Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Following the death of the rally and Youtube legend Ken Block, the FIA and the WRC Promoter have now announced that they have agreed to withdraw race car number #43 from 2023 to pay tribute to the 55-year-old American.

Block who has been mostly known for his Gymkhana video series on Youtube with viewers reaching over millions per video, has also enjoyed a professional career in rallying and had a good shot to take the 2022 American Rally Association title in a Hyundai i20 WRC but also had success in the FIA World Rally Championship between 2007 and 2018 with a career-best finish of 7th overall in Rally Mexico 2013.

The race car number #43 was synonymous with Block’s brand and one which he carried on most of the cars he drove, he started to use it in 2005 when he drove for Vermont SportsCar in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. In honor of his memory, the WRC Promoter and the FIA have now agreed on to retire the number for the 2023 season in rallying.

“Given the enormous contribution our great friend Ken Block made to motorsport and the fact that he was held in such high regard by people the world over, it is entirely appropriate that his #43 will be withdrawn from use during the 2023 WRC season.” Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA President, said.

“While it’s a small gesture, we hope that it is one that will bring some comfort to his family and friends at this time. Ken was a true legend and the memory of this true legend will live with us forever.”

In 2022, Hendrick Motorsports fielded a NASCAR Xfinity Series car for the first time since 2009. After a solid four-race campaign, the team will bring back the programme for another four-start effort in 2023.

“Right now, we are committed to running four races in 2023,” said team president Jeff Andrews. “We are defining what those are right now. We want to win a Xfinity race in 2023.”

Hendrick competed in the Xfinity Series from the team’s inaugural season in 1984 until 1990 and again for much of the 2000s, winning the 2003 championship with Brian Vickers. However, the division was closed after 2009 as JR Motorsports—co-owned by then-Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and HMS owner Rick Hendrick—effectively serves as HMS’ development team.

After a decade away, HMS reformed the Xfinity team in 2022 by fielding the #17 for their Cup Series drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Kyle Larson. Larson, then the reigning Cup champion, won the pole at Road America in the #17’s début before being defeated by eventual Xfinity champ Ty Gibbs on a last-lap pass. Bowman scored a runner-up finish of his own at Indianapolis. Byron claimed the Watkins Glen pole but placed twenty-finish after spinning on a late restart while battling Gibbs; ironically, Larson took advantage of the incident to win in JRM’s #88. Larson returned to the car for its first oval race at Darlington, where he engaged in a late battle with Sheldon Creed and JRM’s Noah Gragson that the latter won.

The team did not announce a specific schedule or if the #17 will remain the car’s number. The number was used by Hendrick’s late son Ricky during his driving career.

Carlos Sainz Jr. is aiming to be much more consistent during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season after experiencing many highs and low points during his 2022 season that ended him only fifth in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver had a breakthrough 2022 season with his first victory of his Formula 1 career in the British Grand Prix as well as his first pole positions, but he also suffered six retirements, most of which were down to driver error or contact with other drivers.

This meant he ended the year sixty-two points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship, but he hopes 2023 will see him return to the kind of consistency he knows the can achieve so he can fight for more race victories and perhaps even the championship.

“At the beginning, I had two consecutive retirements [Australian and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix] and at the end I was driving well, but I had the accident in Austin when I started from pole position, and also the car was no longer there to win,” Sainz is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.

“I have had many highs and lows. For next year, hopefully there will be fewer low points and many high peaks to be able to have a more linear season.

Toto Wolff has praised the way Lewis Hamilton handled a difficult 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, with the British racer failing to score a race victory for the first time in his sixteen-year career.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team had a very under par 2022 campaign, with George Russell responsible for their only win in São Paulo and their only pole position in Hungary.  The team slipped to third in the Constructors’ Championship after eight consecutive titles, and Hamilton ended the year a lowly sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, the lowest position of his career as the W13 car was a difficult one to work with.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, feels Hamilton’s personality traits were extremely admirable even if the team were unable to deliver him a car to challenge for his eighth World Drivers’ Championship, and he handled a tough season well.

“Extremely tough, because we have given him a tool that wasn’t capable of winning,” Wolff said on Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.  “On top of that, the drivers had a car that was unpredictable, unstable, good at times, not good at others – not really something you can work with and develop.

“But as a personality, how he has gone through the season is really admirable. There were times when the team felt down because of the non-performance and this is where he picked the people up and motivated them, and that is truly management and personality traits that I have not seen with a professional sportsman before.”

Jeff Proctor got to go out a winner in November when he won his category at the SCORE International Baja 1000, but it is surely a bittersweet moment as ending his driving career stemmed from concussions he accumulated in off-road racing and other activities. Proctor has since started concussion treatment.

