Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Kevin Magnussen endured a somewhat boring Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, in what was another race without points for the Danish driver.

The Dane rose five places on the opening lap before the race was red-flagged on the second lap due to heavy rainfall at the Suzuka International Racing Course, meaning he was twelfth when proceedings eventually resumed. From the restart nothing really happened for Magnussen, who dropped back to fourteenth but still finished higher than his team-mate, following a poor strategy by the Haas F1 Team.

It means the Dane still hasn’t claimed points since the Austrian Grand Prix, following a underwhelming weekend.

“There’s not a whole lot to say – it was another day with the weather being like this, which is always an opportunity so of course it’s disappointing not to get anything out of it.”

“We put them [the intermediates] on a bit too late” – Mick Schumacher

Mick Schumacher‘s race was somewhat more eventful but ultimately even more catastrophic, as the Americans fitted the German with the Intermediate tyres too late, which resulted in the German finishing last of the running drivers.

Daniel Ricciardo wished that the FIA Formula 1 World Championship had more flexibility in its race times, particularly where rain is predicted to fall during a Grand Prix.

The McLaren F1 Team driver was speaking after the rain delays seen during the Japanese Grand Prix, which ultimately ended as a forty-minute sprint to the chequered flag as the weather prevented any running after an early red flag.

Ricciardo knows that race times are predominantly dictated by television coverage, but he feels more could have been done to give the fans at the Suzuka International Racing Course more of a race if they could have brought the start time forward, even by an hour or so.

“We want to race,” Ricciardo said to Motorsport.com.  “Where I wish we could do better is… I know it’s easy saying it now, but we knew this rain was going to come. It’s like 2014.

“Even if you bring it forward an hour, maybe we gain 20 laps at the beginning and you can still make a race of it. That’s where again, let’s try and learn something from this. I know there’s TV and everything, there’s a big part of it.

Max Verstappen says he would be willing to help out Pirelli by running some wet weather tests for them if it means a better full wet tyre comes out of it at the end.

The past two Grand Prix in Singapore and Japan have both seen rain, and conditions have seen red flags and delays as standing water ran the risk of aquaplaning.

The race in Japan, in particular, highlighted just how poor the full wet tyre is that Pirelli has supplied, with everyone jumping to the intermediate tyre quickly even though conditions were far from ideal to run that compound.  The full wet was just falling away from its optimum operating window too quickly, and they were not doing the job they were designed to do for the conditions.

Verstappen went on to dominate at the Suzuka International Racing Course and in doing so clinched his second World Drivers’ Championship title, but the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver feels Pirelli need to do something to make their full wet tyre option work in a wider range of conditions so drivers can make good use of it more often on the racetrack.

“I didn’t want to take a dig out of everyone but I think we need better rain tyres,” Verstappen is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “If you saw what we could do in the ’90s or the early 2000s, with the amount of water on the track.

Mario Isola said the tyre choices during the Japanese Grand Prix were dictated by the weather, particularly when it came to the restart following the lengthy red flag period at the Suzuka International Racing Course.

The initial start saw everyone run the intermediate tyre, but an accident for Carlos Sainz Jr. when the Scuderia Ferrari driver aquaplaned off the track, coupled with worsening conditions, necessitated the red flag.

Just forty minutes were left on the clock when the race resumed – behind the safety car – and everyone on the full wet tyre.  However, both Sebastian Vettel and Nicholas Latifi made the immediate switch to the intermediates, and over the next few laps, everyone had made the same move.

Isola, the Motorsport Director at Pirelli, says switching to the intermediates was the right call for the conditions, and from there on it was a case of maintaining the tyres as best they could until the end, particularly the front tyres.

“The Japanese Grand Prix came down to a 40-minute sprint race after the wet conditions hampered visibility too much for the race to start,” said Isola.  “The conditions dictated the tyre strategy for everyone, as the safety car start meant that all the drivers had to start on the full wets.

Toby Price‘s Rallye du Maroc was going according to plan early on, running third overall in the RallyGP class entering Stage #4. Then he found himself in the air.

After eighty-five kilometres of following the leaders, Price crashed out when he got caught in dust and hit an unidentified object, presumably a rock. The accident sent him into the air and caused him to hit his head.

According to a G-force reading he posted on Tuesday, his helmet impacted the ground twice. The second hit racked up as much as 25.6 g’s of force before he settled on the ground. He was later airlifted to hospital and treated for a right wrist injury and bruising to his forehead.

“Not much to say other then I really [fucked] up,” said Price on Instagram after his accident. “Made a mistake early and lost 3 minutes on time, so was in some dust and moved out to see better but went back into some dust and not 100% sure what I hit but was on the ground after this. Big thanks to Bell Helmets for keeping my head safe but sure pissed I wrecked a new helmet and Alpinestars for the protection. Was seeing some stars but was back on the bike and at the refuel I was sore in my neck with bruise on my forehead and both wrists/hands.. when they seen my helmet I couldn’t continue with a split it had in it and wanted to check me out. So helicopter ride out and all checks come back fine luckily. Just feel I’m still in the clouds a little.”

