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António Félix da Costa may have put himself in to title contention, with the Portuguese driver having won the race of his life at the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix. His breathtaking victory at the fifth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was his first for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, and one he will never forget.

Ahead of the race in South Africa nobody had really considered Da Costa as a possible contender for the win, given that he started the race in eleventh. His race pace, though, was clearly considerably better than his one lap performance, something which has become a trend for the Porsche drivers this season. Da Costa steadily worked his way through the field until he found himself sitting comfortably in fourth; however, fourth soon became third after Maximilian Günther hit a barrier at Turn One, resulting in the German retiring from the race.

Günther retiring on-track resulted in a sudden Full Course Yellow, which saw the front two try to activate their final Attack Mode. In doing so, Da Costa got ahead of Sacha Fenestraz and into second, before overtaking Nick Cassidy for the race lead with a spectacular move at Turn Eight. He later lost the lead, though, to Jean-Éric Vergne, after missing a detection zone when attempting to activate his second Attack Mode. It meant he lost the lead when he successfully activated it not long after, giving Vergne the advantage.

Da Costa was driving incredibly, though, and remained right behind Vergne as the race approached its close. He finally made his move at Turn Eight once again on the penultimate lap in what was one of the best overtakes in the history of the sport, before defending superbly to claim his first win of 2023 and his first for Porsche. The win has elevated Da Costa into title contention, with the former Champion having risen to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship following his victory.

Da Costa couldn’t “believe” that he actually won the race, with the Portuguese driver having been a “bit tearful” given how hard he’s worked since moving to Porsche.

In 2022, Extreme E conducted a doubleheader for the Island X Prix in Sardinia due to circumstances of the time, but series officials have taken a liking to having multiple races to the point where it will be implemented across all five rounds for 2023 for a total of ten races. The significantly revamped system was announced on Monday.

“To have a ten-race championship in Extreme E is a tantalising prospect for everyone on board and we believe the increased number of races will only enhance our series,” XE CEO Alejandro Agag stated. “We cannot wait for our opening races of the campaign in NEOM to get our biggest season yet underway for 2023.”

The new doubleheader format will condense racing activities that ordinarily take place across both days of the weekend into a single day, then doubled so that Saturday and Sunday have the same daily schedule. The traditional qualifying itinerary—single-car qualifying, a single heat race, a semi-final, and a Crazy Race—has been scrapped in favour of a two-round heat system with five cars per race. The first round of heats determines the starting order for the second; for example, odd-numbered finishers in the first Heat #1 and even-numbered in Heat #2 are assigned to the first heat of the second round, and vice versa. The winners of each heat are awarded a bonus point towards the championship.

Like in the old qualifying, a team earns Intermediate Classification points based on their performance in the heats, which are then used to determine who advances to which final race; the heat winner gets ten points, second gets eight, and so on, while those who fail to finish their heat will not receive any points. The top five in the Intermediate Classification go to the “Grand Final”, while the bottom of the order is relegated to the “Redemption Race”.

In the event of a tie, the team with the faster Continental Traction Challenge time has the advantage. While the Traction Challenge’s methodology remains the same (the best combined time of both drivers in a certain “Super Sector”), the best overall team gets just two points rather than five.

Due to a rainout on Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series became the final division to hold a race on Auto Club Speedway in its two-mile configuration. A twelve-lap dash to the finish meant John Hunter Nemechek would be the last to stand in a larger Victory Lane before future celebrations took place in smaller confines of a half-mile short track.

Nemechek held off an onslaught of Chevrolets led by JR Motorsports‘ Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier to score his third career win in the Xfinity Series and second for Joe Gibbs Racing.

After nearly winning the opener at Daytona, Nemechek started on the front row alongside victor Austin Hill. The lead would change hands twenty-three times, the third most for a non-superspeedway race in Xfinity Series history, among nine drivers.

“I’ve peaked too early in years past, so hopefully we can keep the ball rolling all year long,” said Nemechek. “I’m confident in this whole team, confident in all of our guys—everyone at JGR, the motor shop, Toyota, TRD—just can’t thank everyone enough. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and the plan of stepping back to move back up the ranks is paying off so far.

