Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Honda bikes are a mainstay in the off-road world, having won the Dakar Rally seven times and the Baja 1000 five times that count. Since 2016, the Japanese make has also grown more familiar with navigating deserts on four wheels thanks to the work of Jeff Proctor and his Honda Off-Road Factory Racing Team.

However, medical concerns mean Proctor will end the driving chapter of his career following this week’s Baja 1000. But one door closing means the opening of another, as Proctor intends to continue the team into the 2023 SCORE International World Desert Championship with a second-generation Honda Ridgeline. Dubbed the “Gen 2 Baja Ridgeline“, the new truck will compete in the Trophy Truck class as it uses such a vehicle’s chassis.

“After racing the Ridgeline for eight seasons and nine Baja 1000s, this race will be bittersweet for me,” said Proctor. “I’m confident and excited that our team is well-prepared and has a real chance for repeat wins. But at the same time, it will be my last as a driver for the near future. I’ve decided to focus on leading the team while I take some to deal with medical issues related to numerous concussions I’ve sustained.

“The consistent schedule of races and the nature of off-road racing hasn’t allowed my brain to fully heal from the concussions and impacts I’ve sustained over the last year and a half from on track and off track incidences. My heart is heavy with this decision, but I know it’s the right decision for my health. I plan to share more on this journey in the coming months.”

Receiving factory support from Honda Performance Development, Proctor races the #709 Ridgeline in Class 7. He enjoyed success from the get-go when he won his category at the Baja 1000 in the Ridgeline’s first two tries. The vehicle also triumphed in Class 7 at the Baja 500 five times, including four in a row from 2017 to 2021, and the 2021 San Felipe 250. Although Proctor has never claimed the SCORE World Desert Championship as he does not run the full schedule, winning every start in 2021 including the Baja 1000 has consistently placed him in the top two in points.

In a class typically dominated by Russian (until this year) and other European manufacturers, Hino Motors has been a steady representative for Japan in the Dakar Rally‘s Truck category since 1991. Despite the truck manufacturer being embroiled in a massive emissions scandal, racing arm Hino Team Sugawara intends to compete in the 2023 Rally with Teruhito Sugawara as driver.

Team Sugawara fields a truck modelled after the Hino 600 series. They introduced a hybrid system to the vehicle for the 2022 Rally, and Sugawara consistenly ran in the top twenty before a transmission failure in the penultimate stage relegated him to twenty-second in class.

Sugawara, who also doubles as team director, has raced at Dakar since 1999 with his father Yoshimasa Sugawara. Yoshimasa developed the Hino Dakar operation from its inception and continued to race well into his seventies; by his final start in 2019, he was 77 years old and set the record for the most consecutive Dakar starts with thirty-six from 1986 onwards. The father/son duo enjoyed a runner-up class finish in 2001.

After working as co-driver for his dad, the younger Sugawara became a main driver himself beginning in 2005, scoring his best overall finish to date in said race of sixth (he repeated the finish in 2018). While KAMAZ and IVECO are consistently the top trucks, Sugawara and Hino have been the best performing team among trucks whose engine capacity is under ten litres (10,000 cc).

In March, Hino Motors admitted to falsifying emissions and fuel data in over 643 thousand vehicles, and an August revelation showed this had been occurring since 2003. Perhaps providing another example of Japan’s infamous working environment, Hino attributed the situation to a poor corporate culture that allows for such violations to be concealed from management. The fallout prompted the company to suspend shipments of lightweight trucks while Toyota, who owns a majority stake in Hino, and Isuzu ousted it from the Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies truck consortium.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team took their first victory of the 2022 season at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and it was done in style with George Russell winning his first race and Lewis Hamilton driving a brilliant race to complete a one-two finish for the team, for the first-time since Imola 2020.

Russell started on pole after an impressive performance in the sprint race on Saturday and managed to stay ahead into turn one in front of his team-mate Hamilton. It was a confident and mature drive from the young Brit, who was in control of the race from lap one until seventy-one. It was a special occasion for Russell who claimed his first win in Formula 1, potentially beginning a new era for Mercedes getting back to race wins in the new era of cars.

Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin was quick to praise Russell, and hopes the win is the first of many.

“One nice thing about having a year without wins is you remind yourself just how special they are and just how good they feel. What a result; huge congratulations to George who drove a perfect race – he looked so comfortable at the front, and this will no doubt be first of many.“

Shovlin went on to speak about Hamilton’s race, which was much more eventful than his team-mates, but he still managed to come home for a second placed finish. Hamilton made contact with Verstappen early on in the race and fell down the order, but thanks to a number of excellent overtaking moves and a clever strategy, he was able to climb back in to second and put pressure on Russell after a late safety car.

The 2022 FIA Formula 1 season’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix saw George Russell take his first ever Grand Prix win in his career and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s first of the season.

Russell took a commanding win after starting from pole following Saturday’s impressive win in the sprint race. It was a dominant and mature performance from the Brit, who led throughout and only looked under pressure late on from his team-mate after a safety car. It marks a first win for Russell, who has been close on a few occasions most notably in Sakhir in 2020, when he stepped in for Lewis Hamilton after he missed the race with COVID, but multiple issues that day saw him lose out but today will be one the Kings Lynn-born driver will remember for the rest of his life.

It was fair to say that Russell was ecstatic with his first victory, and a one-two for the team.

“What an amazing feeling. A huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, this season, this race. I felt in control, Lewis was super-fast and then when I saw the safety car, I thought this is going to be a difficult end. He put me under so much pressure. But I’m so happy to come away with the victory.“

It was a big moment in history, as the podium presentation saw God Save The King being played for the first time in Formula 1. Russell has come a long way to this moment, and he spoke about his appreciation to everyone that helped him along the way.

It is once again that time of year: the 2022 SCORE International World Desert Championship comes to a close with the fifty-fifth running of the legendary Baja 1000.

Out of safety to avoid clashing with cars, the Bikes will begin their race at 3 AM Pacific on Friday, 18 November. The Four-Wheelers commence at the usual 10 AM.

The Course

Unlike in 2021 where the route started in Ensenada and ended in La Paz, the 2022 race will be a loop beginning and concluding in Ensenada. The course tends to vary between the “slalom” and loop, with the 2018 through 2020 1000s also using the latter after doing the southward dash in 2017.

Designed by SCORE race director Jose A. Grijalva, the course is 828.25 miles for professional classes. Sportsman divisions get a shorter distance for safety reasons, with Moto and Quad riders going 760.91 miles while Four-Wheelers in Class 11 and Class 7SX navigate 695.79. Three physical checkpoints are located at El Chinero (Race Mile 200.22), Ejido Jaramillo (RM 579.98), and El Alamo (RM 726.57) All entries will have thirty-six hours to complete the race.

Due to storms and floods that swept Baja California in September, those pre-running the course have reported plenty of rocks being exposed for uneven terrain in various areas. Nevertheless, the weather forecast appears to comply with the 1000 and the race will proceed without issue.

George Russell can now call himself a race winner after taking victory in Brazil on Sunday afternoon. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team driver started on pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix after impressively overtaking Max Verstappen and winning Saturday afternoon’s Sprint Qualifying event. Russell was able to get a good start against his team-mate and lead the pack for the majority of the race.

An incident between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the first Safety Car restart dropped the pair down the pack, leaving Russell to control the race from the front.

The number forty-four driver was under pressure from the double World Champion going into Turn One and had to defend the inside line. Verstappen opted to put his car around the outside of Hamilton, but ran out of space as Hamilton took the apex for Turn Two (as he was marginally ahead). In an incident very similar to Verstappen’s collision with Esteban Ocon at the same corner in 2018 – but with the roles reversed – the Dutchman received a five second penalty for the incident and also had to pit for a new front wing, dropping him to the back of the field. Hamilton had mild damage to the floor of his Mercedes W13, but was able to continue after dropping to eighth.

