Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The third season of Championship Off-Road came to a close with the Polaris World Championship Off-Road Races at Crandon International Raceway. Seventeen classes crowned champions with the final two races on Friday and Saturday, with some being locked as soon as they took the green flag while others had to work for it.

The premier Pro 4 category was an example of the former as C.J. Greaves entered Crandon with a thirty-point advantage over Kyle LeDuc, and he sealed the title simply by starting the race on Saturday. Still, racers were going to race for the win and Greaves would take his sixth victory of 2022 after leader Andrew Carlson‘s right-front tyre went down in the waning laps. It is Greaves’ seventh Pro 4 title and second in a row.

Greaves nearly scored a second class title as he finished runner-up to Brock Heger in the Pro Stock SxS class. Heger, the 2021 Pro Lite champion, dominated the 2022 Pro Stock SxS season with Greaves as they combined to win all but one round (the Forest Brush Run in June, where Owen VanEperen won the Sunday race). Although Greaves claimed the finale, his Sunday retirement at the Brush Run and Heger’s six wins created a massive hole in the title chase that four victories could not make up.

Even Heger missed out on a multi-title year as he entered the final Pro Lite race in a three-point standoff with Kyle Greaves and Trey Gibbs. Greaves took the holeshot and never looked back to win by six points over Heger.

Similar, the Pro 2 picture was separated by just two points as Jerett Brooks and Cory Winner eyed their third and first titles, respectively. Despite not winning a single race, Brooks’ consistency rewarded him as he finished third for his sixth podium and the championship over Winner, who was a distant sixth.

The domination will continue once again for Jake Drew, as he captures his fourth career win of the 2022 ARCA Menards Series West season at Portland. Drew was proven to be unstoppable, leading nearly every lap of the race.

With Drew’s win, Sunrise Ford Racing has now gone five-for-five in the West Series, and will continue to try and go for six wins at the All American Speedway in October.

Todd Souza came home with second position, his first top two finish since 2020. Souza led the first three laps before being passed by Drew on lap four. Tanner Reif, Drew’s teammate, would bounce back from a seventh place starting position, and take home the third spot.

Cole Moore, after receiving a restart violation on the final restart, would fall back to the seventh position, but would quickly make his way back to the top five, and would eventually finish fourth. Takuma Koga also goes back-to-back with a top five finish streak at both Portland races this year.

The first caution came out on lap six, after Sean Hingorani spun into the tire barriers in turn eleven. The second caution flew on lap 23, after a piece of debris was located in turn one. It would also end up being the official race break. The caution went out again on lap 29, after Joey Iest‘s car stalled in turn four. The fourth caution came on lap 37, after Vince Little spun in turn twelve. Shortly after, Bridget Burgess would suffer a mechanical issue, eliminating her from the race.

The Stadium Super Trucks at Bristol Motor Speedway seemed like a crazy idea on paper, but Race #1 on Saturday went by without a hitch.

Well, unless you are race organiser and driver Cleetus McFarland.

McFarland, who brought the trucks to Bristol as part of his Bristol 1000 weekend, was spun out by Max Gordon shortly after the final restart as they navigated through turn three (sharp left turn onto Bristol’s backstretch pit road), shredding McFarland’s left-rear tyre. All three of McFarland’s starts to date have seen him suffer a crash, including a rollover while racing Gavin Harlien at Nashville that prompted him to jokingly accuse Harlien of being responsible for the Bristol contact. Gordon, the Fastest Qualifier, was spun out himself earlier in the race while racing Zoey Edenholm.

Bill Hynes dominated from the pole by leading through the two competition cautions, but Harlien worked his way from the back to catch him on the penultimate lap. Harlien completed the pass on the backstretch pit lane and led the rest of the way to secure his third win of 2022.

“That was a wild race. A lot of carnage. Obviously, I just tried to stay out of it. I ended up getting the dub, I see a couple of wrecked trucks,” said Harlien in his post-race interview. He had been racing with a spare helmet given to him by a fan and firesuit as he lost his bag of gear on his flight to the track.

It was a fairly standard Qualifying for the McLaren F1 Team based on their 2022 season, with Lando Norris once again excelling for the team whilst Daniel Ricciardo disappointed. The Brit will start the Dutch Grand Prix from seventh on the grid, whereas the Aussie will line-up in seventeenth.

The MCL36 has looked considerably better this weekend in Zandvoort than it did last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, with both drivers having looked quick all weekend. Norris was once again best of the rest on Saturday, with the top three teams simply being capable of extracting more performance from their cars.

