Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Robin Larsson completed the perfect weekend after winning the action-packed final after the season-opening event at Lydden Hill.

Larsson took home the gold after running a clean and safe race away from the carnage of lap 1 in the final. His teammate, Andreas Bakkerud, scored a nice second-place finish behind him to lock in RX Cartel’s first 1-2 finish of the season gaining vital points for the team championship.

Further back Niclas Gronholm rounded out the podium finishing third after showing up to the event with no testing and having never driven an electric vehicle before. Gronholm proved his skills as he sat in for Kevin Eriksson who sustained a foot injury taking him out of competition. The Finnish driver garnered some hefty points for team OMSE and may see a return later in the season.

An unfortunate end to the weekend for world rally driver Kris Meeke as he was taken out of the competition on lap 1 of the final when Travis Pastrana failed to make a pass and re-entered the track causing a massive collision with Ole Christian Veiby, Fraser McConnell, and Meeke. Meeke and Pastrana were forced to retire while Veiby and McConnell continued on. McConnell would drive with a broken left rear wheel but persevered and brought home a respectable fourth-place finish.

Following McConnell and Veiby was OMSE driver Oliver Eriksson who was also caught up in the incident but only slowed him down with no damage. Eriksson would suffer lost time from the incident but never catch up to the pack to recover what time had been lost.

Nashville Superspeedway is the home circuit for Rackley WAR, whose Centerville, Tennessee headquarters is approximately ninety miles away. For Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Lebanon oval, the team will once again expand to two trucks as done in 2021, this time forming the #26 Chevrolet Silverado for Tate Fogleman to partner Matt DiBenedetto‘s #25. Dickies, Realtree, and CamoSpace are among the various sponsors that will appear on the #26.

Fogleman, the reigning Talladega Truck Series winner, began the 2022 season with On Point Motorsports. After running the first eleven races, during which he scored three top-twenty finishes with a best run of twelfth at Las Vegas and was twenty-third in points, he was replaced by Josh Bilicki, Joey Gase, and Camden Murphy for the next three races.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to drive for Rackley WAR at Nashville Superspeedway,” said Fogleman. “Curtis Sutton and Willie Allen have built something special and have put the right people in place to be successful. The team has been competitive all year, and I look forward to continuing the success they have had and make the most of this opportunity. It’s going to be special for the City of Nashville, the home track for Rackley WAR. The environment of the city is like no other place.”

For the 2021 Nashville Truck race, the first since the speedway’s revival after a decade-long dormancy, Rackley WAR opened the #27 for William Byron in addition to fielding the #25. Byron, the 2016 Truck champion, did not last long as his engine expired after seventy-eight laps.

Sutton, who co-owns the team with Allen, runs Rackley Roofing which holds the naming rights to the Truck event.

In the NASCAR world, “Double Duty” typically means running two races in the same weekend like the Cup Series and either the Xfinity or Camping World Truck Series. For Camden Murphy, his version of Double Duty involves driving trucks on back to back days, albeit going airbourne in one is to be expected while the other would be due to a freak accident.

On Monday, On Point Motorsports announced Murphy will drive the #30 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro in Friday’s Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway with sponsorship from Cup driver Kyle Busch‘s Rowdy Energy drink. The next day, he will compete in Monster Jam at the nearby Nissan Stadium in the Bakugan Draganoid truck. The two venues are located approximately forty miles apart.

“I am beyond excited for this incredibly unique doubleheader opportunity that has never happened before,” said Murphy. “NASCAR and Monster Jam on the same weekend? Wild!

“I will be practicing in Bakugan Dragonoid in the morning on Friday and then I head over to the speedway to practice, qualify, and race in my beautiful #30 Rowdy Energy Toyota all in the same day. I cannot thank Rowdy Energy, Kyle Busch, On Point Motorsports, Joe Nemechek, Daltile and all of my amazing partners enough for their support to make this weekend happen. 180 mph one day and 40 feet in the air the next!”

“Monster Jam Cam” has competed on the tour since 2017, winning Rookie of the Year in his maiden campaign and the Monster Jam World Finals‘ Double Down Showdown in 2018 as the driver of Pirate’s Curse. In 2019, his first year in Bakugan Dragonoid, he placed runner-up in the Freestyle and High Jump categories. After COVID-19 forced the Final to be called off for two years before resuming in May, he was eighth and fourteenth in the Wheel Skills Challenge and Freestyle competitions, respectively. The 2023 Finals will take place in Nashville.

Russian team KAMAZ-Master is the master of the Dakar Rally Trucks, having won the rally raid’s category nineteen times including every year but two since 2009; in January, the team swept the Rally’s top four positions. However, since its country’s invasion of Ukraine, the organisation also received its share of the consequences as foreign sponsors back out.

