Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Franz Tost says that whilst the new budget cap is a step in the right direction, it alone will not help some of the smaller teams close the gap on the bigger outfits, including his Scuderia AlphaTauri team.

Regulation changes have meant that teams are restricted to a maximum spend of $140million this year, and while that will mean the likes of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari will have to reign in their spending, other teams do not have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of this.

Tost, the Team Principal of the Faenza-based squad, says the money that the bigger teams have put into the team, in particular the infrastructure such as their simulations, in previous years will still keep them ahead and leave the smaller teams that have been run on lesser budgets still behind.

“We still have to work on the infrastructure, to optimise everything on this side,” Tost is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “If I see the simulation tools, and I can only hear what these top team have, we simply don’t have that. They invested in the last few years, millions for this.

“We have a good budget, but we never were in a position to invest so much money for simulation tools. And simulation tools are getting more and more important, because we are running less at the track.

The Singapore Grand Prix will remain on the Formula 1 schedule until at least 2028 after the track signed an extension to their contract.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit returns to the calendar in 2022 after both the 2020 and 2021 races were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it will host its latest night race on 2 October, a week after the Russian Grand Prix and a week before the Japanese Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel took his last win for Scuderia Ferrari the last time Formula 1 raced in Singapore back in 2019, while Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen completed the podium.  Vettel has scored the most wins at the track with five, one more than Lewis Hamilton, while Fernando Alonso (twice) and Nico Rosberg are the only other drivers to stand on the top step of the podium there.

Singapore hosted the first-ever night race in Formula 1 history back in 2008, and Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of Formula 1, has welcomed the extension to the contract with the venue up until the end of 2028.

“I am delighted that Formula 1 will continue to race in Singapore for another seven years,” Domenicali said.  “The Marina Bay Street Circuit hosted the first night race in F1 history in 2008, and Singapore has continued to thrill fans, teams, and drivers ever since.

Nyck de Vries secured only his second pole position of his ABB FIA Formula E World Championship career by just five-thousandths of a second in the Qualifying final against Edoardo Mortara on Saturday.

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver appeared to have it firmly in his grasp as a slide at the first turn by the ROKiT Venturi Racing driver left Mortara on the back foot, but the Swiss driver attacked throughout the lap and closed the gap going into the final sector.

De Vries held on by the narrowest of margins to secure top spot and score three more points towards the championship, with the Dutchman having started the season with a victory in race one on Friday.

De Vries was the only driver to make it into the semi-finals on both days of Qualifying, and he edged out Venturi’s Lucas di Grassi, while Mortara beat Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns.  As a result of setting the faster time, Frijns will start third on the grid and will be aiming for his first points of the year on Saturday evening.

Di Grassi had one of the more controversial moments of the session as he was unable to get on track for his quarter-final as DS Techeetah’s António Félix da Costa did not leave the pit lane when his green lit shown at the end of the pit lane, with the Portuguese leaving when di Grassi was supposed to. 

Antonio Giovinazzi says Kimi Räikkönen proved right until the end of his career that he was the ‘complete package’, with the Italian praising the Finn for the way his performances during three tough years at Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN.

Giovinazzi and Räikkönen were team-mates at Alfa Romeo between 2019 and 2021 before both left the team at the end of last year, the Italian heading to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with Dragon/Penske Autosport and the Finn heading into retirement.

But despite knowing his retirement was coming, Räikkönen was still able to show just what he was capable of, even if the car was not as strong as either driver would have liked it to have been, with Giovinazzi laying a lot of praise on his now-former team-mate.

“I think Kimi confirmed during his last year that he was one of the best drivers in terms of race management, so when it comes to managing the tyres and the power unit, but also in terms of overtaking,” said Giovinazzi to Motorsport.com.

“He was the complete package, so to speak.”

Jake Dennis started his second season in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with a podium finish in the Diriyah E-Prix, with the Briton converting a front row start into a third-place finish.

The Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team driver made it into the knockout stages of Qualifying and defeated André Lotterer in the semi-final to guarantee himself a front-row start, however he was unable to beat Stoffel Vandoorne in the final.

Dennis lost a position at the start to Nyck de Vries and was then involved in a tough battle with Lotterer for the final position on the podium, with the Briton passing the German late in the day as the Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team driver began to struggle with energy usage. 

Despite complaining over the radio that the car may have been damaged, Dennis was able to pull away from the rest of the pack to clinch the podium, but the delays he had behind Lotterer meant he was too far behind the two Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team drivers at the front of the field.

“I felt quite comfortable behind the Mercedes, I think we were on the same strategy, things were looking quite good, but when the top four breakaway it isn’t the best being in third as it allows the car behind to have free attack zones,” said Dennis.

