Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The McLaren F1 Team and McLaren MX Extreme E Team will run with Google sponsorship after the Woking-based team signed a multi-year partnership deal with the internet giants.

Android and Chrome branding will appear on the engine cover and wheel covers of the MCL36 throughout 2022, while similar branding will appear on Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo’s race suits and helmets.

Likewise, Google branding will also appear on the number 58 McLaren MX Extreme E car as well as the race suits of Emma Gilmour and Tanner Foust, the two drivers for McLaren’s first season in Extreme E in 2022.

Google products will also be provided to McLaren, with the team set to use 5G-enabled Android devices and Chrome browsers across their race weekends.

“We are absolutely delighted and proud to welcome Google to the McLaren Racing family,” said Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing.  “Google is a global leader in technology and has been a ground-breaking innovator in connecting people around the world.

A shift in the competitive order of the FIA World Endurance Championship 1,000 Miles of Sebring was seen during second practice, but Toyota Gazoo Racing had been the ones to watch until a penalty stripped them of their fastest time.

The second practice session gave teams the chance to run their cars at cooler temperatures similar to what they will be experiencing in the second half of Friday’s race. Although Toyota were on the pace, it was Alpine Elf Matmut‘s session to lead from the start. The initial pace was set by Andre Negrao in the early stages of the session. He set a 1:50.845, a time only beaten by team mate Matthieu Vaxiviere in the closing stages of the session with an improvement of three tenths.

Brendon Hartley had been second fastest, showing Toyota was back in business after their slow start in the pre-season Prologue, but a pit lane speeding infringement saw the team stripped of their fastest time. Losing three-tenths of a second, the car fell from second to fifth behind the duo of LMP2 United Autosports and the Realteam by WRT entries. Although the timing board reflects the #8 Toyota being down in fifth, the team know they were up in the fight for fastest lap against rivals Alpine, which should give them good confidence going into tomorrow.

The sister Toyota in the hands of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi still seems to be struggling a little to find the pace of the #8 with the car finishing eighth overall, nearly a second off the leading lap time of the Alpine. Overnight the two crews will likely sit together to work out what the #8 is doing to extract additional pace over the #7.

Filipe Alberquerque led sister car driven by Paul di Resta to a United Autosports one-two, with Realteam taking third. Keeping the LMP2 fight as predicted, between United Autosports and WRT as suggested from the results of the pre-season Prologue, the sister Team WRT #31 came fifth in class, seventh overall.

Kay van Berlo made it a clean sweep of sessions on Wednesday at Sebring International Raceway as he topped both practice sessions and continued his form to take pole position with a lap of 2:03.330 in the Kelly-Moss Road and Race Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.

It was another Kelly-Moss car that would lead the way in the Pro-Am class as Efrin Castro also topped all three sessions of the day, claiming pole position in class with a time of 2:05.299, which was good enough for fourteenth overall, ahead of JDX Racing’s Peter Atwater and Kelly-Moss teammate Alan Metni. The top nine drivers would end the session within one second of each other in the Pro class.

The 2021 runner-up opened the session with the fastest lap, putting in a time pf 2:05.349 before teammate Riley Dickinson outpaced him, improving to 2:04.697. 311RS Motorsport’s Leh Keen briefly put himself in contention for the top spot with a time of 2:04.467 before van Berlo set his fastest lap to take pole position on his third flying lap.

“It’s been a pretty smooth day with first place in all of the sessions so far, obviously very happy with pole,” van Berlo told The Checkered Flag. “It’s a big priority, especially with 43 cars on the track, if you start mid-field or even a couple of cars back you are in a really risky position, especially the opening laps of the race, and especially the beginning of the season, you just don’t want to be in that position.

“We knew that we had a good car, free practice was good, we were in the right direction, within the window already, we just had to put it together, which is not that easy, especially with so many cars out on track, its easy to catch traffic at the wrong moment.

Era Motorsports appeared to come out fighting at the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round this year, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, only for a gearbox issue to end the team’s race early in the final hour of running.

Drivers Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, and Kyle Tilley are looking not only for redemption following the Daytona heartbreak but also continued success following a second-place finish last year at the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

It was the team’s amateur-rated driver, Merriman, who set the #18 Oreca LMP2 car in third last year in qualifying. Following a race of demands and attrition, the team would leave with only the second step on the podium, feeling as though they had more left to give.

