’s words: ‘Oh yes, oh yes!'”

Scheider has worked for Extreme E since 2021 as a substitute driver if necessary and being the main course designer. In 2022, he took over for Bennett at XITE Energy Racing beginning at the Island X Prix, a move that quickly paid off when he and Tamara Molinaro finished second. Scheider was initially due to run the rest of the season with XITE but Ezequiel Pérez Companc instead filled in the #42 in Uruguay.

“Carl’s team is a super cool and the energy they bring to Extreme E alongside and their ambition and enthusiasm for motorsport is really infectious,” commented Scheider. “We are hopeful of a strong start right from the outset in NEOM. I’m excited to race in Saudi and get on track again, alongside Christine, for what promises to be an exciting season and I cannot wait to show what I can do this year.”

2023 hopes to be a year of redemption for Rosberg X Racing after missing out on defending their Extreme E championship. For Season 3, the team’s #6 Spark ODYSSEY 21 will sport a new livery that ditches the white striping in favour of a more dark grey and turquoise look.

Like the 2021 and 2022 cars, the livery was created by Sean Bull Design, who regarded it as his “favourite design yet” for the team. The paint scheme has evolved over the years, originally starting with matte black and turquoise before white was implemented for the sides in 2022.

The 2023 car returns to the 2021 colour palette but with significantly more turqoise than said vehicle. Prominently displayed on the doors is the logo for Rosberg Philanthropies, a charity formed by team owner Nico Rosberg in 2022 focusing on environmental concerns. Other sponsor decals on the car include Allianz, HRX, IG Prime, and Forza. Rosberg Philanthropies also appears on the roof beneath the team number and Extreme E logo.

The car will be piloted by Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky for the second straight year. The all-Swedish duo scored two wins at the Desert X Prix and Island X Prix 2 but were edged out for the championship by X44.

The 2023 season begins on 11/12 March with the Desert X Prix.

Carlos Sainz normally races for ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team in Extreme E, but is unable to do so for 2023 as he recovers from the vertebrae injury he sustained at the Dakar Rally in January. Fortunately for him, his replacement and Laia Sanz‘s new partner in the #55 will be his Dakar team-mate Mattias Ekström.

Sainz and Ekström have competed in rally raids together for Team Audi Sport along with Stéphane Peterhansel since 2022. Despite the star-studded group and a fast RS Q e-tron E2, the team struggled with reliability in 2023 until Sainz and Peterhansel crashed out and Ekström finished outside the top ten in fourteenth. With Audi only planning to run the Dakar Rally and Rallye du Maroc, Sainz has spent the last two months rehabilitating the vertebrae he broke in said crash.

In the time between Dakar and the Extreme E opener (both incidentally taking place in Saudi Arabia), Ekström won the Race of Champions individual tournament for a record-tying fifth time. He is currently racing in the second leg of the World Rally-Raid Championship, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, in the T3 category. Amusingly, ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team’s announcement came just hours after he retired from the ADDC’s Stage #3 with an engine failure. He won his class in the previous stage.

Sainz, who won the Dakar thrice, will remain involved with ACCIONA | Sainz in an advisory role.

“I know him well and I trust him completely because I know what he is capable of. I believe he is one of the best and most multifaceted race drivers in the world, and therefore it is an honour that he gets to defend the colours of ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team,” Sainz said of Ekström. “I have raced against him in Extreme E and know him as my teammate in Audi in the raids, so I am aware of his potential and strengths.

Benediktas Vanagas‘ Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+, nicknamed “BlackHawk”, did not have the best start to 2023 when he crashed out after four stages, but its return to action came on a high note even without its usual driver behind the wheel. Last weekend, Vanagas entrusted BlackHawk to João Ramos for the Portugal All-Terrain Championship‘s (Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno, CPTT) season opener, the Baja TT Montes Alentejanos, and he delivered the victory despite his lack of experience with the new truck.

