Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Gabriele Mini will join up with Hitech Grand Prix for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season, coming off the back of an impressive season with the team in Formula Regional European Championship.

The seventeen year old finished second in the series, only forty points behind PREMA’s new recruit Dino Beganovic.

Mini took an impressive three wins and six podiums throughout the season, which have prompted Hitech GP into giving the 2020 Italian Formula 4 champion a seat in Formula 3 next season.

Hitech GP team principal Oliver Oakes commented on the new addition to their Formula 3 lineup saying:

“I have been following Gabriele’s career for some time through Karting, then into F4. We had the pleasure to work with him earlier this year in Asian F3 with good results, seeing first-hand his commitment and talent.”

The 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship is set to round off the season in spectacular fashion. Not only is the championship returning to the legendary Nürburgring for a four way battle for second place in the season results, but a truly iconic car makes its debut and a fan favourite makes his return to the top tier of rallycross.

GCK‘s announcement that they were ready to unleash their Lancia Delta Eve-e RX at the final round of the season sent ripples of excitement through the rallycross fanbase. Almost exactly a year on from when it was first announced, it has finally been unveiled and it is a truly stunning beast to look at. The labour that has gone into it is mind-boggling; completing the chassis took 1,200 hours.

For all that the car’s power will be the same as that of the rest of the field (500kW, the equivalent of 680bhp), this outing is being used as a test run before launching a full-scale attack on the 2023 season. GCK founder, president, and driver Guerlain Chicherit is aware of the challenges ahead, saying “I have no doubt the Lancia will impress plenty of people out there. We’ll clearly need a bit of time to get to grips with the car and make it competitive, but right now, I’m just eager to get out on-track!”

Another returning star is 2022 FIA European Rallycross Championship champion, Anton Marklund. The Swedish superstar will be stepping up to fill the position of René Münnich who is unavailable for the final round. Marklund wrapped up the EuroRX1 title with a round to spare, having been the dominant force all season. Now he gets to try his hand in the SEAT Ibiza RX1e and has made no secret of his desire to get back into the top tier of rallycross.

“I’ve definitely got some unfinished business there, and going into 2023 with some prior advantage of driving an RX1e car can only put me in a stronger position,” explained Marklund. “With no testing ahead of the race weekend and all the other drivers at the peak of their performance following almost a full season of experience, it’s going to be a huge challenge, but from the short time I’ve had trying out the RX2e car before, my driving style seems to suit electric pretty well.” It will be fascinating to see how much he and Chicherit can challenge for contention at the final round.

Valtteri Bottas hopes to be in the long-term plans for the Sauber F1 Team and wants to be there when their alliance with Audi Sport begins in the 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

The Finn joined Sauber, currently known as Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, ahead of the 2022 season and started the year superbly, scoring points in seven of the first nine races, although the second half of the year has been less fruitful, with his point in the Mexico City Grand Prix last time out his first top ten finish since the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

Bottas feels there is big potential for the team when they link up with Audi, and he hopes that he can do enough to keep himself in with a chance of staying with them all the way up to 2026 and beyond.

“Why not? I’m 33 years old, so I hope that I’m going to be there,” Bottas is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “If you look at the big picture, I think it’s huge. There’s big potential for Sauber with Audi.

“No doubt they want to succeed in the future. They want to do well and show they’re serious.

Kevin Magnussen would not have any problems with Nico Hülkenberg being his team-mate, if the German is chosen to replace Mick Schumacher at the Haas F1 Team for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Rumours ahead of this weekend’s São Paulo Grand Prix are that Haas are set to announce Hülkenberg in the second Haas seat for next year in place of Schumacher, who looks set to depart after two seasons with the American outfit.

Magnussen and Hülkenberg have had high-profile controversial moments in the past, including during the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix when the two clashed on-track and then had a verbal clash post-race.

But Magnussen, who returned to Haas on a long-term deal ahead of the 2022 season after the departure of Nikita Mazepin, believes the tension between he and Hülkenberg has gone and there should be no issue working alongside the German.

“I think I’ve said many times now, that I don’t have a problem with Nico at all,” Magnussen is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.

