Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Joe Graf Jr. will not return to SS-Green Light Racing after three seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Team owner Bobby Dotter announced the news in a Christmas greeting video posted Friday, though they had agreed to part ways in advance.

“As we close out another season, it’s a time for change here,” began Dotter. “We’ve had three great years with Joe Graf Jr. and his family. Can’t say enough for him and happy I was to work with him and how grateful I am for everything they’ve done for us. But it’s time for some new change. We’ll be looking at some different drivers next year.

“We had an excellent year last year getting our first team win. Joe showed a lot of signs of speed, and I think we’ve got what it takes to move this team up the ladder and hopefully this year proves we can do it.”

Graf joined SSGLR in 2020 after spending the last year years in the ARCA Menards Series and making select Xfinity starts. He finished twenty-second in points as a rookie before running all but certain road courses in 2021, and scored his maiden top ten at Talladega.

He notched a career-best finish of eighth in the 2022 Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega. However, it was a difficult year for Graf that included failing to qualify at Fontana, where team-mate Cole Custer recorded SSGLR’s first win, getting disqualified the following week at Las Vegas, and missing races in the summer for a family matter. Graf finished 2022 twenty-seventh in points and also raced for RSS Racing at Fontana (making a driver switch after his DNQ) and B.J. McLeod Motorsports at Road America.

While NASCAR is mainly in the United States, its global footprint has grown in recent times including South America, where the sanctioning body now oversees the NASCAR Brasil GT Sprint Race. In neighbouring Argentina, Baltazar Leguizamón seeks to become the first of his countrymen to compete in a NASCAR national division as he joins MBM Motorsports to run the Xfinity Series road courses.

“I am really proud to be the first Argentinean with a NASCAR national series license. It’s been a long way on my career living my dream in international motorsports. All the hard work is paying off right now,” Leguizamón stated.

“I am very thankful to everyone involved with this project: the NASCAR administration; my manager and agent of eight years, Bruce Bohlander; and Carl Long of MBM Motorsports, who opened this door for me and is helping me to reach this level. We’ve won in seven different series, and we want to keep going at this very seriously. Still, we need to find sponsors.

“This is huge for us, for my country, and for South America. It’s my childhood dream beginning to come true.”

Leguizamón made his name in open-wheel racing, finishing runner-up in the 2017 F3 Americas Championship and winning the following year’s Atlantic Championship; he also won in the Formula 4 United States Championship. He returned to Argentina in 2019 to compete in touring cars like the Top Race Series, and he finished eighteenth in the 2022 standings with a podium in the season opener.

Zak Brown has heaped praise on Lando Norris, feeling the McLaren F1 Team driver continues to deliver performances even when the team are not expecting them to happen.

Norris ended seventh in the Drivers’ Championship at the end of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, and he was the only driver outside of the top three teams to secure a top three finish, the Briton securing third place in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

He completely dominated the inter-team battle with Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian scoring only thirty-seven points compared to Norris’ one hundred and twenty-two, and perhaps contributed to McLaren’s decision to bring in Oscar Piastri as his team-mate for 2023.

Brown, the CEO at McLaren, spoke about the way Norris continues to improve as a Formula 1 driver ahead of his fifth season in the sport, with the twenty-three-year-old putting in Qualifying laps that seem to come out of nowhere.

“He’s just getting better and better,” Brown said on McLaren’s social media channels.  “He puts together some amazing qualifying laps, I don’t think he probably gets enough credit for how awesome he can be when it’s time to set a lap.

Charles Leclerc is expecting a resurgence from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season after the most dominant team from the hybrid era finished only third in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022.

Mercedes won each of the first seven Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships between 2014 and 2020, and although Max Verstappen won the Drivers’ title in 2021, Mercedes still won the Constructors’ Championship that season.

But 2022 was different, with Mercedes struggling to adapt to the new aerodynamic regulations, which meant they could only take one victory across the twenty-two races thanks to George Russell’s win in the São Paulo Grand Prix, and one pole position for the same driver in Hungary.

Lewis Hamilton saw his record of winning a race in every season of his Formula 1 career end in 2022, with the Briton also failing to earn a pole position as he finished a lowly sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, thirty-five points behind team-mate Russell, who beat Carlos Sainz Jr. to fourth.

Sainz’s Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, however, believes Mercedes will come back stronger in 2023 and bring themselves into contention for both championships, and the Monegasque driver reckons it could be a three-way battle at the front involving Mercedes, Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team are not being held back by using a Mercedes-Benz customer power unit, according to Technical Director Dan Fallows.

