Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Kyle Busch Motorsports‘ multi-driver #51 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro will have a dirt ace as its pilot for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series‘ dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway on 16 April. On Thursday, the team announced Michael “Buddy” Kofoid will drive the #51 in his maiden NASCAR start.

2021 saw Kofoid win the United States Auto Club (USAC) quarter midget national championship through a six-win campaign, as well as winning the USAC Indiana Midget Week. Other race victories came in the Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget Series and the Wild Wing Shootout. A member of Toyota Racing, he also ran ten late mode races which included finishing third in the prestigious All American 400‘s Pro Late Model division.

Four rounds into the 2022 USAC national midget season, he sits second in points. In January, Kofoid won a qualifying race in the legendary Chili Bowl Nationals after holding off dirt star and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, and he went on to finish fourth in the A Main. The run was his third in the Chili Bowl and his best performance after falling short of the A Main in 2020 and 2021.

“Getting the opportunity to race the best equipment in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is a huge step in my career and I can’t thank Kyle Busch Motorsports, (sponsor) Mobil 1 and Toyota enough for giving me this chance,” commented Kofoid. “To be making my Truck Series début in such a unique event at an iconic venue like Bristol Motor Speedway is going to be really cool.”

Kofoid’s truck has the chassis (KBM-12) that Martin Truex Jr. drove to victory in the inaugural Bristol Dirt Truck race last year. KBM also has two wins in the dirt at Eldora Speedway courtesy of Bubba Wallace (2014) and Christopher Bell (2015).

The FIA Formula 1 World Championship has revealed the newest circuit that is due to appear on the season calendar, this time being held in the streets of Las Vegas. Formula 1 has been racing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for over ten years now, and will see the first ever Miami Grand Prix held this year; but the latest addition to the calendar sees the sport continue to grow in the US.

The event will take place on a Saturday night (local time) in November “on the famous Las Vegas Strip with the track sweeping past some of the world’s most legendary landmarks, hotels and casinos.”

Formula 1 also claims that the circuit will feature fourteen corners, including a chicane and some high-speed corners. The track is 3.8 miles in length, as it travels around the streets of Las Vegas, and can see drivers reaching top speeds of over 212 miles per hour. The Saturday-night event will be 50 laps in length.

Stefano Domenicali – “This is an incredible moment for Formula 1”

CEO and president of Formula 1, Stefano Domenicali, said that a third US Grand Prix proves the amount of growth the sport has seen in recent years.

“This is an incredible moment for Formula 1 that demonstrates the huge appeal and growth of our sport with a third race in the US. Las Vegas is a destination known around the world for its excitement, hospitality, thrills, and of course, the famous Strip.”

Stacy Guiney of Suberashi Auto Photo headed along to the Porsche GB Motorsport media day this week to capture a selection of images for The Checkered Flag, of the Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB contenders ahead of the 2022 season.

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Keith McGee‘s first race of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season will be on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Reaume Brothers Racing announced Thursday that McGee will drive the #43 Chevrolet Silverado RST in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt on 16 April.

A veteran of the United States Air Force, McGee ran five Truck races in 2021 for RBR, Jordan Anderson Racing, CMI Motorsports, and Cram Racing Enterprises. In his lone start for CRE, he scored a top ten at Talladega.
“Any time Keith drives a race car, it is a reflection of grit and determination,” commented team owner Josh Reaume. “I’m happy to have him back behind the wheel for us.”

Although the Truck Series introduced two dirt races at Bristol and Knoxville in 2021, McGee did not race at either. He has little dirt experience compared to karting and short tracks, though he is not unfamiliar with non-paved surfaces as he has raced on ice in Alaska.

“I am really looking forward to getting my hands dirty at the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, April 16th,” McGee stated. “While my dirt racing résumé isn’s very long I do have ice racing experience in Alaska and I will lean heavily on that to help me wheel my #43 Vulcan Towing & Recovery Chevy Silverado around The Last Great Colosseum. Justin (Creech, owner) at Vulcan Towing Recovery has been there with me from the beginning of my racing career in Alaska and his support has been unwavering, he also donates his time and resources helping fellow Alaskans in their time of need. He recently donated his time and heavy haul equipment to help clear a forty-foot-deep avalanche that cut off access to more than 100 homes in my home town of Eagle River, Alaska. I would also like to thank Josh and everyone at Reaume Brothers Racing for giving me this opportunity to get back to doing what I love.”