Although Ramos has raced a Hilux in the past, 2023 marked his first foray in the upgraded T1+ model. The Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ is perhaps the top rally raid vehicle today, having won back-to-back Dakar Rallies and the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship in T1 with Nasser Al-Attiyah; Al-Attiyah also claimed three FIA World Cups for Cross-Country Rallies and the 2019 Dakar Rally in the Hilux. Understandably, its successes have made it a popular truck of choice for drivers hoping to compete in T1+, and multiple including Vanagas made the switch for the 2023 Dakar Rally (a privateer-friendly version built by WCT Engineering will also be available for 2024).

“BlackHawk” was rechristened “Dama Negra” (“Black Lady”) under Ramos’ guidance. Ramos and co-driver Pedro Ré won both stages of the Montes Alentejanos with a time of 3:34:23., ahead of Toyota Hilux T1 driver Tiago Reis by a minute and fifty-six seconds.

“This test was a full one given our little knowledge of this new car,” said Ramos. “It is completely different and has more difficult particularities. But, above all, it requires kilometres and adaptation. My objective for this race was to finish and it was fulfilled. Of course, winning all the stages was the icing on the cake.”

According to Vanagas, the Hilux will return to Portugal for the second CPTT round, the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura, on 15/16; it is also the first race of the FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas. Ramos quipped he will keep BlackHawk “as if it were mine”, prompting Vanagas to respond to not “drive (it) too much”.

Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be an emotional occasion for Max Gutiérrez and AM Racing as he prepares for his first Truck start of the 2023 season. The race comes just a month after he and his younger brother Federico Gutiérrez were involved in a car accident outside Mexico City that resulted in the latter’s death. Gutiérrez’s #22 Ford F-150 will sport his brother’s logo on the hood.

“This race is totally dedicated to my brother, Fico, who I’m sure will be with me all the time,” said Gutiérrez. “Racing is the best medicine for me and Fico was one of the first to congratulate me after our success at Nashville. I will cherish that moment forever. I know he will be racing alongside me in our #22 BolsaDX/Telcel Ford F-150 and I plan to make him proud on Friday night.

“I just want to climb in, be competitive and make everyone proud. Racing is everything to me and even though I cannot share those physical experiences with my brother anymore, I believe he is still there as one of my greatest supporters.”

The Gutiérrez brothers both compete in the Mexico Series, with Max finishing seventh in the 2022 standings while Federico was in the midst of a burgeoning career as the 2022 México Challenge Series Rookie of the Year. Federico, who was seventeen when the fatal accident occurred, was third in the 2021 Mikel’s Truck Series championship prior to climbing the Mexican stock car racing ladder. A mass was arranged for Federico in Mexico City the Monday after the accident.

“Fico” supported Max as he began increasing his racing portfolio in the United States, including running the full 2021 ARCA Menards Series East season and placing fourth in points with a win at New Smyrna. He began racing in the Truck Series in 2022 with AM Racing and finished eighth in his second career start at Nashville, a weekend that also saw him compete in the Mexico Series the following day.

Kyle Weatherman‘s first NASCAR start of 2023 will come in Sin City as he joins Our Motorsports for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event. He will pilot the #02 Chevrolet Camaro.

Weatherman ran the full Xfinity calendar in 2021 for Mike Harmon Racing, finishing twenty-fourth in points. He entered the first five races of 2022 for DGM Racing, scoring a top ten at Atlanta in his final start, before joining Jesse Iwuji Motorsports and sharing the #34 with the namesake owner. His JIMS stint saw a second top ten when he placed eighth at Loudon.

Iwuji elected to scale back to a limited calendar for 2023 and Weatherman sat out the first two races before joining Our for Las Vegas. He finished fourteenth in the fall race there in 2022 with JIMS, while placing twenty-sixth in the spring event for DGM. Another top twenty came with Harmon in the 2021 fall event of eighteenth.