“To write my name in history as the final winner at this two-mile oval, what a great place. You can run all of the lanes. You slip and slide around. The seams are treacherous, but after Kyle (Busch) won, there’s been a lot of doubt, I feel like, from fans about Ben (Beshore) coming back to be my crew chief. After Kyle won the race, I texted Ben. He came up to the box and I told him that it was our turn to go get one, and now here we are.”

In 2005, Kyle Busch scored his first NASCAR Cup Series victory at Auto Club Speedway in a Chevrolet. Nearly two decades later, having returned to the manufacturer, he is once again in Auto Club’s Victory Lane.

Running just his second points race for Richard Childress Racing, Busch led the final twenty laps and held off his new Chevrolet colleagues Chase Elliott and Trackhouse Racing Team to score the Pala Casino 400 victory. Busch started mid-pack but reached the front before passing Michael McDowell, who was on older tyres, for the lead on lap 180.

RCR team-mate Austin Dillon finished ninth to complete a solid day for the two-car outfit. Chevrolets dominated the affair with Camaros occupying the top four and Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain leading the most laps with ninety-one.

With his win, Busch surpassed Richard Petty for the most consecutive Cup seasons with at least one win at nineteen.

“I felt like there was going to be a little bit of a learning experience, a little bit of a growth pattern, but also on the flip side of that, I always just kind of looked back and watched some of their results and success that they had last year with Austin,” said Busch. “He ran second here last year, and (Tyler) Reddick was super, super fast. They were fast at the Clash before they broke, the #8 car was.

Nasser Al-Attiyah might have won the 2023 Dakar Rally by over an hour, but Sébastien Loeb left the opener with the World Rally-Raid Championship T1 lead thanks to his stage wins. Nevertheless, Al-Attiyah quickly made his desire to leapfrog him known by being the fastest four-wheeler in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge‘s Prologue stage ahead of Loeb and his fellow Prodrive Hunter Guerlain Chicherit.

Al-Attiyah dusted the seven-kilometre Prologue, intended as a warmup leg ahead of the five-day rally and is therefore not counted in the final results, in four minutes and forty-five seconds. Chicherit was four seconds back with Loeb third and ten seconds behind the leader.

“Difficult to optimise everything because we were opening that stage and there were the lines from the motorbikes but it was really soft sand to almost bog us down,” said Loeb, who celebrated his forty-ninth birthday on Sunday. “Maybe I could cut a bit more across some corners but I think some of the cars following did this even more. For such a short stage it was all good though. No problem at all before we really start this rally tomorrow.”

Red Bull also continued to establish themselves as the best programme in T3 as Seth Quintero led a podium sweep. Quintero edged out his Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team partner Mitch Guthrie by less than a second with Cristina Gutiérrez just a second off; Yamaha’s João Ferreira was the top non-Red Bull in fourth.

Gutiérrez, who placed tenth overall, will be the first FIA entry to begin Stage #1 on Monday. The top ten finishers in the Prologue were permitted to select (in reverse order, meaning Gutiérrez picked first) when they begin the first leg, with Al-Attiyah set to go in tenth.

Oracle Red Bull Racing finished top of the timesheet at FIA Formula 1 World Championship testing in Bahrain. The current World Constructors’ Champions topped all three days of testing and will be feeling positive ahead of the first weekend of racing at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sergio Pérez spent the whole of day three in the car, wracking in up 133 laps for the Milton Keynes outlet. He also set the fastest lap of the day as he set a 1:30.305 in the car.

Pérez said: “The last few days have been pretty intense, testing is very short, so it is very important to get the maximum out of it but overall, it worked really well; we got a good understanding of our car.

“Testing in Bahrain is very difficult because the track is changing every time you go out, the tarmac is very rough and just in general it’s varying conditions.”

This year has seen testing shrunk down to just three days, and it comes with only a week till the FIA 2023 Formula 1 World Championship season begins. Pérez praised his team after a second run in the car, and he feels confident with the RB19 that was out on track.

The 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Round 2 of 5 for the World Rally-Raid Championship, begins Sunday with a Prologue followed by five stages ending on 3 March that will take competitors from Al Dhannah City to the titular destination of Abu Dhabi. 1,286 kilometres of Special Stages will be available with 1,913 km in total including liaison sections; by comparison, the 2022 race length was 1,933 km. The rally was originally slated to be longer at 2,168 km before being amended on Saturday.

