Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The last time Stadium Super Trucks were on the streets of Adelaide, COVID-19 had yet to become a pandemic. Four years later, the series is set to head back to Australia when it joins the Adelaide 500 weekend on 14–17 November.

Supporting the Supercars Championship, SST last raced in Australia in 2021 under the Boost Mobile Super Trucks banner. The trucks fell off the calendar after Supercars came under new ownership, and were sent back to the United States in 2022.

Despite their departure, there remained some interest in Supercars’ leadership to bring them back as early as 2023. SST also entertained dates that year in Adelaide or Surfers Paradise though they ultimately had to wait a year before the former manifested.

“The VAILO Adelaide 500 is one of my favourite events and street circuits in the world and I’d like to thank all our supporters in Adelaide and Australia for their continued support to see us race down under again,” said series head Robby Gordon. “Our teams and drivers will be sure to put on a show for fans of all ages once again on the streets of Adelaide, and it’ll be a show you don’t want to miss.”

Adelaide was the first track to welcome SST to Australia when it served as the season opener in 2015, holding this mantle over the next two years. Australian races ended in late 2018 amidst a row with what is now Motorsport Australia before returning at the 2019 Gold Coast 600 after a year-long absence.

Seven years after his début, Nandu Jubany will have another go at the Dakar Rally in 2025, albeit on four wheels when he races an MD Optimus for MD Rallye Sport. Marc Solà will serve as his navigator.

Jubany first raced the Dakar Rally in 2018 on a bike, finishing fifty-third overall. A former Spanish Enduro Junior Champion, he was originally supposed to race in 2017 before pushing it back a year due to a broken wrist he sustained while training. The effort checked off a major bucket list item of his, and he initially declared that he had no intention of returning to the Dakar in the future. However, the allure of racing a car was too great to resist.

“When I finished (in 2018), I promised myself that I wouldn’t go through that again, but you say that and three months later you’re already thinking about doing it again,” Jubany told SPORT at the 2025 Dakar Rally presentation on Saturday. “I don’t know what it is about the Dakar, but it gets you hooked. My dream was to do it on a motorcycle because I’m a biker, but I really racing in general and driving a car. When we see images of the Dakar on television, it makes all the fans want to go. We all want to go and be there. […] I don’t know what the Dakar gives you, some kind of pill, but when you’ve done it once, you always want to come back.”

Initially, Jubany considered racing in the SSV category before Dakar veteran and enduro champion Josep Vila i Roca introduced him to MD Sport. Instead, he will race an Optimus in the T1.2 subcategory.

Solà, who also made the jump from bikes to cars, finished eleventh in SSV at the 2024 Dakar as the co-driver for Ricardo Ramilo. Jubany also has the support of friends and Dakar competitors like two-time winner Nani Roma, Roma’s wife Rosa Romero Font, and Gerard Farrés; Roma, who won the 2004 race on a bike, helped Jubany train for the 2018 edition.

Boris Rotenberg, one of the most powerful businessmen in Russia and the owner of SMP Racing, was elected president of the Russian Automobile Federation on Saturday. He replaces Viktor Kiryanov, who ran the federation for twenty years.

He has operated SMP Racing since 2013, taking its name from SMP Bank that he and his older brother Arkady founded. Using Rotenberg’s BR Engineering prototype cars, they primarily competed in sports car series like the FIA World Endurance Championship, where they won the 2015 LMGTE Am title, the Blancpain Endurance Series, European Le Mans Series, and GT World Challenge Europe. Rotenberg has also dabbled in driving for the team.

SMP was due to open a Formula 2 programme and had hopes of extending into Formula One, having heavily backed Sergey Sirotkin’s road to the latter and his F1 employer Williams Racing, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to their withdrawal from international motorsport. Since then, the team has mostly focused on domestic championships and driver development.

Shortly after the invasion, Rotenberg was sanctioned by the British government and European Union as a member of President Vladimir Putin‘s inner circle. He and Arkady, both childhood friends of Putin, have been under sanction by the United States since 2014 in response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea; the brothers ran Stroygazmontazh, one of the world’s largest oil infrastructure builders which constructed the Crimean Bridge. SMP Racing’s European bank accounts were also blocked following the annexation. Despite the penalties, a 2023 investigation by Le Monde found the Rotenbergs have continued to maintain their wealth, which includes a net worth of over USD$1 billion apiece, through proxies and allies abroad.

As RAF president, Rotenberg stated his intention to focus on building a domestic Formula 4 car with SMP Racing and BR Engineering, promoting youth karting, and organising hybrid events that combine esports and real-life racing. He also drew from the political power he wields as an oligarch, declaring another priority was to “[strengthen] international cooperation with partner countries from Asia and BRICS countries.”

Want to race the Dakar Classic in a Nissan Navara or a Bowler Wildcat? Now you can.

