Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Nasser Al-Attiyah‘s Rallye du Maroc Stage #2 was plagued by tyre punctures, but he bounced back on Tuesday as he led the T1 category in the Laâyoune loop with a time of 2:58:24, over a minute faster than Guerlain Chicherit‘s 2:59:45.

Al-Attiyah became the first T1 repeat stage winner after previously claiming the prologue.

The 320-km leg was especially gruelling, and event organiser David Castera had warned it would be the “most difficult” of the race. Jakub Przygonski seized the circumstances for his best finish of the rally so far in third, while Stage #2 winner Sébastien Loeb was seventh as he got lost. The same also occurred to Chicherit, though his runner-up promotes him to the T1 overall lead.

“After just 50 kilometres we’d already used up our spare tyres so psychologically that’s then difficult with a long way to go without spares,” commented Loeb’s team-mate Orlando Terranova, who finished fourth. “So I said to myself, ‘Okay, drive easy, carefully until the end’, and we are here.”

Stage #1B T1 winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi was leading his class shortly after the halfway point of the leg when the steering rack came off due to a newly installed but improperly tightened part. He remains seventh overall.

Following the recent collapse of a potential deal that would have seen the Porsche name return to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Helmut Marko has revealed the team has started talks with previous engine suppliers Honda about resuming their alliance.

After months of discussions, Porsche and Red Bull could not come to an agreement to join forces from 2026, leaving the current Formula 1 championship leaders without a works engine agreement, although they have already started plans to develop their own power units as part of Red Bull Powertrains.

Nevertheless, Red Bull have shown themselves to prefer working alongside a works manufacturer, with the 2022 power unit being rebranded as a RBPT despite Honda engineers still working alongside those at Red Bull to develop it.

Marko, the long time advisor to Red Bull, says Honda are keen on returning to the sport on a full-time basis as an engine supplier once more when the new engine regulations come into force in 2026, and he has revealed talks have begun about restarting the partnership that first ran between 2019 and 2021.

“For the electric part, we don’t have all the knowledge yet,” Marko is quoted as saying to ORF by Motorsport.com.

Mario Isola felt Pirelli’s Intermediate tyres showed just what they were capable of during Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, with the green-banded tyres lasting for long periods of time on a drying track.

The FIA Formula 1 World Championship made its welcome return to the Marina Bay Street Circuit last weekend after two years off the calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic, and a pre-race deluge meant for only the second time in the event’s history, wet weather tyres were required to be used.

Everyone started on the intermediate tyres and went long into the race as the track dried before switching to the slick rubber, with the majority moving onto the medium compound tyre to ensure durability until the end of the race – some drivers did attempt to run the second half of the race on the soft tyre but saw their performance levels drop away in the closing stages.

Isola, the Motorsport Director at Pirelli, said the intermediate tyre was shown to deliver ‘excellent performance’ during the race in Singapore.

“The Cinturato Green intermediates showed their reliability today,” said Isola on Sunday. “Even with quite high wear, they delivered excellent performance over several laps just as we expected, thanks also to the data collected in qualifying.

After two years off the FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar, the Singapore Grand Prix made a triumphant return last weekend, and it saw record breaking attendance numbers.

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez took victory on Sunday at the Marina Bay Street Circuit ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., but the venue saw three hundred and two thousand attendees across the three days of the event.

The addition of W Series as a part of the support package also helped, as did the musical entertainment, which included the likes of Westlife, Marshmello, Black Eyed Peas, Suede, TLC and Green Day.

Colin Syn, the Deputy Chairman of Singapore GP Pte Ltd was delighted by the attendance levels across the Grand Prix weekend, and he credits it to the months of planning since they knew the event would be returning to the calendar after two years away following the outbreak of COVID-19.

“It is wonderful to welcome fans back to the Marina Bay Street Circuit,” said Syn. “The return of Formula 1 was highly anticipated, with tickets snapped up within hours of the launch earlier this year.

Williams Racing Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson lamented a “tough” weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix, at which both Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi suffered on-track incidents that led to a double retirement for the team. 

Robson described the tough conditions on track, with the surface taking very long to dry and remaining slippery through the race’s end. He said that the performance of the wearing intermediate tyres was heavily reliant on the dampness of the track.

