Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The largest off-road race in Europe turned thirty years old as Rallye Breslau ran through the military training complexes at Żagań and Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland.

As part of the anniversary, the race was extended a day with the addition of a special winner’s stage on the last day. After the last two editions were plagued by route changes on the fly when the Polish Land Forces needed to use the training grounds, organiser RBI Sport had to be relieved that such major modifications need not occur in 2024 and they could celebrate the thirty-year festivities smoothly.

“This year, the Breslau has been absolutely amazing. Absolutely unbelievable,” said race director Alex Kovachev. “You can ask anybody from the probably 1,500 people who are here in the bivouac, but also the people on social media. Magnificent event. I am very, very thankful to all competitors, and I’m extremely thankful to my [organisation] team. Guys, you are amazing. I would go to the moon with you.”

Bartłomiej Tabin, on the heels of his Dakar Rally début in January, won his home rally for bikes after taking the lead from Ties Hellegers, who retired prior to the night stage on the fourth day. On the ATV side, fellow Poles Marcin Wilkołek and defending class winner Adam Krysiak led a Polaris 1–2 finish as they held off CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team‘s Gaëtan Martinez and Antanas Kanopkinas; all but Krysiak have World Rally-Raid Championship experience. CFMOTO also fielded a third CFORCE 1000 for Graham Guy, a rally raid newcomer who finished twenty-fifth.

Given how treacherous military polygons can be, it was far from a smooth rally even for those in the Cross-Country classes. Żagań, where various Polish and American armoured divisions reside, and Drawsko, a proving ground used by all NATO troops, feature tight roads that restrict lateral movement and forced everyone to ride in each other’s dust. Jim Marsden, an Ultra4 star who finished sixth in Extreme Car, described Drawsko as having “deep sand and whoops” akin to Baja along with “big swamps and lots of big water crossings” much like those seen in the Croatia Trophy, one of the most demanding off-road events in the world.

Historic Sportscar Racing has launched HSR NASCAR Classic presented by Petty’s Garage, a new historic series for stock cars from NASCAR‘s past. It will make its début at Virginia International Raceway on 23/24 August in support of IMSA’s Michelin GT Challenge followed by joining NASCAR at Watkins Glen International on 13/14 September and the Charlotte Mtoor Speedway Roval on 11/12 October.

To oversee the programme, HSR will collaborate with the Historic Stock Car Racing Association. The HSCRA has supported NASCAR and IMSA race weekends as well as the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, and will also be present at the VIR and WGI race weekends.

Title sponsor Petty’s Garage is an aftermarket parts distributor run by the legendary Petty family and its patriarch Richard Petty. Fittingly, HSR’s announcement took place on Petty’s 87th birthday.

“The across-the-board support for and the rapid growth of the HSR Classic Stock Cars category made starting a dedicated series around the division an easy decision,” said HSR president Chris Ward. “NASCAR stock cars of all generations are perhaps the most identifiable category of race cars in the U.S. to motorsports enthusiasts, competitors and even mainstream audiences. We have experienced this incredible growth and popularity with several HSR Historic Stock Cars showcase events in the last few years, particularly in partnership with the HSCRA.

“We can’t thank enough HSCRA founders Chris Evans and Carlus Gannand all of the HSR Group 8 competitors, and we look we forward to continuing to race with them in the HSR NASCAR Classic presented by Petty’s Garage series for many more years to come.”

Valtteri Bottas doesn’t think Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber’s lack of pace is a short term fix as they remain the only team to not score points after the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix.

Bottas finished sixteenth in the race on Sunday, having an uneventful race due to a lack of pace for Sauber, which has been evident all season. Zhou Guanyu has had similar struggles, also failing to score points all season long. The Fin hasn’t had a bad individual season though, beating his teammate in both the qualifying and race head-to-heads, but he’s got no points statistically having his worst start to a campaign since 2017.

Speaking to F1TV, Bottas spoke about his uneventful race while also crediting the way they made progress between the Sprint and the main race on Sunday. 