The Twelve Hours of Sebring typically proves to be an exciting race for both drivers and fans. This is due to the challenge the circuit poses for drivers and the excitement spectators can expect while watching from the festive infield. Dalziel will be experiencing a home race as he lives just 90 miles north of the track in Winter Park.

“We are ready to bounce back at Sebring, literally. We had so much promise at Daytona with no result to show for it, so we are looking to get 2022 back on track,” Dalziel commented,

With the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix just days away, McLaren F1 Team has outlined their hopes and goals for the coming season. As one of 2021’s leading mid-field teams– finishing 4th in the Constructors’ Championship– the team in papaya is looking to make another step forward in 2022. 

“After a busy winter, we’re kicking off another exciting season of Formula 1 and the team is ready to go racing under the new regulations. Our aim is to continue to build on our progress from 2021, further closing the gap to the top and bringing the fight to our competitors,” Team Principal Andreas Seidl said.

Seidl said the team is preparing for the first race by putting in effort to gain further understanding of the car and resolving the issues met during testing. 

“The entire team and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP have worked incredibly hard to build a car under new regulations and delivered a good platform to start the season. We continue to understand the car after a mixed pre-season test and the team are working hard to address the issue we encountered, in preparation for the first race.”

Lando Norris, entering his fourth season in F1, is thrilled to start racing this weekend, and is optimistic in spite of a “tricky” test. 

The 70th running of the Twelve Hours of Sebring will feature three BMW M Motorsports teams and four M4 GT3s as well as Bill Auberlen’s 500th race with BMW.

BMW M Team RLL will field two cars in GTD Pro while Turner Motorsports and Paul Miller Racing will field one car each in the GTD class.

The #24 RLL Motul M4 will feature Philipp Eng, Marco Whittman, and Nick Yelloly while the #25 RLL Motul M4 will be driven by John Edwards, Connor De Phillippi, and Augusto Farfus at Sebring. Bobby Rahal’s RLL team has a successful past at Sebring with GTLM class wins in 2011 and 2012 and claiming the first pole position and podium for the BMW M8 GTE in 2018.

“Over the years we have seen good success at Sebring. We have had two GTLM victories and last year, we had the heartbreak of being taken out of the probable victory just before the chequered flag waved,” Rahal remarked, “Sebring is such a historic race. There are not that many races older. I am always excited to go to Sebring because of that history.”

For Turner Motorsports, Auberlen will drive alongside Robby Foley and Michael Dinan in the #96 car. Auberlen has been racing with BMW M Motorsports since 1996 and in that time he has won a race in every BMW race car he has driven.

Following a third-place finish at Daytona, CORE Autosports aims to defend its Sebring crown, having won by more than 2.5 seconds last year with drivers Jon Bennett, Colin Braun, and George Kurtz.

The same trio will once again be behind the wheel of the #54 CrowdStrike/Flex-Box Ligier JS P320 for this year’s running of the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The CORE team currently has eight podium finishes and four wins at the track to their record.

Despite being half the distance of the prior race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring is just as, if not more, challenging for both cars and drivers. The track was originally paved in the 1950s, so time and repairs have resulted in a bumpy and rough surface for race cars.

Sebring not only features less lighting than Daytona, but it also lacks Daytona’s banking. Without the long banks, drivers will find little to no take to take a quick breather or perform easy, high-speed overtakes.

Bennett commented on these struggles, “The bumpy nature of the Sebring circuit can certainly grind away at the physical aspect of going fast and maintaining focus during long stints. Inmany ways, this race requires a similar effort to a 24-hour race.”

Porsche customer racing team Wright Motorsports currently leads the GTD class points in both team and driver standings after securing a first-place finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona six weeks ago.

With the same lineup from Daytona (Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen, and Zacharie Robichon) piloting the #16 1st Phorm Porsche, Wright Motorsports will be looking to continue the two-year podium streak they hold at Sebring International Raceway. The team placed first in 2020 with Hardwick, Heylen, and Patrick Long following early race contact and running on a broken shock. In 2021 Long, Heylen, and Trent Hindman would take pole and come home to take the second step on the podium in a Porsche 1-2 finish.

