Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

After seven tries, Henk Lategan is finally a winner of the South African Rally-Raid Championship‘s longest race as he held off Lance Woolridge to win the TGRSA Safari 1000.

Lategan and his Toyota Hilux were the fastest early on while Woolridge’s Ford Ranger gave chase. The latter was further set back by a flat tyre during the first stage, which he speculated may have contributed to him not being able to close in on Lategan during the third and final day. By the end, Lategan kept Woolridge at bay by over five and a half minutes.

“We lost a bit of time on Friday in the prologue and then on the first loop with the puncture, which probably cost us the win,” Woolridge explained. “We had a clean run on Saturday, and today we pushed hard and caught up to Henk and Brett early on the first loop, but we just couldn’t pass them in the dust, so we ultimately had to settle for second place. It was an enjoyable race, and the car was faultless.”

Since missing the Dakar Rally in January to a shoulder dislocation, Lategan has regained his footing and hit his stride. Despite retiring from the SARRC season-opening Nkomazi 400 in April, he quickly rebounded by winning the Vryheid 400 in May followed by the victory in Waterberg.

“It feels awesome to have this one. It feels like a really, really tough desert race,” Lategan commented. “Usually, they’re quite open and fast and it goes by quite quickly. This one was slow and tight and technical and it took forever to get through.

The #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh machine took the overall win with Felipe Nasr behind the wheel in the very rain soaked Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen last night in gruelling sprint to the finish line after a red flag restart. Dane Cameron joined Nasr on the top step on the podium becoming the first team of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship to take two overall wins in the GTP category.

The #6 Porsche Penske beat the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series R driven by Renger van der Linde and Sebastien Bourdais by 0.7 seconds over the finish line after a series of rain storms that caused massive shake-up in the racing order.

Nasr was installed into the cockpit during the final red flag restart with 15 minutes left on the clock, it was there he managed to sneak past the pole-sitting #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz who struggled to get to grips on his new tires in the rainy weather.

It also became a double Porsche Penske podium as the #6 Porsche 963 took third place in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy meanwhile the #40 WTRAndretti Acura dropped to fourth overall.

The #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly completed the top five, however, they were forced to start from the pitlane at the start of the race due to an overnight chassis change.

Mickey Thomas‘ truck was shedding skin like a snake, but it wasn’t enough to slither to the top step of the Forest County Potawatomi Brush Run podium.

Thomas and his Pro 2 dominated Sunday’s Pro 2 vs. Pro 4 event at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway despite losing much of his body panelling, but the Pro 4 of C.J. Greaves gradually worked his way through the order before striking on the final lap, finding a run down a straightaway and pulling away. The win earned Greaves his third Brush Run Chairman’s Cup in a row, incidentally also beating Thomas for the 2023 win.

“I didn’t see the scorecard going and I didn’t see the white (flag) and I’m like, ‘Alright, I can settle down a little bit there,'” began Greaves. “For a long time, I was marking myself with Mickey and he was running really good laps and I was still in the middle of the Pro 2s and I’m like, ‘It’s going to be there. It’s going to be a battle right to the end. I’m not going to be able to hold up at all and just go for it.’ I just tried to hit all my marks, stay clean, get through the Pro 2s the best I could, and put on a little bit of a race at the end there. I knew he was going to run me clean, so I gave him some room in the gravel pit and then he slide-jobbed me over here and we had some fun with it.”

Given the performance disparity between two- and four-wheel-drive trucks, Pro 2 trucks received a roughly 33-second head start. Thomas quickly pulled away from Ryan Beat as his class took off, then Greaves did the same for Pro 4 half a minute later. Prior to Greaves’ three-peat, Pro 2 had been dominant in the Brush Run with four of six victories prior to 2022. Despite coming up short, Thomas was the weekend’s best Pro 2 truck for the third year in a row, having finished fourth behind a trio of Pro 4s in 2022 and winning the Championship Off-Road points-paying race earlier on Sunday.

“I was trying to make it not too easy on him,” Thomas commented. “We got a great start. I was just trying to hit my marks and I was putting down some good times. I blew my hood off, I guess I just knocked it off on a jump and that wasn’t working in my favour so I lost a little bit there. Other than that, we were able to put a great race together. Got me right at the end, so it was a good show probably.”

Francisco López Contardo is one of the best in rally raid on both two and four wheels, but has been neglecting the former since the turn of the decade as he established himself in a side-by-side vehicle. This weekend, he gave the bike realm some love once more when he finished second in the Expert Pairs class at the Desafío del Desierto.

Expert Pairs was one of four categories at the race in which multiple riders raced together, either sharing a bike or riding together on their own vehicles. López jointly competed as #30 on a Honda CRF450 alongside former Honda rally raid factory rider Jeremías Israel, the latter on his separate bike.

