Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Callum Ilott has described the historic victory for Hertz Team JOTA at the 2024 6 Hours of Spa as “absolutely unbelievable!” The third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) produced one of the most dramatic sportscar races in recent history, culminating in Ilott securing the first victory for a privateer team in the Hypercar era of WEC around the iconic Spa-Francorchamps.

The Race

Porsche’s continued success in the 2024 WEC season held off various challenges at Spa. Antonio Fuoco put in another stellar performance in qualifying to to give Ferrari AF Corse their second pole in succession, only to be relegated to last in class due to their car being 1kg underweight, handing pole position to the #5 factory Porsche Penske Motorsport crew. However, the fastest Porsche for the bulk of the race was the #99 Proton Competition Porsche which, at the hands of Julien Andlauer and Neel Jani, led for a large portion of the race.

At the halfway stage, the #5 Porsche was forced to retire after Michael Christensen ran wide at Blanchimont, the floor of the car hitting the curb and spearing the car into the barrier with enough force to switch off the high voltage hybrid system and cause the car to retire. Meanwhile the #50 and #51 Ferraris had fought their way to 1st and 2nd from 19th and 10th on the grid respectively.

Ferrari, however, fell victim to the red flag caused by the crash between Cadillac Racing and Team WRT BMW, being forced to make pit stops to refuel. For the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche and the championship leading #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport cars, however, the red flag suited them perfectly. Having only recently pitted for fuel, they were free to stretch a commanding lead ahead of the chasing pack, leading to the second Porsche 1-2 of the year after Qatar 1812km, and the second 2nd position for the #6 car in succession.

Driver Reactions

“I knew that we’d be strong this weekend” Ilott reported. “Our pace was good and we were able to use the red flag perfectly. At the end of the day, we benefited from that. Sometimes things just pay out the way they should.”

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is back next weekend for Round 7 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The 2023 event was cancelled due to a large flooding amount of flooding in the build-up to the planned Grand Prix weekend, meaning F1 hasn’t raced at the legendary circuit since 2022. 

F1 heads to Imola off the back of Lando Norris’ first win and McLaren F1 Team’s first win since Daniel Ricciardo took his eighth career win at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. The main talking point in the build-up to the weekend will be if Norris and McLaren will once again be able to take the challenge to Max Verstappen and Oracle Red Bull Racing at the front. Another boost for McLaren will be Oscar Piastri receiving all the upgrades on his car that Norris was running in Miami. The Australian driver showed good pace, even without the new parts in Florida, so plenty of eyes will be on how he compares to Norris next weekend.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will be hoping for a better weekend than the one they endured in Miami. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team duo both finished outside the top five in Florida and are yet to finish on the podium this season, with Russell’s fifth place finish at the season opener in Bahrain still their best result. Toto Wolff predicted an upturn in performance from the updates they bought to Miami but it didn’t translate on track, and the Brackley based outfit will be hoping for a much needed good weekend.

Ricciardo will be hoping to impress on F1’s Imola return as he looks to relieve some of the pressure that’s racked up over the past few weeks. The Australian’s pace has been better over the past few race weekends, and he scored his first points in Miami, finishing fourth in the Sprint. He’ll be hoping for more points, and a dominant weekend over teammate, Yuki Tsunoda.

Kevin Benavides cannot catch a break. After suffering a fractured left arm and various head injuries in a training crash, he will have to skip the Desafío Ruta 40 for the second straight year.

According to a report from El Tribuno, the accident occurred at Mantillo MX Park in Salta while he and brother Luciano Benavides were preparing for the rally. The DR 40 takes place in their native Argentina.

Since winning the Dakar Rally in 2023, Benavides has suffered a rash of injuries in testing accidents that forced him to miss rounds of the World Rally-Raid Championship. He only started two of five rounds last season as he broke his femur before the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, returned for the Sonora Rally where he raced conservatively to a twelfth-place finish, then missed the DR 40 and Rallye du Maroc due to a broken wrist.

His Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team is not registered for the 2024 championship due to budget cuts and poor ROI, which meant they only raced the Dakar in January and did not appear in the two races since. Although KTM AG general manager Andreas Hölzl said the team will return for Argentina and Morocco, Benavides’ injury throws a wrench into their plans as Matthias Walkner is still recovering from a severe leg injury he suffered before the season while their other colleague Toby Price departed the outfit in March.

Benavides finished fourth in the latest Dakar with three stage wins.

As he continues to recover from the fractured pelvis he suffered at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in February, Michael Docherty will skip the Desafío Ruta 40 in June. He hopes to return for the season-ending Rallye du Maroc in October.

Docherty has struggled with injuries throughout the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship, ruining his otherwise impressive pace. He started the season by crashing out of the Dakar Rally on the very first stage while leading the Rally2 class, hurting his hip in the process.

After recovering in time for Abu Dhabi, he impressed again by winning Stage #1 among all bikes, the first Rally2 competitor to claim a bike stage outright since 2021, only to crash again five kilometres into the second leg. This resulted in a pelvic fracture and a longer recovery process than hoped, forcing him to sit out the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid in April.

At the soonest, he might be able to ride again in mid-May, though the timetable is still too close for him to consider racing Argentina.

“I am taking the time for my body to heal up completely before I get back to racing. Planning to do Morocco end of the year,” wrote Docherty on Saturday.

Hertz Team JOTA have secured an extraordinary victory at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours Of Spa. The privateer Porsche team, with two-man team Callum Ilott and Will Stevens at the helm, won the first privateer Hypercar race win in the third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship on the anniversary of the car’s debut in 2023. They were followed home by the championship leading #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car. The #50 Ferrari AF Corse car, having been disqualified from qualifying, fought back magnificently through the field to secure a podium position.

The race was delayed by almost two hours after an extended red flag period following an enormous crash on the Kemmel straight for the #2 Cadillac Racing car and the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3. At the restart, the final 90 minute charge to the flag generated some excellent racing and some intriguing strategic choices, massively benefiting the two Porsches who ended up on top who had pitted just before the race was stopped.

In LMGT3, it was a case of expect the unexpected. Manthey EMA, who had not finished higher than 15th in 2024, won a turbulent race that was only decided on the last lap of the race. Manthey PureRxing, whose car was destroyed in a crash in qualifying, somehow secured a fantastic 2nd, followed by Iron Lynx in the Lamborghini, who qualified dead last on the grid.

Driver Reaction

Will Stevens, #12 Hertz Team JOTA: “It’s a year since we got the car, so that’s very special, and the team just do such a fantastic job all the time. We got a little bit lucky today with the red flag, obviously, but you create your own luck in this game. Callum did a fantastic job at the end keeping the gap. So happy for us. I couldn’t be happier.”

Callum Ilott, #12 Hertz Team JOTA: “There’s not much to say, we just executed from the end there. Big thanks to the team, everyone did an amazing job. What a day. What a day!”

Today, IndyCar begins its most important month on the calendar on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Just three races into the season, the series has had its fair share of close on-track battles and tense off-track controversies. Will Power has dominated much of the competition since IndyCar started racing on the road course in 2014, and past winners like Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, and Alex Palou are in the field as well.

Read on for some of the best bets for this afternoon’s race.

Best Bet: Will Power, +350 to Win

It is just too hard to justify betting against the two-time champ at this track. Having led an astonishing 58% of the laps contested on the road course over the past decade, the Australian knows his stuff. While a 30-race winless streak may turn some bettors off of this pick, Power currently sits just one point in the championship standings behind Colton Herta, who starts in 24th after a fueling issue during qualifying yesterday. That gives the 2018 Indy 500 winner a great opportunity to take the points lead from third on the grid.

Sleeper: Rinus VeeKay, +3000 to Win

Winless since his triumph in this very race in 2021, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay has had an affinity for Indianapolis in his young career. The Dutchman has found success besides that win in multiple years, clinching a podium in 2020, and two other top 10s. Starting on the faster alternate tires, VeeKay will have a shot at making moves early and perhaps pull off a second career win.