Continued success at Sebring following the Daytona win would assert the team as a competitor to keep on an eye on this season. Sebring International Raceway poses a challenge for both cars and drivers, this is due to how the track was paved in the 1950s combined with various patches making the track especially bumpy. “Sebring is without a doubt the toughest and most grueling race of the year,” Hardwick commented, “We are not planning to let our foot off the gas heading into Sebring!”

Noting the high the team was on following the Daytona win, team owner John Wright also commented on the team’s focus for Sebring, “That was an incredible moment in our team’s history, but as soon as the event was over, it became time to focus forward and get ready for the rest of the season.

“Our team is ready, our car is prepared, and the drivers are focused. Momentum and consistency are on our side, and we are ready for an event that always demands the most from its competitors.”

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing is in its first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season with two entries, but Wednesday saw the team announce plans to expand further, albeit on a part-time schedule. Beginning at Martinsville Speedway on 7 April, the team will complement the full-time #19 of Derek Kraus and #91 of Colby Howard with a new #35 Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Jake Garcia.

The #35 will run four more races in 2022 after Martinsville at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (4 June), Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (29 July), Richmond Raceway (13 August), and Bristol Motor Speedway (15 September). Chad Norris, who reached the 2020 Truck Series Championship Round at GMS Racing with Brett Moffitt, will serve as crew chief.

Garcia is a seventeen-year-old late model racer who won the Southern Super Series championship in 2021, the youngest driver to achieve the feat, a year after finishing second in points with Rookie of the Year honours. He won the Pro Late Model title at Five Flags Speedway in 2019, followed by the Super Late Model crown there two years later.

He made his ARCA Menards Series West début in the 2021 season finale at Phoenix for David Gilliland Racing, where he qualified fourth and finished sixth. This past weekend, he entered the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway, where he finished seventh in the Grasshopper 125 support race and fifth in the Rattler.

“I’m excited to work with MHR and Chevrolet in this next step in my racing career,” said Garcia. “I’m looking forward to learning a lot from this opportunity and I look for us to have some good finishes in these races with MHR.”

Brazilian Roberto Faria has joined the Sauber Academy for 2022, as he prepares for his second full GB3 Championship season.

He will compete with Carlin in GB3, having moved up from the F4 British Championship with Fortec Motorsport in the latter stages of the 2020 season.

Shortly after stepping up to what was then BRDC British F3, he took his first podium at Silverstone at the final round.

His first full season brought nine podiums and a win at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, and caught the eye of Trevor Carlin‘s eponymous Teams’ Champions from down the paddock.

He will compete against Javier Sagrera and Callum Voisin at Carlin, and joins ART Grand Prix‘s FIA Formula 2 title favourite Théo Pourchaire in the Sauber Academy, associated with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN.

Toto Wolff says it is an exciting time for Formula 1 in 2022 as new aero regulations come into effect, meaning a completely new start and an uncertain pecking order going into the opening round of the season.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team introduced an extreme-looking W13 update to the test at the Bahrain International Circuit last week, with the sidepods of their 2022 machine almost non-existent compared to any of their rivals.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, says plenty of progress was made with the development of the W13 in both the tests at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and in Bahrain, and he feels there is still a lot of potential to unlock from the car this year.

“The start of a new Formula One season is always exciting, and this year more than most,” said Wolff.  “With new technical and sporting regulations, there is so much to learn and discover as this new season begins.

“Barcelona was a productive first test of the W13, then we brought a big update to Bahrain for the pre-season test which resulted from a huge effort by the whole team. We completed good mileage, had solid reliability, and learned a lot about our new car, but it was not a straightforward three days for us.

Kay van Berlo topped the timesheets for the final session ahead of qualifying for the season-opening race at Sebring International Raceway for the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America.

Following the damp start to the day for first practice that say van Berlo at the front, the rain came down once again between the sessions, this meant that track time was limited as competitors chose to limit their running on the bumpy Sebring circuit until the track started to dry.

The Dutchman only took part in fifteen minutes of the session but this was enough for him to set the pace, finishing the final practice with a time of 2:03.441 good enough for the fastest lap and 0.657 seconds ahead of Kelly-Moss Road and Race teammate Riley Dickinson, who had topped the pre-season testing at the Florida track. Trenton Estep brought the MDK Motorsports Porsche home in third place.