Aston Martin are one of three customer teams on the FIA Formula 1 World Championship grid using Mercedes power alongside the McLaren F1 Team and Williams Racing, and Team Owner Lawrence Stroll has said the team are aiming high to win championships in the upcoming years, which would mean they would need to beat the works Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to do so.

However, Fallows believes that the Silverstone-based team are not losing out by being a customer team on the grid, and he feels the Mercedes power unit, as well as some gearbox and suspension components that are allowed under the listed parts regulations are only helping them at this stage.

“I don’t feel that is,” Fallows is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com about the possibility of using Mercedes engines is holding back the team. “And I certainly don’t feel that having the Mercedes HPP engine in our car has been in any way negative for us.

“I think it has proved its reliability, its performance is where it needs to be. I don’t really think in modern F1 that is a problem at all.”

Aliyyah Koloc might only be eighteen years old and facing the toughest race of her life at the 2023 Dakar Rally, but she will arrive in Saudi Arabia as the reigning FIA Middle East Cup for Cross-Country Bajas champion. The Checkered Flag got to speak with Koloc last Wednesday as she prepares for the legendary race.

“I’m a little nervous of course, not gonna lie, but it’s gonna be two weeks and a lot of kilometres,” Koloc said. “I never drove so long, so it’s going to be really interesting to see, but I’m gonna do my best and take it day by day.”

A Busy 2022

Koloc arrived in racing from a tennis background, which she played for a decade before suffering an injury. Supported by her father Martin Koloc, whose Buggyra Racing team is fielding a Can-Am DV21 for her at Dakar, she transitioned into racing in 2019.

“I was with my father going with him for meetings and testing and then joined one of the test teams and decided to try driving it,” Koloc recalled. “I started with a big truck and since then, we said it was good and we continued from there. That’s how I started.

“Tennis is a very disciplined sport. It’s very physically demanding. So I would say how in tennis, you need to work very hard, and I would say that helped me come into motorsport.”

The 2023 Busch Light Clash will be the second edition of the NASCAR Cup Series‘ preseason exhibition to take place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On Thursday, NASCAR announced the race format for the race on 5 February.

The system will mostly remain the same from the 2022 race. Every car will be allowed to take part without needing to qualify by winning a pole or making the playoffs like when the Clash was held at Daytona. Qualifying on Saturday, 4 February will set the starting order for the following day’s four 25-lap heat races, with the top four in qualifying being on the pole for each race. The five best finishers in each heat advances to the Clash, while everyone else has to battle it out in the two Last Chance Qualifiers of fifty laps apiece. LCQ racers can make the final by placing in podium range.

The Clash will once again consist of 150 laps. Twenty-seven cars will take part, unlike the twenty-three from last year; the four-car increase comes from allowing the fifth-place finisher in the heats to advance. The twenty-seventh and final slot on the grid will be awarded to the non-qualifier who finished the highest in the 2022 driver’s standings. This means defending winner and series champion Joey Logano is guaranteed a spot in the Clash even if he struggles in the heats and LCQ.

Groundbreaking on the track began on 15 December, less than a month after the stadium’s last home game of the 2022 college football season for the USC Trojans. Although the stadium layout raised eyebrows upon its conception, it proved to be a wildly popular event with 60,000 in attendance, many of whom were new to NASCAR, with the presence of many local celebrities.

2023 Clash starting order

Konrad Dąbrowski was supposed to make his third start in the Dakar Rally in 2023, but appendicitis has forced him to drop those plans. On Thursday, he announced a sudden flare-up necessitated a hospital trip for surgery, and the ensuing rehabilitation will make it impossible for him to race with less than ten days until the event.

“Two days ago I started having a huge stomachache. Pain was really big and we decided that I needed to go to the hospital. Came out it was caused by appendicitis, so it was clear I required a surgery,” he explained. “With far too little time to recover, it is impossible for me to go and race. The Dakar is difficult enough when you’re 100% prepared and after a surgery like that plus all of the sickness I had during second half of the year it would be an impossible challenge. Even though this is something I couldn’t have prevented in any way, I’m really sorry for letting anyone down. It’s a horrible feeling, far worse than the actual physical pain. But I will keep my head up. Now I need a month or so to get back to the full grind and I will do my best to be in the bast shape possible for the season and for Dakar in 2024. Good luck to everyone participating this year, I’ll be cheering.”