One of six Expert Pairs teams, the two beat Vicente and Rodrigo Moreno for the class win by just one second, then increased the margin to two minutes on the second leg. However, Israel ran out of fuel 500 metres before the Stage #3 finish, costing them time as the Morenos edged out by four minutes. By the end, the Morenos’ 3:38:34.33 beat the López/Israel tandem’s 3:40:11.68.

“Chaleco” López began his career in motocross and enduro before running seven Dakar Rallies on a bike from 2007 to 2014, scoring eleven stage wins and a best finish of third in 2010 and 2013. After a five-year hiatus, he returned to the Dakar in 2019 in the SSV class and won on debut. Since then, he has enjoyed tremendous success on four wheels with two more Dakar victories in 2021 and 2022, the latter coming in the T3 category (now Challenger) for purpose-built racing SSVs. He also claimed the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship in T3 in 2022 before scaling back his calendar since 2023 to focus on raising his newborn son.

The Dakar is his only W2RC race of 2024 to date, where he finished fifth in Challenger with a Stage #5 victory. He is not registered for points.

The three Porsche 963 fielded by Porsche Penske Motorsport works team in the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans where the cars drove a total of 833 laps on the iconic event that took place las weekend.

For each lap of the 13.626-kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures, Porsche donated 750€ to charity as part of its “Racing for Charity” initiative. After the event was completed the total ammount reached 624,750 euros but Porsche has subsequently topped up the donated amount to 911,000 euros.

Porsche has choosen three charities which they have supported in previous years, these are Kinderherzen retten (Save Children’s Hearts) and Interplast Germany, where each of the charities has received 350,000 euros from the funds raised. The Ferry Porsche Foundation was given 211,000 euros towards further initiatives to support sick children and their families.

“Our ‘Racing for Charity’ initiative was a big success in 2023. For the first time, we were able to clearly underline the company’s social responsibility in motorsport. The positive feedback from the supported organisations on the aid measures they were able to administer motivated us to continue this initiative in 2024. Our three works-run racing cars turned 100 laps more than last year – this is equivalent to a donation amount of 624,750 euros. Porsche will again round this figure up to 911,000 euros. With our support, the three non-profit initiatives Kinderherzen retten e.V., Interplast Germany e.V. and the Ferry Porsche Foundation can continue their vital work. Motorsport is a central part of Porsche’s brand identity but ultimately it is the people who deserve our respect and acknowledgment beyond the factory gates.” Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, Research and Development said.

Porsche has always been committed to many non-profit charities and initiatives and in 2023, Porsche contributed to more than 150 sponsorship projects around the world.

Max Verstappen took his 61st victory of his Formula 1 career during Sunday’s 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, who secured his first podium of the season.

It was a good day for Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, as they once again scored double points, while it was another tough weekend for Sergio Pérez, who could only muster up an eighth place finish. 

Following an intense qualifying session on Saturday, Norris started from pole position ahead of Championship leader Verstappen. Pérez qualified eighth, but started eleventh due to a three place grid penalty he picked up at the Canadian Grand Prix, while Alex Albon started from the pitlane after qualifying in nineteenth. 

Norris got a poor getaway from the start, attempting to push Verstappen onto the grass going into turn one, this all allowed George Russell, who started in fourth, to go round the outside of the front two and take the lead of the race. 

On Lap 3, Verstappen made a move on Russell to get into the lead going into turn one, giving the Dutchman the race lead. Carlos Sainz Jr also got past Charles Leclerc on this lap too, with Leclerc saying the Spaniard “closed on him” over the team radio. Sainz then reported they made contact. 

The Latvian youngster Mārtiņš Sesks has now taken the covers off on his Ford Puma Rally1 machine and showed his stunning livery, a car which he will use on his debut in the top tier class of Rally1 in the FIA World Rally Championship in ORLEN 80th Rally Poland on 27-30 June.

For the fast Polish gravel stages the 24-year-old will get to drive the very first non-hybrid Rally1 car with support from the WRC Promoter and M-Sport World Rally Team but for the following round of his home rally in Latvia he will get an upgrade where he gets to drive the hybrid variant of the same car.

Last year he won the Rally Poland while it was still part of the FIA European Rally Championship, Sesks also had a successful year driving for the MRF Tyres tean as he became vice-champion in the Rally2 class.

“I always had red cars during my career, actually, starting from go-karts but the second thing is that we wanted to show our gratefulness for Latvia and the amazing people and fans who are supporting us to bring these Latvian colours to the world championship. I think the design looks amazing and it gives a bit more colour to the championship,” he added. “I think these are the two main points.” Sesks said.

