Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Dylan Pereira will start the first race of the 30th Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup season after an eventful qualifying session at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Thirty-three cars took to the Imola circuit in the second of the Porsche sessions for the day, following the postponed practice session earlier in the morning.

There was an early stoppage as double Porsche Carrera Cup Italia champion Simone Ianquinta headed in to the gravel trap after taking too much speed into the corner. There was a brief stoppage while his Dinamic Motorsport car was recovered before action got underway again. Despite ending the session early and not setting a representative time, Ianquinta will be allowed to start the race from the back of the grid following a stewards decision.

The BWT Lechner cars swapped fastest times during the opening flying laps as Pereira, Harry King, And Bastian Buus traded fastest times. It was a challenging return for three-time champion Michael Ammermüller as he ran wide off of the circuit towards the end of his flying lap. It wouldn’t be long before the reigning champion Larry ten Voorde jumped to the top of the timing screens.

With six minutes of the session remaining the track was getting busy as all drivers tried to make the most of the improving track conditions. First it was ten Voorde at the top and then Pereira. Porsche Junior Laurin Heinrich pushed hard to take third place, before being displaced by rookie Bastian Buus, who put together an impressive lap to take third place.

One can always count on Talladega Superspeedway to be a site for chaos, and Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event did little to deter that notion. Despite a fairly incident-scant first two stages, drama broke out with four wrecks in the final twenty laps and three overtimes. A mad scramble ended with Noah Gragson holding off Jeffrey Earnhardt for his second win of the season.

Much of the pre-race buildup centred on Earnhardt, driving a black #3 for Richard Childress Racing with grandfather Dale Sr.‘s former crew chief Larry McReynolds leading him, who won the pole. RCR drivers Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed qualified behind him. Hill, who won the season’s first superspeedway race at Daytona, dominated the affair by leading sixty-seven laps but was eliminated in a late wreck.

Although the lead changed hands multiple times with eight trades in the first stage, it was a relatively clean segment as Ryan Ellis‘ spin was the lone caution. Josh Berry took the lead on the penultimate lap to win the stage ahead of Ty Gibbs, A.J. Allmendinger, Landon Cassill, Hill, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Anthony Alfredo, Sam Mayer, and Brett Moffitt.

Stage #2 continued being incident-free until a wreck on the backstretch that sent Mason Massey into the inside wall while collecting Berry, Moffitt, Chandler Smith, and J.J. Yeley.

“We had it avoided there for a minute and then the #8 (Berry) started coming back across and just the way that I was angled I was going to either hit him with my left front or I had to get on my brakes and go to the right quick enough and once I did, I just got sideways and couldn’t save it,” said Smith, who was making his Xfinity début. “It sucks.”

The Team Principal of McLaren F1 Team, Andreas Seidl, has branded the team’s result in Saturday’s Sprint race as “very good,” following a fifth and sixth place finish for the papaya-coloured team’s pairing.

Lando Norris started the Sprint Qualifying session in third place after a good first run in Qualifying Three on Friday, and bringing the red flag out on the final run of the session, saving his spot on the second row. The twenty-two-year old was able to hold position at the first chicane, before being passed on laps eleven and nineteen of twenty one by Sergio Pérez and Carlos Sainz Jr. – demoting him to fifth place.

Meanwhile, team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, was able to hold on to the sixth place he started in, despite not having a chance to run in the dry at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola as a result of car issues in Free Practice Two. The Australian will be joining his team-mate on the third row of the grid in Sunday’s main race; which Seidl believes will be “exciting”:

“A very good result today, with both cars in the points but also good starting positions for tomorrow’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix,” said Seidl.

“P5 for Lando and P6 for Daniel was the best that we could do today. It is a good recovery after a difficult start to the day, with Daniel not able to run in FP2 after the team found an issue on the car, and Lando missing most of the session with a brake system issue.