Stoffel Vandoorne was unable to convert pole position into victory in race one of the Diriyah E-Prix on Friday, with the Dutchman taking responsibility for the mistake that handed the win to team-mate Nyck de Vries.

Having taken pole position in the first ever knockout Qualifying session in Saudi Arabia earlier in the day, the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver looked on course to take the victory under the floodlights only to lose position when an attempt to activate his attack mode failed.

The mistake handed the lead and ultimately the win to de Vries, much to the chagrin of the former McLaren F1 Team driver, but despite the disappointment, he was pleased that Mercedes was able to dominate the race from start to finish, the two drivers ending well clear of third placed Jake Dennis.

“After qualifying on pole, I’m obviously a bit disappointed with second place, but I think it’s not bad when you have the luxury of feeling dissatisfied with second place,” said Vandoorne.  “I led the race from the start, had everything under control and the car had strong pace today.

“Then, unfortunately, I missed one of the loops when activating my second attack mode and that gave the lead to Nyck. After that, we pushed each other and were able to pull away from the rest of the field. A one-two finish is a great result for the team.

Nyck de Vries began the defence of his ABB FIA Formula E World Championship drivers’ crown in a perfect way on Friday, with the Dutchman claiming victory under the floodlights in the first of the two races of the Diriyah E-Prix weekend.

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver recovered from crashing within five minutes of the start of Thursday’s practice session around the Saudi Arabian circuit to get into the knockout stages of Qualifying, although he was eliminated by team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne at the semi-final stage.

He jumped front row starter Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team at the start and was following Vandoorne in second place for much of the race and was in the right position when the Belgian made a mistake when attempting to activate his attack mode. 

The failure of Vandoorne to activate the attack mode allowed de Vries to take over in the lead, a position he would then hold onto until the chequered flag.  It is the second consecutive season where de Vries has taken victory in the opening race of the season, having done so in the same event last February.

“That’s the sort of start to a season that I really like: a strong performance with a substantial haul of points,” said de Vries.  “After my mistake yesterday in the first free practice, this result comes as a huge relief for me.

For the 2022 Race of Champions on 5/6 February, Team USA will be represented by a pair of NTT IndyCar Series drivers as Jimmie Johnson will be joined by Colton Herta. Herta will make his ROC début under rather unfortunate circumstances as he is a substitute for Travis Pastrana, who had to opt out due to injuries he suffered in a BASE jumping accident in Florida.

Pastrana was set for his ninth ROC, and 2022 would have been right up his alley as it will take place in Pite Havsbad, Sweden, on a snow/ice course. The Nitro Rallycross founder and inaugural champion was also set to debut his series’ new FC1-X at the event. However, a BASE jumping trip in Florida went wrong and resulted in hip fractures and a broken sacrum.

“I was so looking forward to go to ROC in Sweden and represent Team US with one of my favorite friends Jimmie Johnson,” said Pastrana. “I’m really sorry, but sure Jimmie and Colton will be absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to be back at Race Of Champions 2023. I will come back stronger and faster, and try to figure out where my limits are a little bit more.”

Ironically, the development is a reversal of the 2006 ROC in which Johnson was set to partner with Pastrana before hurting his wrist in a golf cart accident and had to call off the plans. Despite being on his own, Pastrana brought Team USA into the Nations Cup final. The duo finally teamed up in 2007, where they reached the quarter-final in what was Johnson’s most recent ROC.

At the 2005 event, Pastrana broke his leg while performing a motocross freestyle stunt. Nevertheless, he and Johnson’s NASCAR team-mate Jeff Gordon fought their way into the Nations Cup semi-final. Citing the effort in spite of the injury, ROC president Fredrik Johnsson commented, “We thought that if someone can still do it, it’s him, but unfortunately he is still in hospital and will not be able to race next week. We look forward to have Travis back at ROC 2023.”

This weekend’s IMSA Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona is widely regarded as the start of the major American motorsport season, and drivers across a wide array of disciplines often show up for the famed endurance race. Of the sixty-one entries, however, only one has a full-time NASCAR driver.

Cup Series rookie Austin Cindric is entered in the GTD Pro class, sharing the #15 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Proton Competition with Patrick Assenheimer and Dirk Müller. The son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric, he was previously a regular in what is now the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge; driving alongside current Xfinity Series driver Jade Buford, he became the series’ youngest race winner when he won at Mosport in 2015. His sports car background also included competing in the Pirelli World Challenge and historic motorsport.

