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With Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship edging ever closer, the FIA World Motor Sport Council have given their permission for Cape Town, South Africa to join the still not fully announced calendar.

The announcement was made at the recent council meeting in London on Wednesday, where it was confirmed that South Africa would be joining India and Brazil in 2023 as new hosts of the all-electric series. With this in mind, it seems to be a perfect time for new venues to join the championship, which will, of course, be welcoming it’s third generation of car in the upcoming season.

The calendar has further been updated, with a number of other big changes having been made. The Berlin E-Prix has been turned into a double-header following the removal of South Korea, with it looking increasingly unlikely that the series will return to the venue which hosted the Season Eight finale in 2023. It is due to the area of which the circuit was situated at having renovation work done to it. There are still, though, two TBC slots on the updated calendar, which could see another new venue potentially join the series.

Alberto Longo, Co-Founder and Chief Championship Officer, Formula E, was “excited” to confirm that the series will be heading to South Africa and that they are still in talks with South Korea.

“We are excited to announce Cape Town as a new destination for our series in Season 9. Our local partners are working incredibly hard to bring an ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race to the city and we cannot wait to see the futuristic Gen3 race cars competing against the iconic natural backdrop of Table Mountain.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly recounted previous experiences at the United States Grand Prix, as well as the inspiring crowds representative of the rapid growth of F1 in the US. Gasly hopes to come away from Circuit of the Americas with a solid finish to move forward from his weak track record at the circuit. 

The French driver comes off an eighteenth place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix, but said that the atmosphere at Suzuka International Racing Course was “special” with all the amount of support there for him and AlphaTauri. 

“As usual, there was a unique atmosphere in Japan, especially on our first visit in three years and going there as a Honda driver was intense, with so much support for all our team and I was amazed at the number of French flags in the crowd. It was all very special.”

Gasly said that last year’s race weekend in Austin was amazing to partake in, being an event full of great entertainment and an extraordinary number of fans from across the US who travelled to watch the action live. 

“Now we go to Austin, another really cool venue. Last year, there was a big crowd and a great buzz with the popularity of F1 exploding more and more each year in the States. I remember when I was leaving Austin last year that the airport was absolutely full of fans flying home to all over America, there were no passengers that hadn’t been to COTA!” 

Lando Norris has revealed that he did speak to the Oracle Red Bull Racing team about a possible move away from the McLaren F1 Team, but he felt remaining with his current outfit was the better option for him.

The British racer signed a contract extension with the team earlier this year and will race for the Woking-based outfit until the end of the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, and he will have a new team-mate in Oscar Piastri next season.

Norris has confidence that McLaren can join the fight at the front of the field during his time there, and as a result, he found it easy to turn down the chance to join Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

“Of course there are talks with other people from time to time,” said Norris to German publication, Auto Motor und Sport.  “You always ask yourself the question: What is the best thing for my career? I want to win and win world championships.

“There have been talks with Red Bull. They are a team that has been in the top three for years. But that just shows even more how much confidence I have in McLaren. Although there were talks, I felt McLaren was better for me to achieve my goals.”

Tom McCullough, the Performance Director at the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, says their aggressive development programme and great reliability have benefited them as they look to move up to sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship across the final four races of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Aston Martin scored consecutive sixth place finishes in the Singapore and Japanese Grand Prix – one each for Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel – while the latter also scored an eighth place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, and the points scored across the two events mean the team are just seven points behind Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN in the standings.

McCullough credits the development of the AMR22 this year that has seen them show significant improvements as the year has gone on, and it was satisfying to see them rewarded with the points finishes in both Singapore and Japan.

“We’ve had a continuous aggressive development from the start of the year,” said McCullough to Motorsport.com.  “And we’ve been bringing bits to the car race-on-race, and the bits have been working, the car has been going faster, and we’ve been understanding the bits.

“The guys in the development function have been doing that, and it makes our job at the track easier with a faster car.  At the same time thus far we’ve had impeccable reliability as well, always there racing.

