Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso matched his best race result of the season with a second consecutive seventh place finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, utilizing the A522’s straight-line speed to move up the grid and benefitting from retirements ahead.

“The race was difficult to execute today but we did well, and I am happy with seventh. We obviously benefited from a few retirements, but these things happen, and we were there to capitalise on them and really maximise our strengths.”

Several of Alonso’s nearest competitors took the opportunity to pit under the virtual safety car on lap nine, while he remained on his starting mediums for a longer stint. After his stop on lap eighteen, his fresher tyres gave him a competitive edge, as he was able to overtake and defend well– particularly at the end of the race when both McLaren F1 Team drivers were on his tail. 

Ultimately, Alonso was happy with the performance of the team’s power unit and the car’s abilities on the vast straight of the third sector of Baku City Circuit. He will be looking for more points at the Canadian Grand Prix, which he predicts will provide a similarly competitive midfield fight. 

“I overtook a few cars on the new tyres and we were very fast on the straights so that was useful. Our power-unit is looking strong and competitive, so this is always a good thing. We are very close with a number of cars at the moment, and I expect it to be quite similar in Canada. Let’s aim to score more points there!”

Longtime road course ace Andy Lally has found slightly more employment for the rest of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season as he announced Monday that he is joining SS-Green Light Racing for the remaining road races. His new itinerary starts at Road America on 2 July followed by Indianapolis Motor Speedway (30 July), Watkins Glen International (20 August), and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (8 October). He will drive the #08 Ford Mustang in the four races.

“Very happy to announce that I’ll be doing ALL of the remaining @NASCAR_Xfinity road course races with @SSGLR0708 in the #08 starting at Road America! Plenty of room on the car for interested sponsors as well,” posted Lally on Twitter. While he mentioned he is doing all road courses, the team’s own tweet simply referred to “select events” beginning at Road America.

Lally is no stranger to SSGLR, running three Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course races for the organisation from 2014 to 2015 and in 2017 as well as the 2015 Watkins Glen event. A sports car veteran, all nineteen of his Xfinity starts since his début in 2007 have come on road courses with nine top tens and four top fives.

He was contracted to run the 2022 road courses for Alpha Prime Racing but departed the team in January. Nevertheless, after skipping the first road race at Circuit of the Americas in March, he rejoined the team for the next event at Portland International Raceway, where he finished seventeenth.

David Starr is running the bulk of the 2022 schedule in the #08 but stepped aside for road ringer Spencer Pumpelly at Portland. Joe Graf Jr., the team’s full-timer in the #07, has also piloted the #08.

Off-road is a completely different world from open-wheel, but Romain Grosjean seems more than interested to try it out. While the Frenchman has spent his entire career on pavement, his off-road aspirations include the SCORE International Baja 1000 and Extreme E, as revealed in a candid conversation between him and Extreme E driver Catie Munnings that was shared on the series’ various social media channels.

Both drivers are members of the Andretti organisation, with Munnings driving for Andretti United XE and Grosjean for Andretti Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series. Munnings was a special guest of Andretti Autosport for IndyCar’s Sonio Grand Prix at Road America, and the chat between the two arose in the team paddock.

The twenty-one-second video posted by Extreme E begins with Munnings pitching the idea to Grosjean by discussing the “sand dunes in the desert,” to which he responds that he “like(s) the idea.” Munnings then suggests he “should try it” and brings up Jenson Button, who raced with Grosjean in Formula One and currently owns JBXE; Button ran the inaugural Extreme E race for his team in 2021.

Acknowledging his awareness of Button’s one-off, Grosjean comments it “definitely will be something that I [try], maybe try and do Baja 1000 first and then yeah, Extreme E.” Munnings issues her support by calling the 1000 “a good one” to which Grosjean answers, “It’s quite cool, I like the idea.”

