Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Manuel Andújar will not defend his Dakar Rally Quad win in 2025, though it’s not like he had a choice as the Amaury Sport Organisation has dropped the category. While he told Campeones that he is open to switching to the SSV class in the future, there is not enough time to learn and prepare for the 2025 edition.

“After seven years, for the first time, I’m not going to race the Dakar,” Andújar proclaimed to Campeones.

In January, Andújar won three stages en route to the Dakar overall Quad victory, his second after 2021. However, declining manufacturer support prompted the ASO to tighten the eligibility criteria, resulting in a paltry ten competitors. The ASO finally opted to axe the class in April shortly before the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s BP Ultimate Rally-Raid in Portugal.

Unsurprisingly, the decision proved unpopular among Quad riders. Andújar stated the ASO’s restrictive policies meant the class was doomed to an undeservingly undignified demise and lobbied to the FIM to intervene. Juraj Varga, who finished third at Dakar, withdrew from Portugal out of protest.

“I started racing this event at the age of 20, a race that taught me many values as a person and a racer including discipline, honour, resilience, true friendship, teamwork, and much more. This race affected me so much that I even tattooed it on my skin,” Andújar wrote. “I never imagined that MONEY and the WHIMS of one person could outweigh these learned values.”

After the 2023 Morocco Desert Challenge was overshadowed by the deaths of Laurent Lichtleuchter and Bram van der Wouden, race organisers led by director Gert Duson were obviously keen on ensuring a repeat does not happen in 2024. To his relief, the race proceeded with little incident.

For 2024, the MDC mandated all competitors to submit a passing cardiac test within the prior year while bike racers must wear an airbag vest and be evaluated in the refuel section at each stage. The Malle Moto class for solo bike competitors was also dropped. These changes were in response to van der Wouden’s passing, being a solo rider who died from heat stroke.

Lichtleuchter, a co-driver, died when his car was hit by another and burst into flames. To reduce the risk of this happening again, the MDC capped the top speed for side-by-side vehicles to 135 km/h. The grid was also limited to 200 at most from 300.

The new policies seemed to pay off quite well in the end.

“We didn’t make it easy for ourselves,” reads a letter from Duson. “No loops, but a linear race of 3000 kilometers with seven different bivouacs demanded a lot from the racers, assistance teams, and the organisation. However, the job is done, and at the finish line, all you could see were happy faces. A total difference from last year’s unfortunate edition, where the rally struggled with a heat wave and several serious accidents.

Another day of practice for the 108th Running of the Indy 500 is in the books, and it was yet another day interrupted by rain. However, before the drops started to come down, teams got about six hours of green flag action, the most of any of the three practice days so far.

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward posted the fastest overall speed of the day at 228.861 miles per hour, which is the third-fastest lap of any practice session. Speaking on his speed so far this week, the Mexican driver is just having fun with it.

“It’s always fun to go out there and start playing around with everybody and just seeing kind of what cars are fast, what cars are not as strong as you or stronger than you. Every lap around here, you learn.“

Scott McLaughlin‘s lap from Wednesday still reigns as the fastest of the week, and that momentum continued on Thursday. The Penske driver went second on the day behind O’Ward at 227.316. Last year’s polesitter Alex Palou finished third on the speed charts just shy of the 227 mph mark.

The first accident-related caution of the week came just over an hour into the running, which started two hours earlier than its original noon start time due to delays and cancellations from showers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist dipped too far below the white line in Turn 2, triggering a slide and a sidepod-to-wall collision at the beginning of the back straight. Lundqvist’s No. 8 Honda required a full suspension change. Although the Swede didn’t make it back out to the track before the checkered flag, he did finish with the seventh-fastest overall lap speed.

Besides the race win and more momentum in the World Rally-Raid Championship, the Desafío Ruta 40 in June will also award the inaugural Ibero-American Cross Country Rally Championship.