Ricciardo’s Qualifying One elimination wasn’t entirely his fault, the Honey Badger lost three-tenths due to dirt having been kicked up onto the circuit at the penultimate corner. Ricciardo ended up sliding through the dirt, costing him a slot in the second part of Qualifying.

Due to Ricciardo’s misfortune the day ended with Team Principal Andreas Seidl having “mixed emotions”, after the car had been competitive all weekend at the Dutch venue.

“Mixed feelings after qualifying here in Zandvoort. Lando had a very strong run, got everything out of the car, and finished Q7. Daniel was unlucky with the incident in front of him, which cost him the chance of progressing, and he starts P17.

Lando Norris was once again best of the rest during Qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix, after securing seventh-place for Sunday’s race at Zandvoort.

The British driver had a good session, on a weekend which has looked much stronger for Norris compared to last weekend’s abysmal Belgian Grand Prix. Seventh was probably the best the McLaren F1 Team driver could’ve hoped for, after the top three teams were all in somewhat of a league of their own.

Sunday’s race looks set to be one where overtaking may be possible down the main straight at least, with Norris hopeful that starting seventh will give him the “best opportunity” for “some good points”.

“A good day. I’m very happy with P7. We’ve given ourselves the best opportunity to make the most of our race, and we couldn’t have done a lot better comparing to the six cars ahead of us. We’ve got a good chance to score some good points tomorrow, so that’s the aim.” 

Qualifying Three exit “pretty unlucky and frustrating” – Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo‘s exit from McLaren seems like it really couldn’t come soon enough, as the Australian was eliminated embarrassingly from Qualifying in the first part of the session. Ricciardo will start the race from the ninth row of the grid, after claiming a shocking seventeenth-place.

It was a frustrating end to Qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, after Oracle Red Bull Racing‘s Sergio Pérez brought out a late yellow flag for a spin at the final corner.

Lewis Hamilton was just a tenth off pole position after the second sector of his final lap in Qualifying Three; however, the seven-time World Champion was forced into aborting his lap after being behind Pérez on track.

Instead of a top three start, Hamilton had to settle for fourth which he accomplished with his opening lap in the final part of Qualifying. George Russell also fell victim to Pérez’ spin, with the former Williams Racing driver having to start from sixth as a result.

Team Principal Toto Wolff was frustrated to see both of his drivers be affected by the Red Bull driver “pushing it a lot”, but believes the Silver Arrows have a “strong race car” for Sunday.

“It was frustrating not to have the chance to improve our times on the final run of Q3, we were a tenth up on Verstappen and Leclerc so Lewis was in contention for the pole here. Unfortunately, Checo pushed it a lot and lost it but it’s not his fault. It’s just a decision you take, you can lose pole position because of a yellow or you can lose the pole by a few hundredths having run first – afterwards you always know better.

Lewis Hamilton will start the Dutch Grand Prix from fourth place, after the British driver only got one-shot to post a lap-time in final part of Qualifying at Zandvoort.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team have looked drastically better than they did last weekend in Belgium, with pole position having been a real possibility for the seven-time World Champion, had it not been for Sergio Pérez.

Hamilton was on for a potential pole position at the end of Qualifying Three, with the Brit finding himself just a tenth of a second behind Max Verstappen after the second sector. The lap was certainly going to be good enough for a top three start even if he couldn’t better his final sector. However, Hamilton didn’t even get the chance to finish the lap, after Pérez ahead span at the final corner.

The Mexican’s spin brought out the yellow flags, which meant nobody behind the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver could improve on their initial lap-times. This cost Hamilton a top three start for Sunday’s race, one that the Brit is very much in contention for.

Fourth isn’t the end of the world for Hamilton; however, he did admit that at the time of having to slow down, he was “definitely up” on his best lap.

Johan Kristoffersson continues to be unbeaten in the new RX1e category of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, having taken a superb twenty-ninth career victory on the first day of the Ferratum World RX of Riga-Latvia at the Biķernieki circuit.

