Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Esteban Ocon will race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the first time since 2018 this weekend, with the Alpine F1 Team driver excited to return to the venue of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Frenchman missed the 2019 event as he sat out the season after losing his seat with the Racing Point Formula One Team, while the 2020 race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ocon says the track in the capital city of Mexico is a good one, and even though they will be running a high downforce set-up, the altitude will make it feel like they have low downforce levels, with the speed down the start/finish straight amongst the fastest of the year.

“It’s always cool to visit Mexico City as it’s quite an electric place,” said Ocon.  “There’s a nice buzz there when Formula 1 visits and we haven’t been there for a couple of years so I’m sure the atmosphere is going to be special this year.

“In between Austin and here, I spent a little bit of time on holiday in Mexico and it’s a great place. After a short rest, I’m feeling fresh and ready to take on this weekend.

Kimi Räikkönen feels the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team have been close to scoring points in the last couple of races, and he hopes to make that next step and break into the top ten in the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend.

Räikkönen, who will retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season, says it will be important for Alfa Romeo to get everything right across the whole weekend if they are to be a genuine top ten contender on Sunday afternoon.

However, the Finn knows the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a tricky one to get right and an easy one to make a mistake on, particularly with how slippery it can be.

“We hope to be able to score points in Mexico City: we went really close in the last couple of races so our pace should allow us to be in the fight but, as always, it will be a matter of getting everything right across the weekend,” said Räikkönen.  

“This is a very slippery track and it’s easy to make mistakes, especially in qualifying, but it’s really rewarding when you put a lap together.

Sebastian Vettel: “We want to pick up where we left off in the U

Sebastian Vettel wants to continue where he left off two weeks ago at the Circuit of the Americas in this weekends Mexico City Grand Prix, with his performance in the United States seeing him score a point in tenth place despite starting the race at the back of the pack following a grid penalty for an engine change.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team racer has enjoyed his time racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in front of passionate fans of Formula 1, and he is aiming to bring home another top ten finish this Sunday afternoon.

“I have always enjoyed coming to the Mexican Grand Prix,” said Vettel.  “The fans are so passionate, and the lap is really challenging, so I’m excited to get going.

“We want to pick up where we left off in the US and build up a run of points scores. Preparation and reacting well is key because tyre performance is critical and the race can be interrupted by Safety Cars and Virtual Safety Cars.”

The 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series grid just gained one of the best names in racing. On Thursday, Niece Motorsports announced Lawless Alan will drive the #45 Chevrolet Silverado full-time in 2022.

Alan joined Niece for a four-race schedule beginning with the playoff opener at Darlington in September, where he finished twenty-seventh. This was followed by starts at Bristol (eighteenth) and Talladega (thirty-eighth), and he is also scheduled to run Friday’s season finale at Phoenix. Prior to joining Niece, he was running part-time for Reaume Brothers Racing with five starts, three of which including his Truck début came on road courses.

Prior to the Trucks, he competed in the ARCA Menards Series West in 2019 and 2020. He ran the first four races of 2020 for Bill McAnally Racing before the effort was halted; he had recorded a pair of top tens with a best finish of sixth in the opener at the Las Vegas Bullring.

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to run for a championship with Niece Motorsports next year,” Alan stated. “Niece Motorsports is an organisation that regularly contends for wins, and I am looking forward to contributing to their winning tradition.”

Alan will team up with Carson Hocevar, who returns for a second season after making the playoffs as a rookie, and Dean Thompson, who was himself promoted to a full-time seat on Tuesday. Thompson is set to make his series début at Phoenix.

Italian-Canadian Indy Lights driver Devlin DeFrancesco has been unveiled as the driver of the No. 29 Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Honda, the fourth and final driver in Andretti’s 2022 IndyCar lineup.

DeFrancesco finished sixth in the 2021 Indy Lights championship racing for Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport, with nine top-five finishes including two podiums. In 2020, he was the runner-up in the Indy Pro 2000 championship and was named rookie of the year. The 21-year-old will join the team’s IndyCar program on a multi-year deal taking over for fellow Canadian James Hinchcliffe.

Michael Andretti, CEO and Chairman of Andretti Autosport, was impressed by DeFrancesco’s performance during a test with the team earlier this week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is excited to welcome the Road to Indy graduate.

“Devlin has been a great addition to our Indy Lights program and has showed a lot of growth and strength at the recent test days. I think he’ll continue to grow with INDYCAR and I’m really glad that we could again partner with George and the Steinbrenner Racing team for the No. 29.” 

“Two years ago, we started a journey with Devlin with the intent to one day take him all the way to the NTT IndyCar Series and I’m thrilled that day has come,” said George Steinbrenner IV, CEO of Steinbrenner Racing.