“Off road racing can put a considerable amount of strain on your neck and brain due to the nature of rough whoop sections,” Proctor wrote in a series of Instagram Stories detailing his treatment. “It’s been data recorded that our race trucks and bodies can see g-force loads of 1–5 g’s per whoop or g out.”

Proctor has overseen the Honda Off-Road Factory Racing Team since 2016. As a driver for the team’s Ridgeline programme, he won his class at the Baja 500 five times and has four Baja 1000 victories, the latter including back-to-back triumphs in 2021 and 2022. The Ridgeline competed in Class 7 but will be eligible for the Trophy Truck category in 2023 as Honda will introduce a “Gen 2” model with a TT platform. Ethan Ebert, who raced for Honda’s Talon division, replaces Proctor in the Ridgeline.

Despite his successes, Proctor started to develop head injuries over the past one-and-a-half years.

“Every year there are about 300,000 cases of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that occur in a sports and/or recreation setting. About 90 percent of sports-related TBIs are mild (MBTI) and may go unreported,” he wrote. “Concussions compound with each incident. Racing off road created 100’s of sub concussions with each whoop my brain experienced during a race. Since the first major concussion, each race, the recovery would get longer and longer. I would recover just in time to feel good enough to race. Then the process would start over. I was in denial that I had a TBI.

Penalties at the Dakar Rally are typically imposed for violations like missing waypoints or speeding, but T4 driver Yasir Seaidan has received one of the more unusual ones. On Thursday, FIA stewards announced Seaidan has been issued a thirty-minute time penalty and faces a disqualification from the race altogether after co-driver Alexey Kuzmich wore an unapproved wristwatch during Stage #4.

The Dakar Rally is partners with Rebellion Timepieces, a Swiss watchmaker who has also affiliated with racing entities like the FIA World Rallycross Championship, the Andros Trophy, and Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN. As part of their deal, the Rebellion Edition Dakar watch is given to all Dakar Rally participants for timekeeping.

At the end of the fourth stage on Tuesday, Kuzmich was spotted wearing his own watch. Although this might seem to be a trivial matter, Article 9.1.6 of the FIA Cross Country Rally Sporting Regulations declares, “Watches of any kind are not permitted in the competition vehicle, with the exception of the model provided by the Promoter.”

Kuzmich defended the decision as he believed the Rebellion watch was merely a gift and was unaware it is the only timepiece permitted. He also added his team needed a watch to know the time. The stewards cited the FIA International Sporting Code’s Article 12.1.1 by explaining that “offences or infringements are punishable, whether they were committed intentionally or through negligence.”

The race’s Clerk of the Course Pedro Almeida stressed in his opening communication to the field on 30 December 2022, a day before the Prologue: “With reference to 2023 FIA CCRSR / V1 Art. 9.1.6, the watches make/model Rebellion Edition Dakar delivered by the Promoter to the crews during Administrative Checks are the only watches permitted in the competition vehicle.”

Racing might be a family affair for many, but Carlos Sainz Jr.‘s enthusiasm for his father during Stage #3 of the Dakar Rally only led to the elder Sainz nearly getting in trouble. On Thursday, the FIA completed its investigation into the Sainzs potentially violating Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations when Sainz Jr. helped close the door on Sainz Sr.’s Audi during a pit stop.

Late in the stage, Sainz Sr. came to a stop to fix a left-rear brake problem that ultimately lost him the overall lead. His son, wearing a bright yellow media jacket, watched from a distance until Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz entered their car. Sainz Jr. moved to close the left-side gull-wing door, pushing against it multiple times before it was fully secured. He then gave a thumbs up before Sainz drove off.

While certainly a nice family moment, the action raised concerns about it being a violation of Article 49.2.1 of FIA regulations which states, “The presence of team personnel or any team conveyance (including helicopters) is prohibited within 1 kilometre of its competing vehicle” with exceptions being in non-competition areas or if the stage takes place on roads used by teams.

However, Sainz Jr.’s case was more complex as he is not an employee of Team Audi Sport and merely a guest.

“The Competitor and the driver explained that the driver’s son seen in the Sporting delegate report is not a member of the team,” commented the FIA stewards’ final report. “He is a guest at the event. But this is not an initiative of the team. This is not an initiative of the driver. And the appearance of a son, being near a competitor’s car and helping to close the door is not an initiative of the team or the driver. Since this was not done on the initiative of a competitor or a driver, it cannot be recognized as a violation of the regulations.”

Mother Nature has not been kind towards the 2023 Dakar Rally. Due to rain causing flooding at the bivouac in Dawadmi, thereby preventing teams from setting up shop there, Stage #6 on Thursday has been shortened by approximately 100 kilometres.

Stage #6 was originally a 876.68-km run from Ḥa’il to Dawadmi. Afterwards, the race will head to Riyadh on a 300-km liaison route where they will run Stage #7 on the same Special Stage layout that was initially scheduled for the eighth leg. Should the weather improve upon completion of the revised Stage #7, teams will return to Dawadmi.

