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Toyota Gazoo Racing have taken their fifth 24 Hours of Le Mans victory with Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

The last six hours of the race saw the status quo held with the #8 having a faultless run to the finish. The #7 couldn’t do anything to challenge for the lead, but did manage to get back on the lead lap before the chequered flag fell. Glickenhaus Racing #709 recovered from their engine sensor failure to take the bottom step of the overall podium; Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Franck Mailleux bringing home the team’s first Le Mans podium.

The #708 crossed the line fourth, five laps down on the sister car, with the #36 Alpine Elf Team fifth in class, 23rd overall.

In hindsight, it was clear the #38 JOTA had the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the bag from hour three, claiming a dominant victory in the hands of Antonio Felix Da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens. It was a great finish for the JOTA team, with the #28 of Oliver Rasmussen, Edward Jones and Jonathan Aberdein making it a double podium, utilising the last quarter of the race to optimise their pit strategy and get ahead of the teams they were fighting with. It wasn’t quite enough for a one-two as the trio of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Lorenzo Colombo drove spectacularly in the #9 Prema Orlen Team to take second.

Just after the start of the 18th hour, the #31 WRT, that won Le Mans last year, became the sole retirement from the LMP2 class, having an incident on the Mulsanne Straight. Robin Frijns was on board as, in and almost copy-paste-repeat of the #49 Team Project 1 incident, he hit the left hand barrier and pitched the car around. The front damage was too substantial to continue, forcing the car that had been recovering well out of the race.

After a difficult start for the 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion, Dennis Hauger looks like he has finally found his feet in the second-tier after back-to-back race weekend wins in the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season.

The PREMA Racing man took his maiden win in Monaco’s Sprint Race and has backed it up with a Feature Race win in Baku.

With a glittering single-seater CV with a lot of race wins, the Red Bull junior explained how this win felt different to every other in the post-race press conference, “The first Feature Race win in F2 is a really good feeling, especially after such a chaotic race. To be honest, I just tried to stay calm. We had a good pitstop and got Liam. I think the overcut worked quite nicely for others.”

“In the end, we stayed calm, and we put a bit of pressure on Jüri. Obviously, a shame for him. He had a good weekend, and he had a really good pace this weekend. So I feel sorry for him, but I’m really happy with the way it worked out today.”

With the two wins under his belt, the PREMA driver made it clear that his ambitions for the season haven’t changed and he is still focused on his own progression as as driver,

After getting his maiden win the Monaco Sprint Race last time out, PREMA Racing’s Dennis Hauger has followed it up with Feature Race win on the streets of Baku after capitalising on a late Jüri Vips mistake which saw him clip the inside barriers at the Castle section.

The rookie Hauger makes it and all-rookie weekend with fellow FIA Formula 3 graduate Frederik Vesti getting his first F2 win in Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Hitech Grand Prix’s Vips led for most of the race and looked comfortable out front ahead of Hauger who jumped into second place after undercutting Liam Lawson in the early pit-stops. The Norwegian driver did start to put pressure on Vips and close the gap before being gifted the lead after the Estonian’s costly error.

Championship leader, Felipe Drugovich took the final spot of the podium in after initially dropping down the order in the early stages. The experienced Brazilian kept his nose out of trouble and picked his chances at the Safety Car restart to gain positions. Speaking after the race, Drugovich said,

“Our expectations before the weekend weren’t that high. I would say the pace wasn’t quite there to do races. Of course, I could keep myself there, but I was really on the limit every time. At the same time, I was also trying to be really safe, because we’re focusing on the points now. I think getting a P3 here is extremely good for us.”

Tom Ingram has continued his exceptional weekend so far at Oulton Park as he regains BTCC Drivers’ Championship momentum with a commanding double around the Cheshire circuit.

Ingram’s Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Trade Price Cars.com Hyundai again led from the front from turn one onwards and barring some early pressure from Ash Sutton who again finished second once more to further his own ambitions, he was never really challenged.

Again it was Rory Butcher who was the driver to benefit least up front with Sutton again taking second after getting the better of the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver early on, whilst an expert move at the hairpin from Colin Turkington saw him seal the final podium spot.

Gordon Shedden who was penalised after Race One finished down in fifth ahead of NAPA Racing UK‘s Dan Cammish with Dan Lloyd, Josh Cook and Ricky Collard finalising the top ten.

In terms of the reverse grid race, Stephen Jelley will get the chance to seal a return to the top step of the podium after being drawn out on pole. He will start ahead of Aiden Moffat and Ricky Collard with Ingram and Sutton having to sit outside the top 10 and make up ground.