Hamilton was able to catch up to his team-mate and follow behind in second after some impressive overtakes through the field, but ultimately didn’t have the pace to catch the number sixty-three in the final twelve-lap sprint after the final Safety Car.

Damage likely played a part in this, but a one-two finish for the Silver Arrows is certainly welcome for the team after what has been a disappointing season overall. Mercedes now find themselves nineteen points behind Scuderia Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship battle for second place, which will be decided at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

George Russell picked up his first win in Formula 1 as he comfortably went on to win Saturday’s sprint race to earn Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr came home to finish in second place but will have a five-place grid penalty for the race on Sunday which will move him further down the order. Lewis Hamilton took third place meaning he will move up to second and Mercedes will lock out the front row for the first time this season.

The twenty-four lap sprint race would determine the starting grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen started right at the front after claiming a surprising maiden pole position in qualifying on Friday.

All the drivers started on the soft tyres apart from Max Verstappen and Nicholas Latifi, who decided to go for the medium tyres and play it more safely with their strategies.

Magnussen got a great start off the line and led into turn one. Verstappen was defending Russell from the off and this gave Magnussen a little gap out ahead. However, after only three laps, the Dutchman overtook Magnussen for the lead of the race and a lap later, the Dane had moved down the order to fourth after being overtaken by Russell and Sainz.

Johan Kristoffersson rounded off the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship in fine fashion. He won the final round of the inaugural all-electric season at the World RX of Germany at the legendary Nürburgring circuit to make it an astonishing 8 wins out of 10 events.

Despite some fantastic and thrilling racing all year long, the result of the season nor the final round never looked in any serious doubt. Kristoffersson has clearly been super fast all year, winning all 10 SuperPoles of 2022, including beating championship runner up Timmy Hansen by 0.8 seconds over a single lap in Germany.

The biggest drama of day 1 took place in the very first race. Heat 1 race 1 saw the much anticipated debut of the Lancia Delta Evo-e RX at the hands of Guerlain Chicherit. After showing competitive pace (and, incidentally, a stunning car aesthetically), the Frenchman’s day was over almost as soon as it started, after a tussle with Kevin Hansen put his Lancia in the wall. Chicherit will be encouraged by the pace shown, and his appearance in the semi-final on day 2, after a herculean effort to put the car back together, is a great springboard from which he can launch his 2023 full-season campaign.

Elsewhere on day 1, Kristoffersson was challenged by his KMS teammate, Ole Christian Veiby, who won his last two heat races on the track but lost out in the latter due to a penalty awarded for corner cutting. But it was Klara Andersson who had the biggest smile, winning her first ever heat race at World RX level in heat 3 after a stunning move round the rest of the field in turns 1 and 2. The grin on her face after crossing the line tells just how hard she and the whole CE Dealer Team have been working all year.

She started day 2 by repeating the move in the first progression race, and then putting in an incredible defence against 5-time champion Kristoffersson. But, in another display of raw pace, Kristoffersson threw his Volkswagen Polo RX1e around the circuit, having completed his joker lap, and managed to squeeze ahead of Andersson once she too had completed her joker.

Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT could celebrate in style as they won on Toyota`s home soil in Rally Japan on Sunday morning when Thierry Neuville won the last rally of the 2022 season.

Neuville headed Toyota`s Elfyn Evans, who was the only threat for Neuville over the weekend, by just four seconds going to Sunday`s final five stages. With a rainy forecast expected in the afternoon for the rally`s final day, it was a hard gamble to know what tires would be optimal as they were heading out.

Neuville took the right call and selected a pair of soft, hard, and wet weather compounds while Evans went for only soft and hard. It appeared later that Evans probably made the right call as he moved within six-tenths of Neuville in the morning.

On the following stage, Evans misjudged a right-hander and nudged a kerb with the rear-left tyre, which resulted in a puncture Evans lost about 1 minute and 30 seconds and fell to fifth. As predicted rain started to pour down for the final two stages and Neuville who had the right tyres could be comfortable on the top while Ott Tänak passed to take second place.