Although Extreme E’s 2022 calendar does not have conflicting dates with IndyCar, one should not get too eager about potentially seeing Grosjean pilot a Spark Odyssey 21 in XE. Such an opportunity would only arise in the unlikely event that a team drops its male full-time driver or needs a reserve in case of injury or illness. Conversely, a Baja 1000 run is much more likely in the immediate future as the race takes place in late November, well after the IndyCar season concludes.

The Tatts Finke Desert Race is the most challenging off-road race in Australia, but its reputation has not stopped Toby Price from turning the Alice Springs-to-Finke-and-back run into his personal playground. He dominated the first day of racing on Saturday to the point where a runner-up finish on Sunday was not enough for Aaron James to surpass him for the overall victory, enabling Price to claim his eighth Finke and second in the Cars category.

With Jason Duncan as his co-driver, Price’s quest for an eighth victory began on a strong note when he topped the Prologue qualifying session, his #487 Mitsubishi TSCO Trophy Truck turning a lap time of 4:42.9 to edge out Josh Howells by two-tenths of a second for the pole. His momentum continued on Day #1 in more convincing fashion as his run from Alice Springs to Finke ended with a time of 1:36:38.5, over five seconds quicker than James’ Alumi Craft buggy.

James got back at Price on Sunday’s return trip to Alice Springs as his 1:42:10.9 trumped Price’s 1:45:07.6. However, the margin of two minutes, fifty-six seconds did not make up the advantage Price built the previous day. In total, Price’s time of 3:21:46.2 was two minutes and eight seconds greater than James’ 3:23:55.1, though the latter is still at least able to enjoy winning the Pro Buggy category.

Price is widely regarded as the top Australian off-road racer today, having won the Finke six times on a Bike before switching disciplines in 2021 to claim it on four wheels. He is the only person to win the Finke overall in both divisions.

In claiming Australia’s top off-road event, Price will have plenty of momentum through the summer as he prepares for a new excursion in North America: a three-race programme culminating in the legendary SCORE International Baja 1000 in November. Announced late May, Price will team up with fellow Aussie Paul Weel under the Team Australia name to drive a Trophy Truck in the Best In The Desert‘s Vegas to Reno on 10–13 August, the SCORE Baja 400 on 13/14 September, and the 1000 on 15–20 November. While Weel will be a newcomer to all three events, Price has run SCORE races as a co-driver in the past decade before finishing runner-up in the 2019 Baja 1000 alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah and retiring from the 2021 edition in a Trophy Truck Spec.

The twisty Sonoma Raceway is often regarded as a strategy course rather than one predicated on side-by-side action for the NASCAR Cup Series. Indeed, Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 was relatively clean in terms of on-track drama and many drivers instead found themselves being shot in the foot by pit road errors, mechanical trouble, or penalties.

Daniel Suárez was able to avoid the misfortunes and dominated the final stage, and he can finally call himself a Cup Series race winner. The Mexico native is the fifth foreign-born driver to win a Cup race as he joins Mario Andretti (Italy), Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia), Earl Ross (Canada), and Marcos Ambrose (Australia); Suárez and Montoya are two of eighteen drivers to score their maiden Cup victories on road courses, with Montoya’s coming at Sonoma as well.

“It was special,” said Suárez in his press conference. He is the fortieth driver to win a race in each of NASCAR’s three national series (Cup, Xfinity, Truck) and the only one with wins in the Cup Series and an international division as a former Mexico Series champion. “I’ve been working very hard for this moment, not just myself, but my entire team. I am very lucky to have people around me in the team, but outside the team. My family always supporting me, my beautiful girlfriend Julia (Piquet) that she work very hard in the last few months keeping me up and letting me know that I was doing the right things. We just need to have a clean day. That’s what we had today.

“Today just felt special. I told her this morning that today felt good. We did it in front of a few hundred Mexicans and Daniel’s Amigos. It was just a special day. I have always seen California as my second home. To be able to get the first victory here is quite special.”

The path to victory opened when Suárez took the lead on the lap 85 restart, but it was not an easy journey: Chris Buescher endured a tumultuous day as he ran up front for much of the race before suffering a penalty for a crewman throwing a gas can, which was then rescinded and placed him back in contention. Despite Buescher and Michael McDowell‘s pursuits, they were unable to catch Suárez.

The Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was a massive risk that the NASCAR Cup Series was willing to take in 2022, and it ultimately proved to be a hit. In fact, the exhibition went so well for NASCAR that the sanctioning body announced Sunday plans to return for 2023.

“Our entire industry made a bold move by bringing the Busch Light Clash to the L.A. Coliseum this past February and it paid off by becoming an instant classic with both new and existing fans,” commented NASCAR Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy Ben Kennedy, who masterminded the event. “We are intent on showcasing our sport and drivers on the biggest stage and there is none bigger than the L.A. Coliseum. We’re thrilled to return to the heart of Los Angeles to officially start the season and set the stage for the Daytona 500.”

Despite long taking place at Daytona International Speedway as a way to kick off the new Cup season, the Clash was moved to Los Angeles in 2022 to revitalise a race that had grown stale and uninteresting in recent years. While many questioned the viability of having stock cars race in a West Coast football stadium, it proved popular as approximately 60,000 attendees watched Joey Logano win.

The success of the event also sparked discussion about NASCAR potentially racing in other similar venues or even overseas, though neither are planned for the immediate future.

“With more than four million viewers, and really breaking through in a pop culture mecca like Los Angeles, the inaugural Clash at the Coliseum did everything it was intended to do and then some,” commented FOX Sports executive Bill Wanger. “It energised the sport, delivered new eyeballs and kicked off the season in grand fashion. We can’t wait to do it all again in 2023.”

Josef Newgarden survived two late restarts and used a brilliant first pit stop to catapult himself past Alexander Rossi and into victory lane at the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America.

Newgarden knew he was better than Rossi on the alternate tyre, and kept close through a caution-filled first stint. The duo both made their first pit stops on Lap 15, where Newgarden got the edge as Rossi was held up slightly by Scott McLaughlin entering his box right in front of him. This gave Newgarden a gap of about five seconds to Rossi that he kept for the rest of the race, until the caution flew with eight laps to go as Pato O’Ward‘s engine gave way.

Another caution for Helio Castroneves right as the race went back green meant another chance for Rossi to take the win, but Newgarden had yet another fantastic start and bolted away to the victory as Rossi came under fire from Marcus Ericsson, who took second place while the polesitter was relegated to third.

This marks Newgarden’s third win of the season, and the American has now won on all three circuit types that IndyCar runs on; ovals (Texas), street circuits (Long Beach), and now a road course, an incredible feat achieved in less than half of the season.

“I think that’s what makes IndyCar so tough,” Newgarden said post-race. “It’s impossible to predict what is going to happen. I thought we had it all locked up in Detroit, like it was going to be easy from the front row, and it was anything but easy and went completely different than we predicted, and that’s exactly what makes this series so difficult and it makes it fun to be in.”

Team BMW‘s Stephen Jelley stayed calm and composed among a drama filled finale to seal the fourth win of his BTCC career as he took advantage of reverse grid pole at Oulton Park.

The drama kicked off early with contact between Dan Lloyd‘s Hyundai and Ricky Collard‘s Toyota sent the former cascading into the barrier at high speed and this re-entered the track being collected heavily by Colin Turkington, with Tom Ingram, Ash Sutton and Michael Crees also getting caught up.

It was Lloyd and Turkington who ended up worst affected with the former in hospital for x-rays and with the main title contenders out of the race, Jelley got his head down out front and scampered away at the restart superbly ahead of a potential season reviving display from Aiden Moffat.

While Josh Cook concluded the podium with Ricky Collard handed a penalty for a jump start which saw him down to 7th as he leaves an otherwise deflating weekend at the Cheshire circuit opening up a gap again atop the Drivers’ Championship standings due to Sutton and Ingram’s no score.

Dan Cammish held off Adam Morgan, while after a poor end to his opening race of the day, Ash Hand continued to impress reviving his day with a top 10 finish alongside Aron Taylor-Smith. While there was also cause for celebration for Jade Edwards who leaves Oulton Park with Jack Sears Trophy honours after solid finishes all weekend joining her teammate, Cook on the podium.