He continued treatment over the week with Dr. Steve Andrews, an orthopaedic surgeon at Brisbane Private Hospital who oversees shoulder, elbow, and hand surgery. Andrews frequently treats treats racers with injuries in said region like Price, such as needing right scaphoid surgery after crashing in a post-2019 Dakar Rally training accident.

Race cars come in all shapes and sizes: big-bodied stock cars on ovals, formula cars maneuvring through circuits, off-road vehicles navigating deserts and jungles, rally cars on ice, the list goes on.

But what about going forward horizontally… and vertically?

Flying cars is a running joke when thinking about the future, but Airspeeder intends to do just that. This past week, Airspeeder’s EXA Series project hosted its inaugural race on a one-kilometre “sky circuit” in South Australia. At the moment, the vehicles are more like drones as they are remotely piloted, but the series intends to have actual crews and drivers by 2024.

Zephatiali Walsh went on to win after flying his Airspeeder underneath leader Fabio Tischler in turn one.

“As pilots, we’ve been developing this sport behind the scenes over hundreds of hours of simulator, engineering and testing work and through this process we have been united as a group of pilots in one common goal: to deliver this historic first race,” said Walsh. “As soon as the lights turned green, we became racers competing for a place in the history of this sport and flying cars as the coming transportation revolution.

The inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship comes to a close 18–23 October with the (rescheduled) Andalucía Rally. While the Rally2 and T5 classes have wrapped up their title battles, championships remain up for grabs in the others.

Headlining the final points scramble is the T1 category’s duel between Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb. Al-Attiyah leads with 144 points to Loeb’s 122 including a win at the Dakar Rally, but the two are split in stage wins (eight) and stage podiums (fifteen).

An even closer battle takes place in T4 as Rokas Baciuška‘s Rallye du Maroc win places him just one point behind Marek Goczał‘s 152. However, Austin Jones also has a shot as he trails Goczał by two.

Francisco López Contardo leads T3 with 182 points over the 154 of defending class champion Cristina Gutiérrez.

On two wheels, Sam Sunderland has twenty-two points on Pablo Quintanilla with 74 to 52 and has led the standings all season. As the overall winner receives twenty-five points, Ricky Brabec still has an outside shot with 50 points.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur said that the team’s pace advantage against rival teams was no match for the tough conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix, where Valtteri Bottas finished in fifteenth and Zhou Guanyu finished sixteenth after struggling to overtake.

“Today was a difficult day in which the team performed under very tough conditions. In the end, there was no top ten finish for us, despite a quick car: overtaking turned out to be very difficult, even with a pace advantage, and we couldn’t make the progress we wanted after a challenging start.”

Vasseur is confident in the team’s ability to work hard over the next weeks to prepare for the United States Grand Prix and fight for points positions against the midfield’s frontrunners. 

“It’s a shame to leave Japan with no points: we now have to regroup and make sure we hit the right note in Austin, in two weeks. We know our car and our team are capable of battling towards the front of the midfield, but we need to get our work done to be there.”

In spite of the dreary conditions at Suzuka International Racing Course, Vasseur said that racing in Japan amid such enthusiastic fans made the Grand Prix a “unique” experience and one he is excited to relive next season.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Valtteri Bottas crossed the checkered flag at the Japanese Grand Prix in fifteenth place, having weathered “sketchy” conditions and a lack of visibility from the time the lights went out. 

“The conditions were very difficult today, in particular at the beginning of the race. The first couple of laps were quite risky, mostly because visibility wasn’t great from my position, it was a bit sketchy.”

Overtaking was a main point of difficulty for Bottas, who said that he was unable to find his way around Kevin Magnussen due to the wet conditions at the already tricky circuit.

“We seemed to have good pace, especially as the track dried out a bit, but unfortunately it was difficult to overtake today: I think most of the drivers struggled with that, which was a shame as I ended up stuck behind Magnussen for pretty much all of the race.”

Bottas said that in spite of the difficult race, he was pleased to have come near the top ten in qualifying with a twelfth place result on Saturday– a step up from recent weekends and something he looks to further improve upon into the last races of the season.

The French eigh-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier decided this season to take a part-time program in the FIA World Rally Championship and so far he has done five rounds this year and last week he announced that he will take part in the two remaining rounds of the season in Rally Spain and Rally Japan.

Ogier has been on the podium twice this season when he finished second at the opening round of Rallye Monte-Carlo and most recently in Rally New Zealand where he also finished in the runner-up spot. The role of sharing a car is new for Ogier, as in the past the team has more or less revolved around the champion.

However, the French driver emphasizes that he has always thought of the best of the team, but this season it has come out more strongly when the Champion is no longer competing for the driver’s title himself.

As Ogier is doing part-time driving in WRC, he is also competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class for the #1 car entry fielded by the Richard Mille Racing Team, with the best finish of eighth place at the 8-Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May.