Further actions for the new Stage #8 onwards are contingent on weather conditions.

Heavy rain has resulted in a significantly different atmosphere from the traditional desert environment. Al-‘Ula and Ḥa’il were also impacted by showers, causing Stage #2 from the Sea Camp to Al-‘Ula to be especially challenging for the competitors. The third leg from Al’Ula to Ḥa’il was shortened from 477 to 377 km when rain made it impossible for rescue helicopters to attend to racers; the downpour also generated a massive wadi that trapped the T3s of Cristina Gutiérrez and Francisco López Contardo, prompting Martin van den Brink, Gert Huzink, Janus van Kasteren, and Aleš Loprais to pull them out using their trucks. The quartet received time deductions for their efforts; Huzink and van den Brink finished the stage 1–2 in T5.

Nasser Al-Attiyah was not a happy man ahead of the Dakar Rally‘s fifth stage as his T1 rivals at Team Audi Sport were permitted by the FIA and ASO to boost their cars under the Equivalence of Technology policy. After voicing his frustration online, he unleashed his anger on the track as he held off Audi’s Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel for the stage victory.

Outlined in Article 13.3 of the World Rally-Raid Championship regulations, Equivalence of Technology, also known as Balance of Power, is a concept derived from the FIA World Endurance Championship that allows the W2RC Committee to modify the acceleration of cars in the T1.U and T1+ subcategories. During marathon rallies like Dakar, the data is accumulated during a three-stage stretch with a one-day break; this means Stages #1 through #3 were used to collect information before a final output was given during the fourth leg and implemented for the fifth. Ahead of Stage #5, the Committee ruled to increase the power of T1.U cars, like Audi’s RS Q e-tron E2, by eight kilowatts to 266 kW. The rule is intended to provide a level playing field between different fuel sources as the T1.U class is for electric vehicles.

Al-Attiyah, who races a Toyota Hilux in the petrol-based T1+, sarcastically called it “a surprise to give our main rival 11 hp more!! Thank you for killing the race early.” X-raid Team president Sven Quandt criticised Al-Attiyah for his unprofessionalism, commenting that “it was agreed by all top teams including Toyota to accept whatever the FIA decide. If it would have been in favour of anybody else, Audi would have accepted this as well. Before one writes a comment like this Nasser, talk to your team principals at Toyota as we all agreed to accept it without getting polemic.”

“The Equivalence of Technology adjustment is part of the Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations,” reads a post-stage statement from the W2RC Committee. “It was introduced at the request of the manufacturers and teams, who wanted a correction mechanism during the Dakar Rally given the unusually long nature of the event. The FIA agreed to implement the Equivalence of Technology mechanism in a process which lasted several months and involved all T1 .0 and T1 + competitors. Teams provided simulation or test data to allow the FIA to calibrate its calculation tools. The final Equivalence of Technology process was agreed by all manufacturers.

“In relation to yesterday’s decision by the W2RC Committee to adjust the Equivalence of Technology for T1+ and T1.U, the data from Stages 1, 2 and 3 showed a gap in favour of T1+ in the region of 9.3kW. In accordance with the Regulations, it was therefore decided by the W2RC Committee to grant a power increase of 8kW for T1 .0 from Stage 5 onwards.”

Seventeen-year-old driver Charlie Wurtz will tackle a new challenge for the 2023 season, stepping up to the Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship, with the Austrian travelling to New Zealand for the season opener. 

Wurtz competed in four editions of Formula 4 in the 2022 season, claiming the title in Formula 4 UAE, finishing fourth in Italian Formula 4, competing in various rounds in ADAC German Formula 4 and finally, the Austrian dubbed in for a sick driver for Campos Racing in Spanish Formula 4.

This extremely hectic yet successful season caught the attention of M2 Competition, who have recruited Charlie for their 2023 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship, where he will race alongside teammates Callum Hedge and Ryder Quinn.

Wurtz made it clear he is looking forward to competing in the series that has played host to many great drivers such as Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson, “Ever since I can remember my dad [Alex Wurz] has recounted stories of his time racing New Zealand, how it was such an important step in his career and how much he loved it.

“I’m so excited to be able to start 2023 with this experience and a big thank you to TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and M2 for making this happen.”

Motorsport outfits Pinnacle Motorsport and Van Amersfoort Racing have announced they are joining forces to enter one team, that will be named Pinnacle Var, into the Formula 4 UAE and Formula Regional Middle East Championship. 

Pinnacle Motorsport have experienced a fairly substantial amount of success in this part of the world, with the team finishing as runners up in 2020, 2021 and 2022 when the series was still named F3 Asia and Formula Regional Asian Championship.

They also increased their participation in this region last season, entering two cars in the Formula 4 UAE championship, however they were unable to rack up any points over the course of the season.