Lando Norris of McLaren F1 Team has finished fifth in the first Sprint Qualifying session of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola. Despite not having the pace to match the Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari cars; the Briton will line up for Sunday’s race in the ‘best of the rest’ position alongside his teammate.

Having started from third on the grid after an excellent qualifying session in tricky conditions on Friday, Norris challenged Max Verstappen on the run into turn two, but was unable to make a move around the outside stick. With the drivers behind him going three-wide through the corner, Norris was able to get a good exit from the first chicane complex and comfortably retain third place.

The 22-year old was running comfortably in third place until lap eleven, when he was passed by a much faster Sergio Pérez, and then being passed by Carlos Sainz Jr. on lap nineteen of twenty one. When talking about his fifth place finish, Norris claimed that fifth was as good as it was going to get.

“A tough Sprint! I just didn’t have the pace to keep up with the guys in front, but we got the best result we could today and a few points, so I’m happy.

“We’ve got a good position for the race tomorrow, we can fight for some more points from P5. There’s a few things to try to work on and figure out tonight, apart from that, I’m happy.” 

Toto Wolff admitted the Sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was disappointing for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, with neither George Russell nor Lewis Hamilton able to improve on their Qualifying places on Saturday.

Russell started eleventh but slipped to twelfth at the start behind Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and was only able to gain one place back as Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Sebastian Vettel slid down the order.

Hamilton started thirteenth but fell behind Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at the start, and although he got the latter back, he could only finish fourteenth, one place worse than he started.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, said being stuck in a DRS train at Imola hurt the team badly on Saturday, and they will need to smarten up if they are to obtain the minimum target of points during Sunday’s feature race.

“What we saw today was a car without enough of a performance differential to the midfield cars to make the overtakes,” said Wolff.  “If we were running in free air, the picture would be similar to previous races where we moved forward but behind the cars in a DRS train, the car didn’t have enough performance to make progress.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team did not have the best of days at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari as neither George Russell nor Lewis Hamilton were able to break into the points in Saturday’s Sprint race.

Russell lost a place off the grid to Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen, and although he was able to find a way ahead of Sebastian Vettel, he was still left to finish where he started in eleventh.

The British racer admitted his Sprint race was not that enjoyable as he was unable to make the kind of progress they were hoping for, having found themselves outside of the top ten in Qualifying on Friday evening.

“It wasn’t very enjoyable for us today and it was difficult to overtake, we had some good pace but not the speed in a straight line to really make progress,” said Russell.  “The sprint races are very short and there isn’t time for the tyres to start degrading, creating differences between drivers and cars, opening up opportunities.

“We didn’t make strong starts today which is unlike us, we’ve made solid starts recently.”

Kevin Magnussen admitted he was surprised everyone around him went for the soft Pirelli tyre for the Sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Saturday, with the Dane one of only three drivers to use the medium compound.

The Haas F1 Team driver started the race from fourth on the grid, the highest grid position ever for the American team, but he found the soft-tyre shod drivers difficult to withstand, and he slid down the order during the twenty-one-lap race at Imola.

Nevertheless, Magnussen was pleased to bring home a point for eighth place in the Sprint race, and it gives the team a good platform to work with for Sunday’s main race, where points again will be the target.

“We were super surprised to see everyone on softs, that’s not what we wanted to see, but we judged that the softs would degrade too quickly so we went for the mediums,” said Magnussen.

“Everyone just seemed to pass me at the beginning of the race and then it kind of reset so we were on the same pace, at least with [Daniel] Ricciardo and [Fernando] Alonso.

Valtteri Bottas recovered from missing final practice on Saturday morning to score two valuable points for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN in the Sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

The Finn sat out the practice session as the team continued to fix the car following his stoppage late in Qualifying on Friday, and his first meaningful running in the dry came at the beginning of the Sprint race.

Bottas recovered from a poor start to gain places and finish inside the points, with a late race pass on Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen giving him seventh place on the grid for Sunday’s Feature race at Imola.