Long Shot: Agustin Canapino, +15000 to Win

Still relatively new to open-wheel racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino has put on a fairly impressive display so far this weekend. While the 34-year-old Argentinian disappointed in qualifying, failing to advance past the first round, he showed some pace in both practice sessions, including the second-fastest practice lap of the day in the first session. While the Juncos driver is still without a top 10 in his IndyCar career, the potential for wet weather can shake up the field come the green flag.

After months of speculation, Carlos Sainz is officially back with the Blue Oval. On Friday, Ford Performance and M-Sport announced he will drive the Ford Ranger T1+ at the 2025 Dakar Rally in hopes of his fifth win and second in a row.

Sainz is no stranger to Ford or M-Sport. He was a member of Ford’s factory World Rally Championship team in 1996/97 and from 2000 to 2002, and had started his WRC career with the marque in the late 1980s. He won five rallies in a Ford with four third-place points finishes during his two stints with the team.

Ford will be the seventh different manufacturer that Sainz races for at Dakar after Volkswagen, Demon Jefferies, SMG, Peugeot, Mini, and Audi. Despite winning the 2024 edition for Audi, the team shut down in February due to not having enough parts to contest the World Rally-Raid Championship. This forced Sainz to abandon his plans of competing for the title, and he rejoined Mini for the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid in April where he placed fourth. A move to Ford has long been reported before being confirmed Friday.

Led by Malcolm Wilson, M-Sport currently oversees Ford’s factory WRC effort, and added a rally raid arm in 2022 as part of an alliance with Neil Woolridge Motorsport. Two-time Dakar winner Nani Roma and 2023 South African Rally-Raid Champion Gareth Woolridge débuted the team at that year’s Baja España Aragón, respectively finishing sixth and eleventh overall, followed by the W2RC’s Rallye du Maroc, where Roma finished third.

The programme’s maiden Dakar in January was upended by both drivers retiring from Stage #7, relegating Roma to a forty-fourth and Woolridge to forty-sixth in the final order. Roma’s best stage finish was a ninth on the penultimate day while Woolridge notched a seventh a leg later.

The #50 Ferrari AF Corse has been disqualified from qualifying for the 2024 6 Hours of Spa. The previously pole-sitting Ferrari 499P will now start from the back of the Hypercar grid. In LMGT3 the same penalty was applied to the #95 United Autosports McLaren, dropping that car from 2nd to last.

The official statement from the stewards reads as follows: “After having checked the Technical Delegate report, the Stewards considered the minimum car weight did not comply with the relevant regulations. Consequently, the Stewards decided to impose the disqualification of car 50 of the qualifying and Hyperpole sessions and the deletion of the lap time of these sessions.”

This disqualification promotes the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car, driven by Matt Campbell, to pole position for the second time in 2024. Cadillac Racing, who were happy enough with their best-ever WEC qualifying result of 3rd, will now start in 2nd for Saturday’s race.

Ferrari AF Corse are back on pole in the Hypercar class of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Antonio Fuoco repeated his success from the 6 Hours of Imola to put the #50 Ferrari 499P at the front of the grid for the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa. In LMGT3, local hero Sarah Bovy topped the tables in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3.

“Given the rubber compounds available here at Spa,” Fuoco explained, “we knew qualifying wouldn’t be easy, but we focused during free practice on understanding how best to manage the tyres. I think this work is visible in qualifying and the Hyperpole. The result is the fruit of the hard work carried out by the entire team over recent weeks and here on track since the first practice session.“ When asked about the race, he said “we know it will be tough, and we recognise the considerable strength of our opponents, but as always, we aim to do our best and achieve a great result.“

Hypercar

So far, Ferrari are repeating their success from the 6 Hours of Imola, where they were fastest in all three practise sessions and qualifying. Once again, Italian Fuoco was the fastest on track, posting a scintillating 2:02.600 in the HyperPole session, a full 0.507 seconds faster than Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche 963 entered by Porsche Penske Motorsport. The two-man driver team Cadillac Racing start 3rd, with Alex Lynn putting in a great lap to secure Cadillac’s best ever WEC start position.