Nicholas Latifi would only accept a third driver role in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship next season if there was a realistic chance that he would get a race seat in 2024.

The Canadian will step away from his Williams Racing drive at the end of the current season after three years on the grid after the team opted not to renew his contract, and he has been linked with a potential move to the NTT IndyCar Series for 2023.

Latifi does not want to join a Formula 1 team as a reserve driver if there was not a chance of him returning to a full-time seat in the future, and he is seeing himself racing outside of the sport next year.

“I think the only way I would consider a third driver role is if I saw a realistic way to return to the grid in Formula 1, which speaking honestly and bluntly, I don’t see to be the case,” said Latifi on Formula1’s Beyond the Grid.

“Obviously Alex [Albon] did that last year, so it shows it’s possible. I think he was in a different situation with Red Bull.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team have yet to who will be their test and reserve drive for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, despite rumours linking Daniel Ricciardo with a possible move to the team.

Mercedes is losing both of their current reserve drivers at the end of the 2022 campaign, with Nyck de Vries joining the Scuderia AlphaTauri race team and Stoffel Vandoorne joining the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team as a reserve driver.

They have a potential young driver to use for their mandatory young driver free practice sessions for next season in Frederik Vesti, but they will be looking for someone with experience to fill the role of reserve driver.

Toto Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, believes Ricciardo, who has lost his seat with the McLaren F1 Team for 2023 to his countryman Oscar Piastri, is speaking to a number of teams about a possible reserve driver role for next season, and no decision has yet been made to who will act in that position for the Brackley/Banbury based outfit.

The Team Principal believes Ricciardo’s former employers, Oracle Red Bull Racing, are also potentially looking at the Australian, but should Ricciardo join Mercedes, Wolff feels it would be ‘really advantageous’ to them.

Frédéric Vasseur knows the short-term future for the Sauber Formula 1 Team will not be too affected by the planned 2026 tie-in with Audi Sport, but in the mid to long-term, it will be a ‘game-changer’ for the Swiss-based outfit.

Sauber’s current deal with Alfa Romeo concludes at the end of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, but they will join forces with Audi when the new engine regulations come into effect in 2026.

Vasseur, the Team Principal of the current Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN outfit, reckons Audi’s arrival will mark a big step forward for the team and offer tremendous opportunities both on and off the track.

“On the short-term view first: it won’t have a big impact except that for us that we know that we can go to the next step and it will be a huge opportunity in terms of recruitment and to be more attractive also for the sponsors for the future,” Vasseur is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.

“But mid-term, for sure it’s a game-changer, because we will have this kind of partnership, and I think F1 is getting more and more difficult.

The Honda Talon has proven to be a capable UTV in the desert racing world courtesy of Honda Factory Off-Road Racing. Now, competitors unaffiliated with the team can use the engine for themselves as Honda Performance Development announced 27 October that the Talon Crate Engine is being sold for USD$8,499.99 (€8,434.97).

The 999cc liquid-cooled, parallel-twin engine boasts an automatic six-speed, dual-clutch transmission. It is completely stock and strictly intended for racing use.

“We at HPD are proud to be able to offer the Talon Crate engine,” said HPD commercial manager John Whiteman. “Honda has a long history of success in off-road competition and the Talon Crate engine programme is a great opportunity for racers to purchase a complete OEM replacement engine.”

Honda fields Talons in SCORE International and Best In The Desert. Factory driver Zach Sizelove won the Pro UTV NA class at the Baja 500 in June, and he and team-mate Ethan Ebert finished 1–2 in said category at the Mint 400 three months prior. For the Baja 1000 on 15–20 November, Honda will have the #1925 and #1920 Talons respectively led by Sizelove and Elias Hanna.

The Talon has also seen success in rock crawling. In February, Bailey Cole won the UTV Stock NA class at the King of the Hammers as one of just thirty-four drivers to finish the race. KOH was the site of the Talon’s début in 2020.

Pirelli has elected to bring the middle compound range– the C2, C3, and C4 tyres– to the Brazilian Grand Prix. Motorsport Director Mario Isola expects much overtaking at the historic Autódromo José Carlos Pace, which has allowed for varied tyre strategies in the past. 