The team joining Pinnacle on this journey is Van Amersfoort Racing, a team that has a strong foundation and plentiful resources, and boasts one of the best reputations of any European team. 

The Dutch based team enters cars into various different European series’ such as Formula 2, Formula 3 and Formula Regional European Championship, and this new venture across the other side of the globe is an extremely exciting new chapter in the Van Amersfoort story.

Looking back to last year, it’s difficult to put into words the emotions I’ve gone through! 

Off track it was amazing and unforgettable, getting engaged to Emma and then having our first child, wee George. But in terms of motor racing, not the best of years but as always, I’ve learnt a lot for the future!  

My GT Cup season was over almost as soon as it had begun when Paul Bailey’s Brabham suffered an engine issue and unsurprisingly, he decided to withdraw from the series. Then my British GT campaign in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, which started in April, ended after six races when co-driver Matty Graham, my partners and I, felt it wasn’t moving forward in the right direction.

So then it was an unexpected return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB in June. I was delighted to immediately post solid sixth and seventh positions at Oulton Park, and the rest of the year looked to be heading in the right direction – bright light shining at the end of the tunnel for once – life on-track was good! There was me thinking perhaps my luck had changed for the better…

But I guess I must have unknowingly run over a few black cats in my lifetime as at the next event, on home soil at Knockhill, I was hit into a barrel roll in testing resulting in massive, unrepairable damage to the Porsche. With guests there from all over Europe, it was a huge blow – almost as big as the one I suffered to my head!

Andretti Global and General Motors, represented by the Cadillac brand, are set to join forces in the effort to join the FIA Formula 1 World Championship as a new American-based team. 

Andretti have made their interest in joining Formula 1 clear over the past year, and the future implementation of the FIA’s new expression of interest process paired with General Motors’ partnership have set these plans into motion. 

Both Andretti and Cadillac have extensive histories within motorsport, and, once selected to compete in the series, are eager to start racing as soon as realistically possible with a line-up including at least one American talent. Through this partnership, the team aims to broaden their brands’ international scopes and build upon their competitive achievements. 

Andretti Global CEO and Chairman Michael Andretti is appreciative of General Motors’ support and partnership and will adhere to FIA’s interest process in hopes of entering F1.

“We are continuing to grow Andretti Global and its family of racing teams and always have our eyes on what’s next. I feel that we are well suited to be a new team for Formula One and can bring value to the series and our partners, and excitement for the fans. I’m proud to have GM and Cadillac alongside us as we pursue this goal. GM and Andretti share a legacy born out of the love of racing. We now have the opportunity to combine our motorsport passions and dedication to innovation to build a true American F1 bid.

After eight years in M-Sport Ford WRT, the latest in the factory team in the Rally1 class, Briton Gus Greensmith is stepping down. He swaps Ford for Skoda and takes a seat in Toksport WRT for a WRC2 venture with the Czech manufacturer for the 2023 season.

Greensmith announced his departure from M-Sport before the Christmas holidays after failing to come to an agreement with the British outfit to remain in the top-tier class. Greensmith is no stranger to the class, he finished third overall in the 2019 WRC2 Pro leaderboard.

“Finally, after eight years in a Ford, it’s time for something new and that’s the Škoda Fabia RS Rally 2, This year’s WRC2 championship will be by far the most competitive it has ever been, and so I’m really happy with the program that’s been put together with Toksport and Škoda. I’ll be spending a lot of time in the seat this year, that’s for sure.” Greensmith said.

The start of the year takes place in Rally Mexico, where the team puts a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 on the starting line for Greensmith at the third round of the year and which is hosted in March. The Britoin is expected to continue with Swede Jonas Andersson in the co-driver seat, something that has not yet been confirmed by Greensmith.

2022 was not a kind year for Spencer Boyd, who finished a career-worst twenty-eighth in points. He will seek to turn his fortune around as he returns to Young’s Motorsports and the #12 Chevrolet Silverado RST for the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

“I want last season back,” said Boyd. “We had great chemistry on the #12 team and showed speed early on. To make a long story short, we didn’t end up with the year we wanted and we are set out to put it all in the rear-view mirror with this season.”

Boyd has raced for Young’s since 2019, and the first year showed plenty of promise when he finished fourth in his début before scoring his and the team’s first win later that season at Talladega. He was elevated to a full ride in the #20 in 2020, placing twentieth in points. His luck started to dip the following year when he failed to qualify twice, but still notched a top ten at Talladega, before switching to the #12 for 2022.

However, the 2022 season saw him record his worst championship finish of twenty-eighth while retiring from three of the final four races; matters bottomed out in the exception as he missed Talladega.

He has also made fifty starts in the Xfinity Series between 2016 and 2021. Boyd ran three Cup races in 2019.