Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Perhaps to nobody’s surprise, Austin Hill will be back in Richard Childress Racing‘s #21 Chevrolet Camaro for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The team announced his return on Wednesday.

“I’m excited to return to RCR this season to compete for a Xfinity Series championship once again,” said Hill. “My rookie season was a success, but I know that our #21 team can improve even more with our first year together under our belt. I’m very appreciative of the opportunity that Richard and everyone at RCR continues to give me. To not only be back with Andy (Street, crew chief) and my crew guys, but to have our loyal partners return is a huge asset to our programme. I can’t wait to get to Daytona and kick off the 2023 season the same way we started last season.”

Hill graduated to the Xfinity Series in 2022 after four successful seasons in the Truck Series. He broke out almost immediately when he won the season opener at Daytona, followed by another victory at Atlanta. As the only first-year driver to make the playoffs, he easily walked away with Rookies of the Year honours. Hill ended the season with twenty-one top tens, eleven top fives, a pole, and two wins en route to a sixth-place points run.

2022 also saw Hill make his Cup début in RCR’s one-off #33 car at Michigan, where he finished eighteenth. He will run six Cup races in 2023 for RCR ally Beard Motorsports including the Daytona 500. While Beard usually races just the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, Hill will also enter the inaugural Chicago Street Race in July and Michigan a month later.

He previously made fifteen Xfinity starts between 2019 and 2021 for his Truck team Hattori Racing Enterprises. That three-year stretch also saw him win eight times in the Trucks with HRE.

Alexander Albon admitted that there he was feeling a little bit anxious when he made his FIA Formula 1 World Championship race return last March in Bahrain, but his nerves were soon settled when he was back behind the wheel.

Having sat out the 2021 season after Oracle Red Bull Racing opted to replace him alongside Max Verstappen with Sergio Pérez, Albon admitted his Bahrain weekend helped him relax back into Formula 1 and find again the confidence that had been lost during his previous stint in the sport.

Albon may have only scored points on three occasions during the 2022 season, but he felt his return year to the sport was his strongest so far of his career, but it was the Bahrain race weekend that was his ‘big turning point’ when it came to finding confidence and eliminating nerves.

“I feel like Bahrain was a real big turning point,” said Albon to Motorsport.com.  “Having a year away and having that kind of sense of a little bit of anxiousness where you just want to get out and get some good performances early into the season to settle the nerves.

“And I guess the inner. not doubts, but you want to overcome and be that better driver that you once were.

Toto Wolff hopes Nyck de Vries has a successful spell racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and he believes the Dutchman can do a good enough job to move up to Oracle Red Bull Racing in the future.

De Vries will make his full-time debut in Formula 1 in 2023 with AlphaTauri after impressing during a one-off appearance with Williams Racing in the Italian Grand Prix in 2022 when Alexander Albon was unavailable due to illness.  Penalties promoted him to a starting position inside the top ten, but he was able to hold on and score two points for ninth place on race day.

Wolff, the Team Principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, released de Vries from his reserve driver contract with his team at the end of the 2022 season as AlphaTauri brought him in to replace the BWT Alpine F1 Team bound Pierre Gasly alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

Wolff says he has considered whether he would bring back de Vries into the Mercedes fold later down the line, but he believes he has what it takes to succeed in Formula 1 and it could be that the Dutchman will end up fighting against Mercedes in a Red Bull, perhaps as soon as the 2025 season when Sergio Pérez’s contract is up.

“I thought about it, [But I hope] that he stays there, and I hope that he’s successful in AlphaTauri,” Wolff is quoted as saying by Polish publication Swiatwyscigow.pl.

Tom McCullough has heaped praise on Nico Hülkenberg following his departure from the Aston Martin Aramco Cognziant Formula 1 Team, feeling the German is a ‘very talented’ driver and a ‘class act’ behind the steering wheel.

For the first time since 2019, Hülkenberg will return to full-time racing in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship after being picked up by the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team to replace Mick Schumacher.

