Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The 2022 GB3 Championship gets underway at Oulton Park this weekend (16-18 April), supporting the Intelligent Money British GT Championship in its traditional Easter weekend season opener.

Britain’s premier single-seater series began 2021 as the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, reinventing itself as GB3 from July onwards.

GB3 introduces a bespoke new car for 2022; the Tatuus MSV-022 is an evolution of the outgoing Tatuus BF3-020 with 25 per cent more downforce and a 20bhp increase to the Mountune engine, with a halo and improved side-impact structure.

The side-mounted air intake and airbox gives GB3 a sleek new look, bringing the Championship more in line with traditional FIA Formula 3 European Championship, F3 Cup and Euroformula Open machinery.

The Checkered Flag looks ahead to GB3’s first full season since its big rebrand, and brings you up to speed with the names to look out for in 2022.

Legendary F1 champion, Jenson Button has joined Oli Bennet at XITE Energy Racing to compete in Nitro Rallycross for the 22-23 season. Button, now 42, is broadening his horizons once again to expand into rallycross. Button’s father, John Button, was at the forefront of rallycross in its infancy so it’s only right that his son follows in his footsteps by joining in the now global Nitro Rallycross.

“There’s a real family connection with rallycross. Dad used to race in the late ’70s and ’80s in a Volkswagen Beetle and then a Volkswagen Golf. If you go on YouTube you’ll actually find some videos of my Dad racing at Lydden Hill with Murray Walker commentating“, said Jenson.

While the driver has lots of experience in open-wheelers, his experience isn’t nearly at the same level in the offroad world. Button previously competed in the Extreme E series for the 2021 season where his team JBXE finished third in the championship and Button himself only drove for the inaugural round at the Desert X Prix. To get up to pace, both Oli and Jenson have been testing cars from go-karts all the way to supercars, most recently testing at Pembley earlier in April.

“We’ve already completed a lot of testing and we’ve learned a fair bit from each other. As you can imagine, he took to it really quickly, adapted his driving style, and was very, very fast. It’s been really interesting and useful to compare the data – but I don’t think there’s any doubt which one of us is quicker in a go-kart“, said Oli Bennet when asked about the shared testing experience.

The pair make for Nitro Rallycross’ first all British team as they team up at XITE Energy. “We’re a British team taking on the world,” said Oli. “There’s no bigger or better driver to represent the team and what the team stands for than Jenson. We’re hugely excited about what’s to come.”

Big Machine Racing Team‘s sophomore season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is off to a challenging start. Eight races in, Jade Buford is twenty-fourth in points with just one finish in the top twenty (an eighth at COTA, a road course which the former sports car driver excels on). Hoping to ignite a spark, the team has made the decision to put Kaz Grala in the #48 Chevrolet Camaro for the next two races at Talladega Superspeedway (23 April) and Dover Motor Speedway (30 April).

Buford’s 2022 results are a stark contrast to his rookie season in 2021, where he recorded four top twenties across his first eight starts for Big Machine Racing. Despite the driver swap, his strong runs on road courses—which included top twenties and an eighth in four starts as a ringer in 2020—could mean a return for such tracks if the team decides not to retain him for ovals.

The team has a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, which owner Scott Borchetta emphasised when explaining the driver change: “We’ve made a very serious commitment to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, including our strategic partnership with RCR, and at this time, we need to evaluate all aspects of the team as I am determined to run up front.”

Grala is running a four-race Xfinity schedule for Alpha Prime Racing, recording a best finish of twenty-third at Fontana three starts in. Although he has not raced full-time since 2017 in the Camping World Truck Series, he has occasionally been tabbed to race in the three national series. He is also a member of the RCR family, which included ten races in 2019 and 2020 with a pair of top fives at Road America.

The 23-year-old also débuted Cup newcomer The Money Team Racing in the Daytona 500, where he finished twenty-sixth. He is also on a limited Truck Series employment with Young’s Motorsports.