KAMAZ-master is the racing division of truck builder KAMAZ (Kama Automobile Plant), which is partly owned by state-run corporations and supplies vehicles like personnel transporters to the Russian armed forces. With the parent company deeply involved in Russia’s so-called “special military operation”, it has been subject to international sanctions that tanked its finances; according to CEO Sergei Kogogin at last week’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the company is seeking to boost domestic sales of its consumer trucks to make up for a lack of outside investments and decrease in exports, most of which go to ex-Soviet states.

The invasion’s ramifications prompted KAMAZ-master to rethink its business model since winning the 2022 Rally. The team put on sale some of its race vehicles with the cheapest being a 2004 KAMAZ-4911 that won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge thrice for 8.2 million rubles (€141,203.71 as of this article’s publishing) and the priciest a newly built KAMAZ-43509 worth 60 million ₽ (€1,033,197.87); a 2007 KAMAZ-4326 with Dakar experience went for 10.4 million ₽ (€179,087.63). Team director Vladimir Chagin, a seven-time Dakar champion, told Match TV in May that development of its KAMAZ K5 had to rely on substitute products made internally. Gazprom, a state-owned energy company, collaborated with the team to build new trucks powered by a mixture of gasoline and diesel, a fuel source that was added to the sold 4326.

KAMAZ-master’s trucks notably no longer have Red Bull sponsorship adorning them as the energy drink company has pulled its support. As such, the team’s budget is more reliant on its parent. Despite losing outside sponsors, Chagin explained the team still maintains relationships with them and “hope that partnership will be revived in the near future.”

Although the team is still competing in domestic events, outside competitions such as the 2023 Dakar Rally are unknown. In March, the FIA prohibited Russian drivers and teams from competing under their country’s flag and instead use a neutral licence, while FIA-sanctioned events could not take place within the nation. The same penalty was imposed on Belarus, an ally of Russia who allowed Russian troops to enter Ukraine from its side of the border; Western sanctions reportedly prevented the Belarusian truck team MAZ-Sportauto (a factory team for the impacted Minsk Automobile Plant) from competing at Dakar. Russian Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin, who lost his seat following the invasion and was sanctioned as well, has since switched to off-road.

Max Verstappen has won the Canadian Grand Prix for Oracle Red Bull Racing after fending off a very fast Carlos Sainz Jr. in the dying stages of the race. The Dutchman has extended his lead in the drivers championship, while team-mate Sergio Pérez found himself retiring from the race in the first stint with power unit issues.

Verstappen survived two virtual safety cars (VSC) and a full safety car to take his sixth victory in nine races, while team-mate Pérez ended a weekend to forget for the Mexican, who was unable to make it through to Qualifying Three on Saturday due to a mistake in the rain putting him in the barriers. He was making ground before he pulled over at the chicane with a mechanical issue, with his retirement bringing out the first of the VSC’s.

However, Verstappen was unchallenged for most of the race, which still gives Red Bull important points for the constructors championship. He did, however, need to survive a late race attack from Sainz, who had pitted for fresh tyres just as the safety car was deployed following a crash from Yuki Tsunoda as he exited the pit lane.

Despite having the Drag Reduction System (DRS) available to him for the closing laps, Sainz, who started third, was unable to get close enough to Verstappen to make an attempt for the lead, and ultimately he was forced to settle for second. The Spaniard is still looking for his first win in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, but certainly seems to be on the right track again after some tough races at the start of the season.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc would finish the race around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in fifth place, having started from nineteenth due to power unit penalties. Leclerc has certainly performed well with damage limitation in mind, but will be asking Ferrari about the questionable strategy that saw him stuck behind Esteban Ocon at the end of his first stint. He was amongst the last to make his first trip to the pits, but Tsunoda’s crash and the subsequent safety car gave him a quick car and fresher tyres than the drivers ahead of him and he was able to climb from eleventh at the restart into the top five.

With his NASCAR Cup Series rookie season currently in its bye week, Todd Gilliland decided to celebrate Father’s Day weekend by joining David Gilliland‘s team for a Camping World Truck Series one-off at Knoxville Raceway, and he gave Dad the perfect gift of a trip to Victory Lane.

Carson Hocevar, a weekly favourite who could never seem to find the luck to finish the deal and win his maiden race, saw his drought continue as he led the first sixty-five laps and won Stage #1 before his engine expired. Gililand assumed the lead which he held to claim the second stage.

Gilliland faced some resistance in Stage #3 from John Hunter Nemechek, but a late restart with ten laps remaining saw him hold off Nemechek to claim his third career Truck win. As a member of David Gilliland Racing, he now has four victories with one in the ARCA Menards Series and two in the now-ARCA Menards Series East.

