Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

All female-championship W Series have announced they will partner up with ESPN for the coverage of all qualifying and race sessions. W Series has its longest race calendar for its third season, with 10 races across eight supported Formula One Grand Prix weekends. ESPN, Inc. is the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment brand, airing Formula One races in the USA since 2018.

ESPN will broadcast live W Series coverage across all of its channels: ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPNEWS. The first race of the championship’s 2022 season kicks off this weekend, 6-8 May 2022, with the Series’ first double-header at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida.

The 2022 season will host two double-headers, the first being in Miami and the second at the end of the season in Mexico City at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Last season saw reigning champion Jamie Chadwick take the crown in front of a record 400,000 supporters at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, USA.

 W Series’ Chief Executive Officer Catherine Bond Muir explained, “W Series is building great momentum in the USA following the incredible finish to last season at COTA where our women drivers showcased their skills in front of a record crowd. As a result of that, we will stage three races in the USA this year, starting with a double-header in Miami this weekend.”

“W Series Miami presented by Hard Rock will be the biggest event we’ve ever staged, and I am delighted that ESPN – with its reputation as the leader in sports broadcasting in the US, and who has done such a good job of promoting motorsport, and particularly Formula 1, in North America – will broadcast live coverage of all W Series races this year. I hope that the USA will become our largest market, and ESPN is a great step towards making that happen by helping us reach new audiences”.

The GB3 Championship rolls into Silverstone for the first of two visits this weekend (7/8 May), after a thrilling opening weekend at Oulton Park in April.

The Checkered Flag looks ahead to the Tatuus MSV-022‘s first competitive running at the home of the British Grand Prix.

Last time at Silverstone

Like this year, GB3 made two visits to Silverstone in 2021.

Reece Ushijima took his first wins in the Championship in the first two races, with Ayrton Simmons making the best of a damaged chassis to win Race 3.

The drivers returned to the Northamptonshire circuit in August, and Simmons continued his positive form to win Race 1 and 2.

All eyes were on the LMP2 class during the first practice session of the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, as they locked out the top four on the timing board with a seventh of a second advantage on the Hypercars.

Setting an impressive time of 2:05.475 in his second lap of the session, Robin Frijns put the class reigning champions – WRT – into the top spot, a position that it would not lose during the 90 minutes of track time. Opening pace suggests that we’re looking at another WRT versus United Autosports for the race on Saturday as the three cars dictated the pace for the rest of the field. The Realtime by WRT wasn’t in the top four fight as it had been during the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, and had to settle for seventh.

The top three were covered by four tenths of a second, but there were only 0.06s splitting the #22 United Autosports from Frijns’ pace-setting time so the advantage was marginal for the WRT. Track conditions are due to stay similar to today tomorrow, which could give WRT the edge in qualifying.

Fourth went to the #38 JOTA which, setting a time only half a second slower than the WRT, suffered an issues at the end of the session and came to a stop at the exit of La Source. Antonio Felix Da Costa managed to get the car moving again and back to the pits, bringing out the only Full Course Yellow of the session. The only other disruption came at the very beginning where the FIA’s systems failed, postponing the start by 15 minutes.

Finishing just behind the fastest Toyota Gazoo Racing entry, the Algarve Pro Racing finished ninth overall as the fastest Pro/Am LMP2.

Frédéric Vasseur, the Team Principal of Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, says the team are going into the Miami Grand Prix weekend full of confidence after a strong start to their 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Valtteri Bottas has scored points in three of the opening four weekends to sit eighth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, while Zhou Guanyu has shown a lot of promise in the first races of his rookie season, although he only has a solitary point to his name to show for it.

Despite the impressive start, Vasseur says it is important Alfa Romeo do not take their foot off the gas, and he knows a minor swing in performance in any direction can see them fighting at the front or back of the midfield battle.

“We approach this race in a strong position and with a confident mood: we showed in Imola, where we fought for the highest positions, that our form from the beginning of the season was not a fluke,” said Vasseur

“We are actually improving with every round, and we are in a situation in which we can reap the rewards of our work, but we cannot get carried away. The whole field is still very compressed and a minor swing in performance, be it track-related or due to upgrades, can mean the balance can shift significantly.

Valtteri Bottas is eager to continue his strong early season form this weekend in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, with the Finn having scored points in every race he has finished so far in 2022.

Bottas currently has twenty-four points to his name from the opening four race weekends, and it should have been even more having retired late in the day from a top six placing in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

His most recent result saw him finishing fifth in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with Bottas shadowing his replacement in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, George Russell, right to the chequered flag.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver is excited to race in the United States again this weekend, with the Miami International Autodrome hosting its first race, and he is eager to break into the top ten once more.

