Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Jake Dennis claimed top spot in Saturday’s opening session at the London E-Prix, with the British driver looking best ahead of the day’s Qualifying session. Oliver Rowland and André Lotterer sealed second and third in Free Practice Two, whilst Drivers’ Championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne occupying eighth place, exactly where he was on Friday.

With Qualifying just an hour away, all twenty-two of the runners were quick to get on with push laps ahead of their Group Stage clashes. With that in mind, it only took ten minutes of FP2 for Sérgio Sette Câmara‘s Free Practice One leading time to be beaten. Dennis and Alexander Sims both went below a 1:14.5 within the opening few minutes, something only Sette Câmara managed on Friday.

Lotterer was the first spinner of the day at the ExCeL Centre; however, quickly recovered at Turn Sixteen. Times continued to tumble rapidly, with reigning Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne dipping into the 1:13s. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team appear to be mighty strong ahead of qualifying.

Sette Câmara soon joined the Mercedes duo in the high 1:13s, following on from his strong start to the weekend on Friday. Lucas Di Grassi and Maximilian Günther become the next two to venture into the 1:13s with just nine minutes remaining in the session, which was then red-flagged after Dan Ticktum went off at Turn Six. At the time of causing the red-flag, Ticktum was stone-last and the only driver yet to break into the 1:14s.

The session resumed with only three minutes remaining, resulting in a sudden dash for one final push lap before qualifying. Whilst the Mercedes duo failed to improve, Evans jumped into the 1:13s, as did Rowland and Lotterer. Then came Dennis, who claimed top spot with a 1:13.661, with just a tenth separating the top four.

It was not the best of Fridays for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team at the Hungaroring, with neither George Russell nor Lewis Hamilton happy with the pace of their W13s.

The updates the team brought to the car last weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard appeared not to work as well as they did seven days ago, with Russell ending the day eighth fastest and well adrift of the pace of Scuderia Ferrari and Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Russell said it was more like a test session for Mercedes on Friday, but it was disappointing to be further off the pace than they were expecting to be hearing into the weekend.

“It definitely hasn’t been our smoothest Friday this season, a bit of a strange one because we think it’s going to be wet for qualifying tomorrow and then different again on Sunday,” said Russell.

“We tried quite a few things with the car and used today as a test session so while it’s been a tough day, it’s probably been a productive one.

Alexander Smolyar will start the FIA Formula 3 Championship‘s Feature Race at the Hungaroring from pole position, benefitting from a late red flag in Qualifying which prevented several drivers from improving.

The session ended with a three-minute sprint after the stoppage, but no-one was able to better the MP Motorsport driver’s effort, with Zane Maloney continuing his strong pace from Free Practice and Oliver Bearman showing his hand to go P3.

Jonny Edgar was the first to set a representative time, but his Trident team-mate Maloney and Caio Collet soon improved to push the British driver down the order.

Oliver Goethe was one of several drivers to lose times to track limit violations throughout the session, in this case at Turn 4. That tour would have been good enough for P6 but he stayed P10 after it was chalked off.

Arthur Leclerc went quickest with a 1:32.912, just ahead of Jak Crawford, fastest in Practice, and just behind Bearman who later improved.

The race of rallycross champions begins this weekend as Nitro Rallycross holds its second round at Strangnas Motorstadion in Sweden. This weekend features another star-studded roster as four-time World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson joins the fold to compete in the FC1-X. 

With a total of five series champions racing this weekend, it will make for the most interesting weekend yet for the European leg of the series. Former Euro RX Champions and RX Cartel drivers Robin Larsson and Andreas Bakkerud return this weekend to continue on the success they’ve had so far this season, albeit Larsson is still recovering from a neck injury sustained in the off time between rounds. Defending NRX Champion Travis Pastrana is also looking to make up some ground this round after having an unlucky run last time out with his teammate Conner Martell. Kris Meeke will be looking for revenge as he and Oli Bennet take to the track to regain some ground in the championship.

Niclas Gronholm also returns after having a stellar weekend his first time out in the car at Lydden Hill, managing to make his way into the final never having driven the FC1-X. The biggest name of the weekend by far has to be Johan Kristoffersson, four-time World Rallycross Champion and winningest driver in WRX history. The swede will aim to compete with the best of the best again in an all-new car as he joins the Group E field in the FC1-X.

The rest of the field remains the same from round one as Fraser McConnell, Kris Meeke, Ole Christian Veiby, and more return for round two to round out the field. Supercars, NRX NEXT, and Crosscars also return as support series. New faces join the field with Per Eklund and Martin Enlund competing this weekend, Enlund returning after competing last season in NRX NEXT.

The action is set to begin this weekend 30-31 July and can be streamed via Peacock.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso spent his forty-first birthday lapping the winding Hungaroring for the Friday practice sessions, finishing practice one in tenth and putting together a strong effort to take sixth in practice two. 

Alonso said that the team was able to experiment with the car’s set-up on Friday, and that he was happy overall with the way the car drove and the knowledge they walked away from practice with. 