Dąbrowski was set to race the #23 Husqvarna 450 for DUUST.CO in the Rally2 class. He finished twenty-eighth overall in his Dakar début in 2021; at the age of nineteen, he was the youngest Bike rider to complete the race. This was followed up by a one-spot improvement (seventh in Rally2) in 2022.

Medical problems had also impacted his performance during his quest for the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship when he had a bout with COVID-19 in September, a month before the final two rounds in Morocco and Andalucía. While he was able to muster top-five class finishes in both, he fell off the final podium and placed fourth in the Rally2 standings.

The Pole won the Junior Cup classes for the FIM Bajas World Cup and Cross-Country Rallies World Championship (predecessor to the W2RC) in 2021. His father Marek, now a racing coach, is the 2008 FIM Cross-Country World Champion and raced at Dakar on a bike from 2000 to 2013.

Franz Tost has defended Pierre Gasly after the Frenchman picked up ten penalty points during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, with the Scuderia AlphaTauri Team Principal insisting the Frenchman is far from a dangerous driver.

A driver will automatically be banned from a Grand Prix should they acquire twelve penalty points, and Gasly is only two points away from that, with none of those points dropping off until after the sixth round of the 2023 season.

Only five of Gasly’s points were on-track clashes with other drivers, with two for a clash with Lance Stroll in Spain, another for forcing the same driver off track in Mexico City, and two for a collision with Sebastian Vettel in Austria.

He earned two more for speeding under a red flag during the Japanese Grand Prix, two for failing to stay within ten car lengths of the car in front during the United States Grand Prix, and one more for track limit offences in Austria.

However, Tost insists his former driver – the Frenchman will move to the BWT Alpine F1 Team in 2023 – is not at all dangerous and it is with shock that he is as close to a race ban as he is.  He was particularly critical of the penalty points handed to Gasly in Japan, the circuit where Jules Bianchi – a friend of Gasly – lost his life in an accident in 2014, feeling the penalty was unjustified.

Toto Wolff feels Valtteri Bottas is thriving now he has left the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, with the Finn happier now he was not playing ‘wingman’ to Lewis Hamilton.

Wolff opted to replace Bottas with George Russell ahead of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, with the Finn making the move across to Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN.

And the Team Principal at Mercedes reckons Bottas leaving the team when he did was good for him, with the Finn appearing more relaxed in his new team.  He was able to lead the team to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship, their best result in almost a decade, with a best finish of fifth in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

“I think that it was also a good moment for Valtteri to leave the team,” said Wolff to Channel 4 about his departure after the 2021 season. “Because the pressure was enormous on him and he didn’t want to be a wingman.

“I think having released him from that pressure now he’s racing with Alfa, it is completely different and he seems also happier for me rather than this pressure cooker at Mercedes.”

Otmar Szafnauer says the BWT Alpine F1 Team finishing fourth in Constructors’ Championship during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship showed just how essential it is to have two drivers scoring heavily.

When comparing his Alpine to the McLaren F1 Team, Szafnauer admitted it was pleasing that both Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were regular top ten finishers during 2022, with the former scoring fifty-three per cent of the points total.

This compared to Daniel Ricciardo scoring just twenty-three per cent of McLaren’s total, with the majority of their points going the way of Lando Norris.

“If you just look at the points — and it’s not as simple as saying, ‘Let me double Lando’s points, where would they be?’ because it doesn’t quite work that way — but absolutely, especially in the midfield you need two drivers that can score,” Alpine Team Principal Szafnauer is quoted as saying by Racer.com.

“I think it punishes you more in the midfield if it’s just one, because the points on offer aren’t that big usually. If one of them finishes twelfth and the other one is eighth, as opposed to seventh and eight or eighth and ninth, it makes a difference over time.”

Robert Shwartzman hopes to remain in the conversation about a possible future drive in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, despite not having had a drive in any series during 2022.

The Russian racer, who also holds an Israeli racing licence to ensure he can continue his career amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent ban on Russian athletes competing in world sport, has been a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2017, but his last racing activity was in 2021 when he raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Shwartzman acted as a Development Driver for Scuderia Ferrari during the 2022 season and was handed three opportunities to drive the 2022 F1-75, twice during free practice sessions for the United States and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and then in the post-season test, also in Abu Dhabi.

And he hopes those outings with Ferrari can keep the door open for him to potentially find a drive in Formula 1, with Shwartzman insisting his skills are still there and he would be an asset to any team that gives him the chance.