A lot of the pre-race billing centred around Tom Ingram‘s duck at Oulton Park with no victories for the perennial BTCC winner around the Cheshire circuit since his Ginetta Junior days but that has finally been broken as he took a lights to flag victory to begin Sunday’s proceedings.

His only battle came to start the race as Ingram and Rory Butcher touched before the Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Trade Price Cars.com racer pulled away to win from the chasing pack which was led by NAPA Racing UK‘s Ash Sutton who is level on points with Ingram behind early pacesetter Josh Cook a long way back.

Gordon Shedden finished third in controversial circumstances with Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport who saw George Gamble in strife for most of the early part of the race had Adam Morgan go through the same as he was spent spinning out into the barrier in an incident involving Shedden which the Halfords Racing with Cataclean racer said post race he had all right to commit to as the rules have since changed and he had nowhere to go.

Daniel Lloyd started towards the front also but was another who faced issues as Sutton and Shedden’s brilliance to get past him saw him begin to spiral down the order as on Lap 11, he went straight across the grass at Knickerbrook. While Sutton and Shedden ganged up on another driver in Butcher to take the final podium spots.

Colin Turkington finished fifth, while Dan Cammish looks to revive his fortunes with sixth ahead of Lloyd, Cook and Dan Rowbottom and Ricky Collard completing the top ten.

Technical gremlins began to show themselves in the sun rise hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the penultimate six hours housing more incident and issues for competitors that the night ones.

After swapping positions for 15 hours of the race, the Toyota Gazoo Racing #8 has a lap on the sister car after the #7 suffered a technical failure. Going down Mulsanne, a power reset cycle had to be performed to get the car moving again after it slowed to a halt. In totality, with a short stint in the garage for a quick check over, the #7 crew only lost about four minutes, but it was enough for them to fall off the lead lap. We would say ‘advantage #8’ but with the way these last six hours have gone it would be foolish to predict anything until the chequered flag.

The JOTA #38 was the only class leader to have a smooth six hours, retaining and growing their lead at the front of the class. The Prema Orlen Team is still remaining a constant feature in the top three, and hour 18 ends with them splitting a JOTA one-three with Oliver Rasmussen on board the #28.

The LMP2 incidents of this quarter came from the #35 Ultimate, that had a massive off Porsche Curves, and the #83 AF Corse. Both cars are back running on track, but the mistake by Bronze-driver François Perrodo in the #83 completely destroyed all of Corvette Racing‘s hard efforts.

At the end of the 18th hour, Perrodo was overtaking an LMP2 coming down Mulsanne when he twitched the car a little too far left, tagging the back of Alexander Sims in the then GTE Pro class leading #64. There was nothing Sims could do but brace for impact as the Corvette made contact with the Armco barrier completely buckling the front left tyre inwards. There was no chance of returning to the pits with such heavy damage, and Sims was forced to retired on the side of the track.

Only thirty-nine drivers have won a race in each of NASCAR’s three national series (Cup, Xfinity, Camping World Trucks). Only Kyle Busch can say he did it on road courses too.

Busch has four road course victories apiece in the Cup and Xfinity Series, but the scarcity of such tracks in the Trucks for much of his career meant the trifecta eluded him until Saturday. Sonoma Raceway, hosting a Truck race for the first time since 1998, welcomed Busch to Truck Victory Lane as he led forty-five of seventy-five laps including the final eleven and through a late red flag to win.

“You look back at the history of the sport and the Truck Series growing up in California, these were their parts,” Busch recalled as he discussed the value of the Trucks returning to Sonoma. “It basically started in Bakersfield and Sonoma on a yearly basis there, so now that its back, it was good to come out and knock the rust off a little bit with the road racing and stuff. I didn’t want to run sim this week, so I thought the road course would knock that off. […] Being a part of Kyle Busch Motorsports, and us being in the sport this long, it means a lot to get more diverse tracks on the schedule and get some wins at those places.”

Busch and Ross Chastain, Cup drivers using the race to prepare for their main series’ event on Sunday, dominated by combining to lead all but eleven laps. The exceptions came when Ty Majeski inherited the lead late in Stage #1 as the leaders pitted, leading to his first career stage win, Grant Enfinger during the ensuing caution, and Ben Rhodes following the same strategy as his ThorSport Racing team-mate Majeski.