Mitch Evans admitted winning both races of the Rome E-Prix weekend exceeded all expectations, with the New Zealander bringing himself firmly back into the championship battle thanks to his performances around the streets of the Italian capital city.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver said it was a dream weekend in Rome as he climbed from ninth on the grid to win race one on Saturday before winning again on Sunday, this time from fourth on the grid.  He used his attack mode late in the day on Sunday, which enabled him to pass Jean-Éric Vergne, Robin Frijns and André Lotterer to take over the lead and take the chequered flag first.

For Evans, it is a third victory around the Roman streets, and he is eager to carry the ‘incredible feeling’ of his double win into the next round of the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, which takes place in Monaco at the end of April.

“This weekend has been a dream,” said Evans.  “I was hoping to come to Rome and get some solid points but a double win is just incredible.

“Yesterday was amazing but I knew it would be really hard to repeat again today as these double-headers can be tricky. The Jaguar I-TYPE 5 has been just perfect.

When Josh Williams joined B.J. McLeod Motorsports for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, part of his reasoning was that McLeod would help him reach the Cup Series, especially as he has a Cup operation Live Fast Motorsports. On Sunday, he will finally get that chance when he enters the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Race in the #78 Ford Mustang for LFM.

“Racing on Sundays is every driver’s dream, right? I have been racing since I was four years old, never had a nine-to-five job, just worked every day of my life in racing to get to this point and get here the hard way,” said Williams. “I didn’t have the open checkbook some people have, I didn’t have a family member who was a NASCAR hero at one point. All I had was the mindset I wasn’t going to stop until I made it to the Cup Series. I owe a lot of people credit for the support and knowledge they provided me to get to this point. I’m ready to start this path to full-time on Sundays.”

Despite a solid ARCA Menards Series career and a decent four-year stint with DGM Racing, Williams has endured a difficult start to his life at BJMM. After having four top twenties across the first eight races in 2021 as a DGM driver, his best finish with BJMM is just twenty-first at Fontana and he failed to qualify for three events. He had departed DGM after an eighteenth-place points finish and a single top ten in 2021.

Although his BJMM tenure has started on a rough note, the #78 LFM entry is locked into the Bristol race via charter. It will be his first NASCAR national series dirt race, as the Xfinity Series does not compete on such surfaces, though he has two top fives and three top tens in six ARCA dirt starts.

“One of my favorite personal involvements within the sport of NASCAR is being a driver development coach,” commented McLeod. “This is one of the most rewarding hats to wear because of the hard work and dedication you witness as these determined drivers push themselves to the limits.

An Earnhardt and #3 go together like cookies and cream, among many other combinations. The NASCAR Xfinity Series‘ 23 April race at Talladega Superspeedway will once again see that duo reunite as Jeffrey Earnhardt will pilot the #3 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing. ForeverLawn will sponsor the car.

“What a dream come true. The chance to be behind the wheel of the #3 car for RCR, that my pawpaw made famous, has long been a dream of mine and now it’s finally happening,” said Earnhardt. “I can’t thank ForeverLawn enough for making my dreams come to reality and for being such a big part of my career. I also want to thank Mr. Childress for making this possible. The #3 car is cherished by a lot of people, and I know how much it means to him. To give me this opportunity is something I’ll never forget.”

He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, grandson of the great Dale Earnhardt, and nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Despite the family ties, he has only made one start for his uncle’s JR Motorsports team in 2013. Much of this stems from Jeffrey’s desire to build his career without having to rely on his family, and much of his starts have usually been in mid-tier to backmarker equipment. His only other stint in top-level cars came in 2019 with Joe Gibbs Racing and ally XCI Racing, a seven-race slate that saw three top tens and a third for JGR. RCR will provide him with his next best opportunity in solid-performing vehicles, especially at superspeedways, as team-mate Austin Hill won at Daytona to begin the 2022 season while former RCR driver Myatt Snider won the pole there the previous year.

After running the full 2021 Xfinity season for JD Motorsports and finishing twenty-sixth in points, he scaled back to a limited schedule for Sam Hunt Racing and Emerling-Gase Motorsports, recording a best finish of thirteenth at Atlanta for the former.

