Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The demise of the Boost Mobile Super Trucks resulted in a diaspora of its roster towards other endeavours. For Shae Davies, he will be heading to open-wheel racing. On Wednesday, Versa Motorsport announced Davies has joined the team for the rest of the 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship and Tasman Series.

Davies will serve as a team-mate to Cooper Webster, who finished runner-up in Race #3 of the season-opening round at Symmons Plains Raceway in February and is consequently second in points. Located in Bundoora, Victoria and led by Toby Pope, Versa Motorsport was founded in late 2021 and debuted at that year’s Sydney Motorsport Park round, where Webster scored a Race #2 podium by finishing third.

“We are very excited to have Shae join the Versa Motorsport Team,” Pope stated. “Being such a highly experienced and successful driver locally and offshore, we can’t wait to start working with Shae and are focused on building together for the rest of season.”

While he is not unfamiliar with open-wheel cars as he raced in Formula Ford and the F1600 Championship Series in 2012, much of Davies’ career in the decade since has been in closed-wheel and touring car categories. He was a regular in the Repco Supercars Championship and its Super2 and Super3 feeder divisions, which included winning the 2013 championship in the latter. Between 2018 and 2019, he left Australia to compete in the Blancpain GT Series Asia and GT World Challenge Europe.

In 2020, he began competing in the Boost Mobile Super Trucks, a newly formed Australian offshoot of the American Stadium Super Trucks. Although the inaugural season only lasted one weekend of three races at the Adelaide 500 due to COVID-19, Davies made the most of the round by winning Race #3. He returned to the series for 2021, during which he was the Fastest Qualifier in two of the season’s three weekends at Darwin and Townsville. He also recorded a pair of victories at Symmons Plains and Darwin. Despite finishing with the same amount of points as Paul Morris with 93, Davies lost the tiebreaker for the championship on wins as Morris’ four trumped Davies’ two.

Hitech GP are one of the leading teams in junior single-seaters nationwide. Since 2002, they have become an established name for their results in Formula 3 series’ around the world, as well as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

They joined the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship (now GB3) for 2020, and the Silverstone-based outfit expands its programme to the F4 British Championship in 2022.

We take a look at their first two race-winning campaigns in Britain’s premier single-seater series here, and look ahead to what they can achieve in their third year in GB3.

2020

Hitech joined the championship when it was still called the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, and took three wins and 14 total podiums in their first season, with 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship contenders Kush Maini and Reece Ushijima.

Maini mounted a title challenge after being called up on the eve of the season, winning at Brands Hatch, Donington Park and Snetterton as 2022 FIA F3 Hitech driver Kaylen Frederick took the championship with Carlin at the final round.

Longtime Porsche customer racing team Wright Motorsports will return to the Porsche Carrera Cup North America series for the 2022 season with a three-car entry.

Leading the entry list for the team is Varun Choksey who will be racing in the #13 car as a Pro class entry as he moves up from the Formula Regional Americas Championship, where last season he took six podium finishes, finishing fourth in the title standings. The 25-year-old had a successful test at Sebring International Raceway this week, finishing eighth fastest over the two days.

“I’m very excited to be driving for Wright Motorsports in Carrera Cup North America this year,” said Choksey. “The team has been very welcoming these last few months, and I’m looking forward to a successful season with them this year.”

Returning for a second season is John Goetz, who after a five year hiatus returned to racing last season. Over the ten rounds he took eleven top-five finishes including three podiums in the Pro-Am class. For 2022 Goetz will race the #57 Porsche in the Am class. This weeks test saw him end the four sessions as the third fastest Am driver.

“I’m looking forward to another year working with the Wright team in Carrera Cup,” said Goetz. “The excellent execution on all aspects of racing makes running with them a challenging pleasure. 

Kelly-Moss Road and Race driver Riley Dickinson topped the timesheets during the two-day test at the Sebring International Raceway ahead of the first race weekend of the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America series.

This week (7-8 March), a total of 40 drivers set times throughout the two day test session that saw Dickinson set the fastest time of 2:02.254 in the morning session of the second day.