With rainy weather forecasted for the rest of the weekend, however, he is unsure of how everything will go when it comes time to compete in the wet conditions, which often provide much variability across the grid. 

“It was a productive Friday today and we tried a few different things in terms of the car set-up. The weather looks very changeable tomorrow and Sunday, so who knows what we will be facing, but we gathered some good data and ran a smooth programme in both practice sessions.”

“The car felt quite good and enjoyable to drive, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I must say it was also very nice to drive around Budapest on my birthday!”

Jak Crawford went top of the times in Free Practice as the FIA Formula 3 Championship returned to the Hungaroring.

The American took his first F3 win at the Red Bull Ring in early July, and pipped Zane Maloney for the top spot right at the end of the session.

Josep Maria Marti went quickest early on for Campos Racing with a 1:36.144, as the rest of the field tried to stay within the lines but saw plenty of times chalked off for exceeding track limits.

Alexander Smolyar missed the round at Silverstone, but will complete the rest of the season with MP Motorsport, and swapped top spot with team-mate Kush Maini.

Isack Hadjar sits just one point off the Championship lead going into the weekend, with three wins, and spent some time at the top for Hitech GP.

The first thirty-minutes of practice at the London E-Prix certainly didn’t disappoint, with title contender Mitch Evans ending the opening day in second place. The Jaguar TCS Racing driver was almost two-tenths off opening day leader Sérgio Sette Câmara, who was the only driver to dip below a 1:14.5 at the ExCeL Centre.

The incredible nature of the circuit, which is thirty-five-percent indoors, caused problems for the teams on the opening day. Many of the sides complained that they couldn’t track their drivers GPS’, leaving the majority of the pit-walls completely oblivious as to where their drivers were.

The session itself was one with little on-track drama, with Edoardo Mortara being the only driver to spin in Free Practice 1. The Swiss driver managed to keep his ROKIT Venturi Racing car out of the wall, meaning the yellow-flag for his spin was short-lived. The Swiss driver ended the day in twelfth, leaving him with much to do ahead of Free Practice Two on Saturday.

Jean-Éric Vergne needs a big haul of points in London, the Frenchman’s weekend failed to get-off how he might have hoped, after languishing down in seventeenth place at the end of Friday.

Dragon/Penske Autosport appear to be the team to beat this weekend, with Antonio Giovinazzi making it a one-four for the side, a shock given Giovinazzi’s regular position at the back of the grid this season.

Lando Norris does not think he will be in contention for pole position at the Hungaroring on Saturday despite finishing second fastest to Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second practice on Friday.

The McLaren F1 Team driver admits the team usually show good pace during Friday practice only to find themselves overhauled by the likes of Ferrari, Oracle Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team on Saturday afternoons.

Norris says the upgrades brought to the MCL36 in last weekends French Grand Prix appear to be working well, and they have a better handle of them this weekend in Hungary.

“Things are feeling good,” said Norris.  “The car is in a good place and seems to be suiting this track a little bit more. But we’re always a little quicker in FP2 than where we end up being on Saturday.

“Normally, we know everyone else, especially Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes usually step it up a lot more tomorrow. But we’re feeling good. I can be happy in saying the car is in a reasonable position.

Charles Leclerc admitted they used Friday’s two free practice sessions to set-up for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix as rain is predicted to hit the Hungaroring on Saturday.

Despite this focus, the Scuderia Ferrari driver was still able to set the best time of the day, his best lap of 1:18.445 more than two-tenths of a second clear of McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris, while his rival for the World Championship, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, was almost three-tenths back in fourth.

Leclerc admitted track evolution was not as high as expected on Friday, but with the rain set to hit the track for possibly both final practice and Qualifying, it could be an interesting day on Saturday.  And he knows getting Pirelli’s tyres in the right window will be key.

“With weather conditions likely to be variable this weekend, our main focus was on set-up work today,” said Leclerc.  “We did some race simulations too, as we may not have the chance to collect representative data in FP3 tomorrow.

“Though track evolution is always quite high here, it was lower than we expected today. It will be key to put the tyres in the right window tomorrow.”

After securing his first win in FIA Formula 2 last weekend in Le Castellet, DAMS‘ Ayumu Iwasa put in a dominant performance at the Hungaroring to take his first F2 pole position by nearly four tenths.

Hitech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong will start alongside the lightening fast Japanese driver in the second place grid slot for Sunday’s driver while championship leader Felipe Drugovich rounded out the top three qualifiers of the weekend.

It was the Kiwi driver who set the first benchmark early on in the session while Iwasa and his team-mate Roy Nissany suffered from lock-ups on their first runs on the Hungarian track.

Théo Pourchaire was next to take the top spot only to be bested by his ART Grand Prix team-mate moments later when Frederik Vesti topped the timing sheets.

The Frenchman will start from fourth on the grid with the Dane starting from seventh.

Max Verstappen’s pre-race concerns that Oracle Red Bull Racing would not be that competitive this weekend at the Hungaroring appeared to be correct after he struggled for performance on Friday, at least compared to their main rivals at Scuderia Ferrari.