Dubbed the Campeonato Iberoamericano de Rally Cross Country in Spanish, it is eligible for all riders from Ibero-American countries who are signed up in the FIM categories—RallyGP, Rally2, Rally3, and Quad.

While Ibero-America is often used interchangeably with Latin America, Spain and Portugal are typically also included in the former. The FIM uses the Iberian-included definition for its sanction, such as the 2023 Iberoamerican Motocross Championship exclusively taking place in Spain.

“Scheduled to be held from June 1 to 7 in Córdoba, San Juan and La Rioja in Argentina, Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA will not only be valid as the fourth round of the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC), but it will also be the venue for the title of the Ibero-American Cross Country Rally Championship,” reads a statement from race officials.

“Reserved for Ibero-American FIM riders (all riders registered for the Desafío Ruta 40 will be automatically entered), this title will be an extra boost for a competition that is already full throttle with the presence of the best riders in the world, along with the most prestigious manufacturers in the competitive world of two-wheelers.

CEO Zhang Xue‘s departure from Kove Moto in March marked a new era for the Chinese manufacturer. One major sign of this was the dissolution of their rally raid team as they retool their operations, though they still maintain factory support for riders and teams.

A works programme still exists, led by Kove’s factory riders Neels Theric and Deng Liansong. Other members of the team such as Fang Mingji will continue to race Kove 450 Rally bikes at the upcoming Taklimakan Rally, albeit under other banners like Sipson Rally Team.

“Everyone may be asking why we’re not with the Kove team,” explained Fang in a Douyin post. “In March, Zhang Xue, President Zhang, resigned. Not long after, Excelle’s (another name for the company) cross-country team was also disbanded. This year’s Excelle rally team will be Neels and my brother Deng Liansong.”

Zhang, a former motocross rider and Kove founder, left the company in March due to differences of opinion with other executives, but remains a shareholder. Despite his exit, Kove later released a statement stressing their racing endeavours in rally raid and superbike racing will continue as planned.

Kove made their rally début at the 2023 Dakar Rally, where all three of their riders including Fang reached the finish. They rapidly expanded their rally programme over the year by adding factory riders like Theric and Xavier Flick, then introduced the Kove 450 Rally EX. Mason Klein formed a factory-level partnership with Kove for the 2024 Dakar.

While the entire day wasn’t rained out like Day 1, another session of limited Indy 500 practice running took place, with rain falling on the track from the scheduled start time of 10 a.m. until about 1 p.m. Cars finally got on track just after 3:00, and Kyle Larson made the most of the early runnings, posting a lap of 224.239 miles per hour just five minutes after practice went green. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion ended his day 17th, the highest of any rookie in the field.

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin went fastest overall, reaching a top speed of 229.493 on his 14th lap of the day. McLaughlin spoke on the anxieties of waiting through a rain delay after the session:

“It’s so boring, there’s only so much Netflix you can watch. I was over it.” said McLaughlin. “I watched about three movies but then I was ready to go once we got going, and I was happy as. When the car is good straight away, that’s a nice feeling. I feel that anticipation, as well, because it is quite a bit of anticipation just getting ready to go. I think this is two years in a row we’ve lost opening day. It’s a nice feeling.“

Although about three hours of green flag running took place on Wednesday, the periods of green were interrupted by yellow flags so that crews could make sure the track was staying dry. Practice was extended an extra hour by IndyCar to maximize running time, but that extra hour was never utlized, as light rain brought out a yellow with just under an hour left that lasted until the checkered flag.

McLaughlin’s Penske teammates joined him in the top five after a less-than-stellar past few weeks for the team. 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power came in second-fastest in the 228 range, with defending winner Josef Newgarden in fourth at 227.675 mph.

Miguel Molina believes that the Ferrari AF Corse team demonstrated their “full potential” at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #50 driver made his comments after the third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship where the Italian team led the way until a red flag brought a dramatic twist to proceedings.