After fielding three full-time cars in 2022, Our Motorsports is now a single-car, multi-driver team. David Starr ran the first two races at Daytona and Fontana and finished twenty-second and thirty-fifth. Starr will continue to race part-time for the team, though the #02 intends to run the full calendar.

NASCAR‘s push of the seventh-generation Cup Series car has expanded into the toy world. On Wednesday, the LEGO Group launched the newest line of LEGO Technic products which includes the Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Besides being available for consumers, the LEGO Next Gen will be available at the NASCAR KidZone located in the infield of speedways owned by NASCAR via International Speedway Corporation. Such tracks include Auto Club Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Daytona International Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Richmond Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway, and Watkins Glen International. Auto Club attendees last weekend got to try out the car prior to its release to the public.

“The LEGO Group is one of the most iconic toy brands in the world and we’re thrilled to work with them through this collaboration to engage the next generation of fans,” said Megan Malayter, NASCAR managing director of licensing and consumer products. “The LEGO Technic line also helps foster interest in the world of engineering, which is a critical part of our sport and an important aspect of our fan development efforts.”

While LEGO already has a Camaro ZL1 as part of its Speed Champions brand, it is a separate deal with Chevrolet rather than NASCAR. Furthermore, the LEGO Technic line is intended for advanced models with more robust parts and functions that are not included in a traditional LEGO set such as gears and motors. Multiple race cars have been featured in the Technic line such as the Porsche 911 GT3 and most recently the McLaren Formula One MCL35M.

The Technic Camaro features a #75 livery in celebration of NASCAR’s seventy-fifth anniversary. Its Technic features include a V8 engine with moving pistons and various working components akin to a real-life stock car.

Nasser Al-Attiyah has dominated the World Rally-Raid Championship since its beginning, winning both editions of the Dakar Rally under its sanction and the inaugural T1 title, to the point where something was bound to go wrong for him eventually.

That upending moment occurred on Wednesday, metaphorically and literally, when he was ten kilometres away from winning the third stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge only to flip his Toyota Hilux T1+ upon hitting a dune and overshooting the landing. Despite ending up on his wheels and reaching the finish in first, the truck’s rear, roof, and windscreen were torn apart in the accident. Neither Al-Attiyah nor his co-driver Mathieu Baumel were injured, but the FIA ruled the Hilux’s rollcage was too damaged to continue.

Al-Attiyah has long been a model of consistency in the face of rally raid’s treacherous nature. His last retirement from an FIA-sanctioned international rally raid, which includes the current W2RC and its preceding World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, prior to Abu Dhabi was the 2014 Baja España Aragón. By exiting the ADDC entirely, Al-Attiyah also loses the fifteen points he earned from winning the Prologue and first two legs, allowing Sébastien Loeb to retain the W2RC T1 championship lead despite also being out of overall rally contention following his Stage #1 bowing out and fifty-hour time penalty for a subsequent engine change.

With Al-Attiyah’s elimination, fellow Hilux driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi will inherit the ADDC T1 overall lead for Stage #4 with a nine-minute, forty-one-second advantage over Martin Prokop.

Misfortune also struck frontrunners elsewhere, such Stage #3 T3 winner Mattias Ekström whose engine expired after sixty-six kilometres. Ekström had been leading early into Wednesday until the motor gave way, which the Red Bulls capitalised upon as Mitch Guthrie led Cristina Gutiérrez and Seth Quintero; the trio has swept the T3 podium in every leg but the third.

Last weekend’s inaugural Cape Town E-Prix ended in heartbreak for the Nissan Formula E Team, after Sacha Fenestraz crashed out of third on the final lap, following contact with Nick Cassidy.

Fenestraz’s weekend was exceptional, with the rookie having claimed his maiden podium in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. As well as that, Fenestraz’s pole time was a new record for the fastest lap in the history of the sport, giving the Frenchman something to fill him with heaps of confidence. Despite having started on pole, Fenestraz led very little of the race and lingered around third and fourth, before holding on to third for the final couple of laps.