Sesks and his co-driver Renars Francis experienced the non-hybrid Ford on a test on Monday (17 June) and this he had to say about the test: “The test was on Monday, and I think it was the fastest Monday I’ve ever had. It was something incredible. It’s really hard to even somehow explain it to somebody who hasn’t driven the car. The feeling of downforce is something that you cannot feel anywhere else, except maybe in Formula 1, I think. When you drive fast, you can drive faster, and when you drive faster the car is handling better. It’s something that you need to learn and save in your brain and trust it. It will not be easy throughout the rallies, but I’m really excited to learn it.”

The two-time American rally champion and Subaru Motorsports USA works driver Brandon Semenuk will make his FIA World Rally Championship debut next month as the Canadian is set to join the new for this year`s Tet Rally Latvia which will be held around the Liepāja region.

The 33-year-old Canadian will be entering the WRC2 class in a private run Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 machine in search of getting more experience for his American Rally Association campaign.

The Canadian has spoken with the American motorsport publication DirtFish.com about the journey over to Europe: “This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, competing in Europe is obviously going to be different to what I’m used to. Latvia is a good event, it’s obviously new to the WRC, so it does bring a little more of a level playing field. That said, there’s so many fast drivers in that area, like even the national championships are really strong and we know that a lot of these WRC crews [competing in WRC2] have done events out that way already, so they’ll know the stages a bit, but hopefully not as well as some of the other world events.” Semenuk told DirtFish.

“I want to learn and to get the experience. Regardless of where I sit on the times and I really don’t expect a whole lot, it would be nice to find progress throughout the event. And to leave with a bit of an understanding of where I still need to develop as a driver and find more speed. I just think it’s a good tool to continue to develop my skills as a racing driver. I mean, if there’s a moment throughout the event where I have some sort competitive time or show some pace then great but the focus here is on making me a better driver for the ARA and other Subaru Motorsports USA efforts.”

Semenuk will be co-driver by the usual Englishman Keaton Williams, who has experience with Toyota machinery from before as he jumped in for one round to be the co-driver for the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta in the 2021 Renties Ypres Rally Belgium.

For the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship calendar there will be a brand-new country being added to the circus as Paraguay becomes the 38th country to host a WRC round as the deal got announced at the Ceremonial Start of Petrobras Rally Transchaco 2024 by the Paraguayan capital Asunción and President Santiago Peña. According to local news the country have signed an agreement to host a rally for the upcoming three years which means Paraguay will be part of the calendar from 2025 to 2027.

“Paraguay is big, and the world is in the process of discovering us and hosting world-class events such as the WRC, is yet another way to show the world our greatness,” the Paraguayan President said.

The arrival of Paraguay on the calendar means there will be two South American countries hosting WRC rounds next year as Rally Chile is also set to be getting a spot in the 2025 FIA WRC calendar.

“We have been in discussions with Paraguay already for a number of years and I am incredibly pleased to see this agreement across the line, there is no questioning the nation’s passion for rallying and we cannot wait to transmit this passion, as well as Paraguay’s spectacular scenery, around the world.” Simon Larkin, WRC Senior Event Director said.

The city of Encarnacion, along the Paraná River will be the city to host the rally and it will see many fans from Argentine going across the bridge as the border between the two countries run alongside the Parana River. The official routes for the rally hasn`t been announced yet but the stages are set to run around the Itapúa region and will probably include some famous stages from the FIA CODASUR South American Rally Championship.

Lando Norris took his second career pole position on Saturday at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, leading Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. 

Norris, who hadn’t secured a pole position since Sochi in 2021, trailed Verstappen after the first attempts in Q3. But a phenomenal final time of 1:11.383 seconds saw him edge out the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver by a mere two-hundredths of a second.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team translated their promising practice pace into strong qualifying results. Hamilton outperformed teammate George Russell for just the second time this season, grabbing third on the grid for Sunday’s race, with Russell right behind in fourth.

Charles Leclerc and local favourite Carlos Sainz Jr. settled for fifth and sixth, respectively, in another closely contested session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Pierre Gasly impressed with a stellar performance, taking seventh place for BWT Alpine F1 Team.

Sergio Pérez, despite finishing eighth in his Red Bull, will start three positions lower due to a penalty from Montreal. This promotes Esteban Ocon in the other Alpine car and McLaren F1 Team’s Oscar Piastri, who had a challenging Q3 and couldn’t set a time.

Lando Norris secured his first pole position of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season and the second of his career, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona. 

The Briton will start the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix alongside Verstappen, and will hope he can stay in first to get his second career win after winning his first race in Miami earlier on in the year.

Q1 – Double exits for VCARB and Williams

Q1 started with a bit of a lull as most of the drivers waited for better track conditions. There were a few out on track, including Daniel Ricciardo, who was the quickest of the five that went out early. That lap time was soon replaced by the two Red Bull’s, as the times kept tumbling down. 