Cindric eventually moved to stock cars, and his road racing experience came in handy as five of his thirteen career Xfinity victories came on road courses, as did his lone career Camping World Truck Series victory. When the 2020 Xfinity champion began dabbling in the Cup Series in 2021 for Penske, he saw much success on road courses as he qualified in the top five at Circuit of the Americas and Road America and led laps in both, followed by finishing ninth on the Indianapolis Road Course.

While Cindric is the lone full-timer, he is not the only driver with a significant number of NASCAR starts in 2021, though the other name came through bizarre circumstances. James Davison is in the #32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports, which will compete in the GTD class, as a last-minute replacement for Guy Cosmo. Cosmo was abruptly released from the team after Sunday’s Motul 100 qualifying race: according to Cosmo, he took over the #32 from Mike Skeen shortly after inheriting the lead from those who pitted, then lost two spots on pit road to factory drivers; although the #32 finished sixth of twenty-one entries in the class, GKM’s owner Henry Gilbert pinned the lack of victory on him and fired him.

Davison therefore joins GKM in an unusual situation, set for his first IMSA start since 2017. He ran twenty Cup races for Rick Ware Racing in 2021 with a best finish of twenty-second at Martinsville in the spring, and also finished eighteenth as an Xfinity road ringer for B.J. McLeod Motorsports at Indianapolis. The Australian, who previously raced heavily in open-wheel and sports cars including the full 2014 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for The Racer’s Group, has mainly competed in NASCAR since 2020. He has not revealed his 2022 plans.

Nyck de Vries started his defence of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship perfectly as he led a Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team one-two in the opening race of the Diriyah E-Prix on Friday.

The Dutchman capitalised on a mistake in activating the attack mode by his Belgian team-mate to take over at the front, and once there he made no mistakes himself and finished six-tenths of a second clear at the end of a race that went into overtime due to an early safety car.

De Vries went into the day on the backfoot after crashing early in Thursday’s free practice, but he jumped into second place ahead of Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team’s Jake Dennis at the start and then was in the right place when Vandoorne missed one of the activation points when attempting to take his second attack mode just after half distance.

The safety car was needed early on when Oliver Rowland was pitched into the wall by Robin Frijns, with the Mahindra Racing driver out on the spot.  The stewards did not take too kindly to the Envision Racing driver’s move and handed him a drive-through penalty for the incident.

The safety car for Rowland’s crash saw the first ever overtime being added to the race distance, with five minutes and fifteen seconds being added to the overall time, meaning drivers had to be extremely clever with their energy usage to make it to the line.

Assuming no changes in the next three months, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on 9/10 April will be the 2022 Stadium Super Trucks season opener. On the other hand, development of Robby Gordon‘s SPEED UTV programme has prevented the trucks from appearing at the week’s King of the Hammers. Gordon, the SST founder and president, posted on Instagram hyping up the season opener at Long Beach on Wednesday.

Save for the cancelled 2020 race, Long Beach is the only track to be on the SST schedule every year since the inaugural season in 2013. The street circuit has traditionally been the second or third weekend that the trucks visit outside of 2021 when COVID-19 postponed the Grand Prix to September and turned it into the final round. By starting the year at Long Beach, SST will skip the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on 26/27 February, which opened the 2021 season.

Jerett Brooks and Gordon are the defending race winners, and the latter is the only driver with three Long Beach victories.

A full 2022 schedule has not been announced, though one can expect the trucks to continue supporting the NTT IndyCar Series at various road courses and street circuits. Particular tracks to keep an eye on include Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (2/3 July), Honda Indy Toronto (16/17 July), Big Machine Music City Grand Prix (6/7 August), and Portland International Raceway (3/4 September). SST visited Mid-Ohio twice apiece in 2019 and 2021 as an undercard to both IndyCar and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, though the latter has been replaced by the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on 9 July which could remain a support option. Toronto hosted SST from 2013 to 2016 and again in 2019, though the next two races were called off due to the pandemic which prompted SST to consider a 2022 return. SST supported the inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville in 2021, while the series appeared at Portland in 2019; Portland will also host Xfinity on 4 June. Unfortunately, one can rule out any dates in Australia even if the pandemic did not exist as the Boost Mobile Super Trucks are basically dead with their trucks being sent back to America.

In Gordon’s Instagram post, a commenter asked about the trucks heading to KOH, to which Gordon replied, “unfortunately we are too busy with @speedutv testing”.

Stoffel Vandoorne took the first pole position of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season as he beat Jake Dennis in the first knockout Qualifying final for race one of the Diriyah E-Prix in Saudi Arabia.

