Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

A quintet of NASCAR stock cars are among the vehicles set to display at the inaugural Firle Beacon. The motorsport festival will take place at the Firle Place manor in East Sussex on 30/31 July.

As NASCAR progresses through generations of cars, older vehicles are typically sold off and used in lower series or vintage race. Others restore them for non-competitive events like track days or demonstrations. The five cars that will be driven at Firle Beacon are restorations of those that competed in the Cup and now-Xfinity Series in the late 2000s. All five have also participated in other European demos, particularly the American SpeedFest at Brands Hatch that also hosts the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

Perhaps the most notable car is Carl Edwards‘ #99 Aflac Ford Fusion that he drove for now-RFK Racing, which Simon Chalkly will pilot at Firle. The only Ford of the five, #99 won four Cup races with Edwards behind the wheel.

Three Chevrolet Impalas will appear in the form of Mark Martin‘s #8 Steak-umm, Danica Patrick‘s #7 GoDaddy, and Ward Burton‘s #4 State Water Heaters machine. Each will be respectively driven by Robin Stephens, Phillip Sherwin, and Paul Yorkshire. During his stint with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the #8 appeared on Martin’s car for two races in 2008 and he scored top tens in both. Patrick’s #7 saw Xfinity Series action from 2010 to 2012 for JR Motorsports (owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose family ran DEI) with a tenth-place points finish in its lone full schedule in 2012. Burton attempted the entire 2007 Cup Series for Morgan-McClure Motorsports in the #4 but the team struggled to make races and recorded a best finish of fourteenth.

Ross Pannell‘s #43 Cheerios Dodge Avenger was driven by Bobby Labonte as the Cup Series transitioned to the Car of Tomorrow. Labonte was with Petty Enterprises in the legendary #43 from 2006 to 2008, scoring a best points finish of eighteenth in his final year.

Next up on the calendar for the FIA Formula 2 championship is the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya where the grid will battle it out in the fourth round of the 2022 season.

The F2 circus convened at the track no less than five weeks ago for a series of in-season testing where the teams managed to gain some valuable data across a weather-disrupted three days.

The Story So Far

Théo Pourchaire heads into the weekend as championship leader following his victory in the Imola Feature Race in the previous round. He became the first double-winner of the season after his first Feature Race victory in the opening round at Bahrain International Circuit.

The Imola weekend started off with Jüri Vips proving to be the fastest in tricky conditions as he took pole position on a rainy Friday evening, ahead of the two rookies in Ayumu Iwasa and Jack Doohan.

Vips’ Hitech Grand Prix team-mate, Marcus Armstrong was the first man of the weekend on the top spot of the podium, taking the lead on lap one of the Sprint Race and leading all the way to the chequered flag.

The 2022 FIA European Rallycross Championship gets underway this weekend (21/22 May) at Nyriád in Hungary. Featuring a wide range of talent from returning champions to rising stars, and in a setting as spectacular as Nyriád, it promises to be a blockbuster start to the season.

Known affectionately as the “Red Cauldron” due to its distinctive surface colour, Nyriád is making a welcome return to the highest level of rallycross, having last hosted a Euro RX event in 2013. With its combination of loose gravel, technical corners, and a whole host of overtaking opportunities, it comes as no surprise that the drivers are relishing the prospect of racing here again.

SET Promotion‘s driver Anton Marklund said of the track “You can really send the car on the loose gravel and drive full attack, which I love. You need a lot of commitment but also a lot of precision to make sure you get it exactly right – that’s very challenging, but huge fun. I will really enjoy taking part in the first round of the year on a proper rallycross track.”

The 29 year old Swedish driver will be among the favourites this weekend. Having won the title twice before, he has now teamed up with SET Promotion, who have a whopping nine titles under their belts. However, if experience is the mark of success, then Marklund will be facing stiff competition.