“Monte was not a difficult one to decide on, but for the rest of the events and the program, we need to decide this. I’m really happy that Toyota continues to offer me the chance to compete on a part-program like this – it’s something which works for both sides, I think.” Ogier said.

In France a new reason for canceled rallies is now seen with this weekend’s Finale de la Coupe de France des Rallyes Béthune now also canceled, the reason is a lack of fuel in the country.

The rally in the northern French city of Béthune is now canceled as the fuel runs out in the country and most in the northern regions. The authorities of the Hauts-de-France region do not give the organizer permission to run the rally due to a lack of fuel.

The reason for the shortage is striking in refineries, the loss is estimated at 60% of the normal volumes, something that has caused several gas stations to already close when the tanks are not filled. Warnings have also gone out to tourists planning car tourism in Southern Europe and traveling through France was warned to re-plan.

“We have no choice but to cancel, again,” says the organizer stating that in previous years were affected by COVID-19 restrictions but now hoped for a big competition again, when the organizer was forced to cancel the event on Monday, where around 150 drivers were registered. More rallies are expected to be affected by similar decisions.

Daniel Ticktum will remain in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for the start of the Gen3 era after extending his contract with the NIO 333 FE Team.

The British racer had been expected to remain with NIO after making his debut with the squad in season eight, and although he only scored one point during the season – he finished tenth in race two of the Rome E-Prix – he has secured a second year with the team.

He also secured a duels appearance in the Seoul E-Prix in what was a quietly impressive season in a car that certainly was not a front-running car, and he was justifiably resigned for the 2022-23 season.

Ticktum will join the already confirmed Sérgio Sette Câmara at NIO, and he has already begun testing of the new Gen3 car which will make its full race debut in the Mexico City E-Prix in January.  The new car has had test runs at both Mallory Park and Varano.

“As expected, I’m back here at the NIO 333 headquarters,” said Ticktum in a video published by NIO 333.  “I’ve been in the [Gen3] car a couple of times, and it’s a big step forward from the Gen2, I’ve really enjoyed it so far, I have to say.

Stoffel Vandoorne says his move from the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team to DS Penske for the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season heralds a ‘big change’ for the Belgian, but he will be looking to hit the ground running and do his best to defend the drivers’ title he won last season.

Mercedes’ departure from Formula E meant that both Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries needed to find new homes, and whilst his former team-mate has ended up in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship with Scuderia AlphaTauri, the defending champion remains in Formula E for a fifth consecutive season.

Vandoorne says he cannot wait to get started with DS Penske, and he hopes the partnership between DS Automobiles and Penske Autosport gives him a chance of defending his Drivers’ title.

“I’m really happy to be joining DS PENSKE from next season,” said Vandoorne.  “It’s a big change for me after four years at Mercedes but I am very excited to start working with the team.

“DS has achieved excellent results in the past, winning the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles twice: it’s a good record and one that I hope I can add to before long!”

The long-rumoured alliance between DS Automobiles and Penske Autosport has finally been announced, and they have an all-new driver line-up for the 2023 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season.

The previous DS alliance with Techeetah concluded at the end of the 2022 campaign, and they opted to switch to Penske for the start of the Gen3 era of Formula E, which begins in January with the Mexico City E-Prix, and they will field defending champion Stoffel Vandoorne and the only two-time series champion, Jean-Éric Vergne.

Vergne has moved across from the DS Techeetah team, meaning his alliance with DS continues into a fifth consecutive season, while Vandoorne has joined after the departure from the championship of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team.

“The start of a new association is always a big moment, and all of us at DS Performance are eager to begin this new adventure with PENSKE AUTOSPORT,” said Thomas Chevaucher, the Director of DS Performance.

“And we are starting this partnership in the best possible way by having two world champions in the team! Thanks to Stoffel and Jean-Eric, we probably have one of the best line-ups and also the fastest pairing on the grid.

With the 2022 Short-course Off-road Drivers Association season over, President Willie Freshour has big plans for the future but also a life to attend to. Intending to spend the offseason focusing on family and running Freshour Precision Welding, he has enlisted Dan Vanden Heuvel in his place as interim president.

“Please help us welcome Dan Vanden Heuvel as SODA’s interim President! Dan will be stepping in to help fulfill this position over the next couple of months,” SODA announced.

“You may recognize Dan from his years of involvement in off-road racing. Dan has over 45+ years of experience racing Class 13, Class 8, Sportsman 2, and Pro 2. Dan was also the original MORR president and spent time promoting races in Antigo and Oshkosh. We are so happy to welcome him to the team.

“Please report to Dan with any questions you may have. Willie Freshour, Current SODA President, will be taking a step back to focus on his business & family.”

Vanden Heuvel has extensive short course experience that includes racing in the original SODA, Championship Off-Road Racing (CORR), World Series of Off-Road Racing, and TORC: The Off-Road Championship. Nicknamed the “Flying Dutchman” (which his team Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race Team has also adopted), he won three SODA Class 13 championships along with the 2008 WSORR Pro 2WD title.