Prior to entering the Truck Series, McGee raced at the regional level in series like the now-ARCA Menards Series West. He has five starts in said championship between 2018 and 2019 with a best finish of tenth on two occasions.

Charles Clark will be returning to the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB for the 2022 season with Team Parker Racing as he looks to build on his seven podiums last season.

Clark followed in his fathers footsteps, Porsche Carrera Cup GB race winner Stephen Clark, beginning his racing career in the Porsche Club Championship in 2020, claiming a victory and finishing the year as runner up in the championship. Following the promising debut he took part in the final two rounds of the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB at Silverstone, driving a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the Am category.

For 2021 Clark returned to the Sprint Challenge for a full campaign, racing with In2Racing, finishing on the podium in his first Pro class race at Thruxton, eventually finishing fourth in the overall championship standings.

Credit: Porsche

“Everyone at Team Parker Racing has been very welcoming and it’s been great to go through data with the team and look at all the other driver’s data, which I didn’t have last year. I think that’s going to make a big difference in really pushing me forward and getting the best out of me.

The 21-year-old is targeting the championship title this season, hoping to build on what he has achieved so far, continuing his way up the Porsche Pyramid and progressing his racing career.

The former New Zealand Rally champion Ben Hunt has unveiled his all-new Skoda Fabia R5 rally car which he will be using at the FIA World Rally Championship round of Rally New Zealand on 29 September – 2 October.

Together with Skoda of New Zealand, they have formed a brand-new team named Skoda New Zealand Rally Team and will be using an older spec Fabia R5 chassis.

Hunt will continue his long-term partnership with co-driver Tony Rawstorn and they have previously won the two-wheel-drive title in the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2011 and 2012 using a Ford Fiesta MK5 ST before switching over to four-wheel-drive and won the main title in 2015.

After having a contract with Subaru since 2016 and used the WRX STi he was gifted from the Japanese manufacturer, the New Zealander will now be using the Czech make to contest six rounds of the New Zealand Rally Championship this season and make an one-off appearance at his home rally when WRC returns after a ten years hiatus.

In what has been a historically good race for the team, this year’s Twelve Hours of Sebring threw up numerous hurdles for the team at every turn. All looked well for the team in the opening hours of the race, Geroge Kurtz and Jon Bennett both had strong opening stints in the brutal Florida humidity. Both Kurtz and Bennett kept the team in the top five before handing it over to Colin Bruan who charged for and nearly took the lead prior to a full course caution that ended his charge. Kurtz would keep the car in podium contention during his second stint with Bennett continuing the momentum when it was his turn behind the wheel.

It was during Bennett’s second stint that trouble arose for the team. During his stint, he suddenly slowed and came to a stop in turn one. After some brief trouble, he got the car running again just for the issue to occur once more. After this, the team decided to return the car back to its paddock to find the culprit. A faulty switch panel was activating the engine kill switch without any input. The team replaced the panel and rejoined the race in seventh, 12 laps off of the leader. With just four hours left it looked bleak, but there were no signs of quitting at CORE Autosport.

CORE Autosport Team Credit: CORE Autosport

“We did have a good start to the day, and I think in many ways we were actually doing better than last year when we won, in terms of pace and fortune. Racing is racing and we began to have a little bit of an engine miss and then a complete electric failure twice,” Bennett said. “The CORE team did an incredible job diagnosing it and fixing it, but 12 laps was a bit too much for us to overcome. Colin and George’s pace were excellent, but sometimes racing just goes like that. Now we look forward to Mid-Ohio.”

Following the fix, Braun once again got behind the wheel and received minor damage to the nose following contact with another car. When Bruan pitted to hand the car over to Kurtz, the team were able to repair the damage and correct the car’s handling. During his final stint, Kurtz experienced steering rack failure and was forced to limp back to the pit lane for repairs. With 90 minutes left, the team returned the car to the track with Braun driving home to a fifth-place finish. The team was disappointed by the bad luck, but happy for the points haul nonetheless.

GP Elite will be returning to both the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland grids with a stellar line up, lead by two time (in both series) Supercup and Carrera Cup champion Larry ten Voorde.