“I am really excited about racing in Miami,” said Bottas. “I just spent some days in the US, visiting friends and cycling with my partner, and I’ve really enjoyed the atmosphere: I am sure the race in Florida will be an incredible show as America has got us used to.

Max Verstappen says everyone is excited about racing in Miami for the first time this weekend, and he is expecting a crazy weekend in the state of Florida.

The Miami Grand Prix makes its FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar debut this weekend at the Miami International Autodrome, and the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver arrives in the first of two races in the United States in 2022 having taken his second victory of the year last time out in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who sits second to Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship heading into this weekend, has done as much preparation for the newest event on the schedule as he can, and he is pleased Formula 1 appears to be getting more popular than ever in the United States.

“I think this weekend is going to be pretty crazy!” said Verstappen.  “I’m looking forward to racing in Miami, I’ve driven the track on the simulator and we’ve practiced and prepared as much as we can without visiting the track in real life.

“I love racing in Austin so it’s fun that we get to go to another state and race this year. It’s exciting to see Formula 1 getting much bigger in the US, F1 and the teams are working hard to promote the sport in the US and we’re having more and more races here, so step by step we are making it more popular.

William Byron‘s break-out over the last two seasons have earned him a three-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports. The deal keeps him in the #24 Chevrolet through the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Now in his fifth season of Cup competition, Byron is enjoying a solid 2022 campaign with wins at Atlanta and Martinsville and sixth-place standing in the championship. Eleven races into 2022, he is one of just two drivers with multiple wins alongside Ross Chastain.

Byron also won in a Camping World Truck Series one-off at Martinsville the night before his Cup victory there.

“I’m so thankful to continue racing for Mr. (Rick) Hendrick, Jeff (Gordon, vice chairman) and Hendrick Motorsports,” said Byron. “Since I joined the organisation, they’ve supported my growth process every step of the way, including my path to the Cup Series. With the great people around me, I’m excited to continue pursuing race wins and playoff success. Together we’ve built a #24 team that I know will contend for championships. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season and my years to come with Hendrick Motorsports.”

A member of the Hendrick family since 2016, he won the Xfinity Series championship as a rookie a year later.

Since 2015, NASCAR‘s annual trip to Darlington Raceway has become a time to honour the past with paint schemes resembling historic cars. All three national series—Cup, Xfinity, Camping World Truck—are on hand for the occasion.

As usual, the majority of the throwback liveries are modelled after past cars. Generally, drivers opt to pay tribute to those who formerly drove for their team or with their number, such as Hendrick Motorsports‘ William Byron having his #24 painted like Hendrick Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon‘s #24 DuPont (predecessor to Byron’s sponsor Axalta) car from 2007. Gordon, one of NASCAR’s household names, is a popular choice for throwbacks this year as all three series features at least one Gordon throwback: while Byron fills the Cup slot, Ryan Vargas does so for Xfinity by emulating Gordon’s Pepsi car from his brief foray into Xfinity Series team ownership, while Lawless Alan‘s truck is a tribute to Gordon’s 2007 Department of Defense one-off scheme.

A sponsorship angle also applies in cases like Kurt Busch‘s McDonald’s machine resembling when the fast food chain sponsored Bill Elliott in 1996, while Elliott’s son Chase has his NAPA Auto Parts car designed after Jimmy Means‘ 1993 NAPA car. Kyle Busch, who is in his final season with funding from Mars, Incorporated, has a throwback based on M&M’s first foray into Cup sponsorship with Ernie Irvan in 1998. Xfinity driver Patrick Emerling, a Whelen Modified Tour veteran, went as far as to acquire sponsorship from the late Richie Evans‘ supporter B.R. Dewitt for his Evans Modified throwback.

Some tributes have no connection of any kind beyond a driver being a favourite of a Darlington competitor in their youth or having an attractive paint scheme. For example, Carson Hocevar‘s #42 Premier Security Chevrolet truck is painted to resemble Travis Pastrana‘s 2012 Boost Mobile-sponsored #99 Xfinity Toyota. The livery even includes the hidden #1 in front of the number, a “loophole” that Pastrana included to continue using his trademark #199 despite NASCAR only allowing double-digit numbers. Corey LaJoie‘s #7 also employs the three-number approach as a tribute to Marty Robbins‘ #777 by having the last two sevens much smaller than the first, enough of a difference to follow NASCAR rules.

Others go for a personal route like Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, and Brandon Brown driving cars based on vehicles from their early careers, while Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell‘s throwbacks are respectively to their 2016 Daytona 500 and 2017 Truck Series championships. Keeping it in the family, Harrison Burton and his cousin Jeb are honouring their fathers Jeff and Ward‘s racing careers.