Since 2020, he has been a reserve driver for both the Racing Point Formula 1 Team and then Aston Martin, with Hülkenberg having been required to jump into race weekends on five occasions due to drivers coming down with COVID-19. 

He competed in three races in 2020 for Racing Point, replacing Sergio Pérez for the British and 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone and then Lance Stroll for the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, and two races for Aston Martin in 2022, racing Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

McCullough, the Performance Director at Aston Martin, says Hülkenberg’s ability to just jump into a car that he had next to no experience of driving and perform strongly is a great attribute, and he has been an asset to the team because of this ability.

Álex Palou has called for the NTT IndyCar Series to be given more importance when it comes to awarding Superlicence points to race in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship on the back of the failure of Colton Herta making the switch to F1 in 2023.

Herta is a renowned race winner and frontrunner in IndyCar but has not acquired enough points to qualify for a Superlicence, meaning he was unable to take up the offer to race for Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2023, a seat that went eventually to Nyck de Vries.

Palou, who has already earned enough points to earn himself a Superlicence thanks to winning the IndyCar title with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 and is a member of the McLaren F1 Team reserve driver rota, insists his current championship offers tough competition and is not a junior series, so its drivers should be given a better chance of earning Superlicence points.

“First of all, I have my super license, so I don’t care what’s going on! It’s easy for me to say,” said Palou jokingly to the F1 Nation podcast as quoted by racingnews365.com.

“But, to be honest, I think IndyCar is such a tough competition. I invite everybody to follow closely IndyCar and IndyCar drivers and how close the racing is, to see if we deserve more points or not.

Anthony Alfredo will remain in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for 2023 as he joins B.J. McLeod Motorsports‘ #78 Chevrolet Camaro, the team announced Wednesday.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity B.J., Jessica (McLeod), and all of B.J. McLeod Motorsports have given me,” said Alfredo. “We have great sponsors and long-term partners that we are proud to keep working with as well. It wouldn’t be possible without them, Team Dillon Management, and all of my supporters. One of the most exciting things is that I will be working with my same crew members from last year which will be crucial to our success since we can continue to build off of what we have learned together. We are all excited to get this season underway.”

After a single season in the Cup Series for Front Row Motorsports, Alfredo joined Our Motorsports to contest the full 2022 Xfinity slate. He finished fifteenth in points with four top tens and a best finish of fifth at Fontana in the second race of the year.

He first appeared in the Xfinity Series in 2020 when he ran nineteen races for Richard Childress Racing. He recorded nine top tens and a pair of top fives including a third at Texas. This was preceded by a thirteen-start slate in the Truck Series in 2019 for what is now TRICON Garage with two top tens. His lone Cup campaign was his first full-time NASCAR season since finishing fifth in the 2018 now-ARCA East standings.

“We are thrilled to welcome Anthony to the team,” added McLeod. “His experience and results in both the Xfinity and Cup Series over the past few years is very valuable and we know he will be a great asset to B.J. McLeod Motorsports.”

When Jimmie Johnson became a part owner of Petty GMS Motorsports, the ownership became a joint effort between two of the greatest drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history as he and Richard Petty have seven championships each while their partner Maury Gallagher boasts two Truck Series titles. This stacked trophy case will be represented in their team name as Petty GMS will become LEGACY Motor Club for the 2023 season onwards.

Much like TRICON Garage in the Truck Series, the name is a break from the traditional naming pattern of “Racing” or “Motorsports”. In LEGACY’s case, the name reflects a “legacy” of success while “Motor Club” is a reference to automobile clubs.

“After brainstorming about the new name of our team, Maury and I recognized the opportunity to do something special and different,” said Johnson on Wednesday. “We felt it was important to have a name that honoured the past and acknowledged the future. The term ‘Motor Club’ is a nod to car clubs of the past. LEGACY M.C. will be an inclusive club for the automobile racing enthusiast. I am excited to be a part of a story so rich in heritage and look forward to creating a new legacy in this sport outside of the race car.”