Rhodes also led three laps under caution following Matt DiBenedetto and Stewart Friesen‘s accident. The largest incident of the day came when Friesen clipped Josh Bilicki as they entered the left-hand turn one, causing Bilicki to slam into the barrier and collect Alex Bowman. The accident resulted in a thirteen-minute red flag for cleanup before the race resumed with a two-lap sprint. Busch held off Zane Smith, who won the first road race of the season at COTA after capitalising on last-lap contact that eliminated Busch from the win, over those two circuits.

At the halfway point of the race, Toyota Gazoo Racing have a compelling lead as the only two cars left on the lead lap. It all fell apart for Corvette Racing who, after having difficulties with the pole starting #64, had a suspension failure that has taken the #63 completely out of contention.

The Circuit de la Sarthe descended into darkness for the second quarter of the race, the sun setting around 22:00. Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa led the way at the close of the twelfth hour after the #7 crew were caught out with a slow zone, traffic and a slow tyre change during their pit stop in hour eight. Losing about 25 seconds during their out lap, the #8 crew managed to retain the lead when they made their stop a lap later, giving them a strong advantage on the sister car.

But it’s not nearly as strong as the advantage Toyota have on the rest of the field, holding a two lap buffer over third place #709 Glickenhaus Racing. The #708, which had been the only other Hypercar bar the Toyotas not to suffer an issue, saw Olivier Pla spin off at Tertre Rouge in the early hours of the morning. It was a bizarre incident, with a suspect slow puncture being the cause, as Pla ended up on the inside of the corner, not the natural flow of where the car should have gone had he lost the rear.

The entire Hypercar field is very spread out now, with nine laps covering the whole class. LMP2s are filtered between them, but if it remains like this for the next eleven hours the ‘dash to the end’ will be nonexistent for the overall win for anyone but Toyota.

Antonio Felix Da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens are still commanding the pace at the front of LMP2. The trio have had a great night stint, nearly holding a lap advantage over the chasing field. Their main threats are the #9 Prema Orlen Team and the recovering #31 WRT which, thanks to some incredible night stints from Rene Rast and Robin Frijns, now finds itself net third in class (not owing a stop).

Toyota Gazoo Racing has held onto its one-two throughout the first six hours of the race, as issues have befallen the Glickenhaus Racing and Alpine Elf Team entries.

The duo of Japanese cars spent most of the first quarter of the race on each other’s rear wings, with the #7 holding position ahead of the #8. A small off from Jose Maria Lopez let the #8 back through, but they were never split by more than a second on track. At the close of hour six, the #7 is back in the lead, around 7s ahead of the sister car.

The #709 was the first Hypercar into the garage after an engine sensor needed to be replaced. An hour later, the then third placed #36 Alpine was in for a clutch change. Only the two Toyotas and the #708 have not had a trip into the garage, but the privateer entry is almost a lap down on the Japanese duo.

Antonio Felix Da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens have done a great job in the #38 JOTA throughout the first quarter of the race, one and a half minutes ahead of the rest of the class. After the turbulent start, Da Costa optimised to get the JOTA into the lead, a position in class he hasn’t given up since he took it. At the end of the hour, JOTA held a one-two with both cars owing a stop. The lead of class is net for the #38 but the #28 is likely to be shuffled down the order a bit when it next goes into the pits.

The #9 Prema Orlen Team, which took the lead off the start, and #5 Team Penske have been cars to watch in class. Both had had great opening quarters third and fifth respectively. The COOL Racing entry of Yifei Ye, Ricky Taylor and Niklas Kruetten are fourth, with only the Prema owing a stop in this pit cycle out of the three.

For the eighth time in as many races this season, Alexander Rossi gets his first pole position of the year ahead of the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, his first since the first race of the 2019 Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader almost three years ago.

Rossi set his fastest lap on the Firestone black primary tyres, battling Josef Newgarden who was on a set of alternate reds. In the end, the harder tyre prevailed, giving Rossi a much deserved pole position, while Newgarden starts beside him.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this position,” Rossi said. “It’s amazing, it’s cool, we’ll enjoy it, but we’ve got a job to do tomorrow.”

Rossi noted that the car feels almost as good as the car he had when he dominated this track in 2019, leading all but one lap and winning by a gap of over 28 seconds.

“I think we’re really strong on the primaries, the balance isn’t quite there on the Firestone reds, I think we struggled a little bit through the first two rounds. We knew that if we could get there then it would be ours to lose, really.”

Laurent Mekies says he is ‘getting used’ to seeing Charles Leclerc pulling out stunning performances during Qualifying sessions, but he felt it was an ‘incredible’ lap by the Monegasque racer to take pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.

