Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The Race of Champions in Pite Havsbad, Sweden, two weeks ago should have been a place for Travis Pastrana to show his stuff, but injuries in a BASE jumping accident prevented him from competing. However, he’s interested on bringing over one of the ROC’s competitors to his Nitro Rallycross series.

Sebastian Vettel, the four-time Formula One World Drivers Champion with no off-road background, finished runner-up in the main ROC to Sébastien Loeb. He has since expressed curiosity about diving deeper into the discipline, telling Dirtfish days after the event that although it is “not easy to just jump into it and be very good at it […] if somebody is willing to give me a shot and a chance and has a lot of time, I’m happy to look at it.”

In a video posted on NRX’s social media Wednesday, Pastrana seemed more than eager to give him that shot.

“Hey Seb! I’ve had a lot of time to think and watch some videos while I’ve been laid up on the couch,” began Pastrana, pointing to his crutches that he has been using while recovering from his injuries. “I see that you have mentioned wanting to try rally or rallycross. Funny you should mention that because we are actually doing Nitro Rallycross where you get to experience jumps and all kinds of door-to-door action. Super fun, lot of great drivers, love to have you in there.”

Pastrana is the defending American Rally Association champion and founder of Nitro Rallycross, the latter of which is the latest attempt to cultivate a rallycross culture in the United States. NRX held five rounds in its inaugural season last year with Pastrana winning the championship over Scott Speed, a former F1 driver whose departure from that series coincidentally led to Vettel making his first appearance in what has been his stomping ground since 2007. Third-placed Timmy Hansen was at ROC as a member of Team Sweden.

Charouz Racing System has retained the services of Enzo Fittipaldi for the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship where he will partner Cem Bölükbasi in what will be both drivers first full season in the category.

The Brazilian racing driver made his F2 debut with the Czech racing outfit in Monza last season where he replaced David Beckmann who had to drop out due to financial constraints. He went on to score his first points at Jeddah later on in the season before suffering a broken heel after he collided with a stalled Theo Pourchaire on the grid at the start of the feature race.

Fittipaldi was ruled out of the season closer in Abu Dhabi but is returning for a full season in 2022. The 20-year-old started last season with Charouz in FIA Formula 3 where he managed a season best second place finish in Sprint Race 2 of the Budapest race weekend. He has a promising single-seater history, with a championship win in the 2018 Italian F4 Championship as well as being runner-up in the 2019 Formula Regional European Championship.

“For me, it’s a pleasure and an honour to be able to continue my adventure in Formula 2 with Charouz Racing System. Last season they gave me the opportunity to debut in this category after a good first part of the season in Formula 3 and this will allow me and the team to work immediately on the performance as from the first test sessions,” Fittipaldi told Formula 2.

“It will be a long and demanding championship and the level of competitiveness has never been as high as this year, so it’s a great advantage not to have to spend the first testing days to get familiar with the car. We definitely aim to be a regular presence in the top 10 positions, and we’ll certainly try to seize every opportunity to get some podium finishes and maybe some wins.”

After filling the vacant Campos Racing seat for the final two rounds of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Season, British racing driver Olli Caldwell as signed for the Spanish racing outfit as a full-time driver for the 2022 campaign.

The announcement comes only days after the Alpine Formula 1 Team announced Caldwell as being part of their driver academy alongside fellow FIA Formula 3 graduate, Jack Doohan. The 19-year-old completes Campos Racing’s line-up with the already announced Ralph Boschung staying on for a third consecutive season at the team.

With the 2021 campaign being Caldwell’s second season in Formula 3, he improved drastically on his performance the year before, notching a race win as well as a handful of podiums as he finished eighth in the standings. His PREMA Racing team-mate, Dennis Hauger, went on to take the title.

With the second Campos Racing seat playing musical chairs throughout the 2021 F2 season, Caldwell jumped into David Beckmann’s vacant seat at Jeddah and Abu Dhabi. The Brit’s best finish came in Sprint Race 2 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit where he finished twelfth place.