“Formula 1 heads to Interlagos next weekend: the shortest lap of the year after Monaco and Mexico. It’s a historic track run anti-clockwise, which alternates some quick sections as well as medium-speed sequences of corners, such as the famous ‘Senna esses’.”

Isola described the circuit as being less harsh on the tyres due to its “flowing” nature, allowing teams and drivers to better manage tyre wear. 

“There aren’t any big demands on the tyres in terms of traction and braking because it’s a very flowing layout, and the lack of slow corners means that the teams are able to control the degradation on the rear tyres.”

With Brazil hosting the season’s final sprint, tyres will play a key role in strategy on Saturday. Isola said that 2021 saw a mixed bag of starting tyres, with both soft and medium tyres used for the length of the shortened race. 

Ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix, Andreas Seidl has reminded his McLaren F1 Team to “keep our heads down and give everything we’ve got” as their intense battle for fourth in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Constructors’ Standings with the BWT Alpine F1 Team approaches it’s conclusion.

McLaren’s impressive double points haul in Mexico City allowed the Woking-based team to reduce the gap to Alpine to seven points with just two races remaining in the season.

At Last year’s São Paulo Grand Prix, McLaren would endure a race of mixed fortunes as Daniel Ricciardo was forced to retire with just twenty laps remaining due to a power loss, while Lando Norris was able to bring home a point after starting from the third row of the grid in fifth.

Despite only taking one point from last season’s São Paulo Grand Prix, Seidl has stated that he and the team remain excited by the challenge that the Autódromo José Carlos Pace will provide across the weekend.

“The team are looking forward to the race weekend at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace. It’s an interesting track with banked corners, the famous Senna S, camber changes and undulation, so it will be great to see the new cars on track and see what overtaking opportunities arise.“

Lando Norris has stated that the McLaren F1 Team will give “it everything we’ve got” as the FIA Formula 1 World Championship returns to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace for the São Paulo Grand Prix. McLaren enters the weekend’s action trailing the BWT Alpine F1 Team by just seven points in the Constructors’ Standings and will be looking to build off their impressive double points finish last time out in Mexico City.

Norris holds a six race streak of finishing inside the points and the British driver will be looking to make it seven as he returns to a happy hunting ground in the form of the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, where he has been able to finish inside the points on the two occasions he has raced in São Paulo, an eight-place finish in 2019 was followed up by a tenth-place finish at last year’s race in Brazil.

On his hopes for the weekend ahead, Norris stated: “The Interlagos circuit is a really fun place to race. The mixture of the history with the brilliant fans makes it such a great atmosphere. I’ve finished in the points both times I’ve raced here so the plan is to keep the streak going.”

With the Sprint weekend format making it’s return, Norris is hopeful of using the Sprint to capture some valuable points for the Woking-based team as their battle with Alpine for fourth in the Constructors’ nears its end.

“With the Sprint this weekend, it’s a great opportunity to get as high up the grid as we can for Sunday’s lights out whilst hopefully picking up a couple of valuable extra points. We’re in the final stretch of the season so we’re giving it everything we’ve got.” 

Whilst Max Verstappen has been able to run away with the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, many can be forgiven for forgetting that before this year’s Austrian Grand Prix, just thirty-four points separated Verstappen and his Oracle Red Bull Racing team-mate, Sergio Pérez, in the Drivers’ Championship.

Pérez had claimed victory at the Monaco Grand Prix and also had a handful of second-place finishes to his name, allowing the Mexican driver, at the time, to be very much involved in the championship fight.

In the round prior to Austria, at Silverstone, Verstappen endured one of his toughest days out on track as he came home for a seventh-place finish, whilst Pérez was able to claim the second spot on the podium and reduce Verstappen’s lead in the championship by eleven points.

In a recent interview with the Dutch edition of Motorsport.com, Pérez revealed that after his strong start to the season, he firmly believed that he was in the fight for the championship.

“I think I had a really good start, I was in the fight for the championship. There were a couple of races where I struggled with the car and that cost me the most points and the chance to keep fighting for the championship.”