He said: “There wasn’t much action where I was but we did better than in the Sprint race with the pace. We did find a little bit of something, so it was a little bit closer with the competition.” 

Bottas doesn’t think there’s a short term fix to the problems Sauber have got, but did say that the tight margins in the midfield may have a part to play in their progress when they introduce new upgrades.

Daniel Ricciardo felt like he maximised the result after finishing in the points at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix in his 250th Formula 1 Grand Prix start.

Ricciardo has been in great form of late, beating teammate Yuki Tsunoda in the last three races. The Australian is finally starting to find some consistency for Visa Cash App RB after a difficult start to the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season. 

Starting in eleventh, Ricciardo climbed up to ninth, scoring two points for his team. The result is very impressive, considering the pace of the RB team in comparison to BWT Alpine F1 Team, as Ricciardo managed to stay ahead of defend Pierre Gasly for almost the entirety of the final stint, while he put himself within striking distance of Kevin Magnussen on the last few laps too.

An upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix has seen RB go backwards, with the team unable to understand the issues with the update, and Ricciardo acknowledged that he was battling really hard to hold on to the final few point scoring positions.

Speaking to F1TV, he said: “We were a bit more on the defence, a bit more mirror watching. We were hanging on to the points, but at the end on the last few laps I had DRS on Magnussen so we had a little bit of pace, probably at the end when the tyres were getting older but for most of the stint, I felt like we weren’t a very fast car in our group so we were just hanging on by the skin of our teeth.

Kevin Magnussen was delighted to be in the points for just a second time in the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, as he went from twelfth on the grid to finishing eighth.

Not only did Magnussen score points for the first time since the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, it was a double points finish for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team too, with Nico Hülkenberg finishing ahead of Sergio Pérez and inside the top six.

Speaking to F1TV, Magnussen was delighted with the result, claiming it puts them back in the fight for seventh in the Constructors Championship.

Magnussen said: “I’m a bit tired right now but good race, really happy. Nico in sixth, and me in eighth, good bunch of points for the team there. I couldn’t be happy, we’re back in the game for P7 in the championship and great to be back.

“It has been a smooth weekend. Good qualifying with no traffic, well managed, two good pitstops in the race and strategy spot on. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Nico Hülkenberg was delighted to secure MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s best finish of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, crossing the line in sixth.

Hülkenberg delivered an excellent performance for Haas, and managed to keep Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez behind in an epic battle towards the end of the Grand Prix. Speaking to F1TV, Hülkenberg talked through his battle with Pérez and how he managed to stay ahead of the Mexican.

He said: “It was a hell of a race, especially at the end, it got so intense. I think it was intense at the front too, with Max [Verstappen] and Lando [Norris], so it was happening everywhere. 

“It was touch and go, I was really pushing to keep Checo [Sergio Pérez] behind and the last few laps my tyres were really done with it! I almost lost the car completely out of Turn 10 in a big way, went on the gravel. Then he came by but into Turn 3, I let him edge in front so I could have DRS for the next straight to put me back in front and luckily it was the final lap as I wouldn’t have survived another lap!”

It was a high scoring weekend for Haas, as they scored twelve points. Hülkenberg scored eight of them, while teammate, Kevin Magnussen also held off a challenge from Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly to finish eighth. The American team also moved up to seventh in the Constructors Championship, and reignited the battle for sixth place with Visa Cash App RB after moving ahead of them in terms of performance.

Toto Wolff has praised George Russell for staying in “touching distance” and taking advantage of a collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, which ultimately handed Russell his second career win in Formula 1.

Russell’s win in Spielberg was his and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s first since 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix and Wolff took time to praise his driver’s performance when speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race.

“I think he’s done at great job to keep himself almost in touching distance. It was third place, that is what it was on pace, that’s solid and we’re happy with that. Obviously when the two started to tangle in front, we had a thought that this could go wrong!

