Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Max Verstappen is back in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, after a well-driven second place finish at the slippery Turkish Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Pérez completed the podium at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit.

On a day where mistakes were easy to make, Verstappen drove brilliantly all race to convert his front row start into a second place finish behind Valtteri Bottas. Whilst remaining focused was crucial in the tricky conditions, the race itself was fairly uneventful for the Dutchman, who now leads the championship by six points. Verstappen was in control of second the entire race but was at the same time no real threat to the race leader.

Verstappen is pleased with the podium and is glad to be back leading the championship, however the Red Bull driver is wishing he had more pace from the car.

“As a Team, to finish second and third here was a great result. It was a pretty straight forward race today and I think in general we had a decent day. The race was all about managing tyres, to make sure they lasted to the end which means it wasn’t the most fun race to drive as you always want to push hard.

“Nevertheless, I think we maximised the result today and it’s good to be leading the Drivers’ Championship again. I do wish I had a bit more pace in the car but we are still in the fight, we’ll keep pushing and we’ll see in the coming races how competitive we will be.”

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced today that 28-year-old British driver Jack Harvey will join the team on a multi-year deal to drive the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda starting in 2022.

Harvey is entering his third full season of competition having spent almost his entire five year career with Meyer Shank Racing. He announced in July that he was leaving MSR at the end of the season, having been offered a contract from a then unknown team we know now to be RLLR.

The 45 car itself was introduced last season with the help of Hy-Vee, a supermarket chain in the midwestern United States, on a part-time basis. It ran nine races in 2021 with the time split between Santino Ferrucci and Oliver Askew. Now, it has a permanent driver for a full season with Hy-Vee as the primary sponsor.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing,” Harvey said.

“I’ve been working towards this moment for my entire career and I’m so honored and thankful for the trust Bobby (Rahal), Mike (Lanigan), David (Letterman) and Piers (Phillips, president) have placed in me.”

Selected by the promoter and organiser of the FIA World Endurance Championship for their exemplary performance and racing skills, Charles Milesi and Laurents Hörr will each get a minimum of 30 laps in the 2021 World Championship winning cars from both Hypercar and LMGTE Pro as part of the official FIA WEC test session.

Competing this season with Belgian LMP2 squad Team WRT, Milesi has had a strong debut season in the WEC including winning the LMP2 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Driving alongside strong teammates, Robin Frijns and Ferdinand Habsburg, 20-year-old Milesi has shown incredible pace at the wheel of the Oreca 07 Gibson, culminating in the team being just one point behind JOTA who are currently leading going into the WEC’s final two races.

The Frenchman will get his first taste of Hypercar machinery as he is expected to drive the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which has become the standout machine with a 51 point advantage in the Hypercar category.

Germany’s Laurents Hörr has been confirmed to test the winning car from this year’s LMGTE Pro category (either the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo or the Porsche 911 RSR – 19). The 24-year-old won the Le Mans Michelin Cup (LMP3) in both 2019 and 2020 and this year Hörr has been racing with DKR Engineering in European Le Mans Series, as well as competing in select sportscar races in the USA.

The two “rookie” drivers will be given a minimum of 30 laps during the test day, with the five hours of track time also available to other WEC teams should they wish to use it to test other potential drivers ahead of the 2022 season.

Toto Wolff was full of praise for Valtteri Bottas’ performance during the Turkish Grand Prix, with the Finn securing the tenth victory of his Formula 1 career in difficult conditions at Intercity Istanbul Park.

Starting from pole position, Bottas held onto the lead at the start, and despite one moment at turn one had the race under control almost all afternoon long.  The only time he lost the lead was after his pit stop, and it was not long before he was able to close down and pass Charles Leclerc to retake the position at the front of the field.

Wolff, the Team Principal at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, felt it was a dominant display from Bottas in extremely tough conditions.

“Absolute dominance from Valtteri today, a 10/10 drive from the get-go from him,” said Wolff.  “He had the race under complete control, not only with his pace but his management of the tyres was fantastic.

“Well done Valtteri, a very strong weekend.”

Valtteri Bottas took his tenth and probably most impressive victory of his Formula 1 career in Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, with the Finn in dominant form around a wet Intercity Istanbul Park.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver started from pole position, and aside for a few laps during the pit stop cycle, he led until the chequered flag, with a bonus point coming his way for setting the fastest lap.

Bottas reckoned the race was completely under control despite the difficult conditions – aside from one slide midway through at turn one – and he was pleased to take points away from both Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen.