The team will continue to field the #42 and #43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s as they did under Petty GMS for newcomer Noah Gragson and the returning Erik Jones. Johnson, who last raced in NASCAR in 2020, will race part-time in the #84 with sponsorship from his IndyCar partner Carvana. His number is an inverse of the #48 that he made iconic for Hendrick Motorsports and is currently used by Alex Bowman, while winning in the car would give him his eighty-fourth Cup victory. #84 is also twice #42, the latter of which was the original Petty number under family patriarch Lee Petty.

“As we were all talking about creating a new name for the team, we looked at Jimmie, myself, and Dale Inman—that’s twenty-two championships—so there couldn’t be a better name to fit our race team than LEGACY,” said Petty. “When I see the #42 and #43 cars, no matter who the driver was, is currently, or could be in the future, I want our fans to remember the Petty history that comes with them, and that history will continue to be made with LEGACY M.C.”

The wait for the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team is virtually over, with the side being just a couple of days away from making their debut appearance in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, at this weekend’s season-opening Mexico City E-Prix.

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a “great backdrop” for the Woking-based team’s first race in the all-electric series, having successfully taken over the team that was previously known as the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, who are, of course, the reigning Constructors’ Champions. With that in mind, the majority of staff who worked for the Mercedes-EQ outfit have transitioned across to McLaren, including, rookie driver Jake Hughes and Team Principal Ian James.

Hughes was previously Mercedes-EQ’s reserve driver, whereas for McLaren this season he is part of a very talented driver line-up, which also includes the returning René Rast. Rast last competed in Formula E in Season Seven, before leaving the sport at the same time as Audi‘s departure. Hughes and Rast form an interesting combo, and one that looked strong during pre-season testing.

For Season Nine and the start of Gen3, McLaren are a customer side of the Nissan Formula E Team, with the British outfit having the Japanese manufacturer’s powertrains at their disposal. There is much anticipation surrounding the new papaya-coloured outfit, who looked like one of the only teams capable of challenging the DS-powered cars during testing. Hughes was often in the top five of the timesheets during the week of testing, and even claimed victory in a mock-race, highlighting both his and the team’s potential.

With Formula E entering a new era anything is possible, with James certain that his team are “ready and excited” for the journey ahead. The team’s boss believes Gen3 will be the “most competitive” era of the all-electric series, meaning that the domination that Mercedes-EQ enjoyed is perhaps not going to be replicated anytime soon.

The time has nearly come for Jake Hughes to make his highly anticipated rookie appearance in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with the ninth season of the all-electric series and Gen3 just a couple of days away.

This weekend’s season-opening Mexico City E-Prix will mark not only Hughes’ first race in the series, but also the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team‘s, with the Woking-based outfit having taken over from the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team. With that in mind, Hughes has been able to settle into McLaren well ahead of his debut, with the British driver having been Mercedes-EQ’s reserve driver.

For a rookie, Formula E is perhaps the hardest series to get up to speed in, given how different the cars and the tracks are to anything traditional; however, if pre-season testing is anything to go by, then Hughes could be one to watch. The former Formula 2 driver claimed victory in a mock-race which took place during testing, highlighting the reason why many are set to keep a close eye on the McLaren driver.

His outright pace also looked incredibly promising, giving Hughes hope that he “can get the season off to a good start”.

“I’m really looking forward to the Mexico City E-Prix. It’ll be my first Formula E race, so from a personal point of view I’m really excited. I think we’ve had a good pre-season even though we haven’t had much time in the car. Nevertheless, I think pre-season testing in Valencia went well, the team were up to speed and I felt like we were really well prepared.

The first double-digit stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally is also the shortest in Special Stages at just 114 kilometres versus 509 km in liaison as competitors prepared for the Empty Quarter Marathon. No matter the length, Sébastien Loeb was primed to be one of the top contenders and he delivered as he won his third straight leg in T1.