Max Verstappen will arrive at the Circuit of the Americas as a two-time World Driver’s Champion after taking the title by winning the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks ago, but the Dutchman knows he still has work to do in 2022.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver has an unassailable lead in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship standings despite their being four races – as well as a sprint race – remaining, and he is bidding to take a record-equalling thirteenth victory of the season this Sunday.

Verstappen says the main goal across the remaining races is to ensure Red Bull take the Constructors’ Championship, and he they will do just that if they can outscore Scuderia Ferrari by nineteen points in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.

“It was special to secure the Drivers’ Championship in Japan, I didn’t get the chance to celebrate too much as we’re still focussed on securing the Constructors’ Championship for the Team,” said Verstappen.

“The ultimate goal is of course to win both, but we need to keep our heads down, it will come if we keep performing well.

Ahead of this weekend’s FIA Formula 1 World Championship action at the United States Grand Prix, Toto Wolff has revealed that Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team will be delivering their final upgrade package to the W13 as the Brackley-based team firmly switches their attentions to the development of their 2023 challenger.

The Silver Arrows are yet to claim a race victory in 2022, and with just four races remaining in the season, Mercedes are at risk of finishing the season without a race victory to their name for the first time since 2012. It would also mean the first time in Lewis Hamilton‘s Formula 1 career that he has failed to win a race during a season.

Wolff was keen to stress that the team head into Austin looking to rebound from a tough run of performances in Singapore and Japan, where Wolff stated that the W13 wasn’t allowed to show it’s true potential across both race weekends due to the team’s failure to put both George Russell and Hamilton in clean air.

While the Mercedes Team Principal is keen for his team to chase their first win of the season in Austin, he also stated that with such little time left in the season, attentions within the team will also be heavily placed on the development of their 2023 car.

“The double-header in Singapore and Japan was a frustrating one for the team, as we didn’t put ourselves in the clean air we needed to maximise the race pace of the car. We want to end this season strongly and the results of the last two races only make us more determined to do so.

Frédéric Vasseur feels Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have not been able to maximise their potential across the past two Grand Prix in Singapore and Japan due to the weather conditions, but he hopes for more normal weather across the next two events in the United States and Mexico.

Rain hit both the Marina Bay Street Circuit and Suzuka International Racing Course and left Alfa Romeo unable to extract everything from their updated C42-Ferrari, but the Team Principal of the Hinwil-based squad believes they can be top ten contenders this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas with conditions expected to be dry.

“The race in Austin, as well as the one in Mexico City next week, gives us an opportunity to race in what should be more regular circumstances,” said Vasseur.  

“There’s no denying we expected more from the races in Asia, especially from Japan as we were bringing some upgrades, but the conditions were such that we were not able to express our full potential.

“Still, our cars proved to be quick in the dry, and that’s the positive we brought back with us and on which we plan to build.”

Valtteri Bottas says he is coming to the Circuit of the Americas for this weekends United States Grand Prix in a competitive mode after winning a bike race in Kansas just last weekend.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver is a previous winner of the United States Grand Prix having won from pole position back in 2019 whilst racing for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, and, as a result, he has positive memories of racing at the Circuit of the Americas.

Bottas hopes the updates Alfa Romeo are bringing to the track this weekend can end his pointless run in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, which stretches back all the way to the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

“I always enjoy being in the States: I spent a good amount of my time off here this year, cycling and exploring, and I was in a bike race in Kansas just last Sunday – which I also won, which means I’m already in competitive mode ahead of the weekend,” said Bottas.

“I won the race from pole here in 2019, and I have overall good memories of this track, of the fans and of the atmosphere.

The eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier tops the Thursday morning shakedown in RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada as two Toyota Gazoo Racing cars are within the top three after the session.

Some rain showers were greeting the drivers during this morning and tire strategy played a big role throughout the session, the Toyota drivers were the only ones in the Rally1 category that ran with the Pirelli soft tires while the rest of the teams selected the hard compound on the 4.21 kilometers Coll de La Teixeta Shakedown stage early on.