“Today was probably one of the best races I’ve had ever – apart from that one little slide, everything was under control,” said Bottas.  “The car has been fantastic in every possible condition this weekend and I had great confidence with it.

“It’s not easy to choose the strategy here with these conditions – when to stop, which tyre to choose – but I’m glad everything went smoothly for me. When there’s only one drying line it doesn’t take much for you to go off, you need maximum focus all through the race and so today feels like a well-earned victory.

Kyle Larson can’t seem to celebrate a NASCAR Cup Series playoff win in an elimination race without some sort of drama involving team-mate Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick in the background. As he scored his seventh win of the season in Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, everyone’s focus was on the grudge between Elliott and Harvick as the two tangled once again as they did at Bristol three weeks ago.

Denny Hamlin started on the pole ahead of Brad Keselowski.

Stages #1 and 2

Hamlin led until the competition caution on lap 10, during which he and other leaders pitted; Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Christopher Bell suffered a speeding penalty on his stop. Team Penske‘s Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney would assume the top spots for the restart, while third Penske driver Brad Keselowski spun further back on the backstretch shortly after.

On lap 19, Keselowski avoided another brush with disaster when he barely missed a spinning Ryan Newman. Blaney led the field to the restart but lost two positions to Elliott and Saturday Xfinity winner A.J. Allmendinger. Elliott, one of the top road racers in the Cup Series, and Allmendinger, whose six road course wins are the most in Xfinity Series history, sparred until the end of the stage. Elliott cleared Allmendinger on the final lap to take the win.

Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Logano, Kurt and Kyle Busch, William Byron, Michael McDowell, and Harvick rounded out the top ten. Kurt Busch and McDowell were eliminated in the Round of 16 while Allmendinger, being an Xfinity full-timer, is ineligible to receive stage points.

Hillspeed have announced their second driver ahead of the final round of the 2021 GB3 Championship, in the form of 2012 and 2013 Asian Karting Champion Flynn Jackes.

Jackes was born in the Philippines, but races under the Australian flag. It was perhaps upon moving to Queensland via the SKC Singapore Championship in 2015 that his progression towards car racing began in earnest.

He ran KF3 machinery in the Australian Karting Championship that year, while also running towards the sharp end in the Queensland Kart Championship.

A 2017 F4 test in Australia beckoned, with Jackes also finishing 11th in the 2019 Australian Karting Championship.

The 18-year-old will join Formula Ford Festival winner, and Silverstone GB3 podium-finisher Jonathan Browne, for the final round at Donington Park (16/17 October).

Prior to the 2021 NASCAR season, A.J. Allmendinger had one Cup Series and five Xfinity Series race victories. By the end of Saturday, he had doubled his total in both.

Allmendinger scored his fifth win of the 2021 Xfinity season when he took the lead in Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and never looked back in overtime. It is his third straight victory at the Roval and sixth on a road course. Combine with his Cup win at the Indianapolis Road Course in August and there is little doubt that Allmendinger is one of the premier road racers in any NASCAR series.

Austin Cindric started on the pole while Allmendinger was mired back in fourteenth, his second-worst starting spot after beginning the Homestead race in February in twenty-fourth, due to the formula accounting for his early crash at Talladega the previous week. Sage Karam spun after two laps and Jade Buford and Brett Moffitt crashed together for the first of six race-related cautions. Gray Gaulding‘s rear gear failed and caused his #74 to stop on track for another yellow.

At the front, Cindric led the first seven laps before overshooting a backstretch chicane and having to serve a stop-and-go penalty that allowed Daniel Hemric to take the top spot. Hemric would take the stage win ahead of Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, and Jeremy Clements.

In Stage #2, a caution came on lap 30 for debris after Josh Bilicki locked up his brakes coming to the backstretch chicane and attempted to swerve instead of crash into those in front of him, but he ran over rumble strips that launched his car into the air; NASCAR eventually removed the strips for the Cup race on Sunday. Meanwhile, Cindric dominated the stage before pitting on lap 36 and relinquishing the lead and stage win to Hemric. Haley, Myatt Snider, Gragson, Clements, Jones, Harrison Burton, Gibbs, Jeb Burton, and Sam Mayer rounded out the top ten.

Rick Ware Racing will team up with the Blue Oval in 2022. On Sunday, RWR announced they have forged an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Performance, and Roush Yates Engines beginning with the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.