Trenton Estep gave MDK Motorsport an impressive start to their series debut, finishing the four sessions as the second fastest driver, just six hundreths of a second back. 311RS Motorsport‘s Pro-Am driver Leh Keen showed impressive pace to not only lead the Pro-Am field, but also finish as the third fastest driver overall. Last year’s championship runner-up Kay van Berlo ended the 16-hour test with the fourth fastest time.

With conditions warm and dry, most of the fastest laps from the two days came in the third session on the Tuesday morning. The final hour of the afternoon test was run under wet conditions giving competitors a chance to get used to their cars in slippery conditions.

In the Am class is was MDK Motorsports team owner / driver Mark Kvamme who set the fastest time of 2:04.776, good enough for fourteenth overall.

For the first time since 2018, the Texas-based Risi Competizione Ferrari team will be racing at the Twelve Hours of Sebring. The team will be competing in the GTD Pro class with Italians Davide Rigon and Eddie Cheever III, plus Brazilian Daniel Serra. Rigon and Serra piloted the team’s #62 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo to a second-place finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

All three drivers will be returning to Sebring, with Serra having competed at the track twice and Rigon and Cheever III each with one race there under their belts. Both Rigon and Serra are Ferrari Competizione GT Factory drivers and Eddie Cheever III is the son of former F1 driver Eddie Cheever. Cheever recently ran the 12 Hours of Dubai in a similar Ferrari with AF Corse.

The team is hopeful for a good result come race weekend, with team principal Giuseppe Risi remarking, “We have a great deal of history at Sebring, including three victories. Returning to a track we have experienced much success over the years certainly gets everyone excited. It will be a big weekend with the WEC (World Endurance Championship) teams competing on Friday and our 12-hour race on Saturday.”

Team Penske have announced that Penske Logistics will be the primary sponsor of their new LMP2 car for the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship season, which gets underway next week with the 1000 Miles of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway.

Porsche works drivers Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr will join Emmanuel Collard in the #5 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2 car which will feature the familiar bright yellow and blue of Penske Logistics that have been seen across NASCAR and IndyCar in the past.

“As a company who helps leading global companies optimize their supply chains, we’re excited to be part of the next chapter in Team Penske’s long and successful history on the track,” said Marc Althen, President, Penske Logistics. “We wish the drivers and the team the best of luck in this highly competitive series.”

With Penske set to compete in the LMDh class in 2023, the team will use this season as a learning experience as they get acclimatised to the rules, tracks and racing of the WEC.

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Alpine Academy unveiled their new Alpine Affiliate programme with the aim to bring young drivers into their ranks and give them the support necessary to help them advance their careers in motorsport. 

“We are very excited to announce our Alpine Affiliates programme which will work alongside the Academy from this year. The programme will help provide young racing drivers across the world with crucial support, career advice and training,” Alpine Academy Director Mia Sharizman said.

The programme will be led by Sharizman and Director of Expansion Projects Davide Brivio, and will give Affiliates access to resources available at Alpine Academy’s Enstone headquarters. Young drivers within the programme will receive professional guidance in many aspects, including training, mentoring, PR training and more. 

Abbi Pulling will represent the Affiliate programme as the first ever female driver in the Alpine Academy. Pulling, a multiple-podium finisher in FIA British Formula 4, will continue her journey in W-series as she seeks to contend in the battle for the championship in 2022 after finishing seventh in the 2021 season. 

Hadrien David, who holds the record for youngest ever FIA Formula 4 champion, will be joining the programme as he is set to compete in his second season of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine with R-ace GP. Beginning his venture into open-wheel racing this year in FIA Spanish Formula 4 with Campos Racing, Nikola Tsolov joins the Alpine Affiliates as well, after much success in karting. The Bulgarian driver is managed by BWT Alpine F1 Team Driver and two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso. 

With the Twelve Hours of Sebring under two weeks away, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship team NTE/SSR announced that Lamborghini GT3 Junior drivers Mateo Llarena and Jaden Conwright would pilot the #42 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 alongside Don Yount.