Sheldon Creed‘s hopes of winning a second straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship were dashed when he was eliminated in the penultimate race of the year, but his 2022 looks bright as he prepares for his maiden full-time season in the Xfinity Series. To prepare him for NASCAR’s second-highest tier, he will get some track time in the series’ season finale at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday. He will drive the #78 Chevrolet Camaro for B.J. McLeod Motorsports in his first Xfinity start since 2019. Global Industrial Company, an industrial and business equipment supplier, will serve as primary sponsor.

Creed is one of the top drivers in the Truck Series, winning the title in 2020 with GMS Racing and beginning the 2021 playoffs by winning the first two races. However, a crash at Las Vegas and finish outside the top ten at Talladega placed him in a precarious position entering the Round of 8’s final event at Martinsville. Despite finishing ninth, he was knocked out of the playoffs as he was bumped below the top four in points needed to advance to the Championship Round. While his title defence came to an end, he enters the last race at Phoenix as the defending winner.

In September, Richard Childress Racing announced Creed will compete for Xfinity Rookie of the Year honours in 2022, driving the #2 car. He first débuted in the series in 2017, when he was still more recognised for his successes in the Stadium Super Trucks, as a road course ringer for JD Motorsports. However, mechanical issues plagued his two starts for the team as he finished thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth.

He returned to the Xfinity Series in 2019, a year removed from his maiden stock car title in the ARCA Menards Series, at the Daytona July race. Racing for JR Motorsports, who operates the Drivers Edge Development programme alongside GMS and Chevrolet, his night came to an abrupt end when he was caught in the Big One on lap 71 and classified thirty-fourth. Creed did not race in the series in 2020 as he exclusively focused his NASCAR competition on the Truck Series.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with a renowned racing organisation in Richard Childress Racing and championship driver, Sheldon Creed,” said Global Industrial senior vice persident Klaus Werner in a release. “This is a unique and thrilling opportunity to market the Global Industrial brand on a premier national racing stage.”

The Mclaren Formula One Team go into this weekend’s returning Mexican Grand Prix, with both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo ready for another intense battle with Scuderia Ferrari at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit.

Formula One enters its final triple header of the season this weekend at Mexico City, with Norris hoping for a better race than last time out at the Circuit of the Americas. The British driver lost out early on after battling with his current team-mate Ricciardo, and his former team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.

Norris is very happy to be heading back to Mexico this weekend, the 2020 Mexican Grand Prix was cancelled over the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic meaning that the Mexican fans will be more excited than ever before to have Formula One back in the country.

“After nearly two years away from Mexico City, it’s really great to be heading back. It’s an awesome city with a cool circuit right in the middle of it, which always makes for a great atmosphere. It’s quite a unique track, but one I enjoyed driving in 2019, so I was disappointed when we didn’t race there last year.

“Mexico marks the start of a long triple-header, with an intense run of races over the next three weeks. Despite that I’ve been working hard on my preparations in the sim, making use of the time since Austin to prepare for all three tracks. I’m feeling ready to get back to it, and I can’t wait to get on track again.”

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, go into one of their most historically weak Grand Prix’s of the season, the Mexican Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton may have a mountain to climb at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit to beat Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Racing stronghold but anything is possible.

Mercedes saw their constructors’ standings lead over Red Bull close to just 22.5pts at the United States Grand Prix after Verstappen’s victory. This also meant Hamilton slipped to twelve points behind the Dutchman.

Mercedes still have it all to do if they want to retain both titles, making this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix even more important. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit hasn’t been particular kind to Mercedes over recent years and has seen them finish well off the pace. However 2021 has taught us all that this season absolutely anything is possible, something which Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff is keeping in mind going into the start of the final triple header of the season.

“We’re all excited to be back in Mexico City, it’s such a vibrant place, full of character and we always receive a warm welcome. We’re looking forward to being back there and the atmosphere at the track is always electric.
 
“Red Bull have gone well there in the past and it hasn’t been our strongest circuit. But this year has shown that anything is possible and circuits where you were previously weak, you are suddenly strong, and vice versa. So, it adds a layer of unknown in the build-up, which only increases the excitement.
 
“We’ll keep taking things race by race and preparing the best we can, and we’ll land in Mexico ready to hit the ground running on Friday, get a good understanding of the car’s performance and build from there.”

The final triple header of the season gets underway this weekend with Sergio Pérez’s home race, the Mexican Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen will be looking to further extend his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen goes into the first Mexican Grand Prix since 2019 due to the ongoing pandemic, having won at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit twice before. It is a circuit which is notoriously strong for Red Bull Racing and particularly weak for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

If history repeats itself then Verstappen will be starting the final triple header in perfect fashion, and the team may even move to the top of the Constructors’ standings. Nevertheless Verstappen is raring to go in Mexico City.

