Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Sergio Pérez has taken victory around the streets of Monte Carlo for Oracle Red Bull Racing, and Team Principal, Christian Horner, is very happy that the team were able to leapfrog Scuderia Ferrari at a circuit they didn’t have an advantage at.

Championship leader, Max Verstappen, has extended his lead at the top of the standings after finishing third, ahead of title rival Charles Leclerc, who was dominating the earlier portion of the race but finished fourth after a strategy error.

Pérez has now closed the gap between himself and Leclerc in the standings to just six points, meaning Red Bull are on the right path to secure the top two positions of the drivers standings in the run up to the midway point of the season.

“It has been an amazing day for us and an amazing day for Checo, he’s been on it all weekend so it’s a well deserved victory,” Horner says.

“The teamwork and for both of our drivers to pick off a Ferrari was fantastic. Checo is doing a great job this year, in Jeddah he had that amazing pole and the time delta between him and Max has been a lot closer this year.

Enduring a red-flag with four laps to go and a thrilling two-lap shootout, Marcus Ericsson has won the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500, only the second Swede in history to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

The Swede took the lead with 17 laps to go into turn one past Pato O’Ward, and easily made his way through lap traffic to build a massive gap. Just when it seemed he was going to cruise to victory his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jimmie Johnson crashed in turn two, bringing out a caution with five laps to go. The race was red-flagged one lap later to give a final shootout to the end, and after a brief caution period Ericsson led O’Ward, Tony Kanaan, Felix Rosenqvist, and Alexander Rossi to green.

Ericsson swerved dramatically to try and break the slipstream to O’Ward, and he succesfully defended from O’Ward coming to the white flag. The young Mexican had one last massive push on Ericsson, daring to make his move on the outside of turn one, but it wasn’t enough to get the move done. As the leaders swerved down the backstretch, the caution flag flew again for Sage Karam, another victim of turn two, ensuring Ericsson a drink of some ice-cold milk (whole was his choice) in victory lane.

“I can’t believe it,” Ericsson said, draped in the winner’s wreath. “I’m so happy.”

Thanks to the Indy 500 being worth double points, this victory catapults Ericsson from eighth place in the championship to the lead.

After by their own admission a poor start to the weekend, Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport have a win to celebrate in Sunday’s Thruxton finale with Adam Morgan sealing Round Nine of the 2022 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).

Morgan who reached 300 race starts earlier in the day sealed his first win of the season in a superb race featuring for the most part three of the likely title protagonists in Morgan, Colin Turkington and Ash Sutton battling it out.

Starting the reverse grid race from second on the grid, he jumped ahead of a slow starting Jason Plato who dropped down behind Sutton into fourth and battled with his former teammate and rival albeit it was the NAPA Racing UK driver who had the last laugh as Plato went off and with grass filling the front of the car, he had to pit which effectively ended his race.

Sutton ramped up pressure on Turkington and this allowed Morgan to get away while the two title rivals for the past few seasons squabbled albeit the Team BMW driver came out on top with the former ending the weekend second in the drivers’ standings after a trio of podiums.

Josh Cook finished behind Dan Rowbottom in fifth after his double win and sits 23 points ahead of the pack with Sutton and Turkington following behind. Finishing the top ten was Tom Ingram as he recovered from his race one woes, his teammate Dan Lloyd, the impressive Power Maxed Racing duo of Michael Crees and Ash Hand and finally Rory Butcher.

Sergio Pérez’ victory at the Monaco Grand Prix has been thrown into turmoil, as Scuderia Ferrari have lodged a protest to the FIA against Red Bull Racing, for both drivers appearing to cross the pit-lane exit line too early.

The Mexican claimed victory at what was a chaotic Monaco race, with Carlos Sainz Jr in second and Max Verstappen in third. A penalty for both Red Bull drivers would change all of this, as Sainz would become the race winner with Charles Leclerc in second, and Pérez dropping to third.

The incident was noted by the race stewards during the race, however, it wasn’t taken any further. Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto was furious after the race, and believes a penalty must be awarded.

“I think it was not close – he was on the line,” Binotto told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

“If you look at the International Sporting Code, it’s the wording. It says crossing, but then we had a clarification in Turkey 2020 to avoid any discussions. And, if you look at the Race Director’s notes, it’s indicated staying to the right.

Sergio Pérez scripted a famous win at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix with a fine drive in mixed conditions. The Mexican driver who is a master of tyre management got through the graining phase of his medium compound tyres and kept Carlos Sainz at bay to take a well-deserved win.

Sainz stayed out on the wet tyres for a long first stint and this strategy helped him clinch second position. Max Verstappen took the final podium spot ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc lost track position during the frantic pit stops as the drivers went from the intermediate tyres to the slick tyres and had to be content with fourth position. George Russell with another well-crafted race finished in fifth position.

The race start was delayed because of the wet track. As the cars were on the grid, Race Control decided the cars would start the formation laps behind the Safety Car (SC) as more rain was expected.