Verstappen finished second behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. in the opening session in Hungary, but he slipped to fourth in the second as Charles Leclerc topped the session with Sainz third – McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris also found his way ahead of the Dutchman in second.

Verstappen says it will be hard to beat Ferrari this weekend based on the form from Friday, but they will be looking to improve the feeling and pace of the RB18 overnight in a bid to close the gap.

“As expected, it was a bit tricky around here today, we were trying to find the right balance from high to low speed, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t – there’s a bit of work to do,” said Verstappen.

“I think the Ferraris will be ahead of us this weekend and it will be hard to beat them. We’ll work hard overnight and try and close that gap as much as we can.

With the 2023 Dakar Rally five months away but a resolution to the Russian invasion of Ukraine nowhere in sight, teams from Russia and ally Belarus hoping to enter the rally raid are stuck with the predicament of not knowing whether they will be allowed to take part. In separate interviews with Russian sports publication Championship, KAMAZ-master‘s Dmitry Sotnikov and Eduard Nikolaev and MAZ-SPORTauto‘s Sergey Vyazovich discussed their Truck outfits’ future plans including their Dakar fates and how they have adjusted their operations since the invasion began in February. Both teams’ parent companies KAMAZ (Kama Automobile Plant) and MAZ (Minsk Automobile Plant) are respectively owned by the Russian and Belarusian governments and have been subject to multiple sanctions.

KAMAZ-master is a nineteen-time Dakar Truck winner who won the class for the sixth straight year in January and recently claimed the Silk Way Rally overall with Sotnikov. While it is not known if the team will be allowed at Dakar, Nikolaev proclaimed they will proceed with their programme as if they were gearing up for the event, such as hosting a training camp after finishing the Russian Rally-Raid Championship.

“Yes, the situation is not easy now, but the Dakar is still next year,” stated Nikolaev. “We were still running the Silk Road and testing new items with an eye on the Dakar, and even if suddenly we do not have it, we will still go to the training camp and continue to prepare so that when everything is restored—God willing, it will happen faster—we are ready. We have to be in shape, both technically and ourselves, in order to immediately join the race and show a decent result.”

Due to global sanctions and many sponsors including Red Bull withdrawing, KAMAZ-master has been more dependent on domestic production for parts and funding. State-owned energy company Gazprom took Red Bull’s place as primary sponsor and is collaborating with KAMAZ to new trucks such as a gas/diesel KAMAZ 43509 piloted by Alexander Kupriyanov at the Silk Way; more alternative fuel trucks using sources like hydrogen are also in the works, as part of the Dakar Rally’s goal of exclusively having zero-emissions vehicles by 2030. Since such a project requires years of development, the team has mostly continued with their traditional internal combustion trucks. Of course, the international situation means even this process has challenges: components like suspension springs can be manufactured locally in Naberezhnye Chelny, but those made from rubber are harder to come by.

“We try to do many parts ourselves, but there is still something that we have not covered: rubber-technical products, for example, cuffs, oil seals,” Sotnikov elucidated. “For our next trips, we will try new suppliers, plus we are supported by fuel partners, but we are actively looking for Russian manufacturers who are ready for special orders.”

Stoffel Vandoorne goes into the penultimate double header of the season in London this weekend on top of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Drivers’ standings, but his attitude to racing has not changed.

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver holds an eleven-point advantage over ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Edoardo Mortara heading to the ExCeL London this weekend, and he comes to the track having scored points in all but one of the twelve races up to now.

Vandoorne has mixed feelings about returning to ExCeL London after an up-and-down weekend there twelve months ago, but he hopes this year can see him running up front and taking crucial points as the season end draws ever nearer.

“It’s going to be great to be back in London,” said Vandoorne.  “There are four races to go and the fight for the championship is really hotting up, but that’s not about to change my attitude towards the weekend.

“We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing since the start of the year, which is to perform well in every session while trying to secure as many points as possible.

Charles Leclerc topped the second free practice session of the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary.

Lando Norris finished in second position, 0.217 seconds slower than the Scuderia Ferrari driver. Carlos Sainz finished in third position at the end of the session.

The second free practice session at the Hungaroring circuit in Budapest started under clear skies with air temperatures at 33 degrees C and track temperature at 47 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

With rain expected on Saturday, the teams wanted to use the Friday practice sessions to the maximum. The drivers were out on the track when the lights went green and Valtteri Bottas set the first timed lap of 1m21.452s.

Edoardo Mortara says the time for the final push to win the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship title starts this weekend with the penultimate double-header of the season in London.

The ROKiT Venturi Racing driver could only finish ninth and tenth across the two races of the New York City E-Prix two weeks ago, and he is hoping for more this time around at the ExCeL London circuit.

Mortara says Venturi have shown themselves to be amongst the best teams on the grid when it comes to pace and energy usage, and he hopes this can help him close the gap on championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne this weekend.

“The ExCeL Circuit is still quite new to the Formula E calendar, and it’s quite a technical and challenging track, which when driven perfectly, is very satisfying to race on,” said Mortara.  “

Because of the layout, it can be difficult to overtake, meaning that qualifying well will be very important if we want to achieve a good result.