Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

19-year-old Cameron Palmer has been crowned the 2022 Halfords BTCC Apprentice of the Year and will spend the season with the Halfords Racing with Cataclean squad ran by Team Dynamics after beating off competition from apprentices up and down the country.

The competition involved a practical assessment and a tough interview, designed to evaluate the entrants’ skills, knowledge and dedication which Palmer from Ashbourne, Derbyshire did in order to impress the panel of judges.

Currently doing his Level Three apprenticeship, Cameron is developing his knowledge on hybrid and electric cars and will be putting this into practice now at the top level in the BTCC going from road cars to a fully fledged Touring Car.

“The Halfords apprenticeship is a great start in the industry,” he said. “I’m learning through hands-on work and can’t wait to work on high performance touring cars. Winning the competition is a huge career opportunity, and I hope it will help me climb the ladder in this exciting industry and one day go into motorsports.”

This could lead to further opportunities for Palmer with Josh Hall who won in 2019 now a fully fledged race car mechanic for Team Dynamics after winning the same award. He will work with the team who currently have Gordon Shedden and Dan Rowbottom confirmed as their two drivers for the 2022 season.

With the 2022 BTCC season upon us, Team BMW are the latest team to unveil their livery which will adorn their duo of BMW 330e M Sport cars piloted by four time Drivers’ Champion, Colin Turkington and multiple race winner, Stephen Jelley.

Jake Hill is also part of the trio but is running under the MB Motorsport powered by ROKiT banner in a striking matt black effort while for Team BMW, they will go away from that with a white base returning for 2022 as BMW M celebrates its 50th anniversary.

“It’s always an exciting day when we showcase our new livery for the season,” said WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts.

“It’s no different in 2022 and this year we have two extra factors in both the move to hybrid powertrains and greater sustainability as well as celebrating BMW M’s 50th anniversary.

“I was involved in several BMW Motorsport projects in the 1970s with Formula 2 and the BMW M1 Procar series, and I don’t think I’d have predicted to still be involved all these years later.

Alpine Elf Team have claimed pole position for the FIA World Endurance Championship 1,000 Miles of Sebring ahead of the #708 Glickenhaus Racing. As predicted from their pace in practice, Porsche GT Team will start the first race of the year locking out the front row of the GTE grid.

It became clear early on in the Hypercar and LMP2 qualifying session that the fight for overall pole was between Alpine and Glickenhaus as Toyota Gazoo Racing was still struggling to find optimum pace at the Sebring International Speedway. Nicolas Lapierre led the way in the #36 Alpine, taking provisional pole after the first flying laps. Due to the new qualifying system that came into place in the WEC last season where only one driver from a team has to set a qualifying lap time, Lapierre stayed on board to protect the lap time from charging Olivier Pla.

But there was no need for the Frenchman to sweat; his 1:47.407 was not only the fastest lap time of the race event so far by almost three seconds, but set the Alpine 1.3s up on Pla’s fastest time in the Glickenhaus. It was too much of a deficit for the privateer team to overcome.

The Hypercar/LMP2 qualifying was shortened by 12 seconds after Fabio Scherer – replacing Alex Brundle after the Brit tested positive for Covid – in the #34 Inter Europol Competition went wide through Turn 1 and hit the tyre barrier on the outside of the circuit. There was a lot of damage done to the car, and with the sun setting and only 12 seconds left on the clock the decision was made not to restart. This was much to the annoyance of Sebastien Buemi who believed his team mate Brendon Hartley driving the #8 Toyota was due to improve on his lap time.

If the New Zealand driver had improved, he could have possibly placed the Toyota third on the grid rather than fourth behind the LMP2 pole sitter. Only two tenths off the LMP2 car, Hartley was on an improved lap time and quite possibly would have promoted himself up a position. Still, the fastest Toyota was nearly two seconds adrift of pole-sitting Alpine. Toyota will be hoping their race pace is stronger than their one-lap pace displayed so far.

Two weeks after the grid completed pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, they return for the first round of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season for another blockbuster year.

This season’s weekend format has reverted to the previous format of a single Sprint Race and Feature Race after the 2021 season saw two Sprint Race’s as well as a Feature Race spread across the weekend.

The Story So Far

PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala was quickest on the Day One of Testing, setting a time which was half a second quicker than the rookie Calan Williams who set the second fastest time.

Carlin’s Liam Lawson was quickest on Day Two and became the first driver to delve inside the 1m42s. He too was half a second quicker Ralph Boschung and Théo Pourchaire who both set identical lap times to take second.

MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich topped the timing sheets on the morning Day Three which saw a sandstorm forcing Race Control to abandon the afternoon session. He finished ahead of his team-mate and FIA Formula 3 graduate Clement Novalak to take the quickest time of the day.

Kay van Berlo drove a near-perfect race to claim an impressive back-to-back victory at Sebring International Raceway for the season opening race week for the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America series.

It was another clean start for the field as Kay van Berlo led the field in to the first corner, once again Parker Thompson made a lightning start to get the jump on Riley Dickinson to take second place on the opening lap. Pro-Am driver Carlos De Quesada was an early spinner after contact from Pedro Torres; De Quesada would recover to track to continue.

By the end of the first lap van Berlo, on fresh Michelin tyres, had already pulled out a visible gap to the second placed Thompson. It wouldn’t be long before Dickinson would make his move on Thompson, dropping him to third place with a small tap (which would result in a warning), into the jaws of chasing Leh Keen and Dimitri Dimakos.

In Pro-Am Justin Oakes took the lead on the opening lap, ahead of Efrin Castro, and Alan Metni. For Am Mark Kvamme led John Goetz and Vernon McClure.

Ten minutes in to the forty-minute race van Berlo was in control and pulling away from the field; Teammate Riley Dickinson was 1.357 seconds back with another 2.2 second gap to Thompson, who was being chased down by Trenton Estep, Dimakos and Varun Choksey.

The 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship gets underway at the Bahrain International Circuit this weekend (18-20 March), with first-year drivers comprising over half the grid.

The Checkered Flag takes a look at the circuits the Championship will visit, recaps the revised weekend format and runs through the drivers currently confirmed to compete in the first round.

Calendar

As always, all rounds support the Formula One World Championship and the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

The season begins with F3’s first-ever visit to the Middle East and Bahrain (18-20 March), before two two-day testing sessions at Circuito Jerez (05/06 April) and Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (15/16 April).

Round Two also takes place at a new circuit for F3, the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola (22-24 April), before moving back to Catalunya, the venue for 2021’s season opener (20-22 May).

MP Motorsport have announced their first driver for the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine season, with Russian Michael Belov joining the Dutch outfit.

Belov was twice a race winner for G4 Racing as he raced a partial campaign with them last year, taking victory at Spa-Francorchamps and then again at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.  He also scored a double podium at the Circuit Paul Ricard in a one-off wildcard appearance with JD Motorsport, although those results did not count towards the championships standings.

The twenty-year-old is aiming high for his first full season in FRECA, with more victories amongst his targets for 2022 as he looks to improve on finishing eighth in the standings last year.

“I’m very pleased to have signed with MP for the full 2022 FRECA season,” said Belov. “I’ve battled MP’s cars on several occasions last year, and back in SMP F4 the MP drivers were my prime rivals. And now I will be one of them myself!

“I definitely aim to add more wins to my FRECA victory tally, and who knows where we will stand at the end of the season? I’m looking forward to the start of the season with great anticipation.”

The two North American endurance racing icons, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Twelve Hours of Sebring, are known collectively as the “36 Hours of Florida”. Porsche customer teams have experienced great success between the two races with 14 overall victories between the two races since 1968 and have opened the season with a win in both GTD classes at Daytona. With four 911 GT3 R entries, two in each GTD class, the customer teams are ready for a strong fight this weekend.

In GTD Pro the #9 Pfaff Motorsports and #79 Proton Competition will see who can reign supreme after 12 hours of racing. The #9 car is fresh off a 2021 GTD class championship and a win at Daytona this year, after being driven by Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet, and Felipe Nasr.

In the red, white, and blue #79 car will be drivers Julien Andlauer, Alessio Picariello, and Cooper MacNeil. MacNeil won in GTLM last year at Sebring. “The track is legendary and the win in 2021 was very cool as it was the last year for the Porsche 911 RSR to race in IMSA. The new Porsche 911 GT3 R showed its speed at the Rolex 24 winning in both GTD classes,” MacNeil stated,

“We will need to have a clean run with no car issues and no driver mistakes to make it back on the top step of the podium this weekend.”

GTD will feature the #16 2022 Daytona winning Wright Motorsports 911 and the second-year #99 HARDPOINT 911. Wright Motorsports’ 911 will be piloted by Jan Heylen, Zacharie Robichon, and Ryan Harwick. The #99 car will be driven by Katherine Legge, team principal Rob Ferriol, and Stefan Wilson.

PUMA is joining with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN as the team’s official race gear and training apparel supplier. Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou will don PUMA racewear, and team members will be outfitted in an exclusive training range from the brand. 