The Prologue on Sunday is 263 km total but only seven kilometres will be a Special Stage, with the rest being travel from the bivouac in Abu Dhab, particularly the ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) Business Center, to Al Dhannah. In a sense, it serves as a warm-up leg and does not count towards the final classification.

Monday, 27 February will see the first leg begin in  Ghayāthī before travelling 249 kilometres through Tal Mor’eb and ending in Qasr Al Sarab.

Qasr Al Sarab, a desert resort, will serve as the bivouac and effective central hub for the rally as Stages #2 through #4 are all loops starting and ending there. The second and third legs will serve as marathon stages for the FIM classes, meaning they cannot receive help from their teams in the event of vehicle trouble and must make repairs themselves or by leaning on their peers.

Stage #4 will be the longest as the only day to break the 300-km mark at 308. By comparison, Stages #2 and #3 are 257 and 266 km, respectively.

Oskar Andersson was hoping to spend next week calling the shots for his buddy Tim Marklund as they make their World Rally-Raid Championship début in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Unfortunately for him, his passport has prevented that from occurring.

In an Instagram Story, Andersson explained his passport is set to expire in May but could not get it renewed prior to Abu Dhabi as the Swedish navigator was in the United States at the time that he decided to enter the race. This resulted in him being barred from making the direct flight and he instead had to fly in from Bangkok, Thailand, only to be further snagged in immigrations.

“My passport expires in May and as we were in the US when the decision to race was made I was unable to get it in time and we hoped it was a issue we could get sorted out when we got there. But unfortunately I weren’t able to board the plane to abu dhabi,” Andersson wrote. “So in a last minute attempt to convince the UAE authority’s I booked a ticket to Bangkok with a 24 hour layover in Dubai. But after discussing with both ambassy, airline, passport control and imigration for several of hours its impossible for me to enter and help my best friend in the dessert. Sad of course to miss this chance, but I’m confident Tim and his replacement co-driver will do good and next time I will by his side again.

“From a distance I will be rooting for @timmarklund the whole @southracing_canam team and @mattiasekstromracing and @emilbergkvist that made this possible for us. Be smoth and fast in the sand and hopefully you all will dominate the @abudhabidesertchallenge.”

Andersson would have been the co-driver to Marklund on the #322 Can-Am Maverick competing in T3; the entry is prepared by South Racing. The two are close friends who worked together in the Nordic SxS series during the winter. Although both are relatively new to SSV racing, having mainly competed in snowmobiles, they were able to finish runner-up in the championship and third in the team standings.

The final NASCAR race on Auto Club Speedway‘s two-mile configuration will be the Xfinity Series. The Production Alliance Group 300 was initially to take place on Saturday, but rain during pace laps forced the race to be postponed to Sunday at 5 PM Pacific, following the Cup Series‘ Pala Casino 400.

Auto Club and the state of California have undergone a rather bizarre weather wave in recent days as days of typical sunshine interspersed with rain, wind, and even snow. Los Angeles County, near where the speedway is located, received a blizzard warning on Friday for the first time since 1989. Snow fell on the track on Saturday morning, much to the bewilderment of those in the garage, before seemingly subsiding in time for the race to start. However, rain arrived following the command to fire engines and NASCAR lost the track in the middle of formation laps.

The weather forced qualifying for both the Xfinity and Cup races to be cancelled. Using the metric-based formula introduced in 2020, Austin Hill will start on the pole ahead of John Hunter Nemechek as the two finished 1–2 in last week’s season opener at Daytona. Christopher Bell will be the pole-sitter for the Pala Casino 400 alongside Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

With the Xfinity race taking place after Cup, NASCAR’s second tier will bow out Fontana’s era as an intermediate oval before beginning its transformation into a half-mile short track. A report from the Sports Business Journal on Friday revealed NASCAR had sold off 433 of 522 acres of land on the speedway property, virtually sealing the track’s fate despite varying protests from fans and drivers. The track was removed from the 2024 schedule to make way for the reconfiguration.

Starting lineup

António Félix da Costa claimed an absolutely breathtaking victory at the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix, with the Portuguese driver having fought former team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne in an epic closing laps scrap. Only thirteen drivers finished the fifth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with drama having been present throughout the race, with championship leader Pascal Wehrlein having been amongst the retirees.