For the first time, Formula E adopted a new qualifying format, with the top four of each of the two opening segments going through to the knockout stages.  Those eight drivers will then go head-to-head, with four quarter finals, two semi finals and then one final.

Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team’s Vandoorne ultimately came through the tough session, overcoming the challenge of Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team’s Dennis in the final having beaten his team-mate and the defending Formula E champion Nyck de Vries in the semi-final.

Dennis had overcome the challenge of Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team’s André Lotterer in the first of the semi-finals, but a couple of small errors prevented him from taking pole position.

The quarter finals had seen Lotterer knock out Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns, while the second Envision of Nick Cassidy was eliminated by Vandoorne.  Dennis was able to beat countryman and Jaguar TCS Racing driver Sam Bird in his quarter final, while de Vries eliminated Oliver Rowland after the British racer locked up heading into the first turn.

The NASCAR Cup Series‘ two dates at Martinsville Speedway have long been a pair of 500-lap affairs. However, the spring race’s distance has been axed by a fifth to 400 laps. Consequently, the race name has been modified to the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 from the original “500”. The fall Xfinity 500 will keep its length.

Martinsville has had 500-lap Cup races for over seven decades, with the only 400 lapper there being the 1956 Old Dominion 400 won by Jack Smith; the race was a combination event between the then-Grand National Series and the now defunct Convertible Division. Nine races since have been less than 500 laps, though all have been circumstantial such as being shortened by weather or the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The 1961 Virginia 500 had an unusual case in which it was called short after 149 laps (which would not have occurred under today’s rules as races are only official upon crossing the halfway point, which would have been 250 laps under the 500-lap length) before a make-up race that ran the full distance took place two weeks later.

The change was spurred as the spring race has been held at night since 2020. Weather and the nature of short track racing, the latter of which frequently leads to crashes and cautions, also mean the possibility of races continuing well into the night were a concern. Martinsville races typically run for over three hours, with the 2021 Blue-Emu 500—which was delayed by rain—nearly reaching four hours at three hours, fifty-four minutes, and twenty-five seconds, the longest at the half-mile track since the 2007 fall race. Decreasing attention spans have also prompted races to decrease in distance over the years.

Stage breaks will take place on laps 80 and 180, meaning the third and final segment will be 220 laps long. Martin Truex Jr. is the defending race winner.

Alpha Prime Racing‘s week of announcements continued on Thursday with the addition of Josh Bilicki to the driver roster. He will run six NASCAR Xfinity Series races for the team beginning at Circuit of the Americas on 26 March, followed by starts at Darlington Raceway (7 May), Road America (2 July), Michigan International Speedway (6 August), Watkins Glen International (20 August), and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (8 October).

Four of his scheduled races are road courses, which comes with little surprise as much of his early career was spent in sports cars while he broke into NASCAR as a road course specialist. Since a full-time Xfinity campaign in 2018, his plate has grown to include ovals which was highlighted his maiden NASCAR top ten at Daytona during his Cup Series rookie season in 2021.

For 2022, Bilicki has also joined Spire Motorsports for a part-time Cup schedule in the #77.

“I’m incredibly excited to join Alpha Prime Racing for multiple races throughout the 2022 season, as I truly believe this will compliment my Cup programme with Spire Motorsports,” said Bilicki. “I’ve always looked forward to racing the road courses in the NASCAR Xfinity Series because I truly believe that we can score an upset win, much like Jeremy Clements in 2017 at Road America. In addition to the road courses, we have several ovals on our schedule at some of my favorite tracks.”

“Josh is one of the most underrated drivers in NASCAR,” commented team co-owner Tommy Joe Martins. “He’s done a great job the last few years on underfunded teams—something I know a whole lot about. At road courses, he’s flat out a top-level driver, so his schedule with Alpha Prime Racing should be a perfect fit to showcase his talent. We’re very excited to have him.”

GB3 Championship race-winner Reece Ushijima has graduated to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing.

The American driver spent two seasons in GB3, formerly BRDC British Formula 3, taking on Britain’s premier single-seater championship in his first full season out of a karting career which only started when Ushijima was 13.

Prior to joining the 2020 grid with Hitech GP for the team’s debut season in the championship alongside eventual title contender Kush Maini, he contested India’s MRF Challenge and took podiums in the BRSCC Formula Ford Winter Series.

He was tight-lipped on his plans for 2022 when TCF spoke to him after finishing second from pole in Race 2 at Donington Park in October, one of his seven podiums with Hitech in a season which also brought two wins in the second round at Silverstone, Oliver Oakes’ team’s home circuit.

Ushijima also finished second in Race 1 in Leicestershire, after going wheel to wheel with early-season title rival Zak O’Sullivan on the first lap.