“I’m very excited to be joining Campos Racing. Especially after finishing the last two rounds and the post-season test with them.” Caldwell told Formula 2 journalists. “I get on really well with the team and especially with Ralph. The car is looking very strong and I think we can definitely achieve some very good results this year.”

Daytona 500 practice on Tuesday gave teams and drivers the opportunity to figure out the new Next Gen car, as well as prepare for Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel and Sunday’s race by testing out drafting with their team-mates. As such, many of the fastest times in the two practices were of the same manufacturer. The Fords in particular enjoyed a strong practice as Michael McDowell and Ryan Blaney led contingents of Fords in each session.

McDowell, the defending Daytona 500 winner, led the way in Practice #1 with four other Fords behind him. David Ragan, his former team-mate at Front Row Motorsports and 2011 Daytona 2 winner, was second followed by rookie and FRM driver Todd Gilliland. RFK Racing‘s Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher followed.

The manufacturer drafting groups continued with Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing Toyotas rounding out the top ten followed by Hendrick Motorsports and JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolets. Greg Biffle, driving for NY Racing Team, was the fastest of the six non-chartered cars that must qualify or race their ways into the 500.

“We wanted to get out in that group and just kind of play around with the draft and not put ourselves in a bad situation where you’re two or three wide, but just kind of line up so it worked out well,” said McDowell. “We were lined up four or five of the Fords and then we were catching the Toyota pack, so lap time here is very situational on where you get the draft and where you get the runs, but I feel really good about our Ford Mustang. We had good speed and it drove pretty well. It did all the things you’re looking to do with minimal practice and not being in that three, four-wide crazy situation, so I feel good.”

Blaney continued the manufacturer split in Practice #2 as Team Penske team-mate Joey Logano tailed. Unlike the first session, the entire top ten was filled with Fords. Rick Ware Racing‘s Cody Ware, the beneficiary of a new alliance with Ford, was fourth quickest, and he raised eyebrows when fans noticed his lowered window net and raised helmet visor while running in the draft; while both are glaring safety concerns, Formula 4 United States Championship driver Cade McKee commented that the visor being up is not uncommon in sports car racing, and is done if a visor is tinted and the race has a day-to-night transition.

George Russell has a major season ahead in 2022, as he joins reigning Constructor’s Champions Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team in the midst of huge changes in a new era of Formula 1. In his first interview with the team, Russell touches on his experience joining Mercedes and teaming up with familiar faces from his junior career.

“It’s an incredibly special feeling to be an official Mercedes driver and a bit of a strange feeling at the same time, because I had spent so much time there when I was in Formula 3 and Formula 2 as a junior driver. In a way it feels like returning home to people who I’ve known for such a long time and getting up to speed with how the team operates again, which is something I’ve really enjoyed.”

The familiarity of the team has allowed Russell to get right to work when it comes to preparation and development for the upcoming season. 2021 saw a wavering of Mercedes’ hybrid-era dominance, as Lewis Hamilton lost out on an 8th Drivers’ title in a controversial end to a close battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. As a result, Mercedes will be looking to reassert their position as a championship-winning team in 2022.

“Because I’ve spent so much time with the team prior to joining Williams in Formula 1 as a junior driver, I feel like I know everybody so well already, so we get straight to business on the important bits and bobs to understand the new car, to understand the challenges, and to try and prepare as best as possible for the season ahead. I think, following the conclusion of last year there’s so much motivation and fire within the whole factory to bounce back and that is incredible for me to see.”

At the factory, Russell has spent time working alongside the engineers and using the simulator to better understand how the car should progress– a particularly exciting effort considering the new regulations. 

After running much of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season for MBM Motorsports, David Starr has moved to SS-Green Light Racing for 2022. On Tuesday, SSGLR announced Starr will drive the #08 Ford Mustang for twenty-eight of thirty-three races. His schedule begins with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway on 19 February.