“I have good memories from racing in Mexico with my two race wins. I’m looking forward to racing here again especially after not being able to travel here for a while. I know we will have a lot more fans now with Checo in the Team too so I’m looking forward to seeing all of them at the track and of course hopefully we can have a competitive weekend.”

“My country has been so supportive” – Sergio Pérez

Sergio Pérez goes into his first home race since 2019 on the back of an excellent podium at the United States Grand Prix, a repeat performance this weekend would send his adoring fans into pandamonium, a sight which would be incredible to see.

Myatt Snider‘s third season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series will come with Jordan Anderson Racing. On Wednesday, Anderson announced Snider has joined the team for the 2022 slate, driving the #31 Chevrolet Camaro. TaxSlayer will follow him as sponsor.

“Welcome to the team Myatt Snider,” posted Anderson on social media. “I’m grateful that Myatt, TaxSlayer and all our other partners see the real potential for future growth and development of our team as we continue on this journey together.”

Snider is currently in his first and only full season with Richard Childress Racing, after spending his rookie year in 2020 splitting between RCR and RSS Racing. His 2021 started strong with a win at Homestead, though he was eliminated from the playoffs after the opening round. Entering the season finale, he is ninth in points with the win being his lone top five to go with eleven top tens.

In October, RCR announced Camping World Truck Series driver Sheldon Creed would take over Snider’s #2 for 2022, but intended to keep him within the RCR/Chevrolet programme. This caveat meant Snider could move to any RCR ally with an open slot. Anderson, who fields the #31 for multiple drivers including himself and has a technical partnership with RCR, thus took advantage and signed a single, permanent driver.

“Back in @NASCAR_Xfinity y’all! So excited to see what the future holds for myself, @j66anderson, and everyone on the 31 team. Gonna be a great 2022 season,” tweeted Snider.

The Mexican Grand Prix returns this weekend after a year out due to the Coronavirus pandemic, with Williams Racing’s George Russell and Nicholas Latifi both being very excited to get back out on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit.

Russell had a disappointing United States Grand Prix, so will be hoping for a return to the top ten this weekend in Mexico. The circuit see’s the drivers race at the highest altitude all season. Russell will be circulating at 2,238m above sea level at the historic track, where he can’t wait to see all the incredible Mexican support.

“I am really looking forward to heading to Mexico for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The race presents a lot of interesting challenges such as the high altitude, which affects us as drivers but also the performance of the car, and we have to take into consideration these things when preparing for the weekend. Equally, these challenges offer us an opportunity and I also can’t wait to see all the amazing fans and support we’ve come to associate this race with.”

“The atmosphere in Mexico is always great” – Nicholas Latifi

Nicholas Latifi has never raced at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit before, the Canadian does have some minor experience at the venue though. Latifi took part in Free Practice One at the track back in 2018 and 2019, giving him some knowledge of the fast and twisty circuit.

Latifi is aware of the importance of finding the correct set-up this weekend, especially with the incredible altitude raced at.

This weekend’s return of the Mexican Grand Prix see’s the start of the final triple-header of the season, with both championships still all to play for at the strategically unpredictable Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit.

The Mexican Grand Prix was another race which was cancelled in 2020 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, however nothing can stop this weekend’s trip to Mexico City from taking place!

Pirelli have opted for the medium range of their tyres to be used this weekend, with the C2, C3 and C4 compounds in operation. The same compounds were used in 2019. The same tyres were used last time out at the Circuit of the Americas, although the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit is considerably smoother than the American venue.

The track which sits at the highest altitude to be raced on this season, may be particularly slippery during Friday’s sessions, the circuit has seen very little running during the pandemic.

Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli, is expecting the weekend to throw up a number of challenges for the teams and drivers.

When Loris Hezemans makes his NASCAR Cup Series début in 2022, he will be touted as a two-time Whelen Euro Series champion. A fifth-place finish in the final race at Autodromo di Vallelunga was enough to secure him his second EuroNASCAR PRO championship and first since 2019, capping off a strong four-win season.

Entering 2021 after finishing third in points the previous year, Hezemans got off to a hot start as he won the first two races at Valencia. He notched two more victories at Brands Hatch and Grobnik, and he finished worse than second only once in the opening eight races.

However, Hezemans was also keen on dabbling in the United States. In March, he began racing on a part-time basis in the Xfinity Series as he finished thirty-first at Phoenix (his first oval start in America and first in the series since 2019) for MBM Motorsports. Additional races came with DGM Racing and Reaume Brothers Racing, the latter of whom will help field Hezemans’ Cup ride in 2022 with the newly formed Team Hezeberg. The Charlotte Roval race in October, where Team Hezeberg’s formation was announced, forced him to skip the NWES race at Zolder which allowed championship rivals Gianmarco Ercoli and Vittorio Ghirelli to gain some ground on him in the standings.