The Dutch super team have dominated both series for the last two seasons, with ten Voorde taking all four titles he competed in – 2020 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland (4 Wins, 11 Podiums, 3 Pole Positions, 1 Fastest Laps), 2020 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (3 wins, 6 podiums, 3 Pole Positions, 2 Fastest Laps), 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland (8 Wins, 13 Podiums, 8 Pole Positions, 4 Fastest Laps), 2021 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup (4 wins, 6 podiums, 4 Pole Positions, 2 Fastest Laps).

Credit: Porsche

In addition to his success in Carrera Cup and Supercup, ten Voorde has seen success in the FIA World Endurance Championship and also eSports.

ten Voorde will face stiff competition this season in the two series as three-time Supercup champion Michael Ammermüller returns with Huber racing to reassert his authority.

Joining ten Voorde, will be 2019 Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux champion Max van Splunteren, Daan van Kuik, Jesse van Kuijk and Lucas Groeneveld, who will all be competing in both series this season.

Three-time Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup champion Michael Ammermüller will make his return to the series this year with Huber Racing alongside Morris Schuring, Rudy van Buren and Laurin Heinrich.

Ammermüller last raced in the series in 2019, when he claimed his third title with Lechner Racing, taking four wins and three further podiums from the ten race calendar. The following year he made the move to the ADAC GT Masters series driving the SSR Performance Porsche 911 GT3 R, taking three wins on the way to the title.

Credit: ADAC GT Masters

2021 saw another campaign in the ADAC GT Masters series, this time finishing second in the championship, despite taking four wins, he also took part in the DTM race at Nürburgring, marking Porsche’s ever race in the series, and a one-off appearance on the Nordschleife in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (formerly VLN).

Alongside his Supercup campaign, the Porsche specialist will be heading back to the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland as he makes a bid for the title that has so far eluded him, finishing as runner up in the series three times.

Joining Ammermüller under the SSR Huber Racing banner is the eSports turned racing star Laurin Heinrich, who will be looking to improve on his 2021 Supercup campaign that saw him finish fourth in the championship with one victory. Like his teammate, Heinrich will also be joining him in the national series, as he looks to add to his two victories from last season and improve on his fourth place in the championship.

Pierre Gasly’s first points of the 2022 Formula 1 season were somewhat overshadowed, as team-mate Yuki Tsunoda failed to start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after yet more reliability problems to his AT03.

It was a strong comeback drive by Gasly, who was one of a few drivers that were massively caught out when the Safety Car appeared for Nicholas Latifi’s crash. Despite the setback, the Frenchman recovered well to eventually cross the line in eighth place, despite having intestine pain throughout the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Tsunoda failed to even make it to the grid, after experiencing reliability issues on the way round to take his spot. Tsunoda’s weekend was ridiculed by reliability issues, the Japanese driver didn’t even take part in Qualifying after issues arose with his AT03.

Tsunoda certainly won’t be remembering this Grand Prix, which was ultimately won by Max Verstappen. Scuderia AlphaTauri Team Principal, Franz Tost, is looking forward to returning to Saudi Arabia.

“Congratulations to Oracle Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen for this fantastic victory today, it was a great battle between Max and Charles and a really enjoyable race to watch. I also would like to congratulate the organisers of this Grand Prix, there was a good atmosphere, I think the fans enjoyed the race and I’m very much looking forward to coming back here.
 
“It was a difficult race for us, it’s always disappointing when a car isn’t able to make it to the starting grid. We had a problem on Yuki’s car with the oil pressure, therefore we had to stop.  We now have to go away and investigate what the reason for this was. As for Pierre, we started from ninth position, we struggled in the first stint and couldn’t quite get up to pace, so the Mclarens were able to overtake us.

48-year-old Frenchman Sébastien Loeb who won the opening-round of the FIA World Rally Championship at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January at the beginning of the year, is now rumoured to add a new program to his 2022 schedule beside WRC, Rally-raid and Extreme E by entering the DTM series.

According to an article published by Motorsport.com, Loeb has tested one of the AF Corse’s Ferrari 488 GT3 cars at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium on Tuesday this week. It was known that the AF Corse were testing three cars in total adorned in the Red Bull and Alpha Tauri liveries, and a plain-white which Loeb was testing.

Loeb has never competed in the DTM series before but he has got a lot of experience in circuit racing alongside his domination in the rally scenewith 9 worlds titles. In 2006 he came second at the 24 Hours or Le Mans and scored multiple race wins in the 2014 and 2015 FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Credit: Eurosport

The full-time confirmed drivers of Felipe Fraga and Nick Cassidy were also there and they were testing the two other full-livered cars.