Loeb cleared Mattias Ekström by over three minutes, the latter giving Audi their best finish since the now-exited Carlos Sainz‘s runner-up in Stage #5. After an unusually poor outing in the previous leg for the Toyota Hilux, Lucas Moraes finished on the podium ahead of overall leader and Toyota ally Nasser Al-Attiyah. Although Al-Attiyah has now gone two stages without a podium, his massive lead in the general classification remains as it shrank by just twenty-three seconds (1:21:57 over Moraes to 1:21:34).

After joining their fellow Prodrive Hunter Loeb on the T1 podium in Stage #9, Guerlain Chicherit and Vaidotas Žala‘s luck ran out in the tenth. Chicherit was off rhythm but mustered a tenth, while Žala’s Hunter broke its left lower and upper arms after hitting a hole.

Skyler Howes lost the Bikes overall when he fell after an errant landing, upon which Kevin Benavides capitalised to sneak ahead by 1:29 after finishing third. Ross Branch, who stole the show in Stage #8, notched a second victory in RallyGP ahead of Adrien van Beveren.

“It was a really good day, though it started off slow in the morning, and I battled to get going in
the sand, but I started having a lot of fun halfway through the stage,” said Branch. “I did make a few mistakes here and there, but I pushed on really hard, and I’m so grateful to get the win at the end. It has been a long week so far, and to get two stage wins in the Dakar means a lot.”

With just two days to go until Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and Gen3 get underway in Mexico City, the all-electric series has announced that it’s renewed its deal with official founding and logistics partner DHL, in what is a multi-year extension of their partnership.

DHL have been the sport’s official founding and logistics partner since September 2013, staggeringly, before the first-ever Formula E race had even taken place, highlighting the strength of the duo’s relationship that its lasted for just over nine years. DHL has played a key part in the championship and has supported the series all across the globe, with the upcoming season set to be no different.

In 2023, DHL will be using biofuels for all sea and road freight, with the company set to travel around 89,100 kilometres this year in support of transporting the championship around the world. An estimated 415 tonnes of freight will be transported for each race this season, including everything from the cars, to the hospitality equipment.

Matt Scammell, Chief Commercial Officer, Formula E, is “delighted” that the championship will continue to work with DHL, with the company playing a “critical function in the delivery of every race”.

“DHL helped bring Formula E to life and has been a valued partner ever since. We are delighted the relationship will continue as together we embark on the Gen3 era where we are racing at the very limit of innovation, pushing the boundaries of development in EV technology and defining the future of motorsport.

Porsche has announced they will be offering three optional Rally Design Packages for the new exclusive limited edition Porsche 911 Dakar model which are inspired by the brand’s run in the East African Safari Rally and the Paris-Dakar Rally in the 1970s, and the car being inspired by the success in the 80s.

The first inspired livery follows the design of the 1971 Porsche works team that conquered the desert of Kenya over 3,100 miles and will feature the iconic race car number #19 which was the most successful Porsche in the Safari Rally by finishing fifth overall with the Pole Sobieslaw Zasada and co-driver Marian Bien behind the wheel.

The other East African Safari Rally livery is inspired by the second place finish in 1974, it also features the race car number #19 but this time it was the two Swedes of Björn Waldegård and co-driver Hans Thorszelius who drove the Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS. This event is mostly remembered as one of the most grueling rallies of the 70s when only 16 out of the 99 cars finished the rally.

Waldegård returned in 1978 with a Porsche 911 SC Group 4 car and finished fourth overall even if he broke a wishbone, shock absorber, and driveshaft during that event. The wrap is painted in the iconic orange, blue, and grey graphics which was similar to the Martini Racing liveries of the time but this livery does not wear the same race number as Waldegård was running with but instead the #14 of the local driver Vic Preston Jr.

These wraps costs $5,260 and can be ordered directly from the factory or installed at a Porsche dealer. Porsche will only build 2,500 of the 911 Dakar model.