Leclerc took a fourth consecutive pole position and his sixth in eight races in 2022 on Saturday, with his last lap almost four-tenths of a second faster than what anyone else could manage.

Team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. was fourth on the grid after a mistake on his final run prevented him from improving on his first effort, but Mekies, the Racing Director at Scuderia Ferrari, was happy to see both drivers inside the top four.

“It was a very closely contested qualifying,” said Mekies.  “We’re now getting used to Charles producing an incredible lap in Q3 and today, on his last run, we saw once again how he can always get a little something extra out of himself and his car.

“Carlos also had a very good qualifying and in fact after the first run in Q3 he was quickest. At all tracks, it’s important to always be able to count on having both drivers at the front and here, we can expect a very tactical race, so having Carlos right up there with the Red Bulls means we can fight them on equal terms.”

Charles Leclerc admitted his pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was unexpected after struggling to find the performance needed in either of the first two phases of Qualifying.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver believed the Oracle Red Bull Racing pairing of Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen had looked on course to beat him to top spot thanks to their pace in Q1 and Q2, but in Q3, Leclerc came alive and took pole by almost three-tenths of a second.

Leclerc felt he did not leave much on the table during his final run around the Baku City Circuit, and now he is eager to convert the pole into victory, something he has not done for the past three races despite starting at the front.

“Taking pole position always feels good, but this one is particularly satisfying as I wasn’t expecting it,” said Leclerc.  “Our competitors looked stronger than us, especially in Q1 and Q2.

“On my last run in Q3, everything came together. I don’t think I left much on the table and I am very happy with my lap.

Guillaume Dezoteux, the Head of Vehicle Performance at Scuderia AlphaTauri, was delighted to see both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda advance into the top ten shootout in Qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and then lock out the fourth row of the grid.

Gasly, a podium finisher at this event last year, will start seventh on the grid at the Baku City Circuit, with Tsunoda just two-tenths of a second back in eighth, the best result of the season for the Faenza-based Italian team.

Dezoteux was happy the team were able to avoid any mishaps like what happened to Gasly during Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix last time out when the red flags flew in Azerbaijan, and to come away with both cars inside the top eight was pleasing to see, particularly with how close the midfield pack have been this weekend.

“The last free practice session highlighted how tight the midfield was going to be for Quali, with just above 0.5s difference from P5 to P16!” said Dezoteux.  “We elected to keep only one hard tyre for the race, in order to maximise our chances in Quali by using five sets of soft tyres.

“The first Qualifying session was intense, especially with the red flag at 2min 30s before the end. We managed it well and both cars were able to make it through with strong laps. The second Qualifying session started very well, we went out on used tyres and continued to show the competitiveness of our package on this layout.

It was a positive Qualifying result for Scuderia AlphaTauri on Saturday, with both Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda making it through to Q3.  And the team-mates will share row four of the grid for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Gasly enjoyed his strongest performance of the season to date at the Baku City Circuit, with the Frenchman feeling the AT-03 has been working very well all weekend.

A year on from finishing on the podium in Azerbaijan, Gasly knows anything can happen at this circuit, and he feels he can be in a position to capitalise on anything going wrong for any of the frontrunners on Sunday.

“I’m extremely happy, that’s my best Quali of the year, I don’t think we could’ve hoped for anything better for the team and it’s great we’ve got both cars in the top ten today,” said Gasly.  “The team did a great job, the car works really well here, and it was a really strong Quali for us.

“Everything is possible here in Baku, we saw that last year with our podium. It’s very easy to make mistakes on this track, we normally see a lot of red flags, so we’ve got ourselves in a good starting position to capitalise on anything happening at the front.

Sergio Pérez does not believe he got everything he could out of his RB18 during Qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but the Mexican still finds himself on the front row for Sunday’s race.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver was out of position on his final lap after a delay in the pits due to an issue with the refuelling of his car in between runs, meaning he was without a tow down the long pit straight at the Baku City Circuit when it mattered.

Pérez was still able to find enough time to put his car on the front row, but he was unable to beat Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to pole position.  However, he hopes the team will be able to do something on strategy on Sunday to ensure they finish ahead of their rivals from Maranello.

“We were on the limit at times, chasing the lap time massively to try and improve but unfortunately we didn’t manage to make the most out of it,” said Pérez.  “We had a little issue with the refuelling on my car in Q3, which meant we were out of sequence for our final lap but I still think that three tenths was probably too much to find to close the gap to Ferrari.

“I am still on the front row and it is a long race ahead where anything can happen, especially here. We have both cars in between the Ferraris which is a good thing.