Jānis Baumanis, last year’s third-place finisher and highest-returning driver, will be racing with #YellowSquad, part of Hansen Motorsport, the team led by rallycross legend Kenneth Hansen and who scored 20 championship victories between 1989 and 2016.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Elfyn Evans who won last year’s Rally de Portugal gets the fastest time through the runs at the Paredes Shakedown this morning just ahead of Craig Breen and Ott Tänak which were in similar pace.

Evans set the benchmark time of 2:56.1 followed up by the M-Sport Ford driver Breen and Hyundai’s Tänak just within 0.7 second behind.

Tänak’s teammate Thierry Neuville posted the fourth fastest time just a tenth of a second behind Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet impressed all with a fifth fastest time, the Frenchman is only doing his second outting in the M-Sport’s Ford Puma Rally1 car.

Hyundai’s Dani Sordo has never competed in the new Hyundai i20 N Rally1 until now this weekend, the Spaniard posted the fastest time on the first run but after the shakedown was completed he had the sixth fastest time, just a tenth after Loubet.

The regining world champion Sébastien Ogier who returns this weekend in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 was seventh fastest while the nine-time champion and Rallye Monte-Carlo winner Sébastien Loeb only managed a tenth fastest time, 2.4 seconds down on Evans.

Oliver Solberg is confirmed to be in the Hyundai Motorsport line-up for the 2022 Safari Rally Kenya in late June.

Solberg drove for the team at the three opening rounds of the season and had to retire from two of them, at the season-opener in Rallye Monte-Carlo and at Rally Croatia last time out. At his home rally of Rally Sweden he managed to bring the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car to the end and finished in a well deserved sixth place.

The young Swede will be sharing Hyundai’s third factory Rally1 car this season with Spaniard Dani Sordo. Sordo is entered in the third car at this week’s Rally de Portugal as well as in early June at Rally Italia Sardegna.

However, this weekend Solberg will be entering the support category of WRC2 in a private entered Hyundai i20 Rally2 fielded by Racing 4 You but misses out Sardinia completely.

The FIA Formula 3 Championship returns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend (20-22 May) for the third round of the season.

The field have already experienced the circuit in mid-season testing in April, but head back to Spain with the title contenders tied at the top.

Victor Martins and Arthur Leclerc are level on 36 points after four races, with the Prema Racing driver pulling himself up the order and outscoring Martins at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Franco Colapinto and Roman Stanek won their first FIA F3 races at Imola, Stanek catapulting himself up the order after a nightmare opening round at the Bahrain International Circuit which brought two punctures.

Those results mean four drivers and four separate teams have won the first four races, with Isack Hadjar and Martins taking the Sprint and Feature races in Bahrain.

Jüri Vips will make his first appearance in a FIA Formula 1 World Championship weekend as he joins the field for the opening free practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for Oracle Red Bull Racing.

The Estonian, who will also compete in the FIA Formula 2 championship this weekend for Hitech Grand Prix, will take over the car usually driven by Sergio Pérez for the session, with Red Bull using one of their two mandatory sessions for young drivers in Spain.

The regulation introduced in 2022 means every team on the grid will need to run a young or rookie driver in two free practice sessions, with a maximum of two race starts to their name.

Vips, who has been a Red Bull junior since 2018, has tested for Red Bull before and has acted as their reserve driver on occasion having earned a Superlicence, but this weekend will be a much different challenge for him as he joins an official weekend session for the first time.

Vips will be one of three test and reserve drivers to take to the track this weekend, with Williams Racing already having announced that Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver Nyck de Vries will run with them in place of Alexander Albon, while Robert Kubica will make his first appearance of the season with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN in place of Zhou Guanyu.

Max Verstappen will look to continue his remarkable 2022 run of winning every time he finishes in this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver has won three of the opening five races – as well as the sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – but retired in the other two races in Bahrain and Australia.  He currently sits second in the Drivers’ Championship behind Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

After an ‘incredible’ week racing in Miami last time out, Verstappen is heading to Barcelona, the scene of his maiden Formula 1 victory back in 2016, with a lot of confidence, and he hopes the momentum Red Bull has had in recent races can continue.