Dale Earnhardt drove the #3 Cup Series car for RCR en route to six of his record seven titles. Dale Jr. used the number for an Xfinity one-off with RCR at Daytona in 2010, an event that he went on to win, in the most recent Earnhardt #3 start to date.

When the NASCAR Cup Series ran the inaugural Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Race in 2021, Xfinity Series regular Justin Allgaier tweeted he would be “one disappointed driver” if his division did not join the 2022 weekend. While his wishes went unfulfilled, he will still get an opportunity to race at the temporary dirt short track.

On Monday, Spire Motorsports announced Allgaier will drive the #77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race. It will be his first time racing on dirt in NASCAR and his third start for the team. His Xfinity sponsor BRANDT Agriculture will also support his Cup effort.

Allgaier raced full-time in the Cup Series for the now defunct HScott Motorsports in 2014 and 2015 before returning to the Xfinity Series a year later, where he has been a perennial championship contender for JR Motorsports. However, he came back to the top level on four occasions in 2016, 2020, and 2021 as a substitute driver. He rejoined HScott at the 2016 Bristol Night Race after Michael Annett fell ill, while he replaced Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Hendrick Motorsports machine for the 2020 Indianapolis event following a positive COVID-19 test.

In 2021, he ran Pocono 2 in the Spire #77 after regular driver Justin Haley got hurt in a hard wreck in the Xfinity race. Another start for the team came later that year at Talladega when Haley was tabbed to drive for Kaulig Racing.

His lone Cup top ten was at Bristol, on its pavement configuration, in 2015.

It was a mixed Australian Grand Prix for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with Sergio Pérez claiming his first podium of the season in second but with Max Verstappen retiring due to yet another reliability problem.

Pérez had a great race at the Albert Park Circuit, and did well to get past both Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers at times during the race. The Mexican inherited second-place following his team-mates unfortunate retirement.

Verstappen was on track for an easy second-place finish, having not had the pace to keep up with winner Charles Leclerc but being easily clear of the rest of the field. That was until two-thirds race distance, when Verstappen having just set the fastest lap, pulled off the circuit having experienced yet another reliability issue. It means the Dutchman has retired from two out of the three races so far this season, due to reliability issues.

Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, was obviously very pleased for Pérez but also discussed how vital it is that the team get on top of their frequent reliability issues.

“Checo drove an exceptional race today with some stunning overtakes to secure his first podium of the season and bag some solid Championship points.  But it was very much a day of mixed emotions with Max not finishing. We think it was an external fuel leak and we need to understand exactly what has caused that failure, so it was a very frustrating race in that respect.

Sergio Pérez claimed his first podium of the 2022 Formula 1 season, after an impressive drive at the Australian Grand Prix. It wasn’t all positives for Oracle Red Bull Racing though, as Max Verstappen retired from second-place, after yet more reliability issues.

Pérez drove well all race and actually fought his way back up to the podium places strongly following a poor start. The Mexican made a great launch off of the line but was boxed in by his team-mate, this allowed Lewis Hamilton past who Pérez re-overtook just a few laps later.

Pérez found himself having to overtake both Hamilton and George Russell following his pit-stop, after being over-cut by both Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers. Overtaking both Mercedes put Pérez into third place, which quickly became second following Verstappen’s retirement.

The Mexican was happy to finally get a good result following some bad luck at the first two races, however he feels like it’s opportunity missed for the team following his team-mates retirement.

“It was a good result but, unfortunately, we lost Max and it would have been great to have a double podium for the Team. On the other hand, it is a good result after so many unlucky moments in the first couple of races for me. It was a very complicated race with the start I had and the safety cars but we managed to overcome it. My first start was very poor, we struggled a lot with degradation on the medium tyre, we were a bit unlucky with the safety car and we lost two positions which we recovered later.

Scuderia Ferrari continues to assert their position at the front of the pack with Charles Leclerc’s dominant win at the Australian Grand Prix. Rising from the tough times of the years past, Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto felt that the race provided further evidence that it takes “perfection” to lead the pack in Formula 1. 