Leclerc set the pace during the first runs, setting a time of 1:12.257s, with Verstappen half a tenth behind the Scuderia Ferrari man. Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg raised a few eyebrows after the first few laps, sitting in sixth and seventh respectively. Valtteri Bottas also put in a good lap to be twelfth.

Carlos Sainz Jr. topped the third and final hour of practice ahead of qualifying later today for Round 10 and the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship Spanish Grand Prix.

Lando Norris topped the first session on Friday morning, with Lewis Hamilton then showing that Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team have pace during the second session, topping the times ahead of Sainz.

The session started slowly and after 15 minutes, there were just 9 times on the board. George Russell was leading the way with both Scuderia Ferrari’s behind him and in front of Hamilton in fourth. Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez followed behind in fifth and sixth, quite a way off the pace at that point.

Attentions were turned from race runs to qualifying simulations during the second half of the session. Sainz delighted the home crowd during his lap, going top of the timesheets. Norris was +0.030s behind Sainz’s time of 1:13.013s, while Charles Leclerc was just +0.007s behind Norris in third.

Verstappen wasn’t too far behind, finishing just +0.074s, which was only good enough for fifth. The Dutchman seemed much more comfortable than he did yesterday, but they’ll certainly still be a fight for pole position later on today, if the trends over the past hour continue into this afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton set the pace during the second hour of Free Practice for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, leading the way from Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris.

George Russell led the way early on the medium compound tyre, with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team continuing their strong showing from the Canadian Grand Prix and the earlier practice session on Friday.

Max Verstappen was’t happy with his RB20 once again, despite Oracle Red Bull Racing introducing a large, significant upgrade package for this weekend. The three time world champion cut a frustrated figure on the radio, complaining about understeer mid-corner. 

Once teams had done some long running, collecting data for the race on Sunday, focus switched to qualifying simulations. Sainz went quickest as one of the first to put on the soft rubber, before Hamilton took top spot by just +0.022s.

Once everyone had done a few runs on the soft compound tyre, attention once again switched to race simulations, with at least a two-stop strategy expected during Sunday’s race. Norris was less than a tenth behind Hamilton, ending the day in third after going quickest in Free Practice One.

Lando Norris was fastest in the first Practice session of the 2024 FIA World Championship Spanish Grand Prix weekend, edging out Drivers Championship leader, Max Verstappen.

As the green lights signalled the start of a triple header of European races to come, starting with Barcelona this weekend. Oracle Red Bull Racing will be hoping to get back to top form after a difficult few race weekends, despite getting the win in Montreal. The Milton Keynes based outfit have brought a big upgrade package this weekend, but so have Constructors Championship rivals, Scuderia Ferrari. Red Bull junior team, Visa Cash App RB have also brought a sizeable upgrade.

With the drivers getting more comfortable, the track was getting quicker, but the session was halted temporarily due to debris on track from Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team car. This small delay meant everyone came back out on different run plans – some opting for long runs and others on qualifying simulations.

Norris was the quickest at the chequered flag, with a time of 1:14.228s, which was around four tenths better than the quickest time in Free Practice One in 2023. Verstappen’s fastest time was only good enough for second, while Carlos Sainz Jr. ended the hour +0.344s back from his former teammate in third.

George Russell was the lead Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team car in fourth, ahead of Sergio Pérez and Oscar Piastri. Lewis Hamilton was running a different programme to his teammate, finishing the hour in seventh.

Martin Macík Jr.‘s beloved IVECO PowerStar, nicknamed “Cenda”, has a new home for the 2025 Dakar Rally. He announced Thursday he has sold his Dakar-winning truck to Richard de Groot and Firemen Dakarteam, while he and MM Technology plan to field a new truck.

Cenda is a PowerStar that MM Technology built and débuted at the 2023 Dakar, where he won four stages but narrowly lost the overall victory in the Truck category. Macík also raced Cenda in the World Rally-Raid Championship, finishing third in class points. He finally got over the hump at the 2024 edition in January with four more stage wins as he beat Aleš Loprais for his maiden Bedouin.

In early June, Macík brought Cenda to Tunisia for a four-day desert test. The truck received slight upgrades such as better weight distribution and modifications to help mechanics repair it easier. He also spent the week in the desert test driving a Can-Am Maverick, of which he was named a brand ambassador in January, as well as helping fellow Czech team MING Racing test their new Ford F-150 T1+.

Macík has another IVECO dubbed “Charles”, which was built in 2019 and has raced events like Dakar and the Morocco Desert Challenge.

“A great machine and the pinnacle of MM Technology’s technological development so far, thanks to which we finally fulfilled our big dream – to win the Dakar Rally,” wrote Macík. “It is worth mentioning the second place in the Dakar 2023, or several podium finishes in various World Cup races. In short, a great period when I and the whole team learned a lot.