Kevin Hansen lined up on pole for the final alongside Kristoffersson and Timmy Hansen, and, despite not being fastest off the line, managed to barge his way past the four-time world champion into the first complex of corners. Kristoffersson, having spent two laps all over the back of the race leader, dived into the joker to complete the longer lap, coming out behind Timmy. Kevin gave it absolutely everything on lap three, threw his car into the joker, but the almighty Kristoffersson demonstrated the astonishing power of his Volkswagen Polo RX1e and managed to come out in front of Hansen. From there, he hunted down Timmy, who slotted his Peugeot 208 RX1e into third place at the final joker merge behind his brother. Both Hansen World RX Team cars are on the podium, but at the moment, Kristoffersson looks unbeatable.

Speaking after the race, Kristoffersson said “it’s been a tough day. Since winning Super Pole it’s been a fight back, so [it’s] really, really nice to be able to pull this one off…I had one lap to pull off a really good lap behind Kevin…I had tyres when it matters on the joker lap,” having had to save tyres on this very abrasive track.

A changeable day in Latvia saw the drivers battling through the elements at various stages throughout the day. Kristoffersson demonstrated his mastery of the sport right from the beginning, ensuring that his Polo entered the first corner of the first race in first position, a place which he did not relinquish for the rest of the race. His teammate, Ole Christian Veiby, followed him home in second with the two Construction Equipment Dealer Team PWR RX1e cars coming home third and fourth.

In their first heat of the day, the two Hansen brothers were absolutely equal heading into turn one, with Timmy holding the outside line to give him the better drive out of turn two, giving him the lead as they charged down to the next sequence of turns. A very fair and clean drive from both of them, they followed each other around for the rest of the race, even sharing a joker strategy, a demonstration of precision racing from the two Hansen World RX Team drivers, which they would repeat in their progression race, taking another 1-2.

Belgian driver Enzo Ide has bounced back from a couple of disappointing rounds in the FIA European Rallycross Championship to at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the first day of round four in Riga. The EKS driver looked in commanding form, with championship leader Anton Marklund in second, and local Latvian hero Janis Baumanis taking third position.

Marklund and Ide were battling right from the beginning. Having taken a super wide line off the start, Marklund swung his Hyundai i20 into the first corner, driving right in front of Ide’s Audi S1, causing Marklund almost to spin out entirely. He held it with a superb display of car control, but, having tried to get past everyone, ended up having to fight from fourth position. Out front, Ide was in spectacular form, pulling off a wonderful move around the outside of Finland’s Mikki Ikonen at the joker merge to take the lead, after which he promptly vanished, finishing over three seconds ahead of everyone else.

Baumanis should not be ruled out of taking the overall win. He won both of his heat races, managing to make the first one in particular look very straightforward. After a little “elbow out” action between him and Tamás Kárai, Baumanis planted his foot on the accelerator pedal, and, to the delight of the home fans, finished over four seconds ahead of his rivals. In heat two, he managed to come out of his joker lap just ahead of the flying Belgian. Ide got better traction out of the final corner and forced his car up the inside as they charged down to turn one, but Baumanis just managed to hold on and took another race win, albeit less than half a second ahead of his Belgian rival.

It was Marklund, however, who took the ultimate win in heat two. He took advantage of being in the first race of heat two and demonstrated impeccable driving, a beautiful joker lap, and finished almost 8 seconds ahead of anyone else in his race. If he hadn’t had the contact at the start of heat one, it is very likely that he would have been challenging Ide for that overall top spot on the leaderboard.

Going into tomorrow (04 September), it looks like a three-way battle for supremacy between Baumanis, Ide, and Marklund. From a championship perspective, Baumanis really needs to assert himself if he wants to have any hope of closing that 17 point deficit between him and Marklund at the top of the standings. However, as we know, anything can happen in rallycross. Let’s see who takes home the 20 points at the end of the final tomorrow.

For the first time in his career, Max Gordon is a Stadium Super Trucks Fastest Qualifier. He topped Saturday afternoon’s Bristol Motor Speedway qualifying session ahead of father Robby for a family 1–2 run and eleven others.

Max led the way with a qualifying time of 47.446, just .004 faster than his dad. The Gordons, sporting orange liveries, added another chapter to their SST family affair after finishing in the top two in the season opener at Long Beach. The younger Gordon’s previous best qualifying effort was second at Nashville in August.

Despite taking the last two rounds off for overseas business, Robby’s average qualifying position is 1.5 after topping the session in his only 2022 start at Long Beach.

Points leader Gavin Harlien qualified third ahead of championship rival Robert Stout. Ben Maier was fifth.

Fielding Shredder was the quickest of the five newcomers in sixth ahead of the Diesel Brothers (Dave “Heavy D” Sparks in eighth and “Diesel” Dave Kiley in tenth). Cleetus McFarland was sandwiched between Shredder and Sparks in seventh for his best career qualifying effort.