The team is hoping for a strong performance at Sebring after their 2022 season opener at the Rolex 24 at Daytona was cut short by ABS failure. Only Conwright and Yount were in the lineup for the Daytona race, with Conwright being the only driver confirmed for the entirety of the 2022 season. Conwright is already making a name for himself having become the inaugural recipient of the IMSA Diverse Driver Development Scholarship.

18-year-old Llarena is no slouch either, at only 18 he is quite young but he holds the record for the youngest driver to secure an IMSA WeatherTech Motul Pole Award. He achieved this while just 17, the pole occurring last year at Watkins Glen International. This year’s outing will mark his second run at the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Llarena had this to say about the opportunity, “This will be my second time racing in it, so I have much more confidence than the first time, I already know the track and how the race works. I’m very happy to join NTE/SSR.”

The team is also excited for the opportunity to bounce back from their issues at Daytona. NTE Sport owner Paul Mata stated, “We’re excited to welcome Mateo to the team. He demonstrated great skill with T3 Motorsports at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, and we’re always glad to have another Lamborghini GT3 Junior driver join our mix.

Kevin Magnussen will return to Formula 1 in 2022 after a year away after being announced as Nikita Mazepin’s replacement within the Haas F1 Team.

The Danish racer previously raced for Haas between 2017 and 2020 before leaving the team, taking a best finish of fifth in the Bahrain and Austrian Grand Prix in 2018.  In 2021 he switched to the IMSA Sportscar Championship with Chip Ganassi Racing while he also made his NTT IndyCar Series debut with Arrow McLaren SP at Road America.

Magnussen was set to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Team Peugeot TotalEnergies in 2022 alongside more races with Chip Ganassi Racing in America, but now finds himself back in Formula 1 alongside Mick Schumacher.  He has been released from his contracts with both Peugeot and Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I was obviously very surprised but equally very excited to receive the call from Haas F1 Team,” said Magnussen. “I was looking in a different direction regarding my commitments for 2022 but the opportunity to return to compete in Formula 1, and with a team I know extremely well, was simply too appealing.

“I really have to say thank you to both Peugeot and Chip Ganassi Racing for releasing me promptly – both are great organizations. Naturally, I also want to thank Gene Haas and Guenther Steiner for the chance to resume my Formula 1 career – I know just how competitive they both are and how keen they are to return to competing week in and week out.

Parker Chase is bringing his road course expertise home with him. On Wednesday, Sam Hunt Racing announced Chase will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series début in the #26 Toyota GR Supra at Circuit of the Americas on 26 March. Located in Austin, COTA is approximately an hour drive away from his hometown of New Braunfels, Texas.

“See y’all at COTA,” posted Chase on social media. “Excited to join Sam Hunt Racing this year at my favorite track!”

Chase primarily competes in sports cars, racing in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge for Bryan Herta Autosport. In 2021, he finished runner-up in the MPC TCR class with a win at Mid-Ohio. His 2022 season began with him and Harry Gottsacker finishing forty-second overall and twelfth in TCR at Daytona after being plagued by a driveline problem. A former Ginetta factory driver, Chase won the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge SprintX GT Pro-Am championship.

In 2020, he began dabbling in stock cars by racing in the ARCA Menards Series as a road course ringer, finishing tenth in his first start at Daytona for Chad Bryant Racing. Chase joined Venturini Motorsports a year later and his itinerary shifted to ovals, during which he scored top tens all four starts. He nearly won the 2022 season opener on the Daytona oval as he placed second behind 2021 championship runner-up Corey Heim.

2021 also saw Chase run two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races for Kyle Busch Motorsports, whose eponymous owner was his team-mate at the 2020 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. After finishing second at the Daytona Road Course, he was eighteenth at COTA.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Bill Auberlen will make his five-hundredth race start in a BMW next weekend at the 70th Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The American driver first signed with BMW in 1996, and since then has taken 45 Pole positions and 64 victories in BMW machinery over the last 25 years.

The 53-year-old is also set to be inducted in to the Motorsports Walk of Fame on 7 April, the day before the practice begins at the Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend.