Two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso has revealed that he is open to the idea of teaming up with fellow double World Champion, Max Verstappen, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team driver took victory at Le Mans in both 2018 and 2019 for the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, alongside former FIA Formula 1 World Championship drivers Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.

Alonso’s experience in endurance racing doesn’t end there, as the Spaniard also took victory at the Daytona 24 Hours in 2019 for Wayne Taylor Racing, alongside another former Formula 1 driver, Kamui Kobayashi.

While for Verstappen, the Dutchman is yet to take part in an official endurance race but his interest in endurance racing has been evident after he claimed victory alongside Lando Norris at the 2019 virtual Spa 24 Hours and came second in last weekend’s Virtual Le Mans Series Spa Six Hours.

Speaking on the idea of a possible team-up to De Telegraaf, Alonso stated that should they both receive the opportunity to drive for a competitive team at Le Mans, then both drivers would certainly have to consider the idea.

Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor began the 2022 Extreme E season as team-mates at JBXE, and will now end the year as team-mates at Veloce Racing. On Tuesday, Veloce announced the two have been hired to drive the #5 at the Energy X Prix on 26/27 November followed by the full 2023 schedule. The duo replaces Lance Woolridge and Christine GZ.

Hansen had been JBXE’s permanent male driver since taking over for team owner Jenson Button in the second round of 2021, from which he and fellow Swede Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky brought JBXE to a third-place points finish with four podiums. At the 2022 season-opening Desert X Prix with Taylor, he fractured his T8 vertebra and bruised a lung following an especially hard landing during the Crazy Race, resulting in a lengthy rehabilitation. Luckily for Hansen, a five-month break allowed him to recover in time for the Island X Prix in July, where he and new team-mate Hedda Hosås finished third in the doubleheader’s first race (albeit due to a penalty).

Between XE races, Hansen has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship RX1e class and currently sits fourth in the standings.

“I am absolutely stoked to be joining Veloce Racing on a long-term deal starting in Uruguay,” Hansen stated. “To join a team which is young, ambitious, modern in its ways and doing things that no other team does is fantastic for me. It’s a huge opportunity to continue in Extreme E for the next X Prix and for Season 3.

“The team has high ambitions, as do I and Molly. I am really happy to have her alongside me; we raced in Saudi Arabia together and had a great time. We work well as a pair and we’re looking forward to building a partnership between us and the whole team.”

Xavier de Soultrait has long competed in rally raid on two wheels, having won a stage at the Dakar Rally in the Bikes category and racing the event for eight years. For 2023, however, he will make the shift to four wheels as he races a Polaris RZR Pro in the SSV (T4) category for Sébastien Loeb Racing. Polaris Off-Road Vehicles will provide factory support as part of a new five-year deal with SLR.

Soultrait won the 2016 FIM Bajas World Cup and has claimed titles in enduro racing. As a factory rider for Yamaha, he made his Dakar début in 2014, and won his first stage in 2019 en route to a career-best seventh-place overall finish. After a string of retirements, however, he switched to Husqvarna and fielded his own entry as a privateer for the 2022 Rally, where he finished fifteenth.

“After carrying out side-by-side co-driver tests with Sébastien Loeb, we’re making progress on my switch to this category,” said Soultrait. “The requirement as a motorcycle or SSV rider is very high, and I hope that this next cycle will be as long as my first on two wheels. I will put in all the intensity and effort that’s needed to succeed in this new challenge. The Dakar Rally is about adventure and human encounters, and I think that the story with Sébastien Loeb Racing can become virtuous. Of course, the presence of Sébastien Loeb as our team boss will be precious because his experience and knowledge of the discipline will be necessary to help us progress faster. My desire to play the leading role, as I have tried to do in recent editions on two wheels, is intact. I’m sure it’s going to be another fun adventure and I can’t wait to start.”

Loeb is more known for his nine World Rally Championships but has increased his involvement in rally raid since retiring from full-time rallying. Racing in the T1 class for Bahrain Raid Xtreme, Loeb finished runner-up in the 2022 Dakar Rally and World Rally-Raid Championship to Nasser Al-Attiyah.

SLR has followed their owner to various series including the FIA World Touring Car and World Rallycross Championships, though Loeb races for other teams rather than his own.