RWR currently fields four full-time cars in the Cup Series. With no genuine manufacturer support, three of the four—all driven by multiple drivers—has bounced between Chevrolet and Ford cars throughout the season. The lone exception, the #52 mainly driven by Josh Bilicki, has exclusively been a Ford. The #52 will be piloted by Joey Hand in Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval, and his Ford factory driver status has enabled SHR to prepare the car for him.

The Roval race with Hand and the 2022 season will not be the first time that SHR and RWR worked together. In 2018, RWR fielded the #51 on a three-race schedule for current SHR driver Cole Custer; also driving an SHR-prepared car, he never finished higher than twenty-fifth but caught eyes in his final start when he qualified tenth. Custer “returned” to the team for the Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas in May when SHR allied with RWR, who in turn was running a car with SS-Green Light Racing. The RWR/SSGLR #17 car has mainly been a Chevrolet but has also utilised Ford and Toyota power.

“Rick and his team have been great to work with over the years and we are looking forward to growing the existing relationship,” said SHR president and Cole’s father Joe Custer.

The two teams also already work together on pit road as RWR uses SHR’s junior pit crew members seeking to gain live experience.

Ty Dillon will have another shot at the NASCAR Cup Series. On Sunday, GMS Racing announced Dillon as the driver of the #94 Chevrolet for the full 2022 Cup slate. 2022 will mark the début Cup season for GMS, a longtime competitor in the Camping World Truck Series. ECR Engines, owned by Dillon’s grandfather Richard Childress, will provide engines for the team.

Dillon raced full-time in the Cup Series from 2017 to 2020 for Germain Racing, scoring six top tens, two top fives, a best finish of third in the 2020 fall Talladega race, and a highest points placement of twenty-fourth in 2017 and 2019. Upon Germain’s shutdown at the end of the 2020 season, Dillon landed in the Xfinity Series on a part-time basis with Joe Gibbs Racing, Our Motorsports, and Jordan Anderson Racing; in eleven starts, he has three top tens and a fifth-place finish at Atlanta.

His 2021 also included joining Gaunt Brothers Racing for a limited Cup campaign. After failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, he ran four short track and road course events with a best finish of nineteenth at the Daytona Road Course. Dillon was also technically the first driver to pilot a Cup car for the new 23XI Racing when he ran the exhibition Busch Clash on the Daytona RC as regular driver Bubba Wallace was ineligible.

“It’s such an honour to be able to drive for GMS Racing as they take the step into the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time, and that they have chosen me as their driver for the future,” said Dillon. “It’s been a challenging year off from racing full-time but I’m so excited to return. I don’t think that there is going to be another driver that is more hungry than I am next year to get back out there and prove what I am capable of in the Cup Series. I am excited for our future and am ready to get to work.”

GMS and Dillon have worked together in the past. In 2015, Dillon drove the #33 truck for GMS on a three-race schedule, winning the pole in the season opener at Daytona and never finishing lower than eleventh.

Valtteri Bottas clinched a dominant win at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix to score his first win of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Max Verstappen finished in second position and crucially took over the lead of the drivers’ championship from Lewis Hamilton by six points. Sergio Pérez joined his Red Bull Racing team-mate on the podium.

Charles Leclerc finished in fourth position ahead of Hamilton. A late call to pit Hamilton for a new set of intermediate tyres dropped him from third to fifth position.

The race at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit in Turkey took place under overcast conditions on a damp track with air temperatures at 16 degree C and track temperatures at 14 degree C.

The drivers started on the intermediate tyres and stayed on them for the full race distance as rain fell intermittently. Sebastian Vettel was the only driver who fitted on the medium compound tyres but had to pit quickly as the track was too damp.

When he begins his NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie season in 2022, Sheldon Creed will be sporting a red-and-white livery. Richard Childress Racing announced Saturday that Creed will drive the #2 Chevrolet Camaro with sponsorship from Whelen Engineering.

Creed, currently in the hunt for his second straight Camping World Truck Series championship, signed with RCR in mid-September for the full 2022 Xfinity season. He made three starts in the series in 2017 and 2019, all of which ended with some type of misfortune as he never finished higher than thirty-fourth.

An automotive lighting system manufacturer, Whelen is most notable for its sponsorship of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour since 2005. The company is also the title sponsor for the Whelen Euro Series, and the NWES was technically the last time that Whelen sponsored an Xfinity car: in 2013, the series appeared on former NWES champion Anthony Gandon‘s vehicle for two rounds. Coincidentally, Gandon and Creed both raced against each other in the Stadium Super Trucks at the 2015 season finale in Las Vegas.