On 22 December 2022, BMW M Motorsport division officially announced the multiple MotoGP champion and current sportscar racing star Valentino Rossi will join the team as a works driver for 2023 and he will contest the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup series and the Bathurst 12 Hour endurance race in Australia.

Over a year ago the MotoGP legend retired from the two-wheel sport where he clinched a total of 7 world titles between 2000 and 2021. From the 2022 season onwards he switched over to four wheels and started to compete in the GT World Challenge for the Belgian team W Racing Team in an Audi R8 LMS EVO II which has his iconic race number #46.

For the 2023 season, Team WRT (W Racing Team) confirmed the switch to BMW for the GT3 program in 2023 and will be using BMW M4 GT3 cars in the endurance series. He is confirmed to contest the Bathurst 12 Hour in Intercontinental GT Challenge in February. He will team up with the two drivers of Maxime Martin and Augusto Farfus in the #46 entry.

“I am very proud to become an official BMW M works driver and it is a great opportunity. Last year, I started racing seriously in cars and I finished my first season with the WRT team with whom I got on very well and I am very happy that the WRT team chose BMW M Motorsport as a new partner.” Rossi said.

“I have already had a chance to test the BMW M4 GT3 twice and the feeling with the car is very good. I think we could be competitive next season. Also, BMW M Motorsport has given me the opportunity to race with two very strong drivers next year, Maxime Martin and Augusto Farfus. I still have a lot to learn and improve, but I hope to be up to the task and fast enough to fight during the race weekends.”

The FIA World Endurance Championship has revealed its entry list for the 2023 season today, with 38 entries spread out in the now three classes, as the GTE Pro was withdrawn after last year.

In the headline Hypercar class, there are a total of 13 cars that have made the full-time entry for the season. The defending champions Toyota Gazoo Racing will field the usual number #7 and #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid entries with the unchanged line-up including the drivers´ champions Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa, and Sebastien Buemi in the #8 car.

The two Toyotas are joined by the two Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8 #93 and #94 entries and the #708 Glickenhaus Racing Glickenhaus 007 entry, these five cars do remain from last season but for the 2023 season, they are joined by three new manufacturers, Cadillac Racing with the #2 Cadillac V-LMDh, Ferrari AF Corsa with #50 and #51 Ferrari 499P and Porsche Penske Motorsport with #5 and #6 Porsche 963.

Besides the factory teams, Porsche also became the first manufacturer to sell LMDh cars for customer teams where two familiar names are being seen from the lower classes taking a step up. The LMP2 team Hertz Team JOTA is fielding the #38 Porsche 963 while GTE AM regulars Proton Competition is fielding the #99 Porsche 963.

After being denied an entry last season due to ByKolles using the revived Vanwall name with permission, the team is now seen on the list as the Floyd Vanwall Racing Team and will be making their debut with the #4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 LMH car this season instead while also the revived Isotta Fraschini was not granted a full-time entry with the Tipo 6 LMH-C car but aiming to make the debut later this season.

With the start of Season Nine and Gen3 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship just a matter of days away, customer Porsche team Avalanche Andretti Formula E have announced a new partnership with Prysmian Group, a global leader in the cable industry.

The announcement comes just a few days before the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix, which is being held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Avalanche Andretti’s new partner, who’s logo will be on the team’s 2023 challenger, are also a ‘key enabler of energy transition, digitalisation, and electrification’, with the company being prominent across the globe.

The new partnership will see the Prysmian Group ‘support Andretti in providing solutions to support the transmission of power and information with sustainable electrification across the team’, according to the team themselves.

It’s certainly a strong partner to have for what looks set to be the most intense Formula E season to-date, with Doug Bresnahan, Chief Commercial Officer, Andretti Autosport being “thrilled” with the pair’s new relationship.

“We are thrilled to welcome Prysmian Group to the team. Staying one corner ahead of our competitors has always been a key element of Andretti’s business success making partnerships with true innovators like Prysmian Group, a global leader in electrification with their cable product, a huge win for our organization. We’re looking forward to starting our partnership this weekend at the season opener in Mexico City.”