Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

It was a dream start to Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for Maximilian Günther and Maserati MSG Racing, as the German comfortably set the fastest times on the first official day of testing the new Gen3 challengers.

With there being so much anticipating surrounding the new era of the all-electric series, drivers were quick to get out onto the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, in Valencia. The morning session saw the teams gather vital data, as it quickly became apparent just how fast the new generation of Formula E is going to be.

Günther, who is no stranger to topping Formula E testing, set the fastest time in the first session of the day, after posting a 1:26.096, just eight-hundredths faster than Formula E rookie Jake Hughes, who put the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team in second spot after an impressive morning’s work. There was yet more for Maserati to be pleased with, as Edoardo Mortara rounded-off the top four, after Mahindra Racing‘s Oliver Rowland sealed the final spot in the top three.

Stoffel Vandoorne ended his first session with DS Penske in fifth, with the reigning World Champion having been four-tenths off Günther’s strong time. Season Six Champion António Félix da Costa ended the morning in sixth, after conducting a solid morning in his new Porsche TAG Heuer Formula E Team colours.

Whilst there was much to be pleased with for a lot of the teams, the session was disrupted annoyingly by typical winter weather, as rain caught out Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, who beached their new Gen3 wheels.

Andreas Seidl has been confirmed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Sauber Group in anticipation of their link up with Audi Sport ahead of the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Seidl left his position as Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team to make the move to the Hinwil-based outfit, which, for 2023 at least, will remain as Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN. 

He takes the position of CEO from Frédéric Vasseur, who has left Alfa Romeo to join Scuderia Ferrari as Team Principal.  However, Seidl will not assume the role of Team Principal at Alfa Romeo, with a decision on who will replace that part of Vasseur’s role still to be made.

Audi Sport will join forces with Sauber in 2026, with the Volkswagen-owned company supplying power units to the team.  Seidl has previous experience of working within the Volkswagen company as Team Principal of the Porsche WEC Team, and he has been brought in now to oversee the arrival of Audi.

He also has previous experience of working at Hinwil, with Seidl having been Head of Track Operations during BMW’s time in Formula 1 when they joined forces with Sauber.

The start of Gen3 and Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is rapidly approaching, with all of the teams having now unveiled their challengers for the upcoming campaign, thanks to the Mahindra Racing Formula E Team revealing their new colours for 2023.

The side released their colours and the M9Electro moments before the first day of pre-season kicked-off at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, highlighting the start of the new season somewhat. The team’s striking new livery was designed by Mahindra Advanced Design Europe, with Asha Kharga, Chairperson, Mahindra Racing having been “delighted” for the world to see their appearance for the new season.

“I am delighted to launch our livery for the 2023 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship here in Valencia. The Gen3 livery takes inspiration from our Born Electric platform design language and marks the latest global colour trend in fashion, with the copper combining with the signature Mahindra red.

“Elements of the design pay homage to Mahindra Racing history and our previous successes, with others demonstrating our vision towards the Gen3 era of Formula E. We are especially excited to bring our cars to India in February to celebrate the inaugural Hyderabad E-Prix.”

The team’s line-up for 2023 is slightly different, with the remaining Oliver Rowland having been partnered by Formula E legend Lucas Di Grassi, who departed ROKIT Venturi Racing (known now as Maserati MSG Racing) following the conclusion of Season Eight. It is a big year for Mahindra, with the side being a powertrain supplier for the new era, with the returning ABT Sportsline being the side’s customer team.

Scuderia Ferrari have announced that Frédéric Vasseur will become their new Team Principal from 2023, replacing Mattia Binotto.

It was revealed last month that Binotto had decided to resign as Team Principal of Ferrari after spending three years in the role and a total of twenty-eight years with the prancing horse.

It had been rumoured over the past few weeks that Vasseur was favourite to take over from Binotto as the main man at Ferrari and this has now been confirmed after the Frenchman decided to end his six year stint as Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN Team Principal earlier.

Vasseur brings to Ferrari over two decades of experience in motorsport, most recently helping Alfa Romeo to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, their best placed finish in a decade.