Starr is no stranger to SSGLR. He ran the final eight races of the 2010 Camping World Truck Series season and first seven of 2013 for the team before running the 2014 Xfinity finale. In 2017, he contested the full Xfinity season for SSGLR in alliance with B.J. McLeod Motorsports before departing for a two-year stint with Jimmy Means Racing.

“I am excited to have David back as a driver,” said team owner Bobby Dotter. “He has driven for me numerous times, but never with this quality of equipment. We are hoping to showcase his talents with the right equipment this year thanks to the support from Ford.”

He moved to JD Motorsports for 2020 before being ousted after four races due to sponsorship issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Later in the year, he rejoined SSGLR for eight rounds.

In 2021, Starr signed with MBM Motorsports and raced in twenty-six events. He scored five top-twenty finishes with a best run of fourteenth at Daytona. He also made seven Cup Series starts for MBM.

JBXE has added some championship-winning firepower to its 2022 Extreme E lineup. On Tuesday, the team announced Molly Taylor has joined the organisation while Kevin Hansen returns for a second season.

Taylor arrives as the reigning champion after claiming the inaugural series title in 2021 for Rosberg X Racing. RXR replaced her with JBXE’s Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky for 2022, making Taylor’s own move in essence a driver trade. Interestingly, the exchange also comes between teams run by ex-Formula One World Champions as JBXE is operated by 2009 winner Jenson Button and RXR is 2016 WDC Nico Rosberg‘s; both also began their F1 careers with Williams Racing, whose engineering arm supplies batteries for Extreme E’s Odyssey 21 cars.

“To be able to bring Molly into the team is fantastic news for JBXE,” said Button. “Having won the championship last year she obviously brings a huge amount to the table so I’m incredibly excited to see her and Kevin in action this weekend.”

In 2021, Taylor and Johan Kristoffersson won three races for RXR en route to the championship; the duo was the lone team to win multiple races. Between the end of the season and Tuesday’s announcement, Taylor ran the Dakar Rally in January, where she finished fourteenth in the SSV category. She won the 2016 Australian Rally Championship and has made starts in the FIA World Rally Championship.

“I had an incredible year with Extreme E in 2021 and I believe wholeheartedly in what the competition represents both with respect to its commitment to sustainability and gender equality,” commented Taylor. “Having had the benefit of a win in last year’s championship, when the call came to join the JBXE team ahead of this weekend’s race, I thought why not. I’m looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into the Desert X Prix this weekend.”

Ayrton Simmons will make a full-time step up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Charouz Racing System in 2022.

He debuted with the Czech team at the final round at the Sochi Autodrom in September, amid a GB3 Championship title challenge which brought four wins and five podiums in his second full season.

Simmons’ car racing career started with three years in the F4 British Championship with Arden Motorsport and JHR Developments, where he took five wins and 19 podiums in total.

He debuted in British F3 with Chris Dittmann Racing during his second-place 2018 British F4 campaign, before stepping up and finishing third with the team in 2019.

The 20-year-old spent the first part of 2020 contesting the Euroformula Open championship with Double R Racing, before making a wildcard British F3 appearance at Brands Hatch and taking two wins with JHR.

Young British talent Katie Milner, who represented the country in the FIA Rally Star global detection programme held on the rallycross track of Estering in Germany on 29-31 January, has advanced to the Women´s Final which will be held in North America later this year.

Milner was one of the four Britons who represented the country in the competition. With the support of Katie Baldwin on behalf of Motorsport UK Academy, she went together with Rob Wilson, George Lepley and John Bebnowicz-Harris to Germany where they raced against drivers that represented countries from different parts of the world.

After stage one, Milner was the only woman who qualified, but stage two was worse as during her first run she failed to finish, but luck changed when the panel that includes well known names in the world of rally such as Robert Reid, Malcolm Wilson, Thierry Neuville and Pernilla Solberg gave her the chance to take part in the shootout that she later won.