During the 2025 Dakar Rally presentation on Saturday, the Amaury Sport Organisation announced the range of vehicles eligible to compete in the Dakar Classic has been expanded to allow those built between 2000 and 2005. In its first four years of existence, the race only permitted cars and trucks built from the inaugural Paris–Dakar Rally in 1979 to 1999.

Forty-six vehicles have been added to the list of eligible vehicles, increasing the total to 408. These include the Bowler and BMW X5, both of which were among the top cars in the 2000s. OSCar, the first electric vehicle to complete the Dakar in 2012, is also permitted.

Bowler, OScar, Jaguar, GINAF, and SMB will be allowed to make their Classic débuts.

The 2025 Dakar Classic and Rally begin on 3 January and run through 17 January. Carlos Santaolalla and his Toyota Land Cruiser are the defending winners.

After a tumultuous month of May, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Nolan Siegel has been bumped from the Indy 500 field. Siegel, who is running four races in the No. 18 for Coyne while running full-time in Indy NXT with HMD Motorsports, spun and hit the Turn 2 wall during his final qualifying attempt and will not take part in next Sunday’s race. The rookie was bested by Katherine Legge, Marcus Ericsson, and Graham Rahal, who will start next Sunday’s Indy 500 31st, 32nd, and 33rd respectively. Rahal had praise for Siegel after locking himself into the field.

“You guys don’t know his name, but you will. He’s won in every class that I’ve watched him in, and I’ve known the kid since he was 10 years old. He was a little little guy then, but you know in the future he’s a winner. And it’ll be winning at this level sometime soon.“

Siegel had been keeping up the pace for the first few days of practice before a violent crash during practice on Fast Friday that sent his No. 18 Honda into the wall before flipping over backwards, landing the 19-year-old driver upside down. The nature of the impact necessitated a complete chassis change. Since DCR is a relatively small operation, the one backup car the team had available was a chassis set up for a road course, and was last used a weekend ago by Jack Harvey on the IMS Road Course.

Just like Ericsson, who also went to backup road course car after a practice crash, speeds went down in a big way with the new car for Siegel. While the California native was last of the 34 entries on Friday before his crash, he wasn’t too far off from teammate Legge with a top speed of 229.813 mph. However, on the first day of qualifying, Siegel and the No.18 had a difficult time even putting up one lap in the 228 range. After multiple attempts, Siegel eventually mustered a 228.276 average on his final run of the day, which was still over two miles per hour shy of Rahal in 33rd.

On Saturday night, the Coyne driver made a phone call to 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan. Siegel received some advice from the 20+ year IndyCar vet, and eventually, Kanaan, who currently serves as the Sporting Director for Arrow McLaren, got permission to serve as a consultant for Siegel on Sunday. In an interview during Sunday morning practice, TK described his role as one of “moral support”, and was not there to give any sort of technical or setup advice.

Kyle Larson was the first Arrow McLaren driver to take to the track for the opening day of Indy 500 qualifying, and for the first two laps, things were going well. The California native’s first lap was ran at a speed of 232.719 miles per hour, with a small amount of speed lost between that and his second lap at 232.318. Then, while entering Turn 2 during the third lap of his initial run, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion slowed down, pulling back into the pits and unexpectedly ending his qualifying attempt two laps early.

The explanation? An unknown issue that Larson said slowed the car down automatically.

“There was some alarm that popped up on the dash and it cut a bunch of power.“

2011 Indy 500 runner-up and IndyCar veteran JR Hildebrand offered an explanation to the issue:

The Dakar Rally will remain in Saudi Arabia for a sixth straight year in 2025, but the Amaury Sport Organisation hopes to shake things up with some more action in the Empty Quarter.

Also known as Rub’ al Khali, the Empty Quarter is a massive erg that has been used by the Dakar for its marathon stages. For 2025, the desert will host the final three stages and wrap up in Shubaytah, which hosted the inaugural Chrono Stage in 2024.

The Chrono Stage, a two-day leg that required competitors to camp overnight before continuing the next morning, returns for 2025 as a 950-kilometre stage. Various elements from the stage has been expanded to encompass other legs: cars and bikes will begin concurrently (rather than the latter starting in the morning followed by the former hours later) but take separate routes on at least five stages, while the trucks will do the same for one of the days in the Empty Quarter. Even with the Chrono Stage being a souped-up marathon stage, marathon rules will still apply for one more leg, prohibiting competitors from receiving asssistance from their teams.

The last stage will feature a tribute to Dakars of yore by having every vehicle start at the same time, separated by class. This was previously done during the Paris–Dakar Rally days as competitors made their way to the finish at Lac Rose in Dakar, and is possible for 2025 due to the Empty Quarter’s wide range and attrition whittling down the field.

Bisha, which first appeared on the Dakar route in 2021, will host the Prologue and starting bivouac.