“First of all, I want to thank the team who did a great job putting the car back together: there were so many things they had to change but they were brilliant and thankfully everything worked perfectly,” said Bottas.

“I always trust the crew to get the car right, but they had a big task ahead of them and they delivered. Once we got racing, it was a fun afternoon with a lot of battling and some nice overtaking.

Christian Horner was delighted with the result of the Sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari as his Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers claimed first and third on Saturday.

Max Verstappen put behind him a bad start to catch and re-pass Charles Leclerc for the win on the penultimate lap of the twenty-one-lap sprint, while Sergio Pérez climbed from seventh on the grid to complete the podium in third.

Horner, the Team Principal of the Milton Keynes-based squad, said it was an excellent drive from both drivers as they maximised their results, leaving Red Bull in a good position for Sunday’s full-length Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

He praised Verstappen for staying patient and attacking Scuderia Ferrari’s Leclerc when the Monegasque racer’s tyres began to fade, and Pérez for making decisive overtakes to move up the order after being out of position due to the mixed conditions of Qualifying on Friday evening.

“It was a great performance today by both drivers,” said Horner.  “All credit to Max, he kept his head, stayed patient and kept his position on the tail of Charles, we could see the Ferrari’s front tyre was starting to go, and when his opportunity to take back the lead came, he took it.

Max Verstappen took victory in the Sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Saturday afternoon, coming out on top of a great battle with Charles Leclerc to secure the eight points on offer.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver had initially slipped behind the Scuderia Ferrari driver at the start and for much of the race shadowed his championship rival before closing the gap as tyre degradation began to play a part in proceedings.

Verstappen ultimately got within the DRS range and made a pass heading into turn one on the penultimate lap before pulling away from Leclerc to prevent the Monegasque racer from returning the favour on the final tour.  He eventually closed out the race almost three seconds clear.

“We did well as a team and it is of course a positive day for us,” said Verstappen. “I didn’t have the best start so we need to investigate what happened there but after that we had good race pace.

“Initially for the first 10 laps or so it seemed like the gap to Charles wasn’t really growing but then I think at one point the tyre degradation started to kick in a bit more and I could close the gap and I got ahead.”

Jake Hill has claimed the first pole position of the new BTCC Hybrid era kicking off the 2022 season at Donington Park earlier today (23 April) making his mark in his first weekend in the BMW under the ROKiT MB Motorsport banner.

Starting the session, it began in dramatic fashion with Dan Cammish unable to register a time and having to scramble out of his Ford Focus ST due to a suspected fuel fire ending his challenge.

This allowed BMW to become the dominant force on the restart occupying the top five positions at one stage before eventually it was two teammates in Hill and Colin Turkington with the former sealing it by 0.018s.

Reigning champion, Ash Sutton in his first foray as part of NAPA Racing UK did provide some joy as he finished third ahead of Tom Ingram‘s Hyundai for Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com.

George Gamble backed up early promise from pre-season testing with a demon debut run to finish fifth for CarGods with Ciceley Motorsport, while Gordon Shedden follows alongside.

Ferrari Driver Academy member Dino Beganovic took his maiden Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine victory in the opening race of the weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

In a race held in wet conditions, Beganovic maintained his advantage at the front after starting from pole position, while fellow front row starter Lorenzo Fluxá slipped behind both Michael Belov and Gabriele Mini into turn one. ART Grand Prix’s Mini moved up to second, while R-ace GP’s Fluxá regained third at the exit of the turn ahead of MP Motorsport’s Belov.

The safety car was soon deployed as ART Grand Prix’s debutant Laurens van Hoepen and Arden Motorsport’s Edoardo Barrichello collided at turn one, the former stopping at the side of the track with damage and the latter going to the pit lane for repairs.

On the restart, it was nearly game over for the race leader as the Prema Racing driver was hit from behind by ART’s Mini.  Beganovic got away without damage, but the Italian broke his front wing and was forced into the pit lane for repairs.  The incident is under review from the stewards.