“I am very pleased. It’s always great to win and it also boosts the morale of the team who deserve all this, because they have all developed the right mentality to face difficult moments head on and make the most of any opportunity. We always say that you can only come out on top in Formula 1 if you do everything to perfection and I think today’s race proved that. Charles delivered a mature performance, something he is now making a habit of.”

It was, however, a bittersweet result for Ferrari in Melbourne, with Carlos Sainz Jr retiring on lap two. Sainz already faced unfortunate circumstances on Saturday, after being unable to complete his final lap in Qualifying Three and only qualifying ninth. His bad luck continued on Sunday, as his car went into anti-stall on the first lap after technical issues arose on the way to the grid. In an effort to recover the positions lost on the first lap, he spun out and found himself stuck in the gravel at Turn 10. 

“It’s a shame for Carlos, because his weekend was complicated by a series of circumstances in both qualifying and the race, which affected his performance. I know him well enough to believe that he will turn the negatives to his advantage and come back stronger next time he’s in the car.”

Binotto is happy with the results the team has achieved so far this season, and hopes to keep moving forward ahead of the next race weekend, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the victory at the Australian Grand Prix with a dominant performance, converting his pole position to a first place finish. He led all fifty-eight laps comfortably with his competitive F1-75, earning the fastest lap and the award of Driver of the Day. 

“What a great victory this was for us! We managed our pace well and were extremely competitive. We didn’t suffer from tyre degradation, even when pushing hard. The car was just amazing and I’m very pleased with how my race went. On paper, this was a track that we expected to be tough for us, so we have to review our data because we were in fact very strong.”

After three consecutive finishes in the podium positions, two of which being wins, Leclerc is proud of the results he has achieved with the team so far. He did, however, emphasise the importance of keeping up with development to ensure they hold on to their position on top of the championship.

“It’s a great way to start the season, but we have to keep in mind that we are only three races into a very long championship. We can’t afford to relax at any moment and have to stay on top of things, most of all on development. Congratulations to everyone on our team. What an amazing job you have all done! I’m very proud of how far we’ve come and can’t wait to continue fighting. Forza Ferrari!”

“This is definitely a difficult weekend to digest.” – Carlos Sainz Jr

For teammate Carlos Sainz Jr, the Australian Grand Prix brought misfortune, he spun out on lap two after losing several positions on the opening lap. Already in a less-than-optimal starting position of ninth, as he was unable to put in a final lap in Qualifying Three after a red flag, he described why he dropped down to fourteenth and ultimately found himself stuck in the gravel. 

Mitch Evans continued where he left off on Saturday as he claimed victory in race two of the Rome E-Prix on Sunday afternoon, his second win of a remarkable weekend for the New Zealander.

After climbing from ninth on the grid on Saturday to take his first victory of the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season, Evans at least gave himself a better chance to double up by making it into the duels, although he was knocked out at the semi-final stage by Jake Dennis.

Jean-Éric Vergne took pole position for Sunday’s race ahead of Dennis, with André Lotterer and Dennis filled row two.  There was also a change in attack mode rules for Sunday’s race, with one eight-minute period coming into play instead of the two four-minute activations of Saturday.

Jaguar TCS Racing’s Evans was lucky to have the time to activate and use his whole eight minutes as he was forced to rely on extra time being added to the race due to two safety car periods – one for the stopped Antonio Giovinazzi early on and the second for Alexander Sims near the end.  Giovinazzi’s stoppage added two minutes and fifteen seconds to the race length, while Sims’ retirement added another three minutes.

By the time Evans took his attack mode on lap twenty, he fell to fourth behind Vergne, with Lotterer leading Robin Frijns.  However, the advantage of the attack mode was clear as he quickly regained third before chasing down the leading duo, with a lap twenty-two pass on Frijns for second being swiftly followed by a pass for the lead on Lotterer.