Julien Andlauer qualified 4th in the Proton Competition Porsche, the first privateer Porsche team, followed by Callum Ilott for Hertz Team JOTA. Championship leaders, the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport team, qualified in 6th, meaning that four out of the top six cars for Saturday’s race are Porsches.

The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing car was 7th fastest. Toyota are unbeaten at Spa since 2017, but have their work cut out for this year’s race, with Imola race winners the #8 car starting 15th. Alpine Endurance Team scored their best qualifying of the season, with Charles Milesi putting the car 8th on the grid, followed by the privateer Ferrari #83 car in 9th and the #20 BMW M Team WRT in 10th after their fastest lap was disqualified due to track limits.

After three seasons of rainbow paint schemes with Andretti Autosport (now Andretti Global), shipping company DHL is continuing its series of pride-themed liveries with new partner Chip Ganassi Racing, as the rainbow sidepods will appear on reigning series champion Alex Palou’s No. 10 during the Indianapolis 500.

In a video posted to X on Friday morning, Palou visited the DHL hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, unveiling the livery for the No. 10 Honda with members of the DHL4Pride employee resource group:

This marks the fourth season in a row that DHL has sponsored an LGBTQ+ pride livery, with the debut of the rainbow sidepods coming at Detroit with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2021. For the past two editions of the 500, DHL has sponsored the No. 28 Honda for Andretti, driven by Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman failed to finish both of his attempts at the race, with each ending in a crash.

In the past, DHL partnered with IndyCar and released merchandise to benefit GLSEN, an organization that works to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It has not been announced whether or not a similar promotion will take place in 2024.

The IndyCar Series begins its biggest month of the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, with this weekend being the standalone road course race at Indy for the first time since 2019. May coincides with a moment of controversy in the series, as Team Penske deals with the blowback stemming from the disqualifications of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin at St. Pete.

Two weeks ago at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, McLaughlin recovered from his lost third-place finish, taking back-to-back wins at the track and propelling himself from last to ninth in the championship standings. Colton Herta currently occupies the top spot in the standings, with Will Power and Alex Palou trailing one and two points behind, respectively.

A Lap Around the Indianapolis Road Course

Built in 2000 to accommodate Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course measures just under 2.5 miles long. In addition to Formula 1, the road course has hosted MotoGP, autonomous racing, and various other series over the years.

Dr. Helmet Marko has responded to rumours that Daniel Ricciardo will be replaced with Liam Lawson before the next round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Publications have been reporting over the past few days that Ricciardo was risk of a mid-season swap, with the Australian failing to find form compared to teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Ricciardo’s performance at the Miami Grand Prix was much improved though, and continues a positive trend since a change of chassis ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 8 time race winner has been closer to his teammate since the Japanese Grand Prix, and has out qualified him in 3 of the past 4 qualifying events. A fourth place finish in the Miami Sprint, which saw an incredible defensive performance holding off quicker cars, including Carlos Sainz Jr. showed Ricciardo still has plenty to offer in Formula 1.

The recent rumours have tipped Lawson to replace Ricciardo for next weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Oracle Red Bull Racing junior driver stood in for Ricciardo last season for multiple races after the Australian broke his wrist, putting in a number of impressive performances but influential team advisor Marko has hit back at the reports.

“The rumours that Ricciardo will be replaced by Liam Lawson at Imola are nonsense. Liam’s manager from New Zealand was there, apparently he has certain dreams and they are made known through some media – including from New Zealand.

With a month until Craig Lowndes‘ Finke Desert Race début, he and co-driver Dale Moscatt are more than ready to put their Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Off-Road Racer to the test.

“We’re both very excited. I think we’ve put it through its challenges so far,” began Lowndes. “We’ve had a number of test days and as we’ve been progressing the truck, we actually got to a point where we start tuning it and understanding it.

