Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Following the news that the pairing of Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul will part ways, just ahead of Rally Finland it has been confirmed that the new co-driver will be Alexandre Coria.

After spending almost three years together driving for M-Sport Ford World Rally Team in the Ford Fiesta WRC and Fiesta Rally2, it was announced Fourmaux will be changing co-drivers and a replacement was not confirmed at the time. Now it has been confirmed that fellow French native Coria will be sitting alongside Fourmaux in the season remainder and in the future.

In a statement published by Fourmaux he revealed: “I am happy to announce that Alexandre Coria will be with me in Finland. A big challenge is coming and we’ll do our best to perform. We have so many things to discover in one rally, but I always love challenges!”

Current WRC3 class leader Yohan Rossel will also be changing co-driver, as it was Coria who was his co-driver.The WRC is a no stranger for Coria but it will be a first time in the top level, before he teamed up with Rossel he has been the co-driver for Vincent Dubert during the 2016 FIA Junior WRC.

Mattia Binotto, the Team Principal at Scuderia Ferrari, was pleased to see Carlos Sainz Jr. secure a podium finish in the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday, although he was disappointed that the late-race rain prevented Charles Leclerc from scoring points.

Sainz led the early laps at the Sochi Autodrom, but early tyre graining saw him fall behind McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris, and an early pit stop had appeared to have put paid to his chance of a top result.  However, the rain came, and a perfectly timed pit stop saw him grab third place.

Leclerc was a man on a mission early on after starting on the back row of the grid, and at the end of lap one he was running twelfth.  He was in contention for points all day long only to lose out in the shuffle at the end after gambling on running longer on slicks despite the rain continuing to fall.

“That was a very intense and difficult race today, which ended with one of our drivers on the podium,” said Binotto.  “Carlos had a great weekend, both yesterday in qualifying and today in the race and third place is a nice reward for all the hard work.

“Charles leaves empty handed at the end of a weekend which started on the back foot because of the penalty, but today he once again proved just how talented he is. He made a great start, had really strong race pace and showed the right amount of aggression for the overtaking moves.”

Knockhill Racing Circuit in Fife, Scotland held host to rounds five and six of the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy presented by Cooper Tires over the weekend of 25/26 September 2021. This was the third nation of the five nations involved in the championship and the first time the BRX had visited since the new promoters took over due to the pandemic postponing a lot of racing events. With changeable weather conditions, competitors from all eight classes enjoyed an action-packed weekend of racing.

In Round Five on Saturday 25th September, the RX150 class Stephen Jones took one qualifying race win with Patrick O’Donovan claiming two. In the final, O’Donovan lost ground at the start, recovered to second in the first lap, but it was Tommi Caldwell who won ahead of Jones after a last-lap joker, clinching victory by 0.26 seconds.

The Retro Rallycross Championship gave us some action with some paint exchanges in the Super Retro class final. Vince Bristow in his BMW E36 claimed pole by winning both qualifying sessions two and three but when he failed to get away from the start line, he dropped right down the order. The Porsche 911 of Barry Stewart took the lead just ahead of John Cross‘ Lancia Stratos when Phil Collard joined the battle in his Renault 5, touching Stewart and sending him into a spin. Bristow pushed his way back to second then overtook Cross for the win. The Retro class consisted of just the Toyota MR2 of Tony Lynch and the Ford Escort Mk1 of Simon Hart. Lynch won the first qualifier but a fire in qualifier two ended his day handing victory to Hart.

The BMW MINI Rallycross Championship was dominated by Dave Bellerby who won every qualifying race, his semi-final and the final. Ben Sayer won the other semi-final but had to settle for third, being denied second place in the final by Tom Constantine who drove a great race to make up lost ground from the start.

In the Swift Sport Rallycross Championship final, Faversham driver Max Weatherley led from lights to flag for five of six laps when a big accident involving David Watt, James Constantine and Luke Constantine led to the race being red-flagged. After the restart, Weatherley repeated his performance taking the checkered flag with Watt in second and Scottish driver Don MacLeod taking third place at his home track.