After qualifying on pole for the second successive race, the #50 Ferrari 499P was relegated to the back of the Hypercar grid for being 1kg underweight, meaning the #50 started in 19th and the #51 from 10th. The race was set to be a remarkable comeback tale for Ferrari. The team executed an aggressive strategy which enabled the drivers to push their cars into 1st and 2nd positions by lap 86, beating the might of Porsche Penske Motorsport and Hertz Team JOTA Porsche who ultimately would go on to win the race.

The twist came when a red flag was brought out due to a heavy collision between the #2 Cadillac Racing Hypercar and the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 car on the Kemmel Straight. The surprise twist was the restart of the race with the clock being reset to when the red flag come out, giving an unexpected extra 1 hour 44 minutes of racing. The #50 had to make an emergency fuel stop followed by a final pit stop, as did the #51, unlike the pair of Porsches which had pitted before the red flag, a move which ultimately gave victory to the German marque. The two Ferraris finished 3rd and 4th, still a great result considering their starting positions.

While Porsche and motorsport fans were delighted by the decision to resume racing, Ferrari remain deeply disgruntled. #51 driver James Calado said “The race was over for us at the six-hour mark, and the subsequent one-hour and 44-minute ‘sprint race’ shouldn’t have happened.” He firmly believes that Ferrari should have won the race in Belgium, saying “I congratulate my teammates and the entire team. In the first stints, Antonio Giovinazzi did something exceptional by moving up in the standings and allowing me to take the race lead. At that point, we were first and second with the two Ferraris.”

Molina, the man who put Ferrari on pole in Belgium and Imola was more magnanimous, saying “I think the team showed its full potential at Spa, and it will be hard to forget how both our crew and our teammates in the 499P number 51 climbed up from the back. At the sixth hour, we were first and second, and I believe that positioning best represents what we saw on the track today.”

Akira Miura knows his way around in a Toyota Land Cruiser, but will now test his talents in a Toyota Hilux Overdrive as part of a two-race schedule in the FIA World Baja Cup for Overdrive Racing. He will make his début at the Baja Greece on 22–25 May, followed by running the Qatar International Baja on 31 October to 2 November.

The slate will mark his first foray into the premier Ultimate category after spending much of his career in the Stock class. Employed by Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body since 2005, he is a four-time winner of the Dakar Rally in Stock including the latest edition in January. He previously raced the Dakar as a navigator before becoming a driver from 2016 onwards.

Racing the Hilux does not impact his commitment to Toyota Auto Body. The effort was organised by team sponsor Toyo Tires, who named Miura an ambassador for their Open Country tyre line in 2023. Still, if Greece and Qatar go well, he could turn it into more opportunities in the future.

Overdrive Racing is one of the top Hilux teams in rally raid, finishing second in the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship with Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Al-Rajhi also won the World Baja Cup’s season-opening Saudi Baja in February.

Miura is one of four Ultimate drivers entered for the inaugural Baja Greece alongside Al-Rajhi, Miroslav Zapletal, and Magdalena Zajac. He, Al-Rajhi, and Zajac are in Hiluxes whereas Zapletal races a Ford F-150 EVO.

To say Graham Rahal is no stranger to the Indianapolis 500 is an understatement. In fact, Rahal’s history with the race before he was even born. In 1982, seven years before Graham’s birth, his father Bobby competed at Indy for the first time. Four years later, he won the 500, cementing his place in history. For his son, although that coveted victory hasn’t come yet, his 16 starts have come with plenty of experience.

That experience is starting to help the six-time race winner mentor some of the younger engineers and mechanics working on his team:

“As a veteran guy now, at least at my level, it’s not only me, it’s trying to help the engineer. Because I have a lot of young engineers too.” said Rahal at Tuesday’s media bullpen.

In 16 starts, the Ohio native has three top 10s along with three starts from the first three rows. In his career, he has been on the same team as multiple race winners, such as Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Takuma Sato. Recently, Rahal was running near the front of the 2021 edition of the race, before a loose wheel sent him into the wall just past the halfway point.