Vasseur is delighted and honoured to become Ferrari’s new Team Principal as the Frenchman is looking forward to working with the team and delivering in his new role to the loyal Tifosi.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have announced that their Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur will leave his role in January 2023 after six years with the team.

Vasseur will also leave his role as Sauber Motorsport CEO after joining the team back in 2017. The Frenchman has helped the team grow during his time, leading Alfa Romeo to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship this year, which is their best finish in the last ten years.

Vasseur thanked the whole team believing they will continue to go from strength to strength as he looks forward to seeing them further up the grid in the near future.

“As I prepare to bring my adventure at Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN to an end, I can look back fondly at these six years together,” said Vasseur. “I owe a debt of gratitude to every single employee of the team, as they are the ones who got this team back on their feet and climbing the ladder of our sport.”

“I am proud of the job we collectively have done as a team and a company, and even more so of the strong foundations we have laid for what’s to come next: but what I am the proudest of is the people that made this all possible, which in time have become friends.”

Williams Racing has made a shock announcement that Jost Capito and DX Demaison are both to step away from the team after the end of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Sixty-four-year-old Capito was acting as CEO and Team Principal at Williams having joined the team at the end of 2020, with Demaison acting as Technical Director since 2021.  Their replacements to be announced by the Grove-based team in due course.

Williams ended tenth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, scoring eight points across the twenty-two races.  And despite the lack of results, Capito says it has been an honour to lead Williams into the new era of Formula 1, and he is looking forward to seeing how the team develop in the coming years. 

“It has been a huge privilege to lead Williams Racing for the last two seasons and to lay the foundations for the turnaround of this great team,” said Capito.  

“I look forward to watching the team as it continues on its path to future success.”

Ayumu Iwasa has committed to race for DAMS for a second consecutive season of FIA Formula 2, with the Japanese racer setting his sights high in 2023.

Iwasa, who is backed by both the Honda Formula Dream Project in his homeland and the Red Bull Junior Team, was one of the standout rookies in 2022 as he took two feature race victories in France and Abu Dhabi on his way to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship.

And the twenty-one-year-old is looking to build on what he learned during his impressive rookie season by making a charge for the championship in 2023.

“I’m really happy with my first F2 season, I learned a lot during the year and we were able to improve at each race,” said Iwasa.  “It’s a great feeling to continue with DAMS for another year, I feel at home in the team and we work well together.

“Everyone was on the same page and that helped us secure plenty of strong results. It’s going to be helpful to come into the new campaign in a familiar environment, along with my experience of several tracks that were new to me in 2022.

The Century Racing CR6 is a popular car of choice for Dakar Rally entrants, and the South African outfit will provide ten of them for the 2023 edition much like in 2022. However, two in particular will be the team’s newest model: the CR6-T.

“We’re sending the heavy artillery in again,” said Century Racing head Julien Hardy. “We have a ten-car lineup this year with some big names and a faster new turbo car for the factory team. Now let’s see how the toughest race in the world will unfold.”

The most notable characteristic that makes the CR6-T stand out from the CR6 comes in the engine bay, where sits a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 DECA commonly found in the Audi RS4 and Porsche Cayenne. Such a motor is capable of 434 horsepower and is connected to the ECU, which gives power to the rear wheels via the Sadev SL924 sequential gearbox.

On the other hand, the CR6 has a 7-litre LS7 engine pulled from a Chevrolet Corvette that produces 370 horsepower. Otherwise, it features the same specs as the turbo counterpart like wheel size (37 inches) and travel (440 mm), a Motec ECU, a suspension built by R53, and auto tyre inflation.

The CR6-T was first built in June 2021 for competition in the South African Rally-Raid Championship. SARRC star Brian Baragwanath will drive one CR6-T, numbered #216, at Dakar with Leonard Cremer as co-driver, while Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier are in the #209. Both of their entries will come under the Century Racing Factory Team banner.

2023 will be a major year for Rebecca Busi‘s career as she makes her début in the Dakar Rally, kicking off her quest for the World Rally-Raid Championship. Barring no midseason changes, she will compete in the T4 category for all five rounds.