Together with Swedish Maja Hallen Fellenius, they will go to North America later this year and compete in the Women’s Final.

“I’m over the moon to have qualified for the Women’s Final in North America, it’s been a very challenging weekend with a lot of pressure, but I’ve enjoyed every minute. It was a great event run by the FIA and gave me a new challenge with the change between gravel and tarmac. I’m looking forward to getting my head into gear and training now for August” Milner said.

Rosberg X Racing‘s Extreme E title defence will come in an Odyssey that is certainly more colourful than its 2021 counterpart. The team unveiled the livery for its 2022 car on Tuesday.

The car was the brainchild of Alpine F1 Team graphic designer Sean Bull, who also created the 2021 RXR paint scheme. While its predecessor was matte black with turquoise highlights, the 2022 design prominently features a white stripe running along the sides and over the front wheels. Turquoise is also added behind the cockpit and as an additional trim along the white pattern.

Tucked behind the front wheel is a symbol of the team’s achievement with the phrase “2021 EXTREME E CHAMPIONS” below the car number; the location was previously filled by a Julius Bär sponsorship. Other sponsors from the previous season carry over in generally the same decal positions as the 2021 car, such as Sunreef Yachts Eco being along the door and above the team logo while Vulcan Energy is underneath the championship phrase and number.

Much of the sponsors had personal endorsement deals with team owner Nico Rosberg prior to Extreme E. The car also retains #6, which was Rosberg’s personal number when he raced in Formula One; the number’s significance to the Rosbergs began with his father Keke, who drove the #6 to the 1982 F1 World Championship.

In the inaugural Extreme E season in 2021, RXR was the only team to score multiple wins as Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor triumphed in the Ocean, Desert, and Island X Prixs. RXR’s battle with Team X44, incidentally owned by Rosberg’s former F1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton, ended with the two tied atop the standings, but RXR’s three wins gave them the advantage and therefore the title.

Anheuser-Busch has been a NASCAR partner for over four decades, and now the beer producer wants to uplift a small demographic in the racing world. On Monday, Busch Beer announced the launch of the Busch Light Accelerate Her programme, which intends to invest money into sponsoring female drivers over the age of 21 (the legal alcohol drinking age in the United States) to assist them in their careers.

It is no secret across virtually every motorsport discipline that women make up a tiny sliver in many positions, especially drivers. Entering the 2022 season, Jennifer Jo Cobb and Hailie Deegan of the Camping World Truck Series are the only full-time drivers in a NASCAR national series; Cobb is a member of Accelerate Her, while Deegan is underage at 20 so she is ineligible. The top-level Cup Series has not had a regular female driver since Danica Patrick retired after six seasons in 2017.

Efforts to narrow the gender gap have taken place in various divisions of racing, from the open-wheel W Series to Extreme E having teams of one male and one female each. Since 2004, NASCAR has run the Drive for Diversity programme which seeks to give racial minorities and women opportunities in stock car racing.

“In racing, sponsorship is not just the key to success, but what it takes to even get a spot on the track,” begins a statement on the Busch website. “That’s why we’re making a first-of-its-kind commitment to sponsor every woman driver (21+) in NASCAR today–and for years to come. Through the Busch Light Accelerate Her program, we’re promising to provide access to more track time, more media exposure and more training for up-and-coming talent.

“Every driver will receive a direct sponsorship grant from Busch Light, but that’s not all. We’ve redirected 25% of our yearly NASCAR budget to solely support marketing resources and brand support for our women drivers. We’re committed to paving a lane for women on and off the track, and the Busch Light Accelerate Her program is our first step towards a future with more women drivers.”

Caio Collet will contest the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship with MP Motorsport, staying with the team after taking two podiums in his rookie season.