He crashed into a wall at the Turn Two chicane, though, following contact from behind by Cassidy, meaning the rookie left South Africa with just his three points for claiming pole.

For Norman Nato it was a solid weekend, with the French driver having started the race in ninth, before finishing eighth. It meant he added more valuable points to the team’s tally; however, it should’ve been so much more following Fenestraz’s remarkable pace.

As a result of the rookie’s last lap crash, Nissan remain ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, with Team Principal Tommaso Volpe aware that the Japanese manufacturer haven’t claimed the “results our pace has deserved”. Despite the bad luck, Volpe recognises that the team are “going in the right direction”, with their car certainly appearing to have superb pace.

Sacha Fenestraz‘s performance at the Cape Town E-Prix last weekend was exceptional, with the Frenchman having been phenomenally fast all weekend in South Africa. Fenestraz was so fast in fact, that he claimed his first ever ABB FIA Formula E World Championship pole position, thanks to breaking the record for the fastest lap in the history of the sport.

It was a blistering lap by the Nissan Formula E Team driver, who went on to show equally impressive pace during the race. Whilst he didn’t quite have the pace to fight for the win, Fenestraz was occupying third place in the final few laps of the race, until he crashed into a wall on the final lap following contact with Nick Cassidy.

Fenestraz ultimately retired from the race, with him having come so close to a maiden podium, something he admits was a “hard pill to swallow”. The rookie can take so much confidence from his performance, with the driver targeting now to “continue to show this level” that got him so close to a top three finish.

“Overall we had a really strong weekend, we were quick in every session. To take pole position was amazing, I have to thank the team for their hard work. They’ve been pushing day and night since the start of the season. It was a great moment so hopefully we can continue to show this level of performance.

“In the race we were doing well, a bit unlucky with the timing of the second Full Course Yellow, but I managed to get back up to third before the contact took us out of the race on the final lap. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but we know we are quick and have the car to compete at the front for the rest of the season.”

Pirelli Motorsport Director Mario Isola looks forward to the introduction of their new C1 tyre at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is expected to be a more competitive option at the harder end of the available compounds. 

With this development, Pirelli has now expanded their total slick tyre range from five compounds to six. This year’s C1 will fill the performance gap between last year’s C1– now called C0– and C2. 

Pirelli will bring the C1, C2 and C3 compound to Bahrain this year, which means that we’ll be seeing this new addition come into play at the opening race. Isola said that this weekend will be pivotal in revealing the extent of the improvements made to the tyres since 2022, including the update to the tyres’ structure.

“The first race of the championship will be an important test bench to validate all the development work we have carried out last year, which allowed us to further improve the structure of the tyres and introduce a new compound. 

Isola predicts that Pirelli’s re-engineered C1 tyre, the hardest compound offered, will be a “valid” race tyre at Bahrain International Circuit, which has one of the most abrasive track surfaces of the season. 

Yuki Tsunoda felt it had been a productive three days of testing for Scuderia AlphaTauri at the Bahrain International Circuit, although he does not know where the team will sit compared to their rivals when the season gets underway at the same circuit this weekend.

Tsunoda, heading into his third season in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, admitted he found some limitations with the AT04 during the test, but the Japanese race believes the team will be able to find a fix to ensure they can maximise their potential.

Amid a midfield that could turn out to be tighter than last year, Tsunoda knows the team will need to do everything they can to return to the kind of form that deserted them in 2022 and left them only ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.

“We’ve had a productive three days of testing, where we gathered a lot of good data for the season,” said Tsunoda.  “Today was my first afternoon session for this test, and I was happy with the quality of my driving during performance runs and my feedback to the team.

“We found some limitations, but looking deeper into it, I am certain the team and I will be able to improve in these areas to make the performance stronger. We’ll be working to keep this momentum going into next week and I hope we can achieve good results for the coming races.