Most of the race’s seven cautions were trucks stopping on the track or spinning save for two especially bizarre accidents. Jessica Friesen and Brett Moffitt channeled their inner Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater as the former hit the berm along the apron and flipped before landing on her wheels for a textbook heelflip, while the latter earned 200 points with a wallride after making contact with Tanner Gray on the frontstretch.

Buddy Kofoid was the highest finishing one-off dirt ringer in eleventh. His Kyle Busch Motorsports team-mate Nemechek won the first heat race while Gilliland’s DGR ally Hailie Deegan took the third. Gilliland’s victory came with momentum as he claimed the final heat.

Hélio Castroneves battling Tony Kanaan is a headline that NTT IndyCar Series fans are accustomed to, except Saturday night’s race was not in open-wheel cars. In fact, even the track they were racing on is more known for its stock cars than anything else.

Castroneves and Kanaan fought for the win for much of the 2022 Superstar Racing Experience season opener at Five Flags Speedway, and the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves trumped the once victor for his first win in the series. He got the ball rolling in Heat #2 by leading every lap.

A late restart saw Heat #1 winner Bubba Pollard, a short track star representing the Pensacola oval as its local champion, quickly climb through the order to take second. Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Newman joined Pollard and Castroneves on the podium. The third-place finish makes Newman the points leader going into next Saturday’s South Boston Speedway round ahead of seven other full-time drivers.

While a perennial fan favourite who scaled the catchfence as he always did for his IndyCar triumphs, Castroneves was not originally entered in the race. Nevertheless, he flew to Florida with the hope that a spare car would be available and his speculation proved accurate as the series carries at least three backup vehicles. The one-off start came with a caveat from SRX CEO Don Hawk, who offered him a chance to début in the Cup Series—particularly at nearby Daytona International Speedway—if he won.  Needless to say, the ball is now in Hawk’s court (PROJECT91, anyone?). Incidentally, Kanaan is also in talks about dabbling in the stock car series.

Castroneves contested the full 2021 SRX schedule and finished fifth in points with a podium. He currently races full-time in IndyCar and has also won an IMSA title.

Race results

Heat #1

Heat #2

As qualifying concludes on day one of Nitro Rallycross, Robin Larsson topped the leaderboard as the top qualifier going into tomorrow’s day of racing. 

Larsson managed to beat out Niclas Gronholm, teammate Andreas Bakkerud, and finally Kris Meeke to lead the timesheets after Saturday’s qualifying ended. The RX Cartel driver will go into Sunday’s racing being on pole for the first heat. Following him into the final battle bracket was Kris Meeke who managed to compete quite well for his first outing in rallycross but suffered from a technical issue in the final race.

Yuri Belevskiy and Fraser McConnell went toe-to-toe during the supercars battle brackets final but Belevskiy came out on top. McConnell performed well in the Hyundai i20 but Belevskiy was also running top machinery in the Audi S1 both dominating their competition in the supercar class over Patrick O’Donovan, Tristien O’Venden, and Dom Flitney. Supercars resume tomorrow within the standard racing of heats. 

NRX NEXT started off the day with a red flag on the first race after Simon Olofsson and George Megennis battled and Olofsson rolled his car stopping the session. Following the carnage, NRX NEXT managed to have some of the weekend’s closest racing as reigning champion Casper Jansson beat out his fellow top contenders Tommi Hallman and Ole Henry Steinsholt. Jansson now leads the NEXT championship going into two-weekend doubleheaders.

The introduction of crosscars made for fierce competition on Saturday as cars were ablaze on track. Ronalds Baldins was involved in some heated on-track battles but no more than his run in the final when on lap 4 a red flag was thrown after contact and his car caught fire, luckily Baldins got away safely. Failing to restart the final, the overall winner of day one was Pasi Penttinen after managing to hold off Rika Huuhka and Isac Egonsson. 

Max Verstappen clinched pole position at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal.

Fernando Alonso was in second position, 0.645 seconds slower than Verstappen. Carlos Sainz was in third position as he was edged out by his fellow Spaniard Alonso in the dying minutes of the session.

Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen rounded off the top five positions in the qualification session at a very wet circuit.

The qualifying session started in wet and cold conditions with air temperatures at 13 degrees C and track temperatures at 18 degrees C at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C3), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C4), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C5), the softest range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Fernando Alonso  led the final free practice session in wet conditions at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal in Canada.

Pierre Gasly finished in second position, just 0.053 seconds slower than the Spanish driver. Sebastian Vettel finished in third position at the end of the session.

Charles Leclerc will start at the back of the grid in the race due to power unit penalties. The Scuderia Ferrari driver will be joined by Yuki Tsunoda at the back of the grid due to an engine change.