The Brazilian’s 2021 team-mate, and fellow Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins announced his return to ART Grand Prix on Monday (14 February), but Collet will partner race-winner Alex Smolyar at MP.

Collet finished the 2021 season as the second-highest-placed rookie behind Martins, with podiums at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya and Circuit Paul Ricard in the first two rounds.

He recovered from a mid-season lull to take six top-five finishes in the last eight races of the year, ultimately finishing ninth.

The 2018 French Formula 4 champion was consistently strong in post-season testing at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, and is positive about his sophomore season ahead.

ART Grand Prix have completed their line-up for the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship, announcing Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins for his second season in the championship.

Martins joins from MP Motorsport after finishing as the highest-placed F3 rookie in 2021. A win at Zandvoort and five further podiums took him to fifth in the standings.

The French driver finished second in the 2017 French Formula 4 Championship after a part-time 2016 season, before finishing second and first with ART in the 2019 and 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup respectively.

Having finished second in both sessions on the first day of post-season testing at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Martins is confident of continuing his momentum into a second F3 season.

“I am very happy to be able to collaborate with ART GP once again,” he said.

Drew Dollar will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series début on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. On Monday, Joe Gibbs Racing announced Gibbs will run the four Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway races in the #18 Toyota Supra, a schedule consisting exclusively of superspeedways.

After the Daytona opener, his next start will be at Talladega on 23 April. The second Daytona race is on 26 August, while Talladega 2 is on 1 October.

Dollar primarily competed in the ARCA Menards Series, finishing fourth in the 2020 standings for Venturini Motorsports before running eleven of twenty races in 2021. His 2021 saw him score top tens in all but three races, including winning the pole and finishing second in the opener at Daytona.

Also on the Daytona weekend, he ran his maiden Camping World Truck Series event, finishing tenth for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Seven more Truck starts came for KBM, though he was marred by incidents and failed to finish higher than eighteenth (at Phoenix) in every run.

In addition to his Xfinity slate, he will run four ARCA rounds in 2022 for KBM. The ARCA schedule begins at Daytona on the same day as the Xfinity race, and he will also compete at Talladega on 23 April, Kansas Speedway on 14 May, and Charlotte Motor Speedway on 27 May.

Greg Biffle has not raced in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2016, but he hopes to change that with the season-opening Daytona 500. On Monday, NY Racing Team announced Biffle will attempt to qualify for the 500 in the #44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, receiving sponsorship from Grambling State University. As the team does not have a charter, he will need to qualify on speed or via Duel finish.

During his fourteen-year run from 2003 to 2016, Biffle was one of the finer drivers in the Cup Series. Competing for what is now RFK Racing, he scored nineteen wins and finished runner-up in the 2005 championship battle. He was released by the team after 2016 as his performance declined over the previous two seasons and moved into dirt track and off-road racing. Although he never won the Daytona 500 in fourteen tries, he claimed the pole in 2004 and his maiden Cup victory came in the 2003 Daytona night race.

Interestingly, NY Racing will not be Biffle’s first time driving a #44, let alone a Chevrolet (he was mainly a Ford driver during his full-time NASCAR career). In 2002, a year before becoming a Cup regular, he ran two of the final three Cup races for Petty Enterprises (the predecessor to Petty GMS Motorsports) in a #44 Chevrolet, finishing twenty-fifth in both.

Since 2018, he runs the Sand Outlaw UTV series and competes sporadically in the Stadium Super Trucks. In the latter, he has four podiums, including a trio of seconds; he ran the 2021 Mid-Ohio NASCAR weekend, finishing fourth and second in the two races.

While much of Biffle’s racing nowadays has been on non-paved surfaces, he returned to NASCAR in 2019 when he entered the Camping World Truck Series round at Texas for Kyle Busch Motorsports. The 2000 series champion won in his first start since 2004, contributing to an effort that propelled the #51 KBM truck to the owners’ championship. He did another one-off the following year at Darlington, finishing nineteenth for GMS Racing.