Red Bull has for a long time sponsored Loeb, so a DTM opportunity is certainly very likely after this test and the background for it is also influenced by Cassidy’s other racing programs this season, as he also drives in the Formula E and FIA World Endurance Championship in addition to the DTM.

Pierre Gasly scored his first points of the season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, whilst team-mate Yuki Tsunoda failed to even make the start at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

It was a strong Grand Prix for the French Scuderia AlphaTauri driver, who after starting ninth, battled hard throughout to clinch an eighth place finish and his first points of the season. It could’ve possibly been an even better result for Gasly, had he not been caught out by the Safety Car to clear up Nicholas Latifi’s last corner crash, nevertheless eighth place is a super result.

Gasly was very pleased to leave Saudi Arabia with points, which was a miracle considering that from very early-on in the race the Frenchman suffered from intestine pain.

“I’m really happy with how today went and glad I’m coming away with points. We got really unlucky with the safety car, as we boxed around 30 seconds before it came out and so dropped down the field, which wasn’t ideal. We managed to make our way back up though to P8, so really pleased with that.

“From my side the last 15 laps were really difficult, I had some pain in my intestine and it was really difficult to race. I’m feeling good in the car though, I’m able to push the way I want to, but I think we need to just find some more downforce. We know the areas we need to improve so we just need to go away and find the solutions now.”

Haas F1 Team principal, Guenther Steiner, has said that team morale is high at the moment, following a second consecutive points finish for the American racing team. With Kevin Magnussen finishing in ninth place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Steiner says that Haas “cannot wait” for the first grand prix at Melbourne in three years, where they are hoping to get both cars into the points.

“It was a good day again and we got some points. Obviously, we planned to have more but we’re happy with what we got and as long as we keep scoring, we’re happy,” the boss explained.

“We started on a different strategy – on the hard tire – to most of the other teams and unfortunately the safety car came out at the wrong moment. Nevertheless, Kevin and the team fought back to get into the points which was fantastic to see again.”

“Spirits are high here and we cannot wait to get to Melbourne to hopefully score some more points with both cars.”

Haas have certainly taken the world by surprise with their competitiveness in the 2022 season – especially after the miserable 2021 season the team experienced. The black, white and red-themed racing team are in a very strong position, and look to be fighting for the ‘best of the rest’ position at the end of the season.

Image: Andy Hone / LAT Images.

Kevin Magnussen has scored points for the second weekend in a row at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, a positive end to the weekend after a difficult Saturday afternoon for Haas F1 Team, caused by Mick Schumacher‘s terrifying accident at turn thirteen.

Despite finishing in the points, Magnussen believes that there was potential for more points, should the safety car have not come out at exactly the wrong time – “The worst thing that could happen to us did happen as we started on the opposite strategy, on the hard tire. Almost everyone else was on mediums and the worst thing that could happen was a safety car on lap 16 or 17, and it happened on lap 16.”

“To still get two points is very good and the car was phenomenal again, it’s such a joy to drive. We did get a little bit of luck back at the end with the Virtual Safety Car but had that been a safety car rather than a VSC, everyone would’ve been condensed and with new tires we would’ve scored big points again.”

“The team has done a fantastic job and we bounced back from a difficult situation on Friday, so I’m happy,” concluded Magnussen, after a ninth place finish for Haas.

Mick Schumacher – “I’m feeling good,” following high-speed qualifying crash

As a result of his scary accident in Qualifying 2 on Saturday, Schumacher was unable to compete in Sunday’s Grand Prix, but commented on his condition before the race:

Elias Adestam has recently joined the GB4 championship with Fortec Motorsport for the 2022 campaign.  

At just 15-years-old, the youngster has had an impressive racing career. Adestam started racing at just five years old in a handmade kart made by his father, Rickard, on a custom-made track in his grandfather’s potato field. 

In 2014, Adestam made his karting debut at the age of 8 and was a regular front runner back in his hometown. It wasn’t long before the Swedish driver made his single-seater debut in 2020, at the Ring Knutstorp in the Formula Nordic category. 

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, The Checkered Flag caught up with Adestam ahead of his campaign. 

“I am stoked to finally be driving in a professional team outside of the borders of Sweden. Fortec is happy with my job so far and I am very happy to be working with them. Together I think that good results will come.”