Heartbreak for van der Linde

The drama ahead of the inaugural Formula E race in Cape Town began well before the race had even started, with it having been announced that both Mahindra Racing drivers and both ABT CUPRA Formula E Team drivers wouldn’t be taking part. All four Mahindra-powered cars sat-out qualifying, before it was announced that they’d all be withdrawn from the weekend following a safety concern with their rear suspension. It meant Kelvin van der Linde would miss his home race, whilst Lucas di Grassi would miss his first ever Formula E race.

The disappointment didn’t end there, as it was also announced by Jaguar TCS Racing that Sam Bird wouldn’t be taking part in the race, with his car having suffered too much damage during his collision into Edoardo Mortara in qualifying. As a result of everything, only seventeen drivers would participate in the race.

Wehrlein Suffers Huge Championship Blow

With the grid looking noticeably slimmed following the five absentees, Sacha Fenestraz looked to make the best start possible, with the Frenchman having claimed his first pole position after setting the fastest lap in the history of Formula E.

As the five red lights went out, it was Fenestraz who made the best start by a country-mile, with the Frenchman having maintained his lead into the opening corner. The entire field actually all got away very cleanly, with no incidents having occurred until the torrid Turn Ten. The incident in question at Turn Ten involved Sébastian Buemi and championship leader Wehrlein, with the German having out-braked himself going into the corner. Wehrlein steamed right into the back of Buemi, with the German having retired instantly as a result in what could be a huge moment in the championship. Buemi managed to rejoin the race; alas, in last.

Rookie Sacha Fenestraz claimed pole position for the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix, with the Frenchman having beaten Maximilian Günther in the Final of the duels at the fifth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Whilst Fenestraz secured a well-deserved pole, question marks were raised over the drivers safety, after a huge crash at Turn Nine saw Sam Bird smash into Edoardo Mortara, after no yellow flags were flown in what was a crazy qualifying session at the fastest circuit on the calendar.

Group A

Heading out in Group A to start qualifying were all the drivers occupying an odd spot in the Drivers’ Championship, meaning it included championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, former double Formula E Champion Jean-Éric Vergne, Free Practice Two pacesetter Nick Cassidy, rookie sensation Jake Hughes, António Félix da Costa, André Lotterer, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Norman Nato, rookie Fenestraz, Dan Ticktum and Nico Mueller.

Halfway through the session and it was Da Costa who topped it, with his team-mate Wehrlein in second. Also in the all-important top four at the halfway point were Vergne and Fenestraz, whilst Cassidy sat in sixth with time to find to get into the duels places. Hughes sat in tenth after a small collision with the wall at Turn One, whilst Mueller didn’t even go out on the circuit as a result of a suspected issue.

With two minutes remaining and Cassidy made his move to the top, with the New Zealander having looked good all weekend in South Africa. His strong lap dumped Fenestraz outside the top five, meaning the rookie needed to post a faster time to make the duels. As the clock hit zero there were plenty of changes, as Wehrlein and Vergne both set great times, whilst Fenestraz stormed to the front. Hughes and Da Costa both missed out on the duels as did both NIO 333 Racing drivers, leaving them all with plenty of work to do.

Into the duels: Fenestraz, Cassidy, Wehrlein and Vergne.

Mahindra Racing have announced that all Mahindra-powered cars will be withdrawn from this weekend’s Cape Town E-Prix, as a result of a safety concern with their rear suspension, meaning the ABT CUPRA Formula E Team are also having to leave the E-Prix.

It marks a heartbreaking end to Kelvin van der Linde‘s home E-Prix, with the South African having hailed being at his home race as a “dream come true”. Mahindra and ABT CUPRA’s withdrawal means van der Linde, Lucas di Grassi, Oliver Rowland and Nico Mueller will take no further action at Cape Town. All four drivers had completed Free Practice Two, before not taking part in qualifying.

ABT CUPRA revealed the news on social media, where they announced: “Mahindra Racing Formula E team have confirmed their withdrawal from the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship qualifying sessions and race in Cape Town due to rear suspension safety concerns. A thorough investigation on the suspension elements of the Mahindra M9Electro race cars will take place on the team’s return to the UK. This decision also affects their customer team ABT CUPRA Formula E Team. The safety of our drivers and extended teams is of utmost important at this point in time.”