Busi competed at the adjacent Dakar Classic in 2022, where she finished 114th in a 1992 Land Rover Range Rover. Despite not having much rally raid experience, previously working as a crew member at events like the Baja Aragón in Spain, she elected to pour her resources into the Dakar effort. At the age of 25, she became the youngest Italian to compete at Dakar.

For 2023, she will race the #447 Can-Am Maverick in T4 for HRT Technology Team. Giulia Maroni will serve as her co-driver; she won the 2021 Italian Cross Country Rally championship alongside Sergio Galletti and worked with Luciano Carcheri at the 2022 Dakar Classic.

Online video service OnlyFans will be the primary sponsor of her Maverick. While the company is certainly a unique name to see on a race car, it also backs Monster Energy AMA Supercross rider Logan Karnow and British GT team Enduro Motorsport.

The 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship begins with the Dakar Rally on 31 December 2022. This is followed by the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on 25 February – 3 March, the Sonora Rally on 22–28 April, Desafío Ruta 40 on 26 August – 8 September, and Rallye du Maroc on 12–18 October.

Thursday Night Thunder was a popular motorsport programme for ESPN in the 1980s, featuring short and dirt track racers including future NASCAR greats like 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Tony Stewart. In 2023, ESPN will revive the name for Stewart’s Superstar Racing Experience.

“Thursday Night Thunder is where guys like me, who were just starting our careers in USAC, got the chance to make a name for ourselves because of its presence on ESPN,” said Stewart. “It’s great to see Thursday Night Thunder return, but to also be a part of it all over again with SRX.”

Stewart founded SRX in 2021 as a Saturday night show on CBS. With the new multi-year ESPN deal, however, the series will run all six races in 2023 on Thursday nights beginning 13 July and through 17 August.

“When we had the opportunity to pitch the concept of Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN, it was my firm belief this would be another disruptive and monumental moment in SRX and racing history, reuniting race fans with ESPN on short tracks with Superstar drivers all across the U.S. for years to come,” commented SRX CEO Don Hawk.

“Thursday Night Thunder is where I met Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. A relationship between SRX and ESPN seemed like the right fit at the perfect time, and I couldn’t be more excited for this summer.”

After seven years in the NASCAR Truck Series, AM Racing will move up to the Xfinity Series and with a new manufacturer. On Monday, the team announced they will field the #25 Ford Mustang for Brett Moffitt.

AM Racing began as a Toyota team before switching to Chevrolet in 2017, which they continued to use over the next six seasons in the Trucks. The team primarily fielded a single truck for Austin Wayne Self, who ran the full seasons with the team from 2019 to 2021, before he started scaling back his schedule to focus on raising his newborn daughter. Moffitt was entrusted with the #22 for two races at Knoxville and Kansas, but failed to finish either. He first raced with the team at the 2021 Knoxville event, though it also ended with a retirement.

Moffitt, the 2018 Truck champion, has been an Xfinity regular since 2020. After finishing twenty-first in the 2021 standings, his 2022 campaign with Our Motorsports was cut short halfway through due to a lack of funding. He eventually joined up with Ford at SS-Green Light Racing for Kansas, where he placed tenth. He previously raced a Ford in the 2015 Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports, during which he won Rookie of the Year.

“I am beyond excited about this next chapter in my career,” said Moffitt. “(Owners) Wade (Moore), Kevin (Cywinski), and the entire AM Racing team are putting the pieces together to make sure that we not only have a team that can run up front but win races in 2023.

“I was impressed by the team’s long-term plan and without question, I know that we will be able to accomplish the goals that we have set forth. I look forward to representing AM Racing as driver of the #25 Ford Mustang.”

After racing with #77 in 2022, Josh Bilicki will go up a digit in 2023. On Monday, Live Fast Motorsports announced Bilicki will drive the #78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for “multiple races” in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season beginning with Circuit of the Americas on 26 March. Sponsor Zeigler Auto Group will follow him to LFM.

Other starts are planned at the Chicago Street Course on 2 July, Michigan International Speedway on 6 August, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway on 13 August.

“I am so happy to have the opportunity to join Live Fast Motorsports for the 2023 season and to once again represent the Zeigler Auto Group,” said Bilicki. “The Zeigler team has become like family to me and I have driven for B.J. McLeod in the past in the NASCAR Xnity Series, so this felt like a very natural t for all parties. I’m excited and thankful for the opportunity and can’t wait to get to work.”