The third and final free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montréal started in cold and damp conditions with air temperatures at 11 degrees C and track temperatures at 16 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C3), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C4), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C5), the softest range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

This past weekend, the IndyCar rookie class took to the scenic 6.515 km road course of Road America for the first time in the Sonsio Grand Prix.

Josef Newgarden survived the late race chaos to win, redeeming his heartbreaking loss at the track last season much like his Team Penske teammate Will Power did the weekend prior at Detroit. Championship leader Marcus Ericsson took advantage of late race restarts to finish second, while Alexander Rossi collected a second straight podium finish in third place.

Unfortunately for the rookies, the track is as beautiful as it is physically demanding, and for the majority of the class it was a difficult weekend. Only two rookies managed to finish in the top fifteen, while others struggled with on-track incidents, pit-lane issues, and more.

This weekend also saw the return of Callum Ilott, returning from a hand injury sustained at the Indianapolis 500 that kept him out of the Chevrolet Grand Prix.

So who was able to rise above the rest? Who found themselves in hot water with one of the series’ best drivers? How did Ilott fare in his return to the track? Let’s break it all down in this week’s NTT IndyCar Series Rookie Report.

George Russell admitted the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team are not where they want to be at this stage of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, with the Briton ending seventh fastest on Friday afternoon at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Russell, who has finished inside the top five in each of the first eight races of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, says the W13 has been pretty hard to drive so far this weekend, with the stiffness of the car hindering both himself and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton as they are unable to attack the kerbs as much as they would like to.

After running a different set-up to Hamilton, Russell hopes they can between them and the engineers find a solution to their problems so they can be in the fight to be at the front of the midfield in Saturday’s Qualifying session.

“It’s fun to drive around this circuit, it’s old-school and very challenging, with the cars bumping over the kerbs,” said Russell.  “Our performance wasn’t where we wanted it to be, we’re quite a way off the pace to the front two teams and there’s also a couple of guys – Fernando [Alonso] and Seb [Vettel] – who look very strong, so we’ve got work to do.

“It’s still very bumpy out there, the stiffness of these cars is pretty brutal. We can’t run the kerbs as much as we used to, we got the car as soft as we can but there’s something about this iteration of cars stopping us really doing that.

Fernando Alonso enjoyed a ‘decent’ couple of practice sessions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday, with the Spaniard ending inside the top five in both.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team driver was third fastest in the first session as the FIA Formula 1 World Championship made its return to Canada for the first time since 2019, and he followed that up by setting the fifth fastest time in the second session.

Alonso says the current generation of Formula 1 cars make the track in Montréal a much different challenge compared to what it used to be, but it was good for him to get as much track running as he could to prepare for the rest of the weekend.

“I think it was another decent Friday for us today,” said Alonso.  “The car seems to be performing quite well at this challenging track here in Montreal. 

“We haven’t raced in Canada for a number of years and it does feel a bit different than in previous years. Things like riding the kerbs gives a very different feeling with the ground effect cars.

Sebastian Vettel says he is not getting carried away with the pace of his AMR22 despite a positive Friday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team driver.

The German began the day with ninth place in first practice, but it was the second practice where his pace seemed to come alive, with Vettel ending fourth fastest, just three-tenths of a second down on the best time of the day set by Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

Vettel remains realistic that they might not be a contender for the big places on the grid in Saturday’s Qualifying session in Canada, but he is looking forward to the rest of the weekend.

“This is a tricky circuit to get right, especially after a couple of years away – I lost the car a couple of times on the approach to Turn One – but, overall, the car was pretty well behaved,” said Vettel. “Still, I think we need to be realistic about qualifying tomorrow; we’re improving all the time but we still have some work to do.

“I think Saturday could be tricky – the conditions have been unpredictable all weekend and it looks likely to be another wet-dry day. But I’m looking forward to whatever the weather throws at us.”

Charles Leclerc will take a ten-place grid penalty on Sunday after Scuderia Ferrari were forced to change his Control Electronics component within his power unit.

Leclerc retired from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last weekend with an engine issue on his F1-75, and Ferrari admitted the power unit is beyond repair. 

It looked initially that Leclerc would escape penalty as the team took all-new internal combustion engine, MGU-H, MGU-K and control electronics, all which would have been within his allocation for 2022, but they then opted to change the control electronics again, which put him outside of his allocation and gave him the penalty.

As a result, the Monegasque racer will drop ten places on the grid on Sunday, making his Canadian Grand Prix much more difficult as he bids to regain some momentum after he and Ferrari have seen Max Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing pull away at the top of the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.

Looking at his Friday practice sessions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Leclerc was positive about his running, and he ended second fastest to Verstappen in the afternoon session, just 0.081 seconds back on the fastest time.