The rain was spitting down on and off and all the teams scrambled to change to full wet tyres for all the drivers. The cars went around a few laps behind the Safety Car before the red flag was thrown as the rain came down even more heavily.

Bryce Aron took his first GB3 Championship win at long last in the reverse-grid encounter at Donington Park, following his first podium in the same race at Silverstone last time out.

Everyone made it through Redgate cleanly, with polesitter Aron managing to make a slight gap by the time the field got to the Old Hairpin, while Roberto Faria lost his front wing in traffic on the way down to the Esses.

Luke Browning was forced onto the grass on the inside of Shwantz Curve, and ran across the gravel at the Esses on Lap 2 in what was a relatively messy start to the race.

Faria’s front wing gave him a puncture as it exited stage left on Lap 1, which only became apparent on the lap after he replaced it, so he had to box again on Lap 2.

Faria’s Carlin team-mate Javier Sagrera also fell to the back of the order with front wing damage on Lap 3, while Max Esterson clipped Callum Voisin‘s diffuser at the Melbourne Hairpin, the weekend’s first two race winners coming to blows.

After becoming the undisputed King of Thruxton in the opening race of the day, Josh Cook extended that moniker further as well as his Drivers’ Standings lead by doubling up in a near repeat of Race One in the end result.

Cook lost the lead at the start as he did in the opener with the Rich Energy BTC Racing driver losing out to ROKiT MB Motorsport ace Jake Hill but on the final complex, the former retook the lead and again they continued their battle all the way to the finish. Now though they both occupy the top two positions in the drivers’ standings.

Ash Sutton made sure it would be an identical podium too as the NAPA Racing UK driver continues a superb weekend after a poor start to the season as the team of the reigning champion and Dan Cammish continue to tweak their setup accordingly. Colin Turkington was behind him.

While Dan Rowbottom and Adam Morgan performed superbly to finish fifth and sixth, with Morgan now starting second on the reverse grid behind a certain Jason Plato who will hope to mirror his teammates efforts in the Honda and seal his first win for BTC Racing as well as take his tally to 98 race wins.

Behind Plato, Tom Ingram surged from the back of the grid to take eighth in another superb masterclass from the Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com driver who due to the dominance of Cook, Hill and Sutton has fallen down the order in the Drivers Standings. Ash Hand finished inside the top ten ahead of teammate, Michael Crees as the Power Maxed Racing duo continue to show good pace.

Rich Energy BTC Honda‘s Josh Cook has become the most successful driver in history at Thruxton sealing Race One honours on Sunday morning.

Known as the King of Thruxton, Cook takes the Drivers’ Championship lead by a small margin with Tom Ingram having a race to forget as he will look to build for Race Three. Initially jumped off the line by Jake Hill, Cook produced an expert move to regain the lead and momentum after the first chicane.

Hill looked to setup a thrilling conclusion to the opening race as Cook’s tyres looked to drop off after an initial gap was opened up but he saved his hybrid to hold on for the entire race distance with the ROKiT MB Motorsport driver settling for second ahead of reigning champion, Ash Sutton who was initially passed by Dan Rowbottom but the NAPA Racing UK driver produced a gutsy effort to fend off the pack including Colin Turkington.

Like alluded to, it was a race to forget for Ingram who was tagged alongside Dan Cammish and they both slid onto the grass and out of the race. After Turkington, Rowbottom and Plato, impressive drives from Adam Morgan, Dan Lloyd and Ash Hand rounded out the top ten.

2022 British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Thruxton

Luke Browning took his fifth podium of the GB3 Championship season at Donington Park on Sunday morning, and re-took the Championship lead from third-placed Joel Granfors.

The pair retired from Race 1 as Granfors spun across the track exiting McLeans, forcing Browning to take avoiding action and sending him hard into the barrier.

The Checkered Flag spoke to the Hitech GP driver after the podium.

“The podium’s not too bad, it’s been a really tough weekend with luck.

“We had a couple of mechanical failures which caused big shunts [in testing], and I had to avoid a crash [on Saturday].”

Max Esterson took his first win in slicks-and-wings racing by taking Race 2 honours in the GB3 Championship at Donington Park.

The Walter Hayes Trophy winner started on pole after taking third on Saturday afternoon, ahead of Race 1 winner Callum Voisin, Joel Granfors and Matthew Rees who hoped to avoid a repeat of their first-lap incident on Saturday afternoon.

Alex Connor got a slow start, but everyone was able to avoid him as Voisin tried to hold on around the outside of Esterson.

But he ran out of room on the exit of the Old Hairpin and bounced across the grass, coming back on in sixth place.

David Morales boxed at the end of the first lap without a front wing, while things remained close up and down the order.