Lucas Luhr is known for his exploits in sports car racing. He is a two-time class winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and twice Nürburgring 24 Hours champion, and also has extensive experience in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and won the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2011. For 2022, he will make the switch to stock cars for the first time as he enters the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the #58 Chevrolet Camaro for Racingfuel Motorsport in EuroNASCAR PRO.

In the sports car world, Luhr has primarily raced in GT cars with titles in FIA GT and GT1, as well as GT class wins at Daytona, Le Mans, Nürburgring, Sebring, Spa, and Petit Le Mans; he is a five-time GT winner at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Luhr also has six championships in the American Le Mans Series, with two in GT while the others were in Prototypes.

Luhr has also competed in other disciplines like touring cars, where he ran the full 2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and finished seventeenth in points for Team Rosberg. In 2013, he did an open-wheel one-off in the IndyCar Series at Sonoma.

“I’m really looking forward to joining the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and providing my support to build and develop the Racingfuel Motorsport team,” Luhr stated.

Racingfuel has contracted Christoph Lenz to drive the #58 in EuroNASCAR 2, while Roger Mettler will compete for EuroNASCAR 2 Rookie and Legend Trophy honours in the #94.

Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting will not take part in this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after Bovy has tested positive for Covid-19.

The all-female crew of the #85 Ferrari-powered Iron Danes team had a great start to the season, coming across the line as the highest placed Am Ferrari, fifth in class, in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring. The trio of Bovy, Gatting and Rahel Frey had been looking to continue building on the strong start but sadly two thirds of the team have had to be replaced after a last minute positive Covid test.

Only Bovy tested positive, but due to being in close proximity over the past few days Gatting will too be sitting the Belgian race out. Impressively, the Iron Danes team has done a superb job at finding not only two replacement drivers, but two female replacement drivers at very short notice.

“We can confirm that following a COVID test earlier today, as part of our internal safety protocol, Sarah Bovy has tested positive and will not be racing this weekend at Spa.” The team statement posted on social media read. “Michelle Gatting won’t be racing either due to being in close proximity to Sarah over the last few days.

“The health of our team is our main priority and neither driver has been in contact with any other team members.

Attendants at the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this weekend will be among the first few to experience the new Raidillon / Eau Rogue grandstand that officially opened yesterday.

Work on the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps began at the end of 2021 as the circuit sought Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme accreditation so bike racing could return. Due to run off areas being too small and certain corners (Speaker’s Corner to name one), the Belgian circuit has not been deemed safe enough for bike racing, with the last world championship race taking part in 1990. There was one final bike race in 2001 – the 24 Heures de Liège as part of the Endurance World Championship – but bikes, which were the first vehicle to race on the renowned 4.352 miles circuit, have not touched the tarmac since.

As part of the renovations to get FIM certification, a new grandstand with the capacity to hold 4,600 spectators has been permanently installed at the top of the Raidillon / Eau Rouge. The new seating area allows views of cars coming out of La Source and the ability to follow them all the way through Raidillon and Eau Rouge before disappearing down the Kemmel Straight. This will be a highly-sought after seat for the Formula One race in August, but this weekend spectators of the WEC event can get a first look of views from the grandstand.

The instalment of the grandstand has, however, seen the iconic white chalet that sat a-top of the corner complex demolished to make way for the new seating area. This will come as a disappointment to some fans.

To the tune of €25 million, the renovations have added 13,000 extra seats as well as increased the safety of the circuit in response to some horror crashes the track has seen in the past (specifically in the Eau Rogue area). The completion of the project comes just in time for the circuit to celebrate its centurion active racing season.

The Ferrari-running GTE entries are expecting another difficult race at the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps after they have received no Balance of Performance (BoP) change off the back of the 1,000 Miles of Sebring.

At the opening race of the season, the Ferrari GTEs were noticeably down on power with the Pro entries struggling to outpace the fastest Ams. The class-winning Am entry, Northwest Aston Martin Racing, split the two AF Corse in the final overall clarification. It had been hoped Ferrari would be handed a BoP break for the 6 Hours of Spa, but due to the automated system needing two races to process data, the first change will be seen at the 6 Hours of Monza (as the 24 Hours of Le Mans has its own BoP system).

No one from the team was available to talk on the lack of BoP changes and anything that can be done to compensate the lack of pace, but it is summised the Ferrari runners will lose 1.2s per lap on their GTE competitors. The rain would be the only variant that may help Ferrari with the pace of their competitors being reduced, but predicted rain fall may also be an Achilles heel for the Italian outfit as that will alter the maximum outputs allowed (in the Hypercar class, a wet track reduces top speeds by around 50mph).

With first practice in just under an hour’s time, it will be seen if indeed Ferrari’s predictions are correct and they’re in for another difficult race, or if the pace is not as bad as they first assumed. The indications coming from the team, however, is it’ll be a hard fight to get a Ferrari up on either GTE podium.