“Conditions once the race started were like those we had yesterday, with intermediate tyres the correct choice for the race start but the track taking a long time to dry. Pace was dependent on whether the wear rate of the intermediates matched the rate of track drying. Even when the track dried, it remained very slippery and racing was particularly difficult.”

Albon suffered two incidents on race day, one being a spin on the first lap that saw the back of his car slide into the barrier, and the other a mid-race crash into the barrier due to a bout of understeer. The latter event ended his race. 

“Alex’s spin on the opening lap cost him some places but also damaged the car, which harmed the aero for the rest of the weekend. When he hit the wall again, the damage was too significant to continue and so we retired his car.”

Jacques Villeneuve celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his FIA Formula 1 World Championship triumph by testing a 2021 car provided by the BWT Alpine F1 Team ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Canadian, who won the World Title back in 1997 whilst driving for the Renault-powered Williams Racing team, took to the track at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on board Alpine’s A521, a car that took victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix last year in the hands of Esteban Ocon.

Villeneuve took seven victories in 1997 with Williams and came out on top of a fantastic battle with Scuderia Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, with the title battle going down to the wire at season finale in the European Grand Prix at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain.

The now fifty-one-year-old completed eighteen laps of the Monza track under the watchful eyes of Ocon and was also reunited with current Sporting Director at Alpine, Alan Permane, who acted as his race engineer when he raced for the Renault F1 Team for three races in 2004.

“Testing the 2021 Alpine F1 car at Monza was an incredible experience,” Villeneuve said.  “The last F1 car I drove was in 2006 and the cornering speed of the modern cars is unbelievable.

Williams Racing’s Alex Albon retired on lap twenty-six of the Singapore Grand Prix after a lock up saw him crash into the barrier at turn eight. In sixteenth place before the incident occurred, the Thai driver lost his front wing and consequently took to the pits, ultimately unable to rejoin the race. 

Albon admitted that the crash was driver error and a direct result of the track’s damp conditions, which made it hard to gauge how the brakes would react. 

“It’s a bit frustrating and was difficult out there tonight. It’s confusing with nothing different from the previous lap, however I just locked up on the front left with the wet making it difficult to predict the brakes. 

“Whilst there wasn’t an issue and ultimately it comes down to driver error, the brakes are very tricky in the wet and it’s hard to get them in the right window.”

Though disappointed in the end result, Albon wasn’t expecting a points finish for the team at Marina Bay. He will, however, be looking to fight for a better finish in the second half of the double header, the Japanese Grand Prix. 

After months of it being unofficially known, Season Two Champion of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Sébastien Buemi has been announced as Envision Racing‘s new driver for the start of the new era of the all-electric series.

The Swiss driver joins Envision on a multi-year deal having left the side formerly known as Nissan e.dams, who are now known simply as the Nissan FE Team. The highly successful driver who has tasted success in both Formula E and is a four-time Le Mans 24 Hours victor, replaces Robin Frijns at the British side and will feature alongside Nick Cassidy.

Buemi joins Envision having spent the entirety of his Formula E career with e.dams, who had their operational arm in the Nissan team bought out by the Japanese manufacturer back in April.

It means that Buemi will have to accustom to a number of new faces, something it’s safe to say he will have been doing during pre-season. The thirty-three year-old is one of the most successful drivers in the all-electric series’ eight-year history, boasting an impressive thirteen victories, twenty-nine podiums, fourteen poles, and, of course, the Season Two title which he famously won at the London E-Prix.

The Aigle, Switzerland born driver is, of course, also an ex-Formula 1 driver for the team known now as Scuderia AlphaTauri, but were formerly known as Scuderia Toro Rosso. The Swiss driver made fifty-five starts in the championship across 2009-2011, before losing his seat at the Oracle Red Bull Racing owned side.

Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway saw a frightening crash on lap 20 when Jordan Anderson’s truck burst into flames before hitting the inside wall, with Anderson unbuckling himself and escaping from the burning vehicle moments before impact. He suffered second-degree burns to his neck, face, right arm, hands, and both knees, necessitating medical attention.