JR Motorsports had never won at Charlotte Motor Speedway on oval nor Roval since the team’s début in 2006. On Saturday, JRM finally slayed those demons in dominating fashion as Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, and Sam Mayer combined to lead 190 of 200 laps, with Berry having eighty-nine en route to his second win of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

Berry and Allgaier turned Charlotte into their personal playground with eighty-nine and sixty-three laps led, respectively, and winning the first two stages. Unfortunately for Allgaier, a late flat tyre eliminated him from the race win, though he salvaged a top ten out of it. With Allgaier out of the picture, Berry coasted to an 18.039-second win over runner-up Ty Gibbs, which TobyChristie.com’s Joseph Srigley pointed out is the widest margin of victory in the Xfinity Series since Jeff Burton was 19.493 seconds ahead of Michael Waltrip in the 2002 fall Charlotte event.

Mayer and Gragson placed third and fourth after respectively having two and thirty-six laps in front. Ryan Preece, who is running all three national series races at Charlotte, is the only non-JRM driver to lead laps with ten, though only one was under Green. Preece’s nine circuits in first came after a wreck that collected multiple drivers like Anthony Alfredo, Austin Dillon, Joe Graf Jr., Stefan Parsons, and Ryan Sieg.

For the second time this weekend, post-race frustrations appeared when Jeb Burton and Gragson had a vocal, expletive-laden discussion on pit road about the other’s driving conduct. Burton subsequently tweeted, “And like I said to his face the only reason he’s in the car is bc of the check. I’ve been in the same stuff and out ran him almost every race go look at the stats.”

George Russell felt he got as much out of his W13 as he could have done during Saturday’s Qualifying session at the Circuit de Monaco, but he was only able to qualify sixth on the grid.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver says the ride of the car has not been great all weekend in the principality, so to get a top six on the grid was good, especially when the Monaco track has none of the straights and high-speed corners that the car is much better at attacking.

Russell is hoping for a bit of rain on race day to give them a chance of fighting further up the grid, and he will be looking to roll the dice should the weather be as unsettled as forecasted.

“The ride of the car has been our biggest limitation all weekend and while P6 is not a result to be celebrating, I think we pretty much maximised it out there with the package we have,” said Russell, who has finished inside the top five in each of the opening six races of 2022.

“The team has worked incredibly hard to give us the most compliant set-up possible, but we saw in Barcelona that our strengths were speed on the straights and the high-speed corners – and there’s none of either in Monaco! So looking at it objectively, there’s no reason we should be any higher up today.

Christian Horner admitted a small mistake for Sergio Pérez had a big consequence for both the Mexican and Max Verstappen, with a crash causing a red flag that curtailed early Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Pérez was looking to better third place on the grid but spun into the barriers at Portier, with Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. then spinning into the front of his RB18 as he attempted to take avoiding action.

Verstappen was on a better lap behind them on track but was forced to abort and stop as Pérez and Sainz blocked the track.  The red flags quickly flew to end the session and give Ferrari first and second on the grid, Charles Leclerc taking his fifth pole in seven events in 2022.

Horner, the Team Principal at Oracle Red Bull Racing, says both drivers have the pace to fight up the front of the field on Sunday, and with the weather uncertain, he knows anything can happen when the lights go out.

“It was a shame at the end there as both drivers had the ability to improve a little and unfortunately Checo made a small mistake and that had a concertina effect with Max as well, but third and fourth we can still race from there,” said Horner.

Sergio Pérez says his crash in the closing moments of Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix was caused by underprepared tyres, although the Mexican was happy to end up third on the grid.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver admitted his tyres were not up to optimum temperature heading into his final lap in Q3, and he had already had a small moment at turn one before he crashed into the barriers at Portier, where he was collected by Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. who had tried to take avoiding action.

Pérez apologised to his team for giving them repair work they were not expecting to do, but he hopes that from third on the grid he can make progress on Sunday and attack for the race win.

“I knew the timed lap in Q3 was very important but the outlap was even more so, with people not respecting the delta and so I ended up in the final sector with tyres that were too cold and I nearly lost it in turn one,” said Pérez.

“I was thinking the tyre would pick up grip and warm up but it just didn’t and it’s a big shame what happened. I was losing lap time in turn eight so I tried to anticipate the corner very early but it just didn’t work and while, it is frustrating to end the day like this, we have still qualified in the top three in Monaco.

Hadrien David was delighted to take victory in the opening race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine weekend in Monaco, with the Frenchman controlling the race from the front from start to finish.

Having come close to the victory in the principality back in 2021, the R-ace GP driver got off the line to lead into turn one on the opening lap, and despite a mid-race red flag, caused when FA Racing’s Esteban Masson and MP Motorsport’s Sami Meguetounif tangled at the Grand Hotel Hairpin to block the track, David was in total control.

The race resumed with just over five minutes remaining on the clock, but David got the jump on the chasing pack at the restart, and despite pressure from Prema Racing’s championship leader Dino Beganovic, Alpine affiliate driver David did not put a foot wrong and was able to close out the race 0.902 seconds ahead of the Swedish racer.  The result also moved him up into second place in the standings.

“It was a beautiful race,” said David. “Winning here in Monaco was a dream come true and at the same time it is a very important result for my season.

“Last year I came close to winning, but this time we did it.”