Carlos Sainz Jr. took his third podium of the season and the fifth of his Formula 1 career on Sunday, with the decision to pit when he did late on for intermediates paying dividends as he took third place behind Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Starting on the front row of the grid for the first time in his career, the Scuderia Ferrari driver got a good run on polesitter Lando Norris heading into turn two and swept into the lead, only for the Briton to regain first place as the Spaniard’s tyres began to grain up.

He made an early stop that looked as though would cost him a shot at the podium, but the late race rain shower and his decision to pit early for intermediates gained him a lot of track position and brought him a top three result.

“This was a tricky but positive weekend for me, with a good quali and a strong race where I gave absolutely everything,” said Sainz.  “We made a perfect start from the dirty side, braking late into turn 2 and risking it on the outside of Lando to get into the lead. Unfortunately we suffered from graining and couldn’t hold P1 for much longer and had to pit early.

“After the first stop, we had a very good stint, managing the Hard tyre in traffic and then pushing in clean air, on course for a reasonably comfortable P3 before the rain came and made everything a lot trickier.

Christian Horner says the Red Bull Racing pit wall left it to the drivers to decide when they made a pit stop for the intermediate tyre in Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix, and Max Verstappen’s earlier stop paid dividends as the Dutchman claimed a second-place finish despite starting last.

However, team-mate Sergio Pérez lost a certain podium of his own by staying out a couple of laps longer, and the time lost as he struggled around an ever-increasingly wet track before pitting meant he fell to ninth in the final result.

Horner, the Team Principal at Red Bull, says Verstappen’s second place feels like a win after starting at the back of the field following an engine change, but the late weather change at the Sochi Autodrom showed how easy it was for drivers to go from hero to zero, particularly in the case of Pérez.

“Today’s result in recovering from twentieth to second is an amazing performance,” said Horner.  “Our congratulations must go to Lewis [Hamilton] on his 100th victory, but second for us after taking our grid penalty feels like a victory.

“With six or seven laps to go it didn’t look like it was going to be possible. In tricky weather conditions like we had today, you can very easily come out looking like a hero or zero.

Max Verstappen took a podium finish in the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday despite starting at the back of field, although he admitted the timing of the rain and his switch to intermediate tyres ensured he minimalised his points loss to title rival Lewis Hamilton.

The Red Bull Racing driver had started the race at the Sochi Autodrom from the back row of the grid following an engine change and grid penalty, but he stormed through the field in the early laps to bring himself into the fight for the points.

He was running seventh, having lost a position to Fernando Alonso, when the rain began to fall, and his early switch enabled him to jump most of his rivals as they waited to pit themselves, ultimately picking up second place behind Hamilton.

“Wow, we will definitely take that result!” said Verstappen. “Of course to come from last to second is very good and when I woke up this morning I definitely didn’t expect this result. To finish where we did with the penalty we had, we didn’t lose as many points as we could have so as a Team we did a really good job.

“It was a crucial call to change to the inters, it was really slippery on track and we made a great decision with the timing and took the right lap to pit.”

After going 0-for-26 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Denny Hamlin is 2-for-2 in 2021 playoff round openers. After winning the first race in the Round of 16 at Darlington three rounds prior, he dominated the Round of 12 kickoff at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he led 137 of 267 laps en route to his maiden win at the track.

Kyle Larson, who won last week at Bristol, was on the pole but second-place starter Ryan Blaney had the early advantage to lead seven laps before Hamlin did so until the lap 26 competition caution. Although Hamlin continued to lead on the restart, Larson was in front by lap 45 and held it to the end of the segment. Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Blaney, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Matt DiBenedetto, and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top ten. All but Reddick and DiBenedetto were in playoff contention, and Byron and Truex had started the night at the rear for multiple pre-race inspection failures (as did Aric Almirola and J.J. Yeley).

Five circuits into Stage #2 on lap 93, Joey Gase would be involved in the race’s lone wreck in major fashion when his left-rear wheel came off in turn two and caused him to spin and slam into the outside wall, briefly sending his car airbourne. The crash resulted in hospitalisation for further evaluation. Neither the team nor NASCAR have provided updates at the time of this article’s publishing.