He was airlifted to the nearby University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital before being discharged later in the day. His treatment continued over the next two days which included a brief hospital stay on Sunday. He intends to visit the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s burn ward on Tuesday for further evaluation.

“Thank you everyone for the texts, calls, and prayers,” Anderson posted on social media Monday. “Haven’t been able to be on my phone, but I am so humbled by the overwhelming support.

“Had to go to the ER last night for some side effects, so heading to the Wake Forest burn center tomorrow. Getting better by the day!”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lent his private plane to Anderson’s family for easier travel on Saturday night. Anderson described the generosity as having “made the trip home a lot easier and now have been trying to get as much rest as possible.”

Coming off his first Extreme E podium in Chile, Nasser Al-Attiyah intends to return to the series in 2023. He revealed the plans in an interview with Motorsport Network’s multimedia manager Alberto De Armas, which was published on Monday.

“The future for Extreme E is very much about being nature friendly, and they are doing a lot of things to help various causes,” said Al-Attiyah. “Of course, I will be part of Extreme E next season.”

Shortly after winning his fourth Dakar Rally, Al-Attiyah joined ABT CUPRA XE for the 2022 Extreme E season. Teaming up with Jutta Kleinschmidt, the duo was plagued by misfortunes that included a time penalty after winning the Island X Prix #1 Crazy Race, disqualification in the Island X Prix #2 Final, and Kleinschmidt suffering an injury while practicing for the Copper X Prix. However, Al-Attiyah and interim team-mate Klara Andersson quickly found their stride at the event when they finished third. ABT CUPRA sits eighth in the championship.

“Extreme E for me is totally new, I have tried to adapt to the new things for the category, and I think I have the pace and I am strong,” he told De Armas. “I just need to learn, and next year we can win the championship.”

Besides Extreme E, Al-Attiyah is competing for the World Rally-Raid Championship, where a single point separates him and fellow XE driver Sébastien Loeb in the T1 class standings. In the ongoing Rallye du Maroc, Al-Attiyah won the prologue and is currently seventh overall after two stages.

NASCAR and Formula One fans know all too well about races being shortened by weather, but having the stage of a race whittled down due to an error in the roadbook is a new one.

The Hills of Russia Baja, the fourth round of the Russian Rally-Raid Championship, saw the final twenty-one kilometres of last Saturday’s second stage in Ulyanovsk struck from the official result due to the navigation devices given to all competitors having the wrong coordinates for the finish line inserted. Consequently, the 271-km stage was whittled down to 250.

When teams crossed KM 250, the incorrect coordinates resulted in them driving around looking for the final waypoint. As the rest of the field caught up to the leaders, an “anthill of cars” began to develop before race officials realised the problem. It was another bizarre and comedic chapter for the 2022 Russian Rally-Raid Championship, whose Silk Way Rally in July was marred by multiple vehicles being trapped in water while trying to cross a ford.

“We drove exactly according to the legend,” said Sergey Krenev, the co-driver to KAMAZ-master‘s Bogdan Karimov, after the stage. “The only thing is that after twenty kilometres, there was confusion with the points, perhaps a mistake of the organisers. We lost time due to this, but quickly got our bearings and went to the finish line. We met Andrey Karginov, apparently, he was also trying to take the point and is still not at the finish line.”

Once the predicament was sorted out, the T1 of Vasilyev Racing Team‘s Vladimir Vasilyev won the overall in the stage with a time of 2:34:35. MAZ-SPORTauto‘s Sergey Vyazovich was the Truck category victor with 2:41:37 ahead of Karginov.

Stage #1B of the Rallye du Maroc did not go according to plan for Sébastien Loeb, but he made the most of Stage #2 on Monday as he and Bahrain Raid Xtreme team-mate Orlando Terranova set the two fastest T1 times in the run from Tan Tan to Laâyoune.

Loeb’s time of 2:56:54 topped Terranova’s 3:07:09, completing a strong rebound after the previous leg saw him finish ninth following various mechanical trouble. Guerlain Chicherit, racing for his own team with a BRX alliance, was third at 3:15:02 to secure a 1–2–3 class finish for Prodrive Hunters.

“After yesterday’s troubles, we had a really good stage without many mistakes at all; just one puncture in over 300 kilometres wasn’t bad at all to make it a clean run,” said Loeb. “They’d made the navigation very difficult in there, really making you work to find the way points, but that’s rally raid and that’s why it’s so satisfying to win a stage like this.”