Lotus have unveiled their brand-new Emira GT4 race car, the first to have been launched by Lotus Advanced Performance. The launch event took place at the manufacturer’s famous Hethel test track.

The Emira GT4 represents seventy-years worth of innovation by the company, with the new race car representing an exciting new era in performance GT racing for Lotus. The manufacturer’s new GT4 car is the first model to have been launched by Lotus’ vehicle and experimental division, which was launched earlier this year.

Lotus are continuing their transformation from being a UK sports car brand to a global company, with their recent return to world motorsport being pivotal to this. The Evora GT4 is what Lotus have been using most recently in their return to global motorsport. The Evora GT4 has picked up victories and championships in prestigious competitions such as the British GT, Dubai 24hrs, Barcelona 24hrs, European GT, Sepang 12hrs and the Pirelli World Challenge.

The launch followed on from Lotus’ announcement last September that they would make a GT version of the Emira race car, something which they have successfully done. Order books for the Emira GT4 opened when the announcement was made, the car has now sold out for the first year of production. The price of the car starts from £165,000.

Gavan Kershaw, Director of Vehicle Attributes at Lotus and a former British GT Championship winner, has been heavily involved in the Emira GT4′ development. Kershaw was at the wheel during the launch, where VIP guests were given passenger laps around the Hemel test track, he is incredibly proud of what the company have produced.

The FIA World Endurance Championship kicked off in March with the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, and now just over a month and a half later it returns with the second round of the year. Teams have been testing since Sebring at various tracks around the world to get optimum set up ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the complete grid back up to its full 37 entries – GR Racing are back on the track after missing the opening round – it will certainly be an interesting 6-hour race on Saturday.

As this is usually seen as the ‘test run’ before Le Mans, it is surprising to not see any one-off entries in Saturday’s race, with only the full WEC contenders taking to the track. In the past, teams have taken the opportunity to take part to get their teams and drivers ready for the 24-hour event.

Alpine Hit With Balance of Performance Reduction

After their dominant performance at Sebring, it isn’t a big surprise to see that only the Alpine Elf Team have had their BoP changed, reducing the power output of the sole LMP1 car. Only time will tell if Alpine manage to race around the loss of power or if the change will sway the advantage to Toyota Gazoo Racing or Glickenhaus Racing. The reigning champions Toyota will be hoping for a much better race than last time out where the #7 entry played part in the premature chequered flag that arguably may have cost the sister car a chance at the win.

Bourdais On Track For First LMP2 Race

LMP2 sees Sebastien Bourdais take to the track for his first race in the class after giving full focus to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Sebring. He along with team mate Nico Müller take to the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for the first time in an LMP2 car, with this being Müller’s first ever race at the 4.352 mile track.

All eyes will be on the Sebring winners Untied Autosports to see if they can make it two in a row and open the 2022 season in dominant style. In a race that ebbed and flowed a lot with the Team WRT and RealTeam by WRT, these two teams are looking like the ones to keep an eye on this season. Albeit we have only had one round so far and the Circuit de Spa-Francrochamps is very different to the Sebring Raceway in terms of undulations, length, climate and circuit tarmac, so this assumption could be seen as very different come Saturday evening.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame‘s panel of voters selected its trio who would make up the Class of 2023 on Wednesday. Sixty-one votes later, Matt Kenseth and Kirk Shelmerdine were named to the class on the Modern Era ballot while Hershel McGriff makes it in as a Pioneer. The trio will be formally enshrined on 20 January 2023.

Kenseth received sixty-nine percent of votes while Shelmerdine got fifty-two. Other candidates on the Modern ballot included Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Larry Phillips, and Ricky Rudd; Burton and Edwards were on the voter panel but did not take part due to their nomination statuses. Hyde, Bonnett, and Gant received the third- to fifth-most votes.

On the Pioneer ballot, McGriff gained thirty-one percent of the votes to beat A.J. Foyt for the slot. Sam Ard, Banjo Matthews, and Ralph Moody were also for consideration.

Kenseth has not stopped racing since exiting the Cup Series following eighteen full-time seasons from 2000 to 2017, currently competing in the Superstar Racing Experience and marathons like the Boston Marathon. During his Cup career for now-RFK Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, he won the 2003 title as the final season-long points champion and thirty-nine races.

Now 94, McGriff made NASCAR starts from the Cup Series’ second season in 1950 to the now-ARCA Menards Series West in 2018. Much of his career was molded in the latter with thirty-seven victories and a championship in 1988. He also won four Cup races in 1954 en route to a sixth-place points finish. When he finished eighteenth at Tucson Speedway in the 2018 West Series, McGriff became the oldest driver to race in NASCAR by a wide margin at the age of 90.