Whilst pleased to qualify for the Dutch Grand Prix in second and third on Saturday, Laurent Mekies admits being so close to pole position leaves ‘an element of regret’ for Scuderia Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc was quickest after the first runs in Q3 at the Circuit Zandvoort only to be beaten to top spot by Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in the second run, with the margin just 0.021 seconds.

Carlos Sainz Jr. was only 0.092 seconds away from pole as well, and Mekies, the Sporting Director of the Maranello-based team, admits it was disappointing to miss out by the narrowest of margins on top spot.

“We can be reasonably happy with how qualifying went, but there’s also an element of regret,” said Mekies.  “We’re pleased to be back fighting for pole position down to the nearest thousandths of a second with both our cars, but obviously, when you come that close to pole you would like to have actually taken it.

“To see Charles and Carlos come within a whisker of Verstappen, just 2 and 9 hundredths slower respectively, is a good indicator of how intense the fight was. Well done to Max for his home pole.

Charles Leclerc admitted Max Verstappen put the lap together when it mattered during Qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday, with the home hero denying the Monegasque driver pole position by just 0.021 seconds.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver had been fastest after the first runs during Q3 at the Circuit Zandvoort, but a scruffy middle sector on his second run proved crucial as Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen edged ahead of him.

Despite missing out on pole, Leclerc remains confident Ferrari have the pace on the long runs to come out on top, and he hopes to have another good battle with Verstappen on Sunday afternoon.

“As a driver, you always target pole but Max (Verstappen) just put it together today,” said Leclerc.  “The car balance felt a step better compared to yesterday.

“Q1 and Q2 were a little tricky. We tried different things on the out laps and in the end the front was a bit stronger which was good because I could push more.

Christian Horner was delighted by the teamwork within Oracle Red Bull Racing that allowed Max Verstappen to recover from a disappointing Friday at Circuit Zandvoort to take pole position on Saturday.

Verstappen missed most of first practice on Friday due to a gearbox issue on his RB18, while he was only eighth fastest in the second session.  Red Bull worked hard on the car overnight, and whilst he was only third in final practice on Saturday morning, he worked his way to the top in Qualifying, beating Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.021 seconds.

Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, called Verstappen’s lap ‘perfect’, which allowed him to pip Leclerc, and secure a fourth pole position of a season.

“When you watch elite sportsmen at the top of their game they can really turn it on under pressure and Max did just that,” said Horner.  “He’s gaining more experience.

“He is continuing to mature and develop, and he has proved throughout the year that he can deliver an outstanding performance. Charles put down a hell of a marker and there was a lot of pressure on Max to turn in a perfect lap and he did it.

Marcus Armstrong got the jump on pole sitter Clément Novalak at the start of the Sprint race at Circuit Zandvoort and survived a late race restart to take his third victory of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season on Saturday.

The New Zealander took advantage of Novalak’s excessive wheelspin and subsequent slow getaway to take the lead heading into turn one, and from there, the Hitech Grand Prix driver looked in complete control.

A late race safety car, caused by a spin into the gravel by Tatiana Calderón, meant there was a one-lap shootout to the chequered flag at the end, but Armstrong judged the restart to perfection and stole a march on his closest challenger, and ran away to take the victory.

Novalak took his maiden Formula 2 podium in second, giving MP Motorsport a good result in their home race, while Dennis Hauger returned to the podium for Prema Racing in third for the first time since his victory in the Feature race in Azerbaijan.

Hauger was another to make gains on the opening lap, with the Norwegian getting the jump on Jüri Vips, while the Estonian also found himself shuffled behind Carlin’s Liam Lawson at the chicane.

Max Verstappen was delighted with the ‘unbelievable’ turnaround in performance between Friday and Saturday for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with the Dutchman securing his fourth pole position of the season at Circuit Zandvoort.

The pace of Red Bull was disappointing on Friday, with Verstappen down in eighth in the second session after missing most of the first due to a gearbox issue. 

However, come Qualifying, the pace of the RB18 was back to where the reigning World Champion had hoped it would be, and he secured top spot by 0.021 seconds from Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

“Unbelievable! We had a difficult day yesterday, the whole team worked really hard over night to turn it around and we recovered well,” said Verstappen.  

“Again, today we had a quick car and it was enjoyable to drive; a qualifying lap around here feels insane.”