Stage #1B T1 winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi finished seventh in class. Nasser Al-Attiyah, who had the upper hand on Loeb in the World Rally-Raid Championship T1 points battle when he won the prologue, was plagued by four tyre failures (exacerbating matters was the rule stipulating teams only have two spare tyres at a time) and finished a distant eleventh at 3:50:52.

Guillaume de Mevius topped the T3 category after having “no big issues issue. We’re focused on getting all the mileage we can ahead of the next Dakar.”

Following on from his post-Season Eight move in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship from Dragon/Penske Autosport to the NIO 333 Racing Team, Sergio Sette Câmara has begun getting used to life with his new team, who he revealed have “welcomed” him “very well”.

“I have been welcomed by everyone in the team very well and there seems to be a very good working environment here. I’m really looking forward to the season ahead!

The Brazilian driver had a mixed Season Eight, where he was arguably one of the stars of the Qualifying Duels throughout the season, but had a tendency to fall outside the points places through an issue or a lack of pace.

He grew in confidence as last season went on, though, with his best result having been at the London E-Prix, which was his sole points finish of the season. However, at just twenty-four years-old, he has plenty of time to build in stature and ability, making his move to NIO 333 a smart one by the Shanghai-based side. If he can turn his Qualifying pace into excellent race pace, then he could be on for a very strong Season Nine.

It’s obviously all change for 2023, with the introduction of the new-look Gen3 cars representing the start of the third era of the all-electric series. The new cars which are both more efficient, powerful and drastically faster, will provide an excellent test for all the drivers.

Once Chase Elliott advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Round of 12, it seemed like he would be a lock for the Round of 8 due to the presence of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval as the second race in the R12. As it turned out, despite non-playoff drivers sweeping the Round of 16, Elliott could do it at the most unpredictable race on the postseason calendar.

After Daniel Hemric‘s car stalled on the exit of pit road with two laps remaining, Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones comprised the front row for the ensuing green flag. Blaney, restarting on the inside line with fellow Ford driver Michael McDowell pushing, had the early advantage while Jones dropped behind Elliott. Once Elliott caught Blaney on the final lap, the latter found some ground in turns three and four before Elliott received enough of a draft from Jones to power past him in the tri-oval and secure the victory.

“He was able to give me a really good shove,” said Elliott in his post-race press conference. “I didn’t feel like I did anything special. I think just the timing of how he got connected, and the two guys on the bottom were also connected, so they weren’t aggressively side drafting us, trying to pull us apart. He did a really good job. I think he deserves a ton of credit for that. Obviously I’m very thankful he was that committed to me for the last lap and a half.

“I have a lot of respect for Erik. I’ve raced with him long enough to trust him in that situation to not turn me around. We certainly pushed right to the limit. It was a handful, but that’s kind of what you have to do in those scenarios. I thought he balanced that well.”

The win is the eighteenth of Elliott’s career and second at Talladega, where he first won in 2019.

It was a difficult FIA Formula 1 World Championship Singapore Grand Prix for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both making bad mistakes from either end of the grid.

Hamilton looked to be battling for a podium in the first half of the race, but as he was chasing down Carlos Sainz Jr. he hit the barriers, meaning he had to repair his damaged front wing. While trying to work his way back through the field, he went too deep into a corner losing a position late on to Max Verstappen, meaning he finished in a disappointing ninth place despite nearly snatching pole position on Saturday.

Russell started from the pitlane due to some reliability concerns and a poor performance in qualifying on Saturday, which saw him knocked out in Q2. A number of errors and a switch to slicks too early saw Russell finish last of all of the runners that saw the chequered flag.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff was disappointed with the team not maximising the car’s race pace, and also explained the gamble to switch Russell to the slick tyres earlier than the rest.

“This season has given us several tough lessons – and today was another one. We started from opposite ends of the grid with our two cars, but we couldn’t capitalise on the car’s race pace with either of them, when it came to an end result. Lewis was fighting for the podium for much of the race – but also battling a car balance that was on a knife edge today, in difficult conditions and on the bumpy surface.