Max Verstappen took pole position on Saturday for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by less than a tenth, with the McLaren’s continuing an impressive run of form.

Oscar Piastri qualified in second before dropping to fifth for impeding Kevin Magnussen at Turn Two, while Lando Norris put in the third fastest time but will now start on the front row alongside Verstappen.

Scuderia Ferrari lacked the pace they showed in Friday practice and finished Q3 fourth and fifth. George Russell once again got the better of his teammate and will start sixth – Lewis Hamilton’s best lap was only good enough for eighth. Yuki Tsunoda is having a great weekend so far and will start seventh, while Daniel Ricciardo secured his first top ten start of the year and will begin Sunday’s Grand Prix in ninth. Nico Hülkenberg starts from tenth.

The biggest shocks of the day were undoubtedly from the Oracle Red Ball Racing and the Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team garages. Despite new updates on the car, Fernando Alonso qualified last on the grid and teammate Lance Stroll’s best effort wasn’t good enough to get into the top ten shootout. Sergio Pérez had a difficult day, missing out on Q3 for the first time in 2024.

The drivers have been sharing their thoughts, read what the top ten and Pérez had to say after qualifying from Imola!

The first week of Indy 500 practice is in the books, and that means qualifying is here. All cars received an extra 100 horsepower boost on Friday in order to prepare for the first day of qualifying. Some handled it better than others, with the Chevrolet teams finding themselves with more speed than those running Honda engines.

Last year’s race winner Josef Newgarden proved fastest over a four-lap qualifying simulation, going an average of 234.260 miles per hour in his mid-day run. That would’ve put him on pole over Alex Palou’s record-setting speed in qualifying last year. Despite his speed, Newgarden is still unsure of what that says for his chances this weekend and the next:

“Qualifying is still one thing. It shows general car speed. But you can’t ever get ahead of yourself here. That’s been my experience the last 12 years running at this place that stuff surprises you. There’s so many good quality teams and drivers that I just don’t think you can ever feel too confident and comfortable.“

His Team Penske teammates weren’t too far behind. Scott McLaughlin posted a lap at 234.102, which was good enough for fourth, with Will Power trailing behind in sixth. Overall, cars with Chevy engines proved themselves faster than the Honda cars by a decent margin.

Chip Ganassi spoke on Honda’s shortcomings on Saturday morning, saying “We used to be the best Honda. We’re not even that right now.” Marcus Armstrong posted CGR’s fastest no-tow lap at 231.954 mph, which placed him 23rd on the speed charts. Saturday’s morning session saw mostly Hondas out on track, with many trying to make last-second improvements before qualifying, including all five Ganassi cars.

Sean Gelael has described the crash that caused the red flag to be waved at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa as “an avoidable incident.” The Team WRT driver was commenting about a race that ultimately saw both of the team’s LMGT3 cars be taken out in collisions triggered by Hypercars in the third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Coming from an extremely successful round at the 6 Hours of Imola, where the team secured a 1-2 finish in the LMGT3 class, the Belgian team had high hopes for their home race at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps. Qualifying was a mixed bag, with the #31 car starting 2nd after a penalty was applied to the #95 United Autosports McLaren. Meanwhile, the #46 car could only manage 12th in a very competitive session.

Unfortunately, disaster was lurking for them during the race. At the 90 minute mark, a collision on the run down to Bruxelles between two Hypercars speared the #38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 into the side of the #46 BMW. Ahmed Al Harthy, the driver at the helm of the BMW, was relegated to the role of passenger as his car was sent off the track and out of the race.

Al Harthy said he was “obviously very disapointed with how the race ended. Unfortunately, the contact that happened between two Hypercars was totally out of my control and we ended up with a DNF. It’s definitely not what we wanted for the team that deserved more” the Omani driver continued, adding “we have to be positive and try to learn as much as we can.“

“It’s a pity” said Maxime Martin, another driver of the #46 car, philosophically adding “we’re certainly not at Spa to retire after 1h30. But it’s part of the game, that’s racing. It’s indeed a shame because Ahmad was doing a good job, and we could have scored some important points. But that’s the way it is.“

After originally planning to start in Thailand and end in Malaysia, the 2024 Asia Cross Country Rally will instead stay exclusively in the former country in the wake of vairous bombings in southern Thailand.

“With recent developments at the border, the Thai authorities have identified safety of the convoy would be at risk,” reads a statement from race officials. “Ensuring the safety and security of all participants, attendees, staff, and supporting authorities involved in AXCR is of the organiser’s utmost priority. After careful consideration and consultation, we have concluded that the prudent course of action is to cancel the Malaysia leg event.”

Southern Thailand has been the site of an ongoing insurgency rooted in ethnic, religious, and political tensions and going back decades; predominantly Malay and Muslim, the region became part of Thailand following the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. Consequently, secessionist movements in the region consisting of such demographics sprung up before militant action escalated in 2004.