Larson led on the restart and dominated the rest of the stage. However, he was among those who pitted under green shortly before the segment’s conclusion and cycled the lead to Reddick and Hamlin. The latter would take the stage win ahead of Busch, Reddick, Truex, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Austin Dillon, and Bubba Wallace.

The 101-lap Stage #3 ran completely green. Hamlin led before the next green-flag pit cycle opened on lap 210, which rotated the top spot to Reddick, Keselowski, and Dillon. Dillon led the most of the trio with seven laps, his highest lap-led count of the season and a personal best at Las Vegas (beating his two in 2016), before relinquishing first back to Hamlin on lap 229.

Robby Gordon is now the Stadium Super Trucks‘ all-time wins leader at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The two-time champion took the lead early in Race #2 on Sunday and did not let go en route to his third win of 2021 and fourth at Long Beach, breaking a tie with Matt Brabham.

An inversion of Race #1’s finishing order placed Mads Siljehaug on the pole and winner Jerett Brooks at the rear. After retiring from the first race with a mechanical issue, Jacob Abel did not start the second.

Siljehaug led a triumvirate of Crosley Brands trucks as Brandon Parrish and Bo LeMastus followed. The trio occupied the top three for the opening lap while Gordon worked through the field. Zoey Edenholm, who started third, ended up in the tyre barrier after the brake line wrapped around her truck’s suspension.

Mechanical issues with Siljehaug as he approached the start/finish line to start lap three allowed Parrish to take the lead. On lap four, Crosley driver Jeff Ward spun in turn one after contact with LeMastus. Gordon chased down Parrish and cleared him shortly before the competition caution later on the lap.

A strong restart by Brooks gave him the advantage over Parrish, who eventually lost spots to Brabham and Robert Stout. By the second competition yellow on lap seven, the top four had isolated themselves from the field while Parrish battled with Christian Sourapas and Max Gordon for fifth.

Timmy Hansen stormed his way to victory Sunday after defeating his competition in a thrilling final. The Red Bull Hansen driver secured his win after clearing Travis Pastrana in turn one and never looking back. Hansen drove an easy race clear of dust which was causing other drivers problems, but he maintained composure and took the victory after six laps.

Following the swede was the Canadian Cowboy of Steve Arpin in his Hyundai i20. Arpin finished second on the day after battling Fraser McConnell and Scott Speed in the early stages of the race and got ahead by using a jump gap to clear his competition. The GRX Loenbro driver grabs a handful of points for one of two privateer teams running this season for NRX.

Finishing third on the day was Kevin Hansen who started from the back of the grid after winning the stunning LCQ race. Starting ninth, he drove a clean race and calm race but not without some contention from Oliver Eriksson who was poised to take third until damage to the car forced him to drop back.

Meanwhile, other drivers like Foust, Bakkerud, and Pastrana all found issues with their cars in a combination of flats and sustained damage from race contact. Of the nine drivers who started the race, three were forced to retire due to damage, a common issue at this track.

Timmy’s victory marks Red Bull Hansen’s third win over three years of racing at the Utah Motorsport Campus. The team seems to have the track nailed down and mitigated damage as best they could to perform the best over the weekend. Red Bull Hansen will look forward to future wins as the schedule unfolds over the next few weeks, heading to ERX in Minneapolis next weekend.

In an exciting finale that matched the intensity of the season before it, Colton Herta made his way through the field from fourteenth to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, while Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Alex Palou finished fifth to win his first career NTT IndyCar Series championship at only twenty-four years old.

With a problem-free race and fourth place finish, Palou earned Chip Ganassi’s fourteenth championship, becoming the first Spanish IndyCar champion in history. Patricio O’Ward, who sat second in points entering the weekend, was taken out of the event in the hairpin on the first lap by Ed Jones, bringing out the first caution. Those issues came home to roost in the form of a broken driveshaft on lap 20 that forced him to park the car on the frontstretch and bring out another caution. This allowed Palou to race his race and maintain his calm demeanor to cruise to his first series championship.

