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Craig Breen says he can take a lot from his performance during the Rallye Monte Carlo after he and co-driver Paul Nagle took a podium finish on their first appearance with the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.

The 2022 season marks the first full season of Breen and Nagle’s career in the World Rally Championship, and they started it in a positive manner by consistently putting the debuting Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 car into the top three.

With team-mates Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche taking the rally victory it was a good weekend for M-Sport in Monaco, and Breen says he can take a lot of positives away from the principality as he prepares for Rally Sweden, which takes place at the end of February.

“Obviously really happy with how the weekend went, perhaps not the strongest of weekends pace-wise, but we really settled into the car with every stage,” said Breen.  “Ultimately today we definitely found our feet, our pace was really good, and we managed to bring home a podium result.

“It’s great for the team, great to get two cars on the podium, and looking forward to Sweden now.”

Sébastien Ogier was pleased to finish the Rallye Monte Carlo in second place, even if he and new co-driver Benjamin Veillas lost out on victory to Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche late in the day.

Ogier and Veillas were on course to take the win in Monaco only to be denied as the duo suffered a puncture on the penultimate stage of the rally, which left them floundering behind Loeb and Galmiche, finishing just over ten seconds behind them at the end.  They gave it their all in the final stage, although a ten-second time penalty for a jump start did not help them one bit.

However, despite the disappointment of losing what would have been a ninth Rallye Monte Carlo victory, Ogier, who races for the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team, was pleased with his performance and the performance of the debuting GR Yaris Rally1 hybrid rally car.

“It has been a huge joy to compete in this special rally again and to be in this incredible fight,” insisted Ogier.  “This weekend we don’t come out as the winner but we can definitely keep our head up.

“Together with Benjamin and the team we did the job. We have done a great performance over the weekend and there were no issues on the car, which is a fantastic achievement. Fate decided differently today but I’m still smiling and I still enjoyed this fight very much.

Sébastien Loeb rolled back the years during last weekend’s Rallye Monte Carlo as he took his eightieth career World Rally Championship victory alongside co-driver Isabelle Galmiche.

For Galmiche, as well, it was a historic day as she became the first female co-driver to take victory in the WRC for twenty-five years as she helped Loeb take six stage victories on his way to the overall win.

Loeb has been a relative part-timer in rallying in recent years but took his M-Sport Ford World Rally Team to victory on board the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, the first time the car raced in the WRC.

“I’m really happy, I didn’t expect so much,” said Loeb afterwards.  “When I came here, I didn’t really know what to expect, I was just hoping I would be in a good rhythm and able to fight with the guys in the front.

“In the end it was more than we expected, we were able to fight with [Sébastien] Ogier to boast for the win, and to finally win the rally at the end like this is just amazing.”

Dutch teenager Laurens Van Hoepen will make the jump from karting to race in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2022 with front running team ART Grand Prix.

The sixteen-year-old has been relatively successful in karts, finishing third in the FIA European Championship KZ2 category, and has tested Formula 3 machinery with ART Grand Prix during the off-season.

The two-day test in Spain proved to ART that they needed to sign him up for the 2022 season, although Van Hoepen knows it is a big jump to go from karting directly into FRECA rather than racing in Formula 4.

“I’m really looking forward to joining ART Grand Prix for my debut season in single seaters,” said Van Hoepen. “The team did an amazing job winning the drivers’ championship and finishing runner up in the teams’ championship last year.

“I know it’s a big step from karting to FRECA but during the pre-season tests, I instantly felt comfortable with the team and the car. This is a very competitive championship and the circuits in this series are fantastic.

Emerling-Gase Motorsports‘ début at Daytona International Speedway will be with a pair of cars sporting inverted numbers. On Monday, the team announced co-owner Joey Gase will drive the #53 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener alongside the #35 Toyota Supra of Shane Lee. Both cars will be sponsored by cryptocurrency KittyKatCoin.

Gase, an Xfinity regular with experience across NASCAR’s three national divisions, formed EGM on his own in November as Joey Gase Racing. The name was dropped when Whelen Modified Tour driver Patrick Emerling joined the ownership group a month later.

Lee signed with the team during its existence as JGR, bringing with him assets including a set of Toyotas that he acquired from his former Xfinity team H2 Motorsports. H2 provided his most recent NASCAR seat when he ran seven races for the team in 2019, though it folded due to legal investigations.

Emerling will also drive for the team. He finished runner-up in the 2021 Modified Tour standings, and has four career Xfinity starts for Our Motorsports. When he departed Our for EGM, he brought with him the owner points of the Our #23 which will be used in the #35.

#35 was last used in the Xfinity Series by MBM Motorsports in 2019 for Gase, which he brought over from Go Green Racing. The #53’s most recent action also came that year for Gase’s former Xfinity team Jimmy Means Racing, and he has also piloted the number in the Cup Series for Rick Ware Racing.