Fluxá and Belov again switched positions after the R-ace GP driver missed the first chicane, but it was not long before the safety car was out for a second time for two separate incidents.  Léna Bühler ended in the gravel trap at Parabolica, while Race Performance Motorsport’s Pietro Delli Guanti and MP Motorsport’s Dilano van ‘t Hoff collided at the second chicane.

In conjunction with Earth Day on Friday, IndyCar and Bridgestone announced a set of environmental efforts to reduce the NTT IndyCar Series‘ carbon footprint, most notably the introduction of a new Firestone Firehawk tyre made from guayule that will begin racing usage at the Music City Grand Prix in August as the alternates.

Unlike the traditional alternate tyre (softer than the primary), which is differentiated with a red sidewall, the guayule tyre will be marked in green. Guayule (Parthenium argentatum) is a type of woody shrub found in desert areas like the southwestern United States and Mexico, and can be easily farmed using existing technology. Its abundance in the wild, especially in a country where IndyCar is located, makes it a more environmentally friendly option for rubber than standard rubber extracts that are drawn overseas. As a result, the plant has seen use for other purposes in place of usual rubber sources, such as hypoallergenic gloves and biofuel.

Bridgestone’s investment into pursuing guayule began in 2012 with a research center in Mesa, Arizona. This evolved into a guayule farm in nearby Eloy and producing the first guayule tyre in 2015. The company aims to make tyres strictly from renewable materials by 2050.

“The introduction of guayule natural rubber to America’s preeminent open-wheel racing series speaks to the confidence we have in the technology and its promise as a scalable, sustainable and domestic source of our industry’s most vital raw material,” commented Bridgestone Americas, Inc. chief technology officer Nizar Trigui. “It will take partnership and collaboration to combat the impacts of global climate change and we are proud to partner with Penske, IndyCar, and IMS to advance the future of sustainable mobility.”

The metaphorical and literal green tyre will make its début as part of the Pit Stop Challenge on Indianapolis 500 Carb Day on 27 May. 7 August’s Music City Grand Prix in Nashville will see its first use in racing action. IndyCar intends to make the 500 the most environmentally sustainable event in its history, which will begin by delivering tyres for the race via electric trucks courtesy of Penske Truck Leasing and Shell. Renewable diesel haulers will be used to transport cars beginning with the Detroit Grand Prix in June.

Max Verstappen took a superb victory in the Sprint race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Saturday afternoon despite losing out at the start to Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen began the afternoon at the front of the field but appeared to struggle to get off the line, with Leclerc getting the jump on the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver to sweep into the lead. 

The safety car was soon deployed as a collision between Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Zhou Guanyu and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly left the Chinese driver in the wall and the Frenchman with a puncture.

Leclerc appeared to have the pace to stay at the front of the field for much of the race, but the Scuderia Ferrari driver seemed to struggle more with his soft tyres, which gave Verstappen the chance to come back at him.

Verstappen attacked lap after lap with the use of DRS down the start/finish straight, but it was only on the penultimate lap that the decisive move came, and he passed Leclerc around the outside heading into turn one.  He then pulled away and ensured the Ferrari driver did not have DRS to attack him back on the final tour.

Jack Goff has split with Team HARD. Racing ahead of the continuation seemingly of his multi-year deal in the CUPRA Leon on the eve of the new BTCC season beginning today (Saturday) at Donington Park.

Goff, a five time winner in the championship was absent during the Thruxton Official Season Launch with rumours swirling online that he had left the championship. He confirmed those rumours through social media this week.

“A month ago I had to make the hardest decision after the Donington Park test and inform Team Hard that I will be stepping away from BTCC this 2022 season for multiple reasons,” wrote Goff on social media.

“Team Hard came back with a new deal but unfortunately today I found out from them that this is no longer possible.

“This has been the hardest decision for me, but I hope to be back in the future.