 “We welcome PUMA to the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN family with open arms. Like our team, their brand has a long and proud history in sports and has become synonymous with quality and innovation. They are going to help us deliver performance, not just by enabling our drivers and crew to train and compete with the latest gear, tailored to their needs, but also by pushing their research and development efforts to provide ever better equipment,” Alfa Romeo Team Principal Frederic Vasseur said. 

The sporting brand will also be providing performance gear for the team’s crew to assist them in their preparation at Alfa Romeo’s Swiss headquarters. The team will be wearing PUMA footwear on and off track as part of the partnership.

“We are more than delighted to join forces with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN as official race gear supplier. Alfa Romeo has got a long legacy in Motorsport being one of the founding fathers of Formula One. The passion for Motorsport is what connects us,” PUMA Head of Sports Marketing Motorsport James Clark said.

Clark said that the brand is excited to collaborate with Alfa Romeo’s brand-new driver line-up, with Zhou coming into the sport as China’s first-ever F1 driver and Bottas being a partner with PUMA for several years already.

The Twelve Hours of Sebring will feature four Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars, three in GTD and one in GTD Pro, while five Mercedes-AMG GT4 cars are entered in the GS class for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race. 2022 is the first year Mercedes will see cars in multiple IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes, this is because 2022 is the first season with both GTD and GTD Pro classes.

The #97 Proton USA GT3 entry in GTD Pro of Cooper MacNeil, Marco Engel, and Jules Gounon return after a competitive outing at Daytona in January. Along with Daniel Juncadella, the three led 77 laps in the #97 before a cooling hose failure resulted in overheating and retirement in the final quarter of the race. The trio is after a better result this weekend, especially after Proton scored a class victory last year at Sebring.

In GTD, the #32 Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports (GKM) GT3 is after continued success after a third-place class finish at Daytona. Driving the #32 will be Mike Skeen, Stevan McAleer, and Juncadella, Sebring marks GKM’s sixth IMSA WeatherTech GTD start.

Another GTD entry with Daytona success is the #57 Winward Racing GT3 car, they secured a victory at Daytona in 2021 and were hopeful for a repeat in January, but they had to settle for sixth after early race contact. Both the #32 and #57 cars will be making their Sebring debuts this weekend. Finally, GTD will also feature the #28 Alegra Motorsports GT3.

They are hopeful for better luck this year with Daniel Morad, Michael de Quesada, and Maximilian Götz after last year’s Sebring race saw them knocked out early by another competitor.

Frankie Montecalvo, a Vasser Sullivan driver, is ready for racing action at Sebring International Raceway this weekend for the Twelve Hours of Sebring. He will once again be joining Richard Heistand and Scott Andrews to complete the driver lineup for the #12 Lexus RCF GT3.

The team is hoping for a strong outing and continued success at Sebring International, “Historically, our car has performed well at Sebring. Last year we finished sixth, but only because we suffered contact. We lead the race at various stages before being hit from behind and ultimately taken out of contention for a podium,” said Montecalvo.

Montecalvo has personal success at Sebring, having finished on the podium before, and is hoping to walk away with a win this weekend. He believes himself and the team are well prepared for the challenges that Sebring poses, this includes both the rough nature of the track and the changing weather conditions the track tends to experience.

“The Vasser Sullivan crew is the best in the business, and they are always able to set up a car that is capable of handling the various bumps and thrive for the full twelve hours,”

Montecalvo mentioned, “We typically see a wide range of weather conditions when we’re at Sebring, and this year will be no different. We will likely see rain at some point this week followed by very warm temperatures on race day. Richard, Scott, and I will be ready to take it all on in our Lexus RC F GT3.”

Due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, Rally Kazakhstan will not take place. It was originally scheduled for 25–30 April as the third round of the World Rally-Raid Championship.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine now in its fourth week, Russia has been subject to numerous sanctions and bans worldwide. In the context of motorsport, many events in Russia and ally Belarus have been cancelled or moved elsewhere while drivers of those nationalities with FIA licences are either prohibited from competing in sanctioned races or can only do so under a neutral flag.

Kazakhstan, being a former Soviet state, is located next to and maintains a close alliance with Russia through the Collective Security Treaty Organization; in January, Russia and the CSTO sent troops into Kazakhstan to quell protests that erupted into violence. However, the country declined to aid Russia in its war with Ukraine as it has instead committed to a state of neutrality and recently allowed a large pro-Ukraine rally to take place in Almaty. Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has also pushed for constitutional reform to limit his office’s powers.

While Kazakhstan is not subject to sanctions stemming from its relationship with Russia, rally organiser Automotorsport Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan (AFRK) opted to call off the event anyway in response to the crisis. The race is expected to return in 2023, though only if greenlit by the World Motor Sport Council and FIM Board of Directors.