Taking from experience like that, the 35-year-old helps calm the nerves of some of those younger RLL team members.

Alex Albon has signed a new multi-year deal with Williams Racing ahead of the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

A statement from Williams revealed that Albon has extended his deal in a long-term extension that takes the partnership into the new era of Formula 1 regulations in 2026. 

Albon started his Formula 1 career at Toro Rosso in 2019 alongside Danlil Kvyat, but only spent a short stint with team before being promoted to Oracle Red Bull Racing after the Hungarian Grand Prix, replacing Pierre Gasly and partnering Max Verstappen.

Albon’s first half a season with Red Bull was considered a success. He ended the season eighth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 92 points, with 76 of those coming during his nine races at Red Bull. Albon won the Rookie of the Year award too, beating Lando Norris and George Russell to the accolade.

It was during the Thai driver’s second season with the Austrian team that things took a turn for the worse. He finished his second F1 season seventh in the Championship but over 100 points behind his teammate Verstappen. Red Bull and Dr. Helmet Marko in particular are known for their harsh dismissal of drivers in F1, and Albon was dropped to role of test and reserve driver in 2021, being replaced by Sergio Pérez.

The Can-Am Maverick R has been tearing it up in desert races across North America, but it will have to wait until 2025 before it can compete in events like the Dakar Rally as the FIA has not completed the homologation process. In the meantime, it has been building up a rally raid portfolio outside of the federation’s jurisdiction with solid results.

Following its release in August, various rally raid teams and drivers got their hands on the Maverick R to test and develop until it is legalised for the World Rally-Raid Championship and other series under FIA sanction. Promoted as the most powerful UTV on the market, it is expected to compete in the W2RC’s SSV category once approved; Can-Am is currently represented in the class by the Maverick XRS Turbo R and RR while the Maverick X3 is used in Challenger for purpose-built racing UTVs.

In the meantime, the car has seen action in domestic and amateur rallies, which have little to no FIA oversight. For example, the Abu Dhabi Baja Challenge run by FIA member club Emirates Motorsports Organization had a Maverick R compete in the SxS Pro class that follows FIA SSV regulation.

The Russian Rally-Raid Championship quickly permitted the Maverick R to race there, albeit with the caveats that only fifteen-inch wheels are permitted and the Smart-Shox active suspension must be disabled. Most Maverick R wheels are sixteen inches, though there is enough clearance to accommodate 15″. The wheel restriction does not exist for the Alpha Race in Bashkortostan, which is independent from the Russian championship, though the car can only compete as an Open entry rather than in SSV.

Can-Am’s W2RC partner South Racing débuted their own FIA-spec Maverick R at the Morocco Desert Challenge in April. Erik Van Loon dominated at the start by winning the first three stages in the SSV class before retiring with a late mechanical issue. Van Loon described the car as like a “mini Trophy Truck” that’s “completely different” from its predecessor.

After just 23 minutes of running in the morning, the IndyCar Series has cancelled the first day of Indianapolis 500 practice due to persistent rain in the area. Storms closed in on the Speedway at around 10 a.m. this morning, and rendered the track unusable for the remaining practice time throughout the day.

With qualifying just three days away, some drivers think a longer session on Saturday morning may be needed:

“They need to do something. You gotta change chassis set up a little bit because of the extra speed and stuff like that. But I’ve not heard of any talk [of an longer practice session], at least at this stage with how much rain is forecasted for this week.

The cancellation marks the second consecutive year that the opening day of 500 practice has been called off, as 2023 saw minimal running on day one as well. This could affect some of the rookie driver’s in this year’s field, like Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist.

“To be honest, I’m glad I managed to get out a few laps before that rain came in.” said Blomqvist. “To this day, I actually haven’t had any running in traffic.”