“That’s ours, right?” Palou said, pointing to the Astor Cup.

“[I’m] super happy, can’t thank enough everybody who made this possible.”

Herta showed the speed that saw him at the top of both practice sessions from the drop of the green flag, carving through the field. He was able to take advantage of the second caution by being the first to hit pit road. IndyCar gave the whole field a chance to pit before throwing the caution, with Herta effectively moving up to third.

Dennis Hauger sealed the FIA Formula 3 Drivers’ title with a peerless performance in Race 1 at Sochi but would narrowly miss out on the win which would’ve been the perfect way for the Norwegian to cap off a sublime season, finishing second on track to Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant.

With Jack Doohan having a terrible start and finding himself down in 15th, Hauger needed just six points to clinch the crown, but the Norwegian would not settle for the minimum and had his eyes set on victory. Having started the race in fourth, he had already risen to second midway through the race and would spend the rest of the race in pursuit of Sargeant and first place.

Although he got close to the American, cutting down 3.5 seconds of the American drivers advantage it was not enough for the Norwegian to take another win in what has been a dominant season.

The achievement makes Hauger the third F3 winner and keeping PREMA’s 100-percent record in the drivers championship following in the footsteps of 2019 and 2020 champions Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri both of whom now race for the same team in FIA Formula 2.

Reverse polesitter Victor Martins conceded his first place to Sargeant at the start but did manage to hang on to a podium spot, ahead of Trident’s Clément Novalak and Martins MP Motorsport teammate, Caio Collet.

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team extended their constructors’ championship lead to thirty-three points, after incredibly dramatic Russian Grand Prix saw Lewis Hamilton claim his one-hundredth Formula 1 victory to take championship lead by two points over Max Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas performed a rain dance to finish fifth.

After changing from the Intermediates to the Slicks too late in qualifying, Mercedes timed the switch from Slicks to Intermediates perfectly as the rain began to pour in the closing laps at the Sochi Autodrom.

Before the rain came, Hamilton had been patient all race after making a poor start, the British driver found himself in seventh by the third corner and was left in a DRS train. The same could be said for Bottas who after starting sixteenth due to another power unit change, was caught in a DRS train and struggled to progress.

Hamilton finally started moving towards the front as those ahead pitted, giving the world champion clean air to post multiple fast laps. This helped Hamilton to come out ahead of everyone apart from race leader Lando Norris when he finally made his stop. Bottas on the other hand was stuck below the top ten for almost the entire race.

Hamilton then closed Norris rapidly but was unable to get past the Mclaren F1 Team driver, then in the closing stages the heavens began to open. Mercedes ordered both drivers in for Intermediates, unlike Norris who tried to stick it out on slicks, like many others. This meant that when the track suddenly became fully wet Hamilton was able to cruise past a helpless Norris, likewise with Bottas who overtook a number of drivers who delayed the switch to the Intermediates.

Lewis Hamilton finally claimed his one-hundredth victory at the Russian Grand Prix in one of the races of the season, where the last seven laps at the Sochi Autodrom saw a sudden dramatic downpour! Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished a miraculous fifth.

It is a day Hamilton will never forget and a race the fans won’t forget for a very long time, as Hamilton and his team timed the switch from Slicks to Intermediates perfectly, unlike qualifying, with only a few laps remaining.

Hamilton who started fourth actually made a poor start, by the second corner the British driver was down to seventh and stuck in a DRS train led by George Russell. The Seven-time world champion slowly moved his way through the field, as those ahead of him made very early pit-stops, unlike Hamilton who was one of the last few medium runners to stop.

A key moment of Hamilton’s race came on Lap 23 when Daniel Ricciardo, whom Hamilton was batting for third, made his stop. It was a poor stop by the Mclaren F1 Team, meaning that after setting some fast lap times in clean air, Hamilton had enough of a gap to pit on Lap 27 and come out ahead of the Australian and be in a theoretical second place behind race leader Lando Norris.