Ogier edged the Toyota Gazoo Racing NG driver Takamoto Katsuta by just nine-tenths of a second on his third and final run, while Pierre-Louis Loubet, who ran a total of six times on the stage slotted in third with an impressive time of just 1.2 seconds slower than Ogier when he went out with soft tires. The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver split the two Toyotas of the 2022 world champion Kalle Rovanperä and Elfyn Evans, who posted fourth and fifth fastest times respectively.

M-Sport´s Gus Greensmith also went for softs on his later attempts and he managed to take a sixth fastest time on his fourth run, meanwhile, teammate Adrien Fourmaux, who returns to the line-up after a two-month hiatus ended with seventh fastest after having a slow opening run.

Craig Breen also driving for M-Sport was the ninth fastest and local two WRC2 drivers of Pepe López and Alejandro Cachón claimed eighth and tenth fastest times respectively.

Josh Berry is the first driver to lock a spot in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Round after winning at Las Vegas on Saturday, and JR Motorsports understandably wants to keep him around as they signed him for the 2023 season.

“JR Motorsports has always been my home as a racer, and I’m proud to return to JRM and the #8 team for 2023,” Berry stated. “When I came here, it was as a late model driver and mechanic, and when I got the opportunity to race full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it was a dream come true. We’ll race for a series championship next month, and that’s nearly full circle for me with the team.”

Berry is a longtime member of the JRM organisation, having competed for them in the Xfinity Series since 2014 and winning multiple late model races, the latter of which also includes the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship. However, his Xfinity career had been held back by a lack of funding, which resulted in his 2021 Rookie of the Year campaign not being a full-time season despite winning twice, though he was still busy with multiple starts as a substitute driver. Berry even got to race in the Cup Series in relief duty.

He was able to acquire enough backing for the entire 2022 season with increased support from Tire Pros. This commitment has paid off tremendously as he has won three times and sits fourth in points with a ticket to the Championship Round. Tire Pros will sponsor him for nine races in 2023 while serving as an associate sponsor for the rest.

“Greg (Bell, Tire Pros president) and the team over at Tire Pros are a huge reason I’m able to drive in the Xfinity Series,” said Berry. “They took a chance on me in 2021 and for that I am forever thankful. We had a great first year together and were able to follow that up by putting the Tire Pros Chevrolet into Victory Lane at Dover. I can’t wait to continue that success in 2023.”

When the Rally3 regulations were presented to be introduced for the 2021 season, the British outfit M-Sport Ford was quick to introduce a new car but now the Ford Fiesta Rally3 will face competition as the French manufacturer is set to be joining the Rally3 field with a newly developed car in about one year.

With the M-Sport being first and alone with a car for the cheaper four-wheel-drive category, the choice fell easily on M-Sport when the FIA Junior World Rally Championship switched to four-wheel drive. But now the brand looks to have competition, as the French manufacturer Renault is in tests with a brand-new Renault Clio Rally3.

Renault started with the Clio Rally5, continued with developing a Clio Rally4, and announced at its launch that they were expected to take the next step, over the past few days former JWRC driver Jean-Baptiste Franceschi has been testing the car for the company on French dirt roads and earlier he was testing the car on tarmac.

The launch and sale of the car cannot be expected to start until the second half of 2023 and to be ready for the 2024 season. Renault will probably be a contender to supply the JWRC class with cars come the 2024 season as well.

When Hattori Racing Enterprises expanded to two trucks for the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Chase Purdy was tabbed as the driver of the new #61 Toyota Tundra TRD. However, his stint with the team will only last one year as the team announced they will part ways at the end of the 2022 season.

After finishing nineteenth in points as a rookie in 2021, Purdy moved from GMS Racing to Hattori’s new #61 for 2022, marking a return to Toyota after racing with the make in regional levels. His tenure began on a sour note after missing the season opener at Daytona, though his production has improved from 2021 with a higher average finish of 17.8 after twenty races versus 22.6. He sits sixteenth in points with two top tens at Gateway and Talladega.

Purdy made his Truck début in 2018 for the now defunct MDM Motorsports. He returned to the series two years later on a seven-race schedule for GMS, during which he notched his first top ten. His best career finish is sixth at Gateway in 2021.

“Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) and Chase Purdy have agreed to amicably part ways at the end of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season,” reads a team statement. “We are appreciative to Chase for his efforts and contributions in helping to establish a second team and earning career-high statistics this season. HRE intends to continue fielding two full-time teams in 2023 and is in the process of solidifying the next driver of the #61 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We look forward to closing out the season strong with Chase as we continue to build for the 2023 season.”

While Purdy is out, the team has not confirmed if Tyler Ankrum will remain in the flagship #16. Ankrum also joined the team in 2022 and missed the playoffs like Purdy, but he has more top tens with eight and is higher in points as he sits twelfth.

The 25-year-old Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet will be ending his 2022 FIA World Rally Championship campaign with the British outfit M-Sport Ford World Rally Team this weekend in RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada after having his best season so far in the top level.

The former Hyundai Motorsport´s 2C Compétition driver didn´t have any success with the Korean manufacturer but after he signed up with M-Sport to do a part-time program this year, everything got changed and he has proven himself to be one of the drivers that have been developing the most over the season.

Loubet has been quite consistent over the season, in Rally Italia Sardegna he finished just outside of the podium with a fourth-place finish, and last time out in Acropolis Rally Greece he was leading the rally but struggled with the breaks of his Ford Puma Rally1 and caught a puncture but drove back up to finish fourth.

However the season hasn´t been the only glory days for him, he started the season in Croatia Rally where he, unfortunately, had to retire from the rally early on due to three punctures. He could restart the rally on Saturday but he was way down the order, he finished the rally 47th overall. In Rally Estonia and Rally Finland Loubet was forced to retire due to mechanical failures.

“I am looking forward to Spain, I hope that we will be confident with the car like we have been all season. After our test I am really confident in the car and sure it will perform very well on the Spanish Tarmac. This will be mine and Vincent’s last time in the car this year, so we are hoping for a strong end to the year.” Loubet said.

The Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux will be returning to the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team line-up for this weekend in RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada after he has been sitting out the two last rounds. The 27-year-old last competed in Ypres Rally Belgium in August where he crashed out of the rally on the final day.

As a result of his mistake, the team forced the Frenchman to sit out the two upcoming rounds in Acropolis Rally Greece and Rally New Zealand. The season for Fourmaux after showing great pace last year, has been downright sad. There have simply been too many mistakes and errors, and he is currently sitting 19th overall in the championship leaderboard.

At the season-opener of Rallye Monte-Carlo, he had a massive crash when he went way too fast into a left-hander which resulted in him hitting a bank and the car getting thrown over the road and the following round in Rally Sweden he had to retire due to mechanical failure.

In Croatia Rally he was again involved in an accident and had to retire but managed to finish ninth in Rally Portugal before yet another accident in Rally Italia Sardegna and in Safari Rally Kenya, where he managed to restart the rally to finish 15th overall. The best result so far this year came in Rally Estonia where he finished seventh.

Fourmaux had two months to think about his future in rallying and to focus on the two remaining rounds of the season. So now this weekend he will finally be returning behind the wheel of a Ford Puma Rally1.

The FIA World Motorsport Council had its second-to-last meeting of the season yesterday in London where they presented some changes and calendars for the upcoming 2023 motorsport season, however, the expected final decision for the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship calendar was not presented this time. The council will be having the final meeting on 7 December and then the final pieces will be put together.

The only change that was presented for the WRC was the re-evaluated of the cost cap for the teams because the homologated components have become even more expensive due to the world situation. In the future, the cost cap will be tightened for cars in the Rally2, Rally3, Rally4, and Rally5 classifications.

So far it is known the annual season-opener of Rallye Monte-Carlo will be hosted on 19-22 January and Rally Sweden had earlier confirmed their date on 9-12 February. The 2023 calendar will be featuring one more round as well, going from 13 this season up to 14 with the possibility of Saudi Arabia to hosting the season-finale.

According to some information Mexico is expected to be returning to the calendar in March and probably a new round named Central Europe Rally, which will be held around the borders of Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.