Mercedes have historically struggled at the Red Bull Ring and with it being Wolff’s home Grand Prix, he was delighted to get a good result and get back to winning ways. The Mercedes team principal and CEO believes the upcoming British Grand Prix will suit the team, perhaps hinting that more good performances are on the cards.

“This is track where we’ve never gone on well in the last few years and Turn Three was always a poor corner for us. It’s a relief because in the next tracks, which are more ours, we should have even more pace.

After a difficult end to the 2023 season and a long winter break, the 2024 FIA World Rallycross Championship is finally set to begin at the Höljes Motorstadion. This will be the first time that the electric powered rallycross cars will go up against their sustainably-fuelled internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts, as the opening round of the championship heralds the arrival of the new “Battle of Technologies” era of world rallycross.

New For 2024

After two years of the all-electric era, the world rallycross championship is allowing ICE cars back onto the grid. The top class of rallycross racing will now feature electric cars going into battle against ICE machinery in an exhilarating battle. “I love this, it’s going to be very exciting” 2019 world champion Timmy Hansen told The Checkered Flag. “For the fans, they can root for combustion, electric, whatever they want. They can choose their favourites. It doesn’t have to be electric and that’s the only option.”

The other major change for 2024 is an overhaul of the points system. Each race event will comprise of up to four heat races, two semi-finals and one final. No change there. However, what is new is that championship points will be scored every time the cars race on track. The winner on track in each heat race will earn 5 points, down to 1 for the driver who comes 5th. In each semi-final and final, 10 points will be awarded to the winner, 8 for 2nd, down to 1 point for 6th. “To race for position and for points a lot more, a good or bad heat influences the championship a lot more” Kevin Hansen told The Checkered Flag. In explaining the impact this change will have on the action, Hansen said “you have to be a bit more sensible, but also you have to be aggressive and take your space because you do get championship points every time you’re on track. That will be very fun.”

“Magic Weekend”

The legendary “Magic Weekend” in Sweden is the perfect setting for such an exciting and innovative weekend of rallycross action. Like all events on the 2024 calendar, this is a double-header weekend, meaning that a full round of the world championship will take place on each day. This weekend is always one of the best attended on the rallycross calendar, with up to 50,000 spectators packing the grandstands and spectator areas. With its iconic corners such as the sweeping Velodrome leading onto the very fast downhill, gravel back straight, Höljes is a perennial favourite with both fans and drivers alike.

It’s also the home race for several drivers, including six-time world rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson. The Swedish superstar was the first major contender to announce his switch to ICE, with his newly named KMS – HORSE Powertrain team fielding two VW Polo KMS 601 RX cars. His intentions were clear from the first day of testing (1 July) when he topped the timesheet in his new Polo with a time of 42.854 seconds. He will be partnered by long-term teammate Ole Christian Veiby, still without a win in world rallycross, but confident that he’s in the machinery to achieve that this year.

While Oleksandr Bondarev is enjoying a burgeoning career in karting as the first Ukrainian signed to a Formula One team, it has also been a difficult period for him as his country continues to fight against Russian invasion. In an interview with Tribuna.com, Bondarev said he felt a “huge shock” at everything that transpired back home and is thankful that his teams have his back.

“I am Ukrainian, was born in Kyiv, my whole family is from Ukraine,” he began. “I try to support my country in such difficult times. I climb onto every podium with the Ukrainian flag, and I also took part in the Race for Ukraine charity run in England.”

When the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, Bondarev was in Italy—where he currently lives with his mother—to compete in the inaugural Champions of the Future Winter Series‘ season opener at Franciacorta Karting Track. Practice took place the same day of the invasion’s start; he finished second in the OK Junior category’s Super Heat two days later followed by twenty-eighth in the Final after being forced off course on the final lap.

“My mother woke me up at seven in the morning and told me what had happened,” said Bondarev. “I had a huge shock because my dad was in Ukraine, so I felt a kind of powerlessness. But I had to accept reality as it is, and I constantly kept in touch with my father.”