“We had an incredible week in Miami, I’ve had some time to rest with my family since and now I’m looking forward to driving in Barcelona again,” said Verstappen.  “I have a lot of good memories at the track from my first win in Formula One back in 2016 when I was 18.

“Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a track that we all know very well as a Team due to amount of testing we have done there over the years, so unlike Miami, we have a substantial amount of data to use ahead of the race.

The nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb will be back at the wheel of the Ford Puma Rally1 this weekend for the second time this season after his successful rally comeback at Rallye Monte-Carlo last time out.

Loeb took a record setting 80th victory at the opening-round in Monte-Carlo, which also was the first-ever win in the new Rally1 hybrid era. He was battling with his fellow compatriot Sébastien Ogier for the overall victory but at the penultimate stage of the rally Ogier was caught with a puncture which handed the Ford Puma Rally1 driver the win and wrote a new chapter in the rally history books.

Now the Frenchman will return for another go in Rally de Portugal, where he will be joined by French female co-driver Isabelle Galmiche and they will also face Ogier one more time.

Loeb says he is happy with the setup and the feeling in the Puma on the pre-event test. He also hopes he can find the rhythm quite early in the rally and fight at the front.

“The first feeling in the Puma on gravel at our test was quite good, I was quite happy with the feeling I had as we worked on the suspension and the differential setups. Only one day of testing isn’t a lot when it’s the first time you are driving a car on gravel, but at the end I was happy with the feeling I had.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have started 2022 brilliantly, something which was further proven at the recent Miami Grand Prix after Valtteri Bottas finished seventh. Rookie Guanyu Zhou unfortunately retired from Miami due to a technical fault, however, the Chinese driver has shown promise so far this season.

Bottas has been a consistent points finisher so far this year, and has been a frontrunner in the incredibly close midfield. The Finnish driver has been able to battle with the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team at most rounds this season, as the German side continue to struggle in 2022.

The running order may mix up at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, as a number of teams will introduce their first set of substantial upgrades this season. It means the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will be an interesting host, especially as the circuit held the official shakedown test back in February.

Alfa Romeo Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur, is hoping his team can continue their “positive streak” despite what upgrades teams may introduce.

“We head to Barcelona with the aim of extending our positive streak at the start of the season: I feel we are now in a situation in which our objectives will be similar for each round going forward, and not too different from what we have had so far this season – both cars in Q2, one in Q3 and points on Sunday.

Valtteri Bottas performed brilliantly at the recent Miami Grand Prix, the Finnish driver is hoping to continue his strong-run of form this weekend, at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Bottas was unfortunate to finish seventh in Miami, after running wide late on from fifth-place, allowing both Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers past.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver goes into this weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, hoping for a “flawless weekend”.

“We had a really strong showing in Miami and, with every good result, comes the confidence to push for more. We head to Barcelona knowing we can be in the fight for the front of the midfield again: we’re in the midst of an interesting battle with our direct rivals every weekend and I don’t expect this one to be any different.

“It is crucial we have a flawless weekend, here more than ever: Barcelona is a track that holds no secrets for any team, so there won’t be any silver bullet to find to be ahead of the others, it will be about execution and doing our homework. For sure, we arrive in Barcelona in a much happier state than when we left after winter testing, which is proof of how well this team has bounced back after the difficulties we encountered in February. I want to repay all this great work with a good result.”

Andreas Bakkerud and Robin Larsson lead Monster Energy RX Cartel as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and JC Raceteknic join forces to tackle the 2023 NRX season. Bakkerud, the 30-year-old Norwegian, brings a handful of experience to the team as he competed last season in three rounds with Subaru Motorsport USA. Larsson on the other hand comes from the Monster Energy RX Cartel previously driving the Audi S1 with former teammate Liam Doran for a full season of experience back as well.