As the NASCAR Cup Series prepares to début the Next Gen car, the sanctioning body is not taking any chances with teams potentially skirting the rules. On Monday, NASCAR announced a restructured penalty system for the upcoming 2022 season that goes as far as disqualifying teams from making the playoffs entirely for especially egregious cases.

NASCAR has used an L-letter penalty tier system since 2017, with the higher number accompanying the L being harsher in punishment. In the case of the new format, an L3 penalty—which is reserved for extreme incidents like teams counterfeiting or tampering with certain Next Gen car components that are sourced from a single vendor—results in 120 to 180 points revoked from the standings, up to $500,000 in fines, and a ban from the playoffs regardless of eligibility. On the opposite extreme, an L1 penalty for just failing post-race inspection warrants a loss of up to 75 points and a $100,000 fine. Intended to reduce costs, some elements of the Next Gen car are produced by one company, such as Dallara with radiator ducts and McLaren with the digital dashboard and ECU (Engine Control Unit).

“If there aren’t penalties for altering parts and pieces on the new car, then the business model with new car won’t work,” stated NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller said. “It was definitely something that was pressed for hard by the teams, and we’re doing our due diligence for establishing all the inspection procedures and all the different things. The rule book is a completely new rule book with lots more specifics than there were in the past.”

While the NASCAR rulebook might not cover every possible infraction, L1 penalties may be issued for violations like not meeting weight requirements, particular parts not adhering to regulation, or a team not submitting said parts to NASCAR for inspection and approval. The points deduction ranges from 20 to 75 points, while up to 10 playoff points can be removed. A crew member can also be suspended between one to three races, while the team is slapped with a $25,000 to $100,000 fine.

L2 penalties involve breaking engine seal rules, unapproved changes to single-vendor parts or the engine, or using electronics forbidden by NASCAR. Engine sealing, in which various components are prohibited from being changed like the engine block and each engine must run a certain number of races, became a hot topic during the 2021 season when a clerical error resulted in Hendrick Motorsports‘ Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott receiving L1 penalties. Those who receive L2 penalties can suffer a loss of 75 to 120 points, 10 to 25 in playoff points, one or two crew members for four to six races, and fines ranging from $100,000 to $250,000.

Alpha Prime Racing has added another driver to its roster for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, though this one will be in an increased capacity compared to other part-timers. On Monday, the team announced Kaz Grala will run four races for the team in addition to being the substitute in the event of the other scheduled drivers suddenly becoming unavailable. His slate will begin at Auto Club Speedway on 26 February, and he added in a follow-up tweet that he will also race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5 March) and Phoenix Raceway (12 March) to complete the West Coast Swing, as well as his home track New Hampshire Motor Speedway on 16 July.

“Kaz is one of the best young drivers in NASCAR,” team co-owner Tommy Joe Martins stated. “When Caesar (Bacarella) and I talked about available free agents, Kaz was an easy choice. We’re extremely excited to have him on our roster for the first year of Alpha Prime Racing and we hope we can for years to come.”

Save for 2017 when he ran the full Camping World Truck Series season and an aborted 2018 Xfinity run, Grala has compared part-time across NASCAR’s three national series since 2016. In thirty-four career Xfinity starts, he has nine top tens, four top fives, and a best run of fourth twice. He finished eighteenth and fifteenth in two 2021 Xfinity starts for Jordan Anderson Racing at Road America and Texas.

Grala has also run four Cup Series races for Kaulig Racing with a pair of top tens. In the Truck Series, he made three starts for Young’s Motorsports in 2021 as a road course ringer, finishing runner-up at Circuit of the Americas.

“I’ve been friends with Tommy Joe for years now and have always thought of him as one of the best guys in the garage,” commented Grala. “Towards the end of last year, he and I talked about what they’re building at Alpha Prime Racing and what their long-term vision is for the team. I wanted to be involved any way I could, so I’m really thrilled and grateful to be a part of the program this year as they grow.

Kaulig Racing announced Monday the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series slate for the three-man #16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that will be shared by Xfinity Series regulars A.J. Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, and Daniel Hemric.

Allmendinger will kick off his sixteen-race schedule with the exhibition Busch Light Clash at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. With the exception of the 1.3-mile Nashville Superspeedway and the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway, his slate does not contain any intermediate tracks. Instead, he will primarily race on short tracks and road courses—a no-brainer for one of the top road racers in NASCAR—as he enters all of the latter at Circuit of the Americas, Sonoma Raceway, Road America, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. He won at Indianapolis last August (which locks him into the All-Star), while his maiden Cup victory came at The Glen in 2014. Bristol Motor Speedway and the Charlotte Roval are his only scheduled venues where he has previously won in Xfinity, with both coming in 2021 while he has also won at the latter the last three years.