The Baltic states might not come to mind when people think of a rally raid hotbed, but interest has grown over the years. Andrei Rudnitski feels the same, even going as far as to suggest a championship spanning Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Over the weekend, Rudnitski competed in the MudEST RallyRaid as the co-driver for Darius Žitlinskas. The two finished eleventh of twelve cars in the UTV category after their Can-Am Maverick X3 slammed into a tree stump during the first Selective Section.

Organised since 2018, the MudEST RallyRaid is the only major cross-country rally in Estonia. For 2024, the race took place in the Alutaguse Tervisespordikeskus outside Vasavere, going through forests and an old shale quarry. Urvo Männama, an Estonian who ran the Dakar Rally in January, won the overall.

“The race turned out to be very interesting from all perspectives, and I really enjoyed it,” Rudnitski told Cross-Country Rally News. Although he is Belarusian, Rudnitski regularly runs Central and Eastern European rallies as well as the Dakar, working alongside those like Lithuanian Benediktas Vanagas and Pole Jakub Przygoński. “I would like to see a Baltic countries championship in the future, including this race, as well as rounds in Lithuania and Latvia, and it would be great to add one round in Poland. I think such a championship would have good potential.”

Forty-six of the sixty-one MudEST RallyRaid competitors were Estonian, while nine came from Lithuania and four from Latvia. Poland and Finland each had one apiece.

Memorial Day is approaching, and that means one thing: The Indianapolis 500 is getting very close. But first, the 34 entries in this year’s race must practice and whittle the field down to the fastest 33 by the end of the week. The Indy 500 is unique amongst most other races in the fact that it offers nearly 40 hours of on-track running before the green flag flies on Sunday, May 26th.

Alex Palou comes into practice fresh off of a win on the IMS Road Course on Saturday, just as he did in 2023. While the Spaniard hasn’t won the 500 yet in four attempts, he’ll likely come into race day as one of the favorites. Another big story is Kyle Larson. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion will be the first driver since Kurt Busch in 2014 to attempt “The Double”, AKA competing in both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte in the same day. Given the California native’s knack for other racing disciplines like sprint cars and endurance racing, Larson comes into the opening days of practice with a lot of eyes on him. NBC and Peacock will have coverage of every on-track session.

It’s IndyCar’s biggest month, so here is all the on-track action taking place over the next two weeks:

Weekend Schedule and How to Watch

Adventure/touring enduro motorcycles are not common in cross-country rallies due to their weight and size, but that doesn’t mean such marques don’t maintain rally programmes anyway like Yamaha and Harley-Davidson. The GR500 is the latest bike to throw its hat into the rally ring when Vasily Glukhov and Andrey Ryaboshkapov completed the Baja Kagan’s Gold in April.

Developed by Chinese manufacturer Chongqing Zongwo Vehicle Industry Co., the GR500 is an adventure bike inspired by the Honda Africa Twin, a dual-sport motorcycle based on the Honda NXR line that enjoyed success at the Paris–Dakar Rally in the 1980s. It features a 500cc twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled four-stroke engine from Loncin Motor Co. that is modelled after what is used in the Honda CB500X and powered by Bosch fuel injection from Bosch and a six-speed manual transmission.

It sports two fuel tanks totalling 39 litres for a genral range of up to 900 kilometres. SZC provides a 41-millimetre telescopic fork suspension at the front with 200 mm of travel, while the central shocks at the rear travel 150 mm. For the race, Glukhov and Ryaboshkapov had wheels from Borilli Off Road Tire.

The bikes were prepared by Rolling Moto for Kagan’s Gold, the opening round of the Russian Rally-Raid Championship‘s motorcycle side. The only modification made to accommodate the rally conditions was replacing the windshield with a navigation tower for the roadbook.

After a thousand kilometres of testing, the race began 20 April with Glukhov finishing fourth. He and Ryaboshkapov generally stayed out of trouble throughout the rally save for a tyre puncture for Glukhov during the first leg and a wheel problem for Ryaboshkapov the next day. Otherwise, they managed to reach the finish with Glukhov in fourth.