Takamoto Katsuta also took advantage when Evans lost time, the Japanese clinched the third-place finish on home soil and trailed Tänak by a minute when crossing the finish line but managed to hold off Sébastien Ogier by 12.3 seconds, who finished in fourth.

Emil Lindholm has now clinched two world driver titles this season as he secured the WRC2 driver’s world championship title in Rally Japan on Sunday morning. Making it an all-Finnish lockout in the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship after Kalle Rovanperä won in WRC and Lauri Joona in WRC3.

Lindholm managed to secure the WRC2 Junior world title before Spain when the rival Chris Ingram was forced to sit out the rest of the season following the crash in Acropolis Rally Greece. Ahead of Rally Japan, it was a three-way battle for the main title but Andreas Mikkelsen was absent in Japan and Kajetan Kajetanowicz crashed out on Friday. Lindholm only needed to bring the car home in fifth to secure it.

Lindholm lead the rally most of the weekend but got passed by Grégoire Munster on the penultimate stage later he also got passed by Teemu Suninen on the power stage which resulted in Lindholm getting dropped down to third overall in the class and that was enough to win the title by seven points over Mikkelsen.

Munster´s pass on the penultimate stage also resulted in a first win in the WRC2 class for the young Luxembourg native. Ex-Formula 1 legend Heikki Kovalainen claimed fourth on his WRC debut as he passed the 2021 Junior WRC champion Sami Pajari who dropped down to fifth on the power stage.

Official results for WRC2

James Hillier has done a lot in pavement motorcycle racing, establishing himself as a star at the Isle of Man TT. While the it is regarded as the world’s most dangerous race, the Dakar Rally also holds a similar legendary status that Hillier hopes to conquer. To make his campaign more challenging, Hillier will compete in the Malle Moto category, easily the most daunting even if it is not a front-running class like the RallyGP bikes.

Officially known as Original by Motul and open to both bikes and quads, Malle Moto riders are forbidden from having any outside assistance whatsoever, meaning crews and even media personnel may not tag along. Instead, the only help that riders get are from the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) themselves, who provides a trunk for personal belongings, parts, and tools, as well as a single headlight and help in transporting certain goods like spare tyres. Sponsor Motul also provides goods like a backpack, bike cover, head lamp, hygiene kit, sleeping bag and mattress, and travel bag.

Twenty-seven Malle Moto riders received their numbers on Thursday, with Hillier being assigned #80. He described the class as “the traditional way, the crazy way! It means I have to maintain the bike, no support truck, no nice warm bed, we are supplied tents and the tool kit is transported to each stage end. So it’s ‘Eat sleep race repeat’ for two weeks of hard core rally racing.”

Hillier has competed at the infamous Isle of Man TT since 2008, winning the Lightweight TT in 2013; he will be the first Isle of Man winner to challenge the Dakar Rally. He had hoped to achieve this feat at the 2022 Rally but delayed it by a year after OMG Racing, with whom he races in the British Superbike Championship, switched manufacturers from BMW to Yamaha. Although Hillier rides a KTM in rally raid, the change forced him to focus his offseason getting used to the Yamaha.

He qualified for Dakar after finishing fifteenth overall at the 2021 Andalucía Rally. Hillier was the third best-finishing rookie behind Julien Jagu and Paolo Lucci, both of whom also earned spots at the 2022 Dakar Rally via the Road to Dakar programme, which rewards those with no prior experience at the event with a free entry if they perform well in select races like Andalucía. Although Hillier opted out of the 2022 race, the Road to Dakar invite rolls over to 2023.

Head of Trackside Engineering, Andrew Shovlin was more than happy with the performance of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the sprint race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, which saw Russell execute a thrilling overtake on Oracle Red Bull Racing‘s Max Verstappen, and Hamilton make an excellent recovery from eighth to the third position.

The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team have been, so far, enduring a tougher season than they originally thought with the W13 refusing to cooperate with the drivers, until now. After bringing a final update package to Austin the team’s performance has undoubtedly improved, and the results in Saturday’s sprint race Shovlin stated was a ‘fine reward’ for the hard work and efforts made by the team.