Bilicki raced in all three NASCAR national series in 2022, including sixteen Cup starts for Spire Motorsports with a best finish of sixteenth at Atlanta. He previously ran the full 2021 Cup slate with Rick Ware Racing and notched his first NASCAR top ten at Daytona. Spire signed Ty Dillon to race the #77 in 2023, ousting BIlicki and Landon Cassill from the seat.

In the Xfinity Series, Bilicki contested five races for DGM Racing and Alpha Prime Racing. With the former, he began 2022 with a bang by finishing ninth at Daytona. Both the Daytona and Atlanta runs came with Zeigler onboard.

A new manufacturer has joined the 2023 Dakar Rally‘s T1+ battle. On Monday, X-raid Team announced they will field the Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus in the T1+ category with Jakub Przygonski and Sebastian Halpern as their drivers.

X-raid has raced the Mini JCW at the Dakar Rally since 2017. As the T1+ category’s name suggests, the Plus model is an upgraded car with differences like a wider front and better aerodynamics.

The JCW Rally Plus will be powered by a hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuel that is made from plastic bottles and vegetable fat. Some Dakar competitors have used HVO in the past like KH-7 Epsilon Team, whose 2022 truck blended HVO with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) but will shift towards hydrogen in 2023.

“Sustainability is clearly at the forefront of our forward-looking MINI JCW Rally Plus project,” said team director Sven Quandt. “The future, motorsport will have to get used to the fact that without sustainability there will be no more motorsport. In this respect, it was clearly a matter of the heart for us that we will operate the ninth MINI more sustainably. With HVO, we are entering new territory for the cross-country scene and I am looking forward to introducing our latest addition to the family, the MINI JCW Rally Plus with significant aerodynamic changes.

“In our opinion, HVO fuel is an important complement to other low-emission powertrains, and not just in motorsport. The Dakar offers a very good platform to test this fuel and raise awareness.”

The start of another week has been met with yet another launch ahead of Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, the season that looks set to revolutionise racing as we know it! With that in mind, Envision Racing have revealed the livery for their Gen3 challenger which is, of course, Jaguar TCS Racing‘s I-TYPE 6.

Starting from Season Nine, Envision Racing will be a customer team of Jaguar Land Rover‘s, in what is a multi-year agreement. This will present the team with excellent opportunities going forward, especially as Jaguar have enjoyed a fairly solid pre-season so far. The side are rocking a livery very similar to that of Season Eight, with an electric dark blue being used alongside an unmissable neon green, making one of the most eye-catching liveries of the upcoming championship.

Hopefully taking the team to glory in Season Nine is Nick Cassidy, who’s remained with the team, and Sébastian Buemi, who has moved to Envision Racing from the Nissan Formula E Team. Buemi is one of the most decorated Formula E drivers and is, of course, a champion of the series. His experience will be pivotal next season, with Envision Racing hoping to get the best out of the I-TYPE 6.

Looking ahead to the new era of the sport, Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director & CTO Envision Racing, declared that his side have “officially entered” the new generation of the championship. Filippi announced that the side will be “gunning for more victories” in what are extraordinary race cars, boasting a front and rear powertrain and capable o of speeds up to 200mph.

“We have officially entered the Gen3 era – the most advanced electric racing car ever built. This car proves that high performance, efficiency and sustainability can co-exist without compromise.

Charles Leclerc says he expects the transition between Mattia Binotto and the next Team Principal at Scuderia Ferrari to go smoothly, and it is now important to focus on the future rather than the past.

Binotto resigned from his role as Team Principal earlier this month and will leave Ferrari at the end of December, and Leclerc revealed that he received a phone call from him prior to the announcement.

Leclerc says he respects the decision for Binotto to walk away from Ferrari, but now the time has come to focus on the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship and beyond.

“Mattia called me to announce that he would stop,” said Leclerc. “I respect his decision. And I can only thank him. Obviously he has believed in me right from the start, he extended me with a very, very long contract.

“And before being team principal, he was also inside the Scuderia for many, many years and he has contributed to the success that the team had in the past years.