It was a strong Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, who did well to capitalise on Scuderia Ferrari’s double retirement and finish third and fourth at the Baku City Circuit.

George Russell had a very lonely race, with the double Ferrari DNF leaving the British driver all on his own. Russell drove maturely to secure another third-place finish for the Silver Arrows.

Lewis Hamilton on the other hand had to work for his fourth-place, the seven-time World Champion suffered from back pain all race after the porpoising issue seemed worse than it ever has been. Hamilton twice had to work his way through the order, after pitting during the two Virtual Safety Cars. The 37-year-old did well late on to close down Pierre Gasly, who attempted a one-stop.

Team Principal Toto Wolff analysed the Grand Prix following their strong result, and was completely honest about the position the team are currently in.

“This is where we are at the moment – not as quick as the front runners but clear of the midfield. We never enjoy our rivals’ misfortune, we want to see a strong fight at the front and we’re hoping to catch up and join so there’s six of us there fighting. A strong job from George today, he managed the race and took his podium well. We need to find a solution for the bouncing because the car we gave Lewis today was so tough to drive, you could see the pain in his back all weekend.

George Russell claimed yet another podium for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, after a superb third-place finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Having started in fifth, Russell had a very lonely race. The Brit inherited third-place after both Scuderia Ferrari drivers retired with suspected power unit failures, giving Russell a much welcomed podium finish.

The result sees Russell close the gap to Charles Leclerc in third in the Drivers’ standings, with just seventeen points between the pair.

Russell was very happy with the result, but addressed the horrific porpoising issue.

“We were smashing the ground every single corner and every lap for 90 mins, it was pretty brutal – I’ll sleep well tonight! It’s what we’ve got to deal with it at the moment, there’s not much we can do in the short-term. There’s lots of intelligent people, hugely talented engineers in the sport so I’m sure we’ll find a solution. We didn’t get the podium on pure pace today but we did it because the team have worked very hard to deliver a reliable car, we did a good job to be ahead of the midfield and obviously we picked up on Ferrari’s misfortune.

Scuderia AlphaTauri‘s French driver Pierre Gasly, fought Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team‘s oldest statesman Lewis Hamilton for fourth-place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Unfortunately, Hamilton was much too fast for the Frenchman.

Gasly’s team decided not to change tyres when a late Virtual Safety Car, the second of the race, was implemented. Hamilton on the other hand, did pit for fresh tyres making Gasly an easy target.

Despite just missing out on fourth, Gasly was extremely pleased with fifth-place and enjoyed his battle with Hamilton.

“It’s been pretty incredible for us today. Finishing in the top five is really good, especially considering how the start of our year has played out. We’ve not had that much luck so far, so it was important to get a clean weekend, which is what we’ve achieved here in Baku.

“We made no mistakes this weekend, we showed great pace in practice, then we had the best Quali of the year yesterday and today we finished in our highest position of the season to date. We also enjoyed a nice little battle with Lewis, which was fun.“

Oracle Red Bull Racing Team Principal, Christian Horner, was “very proud” of his side at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where Max Verstappen claimed victory with Sergio Pérez in second.

It was a dominant display by Red Bull, something which was helped massively by Scuderia Ferrari’s double retirement. It means that Verstappen now leads the Drivers’ championship by twenty-one points, with Pérez moving up to second. As well as this, Red Bull now lead Ferrari by a sizeable eighty points in the Constructors’ standings.

Red Bull arguably have control now of both championships, something which was managed by yet another 1-2. Pérez initially led the race but was easily overtaken by Verstappen, who’s pace was far superior at the Baku City Circuit. The pair were informed not to battle with each other, as they cruised to the top two steps on the podium.

Horner was very pleased with the performance, but was disappointed that the fans didn’t get to see a red versus blue battle.