In spite of the circumstances, he does find some solace in his WSK teams Prema Racing and Kart Republic as well as Williams Racing lending their assistance. Williams signed Bondarev to their Driver Academy last September, shortly after he won the 2023 CIK-FIA Karting European Championship in OK Junior. Once the 2024 karting season ends, Williams intend to ease Bondarev into formula racing by competing in the Italian F4 Championship and the Formula 4 UAE Championship.

On Tuesday morning last week Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais were involved in a head-on collision during the Goldap special stage recce with another vehicle at a hilly section which resulted in all involved being taken to the nearby hospital by either helicopter or ambulance.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT later announced on social media that Ogier will not be participating in Rally Poland over the weekend as he suffered some minor head injuries.

However worse things happened in the other car, reports from local news sources have said that the 69-year-old man in the second vehicle has unfortunately died following some injuries from the accident. A local police spokesman stated that the man had been taken to hospital for further examination after the accident. However, he was discharged as no injuries requiring hospitalisation were found. The man’s condition worsened on Saturday and medical personnel were called to the scene, but the man did not survive.

According to Toyota, Ogier wasn’t speeding when the accident happened, the crews have to follow the speed limits as they are driving on public roads with traffic. According to reports an investigation will be started this week.

Manuel Andújar knows how to win on a quad, and now he knows how to win in a side-by-side vehicle.

The newly crowned World Rally-Raid Champion in the Quad category made the switch to co-driving a SSV this weekend when he entered the Campeonato Argentino de Rally Raid‘s (CaNav Rally Raid) Rally Raid San Juan. Serving as the navigator of a Can-Am Maverick driven by Juan Cruz Yacopini, their #211 narrowly edged out Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli for the UTV overall win.

Ferioli had won the W2RC’s Desafío Ruta 40 in the Open Cars class earlier in June, where Andújar clinched both the race win and the title for Quads. The former’s Maverick R barely beat Yacopini and Andújar by just four seconds in Stage #1 before they returned the favour by placing ahead of him by five minutes (second behind Leandro López, who won the Road to Dakar at the DR 40). Yacopini and Ferioli traded blows before the #211 pulling away to win with a minute and five seconds between them.

Andújar claimed the Dakar Rally for Quads in January, which ultimate became the category’s final start there as the Amaury Sport Organisation has dropped them for 2025. Feeling that running the rest of the W2RC season was pointless without Dakar to prepare for, he focused on securing the championship at the DR 40 before ending his Quad career entirely and switching to SSVs. Many of his classmates plan to jump to FIA categories as well including 2023 World Champion Laisvydas Kancius and runner-up Rodolfo Guillioli, Pablo Copetti, and Juraj Varga.

Yacopini also races in the W2RC, albeit a Toyota Hilux in the premier Ultimate category.

The reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä wins the 2024 80th ORLEN Rally Poland, a rally that he wasn’t meant to drive. The Finn received an urgent call on Tuesday to sit in for the eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier.

Toyota Gazoo Racing announced on Tuesday afternoon that Ogier was involved in a head-on collision with another car during the pre-event recce resulting in the Frenchman withdrawing from the event followed by his injuries. Instead, Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were selected to drive the third Toyota.

Before the rally, it was speculated that Rovanperä had no realistic chances of winning in Poland. Without proper preparation and testing, he has only done the recce ahead of the event, Rovanperä started the rally and was right up to speed already on Friday but then on Saturday he took over the lead of the rally which he held on to the finish line on Sunday afternoon.

The Finn secured the win with a 28.3-second margin over his teammate Elfyn Evans who ended up in second. Adrien Fourmaux managed to put his M-Sport Ford WRT ran Ford Puma Rally1 on the podium as well, the current championship leader Thierry Neuville was the best Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT driver in fourth meanwhile the Rally1 debutant Mārtiņš Sesks took an impressive fifth place in the first-ever non-hybrid Ford Puma Rally1 machine.