“A fantastic drive from George to win the Sprint and a great recovery from Lewis to join him on the front row tomorrow. After such a lot of hard work over the season by the drivers and the entire team in Brackley and Brixworth, today was a fine reward for those efforts.”

Today acts as a perfect reminder of what the Mercedes team is capable of, however, Shovlin states they “were no doubt flattered by being on the right tyre against Max” after the Red Bull driver set out on the track sporting the medium compound tyre which proved to be the less effective tyre against the soft. However, the pace against the two Scuderia Ferrari drivers and Sergio Perez proved to be competitive.

“We were no doubt flattered by being on the right tyre against Max but we can also look at the fact there were two Ferraris and Sergio on the soft and we clearly had pace on them.”

It was a successful sprint race for Haas F1 Team at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with Kevin Magnussen scoring a singular point.

Magnussen started on pole after a spectacular qualifying session on Friday afternoon, but everyone always knew that a win was unrealistic for the American team, but points was a good aim for Magnussen with quick cars coming from behind. The Dane delivered that and finished with a singular point in eighth position behind Lando Norris.

Mick Schumacher drove a very good sprint, gaining eight positions to put himself twelfth ahead of tomorrow’s main event. Schumacher had a very good first lap making up multiple positions and finished in twelfth after a penalty for Lance Stroll.

Team Principal Guenther Steiner was pleased with Magnussen and Schumacher’s effort and was pleased with the point gained for the team

“After starting from pole with Kevin today, we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish and get points. Only one point but it’s difficult to do with all the big boys coming through but we got one. Mick had a very good race – he came from P20 to P12 – and for tomorrow we’re in a good position. There’s a chance for points so it was a pretty good day to for us and once again, fantastic teamwork.” 

After a thrilling sprint at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team has come out on top after the race saw George Russell take a spectacular first win for the team and Lewis Hamilton take the third position which, thanks to Carlos Sainz Jr‘s grid penalty, will see Hamilton bumped up to the second position, securing a front-row lockout for the Brackley-based team.

Russell started off strong on the soft compound tyre, overtaking the Haas F1 Team pole sitter Kevin Magnussen and Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen. Russell drove superbly around the track, quickly extending a full two seconds lead from Verstappen after successfully executing an overtake on the Dutchman, third time lucky.

The remarkable pace from the W13 came as a surprise to Russell as the driver stated he “didn’t expect to have that much pace” during the sprint, especially down the straight where the King’s Lynn-born driver zipped past Verstappen’s RB18.

“That result just goes to show all the hard work that everybody is putting in and the progress that we have made as a team. The car has been feeling great since we brought our last update to Austin, but I wasn’t expecting to have that much pace.”

Whilst there has been extensive development made to the W13 throughout the season and significant improvement in pace, Russell speculated that the results could have been different had Verstappen been on the soft compound.

Kevin Magnussen made history yesterday by claiming his and the team’s first pole position, and while he didn’t stay at the front for long it was still a successful sprint race for the Dane and the team.

Magnussen maintained his lead for the first few laps, but after that he was quickly overtaken by Max Verstappen and George Russell. That led to the Dane being overtaken by the faster cars, and on lap fifteen he was overtaken by Scuderia Ferrari‘s Charles Leclerc. The final overtake came later when he was passed by McLaren F1 Team‘s Lando Norris for seventh place.

Magnussen was happy with his result from the day and admitted that this was the best he could do after pulling out a shock pole position on Friday.

“I really enjoyed today – and we got a point, and that’s also a very important point given our battle for eighth with AlphaTauri. We knew we weren’t going to win this race and that wasn’t really the aim. It was all about enjoying staring from the pole position and then really trying to get a point out of it.

“The dream was to try and finish ahead of Lando (Norris) just behind all the big cars, that didn’t quite happen, but we’re still happy with the point for eighth. We start from there tomorrow and that’s a position we’d be very happy about in regular qualifying. So, we start from inside the top 10 and hopefully we can go for points tomorrow too.”