“When I look back on 500 races with BMW, I am humbled and proud,” said Auberlen. “When I look to what the next seasons may bring, I say bring on race number 600! It feels appropriate that my 500th for BMW comes at Sebring as the 12 Hour is a special race for me.

“In 1985, I was the truck driver and crew for my father’s win there. Ten years later I scored my first win at the 12 Hour. My induction to the Motorsports Walk of Fame in Long Beach feels almost surreal. It’s kind of a “local kid makes good” thing and I am truly honoured.”

Sauber Group have announced the appointment of Alessandro Alunni Bravi as their new Managing Director, effective as of March 1st.

Alunni Bravi, who holds a decades-long experience in motorsports and has been Sauber Group’s General Counsel and Board Member since 2017, will see his focus change onto marketing, communications, sales, legal, IT and finance, reporting directly to CEO, Frédéric Vasseur, as part of his new role as Managing Director.

Frédéric Vasseur, CEO of Sauber Group believes Alunni Bravi is the perfect person for the job, due to his wealth of experience.

“Alessandro has been an integral part of the growth of our company, on and off the track, in the last few years and I am excited about the contribution he will make in his new position. Few can match his knowledge of motorsports with that of business and the complex legal landscape in which we operate, and this makes Alessandro the right person for this challenge.”

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Managing Director of Sauber Group is very proud to have taken the step up to Managing Director, Alunni Bravi is also acutely aware of the responsibilities his new job possesses.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have arguably been the busiest over the winter break when it comes to announcing brand-new partnerships, they aren’t done yet! The Swiss-based team announced a new partnership on Tuesday with Belgium-based resilience centre, Curam Domi.

Curam Domi offer a safe and secure healing environment for training, rehabilitation and prevention. The Private company aim to get clients back into perfect shape, providing an optimum quality of life in all daily activities.

A key aspect to all that Curam Domi offer is sensory experiences, these experiences use a combination of value-based measurements, safety, serious gaming, virtual reality but without forgoing the human approach.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN recognises how important healing is as well as putting people first, he is excited to discover more about the work Curam Domi do, during their partnership.

“We are a team and we take part in a team sport: the value of the individual is paramount for our activities and it is something in which we have invested confidently in recent years. Curam Domi shares our values and principles, putting the person first and developing a human-centric, holistic approach to healing. We are looking forward to discovering more about this approach with them during our partnership.”

After announcing that they would be competing in the 2022 Porsche Carrera Cup North America last month, MDK Motorsports have unveiled their seven driver line-up for the Carrera Cup and the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America series.

“We are proud of the drivers racing under the MDK flag this year and honored to welcome their families and guests for a one-of-a-kind experience,” said team CEO Megan Kvamme.

“This endeavor required a fast and furious year of preparation, and we knew from the outset that we needed to have a diversity in experience and perspective among our drivers in order to be the dynamic team that we set out to be.”

Trenton Estep looks set to be a front-runner for the season ahead, already topping the timesheets in the two-day test at Sebring ahead of the season-opener next week. Estep comes from a Karting background, including competitions such as SKUSA Pro Tour, Florida Winter Tour, US Open, and Rotax Grand Finals in Portugal.

Following his karting career he moved to single seaters where he secured the Formula Ford title twice and then in to sports cars where he took the 2018 Porsche GT3 Cup Challege USA title.

2021 F4 British Championship runner-up Matías Zagazeta will make the jump up to Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2022 after signing with Swiss outfit G4 Racing.

The Peruvian racer will be joined at the team by Frenchman Owen Tangavelou, who also makes the leap from Formula 4, the seventeen-year-old having spent the past two years racing in French F4.

Zagazeta was a four-time winner in British F4 last year and only lost out on the title to British racer Matthew Rees by twenty-six points.  And the eighteen-year-old says he is eager to get going with his new team in 2022.

“I’m very excited to be joining forces with G4 Racing, a team full of potential and ambition, and I am very happy to be part of their project this season,” said Zagazeta.

“I can’t wait to get the season started and chase after some really good results like they had last year and to develop even more together in 2022!”