“It’s a fantastic result for us today on a track that never fails to deliver the unexpected. I think it’s a shame that the fans didn’t get to see how the strategy would have played out today, Ferrari stopped very early under that virtual safety car, and with us going onto the hard tyre that much later, I think that would have given us the advantage towards the end of the race. But we managed to capitalise on the events within the race with both drivers driving fantastically. 

Max Verstappen extended his championship lead to twenty-one points, after an imperious performance saw Verstappen claim victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Dutchman quickly made his way past Charles Leclerc early on, before hunting down his team-mate prior to the first round of pit-stops. The Dutchman’s RB18 was in a league of its own, as the reigning World Champion cemented his place as the championship favourite.

Verstappen did fall behind Leclerc after his first stop, due to the Scuderia Ferrari driver pitting under a Virtual Safety Car. However, neither Oracle Red Bull Racing driver had to find a way past Leclerc, as the Monegasque driver suffered yet another power unit failure and retired from the race.

Once back in the lead it was complete domination by Verstappen, who will be looking to take his form into next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

The Dutch driver was very pleased with both his, and the team’s result in Baku.

Scuderia AlphaTauri had a good car all weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Unfortunately, Yuki Tsunoda couldn’t capitalise on a strong start to the race, coming in thirteenth after a rear-wing failure. Pierre Gasly had a much better Grand Prix after finishing a superb fifth, only having been overtaken by the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages at the Baku City Circuit.

Guillaume Dezoteux, AlphaTauri’s Head of Vehicle Performance explained the team’s “mixed emotions” following the weekend.

“We are all extremely happy to achieve a great, and well-deserved, fifth place with Pierre. However, we are very disappointed for Yuki, who lost a possible sixth position due to mechanical damage around the rear wing DRS mechanism and flap. The race was intense and following a strong first stint on the medium tyre, we decided to use the opportunity of the first Virtual Safety Car period to pit both cars and switch to hard tyres“.

As Tsunoda got the black and orange flag, he should have realistically retired. However, the Japanese driver just carried on with a quickly taped up Drag Reduction System, which he was told not to use. The FIA were quick to come down to the AlphaTauri garage, when they saw what the team was doing to “fix” the car. By that point, it was too late and Tsunoda had gotten back on the track.

“For Yuki, the mechanical damage meant we were forced to stop and repair the issue, losing many positions,” Dezoteux explained.

Max Verstappen won the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after reliability issues for both Scuderia Ferrari cars put them out of contention mid-race. The Dutchman started third on the grid after being out-qualified by team-mate Sergio Pérez, but showed stronger pace in the early stages of the race around Baku City Circuit.

Pérez took the lead from Charles Leclerc at Turn One, and controlled the race until a Virtual Safety Car was deployed, where Oracle Red Bull Racing opted to stay out and take track position. Another opportunity for pit stops appeared for the Milton Keynes-based team shortly after, and after switching to the Hard compound of tyre, Verstappen overtook a struggling Pérez for the lead. The Mexican was instructed to not fight the lead change, prompting an easy one-two finish for the team.

Unlucky Ferrari, lucky Mercedes

Disaster struck for Ferrari as early as lap ten, when a hydraulic failure for Carlos Sainz Jr at Turn Four saw the Spaniard retire for the third time in the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship – bringing out that initial Virtual Safety Car that many drivers decided to pit under. Ten laps later, Leclerc’s engine went up in smoke along the pit straight, yielding an unfortunate second retirement in three races for the number sixteen driver. After taking pole position and fourth-place in qualifying on Saturday, Ferrari will certainly be disappointed with a pointless Sunday afternoon.

For Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Ferrari’s retirements were a blessing, as the Silver Arrows capitalised to finish third with George Russell and fourth with Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes opted to double-stack its drivers in the pitstop phase of the race, with Russell having track position, but a slow stop for Hamilton dropped him further down the pack.

Russell remained in third-place for the majority of the race, while Hamilton fought back with overtakes on Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly to take fourth-place overall. The Briton did, however, complain that the porpoising was hurting his back, and struggled to get out of the car post race.