I hope it did something, the test and the results I got,” said Shwartzman to Racer.com. “I hope it’s at least shown to people in motorsport that I’m still there, I didn’t lose my skills.

Aliyyah Koloc‘s Dakar Rally début might be in a Can-Am in the T3 category, but she already has ambitions of moving up to the top-level T1 class. Koloc recently spoke with The Checkered Flag, during which she expressed her interest in competing in T1 in the future, and Red-Lined International will give her that chance as she will pilot a REVO T1+ truck in the 2023 South African Rally-Raid Championship.

The effort will be overseen by Thomas Bell Racing, whose namesake owner races in the T1 class.

“Red-Lined Motorsport is proud to be part of this great development initiative together with Buggyra and Tom Bell Racing,” said Red-Lined head Terence Marsh. “Aliyyah is a really exciting prospect with proven results at a young age. Being a young talented female driver of colour, her presence in a Red-Lined T1 REVO will add a fresh and unique new twist to the South African Rally-Raid championship.”

Introduced in 2022, T1+ is a higher categorisation within T1. Only three vehicles meet the regulations for the 2023 Dakar Rally: the Toyota Hilux that Nasser Al-Attiyah drove to victory in 2022, the Prodrive Hunter led by Bahrain Raid Xtreme, and the new Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus that X-raid Team races. However, although interest in the fledgling class has been tempered by supply chain troubles, other T1+ cars are starting to spring up like the REVO and Ford Ranger.

Red-Lined is fielding two VK50 T1 trucks, for Dave Klaassen and Ronald van Loon at Dakar 2023; the VK50 is based on the Nissan Navara. On the other hand, the manufacturer’s REVO unveiled in 2021 is not modelled after an existing pickup truck and thus can be optimised for performance.

Josh Williams‘ stint at B.J. McLeod Motorsports did not go as planned, but he has landed back on his feet in very familiar territory as he will once again run the full NASCAR Xfinity Series season in 2023 with DGM Racing. It will be his fifth year as a full-time Xfinity driver, all with DGM, and once again in the #92 Chevrolet Camaro.

“We are eager to get the #92 back on the track for full-time competition and couldn’t be happier to welcome Josh and his sponsors back home,” said team owner Mario Gosselin. “We began this journey together many years ago. It means a lot to me and the people of DGM that Josh believes in our program and what we are continuing to build in our family-run shop. We are ready to make everyone proud, create a name for ourselves, and chase some victories in 2023.”

Williams departed DGM for BJMM in 2022 with the plan of running the full schedule while also making his Cup Series début for McLeod’s other operation Live Fast Motorsports. While he achieved the latter, running a pair of races at Bristol Dirt and Indianapolis, an underperforming Xfinity campaign prompted him to leave the team midseason. He rejoined DGM for the final ten races and scored a best finish of fifteenth in the last round at Phoenix.

The former ARCA driver entered the Xfinity Series in 2016 with Jimmy Means before joining DGM, then known as King Autosport. After making sporadic starts in his first three Xfinity seasons, he upgraded to the entire slate in 2019. His best season came in 2020 when he scored six top tens and finished fifteenth in points.

“Really excited to be back in the #92 for DGM Racing,” Williams commented. “We have had a long relationship and a lot of success together in years past. Everyone at DGM is like family and I know that 2023 is going to be a successful season for everyone.

Scott McLaughlin is worthy of a test in Formula 1 machinery, according to one of his rivals in the NTT IndyCar Series, Romain Grosjean.

McLaughlin and Grosjean both arrived in IndyCar ahead of the 2021 season, and both will be going into their third campaigns in 2023, the New Zealander continuing his allegiance with Team Penske and the Frenchman racing for a second year with Andretti Autosport after a year with Dale Coyne Racing.

Former FIA Formula 1 World Championship star Grosjean has yet to taste victory in IndyCar, but McLaughlin was a title contender in his second campaign, winning three times, as he continued his adaptation to single seaters after being the dominant driver in the Supercars Championship in Australia where he took a trio of championships between 2018 and 2020.

Grosjean reckons McLaughlin is ‘very talented’ and would excel in a Formula 1 test, and he says the performances of Álex Palou during his recent tests with the McLaren F1 Team shows IndyCar drivers should be better represented when it comes to Superlicence points, something that prevented one of Andretti Autosport’s other drivers, Colton Herta, from being on the F1 grid in 2023.

However, he does understand why Herta was denied the Superlicence, with the young American not yet having won a recognised major championship during his career, something the likes of Palou and McLaughlin have achieved.