Bakkerud returns from last season after appearing in just three of the five rounds. “Snackerud”, a nickname for the Norwegian, is coming off a European Rallycross Championship win and multiple appearances in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. His name is well known in the rallycross world and he has a massive fan following to join him at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Robin Larsson should find himself quite comfortable this season as he returns to make another full-time pursuit of the Nitro Rallycross championship. Another European Rallycross Champion, Larsson is set to be one of the fastest drivers on the announced roster so far with his smooth and fast style.

The Scandinavian duo has had their fair share of final appearances, competing in three of the five finals last season. Bakkerud played a vital role in helping Subaru fight for the team and driver championships. Larsson on the other hand managed to fight his way into the final quite often, nabbing solid points throughout the season.

With the new announcement of the duo at DRR, it also shouldn’t come as a shock to see these two top drivers in the premier class, Group E. Additionally, they bring Monster Energy on board to support them in their efforts this season. Now with the electrification of Nitro Rallycross, DRR has committed to having four cars in the Group E category, given that these two are taken into the fold, the question remains as to who could be in for the other seats. Speculation could lead toward the “British Bomb” Liam Doran as no announcements have been made as for his return or moreover, Tanner Foust or Cabot Bigham two former DRR drivers from the 2021 season.

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team’s Sebastian Vettel expects that the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix will provide further insight into the nature of the new generation cars.

“Barcelona will showcase a lot of the behaviour inherent in these 2022 cars; the lower-speed corners will be a physical challenge, while the faster sections will be about bravery and trusting in the ground-effect.“

He also predicts that there will be closer racing in comparison to previous events at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, in line with the increased overtaking and battling seen since the beginning of the 2022 season. 

“Passing has usually been tricky here but I think these cars have shown they’re much better at going wheel-to-wheel, so I think it will be a different race to previous Spanish Grands Prix.”

Vettel comes off a DNF at the Miami Grand Prix after his incident with Mick Schumacher, and will likely be looking to get involved in what is expected to be a tight midfield battle in Spain to try and take home points for the team, which currently ranks ninth in the constructors’ standings.

Toyota Gazoo Racing is currently leading both the drivers’ championship and the manufacturer’s championship as they are heading for the round four of the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship at Rally de Portugal this weekend, which marks the gravel debut for the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 cars.

The team is currently the strongest and the one to beat in the new Rally1 hybrid regulations. The Finnish youngster Kalle Rovanperä has won two out of the three rounds in Sweden and Croatia to the lead the championship by 29 points meanwhile the team heads the manufacturers by 42 points.

The Toyota line-up will be changed for this weekend with the reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier joining in the third car, the eight time champion from France will be joining the Finn Rovanperä and the Britoin Elfyn Evans while the Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta is entered for the Toyota Gazoo Racing NG team in a fourth GR Yaris Rally1.

Toyota’s team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has managed the team well since his takeover in the role, the former WRC driver who is also the most experienced so far, says it will be interesting to see where they stand against the other two manufacturers on the gravel surface.

“So far, we have been very competitive with the GR YARIS Rally1 on asphalt and snow across the first three rallies of the season. Portugal will be the first of three difficult rallies on gravel in just over five weeks and it will be very interesting to see the level of the different teams and cars.” Latvala said.

The eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier will take his second start of the season for the Toyota Gazoo Racing, replacing Esapekka Lappi in the third Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 machine.

The Frenchman who is joined by co-driver Benjami Veillas, had a very successful Rally1 debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo last time out. Ogier was leading the rally until the penultimate stage where he caught up with a puncture and made so the nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb took the win.

Both Ogier and Loeb are returning back to Portugal this weekend as they are running a part-time program this season.

The five-time rally winner says he is happy to be back in Portugal and says he will face a new challenge of his rally career as he is starting further back in the order for first time in years.

“I’m excited to be back competing in Portugal. I’ve really enjoyed having some time off and now I feel quite fresh coming back. I’m of course happy to see the team has continued winning in the last couple of rallies, and I’m here not only to enjoy it and get some good results for myself but also to help win another manufacturers’ title.” Ogier said.