While the Thai government under Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin began peace talks with one such group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, in February, various incidents have occurred in the south since. A wave of arson attacks occurred across the region on 22 March, killing a migrant worker, though a perpetrator was not identified. Narathiwat Province, although not on the original race route, was hit by bomb blasts on 29 April and 6 May that injured four in each, the latter including two Malaysian tourists.

Malaysia deployed units from its General Operations Force to the border in early May to “restore the public’s confidence in national security,” while Thailand has stressed negotiations with the BRN will continue. Nonetheless, out of safety, the AXCR will be a Thailand-only event.

Charles Leclerc is pleased with Scuderia Ferrari’s Friday practice as they gear up for qualifying around the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit.

Ferrari and Leclerc led the way in both Free Practice sessions on Friday, and it appears they will be challenging McLaren F1 Team for the victory this weekend with Oracle Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen in particular having issues in both short and long runs.

Red Bull could turn things round but as things stand, Ferrari go into the weekend as favourites in front of their home crowd. Ferrari have introduced a range of updates this weekend too, and when Leclerc was asked about the impact they’ve had so far, he was pleased.

“The feeling with the car is quite good, the upgrades on the car are working as expected which also is a good step. And yeah, it’s been a very smooth day so it is great, and being at home is always a special feeling for Ferrari, being here and having so much support all over the track means so much for all of us.

“It will be great if the weekend continues in that direction. However, tomorrow the conditions will change massively. The wind will completely turn around, which will have a big effect on all the cars, and there we have to be the best at anticipating those changes.”

Formula 1 returned to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit on Friday for the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc ended both Free Practice sessions top of the timesheets, while there were issues for Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers, Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez that left both themselves and their team scratching their heads at where they can improve ahead of an all important qualifying session on Saturday.

Following on from a busy day in the F1 paddock, drivers from McLaren F1 Team, Mercedes–AMG Petronas F1 Team, Haas F1 Team and Williams Racing offered their thoughts after an action packed few hours.

Oscar Piastri – McLaren F1 Team – FP1: 9th, FP2: 2nd

It was a good Friday for Oscar Piastri, as he got his hands on the whole set of McLaren upgrades that Lando Norris was running in Miami. Piastri will be hoping they have a similar effect this weekend after Norris picked up his first Formula 1 win in Florida. The Australian finished ninth in the first session, before lifting himself up to second behind just Charles Leclerc in the second hour of practice.

“Friday done. I think it’s been one of our better Fridays and we seem to be in a pretty good place. It’s very tight out there so we’ll see what we can find for tomorrow, but it’s been an encouraging day. I’ve felt pretty comfy from the first lap this morning, so I’m excited for tomorrow.

Charles Leclerc finished Free Practice Two top of the timesheets, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda. The Scuderia Ferrari led the way in Free Practice One earlier in the day, as he aims for his first victory of the season.

Oracle Red Bull Racing were once again struggling for pace, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez down in seventh and eighth by the end of the session. It wasn’t just a poor qualifying run for the Red Bull pair either, they lacked pace in the long runs compared to others around them too. It was a good day for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, as they continued to look better than what we’ve seen in recent weeks, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth and George Russell in fifth.

Carlos Sainz Jr. didn’t quite have the pace of his teammate and ended the day down in sixth. Nico Hülkenberg enjoyed an impressive session ending in ninth, with Fernando Alonso rounding out the top ten. 

Daniel Ricciardo just missed out on the top ten, finishing eleventh but once again the Australian was quite far back from his teammate in the qualifying simulation runs although he more than matched him on the longer race runs. 

Lando Norris didn’t get a soft tyre run in, so could only finish twelfth by the end of the session. Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finished thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth respectively, while Valtteri Bottas was the lead Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber car. 

The weekend got underway in Imola, as Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in Free Practice One ahead of George Russell and his Scuderia Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr.

It was an action packed session, with the multiple drivers struggling in certain parts of the track and going into the newly placed gravel traps. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda both found themselves in the gravel trap at Turn 18, with the former going off during his qualifying simulation run. Max Verstappen was having major issues in the second sector. Despite going quickest in the first and third sectors, he was losing almost half a second in the middle and went off into the gravel multiple times. 

Alex Albon’s practice was limited after an issue caused him to pull over onto the grass, leading to a red flag. 

Once the chequered flag was shown, there was a close top ten, with plenty of drivers looking to improve going into the second hour of free practice this afternoon.

Leclerc finished the session with a time of 1:16.990, ahead of Russell by +0.104. Sainz was less than half a tenth behind Russell in third. The Oracle Red Bull Racing duo of Sergio Pérez and Verstappen finished down in fourth and fifth, leaving them with plenty of work to do.