Cleetus McFarland was only meters away from winning the Stadium Super Trucks‘ Race #2 in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, but an awkward landing off the final jump instead shot him into the wall and ruined that dream. As McFarland spun, Robby Gordon snuck by to win for the fifth time at the street circuit and secure a Gordon family weekend sweep.

Saturday’s race results were inverted to determine Sunday’s starting grid, which placed Ryan Arciero—who retired on Saturday with a brake issue—on the pole while Gordon and his son/Race #1 winner Max were at the back. Arciero led the opening lap with Davey Hamilton Jr. and McFarland following, but the leader’s unlucky weekend culminated in a lap two spin in turn eight.

Arciero’s misfortune was Hamilton’s gift as he inherited the top spot. Behind him, Jerett Brooks and Gavin Harlien drafted their way up to McFarland’s bumper and fought with him for second. By the competition caution on lap four, Harlien was able to get by McFarland who in turn staved off Brooks’ challenge.

The top three took off on the restart and filed side-by-side, upon which McFarland capitalised to claim the lead as they reached the first corner. Hamilton and Harlien gave chase as Matt Brabham lurked behind them before joining the skirmish on lap six. While going past the fountain, Brabham tapped Harlien from behind and caused him to skid into the flowerbed (where Simon Pagenaud had beached himself in the NTT IndyCar Series race earlier in the day) before bouncing into the wall.

McFarland continued to lead as the race exited the second competition yellow to start lap nine. Midway through the lap, Zoey Edenholm spun in turn five while Hamilton ran wide as he raced Max Gordon, forcing him to miss a jump but resulting in contact with Brooks that collected Robert Stout.

Through strong pit strategy and duels on late restarts, Josef Newgarden claimed his first win in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach of his IndyCar career, while simultaneously taking the championship lead in the process.

“I’ve been trying to win a race here for eleven years,” Newgarden said in victory lane. “I’m so happy to finally get it done!”

Newgarden held off a hard-charging Romain Grosjean through on the final restart with five laps to go, aided by a final caution for Takuma Sato ending up in the tyre barrier at turn eight thrown on the final lap, to win his second-straight race and keep Team Penske undefeated on the season. This is the first time since 2012 that Penske has won the first three races of the season. Newgarden’s victory also gives Penske the record for most wins by a team on the streets of Long Beach.

“We knew coming into the race we have a good strategy, we make good fuel, with Team Chevy, we’re going to be alright,” Newgarden continued.

“And I had everything I needed today.”

Charles Leclerc cruised to his second win of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, after an emphatic display at the Australian Grand Prix where the Monegasque driver appeared to be untouchable, whilst some of the favourites ran into trouble Down Under.

Second place was claimed by Oracle Red Bull Racing but not by the driver who many predicted would challenge Leclerc for the win, Sergio Pérez stood on the second step of the podium after Max Verstappen retired late on from the race. George Russell rounded off the podium, the first of his career as a Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver.

Leclerc untouchable Down Under

From the lights going out, Leclerc was in complete control of the Grand Prix having started from pole position. The Monegasque driver claimed every accolade at the Albert Park Circuit, after taking pole, the win, the fastest lap and Driver of the Day, as he stretched his championship lead to an impressive thirty-four points, from Russell who sits second in the standings.

Despite winning by just over twenty seconds, Leclerc was kept busy at times during the race. The first race in Melbourne since 2019 featured two Safety Cars and one Virtual Safety Car. The Scuderia Ferrari driver almost made a hash of the second safety car restart, after getting on the power too early coming out of the final corner, Verstappen who was second at the time tried to challenge Leclerc but it was to no avail.

It wasn’t all good though for Ferrari on Sunday, as Carlos Sainz Jr became the first retirement of the race, after spinning across the grass between Turns nine and ten, before becoming beached in the gravel on the Turn ten exit. It summed up a disastrous weekend for Sainz, after being caught out by the red flag during final qualifying. Sainz who started ninth, chose to start the race on the Hard compound. This decision saw the Spaniard swallowed up by the pack on the opening lap, after he struggled to generate heat into the hardest tyre.