Gragson, who will expand his Cup schedule beyond the Daytona 500 with Beard Motorsports for the first time, is entered in fourteen events beginning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. While much of his plate is filled with intermediates, he will be the lone non-Allmendinger short tracker as he is in the #16 at Richmond Raceway‘s August date and Martinsville Speedway‘s October round; he at both circuits in the Xfinity Series in 2021. The week before Martinsville, he will have a go at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he nearly won last year’s Xfinity race before a late crash took him out.

Hemric, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, will run nine races beginning with the Duels that precede the Daytona 500 followed by said race. In his first Cup action since running the full 2019 season, he will run every superspeedway race as he enters both Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway rounds. Additional starts will come at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and both Darlington Raceway events. Although Hemric scored his maiden NASCAR win at Phoenix Raceway, he will not run either date, nor will he race at Pocono Raceway or Kansas Speedway, respectively the sites of his last Cup top ten and lone Cup pole. However, he recorded his best Cup finish of fifth at the spring Talladega race.

Introduced in 2020, the #16 ran nine races in 2021 ahead of Kaulig’s full-time expansion for 2022. Allmendinger drove five races in his first Cup starts since 2014, while Kaz Grala had three and Justin Haley one. Haley will drive the team’s #31 in his first season running for Cup points. Both the #16 and #31 are locked into every race with charters.

Mike Joy will be surrounded by a pair of former Stewart-Haas Racing drivers in the FOX Sports commentary booth when the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season begins. FOX announced Saturday that three-time champion and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart will become an analyst for the network at the Busch Light Clash on 6 February and the season-opening Daytona 500 on 20 February.

Stewart will join Joy, the play-by-play announcer since FOX gained broadcast rights in 2001, and Clint Bowyer, who previously raced for SHR before retiring to become a colour commentator in 2021. Bowyer had replaced Stewart in the SHR #14 after the latter’s retirement in 2016.

“Tony brings Hall of Fame credentials and one of the most informative and entertaining voices in motorsports,” FOX Sports Executive Producer Brad Zager stated. “There is an obvious chemistry between Smoke and Clint, and there is no one better than Mike at bringing a broadcast all together.”

A 2020 inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Stewart is one of the most decorated names in American motorsport with success across disciplines including stock cars, open-wheel, and dirt. While his media work is nowhere near as extensive as his driving resume, he is certainly no stranger to television duties: in the late 1990s, he was an analyst for TNN covering what is now the Xfinity Series; in 2021, he served in the same position alongside Bowyer and Adam Alexander for FOX in the Xfinity season opener at Daytona.

The Busch Light Clash will be the first NASCAR race held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. To prepare the Next Gen car for its racing début at the exhibition event, Stewart tested it with Bowyer and NBC’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Bowman Gray Stadium in October.

Sebastien Loeb and Co-Driver Isabelle Galmiche (M-Sport Ford) prevailed in a titanic battle with Sebastien Ogier and Benjamin Veillas (Toyota Gazoo Racing) that came down to the last stage of the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally.

2022 brought the start of the new World Rally Championship era with the new Rally1 regulations. The new cars now run with a hybrid power-train as well as enhanced safety improvements which judging by events on this rally, have already shown their worth in being implemented. M-Sport Ford come into the season with a wholly new car, swapping out the Fiesta for the new Puma, Hyundai have entered the new shape i20 and Toyota are using the GR Yaris body for their title defence.

Thursday

Thursday would provide the first running outside of testing that teams would experience. Anticipation was high as at this point, no one knows where they are relative to the competition and there is extra pressure to hit the ground running. Reigning champion Ogier, was fastest through the Shakedown stages before the Special Stages got underway in the evening. Loeb and Elfyn Evans rounded out the top 3 in what eventually be the story the first days of the rally.

The first 2 stages were held in the Monte Carlo night and it was Ogier taking his shakedown form into the start by building a lead of 6.7s. In his first WRC drive in over a year, Loeb kept pace with Ogier through the Col de Turini stages to end the night in second place. 2021 Championship runner-up, Elfyn Evans, was third in his GR Yaris with the Welshman struggling to acclimatise to the additional hybrid power. He returned to the overnight halt in Monaco 11.2sec off the lead. The top five were rounded out by Puma drivers, Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith.

After waiting a year due to COVID-19, the NASCAR Hall of Fame‘s Class of 2021 has finally entered the annals of history. On Friday evening at the Hall of Fame, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Red Farmer, and Mike Stefanik were formally enshrined with a special ceremony attended by many fellow inductees.