“It was good session, we only did 15 minutes out of 30 because it started raining heavy before the session started,” explained van Berlo. “But the sun came out straight away, so the track started to drying quickly. We thought it would be a good time to go out when slicks were faster than the rain tyres. I was able to put a pretty good lap down and at the end we were fastest.

“We had a good feeling in the car, we haven’t done many setup changes compared to first practice, just considering the track conditions were not perfect to make a change and then draw any conclusions from that. I don’t know if I would change anything at the moment, I think we’re ready for qualifying.

This weekend’s season opening Bahrain Grand Prix represents a fresh start for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, with two new drivers and a brand new car.

Behind the wheel of the C42 this season is of course former-Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team driver, Valtteri Bottas, and Formula 2 graduate Guanyu Zhou. Zhou’s debut in the sport this weekend will see him become the first-ever Chinese Formula 1 driver, he will be hoping to learn lots alongside the experienced Bottas.

The new technical regulations will give Alfa Romeo hope that they can fight higher up the field, a similar performance to last season would be simply unacceptable for the Swiss-team.

Alfa Romeo Team Principal, Frédéric Vasseur, is very excited for this weekend’s season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit, with the team being more motivated than ever before.

“It’s finally time to start the season and I think we are as eager as anyone to see where everyone really is when it matters. Some may see it as the moment of truth but, in reality, it will still take a few rounds to have a clearer idea of the pecking order. Still, points are on offer on Sunday and we need to do our last bits of homework after the test to make sure we’re in the best possible shape come raceday.

Valtteri Bottas begins a new chapter in his Formula 1 career this weekend, as the Finnish driver prepares for his first race for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, at the season opener Bahrain Grand Prix. This isn’t all at Alfa though, as rookie Guanyu Zhou is getting ready to make his debut.

After five successful years at the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Bottas finds himself starting a new challenge of fighting in the midfield, rather than fighting at the front. He’s also got himself a new inexperienced team-mate, Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou, a very different prospect compared to lining up alongside Lewis Hamilton.

2022 is a big year for Bottas, to not only rejuvenate his F1 career but also to help Alfa Romeo take the next step. Bottas has been impressed by the team, in what is going to be an incredibly long season for them all.

“This race is the start of a new chapter in my career and I am confident I can achieve the goals I set together with the team. I’ve been impressed by the work ethic I’ve found since I first got to Hinwil and by the work we did over the winter: we encountered some issues in testing, but I know we’re on top of them and we can focus on achieving the best possible result on Sunday.

“It’s going to be a long season and it’s still a bit of a question mark in terms of where everyone stands: I think everyone is looking forward to a bit more clarity this weekend! The important thing, however, is that we keep working to unlock all the potential of the C42 and we focus on having a clean weekend: this way, we will maximise our chances to come home with a good result to start our season. I believe in this team and I believe we can achieve so much if we work hard together.”

Oliver White will join Team Redline Racing, alongside previously announced Adam Smalley, under the Duckhams Yuasa Racing with Redline banner for the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup GB season.

29-year-old White comes from a mixed background of racing, having started his career as a champion in the SAXMAX series, racing a Citroen Saxo VTR. Since then he has been racing in Formula Ford, winning the Champions of Brands title three times and the 2020 Walter Hayes Trophy.

“It’s amazing to get this opportunity. I aim to seize it with both hands and make the most of it,” said White. “I know it’s going to be a steep learning curve, but I am ready for the challenge. I’ve got three quick team-mates, so that helps, as we use each other’s data and try to improve. It speeds up the learning process.

“I wouldn’t look beyond Team Redline Racing as the team is the benchmark in the Carrera Cup GB. They have won loads of championships, the mechanics are all brilliant, I get on well with Simon, and if I am going to do well anywhere, it’s with Team Redline Racing.”

Current Porsche GB Junior driver Adam Smalley was announced for the team last month, he added, “It’s amazing to have Ollie as my team-mate. He’s had a lot of success in Formula Ford over the years and I’ve no doubt he’ll be a very strong competitor. We’ve already developed a close relationship despite the limited testing we’ve done so far and I know we’ll be pushing each other to the maximum.“