At Vallelunga, the three title hopefuls were separated by just nine points. As Jacques Villeneuve swept the weekend’s two races, Hezemans finished tenth and fifth while Ghirelli crashed in the final round. While both of Hezemans’ runs were inferior to Ercoli’s third and second, he needed to win the race to leapfrog Hezemans for the top spot. With Villeneuve winning instead, Hezemans finished the year with 412 points to Ercoli’s 409 while Ghirelli sank to fifth.

With a pair of European championships under his belt, Hezemans plans to head back to America for an increased schedule in 2022. He intends to continue racing in the Xfinity Series and the Cup road courses for Hezeberg. Team Hezeberg was co-founded by his father Toine Hezemans, and the younger Hezemans will be the first Dutch driver to compete at NASCAR’s highest level. Hezemans tested the new team’s Next Gen car at the Roval in October, where he was thirteenth quickest among twenty-one cars.

On Friday night at Phoenix Raceway, Dean Thompson will race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for the first time. Days before his planned début, he has already committed to becoming a regular in the division as he intends to run the full 2022 schedule for Niece Motorsports.

With the exception of two races due to a positive COVID-19 test, Thompson races full-time in the ARCA Menards Series West for High Point Racing in alliance with Sunrise Ford Racing. Entering the final race of the season at Phoenix on Saturday, he is eleventh in points with a best finish of second at his home track Irwindale, a race that he started on the pole. He notched a second pole in October at All American Speedway.

“To say I’m excited for next season is definitely an understatement,” said Thompson. “I’m honoured to have the chance to drive these Niece Motorsports Chevrolets. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Carson (Hocevar) and am looking forward to having him as a teammate.”

Thompson joined Niece last month for the national ARCA Menards Series‘ season finale at Kansas, where he finished eighth. He previously competed against the national division at Phoenix in March when it and ARCA West held a combination round, which he finished fifteenth overall.

He will be joined by Hocevar, who made the playoffs in 2021 and reached as far as the Round of 8. Niece also fields multi-driver trucks with the #44 and #45, neither of which have announced pilots for 2022. Ryan Truex, who drives the #40 full-time, has not revealed if he will return to the team.

The tenth annual Chris Griffis Memorial Open Test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course took place on 30/31 October, seeing potential prospects driving Road to Indy cars across the three feeder series. Two drivers in the fourteen-person Indy Lights test came with experience in a radically different form of racing: Stadium Super Trucks. Matt Brabham, a former Road to Indy rising star, ran an official Indy Lights session for the first time since 2015 while Jacob Abel continues his ascent up the ladder.

Brabham, the two-time defending SST champion on the verge of securing a third, drove the #83 for Andretti Autosport in a four-car effort. He has raced in SST since 2015, shortly after his meteoric rise up the Road to Indy ladder came to an abrupt halt: despite winning the U.S. F2000 and now-Indy Pro 2000 Championships in 2012 and 2013 to reach Indy Lights with Andretti by 2014, he lost the ride three races into 2015 due to sponsorship issues. He scored one win in Indy Lights on the Indianapolis RC during his first yea. In forty-seven career Road to Indy starts, Brabham won eighteen for a win percentage of 38.3%, the highest in the system’s history before newly crowned Indy Lights champion and Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood topped him at the end of 2021 with 62.5%. He would also make two starts in the IndyCar Series in 2016, including the Indianapolis 500.

With few open-wheel opportunities available outside of piloting the two-seater IndyCar and being a driving coach, Brabham has since made SST his playground. He has twenty-five career race wins and finished on the podium in every race in 2021 with a pair of victories. Until series founder Robby Gordon broke the trend at Long Beach, Brabham was riding a six-round streak of being the fastest in qualifying that dated back to the 2020 season opener in Adelaide.

Across the Open Test’s six sessions, Brabham was typically in the middle of the group, with his best effort coming in the fourth where he set the fifth-fastest time. Session 3 saw his best lap time in ninety-nine total laps of 1:25.78. At twenty-seven years of age, he was the oldest driver of the fourteen by a wide margin, which is to be expected as the feeder series generally has drivers in their teens or early twenties. Ernie Francis Jr., a seven-time Trans-Am Series champion and open-wheel newcomer, is the closest to Brabham’s age at four years younger.

“It’s just so good to be back at the IMS,” said Brabham in a video from Indy Lights. “It feels a little weird, especially for me, coming back. There’s a few memes online making fun of my age and stuff, but… I mean, I’m just having a blast. It’s been so long and I just got to blow the rust off, blow the cobwebs out, and it’s been so much fun.”