While Earnhardt never won a Cup Series championship, he was one of the sport’s biggest names during his nineteen seasons of competition as a fifteen-time Most Popular Driver. The current NBC commentator joins his father in the HOF, with Dale Sr. being inducted in 2010, to make the Earnhardts the sixth father/son duo to be enshrined alongside Bill France Sr. and Jr., Bobby and Davey Allison, Buck and Buddy Baker, Lee and Richard Petty, and Ned and Dale Jarrett.

“To join Dad in the Hall of Fame is probably as good as it’s going to get,” Earnhardt said in his speech. “I was a mechanic at a dealership. That was my destiny, or so I thought.”

Even in his nineties, Farmer continues to race today at the Talladega Short Track. A member of the legendary Alabama Gang, he has over 700 racing wins. He won the Modified Tour Championship in 1956 as well as the Late Model Sportsman (precursor to the current Xfinity Series) crown from 1969 to 1971. Class of 2020’s Tony Stewart, a fishing buddy of Farmer, introduced him for his speech.

“If these Hall of Fames were a Christmas tree with all the ornaments around it, this NASCAR award would be the gold star on top of that Christmas tree,” remarked Farmer. He has been inducted into nine other halls of fame including the National Dirt Late Model and International Motorsports Halls.

Ahead of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship, Red Bull Racing have announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with gambling and entertainment company PokerStars.

As part of the brand-new partnership, PokerStars branding will appear on not only the driver’s suits but also on the yet to be unveiled RB18. The companies aims for the partnership are to provide the rapidly growing Formula One audience with new and exciting ways to watch the sport, thanks to the help of ever-increasing technological advancements.

The partnership will see fans offered with promotions, competitions, exciting content and incredible experiences all across PokerStars various platforms including PokerStars Casino, PokerStars and PokerStars Sports.

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, is very happy with what the partnership has to offer the Formula One community.

“Following last year’s blockbuster Formula One season, I am delighted to kick off 2022 by announcing PokerStars as a new partner. In our sport we see constant evolution, not only applied to the cars but also to new technologies that are focused on reaching the sport’s global fanbase to provide new and interactive experiences for them to enjoy.

Previously known as Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN since the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Swiss-based team are taking on a new name for the 2022 season as well as a new logo.

The newly named Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have unveiled their new name and badge, as the team continues it’s preparation ahead of pre-season testing which begins at the end of next month. The updated team branding comes as the sport prepares for the start of a brand new era in regards to it’s regulations.

It is exciting times for the entire Alfa Romeo camp despite their utterly disastrous 2021 season, where the historic outfit had to settle for ninth in the Constructors’ Standings. The team could only manage to finish above the Uralkali Haas F1 Team, after picking up a shocking thirteen points, ten behind next best Williams Racing.

2021 is now a thing of the past though, the brand new name, logo, car and driver line-up is giving the Swiss team much to be excited about. With former Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team driver Valtteri Bottas and Formula 2 graduate Guanyu Zhou at the wheel for the upcoming season, it could well be a year of huge promise for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team!

Andrew Westacott, the CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, expects lap times to tumble around the Albert Park track after updates to the circuit were completed recently.

It has been two years since Australia held a Grand Prix thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, with the 2020 event being cancelled on the eve of the weekend as COVID-19 began to sweep across the globe.

Changes to the track have been made across this time, with the turn nine/ten chicane being turned into a sweeping turn the biggest of the changes ahead of the return of Formula 1 to the circuit, which is set to occur as the third round of the 2022 season across the weekend of 8-10 April.

And Westacott is expecting much quicker lap times and more chances of following other cars with the revised layout, particularly with the new specification of car that will race in Formula 1 this year.

“Five seconds a lap quicker, but [with] the new-spec cars, closer racing,” Westacott is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.  “You can actually tail the car in front and expect to be able to overtake and be in a competitive position.

Colton Herta still has eyes on racing in Formula 1 in the future despite a door closing on him during the off-season when Michael Andretti’s attempt to buy into Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Team ORLEN failed to materialise.

While talks between Alfa Romeo and Andretti were ongoing, rumours were afoot that Herta would be a leading contender to switch to the Formula 1 team, perhaps even as early as 2022, but when talks broke down, those rumours ended.

However, the twenty-one-year-old, who races for Andretti Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series, says Formula 1 has always been in his sights, but it needs to be the right time for him to make the move, and he knows the older he gets the less likely it will happen.

“You know, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to do Formula 1,” Herta is quoted as saying by PlanetF1.com during an IndyCar media day.  “I want to do a lot of stuff in my career, but a lot of it also needs certain timing.

“Formula 1 is one of those things. If you’re 28, you’re not going to Formula 1, unfortunately. That’s just how it works. The time is right for me if I got the opportunity.”