Hamilton closed the eight second gap to Norris rapidly but struggled to get inside DRS range, the Mclaren driver was superior in the final sector gaining back a few tenths every lap. Hamilton remained patient and followed Norris for a number of laps, and then the heavens began to open.

Josh Berry was supposed to be spending his Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway competing in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 late model race. Instead, the 2019 winner was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway driving the #1 of JR Motorsports in place of the injured Michael Annett. The so-called “super sub” for Chevrolet teams more than delivered in relief duty as he led the final seventeen laps and JR Motorsports team-mates Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson en route to winning his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the Alsco Uniforms 302.

Austin Cindric started on the pole ahead of regular season champion A.J. Allmendinger, and the former would lead until the competition caution on lap 29. Hell broke loose on the ensuing restart when Riley Herbst was clipped entering turn one, triggering a massive wreck that collected Brandon Brown, Jeb Burton, Jeremy Clements, Bayley Currey, Ty Dillon, Joe Graf Jr., Alex Labbé, Dylan Lupton, Sam Mayer, B.J. McLeod, and J.J. Yeley. After cleanup, the first lap concluded with a five-lap run that Allmendinger won ahead of future Kaulig Racing team-mate Daniel Hemric, Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, Berry, and Brett Moffitt.

Dillon kicked off Stage #2 by leading seventeen laps, his most in NASCAR since he led sixteen in the 2017 Richmond fall race. During his run, Sieg spun on lap 55 and hit Jade Buford, resulting in the lone caution of the stage. Allgaier took the lead on lap 66 and held it to the finish. Dillon, Cindric, Gragson, Hemric, Berry, Gibbs, Moffitt, Allmendinger, and Haley closed out the top ten.

Allgaier continued to lead as the final stage commenced. On lap 122, Moffitt bumped Haley shortly after being passed and caused him to spin. On lap 160, Berry claimed the top spot from his JRM ally and only briefly relinquished it during green-flag pit stops, during which Haley and Allgaier enjoyed some time in front. Berry cycled back to the lead on lap 185 and would not give up the spot as he secured his second career Xfinity win.

Some fans saw the reigning Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion’s victory as an indictment of Annett, who brings sponsorship to the JRM #1 but only has one victory in five years with the team, and the role of funding in the sport; Berry often struggled to find adequate financial support to become an Xfinity regular, but will finally get such a shot with JRM in 2022. Others drew parallels between his win and Christian Eckes‘ in Friday’s Camping World Truck Series event: both were part-time drivers who were not competing in the playoffs while their teams swept the top three spots; Eckes’ ThorSport Racing team took it a step further with a 1–2–3–4 finish. JRM’s fourth car of Mayer finished thirty-fourth after the wreck.

Lewis Hamilton finally claimed victory number One-Hundred at the Russian Grand Prix, after judging the switch to Intermediates in the closing laps perfectly at the Sochi Autodrom, Max Verstappen despite starting last finished second with Carlos Sainz Jr rounding off the podium.

The race begun under dry conditions but with a seventy percent chance of rain at some point in the race, no one could have predicted that it would come as heavy as it did in the final seven laps!  There was drama before the race had even begun, as Valtteri Bottas had yet another new power unit fitted resulting in an engine penalty, he started sixteenth. Ahead of Charles Leclerc and most importantly Verstappen. 

Lando Norris made an initially great start from pole, but was a sitting duck with a huge slipstream behind as Sainz despite making a poor start led into Turn Two with Norris and George Russell behind. Hamilton too made a poor start but made it four a breast down into Turn Two thanks to the slipstream. The world champion lost out though and dropped down to seventh, the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver not wanting to risk an early fight. Lance Stroll made a great start and launched into fourth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo. 

Further down the field the Leclerc made the best start of the engine penalty quadruple, and worked his way to twelfth by the end of the first lap. Bottas and Verstappen didn’t make as much ground as the Scuderia Ferrari driver. Home boy Nikita Mazepin made an excellent start up to thirteenth. 

In the opening stages Sainz and Norris were able to escape and build an eight second gap over Russell, who had a DRS train of Stroll, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Sergio Pérez behind. The Williams Racing car clearly not on the same pace as those in the top seven.