“Mechanically, the thing’s a rock, it’s like a tank, so I’m looking forward to seeing what it goes like down the track.”

Lowndes is one of the greatest drivers in the history of the Supercars Championship, winning three titles along with seven Bathurst 1000s to go with his 110 career race victories. While he stepped away from full-time competition after 2018, he has continued to appear at Bathurst in a wild card role for Triple Eight Race Engineering. His résumé also includes two overall and four class victories at the Bathurst 12 Hour.

Although pavement is his forte, he also certainly knows his way around in the off-road realm. In 2010, Lowndes entered the Australasian Safari rally raid and won on his first attempt. A repeat the following year was in the cards before a rollover ended any prospect of that, and he would not race in the discipline again as his focus shifted back to Supercars.

Championship Off-Road‘s inaugural Black Hills Shootout, to take place in the South Dakotan city of Deadwood, has been pushed back to 2025. It was originally included on the 2024 calendar as the final race.

South Dakota was added to the schedule in November after series staple Crandon International Raceway opted to defect to American Outdoor Events’ new Pro Series, with a date scheduled for 5/6 October. COR organiser International Series of Champions is no stranger to Deadwood as their Championship Snocross snowmobile racing series visits the city’s Days of 76 Event Complex each winter. Only the Pro categories were expected to race at Deadwood while the Sportsman classes ended their season a round earlier at Bark River International Raceway.

A month after the schedule release, Crandon rejoined COR when AOE indefinitely put their Pro Series plans on hiatus. COR bumped up the Deadwood round to 28/29 September while keeping it as the final round, but has opted to drop it entirely for 2024 before revisiting the idea for 2025.

“Deadwood has proven to be an extremely supportive region for racing,” said series boss Carl Schubitzke. “The city, community, and venue are putting a great deal of effort and resources into making this venue a destination for off-road enthusiasts while complimenting the Deadwood community. We are dedicated to making Deadwood a high-level experience for our Champ racers, fans, and partners.”

With Deadwood pushed back a year, the 2024 season will traditionally end at Crandon like it has since COR’s formation in 2020. The season begins next weekend at Dirt City Motorplex.

Final 2024 Championship Off-Road schedule

After a thrilling start to the season, the third round 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) takes place at another iconic venue on Saturday 11 May. With 37 cars competing, split between 19 Hypercars and 18 LMGT3 cars, here is everything you need to know before the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa, the final race before the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

Following on from a dramatic race at the 6 Hours of Imola, the European leg of the FIA WEC heads to the mighty Spa-Francorchamps for the third round of the season. Located in the Ardennes forest in Belgium, this 7km circuit scarcely needs an introduction. Featuring iconic corners known throughout the motorsport world, such as La Source, Eau Rouge and Raidillon, and blisteringly fast sections which will see the Hypercars hit speeds of 315kph (195mph), Spa is also known for being its own microclimate, with the unpredictable weather often causing chaos, particularly in races which are 6 hours long.

The prospect of rain will cause alarm for Ferrari AF Corse. After topping every practise session and securing the top three positions in qualifying, the Scuderia came undone once the rain began to fall in Imola. Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti, explained the team’s motivation for Spa. “Following the finale of the 6 Hours of Imola, where we fell short of the overall podium, our whole team is driven by a desire for redemption,” Coletta said, “so we come to Spa with a firm ambition of completing a flawless weekend, free of errors.”

In 2023, the #51 Ferrari achieved a third place finish before converting that to victory at Le Mans. Ferrari need to bounce back this weekend to prove their potential in a very competitive series.

Reigning WEC champions, Toyota Gazoo Racing, had a very different experience of Imola. Despite, by their own admission, not having the fastest car, the team played a strategic blinder and secured victory for their #7 car. The Japanese team, who have been unbeaten at Spa since 2017, enjoyed close battles with Porsche Penske Motorsport, who achieved their second double podium finish of the season at Imola. The German team are still at the top of the standings, both for drivers and teams, but Toyota are now hungry to maintain their momentum and take back control of the championship.