As a result of the cancellation, the next W2RC round will be the Andalucía Rally in Spain on 6–12 June. Although the W2RC calendar now drops to four races, series operator Amaury Sport Organisation still intends to look for replacement locations as a potential season finale after the Rallye du Maroc on 6–12 October.

In 1976, the 24 Hours of Le Mans welcomed a pair of NASCAR stock cars to the grid. Forty-seven years later, the legendary endurance sports car race will do it again.

On Thursday, NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports, with support from American sports car authority IMSA and tyre supplier Goodyear, announced their intention to compete in the 2023 Le Mans race. Hendrick will field a Cup Series Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as a Garage 56 entry, meaning it is ineligible to race for the win as its goal is to promote technological innovations in motorsport.

“From the early days of NASCAR, it was important to my father that we played a visible role in international motorsports, and there is no bigger stage than the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” commented NASCAR chairman Jim France. “In partnering with Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, we have the winningest team, manufacturer and tire in NASCAR history. We look forward to showcasing the technology in the Next Gen car and putting forward a competitive entry in the historic race.”

While a stock car racing alongside hyper-advanced sports cars might seem unusual, the Next Gen car is perhaps the closest that NASCAR has gotten to resembling such vehicles. The seventh-generation Cup car shares traits with GT3 cars and the Supercars of Australia, such as a single lug nut, sequential transmission, independent rear suspension, and being more road course-friendly to reflect NASCAR’s recent shift towards these types of circuits. The Le Mans Camaro will still differ from its NASCAR version such as the implementation of headlights.

Hendrick Motorsports seems to be a no-brainer to oversee the endeavour. In addition to its general success as the holder of the most championships and race wins in Cup history, the team has one of the premier road racing programmes with wins in all but two of the last ten road races dating back to 2018. HMS also collaborates with IMSA team Action Express Racing (who assisted in testing the Next Gen) to operate the #48 Cadillac in that series’ Michelin Endurance Cup rounds. Chad Knaus, who won seven Cup championships with Hendrick and current IndyCar and IMSA driver Jimmie Johnson, will lead the effort.

Getting back on the front foot of the FIA World Endurance Championship, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus finished the practice sessions taking the fastest lap of the 1,000 Miles of Sebring.

It had looked to be another fastest session for Alpine Elf Matmut with the sole LMP1 car on the grid as Nicolas Lapierre lead most of the hour. He started by putting the benchmark at 1:50.293 before becoming the second driver to dip below the 1m50s lap time setting a 1:49.664. No one looked like they had anything to beat that lap time throughout most of the final practice session.

It was Olivier Pla who took the session fastest and fastest lap set so far this weekend in the Glickenhaus, setting a 1:49.261 with twenty minutes left on the clock. As much as the other drivers tried, no one could get anywhere near that time, with the closest being Lapierre four tenths down.

Before Pla’s stellar lap time, it had been a battle of the LMP2s to take second overall. Antonio Felix da Costa showed that JOTA were here for the fight putting in a strong 1:49.980, but he was beat by one of the class favourites Filipe Alberquerque in the #22 United Autosports who’s time got him just eight hundredths off the then benchmark of Lapierre. Alberquerque and da Costa dropped to third and fourth overall, first and second in class, when Pla set his lap time.

Toyota Gazoo Racing came out of the final practice session looking like the Hypercar team on the backfoot. They are now the only cars from the front-running class that has failed to set a sub 1m50s lap time during practice, now being out paced by some of the LMP2 cars. The #8 crew were, once again, faster than the #7, taking fifth with their 1:50.169, but the LMP2 #23 United Autosports and #83 AF Corse split the Toyota pair, adding more woes to the #7 team’s opening race weekend. Toyota certainly do not go into qualifying as the favourites and will be lucky to outqualify some of the LMP2 cars if their practice pace is to be taken into account.

British Formula 3 podium finisher, Oliver Clarke, joined Hillspeed for the first UK test of their new GB4 car. 

The car was tested at Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit on Wednesday 16 March by Clarke who made his first appearance on track since the end of the 2020 BRDC F3 campaign.

Clarke became a multiple podium finisher with Hillspeed two years ago when he raced with the team in the BRDC British Formula 3 series. 

The team has spent the last month in Spain for winter testing with a comprehensive schedule featuring GB4 and GB3 single seaters. This week was the first time the car has been tested in Britain. 

“Having spent a month testing in Spain, Donington marked our first time on a UK circuit with the GB4 and we were delighted Oli returned to the team to have a run in the car and provide some quality feedback,” explained Team principal, Richard Ollerenshaw.