Ahead of the 2023 season, SCORE International has created the Heavy Metal Limited class. It will be intended for pickup trucks and SUVs that are stock in nearly every specification save for obvious modifications for racing, with vehicles like the new Ford Bronco DR being eligible.

Full- and mid-size pickups and SUVs, which come in 4×4 and 2×4 functions, may take part provided they have a production-appearing body and a stock frame. At least five thousand units of a vehicle must also be produced for public use within twelve consecutive months at any point in the previous thirty years.

Their engine must be a naturally aspirated, crate V8 and is also required to match the body, while engine displacement is unlimited. The engine stipulations also makes the class stand out from the usual Heavy Metal division, which does not mandate the engine to match the rest of the truck.

Old SCORE-competing vehicles that do not fully comply with class regulations can be grandfathered in by SCORE at the sanctioning body’s discretion.

SCORE particularly singled out the Ford Bronco DR as an example of a Heavy Metal Limited entry. Unveiled in 2021 with fifty models being produced in 2022, the Bronco DR is based on the production Bronco that has enjoyed success at Baja such as Rod Hall’s 1969 Baja 1000 overall victory. While the Bronco DR did not race the 2022 Baja 1000, Ford Motor Company fielded a Ranger Raptor in the race, which it completed in the Stock Mid-Size class. Stock Mid-Size is even more restrictive than Heavy Metal and its Limited counterpart, owing to the need for all parts to be stock save for safety equipment.

Rebecca Busi hoped to run the full World Rally-Raid Championship in T4 for 2023, but those plans have already suffered a setback as a series of issues behind the scenes prevent her from running this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

In a social media post made Friday, Busi explained the Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo she raced in the Dakar Rally season kickoff was directly brought over to Abu Dhabi, but was not in condition to be approved after initial scrutineering. Concerns about her budget and finding alternative rides also exacerbated matters before she resigned to skipping the race, though she intends to follow on site.

“I’m in Abu Dhabi, after a few days spent training in Dubai. The idea was to race the second stage of the world championship but some organisational problems prevented me from doing so,” wrote Busi. “The Can-Am used in the Dakar was supposed to come directly here, but after the race it would not have passed the checks and we sent it home. I couldn’t find another means, partly due to the budget and partly due to the lack of contacts despite the organisation trying to help me in every way. The beginning is always like this, difficult and full of ups and downs. Right now I’m suffering a bit from being here without being able to race, I was looking forward to this race because I’m sure I would have enjoyed its 2000km of dunes.”

Dakar competitors’ vehicles were returned to their original owners in Marseilles, France, from Saudi Arabia last week after being impounded in the month following the Rally. Busi’s Can-Am suffered a severe engine failure in Stage #11 before she retired a day later due to the SSV breaking its control arms.

Prior to her exit, Busi had been thirty-ninth in T4 with a best leg finish of thirty-sixth in Stage #5. The race was her first in the Dakar Rally proper after contesting the Dakar Classic in 2022.

Forza Horizon 5 will launch a major update on 29 March that brings the world of off-road racing to the beloved installment. Dubbed “Rally Adventure”, the DLC will introduce a new location Sierra Nueva as well as vehicles that are more than familiar with navigating the deserts of Mexico.

Ten cars are included in the expansion, nearly all of which have also been used for SCORE International competition in Baja California. For example, two Class 1 buggies developed by Alumicraft and Jimco Racing are present, the latter of which won the Baja 1000 and SCORE Class 1 championship in 2022 with Kyle Quinn.

The two manufacturers also have Trophy Trucks: Jimco’s is represented with a Fastball Racing TT owned by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Bobby Patton, while Alumicraft will feature a TT of their own. Jimco’s involvement further continues in the form of a 2021 Polaris RZR Pro XP.

A 1973 Volkswagen Beetle upgraded by Hoonigan in 2017 is included. Unlike the Beetles that compete in SCORE’s Class 11, the Hoonigan Beetle is modified to the point of being capable of competing in Class 5-1600.

The Trophy Jeep, a souped-up Jeep built by 2020 Dakar Rally UTV winner Casey Currie, is on the list. The vehicle is capable of Ultra4 competition and won its class at the Baja 1000 from 2017 to 2019 with Currie and his brother Cody.