Andreas Mikkelsen led the rally on Friday and was second at the end of Saturday, On Sunday morning, Mikkelsen suffered a puncture, after which he drove cautiously through the stages, ultimately finishing sixth. Grégoire Munster took seventh place for M-Sport, rounding up the Rally1 machines in the top 10 was Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta in eight.

George Russell feels that his second career win at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix has made up for the “missed opportunity” at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix when he started from pole position. 

Russell was running a good race for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, and was in a comfortable position on the podium in third, although quite a way back from the two leaders of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. 

Norris closed in on Verstappen in the closing stages of the Grand Prix, looking like he was going to take the lead but after laps of close battling, it was clear that the three time world champion was not going to make it easier for a much quicker Norris to get past. After both going off the track multiple times, frustrations finally boiled over and contact was made between the two on Lap 64.

The incident caused significant damage to both of their cars. Norris was forced to retire from the race while Verstappen had to dive into the pits, filtering back out in fifth with a ten second time penalty. It wasn’t job done for Russell though, with Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jr. less than three seconds behind the Briton. 

The former Williams Racing driver managed the race out in the lead really well though and led the remaining 7 laps to cross the line in the lead for just the second time in his Formula 1 career (his first win coming at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix).

George Russell secured his second Formula 1 race victory at the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, after a dramatic late collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Verstappen was comfortable out in front for the majority of the race, but a poor pit stop from Oracle Red Bull Racing saw him come back into the clutches of Norris. The pair were battling for a number of laps and jostling for the lead. Verstappen and Norris came together and suffered punctures on Lap 64, ending the latter race and putting the former down into fifth. While the top two in the Championship may have lost out, there’s always those who gain from it in Formula 1 and after running a brilliant race in third, Russell was able to get himself into the lead of the race, with Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz Jr. going onto the podium.

After securing pole position on Saturday, Verstappen got a great launch of the line getting through key overtaking zones Turn One and Three in the lead, ahead of Norris. The race settled down after the first few laps, with Verstappen comfortably ahead of Norris, who had a good margin back to Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team driver, Russell. The MoneyGram Haas F1 Team duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were both running well, in the point positions.

Hamilton made a daring move on Sainz at Turn Three in the early stages, but it was short-lived. The stewards determined that Hamilton gained an unfair advantage by going off track at Turn One, where his car reportedly sustained floor damage. He was forced to give the position back to Sainz. Charles Leclerc’s race took a nasty turn at the very beginning. A collision with Oscar Piastri left him worse off, needing a pit stop to replace a damaged front wing. This dropped him all the way down to 19th place with Logan Sargeant also required a pit stop due to damage from a Lap One collision.

More misfortune struck Hamilton later in the 71 lap Grand Prix. Stewards handed him a five-second penalty for crossing the white line entering the pit lane, after he had a moment on the exit of Turn Nine when coming into the pits. This penalty effectively dashed his hopes of finishing on the podium, even following the incident between Verstappen and Norris. The stewards had their hands full throughout the race. Fernando Alonso received a ten-second penalty for a collision with Zhou Guanyu, while Sergio Pérez, who had another tough race week, was penalised five seconds for speeding in the pit lane.

SUN Minimeal Team will join Extreme E‘s transition to Extreme H in 2025, retaining their driver lineup of Klara Andersson and Timo Scheider.

“We are excited to be part of the first hydrogen-powered motorsport championship and believe in the future of hydrogen,” said SUN AG CEO Wolfgang Grabher.

Owned by Swiss food company SUN AG, the team is new for the 2024 XE season; the Minimeal is a plant-based snack. Andersson joined the programme after finishing sixth in the 2023 standings with ABT CUPRA XE, who left the series at the end of the year, while Scheider was with Carl Cox Motorsport where the new team placed ninth.

In February’s season-opening Desert X Prix, the duo finished eighth and last in the team’s début race day after retiring from the Redemption Race with a series of mechanical problems. Race 2 ended with a third in the Redemption Race for a seventh-place overall.

Entering the second round of the season at Scotland in July, the team is tied with JBXE for seventh in points.