“Whelen Engineering takes pride in our long-standing involvement in motorsports,” stated Whelen motorsports general manager Peter Tiezzi III. “We know that our relationship with an iconic team in Richard Childress Racing and a young, talented racer in Sheldon Creed illustrates our commitment to auto racing, while simultaneously increasing the public’s awareness of our presence and capabilities.”

In the late 1990s and much of the 2000s, Whelen sponsored Marsh Racing‘s Xfinity cars piloted by the likes of Ted Christopher, Steve Park, and Dave Blaney. Blaney also carried the Whelen sponsorship to the Cup Series in 2004 with Bill Davis. In 2016, Whelen appeared RCR Cup driver Ryan Newman‘s #31 for two races. RCR member Austin Dillon‘s #3 will also have Whelen branding for Sunday’s Cup race on the Charlotte Roval.

Team-work made the dream-work for Scuderia Ferrari during qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr worked together to get the Monegasque driver into final qualifying, the team’s reward is a third place start for Leclerc! Sainz to start from last due to engine penalty.

Leclerc has looked seriously impressive all weekend and qualifying was no different. The Monegasque driver did struggle slightly however in the opening two qualifying sessions, with the track surface being damp in places. Sainz who knew he would start last no matter where he qualified came to the rescue, giving Leclerc slipstream in Qualifying Two to boost Leclerc into the final session.

Leclerc then did it all by himself in Qualifying Three to put himself in third place for Sunday’s race at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit, right behind pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas. Leclerc is very happy with his starting position which he inherits due to Lewis Hamilton’s grid penalty, and believes he has good potential for the race.

“I am happy with my qualifying. P4 is a good result for the team, finishing just behind the championship leaders who, at the moment, are still tough for us to beat. We definitely maximised our car’s potential today. Q1 and Q2 were tricky for me, as I opted for a lower downforce set-up this weekend which is the right choice for the race and hopefully should pay off tomorrow.

“But in today’s wet conditions, I slid around quite a bit and had to fight for it. It was great to see Carlos being there and giving me the slipstream on the final straight in Q2. It was good teamwork and helped us make it to Q3. I am happy with my final lap in the last session and look forward to the race. If the conditions are dry, I am confident that we have good potential.”

Max Verstappen will start the Turkish Grand Prix from second place, after championship rival Lewis Hamilton gets demoted from pole to eleventh with an engine penalty. Red Bull Racing team-mate Sergio Pérez lines up sixth at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit.

Verstappen did well in qualifying to recover from what has been a tricky weekend for the Dutchman. Qualifying didn’t get off to the greatest start either with Verstappen spinning during Qualifying One, with the track being slippery due to morning rain.

Nevertheless Verstappen regained his composure and had a strong remainder of qualifying, with the reward for his hard work being a front row start for Sunday, where he will be looking to regain the championship lead. Verstappen may even be hoping for rain, after being quick during the wet Free Practice Three.

“I am of course happy with third and starting on the front row tomorrow. We improved a little bit from yesterday and the balance is a bit better but overall this weekend has been a bit more difficult.

“I hope for a clean getaway tomorrow but starting on the inside will be tricky, as there is very low grip in both dry and wet conditions compared to the outside, so we are expecting to lose out there slightly. We also need to consider the gap behind us, it’s much tighter than usual. We’ll aim to make the best of it and try everything we can tomorrow to keep the Mercedes behind but it’s not going to be easy, they’ve had great pace all weekend.”

Paul Aron took his first Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine victory in Saturday’s opening race at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, but fifth place was enough to give Grégoire Saucy the 2021 Drivers’ title.

Aron took pole position on Saturday morning from Prema Powerteam team-mate Dino Beganovic, but it was G4 Racing’s Michael Belov who led lap one, with the Russian finding a way around the Estonian. 

The safety car was called upon on that opening lap as Beganovic was involved in a three-car crash at turn one that also eliminated MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto as well as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Mari Boya.

Belov did not hold the lead long after the restart, with Aron sweeping around the outside at turn one, and despite another safety car for a crash involving DR Formula’s Emidio Pesce and KIC Motorsport’s Nico Göhler, Mercedes-Benz protégé Aron held on for his first win of 2021.

Behind Aron and Belov came Prema’s David Vidales, with the Spaniard capitalising on the chaos ahead of him on lap one to gain four positions, while William Alatalo of Arden Motorsport claimed fourth after a final lap pass on ART Grand Prix’s Saucy.